Carnegie Hall

In the second of our series, in partnership with Film Forum—which presents TAKEMITSU, a 14-day festival of movies scored by the legendary Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu—we focus on the 1978 film, Empire of Passion.

Film: Empire of Passion
Director: Nagisa Ōshima
Year: 1978

Empire of Passion excerpt
Courtesy Roissy Films

In 1895, litter carrier Takahiro Tamura's wife Kazuko Yoshiyuki almost unknowingly slides into a affair with decades-younger Tatsuya Fuji (In the Realm of the Senses). And when Tamura disappears, has he really gone to Tokyo for work?

Ōshima won Best Director, at Cannes Festival in 1978, with Takemitsu winning an Award of the Japanese Academy and a Mainichi Film Concours award for his score.

—Courtesy of Film Forum