This film has several things that made it of interest to me: stylish Japanese animation, a story containing a deal with the devil (I'm always a sucker for movies featuring the devil, don't ask me why), and a director who was certainly not shy about showing nudity and sex (ok, I'm probably a sucker for those too, if they're done right anyway). Unfortunately, the movie doesn't live up to its potential, or perhaps, hasn't aged well. While some of the artwork is beautiful, the plot is simple, plodding along during slow right-to- left pans, and far too often using sex as a crutch. We see the devil having sex with the woman several times, lots of phallic imagery and big boobs, and a bizarre, surreal orgy in the woods featuring people, animals, and half-people/half-animals. It just gets to be a little much, and is definitely written/conceived/drawn from an immature male perspective. It's a shame that such a weighty theme and Faustian premise was so poorly handled. I also have to say that the scenes in France at the end are ridiculous, almost as if someone had an incoherent thought while high. Maybe if you were drunk or on an acid trip watching this film in college with your guy buddies in the 70's or 80's, you would love it. Otherwise, you can enjoy it for a window into what feels like 1960's psychedelia, some of its pretty animation (particularly in the first part of the film), and for it presumably having pushed boundaries in Japan at the time.
Review of Belladonna of Sadness
