08 Mar In the Realm of the Senses (1976)

Pudendal Space

The Japanese notion of space is highly developed: abstract but visceral, refined but applicable to a daily, graceful life. That notion, and the philosophy of beauty through balance (‘katachi’) is what makes the Japanese sense of architecture worth incorporating into one’s life. Many good Japanese filmmakers are architects first in this way, both in the matter they present and the manner in which they present it. Kurosawa of course, but Oshima as well.

This film is a case of asymmetry by overbalance: of sexual passion becoming an obsession and losing its self-correcting force. It is marvellously constructed and one of the most engaging dramas I know: the viewer is drawn in by the voluptuousness and richness of the production until we realise that we ourselves have entered into a parallel trance of sense. One example of how the narrative centre literally enters the action: an observer of the randy coupling is captured and made to put a representation of a bird in herself. The next shot is an actor acting the part of that bird for the lovers. In one simple motion, we have seen ourselves as viewers captured by the scene and folded into it, literally entering Sada.

Yes, there is explicit sex on the part of the actors, neither pornographic or erotic, simply a natural consequence of honest storytelling. That honesty allows the sort of folding noted above, which builds and places us within an architectural garden of balanced/unbalanced passion.

I contrast this with other films of a similar type who — for various reasons — cannot be as honest. I can think of three exemplars of types of impediments:

‘Wild at Heart’ is perverse where this is not. It is wholly set in sex, but each sex scene has a carefully placed sheet. Who places the sheet? It is as if our eye changes the world to not offend, and damages the whole effect of the film.

‘Elvira Madigan’ is a similar tale of sexual obsession which escalates to tragedy. Some beautiful visions and music, but a wild dissonance between the abstract world we see (even in the act of vomiting) and the sweaty sharing that underlies it.

‘Breaking the Waves’ has much the same thrust as ‘realm,’ with even more raw commitment on the part of the actress. But still it shies away from many of the commonest visions of coupling in existence. Odd, that. And from artists too. ‘Wild’ has the impediment of the eye, ‘Elvira’ of the abstraction and ‘Waves’ of the actress herself. ‘Realm’ suffers from none of these.

Posted in 2003

Ted’s Evaluation — 3 of 3: Worth watching.

IMDB