The Film (5/5)

In this anthology film, Silvana Mangano (Dune, Death in Venice) plays multiple women (or witches, if you prefer) who must suffer with their lot in life. In the first story, La Strega Bruciata viva (The Witch Burned Alive), a famous actress struggles with the jealousy of her so-called friends, dodging the advances of their husbands, her overbearing director/husband, and obtaining something that she can call her own. In the silliest story in the film, Senso civico (Lady in a Hurry), she plays a responsible citizen who heroically gives an injured man a lift to the hospital, sort of.

In the strangest segment, Terra vista dalla luna (The Earth Seen from the Moon), Mangano is directed by cinematic anarchist, Pier Paolo Pasolini. This absurdist story is about a goofus (Totò) and his son (Ninetto Davoli) who go looking for a new wife/mother to help them get their shit together. In the funniest segment, La Siciliana, she plays a wronged Sicilian woman who accidentally sets off a deadly chain of events in her village. Finally, in Una Sera come le alter (An Evening Like the Others), Mangano plays an imaginative housewife who’s trying to get her husband (Clint Eastwood) to notice that she’s woefully unhappy.

This hyper-stylized vehicle for Silvana Mangano, produced by her then husband and Italian cinema wunderkind, Dino De Laurentiis, came at a time when the pop art anthology film was ridiculously huge in Italy. Boccaccio '70, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Opiate '67, Ro.Go.Pa.G., Lucio Fulci’s I maniaci, I complessi, Vittorio De Sica’s Woman Times Seven, The Dolls, and The Witches were all released between 1962 and 1967. For me, the Italian anthology boom of the 1960s reached its zenith with the enigmatic Spirits of the Dead in 1968.

There’s so much to love in this film. The delightful music score by composers Ennio Morricone and Piero Piccioni and the weird opening titles by Pino Zac are worth the price of admission alone. No matter who is in the director’s chair, The Witches is a sensory overload that might make your eyes explode if not watched responsibly. While a few of its segments are mere trifles (Lady in a Hurry and La Siciliana in particular), the more elaborate portions could have easily been stretched out to feature length.

Much like Sophia Loren does in Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, Mangano portrays women who are forced to choose from the scant options that women are given in Italian society. The film shows the blatant inequality of the sexes and how the effects of male chauvinism can distort even the strongest and brightest of the female gender into grotesque witches. While The Witches is fun at times, there’s a thread of desperation and dread that weaves throughout most of its running time. Passolini’s segment provides the direst message of all the stories: “And the moral is: Whether you're living or dead, it's all the same.”

Audio/Video (4/5)

The Witches looks incredible on this 1080p restoration. This very colorful film explodes on the screen. There is some slightly distracting grain during the final segment but I’m guessing that the damage is from the source material. It looks like some effects shots (like slow motion) may have been more beat up than the rest of the film. The uncompressed mono Italian audio sounds just fine to me. The music and the dialog are well balanced. The English version (in the extras) sounds adequate.

Extras (5/5)

Nothing quite says, “You must own this Blu-ray” to me quite like a Tim Lucas commentary. As usual, film critic Lucas is super listenable and very informative. Also on this disc is the English language version (which is how I know the film best). This is a shorter cut and inferior to the Italian version but worth a look even if it’s just to hear Clint Eastwood dubbing himself in such a strange film. The Blu-ray also comes with a booklet with essays by Pasquale Iannone and Kat Ellinger. There is also a reversible sleeve with really cool artwork by Graham Humphreys. The original poster art is kind of cool but Humphreys’ work really captures the spirit of The Witches.

Overall

I first caught The Witches on cable randomly in the middle of the night several years ago. The title caught my attention so I stayed up to see what it was all about. I was immediately charmed by how utterly Italian this film is. That early 60s vibe was knocking me out and I kept waiting for something supernatural or giallo-esque to happen. Rather than disappointment, I was very pleased to find that The Witches is so much more. It’s funny, hypnotic, often challenging, emotionally engaging, and utterly gorgeous. IMDB lists this as a comedy and it does have some comedic elements. But if The Witches doesn’t haunt you or make you feel fucked up about things then you’re doing it wrong.