Häxan

Witchcraft, hysteria and medieval fear on trial

Häxan. Witchcraft Through the Ages, directed by Benjamin Christensen in 1922, is a silent essay film that combines documentary style exposition with staged narrative scenes to investigate the history of witchcraft. Based partly on Christensen’s study of a fifteenth century German manual for inquisitors, the film traces beliefs surrounding witchcraft from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century.

The opening sections present a scholarly dissertation on demons and witches in medieval culture, using photographs of sculptures, paintings and woodcuts, as well as large scale models illustrating the medieval conception of the universe and Hell. The film then shifts to dramatized episodes depicting superstition and diabolical temptation, including scenes of Satan, possessed nuns and accusations of witchcraft.

In its central narrative, set in the Middle Ages, religious authorities interrogate and torture women accused of witchcraft. Confessions describe witch ointments, Sabbaths and desecration, revealing the mechanisms of fear and persecution that led to witch hunts and executions at the stake.

In its final segments, the film contrasts medieval superstition with modern psychiatry. Christensen suggests that many accused witches may have suffered from mental or neurological disorders, then labelled hysteria, and argues that torture and fear contributed to false confessions. Through this combination of historical analysis, religious critique and horror imagery, the film examines witchcraft as both cultural belief and social hysteria.