Alright, so I’m going to say upfront that this film is most likely going to be off-putting for some viewers, and it’s also very much of its time style-wise. Fair warning that some of the imagery in here might be upsetting to certain viewers, especially those that have experienced trauma of a certain nature (honestly, I haven’t, and even I felt rather uncomfortable at times with this film). However, if you like dark and depressing stories, psychedelic half-animation, and can handle unsettling films like A Clockwork Orange and beyond, then you’ll probably be fine with this one. It might also be interesting to show this to “anime enthusiasts” who are more familiar with the more standardized techniques that have come to define Japanese animation over the years (though I should note that you do still see some of their little quirks in here and the acting/delivery is very Japanese, but even so, the basis of the style its going for seems more reminiscent of what America and some of the European countries had been experimenting with at the time). Before I go on any longer about this, let’s talk about the plot.
The film takes place in medieval France wherein a peasant couple named Jeanne and Jean (girlfriend and boyfriend, respectively) want to get married, but must receive the approval of the ruling lord and lady. Unable to offer more than a single cow, they plead for the lord to allow their wedding, which ultimately results in Jeanne being raped by the lord’s servants as tribute. After the horrid act, Jeanne returns to Jean a broken wreck, and Jean tries to console her, but also has a moment where he suddenly strangles her, which he is immediately shocked and disgusted in himself for doing. The two try to get on with their lives, but the pain and despair is clearly too strong for them to do so. Unbeknownst to Jean, Jeanne has started to receive visits from a phallic-shaped ghostly figure who offers her the power that she desperately wants. She accepts his offer for both herself and Jean, and their lives start turning around. Jean becomes a tax collector for the lord and starts bringing in more money than they’ve had before. However, when the peasants become too poor and can’t give much more money, Jean is scapegoated for “not collecting enough” and the lord has Jean’s hand cutoff. Now he’s forced to get the money he owes in a short time-frame, which seems completely impossible. The phallic-shaped being visits Jeanne again, offering her all the power she could want if she submits herself to him. She submits her body to him but claims that her soul is still pledged to Jean and God, though the being pays this little mind and all but rapes her that very night. Jeanne uses her power and influence she’s gained from this to practically usurp the lord as the head honcho of the village, which works out due to the fact that the lord is away at war for the time being. However, when he returns and is informed of this, he and his lady brand her as a witch and town turns on her. Disheveled and stripped of her status, Jeanne runs back home to escape the mob, but sadly, Jean doesn’t let her in, and she is left to face the full assault of the enraged crowd. After all this, she runs away from the village before the guards can take her and escapes into the forest and beyond. What becomes of Jeanne (and Jean, for that matter)? Who is this recurring spirit that keeps visiting Jeanne? Will Jeanne ever get her revenge? As always, I’m not at liberty to divulge this. You’ll just have to see it for yourself.
I definitely have to give praise to the film’s art style, it is a rather unique look, or at least not something that you would see being made nowadays as much. It was clearly coming off the psychedelic trend of the late 60s, what with some of its flowy, morphing, colorful animation, but the design of the characters was much more European-inspired, or that’s the impression I got, anyway. That is nice to see in a part of the animation world that has come to be rather templated, sadly. It should be noted that the film isn’t fully animated, as much of the runtime relies on still drawings/paintings to get the story across. While I think that, for the most part, this style does still allow for the story to be told effectively, I can see others finding this aspect too cheap or unconvincing, so you might need to be acclimated to this sort of limited animation beforehand. However, when there is true animation in the film, it can be very striking, even if in an unsettling way. An example that stuck with me is the “defiling” scene in which the act is portrayed as a large red splotch draped across the floor that’s pumping inside of Jeanne. The imagery, coupled with the sound design, gives off a horrid feeling of defilement, and the use of red also gives off the impression of blood, tying in with Jeanne’s virginity being taken from her in the worst possible way. Most of the imagery and animation throughout the film is very effective, but there is at least one moment that I thought was a bit off. During the sequence where Jeanne gains her ultimate power, there’s a montage of drawings reminiscent of a late 60s hippie-esque art depicting things such as television, the golden gate bridge, Egyptian pyramids, and a myriad of other things clearly not of the time period this movie was set in. I’m sure that the filmmakers had an intended meaning behind this sequence, perhaps to show that Jeanne’s magic was all-encompassing across time and space or something to that effect, but it honestly came across to me as if it should belong in a different film, perhaps something closer to a Ralph Bakshi film but more hippie influenced. Maybe it’s just me, but I guess this goes to show the pros and cons of experimentation: sometimes you hit bullseye and sometimes you don’t. Now, I do have to note an element of the presentation that I’m on the fence about, and that’s the emotional feel and presentation. What I mean by this is that this film clearly has a very melodramatic core to its delivery, which does make sense in a way, as it is a very dark and dramatic story. However, after a while of experiencing this sort of vibe, I started to question whether or not it was effectively giving weight and power to the emotions of the story or whether it was going so far, or doing it so much, that it started to backfire and lose its impact. This is something that I’ve noticed in a good amount of Japanese media, and especially in their animated work, a tendency to “overplay.” This might just be a factor of the Japanese culture, maybe stemming from older theater traditions and things of that nature, and Belladonna of Sadness certainly doesn’t reach the levels of overplay that I’ve seen in other animated works of theirs, but I guess like any case of melodrama, its about getting the right balance of intensity and restraint. I’m just not sure if I feel that it works overall or not, and honestly, this might be the sort of film I’ll need to see again to form a full opinion on this front. I just wanted to note that aspect for those that might feel similarly to myself, and hey, maybe that might even encourage those that do like that sort of presentation to seek it out even more. In the end, every creative decision that one makes will have its caveats and won’t necessarily work for everyone. Its just the nature of art, ultimately.
So, overall, I do think this is an interesting film and should be given a watch, for sure. I’m just not sure I necessarily “love it,” which is probably fine, not every film is going to work for everyone in the end. Maybe you’ll have a different impression than I do, so I’d recommend it if you’re interested in different and experimental presentation/animation. It might be too upsetting for some and might not be very effective at all to others, but that’s the beauty of the artistic journey. Come and meet the Belladonna of Sadness, she is a fascinating and tragic person, but be mindful as her black magic can be overwhelming.