''The Blessed Ones'' ( sv, De två saliga) is a 1986 Swedish drama film directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring

Harriet Andersson Harriet Andersson (born 14 February 1932) is a Swedish actress, best known outside Sweden for being part of director Ingmar Bergman's stock company. She often plays impulsive, working class characters. Film actress Harriet Andersson began her a ...

and

Per Myrberg Per is a Latin preposition which means "through" or "for each", as in per capita. Per or PER may also refer to: Places * IOC country code for Peru * Pér, a village in Hungary * Chapman code for Perthshire, historic county in Scotland Mat ...

. The screenplay was adapted by

Ulla Isaksson Ulla Isaksson (22 June 1916 – 24 April 2000) was a Swedish author and screenplay writer. She was born and died in Stockholm, Sweden. In addition to her short stories and novels, Isaksson also wrote scripts for films and plays. Early life and ed ...

from her own novel with the same title. The film tells the story of a couple in which the woman becomes delusional and loses her mind. It was the third time Bergman directed a film written by Isaksson, after ''

Brink of Life ''Brink of Life'', ( sv, Nära livet, and known as ''So Close to Life'' in the UK) is a 1958 Swedish drama film directed by Ingmar Bergman. Bergman won the Best Director Award and Andersson, Dahlbeck, Ornäs and Thulin won the Best Actress ...

'' and ''

The Virgin Spring ''The Virgin Spring'' ( sv, Jungfrukällan) is a 1960 Swedish rape and revenge film directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in medieval Sweden, it is a tale about a father's merciless response to the rape and murder of his young daughter. The story was a ...

''. ''The Blessed Ones'' was produced by Sveriges Television and premiered on TV2 on 19 February 1986. The American premiere was on 21 February 1987 at the Museum of Broadcasting in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Plot

Sune, a theology student who has dropped out and is also the son of a priest, meets Viveka in a church. The two connect via a theological discussion and eventually get married. As the years pass, Viveka grows more and more emotionally unstable due to jealousy and religious anxiety. Sune accepts Viveka's mental problems and, instead of seeking help for his wife, obeys her increasingly bizarre commands. Eventually Viveka loses her mind completely, locks herself in the couple's apartment while Sune is away, and tries to make neighbours and the police believe that Sune is trying to murder her with a knife. When Sune arrives home Viveka is taken away to a hospital. Sune tries to convince the doctors that Viveka is not insane and should be allowed to leave. In the end, Sune turns on a gas tap and lies down next to Viveka so they will die together.

Cast

as Viveka Burman *

as Sune Burman * Christina Schollin as Annika *

Lasse Pöysti Lasse Erik Pöysti (24 January 1927 – 5 April 2019) was a Finnish actor, director, theatre manager and writer. He was born in Sortavala. Biography Pöysti began his career as a child actor, becoming known to the Finnish public as Olli Suomin ...

as doctor Dettow * Irma Christenson as Mrs. Storm *

Björn Gustafson Björn Herman Leonard Gustafson (born 30 November 1934) is a Swedish actor. He was born in Stockholm and has appeared in 93 films and television shows since 1956. He starred in the 1965 film '' Love 65'', which was entered into the 15th Berlin ...

as a neighbour

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blessed Ones 1986 drama films 1986 films Films based on Swedish novels Films directed by Ingmar Bergman Swedish drama films Swedish television films 1980s Swedish-language films 1980s Swedish films