Carla Gravina

The Devil’s Woman.

In 1973, “The Exorcist” marked an era, becoming a turning point to draw from to tell the everyday horror through the work of the Devil.

From then on, several films on the theme followed, among which stood out “The Antichrist,” released in 1974, directed by Alberto de Martino.

The film immediately immerses the viewer in an archaic, unsettling, and mysterious Italy, featuring Carla Gravina, a charming and talented actress who, despite never having acted in films of this genre, remarkably holds her own with such a complicated and problematic role.

Ippolita Oderisi, her character, is a young and beautiful woman who, despite the comforts of an affluent life, cannot overcome a childhood trauma linked to a car accident in which her mother lost her life and she was left paralyzed, forced to live in a wheelchair since then. Over time, Ippolita becomes a proud and deeply suffering woman, a frustrated and melancholic figure trapped in a body she can barely perceive as her own.

As if that weren’t enough, there’s an air of indifference in the house where she lives: Ippolita asks for help, but the characters around her seem deaf to her calls. Starting with her father, who too late decides to prioritize his daughter’s health over his love for his new partner. It is a sad and curious condition for her since, after the accident, no physical injuries were ever found, leading to the suspicion that her paralysis is more due to a psychological block.

This will be the impetus that leads her brother to suggest she undergo a session of regression hypnosis so she can relive her past and confront her grief with a different spirit.

What will happen, however, will be something unsettling and unpredictable because from her subconscious will emerge an ancient malignant figure that violently breaks into her life. In this context, Carla Gravina perfectly portrays her character, reflecting the image of a suffering and conflicted woman first, then terrifying and blasphemous later, in a film where Evil takes precedence over Good as if it were a social revenge.

Yet, despite the pessimistic air that lingers over the film, it will be Good that triumphs, overturning the initial perspective and instilling a message of hope, because in a final desperate act, it will be her family that saves her, pushing her to the foot of a cross and ultimately freeing her from Evil.