2019/12/22 Kanashimi no Belladonna, Orgies and the Faustian Pact
Belladonna was one hell of a movie. A rollercoaster from start to finish. Said to have inspired directors from Ikuhara to even Miyazaki, this traumatising yet carnal avant-garde adventure from 1973 bankrupted Mushi Pro. The plethora of still, animationless shots throughout the film and juxtaposed by brilliantly animated scenes creating a novel viewing experience. Combined with exceptionally long panning shots that must've been painted on the longest cell known to man, Belladonna inspired a new generation of the potential of animation.
Now onto the crux of the matter. The film revolves around Jeanne, the protagonist, who battles with her Christian moral debasing after experiencing extreme trauma. After first being raped by the king, and then abandoned by her husband as she was being pursued, she is lost - dying. After much temptation, she, like Faust, sells her soul to the devil. Those who sell their soul to the devil are confident. They are powerful. To sell your soul leaves you with pure ego: pure control. The Buddha described the mind as a man riding an elephant wherein the man, the ego, had to tame the wild beast beneath him, his soul. Without the elephant, the world is at your feet. Yet even though you have given away your soul, it is still possessed by the devil. It's hard to notice, but all the thoughts we think we are having are in fact products of our unconscious. Our ego believes it is pulling all the punches, but instead our unconscious mind is controlling the ego like a marionette. Hence, even though Jeanne is confident and powerful, she is in fact dancing in the devil's hand. In making the pact, Jeanne and the devil have sex... to some extent. In 'becoming one', the devil envelops Jeanne, consuming her. Instead of sharing a soul as in erotic love, a soul is consumed instead.
The belladonna flower is used by Jeanne and her husband, the devil, to fuel orgiastic satanic festivals. The flower contains 2 chemicals of note, namely atropine and scopolamine, which are delirient drugs. Takers of the belladonna flower will experience true hallucinations - ones where you don't realise your hallucinating. You'll meet and talk to friends who you can see who aren't there, you'll smoke imaginary cigarettes and, if you take too much, end up naked in a pile of your own shit in a field in the middle of nowhere. The site Erowid is a fascinating place wherein peoples childhood misadventures with delirients are catalogued and is a great database of true psychological horror. The deadly nightshade is also a major component of 'flying ointment' which is a delirient brew typically ascribed to witches. This is why witches flew - they were as high as a kite, flying. A flower befitting of the devil if there ever was one.
The orgiastic ritual has forever been used by Christianity as the ultimate depiction of possession by the devil. Upon a return to his natural state, man is rendered an animal; antithetical to Christian doctrine which places man above animal. It is our ego, according to Christianity, our self awareness which we stole from God in the original sin which makes us human. To rend our godliness and regress to animal is a rejection of God and a call to the devil. A major reason for Christianity's flourishing is the dominance of ego or the exercising of one's godliness. Instead of lounging around boning and stoning, you wear your suit or corset, tighten up and get to work. Exercise your will and beat your elephant into shape. Start thinking and prepare for the future. The orgy stands in stark contrast. You may become a parent. You may become pregnant. Losing yourself in sexual bliss. Watching as your ego dissolves into nothingness. Watching as you lose your godliness. Unconstrained by will, without a caution thrown to the wind, the chaos of the orgy challenges the power of the king's order. The power of love vs the power of discipline.
The queen's page boy visits Jeanne during a belladonna filled orgy. People merge into animals and back again (same animators from Bander Book?) as man and animal becomes indistinguishable. He confesses that he has sexual desires for the queen and covertly asks for Jeanne's help. She hands him the belladonna which he sneaks into the queen's drink. That night, the queen is overcome with horniness until the page boy comes to help her out. She has been corrupted. She is no longer the upstrung queen stands with a straight back showing no emotion. Fingering herself uncontrollably, she has succumbed to primal urges, is unable to discipline herself and left god. In a beautiful scene, the king skewers the page boy and the queen with his sword through their hearts: a phallus of discipline piercing the source of love, the heart.
Later, Jeanne as the envoy of love meets with the king as the envoy of discipline. The ordered, disciplined king offers her land, money, power second only to his own. Jeanne rejects all of that. Jeanne asks for everything. To love, 2 become 1; like the holy trinity wherein 3 are 1, numerical contradictions are used to explain transcendental conceptions. You can't put only half into a relationship - you must give everything. The king wants Jeanne; he wants her knowledge on how to cure the plague. But Jeanne,the animal from the orgy only operates in terms of love. In return for her everything, she wants the king's everything. A fitting cycle from the beginning of the film wherein the king raped her. After so much time had passed, in spite of the rape, she is prepared to give the king her everything yet the king rejects and sentences her to be burnt alive. The end.