# Guilty of Romance (恋の罪)
**Guilty of Romance** (恋の罪) is a 2011 Japanese crime drama film written and directed by [Sion Sono](https://www.edgepedia.org/sion-sono), in which a female police detective investigating a bizarre murder in Tokyo's love-hotel district is drawn into the secret sexual lives of two women: a university professor and a housewife married to a popular romance novelist.[1](https://www.hulu.jp/guilty-of-romance) It is the concluding part of Sono's "Hate Trilogy", following *[Love Exposure](https://www.edgepedia.org/love-exposure)* and *Cold Fish*.[2](https://www.timeout.com/movies/guilty-of-romance)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 恋の罪 (Koi no Tsumi)[3](https://www.netflix.com/jp/title/70273699) |
| Director and writer | Sion Sono (園子温)[1](https://www.hulu.jp/guilty-of-romance) |
| Release | 2011; screened in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival[4](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2011/11/18/films/film-reviews/koi-no-tsumi-guilty-of-romance/) |
| Main cast | Miki Mizuno (水野美紀), Makoto Togashi (冨樫真), Megumi Kagurazaka (神楽坂恵)[5](https://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/143535/guilty-of-romance) |
| Series position | Third and final film of the "Hate Trilogy", after *Love Exposure* and *Cold Fish*[2](https://www.timeout.com/movies/guilty-of-romance) |
| Runtime | Reported as 113 minutes by Time Out and 145 minutes (2 hours 25 minutes) by JustWatch[2](https://www.timeout.com/movies/guilty-of-romance) • [6](https://www.justwatch.com/jp/%E6%98%A0%E7%94%BB/lian-nozui) |
| Age rating | 18 certificate in the UK; R18+ in Japan[2](https://www.timeout.com/movies/guilty-of-romance) • [6](https://www.justwatch.com/jp/%E6%98%A0%E7%94%BB/lian-nozui) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and structure
The film opens with the discovery of a woman's dismembered body in an apartment in the love-hotel district of Shibuya.[1](https://www.hulu.jp/guilty-of-romance) • [2](https://www.timeout.com/movies/guilty-of-romance) The detective assigned to the case, Kazuko, has a job and a happy family but cannot end an affair; as she pursues the strange murder she is pulled into the hidden lives of Mitsuko, an elite university associate professor with a secret, and Izumi, a demure housewife whose husband is a popular novelist.[1](https://www.hulu.jp/guilty-of-romance) The Hulu synopsis describes the outcome as a "hell of love" surrounding the three women.[1](https://www.hulu.jp/guilty-of-romance)
Introduced to prostitution by Mitsuko, a university assistant professor, Izumi, the dutiful wife of a "pure" romantic novelist, turns to prostitution.[2](https://www.timeout.com/movies/guilty-of-romance) • [11](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/23/6412-guilty-of-romance) Howard Feinstein, reviewing for *Screen Daily*, identifies Kazuko as the policewoman played by Miki Mizuno and notes that she is the least explored of the three women, who gets off chiefly on phone sex when her husband and son are not within hearing distance.[7](https://www.screendaily.com/guilty-of-romance-/5028042.article) Time Out instead assigns the detective role to Kimura, played by Togashi Makoto, and casts Mizuno Miki as the academic; the two reviews disagree on which actress plays which of the women.[2](https://www.timeout.com/movies/guilty-of-romance) • [7](https://www.screendaily.com/guilty-of-romance-/5028042.article)
## Background and real-life basis
According to an IMDb user review, the story is loosely based on the 1997 murder of Yasuko Watanabe, a senior economic researcher at [Tokyo Electric Power Company](https://www.edgepedia.org/tokyo-electric-power-company) who also worked as a prostitute in the Shibuya district of Tokyo.[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1743724/) The Japan Times notes that Sono set the story in the late 1990s and that, in interviews, he has described himself as both adoring and fearing the opposite sex.[4](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2011/11/18/films/film-reviews/koi-no-tsumi-guilty-of-romance/)
