Far from the kind of erotica that masquerades as political art, Terayama’s largely uninteresting cult oddity featuring Klaus Kinski is an absurd tale of sadomasochism as a white man forces his mistress to become a prostitute to test her deep love for him.

---

---

Erotica masquerading as political art is one of cinema’s most bizarre filones (or strands), residing in some back alleyway of cult filmmaking. 

Without the controversial if highly influential In the Realm of Senses (1976) by Nagisa Oshima, films like Fruits of Passion wouldn’t have been funded.  Coincidentally, both were produced by Argos Films, a French company specialising in ‘New Wave’ arthouse cinema. 

A later career entry of Shuji Terayama, Fruits of Passion is perhaps best remembered for Klaus Kinski, the German enfant terrible, baring it all, together with actresses Isabelle Illiers and Arielle Dombasle, in several unsimulated sexual acts with the largely Japanese cast. 

The film could be described as a quaint Orientalist fantasy, punctuated by moments of dreamlike surrealism. 

“It is a detour to reach the deepest form of love.”

Yet, there is a perceived sense of clear and present danger, of political rebels trying to clandestinely mount an attack against the authorities, though Terayama’s film feels too laidback to really garner any sense of thrilling urgency. 

Set in a brothel where Kinski, playing a white man who forces his mistress O (Illiers) to become a prostitute to test her deep love for him, Fruits of Passion appears to be an absurd tale of sadomasochism, literally and figuratively, but even with the film’s rather painterly visuals, the actors do seem ‘out of place’ as caricatures in performative roles rather than truly embodying their characters, something that perhaps In the Realm of the Senses could be said to have done better in. 

Ultimately, I can’t quite see anything meaningful or radical in Terayama’s work, but it should minimally satisfy the curiosity of cult erotica fans.  

Grade: C+

---