Third in maverick Japanese director Sion Sono’s “hate trilogy” (after Love Exposure and Cold Fish), Guilty kicks off like an Oriental take on Belle De Jour.
Mousy, domesticated Izumi (Megumi Kagurazaka), wife of an arrogant novelist, gets tempted into prostitution and is soon avidly exploring her own sexuality, all unknown to her husband.
But Sono’s film soon heads off into even more dislocated territory, as Izumi ventures into the underworld of Tokyo “love hotels”.
Filmed in garish colours like an explosion in a paint factory, it’s more style than content, but diverting all the same.
