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      The Atonement of Gosta Berling

      1924 1h 6m Drama List
      Reviews 75% Audience Score 500+ Ratings In Sweden, priest Gösta Berling (Lars Hanson) is defrocked and publicly humiliated due to his fondness for drink. Gösta is soon hired by a countess to tutor her daughter, in hopes that he will eventually marry the girl and leave the family estate to the preferred, if foolish, son Henrik. When Henrik returns home from Italy with his young wife, Elisabeth (Greta Garbo), she falls for the former priest -- who then flees to a neighboring mansion to join a group known as the Knights of Ekeby. Read More Read Less

      Critics Reviews

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      Dan Callahan Slant Magazine Stiller's direction is only adequate most of the time, and there are a lot of mismatched eyelines and shots that feel off-balance and uncertain. Rated: 2.5/4 Jun 2, 2006 Full Review Fernando F. Croce CinePassion There are cyclones amid the sprawling stolidity Sep 25, 2009 Full Review Donald J. Levit ReelTalk Movie Reviews It is the females who come off as the stronger sex here, but the applause at the end is director Mauritz Stiller's. Sep 23, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Steve D The version I saw was far too long and the story all over the place. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/20/24 Full Review Audience Member Far too long but with some impressive set pieces. Early Garbo before Stiller and then MGM took her under their wing and molded her. She's about 15 pounds heavier than usual which obscures those signature cheekbones and her hair and make-up are awful but the spark is definitely there. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Everybody atones for something in this (long) Swedish silent classic. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Fully fleshed-out characters undergoing complex emotional struggles, with a sense of genuine human insight. Even the minor characters are nuanced, not a moustache-twirling villain in sight. The leads Lars Hanson and Greta Garbo are both wonderful (I can see why people developed a fascination with Garbo) and every supporting performance is good, too. Sets, costumes and cinematography are beautiful without being overly ostentatious. There are fantastic sequences involving a massive estate fire and being chased by wolves across a frozen lake. The story -- about the misfortunes of a defrocked vicar and those he encounters -- is a rich, Dickensian melodrama with a great deal of depth and no heavy-handed moralizing. Really a treat, the kind of silent movie that even people who don't like silent movies can enjoy. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Some interesting scenes (the chase, the fire) but the plot drags in this epic Swedish silent film. Worth seeing mainly to catch a glimpse of Garbo before she hit the big time in Hollywood. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member One of the pillars of early silent Swedish cinema, this 3-hour romantic epic from famed actor and director Mauritz Stiller and based on the novel by Selma Lagerlöf is perhaps most famous for providing a breakthrough role for future screen legend Greta Garbo, younger and plumper than the icon known to us today. Gosta Berling, intensely played by Lars Hanson, is a young minister who is given to bouts of drinking and is eventually defrocked and taken in by an aristocratic matriarch. Many scenes are highly stylized and retain a creaky stodginess, but others are exceptionally captivating and action-driven, especially those that make use of the pristine Swedish wilderness (chief among these, a dynamic sled chase with Hanson and Garbo pursued by ravenous wolves). Stiller would end up in Hollywood along with Garbo, but sadly, his career did not reach the same heights before he died at the age of 45. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

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      The Atonement of Gosta Berling

      The Atonement of Gosta Berling (1924) The Atonement of Gosta Berling (1924) The Atonement of Gosta Berling (1924) The Atonement of Gosta Berling (1924) View more photos

      Movie Info

      Synopsis In Sweden, priest Gösta Berling (Lars Hanson) is defrocked and publicly humiliated due to his fondness for drink. Gösta is soon hired by a countess to tutor her daughter, in hopes that he will eventually marry the girl and leave the family estate to the preferred, if foolish, son Henrik. When Henrik returns home from Italy with his young wife, Elisabeth (Greta Garbo), she falls for the former priest -- who then flees to a neighboring mansion to join a group known as the Knights of Ekeby.
      Director
      Mauritz Stiller
      Screenwriter
      Mauritz Stiller, Ragnar Hylten-Cavallius
      Production Co
      Svensk Filmindustri
      Genre
      Drama
      Runtime
      1h 6m