Skammen (1968)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writer:

Ingmar Bergman (writer)

Release Date:

23 December 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Ingmar Bergman's psychological study of how humans react in a situation of war. The film takes place on Gotland, where invasion forces arrives.

Plot Keywords:

Musician | Island | Farm | Fictional War | Military

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 8 wins

Cast

Liv Ullmann	...	Eva Rosenberg
Max von Sydow	...	Jan Rosenberg
Sigge Fürst	...	Filip
Gunnar Björnstrand	...	Col. Jacobi
Birgitta Valberg	...	Mrs. Jacobi
Hans Alfredson	...	Lobelius
Ingvar Kjellson	...	Oswald
Frank Sundström	...	Chief interrogator
Ulf Johansson	...	The doctor
Vilgot Sjöman	...	The interviewer
Bengt Eklund	...	Guard
Gösta Prüzelius	...	The vicar
Willy Peters	...	Elder officer
Barbro Hiort af Ornäs	...	Woman in the boat
Agda Helin	...	Merchant's wife

Also Known As:

Shame (USA)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (video rating) (2004) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Fårö, Gotlands län, Sweden

Company:

Cinematograph AB

Goofs:

Continuity: Eva is not wearing any socks when Jacobi arrives but several times during his visit she can be seen wearing a couple of black socks and no socks at all again.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in En passion (1969)

A Relevance Unmatched

I don't recall a film which so deftly shows the emotional destruction of war, as mirrored in one single marital relationship. The focus of the film is the union between Ullman and Von Sydow--the two are in every scene. Through the course of the film, they experience a role reversal--one has the strength of survival and the other is reduced to emotional escapism through dreams. Both will lose a measure of humanity, but one to a greater degree than the other. The characters and the viewer go through periods of fluctuation in regards to closeness--the camera pulls out and away, sound disappears, words are lost, only for the camera to return to painterly closeups of its facially expressive stars. The confusion and fluctuation may make this film hard for some viewers, but this is all purposeful under the master hand of Bergman. I think the use of a "fake" war makes the film timeless, as relevant today as ever before, and by focusing on the human relationship through war, makes the film relevant to everyone. The pair could be anyone. The film is not grounded in place or time, but rather in emotion. A unique and effective war film, unlike any other. Bergman's films are virtuosic in presenting human relationships--that he would bring this to a war film is masterful.