Controversy
Strict censorship laws in Japan would not have allowed the film to be made according to Oshima's vision. This obstruction was bypassed by officially listing the production as a French enterprise, and the undeveloped footage was shipped to France for processing and editing. At its première in Japan, the sexual activity was optically censored using reframing and blurring.
In the United States, the film was initially banned upon its première at the 1976 New York Film Festival, but later screened uncut; a similar fate awaited the film when it was released in Germany. The film was not available on home video until 1990 although it was sometimes seen uncut in film clubs.
The British Board of Film Censors, at the time of its first limited screenings in the UK, recommended it be shown under private cinema club conditions to avoid the need for cuts to be made, but only after the Obscene Publications Act had been extended to films (in 1977) to avoid potential legal problems. More recently the BBFC has granted the film an "18" certificate (suitable for adults only), leaving all of the adult sexual activity intact, but ordered that a shot showing a prepubescent boy having his penis pulled as punishment be reframed. The scene was zoomed in so just the reaction of the boy is shown. The cut was finally waived in 2011. The film is available in completely uncut form in France, the United States (including the current The Criterion Collection DVD), the Netherlands, and several other territories.
In Canada, when originally submitted to the provincial film boards in the 1970s, the film was rejected in all jurisdictions except Quebec. It was not until 1991 that individual provinces approved the film and gave it a certificate. However, in the Maritimes the film was rejected again as the policies followed in the 1970s were still enforced.
Due to its sexual themes and explicit scenes, the film was cause of great controversy in Portugal after it was aired on RTP. Some deemed it inappropriate even for the watershed slot, and some even appreciated its airing, like the priest who was Archbishop of Braga D. Eurico Dias Nogueira who said he 'had learned more in 10 minutes of the film than in his entire life'. The film was aired again in RTP2, but was almost not noticed.
Read more about this topic: In The Realm Of The Senses
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