THE TOUCH

Sweden, 1971, 125 minutes, Colour.
Elliot Gould, Bibi Andersson, Max Von Sydow, Sheila Reid.
Directed by Ingmar Bergman.

The Touch is Ingmar Bergman's first film 1n English. Many critics felt uncomfortable about his knowledge and use of English idiom and seemed disturbed that he had made merely a love story.

As an exploration of love, the film is Interesting, tracing, as it does, the falling in love of a 15-years married wife to a foreign archaeologist. The film explores the relationship from the point of view of the wife. Bibi Andersson, one of Bergman's regular performers, plays this role with an illuminating intensity. Other critics have looked at the film with the archeologlst as the central character, a rough, strange, Jewish outsider, who comes to unearth old Swedish Christian traditions and finds them decaying inside. Elliot Gould is the outsider.

This does not seem to be one of Bergman's major films, but for him, it is an unusual one and one which demands more thought than might at first appear.

1. What did the title of the film mean?

2. Much was made at the time of Bergman's first film in English, his first love story and his using Elliot Gould. Was it noticeable that the dialogue and style were from a non-English-speaking director? How? How important was this?

3. Was The Touch just a love story, another look at an ordinary theme, hence the sometimes trite, hackneyed and romantic style of the film? Or was it more than just a love story?

4. Who was the central character, David or Karin? Why?

5. What kind of woman was Karin? How was her married life pictured? was she happy? How ordinary was her life? How rooted was it in Swedish traditions and ordered way of doing things? Did the film help you to understand her as a person, as a woman, wife and mother?

6. What kind of man was David - the outsider, seemingly coming from nowhere, the Jew with a persecution background, an archeologist, a barbarian in looks and manner, wild yet attractive? Did the film help you to understand him?

7. Did you understand Andreas? Was his character obvious? Was he a good man? Why didn't he hold the love and affection of his wife?

8. Were the pictures of the Vergerus household well done? How was this atmosphere created?

9. What was the significance of David's being an archeologist - an outsider digging into Sweden's past, a Jew discovering something Christian? Was the Jewish-Christian? theme important for the film or was it merely incidental? Why?

10. How symbolic was the statue of the Madonna? How did Bergman make his film identify the statue with Karin? What meaning was there in the statue's being buried, half-excavated, then taken out but found to be eaten away inside - and David's connection with all this?

11. Why did Karin fall in love with David? Were the motivations given, explored or just presented? What did she want from him, need from, have to offer him? How passionate was she? Baa did the deception work on her? What was her attitude to Andreas?

12. Why did David fall in love with Karin? What did he need? Why was he so passionate? Why did he scream in an incomprehensible language? What did David stand for?

13. How did David's absence affect Karin? How was this shown, and the time, in the texture of the film?

14. How did Bergman bring his theme to a head?

15. What impact did Karin's trip to London have? How did the English setting create a different atmosphere from the Swedish?

16. Were you surprised to find Sarah? Did she explain David any better to you? What was her relationship to him?

17. Where did the film lead to? How was the film resolved?

18. Was the film accurate in its portrayal of marriage, cynical, destructive ?

19. How do the themes and the treatment compare with other Bergman films?