Kanashimi no Belladonna

A corrupted woman is soaked in sin and gradually torn from her soul. Her purity that was once unscathed is now an unbounded commodity. Piece by piece, she is dismantled until the only thing that’s left is flesh and blood. From the ashes of unadulterated youth, now rises something else. The transformation from beauty to grotesque is immediate. A woman is either a maiden or a witch. A sin or a sinner. An unknowing victim or an unholy perpetrator. The existence of both is morally reprehensible. Here we have the scripture of ye old storytelling embedded in every culture, every time, and in every form.

Nonetheless ... every artifice, every duality inherits a line that exists to challenge it. A tempo-spatial blip where white melds into the black – where Angels mingle with Demons, where grotesqueness is beauty, where tragedy births empowerment, where witches ARE women – explodes with a forgotten force. That coalescing blip takes form in Belladonna of Sadness (Kanashimi no Belladonna): a powerful visual enigma that mesmerizes with bizarre aestheticism and erotic storytelling (one that many will probably write off as a “deep” hentai and in the process, dismiss the work so passionately fueled by the revolutionary spirit that drives all provocative art).

Belladonna is the third and final installment in the Animerama series (adult-themed films) conceptualized by Osamu Tezuka, but due to his early abandonment of the project, it was sought through (in 1973) by Eiichi Yamamoto and produced by Mushi Production. Adapted loosely from the non-fictional musings in La Sorcière by Jules Michelet, Belladonna follows the vicious downfall of a young girl named Jeanne, and thus, her metamorphosis. Even though Belladonna takes influence from Michelet’s book, it is not a literal re-telling. The novelty of Michelet’s work, however, should be noted. La Sorciere attempted to trace the rebellions against feudalism and Medieval practices that subjugated women and peasants. Riddled with folklore, fairy tales, and religious theory, the book opened a new sympathetic vision towards the oppressed, and what eventually manifested into “witchcraft”. Belladonna is a tale about oppression, but also about revolution. What starts off as a fatalistic chain of events steeped in sexual violence and tradition, morphs into a darkly, disturbing tale of empowerment (featuring Satan symbolized as an ever-growing penis, lots and lots of other phallic imagery, and intense psychedelics visuals).

The aesthetical direction in Belladonna is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Sequences of stylistically-independent paintings that are tied by motion. Styles include Klimt-influenced artworks where the female body is the everlasting focus. The only place where precision in detail matters is on Jeanne, and partly her husband and abusers. Following in the symbolist tradition, many embodied the elements of Decadence. These paintings were full of lurid, exploitative objects that were flourishing with mystical context. Decadent art called for transgression and taboo and expressed them through dreamlike visual poetics. Belladonna adapts this with acuity. Abstract, expressionistic paintings also take hold here. The use of placement, distance, object and how they come alive, both with color and shape all reveal this. There are scenes that are built entirely on geometric progression. The painting starts at one point, transforming into a set of shapes that blooms into the eventual scenery. Kaleidoscopic backgrounds and mural-stoned-faces swell up the screen, while continuous mutations and distortions keep the atmosphere full of psychedelic vigor. It’s like a never-ending party in the 60s. The art-style is intensely experimental and frequently disorienting. The styles and influences here are endless: watercolor paintings, ink-stencil portraits, sketchbook graphics, bubbly cartoons, and the list goes on – of all the various art-styles contained in this film. Even though the film ranges in the kind of techniques it employs – many of them being direct contrasts to one another – it never hiccups, not even once. The continual change in style becomes equally as important for the story. It’s a story with centuries of sociopolitical turmoil, unveiled through centuries of art evolution on canvas. And the best part is that it’s always fluid and always flowing.

Consequently, Belladonna's art is demanding, bold, highly erotic, often-etched-imminently, and absolutely unforgiving. The shots move ever-so emphatically; scenes feel as if being drawn out right then and there. The horror here transposes itself not just as a genre, but a state, an endless feeling that seduces the senses while suffocating the mind. There are scenes comprised of simple shapes, lines intersecting, and splashes of unending red and black that are more horrific than most horror films attempting to be anything more than a gore-fest nowadays. The film functions in directional panning waves that slide from painting to painting, with minimal movement and sparse dialogue. One of the most laudable aspects was the use of motion. Films, at a very fundamental level, need to master the skill of motion; to be able to capture the mobility of ideas in a visual format. In the same way that sometimes silence speaks louder than sound, stasis expresses visual ideas more potently than systematic movement. It’s animation revised: unbridled by traditional sequential movement, materialized through motion on canvas. Stasis then becomes as important as motion. Belladonna proves this with its delicate and deliberate staging and execution.

Now really, what is Belladonna about? The aesthetics tell it all. The “how” is infinitely more valuable than the “what”. Even then, there is still plenty to bask in, narratively. Belladonna is a purely visual experience, but isolating the narrative is worthwhile. Reconnecting with the earlier synopsis, Belladonna tells the seemingly unfortunate tale of Jeanne. On her wedding night, as custom dictates, Jeanne and her husband Jean must receive the okay from the baron (through paying ridiculous monetary “gifts”). As they cannot meet the high demands set by the Baron, Jeanne is subjected to ritualistic rape by the Baron and his house of ghastly courtiers. From then onward, Jeanne continues to suffer at the hands of her time, repeatedly violated by those in power and by circumstance, she finds herself in an old-fashioned predicament: compromising her humanity. It’s not original in its premise. Tales of religious persecution, power, and transformation almost always follow a similar formula: striking a deal with the devil. Therefore, the story unfolds on a two-fold: first, on the degradation of humanity and second, on the revival of it.

