“You‘re probably familiar with the phenomenon from your practice.
You’ll know that nonbelievers often pray. I pray. It gives me relief in my pain.”
Ingmar Bergman’s 1969 released film The Rite, with a running time of 76 minutes, seems at first to be a lesser Bergman, but when we take a deeper look into the film’s meaning, we can learn much more about Bergman and his artistic views.
The film is set in an unnamed country, where three actors are being questioned by a judge about a sexual incident in which they could be fined. The investigation is led by a strange but powerful man thanks to his position, who we will discuss in more detail later.
Before we dig deeper into the investigation, let’s take a look at the characters and their characteristics. We see Sebastian, who is arrogant, moody, a heavy drinker, but also talented. Then we have Thea, who is beautiful but nervous, prone to fits and fragile, also gifted. Finally, we have Hans, who is more reserved, wealthy, also very talented, but older and increasingly tired. We see that these artists symbolise not only Bergman as an artist, but all artists and their possible artistic lives. The youngest is Thea, she symbolises the aspiring artists who are young, talented and beautiful, but her character also reflects the insecurity, the nervousness of the young, who do not yet have security and are therefore prone to panic attacks of failure. When the first insecurities are forgotten, when artists have already celebrated success, are firmly in the saddle and are fully aware of their work, this is precisely when Sebastian comes to the fore. He symbolises the artists who have or have had success, and those who need to be careful not to fall into a damaging snootiness and a certain pretentious drivel. It’s also a crossroad that artists must cross, and which path they choose is entirely up to them. At the end of the road, we come to Hans, who is wealthy, more reserved and increasingly tired of art; he no longer needs to comment on everything and express his views. He wants his peace and quiet and has been struggling with quitting for a long time. The analogy to the ageing artists of the past is clear, and perhaps Bergman knew that one day he will also be like this.
Now to the judge, the judge is the mirror image of the critics that Bergman detests so much. The judge is a man who at first seems self-confident and emits a certain authority because of his position, but as the film progresses, we recognise the man’s insecurity and fragility, think of the church scene or the constant sweating. After the judge has briefly questioned the actors together, he takes on the three of them alone. He plays with their insecurities; with Sebastian and Hans, the judge has a harder time unsettling them, but with Thea, he exploits her youthful nervousness to the full. She is even sexually abused by him; the critic rapes the art and thus the young artists at the same time.
Bergman’s critical view of critics can be read very clearly here; he detests critics who abuse their power and attack art without a valid reason, even “rape” it.
To conclude, when the artists unite and present their art to the critic as one, he is insecure and sweats. Of course, the phallic symbol of the actors is not just a joke in the film, it is meant to show that artists who create something are potent in comparison to the critic. In the end, Bergman lets art win and takes revenge on the critic, who is no match for art and dies.
