Why does the history of silent film relegate Victor Sjöström to European filmmaking sections, assuming Griffith's dominance up to and including 1916? Ingeborg Holm proves that here was a master at the very same time or even before Griffith - in 1913.
Ingeborg Holm is unbelievably mature filmmaking. No-one's mentioned this in the reviews here, but the film almost completely eschews melodrama. Someone amongst these reviews spoke of how it shows the harshness of the Swedish workhouse system of the time. Well, it does this while at the same time dispensing with the childish black and white / good and evil of Griffith. The police that have to go and pick up Ingeborg when she runs away are extraordinary characters in that they are shown to be sensitive to her plight - having had her children taken away and one of them being now sick. They aren't sensitive right away as they would be if they were playing characters who are 'playing sensitive', but reach that point by gaining awareness. This is extremely advanced filmmaking.
I like also the foster mother of the child that Ingeborg manages to visit first, and the foster parents of her next and final child she manages to get to see. The first mother is very upset at the awful situation of Ingeborg. For this role to show such empathy is wonderful, advanced filmmaking. She could so very, very easily have been a finger wagger, or even more likely, look down on Ingeborg for her low social position now. But no. The next parents hesitate at first when Ingborg pleads with them to help her as the police approach their house. This hesitation is another example of Victor Sjöström's near genius for 1913. They are a couple more characters who are not black and white, not this 'type' or that.
The actress who plays the lead - Hilda Borgström - is very strong. Without histrionics, she very ably conveys the agony of her position at losing her children. She is exhausted on reaching her sick child's foster parent's home, and puts this across perfectly. And her immobility in the room of the heads of the workhouse, on having been brought back, shows clearly that in that place minus her children, she can hardly put one foot in front of the other to go on.
Ingeborg Holm is unbelievably mature filmmaking. No-one's mentioned this in the reviews here, but the film almost completely eschews melodrama. Someone amongst these reviews spoke of how it shows the harshness of the Swedish workhouse system of the time. Well, it does this while at the same time dispensing with the childish black and white / good and evil of Griffith. The police that have to go and pick up Ingeborg when she runs away are extraordinary characters in that they are shown to be sensitive to her plight - having had her children taken away and one of them being now sick. They aren't sensitive right away as they would be if they were playing characters who are 'playing sensitive', but reach that point by gaining awareness. This is extremely advanced filmmaking.
I like also the foster mother of the child that Ingeborg manages to visit first, and the foster parents of her next and final child she manages to get to see. The first mother is very upset at the awful situation of Ingeborg. For this role to show such empathy is wonderful, advanced filmmaking. She could so very, very easily have been a finger wagger, or even more likely, look down on Ingeborg for her low social position now. But no. The next parents hesitate at first when Ingborg pleads with them to help her as the police approach their house. This hesitation is another example of Victor Sjöström's near genius for 1913. They are a couple more characters who are not black and white, not this 'type' or that.
The actress who plays the lead - Hilda Borgström - is very strong. Without histrionics, she very ably conveys the agony of her position at losing her children. She is exhausted on reaching her sick child's foster parent's home, and puts this across perfectly. And her immobility in the room of the heads of the workhouse, on having been brought back, shows clearly that in that place minus her children, she can hardly put one foot in front of the other to go on.