What sets Belladonna apart is its perspective and thematic subversion. The apparent importance of religion, tradition, and all these concepts that arise from scripture of society all take a backseat for Jeanne’s place in the world. She becomes the singular point of relevance amongst cosmic indifference, where she comes before the judgments of the world. This is crucial for the second half of the story and the ultimate, conclusion. The perspective here is refreshing, in the ways many modern fairy tales are, especially those with a female focus. The one that immediately comes to mind is a collection of short stories by Angela Carter titled The Bloody Chamber. These tales are of the revolutionaries — the nontraditional, and those unaligned with the religious depiction of “woman”–, where through the crevices of preordained evil and sacrilegious, arises positivity in the form of empowerment and transformation. These are far more important than redemption or “survival”. It’s history, art, and humanity revisited but with the scales tipping the other way. Thus, the devil becomes a tool. Evil becomes a means to an end. The deal becomes a means to an end. The body is shown to be purely material and the spirit/soul as mere propaganda. Things that held the greatest amounts of meaning become empty remnants in the face of ultimate transformation. The most important point is that woman and witch remain synonymous. This isn’t a movement to destroy humanity, but to revolutionize it.

Jeanne makes the deal and becomes a witch. Yet, she doesn’t seek revenge in the old-testament sort of horrific way. She sets the way for the townspeople and all those that violated her to find hell in their own manner, whether it’s through hedonism, paganism, or partaking in 24/7 orgies. The Black Plague is also a thing, here (and the origins are hilarious but terrifying). Jeanne helps those struck by the plague (using various plants and concoctions) and becomes their savior. With her “help”, the villagers willingly walk on their personalized road to perdition. (Belladonna is a nightshade plant. The root was used to make medicine, but the leaves and berries are deadly. It’s named after Venetian ladies who used it to dilate pupils for striking appearances). Jeanne assumes her rightly place as the Belladonna who in the wrong doses, proves to be lethal and insurmountable. As Angela Carter reformulates the heroine/woman in modern fairy tales, “Like the wild beasts, she lives without a future. She inhabits only the present tense, a fugue of the continuous, a world of sensual immediacy as without hope as it is without despair,” we find ourselves seeing Jeanne reflected in the very same words. Jeanne descends into –what we perceive as– madness, a form of clinical hysteria from any angle. Despite that, there is something far deeper settling in her reverie: “The girl burst out laughing; she knew she was nobody’s meat.” And that very Carter-ian depiction becomes the absolute state of Jeanne.

Even with the inevitable “end” of Jeanne, the story holds true to what actualized empowerment entails: continuation. It doesn’t end with the body.

Experiencing Belladonna is very much like falling down a bottomless rabbit hole. A visceral drop where one experiences each grain of the twisted earth, swallowing wholly, their entire state of being. The dive isn’t measured. It’s freefall so fast, one almost feels like they are suspended in air, motionless. During those moments, every sensory receptor is attuned to an unknown, unearthly frequency. It’s a film designed to enthrall the senses and heighten all temporality. The kind of thing people do drugs for. Spectacularly, it achieves this for every second of its runtime. Enter this with an open mind. Belladonna knows for she is woman and witch, and both exist here simultaneously.

Spellbound in a whirlwind of love, sex, desire, and disaster, Belladonna of Sadness is a blistering wound of emotions and vices. The nature of sin and excess; the act of wanting too much without understanding the cost. A cautionary tale of indulgence as showcased by an unnamed kingdom positioned in the Middle Ages. The unfortunate recipients of which are Jean and Jeanne, a couple young in love in a world far too cutthroat to accept the purity of their union. Their honeymoon, a nightmarish event, forever tainted by the cruel actions of an aristocrat drunk with power. Deflowered and battered, Jeanne, a victim of the ... worst kind of atrocity, is left a wilted rose in her husband's arms. A newlywed couple demoralized by the ones appointed by God to reign over them. Betrayed by those in power and emotionally abandoned by her husband, Jeanne is left to pick up the pieces. With nothing but time to keep her company—misplaced guilt far too stifling to forget, and an act of selfishness far too wicked to forgive—she searches for solace away from society's pitiful gaze. For a way to regain some semblance of self after being deprived of her womanhood.

And in this moment of weakness, desperate and defeated, whispers of vengeance caress her ear, the temptation of which becomes far too alluring to ignore. These sweet whispers are made by a demon, one conjured up by the smoldering embers of spite ignited in place of the self-pity that occupied her idle mind. A chance to strike back at the ones that robbed her is offered. A doleful plea made in the stillness of night, she succumbs to the opportunity, accepting the help of the phallic spirit that appears before her. A decision this trickster demon revels in, as he obtains another fresh prey to sink his fangs into. Her future regret providing a source of nourishment for his mischief, as the slow grooming process begins. A pact was now made with the Devil, signed with the ink of atrocities yet to come and regrets yet to manifest.

