Ingrid Bergman's first film role: a priest's lightning-strike amnesia can't erase his sins.
Daniel has been forced by his father to become a priest. After graduating, he comes to a parish in Hälsingland. During one stormy night, he seduces a young girl, Karin, and rapes her. Filled with regret, he runs out into the dark night and is struck by lightning. He loses his memory and is taken to a distant hospital to recover. Meanwhile Karin gets pregnant and has a child. Eventually Daniel comes back and when he meets Karin his memory returns.
Acting
Bergman's screen presence already magnetic at seventeen.
Cinematography
Expressionist shadows and actual storm sequences.
Director
Ivar Johansson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Ingrid Bergman's first credited film role at age 17; she was paid 500 kronor and later called it 'terrible.'
Part of Sweden's 1930s 'fallen woman' cycle, where rural settings heightened sexual danger—think Bergman as proto-Dreyer heroine before Hollywood polished her.
SE
