Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.
Torment (1944), as it is listed in the Epinions database, was originally known as Hets in Sweden and Frenzy in an earlier American release. Ingmar Bergman authored the screenplay for this film and it was Bergman’s first foray into cinema. The director of Torment, Alf Sjöberg was not only Bergman’s mentor, but also a major influence on an entire generation of Swedish filmmakers.
Historical Background: Alf Sjöberg was born in 1903 in Stockholm, Sweden. Though he is best remembered today as Ingmar Bergman’s mentor, he had a distinguished and influential career in his own right. He debuted as a film director with an impressive silent film, The Strongest, in 1929, which was an emotionally jarring documentary about seal hunting. Sjöberg was unwilling to make the adjustment to the advent of sound, however, and reverted to working in theater until the forties, when he returned to filmmaking and played a major role in the revitalization of Swedish cinema. Sjöberg is one of only three directors to ever win the Palme d’Or twice (along with Emir Kusturica and Francis Ford Coppola) and Sjöberg was the first to do it, winning with Torment (1944) in 1946 and Miss Julie (1951) in 1951. It is mainly on the basis of these two films and his relationship with Bergman that Sjöberg is still recognized today, outside of Sweden. A couple of other very good films by Sjöberg were They Staked Their Lives (1942) and The Road to Heaven (1942).
The Story: The story concerns the students and staff of a Swedish boys’ high school operated in an overly repressive atmosphere of rules and academic demands. Jan-Erik Widgren (spelled Vidgren in the subtitles but Widgren in the Internet Movie Database) is a senior and, like the other boys, struggles especially in Latin class, with its especially despotic and sadistic teacher, Caligula (Stig Järrel). Caligula struts menacingly about the room with a stick and delights in ferreting out those who are unprepared for reprimand and humiliation. Widgren’s best friend, Sandman (Stig Olin), is a bit more nihilistic than Widgren, spouting quotes from Neitzsche and Strindberg as well as chauvinistic views of woman: “All women are fair game and, if they’re not, they want to be.” Widgren, by constrast, adheres to romantic idealism and hopes to find his perfect woman and fall deeply in love. He’s looking for “a sweet young bride with a bell skirt, funny hat, and no luggage.” At home, Widgren lives with a stern father (Olaf Riégo), an over-protective mother (Märta Arbin), and a little brother.
Widgren encounters Bertha Olsson (Mai Zetterling), a girl who works in the tobacco shop, in a state of intoxication one evening, staggering down the stairs of an outdoor walkway. Taking pity on her, he helps her home. She urges him to stay. He initially resists, recognizing that she is certainly not his “perfect woman”, but she is pretty, one thing leads to another, and they are soon infatuated with one another. Widgren discovers, however, that Bertha has a concurrent problem relationship with a man – someone by whom she is stalked and terrorized. Viewers will immediately surmise that the man in question is Caligula, though Bertha refuses to divulge his identity to Widgren.
Obviously, this triangle can’t last and the conflict that exists between Widgren and Caligula, both in the classroom and in Bertha’s bedroom, has to come to a head. Only The Headmaster (Olof Winnerstrand) provides any buffer between Widgren and the powerful and sadistic Latin teacher. I’m not going to specify how the drama plays out, but the real beauty of the story rests most especially in how well Sjöberg’s direction, Bergman’s script, and Martin Bodin‘s cinematography work together to build the tension.
Themes: I’m pleased to say that my high school wasn’t much at all like the one depicted here. The tormenting that took place during my years at Winchester High School was that perpetrated by the students, with either the faculty or other students serving as the victims. The vision that Sjöberg and Bergman serve up here is high school as hell on earth. Jean Vigo’s Zero for Conduct could be offered as the spiritual predecessor for this film. Torment is a study of the dark, sadistic side of the human psyche, in the form of teachers who are cruel and abusive.
