Nagisa Oshima’s brutal tale of sexual obsession – which caused a riot at the Cannes Film Festival, was banned in numerous countries and heavily censored at home – holds a solid position in the pantheon of world film classics. In the Realm of the Senses is based on the infamous criminal case from 1936, when a maid killed and castrated her employee after several days of sexual games. In the film, these characters draw the viewer into their world: you can almost smell the room where the lovers isolate themselves from the outside world, its mats soaked in sake, sweat, semen, urine, and ultimately blood.