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Diablo Joe Reviews She Will

Posted in Diablo Joe Reviews by Neal at 06:19, Oct 13 2022

"She Will"
review by Diablo Joe



"She Will"

Veronica, an aging former child actor, now in her senior years and recovering from a double mastectomy, seeks solace in a remote estate retreat on a Scottish site famous for having been the spot where, centuries ago, scores of women were burned as witches. She struggles to come to grips with her frailty and new body. As she does, forces from deep in the peat and long-buried ashes arise to wreak horrors upon those from her past who have wronged her.

“She Will” is a visually stunning, conceptually and emotionally complex first feature from acclaimed multi-media artist Charlotte Colbert. Featuring a potent performance from Alice Krige as Veronica, with a supporting cast including Malcolm McDowell, Rupert Everett, and Kota Eberhardt, it is a challenging film, part folk horror, part mediation on the dichotomy of the fragility and the power inherent in womanhood. It is a movie that will likely divide audiences but reward those willing to appreciate its originality and startling beautiful imagery imbued by its director and lead actor.

Colbert sets the other-worldly tone for “She Will” from the get-go. Veronica’s elegant but archaic fashion style and the Edwardian milieu and architecture of the country retreat dare the audience to properly discern the film’s era. Only when Veronica’s caregiver, Desi, searches for a cell phone signal are we assured we are in contemporary times. Throughout the picture, Colbert’s assured eye continues to reward us with rich, lush settings and details that make full use of the sylvan Scottish locale (especially evocative in the many night exteriors), as well as Alice Krige’s unique features.

With her high cheekbones, wide mouth, and piercing eyes, Krige has always possessed an aura of otherworldliness. From her dual role of Alma/Eva in 1981’s “Ghost Story” to her most famous roles as “Star Trek’s” Borg Queen, she has often evoked ethereally dangerous beauty. Here, Krige shows a very different side. Veronica is shattered, not just by the trauma of her surgery but also by a childhood past whose memory she cannot escape. Krige is simultaneously luminous and friable, and it is a stunning performance from this fine actor.

Equally impressive is Kota Eberhardt as Desi. The dynamic her character shares with Veronica is a highlight of the film, and she and Krige demonstrate an equal synergy. Much of the reason “She Will” engages is the interaction between the caregiver and her charge, and it is a nuanced, often touching, relationship.

Less successful is Colbert’s use of the rest of the supporting cast. Rupert Everett, as the flamboyant head of the retreat, is fine enough. Still, he and the oddball cadre of other visitors to the retreat are wholly unnecessary to the film, if not a distraction. As a Polanski-esque director whose “working” relationship with a teenage Veronica has come into question, McDowell is more integral to the film’s plot and thematic elements. But even his scenes are most notable for the breathtakingly austere black-and-white urban architecture that sharply contrasts with the rest of the film’s pastoral nature.

“She Will” works best when Colbert and Krige explore the sensual development of Veronica’s symbiosis with her environment. That synergy between womanhood and nature, so elemental and critical to the lore and history of witchcraft and earth magic, is a fascinating concept. This exploration and the relationship between Veronica and Desi and “She Will’s” astonishing visuals are the pillars that raise the film to its heights. And Colbert is not afraid to leave much speculation as to the truth of Veronica’s experience up to the audience, leaving them much to consider thematically.

“She Will” is an ambitious but assured debut from an already confident, established artist. Like some of the most intriguing art, it is a film that will provoke discussion and, perhaps, dissent. But Colbert, when she succeeds, gives us something powerful and unique. Combine this with Alice Krige’s genuinely bravura performance, and “She Will” is a formidable, if perhaps flawed, work.

This devil of a reviewer gives “She Will” 3.5 out of 5 imps


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