Summary:
The Virgin Spring
Directed
by Ingmar Bergman, 1960
ONE * * * * * * * * * *
1. Titles up. Flute and drum music. A dark-haired
young woman blows on the coals.
Suddenly the flames magically shoot up and the fire is lit. She hangs the heavy pot over the fire and
lifts the ridge pole to open the vent for the fire. She wears a coarse wool dress.
She stands under the open vent.
In the background a rooster crows.
The iron pot hangs from a wooden beam that is carved like a gargoyle at
the end. The table for the family is in
the background. The woman, Ingeri, is a
servant. She moves about the room as if
deep in thought. She goes to the pole
and wraps her arms around it. Cut to a
medium close-up. She looks up toward
the sky and voices a pagan prayer: "God Odin, come!" She repeats the prayer twice. She looks fearful. "I summon you to
service!"
2. Crucifix hung against a stone wall. The
Christ is gaunt, his flesh tight against his ribs. He wears a crown of thorns.
A man's voice: "God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and all his angel
host. . . " Camera moves down to reveal a middle aged couple kneeling in
prayer. ". . . keep us from the
devil's wiles. Let there befall us,
God, today, nor sin, nor shame, nor harm." Now we can see the crucifix is only about four feet high. The man stands up. The woman holds a candle over her forearm--the husband tries to
stop her, but she pushes him away.
"It is Friday, the day of our Lord's passion," she says. She tips the candle, and the man turns away
from her. The camera follows him as he
walks across the small room, turns, and looks back toward her. We can't see her in the frame, but we can
imagine the pain. He leaves, and the
camera moves back to show her standing up and staring at the scar on her wrist
(the wound she inflicted parallels the wounds Christ suffered by having nails
driven through his wrists). She makes the
sign of the cross.
3. Medium close-up of baby chicks held
within the apron of a kneeling woman, Frida, an older servant of the
household. "God's mercy, they will
be trampled to death," she says.
She drops them onto the floor of the kitchen, then holds up one and
coos, "There, poor mite, live--just as God lets us live." She turns to Ingeri. "Where have you
been all night?" Ingeri doesn't
answer. The old woman sits down at the
table and rubs her swollen legs.
"Leaving me to do the milking and traipse about with my poor
legs." Ingeri glares at her from
the fire. Reaction shot of Frida. She appears frightened. She crosses herself, then says, "What a
sight you look!" She asks Ingeri
if anything is the matter. "The
usual thing. Bastards get bastard
brats." "Serves you
right," says Frida. "You
should thank God for his mercy for giving you a home here, you heathen
foundling." Ingeri snickers at
this.
4. Ingeri goes to another room in the
building and strains the milk for the morning meal. The mother walks in carrying an armful of candles. The mother goes into the kitchen and confers
with the old servant, Frida, who is preparing bread for the breakfast. "You must to church with the virgin's
candles," she tells Frida.
"Isn't Karin taking them?" But the mother says her daughter, Karin, is ill. Ingeri can be seen in the background framed
in the doorway. Ingeri complains that
Karin is faking her illness. Back to
the mother: "She'll never follow
in your filthy footsteps. Cut to
Ingeri, who laughs.
5. Ingeri completes straining the
milk. Through the doorway behind her
enter a young male servant, and older male servant, and the father. No one speaks to Ingeri. She brings in the heavy wooden bowl of
milk. The camera frames the right half
of the large table in the communal building that contains the fireplace and
sleeping quarters for servants.
Everyone helps himself or herself to the gruel in the iron pot. Then the camera moves to frame the left side
of the table and the people on that side serve themselves. No one has spoken. When all have a bowl of food, all sit and the master prays. Note the chair he is sitting in. It is massive, and it has two large
decorative arms that jut upward from the back.
As he begins his prayer, note the large wooden carved beam that holds
the iron pot. The beam dominates the
upper part of the frame. Below it is
framed the entire table and the people sitting behind it.
