Per
Oscarsson ha vinto il premio come miglior attore a Cannes nel 1966, sulle sue spalle si regge il film, la ragazza è Gunnel Lindblom (attrice di molti film di Ingmar Bergman).
ambientato nella Oslo del 1890 racconta una storia che ricorda un po' Charlot, un po' Andreas Kartak, il santo bevitore, in un bianco e nero bellissimo.
Pontus è un personaggio che soffre la fame, ha una sua dignità e coerenza, il domani è nella nebbia, non solo l'oggi.
amatissimo da Paul Auster, è un piccolo capolavoro da (ri) scoprire - Ismaele
Knut Hamsun's remarkable book HUNGER was written in 1890 and it remains one
of the freshest books I've ever read. This 1966 film adaptation, SULT[HUNGER], was the
first ever Swedish/Danish/Norwegian film co-production and it is a masterpiece
of cooperation, subtlety and respect for its source material. It was director
Henning Carlsen's fourth feature film (after fifteen years making
documentaries) and he talks eloquently in the DVD extras interview about the
problems of adapting an entirely first person perspective book to the screen.
In another filmed extra, author Paul Auster talks of his love for the film with
Hamsun's grand-daughter Regine, who both agree that it is one of the best film
adaptations of a novel ever. Auster compares the intensity of the film to
Bresson's DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST, another of his favourites.
The entire film rests on Per Oscarsson's lead
performance - he is in practically every shot of the film - and he completely
embodies the main character of Hamsun's book (even though he was second choice
for the role).
The list of interesting people who worked on this film
is astonishing: Bergman regular Gunnel Lindblom plays the female lead; for art
director Erik Aaes (who worked for Renoir, Cavalcanti, Dreyer, etc) it was his
last film; regular Polanski collaborator Krzysztof Komeda wrote and performed
the haunting score; and Birgitte Federspiel (Inger in ORDET) has a small role as Lindblom's sister-
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If you enjoy beautiful,
Black and White films, HUNGER is one for you to enjoy. The film captures the
look and feel of 1890 Oslo to perfection. According to the commentary, in 1966
this picturesque area of the city still existed, and the film was shot on
location. Another compelling aspect of this film is the depiction of 'madness'.
Per Oscarsson's portrayal really allows the viewer to inhabit his skewed
paranoid world…
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If you enjoy beautiful,
Black and White films, HUNGER is one for you to enjoy. The film captures the
look and feel of 1890 Oslo to perfection. According to the commentary, in 1966
this picturesque area of the city still existed, and the film was shot on
location. Another compelling aspect of this film is the depiction of 'madness'.
Per Oscarsson's portrayal really allows the viewer to inhabit his skewed
paranoid world…
Based on the novel by
Knut Hamsun, this Danish film tells the story of a proud, struggling writer who
takes great pains to hide the fact that he's broke and newly homeless. On his
last night in his apartment, he feverishly writes his masterpiece and eagerly
awaits its publication. While wandering in a park, he follows a woman (Gunnel
Lindblom), who then becomes fascinated by him and invites him up to her flat…
Why does Pontus, the
starving writer who narrates the Norwegian novel Hunger and
appears in every scene of Henning Carlson's 1966 film adaptation, want to
starve himself? There can be no doubt that his hunger is self-imposed. A friend
invites him to lunch, and probably would treat him to a bowl of stew if
pressed. Concerned neighbors suggest he return to his family's home in the
country, where presumably he could at least have a place to sleep and three
squares a day. Several times, he's openly offered money, by a publisher who
expresses interest in one of his articles, a pawn shop owner who purchases his
waistcoat and a grocery clerk who mistakenly hands him change. Each time,
Pontus devises some excuse to dispose of the money without eating. He'd rather
make himself ill chewing on a salvaged cow bone or pass out in the streets of
Oslo from exposure and malnourishment than accept charity or compromise his
principles.
As if reflecting the inner monologue of its hero, Carlson's film fetishizes suffering and want. Pontus stares longingly through windows into restaurants and apartments where families sit down for succulent meals in shots reminiscent of Chaplin or Lloyd's silent comedies about hapless tramps. Long, funereal shots of Pontus stumbling down streets in a daze, curling up in alleyways to sob quietly out of public view, elevate his purposeful hunger strike to the level of an existential crisis. He is a man desperate to feed his appetites, yet also a committed ascetic, seeking solace in his own deprivation…
As if reflecting the inner monologue of its hero, Carlson's film fetishizes suffering and want. Pontus stares longingly through windows into restaurants and apartments where families sit down for succulent meals in shots reminiscent of Chaplin or Lloyd's silent comedies about hapless tramps. Long, funereal shots of Pontus stumbling down streets in a daze, curling up in alleyways to sob quietly out of public view, elevate his purposeful hunger strike to the level of an existential crisis. He is a man desperate to feed his appetites, yet also a committed ascetic, seeking solace in his own deprivation…
…Pontus
lives to write, and would do nothing to jeopardize what burns inside him. After
obsessively writing his supposed masterpiece with little regard to his
well-being and giving a manuscript to a publisher, he's promised money for an
article he's invited to submit as the editor says he has some talent. Penniless
and unable to secure employment, he's forced to wander the streets when his
landlady gives him the boot for not paying the rent. While roaming the city he
will berate strangers over imagined insults; accompany an unemployed artist
friend to a restaurant but will not eat or let on that he's broke and hungry;
at a pawnbroker's he will sell his waistcoat for some spare change, but his
quilt will not be accepted. He will retreat further into daydreams,
hallucinations and will show signs that he's losing his mind. Strange comments
will start coming from him, as he asks for no apparent reason a number of
policemen the time and then either compliments or criticizes them upon their
responses. Pontus will find another squalid residence on the promise of being
paid for the article, but he can no longer concentrate on that task as his
hunger has become so great. He will also get the boot from here when he can't
pay the rent. While in the park he will attract the attention of a genteel lady
(Gunnel Lindblom) walking with her uppity sister; he will later meet her alone
on the street and get invited to her place, as she finds his ways romantically
mysterious and intriguing. But this stab at love ends in pitiable failure, as
she realizes he's not the romantic bohemian or charming drunk she first thought
but a poor soul living on the edge. Rejecting the romance, she will try sending
him money later. But he's too proud to accept charity and gives it to others he
thinks are more needy. This pride leaves him abandoned without food, shelter,
warm clothes, or friendship, so in the end he opts to leave the city to be a
deckhand on a ship. The point being that as down as he's become, Pontus still
believes in his art, his worth and the future of mankind…
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