Häxan

I'm very excited to talk about our subject today for several reasons. Among those reasons however is because as of this year, it's a centennial. This year hosts a few notable centennial movies like Pay Day, Nanook of the North, and Nosferatu. However, another film has turned 100 this year that deserves some just attention. A film that combines fiction and documentary for a unique effect and experience. A movie that turned a lot of heads...both in rewarding and consequential ways.

So if you're like me and you enjoy film and the impact and emotions they convey then grab a glass of your preferred liquid and join me for the next little while. For me that's [insert drink]. So sot back, relax, and let's talk about the love of film. Welcome to Glazed Cinema.

If you've listened to my initial episode of Glazed Cinema, titled Vampyr, you'll know that German Expressionism was the impetus of my love for cinema. If you haven't given that episode a listen, I highly recommend it. Like our subject today, it's also a lesser known gem from cinema's origins. In any case, Nosferatu is one of the reasons I got into cinema more seriously and it's getting a lot of love this year...and for good reason. It's the pre-emptive vampire movie, one of the first complex narratives to greet viewers in theaters, and a visual and technical wonder.

I like to do things differently here though, so for this spooky season I'm highlighting another of favorites from silent cinema. A movie that for 1922 was shocking, horrifying, eye-opening, and controversial. A film from Sweden about witchcraft through the ages...a film called Häxan.

Häxan comes from a Danish director named Benjamin Christensen. Christensen seemed to always gravitate toward creativity and expression. Starting out as an opera singer at the turn of the twentieth century he soon moved to acting and writing until eventually landing in the director's chair. In 1913 he directed his first full-length feature, titled Det Hemmeligheds fulde X or The Mysterious X. Exploring themes of false convictions, treachery, and heroism. Nine years later, another Chistensen project would debut...one with far different themes, intentions, and effects.

Häxan is the result of extensive research undertaken by Christensen on witchcraft throughout history. His research included everything from witchcraft practices, punishment handed down by authorities, and scientific translations of behavior. This alone made it very different from other films made prior or at the same time that depicted macabre subject matter. Instead of trying to horrify, his goal was to educate. Prior to writing this film he had one goal in mind. The director himself put it best in an interview when he stated:

“throw light on the psychological causes of these witch trials by demonstrating their connections with certain abnormalities of the human psyche, abnormalities which have existed throughout history and still exist in our midst.”

Part documentary, part fiction, the best way I can describe Häxan is a film essay. Christensen set out to make a film without the conventional storytelling told of the time.

For funding, he approached his neighbors to the North in Sweden. Svensk Filmindistri, is a film production company in Sweden and up to that point had made several great films and included a host of skilled directors including Victor Sjostrom and Mauritz Stiller. In fact, the year prior the studio released a film rooted in the macabre called "The Phantom Carriage", from director Victor Sjostrom. So when thinking of potential studios, Svensk Filmindustri was at the to of Christensen's list.

Häxan means witch in Swedish and is a movie told in seven parts. Each part explores a different time and place within the history of witchcraft. In all of its parts can be found some great visuals meant to stimulate, frighten, and captivate the viewer. In its remastered state, Häxan features many different color pallets throughout its seven parts. There are color filters of azure, red, sepia, and white, and looks fantastic for its age.

The film explores subjects of witchcraft, Satanism, persecution, and torture. Within its duration a myriad of topics are covered including the inquisition.

While being a film essay the visuals of Häxan are pretty awesome, especially given the time. There are some images that must have been down right terrifying in 1922. I can see the images of the black mass being particularly shocking. The first time we see the devil is quite a jarring moment and the visual of the beast is pretty gnarly. I chose that image for the hint for the episode. It's got this great azure hint to it and the quality is fantastic as well in its remastered form.

Häxan is a film told in seven parts. These parts are organized chronologically, showcasing earliest details first and progressing to the year 1922. The movie is told using a multitude of storytelling techniques available in the silent era, ranging from pictures of artwork and woodcuts, stop-motion animation, reenactments told through moving pictures,, and dialogue screens. Within the moving pictures of Häxan are some pretty phenomenal sets, props, and costumes. The camera work used throughout the movie is also pretty spectacular.

Part One begins by explaining how the ancients saw earth and the cosmos, which blends into how the saw Hell. Hell after all is the playground of the witch an the devil. There's this great section within this first part that shows this moving wooden sculpture, almost like an elaborate cuckoo clock. The scene is draped in this brilliant red filter and features fog to add more mystique. In this part we see artwork, models of what the world and universe was thought to be, and dialogue screens.

Part Two begins the moving pictures of Häxan, in which we join a witch in 1488. Here we follow witches as they are making and selling potions. They bring back a body from the gallows and concoct potions for their customers to use.

Part Three begins with some more teachings from German texts and images of witch punishment. This is soon followed by a reenactment of how a witch was accused and captured. Using moving pictures we see a woman confiding in a man to learn what ails him. He tells her that he has been cursed by atrocious witchcraft. Running to the church, she notifies the priest, who then rounds up the alleged witch.

Part Four depicts the punishment befallen accused witches. We see an old woman shackled, under interrogation, and tortured in the ways of the Inquisition. Nothing is shown that is unsavory, but one can imagine the events unfolding. After which, she confesses to giving birth to children of Satan. Here we see images of witches flying. In her confession she implicates those who accused her.

Part Five sees the Inquisition come to collect those the old woman has implicated. With bag and cart they are carried away one by one. We also see the punishment on a priest for his desires toward a young maiden accused of witchcraft. Here, Christensen states that he has tried to find out how the inquisitors behaved in certain circumstances. He also states that he hopes to have not depicted them so menacingly on the white screen. We also see the tricks used to have the accused confess to being witches, using things like circumstance and desperation to the inquisition's advantage.