The prayer finished, the people
begin to eat. The father asks about
Karin. Mother says she isn't well. "But she danced last night,"
Father says. The mother says Frida, the
servant, will take the candles to the church. "But the Virgin's candles
must be brought by a maid," the Father says. The mother complains, "You're always so strict with
Karin." But the father responds,
"You're always so weak."
"She's the only child I have left," the mother replies. She rubs her wrist, the site of the burn
from the candle wax. She worries about
a bad dream she had last night. Her husband reaches over and takes her
hand. "You mortify your flesh too
hard." He tells her to get Karin
up.
TWO * * * * * * * * * *
6. Ingeri walks across the farmyard. For the first time we see the exterior of
the farm. There are three buildings set
close together around a small yard.
Pigs and chickens forage in the yard.
Inside that building are food stores.
Ingeri takes off a cover from some loaves of bread to prepare food for
Karin's journey. 10:25 Suddenly she spots a large toad on the wood
floor of the building. She grabs it,
stands up, and seems to think evil thoughts appropriate to the toad's
reputation. She hollows out the centers
of two circular loaves of bread and sticks the toad between them: a toad
sandwich.
7. The mother stands over Karin, who is
lying flat on her back under a warm sheepskin cover. The mother feels the young woman's forehead. Karin is sleepy, and she reacts like a
spoiled child. She asks for breakfast
in bed. But mother reminds her that she
has to deliver the candles to church.
When mother insists she must go, Karin says if she can't wear her silk
dress she won't go. A close-up of Karin
shows her haughty attitude, a product of lots of self-indulgence and spoiling
by her parents. The mother leans over
her again: "Had I answered my parents in that tone, I'd have been whipped
and made to fast." Karin teases
her and says go ahead and punish me, then.
"You know I can't be strict with you," the mother muses. Note how she looks away from her daughter
and we see her profile. "One day
you'll put us to shame," she admonishes Karin. Her daughter instructs her to get out all of her fine
clothes. She teasingly touches her
finger to her mother's nose. "Then
I'll be glad." She touches her
finger to her mother's nose again.
"Then you'll be glad, then Father'll be glad!" She grasps her mother's arm and rhapsodizes
about how beautiful she will be on her journey to the church.
8. Her mother gets up and goes to the
chest across the room. When she holds
up the silk dress, Karin bounds out of her bed. "This is no ordinary dress," her mother says. "Fifteen maids stitched it." Karin looks on, adoring the beautiful
dress. Her mother places it over her
head, and Karin tries it on. Karin
stands on her tiptoes as if pretending she were at a beautiful ball. Her mother has her sit down so she can comb
her daughter's hair. The mother enjoys
combing her daughter's blonde hair
Meanwhile, Karin is lost in thought and admires her dress. Her mother teases her that if she gets her
way all of the time, then the devil will punish her. "You talk so much of the devil. Father never does," Karin tells her. Her mother leans down to her. "The devil is the seducer of
innocence. He strives to destroy all
good." But Karin isn't impressed. Her mother changes the subject. "Who
did you dance with last night?"
Karin begins to count on her fingers.
Her mother stops her. "I
had awful dreams last night." But
her mother won't talk about them. Karin
says, "How I long to dream--big, wonderful dreams. But I never do."
Her mother hands her more fine
clothes to complete her outfit. There
is pleasure in the mother's face as she helps her daughter dress. Her mother reminds her that an outfit like
this should only be worn on a Sunday. Karin
goes over to a cask of water. She leans
down. "You're in my light,"
she tells her mother. Her mother turns. "It's your father. He's angry."
9. Father enters the room. He goes over to Karin, who is prepared to
disarm her father, as she has done many times before. He faces her, and she looks up into his face and teases him
relentlessly. He loves every moment of
it. Note mother small, standing in the
background. Father and daughter flirt
shamelessly. Karin's arms are around
her father's neck. Suddenly he lifts
her off the ground and spins her around. The mother, small in the lower right
of the frame, watches in silence.
