Häxan (1922 film)
 Swedish theatrical release poster | ||
| Starring |
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| Directed by | Benjamin Christensen | |
| Editing by | Edla Hansen | |
| Studio | Svensk Filmindustri | |
| Cinematography | Johan Ankerstjerne | |
| Distributed by | Skandias Filmbyrå (Sweden) | |
| Released | Sep 18, 1922 in Sweden | |
| Runtime |
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| Country |
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| language | Silent film with Swedish intertitles | |
| Budget | 2 million Swedish krona | |
Häxan (Swedish: [ˈhɛ̂ksan], The Witch; Heksen Danish: [hɛksən], The Witch; English: The Witches; released in the US in 1968 as Witchcraft Through the Ages) is a 1922 Swedish-Danish silent horror essay film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen. Consisting partly of documentary-style storytelling as well as dramatized narrative sequences, the film purports to chart the historical roots and superstitions surrounding witchcraft, beginning in the Middle Ages through the 20th century. Based partly on Christensen's own study of the Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th-century German guide for inquisitors, Häxan proposes that such witch-hunts may have stemmed from misunderstandings of mental or neurological disorders, triggering mass hysteria.
The movie was produced by Swedish AB Svensk Filmindustri but shot in Denmark in 1920–1921. With Christensen's meticulous recreation of medieval scenes and its lengthy production period, the film was the most expensive Scandinavian silent film ever made at the time, costing nearly two million Swedish kronor. Although it received some positive reception in Denmark and Sweden, censors in countries such as Germany, France, and the United States objected to what were considered at that time graphic depictions of torture, nudity, and sexual perversion, as well as anti-clericalism.
In 1968, Metro Pictures Corporation re-edited and re-released Häxan in the US under the title Witchcraft Through the Ages. This version includes an English-language narration by William S. Burroughs. The original Swedish-language version of Häxan has undergone three restorations by the Swedish Film Institute, carried out in 1976, 2007, and 2016. Since its initial release, Häxan has received praise for its combination of documentary-style and narrative storytelling, as well as its visual imagery, and has been called Christensen's masterpiece.
Plot
Part 1
This geocentric[1] model of the universe, similar to the one used in the film, places Earth at the center, surrounded by layers of air and fire, the Solar System, the stars, and, finally, God with choirs of angels. A scholarly dissertation on the appearances of demons and witches in primitive and medieval culture, the film's first part uses various photographs of statues, paintings, and woodcuts as illustrative examples. Additionally, several large-scale models are used to demonstrate medieval ideas about the structure of the Solar System and the commonly accepted depiction of Hell.
Part 2
The second part of the film consists of a series of vignettes that theatrically depict medieval superstitions and beliefs about witchcraft. These include Satan tempting a sleeping woman away from her husband's bed, terrorizing a group of monks, and then suffocating another woman in her bed. It also shows a woman buying a love potion from a supposed witch named Karna to seduce a monk, and a supposed witch named Apelone dreaming of waking up in a castle, where Satan offers her coins that she cannot hold onto and festivities she cannot join.
Parts 3–5
Set in the Middle Ages, this story demonstrates how religious authorities treated suspected witches. A printer named Jesper dies in bed, and his family then accuses an old woman, Maria the weaver, of causing his death through witchcraft. Jesper's wife Anna visits the residence of traveling Inquisition judges, grabbing one of their arms in desperation and pleading for them to try Maria for witchcraft.
Maria is arrested, and after being tortured by inquisitors, she confesses to practicing witchcraft. She claims to have given birth to children fathered by Satan, to have been smeared with witch ointment, and to have attended a Witches' Sabbath, where she alleges witches and sorcerers desecrated a cross, feasted with demons, and kissed Satan's buttocks. She "names" other supposed witches, including two women in Jesper's household. Ultimately, Anna is arrested as a witch after the inquisitor she grabbed by the arm accuses her of bewitching him. She is tricked into what is perceived as a confession and sentenced to be burned at the stake. Intertitles state that over eight million women, men, and children were burned as witches.
Parts 6–7
The final parts of the film aim to show how old superstitions are now better understood. Christensen mentions medieval torture methods as an explanation for why many accused heretics confessed to witchcraft. While he does not deny the existence of the Devil, Christensen argues that those accused of witchcraft might have been suffering from mental or neurological disorders recognized today. A nun named Sister Cecilia is shown as being forced by Satan to desecrate a consecrated host and steal a statue of the baby Jesus. Her actions are then contrasted with vignettes of a sleepwalker, a pyromaniac, and a kleptomaniac. It is implied that such behaviors would have been seen as demonically influenced in medieval times, while modern society views them as psychological conditions, referred to in the film as hysteria. The film concludes with a contrast between a woman being committed to a mental hospital and a scene of supposed witches being burned at the stake.
References
- ↑ Geocentrism is a superseded astronomical model description of the Universe with Earth at the center. It is also known as the geocentric model, often exemplified specifically by the Ptolemaic system. Under most geocentric models, the Sun, the Moon, stars, and planets all orbit Earth. The geocentric model was the predominant description of the cosmos in many European ancient civilizations, such as those of Aristotle in Classical Greece and Ptolemy in Roman Egypt, as well as during the Islamic Golden Age.
Notes
This article has been abridged and edited using Grammarly to make it more user-friendly, and to standardize spelling and text formatting. R/
External links
- Häxan at Danish Film Institute (in Danish)
- Review Häxan at the Internet Movie Database
- Review Häxan (1922 film) at the Turner Classic Movie Database
- Rotten Tomatoes review
- Häxan (with tint and subtitles) is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive|}}
- Häxan at Silent Era
- Häxan: About the Music an essay by Gillian Anderson at the Criterion Collection
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Häxan_(1922_film) ]
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