| Hour of the Wolf | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ingmar Bergman |
| Written by | Ingmar Bergman |
| Starring | Max von Sydow Liv Ullmann Gertrud Fridh Georg Rydeberg Erland Josephson Ingrid Thulin |
| Cinematography | Sven Nykvist |
| Editing by | Ulla Ryghe |
| Studio | Svensk Filmindustri |
| Distributed by | United Artists (USA,theatrical), MGM (DVD) |
| Release date(s) | 19 February 1968 (Sweden) |
| Running time | 90 min. |
| Country | Sweden |
| Language | Swedish |
Hour of the Wolf (Swedish: Vargtimmen) is a 1968 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann. It combines elements of the film drama, surrealist film and horror film.
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During the opening credits, Bergman can be overheard giving instructions to and discussing with his staff while preparing a shot.
The film is framed through the account of Alma (Liv Ullman), who addresses the audience directly while sitting at a picnic table. She tells of her husband's disappearance, which is explored in a flashback constructed of his diaries and her words.
Johan Borg (von Sydow) is a painter who is regularly approached by odd and suspicious people. He confides to his young, pregnant wife Alma (Ullman) that he believes them to be demons, and that his insomnia is growing worse. On the nights when Johan can't sleep, Alma stays awake by his side through the nights, especially during the vargtimmen ("The Hour of the Wolf"), during which, Johan says, most births and deaths occur. Johan begins to give names to the figures who approach him, including the Bird-Man, the Insects, the Meat-Eaters, the Schoolmaster (with pointers in his trousers), and The Lady With a Hat. Throughout the film, Alma expresses her belief that two people who love each other, and spend their lives with each other, will eventually become alike. (See Persona.)
It is implied to the audience that these figures represent Johan's shames, traumas, and vices. Johan's wife talks about wanting to grow old with him, and that night, a 76-year-old woman approaches him, taunting him about age. In one scene, he recounts to his wife meeting a small boy tanning himself on a rock. As the boy approached Johan, he "realized" it was a demon representing homosexuality (and sexual experimentation in his youth), and violently smashed the child's face against a stone before tossing him into the ocean to drown. Alma reacts to the story with shock, and sinks into despair. Johan tries to persuade her to leave so he might kill himself, but the couple are approached by a baron, von Merkens (Josephson), who lives in a nearby castle. The painter and his wife visit them and their surreal household: a castle, where Johan's ex-girlfriend Veronica lies waiting on a table. A man dresses Johan in make-up and women's clothing in preparation for a sexual encounter with her only for the baron's guests to laugh and mock him as they meet.
Johan panics, and flees into underbrush. In the last act of the film, Alma searches the forest for her husband, only to find his mangled body. In the final moments, she addresses the camera, "Is it true that a woman who lives a long time with a man eventually winds up being like that man? I mean, she loves him, and tries to think like him, and see like him? They say it can change a person. I mean to say, if I had loved him much less, and not bothered so of everything about him, could I have protected him better?", believing that her love of Johan spread his demons to her, so that she could not protect him.
Hour of the Wolf originated from a manuscript with the working title "The Cannibals". Bergman began work on it in the spring of 1965, during which time he suffered a minor nervous breakdown. In the end, the manuscript resulted in not one but two films, Persona and Hour of the Wolf. Together with the former work, Hour of the Wolf is probably one of Bergman's most personal films, though almost all of his films have autobiographical elements. The opening and final scenes are filmed as if it were a true story about an artist who has disappeared, based on interviews with his wife and on his diaries. Bergman confirmed that he felt the story being too personal and tried to create an artistical distance by including scenes of the shooting process and discussions with the actors. Except for the credits and the opening and final shot, Bergman removed these inserts prior to release.[1] In The Passion of Anna, Bergman again made use of this technique.
In America MGM released Hour of the Wolf as a special edition but in the UK it has been released without even a trailer as a special feature. In both countries they have been released in a box set with Shame (film), The Passion of Anna, The Serpent's Egg and in the American release Persona (film) and a bonus disc.
Hour of the Wolf was satirized in a 1978 SCTV skit (12/2/78) as 'Whispers of the Wolf', with Andrea Martin and Catherine O'Hara as two sisters who meet in a hotel. Both of them are frightened of the 'hour of the wolf' as they talk about their personal lives.
"Hot Here Under the Roof" is a 2010 pop/rock song by The Sour Notes that is themed and titled after the film.
American band Earth took the name of their two-part song "A Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge" on the album Extra-Capsular Extraction from a line spoken in the film.
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