Hour of the Wolf (Vargtimmen, 1968)
Ingmar Bergman
Sweden
88 mins, black and white, Swedish (English subtitles)
A surreal horror outing about a painter possessed by the nightmares of his past, and his wife torn between jealousy and desire to understand her husband. The first part of the film is earth-bound and seemingly depicts the somewhat dreary existence of the couple on an island in the North Sea. However, when a strange, apparition-like, old woman tells Alma (Liv Ullmann) about her husband Johan's (Max von Sydow) diary (and something else, which we never hear or find about), Alma becomes aware that Johan's bizarre behavior is not restricted to compulsive paintings of people with animal traits and keeping odd hours. His hallucinogenic world involves trysts with his one-time illicit lover Veronica Volger (Ingrid Thulin), and the murder of a child, among other things.
Gradually, even the plainest scenes begin to carry an overcast of the horrific other world, until the audience and the characters have a hard time telling reality from imagination. Alma becomes paranoid with fear that her husband is slipping, being torn, away from her. The painter himself drowns in his past obsessions until eventually succumbing to his nightmares and lashing out at Alma. In the end, no one is sure what exactly has happened, even the wife. The film is definitely repeated-viewing material because the first part, which appears somewhat ordinary by Bergman standards, looks entirely different when there's knowledge about the second part.
Look out for the incomparable Nykvist-helmed cinematography and excellent mise-en-scene, especially in the castle scenes, with people walking on ceilings, or taking their faces off. I am also partial to the exquisite blood-letting with a rose. Ullmann has a distressing and helpless presence, which melts superbly into the dry barren landscape. Did she love him too much to protect him, or did she not love him enough to avoid the jealousy? One of the best shots in the entire film has to be the scene right after she reveals to him that she's read the diary. They quarrel and he walks away, with the trees separating the space between them and framing his receding figure in a world of its own, one that she cannot penetrate. Very poignant event, with a masterful setup and execution. Only Bergman.
April 14, 2001. BLS