Belladonna of Sadness
https://boxd.it/4fWb4
Belladonna of Sadness is a 1973 Japanese animated movie based on an 1862 French book about the history of witchcraft in the middle ages. The movie also takes inspiration from Joan of Arc, the Summer of Love, the Women’s Liberation movement of 1970’s Japan, psychedelia, watercolour paintings and Erotica.
And it is wild.
Beautiful, surreal, disturbing and wild.
By its very nature this movie can’t not be controversial; it depicts rape on more than one occasion. It vilifies men. It vilifies church and state. It vilifies humanity. 480
It depicts numerous types of sexual taboo and it has phallic imagery coming out the wazoo… literally. I can understand why people would not want to watch this film, and in fact I would recommend most people probably avoid it. However, if you are able to go down one level, from this world where you are angry at the movie, to the world within the screen, you can be angry at the characters and the actions themselves. And you can witness one womans insane journey from absolute victim, to something more. Whilst also overdosing on p̶e̶n̶i̶s̶e̶s̶ colour and jiving to that banger jazz funk soundtrack.
A unique experience. 645