When she lives as a man there is more freedom and more forgiveness. When a man is in the room he takes up all the oxygen and all the conversation. A peasant woman gives birth in a field and goes straight back to work. She also is taught to understand the position of women in a man’s world. Nevena becomes more human by imitation and assimilation, eventually experiencing a whole range of emotions from love to loss, grief and anger. Consuming the blood and entrails of a victim allows her to inhabit their life and she experiences life as Bosilka (Noomi Rapace), Boris (Carloto Cotta) and the child Biliana (Alice Englert as an adult).Įach new life becomes a chance to look and learn. The teenage Nevena (Sara Klimoska) is resistant to the idea and is subsequently left to her own devices. Maria eventually comes to call and claim someone she wants as daughter, protege and acolyte. Sporting sharp talons, wispy strands of stray hair and a face criss-crossed with the scarring of old burn marks, she is a formidable sight. Yoana makes a bargain with Old Maria and keeps her child captive in a cave that is both a sanctuary and prison. Referred to as a wolf-eateress, witch Old Maid Maria (Anamaria Marinca) has other ideas. Yoana (Kamka Tocinovski) will do anything to protect her cherished baby Nevena. The surrounding beauty of nature is often at odds with the bloody, stoical struggles of daily life. Cinematographer Matthew Chuang provides Stolevski with lyrical shots of swaying grasses, cornfields, a butterfly in flight, the glow of fireflies against the night sky and the hoary frosts at dawn’s first light.
If someone had filmed a tale by the brothers Grimm with the sensibility of Terrence Malick it might look a lot like Y ou Won’t Be Alone.įilmed in Serbia and set in 19th century Macedonia, the film is rooted in the mountains, streams and forests of the area. His experience shows in a film that feels fully realised and uncompromising. Stolevski has directed some two dozen shorts, including the Sundance award-winning Would You Look At Her? (2017). Focus Features bought worldwide rights from Bankside and will release in the US in April with Universal handling the rest of the world.Ī clever, impressive feat of storytelling marked by originality and a haunting emotional impact. Genre fans should respond enthusiastically but there could be a wider appeal among audiences who embraced The Witch, Midsommar and The Babadook. The result becomes a visceral but surprisingly soulful reflection on what it means to be human. Stolevski blends the supernatural with the existential to chart the multiple lives of a witch. The film is equally generous in what it delivers.
The title offers the promise of something both threatening and comforting. Writer-director Goran Stolevski brings something fresh to the folk horror genre with his strikingly assured debut feature You Won’t Be Alone.
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