Belladonna of Sadness 1973

Jeanne and Jean are newlyweds living in a quiet rural village in medieval France. On their wedding night, Jeanne endures a brutal ritual deflowering carried out by the local baron and his courtiers. She returns to her husband terrified, and he briefly tries to reassure her that they can start anew from that moment, but a moment of fragile tenderness is shattered when he acts out in fear and anger, leaving her shaken and alone in the aftermath.

Jeanne soon begins to see visions of a phallic-headed spirit that promises power. The spirit claims it heard her call for help and can grow as big and mighty as she wishes. As famine tightens its grip on the village, the couple’s fortunes take an unsettling turn: the baron funds his war by raising taxes, and Jean—who has been pressed into the role of tax collector—finds himself increasingly trapped between a demanding ruler and a hungry populace. When he cannot extract enough money, the baron punishes him by severing his hand. The spirit returns, now larger, and again assaults Jeanne in exchange for even more riches, though she insists that her soul remains bound to Jean and to God.

Jeanne’s power grows as she borrows heavily from a usurer and builds a new base of influence in the village. The baron comes home victorious from his campaigns, and his wife, envious of Jeanne’s rising stature, calls her a witch and rallies the villagers to turn against her. Fleeing a mob of accusers, Jeanne tries to return to her home, but the door remains shut as her husband is too intoxicated to answer, and she is assaulted once more under the weight of fear and betrayal.

That night, soldiers come to arrest her, and she escapes into the surrounding forest. In the wilderness, she makes a pact with the spirit, who reveals himself as the Devil. With this new power, she returns to a village beset by bubonic plague and uses her abilities to create a cure, drawing the sick and suffering to her side. She then presides over rites that blend healing with revelry, and her influence swells as the townsfolk seek relief and meaning in her presence.

A love-struck page who hopes to win the baron’s wife asks Jeanne for help to seduce her. She gives him a love potion that works—until the baron discovers the transgression and kills both lovers in a jealous rage. Enraged by Jeanne’s defiance, the baron invites her to a meeting and offers to crown her the second-highest noble in the land in exchange for sharing her plague cure; she refuses, dreaming of dominating the world rather than sharing power piecemeal.

The baron retaliates by ordering Jeanne burned at the stake, and Jean dies trying to intervene, slain by his soldiers. As the flames rise, the faces of the village’s women twist to resemble Jeanne’s own, echoing a priest’s warning that a prideful witch burned would have her soul survive and spread its influence. The Priest’s caution rings through the tale, a mythic thread that lingers as the village burns away. Centuries later, the lingering presence of Jeanne’s spirit is said to have sown the seeds that would culminate in the French Revolution, a historical echo of power, fear, and the intoxicating lure of forbidden influence that began in a single, volatile village.