Häxan (Original title)Hekson (Alternative title)Witches through the Ages (Alternative title)La Sorcellerie a travers les ages (Alternative title)La Strega (Alternative title)De Tooverij door de eeuwen heen (Alternative title)Sorcery (Alternative title)Heksen (Alternative title)Witchcraft through the Ages (Alternative title)Die Hexe (Alternative title)
Date: 1922 (Release)Country: SwedenDirector: Benjamin Christensen
Synopsis: Made in Sweden in 1918-1921 using contemporary engravings and illustrations, the film shows by means of dramatised vignettes, the processes of witch-hunting and brainwashing that are today still familiar.Shotlist: The history and psychology of witchcraft, using illustrations and dramatised episodes. Rl. 1. Translation of opening title: "This film, based on patient documentation, brings to life the sad aberrations of an age when Satanism troubled the minds of many. Following the orders of the Pope to fight the practicioners of sorcery, inquisitors accomplished their mission with a fanaticism which was cruel and often unjust...The object of this audacious film is not to criticize the Christian religion." Antiquity's conceptions of evil spirits are shown in illustrations from the works of the English historian George Rawlinson [1812-1902] and the French Egyptologist Gaston Camille Charles Maspéro [1846-1916] (100-114). An animated drawing of Hell, with demons dropping people into a cauldron and eating them, gives an idea of the mediaeval conception (126-163). Prints illustrate mediaeval beliefs that witches could cure illnesses with brews and powders, went naked to celebrate the witches' sabbath with demons, flew on brooms, and kissed the devil's buttocks to prove their veneration (184-336). In Karna the witch's underground dwelling at the end of the 15th century, one of her minions finds a dead thief's hand in a bundle of faggots for the fire which heats the cauldron. At the request of a serving girl, Karna makes a potion to make a monk amorous. The maid mixes this into the Fat Monk's wine and after drinking it he pats her cheek. She obtains a stronger potion from Karna and after drinking it the Fat Monk chases her into the woods where he makes love to her (979). Rl. 2. In the popular belief of the time, doctors preparing to perform a post-mortem on a girl to establish the cause of a disease, were suspected of being sorcerers, and any man who abused a witch would have a spell put on him that would keep his mouth open for the rest of his life. Many claimed to have seen Satan. He appears before the Fat Monk when he is reading, frightens a sleeping woman, drags a man into the inferno, and entices a sleep walking woman into his den. Satan knocks on a bedroom window, lures the young wife away from her husband and makes love to her. The curfew horn is blown and at Satan's call the witch leaves her body on earth and flies to a castle in the sky. As she sleeps in a room in the castle coins rain down on her body. She awakes and collects the money, but the coins perform a dance and rush out of the room (1755-1806). She follows the coins and finds herself in a room prepared for a banquet. A revel begins (1915). Rl. 3. Print of a naked woman bound wrists to the ankles (1938-1944). Anna's husband, Jesper le Reliem, is sick and she believes that he has been bewitched. Peter Titta says that his derangements are the work of witchcraft. Marie la Tisserande, an old woman, begs a bowl of soup from Anna's sister, who believes that Marie is a witch and tells Joannes, a young monk, of her suspicions, The Inquisitor sees Joannes talking to the girl and she has to tell him her story. The Inquisitor has Marie arrested and taken to prison, where Borreau informs the inquisitional monks that she is to be tried for witchcraft (2782). Rl. 4. Marie is first put in the stocks (2816-2820), then taken to the torture chamber where at first she refuses to confess. But under torture she confesses to having borne Satan's demonic offspring. A long sequence in flashback showing the `birth' in the witch's dwelling, a woman being dusted with magic powder, and witches flying to the witches' sabbath on brooms (3201-3271). Demons and witches dance before the black mass, which culminates in a 'communion' in which babies and toads are eaten and ends with a sensual orgy (3343-3517). (3567). Rl. 5. After more torture, Marie alleges that Anna's mother, Sissel her maid and Elsa, a woman who had insulted Marie, were also at the black mass. Marie says, and the incident is shown in flashback, that she saw Elsa and her sister relieving