Ormens väg på hälleberget (1986)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Bo Widerberg

Writers:

Torgny Lindgren (novel)
Bo Widerberg (writer)

Release Date:

25 December 1986 (Sweden)

Plot Keywords:

Suicide | Landlord | Incest | Based On Novel

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Stina Ekblad	...	Tea Alexisdotter
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Karl Orsa Markström
Reine Brynolfsson	...	Jani
Pernilla August	...	Eva (as Pernilla Östergren)
Tomas von Brömssen	...	Jacob
Pernilla Wahlgren	...	Johanna
Ernst Günther	...	Ol Karlsa
Birgitta Ulfsson	...	Grandma
Johan Widerberg	...	Jani as a child
Melinda Kinnaman	...	Eva as child
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nils Brandt	...	Grandfather
Calle Carlswärd	...	Child (as Carl Carlswärd)
Gun Fors	...	A Woman
Amelia Glas-Drake	...	Tilda
Åsa Göransson	...	Child
Michael Kallaanvaara	...	Child
Agnes Östergren	...	Eva as baby
Emma Tönnerfors	...	Rakel
Lisa Tönnerfors	...	Sara

Also Known As:

The Serpent's Way

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Certification:

Sweden:15

Company:

Crescendo Film

Soundtrack:

Den blomstertid nu kommer

Brilliant

I can't believe I've waited this long to see "Ormens väg på hälleberget"! I've seen it at the video store for years but I haven't gotten around to renting it until just now when I realized that Stellan Skarsgård was in it. Naturally, I should have rented it a long time ago since the great Bo Widerberg directed it, but well... I rented it now.

I was certainly not disappointed by the film. I thought it was quite brilliant, but it was also a harrowing experience to watch it. Stellan Skarsgård's character Karl Orsa really was a despicable person and the pain he caused Tea and her family -- while telling himself that he was "not a bad person" -- is unbelievable. I have no idea what any reviewers thought when this film was released in Sweden in 1986, but I think it's a very good film, quite brilliant. And the cast is very interesting -- at least if you're Swedish: Stina Ekblad, Stellan Skarsgård, Tomas von Brömssen, Reine Brynolfsson, Pernilla August (then Östergren), Ernst Günther, and Pernilla Wahlgren (yes, it's the Pernilla you think it is) plus Johan Widerberg and Melinda Kinnaman in (very) small parts... all in the same film! It's worth watching it only because of that, but as I said: the film is really good in its own right and I highly recommend it. (8/10)