This is the world stage that Belladonna of Sadness creates, the means in which it's brought to life sharing equal importance. Watercolor brushstrokes wisp across the curvature of Jeanne's delicate frame, her fair skin left bare, absent of pigmentation. Color pencil outlines contort around landscapes, containing greenery, houses, citizens and wildlife alike; everything encased in its perimeters. Even abstract expressions aren't forgotten; moments of doubt, corruption, depravity, and envy illustrated by ink bleeding in all directions across the canvas. Brittle charcoal lines trailing right behind it to further emphasize the spread of these ideas and emotions.

Oil pastels, watercolor paint, charcoal, color pencils, graphite pencils, stencil outlines; all these utensils used for expression cascades towards a singular vision, harmoniously melding together to bring the story to life. Influenced by the art styles of Harry Clarke, Gustav Klimt, and many others, Belladonna is given a gothic-like expressionistic visual portrayal. Lengthy body postures with spindly limbs. Decorated clothing that hugs their bodies like a second skin. Every bit of it giving birth to a timeless look. Something like a rediscovered tapestry that was lost to the Dark Ages.

Even the namesake of Belladonna helps define the film. Belladonna, a toxic berry also referred to as deadly nightshade, or "bella donna" as derived from the Italian phrase meaning "beautiful woman"—essentially, a deadly beauty—was a plant used throughout history as either a cosmetic accessory or an instrument of death. The film doesn't shy away from this as well, as the Black Plague parallels are just as self-evident here as it is in films like 1957's The Seventh Seal. The biggest difference between the two being the person that serves as arbiter of judgment. Instead of Death himself casting a shadow on all those he encounters, the role is personally taken on by the Devil. He brandishes death in one hand while dangling false hope in the other. That false hope coming in the form of his future mistress-to-be, Jeanne; something we're made privy to as the story slowly unfolds. It's a fate unwillingly bestowed onto her but one she will come to embrace, for better or for worse. It's the birth of a deadly beauty, of belladonna itself.

Tasting the forbidden fruit, what started out as an earnest plea for help quickly spirals into madness, as the payment levied for her request is paid by body and soul. Jeanne gets her vengeance but at a cost that far exceeds what she had expected. Everything is brought to ruin. Her head rests in the crook of her arm, smeared tears coagulate, glistening off her cheek as she reminisces about a simpler time before her decision. But despite her best attempts to return to the beginning, her repentance falls on deaf ears. The outcome only worsens. And so she accepts her role.

We see the depravity of mankind depicted as social tact is abandoned. When people are stripped naked of society's robes and gives into their deepest, darkest desires. Jeanne becomes their catalyst to indulge. Her soul no longer in her possession. Her flesh, an instrument of pleasure. She loses all fabric of her being, and in the process, becomes a force much greater than herself. Like mother nature, she takes her seat among urban legend. A succubus. A pariah. An enchantress of the night. She is lust. A wielded weapon in Lucifer's arsenal.

She sought out revenge from those that used her only to gain the power to harm them through the act of being used. A cruel irony—God isn't the only one with a sense of humor.

It all culminates in the throws of a hedonistic free-for-all. Sex partners made of noblemen and street peasants alike. A ceaseless indulgence as bodies melts into each other, creating an ungodly form, no trace of decency surviving the transmutation. A distorted representation of sin incarnate. Sodom and Gomorrah birthed anew. The Devil's latest atrocity. He sits their satisfied, looking on at the banquet hall of the finest assortment of human perversion. And positioned squarely at the other end of the table sits his finest creation. A mother of scorn. Jeanne joins him hand-in-hand, unafraid of the consequences anymore. The road towards humanity has long been lost in the shadows as she steps closer to the realm of Gods and Demons. Female empowerment has never had a more terrifying representative. Her wrath is as unwavering as her seduction is lethal. And this is what we're left with.

There isn't a happy ending here. Just another chapter where mankind loses. Whether it serves as a sobering reminder of humanity's inevitable self-destruction or just a matter-of-fact depiction of death and sin with parallels of the Great Plague, it's up to you to take what you will from it. As for me, it's a fascinating film that I always find myself revisiting. Each recounter rekindling my love for it or gleaning something new to cherish. It may not have been a commercial success, but as an artistic statement, its efforts were admirable, sustaining a legacy for all those it has gone on to influence.

