Practical Magic

About Practical Magic

Practical Magic is a 1998 family fantasy film directed by Griffin Dunne and starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as witches who carry on a family legacy of witchcraft and tragedy. The film is based on a book of the same name by Alice Hoffman. The original music score was composed by Alan Silvestri.

For more than 200 years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong in their town. The story began with their ancestor, Maria, who was accused of being a witch. The Craft has passed through every generation to sisters Frances (Stockard Channing) and Jet (Dianne Wiest), their nieces, Gillian (Kidman) and Sally (Bullock) and Sally's two daughters, Kylie (Evan Rachel Wood) and Antonia. The Owens family is cursed: any man who falls in love with an Owens woman will die tragically. The women of the town are apprehensive of the Owens women and their lifestyle, viewing them as abnormal and connected to the Devil.

When Sally was a child, she so despaired of falling victim to the curse, she cast a spell that would protect her from ever falling in love. She chose nearly impossible traits in a man, confident she would never meet someone who would meet them perfectly. The grown-up Sally is desperate for a 'normal' life and gives up practicing magic. She falls in love with the produce merchant Michael, due to a spell cast by her aunts, and marries him, in spite of the curse. Sally truly falls in love with Michael. Sadly, yet not unexpectedly, Michael meets a tragic end, leaving Sally grieving and disillusioned with magic. She comes home to her aunts with her two daughters.