Torment

Winner of the Grand Prix at the first-ever Cannes Film Festival and the film for which Ingmar Bergman wrote his first screenplay. Directed by Alf Sjöberg (interestingly, the final scene contains the very first images shot by Bergman himself, who worked as Sjöberg’s assistant), Torment tells a story of passion and crime. Beneath its romantic plotline, however, lies a much deeper theme – the oppressive nature of totalitarian institutions, the abuse of power, and a reckoning with the older generation. The then 19-year-old Mai Zetterling plays a working-class girl caught in a twisted relationship with a mysterious older man, from whom she seeks refuge in the arms of a much younger boy. Jan-Erik, the young boy, also has his own tormentor – a Latin teacher nicknamed Caligula. In this film, Ingmar Bergman took revenge on the school he loathed, turning Torment into a career breakthrough for both himself and Mai Zetterling, who was just taking her first steps as an actress.

Małgorzata Sadowska

Alf Sjöberg (1903–1980) was a Swedish theater and film director. He gained recognition for his adaptations of classic literary works, including Miss Julie (1951), which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. His films were known for their deep psychological analysis of characters and innovative formal techniques.