"I'll ride to the mountains with this wicked maid," the father
teases, "and say I don't want such a daughter." He sets her down, then turns to his wife as
if to say, "Well, what do you expect?
What can I do?" Suddenly
Karin takes him aside for a private moment.
"Let Ingeri come too. She
never gets out anywhere now."
10. The old servant, Frida, and an older male
servant sit on the stoop of one of the buildings and chat. She teases him about having to flee the
country. "Monk indeed," she says.
He tells her about seeing great churches made out of lime and
stone.
Here comes father, carrying Karin in
his arms so her dress won't get dirty with mud. Cut to Ingeri, who is pulling feathers from a dead chicken. She throws the bird down and stands up. Father hoists Karin onto her horse. Mother runs up with a cup of hot ale for
Karin. But Karin isn't interested. She tells mother Ingeri is coming with
her. Mother asks for a farewell kiss
from her daughter. But all Karin does
is wet her finger and press it against her mother's forehead. Mother walks away. But she looks back to her child.
Karin reaches out and kisses her father as he says, "The Lord
Christ bless your young life."
Then Karin and Ingeri leave the compound as a flute solo begins.
THREE * * * * * * * * * *
11. Great exterior ELS of the compound set
against the backdrop of miles of forests.
As they ride off, the older servant, who has followed them for a short
while sings a love song about a beautiful young maid in springtime. Then a slow montage of shots of Karin and
Ingeri traveling. Karin appears to be
singing the same song the older servant sang.
12. Rest stop. Karin asks if the child is paining Ingeri. But Ingeri says, "One day you'll know
how it is."
Karin: "Then I'll be mistress
of a house and married with honor."
Ingeri: "You'll forget about honor when a man starts fondling
you."
Karin: "No man will take me unless we're married."
Ingeri: "And if one tumbles you
from behind a bush?"
Karin: "I'll break loose."
Ingeri: As we cut to a shot of a man
who was working in a field nearby. "But he is
stronger."
The two women react to
his presence. Ingeri walks away to her
horse. Karin looks up at him
flirtatiously. The man reminds her that
last night (apparently he was one of the men who danced with her), she wanted
to please him. They tease each other
some more, and Karin sets out.
13. Karin catches up to Ingeri, who seems
quite upset. "I wanted him to find
a way out for you and the child," she tells Ingeri. Karin snaps back, "And he said if you
lay in the hay he'd help." Karin
moves forward and slaps Ingeri hard.
"But you danced with him," Ingeri cries. "I danced with all who gave me their
hand," Karin assures her. Then she
places her hand on Ingeri's arm. "Forgive me." But Ingeri pushes her away. "Don't ask my forgiveness. They resume their journey.
14. Close-up of a crow, cawing in reaction to
movement in the distance. Cut to a
close-up of a grizzled old man who is eyeing the sight. After the women dismount, the old man takes
Karin's horse and ties it to a tree across a small brook next to a wooden
cabin. Ingeri, afraid, runs to Karin
and cries, "Let's turn back!"
Karin tries to reassure her, but Ingeri claims, "The forest is so
black and I can't go on!" Karin
comforts her. The old man asks,
"Afraid of the forest?" Karin
gives Ingeri a loaf of bread and tells her to wait here. We see Ingeri in a close-up as she stares at
the old man. Reaction shot of the old
man, who asks, "Are you in labor?"
Karin shakes her head no.
"Worse than that."
From her point of view we see Karin heading into the forest. The old man invites her inside the cabin.
15. The interior of the cabin is dark and
gloomy. The old man, a fur cape draped
around him, enters. The old man speaks
in metaphors. He says he has no name,
and he says he hears what people say in whispers. Behind him water drips under the huge circular wooden gears. Apparently the old man uses the water from
the brook to power a small mill. The
old man advances toward Ingeri.
"You can hear for yourself."
