Painter Seiju's (Hatsuo Yamaya) wife has just run away with another
man, but he finds solace with a prostitute, Tae (Junko Miyashita), a woman
he soon buys free from her employer to live with him. The first night
though he ties her up and rapes her - something she against all odds finds
pleasure in. Soon, she makes him open up about his relationship to his
wife, and he tells her how he, in part for the sake of his art, tied her
up in all kinds positions in front of his assistants, how he tortured and
humiliated her - and that's an absolute turn-on for Tae, who asks him to
do to her everything he did to his wife and go even further. Seiju
couldn't be happier with Tae, but then she starts to behave erratic, and
when the doctor examines her, he diagnoses incurable and terminal
syphillitic brain damage. Out of the blue, Tae's mother (Sumiko Minami)
shows up, blaming Seiju for Tae's condition and trying to blackmail him,
and when that won't work (Tae has actually contracted syphillis inside her
mum's womb), she asks him to tie her daughter up torture her some more,
believing it will drive out an evil spirit. Every now and again, Tae
shbows signs of improvement, but her overall condition only worsens, and
eventually, Seiju lays her down to die, and lies down besides her, letting
her hair cover his face to be with her to the end ... A film
about dominance and submission, sadism and masochism that one probably
should not watch if not interested in the subject as such, or if BDSM is
nothing but a turn-off. For those who are into it though, this is quite an
interesting movie, not so much because of the bondage and torture scenes
represented (I'm sure you've seen wilder) but because it's a rare attempt
to also capture the essence of the philosophy behind it, without becoming
a thesis movie though. Instead, the film takes an almost lyrical approach
to its subject matter, and a deliberate slow pace and subtle storytelling
derive the topic as such of any cheap sensationalism (which is not
necessarily a bad thing though). In all, a pretty good movie.
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