Genre: Historical/Thriller/Mystery
Director: David Fincher
Writer: Ben Collins
Cast: Thomasin McKenzie, Kaitlyn Dever, Olivia DeJonge, Maude Apatow, Stefanie Scott, Kathryn Newton, Michael C. Hall, Mark Addy
Plot: Kingdom of Castile – XV century
A hunter (Mark Addy) is walking in the woods while holding a dead hare when he is attracted by a female voice. The man approaches a little, being careful not to make any noise. A young woman with a cloak and a hooded head is reciting verses near a tree. The woman suddenly turns to look at the man, who runs off running towards a village. The man comes to the village all sweaty and making rambling speeches about a girl in the woods. He feels a strong pain, puts a hand to his chest and a few seconds later falls to the ground dead.
Leonora (Thomasin McKenzie) is blindfolded and her hands were tied behind her back. Around her, the people of her own village filled her with insults and spit. Some even threw stones at her. Leonora stepped on one foot and fell to the ground because of the steep road. Several men kicked her. Leonora begged for mercy. She was finally taken by the hair and forced to get up and started walking again. Leonora began to cry. Slaps, pushes and insults accompanied Leonora in the final stretch of her forced journey. Leonora hears other female cries coming from nearby. She was lowered into a mysterious place. Below her she heard the screams of other girls. Leonora took a few seconds to get used to the darkness, discovering she was at the bottom of a dried up well. With her there were five other girls, all belonging to her village: Teresa (Kaitlyn Dever), Beatriz (Olivia DeJonge), Sol (Kathryn Newton), Catalina (Maude Apatow) and Isabella (Stefanie Scott).
Teresa greeted Leonora telling her they are in the well. Leonora looked around and then her memories came back to her. Leonora tries to climb out, but it’s futile. She asked why they had been placed in the well. All the girls looked at each other with perplexity. Leonora said that she had woken up early to go to the river until some men grabbed her, blindfolded, undressed and dressed in the habit and brought back to town. Then Teresa intervened saying that heretics are deprived of all their possessions, including clothes. Teresa said that a village hunter had seen a girl running in the forest reciting dark prayers against the village and from the description given by the man to the village priest, their six correspond to the description. Leonora had heard many stories about that well. It was located inside an ancient ruined and abandoned monastery, built many years ago in the mountains near his town. Nobody knew what it was originally for and it was thought that it was used in the past as a sort of rudimentary prison. Leonora began to walk back and forth until she whispered something asking if she also thinks that there is a witch among them.
Leonora stepped back not liking Teresa's suspicious gaze. At that point Sol intervened and managed to pacify both. Leonora began to look at her habit soaked in her blood from the beatings received. Then she looked up at the others, Catalina sobbed often naming the name of her one-year-old son, Isabella tried to remove some dried blood from her habit, Beatriz looked at the ground with her gaze lost while Teresa was playing with a stone. At some point they heard voices approaching. Catalina burst into tears and the other girls closed her mouth so as not to make too much noise. Suddenly someone removed the well cover. The girls took hands instinctively without ever taking their eyes upwards. Suddenly a head peeked out, it was the village priest, Father Martìn (Michael C. Hall). After a while the priest began to speak asking the five innocent but that to catch the witch you need extreme treatment. Then he went on to say that many people wanted to burn all of them at the stake, but he opposed. He says that he will do everything possible to gain the witch's confession by torture. Suddenly Beatriz spoke for the first time since they were locked up in there. “So is this your plan? Torture us in the hope that one of us will confess?" Martin calmly replied that he will have a confession. Beatriz continued with the question "What if an innocent one confesses before the witch?" Martin said that this will be a great test of faith for all of them and if one of them confesses before the witch she will prove that she has none at all and will have the same punishment as the real witch. Leonora this time he fell to his knees while Isabella burst into desperate tears while Catalina pleaded for mercy to Martin, reminding him that she had a baby at home. Martin immediately silenced Catalina before saying that there was a great meeting in the village and that it was decided to leave the witch three days to confess before starting the torture so as to avoid torture to the other five innocent. Sol asked if they could have food but the priest did not reply and closed the lid of the well.
