La Honte / Skammen
by Ingmar Bergman
(Fiction, Sweden, 1968, 103’, BW, Fr ST)
with Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Sigge Fürst
Eva and Jan, two ex-musicians, lead a modest life on an island, oblivious to the sounds of a war that for them has existed forever, in the distance. But one day that war arrives on their doorstep, and they can no longer pretend that it is no concern of theirs…
“Shame (1968) depicts a couple of musicians who never play any music. God is silent and the earth is hell; war transforms the world into chaos. Bergman was reproached with denouncing an abstract conflict, with no ideological debate, but that is what guarantees this dazzling film’s relevance today.” N.T.Binh
“Underestimated on its release, Shame with Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow embodies the atrocity of war, already fearsome in Winter Light, or perceived out the windows of the train in The Silence. Here it “disturbs” a couple of artists, who do not have the possibility, like Elisabet in Persona, to take refuge in silence when confronted by the horrors of this world.” N.T.Binh, Ingmar Bergman, le magicien du Nord