Will Sorg – Entertainment Columnist

The portrayal of a tortured artist’s deteriorating mental state was not a revolutionary idea for a film plot by the 1960s, but Ingmar Bergman’s 1968 film Hour of the Wolf tells this tale in a wholly unique way. Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential directors in cinematic history, the Swedish filmmaker is renowned for his bleak yet emotional storytelling which often incorporated unconventional techniques and structure. Hour of the Wolf is a bit of an anomaly in that it is his only film belonging to the horror genre, but his signature style still carries through.
The film follows Alma and Johan Borg and their lives on a secluded island. Johan is an artist who is suffering from insomnia. He shows Alma sketches of hallucinations he has been seeing as a result of his lack of sleep. As time goes by, Alma begins to realize that Johan’s mental state is beginning to become dangerously unstable. This central idea of an insomniac artist losing himself while his wife tries desperately to keep him grounded is expanded into an strange, paranoia filled tale of guilt and betrayal. 

The film plays itself out like a half-remembered dream. Bizarre editing, the beautiful black and white cinematography, and the lack of a clear explanation for what happens parallels the confusing nature of dreams. Johan’s hallucinations are unnerving because there is almost zero indication of what is real and what is not. Due to this ambiguity, the film can be seen as a look into Johan’s desire for self- destruction. 

Alma and Johan are described in the film as loving, but to an extent. Alma herself agonizes over the possibility that she loves him enough to suffer from his deterioration, but not enough to save him. This depressing look into love and relationships is a common theme in Bergman films. He went through five marriages and several long-term relationships throughout his career and in many ways, the character of Johan can be seen as a distorted version of his own self-image. Johan is obsessed with his past love Veronica and regards Alma with a level of contempt that is eerily reminiscent of real life unhealthy marriages. 

Johan’s past manifests itself in strange hallucinations that slowly build in intensity as he becomes more violent and unpredictable. He confesses disturbing memories of his life to Alma in the dead of night as a way to try and remove his thoughts of the past from his mind, yet this only serves to make his hallucinations more persistent and real. Indeed, even Alma begins to see his hallucinations. A symbolic event that links the two as spouses and further shows how their unhealthy relationship has linked both of them into a danger that transcends the metaphorical and becomes a very real threat.
Hour of the Wolf is not an easy watch. It rarely explains what is happening and often delves into the avant-garde to portray its bizarre tale of spousal discordance. Yet it will linger in the audience’s mind, provoking their own fear of reliving regrets or living a dissatisfying life, long after the hour and thirty minutes of runtime have run their course.