Review of Hour of the Wolf (1968) by Christopher C — 12 Apr 2011

VARGTIMMEN ("Hour of the Wolf") is Ingmar Bergman's only horror film. Staring Max von Sydow as the painter Johann Borg and Liv Ullmann as his lover pregnant with his child, the film adopts a vampire-story trope with this couple invited to a sinister castle on the island they are summering on.

But not only are the aristocratic inhabitants of the island ghoulish figures, they seem to not even exist. The special charm of the film is Bergman's joining simple horror to a psychological journey. The demons that plague Johann Born reflect the tortured psyche of the artist who struggles to produce his work, and their pathetic attempts to get his attention--walking alongside him ceaselessly jabbering, messing with his things while he wants simple solitude--drain him of creative energy. It's no surprise that the title Bergman first used for the film was "The Cannibals".

In the first scene Liv Ullmann speaks to the camera after the action of the film, telling us that Borg has perished. This narration occurs at the end of the film as well. Its a masterful portrayal of a woman uncertain where the border lies between appropriate dedication to a spouse and succumbing to fatal madness with him. Ullmann's acting is superb. And as with most Bergman efforts, the cinematography is quite impressive, especially of a dinner scene where the camera attempts to follow various lines of conversation among the guests seated at the table.

So why only four stars? For one, we are never told why the couple must stay on the island. One can guess that its the only place that Borg can work, in spite of the dangers lurking there, but the film would have been stronger with this explicity treated in the dialogue. Also, MGM's treatment of Bergman's films has never been of the same quality as the Criterion Collection's installments. Bergman novices would do well to start with DET SJUNDE INSEGLET ("The Seventh Seal") or NATTVARDSGAESTERNA ("Winter Light"), but fans of the auteur should see this sometime along the way.