Witching And Bitching
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''Witching & Bitching'' (; ) is a 2013 Spanish comedy horror film directed and co-written by Álex de la Iglesia. It stars Hugo Silva,
Mario Casas Mario Casas Sierra (born 12 June 1986) is a Spanish film and television actor. Known for his roles in Spanish cinema and television, he has received various accolades including a Goya Award, a Gaudí Award, and three Feroz Awards. In 2006, ...
, and Carmen Maura. It won the most awards at the 28th Goya Awards with eight wins out of ten nominations, primarily in technical categories.


Plot

The film opens with two men, José and Antonio robbing a
pawn shop A pawnbroker is an individual that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. A pawnbrokering business is called a pawnshop, and while many items can be pawned, pawnshops typically accept jewelry, ...
in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
. Antonio is unhappy that José has brought his son Sergio along on the heist and is even unhappier that the child is participating with them, as this puts both him and them at risk. The robbery turns sour and several people die in the resulting gunfire. The men hijack a taxi and stow its unwilling passenger in the trunk, then force the driver, Manuel, to drive towards
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
's border with the intent to flee to
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. The group is followed by Sergio's mother and José's ex Silvia as well as two police investigators Pacheco and Calvo, who are tracking Silvia. The men end up in Zugarramurdi,
Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...
, where they come across a group of cannibalistic
witches Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...
led by Graciana, whose mother Maritxu tries to cook Sergio in her oven. They manage to escape the witches once but are forced to turn back, and are swiftly captured by the witches. Silvia manages to find the witches' house, enlisting the help of the cops to break into the house. José, Antonio, and Manuel end up escaping in the ensuing chaos, however Silvia and the two cops are captured, with Silvia turned into a witch with the use of tainted toad juice. The three men are captured by the witches except for José, who survives only through the intervention of Graciana's daughter Eva, who has become infatuated with him. She demands that he leave with her right away, yet José refuses to leave his son behind. With help from Eva's brother Luismi, José finds his way to the ritual chamber. Along the way they free Eva, who had been buried alive by her mother for her betrayal. Already in the chamber, Luismi and José are witness to Antonio, Manuel, Pacheco, and Calvo slowly burning in a pyre and the emergence of Graciana's goddess, a grotesque gargantuan woman resembling a fertility statue. The goddess devours Sergio, who passes through the giant and emerges alive. José confronts the witches with the help of Eva, who manages to cause the goddess's destruction, and José manages to escape the chaos with Sergio, Eva, and the other men. One month José and Eva are shown to be a couple raising Sergio, who is growing into his powers, yet Silvia, Graciana, and Maritxu are shown to be all alive and are content to wait for the couple to grow discontent with their happiness.


Cast


Release

Distributed by Universal Pictures International Spain, the film was theatrically released in Spain on 27 September 2013, opening with 1,236,390 in its debut weekend (a 21% share of the entire box office).


Reception

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
the film holds a rating of 84% based on 31 reviews. The site's the consensus states: "Dark, nasty, and delightfully subversive, ''Witching and Bitching'' is gross-out genre fun with a heaping helping of warped comedy for good measure". On
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
it has a score of 73% based on reviews from 10 critics.


Accolades

, - , align = "center" rowspan = "18" , 2014 , , 1st Feroz Awards , , colspan = "2" , Best Comedy Film , , , , , - , rowspan = "10" , 28th Goya Awards , , Best Original Score , , Joan Valent , , , , align = "center" rowspan = "10" , , - , Best Supporting Actress , , Terele Pávez , , , - , Best Production Supervision , , Carlos Bernases , , , - , Best Cinematography , , Kiko de la Rica , , , - , Best Editing , , Pablo Blanco , , , - , Best Art Direction , , Arturo García "Biaffra", José Luis Arrizabalaga "Arri" , , , - , Best Costume Design , , Francisco Delgado López , , , - , Best Makeup and Hairstyles , , María Dolores Gómez Castro, Javier Hernández Valentín, Pedro Rodríguez "Pedrati", Francisco J. Rodríguez Frías , , , - , Best Sound , , Charly Schmukler, Nicolás de Poulpiquet , , , - , Best Special Effects , , Juan Ramón Molina, Ferran Piquer , , , - , rowspan = "2" ,
1st Platino Awards The 1st Platino Awards were presented at the Teatro Anayasi in Panama City, Panama on April 5, 2014 to honour the best in Ibero-American films of 2013. Nominations were announced on 13 March 2014. ''The German Doctor'' received the most nominatio ...
, , colspan = "2" , Best Ibero-American Film , , , , rowspan = "2" , , - , Best Original Score , , Joan Valent , , , - , rowspan = "5" , 1st Fénix Awards , , Best Costume Design , , Paco Delgado , , , , rowspan = "5" , , - , Best Art Direction , , José Luis Arrizabalaga, Arturo García , , , - , Best Sound , , Carlos Schmukler, Nicolás de Poulpiquet , , , - , Best Music , , Joan Valent , , , - , Best Editing , , Pablo Blanco , ,


See also

* List of Spanish films of 2013 * Basque witch trials


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Witching and Bitching 2013 films 2013 comedy horror films Films about cannibalism Films directed by Álex de la Iglesia Films about witchcraft Films with screenplays by Jorge Guerricaechevarría Spanish comedy horror films Spanish-language comedy horror films Spanish heist films Films shot in Madrid Films shot in the Basque Country (autonomous community) 2010s Spanish-language films 2010s Spanish films Enrique Cerezo PC films