Ingeri looks up, as if toward the heavens, and she hears what appears to
be the sound of the turning wheel of the gear.
"What thunders outside?"
she asks, a terrified look on her face.
Medium CU of old man: "Three dead men riding north."
Cut to MS of old man on left, moving
closer to Ingeri, as she retreats toward the end of the bench. Note the carved face on the end of the
bench. A pagan god? The shot is lit darkly. He pulls a small box toward him on the
table, opens the lid, and dumps out the contents. He holds up something, dried, circular. Ingeri watches, fascinated. "Here is a cure for your woes,"
the old man says. One of the objects is
a finger. Another is a dead bat. He reaches out to her. "Here is the power," he says. She leans over the objects on the
table. "You have sacrificed to the
god Odin!" Suddenly he grabs her
by the hair and pulls her head around to face him. "I recognized you at once on the road. I shall give you strength." Ingeri breaks free and runs out of the
mill. She tries to untie her horse, but
she gives up when she sees him and runs right past him. He smiles at her. She has fallen on the ground.
She gets up and runs away. Ingeri
runs through forests and bogs. Three
tracking shots follow her movement on foot.
FOUR * * * * * * * * * *
16. Karin alone on horseback. She rides by the bank of a river. Cut to a long shot of two men and a young
boy sitting on a hill. One of the men
is playing a mouth harp. A few goats
forage nearby. Another shot of
Karin. Then back to the two men and
boy. They have spotted Karin. Camera moves left to show the black-haired
man. He seems fascinated with the
sight. Cut to long ELS of the three. The latter man jumps up and runs toward the
camera. He crouches in a CU and then
looks back to the other man and signals.
The other two run forward as well.
Cut to Karin, in profile, sitting on her horse. Her eyes are closed. The sunlight falls on her and emphasizes her
light coloration. She is the picture of
beauty and innocence. Cut to the two
men and boy. They watch her, set in a
grouping of three. The man on the left
is balding and has big teeth.
[Hereafter: balding man] The man
in the center has greasy black hair, bad teeth, and can't talk. He growls his words. [Hereafter:
[Hereafter: black-haired man.]
They run to their goats and begin to move toward Karin. ELS shows them on a cliff. Camera sweeps down from them to Karin on the
low road. For the first time we see how
close they are to Karin.
17. Low angle tracking shot of Karin. She walks the horse, and she smiles,
enjoying every moment of the journey.
Here come the goat herders on the same road. The balding man plays his mouth harp again. Karin smiles at them and they stop. He shows her the device. She asks who they are. "Three brothers,
orphaned all too soon." The young
boy stands in front of the black-haired man.
The boy looks frightened. Karin
offers to share some of her food, but she insists that she must go on to the
church to deliver the candles. The
balding man has a gift for rhetoric. He
persuades Karin to stop with them and share her food.
18. Back to Ingeri, still making her way
through thick woods. Suddenly she stops
when she hears men's voices. She hides
behind a bank along a stream.
Karin divides the first loaf of
bread. The black-haired man sits on the
right. The balding man and boy sit to
the left.
The three goat herders
begin to eat ravenously. She stops
them, says a prayer. The black-haired
man growls out some sounds. The balding
man translates: "My brother wants to know where you live." She makes up a grand story, saying her
parents live in a castle, and her father wears silk on weekdays and a golden
helmet. Excited with her storytelling,
she adds that the three before her are "enchanted princes, and the goats
are really bears and wolves." The
men laugh uproariously. Cut to CU of
Ingeri watching the action.
19. Cut to medium CU of Karin. She looks to the right. The mood has changed. She seems frightened. She looks to the left. MS of the balding man and boy. Both have hateful looks on their faces. CU of black-haired man, who has been lying
down. He raises up his head and moves
face to face with Karin, who stays in the center of the frame. He looks down at her menacingly. He growls something. The balding man moves into the frame from
the left. "My brother says my lady
has such white hands." She
responds innocently: "Princesses have no menial tasks to do." Camera back slightly to frame all four
together. The black-haired man growls
again. "My brother says my lady
has such a white neck." The
balding man pushes the boy away. The
black-haired man moves around behind Karin.
