Goran Stolevski’s “You Won’t Be Alone”

You Won’t Be Alone (2022)

This fairytale drama with folk horror elements uses the conceit of a shape shifting witch to explore facets of humanity in a sober, engaging and layered film

Between this and Lukas Feigelfeld’s “Hagazussa: A Heathen's Curse”, Robert Eggers’ “The Witch” has been knocked to third place for my favourite witch films of the last decade. What’s great is all three films have their own unique take and here, the film cycles through several “lives” from women to men, children and animals in a style that has the feel of Terrence Malick while being completely unashamed of its fantastical elements. It also manages to be quite accessible while being layered and open to interpretation.

The performances in the film are fantastic and where multiple actors portray the same character, it’s surprisingly effective. Tonally, it sways from idyllic to horrific in a heartbeat with a consistent menace through to the conclusion. Saying that, I wouldn’t classify this as a horror, but rather a fairytale drama with folk horror elements.

Set in 19th century Macedonia, the witch, Maria(Anamaria Marinca), "Wolf-Eateress" stalks the countryside after centuries of spite and jealousy. And in her latest bargain, she sets off a chain of events which has unforeseen repercussions for the people of the region and her own destiny.

Interestingly, this has similarities with Valdimar Jóhannsson’s “Lamb” (Noomi Rapace is in both films btw) being a fairytale drama with folk horror elements, but this takes a more sprawling take on its subject. It’s also yet another strong debut feature from 2022 that’s smart, accessible and satisfying; highly recommended.