themselves on the doorstep of Martin the scribe's house and hurling their excrement at his door, and the same night he died. Marie names as witches all those women in the street where she lived who had insulted her. On her word, many are arrested, including Anna's mother, and tortured. Joannes confesses to another monk that he has evil thoughts and is scourged but the other monk tells Prior Wenrik that Joannes is bewitched, having been visited by a sorceress (Anna's sister) who is arrested, accused of having fornicated with the devil and is tortured (4528). Rl. 6. The girl is told that she will be burnt before sunset, and Jesper's child left with nobody to care for him. "This is how eight million people were burnt in 200 years. To judge the veracity of the so-called confessions we must inspect the torturers' equipmement" [Translation of title]. Implements are shown in close-up, including rack, finger breaking device, shoulder dislocator, leg breaker and thumbscrews (5369-5527). (5527). Rl. 7. Examination of implements continues: thumbscrews (5540-5553), spiked collar (5559-5570), with a print (5572-5613), and an explanation of its use. Dr. Regnard's print `Apres l'interrogatoire' (5664-5677), in montage with torture implements. In a convent the Nun meets Satan and is made to mutilate the figure of Christ on the communion bread. The Mother Superior reprimands her and says she has had dealings with Satan, to which the Nun replies by poking out her tongue. Later she removes the statue of the child Christ from the altar, takes it to the Inquisitor and asks to be burnt saying "Satan has the power to make me do things that I would not for all the world wish to do". [Translation of title]. Women alleged to be witches were old and wizend, like the inmates of old peoples' homes (who are seen 6160-6217). Many people were accused of witchcraft due to their appearance. Belief in the devil is not past. The old woman who played Marie said "The devil exists, I saw him one day sitting on the edge of my bed". [Translation of title]. (6437). Rl. 8. A comparison is made between hysteria, somnamulism, nightmares, pyromania, and other mental phenomena which are now recognised as psychological ailments but were once accepted as proof of bewitchment. "Kleptomania." The Kleptomaniac steals a ring while she is in a jeweller's shop, but confesses when questioned by an assistant and says that since suffering in the war she has no control over this mysteious force which compels her to takes things from shops. "The God of the Middle Ages is no longer accepted. Nobody believes that witches fly on brooms (an aeropane takes off (7339-7345). But is superstition gaining ground today? (Fortune telling from cards (7361-7368), and by crystal gazing (7379-7383)). We don't burn witches, but are out mental patients better off in asylums or, if they are rich, in clinics?" [Translation of title.] A witch is burnt (7450-7464). (7489ft). Note: Titles in French and Flemish.
Genre: Horror
Subjects: Prints (Graphic art), Witchcraft, Hell, Devil, Inquisition, Torture, Superstitions, Kleptomania, Animation, Mental disorders, Medieval history
Releases
Date: 1922not specifiedRelease type: unknownFormat: 35mm Film - Black and White - SilentRuntime: 82 mins Length: 2506 Metres
Date: 1922Country: SwedenRelease type: TheatricalFormat: 35mm Film - Black and White - SilentAspect ratio: 1.33:1Runtime: 82 mins Length: 2506 MetresLanguage: Swedish
Date: 1968Country: United KingdomRelease type: TheatricalFormat: 35mm Film - Black and White - SilentAspect ratio: 1.33:1Runtime: 108 mins Length: 6840 MetresLanguage: English
Title: At home/DVD new: Dungeon breakout: HäxanAuthor: NEWMAN, Kim Article type: DVD ReviewLanguage: English
In: Classic Images n279 September 1998 Pages: 43-44
Title: Video tape reviewsAuthor: KLEPPER, Robert Article type: ReviewLanguage: English
Description: Review of video release.
In: Metro n116 1998 Page: 52
Title: Witchcraft through the AgesArticle type: CreditsLanguage: English
In: Wide Angle v19 n2 April 1997 Pages: 98-102
Title: [Wide Angle - v19 n2 April 1997: no known title]Language: English
Description: Programme notes by Gideon Bachmann for WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES from a screening by Cinema 16 in February 1958. In an issue made up of reproduced documents related to the Cinema 16 film society.
In: Kosmorama n220 Winter 1997 Pages: 42-59
Title: Et lille lands vagabonderAuthor: TYBJERG, Casper Article type: ArticleLanguage: Danish
Description: On the period 1920-29. Focus on, amongst others, HEKSEN.
