The French have a phrase for the post-orgasmic state: la petite mort, or “the little death.” It’s the feeling of a loss of consciousness, transcendence, utter bliss mixed with melancholy, and sometimes nothingness that immediately follows one’s orgasm. Just as comedy and horror share commonalities, sex and death do too. Besides the obvious overt sex that gets teens killed in slashers, there’s a primal sense of attraction and desire when scared. It’s standing at the edge of a cliff and knowing you’ll die if you jump, but still feeling that urge to do so (the “call of the void”). 2016’s The Love Witch encapsulates that blend of screams and sex in a 60s-inspired horror/comedy; and though it’s short on scares, it still pushes you towards that dark corner of your psyche.
The Love Witch is about a lonely witch, Elaine, leaving one city for another, looking for a place to finally settle down with the man of her dreams. Elaine does this by renting a room in a beautiful Victorian mansion, befriending some of the women in the city (namely the home’s interior designer, Trish), and wooing men with her hypnotic gaze and home-brewed love potions. However, her attempts at finding a man to truly love her go awry and a trail of dead lovers follows her, spurring a police investigation and discourse between the witch and non-witch communities.
The Love Witch is an ode to 60s film in both aesthetic and theming; most prevalent is gender roles and actions. Elaine is outwardly showing her intense want to be subservient to a man, all while inwardly eminating a strong feminine power (via witchcraft). On top of that, her aura gives off pure “Bad Bitch” vibes: smart, independent, and dangerously gorgeous.
Although The Love Witch is a recent movie, the filmmaker’s decision to use 60s styling gave it an edge that would have been missed or misconstrued if it resembled any other time period. Here, Elaine’s duality of a strong femme fatale and needy, desperate girlfriend would have come off as very un-PC if in present time. We still have movies today that receive backlash for antiquated views about women and women’s issues. Think of 1974’s Black Christmas compared to its 2019 remake; the original featured an entire household of free-thinking, modern women that pushed controversial ideas to the forefront, all to the backdrop of the typical “damsel in distress” storyline. The remake still talked about real issues women face, but paired them with such unlikable and one-note characters that it was almost a relief when one was killed off. With The Love Witch, Elaine (and other women in the film) uses her old-fashioned sensibility and charm to take control as both the hero and the villain of the story. She may come off as naive at times and is entirely overly-sexualized, but we don’t mind because the time period masks anything we’d see as problematic — that, and the fact that she’s the one dishing out death and destruction.
And it’s not only Elaine showing these types of tropes. There are other witches, both men and women, who exhibit the freedoms that only witches could have in a straight-laced world. Compared to the other townsfolk — i.e., businessmen, police officers and detectives, and university faculty — the witches are a shining example of bohemian hippie culture (and therefore 60s counterculture). The other citizens wear suits and stiff clothing, while the witches are draped in beautiful flowing fabrics, enjoying art and nature at renaissance fairs. There’s even a scene where some of Elaine’s coven are explaining the power of women and sex appeal, mainly through dance. If you didn’t catch the hint through her actions, this dialogue throws it directly in your face.
Elaine’s character needs to be hyper sexual not only because that’s a major plot point, but also because it pairs well with what she’s doing to these men. Like League of Legends‘ Evelyn, Elaine is like a succubus, luring men in and either driving them insane or outright killing them with her love and devotion. Love can be a scary thing for some people, but extreme need for love is terrifying, sometimes more than death itself. In The Love Witch, both men and women are brought to a point where they lose control over their lives because of an intersection of love and death. The audience feels this too, waiting patiently to see Elaine in action, both physically and psychologically. We are sucked in by beautiful colors and campy, overdone acting and brought to a release with every kill.
The Love Witch is more than a cautionary tale for both men and women, it’s an ancient mythology of love and death, how either can lead to another. But the true brilliance of the film is how its all staged as a comedic horror movie and nothing more. People looking for deeper meaning can do so (and they’ll find it in just about every scene), but it’s also just a fun movie to watch.
What did you think of The Love Witch? Let us know in the comments.
