aka Madame Black Rose is a 1978

1978 in film

The year 1978 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 1 - Bob Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour premieres in Los Angeles, California....

 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese film in Nikkatsu

Nikkatsu

is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...

's Roman porno series, directed by Shōgorō Nishimura and starring Naomi Tani

Naomi Tani

is a Japanese actress who is best known for her appearances in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films with an S&M theme during the 1970s.-Early career:Born October 20, 1948, in the Hakata ward of Fukuoka, Naomi Tani moved to Tokyo at the age of 18. After arrival in Tokyo, she was featured in a photo layout...

.

Synopsis

Saori is the wealthy, unfaithful wife of the impotent Kosaku. When she returns from a trip abroad, Tsumura, Kosaku's assistant, meets her and takes Saori to an apartment. There Tsumura rapes her and submits her to various sexual tortures while she is photographed by photo-journalist Tayama. Her husband, Kosaku uses the photographs to blackmail Saori into giving him control of the family estate. Saori is returned to her mansion, but kept in a cage in the basement where she is subjected to regular bouts of abuse from Tsumura. Besides rape, other indignities endured by Lady Saori include breast bondage

Breast bondage

Breast bondage is a bondage technique which involves the tying of rope around a woman's breasts in a visually intricate and decorative pattern. Breast bondage most commonly uses rope, but webbing, straps or a harness may also be used...

, enema

Enema

An enema is the procedure of introducing liquids into the rectum and colon via the anus. The increasing volume of the liquid causes rapid expansion of the lower intestinal tract, often resulting in very uncomfortable bloating, cramping, powerful peristalsis, a feeling of extreme urgency and...

s and the insertion of hen's eggs

Egg (food)

Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...

 into her vagina. After Kosaku dies from a stroke, Saori realizes that she has come to enjoy Tsumura's treatment.

Cast

• Naomi Tani
  Naomi Tani
  is a Japanese actress who is best known for her appearances in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films with an S&M theme during the 1970s.-Early career:Born October 20, 1948, in the Hakata ward of Fukuoka, Naomi Tani moved to Tokyo at the age of 18. After arrival in Tokyo, she was featured in a photo layout...
  
  : Saori Nanbara
• Haruka Tajima: Aiko Sagara
• Keijirō Shiga: Hideo Tsumura
• Mami Yūki: Mitsuko Tsumura
• Tesshō Furukawa (Tetsuaki Furukawa): Hiroyuki Tayama

Critical appraisal

Director Shōgorō Nishimura's first film in the S&M genre, Lady Black Rose was more successful than other works by the director at the time. In their Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films, the Weissers write that two scenes in this film are often used as examples of the S&M genre in Nikkatsu's Roman Pornos. In one scene, brandy is poured into Tani's vagina while her skin can be seen changing from pale to red. In a 1998 interview, Tani recalled the other scene: "People still talk about the "stomach expanding" scene in Lady Black Rose. The sadist forces me to drink gallons of water through a funnel. You can see my belly growing larger and larger. But, there was no mystery or SFX trick. I was simply good at sucking my belly into a small ball and then expanding it with a large exhale." Due to scenes like this, Lady Black Rose has been called "the ultimate woman-as-an-object" film.

Though the film was successful, according to the Weissers there is an unevenness between the film's story and its realization. They have high praise for director Nishimura and "the exquisite look of the production," while Oniroku Dan's story is called "rudimentary... mean-spirited mayhem." They conclude, "[Nishimura]'s visuals are, in a word, breath-taking. Perhaps there is no other SM film in Nikkatsu's library which so lovingly depicts the art of torture." After the success of Lady Black Rose, Nishimura and Tani teamed up again for the more radical Rope Cosmetology

Rope Cosmetology

aka Rope Makeover and Oniroku Dan: Rope Makeover is a 1978 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Shōgorō Nishimura and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:...

(also 1978).

Availability

Lady Black Rose was released theatrically in Japan on April 1, 1978. It was released on VHS in Japan on August 16, 1983, and re-released on March 10, 1995. Oniroku Dan's novel was remade as a V-cinema

V-Cinema

Japanese is the direct-to-video industry that appeared in Japan in the 1980s. The term is a trademark of Toei Company but is widely used in the West to describe any Japanese direct-to-video release. In Japan the term used is...

released on October 15, 1999.