Belladonna of Sadness

Belladonna of Sadness (哀しみのベラドンナ, Kanashimi no Belladonna, also known as La Sorciere, Tragedy of Belladonna[n 1] or simply Belladonna)[6] is a 1973 Japanese animated art film produced by the animation studio Mushi Production and distributed by Nippon Herald Films. It follows the story of Jeanne, a peasant woman who uses black magic to get revenge against the men who raped her and accused her of witchcraft. It is notable for its erotic, violent, and psychedelic imagery.

For the album by Alexandra Savior, see Belladonna of Sadness (album).
Belladonna of Sadness
Original release Japanese B1 film poster, as released by Nippon Columbia
Japanese哀しみのベラドンナ
HepburnKanashimi no Belladonna
Directed byEiichi Yamamoto
Produced byTadami Watanabe
Written byYoshiyuki Fukuda
Eiichi Yamamoto
Based onLa Sorcière, 1862 essay by Jules Michelet
StarringAiko Nagayama
Tatsuya Nakadai
Narrated byChinatsu Nakayama[1]
Music byMasahiko Satoh
CinematographyShigeru Yamazaki
Edited byMasashi Furukawa
Production
company
Distributed byNippon Herald Eiga (Japan)
Release date
Running time
86 minutes[3]
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

Jeanne and Jean are happy newlyweds in a rural village in Medieval France. Their idyllic life 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 (having grown in size) 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 take over 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.

Cast
  • Aiko Nagayama as Jeanne
  • Katsutaka Ito as Jean
  • Tatsuya Tashiro as Witch
  • Tatsuya Nakadai as The Devil
  • Masaya Takahashi as Milord
  • Shigaku Shimegi as Milady
  • Masakane Yonekura as Catholic Priest
  • Chinatsu Nakayama as Narrator

Production and release
The film's title card, showing the original Japanese title 哀しみのベラドンナ, the original English-language title La Sorcière and the U.S.-release title Belladonna of Sadness

Directed and co-written by Eiichi Yamamoto and inspired by Jules Michelet's 1862 non-fiction book La 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 (he left during the film's early stages in 1966 to concentrate on his manga[5] and his conceptual-stage contribution is uncredited). 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[5] and are influenced by western art, such as that of Gustav Klimt,[5] and Tarot illustrations (see also the work of Aubrey Beardsley and Harry Clarke). Production of the film lasted from 1967 to 1973. The film was a commercial failure and contributed to Mushi Pro going bankrupt by the end of the year.[5] The film was entered into the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival.[7]

The film had a wide release in Europe and Japan, received a limited screening in the U.S. in 2009[8] and underwent a 4K digital restoration for theatrical release in May 2016.[9][10] Hat & Beard Press on August 26, 2016, released a companion book containing illustrations, script outtakes, film stills and staff interviews.[11]

Eugène Delacroix's 1830 painting Liberty Leading the People is featured in the end of the film.[3]

The restoration was screened on July 10, 2015 in a "sneak preview" at Japan Cuts,[12][13] and then played on September 24, 2015 at Fantastic Fest in Austin[14][15][16] before a theatrical run beginning May 6, 2016 in New York City and San Francisco.[17][18][19]

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

cut down by approximately eight minutes for an unsuccessful re-release in Japan in 1979 (with the addition of the brief ending shot of Eugene Delacroix's painting Liberty Leading the People, which wasn't in the original version—Cinelicious left it in this restored version). Cinelicious restored the censored footage from the sole surviving 35mm release print of the full-length version at the Cinematek in Belgium, which very graciously agreed to do a 4K scan of the missing sections from their print.[3]

Reception

Belladonna of Sadness holds a 90% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 7.78/10. The site's 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."[20] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100 based on 12 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[21]

See also

Footnotes
  1. The film's title card bears, in addition to the Japanese title, the Latin alphabet title La Sorcière (that of the source book in its original language). The original trailer, posters and video boxes use Belladonna as the film's Latin-character title. Mushi Production's Web site[4] and at least one online review[5] uses Tragedy of Belladonna.

References
  1. Nomura, Y., ed. "哀しみのベラドンナ / Sorrow of belladonna" (in Japanese). Japan Movie Database. Archived from the original on March 19, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2016. 製作＝虫プロ＝日本ヘラルド 1973.06.30 89分 カラー　ワイド / Production = Mushi = Nippon Herald, 1973.06.30 89 minutes color wideCS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link).
  2. Opening credits of film
  3. Cinelicious Pics spokesperson quoted in Lovece, Frank (May 5, 2016). "Film Review: Belladonna of Sadness". Film Journal International. Archived from the original on June 13, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
  4. "Tragedy of Belladonna". Mushi Productions. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  5. Sharp, Jasper (July 3, 2006). "Round-Up #22: Anime special". MidnightEye.com. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved August 26, 2008.
  6. http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/489038/Belladonna-of-Sadness/
  7. "23rd Berlin International Film Festival June 22 - July 3, 1973". DE: 66th Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016..
  8. "Paprika, Belladonna of Sadness, Mind Game in LA This Month (Updated)". Anime News Network. January 9, 2009. Archived from the original on November 19, 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  9. "Belladonna of Sadness". Cinelicious Pics. Archived from the original on March 21, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  10. Spencer, Jake (March 21, 2016). "Poster for Long-Lost 'Belladonna of Sadness' is Cleverly Censored for an American Audience". Indiewire. Archived from the original on March 23, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  11. Cohen, Danielle (August 12, 2016). "Psychedelic Watercolors of Sex and Revenge". The Cut. Archived from the original on November 13, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  12. "Belladonna of Sadness (4K restoration)". New York City: Japan Society. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  13. Hale, Mike (July 3, 2016). "Japan Cuts Film Festival at Japan Society Emphasizes the Eccentric". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 13, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  14. "Belladonna of Sadness". Fantastic Fest. Archived from the original on March 22, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  15. Jen Yamato (2015-09-27). "Exclusive: Inside Japan's Lost Erotic '70s Anime 'Belladonna of Sadness'". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on January 25, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  16. Collis, Clark (September 23, 2015). "16 must-see movies at Fantastic Fest 2015". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on November 1, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  17. Kenny, Glenn (May 5, 2016). "Review: 'Belladonna of Sadness,' a Bewitching Masterpiece". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 13, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  18. Collis, Clark (May 6, 2016). "See why Elijah Wood's mind was blown by animated film Belladonna of Sadness—Exclusive clip". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on May 16, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  19. "Watch: Long-Lost 'Belladonna of Sadness' Gets a Psychedelic NSFW Trailer". Indiewire. Archived from the original on June 13, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  20. Belladonna of Sadness (Kanashimi no Beradona) at Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  21. Belladonna of Sadness at Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
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