That night, Leonora’s sleep was full of nightmares with Martin's face torturing her until an inhuman scream woke her up. Leonora opened her eyes, it seemed that they were the first light of dawn and one of the other girls was screaming desperately. The scream of terror woke the girls with a start. It was Catalina. She was screaming, crying and pointing to Beatriz, who stared at the other prisoners in the hope of some explanation. Catalina says that Beatriz is the witch and she wants to offer their souls to the Devil. Beatriz, angry at the accusation, rushed Catalina while the other girls moved to block her. After a few minutes there was silence again although the girls were still quite tense. Isabella approaches Beatriz holding her hand saying that she has known her for many years and it is impossible that she is the witch while Teresa says that the witch, if it exists, is not stupid enough to reveal it that way. At that point Catalina confesses that she invented everything for fear of suffering the most terrible tortures. Beatriz is angry and Catalina for such a mean accusation. She threatens Catalina to be careful because the next one who will sleep will break her fingers and tear her tongue so she will no longer be able to indicate her and name her name. Teresa says that there is no need for violence and that if Catalina accuses someone else she will be accused by all of them. Catalina's face turned white with fear. The other prisoners exchanged knowing looks. All of them liked that solution and at that moment they felt lucky to be in Teresa's company. Catalina, however, looking at all the others reminds all the girls that soon the torture will begin and will no longer be united with each other. They all turned to Sol, who had always remained distant from the others and was near the wall with the ruined braid in front of her face. She is crying inconsolably repeating that they will all die. Towards evening the girls were all sitting on the ground, in the vain hope of resting. Their only activity of the day was to dig a small hole near the wall to use as a latrine. The air in the well was increasingly freezing and spoiled and the girls were hungry and started talking about food making jokes causing weak smiles.
Evening and then night came, the last before the start of the torture and no one was able to sleep. Teresa says faintly that she had an idea to get out of there and go back to a normal life. They all turned to her curiously. Teresa gets up adjusting her brown hair and says that they could draw lots who she would confess. They began to argue, some wanted to discard the proposal and others desperately tried to propose alternatives but with the passage of time all the girls had to admit that they had no other plan than Teresa's. Meanwhile Teresa had prepared six threads torn from her dress and clenched them in a fist saying that whoever would draw the shorter thread would confess. Slowly all the girls took a thread. The shorter one had been taken by Leonora. She almost passed out and fell to the ground curling up to herself saying she would confess while the others comforted her. Leonora spent the rest of the night having visions of what would happen to her. Suddenly all the girls rose to their feet when they heard voices approaching and then removing the lid from the well. Martin looked at the girls saying that they will lower the platform by hoisting one girl at a time. The first to leave the well was Catalina. Then Isabella, Beatriz and Sol. While Teresa is going up she looks at Leonora, saying that it is not her fault that she will die. Then it was Leonora's turn and she was taken inside the old monastery, to a very large and dark room, without windows and with a very low ceiling. Leonora eventually saw that the other girls were also there. Martin gave them all water. Meanwhile Leonora looked around looking at all the torture instruments present. Then their wrists and ankles were tied. Martin walked in front of the prisoners scrutinizing them carefully, saying that this was the time for the witch to confess. Leonora stared at the floor and yet she noticed the other girls' eyes on her. She clenched her fists and took a deep breath before confessing. Just then Teresa asked Martin what would happen to the other girls after the witch confessed.. Martin, annoyed by the question, said that they would stay in the well for a few more days to see if the disease afflicting the village would disappear, in which case it would be understood that the real witch would die. Leonora and Teresa exchanged worried glances.
Teresa shook her head, making Leonora understand not to confess. The seconds passed and none of the girls said a word. At one point Martin ordered the other men present to bring them to the tables. Some began to cry and scream, Catalina instead tried to free herself and was thrown on the ground and beaten with kicks and punches. The girls were completely immobilized in the various tables. Leonora was terrified until Martin started reciting Latin prayers. She saw a red-hot metal rod approaching her. The pain was excruciating and all the girls screamed in pain several times until Martin paused, asking the girls again if one of them wanted to confess. At one point Leonora, almost without realizing it, shouted Beatriz's name. Leonora stared in shock at the ceiling after accusing Beatriz of witchcraft. The torment of fire had taken control of her mind and prompted her to scream the name of her prisoner companion. Martin approaches Leonora excited to have discovered the witch's identity by asking why she accused Beatriz. Leonora shook her head and pursed her lips. Hearing no response, Martin presses his fingers where Leonora is burned. At this point Leonora shouted that she had lied but the priest ordered her men to go to Beatriz and snatch a confession from her. Leonora could not see from her view what they were doing to Beatriz and kept repeating that she had lied out of fear. Meanwhile Isabella implored the men to leave Beatriz alone. At that moment Martin grabbed a metal object placed near him. The priest leaned over her asking why she had accused Beatriz. Meanwhile the forceps approached his chest. At that moment, however, the voice of Teresa stops Martin.Teresa said that Leonora is just a brainless girl and that she is innocent. Then she said that the real witch is Isabella. The torturers started to reply but Catalina intervened accusing Sol. Catalina was the first to understand Teresa's plan and soon all the others were able to guess it. Thus they began to blame each other, throwing the men into total confusion. Martin had to work hard to silence them and then called his men back to the center of the room to discuss with them. Some said it was better to interrogate them once, others said to burn them all at once but the priest says that he does not want to kill innocent people and that the witch is evil and wants them to commit a mortal sin. Martin forbade the girls to accuse each other and decided not to use fire anymore because he feared to kill them and the torture reinitiated.
