1913 / 96m - Sweden
Drama
2.0*/5.0*
Ingeborg Holm poster

Watches

February 08, 2021

2.0*/5.0*

A tough film to judge. My trip through Swedish classic cinema hasn't been very successful so far, and Ingeborg Holm suffers from the same traits that made me dislike the earlier films I tried. The biggest difference here is the score, which is really haunting and emotional. Very modern and tacked on too, making it extra tricky to judge the film.

Ingeborg and her husband open up a small grocery store. While it doesn't make them rich, it allows them to live a comfortable life. But then Ingeborg's husband falls ill and though she tries her best, the shop has to close after he passes on. Ingeborg is separated from her kids and has to stay in a poor house. All she wants is to see her kids one last time.

It's a very sentimental film that piles on the misery, but because the score is so beautiful and calming (a big contrast with most scores for silent films) it really balances out the drama. I'm sure that with a different soundtrack my score would be halved, but as it stands the restored version is not that bad.