Port city (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Port city |
| Original title | Hamnstad |
| Country of production | Sweden |
| original language |
Swedish German |
| Publishing year | 1948 |
| length | 99 (85) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ingmar Bergman |
| script | Ingmar Bergman Olle Länsberg |
| production | Harald Molander |
| music | Karl-Birger Blomdahl |
| camera | Gunnar Fischer |
| cut | Oscar Rosander |
| occupation | |
| |
Harbor City (Original title: Hamnstad ) is in black and white twisted Swedish film drama by Ingmar Bergman from the year 1948 .
action
After eight years at sea, the sailor Gösta decides to give up his job and goes ashore in Gothenburg . Shortly after docking, he witnesses how a girl who tried to drown herself in the harbor basin is rescued. Soon afterwards, in a dance hall, he meets Berit again, the young woman who tried to commit suicide. After spending the night together in their parents' apartment, they arrange to meet again. Then there is an argument between Berit and her mother, who threatens to send her back to the reform home. Berit's mother notifies the social worker Ms. Vilander, who visits Berit at her workplace in a factory. Her brother, engineer Vilander, is committed to giving Berit a chance.
Gösta and Berit rent a hotel for a weekend to have time for themselves. Berit confesses that she is afraid to get involved in a relationship after repeated disappointments. In the hotel she meets Gertrud, whom she knows from her time in the reform home. Berit decides to enlighten Gösta about her past: In order to escape her parental home, which was marked by arguments, she ran away with the young Thomas, whereupon her mother handed her over to the care of the youth welfare office. Upon her return, she repeatedly engaged in relationships; the last ended so miserably that she attempted suicide. Gösta is disappointed with her way of life.
When complications arise after Gertrud's illegal abortion, Berit desperately asks Gösta for help. By the time they decide to call the ambulance, it will be too late; Gertrud dies as a result of the surgery. When questioned, Berit refuses to reveal who performed the abortion. The women who make secret abortions possible are often the only hope for girls like Gertrud and she, says Berit. Only when she is threatened with imprisonment does she reveal the name.
Gösta wants to end the relationship with Berit, but realizes that he loves her. In order to escape the constant surveillance by the authorities, he and Berit negotiate with a captain who should take them out of the country. At the last moment they decide against fleeing: together, they are convinced, they will defy all difficulties.
background
Production and film launch
In 1948 the production company Svensk Filmindustri acquired Olle Länsberg's manuscript Guldet och murarna ( Eng . "Gold and Walls") and, after revising the material, offered Bergman to direct the film. Hafenstadt was created in Gothenburg, Hindås and in the film studios in Filmstaden near Stockholm between May and July 1948. In Sweden, the film opened on October 4, 1948, in Germany on November 16, 1951.
Position in Bergman's work
Hafenstadt was the first collaboration between Bergman and cameraman Gunnar Fischer , which, with a few exceptions, lasted until Das Teufelsauge (1960). Erik Hell and Stig Olin, who should be seen regularly in Bergman's later films, can be seen in small roles .
Some scenes of the film were shot in the port of Gothenburg and show the daily work of the workers there. Bergman biographer Hauke Lange-Fuchs regarded Hafenstadt as an exception in Bergman's work because of its realistic style. The director himself described neorealism and especially Roberto Rossellini as an important influence on his film, and as its fault the indecision between studio-bound indoor and semi-documentary outdoor shots.
Reviews
The criticism in Sweden was mixed. While Aftonbladet and Stockholms-Tidningen expressed their disappointment, Expressen wrote : “Those of us who believe the content should determine the form of a film will see Bergman's most mature film to date in 'Hafenstadt'. The work of a clever and capable director. "
The lexicon of international films wrote: “The fate of girls in an educational institution in Gothenburg shows the impotent rebellion of young people against an uncomprehending, saturated adult world. The deeply pessimistic film is shot in a quasi-documentary style. At that time Ingmar Bergman [was] still looking for his own forms of expression. "
Web links
- Port city in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Article in Der Spiegel No. 29/1951 about Bergman's films Hafenstadt , Durst and An die Freude
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Hafenstadt on the website of the Ingmar Bergman Foundation , accessed on August 10, 2012.
- ^ A b Hafenstadt in the Lexicon of International Films .
- ^ Hauke Lange-Fuchs: Ingmar Bergman: His films - his life, Heyne, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-453-02622-5 , p. 60.
- ^ Stig Björkman, Torsten Manns, Jonas Sima: Bergman on Bergman, Fischer, Frankfurt 1987, ISBN 3-596-24478-1 , pp. 44-46.
- ^ Ingmar Bergman: Pictures, Kiepenheuer and Witsch, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-462-02133-8 , p. 128.