Ingmar Bergman: Volume 3

Box Set (Limited Edition)

Running Time: 681

Genre: Feature, Foreign

Certificate: 15

Language: Swedish

Subtitles: English

A collection of eight films directed by Ingmar Bergman from 1960-69. In 'The Virgin Spring' (1960) a young girl is raped and murdered by three goatherds while on her way to church. The girl's killers then take refuge at a farm, not knowing that it is owned by the parents of the girl they have just killed. When the mother finds her daughter's bloodied robe and realises what has happened, the father avenges his daughter's death, causing a spring to bubble up on the spot she was killed. In 'The Devil's Eye' (1960) Don Juan (Jarl Kulle) is sent back to Earth by Satan (Stig Järrel) to deflower Virtue (Bibi Andersson), the daughter of a country parson. However, despite Don Juan's celebrated powers of seduction, he only succeeds in amusing Virtue, who finds his advances laughable. 'Through a Glass Darkly' (1961) traces a schizophrenic young woman (Harriet Andersson)'s descent into madness as she spends a holiday on a remote island with her father, brother and husband. Her husband is a doctor but feels helpless, her father seems to watch her disease with fascination and keeps a journal of her condition, whilst she seduces her 17-year-old brother when she discovers he is a virgin. In 'The Silence' (1963) the relationship between sisters Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and Anna (Gunnel Lindblom) reaches breaking point when they arrive in a strange country and stay in a large hotel, empty but for a troupe of dwarf entertainers. Ester is suffering from a terminal disease and has become overly protective of Anna and, to escape, Anna goes out to find a man and ends up bringing back a waiter to her room. This then proceeds to both arouse and anger Ester culminating in a bitter and violent argument between the sisters. In 'Winter Light' (1963) a pastor (Gunnar Björnstrand) who seems to have lost his faith after his wife's death finds himself unable to give spiritual reassurance to a local fisherman (Max von Sydow), whose wife Marta (Thulin) has long been in love with the pastor. As the pastor deals with his own demons and the (to him repulsive) advances of Marta he finds that God may still have some hold over him. 'All These Women' (1964) is an acerbic comedy exposing the egotism and pretentiousness rife in the world of artists and critics. Cornelius (Kulle) is a self-important and highly opinionated critic who has been bribed by the egocentric womaniser Felix, a famous cellist, to write his biography. But when Cornelius arrives at Felix's lavish home, he finds a string of women in the house, all determined to protect their maestro's privacy. The situation goes from frustrating to humiliating for Cornelius as he is dressed up in women's clothing, photographed in compromising positions and bombarded with fireworks. He never does get to meet the elusive Felix but finds out a lot about him from the women in the house and, armed with this information, decides to blackmail Felix into performing a composition that he, Cornelius, has written. In 'Persona' (1966) Elizabeth (Liv Ullmann) is a famous actress who is taken ill and left without speech. While convalescing on the coast, she is cared for by Nurse Alma (Bibi Andersson) and, silenced by the effect of her - possibly psychosomatic - illness, finds that her nurse does the talking for both of them. Gradually, the two women's personalities merge and the boundaries between their identities begin to blur. Finally, 'The Rite' (1969), Bergman's drama-about-a-drama originally made for Swedish television in 1969, asks questions about obscenity, censorship and the role of the artist. Three actors from a theatre troupe that had its latest production, 'The Rite', banned after being charged with obscenity are each interrogated privately by a provincial magistrate. The trio are incestuously involved: Thea (Thulin) is married to Hans (Björnstrand) but is having an affair with Sebastian (Anders Ek), who killed her former husband in a crime of passion. The judge, playing on the insecurities and vanity of the three actors, brings to light their deepest, darkest secrets.