| Hour of the Wolf | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ingmar Bergman |
| Written by | Ingmar Bergman |
| Produced by | Lars-Owe Carlberg |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Sven Nykvist |
| Edited by | Ulla Ryghe |
| Music by | Lars Johan Werle |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Svensk Filmindustri |
Release date |
|
Running time | 88 minutes[1] |
| Country | Sweden |
| Language | Swedish |
| Box office | $250,000 (U.S.)[2] |
Hour of the Wolf (Swedish:Vargtimmen,lit. 'The Wolf Hour') is a 1968 Swedishpsychologicalhorror film[n 1] film directed byIngmar Bergman and starringMax von Sydow andLiv 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 andinsomnia.
Bergman originally conceived much of the story as part of an unproduced screenplay,The Cannibals, which he abandoned to make the 1966 filmPersona. He took inspiration fromWolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 1791 operaThe Magic Flute andE. T. A. Hoffmann's 1814 novellaThe Golden Pot, as well as some of his own nightmares. Principal photography took place atHovs Hallar, Stockholm andFårö.
Themes include insanity, particularly as experienced by an artist, sexuality, and relationships, conveyed in asurreal style and with elements of folklore. Analysts have found allusions tovampire andwerewolf 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 yearsHour of the Wolf received generally positive reviews and was ranked one of the 50 greatest films ever made in a 2012 directors' poll by theBritish Film Institute. The film was followed by Bergman's thematically related filmsShame (1968) andThe Passion of Anna (1969). Ullmann won awards in 1968 for her performances in bothHour of the Wolf andShame.
Painter Johan Borg and his pregnant young wife Alma live on the small island ofBaltrum. He shares sketches with Alma of frightening visions he has had, and begins to give them names, including the Birdman, the Insects, the Meat-Eaters, the Schoolmaster, and the Lady With a Hat. As hisinsomnia grows worse, Alma stays awake by his side.
One day, an elderly lady stops by the house and tells Alma to read Johan's diary, which he hides under his bed. Alma discovers that Johan is haunted not only by the real or imaginary strangers, but also by images of his former lover, Veronica Vogler. She also reads that Johan was approached by Baron von Merkens, who lives in a nearby castle. The painter and his wife visit them and their household. After dinner, the baron's wife shows the couple into her bedroom, where she has a portrait of Veronica by Johan. After they leave the castle, Alma expresses to Johan her fears of losing him to the demons, as well as her will to persevere if such were to happen.
One night, Alma again stays awake with Johan. He tells her of the "vargtimmen" ("Hour of the Wolf"), during which, he says, most births and deaths occur. He also recounts his childhood trauma of being locked into a closet where, as his parents said, a small person lived. He then recalls a confrontation with a small boy while out fishing on the island, which culminated with him killing the boy. Alma is shocked by Johan's confessions.
Heerbrand, one of von Merkens's guests, shows up at the couple's house to invite them to another party at the castle, adding that Veronica Vogler is among the invitees. He places a pistol on the table, for protection against "small animals", and leaves. Johan and Alma begin quarreling over his obsession with Veronica. Johan finally picks up the pistol, shoots Alma and runs to the castle.
Johan attends the party. The baron's guests are revealed to be the demons that Johan described to Alma. As he rushes through the castle searching for Veronica, he meets Lindhorst, who applies cosmetics to his pale face and dresses him in a silk robe. He then leads Johan to her. Johan finds Veronica, who appears to be dead; as he looks over her naked body, she suddenly sits up and laughs. Johan is physically attacked by the demons and flees into underbrush. Alma, who was injured by one of the shots but is only left with a scar, searches the forest for her husband. She witnesses the attacks on him before he finally disappears, leaving her alone in the woods.
Alma later shares her story and her husband's diary. She wonders whether the fact that she and Johan lived together for so long and became so similar was why she could see his Man-Eaters, and whether she would have been better able to protect him if she had loved him less, or more.
