The Love Witch Film Review

By: Ayana Coleman-Dixon

The Love Witch (2016) is about the trials a witch named Elaine faces when trying to find her true love. The scene starts off with her “running away” from her past relationship because of her husband’s death. The setting takes place mainly in California in a small town where the modern-day witch spends most of her time in the film. When she gets settled in her new neighborhood and gets acquainted with the witches in the town. Elaine also makes spells and potions in her free time and gives some to a witch shop to sell to others. She makes all sorts of potions and spells to bring love to her, but if the person she puts a spell undergoes crazy, they can somehow die. Her spell puts them in an obsessive trance over her and she eventually grows tired of them, which makes them lovesick, and they die. Elaine also goes to a witch gathering that looks very cultish. She ends up doing rituals that require everyone to be stripped naked and sacrifice blood. The film seems to take place sometime either in the late 1960s or early 1970s, based on aesthetics. It’s a very interesting story that dabbles in witchcraft, feminism, obsession, and murder throughout the two hours of the film’s running time.

The director is feminist filmmaker Anna Biller, who is known for writing and directing films such as Viva (2007) and A Visit from the Incubus (2001). She has a certain style and aesthetic in her films that reminds a lot of people of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Anna is known for writing and making horror satire indie films centered around female characters that she usually plays in her past films. The filmmaker budget for The Love Witch wasn’t listed anywhere, but the amount it brought in was $228,998 and video sales were $334,015. It has gotten a 91% on Rotten Tomato and 88% on Metric Scores, which is pretty impressive. There are also some reviews from the NY Times saying the film is “a hothouse filled with deadly and seductive blooms.” There are also reviews from the Washington Post saying the movie is “more than just an impressive pastiche in its sly satire of genre tropes.” For the most part, it has raving reviews and is one of Anna Biller’s biggest films she has made to date.

There are a lot of close-up shots of Elaine specifically because of where she stands in the film, she’s the main character. In the opening scene, it’s a close-up of her driving from her old town to California which lasts a few minutes on the screen. As audience members, typically close-up shots are used specifically when there is a change happening in the film. There were a couple of scenes that signified change was coming, like when she gave the men her potion you would see their reactions to the drink in close-ups. There were also special effects used such as a kaleidoscope-esque scene with Elaine in her bed after she gives a guy a special potion she concocts. In addition, when she performs a witch ritual with her cult, this scene has a rainbow sunlight effect that stands out to the viewer. 

Most of the time, Elaine is the main person narrating everything in the story. This in turn shows her significance as the main contributor and narrator to her storyline. As audience members, we’re getting mostly only her viewpoint and mindset. When she’s murdering someone, it’s not seen as intentional or deliberate when it comes to their end. It’s actually painted her character as heartbroken over their deaths because it means they weren’t strong enough for her love potion; this is her main focus throughout the film. But it’s also confusing because Elaine wants to love and get attention from these men but when they give her too much attention, it bores her and turns her off. So at the end of the film, she has slain so many men because of her great need to be loved in the specific ways she wants to be loved.

This story mirrors a lot of real-life love expectations and situations many women (and men) expect in their partners when it comes to relationships. The film itself is a “be careful what you wish for” kind of deal where you might think you want someone obsessing and infatuated over you, but really it could be too overbearing and not what one would expect. Personally, it’s never a good idea to go to extremes on anything and I think that was the lesson in the film that I took away. For Elaine to use spells and witchcraft simply shows that sometimes powers can work against someone if they’re not careful enough. She's so infatuated with the idea of love that when it's staring straight at her she's not satisfied. The sad truth is that Elaine may never be satisfied and will continue to hunt for the perfect lover for the rest of her life. Her power worked against her and caused her to be on a constant hunt for true love even towards the end of the film. So, is there really such a thing as true love for Elaine?