Jun'ichiro Tanizaki

The sage Confucius visits a cultured duke, whose pursuit of virtue is threatened by the desires of his dazzling, malicious consort. A naïve servant elopes with his master's daughter, only to be plunged headlong into a world of murder and corruption. Exhausted by a lifestyle of never-ending debauchery, a young prince finds himself obsessed with a sorrowful, beguiling mermaid. These...