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The cast includes:[1]
Johan has been interpreted as "Bergman's alter ego".[11][12] Professor Frank Gado interprets the film as the "story of an artist's disintegration" (also arguing it reflects "Bergman's own unraveling", and criticizing the film).[13] Author Dan Williams similarly reads it as a "story of the self-destructive artist unable to maintain a relationship with reality".[12] Psychiatrist Barbara Young writes thatHour of the Wolf, likePersona, was about "the disintegration of a personality" (also rejecting Gado's commentary on "Bergman's own unraveling" and instead praising his courage for addressing his issues).[14] The artist's "humiliation" is also depicted.[15] Gado connects Johan to Karin in Bergman's 1961Through a Glass Darkly, remarking that Johan is at a crossroads where he "must choose between two worlds": real life and his nightmare visions.[16] Gado considers whether Johan may fear he is homosexual, writing Johan's "perversity manifests itself intransvestism, masochism, andnecrophilia, yet none of these necessarily indicates homosexuality".[17]
Williams links the artistic visions with "oppression by a group of aristocrats", as the castle's people becomevampire-like and "the unreality of Johan's world takes over".[18] ScholarEgil Törnqvist compares what he saw as vampirism inHour of the Wolf to that inPersona, adding that the portrayals are similar to themes in the work of playwrightAugust Strindberg.[19] Writer Laura Hubner asserts the legend of thewerewolf also informed themes of "fission and conflict" and "confused sexuality".[20] According to Hubner, the film's central notion of cannibalism, with a fear of being consumed, is linked to lycanthropy and the legend ofLittle Red Riding Hood, and these legends are also associated with sexual awakening.[21]
Academic Gordon Thomas discusses a theme of a relationship in which one person's identity is absorbed into another's. Thomas wrote, "the von Merkens et al. are manifestations of Johan's ownself-loathing, and Alma, because she loves him, must be present at her husband's phantasmagorical inquisition".[22] CriticRobin Wood comparesHour of the Wolf toPersona in how Alma becomes able to see Johan's "inner horrors", while inPersona Alma is affected by Elisabet's views.[23] While recognizing insanity as a major theme, writer José Teodoro argues another (shared with Bergman's laterShame andThe Passion of Anna) is "the realization that it is impossible for any one person to truly know another", with Alma realizing she never understood her husband.[8] Authors have related the story's couple to Bergman's real-life relationships: Thomas theorizes that during production Ullmann was"'at peace' with the world, while her genius boyfriend was not".[22] Young notes Bergman had abandoned his wifeKäbi Laretei and sonDaniel for Ullmann, yetHour of the Wolf is dedicated to Laretei, suggesting the story of the disintegrating artist was meant to explain to Laretei why he left them.[14]
Gado identifies the Birdman character as "Bergman's ironic inversion" ofThe Magic Flute, with Johan stating the Birdman is likely related to theMagic Flute character Papageno.[24] According to Gado, the Birdman represents "corruptive self-knowledge and a 'natural' evil seated in childhood sexuality".[24] Thomas identifies the character Lindhorst as Johan's Birdman.[22] Other writers have found parallels to E. T. A. Hoffmann'sThe Golden Pot. These include the character names Lindhorst, Heerbrand and Veronica.[25][26] Gado argues the film's Veronica is more analogous to Hoffmann's character Serpentina than to the literary Veronica, but that the book recognizes Veronica and Serpentina as both being part of "a double image of Woman". Gado adds that, like the book's Veronica and Serpentina, in the film, "Veronica is Alma inverted".[25]
In one scene, Johan describes murdering a boy. ProfessorIrving Singer wrote that it is ambiguous whether Johan's story is real or imagined.[27] According to Young, Bergman had said the boy represents his own internal "demon" and the boy's struggle with Johan is meant to look "orgasmic".[28] Gado connects the boy to Johan's recollection of his childhood, when he was locked in a closet as a punishment, and believed a little person lived in the closet.[17] Thomas suggests the boy is "the imp ofid, an inverse incubus, or a vision of regressive sexuality", and that the murder does not resolve Johan's issues, as after he throws the body into the waters the body floats back to the surface.[22]
