Shame

Ingmar Bergman's Shame (1968) examines the internal strife that plagues love and the human spirit in times of war. The Rosenbergs are a typical Gotland, Swedish bourgeois couple, desensitized to the war and manipulated by both sides, who ultimately prey on each other when neither can weather the conflict emotionally any more. As a result, Bergman intimates that while families often heroically maintain optimism in war's beginning, eventually ignorance and the herd mentality silence that hope, so that life becomes merely a concept of survival as morality disappears.

Bergman begins by studying the psychological trauma of war in Jan Rosenberg (Max von Sydow), a musician who now lives by selling plants and vegetables. Jan is distanced, sluggish, and prone to breaking down in emotional spells. Jan’s wife, Eva (Liv Ullman), however, works to keep their marriage, and themselves, alive by continually pushing her husband and verbally berating him. She exploits him and manipulates his weakness so that they may both know continued existence. Despite their pathologies, both Jan and Eva display an interminable affection for each other, clinging to the other in their time of need.

However, late in the film, Jan's lack of strength leads Eva to seek a sexual suitor, Col. Jacobi (Gunnar Björnstrand), who pardons them of any political wrongdoing. When this suitor, though, is set to be shot because of conflicting stories about his finances, Jan pockets the money and permanently silences his sexual adversary, despite Eva's pleadings. This newfound vigor to survive tears asunder Jan and Eva's relationship, but they manage to distance themselves from Col. Jacobi, and escape the island.

Late in the film, Eva notes that "I feel like I'm in someone else's dream and they're going to be ashamed when they wake up," which stands as testament to Bergman's critique of war itself. Few films are as psychologically acute in a couple's pathological and immoral struggle to survive, no matter the adversity. A wonderful work.

Shame: 9.5/10