‘The Love Witch’ Review: Dir. Anna Biller (2017)

The Love Witch review: Samantha Robinson leads this fantastical and seductive film about a love potion gone wrong.

The Love Witch review by Kat Hughes, March 2017.

The Love Witch, directed by Anna Biller, stars Samantha Robinson as Elaine, a young woman in love with love. After her marriage ends, Elaine relocates to a new city, determined to find the man of her dreams. Finding herself burdened by having too much love inside her, Elaine starts making spells and potions in a bid to seduce her perfect man, one that will love her as much as she does he. However, her spells get a little out of control and she inadvertently finds herself with a slew of victims who love her to death.

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a film like The Love Witch. Shot entirely on 35mm and inspired by a combination of pulp novels, the sixties and Hitchcock, the film is a throw back to a different cinematic time. Were it not for its strong female lead and themes, one could easily be tricked into thinking that the film was born in the era that inspired it. The aesthetics really are that authentic; it’s a Technicolor dreamy delight with a wicked sense of humour.

Led by a phenomenal performance by Samantha Robinson, film fans will have a lot of fun with The Love Witch; film perfectionists may squirm during the opening moments as they become confused as to whether the film is or isn’t meant to be so kitsch. Of course it is, the film plays with its tongue wedged firmly in cheek, and makes some interesting observations about the interactions of men and women.

The dynamic between sexes is brilliantly worked. Here, despite the film emulating a by-gone era where man was boss, the female is clearly in charge. The men of the film are drawn down to their base desires and looked upon as desirable accessories, a trait usually reserved for the womenfolk. The ladies are strong, empowered and are, for once, allowed to embrace their sexuality and desires. Elaine works very much at the bidding of her id, again a trait usually given to a male protagonist, and it’s a delight to watch as she tears through her new town.

Elaine is full of quirk and sex appeal with an ever so slight undercurrent of madness and menace, and Robinson plays her to perfection. She strikes just the right balance between naive innocence, manipulative minx, and seductive sorceress. This is no easy feat when you consider that the genre the film allies with closest is melodrama, meaning that everything is heightened. Getting that tone just so within a genre known for the absurd and over dramatic, proves that Robinson is a starlet to watch.

The sets, costumes and make-up are sumptuous, a real feast for the retinas. Director Biller made the majority of sets and costumes herself, and that added care and effort really commands the attention. Everything within the mise-en-scene has a reason to be there, even the risque paintings that adorn Elaine’s walls.

At around two hours The Love Witch does have a few pacing problems, especially for modern audiences; the film would benefit from a couple of slight cuts in certain places. That being said, if you commit yourself fully then The Love Witch will reward you with a magical world in which to lose yourself.

The Love Witch review by Kat Hughes, March 2017.

The Love Witch comes to UK cinemas, Digital Download and VOD 10th March 2017.