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The style of certain scenes has been described as surreal,[5][29][30] near-expressionist,[31][32] orgothic.[3][33] Professor Fabio Pezzetti Tonion writes that the film's "stylistic ciphers" create "friction between objective and subjective elements".[15] Teodoro describes the film as "eerily hushed", with sparing dialogue accentuating other sounds, and compares its atmosphere to the 1980 filmThe Shining.[8]
In establishing its mythology, including the boy Johan struggles with and tales of a little person in the closet, Kat Ellinger of theBritish Film Institute arguesHour of the Wolf draws on folklore. Ellinger further compares the horrific visions to the work of Swiss painterHenry Fuseli.[10] Author John Orr characterizes the film as a "modernist fable".[34] The film's second half takes place only at night, with the exception being theoverexposed flashback to Johan and the boy.[35] Hubner argues the overexposure and quick editing of more than 30 shots contribute to the "dreamlike and nightmarish" feel of the scene.[21]
Tonion describes the antagonists as "vampire-like", contributing to the "Strindbergian 'ghost sonata'".[15] Various authors have compared Lindhorst, as played byGeorg Rydeberg, and the other antagonists toDracula actorBela Lugosi;[32][33][36] Bergman was an admirer of the 1931Dracula.[37] Hubner also suggests allusions to Middle Age folklore and werewolves, opining that Johan's lipstick (after made over by Lindhorst) resembles blood and Johan's leer is that of a wolf's.[20]
Analyzing the opening, Tonion observes the sounds of the crew moving cameras andprops and what he presumes to be Bergman preparing Ullmann for her role; this is followed by Ullmann as Alma speaking into the camera, amise-en-scène repeated at the end.[38] In much the same way asPersona's prologue, this opening breaks thefourth wall.[8] Bergman also usesmise-en-scène to add ambiguity to Alma's meeting with the lady with the hat, with a view of Alma and then a pan to the lady; Tonion argues the cinematography creates doubt when the lady leaves as to whether Alma has been alone the whole time.[39]
Inspirations for the story included Bergman's recurring nightmares, featuring a woman who took off her own face and an entity that walked on ceilings.[25] Johan's description of being locked in a closet as a boy was based on Bergman's childhood.[40] An external influence wasWolfgang Amadeus Mozart'sThe Magic Flute, with the opera's character Papageno transformed into an evil Birdman.[24][n 2] Bergman's interpretation ofThe Magic Flute is echoed through his character Lindhorst.[25][42] Bergman credited German authorE. T. A. Hoffmann as an additional major influence.[43]
Elements of the story also originated from Bergman's manuscriptThe Cannibals orThe Maneaters, which he finished in 1964 and planned to shoot onHallands Väderö.[44][45] Bergman abandonedThe Cannibals due to pneumonia, after which he wrote and directedPersona instead.[44][46] FollowingPersona, he decided to make a reworked version ofThe Cannibals, under the new titleHour of the Wolf.[44] The term was defined by Bergman in an explanatory note in his screenplay:
The hour between night and dawn ... when most people die, sleep is deepest, nightmares are most real. It is the hour when the sleepless are haunted by their worst anguish, when ghosts and demons are most powerful. The hour of the wolf is also the hour when most babies are born.[25]
According to ProfessorBirgitta Steene, the title is drawn fromSwedish folklore, where the "hour of the wolf" refers to the period from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m., supposedly when the most deaths and births occur.[47] FolkloristBengt af Klintberg recalled that in 1964, Bergman tasked theatre manager Niklas Brunius to research legend about the hour, and Brunius asked Klintberg about it; Klintberg found the term had no roots in Swedish folklore, though there was a "ghost hour" between midnight and 1 a.m.[48] Bergman claimed he first came across the term "hour of the wolf" in a Latin source, though he did not identify the source and may have coined the term himself.[25][n 3] He later said that at the time of the story's conception, he was experiencing his own "hour of the wolf", and was "freed" from it upon the production's completion.[50]