Leonora's face is almost catatonic without showing the tortures the girls are subjecting to. A few minutes pass and a man says that Teresa has lost consciousness and believes he has killed her. At those words Leonora returns to herself. They threw her water and the girl reopened her eyes shortly after. Martin then decided to stop the torture for that day. He ordered his men to untie the prisoners and put them back in the well. One at a time, the girls were placed on the wooden platform and lowered into the well. Beatriz crawls towards Leonora, who’s sitting next to Teresa, and gets up with difficulty in front of her and grabs the collar of her robe, insulting her. Leonora raises her hands apologetically and Beatriz hits her in the face in a weak way because of the few forces she has in her body. None of the other girls had the strength to intervene, they could only watch the scene. Then she left Leonora and sat down beside Isabella. Then came the night. Some fell asleep for a few minutes but the pain of the burns and other wounds continued to torment them, disturbing and interrupting their short sleeps. Meanwhile Teresa had fallen into a catatonic state. The torture had traumatized her and the girl could not help but stare into the void between her and the well floor. Meanwhile, the other girls were looking for ideas on how to escape the well. Isabella even suggested cutting her wrists with pieces of wood that had come off the platform during the last descent. Suddenly Catalina raises her hands to the sky screaming all her frustration and cursing the witch and saying that it's all her fault. These words aroused Teresa and turned to Catalina as if she wanted to scold her. She said that the tortures invented by man would make the Devil turn pale and not even the most cruel of the witch would deserve such suffering. Then she says that after the torture they have suffered, she can no longer see her as an enemy because the real enemies are those people who have vented their fears on them. Then she stands up looking at all the girls saying that if the witch is there with her, she is on her side and if she wants she can kill all the villagers. Finally he says she doesn't want to know her name because she is afraid to reveal it the next day and that they will probably all die from hunger, thirst or from infections on the wounds they all have.
A noise made all the girls jump. Someone was removing the well cover in the middle of the night. A rope and wood ladder was lowered into the well and two men started calling Beatriz's name saying that her parents had come to get her. The other girls recognized that the two men were two of their torturers. Beatriz approached the ladder asking for reassurance from the two men. They said they didn't believe the witch's story and were forced to participate in the torture and her family was waiting for her near the monastery to flee the village. Beatriz asked the two what would happen to the other girls and the two men replied that the girls would have to say that Beatriz had used magic and had flown away. The girl began to climb until Leonora, with a worried face, took her by the ankle whispering that it is a trap. Isabella also followed Leonora's words and a doubtful face was born on Beatriz. At that point the angry and arrogant voices of the two men betrayed their intent. Beatriz quickly descends the staircase and is immediately surrounded by the other five prisoners, as if they wanted to protect her with their bodies and began to rail towards the two men who quickly fled closing the lid when all the girls moved their hands towards them. Some of the girls laughed, others trembled with emotion. For them it was like a victory and at that moment they felt connected to each other like never before. They embraced, despite the pain caused by the wounds, waiting anxiously for the next day.
In the early afternoon the lid was removed and the girls were brought back to the surface. Leonora noticed that Martin's face looked tired and troubled. He tells the girls that the disease is spreading in the village and the number of victims is rising and therefore the people of the village decided that if the witch had not confessed that day, all would have gone to the stake. Martin says that he tried to make people change their minds and is sorry that five innocents will die. Martin then tells the men to prepare the girls for torture. Their arms were then crossed behind their backs, at the height of the shoulder blades. Their wrists were tied with thick, rough ropes that were passed on pulleys that hung from the ceiling. When the mechanism started, the girls began to experience severe pain. Beatriz confesses and everyone stops. The torturers have made her suffer more than the other prisoners. Even though the other girls try to stop her, Beatriz admits to the priest that she is guilty of having sent a curse on the village. Teresa tries to attract the priest's attention as she had done the previous day by trying to confuse the torturers but this time the other girls were unable to say anything. Teresa was surrounded by torturers and hit with kicks and punches. Martin struggled to get the men away from her. Teresa was almost unconscious and seemed to be breathing hard. The other girls called out to her but she was no longer able to hear them. Beatriz looked at her friend and anger began to sprout in her soul, wiping out terror and sadness. The priest, as he lowered himself towards Beatriz, told the girl to reveal all the evil things she had done. The girl slowly turned to the priest and looked up to see him better. With a snap, Beatriz sank her teeth into Martin's face. It took four men to free the priest but by now a piece of his cheek had remained in Beatriz's mouth. The torturers killed her without the priest being able to stop them. Isabella screamed and tried to free herself from the ropes to reach her friend. The priest rushed on the other men calling them murderers because they had killed a person before the execution and therefore now they could call themselves sinners. The torturers began to argue and quarrel among themselves, ignoring Isabella's despair. The men decided to take the girls and throw them back into the well.
