I just re-watched Season of The Witch. I hadn't watched it in years. I found I had the time to analyze it 100%. Jan White playing Joan Mitchell (the lead), was too pretty and young for the role...but it worked. Why? Because her husband married her and put her on a shelf...as perhaps a trophy wife. Joan's friends are WAY too old for her. It seemed they bordered on being senior citizens, whereas Joan wasn't. No wonder she was bored. Her husband hardly paid attention to her and she had to fit in with women decades older.
Joan has a 20-ish year old daughter, Nikki, and she makes an appearance and you never see her again. We get an all too brief glimpse of the kind of dynamic they have. Nikki's friend and TA, Gregg, takes a liking to the older Joan. Joan and Gregg have a small affair. He kept referring her to Mrs. Robinson in the Graduate. You could actually feel Joan's angst in the whole film. Being bored and frustrated, the viewer hopes that she has the affair with the younger Gregg. There is an unkind scene where Gregg teases one of Joan's friends. Jan White is such a good actress you can feel her anger toward Gregg in this scene. Again, in praise of Jan White, you can see how comfortable she is with Gregg. I felt that if she ended up with Gregg, he could fulfill her. I thought she would kill him for making her have feelings of unbridled sexuality.
It takes Gregg to make Joan realize how unhappily married she is. I won't give away the ending. But, the film is a great character study. We see Joan coming apart in front of our very eyes. The witchcraft thing is secondary. The poor woman is fighting for her sanity and self esteem. Director George Romero is genius at letting the viewer FEEL. Someone said it was slow paced. YEAH...but we get to feel what Joan is feeling. That's the beauty of it. It's not a horror film!! Great movie making on the part of Jan White and George Romero. It worked for me. I think a lot of reviewers expected Night of the Living Dead results. It isn't that kind of film. More of a thinking person's study. I'm so amazed. Kudos.
Joan has a 20-ish year old daughter, Nikki, and she makes an appearance and you never see her again. We get an all too brief glimpse of the kind of dynamic they have. Nikki's friend and TA, Gregg, takes a liking to the older Joan. Joan and Gregg have a small affair. He kept referring her to Mrs. Robinson in the Graduate. You could actually feel Joan's angst in the whole film. Being bored and frustrated, the viewer hopes that she has the affair with the younger Gregg. There is an unkind scene where Gregg teases one of Joan's friends. Jan White is such a good actress you can feel her anger toward Gregg in this scene. Again, in praise of Jan White, you can see how comfortable she is with Gregg. I felt that if she ended up with Gregg, he could fulfill her. I thought she would kill him for making her have feelings of unbridled sexuality.
It takes Gregg to make Joan realize how unhappily married she is. I won't give away the ending. But, the film is a great character study. We see Joan coming apart in front of our very eyes. The witchcraft thing is secondary. The poor woman is fighting for her sanity and self esteem. Director George Romero is genius at letting the viewer FEEL. Someone said it was slow paced. YEAH...but we get to feel what Joan is feeling. That's the beauty of it. It's not a horror film!! Great movie making on the part of Jan White and George Romero. It worked for me. I think a lot of reviewers expected Night of the Living Dead results. It isn't that kind of film. More of a thinking person's study. I'm so amazed. Kudos.