Trippiest hentai drama i've ever half watched.

A very artistic yet very off-putting film that fetishes rape. Definitely not a very pleasant film despite it's gorgeous art style.

Perhaps a far more interesting film in idea than execution, this animated psychedelic wig-out charts the tragic life of Jeanne, the Beladonna of Sadness, and millions of other women raised and repressed under religious patriarchy. It's a product of its time, in terms of the advent of women's sexual liberation, but I'm curious how this ended up being made in Japan, of all places. In places its animation is fantastic, elsewhere a little slapdash, and sometimes its too keen to shock for it's own good. The fuzzed up soundtrack is fantastic.

This movie is very much a product of the Psychedelic 1970s. It is very X-rated and stepped in both medieval French and Japanese mythologies on female empowerment, to make comment on both Sexual liberation and Feminism movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The art is very wonderful, and if you are fan of water colors you will enjoy the art very much. Warning this movie deals with rape, and revenge in a very graphic manner. If you have the mind to handle the concepts that are being portrayed and commented on in this movie, I would say check it out. It is more then worth it.

This movie was approximately 90 minutes of loosely connected rape scenes followed by an extremely brief slideshow of paintings of the French Revolution. Half a star is awarded for the fun schoolhouse rock animation in the middle.

Yes yes of course it is very artistic to fetishize rape. This whole story is about a woman getting raped on her wedding night in a very "artistic" way some might say, then making a deal with the devil who rapes her everytime he comes to force her to make a deal. Spare yourself some trauma and skip this movie. Also this is a prime example of why you shouldn't trust IMDB reviews as a woman.

This is not for the overly religious, easily 'offended', prudish types. Along with de debbil being his demonic self, there's lots (read: a bunch) of sex here. And it's hot n' heavy ugly bumpin' going on. So much sexual imagery, vaginal imagery, all aimed at the main character. The story line is frustrating and will surely stir up some emotion against the village people, Jeanne's lame husband, the local power structure, and of course Ol' Scratch. But the artwork here is phenomenal in it's gorgeous beauty, its intensity, and how emotionally affecting it is. Plus, a very nice musical score as well. 3.8 stars

"EN LA SIMPLICIDAD SE ESCONDE UNA GRAN HISTORIA" Belladonna of Sadness lo primero que te entregara sera un estilo visual que tu decidirás que si te convence o no, pero si te quedas la imaginativa de sus cuadros te llevaran a un viaje multi-emocional, de tristeza, alegría, dolor, traición,etc. Creo que como mínimo esta obra no te dejara indiferente ya que te llena de detalle el ojo con esos escenarios llenos de emoción.

Me perdi um pouco...mas não foi por causa do filme. Animações lindas e violentas e eróticas...a trilha sonora é maravilhosa!

Full review on my blog max4movies: Kanashimi no Belladonna (international title: Belladonna of Sadness) is an experimental animation movie for an adult audience. Its plot focuses on Jeanne, a young and beautiful woman, who after being raped, has visions of the devil. It features extreme graphic content, like naked women, rape scenes, and an orgy with animals. This, alongside with Jeanne being mostly naked and the omnipresence of phallic imagery, will be appalling to some - although the movie never indulges in voyeuristic pleasures like other erotic movies. Still, the movie features undeniably beautiful images with a unique art style, ensuring that the colorful depictions of rape and torture not only fascinate but also highlight the rich underlying thematic concepts, like open sexuality, criticism against religion, and a social commentary about totalitarian regimes.

Truly a work of art that stimulates all the senses with an unique style that transcends the medium. A must watch for anyone, but especially women, as this film delves into reclaiming your sexuality and not being ashamed of it. Ahead of its time in 1973, so thankful it's been restored for audiences to enjoy as it should be, and not some blurry bootleg knockoff with only half the magic.

If you've half a brain, an appreciation of art, or for exploration of the human psyche, of liberation, empowerment, etcetera, etcetera, then do the world a favor and enlighten yourself with a viewing. You'll be a better person for it.

From the film's fast camera movement, violence, erotic imagery and split second frames of what can only come from a hallucination, this film has it all in this unique yet well made anime classic.

This film has several things that made it of interest to me: stylish Japanese animation, a story containing a deal with the devil (I'm always a sucker for movies featuring the devil, don't ask me why), and a director who was certainly not shy about showing nudity and sex (ok, I'm probably a sucker for those too, if they're done right anyway). Unfortunately, the movie doesn't live up to its potential, or perhaps, hasn't aged well. While some of the artwork is beautiful, the plot is simple, plodding along during slow right-to-left pans, and far too often using sex as a crutch. We see the devil having sex with the woman several times, lots of phallic imagery and big boobs, and a bizarre, surreal orgy in the woods featuring people, animals, and half-people/half-animals. It just gets to be a little much, and is definitely written/conceived/drawn from an immature male perspective. It's a shame that such a weighty theme and Faustian premise was so poorly handled. I also have to say that the scenes in France at the end are ridiculous, almost as if someone had an incoherent thought while high. Maybe if you were drunk or on an acid trip watching this film in college with your guy buddies in the 70's or 80's, you would love it. Otherwise, you can enjoy it for a window into what feels like 1960's psychedelia, some of its pretty animation (particularly in the first part of the film), and for it presumably having pushed boundaries in Japan at the time.

I couldn't get through it. I suspect LSD had something to do with this warped dose of storytelling.

Oh god, what a load of crap. The best I can say about this is that the illustration style is beautiful. Oh and if you ever wanted to see a clam go to town on a snail, or an alligator eat out a woman, this is the movie for you. This movie is for your penis, by your penis and about your penis. I'm having a very hard time seeing where anybody saw 'feminism' in this other than the weird shoved in ending where the movie pretends the french symbol of Liberty was a real person? Jeanne's entire life and death is based around, sponsored by and about penises. Every image of her is showing off her body sexually via a male gaze. Every life changing event she has, from her initial gang rape to her later 'awakening', is through penises being forced upon her. She's beaten and broken down until she accepts Satan's penis. Then I guess wow surprise she learns to own her sexuality through penis guidance and inspire the village to orgy and enjoy life. Fart noise. Google the art, skip the movie.

Horrible. No resolution. No plot. 90% seems like the direction said "woahh man what if we...". Don't waste your time.

"Belladonna of Sadness" is an unusual fable of sexy, psychedelic animation, perfectly suited for the '70s midnight-movie circuit. The beautiful, leggy Belladonna lives in the middle ages, stuck in a backward world of sexism, unfair taxation and witch hunts. A gang rape ruins her new marriage, and she ends up a fugitive, crossing over the dark side while guided by a mystical demon who's literally shaped like a penis. But the story hardly matters, because the animation is everything. The delectable Belladonna is nude throughout most of the film, making Jessica Rabbit look like Ursula in comparison, and the hallucinatory imagery is full of vaginal references. A sequence depicting the apocalyptic rise of Black Death is especially mindblowing. But this is not the sort of animation that the Western world knows - backgrounds are usually left white, and many scenes take the shortcut of simply panning around a still drawing. Meanwhile, a breathy Japanese chanteuse memorably dominates the musical score. Unforgettable!

If you're into 70's animation, psychedelica, feminism, eroticism this film is a must see.

while it does have a lovely watercolor aubrey beardsley sort of animation style, the story is rather ridiculous, mostly consisting of jeanne being chased by various phallic symbols while her clothes keep falling off. if this is supposed to be some kind of feminist statement i'm not buying it. obviously women in control of their own sexuality are witches