The Witch
The VVitch (2015) — dir. by Robert Eggers
The VVitch is a contemporary horror film produced by A24. The film takes place in a small, rural village in 16th-century New England, focusing on a poor, secluded family and the slow burn of their internal, cyclical paranoia. Thomasin, the eldest daughter within the family, in her late teens, played by Anya Taylor Joy, is the central character of the film. Thomasin's family undergoes the dying of crops, scarce money and scarcer resources, and she is the unappreciated, even degraded, daughter who takes on all of the various roles her parents force upon her, taking care of her younger siblings with increasing anxiety and exhaustion, made to do far more housework than anyone else in the family. She is insulted and demeaned by her mother, underacknowledged by her father, and mocked and tormented by her siblings. In the beginning of the film, Thomasin plays peekabo with her baby brother, during which he suddenly disappears. It is revealed that the child has been kidnapped by a local witch and murdered for a potion. Later on, her other brother is also led into the forest and seduced by the witch, becoming possessed and ultimately dying. All the while, strange animals representative of death and destruction appear, such as the family's black horned goat, a hare, and crows. Slowly, the family turns on Thomasin, blaming her for the surge of death and misfortune. Strange occurrences continue to plague the family, such as a changeling offered to the mother that she believes to be her baby, and begins to nurse, which is revealed to actually be a crow maiming her breasts. The black goat, known as Black Philip, kills her father in front of her, and Thomasin wakes up at one point with bloodied hands. Her mother attacks her, blaming Thomasin for all of the destruction of the family and of witchcraft, and in self-defense Thomasin kills her. Ultimately, Thomasin comes to the conclusion that Black Philip is indeed, the devil, and urges him to reveal himself to her. He begins to speak in a man's voice, and asks if she would like to "live deliciously." At this point, she signs his book, and she follows the goat into the forest, finding a coven of witches worshipping Satan at a bonfire, levitating, which she joins, laughing.
Birthplace(s) of Monstrosity
In The VVitch, the monstrous manifests and reproduces in the domestic, in the family. The seclusion of Thomasin's family, banished from a settlement for religious disagreement, constructs a claustrophobic, colorless environment conducive to paranoia and repression. Thomasin is
Visible and Invisible Monsters
This page has paths:
- PLEASURE SOFIA SEARS
