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Belladonna of Sadness

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Belladonna
File:Kanashimi no Belladonna-DVD.jpg
The Japanese DVD cover for Belladonna, as released by Nippon Columbia
Directed byEiichi Yamamoto
Screenplay byYoshiyuki Fukuda
Eiichi Yamamoto
Produced byTadami Watanabe
StarringAiko Nagayama
Tatsuya Nakadai
Narrated byChinatsu Nakayama[1]
CinematographyShigeru Yamazaki
Edited byMasashi Furukawa
Music byMasahiko Satō
Production
company
Distributed byNippon Herald Eiga (Japan)
Release dates
Running time
89 minutes[1]
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Belladonna (哀しみのベラドンナ, Kanashimi no Beradonna, literally "Belladonna of Sadness"), also known as "The Tragedy of Belladonna",[3][4] is a 1973 feature film produced by the Japanese animation studio Mushi Production and distributor Nippon Herald Films. Directed and co-written by Eiichi Yamamoto and inspired by Jules Michelet's non-fiction book Satanism and Witchcraft, 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 Mushi Production during the film's early stages to concentrate on his comics[4] 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[4] and are strongly influenced by western art, such as Aubrey Beardsley,[5] Gustav Klimt[4] and classic tarot illustrations.[6] The film was a commercial failure and contributed to Mushi Pro becoming bankrupt by the end of the year.[4] The film was entered into the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival.[7][8]

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 graphic and suggestively erotic, violent and psychedelic imagery. The film was released in Europe and Japan, but no official DVD with English subtitles exists.[citation needed]

Plot

Jeanne and Jean are being happily married in their rural village. Their idyll is promptly shattered when Jeanne, on her wedding night, is subjected to a ritual deflowering by the village headsman and his lackeys and subsequently rejected by Jean. Now disillusioned with the present order of society, she makes a deal with the Devil in return for the power to lead a rebellion. The narrative of Michelet's Sorceress and her resistance against feudalism and the Catholic Church is fudged into that of Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc), whom Belladonna's Jeanne is revealed to be, and her execution by burning.

Cast

See also

References

  1. ^ a b JMDb, JP, 1973{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
  2. ^ Opening credits of the film itself.
  3. ^ 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). Other printed media such as the original trailer, posters and video boxes use Belladonna as the film's Latin-character title; Mushi Production's Web site and some online reviews, as of July 2011, currently use Tragedy of Belladonna.
  4. ^ a b c d e Sharp, Jasper (July 3, 2006). "Round-Up #22: Anime special". Midnight Eye. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  5. ^ Wabi Sabi (2007). "Kanashimi no Belladonna directed by Yamamoto Eiichi". Iwa ni Hana. Retrieved 2008-08-26. [dead link‍]
  6. ^ "Belladonna". Tezuka in English. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  7. ^ "Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  8. ^ "Jahresblatt", Berlinale (in German), DE, 1973{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
  9. ^ Belladonna of Sadness (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia. Accessed 2007-07-23.
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