The Love Witch

Plot synopsis:
The film opens with Elaine, a beautiful young witch, driving to Arcata, California to start a new life after the death of her husband Jerry. It is heavily implied that Elaine murdered him. Once there she rents a room in a Victorian home owned by Elaine's mentor Barbara and kept up by its interior decorator, Trish Manning. In an attempt to befriend the young woman Trish takes Elaine to a teahouse, where she's met by her husband Richard, who is instantly besotted with Elaine after meeting her gaze. Hoping to find a new lover, Elaine performs a ritual to find a new man and soon meets Wayne, a literature teacher at the local college.
The two travel to Wayne's cabin, where she gets him to drink a concoction containing hallucinogens. The two have sex, after which Wayne becomes emotional and clingy, which proves to be a turnoff for Elaine. He dies the next day and Elaine buries his body along with a witch bottle. She decides that the next man she will try to seduce will be Richard. While Trish is away, Elaine invites him over to her apartment, where she also serves him a concoction. Afterwards Richard becomes obsessed with Elaine, causing her to break up with him.
Unbeknownst to Elaine, one of Wayne's colleagues has reported him missing, leading to police officer Griff to investigate and discover Wayne's body and Elaine's witch bottle. He traces it to Elaine but falls in love with her and initially refuses to believe that she would be capable of murder, much to the ire of his partner Steve. Elaine shares his love and believes him to be the man of her dreams, even going so far as to hold a mock wedding with her coven at a renaissance faire.
Meanwhile Richard, morose, kills himself in his bathtub, where he's discovered by Trish. Despondent, Trish invites Elaine to tea again and tries on a ring that Griff gave Elaine during their mock wedding, only to forget to return the ring to Elaine. Trish decides to leave the ring inside Elaine's apartment but in doing so discovers a shrine to Elaine's dead lovers—and that her husband was one of them. She's discovered by Elaine and the two fight before Trish leaves the apartment. Elaine then goes to the cabaret to meet Griff, who confronts her over the deaths of Wayne and Richard. He tells her that she is tied to both of them by DNA evidence left in Wayne's witch bottle and that the items Trish gave him implicate her in Richard's suicide. Despite his earlier love, Griff is unwilling to let Elaine go unpunished. Their conversation is overheard by the cabaret patrons who are prejudiced towards witches and try to harm Elaine. Griff helps her escape, and the two return to her apartment where she stabs him to death.

Tags: romantic, murder, flashback

Review:
With it fresh in my memory, I was looking forward to seeing 2016's "The Love Witch" - directed by Anna Biller - which seemed like a perfect companion piece.
And she isn't afraid to use all the witchery in the book to get him, but things just seem to keep going wrong, and the men usually end up dead.On its surface, "The Love Witch" is a throwback to those bright technicolor melodramas of the 60's and 70's with occult themes like those in Romero's film.
I'm not familiar with her previous work, but one look at Biller's filmography shows that she's made a habit of paying tribute to exploitation fare of the past, and visually she nails it.Shot on glorious 35mm, "The Love Witch" makes one hell of a first impression.
The set design is wonderfully garish and when you realize that Biller herself did just about everything - from directing to writing, costumes to makeup, production design to editing - it's hard not to be impressed.I was totally on board at the beginning of the film.
Everything creaks to a halt as we watch and listen to flatly shot, mundanely written yammering that means absolutely nothing to the story as a whole.I wanted to get my scissors out and trim this film for Biller.
Her stilted, sedate line delivery and bemused look are frustrating to the point of disbelief, and the people around her wander through scenes like denizens of a poorly acted dream.Ostensibly, the film is about the hold that women have over men with their sexuality...
It's like eating too much candy - the first few bites are great, but after indulging too selfishly, you end up with a stomach ache, which is usually followed by projectile vomiting and violent diarrhea.About 20 minutes from the end, when you feel like the movie MUST be wrapping up soon, you're subjected to another long, tensionless dialogue scene, and it hammers home just how much time you've wasted watching this thing.