Now both are facing her from the left.
Again she responds playfully, innocently. The black-haired man growls, the balding man chuckles. Now Karin is wary, afraid. When the balding
man makes another statement with a sexual innuendo,
MS from the boy's point of view, as
Karin reaches out another loaf to him.
She tries to change the mood this way.
The two men on the left of the frame stare at her menacingly. The boy takes the bread, but the
black-haired man takes her knife.
Medium CU of black-haired man from Karin's point of view. Karin takes one of the goats by the ears and
holds it toward her. "I recognize
this earmark," she says.
20. The three goat herders jump up and away
from Karin momentarily. The boy flings
the bread to the cloth on the ground.
The toad falls out.
Wide shot of the four.
CU of the toad.
Ingeri running up to a tree and
looking at the scene.
Karin, high angle. She looks up at the men.
Black-haired man, low angle.
CU of balding man. Both men look solemn, almost sad.
CU of boy, whose head is just behind
the body of the balding man.
MS of toad; camera up to show Karin
looking up at the men.
She jumps up and stands in front of
a fallen tree. "I'm on my way to
the church with the Virgin's candles."
Wide shot of the scene. She goes to her horse and tries to
escape. But the balding man cuts her
off. Now she is between the two men, who
stand on opposite sides of the fallen tree.
She moves toward the black-haired man, as if hoping to slip past
him. He raises his arm to the tree
trunk and bars her way.
She tries to slip under the branches
of the tree, but the men grab her. CU of Ingeri watching the scene. She grasps a rock between her hands.
CU of the boy watching the
scene.
21. The two men hold Karin down. The balding man gets into position to rape
her. CU of Ingeri. The balding man moves aside to let the black-haired
man rape Karin. Cut to Ingeri
watching. Her face is contorted, in
agony. CU of Karin, on her back, the
black-haired man's face over hers. Both
are breathing hard. The black-haired
man's face moves out of the frame.
Karin lies on her back, her eyes open.
Cut to full shot of Karin. She lets the rock drop from her hands. It rolls down into the stream.
22. Karin stands in the shadows of the
tree. She holds her skirt at the waist
and at the hem. The balding man squats
on the ground. The black-haired man
stands behind her. She walks like a
zombie toward the camera, her head lifted, her eyes barely open. She is crying. She walks right past the men.
The boy is still squatting on the ground a few feet from where the rape
occurred. Karin's sobs continue. Suddenly she stops. She is quiet. She moves off the screen as the black-haired man watches her.
Suddenly he grabs a large club of wood and smashes her on the head (off
screen). Reaction shot of Ingeri. Reaction shot of balding man, who runs
toward the black-haired man. Both look
down at her. From their point of view,
we see Ingeri lying face down on the ground.
She lifts her head, turns her head to look back up at the men. A stream of blood runs across her cheek from
the contusion on the back of her head. Her one eye makes contact with the men. Then she drops back down, dead.
Reaction shot of the two men.
Wide shot of the scene, and the two
men strip her clothes off while the boy watches. All is frantic movement.
They stuff her clothes in their bags and the black-haired man stomps all
of the candles. The balding man
confronts the boy and orders him to stay there until they return--or else.
23. Snow falling at dusk. CU of boy as he looks heavenward. He looks toward the picnic scene, and then
moves to the food and begins to eat some bread. Suddenly he retches, turns his back to the camera, and
vomits. CU of the boy from the
side. He turns his head and cut to his
point of view shot, a LS of Karin's body.
The only clothing left on her body is her slip. Reverse angle. The boy approaches the body and begins to throw some dirt on
it. He runs away, turns to take one
more look, and then runs away from the scene.
Fade to black.