Part Six death discusses death brought by witches and to witches. In this part the torture methods are reviewed. Most of which are absolutely ghastly and entirely cruel. I don't know how people could and can do such things to others. In this part we also learn of insanity spread through one convent, resulting in the thought possession of nuns. In doing research, I learned of the true events behind this, which has been coined the "Loudon Possessions", which occurred in the town of Loudon, France in 1634. Mimicking testimony from the Salem Witch Trials here in America less than sixty years later, a priest was named as the witch and was tortured and burned at the stake for his accused crimes. It's an interesting read if you'd like to learn more about that event in history.

Part Seven, the final part of the film, discusses present days, which was 100 years ago. In this part Chistensen tries to relate what these accused witches may have been suffering from. In 1922, the term was hysteria and here the director relates scenes from the previous parts with this ailment, attempting to bring a more human element into focus. Of course, today we know more than we did in 1922. Things that modern medicine show what accused witches of old may have been suffering from. One of the best quotes in the entire film lies within this part in which Christensen states that one of his actresses declared something to him during filming. Taken from the movie itself,

"The lovely old woman who plays Maria The Weaver in my film, once raised her tired face to me during a pause in filming and said: "The devil is real. I've seen him, sitting at my bedside"."

There a few fantastic things done in this film in terms of visual effects. One instance is when we see the witches flying. They become translucent as they soar through the sky, across building tops, and open sky. In my research, I uncovered how he was able to do this and it's absolutely ingenious. At first he tried to film the effect from a moving train, but didn't like the outcome it provided. So instead, his engineers built a massive model of a town. When finished, the set stood at six feet tall and included around 250 homes. The brilliant part of it is that they didn't construct the town on the ground, but instead on a carousel. The carousel was then turned by roughly twenty men and the witches were filmed separately by a moving camera that tracked past them, generated by winds from an airplane engine. Then the shot were combined using an optical printer designed by the cinematographer. Let that sink in for a moment. To get the shot, which looks fantastic to this day by the way, needed a carousel, an airplane engine, and an experimental printer. That to me is so impressive. To think of something like that is one thing, but to then execute it is another. It blew my mind in trying to imagine that undertaking and process.

Of course, that ingenuity came at costs to the project. Not only in budgetary, but also reputational costs as well. When the project was deemed finished, Häxan's costs totaled between $1.5-2 million dollars. That tally made it the most expensive Swedish film in the silent era. Christensen also received a reputation for being too extravagant a filmmaker. Unfortunately for Svensk Filmindustri and Christensen, Häxan would be stopped in its tracks right out f the gate.

Häxan was well received and critically acclaimed in Sweden and Denmark. In other parts of the world however, it failed to garner the same kind of attention. Instead, it was abhorred and misunderstood in other countries and as a result, banned by censorship boards. This was due to its many scenes of controversial content including torture, demonic orgies, black mass, and feverish nuns. Countries including France, Germany, and America banned the film from premiering. This, obviously also meant that the budgetary costs devoted to making the film were also largely lost. In certain cases, Haxan was only allowed to be shown after copious editing that removed scenes of torture, nudity, and satanic themes. What was a104 minute movie upon release in Scandanavia, became a 74 minute shell of itself. This cut version was stripped of its title, favoring the subtitle of "Witchcraft Through The Ages" instead. This version cut everything controversial, thus making it largely dry and lost a lot of its original intention. When this shortened version debuted, it resulted in some audiences viewing it for the first time seven years later in 1929. One of the interesting tidbits about this cut version is that it was narrated by William S Burroughs, which is pretty cool.

In the years that followed 1922 Häxan became lost between the censors, bannings, and rumors of what once was. It was rarely shown in its original form and unfortunately faded from the public eye. That all changed however, thanks to restorations and the redistribution of this silent era wonder. Now countless film fans can experience the film as it was intended.

Christensen set out for Häxan to be a lesson, a teaching point is you will. Obviously, a lot more is known about the subjects in Häxan today than what was known in 1922. We understand that going into it...100 years is a long time after all. Regardless of this, the intention of Christensen is very much still alive and even with the advances in technology, psychology, archeology, and anthropology providing what we know today all these years later, Häxan is a great watch. If you're looking for something a little different during the spooky season and you like history and the macabre, give Häxan a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed pressing play on this gen of silent cinema.

If you'd like to watch Häxan for yourself, you can find it on a variety of streaming services. At the time of this recording you can find Häxan the Criterion Channel. The Criterion Channel is a service from our friends at the Criterion Collection. The Criterion Channel is a tremendous value for any serious or burgeoning film fan and includes pricing options of $10.99 per month or $99 per year, which is what I chose to do.

Apart from the Criterion Channel you can also find it on HBO Max. HBO Max offers a diverse catalog of both TV and film options and offers pricing tiers of $9.99 per month with ads or $14.99 ad-free.

You can also find Häxan on other services including Vudu, Prime Video, and Apple TV for $2.99 to rent.

If you like this podcast tell your friends and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Each week there will be nee content including hints about episodes before they air. If you'd like to learn more about the podcast, visit our website at glazedcinema.com. There you'll find more info about the show and a place to submit ideas for future episodes. For film fans who are hearing impaired, the blog page on our website offers each episode in written form as well. As always, thanks for listening and I hope to see you next time with another beverage another fine film on Glazed Cinema.