An idealistic adolescent, suffering under the thumb of a sadistic schoolmaster, falls in love with a loose girl who is bullied and tormented by another lover.
On January 16, 1943, Ingmar Bergman had been appointed by the Svensk Filmindustri (SF) as an "assistant director and screenwriter" on a one-year initial contract. Bergman, who suffered illness and was hospitalized during the winter of 1942–43, wrote the screenplay for Torment, for which SF acquired the rights in July 1943. Bergman also worked on the film as assistant director under Alf Sjöberg.
This film really exists today as an example of early Bergman and little more. Sjoberg is not very well known outside of Sweden, and the film (while good) would have faded away if Criterion had not made it part of the Bergman collection. How much we can see of his directing I don't know, but the writing can clearly be analyzed for signs of things to come.
On January 16, 1943, Ingmar Bergman had been appointed by the Svensk Filmindustri (SF) as an "assistant director and screenwriter" on a one-year initial contract. Bergman, who suffered illness and was hospitalized during the winter of 1942–43, wrote the screenplay for Torment, for which SF acquired the rights in July 1943. Bergman also worked on the film as assistant director under Alf Sjöberg.
This film really exists today as an example of early Bergman and little more. Sjoberg is not very well known outside of Sweden, and the film (while good) would have faded away if Criterion had not made it part of the Bergman collection. How much we can see of his directing I don't know, but the writing can clearly be analyzed for signs of things to come.