Showa Erotica: The Lady of the Rose (1980)

Pink films (pinku eiga) were Japan's solution to studio collapse in the 1960s-70s, often smuggling radical politics beneath mandatory nudity quotas. Fujii was a genre veteran who knew exactly how much subversion the censors would miss.

Erina Miyai was the era's most transcendent pink film star, bringing genuine melancholy to roles that didn't require it. Her Kinuyo suggests a countess who knows exactly what empire she's performing for.