Mark Reviews Movies: SHE WILL

She Will, IFC Films

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Review by Mark Dujsik | July 14, 2022

She Will is a stylish horror movie that's more about its ideas than its scares and supernatural gimmickry. Co-writer/director Charlotte Colbert's debut feature is also, unfortunately, more about its ideas than its story, characters, and thinking of how to best communicate any of those vital elements.

Those ideas, at least, are fairly worthwhile and possess an undercurrent of righteous anger that carries them. Here, we meet an aging actress, who takes a respite to recuperate from surgery at an exclusive resort. The resort was built on the grounds of the spot where accused witches were burned until the early 1700s, since the theory was that those ashes contained natural—and maybe preternatural—healing capabilities for the clientele, which we have to presume (since the script doesn't wholly clarify much of this) were made up mostly of rich men—the same kind who likely oversaw the witch panic all those generations prior.

For Veronica (an appropriate ethereal Alice Krige, who still gets at the core of the character's more grounded pain), the place is for some peaceful and quiet recovery following a double mastectomy. For as much time as we spend with Veronica in the real world and within visions of the past and seemingly transcendental acts of spiritual/physical teleportation, there isn't much to this character, her personal life, her career, or anything else of substance.

An opening montage intercuts flashes of the surgery, along with some hazy narration that Veronica has undergone cosmetic procedures to keep her career going, and imagery of the actor applying makeup. This is an inherently cruel and prejudiced industry, especially when it comes to women and aging, and Veronica has become—or, for all we know, has always been—jaded and callous as a result of that—or from too much fame, some faded glory, some personal issues, or just about anything, perhaps, since she remains mostly a mystery.

The setup has Veronica and her personal assistant Desi (Kota Eberhardt) arriving at the resort in the woods in the middle of nowhere, only to discover that the actor's peace and quiet aren't to be. There are multiple guests staying there, including the artist Tirador (Rupert Everett), who holds workshops for the lodgers. Veronica wants nothing to do with any of it, but in the night, she starts having vivid dreams of wandering through the forest, seeing some of those long-dead witches and their torment, and even somehow finding herself in the presence of the famous movie director Hathbourne (Malcolm McDowell).

He gave Veronica her big break, at the age of 13. Currently, he's working on a remake—or a sequel, since it changes at least once in Colbert and Kitty Percy's script.

The crux of this, as it's revealed in some vague and dreamy memories of a just-teenaged Veronica and more directly in a bluntly expositional TV interview with Hathbourne, is that the director abused his child star in ways that aren't—and don't need to be—explained and that haven't resulted in any consequences for the famous, powerful man. The primary thematic connection here—between the systematic abuses of women during the era of witch trials and the continuing abuse of women in the modern-day system of the entertainment industry—is an inherently potent one.

All of that potential, though, is mostly wasted on Colbert's exclusive focus on the eerie atmosphere of this locale, which has constantly moving and possibly sentient mud, and those dreams/visions—of a woman confined by a metal contraption and tied to a tree, of hypnotic overlays featuring images of fire and blood and the forest itself, of Verionca's younger self (played by Layla Burns) in obvious states of distress. Veronica does feel rejuvenated by all of this, mostly because she does find herself in some kind of supernatural contact with Hathbourne, who refuses to take any responsibility for his abuse—even when he's called out for it on television. Meanwhile, Desi tries to tend to her temperamental boss, and a seemingly harmless invitation to the local pub from the resort's maintenance man Owen (Jack Greenless) becomes sinister—before Veronica, the forest, or both show just what kind of power she, it, or they have over such terrible men.

Colbert clearly has a firm command of mood and creating moments of nightmarish ambiguity. She Will, though, wants to be more than a piece of pure atmosphere, but the deficiencies of story and characterization severely undermine the movie's strong look and even more compelling ideas.

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