The Metrograph theater, in collaboration with Arbelos Films, is currently showing a restored and digitized version of legendary female filmmaker Nietzchka Keene’s 1989 arthouse film The Juniper Tree, a chillingly whimsical adaptation of a twisted German fairy tale. Like its star, a then-21-year-old Björk, the shoot was based in Iceland, whose otherworldly seascapes and craggy cliffsides help contribute to the fantastical experience of watching the film. Additionally, it is shot on black and white film, which also lends to its unearthly, surreal quality. The film is shot with beautiful contrast, the monochrome rockiness of the landscape reminding the viewer of the film’s divergence from realism and paying homage to the oneiric aesthetic of the fairy tale it reimagines.
Similar to its surreal aesthetic, the narrative is driven by mysticism, specifically the spells and visions of sisters Margit (beautifully and eccentrically portrayed by Björk) and Katla (Björk’s sister Bryndis). We first encounter these mysterious sisters wandering the woods, directionless after the death of their mother who has been burned and stoned for witchcraft. From the first moments of the film, we see the central role that the persecution of women plays in the thematic journey of the film when we are made to sympathize with its victims, two daughters left motherless by a witch hunt. Luckily for them, the sisters encounter a widowed father, Johann, and his son, Jonas. Katla, fearing the two of them may meet the same fate as their mother, decides to use her witchcraft to ensure a future for her and her sister, putting Johann under a love spell and securing a safe haven.
This living situation, however, quickly proves to be as volatile as the growing tension between Jonas and his supposed ‘replacement mother’. At one point, Jonas tells Katla that his late mother “was better than you”. While this can be understood as a son’s resentment of the intrusive step-mother archetype, it can also be seen within the greater context of the film as a comment on men’s rejection of women. In subjectivizing these “dark witch” characters, Keene allows for the audience to sympathize with them. Their spells and visions are not malicious acts of spite, but rather desperate attempts to survive in a world the seeks to hunt and kill women, especially those with any kind of power.
The visions and spells of the sisters are transformed from their wicked origin into a feminist weapon, a tool in defying the same men who killed their mother. She too dared to be a powerful woman, using the only power afforded to her in a world that seeks to subjugate women to men: self-generated mystical power. In this way, we see Keene redefine the morals of the fairy tale in a modernized and gendered context, linking antiquated narratives to modern social commentary. Keene reverses the original misogynistic assumption that the feminine is intrinsically linked to the demonic. Keene’s unique perspective clearly epitomizes the increase in demand for female filmmakers who have the power to reshape sexist narratives not only the medium of film, but also in cultural institutions as antiquated and established as our moral fairy tales.
Ben Helscher is a freshman in Columbia College.