Hour of the Wolf (1968)

Original title

Vargtimmen

Directed by

Ingmar Bergman

Genre

drama film, horror film

Country

Sweden

Runtime

1h 27m

Rated

K-16

Rating

7.4 of 10 from 560 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A painter living on an isolated island with his wife is tormented by terrifying visions and insomnia. The film follows his psychological unraveling and eventual disappearance, blending his nightmares with reality.

hauntingunsettlingnightmarishslow-burncerebralsurrealclaustrophobicdisturbingmelancholic

What happens

Hour of the Wolf (Swedish: Vargtimmen, lit. 'The Wolf Hour') is a 1968 Swedish psychological horror film film directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann. The story explores the disappearance of fictional painter Johan Borg (von Sydow), who lived on an island with his wife Alma (Ullmann) while plagued with frightening visions and insomnia. Bergman originally conceived much of the story as part of an unproduced screenplay, The Cannibals, which he abandoned to make the 1966 film Persona. He took inspiration from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 1791 opera The Magic Flute and E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1814 novella The Golden Pot, as well as some of his own nightmares. Principal photography took place at Hovs Hallar, Stockholm and Fårö. Themes include insanity, particularly as experienced by an artist, sexuality, and relationships, conveyed in a surreal style and with elements of folklore. Analysts have found allusions to vampire and werewolf legend. Authors have also connected the work to Bergman's life and his relationship with Ullmann; Bergman said he was experiencing his own "hour of the wolf" when he conceived the story. The film was initially met with negative reviews in Sweden. In later years Hour of the Wolf received generally positive reviews and was ranked one of the 50 greatest films ever made in a 2012 directors' poll by the British Film Institute. Filmmaker David Lynch listed it as one of the five films "that have inspired me most... a masterpiece" when including it in his guest curated programme at the American Film Institute in 2010. The film was followed by Bergman's thematically related films Shame (1968) and The Passion of Anna (1969). Ullmann won awards in 1968 for her performances in both Hour of the Wolf and Shame. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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