And the award to the most underrated anime of all time goes to a movie produced and realised in 1973, as part of a trilogy by the Manga God, Osuma Tezuka, who leave the project. Kanashimi no Belladoona is amovie that the 99,9% of the anime fandom never heard any about. It's really difficut to found it on internet, and that's without subtitles.
But it's a shame. Anime creators like Kuhiko Ikuhara, Utena and Penguindrum's creator, has admitted the influence of this movie. So, why is this film so unknown?
First of all, it's not a typical movie. It's an avant-garde movie, something you will notice just ... saying the animation and art style. Forget the formula big eyes, small nose, the charecters are drawn here in a more european look-alike. The colors maybe brillaint and vivid in some scenes, or depressing in others, following the story and the sensations the movie show. The story takes place in the Middle Ages, in France, and the historical portrait is really accurate.
It's the story of Jeanne, a young woman who got the bad luck to born female and poor, and how she gets power, while the lords call her a witch, show us the oppressive situation that women has to live in that era. Searching for freedom and power, Jeanne become more and more an outcast fom the society that mistreat her, and build up aimge of a powerful, terryfing woman, a witch. The social criticize is just brillaint.
Yeah, there's sex in this story. We see an evolution, since the sex as weapon to oppress people that the Milord uses, til the sex as a way to break free, gain power or joint a soulmate.
With or without sex, Kanshimi no Belladonna is a movie that deserves more recognocition for explore themes as feminism, social hipocrisy, the use of religion as a way to oppress the population, and other ways too, and sexuality.

This is nothing groundbreaking, nothing that will change your world, but it is a fun little psychedelic trip. The few iconic scenes alone, such as her rape early on, leave enough that it is enjoyable even if it is a bit lacking in substance.

The art here is interestingly animated. The colors are always interesting to watch, and the animation mostly manages to be coherent despite the psychedelic nature. It is not always especially fluid, and I think that is what it has the hardest time balancing in a way that is totally watchable. I liked the art the most when the fluidity was best, but ... it is still nice to look at a lot of the time when it pauses, especially on any beautiful looks of Jeanne. I like the disparity between Jeanne's beauty and everybody else; it lends a real power to her character development.

Jeanne's character as a typically frightfully powerful woman is interestingly played out here - she has a downfall not once, but twice! Jeanne's inability to rely on her husband or anyone at all, despite helping them out, makes her a nice tragic character in these downfalls. The baron is all right for an evil role, especially with how he is drawn, but his wife seems to be an especially weak character, suffocating story and enjoyment any time she is present.

The story is weak, and not because it leaves you guessing, but rather because it just cannot be told enough with the focus on the art. Since the art does spend a lot of time in psychedelic mode, taking minutes to flesh out basic ideas, it cannot really play up aspects of the story that it could otherwise. This also means that you are left guessing about a lot of aspects of the story.

The sound is not amazing, but is pretty much always enjoyable, especially if you like typical hard rock and psychedelic rock sounds. This spends more time sounding like early Deep Purple, but it also manages to sound like early Pink Floyd too. At the end it even adopts a sound like Ecstasy of Gold, but in a more Japanese style. It never excels in any of these modes, but it is never bad in any of them either, and nearly always compliments the art and story well

Overall, this is a rather "indulgent" work to watch, rather than something whose story or action you can simply sit back and let overawe you. If you are bored of typical anime and manga, however, this might be a nice little indulgent break.

I am seriously shocked that this movie has such a low ranking. This film is more of an art film than a japanese animation film -ok, I guess you noticed it from the beginning of the movie-, thus, you better stop ranking this film according to the usual way of giving a score to an anime. This film certainly lacks of a deep story, and the character development is quite poor, but don't be mislead cause this film wasn't meant to show a great story. The animation and somebody other technical characteristics are what wey are supposed to put our eyes on, and if.somehow you've ... failed to notice that most psychedelic films won't get anywhere, you should at least try to focus on the art of this one.

[SPOILER FREE REVIEW]
First of all, I apologize for the bad English.
Kanashimi no Belladonna is what happens when hentai becomes art. The erotic scenes, here, aren't just sex. Belladonna of Sadness is a real journey through the misogynist universe of Christianity, exploring every single detail of the suffering of women in a sexist society in the most beautiful way that is possible.

Story: 10/10

The story isn't some Texhnolyze-like complex plot, but it's as sensitive and brainy as. The story follows Jeanne, a christian woman in a truly medieval European scenery (not like Nanatsu no Taizai or Meine Liebe, where there's no representation of the poor people's suffering ... by the abusive governments and famine), that wants to get married with a poor guy, but is impeded by the class prejudice, and then get abandoned by him. In the night which Jeanne was supposed to marry, she's raped by some demoniac entity and, therefore, she has no outlet for her awakened libido. The story, like I already said, isn't used to pornographic purposes, but it's a way to report the rape questions, the oppressing structure of marriage, the sexist nature of the religion, the unfortunately very common victim blaming and the sexual freedom of women, which is restricted by the christian society.

Art: 10/10

The overview of the plot is kinda fantastic, but it can get greater. The story isn't only told by the dialogues and events. It's told by the art too.
The animation is a surrealistic-like, semi-static, very beautiful and meaningful art. Some details improves a lot the story, and I can't even imagine the work it demanded.
Looks like some drawn poetry, an autistic and eccentric unknown vision of the reality, an artistic way to view the hurt. It's the greatest art I ever seen in anime.

Sound: 10/10

Even the sound here is, someway, feminist. The musics reports the sexism in every small act of the daily life, and if you understand Japanese, the experience can be even greater.

Character: 9/10

If I say that, in 1 hour and 29 minutes of pure surrealistic art, the director developed a three-dimensional character, would you believe? So watch it. Jeanne is a god tier character of all-time movies.
Each character represents some group of people which is involved in prejudiced relations, and to watch it is to get more empathic.

