The Serpent's Egg (1977)

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writer:

Ingmar Bergman (writer)

Release Date:

15 February 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Berlin 1923! A dangerous time to be alive and stay that way!

Plot:

Ingmar Bergman's The Serpent's Egg follows a week in the life of Abel Rosenberg, an out-of-work American...

Plot Keywords:

1920s | Nazism | Terror | Actual Animal Killed | Inhumanity

Cast

David Carradine	...	Abel Rosenberg
Liv Ullmann	...	Manuela Rosenberg
Heinz Bennent	...	Hans Vergerus
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Isolde Barth	...	Girl in uniform
Toni Berger	...	Mr. Rosenberg
Christian Berkel	...	Student
Richard Bohne	...	Police officer
Paula Braend	...	Mrs. Hemse
Erna Brünell	...	Mrs. Rosenberg
Paul Burian	...	Experiment person
Paul Bürks	...	Cabaret comedian
Hildegard Busse	...	Prostitute
Gaby Dohm	...	Woman with baby
Hans Eichler	...	Max
Emil Feist	...	Miser
Kai Fischer
Gert Fröbe	...	Inspector Bauer
Herbert Fux
Renate Grosser	...	Prostitute
Heino Hallhuber	...	Bride
Georg Hartmann	...	Hollinger
Edith Heerdegen	...	Mrs. Holle
Rosemarie Heinikel	...	Girl in uniform
Klaus Hoffmann
Grischa Huber	...	Stella
Harry Kalenberg	...	Coroner
Volkert Kraeft
Andrea L'Arronge	...	Girl in uniform
Gunther Malzacher	...	Husband
Lisi Mangold	...	Mikaela
Beverly McNeely	...	Girl in uniform
Günter Meisner
Anne Mertin
Hubert Mittendorf	...	Comforter
Kyra Mladeck	...	Miss Dorst
Heide Picha	...	Wife
Hans Quest	...	Dr. Silbermann
Charles Régnier	...	Doctor
Walter Schmidinger	...	Solomon
Irene Steinbeisser	...	Groom
Fritz Strassner	...	Dr. Soltermann
Glynn Turman	...	Monroe
Ellen Umlauf	...	Hostess
Hertha von Walther	...	Woman in street
Wolfgang Weiser	...	Civil servant
James Whitmore	...	The Priest
Ralf Wolter

Also Known As:

Das Schlangenei (West Germany)

Runtime:

Argentina:120 min | USA:119 min

Country:

USA | West Germany

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:16 (original rating) | Singapore:NC-16 | Argentina:18 | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Norway:18 | UK:18 (video rating) (1990) | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Studios, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

De Laurentiis

Trivia:

Director Trademark: [Ingmar Bergman] [name]Last name Vergerus.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The Nazi-looking thugs that are beating up people are wearing Model 1943 German army caps and 1940s style clothing. This film is supposed to take place in the 1920s.

Quotes:

Hans Vergerus: [explains the upcoming social and political developments in Germany to Abel Rosenberg] It's like a serpent's egg. Through the thin membranes, you can clearly discern the already perfect reptile.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Away from Home (2004) (V)

An unfortunate blemish on several notable filmographies

When asked by an interviewer about his notorious 1969 flop `A Place for Lovers,' Italian director Vittorio de Sica, who had previously made some of the most influential films in the history of cinema, simply replied `I'm an artist. Artists make mistakes.' It was an honest, straightforward statement that acknowledged the necessity of failure in the business of moviemaking. Filmmakers have their boundaries, and when those lines are crossed it is only appropriate that they are shocked and prodded back into their proper place.

Like de Sica, Ingmar Bergman has made many stunning films that skillfully explore the facets of the human soul. `The Serpent's Egg' is not one of them. This is a clumsy, heavy-handed mess that fails to find anything interesting in its subject. I'm sure this story has something interesting to say about the suffering caused by war, poverty, and bigotry, but Bergman doesn't seem to know how to translate his own script's ambitions to the screen.

Certainly, there are elements present that always make for an interesting Bergman film: family tragedy, frustrated love, a protagonist fearing for his own sanity, and a hint of the supernatural. But these elements do not flow together as they did in Bergman's previous films; on the whole, it comes off feeling static, lacking the urgency so desperately needed. Character motivations are frequently illogical, and the more interesting figures (such as a priest played by James Whitmore) are given too little screen time while the more frustrating characters are given too much. The film is also weighed down by banal dialogue that spells out the emotions of the characters in an insulting and sometimes laughable way. The performances don't help either; to call them `overwrought' is a dire understatement. David Carradine spends much of his time posturing and pouting, Liv Ullmann shrieks her lines enough to set your teeth on edge, and Heinz Bennett scowls and sneers his way through his final confrontation with Carradine just to make sure there are no doubts that his character is the villain.

The only really effective element to `The Serpent's Egg' is the atmosphere, thanks largely to photographer Sven Nykvist, who gives the smoke-filled cabaret halls a lurid, grimy feel. The recreation of 1923 Berlin is convincing, effectively portraying a society that justifies evil by using it to pull itself out of poverty. But the visuals are a thin shell that cannot hide the emptiness of the drama. Perhaps Bergman's vision was at odds with the demands of producer Dino de Laurentiis, who, at the time, was better known for action fluff such as `Mandingo,' `Death Wish,' and the 1976 remake of `King Kong.' Or perhaps Bergman, who made his most personal films in and around his Swedish homeland, did not know how to transplant his ideas into so foreign a setting. In any case, Bergman, like de Sica, later acknowledged his `mistake' in his autobiography `Images,' where he rightly described the film as one of the most disappointing experiences of his career. `The Serpent's Egg' is only of interest if you want to see what results when a talented artist pushes his art in the wrong direction.