The Love Witch

The Love Witch
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anna Biller
Written by	Anna Biller
Starring	Samantha Robinson Gian Keys Laura Waddell Jeffrey Vincent Parise Jared Sanford Robert Seeley Jennifer Ingrum
Cinematography	M. David Mullen, A.S.C.
Distributed by	Oscilloscope Laboratories
Release dates	31 January 2016 (2016-01-31) (International Film Festival Rotterdam)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$103,918[1]

The Love Witch is a 2016 horror-thriller film written and directed by Anna Biller, about a modern-day witch who uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her. Shot in Los Angeles and Eureka, California,^[2] it premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.^[3] In May 2016, it was acquired for distribution at the Cannes Marché du Film by Oscilloscope Laboratories.^[4][5]

Plot

The Love Witch uses the figure of the witch as a metaphor for women in general, as both an embodiment of men's fears of women, and of women's own innate powers of intuition and as mothers and sorceresses.^[6] The lead character of the film is a young woman who uses magic to make men love her. Her character is an examination of the femmes fatales archetype.^[7] The film embraces the camp of '60s horror, examining issues of love, desire, and narcissism through a feminist perspective.^[8] Anna Biller is a feminist filmmaker whose take on cinema is influenced by feminist film theory.^[9]

The film is highly stylized with elaborate set and costume design and a color palette to match the aesthetic of Technicolor.^[10][11] It imitates a 1960s look, although characters use 2016 phones and the cars are modern.^[12]

Cast

• Samantha Robinson as Elaine
• Gian Keys as Griff
• Laura Waddell as Trish
• Jeffrey Vincent Parise as Wayne
• Jared Sanford as Gahan
• Robert Seeley as Richard
• Jennifer Ingrum as Barbara
• Clive Ashborn as Professor King
• Elle Evans as Star

Production

The Love Witch is one of the last films to cut an original camera negative on 35mm film.^[13] It was the only new (non-repertory) feature film presented at the 2016 International Film Festival Rotterdam on 35mm film.^[14] The film was lit and shot to look like an old 1960s Technicolor film.^[15] Anna Biller designed the sets and costumes to emulate the style of classic Hollywood films,^[16] and collaborated closely with her cinematographer M. David Mullen, who is an expert on period cinematography and who has been nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards,^[17] to create the hard lighting style characteristic of such films.^[18][19] For the driving scenes, rear projection photography was used to give glamor to the lead actress, and in tribute to the opening of the Hitchcock movie The Birds.

The actors also played their parts in a classic presentational acting style, with lead actress Samantha Robinson^[20] attracting attention for her stylized performance.^[21]

Jeffrey Vincent Parise of General Hospital is one of Elaine's victims.^[22]

Critical response

The Love Witch received positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 98%, based on 46 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's consensus reads: "The Love Witch offers an absorbing visual homage to a bygone era, arranged subtly in service of a thought-provoking meditation on the battle of the sexes."^[23]

In a review for The New York Times, A. O. Scott wrote, "Ms. Biller's movie, like its heroine, presents a fascinating, perfectly composed, brightly colored surface. What's underneath is marvelously dark, like love itself."^[24]

References

External links

• Official website
• The Love Witch at the Internet Movie Database
• The Love Witch at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Love Witch at Trailer Addict