Enjoyment: 10/10

It's outstanding. There's three ways to enjoy or not the movie:
1. Appreciating the humanist messages and denunciations of this masterpiece;
2. Appreciating the not-so-satisfactory pornographic scenes like a masturbation-addicted guy;
3. Depreciating the more-than-coherent critic that the movie make to your religion, being a close-minded and limited person.

But, in all these ways, it's hard to watch Belladonna of Sadness, and it's good: the movie transmitted to you the feeling it has and is.

Overall: 9.9/10

It's a journey through the sexist society of Christianity. An unique experience. A fucking (haha) masterpiece.

Loosely inspired by Jules Michelet's Satanism and Witchcraft, a fictionalized history of medieval witchcraft in Europe, Eiichi Yamamoto's cult anime Belladonna of Sadness strikes a perfect balance between midnight-movie enchantment and arthouse sophistication. The plot follows two recently married peasants, Jean and Jeanne (Aiko Nagayama and Katsuyuki Itô), as they deal with the aftermath of Jeanne's rape by a local baron (Masaya Takahashi) and his henchman by right of prima nocta. Jeanne eventually makes a Faustian bargain with Satan (Tatsuya Nakadai), who appears to her in the guise of a playful demonic phallus, which initially gives her vast social power, but ultimately breeds tragic consequences ... for the couple.

For all its wonderfully gonzo WTF moments, as when the diminutive, phallic Satan slowly grows in stature as Jeanne strokes him, there's also an underlying stately melancholy to the proceedings. The sadistic punishment of Jeanne's body is disturbingly ambivalent, both sensual and sinister, as she welcomes and resists her repeated onslaughts in equal measure. This dualism reflects the film's nuanced view of medieval witchcraft as both a harbinger of feminism and an example of sexual decadence, an act of social transgression that challenged medieval moral and power structures by deliberately embracing what society viewed as an illicit and evil form of behavior.

This cult anime strikes a perfect balance between midnight-movie enchantment and arthouse sophistication.

The film's visuals consist mainly of panning shots of sumptuously painted tableaus, frequently enlivened by startling movements (both sudden and fluid) in unexpected areas of the mise-en-scène. The animation is decadently expressionistic, inspired by works from the last millennium of European art, particularly the sinuous lines and dark eroticism of Aubrey Beardsley, Gustav Klimt, and Egon Schiele. The scenes depicting war and plague exude a particularly hallucinatory quality; we see the plague literally eating away at the foundations of medieval society, as cathedrals and other monuments of feudal power dissolve into formless wisps of smoke and specters.

Belladonna of Sadness nevertheless reflects a uniquely Japanese id, as evidenced by such touches as Jeanne and Satan's lovemaking session, where her hair flows in the ether like the tentacles of an octopus in the ocean. Such elements, along with Masahiko Satoh's incredible psychedelic soundtrack, connects Jeanne's liberation struggle against the authorities of medieval Europe with Japan's contemporary political and social unrest. The visual excesses reinforce the film's underlying attack on the repressive banality of conventional political rule. Jeanne's extravagant sexuality has no labor value in a medieval society that relies on the economic exploitation of the peasant masses; it thus functions as a criticism of the oppressive materialism of a world supposedly dedicated to spiritual values. Embracing evil is her only way to achieve sovereignty in a world where God has become a tool of repression.

Jeanne rebels against God as the spiritual embodiment of the patriarchal state that violated her in the form of the baron and his court. This follows Michelet's reading of witches' covens as an early example of popular rebellion against the authoritarian state that would culminate in the French Revolution. Jeanne is a forerunner of the equally liberated Liberty Leading the People, Eugène Delacroix's topless embodiment of the women (in Michelet's conception) who led the populist revolutions that shook Europe throughout the 19th century. And yet, it's a very phallic Satan that endows Jeanne with her growing social and political agency during her rise and eventual fall from the pinnacles of power. If this attempt to link medieval witchcraft with the modern women's liberation movement ultimately comes off as a bit perfunctory and confused, the effort is nevertheless emblematic of the film's largely successful effort to deliver a beautifully trippy mindfuck with some philosophical depth.

Critic Review by Oleg Ivanov - slantmagazine

Original Source: http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/belladonna-of-sadness

Belladonna of Sadness is one of the greatest, most unheralded pieces of animation of all time. Maybe the greatest psychedelic cult film ever, second to Yellow Submarine. Belladonna is born out of same fabulous furry freak mindset that allowed for Fritz The Cat exist, except this film takes it to unprecedentedly beautiful and poignant heights. It's like the Bitches Brew of animation. Wonderful, wild, psychedelic, artful, freewheeling, innovative even if it's influence is nowhere to be seen in any other film (but maybe that's to come in the future.) Even at it's most explicit or pandering, it's still meaningful on multiple levels whether it's the ... masterful animation, the relevancy of the story/characters, the contrast of music and image or even just the overall tone of the film. I don't even think any of this was intentional by the director, it seems it was meant to be just another disposable hentai film which makes it's poignancy all the more remarkable. A great film not just compared to other anime, but compared to other great films in general (animated or not.) Don't miss this and if you have to give it more than one shot, trust me it's worth it.

