With his landmark film The Ceremony, Nagisa Oshima became one of Japanese filmdom's leading social critics as he dissected the logic behind ritual suicide, arranged marriages and other activities considered acceptable 'traditional' behavior. Here he examines the story behind a famous Japanese scandal - a prostitute was found wandering the streets of Tokyo out of her mind following the death of her lover by erotic asphyxiation - in terms of what is considered 'acceptable' Japanese social behavior. The principals engage in obsessive sexual activity, and allow the addictive and dangerous aspects of their relationship to get out of hand precisely BECAUSE it was considered so unhealthy and immoral by Japanese standards. In a society in which all sexual activity is viewed as shameful, shame no longer mediates behavior. Limits become meaningless. The film itself is colorfully made, with excellent period detail and production design, and the actors are attractive. The structure is that of an erotic novel, as game playing, obsession and danger escalate to a fitting point-of-no-return climax. It is much better and more socially relevant than similar American films such as Nine 1/2 Weeks.

A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to a sexual obsession which then came to a violent end.

This film is easy to dismiss as "glorified porn" or something of that nature. Indeed, it tends to go beyond what we call soft-core... there is no hiding the male anatomy and some acts are rather explicit. And yet, I never really felt like the film was "dirty" or gratuitous.

There is something to be said about love, sex, obsession and the life of a geisha. Certainly in western society we find it hard to believe a prostitute or porn star could have a meaningful relationship or be in love. What of the Japanese, who view prostitution somewhat differently? This is an interesting exploration.

This French-Japanese film, also known as Ai No Corrida, I knew was listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, but then I found out that it featured real sexual intercourse, oral and various other intimate acts, so I had to see if a good story fit with it as well. Basically in 1936, Tokyo, former prostitute Sada Abe (Eiko Matsuda) works now as a maid in a hotel, and she is molested by the owner of the hotel Kichizo Ishida (Tatsuya Fuji),but she is not offended by it and the two of them begin an intense affair. They make love passionately with all kinds of sexual experimentation, drinking and other various forms of self-indulgence, and they do not seem to be bothered with people walking in on them, and to pursue his affair with her Ishida leaves his wife and family. As time passes Abe for some reason becomes jealous of Ishida, probably in terms of receiving pleasure, and she also becomes very possessive, but all he ever wants to do is make her happy, whether it means more intense experimental sex. They become so obsessed with their escalating attempts to achieve the ultimate love making experience and orgasm that he allows her to engage in sadomasochism, this mostly involves her strangling during lovemaking. Eventually it comes to the point when Ishida is killed by Abe strangling him to death, but she is not completely phased by his death, in fact she goes as far to cut off his penis and testicles, and with his blood write the words "Sada Kichi the two of us forever" on his chest. Being based on a true event the real woman was arrested for the crime of murder, but in fact many people who heard about the story were empathetic towards her because of the passionate love she had for the man. Also starring Aoi Nakajima as Toku, Meika Seri as Maid Matsuko and Taiji Tonoyama as Old Beggar. I will be honest and say first that I was most intrigued to see real lovemaking on screen, and it is not something I have seen often in a foreign film regarded by critics, but then I remembered seeing a clip of the controversial ending on a programme, very hard to watch, it is a very interesting insight into how extreme passion can sometimes go too far, a most watchable erotic drama based on a true story. It was number 28 on The 100 Greatest Sexy Moments. Very good!