The characters of Torment are emblematic of a fundamental societal conflict: social stability vs. individual freedom. The high school depicted here can be seen as a training ground for future bourgeois citizens of a nation, who will accept authority and carry out their duties in a dependable manner. The headmaster verbalizes this side of the equation when he states that he is motivated by “a sincere desire to make good, useful citizens of you.” Societal stability is represented symbolically by the cold but solid structure of the school building as well as by the study of Latin, which is considered the “foundation” language from which other modern European languages derive. Individual freedom and personal gratification, on the other hand, are represented in the film by Widgren’s desire to play his violin (which he seldom has time for because of the heavy demands of his school for study time). It is also represented by Bertha, who is a somewhat promiscuous and “disreputable” girl, considered unworthy of Widgren’s attentions, even by the decently humane headmaster. When Widgren takes ill, he is called upon by a physician, whose job it is to consider his patient’s physical and mental well-being. The physician is pointed in his criticism of a school system that deprives the boys of the simple pleasures of physical activity and leisure time. Adherence to duty vs. personal satisfactions serve as two conflicting elements of human society in constant conflict throughout this film. Bertha’s apartment provides Widgren with emotional respite from the sadistic demands of his teachers, but the shadows are always lurking about, reminding him and us that every moment that he spends in quiet happiness with Bertha is disappointing his father and threatening his graduation and future opportunities. The cruel dynamic between these two needs – dutiful responsibility versus personal satisfaction and pleasure – threatens to drive poor Widgren into mental instability. This is seen in his illness and grief and, more symbolically, in the pounding rainstorms that occur repeatedly in the film that seemingly threaten to wash away society’s proud edifices.
Production Values: This is a very strong suspense film, thanks to the stellar contributions of three men: director Sjöberg, scriptwriter Bergman, and cinematographer Martin Bodin . Viewers who are already familiar with Bergman as a director will easily recognize the issues and style that would later become his hallmarks already evident in the script for Torment There are existential issues, sexual conflict, cruelty, and humiliation. The dialog written by Bergman is highly natural and believable. Sjöberg then augmented Bergman’s script with a great sense of timing, packing the film with pregnant pauses and silence to just the right extent. The result is a film that keeps viewers perched on the edges of their seats. The film lacks only a powerful epiphany to have achieved greatness, but unfortunately rather disappointingly peters out in the end.
The cinematography is highly effective in this film. It is expressionistic in its approach, providing a downright creepy kind of atmosphere. The recurrent use of shadows is especially noteworthy – the best that I’ve ever encountered in a film. The shadows are sometimes used to evoke a sense of foreboding and other times simply for pleasing geometric patterns. There is also skillful use of well-placed mirrors, providing the potential for some shots at unusual angles. There is one surreal feverish dream sequence that nicely heightens concern for Widgren’s mental stability. The use of spaces and architectural structures in this film are also exceptional, such as when a small boy races around the massive hallways and corridors of a school trying to escape a sadistic authority figure. The solid, rock-faced exterior of the school evokes both rigidity and stability.
The performance by Stig Järrel as the sinister Caligula is a classic. His role was modeled after Nazi Chancellor Heinrich Himmler. Järrel very skillfully captures both his character’s sadistic delights and his pathetic underlying insecurity and weakness. Järrel avoids the trap of turning the character into a caricature. This film also helped launch the career of Alf Kjellin, who later appeared in such films as The Juggler (1953), before becoming a Hollywood director. Likewise, this film helped make Mai Zetterling a star in Sweden and America. Her subsequent appearances included such films as Quartet (1949), Knock on Wood (1954), and The Witches (1990). All three of these leads in Torment delivered excellent performances, but they were ably complemented by the secondary actors, especially Olof Winnerstrand as The Headmaster and Jan Molander as a sensitive, dorky student named Pettersson.
Bottom-Line: This is a dark and foreboding kind of film, full of suspense though not horror. Underlying the surface narrative is the quintessential Bergman preoccupation with fundamental philosophical issues, in this case mainly socialization into one’s duties as a good citizen versus personal satisfaction and happiness. My VHS version of Torment had a running time of 101 minutes despite the fact that the slipcover says 90 minutes. The film is in Swedish with English subtitles. Occasionally, the subtitles move by too quickly to read. I recommend this film, especially for those who have already enjoyed one or more of the films of Sjöberg protégé, Ingmar Bergman.
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You might want to check out these other excellent films from Sweden:
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