Empire of Passion is a 1978 feature film directed by Oshima Nagisa. The film stars two impassioned lovers, Toyoji (Fuji Tatsuya) and Seki (Yoshiyuki) who endeavor to kill Seki’s husband, Gisaburo (Tamura Tahakiro) in an effort to be together. But when the ghost of Gisaburo begins to haunt Seki, her ability to stay resolute begins to dwindle. Exacerbated by the villager peoples’ incessant gossip, Seki loses control and begins to go mad with grief and anguish which threatens the exposition of her and her lover’s fatal secret.
Set in a distant Japanese village in the late 19th century, Empire of Passion explores the traditional Japanese kaidan or ghost story, imbued with Oshima’s own penchant for sex and violence. The film tells of the ruin of two peasants, Toyoji, an ex-soldier who falls vehemently in love with a married woman twenty-six years his senior, named Seki. Toyoji courts Seki who initially shows resistance against his sexual advances. The cunning and aggressive Toyoji eventually wins her affection and convinces Seki that they must kill her husband, the rickshaw driver Gisaburo, in order for their love to flourish. At first, the frightened Seki shows much horror and devastation at her young lover’s propositions but her own feelings of fear and uncertainty, probed by Toyoji’s vindictive manipulation, drive her to inevitable compliance. Seki hesitantly gives Gisaburo rounds of sake until he drinks himself into a deep drunken stupor. The two lovers take the opportune moment of vulnerability to suffocate Gisaburo by pulling a rope around his neck. The two lovers drag Gisaburo’s dead body across the snow and throw it down a deep well in the remote forest. Three years pass and the villagers start to speculate about Gisaburo’s whereabouts after he had not come home for the Bon Festival. Despite Seki’s efforts at appeasing the rumours by informing them that he has gone to work in Tokyo, gossip surfaces among the villagers, including Seki’s daughter Shin, regarding mysterious dreams of Gisaburo dying and asking neighbours for help. Seki begins to feel much guilt over her involvement in her husband’s murder. Toyoji also begins to raise suspicions in his young master after he is caught throwing leaves down the well repeatedly. Gisaburo makes repeated appearances to his wife. Looking pale and ghastly, he reaches out his glass sake cup to her without a word. Unable to placate the restless soul of her husband, the hauntings deepen Seki’s guilt and shame to the point of desperation. Toyoji at first demands that Seki stay strong but when the police officer extends his stay in the village to investigate the sketchy disappearance of Gisaburo, both lovers’ will to elude the public plummets. Toyoji becomes increasingly agitated by the suspicions of his young master, driving him to commit more immutable acts of destruction. Furthermore, the love affair suffers under the suppression of their secret as they are both consumed by despair, fear and guilt. The only way they can escape from their heavy conscience is through sexual intimacy, sometimes violent and perverse.
The atmospheric effects and dramatic lighting in the film, coupled with the shrill musical score, work in conjunction to enhance the suspenseful unfolding of events in the film. The mountainous, rocky region where the murder takes place is fitting to the bone-chilling re-emergence of Gisaburo’s restless soul. His eyes and skin appear grey and pallid, expressionless but nonetheless petrifying. The cold, white light that shines down on Gisaburo’s pasty face mirrors the grey haziness of the harsh winter itself. The mist and steam that envelop the atmosphere obscures the view where the ghost of Gisaburo appears to Seki and insists she ride his rickshaw. Gisaburo goes offroad on his rickshaw, evidently having forgotten his way home. The mist engulfs Seki, shrouding her view of Gisaburo. When he turns around to show his face, she sees his ghastly face emerge from the haze. She emits a shrill scream that echoes through the undisturbed forest. The vapor from her breath magnifies the intensity of the moment when she comes face to face with her avenging husband.
Some visual elements and dialogue are re-enacted throughout the film, suggesting a theme of circularity. Before Gisaburo makes direct contact with Seki, Seki witnesses Gisaburo’s rickshaw wheels spinning on their own. The camera pans into a view of the spinning wheels, which increases in speed as Seki’s feelings of dread worsen. Towards the end of the film, the couple makes an effort to console one another by living with together “like husband and wife” as they initially wished. Toyoji begins to recite the same lighthearted conversation he had had with Seki when he was courting her. At first Seki is amused and plays along until she is reminded of their painful secret and feelings of guilt overcome her to tears. The theme of circularity may suggest the inability of the lovers to overcome both their crime and burdensome conscience, as well as fear of their eventual demise. The theme of circularity manifested by the spinning wheels of Gisaburo’s rickshaw may also suggest the old maxim, “what goes around comes around.”
Some viewers may find the prevalence of sex and violence in the film disturbing or confusing. In some scenes, Oshima also seems eroticize sexual violence, which may be difficult to watch or interpret. The film definitely does not shy away from titillating and suspenseful themes, blending elements of horror through convincing make-up and atmospheric effects. Such dramatic devices make for a highly entertaining and genuinely eerie film, resonating in the viewer’s mind for days.