Her Will Be Done opens in black screen. The sound of heavy breathing. The seconds pass. A full minute. You become disoriented. The first image is a flame coming to life and then a fire. The fire consumes. Faces are on the other side of the flames. One of those faces is a young girl.
"My Mother knelt before Satan. The evil was in her." The camera zooms closer to the girl. "It is inside me too."
This begins the story of Nawojka (Maria Wróbel.) Nawojka as the only woman in the family she cooks for her father and two brothers. She tends to the livestock and other duties on the family farm. She longs to go to school to become a veterinarian and begin her own life on her terms.
Across the street a new woman has moved in. Her name is Sandra (Roxane Mesquida) Nawojka's nights are filled with torment. Images of the people around her menace her. She is fighting something with every fiber of her being.
In the morning the family gathers around a sick, dying cow. The land is sprouting thick bulbous mucus. Another night. More torment.
Maria Wróbel's portrayal of Nawojka is the central force to the story of Her Will Be Done. Maria infuses Nawojka with wide-eyed wonder of being in the presence of Sandra. You can feel her longing for someone and something beyond the confines of the tiny village the family farms sits in. Maria brings great intensity to the nightly torments. Both her physical and spiritual struggles against forces beyond her control. Nawojka's face is often stoic. It in her eyes we feel the pathos of her inner turmoil. As the torment crosses from the metaphysical to real world actions Maria's physicality is compelling and disturbing.
The nights brings agony. The days go on. The farm and the family must be tended to. Nawojka''s brother's wedding brings brief respite. The force that is Sandra crashes the reception. She is chased off. Nawojka follows. Sandra warns her to go back, "I'm going to make a mess." The appeal, the magnetism, the force that is Sandra is far too compelling to walk away from.
Julia Kowalski's direction is assured and nuanced. Cinematographer Simon Beaufils crafts imagery of a muted sun over pastoral farm lands. The darkness of night is a meaning dark confluence surrounding and enveloping Nawojka's ever-increasing distress. Daniel Kowalski's score accompanies the narrative. The notes gives way to pulsing tones as the narrative intensifies. An electric guitar wails casting strength, determination and purpose.
Fire is destruction. Fire is cleansing. Fire is rebirth. The flames call to Nawojka. The town goes after Sandra. Where do you go when belief becomes mob mentality. Can you be safe when grief ferments into communal violence.
It is in the denouement of Her Will Be Done that elevates an already compelling folk horror story to something that subverts our expectations.
Her Will Be Done opens at The Roxy in New York City on September, 23, 2026. You can buy tickets here.
