The Hour of the Wolf

The central segment of the Faro trilogy (which includes Shame and The Passion of Anna), this relentlessly ominous study of the price of artistic creativity comprises a series of gothic flashbacks inspired by Liv Ullmann's discovery of the diary belonging to her missing and much-tormented husband, Max von Sydow. With Sven Nykvist's camera surreally conjuring up expressionist horror, von Sydow is mocked by the ghoulish members of Erland Josephson's household and subjected to visions of demons and phantoms from his past. Even a puppet presentation of The Magic Flute has sinister overtones. Nevertheless, we expect more of Bergman than eerie set pieces.