Hour of the Wolf (1968)

Directed by Ingmar Bergman. Starring Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Gertrud Fridh, Erland Josephson, Georg Rydeberg, Ingrid Thulin, Ulf Johansson, Gudrun Brost.

Reclusive painter Von Sydow lives with his young wife (Ullman) on an island, his mind troubled by horrifying dreams and visions…or are they repressed memories? He describes the titular Vargtimmen as “when most people die…sleep is deepest…nightmares are more real; it is the hour when the sleepless are haunted by their deepest fear, when ghosts and demons are most powerful”; it is here that the boundaries of his madness are tested most strongly, including during a nightmarish visit to a castle on the other side of the island. Bergman’s psychological horror film tends to be divisive among his followers, one that presents a series of surreal images and scenarios that can be disturbing if the premise of ruptured insanity is believed, laughable if felt to be unconvincing. With the observational abstractions too loosely gripped by the fantasia features—a figure walking up walls to the ceiling, the nude and derisive form of an ex-lover (Thulin), a fit of rage leading to a child’s murder, etc.—its legacy in reflection is based on directorial touch instead of the wisdom of his pen. Playing the sinister castle baron, Bergman regular Josephson’s appearance is his first in a feature film in the span of a decade.

71/100