The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.[4](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2011/11/18/films/film-reviews/koi-no-tsumi-guilty-of-romance/) The Japan Times reviewer characterized it as taking a more serious tone than Sono's other work, perhaps because its subject is female sexuality in its more extreme forms.[4](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2011/11/18/films/film-reviews/koi-no-tsumi-guilty-of-romance/)
## Style and themes
Time Out's Wally Hammond described the film as combining transgressive sex and lurid colors with poetry and classical music, in what he called the most downbeat tale of would-be feminist liberation imaginable.[2](https://www.timeout.com/movies/guilty-of-romance) He judged that despite the grisly material, the film feels closer to the compassionate emotional investigations of [Rainer Werner Fassbinder](https://www.edgepedia.org/rainer-werner-fassbinder) than to horror, and credited cinematographer Sohei Tangawa with moments of heightened melodramatic pathos reminiscent of Harry Kümel at his peak.[2](https://www.timeout.com/movies/guilty-of-romance)
Netflix's Japanese catalog tags the film as sensual, psychologically probing, film noir, and dark, and classifies it as a domestic human drama, suspense film, and mystery.[3](https://www.netflix.com/jp/title/70273699)
## Reception
Critical response was divided. Time Out gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and a "Recommended" label, calling Sono a remarkable "eroto-philosopher" on slightly weaker form.[2](https://www.timeout.com/movies/guilty-of-romance) The Guardian's Xan Brooks gave it 2 out of 5, writing that the third and final chapter of the "hate" trilogy is an eccentrically confused mess.[5](https://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/143535/guilty-of-romance) A Variety critic quoted on Metacritic found too many twists, insignificant literary references, and drawn-out scenes of sex and violence to sustain either the running time or the ideas, with the director's message obscured in the final reels by an ambiguous treatment of his leading ladies.[9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/guilty-of-romance/critic-reviews/) On JustWatch the film holds a user rating of 6.8 from about 6,500 ratings.[6](https://www.justwatch.com/jp/%E6%98%A0%E7%94%BB/lian-nozui)
Feinstein predicted that the cult reputation of Sono, whom he described as a poet, novelist, and filmmaker behind *Suicide Club* and *Cold Fish*, would not guarantee much domestic interest for this third movie in his "Hate Saga", which he called a provocative, intentional misnomer.[7](https://www.screendaily.com/guilty-of-romance-/5028042.article)
## Availability
As of the listings retrieved in 2026, the film streams in Japan on Hulu, U-NEXT, DMM TV, and ABEMA, and is available for rental on TELASA, J:COM STREAM, TSUTAYA DISCAS, and music.jp.[10](https://filmarks.com/movies/38876/vod) • [6](https://www.justwatch.com/jp/%E6%98%A0%E7%94%BB/lian-nozui) Netflix lists the title in Japan but notes that it is not currently available to watch there.[3](https://www.netflix.com/jp/title/70273699)
## References
1. [恋の罪 | Hulu(フールー)](https://www.hulu.jp/guilty-of-romance)
2. [Guilty of Romance 2011, directed by Shion Sono | Film review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/guilty-of-romance)
3. [恋の罪 | Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/jp/title/70273699)
4. ['Koi no Tsumi (Guilty of Romance)' - The Japan Times](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2011/11/18/films/film-reviews/koi-no-tsumi-guilty-of-romance/)
5. [Guilty Of Romance (Koi No Tsumi) | Film | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/143535/guilty-of-romance)
6. [恋の罪 映画 動画配信 オンライン 視聴 | JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/jp/%E6%98%A0%E7%94%BB/lian-nozui)
7. [Guilty Of Romance | Reviews | Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/guilty-of-romance-/5028042.article)
8. [Guilty of Romance (2011) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1743724/)
9. [Guilty of Romance critic reviews - Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/guilty-of-romance/critic-reviews/)
10. [恋の罪の配信サービス・視聴方法・サブスクまとめ | Filmarks](https://filmarks.com/movies/38876/vod)
11. [KVIFF, Guilty of Romance](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/23/6412-guilty-of-romance)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Erotic thrillers and dramas*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license