In the first of several documentaries he made during the 1970s, Imamura narrows in on the endlessly arresting figure of Madame Onboro, a bar hostess whose personal stories colour an alternative history of postwar Japan that also calls back to many of the people and places of Imamura’s previous films.

A vampy exploration of power and performance that follows an icy dominatrix who runs an S&M gallery. Her devoted lovers enact elaborate rituals of submission, surrendering themselves to her sadistic games.