The Witch, film review: Strong performances but risks absurdity
(15) Robert Eggers, 93 mins. Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The writer-director Robert Eggers' debut feature is a very strikingly shot but strangely self-conscious horror film that risks drifting off into absurdity. Set in New England in the 17th century, it pays exhaustive attention to landscape, period detail and language. The characters address each other as "thou" rather than "you" and the dialogue often sounds mannered as a result. The cinematographer Jarin Blaschke has a flair for filming the natural world using natural light, but the lyrical skyscapes and shots of forests at dawn and dusk are invariably held for just a little too long.
Ralph Ineson plays William, the dour puritan farmer cast out of his community for "prideful conceit" who tries to establish a homestead on the edge of a forest. Needless to say, there is something wicked in the woods. His family begins to suffer extreme and unexplained misfortune. A baby vanishes. Crops fail. Relations between William and his wife (Kate Dickie) grow strained.
There are strong performances from Anya Taylor-Joy as the precocious daughter Thomasin, who is accused by her younger siblings of being a witch, and from Harvey Scrimshaw as Thomasin's brother Caleb. One or two scenes have real demonic power but when it comes to witches levitating and ornery old goats with satanic powers, the film loses its intensity. To his credit, Eggers isn't just making another genre horror movie. His approach is closer to that of a Tarkovsky-style art-house film than to a typical low-budget shocker. The problem is that the craft and artistry are just too laboured and foregrounded.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments