TORMENT Movie Review

Hets
Frenzy

The 25-year-old Ingmar Bergman wrote the screenplay for this gripping 1944 tragedy—rarely seen now—that was directed by Alf Sjöberg. It's the story of Jan-Erik (Alf Kjelin), a student who becomes romantically involved with Bertha (Mai Zetterling), a troubled girl who lives nearby. Eventually it's revealed that Bertha has become the unwilling sexual slave of an older man, and Jan-Erik soon learns that the man is none other than his sadistic, tyrannical, feared teacher, Caligula (Stig Jarrel). Torment is a stark and crisply directed parable of the dynamics of fascism and sexual terrorism, as well as a snapshot in extremis of the looming post-war generation gap. If it weren't for the monstrous teacher's unnecessarily obvious moniker, this disturbing little movie would be just about perfect.

NEXT STOP … Monika, Sawdust and Tinsel, The Blue Angel (1930)

1944 90m/B SW Alf Kjellin, Mai Zetterling, Stig Jarrel, Olof Winnerstrand, Gunnar Bjornstrand; D: Alf Sjoberg; W: Ingmar Bergman; C: Martin Bodin; M: Hilding Rosenberg. VHS HMV, NLC