Häxan (1922) - full transcript

THE WlTCH
?1 922 AB Svensk Filmindustri

A presentation from a cultural
and historical point of view

in 7 chapters of moving pictures.

BENJAMlN CHRlSTENSEN wrote the
script and produced this film

between the years
of 1 91 9 and 1 921.

For the photography I am grateful
to Mr. Johan Ankerstjerne

and to Mr. Richard Louw
for the art direction.

My main sources are mentioned
in the theatre's playbill.

Let us look into the history
of mysticism and try to explain

the mysterious chapter
known as the Witch.

The belief in sorcery
and witchcraft



is probably as old as mankind.

When primitive man is confronted
with something incomprehensible,

the explanation is always
sorcery and evil spirits.

In Persia, the imaginary creatures
depicted in the following picture

were thus believed
to be the cause of diseases.

The English scientist Rawlinson
and French scientist Maspero

show us pictures of evil spirits,
believed to have resided

amongst the first civilizations.

The belief in evil spirits,
sorcery and witchcraft

is the result of naive notions
about the mystery of the universe.

Here we see how the Egyptians
perceived the shape of the world

(according to Maspero).

The ancient Egyptians believed
that high mountains

surrounded land
and water on all sides.



The sky was made of steel
and supported by strong pillars

that stood on the high mountains.

The stars, like lamps,
hung from the sky on ropes.

According to the beliefs
of other ancient civilizations,

the sky was vaulted and the earth
shaped into terraces.

The evil spirits of ancient times
changed in the medieval folklore

to devils, sneaking around
and tempting children.

The devils lived in the earth's core.

In the latter part of the Middle
Ages the earth was considered

to be a stationary sphere
in the middle of the universe.

Above the earth and its waters -

- the medieval man first imagined
a layer of air -

- then a layer of fire -

- and outside the fire were the
planets, moving celestial bodies.

Each planet was attached to its
transparent, movable sphere.

And outside the planetary spheres

were the fixed stars arranged
in a sky of their own.

Above it all, in the tenth
crystal sphere,

sits the Almighty surrounded
by nine choirs of angels...

...and He is the One keeping
the spheres revolving.

Deep down in the earth's
core lies Hell,

where those tempted by the
Devil shall suffer forever.

In the upper part
of the following picture

(from the French historian Lacroix)

the devils are stuffing
the damned into large pots.

A sinner is thrown straight
into the fire

burning under one of the cauldrons.

A devil pours the nasty
sulfur oozing

from a horn down a man's throat.

Two monsters torment some of the
damned with their sharp teeth.

I have found a strange old
mechanical presentation of Hell,

which offers a good understanding
of the beliefs in the Middle Ages.

Observe the eagerness
with which the devils

tend to the fire under
the cauldrons!

During the Middle Ages,
devils and Hell

were considered real
and constantly feared.

Witches were thought to have
signed an unlawful pact

with the Devil, and therefore
they were burned at the stake.

The floating figure is a devil
coming to get the witch

by lifting her up into the air.

This picture of a pyre
as well as the following one

are from "German Life
in the Past in Pictures."

In this image a witch
is milking an ax handle.

In the following image a witch
has bewitched a man's shoe.

Witches usually meet in councils.

And after the gathering
they might, for instance,

sneak into a barn
and bewitch a cow.

The small angular symbol,
noticeable under the drawing,

was usually carved into the barn
door as protection against witches.

In this old naive drawing,
a sorcerer and a witch

are casting spells,
setting a village on fire.

Witches were believed to curse
people with diseases

with the help of sorcerer's powder
and magic potions.

Notice how the sick person
is laying naked in bed.

That was habitual in the past.

It was a general belief that the
witch was naked when, at night,

during the so-called Witch Sabbath,

she danced with the devils.

Women who wanted to participate
in the "Sabbath"

sneaked away to the sorcerer...

...where they could have their backs
smeared with "witch ointment".

The witchcraft of the ointment
would allow them

to fly through the air.

The French doctors Bourneville
and Teinturier

gave me the following pictures
of the Witch Sabbath...

...a secret satanic rite to which

thousands of women asserted
their participation.

At the Sabbath witches
and sorcerers

first desecrate
the Church's holy cross.

Satan gives all the participants
devils' names.

And a ceremonial banquet is held.

The Sabbath food was
often prepared

from corpses from the gallows.

