Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
juviia
Rape Porn. Skip.
It draws you in with beautiful art, composition, and music, only to keep showing abuse over and over again in that same “beautiful” style. It tries to be something it’s not.
It’s nothing but the glorification of sexual violence — not for the sake of the plot, not for character development,
but simply the creators wanted to show it.
A waste of not only your time, the character designer and all of the artists working on it but also my energy that is being ragebaited to write this review. Story is your average man going "women = sorrow = artistic value up by 1000", we never find out anything about Jeanne except her pleasure points and the color of her nipples.
Read at the source1stDecame4Danime
*Severe epilepsy warning for 1 long scene*
Stylistically, the closest I could compare this to would be Disney's Fantasia with lots of focus on music and avant-garde artistic bombast instead of the story itself. But the movie suffers from terrible pacing as it is painfully slow where it has nothing more to show and yet skips through most actual plot points. And the story itself is not good both because of the plot and the views conveyed therein.
I always disliked the Spider and the Fly/The Scorpion and the Frog. It's not as if the parable can't be done well, it's just the way they do it is a bigoted eugenics dehumanizing perspective of "It's in their nature to be evil, you mustn't trust those tricksy subhumans." right at home with any other supremacist ideals. One could very easily see a…
Read at the sourcespikethedragon
The rest of these reviewers need to go back to primary school to develop some critical thinking skills.
This film is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. The story it portrays takes the typical "witch" folklore and turns it on its head. What's more, the breathtaking original soundtrack takes the viewer by the hand, and guides them through each of Jeanne's defining moments. The audience gets a representation of the emotions she's experiencing at the hands of her village, and has no choice but to feel empathetic towards who she chose to become in order to protect herself.
Other reviewers will tell you that the erotic elements of the film do not live up to their expectations, or that they're too violent or graphic. Honey, that's the point. Jeanne's story is one of bloodshed, and it sim…
Read at the sourcedesmaraisp
Genuine shite, skip this one. If you thought this movie had anything meaningful to say about its themes (rape, sexual abuse, etc.), you'll be disappointed, it's just torture porn the whole way through. Good music, but that's about it. The art is nice, but relies way too much on stills. Hated it so much everyone who worked on this is on my shitlist now, and I will personally judge anyone who recommends this to me
This might be the single worst movie in human existence, no joke. Is your fun in life watching someone get raped, then sexualized in the same breath? If so, then you'll love this. At least this will be a good litmus test to quickly spot the people you should stay away from.
If I have to summarize the movie in one sentence, it would be to describe it as a glorified rape fantasy m…
Read at the sourceBiisoo
Based on the Novel, La Sorciere by Jules Michelet.
Also a disclaimer, This is an X-rated film that children should steer clear from.
Let me preface by saying that this is The most unique and weird movie I've ever seen. Why that is you ask? Simply because it's filled with trippy acid visuals, A very novel and psychedelic approach to storytelling that I've never seen and it actually has minimal animation too. What I mean by that is most of the movie is just pictures that convey stuff. Yet I still think this movie managed to engage me as a viewer and I was not bored at any moment. It has a very Avante Garde vibe (If you're not familiar with this term, It basically means that it shows events and depicts them in a very unorthodox manner, different from conventional means). This type of story…
Read at the sourceSzanowna_Herbata
Bro, I hate making long reviews.
Anyway, Belladonna of Sadness is quite a masterpiece when it comes to symbolics and artstyle, but overall - not so much.
Sure it is about a woman who explores depths of her own mind and body, but I wouldn't say it's really that interesting.
Symbolics such as the devil, the whole belladonna thing and colour symbolics are really good, they actually made me interested in this whole film.
I also can't complain about the animation, it's a anime from 1973, we can't expect Studio Bones like quality. Artstyle - absolutely gorgeous, it truly made the movie stand out from others.
I think my whole mixed feelings are because of the plot itself, because I couldn't help but stop the movie to see how long does it take to end.
Music is also not likeable, well atleast…
Read at the sourcetropika
Psychedelic shitshow that sexualises sexual violence and abuse towards women. I think I made a mistake watching this because Osamu Dezaki was involved and Tatsuya Nakadai voice acted in it, lesson learnt. It's supposed to be about sexual liberation but the art is crude and brutally exploitative. The creator of this movie were probably a bunch of men with no idea the nuance of the experience of woman and their sexuality. Really unique art and watercolours used, really some of the frames were gorgeous. But tacky and gaudy execution.
I rarely write reviews, i just hate this movie so much i had to write one.
