Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Belladonna of Sadness Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 7, 2016

Nominated for Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, Eiichi Yamamoto's "Belladonna of Sadness" (1973) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of U.S. label Cinelicious Pics. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers for the film, and new interviews with director Eiichi Yamamoto, art dierctor Kuni Fukai, and composer Masahiko Satoh. The release also arrives with a 16-page illustrated booklet featuring Dennis Bartok's essay "Belladonna of Sadness: Lost & Found". In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Seduced

I find the temptation to compare Eiichi Yamamoto’s Belladonna of Sadness to Nagisa Oshima’s In the Realm of the Senses impossible to resist. Indeed, these two films emerged at approximately the same time during the early 1970s and test Japanese cultural boundaries in very similar ways. Both have multiple identities that allow for different interpretations of the stories they tell. Both also became quite controversial.

Yamamoto’s film is based on a very interesting novel by Jules Michelet titled La Sorciere (The Witch) that examines the origin of witch craft and its evolution during different eras. It is full of intriguing speculations and descriptions of unusual relationships that attempt to rationalize witch craft as a form of unorthodox religion. Yamamoto uses only a small portion of this material that becomes the foundation for what is essentially a period experimental film with distinctive European characteristics that breaks all sorts of different taboos.

The story is broken into two segments. In the first the beautiful country girl Jeanne is raped on her wedding night by an evil baron after the man she loves fails to pay the required marriage tax. Overwhelmed by sadness and pain, Jeanne gives herself to the Devil in exchange for some of his supernatural powers. In the second segment Jeanne is accused of witchcraft and then banished from the village where she has spent her entire life.

The chronology of these events, however, is largely unimportant. Obviously some of them give the story a structure and then make it possible for it to evolve, but the film’s interest shifts elsewhere. After Jeanne’s encounter with the Devil it basically becomes one giant psychedelic medley whose primary goal is experimenting with all sorts of colorful visuals and sounds.

The manner in which you deconstruct the medley should determine whether you fall in love or get bored to tears by this film. It creates a very unique atmosphere and then unleashes a series of images that frequently go in opposite directions. For example, some can be incredibly beautiful and peaceful but there are also some that are surprisingly graphic. There are also some segments that do appear to be intentionally provocative. (In a brand new interview included on this release, director Yamamoto mentions that during the film’s promotional campaign in Japan a lot of graphic sexual content was actually cut to make it more appealing to girls. This footage has not been reinstated).

Ultimately, much like In the Realm of the Senses this film has an obvious rebellious spirit. It is less refined, but a lot of what I think makes it look attractive has to do precisely with this raw unbridled energy that is channeled through it. It becomes very unpredictable and begins teasing your senses in ways that very few films have even considered.

Belladonna of Sadness was recently restored in 4K by Cinelicious Pics using the original 35mm camera negative and sound elements -- and including over 8 minutes of surreal and explicit footage cut from the negative.

Belladonna of Sadness Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.32:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Eiichi Yamamoto's Belladonna of Sadness arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinelicious Pics.

The release is a sourced from a brand new 4K restoration of the film that is enormously impressive. I had never before seen the film -- and this is hardly surprising as up until now it has never been officially distributed in the U.S. -- but have to say that after the restoration it looks incredibly healthy and lush. Indeed, detail and clarity are as good as they can be while depth is consistently excellent. Colors appear beautifully balanced -- there are no traces of fading, awkward digital nuances, or unnatural flatness. Also, there are no traces of problematic digital or sharpening adjustments. Image stability is excellent. So the final product that emerged after the truly is of exceptionally high quality. The technical presentation, however, is somewhat inconsistent. Indeed, there are some random compression artifacts that occasionally have a negative impact on fluidity. My guess is that the larger your screen is, the easier it will be for you to spot them, but even viewers will mid-size screens will probably notice a few examples popping up here and there (see screencapture #1). So, some encoding optimizations should have been made so that the film looks as good as it should on Blu-ray. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Restoration project supervisor: Paul Korver.
Lead restoration artist: Craig Rogers.
Restoration Artist: Michael Coronado.
Film scanning supervisor: Tyler Fagerstrom.
Remastering colorist: Caitlin Diaz.
D.I. conform editor: Zach Rogers.
DCP authoring: Trevor Dauten.

Belladonna of Sadness Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The Mono track's range of nuanced dynamics is rather modest, but Masahiko Sato's psychedelic score actually quite easily opens up the more dramatic sequences. Balance between the music and the dialog/narration is also excellent. There are no audio dropouts, pops, cracks, or digital distortions to report in our review.

Belladonna of Sadness Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Original 1973 Trailer - original Japanese trailer for Belladonna of Sadness. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (3 min, 1080p).

• U.S. Theatrical Trailer (Green Band) - original U.S. trailer for Belladonna of Sadness. Music only, with some English text. (2 min, 1080p).

• U.S. Theatrical Trailer (Red Band) - original U.S. trailer for Belladonna of Sadness. In Japanese, with printed English subtitles. (3 min, 1080p).

• Eiichi Yamamoto - in this exclusive new video interview, dierctor Eiichi Yamamoto explains how his love for manga shaped up his career, and discusses his involvement with Otogi Productions, his work on Cleopatra: Queen of Sex and Thousand & One Nights, the production history of Belladonna of Sadness, the visual style of the film, its screening and reception at the Berlin International Film Festival, some of the difficult decisions that had to be made during the promotional campaign (some of the hardcore footage was cut by the director), etc. In Japanese, with imposed English subtitles. (24 min, 1080p).

• Kuni Fukai - in this exclusive new video interview, art dierctor Kuni Fukai discusses his love for classic films (Tarzan) and animals, the impact the work of Mexican painter Rufino Tamayo had on him, the "bad influence" manga had on him, his involvement with Belladonna of Sadness, the use of colors in the film, etc. In Japanese, with imposed English subtitles. (17 min, 1080p).

• Masahiko Satoh - in this exclusive new video interview, composer Masahiko Satoh discusses the important role music had early in his life (after WWII), his admiration for Charles Vidor's film A Song to Remember, his work as a studio musician (including some work he did for Akira Kurosawa), the socio-cultural climate in Japan during the 1970s, the soundtrack of Belladonna of Sadness and its avant-garde/psychedelic qualities, the film's reception in Japan and abroad, etc. In Japanese, with imposed English subtitles. (28 min, 1080p).

• Booklet - 16-page illustrated booklet featuring Dennis Bartok's essay "Belladonna of Sadness: Lost & Found" and technical credits. (Mr. Bartok is a filmmaker and screenwriter, and currently Executive Vice President of Acquisitions & Distribution for Cinelicious Pics. He was formerly head of programing for the American Cinematheque in Hollywood. He is also author of the upcoming book A Thousand Cuts: the Bizarre Underground World of Collectors and Dealers Who Saved the Movies/University Press of Mississippi).

Belladonna of Sadness Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Belladonna of Sadness looks and feels like the forgotten passion project of an unknown Nouvelle Vague director. It is a very interesting experimental period film that enthusiastically breaks all sorts of different taboos. It surprised me a lot, and though I found it a bit extreme at times, I liked its style and atmosphere a lot. The film has been beautifully restored in 4K by Cinelicious Pics, at the moment arguably the most exciting new boutique label in the U.S. RECOMMENDED.