A nice work of early folk horror, and with a small but delicious plot twist.
Sweden in the 1600s was plagued with witchtrials and there was a widespread, firm belief in the existence of witches, as well as in their great supernatural powers.
This movie builds its story on two premises from these beliefs. First, that an unborn child is particularly vulnerable to the forces of evil. Secondly, that an evil spirit can leave its host at death, to possess the body of a susceptible victim. Both these beliefs are way older than christianity, and found in cultures across the world. Here they are put in a chrsistian context, but a lot of the heathen spirit remains in the portrayal.
The movie opens with two short sequences of events, visually as well as dramatically hard-hitting. First an execution by fire of the witch Marit. She is beaten by a rich farmer, who she curses and promises revenge after pleeding to her lord the Devil to send her a pregnant woman. One such woman is drawn to the crowd by some unseen power, and at her death the witch sends her soul into her unborn child.
Then the woman dies giving birth, and when the father sees that the child has the witch´s mark on her shoulder, he throws her in the river before hanging himself from a tree.
19 years later an unknown young woman comes to the village, seeking work at the household of the cursed farmer. This is of course the innocent child, with the souls of the witch. Her name is Karin. The Devil travels in the guise of a salesman, and arrives at the same time as she.
Crucial to the movie is the struggle between Karin and Marit, a struggle taking place inside Karin, with alternately either character using/inhabiting her body. This is portrayed masterfully by the actress.
Marit uses Karin´s beauty and youth to seduce the farmer in order to destroy him, his soul and his family.
Marit has the aid of the Devil in all she does, and I love how their relationship is portrayed. Sort of Bonnie and Clyde´ish, and the loyalty seems more being directed from the Devil towards his supposed servant, than the other way around. Karin is alone in the world and the Devil has seen to it that she has never been treated well by people. Still she is of course -because this is a fairy tale- innocent and kind.
In the family of the farmer there are two sons, one of which is mentally challenged, and ...well, innocent and kind. The other -who is strong, handsome and brave- falls in love with Karin, and she with him, which frightens Marit and the Devil, because it is only love who can give Karin the strength she needs to beat Marit.
Well, no need to tell much more of the plot. It isn´t unpredictable in any way...except...in the most pivotal scene, when she is at her most vulnerable and the most lives are at stake, the love that gives her the strength to save herself and many others, does not come from the direction I suspected. It is not the love of the warrior that saves them all, but the love of the fool. Which made me so happy at the moment, I got all fuzzy inside!
Many people probably want to view a story like this in a metaphorical or psychological way, and as a social comment, and of course that´s possible. I personally find it more rewarding to view it as exactly what it says it is "on the surface"; a story of an ancient supernatural theme. It is certainly a theme that in itself carries currents of symbol and human psyche, but the Devil here, to me, really is a trickster spirit of some sort, and Marit´s soul really did enter Karin´s body. The story is too crudely told for me to comfortably apply any layers of meaning and interpretation.
Yes, it is crudely told and that might sound like a negative comment. The acting is often really stiff, the gestures and facial expressions few and exagerated, and the lines are devoid of any subtext and very, very explanatory of the plot. You do not need to figure anything out for yourself.
Sure, first this crudeness bothered me, it all just seemed stiff and lifeless. The scenes were often structures thus: 1. Character strikes a pose 2. Short yet uncomfortable pause where character just holds pose. 3. Character speaks their line without much bodymovement at all. 4. Character may make a movement or gesture if intended by script. Or 1-4 repeats with different character.
But when it dawned on me that this is exactly how silent movies were told, I got this idea that perhaps this 1940´s horror picture is done this way as an hommage to that era? The silent era was the golden era of swedish film making nontheless, and some horror movies were particularly praised and popular. I don´t know enough about the 40´s filmmaking to be sure that my hunch is correct. Maybe it isn´t cruder than many other movies of the era. But I warmed up to it with this theory in mind, and soon stopped entirely to even notice. Either the film changed style and pace, or I got used to it, in any case I enjoyed it.
The basic story is really great actually and holds a lot of yet unexcavated gold. I would love to see what a modern production would make of it. It would be cool to see some things further developed that are only hinted here, like the relationship between Marit and the Devil (how did they meet? Why does he care so much for her?), and who Marit really is (is she even human? Is this her second rebirth or has she been around for ages?) and of course some of Karin´s story before she returns to her birth village.
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