The Rite (1969)

Original title

Riten

Directed by

Ingmar Bergman

Genre

drama film

Country

Sweden

Runtime

1h 12m

Rating

6.9 of 10 from 94 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Three performers are interrogated by a judge about their allegedly obscene play. The interviews become a psychological battle as the actors confront their own traumas and test the judge's authority.

cerebralclaustrophobictensetheatricalpsychologically intenseslow-burnbleakstylized

What happens

The Rite (Swedish: Riten) is a 1969 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It premiered on Swedish television on 25 March 1969. Actors Thea (Ingrid Thulin), Sebastian (Anders Ek) and Hans (Gunnar Björnstrand) are sequestered in the offices of Judge Abrahamson (Erik Hell), who questions them about the play they have been performing, which has been accused of being obscene. As the judge interviews them separately and together, the three performers work through their considerable psycho-sexual baggage with each other, while collectively laying siege to the sensibilities of their authoritarian interrogator. The film had a joint Nordic premiere on television on 25 March 1969. It was rerun on SVT2 August 1, 1973. The premiere began with a short conversation between Ingmar Bergman and TV theatre director Lars Löfgren. Bergman urged the viewers to turn off the TV and go to the movies instead. Both Swedish and Norwegian critics were mostly positive, but somewhat confused. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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