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Thirst

1949 1h 18m Drama List
100% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 52% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
On a train after a vacation in Italy, a man (Birger Malmsten) and his wife (Eva Henning) express their dislike for each other.
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Thirst

Critics Reviews

View All (6) Critics Reviews
Trevor Johnston Time Out On balance, his strongest offering of the 1940s. Jul 23, 2013 Full Review Vincent Canby New York Times It's full of intimations of films to come, especially those about marriage after the initial excitement of sexual love has given way to boredom, followed by fear that this is all there is. Rated: 4/5 Jul 23, 2013 Full Review Tim Brayton Alternate Ending The film ends up overcoming its messy, inconclusive structure to still have something interesting to say. Rated: 3/5 Jun 24, 2020 Full Review Fernando F. Croce CinePassion One of the more interesting entries in Ingmar Bergman's groping-around gestation period. Jul 23, 2013 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Great films are just around the corner for Bergman. Rated: B Aug 12, 2007 Full Review Jon Fortgang Film4 Despite heavy subject matter this is an ambitious and worthwhile attempt to get under the skin of its characters, full of striking images and played with great power by Henning and Malmsten. Jul 30, 2007 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (39) audience reviews
Audience Member Belo roteiro sobre relacionamentos e traumas, ainda que novamente tenha falhas na montagem. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member An oddity for Bergman as it wasn't written by him, it nevertheless shows a modern feminist bent in involving both lesbian relationships and illegal abortions. Interesting to compare this with the later Smiles of a Summer Night, a much more polished and finer realized glimpse at three relationships. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member An oddity for Bergman as it wasn't written by him, it nevertheless shows a modern feminist bent in involving both lesbian relationships and illegal abortions. Interesting to compare this with the later Smiles of a Summer Night, a much more polished and finer realized glimpse at three relationships. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member I suppose the film was pretty different in 40s touching topics like abortion, suicide, lesbian as well as emotional and personal depth of the character. As a whole, it had good dialogs, interesting relationship drama. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review walter m In "Thirst," Rut(Eva Henning), a dancer, loves Raoul(Bengt Eklund). She is heartbroken when he tells her he is married with children. Even worse, is when the Mrs.(Gaby Stenberg) shows up at their apartment unannounced. At least, her next relationship works out better, as she gets married to Bertil(Birger Malmsten), an assistant lecturer. So while they talk about their finances on their honeymoon, she also relives the torment of a botched abortion that has left her sterile. Three years into his directing career, this is more like the Ingmar Bergman we are very familiar with. Sure, a lot of "Thirst" is pure melodrama but there is also a lot of metaphysics included here in this depiction of a radiply changing post-war Sweden. In fact, this seems positively provocative not only for then(what with one character being a lesbian and all) but maybe even a little for today, framed around not condemning Rut for having an abortion and ending with a conversation involving a minister who seeks to reform the notion of marriage, with the chauvinistic Raoul being the villain of the piece. While there is one great scene involving a crowd outside of a train, the editing leaves something to be desired as the scenes involving Viola(Birgit Tengroth), Bertil's ex who might have endocrinitis, no elephantitis, no wait, encephalitis, feel like a different movie entirely. And either all of the characters are from the same social circle or Sweden has a really small population. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member the film starts a bit slow and meanders through the first half, but when it picks up it becomes a very interesting character study involving such difficult topics as suicide and abortion. bergman flexes his visual style in new ways in this film. overall very interesting. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Thirst

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis On a train after a vacation in Italy, a man (Birger Malmsten) and his wife (Eva Henning) express their dislike for each other.
Director
Ingmar Bergman
Producer
Helge Hagerman
Screenwriter
Herbert Grevenius
Production Co
Svensk Filmindustri
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Swedish
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 20, 2018
Runtime
1h 18m
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