Starring Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom, Birgitta Pettersson, Tor Isedal

(6-Good Film)

Bleak. Thoughtful. Ponderous.

Sweet, virginal Karin leaves home to deliver candles to the local church in medieval Sweden. Along the way, two wayward men and a young boy stop, rape, and murder her. The three assailants seek shelter, and find it, in the home of Christian Per Töre (von Sydow), who, unbeknownst to them, is their victim’s father. This is a brutal tale, with several memorable scenes, but I’m still apathetic to Bergman’s style. I’m drawn to this morbid, haunting story, and some of his ideas, but I find it cloaked in rambling dialogue interspersed with dull quiet.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

(229)