ONE NIGHT IN THE SWEDISH SUMMER MITEM

 “When film is not a document, it is dream. That is why Tarkovsky is the greatest of them all. He moves with such naturalness in the room of dreams. He doesn’t explain. What should he explain anyhow? He is a spectator, capable of staging his visions in the most unwieldy but, in a way, the most willing of media,” Ingmar Bergman wrote in his autobiography, “Laterna Magica.”

One Night in the Swedish Summer by Erland Josephson is about the recording of Andrej Tarkovsky’s last film, The Victim, recorded on the island of Gotland in 1985.

In a tender, humorous manner he describes an encounter between the Russian director and Swedish actors. While cast and crew wait in the summer night with increasing impatience, their view of play, life, language, and art is challenged. Erland Josephson worked with the great directors Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Peter Brook, and he won international acclaim with his many roles in film and theatre. As a writer, he was especially praised for his portraits of Swedish and international actors and directors and his account of his years as Head of Dramaten.