Witch (Hä;xan)

Christensen, fascinated and disturbed by modern notions of hysteria, explored their relationship to superstition and the historical obsession with witches in Hä;xan (recut and released under the title Witchcraft through the Ages, a film which bears little resemblance to the complete, tinted print we present tonight). He interprets stories found in trial records from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries in painstakingly recreated settings and costumes, using professional and nonprofessional actors, and brings the subject up to date in contemporary sequences. Christensen's presence is felt throughout this strange hybrid of documentary and fantasy (he also cast himself in the role of the devil). Film historian Georges Sadoul wrote, "Treatment of this theme could have been both ridiculous and pornographic, especially in the explicit depiction of the Witches' Sabbath. But Christensen's style is more reminiscent of Bosch, Breughel, Callot, and Goya."

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