SUBJECTS

Actors and actresses -- Sweden -- Drama, Censorship -- Drama, Mime -- Drama, Trials (Obscenity) -- Drama

The Rite

(Riten)
(The Ritual)

featuring

Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Anders Ek, Erik Hell,

The Rite is one of Bergman’s most stylized and political films. A Kafkaesque chamber drama originally written for the stage, this production was made for TV so that Bergman and his crew could utilize extensive closeups of the performers’ faces against minimalist set decor. Three itinerant actors, played by Bergman regulars Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, and Anders Ek, are accused of taking part in a performance deemed pornographic by the state’s authorities. Taut, bold, and dark, The Rite confronts artistic censorship while also investigating central Bergman themes such as sexual violence and the nature of performance.

FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Ingmar Bergman
Cinematographer
  • Sven Nykvist
Language
  • Swedish
  • with English subtitles
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 35mm
  • 72 mins
Source
  • Janus Films
CINEFILES

CineFiles is an online database of BAMPFA's extensive collection of documentation covering world cinema, past and present.

View The Rite documents  

Ingmar Bergman's magic lantern: life as art in retrospect (program note), Hopkins Center of Dartmouth College, Ulrike Rainer, 1988

The ritual (program note), Facets Multimedia, 1983

The films of Ingmar Bergman (program note), New School for Social Research (New York, N.Y.), Jim Monaco, 1973

The ritual (distributor materials), Janus Films, 1973

Riten (program note), New York Film Festival, 1969

The rite (review), Saturday Review, Roland Gelatt, 1969

Ritorna (review), Variety, 1969

The ritual (distributor materials), Janus Films

The ritual (review), Playboy, Bruce Williamson

The ritual (synopsis)

Displaying 10 of 10 publicly available documents.


View all The Rite documentation on CineFiles.