A modern-day witch (Samantha Robinson) uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her, in a tribute to 1960s pulp novels and Technicolor melodramas.Making its Canadian premiere at Fantasia on July 16, "The Love Witch" swooped in to Montreal with high recommendations.
Perhaps, this was a budget constraint cleverly used by Biller to the movie's advantage, as self-reflexive moments like these seem to serve as reminders of the artifice of cinema and cultural style.Although The Love Witch is a 'feminist' movie, it's not polemically scathing or mean-spirited.
It´s absolutely drowning in estrogen.The question is, if "The Love Witch" was actually a late 60s film would it be any good?
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..
The first thing I have to say about The Love Witch is that it is one of the most beautiful looking new films I have seen for quite some time.
Director Anna Biller – who also impressively wrote and produced this as well as scored some of it and made a lot of the great outfits – says that the film is supposed to be set in contemporary times but to be honest it never feels this way!
These stylish pulp thrillers hit their peak in the early 70's and much of the visual feel of The Love Witch felt like it was at least partially a homage to the delirious colourful approach these movies embraced back in the day.The story is about an urban witch whose ultimate aim is to get the perfect man.
Biller made the quite valid point that if you want men to listen to feminist ideas in a movie then you really have to include them in a film that they are liable to pitch up to in the first place.
To this end we have a film featuring, on the one hand, a gorgeous seductive sensual witch, while at the same time, some feminist theory added to the mix – so everyone's a winner basically.It could probably be argued that at two hours it's a bit overlong.
into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: first and foremost, this movie is nothing short of a labor of love from Anna Biller, who previously brought us "Viva".
Bottom line: I can honestly tell you that this movie is one of the more unique films I've seen this year, but "The Love Witch" delivers, and then some.I had seen the trailer for this, and recently "The Love Witch" opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati.
Anna Biller not only directed this film, but wrote the screenplay, designed costumes, painted set pieces, recorded music, and even wove a pentagram RUG!
Will Griff resist to Elaine's spell?"The Love Witch" is an overrated, unfunny, tacky and annoying film by the unknown Anna Biller that tells the story of the nymphomaniac witch Elaine.
If you happen to pick up this movie, you definitely owe it to yourself to take the time and sit down to watch it.So "The Love Witch" is set in a modern age, yet there is something very 1970's about it, from the way that people dress, the make-up and the hairstyles.
This was the first time that I got acquainted with Samantha Robinson and her talent, and she definitely seems like she could be very well on her way for bigger and greater things in Hollywood.The cast in "The Love Witch" was actually quite good, and it was especially Samantha Robinson who carried the movie.
But the cast in general were doing good jobs with their given roles and characters, and the talented performers were nicely cast for these characters."The Love Witch" has an alluring and very fitting music score that really accompanies the movie quite well.Writer and director Anna Biller really had managed to conjure up something quite magical here with what she did with "The Love Witch".
Ranging from dialogue and characters to mood and atmosphere, then it was all a great combination that definitely had been put a lot of thought and effort into.The visuals effects in the movie were also very 1970's, having a very psychedelic feel to it, it terms of color, appearance and function.
I guess this comes down to taste and preferences, but in my view the amount of love and care that has gone into the making of this film comes across very clearly in almost all aspects and I'm sure that Anna Biller and Samantha Robinson must be very proud of the result.
My first gripe and probably the major one, with the way the movie looked and felt, if you're going to make a film so overpowered with a 60s/70s feel then set it in the 60s/70s.
Which reminds me, there is nudity in the film; really not sure why some people are making a bit deal about it, it's pretty innocuous.The overall theme is suffocating love, embodied in the glamorous form of Samantha Robinson, pitch-perfect as the horribly self-involved witch of the title, living in her insane fantasy life.
She is ably supported in this by all the main actors and the director herself, who created the costumes, the amazing rug, the spell book and so much of the background.Maybe 2 hours is a little too long, but I really enjoyed this film and look forward to more from this director..
