Sorceress (1987) User Reviews

Sorceress's Magic

[madshell · 9/10 · 5 February 2005]

This obscure, overlooked art-house film is a near masterpiece, full of strong acting, brilliant directing, and mythical continuity. Similar in theme to "Babette's Feast" and "Chocolat," it illustrates how the religious zealot is sometimes blinded to the true light of divinity in their search for a perfect, godly world. Tchéky Karyo gives a blazing performance as Etienne De Bourbon, full of passion and spite. Yet, it is the ensemble cast, along with beautiful scenery that makes this film so powerful. The story somewhat falls a bit too feminine, where there are only heroines, no heroes, other than the well meaning Vicar, who is more sympathetic to Elda's cause. Queue this one on Netflix!

Sorceress (1987 French with English Subtitles)

[jcsperson · 9/10 · 12 July 2014]

Originally released in France as Le Moine et la sorcière (The Monk and the Witch), Sorceress chronicles the medieval legend of a greyhound that killed a large snake which was attacking a baby. In the process of killing the snake, the greyhound knocks over the baby's cradle and the child is covered by the cradle and his bedding. Upon returning home, the knight finds the baby's nursery in shambles, the cradle overturned and the child apparently gone, and seeing blood on the greyhound's jaws, comes to the conclusion that the dog has killed the child. After killing the greyhound in a rage, he hears the baby's cry and finds him safe under his bedding beside the dead snake. Realizing his tragic error, the knight has the greyhound canonized as a saint contrary to the laws of the Church. Saint Guinefort, as she is known by the locals, is revered as a protector of children for centuries afterward.

Everything is fine until Etienne de Bourbon, an Inquisitor, comes to the village to investigate this heresy. There, he discovers Elda, a local healer and mystic. His authority and theology comes into direct conflict with her own practical faith and devotion to healing. As the story unfolds, it is clear that de Bourbon is having difficulty resolving his own doubts as his beliefs are tested by Elda and the villagers. More subtly portrayed is his willful suppression of his physical attraction to her beauty.

This is a fine movie that suffers little from the sub-titles. The French dialogue gives it a level of authenticity that might be lost in the dubbed English version. Christine Boisson is bewitching as Elda, the sorceress, and Tchéky Karyo is convincing as the Inquisitor. The pace of this movie might be too deliberate and its tone too philosophical for some, but it is historically accurate and a stunning piece of filmwork. Highly recommended.

The great, mysterious tapestry

[tomwat-17876 · 7 March 2018]

For awhile I was somewhat put off, afraid that this was going to be a stereotypical story about a naturally godly healing woman, Elda, who would be burned as a heretic by a rigid doctrinaire Dominican friar, Etienne, although the medieval settings and the notion of a dog who dies for sake of humanity and is elevated to the status of a saint certainly piqued and kept my interest. (Of course it would, since I write about the mystical bond and truths I've learned from my Afghan hound, Baltho, who is now on his third reincarnation with me in Baltho, The Dog Who Owned a Man). I was relieved that the Dominican Etienne grew enough to humble himself, open his heart, and stop persecuting the humble though typically right Elda.

What might easily be missed is that the movie works by drawing a number of redemptive parallels. Both lead characters, it turns out, are gifted by knowledge gained through sexual violence and pain. The friar Etienne as a young man was so shamed by his father for not participating in the killing of a deer that he fled and raped a young woman who was knocked out running away from him. She later bore his child, whom he knew nothing about (nor do we) till the end of the movie. He is informed by the family friend who comes to the village to meet with him that she was the mother of Elda, who was cast out of her village for bearing a bastard child. And Elda was raped by the nobleman who murdered her fiance; she bore his child. That child was taken from Elda to be raised in a convent and now has been brought to the village by Etienne 's friend: he knew the entire story. There Elda's daughter has, without full knowledge of the relationships it seems, taken up the healing path that Elda walks.

Both lead characters learn to turn their trials to the greater good of humanity. At the end we are reminded that all this has come about through the sacrifice of a greyhound who gave his life for a child and was killed by a haughty nobleman, whom God cursed for taking the life of the genuinely noble hound. That dog still works mystically as a healer of those who seek his intercession, thus his title of St. Guinefort. The local priest-- a genuine and humble man of God, able to recognize that God works in wondrous and mysterious ways (another corrective parallel)--helps Etienne realize this. The noble man who was planning to burn Elda because friar Etienne said she was a heretic at last recognizes the error of his ways and that God may well curse him just as he cursed the noble man who killed the greyhound to begin with--again, for saving his baby through the work of Elda.

The film is much deeper and richer than is immediately apparent. My life has led me to believe that life is essentially a mystery. We begin to realize the threads of the great tapestry being woven by us all when we allow ourselves to suffer, learn, grow, and look to the greater good. Humbled and cleansed, we begin to see.