Katinka

Von Sydow's directorial debut, an adaptation of a Herman Bang story, is as unfashionably reserved in its portrait of a woman stifled by a loveless marriage as Dreyer's Gertrud. Nothing happens in this triangle between Katinka (Ost), her insensitive station-master husband (Ernst), and the romantic newcomer (Ravn), but the depths of feeling are subtly pastelled in. Sven Nykvist's camera of feeling conjures up an idyllic turn-of-the-century small town atmosphere for the heroine to dream her life away in. Pressed flowers.