Belladonna of Sadness

“Women are always the ones left behind to suffer.”

Few animated films have achieved the potent blend of obscene beauty and gut-wrenching tragedy quite like Belladonna of Sadness. Conceived by “godfather of manga” Osamu Tezuka in 1973, this Faustian fever dream remains one of the most disturbing, provocative, and outrageously gorgeous works of animation ever created. An overwhelming feminist revenge story, it confronts its audience with unparalleled imagery of sexual violence and suffering, all drawn by hand. Since its 2015 restoration, this once-lost psychedelic jazz/prog rock musical has shed its reputation as a commercial failure, finding new audiences – without ever letting them walk away unscathed.

Taking cues from Jules Michelet’s 1862 treatise La Sorcière: Satanism and Witchcraft of the Middle Ages and echoing the life of Joan of Arc, Belladonna of Sadness tells the story of a young woman in Medieval France who is brutally raped by a feudal lord on her wedding night. In the aftermath of this violation, she makes a pact with devil, who reframes her anger and hatred as sources of power, not shame. Transformed into a Lady of Vengeance, she returns to her village as a liberated force, defiantly dismantling the feudal and patriarchal structures that once sought to destroy her.

Rich with phallic and vulvar symbolism, the film unfolds as a hypnotic procession of surreal watercolour tableaux rather than through traditional animation. Directed and co-written by Eiichi Yamamoto, Belladonna of Sadness was a countercultural death blow to Tezuka’s Mushi Productions, but it served as a radical artistic endeavor. Its shocking and impressionistic imagery – a dizzying cocktail of eroticism, violence, and mysticism – continues to polarize viewers. Obscene or empowering? Exploitative or liberating? This debate has followed the film since its initial release. Whatever it may be, Belladonna of Sadness is an arresting spectacle of surrealism that stands as a bold claim for feminine solidarity and sexual liberation.