In: The Missing Link n4 Autumn 1995 Page: 8,9
Title: Film reviewsArticle type: ReviewLanguage: English
In: Flesh and Blood n3 1994 Page: 17
Title: videoArticle type: NoteLanguage: English
Description: video note
In: Sight and Sound v4 n11 November 1994 Page: 62
Title: [Sight and Sound - v4 n11 November 1994: no known title]Article type: NoteLanguage: English
Description: Video note
In: La Revue du Cinéma/Image et Son n468 February 1991 Page: 35
Title: Les sorcièresAuthor: ALION, Yves Article type: CreditsLanguage: French
In: Monthly Film Bulletin v45 n532 May 1978 Page: 107
Title: [Monthly Film Bulletin - v45 n532 May 1978: no known title]Article type: NoteLanguage: English
Description: Note on print distributed by Darvill.
In: Focus n7 Spring 1972 Pages: 9-12, 33
Title: [Focus - n7 Spring 1972: no known title]Language: English
In: Image et Son n233 1969 Pages: 175-179
Title: [Image et Son - n233 1969: no known title]Language: French
In: Films and Filming v15 n5 February 1969 Page: 48
Title: [Films and Filming - v15 n5 February 1969: no known title]Language: English
In: The Daily Cinema n9598 11 Nov 1968 Page: 6
Title: [The Daily Cinema - n9598 11 Nov 1968: no known title]Language: English
In: Art et Essai n46 2 May 1968 Page: 33
Title: [Art et Essai - n46 2 May 1968: no known title]Language: French
In: Kine Weekly n3186 2 Nov 1968 Page: 17
Title: [Kine Weekly - n3186 2 Nov 1968: no known title]Language: English
In: Monthly Film Bulletin v35 n419 December 1968 Page: 193
Title: [Monthly Film Bulletin - v35 n419 December 1968: no known title]Language: English
In:
Title: [ - : no known title]
In: Page: 20
Title: [ - : no known title]
Author: Janus, G.H.
Title: Realizing the witch: science, cinema, and the mastery of the invisible
Author: Baxstrom, Richard Pages: x, 285 pages
Title: Mass market medieval: essays on the Middle Ages in popular culture
Author: MARSHALL, David W. Pages: x, 205 p.
Title: Cinema 16: documents toward a history of the film society
Author: MACDONALD, Scott Pages: xiii, 468 p.
Date: 1922 (Release)Country: SwedenDirector: Benjamin Christensen
Synopsis: Made in Sweden in 1918-1921 using contemporary engravings and illustrations, the film shows by means of dramatised vignettes, the processes of witch-hunting and brainwashing that are today still familiar.Shotlist: The history and psychology of witchcraft, using illustrations and dramatised episodes. Rl. 1. Translation of opening title: "This film, based on patient documentation, brings to life the sad aberrations of an age when Satanism troubled the minds of many. Following the orders of the Pope to fight the practicioners of sorcery, inquisitors accomplished their mission with a fanaticism which was cruel and often unjust...The object of this audacious film is not to criticize the Christian religion." Antiquity's conceptions of evil spirits are shown in illustrations from the works of the English historian George Rawlinson [1812-1902] and the French Egyptologist Gaston Camille Charles Maspéro [1846-1916] (100-114). An animated drawing of Hell, with demons dropping people into a cauldron and eating them, gives an idea of the mediaeval conception (126-163). Prints illustrate mediaeval beliefs that witches could cure illnesses with brews and powders, went naked to celebrate the witches' sabbath with demons, flew on brooms, and kissed the devil's buttocks to prove their veneration (184-336). In Karna the witch's underground dwelling at the end of the 15th century, one of her minions finds a dead thief's hand in a bundle of faggots for the fire which heats the cauldron. At the request of a serving girl, Karna makes a potion to make a monk amorous. The maid mixes this into the Fat Monk's wine and after drinking it he pats her cheek. She obtains a stronger potion from Karna and after drinking it the Fat Monk chases her into the woods where he makes love to her (979). Rl. 2. In the popular belief of the time, doctors preparing to perform a post-mortem on a girl to establish the cause of a disease, were suspected of being sorcerers, and any man who abused a witch would have a spell put on him that would keep his mouth open for the rest of his life. Many claimed to have seen Satan. He appears before the Fat Monk when he is reading, frightens a sleeping woman, drags a man into the inferno, and entices a sleep walking woman into his den. Satan knocks on a bedroom window, lures the young wife away from her husband and makes love to her. The curfew horn is blown and at Satan's call the witch leaves her body on earth and flies to a castle in the sky. As she sleeps in a room in the castle