Kanashimi no Belladonna


Belladonna of Sadness

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Tragedy of Belladonna
Japanese: 哀しみのベラドンナ
English: Belladonna of Sadness
Spanish: Belladonna of Sadness
More titles

Information

Type: Movie
Episodes: 1
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Jun 30, 1973
Producers: None found, add some
Studios: Mushi Production
Source: Book
Genres: Avant GardeAvant Garde, DramaDrama
Theme: HistoricalHistorical
Duration: 1 hr. 27 min.
Rating: R+ - Mild Nudity

Statistics

Score: 7.201 (scored by 1920319,203 users)
1 indicates a weighted score.
Ranked: #34882
2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity: #3174
Members: 58,825
Favorites: 853

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Resources

7.20
Ranked #3488Popularity #3174Members 58,825
Add to My List
Episodes: /1

Synopsis

The beautiful Jeanne marries a man named Jean, and the happy newlyweds make their way to the Lord's castle with a cow's worth of money for his blessings. However, the demonic Lord is unmoved by their offering, ignoring their desperate, impoverished pleas. The Lord's wife offers an alternative: Jeanne must become the Lord's conquest for the night in a ritual deflowering.

Scarred by the experience, the shaken Jeanne receives no sympathy from her husband. Instead, she is neglected. But as Jeanne drifts off to sleep, she is met by a strange spirit that encourages her to deliver retribution to those who wronged her. And with a mysterious surge of pleasure and an unquenching libido, Jeanne agrees.

Kanashimi no Belladonna is a captivating, psychosexual adventure that tells a story of cunning witchcraft and deceitful superstition in a poor, rural village of medieval France.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Background

Kanashimi no Belladonna was inspired by the 1862 book La Sorcière (Satanism and Witchcraft) by French historian Jules Michelet. It is the third and final film in the Animerama trilogy conceived by Osamu Tezuka, but it is the only one to be neither written nor directed by him.

Characters & Voice Actors

Jeanne

Main
Nagayama, Aiko
Japanese

Devil

Main
Nakadai, Tatsuya
Japanese

Jean

Main
Itou, Takao
Japanese

Clown

Supporting
Akino, Taisaku
Japanese

Priest

Supporting
Yonekura, Masakane
Japanese

Narrator

Supporting
Nakayama, Chinatsu
Japanese

Lady

Supporting
Shimegi, Shigako
Japanese

Lord

Supporting
Takahashi, Masaya
Japanese

Staff

Yamamoto, Eiichi
Director, Script
Tashiro, Atsumi
Sound Director
Fukuda, Yoshiyuki
Script
Nakayama, Chinatsu
Theme Song Lyrics, Theme Song Performance


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Opening Theme

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"Aoi Kagami no Naka de (青い鏡のなかで)" by Chinatsu Nakayama
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Ending Theme

"Kanashimi no Belladonna (哀しみのベラドンナ)" by Mayumi Tachibana




Reviews

Oct 24, 2025
The rest of these reviewers need to go back to primary school to develop some critical thinking skills.

This film is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. The story it portrays takes the typical "witch" folklore and turns it on its head. What's more, the breathtaking original soundtrack takes the viewer by the hand, and guides them through each of Jeanne's defining moments. The audience gets a representation of the emotions she's experiencing at the hands of her village, and has no choice but to feel empathetic towards who she chose to become in order to protect herself.

Other reviewers will tell you that the ...
Nov 27, 2023
Mixed Feelings
Bro, I hate making long reviews.

Anyway, Belladonna of Sadness is quite a masterpiece when it comes to symbolics and artstyle, but overall - not so much.
Sure it is about a woman who explores depths of her own mind and body, but I wouldn't say it's really that interesting.

Symbolics such as the devil, the whole belladonna thing and colour symbolics are really good, they actually made me interested in this whole film.
I also can't complain about the animation, it's a anime from 1973, we can't expect Studio Bones like quality. Artstyle - absolutely gorgeous, it truly made the movie stand out from ...
Nov 9, 2025
*Severe epilepsy warning for 1 long scene*

Stylistically, the closest I could compare this to would be Disney's Fantasia with lots of focus on music and avant-garde artistic bombast instead of the story itself. But the movie suffers from terrible pacing as it is painfully slow where it has nothing more to show and yet skips through most actual plot points. And the story itself is not good both because of the plot and the views conveyed therein.

I always disliked the Spider and the Fly/The Scorpion and the Frog. It's not as if the parable can't be done well, it's just the way they do it ...

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Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Kanashimi no Belladonna Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 )
Alicia3000 - Oct 11, 2009
61 repliesby Y-MELLY »»
Oct 19, 2:36 PM
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Absurdo_N - Sep 7
0 repliesby Absurdo_N »»
Sep 7, 4:55 PM
Her Hell
shegoblin - Sep 7, 2008
1 repliesby mydaddy »»
Nov 21, 2024 8:40 PM
Belladonna of Sadness original artwork restoration project announced
St0rmblade - Sep 9, 2024
2 repliesby Zarutaku »»
Sep 9, 2024 1:26 PM
Is the remaster available for purchase or anything?
BasedCereal - Aug 15, 2016
3 repliesby Etherious_123 »»
Apr 20, 2021 8:16 AM

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