Johan Borg (Max von Sydow), a painter, has retreated to a remote island with his pregnant wife, Alma (Liv Ullmann), hoping to restore his mental stability and their strained relationship. Johan, however, becomes increasingly disturbed, and is assailed by grotesque hallucinations and repressed memories, especially of an affair with a woman named Veronica Vogler. The ‘hour of the wolf,’ the time between night and dawn when the mind is most vulnerable, becomes the setting for Johan’s confrontation with his inner demons. This startling psychological horror is charged with a singularly nightmarish quality unique in the Bergman canon.

Notes by David O’Mahony.

This film screens as part of BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL: THE FILMS OF INGMAR BERGMAN.

See the full collection of films on IFI@Home, launching February 1st.