A lost cult classic of anime, Belladonna of Sadness is the third film in a trilogy of erotica anime films called Animerama made by Mushi Production and had some sort of involvement from famous anime director Osamu Tezuka from 1969 to 1973 (Tezuka being a producer for Belladonna). Set in a pre-French Revolution era French village, new bride Jeanne finds herself raped by her village's corrupt lord and turns to witchcraft to escape the cruelty of the local lords influencing her village.

The immediate thing that will stick out to many viewers of Belladonna is its avant-garde visuals. Many of the visuals are beautifully-done watercolor drawings ... that have lush colors and a good amount of detail, with limited animation applied to them. A good amount of the visual sequences are symbolic representations of sexuality applied to Jeanne's tragic situation and eventual acceptance of her open sexuality. The film was made with a limited budget as this was the final animated work made by Mushi before they went bankrupt, but whatever limited resources they had work beautifully with what was done for this film to create a unique psychedelic experience. Just as a fair warning though, some of the animated sequences in Belladonna can trigger seizures for those sensitive to light thanks to light strobing effects applied to them.

In regards to plot, Belladonna is fairly straightforward as Jeanne talks with the Devil during the first half of the film to resist giving in to evil, while eventually giving into her inner demons. However, there is far more depth put into this film than what it seems on the surface thanks to its sexually-charged symbolism. Without spoiling too much, the film is a critique on how society can repress women and the lower class, with the Devil in this film not being as evil as the lords would have the villagers believe as he is a representation of the freedom that can be gained if Jeanne and others defy the social order established. However, the film will certainly not be appropriate for younger audiences thanks to its strong violent and sexual content found with many of its animated sequences.

While certainly not for everyone thanks to its arthouse-style presentation and sexually explicit themes, Belladonna of Sadness is still a unique lost film of anime history thanks to its beautiful and surreal visual presentation, and sexually-charged symbolism of seeking freedom from an oppressive and corrupt social order. If anime coming from directors like Kunihiko Ikuhara have struck your interest before, then Belladonna is certain to grab your interest here.

Provacative, surreal, and psychedelic, this is a film unlike anything I've seen before. The artstyle, sometimes muted, washed with watercolor dripping down the screen, and other times loud with vivid reds and greens that pop out at the viewer, is as beautiful as it is haunting. The animation, minimal at best, is slightly choppy but surprisingly very fluid during very specific scenes. It all feels purposefully done, as if to make those scenes stand out even more than the others. The music also serves a very large role, other than the instruments helping to convey the tone of the scene, often the singer will serve ... as a dual narrator, as if to spell out the melancholy of the main character as well as the crossroads at which she stands.

This isn't going to be a movie for everyone. I'm going to get that right out of the way first and foremost. This is an arthouse film which employed some very experimental techniques at the time, ones which Toei Productions would later employ when they coined the term "ga-nime" (an extremely niche and often overlooked style of production which was unpopular and never wide spreading). However, at the heart of Belladonna of Sadness is an experience which reminds me of an emotionally charged, more narratively driven Angels Egg (mostly in its execution, but also religious imagery). If you've seen that film, you'll understand how each scene flows into the next with an almost dream-like fever, but that the story is mostly up for interpretation. I'd argue that the message and the story of Jeanne (the main character of Belladonna of Sadness) and her downfall is very straightforward despite its surrealism.

The story starts with a marriage, but after the lord demands more taxes than the husband can pay, his lady proposes that the virgin wife have her purity tainted. After that, nothing is the same for Jeanne as her life spirals after being reduced to an artform for the eyes of lustful men. One criticism I see often is that there's a romanticized depiction of her and every assault she suffers, however, I'd argue that depiction is strongly symbolic to how she is viewed vs how she views herself. During the latter half of the movie after she makes a deal (won't spoil it), her body is like a temple, but spirals in many scenes to be this twisted, unholy mass of flesh. And yet, despite all this, one thing I loved about her is that she was still willing to help others even when her cynicism and emptiness became like posion.

I wouldn't call this a love story. I wouldn't even call this a story of revenge. I don't say this often because I feel the term has become synonymous with certain unsavory women who's extremism has become laughable and reduced to a caricature of what the movement stood for, but this movie has a strong feminist message. I could carry on about the meaning of the phallic imagery throughout, or even her face transposed over the other women in the crowd at the end, but this review is already long. I will say as a closing, however, that it's the impact of the story of Jeanne which inspires me, and why I love the ending so much.

TLDR; if you enjoy morality tales laced with tragedy and experimental anime, this might be for you—but if you're not enjoying it after about 30 minutes, then drop it

Simply put, a feminist manifesto under the disguise of a mindblowing piece of art that will convince you of the necessity and universal appeal of feminism like no rabid (fake progressive) millennial on social networks can do made, between other people, by one of the first women to work in the anime field, Reiko Okuyama, who acted as key animator here. Incredible OST, incredible seiyuu performance (including by an actual shakespearian actor), my only advice to whoever is approaching this masterpiece is to read the books and comics of the creator of Wonder Woman, William Moulton Marston, before watching this that I consider my favourite ... movie of all times. In those two books, named Emotions of Normal People and Integrative Psychology: a study of Unit response (as well as the comics), you'll find 98% of the elements depicted in this soul-crushing experience that even after twelve rewatches each time is amazes me more and more.

