The Touch (1971 film)
| The Touch | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Directed by | Ingmar Bergman |
| Produced by |
Lars-Owe Carlberg Ingmar Bergman |
| Written by | Ingmar Bergman |
| Starring |
Elliott Gould Bibi Andersson Max von Sydow Sheila Reid |
| Cinematography | Sven Nykvist |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
106 minutes |
| Country | Sweden |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,200,000 |
| Box office | $1,135,000 |
The Touch (Swedish: Beröringen) is a 1971 drama film directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Elliott Gould, and Sheila Reid. The film tells the story of an affair between a married woman and an impetuous foreigner. The film contains references to the Virgin Mary and Nazi concentration camps.
Produced and distributed by ABC Motion Pictures, it was Bergman's first English language film, but shot on the island of Gotland in Sweden. It received mixed to negative reviews and was a box office bomb.
In a village, Karin Vergerus, married to a man named Andreas with children, visits a hospital where her mother has died. She reacts with sorrow, and is seen by a man named David Kovac, an archaeologist from a foreign country. David visits the couple, and tells them about his work, including the discovery of a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary. The fact that the statue was brought to the remote village and hidden in a church from the Middle Ages in considered puzzling. He also tells Karin that he fell in love with her the day he saw her at the hospital.
Karin visits David in his home, and after drinking sherry, Karin agrees to have sex with David. She tells him this is her first affair and that she is uncertain if she is in love with him, but it is significant for her. As the affair continues, David becomes overbearing and angry. When she shows up to his home under the influence of alcohol, and having failed to quit smoking as they agreed, he slaps her. He shares his family history with her, telling her many of his relatives were murdered in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.
...
Wikipedia