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Empire of Passion
Empire of Passion
7.6
/10
3,949 Ratings

EMPIRE OF PASSION

Ai no borei | 愛の亡霊

Directed by Nagisa Ôshima
Japan, France, 1978
Drama, Horror, Romance

Synopsis

Set in a Japanese village at the end of the nineteenth century, the film details the downfall of a married woman and her lover after they murder her husband and dump him in a well. For several years the two are able to carry on their affair. Yet after some time, the husband’s spirit returns.

Synopsis

Set in a Japanese village at the end of the nineteenth century, the film details the downfall of a married woman and her lover after they murder her husband and dump him in a well. For several years the two are able to carry on their affair. Yet after some time, the husband’s spirit returns.

Our take

Nagisa Ôshima’s turn-of-the-century drama explores the slow and creeping breakdown of a relationship. Inverting the gender dynamics of his earlier film In the Realm of the Senses, this lusciously dark, erotic tale of a tainted love affair precisely dissects the torrid nature of a “crime of passion.”