FIVE * * * * * * * * * *
24. Sunset at the farm. Cut to low angle shot of Karin's father
standing at his gate. Obviously he has
been watching for Karin's return. He
wears a heavy cape and cap. Suddenly he
turns his attention to three people, two men and a boy, stand outside of his
gate and request permission to stay the night.
They tell a lie about being from the north and facing disease and a hard
winter. The three walk past him. They enter the large building where meals
are prepared and eaten. The rest of the
family, including servants, are inside.
The philosophical older servant
waxes eloquent about the day, which began sunny and warm, but which ended
gloomy and dark. In the morning,
"One's legs wanted to dance," he says. "But by dusk she was
dead" (on the cut to a reaction shot of the two men and boy across the
room). Cut to the old servant:
"The May Queen herself rode out into the sun, but she didn't come
back." The father comes back in,
and a look passes between his wife and him: no sight of Karin.
25. The father sits at the table, and
everyone else joins him. The father
signals the three to join them at the table.
The father says a prayer.
Then a parallel editing track begins. Close-ups of boy as he holds his bowl of gruel in his hand and
shots from his point of view of others eating at the table. The boy, ravaged with guilt, can't seem to
return to his own eating. Suddenly the
boy flings his bowl of gruel aside. The
black-haired man gathers him up under his arms. The balding man apologizes for this behavior and begins to clean
up the mess. The mother suggests some
treatment for the boy's ailment, but the balding man declines any
assistance. The father stands up, his
meal finished, and tells the men he will have some work for them in the
morning. The father and mother retire.
26. The old servant woman helps the boy to
bed and pulls a bearskin over him in the straw bunk. "God is more merciful than you think," she tells the
boy. She tells the boy to say his
prayers faithfully.
Cut to bird's eye point of view CU
of the boy. Then another parallel
editing track: close-ups of the boy and his point of view shots. He looks to the left, and we see the two men
still eating at the table. He looks in
another direction, and we see the carved head of the gargoyle at the end of the
beam that holds the iron pot. Cut to
the boy again, and then we see the open roof vent and the smoke filtering out
of the building. Then to the boy, and
then to the flames of the fire. Back to
the boy.
Camera in, tight framing. Then cut to the old male servant's face
looming large. More parallel editing
now between the close-ups of the boy and old man. The latter begins to tell a scary story that comments on the
frailty of human existence.
"You've to cross a narrow plank, so narrow there's barely room for
your8 foot. Below you a river roars,
black, it wants to take you. But you
cross unharmed. A valley lies ahead of you.
So deep you can't see the bottom.
Hands grope for you. But they
cannot reach you."
Then to an ECU of the old man's face
in the parallel track. "Last--you
stand in front of a ghastly mountain.
Flames shoot out. And at its
foot yawns a hideous chasm." ECU
of boy's face. "All kinds of
colors flare up. ECU of old man's
face. "The flashing fire eats into
the rocks. And human beings leap about,
as tiny as ants. This is the furnace .
. . (ECU of boy) which devours murderers and other evil men." The boy turns away. Wide shot, MS, of the old man above the
child. He embraces the boy and
whispers, "But just when you think you are lost a hand shall grasp you and
an arm embrace you, and you'll be borne away far away to where evil no longer
has power over you."
SIX * * * * * * * * * *
27. Dissolve to the crucifix on the wall of
the parents' bedroom. Mother is sitting
up in bed, her hands clasped in prayer.
The father lies on the pillow.
He watches her. He tries to
reassure her. Karin will be back in the
morning. He calls her by name,
Mareta. But she is terrified with
concern. "She's all I have! I have no one but her." The father touches her with affection, but
then lies back down and begins to sleep.
Suddenly the woman hears a scream.
She turns to her husband, sees his eyes are closed, and gets up.
