"If there is a god, then he's a shit, and I'd like to kick him in the butt."
- Alexander Ekdahl

Bergman strikes again, in one of his most accessible and well loved movies. I watched the theatrical 3 and a bit hour version, and it went really fast.

Characters are critical to the Bergman approach. While the script, photography and soundtrack build a familiar intensity in his films, its the people that really bring it all to life. In this, there are a few standout performances. Among them here was young Bertil Guve as Alexander, who was extremely convincing during some traumatic and violent scenes.

The relationship between Bishop Edvard Vergerus (Jan Malmsjö) and Emilie Ekdahl (Ewa Fröling) is just spellbinding though.

Vergerus reminds me a lot of the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and any kids of that era will know just how terrifying he was. Instead of using lollypops and cute tunes as his lures, this man of the cloth used psychological torture and physical punishment as his weapons of choice. A complete fruitcake!

As a counter to Vergerus' madness, Emilie is the calm and loving mother, taken in by the Bishop with promises of a new and better life for her family. Needless to say it doesn't go down quite like that, but Ewa's performance is uber-believable and really captivating. And those eyes... oh my goodness.

This is an absolute classic. This is timeless. This is Bergman.

Watched as part of Scavenger Hunt #63 | June 2020 - #2/30