Erotikon

Beside Victor Sjostrom, the well known director of THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE, the man who contributed his wonderfully individual style into the silent productions of Svensk Filmindustrie and, consequently, into the world cinema was Mauritz Stiller. What a great name for many movie historians! The man who took all pains to make his productions special, the director who creatively brought to screen Selma Lagerlof's immortal novels, the tutor famous for discovering Greta Gustafsson (Greta Garbo)...one could endlessly continue with the significant facts. Yet, that is not the case. What seems to be important here is Stiller's innovation and his mesmerizing ability to surprise viewers. Such a surprise is his EROTIKON, a 1920 silent film which would surely meet the standards of a comedy, a vivid action film, a romantic picture with subtle images and a glorious boast of fine acting.

The content of EROTIKON is seemingly simple and refers mostly to the relations, or better said 'inter-relations' among people. Yet, we have to realize that the film is being seen nowadays from the entirely different perspective with the entirely new vision of certain aspects. Naturally, even the things we expect in a comedy changed. Any silent film is, of course, being seen differently. When we consider the content regarding this very knowledge, EROTIKON occurs to be revolutionary, much ahead of its time. Stiller proves to be extremely open to modern thinking and, as a result, he becomes a milestone in the later trends in cinema. Certain notions on marriage, on the place of women in society, on the superiority of feelings to old, dusted regulations are particularly modern and appealing to an average movie buff nowadays. Here, the open minded thinking is so fresh, so unique, so absorbing though the film is, paradoxically, almost a century old. Why? Because EROTIKON is no preacher of what the things should be like but places the characters in the superior positions.

Since the characters make for the story, it is thanks to them that we enjoy the film. A few people are in the lead and...their emotions, desires, dreams seem to achieve their intensity and climax at the end. This is Professor Leo (Anders De Wahl). Most professors are famous for their researches and it depends, of course, what they research on...Leo's researches are quite peculiar...their subject are the beetles. He is a book buff, a calm man who loves very concrete schedule and takes life rather optimistically. Being naive in erotic tensions here and there, he skips certain desires around. Yet, he detests one thing: dramatic endings. His wife, Irene (Tora Teje) is a character worth consideration. She is a sort of prototype of a modern woman, independent of her husband, a woman who has a clear idea of what to do with life once giving a furrier a lesson of patience, another time traveling with a 'new Ikar' by helicopter, Baron Felix. Played by Tora Teje, she is given some marvelous moments of humor. Consider her waving at the husband or flirting scenes. Then comes a young, youthful, pretty, enthusiastic Marte (Karin Molander), a sweetie who loves sweets, a character who represents a light-hearted glimpse of a young girl: listening curiously to Professor's lecture on beetles' sexual life at the door, smoking a cigarette when the guests have left, making certain sensual moves meant to arouse men. She surprises us most at the end... Finally comes Preben (Lars Hanson), the best friend of the professor who has a crush on Irene...he appears to be fluent, more aware of life, sophisticated and burning within, burning with desire. Wonderfully portrayed by Lars Hanson, the actor who later became famous in Hollywood, the character of Prebel is very clear and memorable.

Those four characters supply us with wonderful tension that you will never forget. Their plots are so strongly linked to the strange fate of Shah and his wife in the Schaname that the opera sequence makes a perfect sense in the movie.

When seeing EROTIKON one may notice many other innovations, artistic features that played such a decisive role in Stiller's productions. For the director who had an unbelievable flair for beauty, the film could not come out with the lack of elegant wardrobe, wonderful sets, stunning visuals, catchy close-ups, fluent camera work and the technologically modern (for the time) stimuli like phones in a car and a helicopter. It all adds a certain amount of artistic pleasure and makes EROTIKON a valuable, enjoyable movie.

There is, moreover, one more aspect I would like to add when considering the artistic aspect. It is the great job done by Alva Lindbohm Lundin and the whole aesthetics and creativity in the subtitles. The pictures, created by her in the Svensk Filmindustrie, include birds chirping as the symbol of flirting or a question mark between the hearts symbolizing the dilemma who loves whom. These are just a few among the whole chain of wonderful ideas.

Some people will perhaps say that there are many elements of American cinema...true to a certain extent...like modern music often models upon immortal classical pieces, the same has occurred to happen in cinema...EROTIKON is a highly recommended film as an authentic presentation of certain aspects, as a tribute to feelings that should reign our acts, as the beautiful song "Jeg Elsker Dig" (I love you) that mysteriously showed the characters the paths they should take. A brilliant silent film!