coins rain down on her body. She awakes and collects the money, but the coins perform a dance and rush out of the room (1755-1806). She follows the coins and finds herself in a room prepared for a banquet. A revel begins (1915). Rl. 3. Print of a naked woman bound wrists to the ankles (1938-1944). Anna's husband, Jesper le Reliem, is sick and she believes that he has been bewitched. Peter Titta says that his derangements are the work of witchcraft. Marie la Tisserande, an old woman, begs a bowl of soup from Anna's sister, who believes that Marie is a witch and tells Joannes, a young monk, of her suspicions, The Inquisitor sees Joannes talking to the girl and she has to tell him her story. The Inquisitor has Marie arrested and taken to prison, where Borreau informs the inquisitional monks that she is to be tried for witchcraft (2782). Rl. 4. Marie is first put in the stocks (2816-2820), then taken to the torture chamber where at first she refuses to confess. But under torture she confesses to having borne Satan's demonic offspring. A long sequence in flashback showing the `birth' in the witch's dwelling, a woman being dusted with magic powder, and witches flying to the witches' sabbath on brooms (3201-3271). Demons and witches dance before the black mass, which culminates in a 'communion' in which babies and toads are eaten and ends with a sensual orgy (3343-3517). (3567). Rl. 5. After more torture, Marie alleges that Anna's mother, Sissel her maid and Elsa, a woman who had insulted Marie, were also at the black mass. Marie says, and the incident is shown in flashback, that she saw Elsa and her sister relieving themselves on the doorstep of Martin the scribe's house and hurling their excrement at his door, and the same night he died. Marie names as witches all those women in the street where she lived who had insulted her. On her word, many are arrested, including Anna's mother, and tortured. Joannes confesses to another monk that he has evil thoughts and is scourged but the other monk tells Prior Wenrik that Joannes is bewitched, having been visited by a sorceress (Anna's sister) who is arrested, accused of having fornicated with the devil and is tortured (4528). Rl. 6. The girl is told that she will be burnt before sunset, and Jesper's child left with nobody to care for him. "This is how eight million people were burnt in 200 years. To judge the veracity of the so-called confessions we must inspect the torturers' equipmement" [Translation of title]. Implements are shown in close-up, including rack, finger breaking device, shoulder dislocator, leg breaker and thumbscrews (5369-5527). (5527). Rl. 7. Examination of implements continues: thumbscrews (5540-5553), spiked collar (5559-5570), with a print (5572-5613), and an explanation of its use. Dr. Regnard's print `Apres l'interrogatoire' (5664-5677), in montage with torture implements. In a convent the Nun meets Satan and is made to mutilate the figure of Christ on the communion bread. The Mother Superior reprimands her and says she has had dealings with Satan, to which the Nun replies by poking out her tongue. Later she removes the statue of the child Christ from the altar, takes it to the Inquisitor and asks to be burnt saying "Satan has the power to make me do things that I would not for all the world wish to do". [Translation of title]. Women alleged to be witches were old and wizend, like the inmates of old peoples' homes (who are seen 6160-6217). Many people were accused of witchcraft due to their appearance. Belief in the devil is not past. The old woman who played Marie said "The devil exists, I saw him one day sitting on the edge of my bed". [Translation of title]. (6437). Rl. 8. A comparison is made between hysteria, somnamulism, nightmares, pyromania, and other mental phenomena which are now recognised as psychological ailments but were once accepted as proof of bewitchment. "Kleptomania." The Kleptomaniac steals a ring while she is in a jeweller's shop, but confesses when questioned by an assistant and says that since suffering in the war she has no control over this mysteious force which compels her to takes things from shops. "The God of the Middle Ages is no longer accepted. Nobody believes that witches fly on brooms (an aeropane takes off (7339-7345). But is superstition gaining ground today? (Fortune telling from cards (7361-7368), and by crystal gazing (7379-7383)). We don't burn witches, but are out mental patients better off in asylums or, if they are rich, in clinics?" [Translation of title.] A witch is burnt (7450-7464). (7489ft). Note: Titles in French and Flemish.