All witches had to show the Devil
their respect by kissing his behind.

After a merry dance
with the devils,

the witches fly home
at the first crow of the cock.

These scenes are often found on
famous Witch Sabbath pictures

from the Middle Ages
and the Renaissance.

To be continued.

THE WlTCH
Chapter 2.

We go now to the underground
home of a sorceress

in the year of the Lord 1488.

"Tonight the stars shine
favorably over the gallows' hill."

"Ugh, what a stench!

The thief's body has been hanging
too long on the gallows."

"When such a thief's finger
is too dried out,

it can no longer lend
the brew any healing power."

"Hurry and open up, Karna, so that
the passers-by won't see me."

"Karna, can you perchance
get me a love potion

that has power over
a pious man of the church?"

"Here, young maiden,
take a potion of cat feces

and dove hearts,
boiled in the moonlight."

"A drop of this in a man's drink
will soften his heart at once."

"Karna, can I have
an even stronger potion?"

"lf the maiden wishes to drive
the man out of his wits for love..."

"...I have a potion boiled in May

from a young and playful
male sparrow."

"Hold your coin, maiden!
First smell my ointment!"

"This salve is good,

should you wish to travel
to Brocken, one night."

"Secretly smear this salve on

and the pious monk might
directly come to your chamber."

"You will fly together
high up in the night

and he will bestow upon you
many hungry kisses."

"Listen Brother, I wonder...
shouldn't we pray

before we embark in such
a bold enterprise?"

"Oh Holy Mother, forgive us

for cutting open a person's
dead body with a knife!"

"lt is not from untimely
curiosity that we so badly sin..."

"...but so that the cause
of many terrible diseases

might be revealed to us."

"Help! Hurry!

The peace of the cemetery has
been desecrated by two witches."

Such were the Middle Ages, when
witchcraft and the Devil's work

were sought everywhere.

And that is why unusual things
were believed to be true.

"Damned woman!
You shall not lie here

and bewitch the legs
of honest people."

"You watch out!

Now your filthy mouth
shall remain open for eternity."

So it happens with witchcraft
as with the Devil;

people's belief in him was so
strong that he became real.

The Devil is everywhere
and takes all shapes.

He shows himself as a
nightmare, a raging demon,

a seducer, a lover, and a knight.

The devils' companion
can be young and beautiful,

but she is more often
old, poor and miserable.

Is it from the eternal fright of
the pyre that you get drunk

every night, you poor old woman
of the Middle Ages?

When the evening bell tolls
in the night

and all fires in town are
covered with ashes,

the Devil fetches Apelone
for his adventures.

High up in the air
is Apelone's dream castle,

and there the Devil will
fulfill all her secret wishes.

To be continued

THE WlTCH
Chapter 3.

In "Rites and Rights in the
German Past" by Franz Heinemann,

we can observe pictures
of inquisition judges at work.

A woman suspected of witchcraft
is thrown into the water

to find out whether
she is guilty or not.

In "History of Customs",
Edward Fuchs shows us

how the accused is tied up.

Two executioners use oars
to move the accused

in the water where
she has no support.

If she floats, she will be
pulled up and burned.

If she sinks, the judges
thank God for her innocence.

I will now illustrate a trial for
witchcraft from beginning to end

taking place at the time
when the Pope sent

traveling inquisition priests
out to Germany.

"Oh, my husband could not have
been struck by dizziness

so suddenly, unless a sorceress
had bewitched him!"

"Be comforted Anna,
wife of the Printer,

the power of lead
will soon reveal it."

"Oh, you powerful Saturn,
allow this lead

to show if Jesper
the Printer is bewitched."

"lt is written here
in the shape of lead

that his dizziness is
atrocious witchcraft."

"Oh Peter, look, where
is the evil sorceress?"

"You might see that witch,
before you wish to..."

"...before I wish to."

"Jesus' Holy Cross and Wounds!

I did not hear you come,
Maria the Weaver!"

"Oh, maiden, please
have mercy on me,

a poor woman who has to go
begging from door to door!"

"Are you hungry, Maria?
If so, sit down."

"Here, eat now, if you can,
in the name of Jesus."

"Watch out, little sister, watch
out. That woman has evil eyes."

"The youngest servant
of the inquisition

may not exchange words
with a strange maiden."

"How wonderful!

It felt like fire when the
young maiden took my arm."

