You Won’t Be Alone

Daniel King

Dir Goran Stolevksi, Serbia/UK 2021 Available on digital platforms

Regular readers of my reviews (hi Dad!) may have noticed my ambivalence to what is commonly referred to as ‘folk horror’, which eschews many common horror tropes in favour of a more meditative approach, dealing with the natural world, paganism, ancient customs and folklore. One of my objections is that folk horror is often presented as a new cultural phenomenon – films cited include The Witch, Midsommar, and Lamb – even though films have been exploring these themes for decades. A second objection is that, in its new incarnation at least, folk horror must be sombre, slow, and above all deadly serious. You Won’t Be Alone falls foul of this second objection.

It’s a tale of witches, shapeshifters specifically, but is far less interested in scaring you than it is in looking at how our understanding of life, particularly gender roles, develops through observation and personal experience.

It is overfull of achingly beautiful but narratively meaningless shots

In 19th century Estonia a mother is visited by a witch, Old Maid Maria (Anamaria Minca), a hideously burned woman with razor sharp talons, who demands the mother’s newborn girl. Striking a bargain, the mother says that in exchange for her baby’s life today she will give up her daughter, named Nevena (Sara Klimoska), when she turns 16. The witch agrees but renders the baby mute as a reminder of her power. Nevena’s mother hides her in a cave and raises her completely apart from the world.

Years later, Maria reappears to claim her prize, kills the girl’s mother, assuming her form in the process, and transforms Nevena into a shape-shifter like her. For a while they travel together, with Maria telling the girl of all the world’s cruelties and dangers, but in her naïve state Nevena is childlike, curious and trusting. Maria abandons her.

The film follows Nevena’s life as she wanders the land, from time to time establishing herself in various small communities, learning to communicate, to take part in life and the emotions that make life simultaneously such a rich and harrowing experience. The film’s trump card is that Nevena can change her form and therefore can experience life not just as a young woman but also as a young man, and even as an older person in a child’s body.

It’s a wonderful premise for a film, but unfortunately the way director Goran Stolevksi has chosen to tell his story robs it of any chance to make an impact. Like much of Terrence Malick’s work, it is overfull of achingly beautiful but narratively meaningless shots of nature accompanied by a breathy solemn voice-over that also says absolutely nothing. It’s all accompanied by a sparse, classical-style score as if to underline to everyone just how serious and important everything is. Nothing is allowed to breathe, suffocated as it is by this layer of self-reverence. It’s the kind of film where you’re begging for Michael Ripper to pop up with his stick-on sideburns and start mumbling about how no one goes near the castle.

You Won’t be Alone has been well-reviewed elsewhere, but I’m afraid I found it very difficult to sit through without fidgeting. It’s being marketed as folk horror, and that’s not necessarily the director’s fault, but if you go in expecting something like Midsommar, let alone The Blood on Satan’s Claw, you’ll be sorely disappointed. However, if you’re desperate to see a film about growing up in 19th century Estonian farming communities then your time has finally come! ★★★★★