Häxan
| Häxan | |
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Swedish release poster
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| Directed by | Benjamin Christensen |
| Screenplay by | Benjamin Christensen |
| Starring | Benjamin Christensen Clara Pontoppidan Oscar Stribolt Astrid Holm Maren Pedersen |
| Cinematography | Johan Ankerstjerne |
| Edited by | Edia Hansen |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Skandias Filmbyrå (Sweden) |
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Release date
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Running time
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74 minutes (1968 version) 104 minutes (Swedish Film Institute print) |
| Country | Sweden Denmark |
| Language | Silent film with Swedish intertitles |
| Budget | SEK 2 million |
Häxan (Danish title: Heksen; English title: The Witches or Witchcraft Through the Ages) is a 1922 Swedish-Danish documentary-style silent horror film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen. Based partly on Christensen's study of the Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th-century German guide for inquisitors, Häxan is a study of how superstition and the misunderstanding of diseases and mental illness could lead to the hysteria of the witch-hunts. The film was made as a documentary but contains dramatised sequences that are comparable to horror films.
With Christensen's meticulous recreation of medieval scenes and the lengthy production period, the film was the most expensive Scandinavian silent film ever made, costing nearly two million Swedish kronor. Although it won acclaim in Denmark and Sweden, the film was banned in the United States and heavily censored in other countries for what were considered at that time graphic depictions of torture, nudity, and sexual perversion. It is now considered to be Christensen's finest work.
A scholarly dissertation on the appearances of demons and witches in primitive and medieval culture, a number of photographs of statuary, paintings, and woodcuts are used as demonstrative pieces. In addition, several large scale models are employed to demonstrate medieval concepts of the structure of the solar system and the commonly accepted depiction of Hell.
A series of vignettes theatrically demonstrating medieval superstition and beliefs concerning witchcraft, including Satan (played by Christensen himself) tempting a sleeping woman away from her husband's bed and terrorizing a group of monks. Also shown is a woman purchasing a love potion from a supposed witch, and a sequence showing a supposed witch dreaming of flying through the air and attending a witches' gathering.
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Wikipedia