La peur

Ingesting poisonous substances, by mistake or with the intention of committing suicide. It can also be said of a relationship that is profoundly undermined by an external agent, causing a loss of mutual trust. This process of decline of the couple also includes other issues such as the fear of being discovered, emotional manipulation, and the social anxiety of being a traitor.

Irene Wagner (Ingrid Bergman) is a career woman, married to the renowned professor Albert Wagner (Mathias Wieman) and the mother of two beautiful children cared for in their country house by her housekeeper Martha (Elise Auliger). This charming facade threatens to crumble when Johanna Schultze (Renate Mannhardt) insinuates herself into her life, threatening to expose Irene's affair with Eric Baumann (Kurt Kreuger).

Roberto Rossellini's director sets this modern melodrama, perhaps transfiguring the ongoing sentimental crisis between himself and Ingrid Bergman. This would be their final collaboration, followed by their divorce in 1957; the screenplay, based on a novel by Stefan Zweig, follows a narrative fragmented by moments of varying length, to foster the protagonist's introspection; as always, Ingrid Bergman delivers a marvelous performance, her every gesture and sigh consistently serving her character, and the rest of the cast contributes to the excellent stagecraft.

The best moments are the apparent showdown between the two women, observed from the window by an interested male viewer. A must-see for fans of sentimental melodramas and good acting.

Shades of Hitchcock in this somewhat atypical Ingrid Bergman - Roberto Rossellini collaboration. Most of the film appears simple and straightforward; there is an effective plot twist in the middle, but the ending is rather weak and anticlimactic. Bergman brings her customary class and consumate skill to the project; the little-known Renate Mannhardt is arguably even better as the kind of blackmailer I'd gladly give in to any of her demands! She certainly holds her own in their one-on-one confrontations, which are the best scenes in the film. Some of the English dubbing sounds a little awkward. **1/2 out of 4.

In this film, Ingrid Bergman plays a woman who ends an affair she began when her husband was in prison. Her lover isn't too happy with the idea and she has her guilt to contend with, but her problems compound significantly when her lover's ex-girlfriend (Renate Mannhardt) turns up and begins blackmailing her. She thinks she can keep a lid on things, but naturally it isn't so easy.

The film is based on a novella from the marvelous author Stefan Zweig, which perhaps explains how well its escalation was crafted. Bergman and Mannhardt are both wonderful, and Rossellini tells the story with great restraint, avoiding unnecessary embellishment. We don't see flashbacks to the affair because while it set these events in motion, it isn't important to the drama. The plot twist is one that viewers can probably see coming, but it's revealed simply, with the sense of Rossellini respecting the viewer's intelligence.

Mathias Wieman plays the husband and he's strong here too; his character is fleshed out in a couple of fine subplots. In the first, he coolly experiments with drugs on lab animals which regularly causes them to suffer and die, and it's notable comparing his reaction to that of his wife early on. Later we see him dispatch stern punishment psychologically to his children over a disagreement involving a rifle that the boy got, but his younger sister wanted.

The film is taut at 78 minutes, which was a strength, but Rossellini finds the time to give us street scenes in Germany as well as the fantastic long shot with Bergman's shadow on the ceiling of the deserted lab at night. The dubbing, common to Italian films for decades, is unfortunate, but not overly so. The biggest issue was the ending, which felt too forced and convenient, especially after we had been led along a path with real cruelty and darkness in it. I considered knocking my review score down a bit because of it, but felt that maybe Rossellini and Bergman's personal life had caused him to end it this way, and in event, what had come before it carried the day for me.

Starts out pretty well with an intelligent and interesting examination of a woman in the throes of infidelity guilt who is being pestered by a blackmailer. But then Rossellini decides to go all Claude Chabrol on us and the plot starts twisting as credibility and its constant companion, interest, go flying out the window.

Is it just me or does Rossellini tend to do this in his films? Did you notice how "Rome, Open City" switched from gritty neo realism to Nazi porn about halfway through? And "Europa 51",in the last third, goes from being a study of a mother's lost soul after the death of her son to a womans prison pic. Really wish this good director wouldn't do this, especially as the directions he veers toward are much less compelling than the ones left behind.

Give this one a C plus.

I viewed a copy of a copy on video of this film and so the video quality was not that great. First, what did I like and not like? I didn't like the beginning or ending, but the rest of the movie was very good. Ingrid Bergman does a very fine job as the wife who has a secret to hide and will go to great lengths out of fear, hence the title of the movie, to prevent her husband from finding out. As the husband, Mathias Wieman does an excellent job playing the part of the kind, understanding Professor Wagner who is not as he seems. Overall, the film is a fine psychological thriller in the manner of Hitchcock and I won't give away the film noirish plot twist or the problematic, to me, ending. This movie is little known but well worth a look.