Every year, there is awhole host of new fairytale retellings. Disney movies and edgy remakes cater to every demographic under the sun by invoking fond childhood recollections of beloved folklore. In 1979, British authorAngela Carterreleased her iconic short story collection,The Bloody Chamber. Two of these stories,The Company of WolvesandThe Werewolf, would inspireNeil Jordanto adapt them into his own dark and moody film. Following Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson) into her fantastical dreamscape,The Company of Wolvestracks the young girl’s childish desires as they melt into mature ones. A modern girl living in the countryside, Rosaleen falls asleep and enters a wonderland filled with magic and danger.A twist on the classic Little Red Riding Hood, Jordan and Carter elevate the typical werewolf metaphorfrom the traditional beast-within narrative into a glossy pastiche about the harrowing relationship between desire and fear.
‘The Company of Wolves’ is Not Your Typical Werewolf Coming-of-Age Story
Horror has long served as one of the more popular genres to tellcoming-of-age stories, second only to drama. Jordan’sThe Company of Wolvesis one such bildungsroman.The primary metaphor of the film is Rosaleen’semergence into womanhood.Throughout the film, she bears a pop of red, from the stolen lipstick she wears when falling asleep to the iconic cape she wears in her dreams. Wandering through the wintry landscape, the red stands out and draws attention to Rosaleen, both from other characters and the audience. Red has long been associated with sexuality, and as Rosaleen ventures off to explore her burgeoning desires, she has cloaked herself in it.
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The Beast will have its day.
The “love interests” Rosaleen encounters throughThe Company of Wolvesare designed to make the audience uncomfortable.Playing with the classic fairytale advice, “stay away from strangers,” the werewolves and men ofThe Company of Wolvesare predatory.Werewolves are frequently referred to as “hairy on the inside,” a subtle indicator that these werewolves are always in touch with their bestial side, even if they seem normal at first glance.The Company of Wolvesportrays thismonstrous nature as seductive, both literally and metaphorically.Micha Bergeseplays the Huntsman, who seeks to seduce Rosaleen and is overly touchy with her. The age gap is viscerally disturbing and pointedly obvious, with Bergese in his late 30s against Patterson’s 12. The tension and suspense of their shared scenes culminates in a wager, with the Huntsman demanding a kiss should he reach Granny’s house before her, a request that lays bare the man’s intentions with Rosaleen.
Rosaleen is a Surprising Protagonist
Sarah Patterson plays Rosaleen with doe eyes and an innate sweetness that puts her at odds with the absurd violence of fairytales. Despite how ill-fit Rosaleen may seem for this surrealist world ofsex and violence,she manages to steel herself against the many curveballs thrown her way without losing her sense of self.Though the majority of viewers won’t be 12-year-old girls, the bizarreness of the fantasy world leaves the audience as foreign to it as Rosaleen, allowing them to latch onto her as a proxy.
The Company of Wolvesis a pastiche, with severalfairytale vignettesstitched together to make a whole. Regardless of the shifting focus, Rosaleen still undergoes a satisfying character arc. Each episode delves deeper into the unsettling themes of aggressive sexual relationships. Through it all, Rosaleen remains strong but soft-hearted. When cornered by a werewolf and asked if she is afraid, Rosaleen answers, “It wouldn’t do me much good to be afraid, would it?” There are many versions of Little Red Riding Hood, but Rosaleen is one of the few to embrace the wolf. Her sympathy for their painful transformations and persecution marks Rosaleen asunique in her role as the final girl. Horror final girls of the ’70s and ’80s were often depicted as pure and virtuous. Rosaleen is good, but her obvious intrigue with the werewolves and what they represent leaves her anachronistic against the Madonna archetypes of horror and folklore. Carter’s fiction and screenplay belie a long-held interest in the modern woman and her sexual appetites.As our young protagonist matures throughout her dreams, Carter shows Rosaleen is just as hungry as any of the werewolves.
Officially 40 years old,The Company of Wolvesis something of a divisive film. Either audiences love it for its gorgeous imagery and surrealist logic or loathe the campiness and melodrama.And yet, Rosaleen’s portrayal as both delicate and veracious is still unique in the mid-2020s.As she explores her new sexual desires, she is both predator and prey.The Company of Wolvescaptures both the fairytale beauty and the dark underbelly of Carter’s original stories, likely because she was the screenwriter. It is a film still relevant to today’s dialogue surrounding feminism, and, as a bonus, is just a stunning watch.
The Company of Wolves
A teenager falls into a vivid dreamscape where she navigates a mystical forest filled with wolves and mysterious creatures. The film intertwines multiple tales that reveal the perils of the forest and the allure of the unknown. Each story delves into the complexities of growing up, highlighting the tension between curiosity and caution, as well as the thin line between humanity and the wild.
The Company of Wolvesis streaming on Prime in the U.S.
Watch on Prime
