‘In this house, we eat chocolate cake for breakfast.’
Based on Alice Hoffman’s 1995 novel of the same name, Practical Magic is about witchy sisters Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gilly (Nicole Kidman) who are sent to live with aunties Frances (Stockard Channing) and Jet (Dianne Wiest) after their parents die.
Hundreds of years before, scorned woman and first witch in the Owens family, Maria (Caprice Benedetti) curses future generations of Owens women with a spell that dooms their true love to die.
As a child Sally is determined to never fall foul of the curse and casts her own spell, wishing for a man with qualities that can’t possibly exist.
As the sisters grow older, Gilly lives a carefree, nomadic lifestyle, partying and and always dating the most unsuitable of men. Sally, meanwhile, avoids all romantic entanglements until the aunts meddle in her love life and she marries Michael (Mark Fuerestein).
Sally and Michael have two daughters, Kylie (Evan Rachel Wood) and Antonia (Alexandra Artrip) and seem to be living the perfect life until the curse comes true and Mark dies.
A grief stricken Sally takes her daughters and moves back in with Frances and Jet, swearing that Kylie and Antonia will never do magic.
When Gilly needs Sally’s help escaping her abusive boyfriend Jimmy (Goran Visnjic) and they resort to using magic to get rid of him, things go horribly wrong. Life is further complicated when state investigator Gary Hallet (Aidan Quinn) arrives in town investigating Jimmy’s disappearance.
Practical Magic is probably one of my favourite ever witch films, alongside The Craft. It’s whip smart, extremely funny, and very moving. I absolutely love Nicole Kidman in this film, her performance as Gilly is tough and vulnerable and annoying and adorable. Midnight margaritas is a scene that I think about every time I drink one of those.
Content warning: domestic violence, loads of toads.
Final verdict: There are some things I know for certain: always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder, keep rosemary by your garden gate, plant lavender for luck, and fall in love whenever you can.
