Sade Abe is a former geisha working as a hotel maid in pre-World War II Japan. After she begins a torrid affair with the owner, they become completely infatuated. Their experimental sexual encounters spiral into an all-consuming and destructive love affair where even life is worth sacrificing.

A no-holds-barred cult classic from director Nagisa Ôshima, this provocative chamber drama has lost none of its unsettling power. A vigorous attack on Japanese cultural values and patriarchal mores, In the Realm of the Senses steers its tragic tale of amour fou into a transgressive death spiral.