Stimulantia

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.

"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.