Belladonna of Sadness, a woman's power
Belladonna of sadness was not my best idea for movies to watch with my mother. At some point in the seemingly eternal satanic orgy scene she asked me to skip because it was ‘killing her’. Even despite that Belladonna is a movie me and my mother will never forget, even if we wanted to. It is the animated Japanese telling of a French story of our beloved main character Jeanne. She is simply stated as a -beautiful- women having just gotten married to a -kind- man, Jean. As 1800’s peasants are ought to do, they ask the local lord permission to officially marry. Unfortunately, their offer is simply not enough to satiate the lord. Instead the lord decides his tribute will instead be the "Droit du Seigneur" or the "Right of the First Night". First the lord asks if Jeanne is still pure. Skipping over any reply she could make her husband quickly jumps in to assure the lord she is pure. Jeanne’s body will come replace the several fattened animals usually requested by the lord in exchange for a lawful marriage. Jean is removed from the castle while Jeanne faces the worst. For the sake context this is happening in prerevolutionary France. Women held no power in the home or politics. Jeanne is what would be considered a passive citizen. Like a child she is expected to rely on a man to make choices on her behalf. But the system fails Jeanne, it fails spectacularly. As a farming class citizen even her husband is powerless. The feudal lord and church both fail her on her wedding night.
Jeanne is freed from the confines of the castle and she runs home to her beloved. She is violated, powerless and needs someone to support her. She is cast out naked back to the village. So she goes to her new husband. He however seems completely uninterested in her needs. He is crying. From my interpretation and his actions it seems to be that his pride is wounded. He is ashamed of what happened to his wife and remains emotionally unavailable to her. Because he sees his troubles as more important than hers. A complete product of the time. He tells her to move on and forget it. That she should move on from this trauma that she had to face alone. He is so overcome by this shame that he attempts to choke Jeanne, only to soon give up and sob in the field. Jeanne spends her daylight hours being a supportive wife and trying to emotionally comfort her husband. Despite getting nothing in return from Jean. Jeanne wants power, she needs it in fact, in order to ‘save’ her husband.
Once it is night and her husband sleeps, she finally feels she is allowed to express herself. She attempts to remain quiet of course, she would not want to wake her ‘ailing’ husband. Jeanne passively cries into the night about how she wants power, if only someone would save her. This became a big theme for me throughout the movie. Did Jeanne wish to have power for herself or to get help. This next scene imagery is smattered with phallic imagery as a small demon appears from Jeanne. She asks if this small imp is the devil, he responds that he is her. This is an odd dynamic with witches. They are viewed a heathens and scary independent women but also are implied to get their powers from the devil. Which is it? Are they crones who toil with their own power to ruin the lives of mortal men or are they ultimately controlled by a devil? I believe people make their own demons. Jeanne’s want for power manifested inside of her so strongly she either created a demon or she uses it as a device to explain her newfound abilities. The demon does comment that “It’s your fault I’m small”. Perhaps Jeanne had just found it within herself to begin questioning and fighting in a small way, so he manifested from that feeling.
But even so their interactions continue to blur any sureness within me. The demon asks for her soul. She refuses instead of her soul she offers the demon her body. It seems the only power women have in this time is to sleep with men. She is only able to get married under the authority of the lord and only able to make money to support her husband under the authority of this demon. . Jeanne oddly gets power from sex forced upon her, or with coerced consent. Jeanne as of yet in the movie seems a very passive player in her own story. This comes in contrast to the later liberated witch Jeanne but falls apart at the end. Jeanne begins making beautiful clothes And the narrator states through HER work HE is able to pay taxes. As war approaches Jeanne once more uses her body in order to become a money lender and financially support her Lord.
As her Lord is off to war the Queen takes over temporarily as the authority. The Queen is extremely mad that Jeanne gets more respect than her. Jeanne is shown to be willing to work with the peasants and to sort out taxes. But the Queen just continues to hate her from up high in the castle. Jeanne is respected and loved amongst the towns people, even when Jean as smoothly transitioned to be a drunken slob. Jeanne seems to be thriving until one day the king returns and sees Jeanne being admired and has an assassin go and rip her clothes with a dagger. Instantly everyone turns on her. Women call her names and the men immediately charge at her to have their way with her. Despite her unending charity and other virtues they would turn on a woman in a second. Just the men and women having a glimpse of her body reverts them back to a mob. Her punishment is to be ‘Shame until god enters heart’, that task is left t the women of the village. Women cannot be competent leaders, The queen did not even how-to ability, or perhaps felt she had the power to get Jeanne killed until her husband returned. She was the acting Lord, but even so acted inferior to her counterpart.
And Jeanne runs, once more betrayed by her husband selling out her location to the local authorities. But Satan takes her and hides her among the sharp brush, of course making sure it also rips her clothes of completely. Jeanne finally begins to see the scope of the injustice done upon her as a woman. All women must pay for the sins of Eve. Jeanne no longer care for the society that has wronged her and failed her so many times. She simply wants to do bad. She offers the devil both her womb and her soul. She wants to become a horrifying woman. He beautiful body has only caused her trouble. But Satan only makes her more attractive. Jeanne was attempting to leave behind her trauma by leaving behind the beautiful maiden she was. She sees this feminine trait as only a negative for herself. The devil doesn’t, however. As the counterpoint to the masculine God, Satan has a tendency to embraced feminine features in classic literature and folk lore. Jeanne is still being viewed as a piece of meat by her latest male companion. But instead of it making her subservient it is being propped up as her person power. Satan even sees her as an equal of sorts. He refers to her as his wife. Jeanne is consumed by her hatred and rage and comes out a beautiful powerful witch.
There are some things even the Church cannot hope to control. That is right, it is plague time. The church collapses nearly completely under the ‘satanic’ power of nature/ the plague. With the power of a so called ‘poisonous’ plant Jeanne is able to cure the plague. And soon the village folks gather witch festivals/ giant orgies. Everyone is having a great time thanks to the innovation of women and their freedom from the oppression of their feudal lord. Jeanne is the best ruler these people have ever had. But that cannot be. The king simply must have her under his thumb. So the worst happens, Jean, the terrible bastard loser husband comes back on the scene to cry and beg for her to come back and submit to the Lord. AND SHE DOES! She forgives him. And the Lord invites her to live back on the lord’s land in exchange for all of her knowledge. Jeanne says she does not want a simple plot of land or a title. She wants the world just as the Lord did. But because she is a witch and a woman the Lord wants to have her killed. Their feudal lord who does not cure the plague, has high taxes, and has yet to hold a state sponsored orgy convinces everyone to once again turn on her. The king has not been portrayed as doing a simple thing right this entire movie. But nepotism runs rampant and religion is utilized as a tool to control the masses. So ultimately, she is burned at the stake. Another hasty decision by men in power with no idea. The Lord had never actually been able to shame the Lord into her heart. So as the crowd watches her burn her spirit splits off into the entire watching crowd. Freeing them from their mental chains and sparking a seed of rebellion in all of their spirits. They no longer feel the need to live under a man happy to watch them starve and die. Jeanne is ultimately a Christ figure freeing the villagers mind and giving back their free will. That is to say the real evil is corrupt authority and not the moral folly of women.
