| I've heard from reviews on other websites regarding the notoriety of this film, and I was curious to check it out.
It certainly has high production values and more than a few titillating scenes. I've also read that the lead female star, Aya Sugimoto, gained fame as a pop singer and TV personality, and therefore the role she took in this film was an extreme departure from what she had been known for. She was already in her early thirties when it was in production, but she's still very beautiful, slim, and youthful. In the special features [on the US DVD by Tokyo Shock], she gives an interview on why she decided to break out into radical new territory.
Anyway, she plays Shizuko, the wife of a business executive. They have an upscale flat somewhere in Tokyo filled with modernistic furniture and expensive art, but she's little more than a tango-dancing trophy for him, and thus she's sexually unfulfilled.
The husband ultimately gets into trouble with some gangsters who threaten to expose a dirty scandal involving his company, and thus he's pressured to offer his wife to their 95-year old master for his enjoyment. He agrees thinking that the sight of wife's naked body will simply overwhelm that old man's senses.
Therefore, Shizuko gets captured by the gangster's henchmen, and winds up being a plaything in a live sex show for a creepy audience whose faces are covered by hoods. At this point the film devolves into a series of S&M sequences, though I wonder if something got cut out for this release.
It all leads to an enigmatic ending, suggesting that Shizuko's nightmarish captivity might really have been only a bad dream. This is a disturbing feature, and yet it might be interpreted as a cautionary tale that men should not take their wives for granted. In any case, as one of the supporting actors mentioned in the special features, Aya Sugimoto does look good being tied up. |