Justice for Hecate: Practical Magic 25 Years Later
Fall is so extremely my shit. The mere hint of a cool breeze is all it takes for me to break out the chunky knits, ransack Bath & Body Works for their gourd-scented offerings, and mainline pumpkin spice like it’s the elixir of life. It’s when I really dial up the consumption of atmospheric books, TV, and movies, a ritual that, for the past several years, has involved a rewatch of Practical Magic. Since this month marks the 25th anniversary of the film’s release, allow me to hop on my broom and wax about it for a while.
But First, The Book(s)
The movie is an adaptation of Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, which debuted on June 13, 1995. It opens in a small Massachusetts town where rumors of witchcraft have followed the Owens women around for over 200 years. Sisters Gillian and Sally Owens have lost both of their parents and move in with their aunts Franny and Jet, two eccentric women who teach the girls about their special inherited gifts. The town shuns and taunts both the aunts and their nieces, even as many of them seek the aunts’ services on the low. The ridicule is too much for the girls, though, and they escape as soon as they can, Sally by marrying and Gillian by running away. But you know how life is: the things we run away from often have a way of bringing us back.
A prequel, The Rules of Magic, came out in 2017, a whole 12 years after its predecessor. It goes back to the ’60s and focuses on Franny, Jet, and their brother Vincent. Magic Lessons goes back even further to 1600s Salem for the origin story of the Owens matriarch, Maria. And finally The Book of Magic brings us back into the present where Aunt Jet works to tie up some loose ends with high stakes as she nears the end of her life.
(Practical) Movie Magic
The Practical Magic movie debuted on October 16, 1998, with one helluva cast. Sandra Bullock plays Sally as a no-nonsense pragmatist with these squishy tender moments. Nicole Kidman as Gillian is all leggy sex appeal, the sort who loves hard, lives free, and body rolls slightly offbeat. Stockard freakin’ Channing and Dianne Wiest absolutely body the roles of Franny and Jet, bringing all of the quirk and the heart with punchy one-liners and sage advice. The rest of the cast is great too, but those four really do shine.
The film is faithfulish to the book, as adaptations often are. The magic is more obvious and sometimes kind of silly. The curse that dooms any man who dares love an Owens woman is a major theme of the movie (more on that later), and I’m almost certain it wasn’t spelled out in the first book (though it is certainly a thing in the sequel and prequels). The dead boyfriend storyline that’s just a thing in the books is the thing in the movies with the bananapants factor dialed up (spoilers ahead). Sally tries to rescue Gilly from the abusive Jimmy Angelov and ends up killing him twice, and the bulk of the film is about the sisters’ attempt to evade arrest when Inspector Bae comes a-calling. That, and ridding Gillian of Jimmy’s ghost when he takes up residence in her body.
These differences in plot and style make for a film that’s more whimsical, more romantic, more funny than the source content. I wouldn’t call it better than the book I love so dearly, but a delightfully madcap way to experience a story I love differently. With that being said, there are several moments in the film that have absolutely sent me over the years. I leave you with some of those moments with random commentary, delivered with a mix of (mostly) faux indignation and real love.
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