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
Film, Video or Digital materials held in BFI National Archive(6)
Accessible materials to view(4)
Description: D3Duration: 116.34 minutesLine standard: 625Colour standard: PALBFI identifier: C-978765
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Description: VHS cassetteDuration: 116.34 minutesLine standard: 625Colour standard: PALBFI identifier: C-978766
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Description: VHS cassetteBFI identifier: C-811684
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Description: 35mm Colour PositiveBase: SafetySound: SilentLength: 7863 FeetStock date: 1967Stock date: 1972BFI identifier: C-75234
Status: Viewing - Film print can be requested for access (servicing required)
Video materials(3)
Description: D3Duration: 116.34 minutesLine standard: 625Colour standard: PALBFI identifier: C-978765
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Description: VHS cassetteDuration: 116.34 minutesLine standard: 625Colour standard: PALBFI identifier: C-978766
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Description: VHS cassetteBFI identifier: C-811684
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Film materials(3)
Description: 35mm Colour PositiveBase: SafetySound: SilentLength: 7863 FeetStock date: 1967Stock date: 1972BFI identifier: C-75234
Status: Viewing - Film print can be requested for access (servicing required)
Description: 35mm Dupe BW Negative and PositiveBase: SafetySound: SilentLength: 7489 FeetStock date: 1953BFI identifier: C-75233
Status: Status pending - Material requires inspection to determine preservation or access status
Description: 35mm Dupe NegativeBase: SafetySound: SilentLength: 2800 FeetStock date: 1977BFI identifier: C-75232
Status: Master - Restricted access to preserved film - suitable for duplication
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
Film, Video or Digital materials held in BFI National Archive(6)
Accessible materials to view(4)
Description: D3Duration: 116.34 minutesLine standard: 625Colour standard: PALBFI identifier: C-978765
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Description: VHS cassetteDuration: 116.34 minutesLine standard: 625Colour standard: PALBFI identifier: C-978766
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Description: VHS cassetteBFI identifier: C-811684
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Description: 35mm Colour PositiveBase: SafetySound: SilentLength: 7863 FeetStock date: 1967Stock date: 1972BFI identifier: C-75234
Status: Viewing - Film print can be requested for access (servicing required)
Video materials(3)
Description: D3Duration: 116.34 minutesLine standard: 625Colour standard: PALBFI identifier: C-978765
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Description: VHS cassetteDuration: 116.34 minutesLine standard: 625Colour standard: PALBFI identifier: C-978766
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Description: VHS cassetteBFI identifier: C-811684
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Film materials(3)
Description: 35mm Colour PositiveBase: SafetySound: SilentLength: 7863 FeetStock date: 1967Stock date: 1972BFI identifier: C-75234
Status: Viewing - Film print can be requested for access (servicing required)
Description: 35mm Dupe BW Negative and PositiveBase: SafetySound: SilentLength: 7489 FeetStock date: 1953BFI identifier: C-75233
Status: Status pending - Material requires inspection to determine preservation or access status
Description: 35mm Dupe NegativeBase: SafetySound: SilentLength: 2800 FeetStock date: 1977BFI identifier: C-75232
Status: Master - Restricted access to preserved film - suitable for duplication