Film Forum

Sweden, 1948
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Zetterling, Birger Malmsten, Olof Winnerstrand, Naima Wifstrand
DCP. Approx. 87 min.

Blinded during his military service, talented young pianist Birger Malmsten develops a relationship with lower-class Mai Zetterling, a servant in his parents’ home. Bergman’s first commercial success after three flops – with Ingmar cameoing as a passenger on the honeymoon train.

Reviews

“Now and again, sequences flare into life, among them the surreal dream where the hero sees himself dragged into a swamp by disembodied hands, the touchingly understated material shot at the blind school, and Malmsten's proud moment when he's slapped by a romantic rival - at last treated as an equal, not an invalid.”
– Time Out