Every so often in little Spielbergian suburbs there's a sex scandal. You know, the neighbors figure out that the folks across the way are running a dungeon or profiting from some other kink on all-American fun. The cinetrix's personal favorite is the Paddleboro dust-up in Attleboro, MA, a few years back because, I mean, c'mon--Paddleboro? That's pretty great.
Why do I bring this up now? Well, last night the cinetrix and old pal and one-time coworker Slotcar oozed through oppressive humidity to Film Forum and took in a 70-odd [and I do mean odd] minute film Ingmar Bergman made for Swedish television in 1969 called Riten. Oh my.
The plot of this chamber piece is simple: three actors brought up on obscenity charges are interviewed--alone and in pairs--by some bureaucrat about the nature of their transgressive act. And it is just so great. So over-the-top. So inscrutable. As the actors, Ingrid Thulin, Anders Ek, and Gunnar Björnstrand are mesmerizingly solipsistic and startlingly raunchy. But they're in the theatre; of course they're twisted, right?
For the climax--hee--the actors perform the obscene act for the official in his chambers. It was a little anticlimatic, actually, which is not surprising given the build-up, but it features costumes you could just imagine being submitted as evidence in some suburban sex ring bust. Imagine the masquerade from Eyes Wide Shut with the same self-regarding ponderousness but also a frisson of real perversion.
What's it all supposed to mean? Ahh, who can say for sure? The Ritual [or The Rite] is a twisted little flick than leaves one wondering what else could have been on television in Sweden the night it first aired. Must-see TV, indeed.
