The a third installment in Sion Sono's infamous ''Hate Film'' trilogy (Love Exposure, Cold Fish), Guilty of Romance is a noirish thriller that follows a female police detective (Miki Mizuno) as her investigation of a brutal murder draws her into mysterious sexual underworld of Tokyo. At the same time, the film explores the sexually frustrated housewife (Megumi Kagurazaka) who has come to the ''love hotel district'' to escape her patriarchal existence, and explore her own dark fantasies.