Empire of Passion (1978) poster
1978 · drama · horror

Empire of Passion

Directed by Nagisa Ōshima1h 45m1978
ElsewhereIMDb7.05kRT80%TMDB6.9135
  • heavy
  • measured
  • intense
  • inventive
  • bleak
  • cold
Movie DNA

Heavy, measured, measured drama / horror, inventive in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

In a small Japanese village at the end of the 19th century, a rickshaw driver's wife takes on a much younger lover and the two conspire to murder him.

Our read · Empire of Passion (1978) reads as a heavy, measured, inventive drama · horror entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of Empire of Passion

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want an atmospheric Japanese tale of obsessive passion and haunting guilt.

ends devastatingit leaves you shakena slow buildgrips by minute 18attention 4/5earns its lengthsubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upnudityexplicit sexsexual violence

Skip it tonightYou are sensitive to sexual violence or slow period pieces.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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