I was tempted to think of this movie as a wash until I read the fantastically detailed review of it on this site (Darragh O' Donoghue). However, I still think that Sjoberg lost much of the detail and nuance in Bergman's script. His bold touches are occasionally enjoyable, like the Caligari/Nosferatu shadow at one point. It seems that Bergman was trying to draw a inference about the darkness in Widgren drawing him to the same place and person as the darkness in Stig Jarrel's teacher "Caligula." Unfortunately Widgren was cast blandly, directed blandly and played blandly. While Bergman is ready to go straight to the bottom and stay there where the real meat is, Sjoberg skims the surface. One example of this is the film's treatment of the headmaster: while in the screenplay he seems to be written as a coward who in a supremely ironic graduation scene (played obliviously straight by Sjoberg) talks about the virtues of an institution that he has just shown has no particular virtue or integrity, but rather that it is a den of impotence and hypocrisy. His ineffectual "you'll look back and laugh some day" should earn him contempt and a smack in the face. The worst offense is the ending, completely unearned, where despite the fact that things have come out in the worst possible way and "Caligula" is free to go on slinging the hets around, Widgren looks out into the future with his perfect hair blowing in the breeze.
The only character that really feels like he's out of a Bergman script, albeit an early one, is "Sandman," played by a future Bergman regular. If you look carefully you can see Gunnar Bjornstrand near the beginning. Mai Zetterling brings the most to her drunk scenes; her blank stare really makes you feel like her soul is dying. Unfortunately most of her character is just a plot device.
This just goes to show how singular Bergman is: instead of going deep into the stew Sjoberg tried to spice it up with bold but out-of-place choices and make the lead character sympathetic and boring instead of taking the chance of losing the audience's sympathy the way Bergman would again and again.
The only character that really feels like he's out of a Bergman script, albeit an early one, is "Sandman," played by a future Bergman regular. If you look carefully you can see Gunnar Bjornstrand near the beginning. Mai Zetterling brings the most to her drunk scenes; her blank stare really makes you feel like her soul is dying. Unfortunately most of her character is just a plot device.
This just goes to show how singular Bergman is: instead of going deep into the stew Sjoberg tried to spice it up with bold but out-of-place choices and make the lead character sympathetic and boring instead of taking the chance of losing the audience's sympathy the way Bergman would again and again.