Belladonna of Sadness is a film that invokes thought. It demands your full attention and torments you relentlessly with an endless juxtaposition of horrifying symbolic imagery and beautifully drawn keyframes. In my opinion, this film is one of the greatest films ever created.

The incredibly horrifying (yet stunning) imagery brings out the most terror and despair I have ever seen in film. The wonderful illustrations and audio are a heavy contrast against the subject matter, satiating any morbid curiosity and furthering the desire to watch. The subject matter itself is no laughing matter, as you witness a seemingly endless torturing of the protagonist Jeanne. ... Indeed, the film can be downright gut-wrenching at times, but the art is so magnificent that you will find it virtually impossible to look away. The soundtrack is of equal margins; a masterpiece in its own right of mixing jazzy tunes with guitar ensembles and experimental electronic synths. The backing tracks will switch from something jazzy and optimistic to something further ominous or downright sinister at a moments notice, which completely changes the tonal interpretation of many of the scenes shown.

There's enough in this film to keep you coming back for many rewatches (a typical sign of a masterpiece), but the brutal rape scenes will caution you from taking this film too lightly and revisiting it too soon.

A beautiful, visceral experience, but not for the faint of heart at all. Must watch.

Before I start the review I would like to note something.The thing is that I could not find an English subbed version (and I've spent 2 hours looking) so I've watched the movie in Japanese only because of the positive reviews this movie got.

The actual review:
If I had to describe this movie in just one word I would choose to use the word "colorful".Since I had to watch this movie in Japanese I scored it based on sound and visual alone,guess what?I gave this movie 10\10.

The movie made in a way that the visual & sound told me all the story by themselves.A rare ... thing to say about a movie,it could have been told without dubbing and no damage would be done.

The visuals are nothing short of amazing.Whoever animated this was at least two decades ahead of his time.I would argue that the animater was inspired by Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" (don't watch it that movie sucks) and the '60s.

The soundtrack was very jazzy at times reminding me somewhat of "Bitches Bew" by Miles Davis from 1970.And when it wasn't jazzy it was just alright because everything was on spot in this film.

Go and watch it,I rarely give anything a 10\10.

The first time I've ever heard about this movie was by doing some research in Osamu Tezuka's many works, when I stumbled upon the adult animated trilogy "Animerama" (consisting of "1001 Nights", "Cleopatra", and "Belladonna"). I first watched "1001 Nights" (sadly in Italian...) and was quite surprised that the father of Astro Boy and Kimba could do something so silly and mature. I glanced then at "Cleopatra" and quickly stopped because I already saw two movies destroying the image of the last pharaoh (with a feathered hat-wearing Gaul, nah mean?), then I finally got to see "Belladonna", and let me tell you, if you thought ... Dante's Divine Comedy was hard to go through, then this movie is way much harder to peer into.

The story is basically a tale of witchcraft (female of course) in the late Middle Ages. That's it.

The soundtrack is a bit like Pink Floyd but on steroids.

The art and animation are quite a hit and miss (a hit for the art style, and a little miss for the animation). Basically, you take the psychedelic animation from "Yellow Submarine" and mix it with Playboy magazines with a little bit of early Yoshitaka Amano art style, and there you have the animation and art standards of this movie.

In conclusion, be really prepared for this acid trip made non-directly by one of the fathers of anime.

Gorgeous animation drives this feature-length film, awash in 1970s psychedelia and brash sexuality. The story has a fable-like feeling to it, although I could never determine if there was a point that was being made (and if there was, whether I even agreed with it). It's an *adults only* film, with sexuality forming a very key part of its identity--going beyond nakedness and into the ambiguous realm of suggestion and innuendo. At times immature (realizing, for example, that the "demon" character is shaped like a penis), but, I feel, generally with a point that feeds the subtext. Unfortunately I don't know what that subtext is, ... but no matter. Whatever the case, this is a must-see for fans of beautiful animation.

Haiku review:

Satan's a penis:
"Belladonna of Sadness"
Is art-house hentai.

Longer review, because MAL insists on it:

"Belladonna of Sadness" is thoroughly, almost desperately, a set piece of its time. While the excellent story had been written 110 years earlier, the music, characterizations, and most especially the schizophrenic art style cry out -- no, scream -- early 1970s. The music is Japan's take on a French chanteuse style, but it is not without its Japanese charms -- a kind of Crayon-sha hopelessness. The characters are as written more than a century earlier and reflect the French aimlessness of that strange era.

The art style -- the many art styles -- ... are where it is of its time, almost in a frenzy. You can't miss the influences of Peter Max, Yellow Submarine, Andy Warhol, the multitude of the underground cartoonists of the time, all of it. There's nothing missing. It has psychedelica when that was thought to be cool, and everything was driven by sex because that was, well, when everything was driven by sex, the excitement coming from the scandal of it all.

