Belladonna of Sadness is an adult 1973 feature film produced by the Japanese animation studioMushi Production and distributor Nippon Herald Films. It follows the story of Jeanne, a peasant woman who is raped which leads to her being accused of witchcraft and is notable for its erotic, violent and psychedelic imagery.
Plot
Jeanne and Jean are happy newlyweds in a rural village in Medieval France. Their idyll is promptly shattered when Jeanne, on her wedding night, is raped in a ritual deflowering by the local baron and his courtiers. She returns to Jean terrified and in pain, and he calms her, saying, "Let us forget everything in the past". That night, Jeanne begins to see visions of a phallic-headed spirit who promises her power. As a result, the couple's fortunes rise even as famine strikes the village and the baron raises taxes to fund his war effort. Jean is made tax collector, and the baron cuts off his hand as punishment when he cannot extract enough money from the village. The spirit visits once again and rapes Jeanne in exchange for more riches. Although she submits her body, she attests that her soul belongs to God. Shortly after, Jeanne takes out a large loan from a usurer and sets herself up in the same trade, eventually becoming the true power in the village. Then the baron returns victorious from his war, and his wife, envious of the respect and admiration accorded Jeanne, calls her a witch, turning the town against her. Jeanne first tries to return home to Jean, but he refuses to open the door for her and she is assaulted. That evening, when soldiers come to arrest her, she flees into the nearby forest. In the wilderness, she finally makes a pact with the spirit, who reveals himself to be the Devil. She is granted considerable magical powers, and returns to find the village has been infected with the Bubonic plague. Jeanne uses her powers to create a cure for the disease and the village flocks to her for aid. Having won their favor, Jeanne presides over orgiastic rites among the villagers. A page, who is in love with the baron's wife, begs Jeanne to help him seduce her. She gives him a potion that causes the baron's wife to accept his advances, but the baron catches his wife sleeping with the page and kills them both. Perturbed by Jeanne's power, the baron sends Jean to invite her to a meeting. The couple reconcile and Jeanne accepts the invitation. In exchange for sharing her cure for the plague, the baron offers to make Jeanne the second-highest noble in the land, but she refuses, saying she wishes to rule the entire world. Angered at her refusal, the baron orders Jeanne burnt at the stake. Jean is killed by the baron's soldiers when he tries to retaliate, which angers the villagers. As Jeanne is burned, the faces of the villagers transform into Jeanne's, fulfilling a priest's warning that if a witch is burnt while her pride is intact, her soul will survive to influence everyone around her. Centuries later, the influence of Jeanne's spirit initiates The French Revolution.
Directed and co-written by Eiichi Yamamoto and inspired by Jules Michelet's 1862 non-fiction bookLa Sorcière. It is the third and final film in the Animerama trilogy and the only one to be neither written nor directed by Osamu Tezuka. Belladonna is also of a more serious tone than the more comedic first two Animerama films. Its visuals consist mostly of still paintings panned across and are influenced by western art, such as that of Gustav Klimt, and Tarot illustrations. Production of the film lasted from 1967 to 1973. The film was a commercial failure and contributed to Mushi Pro becoming bankrupt by the end of the year. The film was entered into the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival. The film was released wide in Europe and Japan, received a limited screening in the U.S. in 2009 and has undergone a 4K digital restoration for theatrical release in May 2016. Hat & Beard Press on August 26, 2016, released a companion book containing illustrations, script outtakes, film stills and staff interviews. '' is featured in the end of the film. The restoration was screened on July 10, 2015 in a "sneak preview" at Japan Cuts, and then played on September 24, 2015 at Fantastic Fest in Austin before a theatrical run beginning May 6, 2016 in New York City and San Francisco. Because of the film's obscurity, various sources list its running time as anywhere from 86 to 93 minutes. Cinelicious Pics clarified in May 2016 that its 86-minute restoration represented the correct running time, saying that this length had been
Reception
The film holds a 90% percent approval rating in the film-critics aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Its critical consensus reads: "Belladonna of Sadness has more than enough brilliant visual artistry to keep audiences enraptured even as the film's narrative reach slightly exceeds its grasp." It has a 70% favorable rating, from 12 critics, in the aggregator Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