Genre: Horror
Subjects: Prints (Graphic art), Witchcraft, Hell, Devil, Inquisition, Torture, Superstitions, Kleptomania, Animation, Mental disorders, Medieval history
Releases
Date: 1922not specifiedRelease type: unknownFormat: 35mm Film - Black and White - SilentRuntime: 82 mins Length: 2506 Metres
Date: 1922Country: SwedenRelease type: TheatricalFormat: 35mm Film - Black and White - SilentAspect ratio: 1.33:1Runtime: 82 mins Length: 2506 MetresLanguage: Swedish
Date: 1968Country: United KingdomRelease type: TheatricalFormat: 35mm Film - Black and White - SilentAspect ratio: 1.33:1Runtime: 108 mins Length: 6840 MetresLanguage: English
Articles held in BFI Reuben Library
(19)
In: Empire n224 February 2008 Page: 132Title: At home/DVD new: Dungeon breakout: HäxanAuthor: NEWMAN, Kim Article type: DVD ReviewLanguage: English
In: Classic Images n279 September 1998 Pages: 43-44
Title: Video tape reviewsAuthor: KLEPPER, Robert Article type: ReviewLanguage: English
Description: Review of video release.
In: Metro n116 1998 Page: 52
Title: Witchcraft through the AgesArticle type: CreditsLanguage: English
In: Wide Angle v19 n2 April 1997 Pages: 98-102
Title: [Wide Angle - v19 n2 April 1997: no known title]Language: English
Description: Programme notes by Gideon Bachmann for WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES from a screening by Cinema 16 in February 1958. In an issue made up of reproduced documents related to the Cinema 16 film society.
In: Kosmorama n220 Winter 1997 Pages: 42-59
Title: Et lille lands vagabonderAuthor: TYBJERG, Casper Article type: ArticleLanguage: Danish
Description: On the period 1920-29. Focus on, amongst others, HEKSEN.
In: The Missing Link n4 Autumn 1995 Page: 8,9
Title: Film reviewsArticle type: ReviewLanguage: English
In: Flesh and Blood n3 1994 Page: 17
Title: videoArticle type: NoteLanguage: English
Description: video note
In: Sight and Sound v4 n11 November 1994 Page: 62
Title: [Sight and Sound - v4 n11 November 1994: no known title]Article type: NoteLanguage: English
Description: Video note
In: La Revue du Cinéma/Image et Son n468 February 1991 Page: 35
Title: Les sorcièresAuthor: ALION, Yves Article type: CreditsLanguage: French
In: Monthly Film Bulletin v45 n532 May 1978 Page: 107
Title: [Monthly Film Bulletin - v45 n532 May 1978: no known title]Article type: NoteLanguage: English
Description: Note on print distributed by Darvill.
In: Focus n7 Spring 1972 Pages: 9-12, 33
Title: [Focus - n7 Spring 1972: no known title]Language: English
In: Image et Son n233 1969 Pages: 175-179
Title: [Image et Son - n233 1969: no known title]Language: French
In: Films and Filming v15 n5 February 1969 Page: 48
Title: [Films and Filming - v15 n5 February 1969: no known title]Language: English
In: The Daily Cinema n9598 11 Nov 1968 Page: 6
Title: [The Daily Cinema - n9598 11 Nov 1968: no known title]Language: English
In: Art et Essai n46 2 May 1968 Page: 33
Title: [Art et Essai - n46 2 May 1968: no known title]Language: French
In: Kine Weekly n3186 2 Nov 1968 Page: 17
Title: [Kine Weekly - n3186 2 Nov 1968: no known title]Language: English
In: Monthly Film Bulletin v35 n419 December 1968 Page: 193
Title: [Monthly Film Bulletin - v35 n419 December 1968: no known title]Language: English
In:
Title: [ - : no known title]
In: Page: 20
Title: [ - : no known title]
Books held in BFI Reuben Library
(4)
Title: Satanic shadows: depictions of hell & the devil in early cinema: an illustrated filmography 1896-1936Author: Janus, G.H.
Title: Realizing the witch: science, cinema, and the mastery of the invisible
Author: Baxstrom, Richard Pages: x, 285 pages
Title: Mass market medieval: essays on the Middle Ages in popular culture
Author: MARSHALL, David W. Pages: x, 205 p.
Title: Cinema 16: documents toward a history of the film society
Author: MACDONALD, Scott Pages: xiii, 468 p.