Intoday’s generation of exciting auteur directors, few are as promising asRobert Eggers. Ever since his feature-length debut,The Witch, first premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, movie fans everywhere havekept their eyes on his work. He has proven to have a knack for slow-burning, immersive period pieces, one that few others can claim as well. Most of all, this filmmaker is at his best when he’s working with the smaller details. To an almost Kubrickian degree, Eggers studies every last element ofwhat will go into his movies. Whether he’s finding period-accurate lighthouse beacons or rebuilding gargantuan Viking ships,every single aspect of a Robert Eggers picture is approved by the man himself. Well,almostevery aspect.
Given thatThe Witchis Robert Eggers' first film, he shouldn’t be too hard on himself (or anyone involved) for any small mistakes. Knowing his keen attention to detail, it should come as no surprise that he still ended up pissed off over a small, blink and you’ll miss it element. That would be thanks toAnya Taylor-Joy’s visibly pierced ears that you can see throughout the movie. However, you have to squint to catch them. While this does break the immersion by not being accurate to the 1600s setting,The Witchis far too engaging and terrifying of a movie to get wrapped up in all of that. Don’t worry, Mr. Eggers, your movie does more than enough to make up for those pierced ears.
A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.
What Is ‘The Witch’ About?
If you’re not a horror fan, but you’relooking to break into the genre, then I would still say that you might need to hold off before jumping in on Robert Eggers' debut.The Witchisn’t exactly a gore fest, nor is it filled with jump scares. This is aslow-burn horror movieif there ever was one. We’re talking about absolute dread, bursting at every corner of this movie’s seams. However, on paper, it might not sound that bad. The film follows a family that has been banished from their 17th-century Puritan village, leaving them to build their life back up on a remote farm. Not long after they arrive, they begin experiencing odd encounters with mysterious evil forces in the woods just beyond their home. What are those evil forces? A witch, perhaps? Work your way through a couple of beginner horror movies, then fire upThe Witchand you’ll see!
The Witchisn’t just any other feature-length debut. It’s the kickoff for two different major forces in 2020’s film, with both Robert Eggers andAnya Taylor-Joy getting their respective startswith this now-classic horror film. While neither of them went intoThe Witchwith the types of performances and directing choices that current audiences expect out of them, it’s almost as if both were already fully formed in their respective artistic approaches.
Why Wasn’t Anya Taylor-Joy Happy With Her ‘The Witch’ Performance?
Anya Taylor-Joy comes into this film with the exactkind of quiet performancethat she is now so well-known for, and crushes it. This is the definition of a movie star debut. In a2021 Hollywood Reporter interview, Taylor-Joyexpressed some dissatisfaction with her work inThe Witchby saying, “Rob [Eggers] showed us the film maybe two hours before the audience screening, and I was devastated. I thought I’d never work again, I still get shivers thinking about it. It was just the worst feeling of, ‘I have let down the people I love most in the world. I didn’t do it right.’ And I’m quite verbose, I like to talk, I like to communicate. I did not talk, I just cried. I couldn’t handle seeing my face that large.”
Clearly, none of this turned out to be the case. After all, she has gone on to become quite an exciting Hollywood newcomer. Notice that, despite seeing her face “that large”,Taylor-Joy doesn’t mention her pierced ears at all! Robert Eggers, on the other hand, felt differently.
Robert Eggers Was Pissed Off About Anya Taylor-Joy’s Pierced Ears in ‘The Witch’
If youlisten to the commentary trackon any home release ofThe Witch, you’ll get to hear Robert Eggers express his frustrations with Anya Taylor-Joy’s visibly pierced ears that you can occasionally catch throughout the film. Now no, Taylor-Joy’s character Thomasin isn’t walking around with loud and incredibly distracting earrings that pull you out of the movie. If you look closely, you can see tiny ear holes where she would normally put her earrings. Not a big deal, right? Most wouldn’t say so.Earrings have been aroundsince long before the 17th Century. However,it feels safe to say that a young Puritan girl in the 1600s who lived on a farm probably wouldn’t have her ears pierced. Eggers even goes so far as to say that he wishes he had edited her earholes out of the movie, but he also acknowledges that this step might be a bit too far.
Now, for any other filmmaker, this kind of little detail would easily be laughed off. After all, some of the fun in watching movies is to point out little flaws and “mistakes” that seemed to make their way past the cast and crew. However, for Robert Eggers, this kind of thing is deadly serious. Eggers has made a name for himself by being one of the most detail-oriented directors in the business. His pictures are period-accurate down to the most minute details, ensuring that clothes, architecture, and various other customs are as close to the real thing as possible.
It’s this passion for absolute perfection that sets him apart from the rest of the pack and might not make him better than the rest, but it does enhance our experience as an audience. Robert Eggers' movies aren’t just art pieces, they’re like living museums. So, while he can relax just a little bit about this small error in his otherwise masterpiece,it’s also understandable why someone who prides himself on his high level of historical accuracy might get upset over a mistake slipping by himandbreaking the overall illusion.
Even though there’s a tiny slip-up in period piece clothing customs,The Witchis still one hell of a directorial debut. Ever since, Robert Eggers has continued to turn in one stellar film after the next, withThe LighthouseandThe Northman. Let’s just hope that he keeps that track record going with his upcoming remake,Nosferatu, and that the titular vampire has wonderful hoop earrings.
