You will probably be aware by now that I’m quite taken with Norway. I talk about it whenever the opportunity arises. (It’s only going to get worse folks, just so you know.) Though I don’t think I’ve talked about how, when I was little, Roald Dahl helped fuel my obsession for everything Norsk.
I was captivated by Dahl’s autobiography Boy, in which he talks about his childhood holidays in Norway, but it was the film adaptation of his 1983 book The Witches – and one scene in particular – that really developed my fascination for the place, as well as leaving me haunted forevermore.
“Mysterious things go on in the world of witches.”
Helga
At the beginning of the film, Grandmother Helga explains to her Grandson Luke how truly awful witches are, which leads to the telling of a story about her childhood friend Erica, who was taken by a witch.
Erica’s tragic story began when her father asked her to go and get some milk. She went on her way, but, while walking a darkened side street, a witch snatched her. No trace of Erica could be found. Six weeks later, in the company of a young Helga and Erica’s Mother, Erica’s horrified father finally found her. Erica was trapped, frozen in a painting of a farmhouse hung on a wall of the family home. She was dressed exactly as she had been on the day she went missing.
Erica gazed sadly out of the farmhouse window and her mournful spirit called out for her papa. Over time, Erica’s position in the painting changed – though no one ever saw her move – and she grew older. Her outfits changed too. (I was quite besotted with a dress she wore as a young woman.) Then, one day, she disappeared.
“There, as if it had always been there was Erica, locked in the painting, gazing at us.”
Helga
The scene was harrowing when I was a kid. It remains harrowing now. Most of the horror films I’ve watched have been unable to conjure a mere fraction of the creepiness conveyed through Erica’s story.
It wasn’t just what happened to Erica that had me engrossed though. I was obsessed with her lusekofte, (I’d also wear her dad’s cardigan in a heartbeat), Bergen’s clapboard houses, and the painting itself, gods, the painting! Isn’t it just fucking exquisite? I’m desperate to climb those mountains.
I know The Witches has been remade recently, but I have zero intention of watching it. From what I’ve seen from a trailer, it looks dreadful. And I heard Erica’s storyline has been erased and replaced with a girl who is turned into *sigh* an oversized chicken. Make of that what you will.
Celebrating the strange and the shadowy, the damned and unseen 
wow I felt the exact same way – the witches is still an amazing movie adaption. I always wanted someone to make a prequel about the grand high witch and Helga as a young woman turned Witchophile. I always wanted to know how Helga lost her thumb and why The Grabd High Witch calls her “An old adversary” – I imagine it being like a Buffy vibe but in 1930’s Norway. Like an eerie fantasy horror xx A.M
Hi I’m Rafael how are you, nice blog, do you know if this paint was made only for the movie, or if it’s a real painting?
[…] her lusekofte) and the clapboard houses that appeared in the film. (You can read more about it in this blog post.)I travelled to Norway, stayed with a friend in Bergen and together we went and found the house […]