"Young maiden,
you know quite well

that what you're accusing this
woman of, endangers her life?"

"Swear by the cross that
you are not deadly enemies!"

"Let's go, young men,
before her feet are lifted

so that the evil witch
won't turn us all into mice."

"Now you can have a scalding
death, just what you deserve,

you damned mistress
of the Devil!"

To be continued

THE WlTCH
Chapter 4.

Two "honest" matrons
will change the accused in jail,

so that she will not wear
hidden witch powder.

"Maria the Weaver was just taken
here accused of witchcraft."

"Master, look carefully,

there might be witch powder
hidden in the sorceress' hair."

The suspect's nights are now
dictated by the inquisition judges.

Two honorable men try amiably
to persuade her to confess.

If she stubbornly denies
her charges,

they will use a kind
of mental torture.

"Woman, see here the seven
holy words of Jesus crucified,

written on consecrated parchment."

"l will hang them around her neck,

so that the Devil will no
longer help her to be silent."

"Does she see this length of
consecrated wax as Corpus Christi?"

The accused is taken backwards
into the torture chamber,

so as not to bewitch the judge
when entering.

"For the last time I ask:
does she want to confess

her witchcraft and her misdeeds?"

"Let her suffering begin
so that we might put

an end to the harshness
of her heart."

"Oh, you learned men!

How do you expect me to confess
to that which is not true?"

"Well, Rasmus the Executioner!
Let now the evil witch's body sting."

"Let her catch her breath, Rasmus
the Executioner, and loosen

the screw a little at a time,
as she confesses her sins."

"Oh, learned men! I confess that

I've given birth to many
children fathered by the Devil."

"And when I gave birth, Karna
and all her coven helped me."

"lf I am spared the pain,
I will confess

that Trina has smeared me
with witch ointment."

"Oh yes, learned men, miserable
me has flown through the night air

to Brocken on Trina's broom."

"And the Devil's grandmother was
there with all her witchcraft."

"And many a woman, who had not
accomplished enough evil deeds,

was treated miserably by the Devil."

"And masses spat
upon all that is holy."

"And a meal of toads
and unchristened children

was cooked by Karna."

"Listen, Maria the Weaver,
did you also see

how the Devil put his mark
on the witches' foreheads?"

"Oh, learned men,
I saw the witches

kiss the evil one on his behind."

"And Anna's mother,
the wife of the Printer,

who wished me a scalding death -"

"- that damned woman, I saw her
kissing the evil one

so tenderly... and Sissel, her servant,
that old fool, was also there."

"And Elsa, who kicked me
some time ago,

she shall also burn at the stake."

"She passed Martin
the Writer's door

one moonlit night with her sister."

"And they cast a spell on
Martin the Writer

with the water they threw
against his door."

"And it was the very same night
that death took Martin the Writer."

"And now I will tell you
everything about the witches,

who yell after me
in the street where I live."

To be continued

THE WlTCH
Chapter 5.

In this way begins the endless
turn of the wheels

during the witchcraft era.
Each witch gives ten others away.

The town wardens busy themselves.

If you oppose the capture of a
witch, you must be a witch yourself.

The destiny of young Anna,
wife of the Printer, is sealed.

So now only two people are left in
Jesper the Printer's haunted house.

During the witchcraft era it was
dangerous to be old and ugly,

but it was not safe to be young
and pretty either.

"Brother, help me.
My thoughts are sinful."

"Bare your body, Brother!"

"I'll whip your sinful body and your
poor soul, into faith healing."

"Oh Brother, why did you stop
the beating of the scourge?

Now my soul will surely
be damned."

"Father Henrik,
Brother John is spellbound."

"A witch appears in his cell
to tempt him."

"And she has grabbed him
by the wrist."

"Stand up, Brother,
Father Henrik is coming."

"Brother, you have not given
the maiden away

for a witch, have you?"

"You know the punishment
for those

who refuse to witness
against a witch?"

And so they fetch you too,
young maiden,

giving you their unfailing test.

"ln the name of the Holy Trinity,
if you are not a witch,

you will now shed tears!"

"See for yourself
- you cannot shed tears,

as you are allied
with the evil one."

We assume now that
the young woman resists;

that no threat and no pain
can persuade her to confess.

I have tried to find out how
the excellent inquisition judges

behaved in such circumstances.

And I see in front of me some
scenes, which I do not find

pictured too darkly here,
on the white screen.

"Wake up, young maiden!
I bring you great happiness."

"See, young maiden,
I give you your freedom -

- if you would just show me
a small favor in return."

"Why do you taunt me, monk?

What favor can a poor creature
like me show you?"

"Teach me the beautiful art of
making thunder with this water!"

"lf you do not want to take
my word, young maiden,

stand up and look out
at the jail court."

"Did the guards leave?"

"Yes, they went far away, maiden.
The keys are now in my hand

and I can secretly take you out
through the town gates tonight."

"And I swear eternal silence
to you, maiden,

about all you will reveal
about witchcraft with thunder."

"Do you remember, maiden,
that Jesper, the Printer's child,

is all alone in the world,
without relatives besides you?"

"Oh, Father Henrik, see the tears
of the young maiden.

Look, she cries, hence
she cannot be a sorceress."

"Silly boy! Don't you know that
witches secretly smear themselves

with spittle, so that we might
believe it to be tears?"

"Here, maiden, see the child
who will miserably perish

as a dishonorable, rejected
witch's offspring without you."

"Stand here and listen to all
the maiden's words,

so that later you may
bear witness against her."

"And will you secretly open
the jail gates

for the child and me, if I speak?"

"Then I will tell you that once a
traveling stone cutter told me..."

"...that when witches call
for thunder,

they put their hands in the water..."

"You hardened witch!
Before the sun is down tomorrow,

you will burn alive at the stake."

"And then they will burn you too,
maiden,

"as edification for man,
as sweet scent for God."

And one pyre after another
burns in the town square,

until the judges will one day
move on to the next town.

The witch madness,
like a spiritual plague,

ravages wherever these judges go.

In the arc of a few centuries,
over 8 million women,

men and children
were burned as witches.

To be continued

THE WlTCH
Chapter 6.

There are witch confessions
that are totally insane.

Many women, for instance, confess
that - transformed into cats -

they soiled the altar during
the night, while two devils

in the shape of animals
stood guard at the church door.

But there are also confessions,

which might very well be
close to the truth,

namely during the times
when superstition ruled.

Many women were burned
because they confessed that

they bewitched a marriage bed
by "tying knots!"

For each knot
a pregnancy is destroyed.

And the happiness of a whole
house could be ruined

with witch hair and metal crosses.

Many women have probably really
used such magic tricks

and believed in their
destructive effects.

But, if we should judge
from the confessions,

we must take a closer look at
the props in the torture chamber.

You and I would also be driven
to confess mysterious talents

with the help of such tools.
Isn't that so?

The French doctor Paul Regnard

describes the way
this collar was used.

The collar was tightened with
the help of four taut ropes.

The wrists and ankles
of the accused

were tied to two iron rods
screwed to the floor.

When a fire bowl was put under
the poor victim -

- his movements were so violent

that the spikes of the collar
entered his neck.

Doctor Regnard shows another
picture, which speaks for itself.

It is simply called
"After the interrogation."

The "painful interrogation"
preferably began

with a "lighter" torture:
the thumbscrew, for example.

One of my actresses insisted
on trying the thumbscrew

when we shot these pictures.

I will not reveal the terrible
confessions I forced

from the young lady
in less than a minute.

In the convents during the Middle
Ages, fear of the Devil

escalated into an almost
hopeless despair.

The pious gave themselves up to
many a regrettable self-punishment.

Often a single nun was seized,
and suddenly

thereafter the whole convent
was overtaken by insanity -

- a mysterious, contagious insanity.

In writings that have survived
to this day,

these unhappy women wrote
down with touching simplicity

how the Devil penetrated
the convent.

"Get thee behind me, Satan!"

"May all good saints stand by me!

Sister Cecilia is conniving
with the evil one."

How these religious women
must have suffered,

before their nerves abandoned
them and insanity broke out?

In their biographies, this
desperate cry is always found:

The devil forced us into it!

"Oh, Holy Mother, the evil
has a terrible power!"

"Look, now he forces me into
doing what I want the least."

"Burn me at the stake,
pious fathers!

Can't you see what the Devil
forces me to do?"

"Take me! Don't you see him?

The evil one stands over there
and threatens me."

To be continued

THE WlTCH
Chapter 7.

