The Serpent's Egg (1977)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writer:

Ingmar Bergman (writer)

Release Date:

15 February 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Berlin 1923! A dangerous time to be alive and stay that way!

Plot:

Ingmar Bergman's The Serpent's Egg follows a week in the life of Abel Rosenberg, an out-of-work American...

Plot Keywords:

1920s | Nazism | Terror | Actual Animal Killed | Inhumanity

Cast

David Carradine	...	Abel Rosenberg
Liv Ullmann	...	Manuela Rosenberg
Heinz Bennent	...	Hans Vergerus
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Isolde Barth	...	Girl in uniform
Toni Berger	...	Mr. Rosenberg
Christian Berkel	...	Student
Richard Bohne	...	Police officer
Paula Braend	...	Mrs. Hemse
Erna Brünell	...	Mrs. Rosenberg
Paul Burian	...	Experiment person
Paul Bürks	...	Cabaret comedian
Hildegard Busse	...	Prostitute
Gaby Dohm	...	Woman with baby
Hans Eichler	...	Max
Emil Feist	...	Miser
Kai Fischer
Gert Fröbe	...	Inspector Bauer
Herbert Fux
Renate Grosser	...	Prostitute
Heino Hallhuber	...	Bride
Georg Hartmann	...	Hollinger
Edith Heerdegen	...	Mrs. Holle
Rosemarie Heinikel	...	Girl in uniform
Klaus Hoffmann
Grischa Huber	...	Stella
Harry Kalenberg	...	Coroner
Volkert Kraeft
Andrea L'Arronge	...	Girl in uniform
Gunther Malzacher	...	Husband
Lisi Mangold	...	Mikaela
Beverly McNeely	...	Girl in uniform
Günter Meisner
Anne Mertin
Hubert Mittendorf	...	Comforter
Kyra Mladeck	...	Miss Dorst
Heide Picha	...	Wife
Hans Quest	...	Dr. Silbermann
Charles Régnier	...	Doctor
Walter Schmidinger	...	Solomon
Irene Steinbeisser	...	Groom
Fritz Strassner	...	Dr. Soltermann
Glynn Turman	...	Monroe
Ellen Umlauf	...	Hostess
Hertha von Walther	...	Woman in street
Wolfgang Weiser	...	Civil servant
James Whitmore	...	The Priest
Ralf Wolter

Also Known As:

Das Schlangenei (West Germany)

Runtime:

Argentina:120 min | USA:119 min

Country:

USA | West Germany

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:16 (original rating) | Argentina:18 | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Norway:18 | UK:18 (video rating) (1990) | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Studios, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

De Laurentiis

Trivia:

Director Trademark: [Ingmar Bergman] [name]Last name Vergerus.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The Nazi-looking thugs that are beating up people are wearing Model 1943 German army caps and 1940s style clothing. This film is supposed to take place in the 1920s.

Quotes:

Hans Vergerus: [explains the upcoming social and political developments in Germany to Abel Rosenberg] It's like a serpent's egg. Through the thin membranes, you can clearly discern the already perfect reptile.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Away from Home (2004) (V)

Occasionally fascinating, more often pointless

This must have seemed like such a great idea at the time. Put Ingmar Bergman (arguably one of the finest filmmakers of our time) at the helm of a big-budget international horror film starring the notable David Carradine and his can-do-no-wrong leading lady Liv Ullmann. As a concept, it's faultless; as a film, it's amazing this has as many moments as it does.

Taking place over a period of one week (November 3-11) in 1923 Berlin, "The Serpent's Egg" zeroes in on two desperate characters who are slowly overtaken by the horror of their situation. The country has virtually come apart around them; the German mark is practically worthless, unemployment is astronomical, and Adolf Hitler is laying the plans for his first attempt to seize power. Abel Rosenberg (Carradine) and Manuela (Ullmann) are out-of-work circus performers whose third partner Max (Abel's brother) commits suicide in the opening of the film. The rest of the movie concerns itself with their gradual awakening to the horrors perpetuated by their current employer Vergerus (Heinz Bennett).

Actually, the rest of the movie concerns itself with taking as hysterical and pessimistic view of life as possible. While not entirely unfamiliar to Bergman's fans, here the gloom is so all-pervasive and the time and place so alien, that the film is often nearly impossible to sit through. It becomes instead a movie of moments, each breaking out of the general tedium to grab the viewer by the throat.

The opening is brilliant, and promises something really special. Likewise, the rat-infested piles of garbage are not something the viewer is likely to forget. But the conclusion they build up to is disappointing and unenlightening. Worst of all, we know no more about the characters at the end of the film than we did at the outset (Liv Ullmann, whose performance is wonderful considering the circumstances, has virtually nonexistent character development to work with).

Any fan of Bergman should try to see this once, if only for the light it sheds on his other films of the period, and his personal turmoil at that moment in time. Casual viewers need not apply.