[REVIEW] She Will
Directed by Charlotte Colbert (and Executive Produced by Dario Argento), She Will is a beautiful and haunting psychological horror film about an aging star looking to recover from her double mastectomy in relative peace and quiet, but what she finds is her trauma coming back to invade her need for quiet space. And with it, a power she didn’t know she possessed.
Alice Krige plays the actress Veronica Ghent, who comes off as incredibly stern and cold, even towards her nurse, Desi (Kota Eberhardt). While she pushes away Desi’s attempts to make sure she is comfortable and without pain, Veronica slowly begins to let down her guard piece by piece once they arrive at the retreat located on Scottish land where witches were burned many years before. The film continues with the unraveling of the secrets of the land, ashes from the witch burning mixed into the soil of the property the retreat is on (and apparently used to be known to have “healing properties” Tirador, played by Rupert Everett, claims). When Veronica touches the mud, she is taken over, and so begins her ability to connect with the atmosphere around her, the land feeling “familiar” to her.
She Will is a gorgeously shot film with a myriad of captivating images that keep the audiences’ attention and with acting that is superb. Krige is enthralling, and you can’t help but want to be sucked into the moments when she is on screen. The mystery of the land, the questions you ask yourself about certain things seen that jump out at you are never truly answered, though, and that leaves a lot to be desired. You want to care more about the characters, but we don’t get to spend a lot of time getting to know each character, we only get to know who they are in those moments. Veronica’s past is never delved into, and that is a missed opportunity as we can only guess why she wants revenge against Hathbourne. You get the gist of it, but nothing more. It leads you but doesn’t reveal anything more to you.
With such incredible talents in this film, with cinematography that is exquisite, the story is the only thing that will leave you wanting more. She Will ends with a connection made between two women who experience their own traumas years a part, but you wish that the ending didn’t come as soon as it did. All that was missing from this delicious main course of a film was the appetizer and dessert. If you love a film that is bewitching with a brilliant cast, She Will offers just that.
She Will can be streamed on Prime.
