| Practical Magic | |
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 Promotional one-sheet poster |
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| Directed by | Griffin Dunne |
| Produced by | Denise Di Novi |
| Written by | Alice Hoffman (novel) Robin Swicord Adam Brooks |
| Starring | Sandra Bullock Nicole Kidman Stockard Channing Dianne Wiest |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
| Cinematography | Andrew Dunn |
| Editing by | Elizabeth King |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | October 16, 1998 (USA) |
| Running time | 103 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $60,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $46,683,377[1] (domestic) |
| Official website • IMDb • Allmovie | |
Practical Magic is a 1998 family fantasy film directed by Griffin Dunne and starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as witches who carry on a family legacy of witchcraft and tragedy. The film is based on a book of the same name by Alice Hoffman. The original music score was composed by Alan Silvestri. The rejected score by Michael Nyman also enjoys popularity.
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Synopsis
The film begins with Maria Owens being hanged for being a witch. Through opening monologue it is explained that for 200 years since, all of her descendants (the "Owens women") have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in the town that they live. The people of the town are apprehensive of the Owens women and their lifestyle, viewing them as abnormal and connected to the Devil.
The Owens women are indeed witches, for the Craft has been passed down through every generation to modern times with sisters Frances (Stockard Channing) and Jet (Dianne Wiest), and their orphaned nieces Gillian and Sally. The Owens family is also cursed: any man who falls in love with an Owens woman will die tragically. As a child, Sally casts a true love spell that is supposed to protect her from falling in love. She chooses near impossible traits in a man, confident that no one will meet them perfectly.
The sisters grow up, and Gillian (Nicole Kidman) runs away as she is impatient with small town life. Packing her bags and leaving at night. They cast a binding oath to each other using blood from both of their hands and then mixing the bloods by clasping hands. Without Gillian around, Sally (Sandra Bullock) feels lonely and craves a normal life. Her aunts, wanting her to be happy, cast a spell that helps Sally fall in love with a man named Michael. Sally marries him and has two daughters, Kylie (Evan Rachel Wood) and Antonia (Alexandra Artrip). When Michael falls victim to the curse and dies, Sally and her daughters return to the Owens home to live with the aunts.
When Gillian's latest boyfriend Jimmy (Goran Višnjić) turns abusive, she calls Sally for help. Sally goes to collect Gillian, but Jimmy kidnaps both of them. Sally puts belladonna into Jimmy's tequila to knock him out, but she uses too much and accidentally kills him. The panicked sisters attempt to resurrect him using a forbidden spell from their aunts' book of spells. The spell works, but when Jimmy is revived, Sally is forced to kill him a second time to stop him from killing Gillian. The sisters bury his body in the Owens home garden, where they hope nobody will notice, but his spirit begins to haunt them.
A State Investigator named Gary Hallett (Aidan Quinn) arrives in town looking for Jimmy. Gillian prepares a banishment spell using the syrup from their table to get rid of Gary, but Sally's daughters thwart the spell when they notice that Gary fulfils a number of conditions of Sally's true love spell. Sally confesses that she killed Jimmy, and that she cast a spell to summon Gary to her. Gary has an encounter with Jimmy's ghost, and decides to leave town without arresting Sally.
Jimmy possesses Gillian, and the aunts decide that in order to dispel Jimmy, a coven needs to be formed (nine women, "twelve's better"). Sally is forced to ask the aid of townswomen who had feared and excluded her. The women come out of curiosity and a desire to help. The exorcism is a success due to the strong bond between the two sisters; Jimmy's spirit is dispelled and the 200-year-old curse of the Owens women is ended, when Sally repeats the spell that was mentioned as Gillian first left, by clasping their hands to mix each others blood once more. It brought Gillian back.
Sally receives a letter from Gary that she and her sister are cleared of any suspicion or wrongdoing in Jimmy's case. Gary eventually returns to the town to be with Sally.
In a closing scene, the Owens women, daughters and all celebrate All Hallows Eve dressed up in stereotypical witch costumes, but they are embraced and welcomed by the townsfolk.
Cast
- Sandra Bullock as Sally Owens
- Nicole Kidman as Gillian Owens
- Stockard Channing as Aunt Frances Owens
- Dianne Wiest as Aunt Bridget 'Jet' Owens
- Goran Visnjic as James 'Jimmy' Angelov
- Aidan Quinn as Officer Gary Hallet
- Camilla Belle as young Sally Owens
- Evan Rachel Wood as Kylie Owens
- Alexandra Artrip as Antonia Owens
- Mark Feuerstein as Michael
Production
Was filmed on Whidbey Island. Coupeville, Washington
According to Sandra Bullock in the film commentary, in the scene where the Owens women are drunk and slinging insults, the actresses actually got drunk, for they were drinking some very bad tequila that Nicole Kidman brought.
