EMPIRE OF PASSION

Based on a true story, Nagisa Oshima's EMPIRE OF PASSION tells the story of two lovers trapped by an overwhelming desire. Seki, a middle-aged married woman, falls in love with Toyoji, a young roustabout. Together they kill her husband, but their seemingly idyllic life together is disturbed by guilt and by the ghost of her husband. EMPIRE OF PASSION depicts a somber world of embattled moods and emotion, of tragic cruelty and overwhelming calm. Oshima, who became a film director by accident and began his career with a series of socially conscious dramas, has moved more and more in recent years toward a cinema of psychological exploration. He won international recognition in 1976 with the graphic “In the Realm of the Senses.” With EMPIRE OF PASSION, which won for Best Director at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival, he establishes himself as one of the preeminent Japanese filmmakers.