Kanashimi no Belladonna

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Kanashimi no Belladonna
The Japanese DVD cover for "Kanashimi no Belladonna", as released by Columbia Movies.
Directed by	Eiichi Yamamoto
Written by	Eiichi Yamamoto, Yoshiyuki Fukuda
Release date(s)	June 30, 1973
Running time	89 minutes
Language	Japanese
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Kanashimi no Belladonna (哀しみのベラドンナ, Kanashimi no Belladonna^?), literally Belladonna of Sadness or Tragedy of Belladonna (official Roman title is simply Belladonna) is an art house animation feature film produced in 1973 by Mushi Production. Directed and co-written by Eiichi Yamamoto, and based on Jules Michelet's novel about Joan of Arc, La Sorcière, is the third and final film in the "Animerama" trilogy, and the only one to be neither written nor directed by Osamu Tezuka (he lost control of Mushi Pro. during the film's early stages, and company had shifted to a new owner^{[citation needed]}, although he did the original concept for the film, which was uncredited).

It follows the story of Jeanne, a peasant woman who is raped which leads to her being accused of witchcraft, and is notable for its graphic and suggestively erotic, violent and psychedelic imagery. The film was released in Europe and Japan, but no official DVD with English subtitles exists.

1 Cast
2 Trivia
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Cast

Jeanne: (Aiko Nagayama)
Jean: (Katsutaka Ito)
Witch: (Tatsuya Tashiro)
The Devil (Tatsuya Nakadai)
Milord: (Masaya Takahashi)
Milady: (Shigaku Shimegi)
Catholic Priest: (Masakane Yonekura)
Narrator: (Chinatsu Nakayama)^[1]

[edit] Trivia

Since the original story is based on the life of Joan of Arc, the main character of the movie, Jeanne, is named after her.
The drawing style of this movie was the inspiration for the drawing styles of Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo.
Kunihiko Ikuhara, director of the S and Super S seasons of Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena has stated that Kanashimi no Belladonna was his inspiration to work in anime. The influence is more clear in Utena than in Sailor Moon.