During the latter stages ofpost-production ofPersona in 1966, Bergman held a meeting to begin planningHour of the Wolf.[45] He later said the film builds onPersona:
Hour of the Wolf is seen by some as a regression afterPersona. It isn't that simple.Persona was a breakthrough, a success that gave me the courage to keep on searching along unknown paths. ... When I see it today, I understand that it is about a deep-seated division within me both hidden and carefully monitored, visible in both my earlier and later work. ...Hour of the Wolf is important since it is an attempt to encircle a hard-to-locate set of problems and get inside them.[51]
Bergman had planned to castBibi Andersson andLiv Ullmann inThe Cannibals,[52] having met Ullmann through his regular collaborator Andersson on aStockholm street.[53] Ullmann placed the meeting in 1964, and said that Bergman recognized her and asked her on the spot if she would like to work with him.[54] Ullmann later became Bergman's lover and became pregnant with their daughterLinn.[55] After a separation Bergman told her he had written a pregnant character, Alma, for her.[56] He mailed her the screenplay forHour of the Wolf and she returned to Fårö from Norway for the part.[57][n 4]
Erland Josephson was busy as a managing director of theRoyal Dramatic Theatre, but desired a role inHour of the Wolf, having seen earlier versions of theCannibals screenplay and deciding a frightening film would be fun.[59]Naima Wifstrand's part as the lady with the hat was her last film role.[60]
Principal photography took place atHovs Hallar andRåsunda Studios in Stockholm,[61] and on the island ofFårö.[55][n 5] Hovs Hallar's coast was particularly used for exterior shots.[44] Shooting lasted from 23 May to 23 November 1966.[61]
Ullmann said she had little understanding of the subject matter during production, but recognized Bergman's traits in von Sydow's character. During shooting, including of her monologue scene, she became frightened imagining Bergman could degenerate like the character.[64] She said there were no rehearsals or discussion of the film's meaning.[57] According to von Sydow, Bergman wanted to film the dinner table scene in onetake, for the "continuity" actors experience in stage plays. Ultimately, cinematographerSven Nykvist took a seat in front of the actors at the table andpanned quickly, with von Sydow explaining, "it's very difficult to stop each pan at a moment when you have an ideal composition on each person".[65]
The ceiling-walking scene was achieved throughtrick photography.[59] During production Ullmann left for Norway to give birth, and returned to shoot her last scenes wearing a pillow under her clothes.[57]
Prologue and epilogue scenes along the line ofPersona's, acknowledging the story as a work of cinema, were mostly cut during post-production because Bergman felt they became too personal.[13][66] The only exception was the sound of the film crew talking.[13]
Lars Johan Werle'sscore is employed only in the latter half of the film, with the music accompanying the scene in which Johan murders a boy employingflutes,clarinets and tubas and thenoboes and horns, followed by flutes, trombones and violins.[26] Aside from the music, the boy's screams are the only sound in the scene.[67] Werle's score underwent alterations during recording and in post-production, and some of it was improvised.[68] The soundtrack also includesPartita No. 3 in A minor byJohann Sebastian Bach andThe Magic Flute, as recorded by Hungarian conductorFerenc Fricsay.[69][70]
Hour of the Wolf was released in Stockholm on 19 February 1968 bySvensk Filmindustri.[61][69] A U.S. release followed inNew York City on 9 April,[61] distributed byLopert Pictures.[69] It grossed approximately $250,000 in the U.S.[2] At the New York Bergman Festival in May–June 1995, a version was screened with a prologue that had been deleted from previous releases, claiming the film is based on a diary.[61] To mark the centennial of Bergman's birth,Sveriges Television aired the film in 2018 among numerous other works in his filmography.[71]
MGM releasedHour of the Wolf onDVD both in the U.S. and the UK in single-disc editions and as part of a box set includingShame,The Passion of Anna,The Serpent's Egg andPersona. The U.S. release contains bonus material missing on the UK edition, while the UK box set omitsPersona.[72] On 20 November 2018,The Criterion Collection released aBlu-ray version inRegion A, along with 38 other Bergman films, in the setIngmar Bergman's Cinema.[73]