Once back in the well, Isabella tried in vain to climb. The pain of mourning had given her new energy. She screamed Beatriz's name, not knowing what happened to her body. The torturers replaced the wooden lid on the top of the well. Leonora went to Teresa who was always unconscious and wipes the blood on her face. Catalina whispered that she didn't want to die and that she would return to her son. Suddenly she jumped up and tried to climb, but immediately fell. Then he tried again and succeeded. She clawed the stones of the wall and clenched her teeth almost reached the top of the well. Sol, Leonora and Isabella watched her excitedly reach the top. Then the girl looked down the well for approval with a smile. Suddenly, however, while the girl was trying to move the lid, she lost her balance due to a stone that moved and fell down slamming violently on the ground. They got stuck staring at Catalina on the ground while her breathing slowly seemed to stop. After a few moments of unreal silence, Leonora muttered something attracting the attention of the survivors. "Now stop!" she said, raising his exasperated voice. The following morning, during the dawn, the torturers returned to the convent, without Martin. Their job was to take the prisoners and take them to the village to condemn them to the stake, but when they removed the lid on the well, they saw something terrifying.
The prisoners lay motionless on the ground, arranged to form a macabre circle, a lot of blood on the ground. At the center of the circle, Leonora stared at the torturers with cruel eyes. The girl was standing and with blood she had drawn a five-point star on her face. Leonora began to point out men cursing them. They started backing away frightened. The men didn't know what to do until the girl ordered them to climb her up a ladder. One of the men said with contempt that they could burn her directly there in the well. Leonora was silent for several seconds until she replied laughingly saying that she would bring the souls of the poor innocent girls to the underworld with her and would receive a big reward from the devil. Furthermore, she said in a disturbing voice that if she died there she would continue to torment them forever. Finally she added "Now that I have sacrificed the souls of these prisoners, the Devil has given me new strength! I can trigger other diseases in the country. The disease is in my blood and the first of you who will touch me will be infected with a bad atrocious."
The men were confused and shocked and were undecided about what to do. The ladder was unrolled and lowered into the well. Leonora took a deep breath and started climbing. She struggled a lot in going up because the torture had weakened her. At the top, she looked around. The men had moved away from her, terrified. Leonora took a deep breath and started running. She passed the first two men and headed towards the exit of the ruined monastery. The torturers screamed and set off in pursuit. Leonora dodged a third man before being grabbed and thrown to the ground by a fourth person. She began to shout in anger, tried to scratch and bite. A couple of men also started to cry because they had been touched and thought they had been so cursed. Eventually Leonora was blocked and dragged away to the country where the stake was ready. Meanwhile there was an unreal silence in the well. Suddenly two eyes opened. A head raised his head shyly and then sprang to his feet. The girl was Isabella who with eyes full of emotion noticed the staircase next to her left by the torturers. Then she whispered in Leonora's name thanking her.
At this point there is a short flashback from the previous night in which Leonora explained her plan to pass herself off as the witch so that Isabella and Sol could escape. Then there was a hug between Leonora, Sol and Isabella.
Sol also opened her eyes and approached Teresa. The beatings of the previous day had reduced her badly and the two could not understand if she was alive or not. Meanwhile Isabella started climbing the stairs while Sol sat next to Teresa whispering that Leonora's plan had worked and they were about to flee from there. At that moment Teresa took her last breath. Sol after saying goodbye started climbing the ladder and reached the top. The two girls began to walk and found themselves in a short time on a path along the side of the mountain. After a while the girls scanned the valley where their country stood. Continuing, Sol and Isabella finally saw the houses and streets of the village. Thanks to the elevated position they managed to observe even the large central square where people had gathered around a burning pyre. Despite the distance, Sol saw a body writhing in those flames but was invited by Isabella not to look. Then they started walking again and entered the woods (the same one where the witch had been spotted.) The two girls found fruits and berries and managed to eat something. Then near a tree with a symbol that Isabella traced back to the fact that this was where the witch had been seen. Isabella lay down on the ground saying she had to rest. Her body trembled with the chill of that night and she hardly felt Sol walking around her. Sol finally laid a cloak over her. Isabella snapped her eyes open and stood up. Sol also wore a cape identical to that of Isabella.
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