Read at the sourceKeiths219
"The Belladonna of Sadness" is quite literally that - sadness. It's an estetically pleasing and abstract movie about a woman who lost everything dear to her due to her tragic fate and bad decisions in life.
If this kind of artistic movie were to be made today, most ordinary anime fans would absolutely hate it. Why? Because of the way it was made. It is almost completely made of moving drawings. In my opinion drawings are amazing though and really express the characters. Another thing that surprised me is the use of singing in telling the story. I don't usually like that kind of thing, but here it was very welcome.
This film definitely isn't for everyone. It is very slow-paced and its main themes are depressing and heartbreaking. I was blown away by how emotionally heavy all the events we…
Read at the sourceakavish
This is basically a moving picture, but also not. Sometimes the animation is very good and sometimes it looks like the creators just gave up and just have stills. The art is mostly the only good part, but then there was no need to make a film, just make a bunch of paintings... the music was alright. I do praise the art but it really feels like Jeanne only has two facial expressions, which is odd when it juxtapositions her empowerment/orgasm and her humiliation/rape.
Mostly the film feels gratuitous with its violence against women. There is no need for so much rape, murder, and brutalization of random women and closeups of their genitals. There is a whole scene where it's just animated sex and rape of random women all together in a circle on Jean's hair; it feels almost like the creators ar…
Read at the sourceZephSilver
Spellbound in a whirlwind of love, sex, desire, and disaster, Belladonna of Sadness is a blistering wound of emotions and vices. The nature of sin and excess; the act of wanting too much without understanding the cost. A cautionary tale of indulgence as showcased by an unnamed kingdom positioned in the Middle Ages. The unfortunate recipients of which are Jean and Jeanne, a couple young in love in a world far too cutthroat to accept the purity of their union. Their honeymoon, a nightmarish event, forever tainted by the cruel actions of an aristocrat drunk with power. Deflowered and battered, Jeanne, a victim of the worst kind of atrocity, is left a wilted rose in her husband's arms. A newlywed couple demoralized by the ones appointed by God to reign over them. Betrayed by those in power and…
Read at the sourceFleure
A corrupted woman is soaked in sin and gradually torn from her soul. Her purity that was once unscathed is now an unbounded commodity. Piece by piece, she is dismantled until the only thing that’s left is flesh and blood. From the ashes of unadulterated youth, now rises something else. The transformation from beauty to grotesque is immediate. A woman is either a maiden or a witch. A sin or a sinner. An unknowing victim or an unholy perpetrator. The existence of both is morally reprehensible. Here we have the scripture of ye old storytelling embedded in every culture, every time, and in every form.
Nonetheless every artifice, every duality inherits a line that exists to challenge it. A tempo-spatial blip where white melds into the black – where Angels mingle with Demons, where grotesquenes…
Read at the sourcecommon_dragons
Belladonna of Sadness is one of the greatest, most unheralded pieces of animation of all time. Maybe the greatest psychedelic cult film ever, second to Yellow Submarine. Belladonna is born out of same fabulous furry freak mindset that allowed for Fritz The Cat exist, except this film takes it to unprecedentedly beautiful and poignant heights. It's like the Bitches Brew of animation. Wonderful, wild, psychedelic, artful, freewheeling, innovative even if it's influence is nowhere to be seen in any other film (but maybe that's to come in the future.) Even at it's most explicit or pandering, it's still meaningful on multiple levels whether it's the masterful animation, the relevancy of the story/characters, the contrast of music and image or even just the overall tone of the film. I don't even…
Read at the sourcechrissy_poo_too
Can good art be made in bad taste?
Garish pastels, painted in splotchy water colour; violent pornography devoid of any traditional semblance of eroticism; an overbearing psychedelic soundtrack; still images in lieu of fluid animation.
Belladonna of Sadness is a weird movie.
The film, known as Kanashimi no Belladonna in Japanese, is probably more renowned within arthouse circles than it is with animation buffs, and it's easy to see why. This is not a feel good nostalgia-fest a la Ghibli or Disney. This is - in the purest sense - adult animation.
The film revolves around Jeanne, a peasant woman. Early on, Jeanne is gang raped by her village's royalty as payment for permission to marry. Her would-be husband then rejects her, and Jeanne turns to dark magic as a means for vengeance.
It isn…
Read at the sourcevanburu0
[SPOILER FREE REVIEW]
First of all, I apologize for the bad English.
Kanashimi no Belladonna is what happens when hentai becomes art. The erotic scenes, here, aren't just sex. Belladonna of Sadness is a real journey through the misogynist universe of Christianity, exploring every single detail of the suffering of women in a sexist society in the most beautiful way that is possible.
