• The only thing you really need to know about the story is that the main character marries a man whoーthen sells her to the Devilーwhere she gets raped continuously, and then the remnants of the movieーrepresents her tumultuous journey towards salvation. Jean, the husband, he mysteriously looks like Roman Polanski, the wife, Jeanne (Sharon Tate), holds physical similarities, and the pastor who marries them, note: suspiciously looks like Charles Manson. This film may be a commentary on the connection between the Manson murders and Roman Polanski at the time (there was a criminal investigation correlating the two back then), but that's purely speculation on my part, based on how similarly the designs resembled them.
• Rife with a plethora of religious and historical allegories. If you're into 2deep4u religious symbolism, like in Neon Genesis Evangelion, than you would love the all show, no-tell-all-show feeling within Belladonna of Sadness. I don’t mean that in a condescending way, I mean, I really like things that resemble this. I gave End of Evangelion a 10/10 for CHRISTsake, because there’s an excuse for a religious pun!
• The film contains a lot of stills and there’s BARELY any animation, except for when a memorable scene, primarily without dialogue, takes place. The audio quality is what you would expect of an anime from 1973. I must say that it was jarring to hear the very low pitched voice, saying, "Kawaii," to Jeanne before raping her. The first time I watched the film was raw, too, so it was super weird with no context.
• Often called the "lost Tezuka masterpiece," as it is very much in the same vein as Osamu Tezuka's adult ventures, such as Cleopatra. Side note: if you want to check out more of Tezuka's adult oriented works, then titles like MW, Ayako, and Ode to Kirihito exist and are mandatory reads for old fags and self-proclaimed oldies, like me.
• Overall, if you're in an overly precocious mood and feel ready to equip the beret that has been collecting dust in the corner of your room (gotta save the pretentious-wear for that one special occasion that you’ve been eagerly awaiting; always) then get ready to show your friends an experience that they'll call you a pervert for liking, and then you must retort with a reply that will not put that beret to shame, what every artistic douche is put on this Earth for; stroke your imaginary (or non-imaginary) beard, scoff, and tell them that they don't understand TRUE art. I give this piece, that is visually appealing, but falls very short of what you can shelf as a masterpiece, a 5/10.
