![]() Given the first draft's 1942 composition date, and the 1944 release date, it hardly seems reasonable to doubt that we have, in front of us, a metaphor for the rise of totalitarianism in Europe, though I do not know that either Sjöberg or Bergman ever claimed as much. He treats his classroom like a kingdom - or more to the point, a dictatorship. At a school in Stockholm, several boys nearing the end of their secondary school careers are suffering under the tyrannic rule of a Latin teacher they have taken to referring as "Caligula" (Stig Järrel). The film is part of the long, glorious tradition of movies similar, but worse than, Jean Vigo's 1933 masterpiece Zero for Conduct. But there's something ridiculous about how po-faced it is. not silly, that's not at all the word for it. This story isn't nearly as grave and all-around consequential as Bergman, or his director, the very highly-regarded Alf Sjöberg, act like it is, and the result is. ![]() ![]() It's a very heavy film, taking itself very seriously, and in the process overworking its melodramatic scenario beyond the point that it seems ready to go. For myself, I'm not quite as willing to say so. The fact that Bergman parlayed the film into the career that he'd have as well would also say so. And I am perhaps begging the question: is the film successful? That great debate in 1944 would say so. And from there.īut in truth, if one were to approach Torment without knowing the future of the kid who wrote it, I don't think it's at all likely that one would be inclined to anoint the script as a primary source of the film's success. And this film is a big part of the reason why: it made quite a splash, raising a great deal of debate about how schools were run in Sweden, and on the strength of writing and assistant-directing the film (as well as directing its final scene which is, in fairness, notably clumsier than many moments throughout), Svensk Filmindustri gave him a crack at the 1946 film Crisis. Insofar as the 1944 Swedish film Torment is much remembered or discussed at all, it's because the script was written by a 24-year-old named Ingmar Bergman, who was very eagerly in those days trying to kick-start a career in cinema, or theater, or both.
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