The Rite Movie Download

7 / 10

THE RITE (Ingmar Bergman, 1969; TV) ***
It’s funny that I checked this out on the same day as PRISON (1949): having found that film stimulating (I’d been away from Bergman or Art-house cinema, for that matter, for a while) after going through several Bela Lugosi films of late, I then found myself quite worn-out intellectually by the time I was done with THE RITE – which only confirms my previously-held belief that Bergman (like his staunchest pupil, Woody Allen) is best taken in small doses!; actually, this factor also goes a long way in explaining why his 5-hour marathon SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE (1973) and AUTUMN SONATA (1978) have been gathering dust among my extensive “DVDs To Watch” pile for the last 3 years already!!

That is not to say that I didn’t admire the film on an artistic level (the rating alone attests to that), though stylistically constrained by having originated in TV – but which actually suits its claustrophobic tone and compact plotting (the film is mercifully short at just 73 minutes). Still, the constant soul-searching (often descending into hysterics) is matched by no-holds-barred performances from a slim cast – which almost make it seem like a parody of the typical Bergman film: for one thing, the climactic re-enactment of the indecent ‘rite’ (for which a troupe of performers has been indicted before an outwardly tenacious judge, but who’s ultimately revealed to be as angst-ridden as they are!) would be fairly risible – what with the male members of the trio sporting, for no obvious reason, huge black dildos as part of their costume – were it not for the hypnotic intensity of the mise-en-scene!!

Needless to say, despite my reservations about the director’s work in general, I’ll still be renting the titles I haven’t watched from Tartan’s “Bergman Collection” which the owner of my local DVD outlet has said are on the way…Read More