Music
| Practical Magic | |||||
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photo by Suzanne Tenner
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| Soundtrack by Various Artists | |||||
| Released | October 6, 1998 (original pressing) | ||||
| Recorded | August 15-16, 1998, Abbey Road Studios (Michael Nyman tracks) | ||||
| Genre | Soundtrack, Pop, Minimalism, Orchestral | ||||
| Length | 56:58 (Nyman pressing) | ||||
| Language | English | ||||
| Label | Reprise/WEA | ||||
| Producer | Danny Bramson, Sandra Bullock | ||||
| Michael Nyman chronology | |||||
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| Alan Silvestri chronology | |||||
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Composer Michael Nyman's score to the movie was abruptly replaced with music by Alan Silvestri for the theatrical release. This last minute change resulted in the release of two soundtracks, although as primarily a compilation album, only the two tracks of newly-created material were changed. A 50-track demo (the last two tracks being "Convening the Coven" and "Maria Owens") of Nyman's score has been circulating among fans as a bootleg. The complete Nyman score runs 62:30 and contains music that would later appear, in altered form, in Ravenous and The Actors, as well as a bit of his stepwise chord progression theme from Out of the Ruins/String Quartet No. 3/Carrington/The End of the Affair/The Claim. "Convening the Coven," though not "Maria Owens," was subsequently reissued on The Very Best of Michael Nyman: Film Music 1980-2001, and music that uses material related to this piece has not been used elsewhere.
Singer Stevie Nicks headlined the soundtrack's published advertisements, promoting her singles "If You Ever Did Believe" and her remake of her song "Crystal" from the 1975 Fleetwood Mac white album on which she first appeared with the band.
Track listing
- If You Ever Did Believe - Stevie Nicks and Sheryl Crow
- This Kiss - Faith Hill
- Got To Give It Up (Pt.1) - Marvin Gaye
- Is This Real? - Lisa Hall
- Black Eyed Dog - Nick Drake
- A Case Of You - Joni Mitchell
- Nowhere And Everywhere - Michelle Lewis
- Always On My Mind - Elvis Presley
- Everywhere - Bran Van 3000
- Coconut - Harry Nilsson
- Crystal - Stevie Nicks
- Practical Magic - Alan Silvestri / Convening the Coven - The Michael Nyman Orchestra
- Amas Veritas - Alan Silvestri / Maria Owens - The Michael Nyman Orchestra
Depiction of witches
The film's fictional depiction of witchcraft features supernatural elements tied closely to biological lineage, as the Craft is handed down each generation of Owens women. Other modern depictions of witches have also used such an interpretation of magic being hereditary (such as Charmed and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch). The film states that, quote: "No, there's no devil in the craft."
At the end of the film, once all the Owens women have "come out" to the village as witches, they dress up in black robes and red-and-white striped stockings, similar to those worn by the Wicked Witch of the East in The Wizard of Oz.
Novel
The film differs from the original novel in several ways, including the flowers growing over Jimmy's grave (lilacs), the birth order of Sally's daughters (Antonia is the older daughter and in the book they are also teenagers by the end), and the fact that Sally actually rejected magic very early on in life due to a humiliation in school; Michael's death cemented this, rather than caused it. Other differences include:
- Jimmy is also not foreign at all, although the cowboy obsession was still a factor. His personality in the movie was actually changed to allow Goran Visnjic to take the role.
- The fate of the lovesick woman the Aunts help is also recurrent in the novel, a reminder to "be careful what you wish for".
- The Aunts, while not neglectful, are not as warm and loving as they are in the movie and delight in using their talents for the village women, although the caution of watching what you wish for is always there.
- Jimmy's death is attributed, not to the belladonna poisoning, but to possible alcohol poisoning and he died at a rest stop. Although him striking Gillian is not a direct factor in his death, he is depicted as being something of a sadist to begin with. His ring is also not a skull, but a cactus and a snake.
Television spin-off
A television pilot based on the film, titled Sudbury was filmed for CBS in 2003. It starred Kim Delaney, Jeri Ryan, Kat Dennings, Gage Golightly, Dixie Carter, Shirley Knight and Esai Morales. Sandra Bullock served as executive producer. The pilot was not picked up.
References
External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Practical Magic |
- Practical Magic
- Practical Magic at the Internet Movie Database
- Practical Magic at Allmovie
- Practical Magic at Rotten Tomatoes
- Practical Magic at Box Office Mojo
- Amas Veritas
| Preceded by Holy Man |
Box office number-one films of 1998 (USA) October 18, 1998 |
Succeeded by Pleasantville |
| Preceded by Meet Joe Black |
Box office number-one films of 1999 (UK) January 24, 1999 |
Succeeded by Shakespeare in Love |
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