The Rite [Riten] **** (1969, Ingrid Thulin, Anders Ek, Gunnar Björnstrand) – Classic Movie Review 5656

Writer-director Ingmar Bergman’s insightful 1969 Swedish film is a provocative, complex, and highly personal piece of work that focuses on a famous acting troupe charged with obscenity after one of their performances. It was made for Swedish television but shown in cinemas abroad.

Bergman provides a deep and troubling insight into the private lives of performers in a film that boasts superb star playing from Ingrid Thulin as an alcoholic actress, Thea Winkelmann and from Gunnar Björnstrand as the wealthy troupe leader Hans, and a tight, gripping structure that makes this harrowing but rewarding viewing.

Bergman himself appears in a cameo as a priest. Also in the cast are Anders Ek as volatile heavy drinker, deep in debt Sebastian, and Erik Hell as the Judge, Dr Abrahamson, who interviews three actors in an unnamed country to decide whether they are guilty and should be fined over their alleged pornographic performance.

The cinematographer is Sven Nykvist.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5656

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