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In the Realm of the Senses In In the Realm of the Senses, the two lovers use sexuality and isolation as an escape way from reality. This reality is quite precise in the film: Japan 1936 (a voice-over confirms this at the very end of the film). Only one scene exposes the social context of this reality, a very important scene, central to the film's comprehension: Kishi returning home from the hairdresser beside marching soldiers. This scene makes reference to an important event in the history of Japan, the mutiny on the 26th of February 1936. "On the 26th of February 1936, before dawn, 1400 troopers of the first and third infantry regiment marched in uniform in Tokyo's center, led by young officers." Even though the mutiny was countered, the simple fact that such an attempt even occured has had many important repercussions on Japan. From that moment on, the nation was controlled by the military. This scene with Kishi and the soldiers occurs when In the Realm of the Senses is nearing it's conclusion, when Sada and Kishi have already been seperated for quite some time from the reality of the marching soldiers. The scene makes it clear: the marching soldiers with, to their left, the supporting crowd and, to the right, Kishi, all alone, seemingly unaware of what is happening (or, if he is aware, without taking any interest in it). In his film, Oshima demonstrates the impossibility (the necessarely illusionary aspect) of such a seperation ; one shot in this scene shows us Kishi alone, pushed up against the wall by the soldier's shadows (they are not there, yet they are). The artifice of the lovers escape way (in sexuality and isolation) is put in evidence using a clever liaison to the arts. In the film, sex is associated with the arts in ways that are at times simple and, on other occasions, much more complexe. On a simple level, Oshima links sexuality to different arts and to their qualities for representation (false representation). This is true in the scene where Sada plays on the semisen as she makes love to Kishi or the one, after the false marriage, where a man danses in front of an orgy performed by the protagonists from the ceremony. The danser's movements and the accompanying song are derived from the bungaku tradition and represent in a certain way a variation of this tradition (Turim, 1998). On a more complex level, Oshima transforms the locations where the sexual acts take place (the numerous hotels, Kishi's house) into theatrical spaces. These closed areas are filmed by Oshima from few different camera angles and we are constantly reminded of the idea of a public (there is practically always someone - geisha or servant - assisting to these sexual acts as a spectator). When kimonos are opened, they become theater curtains revealing performances which are about to begin. The best demonstration of the falsness of Sada's and Kishi's fantasy world occurs in the scene of the false marriage. Everything thing in this scene is play, even the false taking of Sada's virginity as the young bride. The geishas (their make-up, already very close to those of theater actresses) play witnesses to the ceremony/performance. By exposing the artifice, the falsness of Sada and Kishi's escape way by linking sexe and performance (this done through the idea of representation (semisen, bungaku) ; the theater-like locations ; the theater-like play (wedding) ; the presence of a public), Oshima demonstrates that it is impossible for the lovers to completely avoid the (repressive) social context of the times they are living in. Their isolation is closer to dream then reality, it is an imaginary representation. In the Realm of Passion In In the Realm of the Senses, crime places the lovers - Seki and Toyoji - in a situation where they must escape (contrary to Sada and Kishi who choose to do it) from social reality and it's justice, personnified in the film the by the inspector character. This reality is that of Japan in 1895 (specified by title at the beginning of the film), a period inbetween wars. The recently ceased sino-japonese war and the russia-japonese war beginning in 1904. At the beginning of the film, Toyoji and Seki murder Gisaburo, Seki's husband. Immediately following this, the film's tone changes and gives into the unreal. First of all, there is this three year skip which avoids the illusionary escape of the lovers in In the Realm of the Senses and brings us in fact at the moment where all of this ends, when the crime has been commited and the events tighten up around the lovers. In In the Realm of the Senses, Oshima uses the arts and their theater-like quality to accentuate the unreal from which the lovers isolated existence depended ; in In the Realm of Passion, he uses fantasy and the illogical as means to illustrate the obsession which torments the lovers. Most of the scenes from the moment where the dead body is in the well are derived, as in In the Realm of the Senses, from the materialisation of the lovers' unconscience. Toyoji's actions - he can not help himself but to throw papers down the well where Gisaburo's body lies without really knowing why he is doing so - illustrate clearly that the crime which was commited is obsessing him. Seki, on the other hand, imagines that the local villagers have begun to dream of Gisaburo and to see his ghost ; she convinces herself of the existence of this ghost and fears that it will reveal their crime. The spectator is thus again plunged into the lovers fantasy univers (even though in this case, their fantasies have nothing pleasent) and the images which he can consider as diegeticaly real are few in number. Certain scenes in the film reflect the unreal in which drift Seki and Toyoji. This is true in the scene where, in an attempt to move the body to another place, they both descend into the well and dig through the paper and the mud. Their efforts are senseless : they can only manage to throw the sheets of paper upwards without the slightest possibility of them landing outside the well. Also, Seki has her eyes pierced at the bottom of the well. In the next scene, she is back home, covered in mud and she informs Toyoji that she has gone blind. Has there been a skip in time? The hypothesis is incoherent : even if Seki would have remained silent as they were coming back from the well, her handicap couldn't have gone unnoticed by Toyoji. Oshima uses the ghost's appearance and the illogical in certain scenes (some are almost dreamlike) as ways of giving the spectator a chance to notice the narrative storyline's artifice in In the Realm of Passion. Again, the lovers' impossibility to escape the reality in which they live will be exposed, but, contrary to In the Realm of the Senses, without the illusionary escape (which would constitute the three year skip in time) being presented to the spectator. 
 The Importance of Sight
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