The film met with negative reviews in Sweden,[61] with C.H. Svenstedt ofSvenska Dagbladet criticizing Bergman for preaching his message andDagens Nyheter's Mauritz Edström writing viewers could not identify with the film.[74] ForVecko-Journalen, Stig Ahlgren wrote a piece examining the story's connections toThe Magic Flute.[36]
In 1968,Renata Adler fromThe New York Times opined that it is "not one of Bergman's great films", but positively reviewed the acting of von Sydow, Ullmann and Thulin.[75]Roger Ebert ratedHour of the Wolf three out of four, calling it "a difficult film, and not altogether a successful one", and crediting Bergman with achieving "deeply emotional results with very stark, almost objective, scenes".[76] InNew York,Judith Crist called it "a minor effort" from Bergman, not adding much to his past filmography, while crediting it for "stark intellectualizing and lush fantasizing".[77]Time hailed von Sydow as "gothically brilliant" and stated the film cemented Ullmann's position as one of the foremost Scandinavian actresses, also crediting Sven Nykvist for "phosphorescent" cinematography.[78] CriticRichard Schickel judged the visuals "more exciting" than those inPersona, but saidHour of the Wolf appeared to be a "regression".[79]
At the1968 National Board of Review Awards, Ullmann was namedBest Actress for bothHour of the Wolf andShame.[37] At the1968 National Society of Film Critics Awards, Ullmann was namedBest Actress for both films and Bergman wonBest Director for both films.[37]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 92% of 26 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.73/10. The website's consensus reads: "Ingmar Bergman makes a successful foray into horror withHour of the Wolf, infusing the demons that spring from creativity with his trademark psychological curiosity."[80] In 1992, criticJames Monaco ratedHour of the Wolf three out of five, dubbing it a "fine acting exercise".[81]The New Yorker recalled it in 1999 as "probably the darkest of Ingmar Bergman’s journeys into his shadowy interior", mentioning the "ferocity" of the scene where Johan murders a boy.[82] In 2000Kim Newman ofEmpire Online praisedHour of the Wolf as "one of the most sinisterly beautiful black-and-white horror films you will ever see".[7]Time Out London called it "a brilliant gothic fantasy".[83]
In theBritish Film Institute's 2012Sight & Sound polls,Hour of the Wolf received three critics' votes and 11 directors' votes, placing it at 44th in the latter poll.[84] In his2014 Movie Guide,Leonard Maltin rated the film three out of four, calling it "lesser Bergman" but with "first-rate" performances.[85]Hour of the Wolf is listed in the film reference book1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, which cited references to the work of E. T. A. Hoffmann.[86]IndieWire also named it in 2015 as one of the 15 greatest Bergman films, calling it "not wholly successful" but citing the wall-walking scene (comparing it to the work ofDavid Lynch) and the scene in which Johan murders the boy.[87] Glenn Kenny citedHour of the Wolf and Bergman's 1963The Silence as "mesmerizing nightmares" inThe New York Times in 2018.[88] Don Druker wrote a negative review forChicago Reader, assessing it as "outlandish" and "a magnificent failure".[89] In 2021, The film was ranked at No. 43 byTime Out on their list of "The 100 best horror movies".[90]
Andrei Tarkovsky considered it a masterpiece and named it one of the 77 greatest works of cinema.
Bergman later made the filmsShame (1968) andThe Passion of Anna (1969). Author Jerry Vermilye wrote that in exploring "the thread of violence intruding on ordinary lives,"Hour of the Wolf,Shame andThe Passion of Anna represent a trilogy.[91] Author Amir Cohen-Shalev concurs;[92] the three films are sometimes called the "Fårö trilogy".[93]
WBAI's longest-running radio program takes its name from the film. The "Hour of the Wolf" radio show has run continuously since 1972 and concentrates on the literature of science fiction and fantasy.[94] A stage adaptation of the film also played at theRoyal Dramatic Theatre in 2011, directed by Malin Stenberg.[95]
David Cronenberg citedHour of the Wolf as one of the inspirations behind his filmThe Fly.[96]