Arquivo

An epic in two parts set in the year of 1840. Lill-Ingmar (Sjöström) is a farmer who loves his property above all, above everyone. His fiancée, Brita, gets pregnant with his child. But when she gives birth, she strangles the baby, because she cannot stand the idea, imposed by Ingmar, of postponing the wedding because of a crisis on the farm. Brita is sent to prison and is troubled by deep pangs of conscience. The first part of the film was seen, at the time it was first shown, by some 200,000 persons, almost one half of the population of Stockholm at that stage. At the time, the film also generated bitter controversy in the press. The second part of this film was recently restored photochemically, to recover the brightness of the original copy.