Belladonna of Sadness

press release:

SAT., 9/3, 7 p.m. BELLADONNA OF SADNESS (KANASHIMI NO BERADONNA)

Japan | 1973 | DCP | 87 min. | Japanese with English subtitles

Director: Eiichi Yamamoto

A lost masterpiece of Japanese animation that has been recently restored, Belladonna of Sadness is a transgressive, spectacular, and psychedelic head trip. A series of surreal watercolor paintings that bleed and twist together, the story focuses on Jeanne (Aiko Nagayama), an innocent newlywed who is violently raped by the town’s baron on her wedding night. In order to exact revenge, she forms a pact with the Devil (voiced by Tatsuya Nakadai, star of Kurosawa’s Ran) who grants her incredible magical abilities...with a catch. Fans of Rene Laloux’s Fantastic Planet and Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards will instantly fall in love with Belladonna’s LSD-stoked visual style and psych rock soundtrack composed by noted avant-garde jazz musician Masahiko Satoh.

Heroines of Anime series: Spanning multiple filmmakers, genres, and decades, this series showcases several of the most unforgettable female lead roles in Japanese animated cinema. From Motoko Kusanagi’s philosophical exploration of sexuality and gender identity in Ghost in the Shell to Nausciaä’s difficult wartime decisions as princess in Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, these leading women defy genre conventions in complex, strong-willed, and autonomous roles. This series is also home to the Wisconsin premiere of Eiichi Yamamoto’s Belladonna of Sadness, a 1973 film which first screened at the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival but has remained unavailable in the United States until a 4K digital restoration was completed in 2015. An erotic spectacle of breathtaking watercolor visuals accompanied by a 1970s psych rock soundtrack, this unseen masterpiece is a Japanese animated movie like no other. Heroines of Anime was curated by UW student and WUD Film programmer James LaPierre with the Cinematheque’s Jim Healy.