Der Ritus (TV Movie 1969)

Der Ritus: Directed by Ingmar Bergman. With Ingrid Thulin, Anders Ek, Gunnar Björnstrand, Erik Hell. A theatre troupe is called to court because of obscene performance material and an interrogation ensues, which causes them to expose their neuroses and inner psychological torments.

“Iu0026#39;m one of those: Ingmar Bergman is a true artist, a great filmmaker whou0026#39;s connection with the brightness and deepest darkness of human nature, of faults with religion, with close relationships, horrors of the mind, dreams, was so strong that itu0026#39;s hard to believe that he made so much and didnu0026#39;t succumb sooner to his most dogged troubles- death. In the case of the Rite, itu0026#39;s basically an experiment. He has ten scenes, four actors (not counting himself in an uproarious cameo appearance/in-joke on the Seventh Seal as a priest), and a lot of sado-masochistic psychology to work with. There arenu0026#39;t quite as many monologues as in Persona, and not the same depth of a relationship ala Scenes From a Marriage. But for the most part, the Rite works well as another exploration of Bergmanu0026#39;s into the frayed mindset of actors, the discombobulated circumstances they get themselves into personally that mucks them up in the real world. Only the theater is their strange refuge, might be the message here, if there is one.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOne thingu0026#39;s for certain, among the many performances that Bergman stock-company members Bjornstrand and Thullin have given in past films (Winter Light maybe their best pairing), the Rite provides them some of their best work. It might be almost too easy considering the material- a married couple that is completely miserable, full of the kind of bile that is found in the worst boils- and brought to a more succinct point by the actor Anders Ek (who has also been in a couple other Bergman flicks, notably Seventh Seal as the Monk), who might be the most exhaustedly p-ou0026#39;d actor oneu0026#39;s ever seen. Theyu0026#39;re all on trial for some Kafkaesque reason by a judge (Erik Hell) who is making their nerves totally on edge with his insistence on all the u0026#39;factsu0026#39; coming in. The scenes particularly with him and Thulin are explosive, and even shocking to a point, where as before thereu0026#39;s been subtlety and insinuation.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs it stands, approximately 9/10ths of The Rite is close to vintage Bergman as one could hope for, coming out of a period in the 60s where he plunged into a deconstructionist approach that found him working at full-steam (Persona, Shame, and Hour of the Wolf are some of the most daring u0026#39;art-houseu0026#39; films ever conceived and executed), and considering this as just an exercise is nothing to sneeze at…That being said, there is that final scene in the office I canu0026#39;t get out of my head, and unlike other times with Bergman Iu0026#39;m not sure itu0026#39;s such a good thing. Itu0026#39;s a turning-the-tables scene where the actors come in costumes and masks ala Eyes Wide Shut and freak the f*** out of the judge, and Hell (no pun intended) goes into a rant about how wrong he was and how he sees that heu0026#39;s just a lawyer who didnu0026#39;t want to do this and that and so on. And it just doesnu0026#39;t feel the same as the rest of the material in the film, an u0026#39;offu0026#39; quality, despite (or in spite) of the fact that on its own itu0026#39;s a truly outrageous thing to see: the costumes are sado-masochism incarnate, with a certain appendage that is ridiculous, and a bowl of wine that is obvious symbolically.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMaybe someday if I re-watch the Rite Iu0026#39;ll come to admire or find something else about the scene that works better, but for now itu0026#39;s the only thing that is really a bugger about what is otherwise an exemplary work of cinematic theater. If you can find it somewhere in your local video store (emphasis on u0026#39;videou0026#39;, itu0026#39;s not available on DVD), and are already head-deep in the master of Scandinavian motion pictures, itu0026#39;s worth it.”