Shame

Shame (1968)

Skammen

In the midst of a civil war, a pair of former violinists in a tempestuous marriage oversee a farm on a rural island. In spite of their best efforts to escape their homeland, the war impinges on every aspect of their lives.

Date of release
1968-09-29
TMDB
7.5 / 10 (249)
Runtime
1h 44m
Genres
War, Drama
Director
Ingmar Bergman

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 1

Shame is a 1968 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, and starring Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow. Ullmann and von Sydow play Eva and Jan, former violinists, a politically uninvolved couple whose home comes under threat by civil war. They are accused by one side of sympathy for the enemy, and their marriage deteriorates while the couple flees. The story explores themes of shame, moral decline, self-loathing and violence.

Production

Ingmar Bergman wrote the screenplay for Shame, completing it in spring 1967. He explained the origin of the story: For a long time before making this film I had carried around the notion of trying to focus on the 'little war', the war that exist on the periphery where there is total confusion, and nobody knows what is actually going on. If I had been more patient when writing the script, I would have depicted this 'little war' in a better way.

The controversial Vietnam War was being fought at the time, and while Bergman denied the film was a statement on the conflict, he remarked that "Privately, my view of the war in Vietnam is clear. The war should have been over a long time ago and the Americans gone". He also stated "As an artist, I am horror-stricken by what is happening in the world". He envisioned Jan and Eva as Social Democrats, for that party subsidized culture.

Shooting began in September 1967. The film was shot on the island of Fårö, where the filmmakers had a house built to portray the Rosenberg residence. The war scenes required trompe-l'œil effects, with Bergman and cinematographer Sven Nykvist burning miniature churches and making small streams look like violent rivers. Nykvist also employed a substantial number of shots with hand-held cameras and zoom lenses.

After shooting completed, Fårö's environmental regulations required the Rosenberg house be burned, but Bergman had developed an attachment to its appearance and saved it by claiming there were plans to use it in another film. He began writing The Passion of Anna, and with Von Sydow and Ullmann still contracted to work with him, envisioned The Passion of Anna as "virtually a sequel".

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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