[Editorial] Hearts of Darkness: A Love Letter to Elaine in The Love Witch (2016)

The Love Witch (2016) herself, Elaine Parks (Samantha Robinson) is a woman on a mission–to get her man. She doesn’t know who exactly he is yet, but he’s out there, waiting to shower her with the love she deserves to receive and that was withheld by her (dead) ex-husband, Jerry (Stephen Wozniak). She tries in vain to convince those around her that she knows just how to get him, facing skepticism from non-witches like Trish (Laura Waddell) and warnings from fellow witches like Barbara (Jennifer Ingrum). The three of swords tarot card, an omen of heartbreak and emotional turmoil, follows Elaine through the film, as spells and potions repeatedly fail to bring her dream man into her arms. 

Trapped in a mindset between feminism and traditionalism, Elaine views men as weak and easy to manipulate, only needing something as simple as sex to gain their love; yet, she feels meaningless without a man in her life. On her own, Elaine is capable, calculating and independent, but puts on a facade of being a submissive “dream girl” to the men she encounters through the film. First, Wayne (Jeffrey Vincent Parise), a professor at the local college, whom she grows disgusted with for his being too emotional–too much like a woman. Then Richard (Robert Seeley), Trish’s husband, whom she seduces while her friend is out of town, before cutting off the affair because he’s too clingy. Finally, she meets Griff (Gian Keys), a detective assigned to investigate the mysterious death of Wayne, which happens under Elaine’s watch and initially goes unreported. Griff is the only one of these men whom Elaine doesn’t use magic on to seduce. She is thrilled when their relationship quickly becomes more serious and the two become engaged in a matter of weeks. It doesn’t take long, however, for Griff to see through Elaine’s ploy, and when he rejects a potion she offers him, she stabs him through the heart, bringing the three of swords tarot card to fruition. 

Elaine laments that men in her- life like her father and her ex-husband Jerry- told her that she was never good enough, with their insults and criticisms running through her mind—that she weighed too much, was a bad cook, didn’t clean the house well enough. She claims she was devoted to Jerry and devastated by their divorce, which drove her to her transformation as a witch and to alter her appearance. While he was impressed, this ultimately didn’t win back him or his love. It’s also implied that Elaine has experienced ritual abuse at the hands of Gahan (Jared Sanford), the leader of the coven that she and Barbara are members of, as she expresses disgust and discomfort whenever she’s around him. 

The abuses she’s experienced leave her in a state akin to Frankenstein’s monster, not forged of her own will, but of the entitlement of the men around her, torn apart and then put back together as a perverse monument to politicized sexuality and idealized womanhood, unleashed to wreak havoc on the sleepy town in the California Redwoods where she makes her home. She claims that by becoming an ideal woman, she doesn’t give men a reason to abuse or take advantage of her. Elaine believes she can use her sexuality to maintain power in the relationship while also finding someone to love her for her personality.

The empathy and care that she shows the men she seduces is superficial, as she doesn’t want to deal with their emotions, she just wants them to pay attention to her. When Wayne is under the influence of Elaine’s spell, he cries and moans uncontrollably at how much he “loves” her and misses her when she’s just a room away. In a striking display of apathy and disdain, Elaine smokes on the living room couch, annoyed with Wayne’s behavior. His sobs providing background noise to her thoughts, she shares with the viewer, “No one was ever there for me when I was crying my heart out. No one ever comforted me. No one.” Elaine is ruthless, with little patience for anything less than perfection from her partner, something she no doubt learned from her past partners.

When Griff accuses Elaine of being a hypocrite and that no one’s love will ever be enough for her, she becomes enraged. It’s here that Elaine reveals her true thoughts about men and their capacity to love, that they make it conditional and difficult to obtain, superficial and fleeting as they only care about sex and appearances, even for a woman as perfect as she is. Elaine thinks that every woman deserves love but because men are selfish, women feel lonely and dissatisfied. She needs to use magic to unlock men’s “love potential” but because they’re so unfamiliar with love, it overwhelms them to the point of death. It’s no fault of her own.

The Love Witch is a film that warrants multiple viewings due to Elaine’s complexities and her being an unreliable narrator. Initial viewings of the film dazzle visually, from the technicolor set designs to Elaine’s impeccable fashion sense, yet the plot and Elaine’s motivations require extra attention from viewers, making The Love Witch a “love it or hate it” film for many. It can be difficult to sympathize with Elaine despite her troubled past; she inadvertently and directly causes four deaths and has an affair with her friend’s husband without feeling remorse for any of it. Elaine is a caricature of the crossroads where many modern women feel they find themselves. As she tries to squeeze herself into the molds, she believes she should fill, her results are nothing but failures. Her dangerous obsession with love and equating sex to power leads her down a potion-soaked path of destruction, turning her fairytale into a nightmare. 

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