Port of Call

Port of Call (Hamnstad, 1948) is a Swedish drama from Ingmar Bergman — watch online on iFILM. Shot in Gothenburg, this was Bergman's third feature, and it already shows the director's eye for people backed into corners.

Berit, played by Nine-Christine Jönsson, has just left a reformatory school and moved back in with a mother she can't stand. A dance hall brings her Gest, a sailor played by Bengt Eklund, who is unbothered by her history. Berit can't say the same about herself. Bergman keeps the story in a minor key throughout: the port is grey and indifferent, the romance offers no guarantees, and the film ends in something closer to a truce than a resolution. Stream Port of Call (1948) on iFILM.