Though critically acclaimed, this 1920 film is interesting only from a historical perspective. It was directed notably by the great Swedish director Mauritz Stiller (he was actually a Jew from Finland), who had already directed dozens of films and was a master of his craft. Although he was yet to create his masterpiece The Saga of Gosta Berling, he would only direct a handful of films before his failed residency in Hollywood and premature death in 1928. Also worthy of mention is the film's male lead, a premiere Swedish actor, Lars Hanson, who would famously star several times with Stiller's great discovery Greta Garbo. Erotikon, though, scarcely lives up to its salacious title. It may have been somewhat daring in 1920, but today it is less apt to raise eyebrows than to close eyelids. There must have been a hundred silent features that would deal more compellingly with the theme of the errant wife and the dull husband. While there is no question Stiller has grasped the art of motion picture making -- the acting and camera-work and editing are polished and some of the title cards are witty, artistically the film is a disappointment. Even for one accustomed to the conventions of silent films, it is painfully slow and devoid of arresting incident. Only the unconventional ending (which I won't divulge) somewhat saves it. And the nicely restored Kino version unhappily features a musical score which does little to arise audience interest or connection to the plot. Its atrocious fiddle-scraping may be apt for the contemplation of suicide, but after a half hour or so its annoying discordance becomes unbearable and anyone of auditory sensibilities will soon be reduced to viewing this feature in grateful silence.

The thriving and innovative silent cinema of Sweden was dealt a hammer blow by the departure of Mauritz Stiller and Victor Sjostrom for America. The latter was to fare far better in Hollywoodland than the former whose troubled sojourn there produced only one film of note, 'Hotel Imperial' and who died at just 45 shortly after his return to Sweden.

Sad to note that no less than thirty-one of Stiller's forty-five films are considered 'lost' and although best known for the stunning 'Sir Arne's Treasure' and the rather rambling 'Gosta Berling's Saga', his contribution to Comedy has been overlooked. Indeed his masterpiece of social satire 'Erotikon' has been referred to by critic Peter Cowie as having 'lost its freshness' which just goes to prove that good judgement is not a prerequisite for being a critic.

One is never aware of the static camera here because of Stiller's masterly use of space and levels of action, not to mention his skill with actors. By and large Swedish actors possess a naturalness and freshness unrivalled by any other nation and this eternel love quadrangle is beautifully performed by Tore Teje, Anders de Wahl, Karin Molander and Lars Hanson.

In its sophistication and absence of hypocrital moralising this film is light years ahead of anything being produced by America at this time. This was to change of course courtesy of 'The Marriage Circle' in which the influence of Stiller on Ernst Lubitsch is there for all to see.

Stiller must surely have rued the day he accepted Louis B. Mayer's invitation but behind the cloud was a silver lining in the form of his protégé named Greta who remained in Hollywood and became one of its greatest stars.

Huge, dead tree beetles, a long-haired Arabian beauty dancing an erotic, half-naked dance of the veils wearing an exotic peacock-feathered headdress, and a niece who secretly likes to kick up her legs and smoke, makes mutton and cabbage casserole, and flirts with her own uncle - just a few of the things featured in this somewhat weird, but interesting, and even, at times, mildly amusing silent film. The film is about Leo, a professor of entomology and his tired-looking, bored "touched with melancholy" wife Irene, who has a crush on her husband's best friend, a handsome sculptor named Preben (Lars Hanson). Preben is in love with Irene as well, but holds back because of his friendship with her husband. Meanwhile, Leo flirts with, of all things, his own niece (and she must be a blood relative as she has the same last name as him!). Jealousies ensue.

I thought the film was pretty well done and enjoyable, though a bit slow in parts. The music score that accompanies this film didn't really suit the story very well and was pretty heavy and gloomy for most of the film - in fact, it was really getting on my nerves (not in a good way) for the last half hour or so. The music did suit the story in a few places though - namely, a scene where they attend the opera to see this fantasy ballet featuring the on-stage tale of a Shah and his beautiful "favorite wife", and my favorite scene in the film - an interesting bit of photography in which Irene takes a flight with another of her flirtations, Baron Felix, and we watch their little plane as it sours through the air, Irene's scarf flying in the open air cockpit, and camera strapped to the wings as it looks through the moving clouds to the landscape below. Well done. The print of this looked very good, tinted in most scenes a sort of bright yellow-brown shade.

A scientist falls in love with a young girl who brings life and joy into his old house and marriage, while his wife is having an affair with his best friend. This is a completely delightful romantic comedy - one of the first ones ever? - with an abundance of wit and good acting. Mauritz Stiller is sometimes considered less interesting than his contemporary Swedish director Victor Sjöström, but Stiller had a feel for style and comedy which makes his films in my eyes fresher and more enjoyable than Sjöström's films. Stiller's more somber films have not aged as well as his comedies. Erotikon is perhaps a ditty, but it is certainly a wonderful one. If possible, see it in a cinema with a piano player playing live music - the film truly benefits from it.