It is a time capsule. The word "enjoyment" isn't one I'd think of in connection with "Kanashimi no Belladonna," because it's not an especially pleasurable thing to watch. It is worthwhile, instead, for its anthropological and maybe even nostalgic value.

Visually Impressive, I mean absolutely gorgeous. There are several different art styles that Yamamoto utilizes and each one was equally as impressive for its own reasons. Soundtrack is also excellent, I found myself mesmerized by the long scenes of visuals and music coinciding into one long visual trip. Seriously, go check out the OST, it's beautiful free jazz composed by Masahiko Sato. Not a good film for casual viewing because although a pretty film, I found the story lacking and developed no real relationship to the characters. These are trivial issues when dealing with a film of this nature however. Overall an impressive art house ... anime thats not too preoccupied with conveying a story conventionally, but successfully portrays something hypnotizing and breathtaking.

I think I found this movie when someone compared it to Shoujo Tsubaki. I decided to look it up because I thought the name was "artsy" and found the art to be absolutely gorgeous. Before you get thrown off by the X rating, just know it's not really hentai. The "hentai" scenes are the defiling of the main female lead and it's probably impossible to get off to due to it's graphic and abhorrent depictions of rape. This is true art and is truly indistinguishable from anime besides its language.

Story / 7

I think the story is not truly the important part here. Basically, a ... young woman, Jeanne, gets raped by the local lord on her wedding night because her and her husband, Jean, can't pay the wedding toll. She turns to witchcraft then.

Art / 10

The art is honestly the best part - it is absolutely stunning. It has a very European style to it. It also goes from a very "papermation" style to real animation where it moves so smoothly about halfway through the movie. It has very dull colors but I enjoyed it nonetheless as the colors fit.

Sound / 9

The music is absolutely gorgeous as well. The main theme "Beradonna" is absolutely gorgeous and has gorgeous, throaty vocals. "Funny Feeling" has a very creepy and almost sinister sound to it and it definitely serves its purpose in the scene it is played during. "TBSF" is my favorite out of the whole soundtrack though. It is absolutely gorgeous and though I can't truly understand what the singer is saying, it sounds absolutely gorgeous. I loved the soundtrack to this movie so much that I bought the vinyl for it.

Character / 8

For the very few characters of importance, only Jeanne matters. You can count the characters on your two hands probably. Though the lack of characters, I absolutely love Jeanne. She goes through so much, but still carries on. She goes from having absolutely nothing and being broken to being a strong woman and wanting everything. It is ultimately her downfall though.

Enjoyment / 9

From the stunning art to the riveting soundtrack, Belladonna is a trip from start to finish. It truly is a trip due to it's drug of choice being the Belladonna flower, a flower being one that can cause narcosis and paralysis. When people say it's a psychedelic movie, they mean it. I recommend this movie to someone who wants to experience one of the highest forms of art.

It is definitely interesting movie. One cannot forget the date at which it was made. Plot is simple and not complicated, but has enough substance to be interesting. In my view it is mainly about finding of women place in society and critique of a man society and its attitude towards women. Visiual style is stunning. Usage of watercolours and black and white ink drawings as well as still images was beautifully done. Altough I would prefert little less still images and some psychadelic scenes, where bit too much for my taste. As far as erotic content goes, some of it was nicely done (I ... imagine it was meant mainly as an allegory for women status) but some scenes where unnescessary. But overall I enjoyed it and would recommend it (but mainly to those seeking little bit unconventtional anime experience).

Belladonna of Sadness, loosely based on the 19th century novel La Sorcière, is a fantastical work that laments the misogyny endemic to patriarchal society as much as it celebrates feminine resilience. The rather simple tale should overall sound familiar to anyone with a basic knowledge of the history of witchcraft and perceptions of women’s sexuality in Europe, yet a couple of interesting choices set the film apart from precedence. As the film initially depicts sex as a tool for oppression and debasement with her ‘deflowering’, Jeanne’s eventual ability to wield sex as a tool for healing and liberation is a triumph. The final reveal that ... Jeanne’s prideful spirit is what inspires the women who led the French Revolution centuries later also elevates the story where it connects Jeanne’s personal struggle to the struggle of her gender as a whole. Even if Jeanne inevitably meets her demise within a draconian feudal society, she sows the seeds for liberation and doesn’t die in vain.

Story notes aside, the Belladonna’s chief cinematic achievement is its incredibly vivid psychedelic animation. Consisting mostly of side-scrolling watercolor panels, the animators adeptly capture raw sexual trauma, grim loneliness as well as erotic, fantastical bliss in beautiful fashion. Specific animated motifs add much meaning to the very sexualized dynamics of the film - the phallic shape of the akuma (devil) who rapes Jeanne, the flower which Jeanne uses to heal the woes of the villagers. It seems the movie is broadly saying while men may see sex as a tool for power, possession and control, women view sex as a healing spiritual force that bonds people together.

There’s so much incredible detail in Belladonna of Sadness that the film is probably worth multiple views. But with that said, it’s clear Belladonna is an all-time crowning achievement in film animation that puts much of today’s automated and digitized animations to shame.