Stephen M (harrycaul)

Can we have some sensible reviews of this film, please. An average star-rating of 3 is ridiculous for this near-masterpiece. "Empire of Passion" is a loose companion piece to Nagisa Oshima's notorious "In the Realm of the Senses". Though Tatsuya Fuji plays the male lead once more, and the story again concerns a couple driven to violence by their obsessive lust, "Empire of Passion" is less intense than the earlier film and its tone is much lighter, allowing for a healthy dose of comedy. Set in late 19th century rural Japan, it's a ghost story about a rickshaw puller, murdered by his wife and her lover, who returns from the dead and haunts his killers to the point of self-incrimination. Whereas "In the Realm of the Senses" was mostly set indoors, this exquisitely photographed film is opened out into the beautiful countryside, the passage of time mapped by the changing seasons. Curiously the frequent softcore sex scenes feel gratuitous and exploitative in a way that their hardcore equivalent in "...Senses" never did, and it's for this reason I've deducted a half-star.

Here's a film to ease your mind if you're worried about your family being dysfunctional! I think a lot of reviews I've read of this are too eager to accept Alessandro's own, romanticised excuse for his crimes: that he is easing his elder brother Augusto's burden of responsibility as head of the family. He is far too selfish for that! Their sister, Giulia, is nearer the mark when she tells Augusto that Ale hates being surrounded by incurables because they stifle his dreams.

I found the relationship between Giulia (Paola Pitagora) and Ale (Lou Castel) the most fascinating aspect of the film. A pair of vain, childish thrill seekers, they spend most of the first hour at each other's throats, apart from one eerie embrace, prompted by mutual insecurity, as they eavesdrop on one of Augusto's telephone calls to his girlfriend. Amazingly, Ale's killing spree actually brings the brother and sister closer together. Obviously, there was only so much immorality you could slip past the censor in 1965, but the incestuous chemistry between them is surprisingly potent.

The film is at its weakest when the common sense of the outside world threatens to unravel Ale's dreams. To minimize this problem, director Marco Bellocchio cuts from the murders straight to the victims' wakes, after the dust has settled. Even so, the fact that Ale escapes all suspicion takes a good deal of swallowing, as does Giulia's statement to Augusto that there is not enough evidence against Ale to hand him over to the police. What about that handwritten confession???