Shot in gorgeous 35mm (who does that on a small budget these days?) with a wildly delirious color palette and painstaking attention to detail (well, there are a few modern cars in a few shots, but I forgave that against the rest of the film's visual perfection), this is sure to be one of the most talked about cinematography achievements of the year.
Watching this homage to 1970s horror thrillers is very much like turning on a made for TV movie in 1974 or so: the pacing, the acting styles (somewhat stiff and arbitrary), the camera shots, the music, and the only anachronism I noticed apart from the cars was one character's use of a smartphone.
The Love Witch, by writer, director, editor, composer and designer Anna Biller will be the most unusual and exciting film you will be lucky to see this Summer.
There are things in this movie that today's audiences are not used to seeing, everything from older lighting and acting styles, to rear projection, (special mention should be made of David Mullen, the cinematographer, who crafts a visual style that apparently has not been used in decades!) to carefully story boarded shots.
A truly independent film in every sense, The Love Witch, though it does have humor and eroticism in it, is in the end a kind of tragic drama, whose intent seems to be to get we in the audience to think more for ourselves about matters of consequence.
Elaine, a young witch, uses love spells on men in this satire/homage of mid-century melodramas and Gothic romance fiction.
The technicolor is interesting but I don't think it's enough to warrant some of the 10/10 ratings I've seen.....the look and acting style is well done if this film is the parody of the type of film I think it's aiming for but at the end of the day they are copying those old bad movies and that's the end result.....
The producers/director of this film wrongfully thought that by creating a movie that is unconventional but has no plot, moral or script will be pleasing to the audience - boy did they get it wrong or what.
The Love Witch is Anna Biller's second feature film and my first time watching any of her works.
The film really looks and feels like a complete camp 70s throwback and that's absolutely due to the behind the scenes care Biller but into her masterwork.
The film's titular Love Witch is Elaine (Samantha Robinson), a young woman who mysteriously departs San Francisco after her husband Jerry "left" her (the film reveals in flashback that Jerry actually died).
If I could have any production wish for this movie granted, however, I'd love to see it shot on technicolor film..
Biller's love for art is clear here presenting her main character Elaine (Samantha Robinson), whose favourite colour is red driving down the freeway in her red convertible, talking about her life and love in a timely narration giving the audience an unblinking eye.
Her story is simple yet exceptional, we learn within the first few minutes' film that she had a husband who adored her, but after his death she was resurrected as a love witch.
The film's concept sounds simple enough, and it is, but there is a bigger picture as Elaine soon finds out that love cannot be forced or going by the soundtrack which Biller wrote "Love is a beautiful thing." Sure there is a lot to take in but each scene is exceptionally lavish, each moment is pulled through an excellent degree of goodness yes; it's weird but with something this good there's just no turning away.However The Love Witch isn't perfect, there is a flaw, there is a beautiful pictured mock medieval wedding scene that outstays it's welcome, but other than that it's fair to say that this film couldn't be timelier and what a time to come out.VERDICT: Aesthetically colourful, beautifully presented and artfully mastered.
The Love Witch is, for me, a step above anything else in recent memory when it comes to independent genre film, and it cements Anna Biller's place as one of the most distinctive and fiercely original filmmakers working today.
If you appreciate good artistic cinema and love a good story along with beautiful sets and designs and amazing actors I recommend this film it's definitely a breath of fresh air..
The acting comes of for the most parts as awkward, except the star of this movie the love hungry witch Samantha Robinson she absolutely nails it in this femmen fatale role.
And Elaine won't be able to help herself in regard to her new guy.The Love Witch does have the look and feel of a late 60s early 70s movie.
Director Anna Biller utilizes every creative tool in her repertoire as a filmmaker and artist to craft a purposeful, stylistic, visual symphony that serves to enhance the heart-breaking story about a woman who tries everything within her means to get what eludes her the most, true love, in a man's world.Absolutely recommended..
