A modern-day witch uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her, with deadly consequences.A modern-day witch uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her, with deadly consequences.A modern-day witch uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her, with deadly consequences.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 5 nominations total
April Schutte
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- (as April Showers)
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Featured reviews
The Love Witch is Anna Biller's second feature film and my first time watching any of her works. The film is artistically spectacular - Costumes, shot making, colours, dialogue delivery - and original in scope. Biller commits to her genre (classic horror) and period-look (mid-sixties to early seventies, think "I Dream of Jeannie" or "Bewitched") and uses satire to turn the patriarchy on its head. It's a lot to try to accomplish in two hours. The film isn't without a few flaws. Sometimes the script is too thick and the pacing too slow, but overall, The Love Witch distinctively shines. Biller has a lot of promise as a director.
This is the story of a beautiful witch called Elaine, well played by Samantha Robinson, who uses spells to get men to fall in love with her but every time she finds one it ends tragically.
Fantastic use of colour here, in particular reds, pinks and blues. It is also an homage to the style of the films from the 1960's of the likes of Hitchcock. Plus it does serve as an interesting insight to the world of witchcraft for those who are not learned in the topic, in particular wicca or white magic.And it has plenty of nudity. However, after an engaging first hour the second hour is unnecessarily long and sadly lets the film down.
It´s been said, "The Love Witch" is technically brilliant. The imitation of older genre films is perfect. It´s not only the visuals, the scenery or the costumes, the sound design is just as good and every single character seems to be taken from another era. Even transitions from scene to scene are excellent. Anna Biller has a complete understanding of the movies she wants to emulate. It´s almost witchcraft.
From a feminist standpoint, it isnt´t subtle. I´m not sure if it should be taken entirely serious. I find it deceitully simple, though, and quite clever but it does at times seem taken from another era as well. The truth is i don´t get it completely. This film, feminist or not, is certainly feminine. The most feminine film I´ve ever seen. It´s a woman´s art, a woman´s idea, a woman´s everything. It´s absolutely drowning in estrogen.
The question is, if "The Love Witch" was actually a late 60s film would it be any good? I have no idea but I´m guessing it´s irrelevant. Revivalism is a crucial element. It uses older esthetics to prove a point now. The comedy works better in a 21st century context. It might be too long and slow, I´d recommend watching it in the morning, not a popular time to watch movies but a lot films work better that way, and this is definitely one of them.
From a feminist standpoint, it isnt´t subtle. I´m not sure if it should be taken entirely serious. I find it deceitully simple, though, and quite clever but it does at times seem taken from another era as well. The truth is i don´t get it completely. This film, feminist or not, is certainly feminine. The most feminine film I´ve ever seen. It´s a woman´s art, a woman´s idea, a woman´s everything. It´s absolutely drowning in estrogen.
The question is, if "The Love Witch" was actually a late 60s film would it be any good? I have no idea but I´m guessing it´s irrelevant. Revivalism is a crucial element. It uses older esthetics to prove a point now. The comedy works better in a 21st century context. It might be too long and slow, I´d recommend watching it in the morning, not a popular time to watch movies but a lot films work better that way, and this is definitely one of them.
I dont think i would ever expect to see a movie made in 2016 to feel like it was shot in the 60s. Even the quality of the movie felt like i was watching a movie from 40 50 years ago. I don't know a lot about witchtcraft and i've never been really interested in that but i really loved the atmosphere and the visuality of the film. The cafe where they went to drink tea was my favorite location for sure, it was like a fairy tale. I think there was a lot of remarks about feminism. If i look at the story of the film i couldn't really get Elaine's story and the movie didn't really get to the point. I couldn't figure out Elaine's emotions towards the men she was with especially to Wayne. And the scene with her and Wayne in his house was unnecessarily long. But overall it was visually satisfying. I wont recommend people to watch it for the plot tho. The acting was not so great either except the british girl. But afterall you watch b-movies for their weirdness,right?
Did you know
- TriviaWhile writing the script for The Love Witch, Anna Biller had been reading relationship self-help books, and one particular piece of advice that stuck out to her was that if a woman wants to keep a man around, she should love him less than he loves her. She noticed a parallel between this advice and the female characters in classic cinema who love someone to death such as Ellen in Leave Her to Heaven (1945), so she decided to created the character Elaine in the same vein.
- GoofsElaine performs a seductive dance for Richard, causing him to bite her rear end in a fit of lust. Before he bites her, red bite marks are already visible on her right buttock from previous takes.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Brows Held High: The Love Witch's Subtle Cinematic Subversion (2017)
- How long is The Love Witch?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $228,894
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $17,980
- Nov 13, 2016
- Gross worldwide
- $258,576
- Runtime
- 2h(120 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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