Witches (2024) Review

Witches (2024) is the most honest and unabashed depiction of motherhood captured on film. This examination of peripartum mental illness is available on Mubi and is a necessary watch for anyone who gives a damn about women.

Witches director Elizabeth Sankey’s vulnerable call for action for not only her own sake but for the sake of mothers past and present is especially poignant when women’s rights are heavily at stake on the world stage leading into 2025. This collection of real stories from mothers who suffered from peripartum mental illness is not just eye-opening but heartbreaking and also gives some insight into major parts of patriarchal history like the witch trials.

The accounts of these women are woven into Sankey’s own experience of girlhood, womanhood, and, eventually, motherhood. Witchcraft, for many women including Stankey, played a great role in growing up. Many women will recall creating potions and elixirs during bathtime or gathering ingredients for spells during recess. This intrigue, more closely akin to the wonder of nature and mystic ideas of creation, is quickly squashed by depictions of evil witches ala Snow White’s Evil Queen and Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West.

These fictional figures, and later the very real female victims of the witch trials, are introduced to girls as a warning of what will happen if they do not fit into patriarchal societies’ expectations of them. They also reinforce the idea that being good or bad is not determined by herself but by those around her. Women have been historically discouraged or judged for expressing their full selves. No, women experiencing the full spectrum of humanity, the ugly and the euphoric, is perceived as the utmost evil.

So what happens when a woman experiences pregnancy and the gambit of physical and emotional stresses it brings? What about when a woman doesn’t experience the pregnancy “glow” or the “magic” usually depicted on the big screens or the tabloids? What happens when the world turns its back on women during the most fragile moments of their lives?

You don’t have to imagine hypothetical answers to these questions because Sankey presents them in all their devastating glory. This documentary addresses some of the most nuanced and important topics surrounding women’s mental health in such a straightforward way. It provides a beautiful and mystic backdrop for audiences to listen to women, discover aspects of their inner lives, and learn about what would actually help them.

Another incredible point to see, without spoiling too much, is that these women, in spite of societal fears and expectations, built their own support network. Not finding appropriate support in the medical field or even the fathers of their children but other women who have had similar experiences. The compassion and love of these women know no bounds and are truly an example of not only how far we have to go as a society but also the greatness we can become.

Witches does a terrific job of shining light on the horrors of peripartum psychosis, the healthcare system’s dehumanizing approach to these illnesses, and interesting theories on how these conditions play a role in the persecution of women.

Movie Rating:

Witches trailer