女巫：历代的巫术Häxan

剧情简介Synopsis

《女巫：历代的巫术》（瑞典语：Häxan；丹麦语：Heksen；英语：Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages）是一部瑞典-丹麦合制的纪录片式无声恐怖电影，由本杰明·克里斯唐森编剧兼导演。电影的素材来源部分基于克里斯唐森对一本15世纪的德国宗教裁判所指导书《女巫之槌》的研究，电影探究了迷信和对精神疾病的误解如何导致歇斯底里的猎巫狂热。虽然电影是以纪录片的形式拍摄，但其也包含了恐怖片所拥有的戏剧化元素。 本杰明·克里斯唐森花费了漫长的时期来制作这部电影，对中世纪场景的细致重现使本片成为史上最昂贵的斯堪的纳维亚默片，花费将近两百万瑞典克朗。虽然电影在丹麦和瑞典赢得好评，但却因影片包含酷刑折磨、裸露和性偏离等元素和场面而于当时的美国被禁映，于其他国家则遭到严格审核。Häxan (Swedish: [ˈhɛ̂ksan], The Witch; Heksen Danish: [hɛksən], The Witch; English: The Witches; released in the US in 1968 as Witchcraft Through the Ages) is a 1922 Swedish-Danish silent horror essay film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen. Consisting partly of documentary-style storytelling as well as dramatized narrative sequences, the film purports to chart the historical roots and superstitions surrounding witchcraft, beginning in the Middle Ages through the 20th century. Based partly on Christensen's own study of the Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th-century German guide for inquisitors, Häxan proposes that such witch-hunts may have stemmed from misunderstandings of mental or neurological disorders, triggering mass hysteria. The movie was produced by Swedish AB Svensk Filmindustri but shot in Denmark in 1920–1921. With Christensen's meticulous recreation of medieval scenes and its lengthy production period, the film was the most expensive Scandinavian silent film ever made at the time, costing nearly two million Swedish kronor. Although it received some positive reception in Denmark and Sweden, censors in countries such as Germany, France, and the United States objected to what were considered at that time graphic depictions of torture, nudity, and sexual perversion, as well as anti-clericalism. In 1968, Metro Pictures Corporation re-edited and re-released Häxan in the US under the title Witchcraft Through the Ages. This version includes an English-language narration by William S. Burroughs. The original Swedish-language version of Häxan has undergone three restorations by the Swedish Film Institute, carried out in 1976, 2007 and 2016. Since its initial release, Häxan has received praise for its combination of documentary-style and narrative storytelling, as well as its visual imagery, and has been called Christensen's masterpiece.