Watches
March 22, 2023
A somewhat darker and surprisingly more explicit film from Ingmar Bergman. Don't expect anything too different from his usual output though. Irréversible this is not, and apart from some unflinching scenes, Bergman defaults back to what he knows best: characters expressing their feelings through endless dialogue.
Two young girls partake in an old ritual. A young, slightly haughty but innocent girl and her servant set out to deliver candles to the nearest church. The two encounter some shepherds in the woods, who see their chance to have their way with the girls. Only one of them will return home.
The performances are stoic, the dialogue is formal and the pacing is dead slow. Still, the darker themes did make it a bit more interesting compared to many of the other Bergman films I've seen, and the economic runtime was a blessing too. Not great, but I expected worse.