Thirst in Santa Fe
This week, as part of its annual series the Auteurs, the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is screening Ingmar Bergman’s 1949 film Thirst. Like many of the Swedish master’s early works, this rarely shown character study offers a glimpse at the themes of memory and psychological turmoil that would come to haunt his later masterpieces. Thirst is an intricately woven, elliptical drama that depicts a disintegrating marriage against the backdrop of war-torn Europe. As Rut (Eva Henning) and Bertil (frequent Bergman player Birger Malmsten) journey back to Stockholm after a holiday in Italy, painful memories ignite tensions between them.
Viewers in Santa Fe can see the film on 35 mm this Saturday night, with an introduction by James Robinson, artistic director of Opera Colorado. In the meantime, revisit the liner notes for our Eclipse Series 1: Early Bergman.
