And for the first time in years, she felt everything at once — without a single word of explanation. Only the realm. Only the senses. Only qartulad .
As the film progresses, the eroticism morphs into a thanatos, a death drive. The boundary between pleasure and pain dissolves, leading to acts of erotic asphyxiation and, ultimately, castration. This violent conclusion is prefigured by the film's Japanese title, Ai no Korrida , which references the "Corrida" or bullfight. The lovers are not merely participants in a romance but combatants in a struggle to the death. Kichizo’s final request—that Sada strangle him during sex so that he may die at the peak of pleasure—suggests a desire to possess the ultimate moment of life. By castrating him after his death, Sada attempts to eternalize their union, carrying his severed member as a talisman of their absolute bond. In a society that demands the suppression of individual desire for the Emperor, Sada’s extreme act of possession becomes a grotesque assertion of ownership over the self and the other.
A film that still sparks debate: where is the line between art and pornography?.
მაყურებელი ხედავს, თუ როგორ კარგავენ პერსონაჟები კავშირს რეალობასთან. მათი ვნება ხდება "სასიკვდილო".
That night, Nino walked to the Mtatsminda Pantheon. The city sprawled below, a river of lights. But she didn't look. She leaned her forehead against the cold stone wall and listened. The wind carried supra songs from hidden courtyards. The earth under her feet smelled of clay and ancient grape skins. And somewhere, a woman was grinding marigold for saffron, the pestle striking mortar in a rhythm older than Christ. in the realm of the senses qartulad
თავდაპირველი სიყვარული სწრაფად გადაიზრდება დამანგრეველ, აკვიატებულ ვნებაში. გმირები კარგავენ რეალობის შეგრძნებას, უარს ამბობენ სოციალურ ნორმებზე და მთლიანად ეძლევიან სექსუალურ ექსტაზს. ფილმის მსვლელობისას მათი ურთიერთობა უფრო მუქი, სადომაზოხისტური და ტრაგიკული ხდება, რაც მაყურებელს აიძულებს იფიქროს თავისუფლებისა და დესტრუქციის ზღვარზე.
The film’s release sparked a firestorm of controversy. It was initially banned in several countries, including the United States and Germany, and to this day, it has . The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) famously passed the film uncut only in 2011, 35 years after its original release. Yet, for many critics, the film’s explicitness is not gratuitous; as the Criterion Collection notes, it is "less a work of pornography than of politics".
Critics have often debated whether the film is feminist or misogynistic. On one hand, Sada is portrayed as the active agent, the one who initiates and ultimately controls the narrative, while Kichizo becomes increasingly passive. She defies the traditional archetype of the submissive Japanese woman. However, the film’s relentless focus on her genitalia and her descent into madness complicates this reading. Ultimately, Oshima seems less interested in gender politics than in the existential limits of human experience. He presents a world where the search for absolute freedom through the senses leads inevitably to destruction.
მოემზადეთ იმისთვის, რომ ფილმი არ გაგართობთ ტრადიციული გაგებით. ის დაგაყენებთ არასასიამოვნო კითხვებს საკუთარი თავის შესახებ. იპოვეთ მაღალი ხარისხის ვერსია კარგი სუბტიტრებით, რათა სრულად შეიგრძნოთ დიალოგის სიღრმე. And for the first time in years, she
Nino knew she had crossed a threshold the moment the old woman in the Tbilisi basement bakery placed a freshly baked shotis puri directly into her cupped hands. The bread was a crescent of flame-kissed gold, its crust crackling like dry leaves in autumn. Without a word, the woman nodded toward the toné oven, its circular mouth glowing with embers.
"You see," he said. "In the realm of the senses — qartulad — the body remembers what the mind forgot. Georgia doesn't explain itself. It happens to you. The wine isn't drunk; it baptizes your throat. The dance isn't watched; your spine becomes the drum. The polyphony isn't heard; your ribs vibrate like the lowest string of a panduri ."
For director — a leading figure of the Japanese New Wave, known for politically charged films like Cruel Story of Youth and Death by Hanging — In the Realm of the Senses was not meant to be simple pornography. He saw the explicit sex not as an end in itself but as a political and artistic tool. The film was designed to challenge taboo and societal control, particularly in his native Japan.
ოშიმა აჩვენებს, როგორ გადადის სიამოვნების ძიება (ეროსი) სიკვდილის წყურვილში (თანატოსი). წყვილი იმდენად იკეტება საკუთარ სამყაროში, რომ გარე სამყარო და მზარდი მილიტარიზმი მათთვის აღარ არსებობს. ვიზუალური ესთეტიკა: Only qartulad
The search term refers to users looking for the iconic 1976 erotic art film In the Realm of the Senses (originally titled Ai no Corrida / 愛のコリーダ) translated into the Georgian language ("ქართულად") . In Georgia, this masterpiece by legendary Japanese director Nagisa Ōshima is widely known under the title „გრძნობათა იმპერია“ (The Empire of the Senses).
When movie enthusiasts search for this film with the keyword "qartulad", they are seeking either or a Georgian voiceover (გახმოვანება) . On Georgian streaming portals and cultural blogs like Aura.ge , In the Realm of the Senses is frequently listed under mandatory watchlists like "ფილმები, რომელიც უნდა ნახო სანამ ცოცხალი ხარ" (Movies you must see before you die).
რადიკალური გულწრფელობა, რომელმაც თავის დროზე მსოფლიო კინემატოგრაფი შეძრა.
"In the Realm of the Senses" remains a dark, intoxicating, and brilliantly acted monument to the lengths human obsession can reach when completely unmoored from reality.