You Won’t Be Alone is a 2022 Australian supernatural folk horror film about a witch in an isolated Macedonian mountain village in the 1800s.
Written and directed by Australian-Macedonian Goran Stolevski making his feature debut. Produced by Kristina Ceyton (The Nightingale; The Babadook), Jonathan English, Phil Hun and Sam Jennings (Cargo). Executive produced by Brandt Andersen, Natasa Ivic, Bryce Menzies, Jonathan Page, Michelle Pearce, Dale Roberts and Compton Ross.
The Causeway Films-Head Gear Films-Metrol Technology co-production stars Noomi Rapace (Black Crab; The Trip; Lamb; Rupture; Prometheus), Anamaria Marinca, Alice Englert (Ratched), Carloto Cotta, Félix Maritaud and Sara Klimoska.
The soundtrack score was composed by Mark Bradshaw (Walden; The Furnace; The Daughter; Resistance; Bright Star).
Plot:
In an isolated mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, a young girl is kidnapped and then transformed into a witch by an ancient spirit. Curious about life as a human, the young witch accidentally kills a peasant in the nearby village and then takes her victim’s shape to live life in her skin. Her curiosity ignited, she continues to wield this horrific power in order to understand what it means to be human…
Reviews:
“The film is also not dictating a life everyone should strive to achieve, but rather suggesting limitless possibilities to consider and try. You Won’t Be Alone contains innovative and profound depictions of witches […] Embrace this hauntingly enchanting exploration of fulfillment.” **** Flickering Myth
“There are vague shades of Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin and, in his less self-indulgent, less recent films, the work of Terrence Malick. But Stolevski’s film is confidently of his own creation. Most of the dialogue is Macedonian narration, the fractured speech of someone figuring out how to be, in awe of nature while weighed down by a mounting disappointment in humanity…” The Guardian
“While an uncharitable viewer might find things to mock in the strangeness of the first half-hour, few will have that impulse beyond that point; and one hesitates to suggest different ways the writer/director might have brought us to the point at which one incarnation of the young witch (Alice Englert) seems at the threshold of happiness.” The Hollywood Reporter
“You Won’t Be Alone is a somber, cutting dissection of humanity wrapped up in horror-like folklore. The world-building by Stolevski is truly enthralling, creating an exhausting depiction of 19th century Macedonia that feels even more hostile than the witch who comes for you in the night […] You Won’t Be Alone is a beautiful deconstruction of humanity at its most vile.” 8/10 IGN
“You Won’t Be Alone is powerful and deeply effective storytelling. Writer/director Goran Stolevski breathes life into a dark fairy-tale world in his feature debut. Audiences will inevitably draw comparisons to Robert Eggers’ The Witch, but Stolevski’s film is radically different. You Won’t Be Alone is a haunting slow-burn with unshakable horror.” Showbiz Cheat Sheet
” …it has that artistically out-there quality adventurous moviegoers associate with The Green Knight and Lamb. Instead of a straightforward narrative, Stolevski delivers an evocative tapestry of natural-world wonder — sensory fragments stitched together by a half-murmured interior monologue and what sounds like medieval church music.” Variety
“Your mileage may vary, but the experience of watching You Won’t Be Alone can often feel punishing to an absurd extreme. Boliska says emotionally unrevealing things like, “The man, the eyewater he wants. From the woman,” and many scenes race by without much consideration or illuminating emotions beyond what’s indicated through over-cut, barely processed images […] it also rarely encourages viewers to engage meaningfully with whatever’s on-screen.” The Wrap
Release:
You Won’t Be Alone premiered at the 2022 Sundance Festival.
In the USA, Focus Features released You Won’t Be Alone theatrically on April 1, 2022.
Cast and characters:
Noomi Rapace … Bosilka
Alice Englert … Biliana
Anamaria Marinca … Maria
Carloto Cotta … Boris
Félix Maritaud … Yovan
Sara Klimoska … Nevena
Arta Dobroshi … Stamena
Leontina Bainovic … Young Nevena
Verica Nedeska … Groom’s Mother
Predrag Vasic … Groom
Kamka Tocinovski … Yoana
Daniel Kovacevic … Biliana’s Father
Jasmina Avramovic … Bosilka’s Mother-in-Law
Irena Ristic … Elica
Senka Kolozova … Biliana’s Grandmother
Teodor Vincic … Vladimir
Marija Opsenica … Ur-Witch
Djordje Misina … Miroslav
Milos Pantic … Dusan
Nikola Markovic … Groom’s Father
Milena Nikolic … Wife of Boris
Sofija Jeremic … Biliana’s Mother
Danilo Savic … Young Yovan
Artan Sadiku … Stamena’s Husband
Anastasija Karanovich … Young Biliana
Trailer 1:
Trailer 2:
