Stimulantia

"The discovery" (In Chaplin's block) director Hans Abramson sublimates his need for sex and drugs in an exploration of childhood. The drama is set in London at # 3 Pownall Terrace , where Charles Chaplin spent his childhood. A slum neighborhood where the Music Hall tradition lives on, carried out by some singing and dancing girls. In Jörn Donners "He She" a loving couple in a hotel room makes thorough hygienic preparations for having sex. This foreplay take so long that there is no time for lovemaking. A sprawling collection of short films that never manage to fit in under the title of "Stimulantia". Somewhere along the way this proud and unusual project drove in the ditch. However a must for Swedish film buffs.

I say that sketch films, because they are so wildly variable in quality, are rarely worth watching, and this one is no exception. There are perhaps two sketches that hold interest:Gustav Molander's version of Maupassant's story The Necklace, in which Bergman and Bjornstrand play very well in a restrained classical style, and Jorn Donner's little comedy of two lovers who can't quite get down to doing the act they intend. I didn't realize how well Harriet Andersson can do comedy; she really gets in the groove here.

For the rest, it's easy to see why these directors made no name for themselves outside Sweden. I was particularly annoyed by Sjoman's silly, childish sketch with the man trying to hide a young black woman from his wife in his apartment.

Finally, I acknowledge Ingmar Bergman's supremacy in the film industry, but his grainy home movie is not in the least interesting. You find the impulse to fast-forward through this one is irresistible.