28. At the door of the communal building, the
old male servant tells her the men hit the boy. She goes in. The two men
watch her warily. The men say the sound was an owl in the woods. She goes to the boy and examines him. She sees the blood at the edge of his
mouth. Now the mother looks warily
around her. She knows something is
wrong here. As she begins to walk past
the balding man, he stops her by asking her to examine a silken shift in his
bag. He stands up and holds the clothes
out toward her. The shot is a MS from
his point of view. He claims they were
the clothes of his sister. Immediately
the mother recognizes the clothes as the ones that belonged to Karin. He lays the clothes across her arms. "We see that you value beautiful
things. This shift was the most
precious thing our sister owned. It is
a bit torn and stained. But look at the
embroidery. It's surely the work on
nine maids." [We know it was the
work of fifteen maids.] All this time
the mother hasn't looked up at him.
"I shall ask the master what might be a fitting reward for such a
garment." Then she raises her
head, but doesn't quite make eye contact.
"Now you must take your rest," and then looking down at the
garment, "you, too." She
leaves the building.
Outside, she sits on the stoop and
holds her face against the clothes and cries.
Then she begins to change her expression to one of wariness. She gets up and places a board across the
door to lock the communal house from the outside.
29. The father in bed. He responds to his wife's return, and at
that moment she drops the clothes on him in bed. "The herdsmen asked if I would buy it. It's Karin's." The father sits up as if he had a snake in
his lap. He examines the clothes. Both see the blood on them. The father gets up and begins to dress. She tells him she already barred the
door. He opens a chest and takes out
more clothes and a large sword. "You'll take the men with you?" his
wife asks. He begins to leave and she
runs to him and cries, "Be careful."
He goes outside.
30. Ingeri hiding under the front steps. He spots her, grabs her when she comes out,
and holds her face to his: "Tell me what you know." She drops down to embrace him and hold her
head against his lap. We see her in
CU. "Kill me rather! My guilt is greater! I willed it. I've always hated her.
The same day I prayed for it, God Odin did it. It was he and I--not the herdsmen." She tells him all the details. "You saw it?" "I was in the forest and saw it--and I
wanted it." She tells him how
Karin was killed. After a moment the
father says, "Heat the stones in the sauna. I'll get the birch whisks."
It's dawn now, and the father leaves the compound.
31. LS of the father stands next to a birch
sapling, which stands about 18 feet tall.
Behind him are mountains and clouds.
He looks up at the tree, drops his sword, and tackles the tree, pulling
it back and forth until the trunk snaps and the tree falls over. He falls on top of it in a MS. Camera back slightly to show him cutting the
birch whisks off with his sword.
32. In the sauna, Ingeri heating the stones
while the father, naked, beats his back with the birch whisks. Ingeri takes a break across the room while
he washes himself down from water in a barrel.
Cut to a MS of Ingeri. The
father's hand reaches out and grasps her shoulder. "Bring me the slaughtering knife."
SEVEN * * * * * * * * * *
33. Exterior of compound. Ingeri waits with the knife as the father
leaves his building. He is dressed in leather pants and a leather apron over a
smock. He goes to the communal building,
where his wife waits on the stoop. He
goes inside and she follows. Both enter
the dark building. The camera is placed
at the opposite end of the entrance. The mother stays back, while the father
moves forward to where the men are sleeping.
He takes the bags out of their bed and moves to the table behind
them.
He opens the bags and removes the
clothing. He examines them piece by
piece. All of this has been one
shot. He holds her two slippers in his
hands. He moves around the table and
sits in his chair. He slams the knife
into the table. Camera in on the
knife. Cut to LS of mother still
standing on the opposite side of the room.
Reverse angle shot of father in his chair. Cut to sleeping men.
34. Time passes as the smoke drifts up
through the vent in the roof. The men
are still asleep. The mother
watches. The father removes the knife
from the table and goes to the sleepers.
The boy awakens, and the father reaches down and wakes up the two
men. The black-haired man gets up and
jumps onto the father's chair. We see a
MS behind this man, his knife raised, the father visible below him. Then cut to shot of father who comes after
him, pushing the table aside, and jumping onto the chair. The black-haired man's knife misses the
father, but the father's knife goes into the man's neck. The father's head is at the top of the
frame, the black-haired man's head rolls back to the bottom of the frame.