We pass over the Devil's
actual possessions

(speaking in tongues
and convulsions)

and come to present times.

The majority of witches
in the old days were poor women;

those who are taken in
by pious organizations

and nursing homes nowadays.

One or more traits that might
make an old woman noticeable

was enough to bring her to court
during the witchcraft era.

Let us not believe that the Devil
belongs solely to the past.

The lovely old woman, who plays
the role of Maria the Weaver

in my film, once raised
her tired face to me

during a pause in the shoot -

- and said: "The Devil is real.

I have seen him sitting
at my bedside."

With the old woman's permission,
I show here the prayer book

in which a woman (from 1 921!)

thinks she can tell the Devil
by sight.

The witch's insanity can be
explained as a nervous exhaustion

that I will try to exemplify here.

I ask my viewer to understand that

in the following I let
the same actress -

- portray many different patients
of related nervous disorders.

I have personally known
a very nervous young woman

who often walked in her sleep.

Why did she always enact
the very same thing

she was most afraid she would do?

Like a witch forced by the devil,
this woman -

- both when sleeping and awake -

gives way to a mysterious
craving to strike matches.

Had this possession anything to
do with her morbid fear of fire

after one broke out in her home?

She stated that she felt
as if she were fighting

against an unknown force
stronger than her own.

Isn't there something "witch-like"
with this sleepwalker,

who moves through the slumbering
household with her matches?

Doesn't she remind us of the nun,
who walks through the chapel

with her knife, forced by the Devil?

This poor woman, also
in a bewildered condition,

does during her sleep
just what she fears the most.

These possessions - these
somnambulistic, dazed conditions -

are consistent with the nervous
diseases we call hysteria.

And there are still more
connections between

the medieval witch and
the modern hysterical person.

We remember for instance that

the witch received nightly
visitations by the Devil.

Today it is not the Devil,
but rather a famous actor,

a popular clergyman
or a well-known doctor,

who disturbs the calm of the night.

The hysterical person will
undoubtedly say that

these celebrities come to her
through the wall or window.

Notice how consciously this
unconscious woman holds

onto her bed. A person afflicted
by hysteria always displays

some artificial mannerisms.

In the Middle Ages it was
believed that during the Sabbath

the Devil put some invisible
marks on the witch's body,

where all sensitivity vanished.

The executioner often
found insensitive areas

on the back of the accused.

"l see clearly that you are a witch.

You do not even feel the master's
instrument on your back."

Today, this strange insensitivity is
considered a symptom of hysteria.

"No sir, I do not feel you touching
my back at all."

"Yes, it is as I thought; your
daughter is suffering from hysteria."

"From what you told me,
I must strongly recommend

that we detain your daughter
for the time being in my clinic."

"lt would be a pity if
your daughter

were to have an unpleasant
exchange with the police."

Poor little hysterical witch!

In the Middle Ages you were
in conflict with the church.

Now it is with the law.

"l ask you to step into my office."

"Or do you prefer that
I call the police?"

"Your name? Do you have a card?"

"Your address? Do you have
a telephone in your home?"

"Thank you, that's fine. You can
leave. I will contact you later."

"lf my family learns about this,
I will be forcefully detained."

"l beg you to understand that
I am an unhappy, sick person.

I do not know what I am doing."

"l have not been able to live
with this persistent fear

during the war.
I am a broken person."

"lt is as if an unknown power

compels me to commit
this terrible theft."

"Look here! I just stole this little,
expensively bound Russian book."

"What shall I do with it?
I do not know a word of Russian."

"My husband died in the war, and
I have not been the same since..."

"l promise not to pursue this matter,

but I have to ask you never
to visit my store again."

Centuries have passed and
the Almighty of medieval times

no longer sits in his tenth sphere.

We no longer sit in church
staring terrified

at the frescoes of the devils.

The witch no longer flies away
on her broom over the rooftops.

But isn't superstition
still rampant among us?

Is there an obvious difference

between the sorceress
and her customer then and now?

We no longer burn
our old and poor.

But do they not often suffer bitterly?

And the little woman,
whom we call hysterical,

alone and unhappy,
isn't she still a riddle for us?

Nowadays we detain the unhappy
in a mental institution or -

- if she is wealthy -
in a modern clinic.

And then we will console
ourselves with the notion

that the mildly temperate shower
of the clinic has replaced

the barbaric methods
of medieval times.

THE END