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Literature and Theology Advance Access originally published online on July 23, 2009
Literature and Theology 2009 23(3):332-343; doi:10.1093/litthe/frp039
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press 2009; all rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Deathly Passion: Oshima's In the Realm of the Senses and the Transgressive Character of Sexuality and Religion

Stefanie Knauss

Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Centro per le Scienze Religiose, Via S. Croce, 77, I-38122 Trento, Italy stefanie.knauss{at}gmail.com


  Abstract

Oshima's film In the Realm of the Senses is an early example of what today is called ‘artcore’: films that employ the transgressivity of the representation of sexuality in order to discuss its meaning for human existence. This transgressiveness is intensified by the connection between sex and death that the film establishes. This article understands transgressivity as a positive value, arguing that the analogy between sexual and religious experiences is reinforced by the film's uncovering of the irresolvable ambivalence of sexuality. The analysis of the representation of a transgressive sexual relationship upon the background of Georges Bataille's reflections on sex, death and the sacred, shows how the film achieves a broader perspective on the meaning and role of sexuality in human life, and how precisely in sexuality's transgressiveness and ambivalence the sacred is evoked.


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