The father leaps across the room to
confront the balding man. The balding
man pulls out his knife. He can't
escape through the door because it is locked from the inside now. The balding man is terrified; he quakes
before his adversary. The father
attacks, but misses with his knife. The
man tries to climb up the vent pole, but the father pull him down. The two men wrestle on the floor. The father clasps the balding man with a
bear hug and doesn't let go. CU of the
two men, face to face, inches apart.
Slowly the father pushes the man down onto the floor. The flames of the fire are in the
foreground. The father puts his head
down next to the man's head and squeezes the life right out of him.
Then the father looks toward the
boy. The boy runs to the protection of
the mother. The father pulls the boy away
from her, lifts the boy over his head, and hurls him against the wall. He checks to confirm the boy is dead. He sits up and looks around him. His wife stands behind him. The two dead men are shown in
individual shots. The father holds his hands up before his
face. "God have mercy on me for
what I have done." He gets up and
takes the key away from his wife. "We must find Karin." He leaves.
The mother goes over to the boy and falls on top of him and embraces
him. She cries.
EIGHT * * * * * * * * * *
35. Exterior of compound. The mother comes out to follow her
husband. The rest of the servants are
present. Dissolve to show the family walking
along the riverbank. CU of crow by the
cabin. The party cross the stream at
the cabin and keep moving on. Later,
the mother pulls at her husband's clothes and cries, "I loved her too
dearly--more than God himself. When she
turned more to you than to me I began to hate you. It is me He will punish by this.
The guilt is mine." The
father responds, "Not yours alone.
Only God can judge." Now
Ingeri is leading the group, since she knows the way.
36. They cross a stream and enter the glade
where the rape and murder occurred.
Ingeri walks ahead of them.
Reverse angle shot, as she turns to look back to the family. We can see the body in the distance beyond
Ingeri. Cut to a MS of the
parents. The mother moves around the
father and leaves the frame. The father
follows her. They kneel over the
body. The mother touches Karin's face. They remove some of the dirt the boy threw
over the body. The mother pulls the
body toward her and embraces it. The
father embraces both. The servants can
be seen in the distance.
The father leaves the scene. We see him in a long shot, high angle, from
behind him. He faces away from the
scene, looks to the heavens, raises his arms, and crumples to his knees. Then he looks up again. "You see it. God, you see it. The
innocent child's death and revenge. You
allowed it. I don't understand
you."
Then a MS of him from same point of
view. He repeats the last line. "Yet now I beg your forgiveness. I know no other way to be reconciled with my
own hands. I know no other way to
live." He raises himself up
slightly, turns to a profile shot and raises one of his arms. "I promise
you, God, by the body of my only child, penance for my sin, I vow to build you
a church. Here I will build it. Of lime and stone." He holds up his other hand. "With these two hands." Cut to wide shot. He stands up and raises his arms above his head as if in
prayer. Then he drops his hands
down.
Cut to bird's eye point of view of
mother lying next to Karin. The father
comes into the frame and begins to raise Karin's head. Water begins to flow from ground where
Karin's head lay. CU of mother
reacting. CU reaction shot of
father. Cut to LS of Ingeri
reacting. She kneels at the spring,
lets the water rush over her hands, and then raises some water to her face and
washes it. The old servant woman Frida
kneels at the spring.
The mother cups her hands and raises
some water and pours it over Karin's forehead.
Reaction shot of Frida. Sound of
a choir. Camera left to show the old
male servant kneeling in prayer. Cut
to high angle wide shot of the entire group.
Choir continues.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Summary written by Robert
Yahnke
Copyright, Robert E. Yahnke, © 2001
Professor, General College, Univ. of Minnesota,
Reprinted by permission of the author
for educational use only