Reviews & Ratings for
哀しみのベラドンナ (1973)

Jeanne and Jean are happy newlyweds in a rural village in Medieval France. Their idyll is promptly shattered when Jeanne, on her wedding night, is raped in a ritual deflowering by the local baron and his courtiers. She returns to Jean terrified and in pain, and he calms her, saying, "Let us forget everything in the past". That night, Jeanne begins to see visions of a phallic-headed spirit who promises her power. As a result, the couple's fortunes rise even as famine strikes the village and the baron raises taxes to fund his war effort. Jean is made tax collector, and the baron cuts off his hand as punishment when he cannot extract enough money from the village. The spirit visits once again (having grown in size) and rapes Jeanne in exchange for more riches. Although she submits her body, she attests that her soul belongs to God. Shortly after, Jeanne takes out a large loan from a usurer and sets herself up in the same trade, eventually becoming the true power in the village.

Then the baron returns victorious from his war, and his wife, envious of the respect and admiration accorded Jeanne, calls her a witch, turning the town against her. Jeanne first tries to return home to Jean, but he refuses to open the door for her and she is assaulted. That evening, when soldiers come to arrest her, she flees into the nearby forest. In the wilderness, she finally makes a pact with the spirit, who reveals himself to be the Devil. She is granted considerable magical powers, and returns to find the village has been infected with the Bubonic plague. Jeanne uses her powers to create a cure for the disease and the village flocks to her for aid. Having won their favor, Jeanne presides over orgiastic rites among the villagers. A page, who is in love with the baron's wife, begs Jeanne to help him seduce her. She gives him a potion that causes the baron's wife to accept his advances, but the baron catches his wife sleeping with the page and kills them both.

Perturbed by Jeanne's power, the baron sends Jean to invite her to a meeting. The couple reconcile and Jeanne accepts the invitation. In exchange for sharing her cure for the plague, the baron offers to make Jeanne the second-highest noble in the land, but she refuses, saying she wishes to rule the entire world. Angered at her refusal, the baron orders Jeanne burnt at the stake. Jean is killed by the baron's soldiers when he tries to retaliate, which angers the villagers. As Jeanne is burned, the faces of the villagers transform into Jeanne's, fulfilling a priest's warning that if a witch is burnt while her pride is intact, her soul will survive to influence everyone around her. Centuries later, the influence of Jeanne's spirit initiates The French Revolution.