Empire of Passion

(1978)

★ 6.8 IMDb · 140 votes

Genres: Drama, Romance, Horror

Year: 1978

Runtime: 105 мин

Country: Japan, France

Director: 大島渚

Cast: 田村高廣, 吉行和子, 藤竜也, 川谷拓三, 小山明子, 殿山泰司, 河原崎建三, 佐々木すみ江, 北村英三, Takaaki Sugiura

Plot

A married woman and her lover murder her husband and dump his body into a well, but his ghost returns to haunt them as the local gossip intensifies.

A young man has an affair with an older woman. He is very jealous of her husband and decides that they should kill him. One night, after the husband had plenty of sake to drink and was in bed, they strangle him and dump his body down a well. To avert any suspicions, she pretends her husband has gone off to Tokyo to work. For three years the wife and her lover secretly see each other. Finally, suspicions become very strong and people begin to gossip. To make matters worse, her husband's ghost begins to haunt her and the law arrives to investigate her husband's disappearance.