The movie Empire of Passion is a Japanese erotic drama film directed by Nagisa Oshima. It was released in Japan in 1978 and was a recipient of the Cannes Film Festival award.
The movie is set in the early 1900s, in a small rural village in Japan. The main protagonist of the story is a young man named Toyoji (played by Tatsuya Fuji) who begins an affair with an older woman named Seki (played by Kazuko Yoshiyuki), who happens to be married. Toyoji is a former soldier who is now employed as a laborer in a dairy farm. Seki is the wife of a rickshaw driver.
Their affair begins when Toyoji helps Seki with some errands while her husband is away. They soon start meeting secretly and their sexual chemistry draws them closer. However, they are constantly haunted by the image of Seki's husband, who is aggressive and abusive towards her.
Toyoji is consumed by jealousy and becomes obsessed with the idea of killing Seki's husband. He convinces her to help him carry out the murder, and the two of them strangle him in his sleep. They dispose of his body in a well and Seki pretends that her husband has gone away to Tokyo for work.
For the next three years, they continue their relationship in secret. But their past actions begin to catch up with them, and rumors start to spread that Seki's husband was murdered. Furthermore, Seki's husband's ghost begins to haunt her, causing her great distress.
The local law enforcement agencies start to investigate the disappearance of Seki's husband, which adds to her anxiety. To make matters worse, Toyoji's ex-girlfriend starts to blackmail him, threatening to expose their illicit affair.
The movie portrays the consequences of the affair and the murder, as the couple's actions lead to a downward spiral of paranoia, fear and guilt. It is an intense and disturbing portrayal of sexual obsession and violence.