Regarding the previously mentioned "erotic horror", The Love Witch includes some sex scenes, but they are never as explicit as the ones from the films it emulates; and besides, their semi-humorous context makes them seem almost innocent.
I feel like that is something that applies here.Anna Biller calls back to the 60's with films of the Technicolor era.
Everything from the camera techniques, picture quality, costume design, background music, and even the acting make you feel like you are watching a B grade campy, erotic, horror film.
However, if you are a film lover like me I think you will appreciate the sexy look of erotic B-movie madness on display.7.5/10.
this movie wants to be so many things that it's hard not to get annoyed.I feel like drive (2011) maybe was an inspiration, but where as drive knew exactly what it was and kept things in just the right amount to be entertaining and well paced the love witch dragged for way too long and wanted to ad so much more that it just became a bore.
And for the first 15 minutes, till the movie got me, I didn't know what I watched, what I should expect.The Love Witch I guess will split most of the audience into two groups - one group will find the movie extraordinary and genius, the other group will be bored or will maybe feel that the movie is too artificial.
And the 70s style of Technicolor-coloring is really an eye balm and a very hypnotic experience (I don't understand why it isn't used anymore, looks far better at least for certain genres as the modern, digital stuff) and well supported by a fantastic and strange soundtrack.And like the almighty Arnold once stated: "I don't play Conan, I am Conan", for me Samantha Robinson is the perfect Love Witch.Last words: if the movie making industry would deliver more of such experimental and daring movies, that would be just fantastic.
The Love Witch is about Elaine (Samantha Robinson), a gorgeous young psychopath who uses sex magic and witchcraft to find romance, but reaps tragic consequences.
Once again, Anna shot the feature on 35mm film, and the love shows it's gorgeous, almost Technicolor like.
(Note: The Love Witch is not like those movies in plot, but it's in the same style and spirit.).
The love witch is far too long, but kept me watching the whole way through.
The Love Witch is a little old film where ....
Elaine (played by Samantha Robinson) is a beautiful witch who is obsessed with her own bizarre take on the concept of Love.
The thing to keep in mind about this film is that it might be entirely satire, like Black Dynamite, where the acting/writing/directing/story and effects are all bad purposefully as a homage to the cheap grindhouse movies they are styled after.
I imagine much of it is intended to be a tongue-in-cheek fantasy film but almost all of these intentions fell quite flat, in my opinion.Samantha Robinson stars here as Elaine, who after a troubled marriage becomes a witch and begins to utilize erotic potions on men in the hopes of finding true love, but all it leads to is disastrous consequences.
There's tons of nudity in the film, an explicit sex scene, various erotic seductions, plus a couple of rather gruesome bloody scenes as well.Overall, the movie, written and directed by Anna Biller, can be sumptuous to look at but it never came together for me as anything more than that..
Total crap.I tell you what, the lead female Samantha summarized the whole story for this movie making in her scene with her friend's husband: She is the love witch that seduced all those critics into high-scoring this porn-failure, managed to get many others to share this deed with her and to get away with a 6.4 IMDb false rating.
With director Anna Biller referencing Hitchcock, she brings to attention the realisation that we are about to watch a 'film'.After arriving at a wonderfully creepy looking mansion and being greeted by Trish, played brilliantly by Laura Waddell, Elaine settles into her garishly decorated apartment.
After meeting detective Griff does she finally feel she has met the man of her dreams.Shot on 35mm film, The Love Witch looks glorious with it's eye popping colours shot by cinematographer by M.
We see Elaine led away by her prince on a white horse, the sadness in her face a reminder that her story is stuck in tragic dreamy limbo.If art is an expression of the artist then depending on how personal The Love Witch is to Anna Biller then incorrect criticisms and dismissal of the film's important themes could be viewed as a personal attack on the director herself and not the actual film!
Things fall apart in The Love Witch from the perspective of the characters, but that is simply the action of the other reality manifesting on screen.The movie uses this device often to deconstruct the many themes it explores.
Well i loved Samantha Robinson's acting, it had like this deep feeling and the nice 60s vibe.