The Love Witch
2016 · 3m · USA
Directed by Anna Biller
Genres: fantasy, horror, satire
Tones: darkly comic, sensual, theatrical
Trailer for Biller's feature film in which a modern witch uses spells and seduction to make men fall in love with her, resulting in tragedy; the film examines the femme fatale archetype and gender roles through a rigorously constructed 1960s Technicolor horror aesthetic, shot on 35mm.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Biller is among the most consequential auteurs working in contemporary American genre cinema — the Love Witch trailer is in the vault as a document of a film that earned serious critical attention precisely because of its total-author formal discipline. The Rotterdam premiere and A.O. Scott's New York Times notice confirm its standing.
Anna Biller wrote, directed, produced, edited, designed costumes, made props, and shot on 35mm. Total authorship in 2016 is a near-impossible feat. Even the trailer is dense with intention.
Anna Biller's 35mm Technicolor-horror trailer for her totally-authored feature — every costume, prop, edit hers. Two and a half minutes of singular vision, but it's a trailer, not the work.
Reviews
Ms. Biller's movie presents a fascinating, perfectly composed surface. What's underneath is marvelously dark, like love itself.
Festivals
- International Film Festival Rotterdam 2016