Kris (1946)

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writers:

Ingmar Bergman (writer)
Leck Fischer (play)

Release Date:

25 February 1946 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A small-town piano teacher is shocked by the arrival of her foster daughter's real mother, whose young lover soon follows and causes further disruption.

Plot Keywords:

Small Town | Foster Daughter | Piano | Lover | Foster Mother

Cast

Inga Landgré	...	Nelly
Stig Olin	...	Jack
Marianne Löfgren	...	Jenny
Dagny Lind	...	Ingeborg
Allan Bohlin	...	Ulf
Ernst Eklund	...	Uncle Edvard
Signe Wirff	...	Aunt Jessie

Also Known As:

Crisis (UK) (USA)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | UK:12 (video rating) (2004) | UK:A (original rating) (cut)

Filming Locations:

Hedemora, Dalarnas län, Sweden

Company:

Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Trivia:

First film directed by Ingmar Bergman.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ingmar Bergman: Om liv och arbete (1998) (TV)

My brief review of the film

For a directional debut, this is very solid stuff, not only skillfully directed but also set to a brilliant original music score. I would however identify one weakness with Bergman's directing here: it is very much tailored to the script, with dialogue or narration almost all the time, and this leads to it being too talkative, with limited breaks in which one can stop and admire the way that the story is being told. The film is in this sense very different to the style that Bergman would later adopt, and although perhaps somewhat weak, Bergman's skills do shine through. There are well-framed shots, an effective stream-of-consciousness sequence, great camera angles and excellent camera movement. The inclusion of some more non-dialogue bits possibly would have improved this film, but there is little else to complain about, with quite a good story behind the material too.