Story: 10/10
The story isn't some Texhnolyze-like complex plot, but it's as sensitive and brainy as. The story follows Jeanne, a christian woman in a truly medieval European scenery (not like Nanatsu no Taizai or Meine Liebe, where there's no representation of the poor people's suffering by the abusive governments and famine), that wants to get married with a poor guy, but is impeded by the class prejudice, an…
Read at the sourcelethargilistic
This is an odd one, and I fell asleep for a bit towards the middle. Basically, an experimental animation about a woman who finds liberation through sex and inspires a revolution among the people by showing them to indulge in and accept their sexual desires. The problem is that doing so is combined with her accepting a devil penis, so indulging in sexuality is also connected to evil symbolism. Eventually, the patriarchy comes and ends the party and some pictures of women revolutions are shown to let us know that it's meant as an empowering film. If it's supposed to be empowering, why have her be raped by the source of her power? Weird choice. (OK, so it waited for her to say yes, but if that were a person any decent person would have stepped in and said "Nah, tho.")
The art was mostly stil…
Read at the sourceliteraturenerd
Overview:
My city's only arthouse theater decided to play this 1973 anime movie recently. I went with a couple buddies and it was...an experience. I will now try explain my mixed feelings on this rather unique film.
Background:
This movie is sometimes called "the lost Tezuka masterpiece" although Osamu Tezuka actually left the project quite early in production. Kanashimi no Belladonna or "Belladonna of Sadness" was written and directed by Tezuka's longtime friend and collaborator Eiichi Yamamoto. Yamamoto worked with Tezuka on Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, as well as writing Space Battleship Yamato, the first Space Opera anime.
Belladonna of Sadness is an X-rated avant garde telling of a Faustian melodrama set in medieval France. The anime is loosely based on a 19th century non-…
Read at the sourceElviscastorii
Loosely inspired by Jules Michelet's Satanism and Witchcraft, a fictionalized history of medieval witchcraft in Europe, Eiichi Yamamoto's cult anime Belladonna of Sadness strikes a perfect balance between midnight-movie enchantment and arthouse sophistication. The plot follows two recently married peasants, Jean and Jeanne (Aiko Nagayama and Katsuyuki Itô), as they deal with the aftermath of Jeanne's rape by a local baron (Masaya Takahashi) and his henchman by right of prima nocta. Jeanne eventually makes a Faustian bargain with Satan (Tatsuya Nakadai), who appears to her in the guise of a playful demonic phallus, which initially gives her vast social power, but ultimately breeds tragic consequences for the couple.
For all its wonderfully gonzo WTF moments, as when the diminutive, phallic…
Read at the sourceObscureObsidian
And the award to the most underrated anime of all time goes to a movie produced and realised in 1973, as part of a trilogy by the Manga God, Osuma Tezuka, who leave the project. Kanashimi no Belladoona is amovie that the 99,9% of the anime fandom never heard any about. It's really difficut to found it on internet, and that's without subtitles.
But it's a shame. Anime creators like Kuhiko Ikuhara, Utena and Penguindrum's creator, has admitted the influence of this movie. So, why is this film so unknown?
First of all, it's not a typical movie. It's an avant-garde movie, something you will notice just saying the animation and art style. Forget the formula big eyes, small nose, the charecters are drawn here in a more european look-alike. The colors maybe brillaint and vivid in some scenes, or…
Read at the sourcePatoMcBrain
I am seriously shocked that this movie has such a low ranking. This film is more of an art film than a japanese animation film -ok, I guess you noticed it from the beginning of the movie-, thus, you better stop ranking this film according to the usual way of giving a score to an anime. This film certainly lacks of a deep story, and the character development is quite poor, but don't be mislead cause this film wasn't meant to show a great story. The animation and somebody other technical characteristics are what wey are supposed to put our eyes on, and if.somehow you've failed to notice that most psychedelic films won't get anywhere, you should at least try to focus on the art of this one.
Read at the sourceRampant
This is nothing groundbreaking, nothing that will change your world, but it is a fun little psychedelic trip. The few iconic scenes alone, such as her rape early on, leave enough that it is enjoyable even if it is a bit lacking in substance.
The art here is interestingly animated. The colors are always interesting to watch, and the animation mostly manages to be coherent despite the psychedelic nature. It is not always especially fluid, and I think that is what it has the hardest time balancing in a way that is totally watchable. I liked the art the most when the fluidity was best, but it is still nice to look at a lot of the time when it pauses, especially on any beautiful looks of Jeanne. I like the disparity between Jeanne's beauty and everybody else; it lends a real power to her chara…
Read at the source