Practical Magic

Practical Magic is a 1998 film in which Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman star as witches who carry on a family legacy of witchcraft and tragedy. The film is based on a book by Alice Hoffman.

Plot

• Tagline: There's a little witch in every woman.

For more than 200 years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong in their town. It all began with their ancestor, Maria, and she was a witch. This Craft has passed to every generation to sisters Francis (Channing) and Jet (Wiest), their neices, Gillian (Kidman) and Sally (Bullock) and her two daughters. The women in the family never give birth to boys, and therefore, since there are no men barring those they meet and marry, who inevitably die of the family curse, there are no men who carry these powers and romantic tragedy.

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Most of the women in their town are apprehensive of their lifestyle and view them as evil and as a connection to the Devil.

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As the movie progresses, Gillian's boyfriend Jimmy (played by Goran Vi?nji?) turns abusive and kidnaps her and Sally. Sally drugs him to knock him out, but accidentally kills him. The sisters resurrect him using a spell from their Aunts' magic book; a spell the Aunts refused to use to bring back Sally's recently deceased husband, for fears he would come back dark and unnatural. These fears are confirmed and Sally kills Jimmy a second time.

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His soul is restless and soon begins to haunt the sisters. With the absence of the Aunts, Sally and Gillian are helpless, and soon under investigation by the law with the arrival of Officer Gary Hallett.

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The guilt of their actions drives Sally and Gillian apart, and Sally leaves to confess to Officer Hallett. While she is away, Gillian is spiritually posessed by her ex boyfriend and it is left to Sally, the Aunts, and a coven of townswomen to banish the invading soul back into the grave.

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