The empire of the senses

Adapted from a 1936 true story, Nagisa Oshima's In the Realm of the Senses (1976), filmed during a period of sexual liberation and featuring unsimulated sex scenes, is a provocation aimed at Japanese society. Drawing on the making-of footage and interviews from the period, David Thompson brings in contemporary members of the crew (Koji Wakamatsu, production manager) and other personalities, such as filmmaker Catherine Breillat.