"The Flowers of Evil" ("Les Fleurs du Mal"), an 1857 collection by poet Charles Baudelaire (1821-67), is now considered a masterpiece of French literature. But, shortly after its publication, French authorities, scandalized by its treatment of then-taboo topics like lesbianism and post-death decay, banned six of its poems while fining their author for offending public morals.
Strangely, "The Flowers of Evil" is the favorite book of Takao Kasuga (Kentaro Ito), a student in a rural junior high school and the hero of Noboru Iguchi's eponymously titled film. No poet manque, Kasuga is a normal enough kid, if one with bad grades, nerdy pals and a hopeless crush on the class beauty, Nanako Saeki (Shiori Akita).
One day, Kasuga returns to class to fetch something and finds a bag containing Saeki's gym clothes. He fondles and sniffs them and, hearing noises, runs away with them. Before he can return them, another classmate, the sly, cold-eyed Sawa Nakamura (Tina Tamashiro), tells him she witnessed the theft. "Make a contract with me," she says.