NOW ON VOD! A film in the making for seven years starring the late Carrie Fisher as an artsy good witch named Hazel, Wonderwell is a fantastical film filled with graphic allure. Set in an Etruscan Italian town in Tuscany, Wonderwell is a modern-day fairytale where 12-year-old Violet (Kiera Milward) is thrust into a coming-of-age journey with a mix of adult realities and fantasies shrouded in a bizarre mystery and seemingly caught in the underbelly of nature.
From the onset, Wonderwell’s opening, with its captivating botanical animation, sets a tone for something unusual but very appealing. Upon meeting Violet, she immediately reveals her witchcraft abilities as she casts a spell to bring her family together by baking cookies, which unfortunately burned. However, Violet’s special gift is that flowers are interested in her and wrap themselves around her wrist except when around Yana (Rita Ora), in which they die.
In a bizarre plot, Wonderwell combines high-end fashion and models with an ancient sister feud between Hazel and Yana that only Violet can end. However, Violet is unaware of her purpose, which is where “the well” under a large drain stop provides the answers.
“…reveals her witchcraft abilities as she casts a spell to bring her family together…”
Violet’s sister Savannah (Nell Tiger Free) is desperate to be a model supported by her father, Adam (Lloyd Owen), and not so much by her mother, Chloe (Megan Dodds), even though they are living in Italy for this purpose, or so it seems. It’s inferred that they have a bad marriage. However, that storyline isn’t fleshed out enough to understand if that is happening or if fantasy suggests something else, which is a little unconventional for a 12-year-old to understand but enough to know people are behaving badly.
Violet leaves her sister’s modeling shoot and her parents to explore the town, which leads to the woods, where she meets Hazel. Along the way, she befriends Daniele (Sebastian Croft) on his scooter, who warns her of the bad element. The fantasy kicks in with Hazel, and Violet’s journey begins with Venus flytrap plants trying to consume her and an enormous Medusa-like mask speaking to her at the well. As comforting as Hazel is to Violet, she encourages her to see “the other side,” a coming-of-age moment for Violet where much ensues, including a kiss by Daniele and saving her sister from Yana from a bizarre cult of fashionistas once she dives into the well to see the other side.
Wonderwell must have been an incredible film to make in Tuscany, where an entire town was seemingly at the production’s disposal as Violet walks around empty streets or through parades of people from Renaissance flag throwers and modern-day townspeople to the odd scenario of Violet’s family roaming around and acting disparate. Fashion, treachery, and rivalry with a sword are all part of Wonderwell’s attraction, even if the storyline doesn’t quite add up—it’s still a feast for the eyes in visual effects, wardrobe, sets, and set dressings.
A great deal of imagination produced Hazel’s forest home, the visual effects of being trapped in an enormous Venus flytrap plant, the well, and the functioning of flowers, vines, and water. It’s stunning on the screen, and Violet does hold one’s attention until the end. Wonderwell is an interesting fantasy fiction drama, and what it lacks in a story is certainly made up in its imaginative and very conceptual visuals on screen.
