Ingeborg Holm (1913) User Reviews

An Exceptional Beginning

[ilpohirvonen · 8/10 · 12 February 2016]

Victor Sjöström's early feature film "Ingeborg Holm" is not only considered by many the first film in the golden age of Swedish cinema lasting from 1913 to 1924 but also the real beginning of Swedish cinema in general. A film scholar, Peter Cowie, for one, claims that the film marks the highest achievement of the seventh art before David Wark Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) which was to follow two years after. Although "Ingeborg Holm" is not as well known as many of its contemporary films, it surely stands out from the crowd to anyone who has seen more than a few films from the period. "Nothing like this was being made in 1913," writes Peter von Bagh, a Finnish film historian, capturing the historical importance of the film. The film's authenticity, realism, and moral seriousness have even been seen to bear far-reaching connections to Italian neorealism.

As many of the films of the Swedish golden age, "Ingeborg Holm" is also based on a literary source. It is based on a play by Nils Krok. The story concerns a married woman, Ingeborg Holm whose husband dies just after earning credit for establishing his own business. After the death of her husband, Ingeborg falls to the bottom of the society, loses her children to foster parents, and eventually ends up in an asylum.

The film is very raw and poignant in showing the grim consequences of social actions. It never, however, turns its back on the individual. Although it can be seen as a story of one woman's abasement, it grows into an intimate treatise on the sickness of a society that lacks humanity and tenderness. The shot of Ingeborg losing her children as a bureaucratic official calmly signs the documents in the background is definitive to say the least. The social reality as well as the psychological turmoil and suffering ignored by the society are relayed in a stark and riveting fashion. The scene bears a visual parallel to an earlier scene in which Ingeborg's husband dies in the foreground, while their children are innocently playing in the background of the image -- in another space, almost as if in another time, too.

Already the first film of the movement gives us its basic lessons: acting is more realistic than theatrical (to as large an extent as one can imagine given the film was made in 1913), moral themes are presented with the utmost seriousness, and emphasis lies on the simplicity and careful precision of mise-en-scène. Above all, the power of light is vital which was to be consummated in Sjöström's subsequent films such as "Terje Vigen" (1917) and "Körkarlen" (1921). In the beginning of the film, Ingeborg tries to continue her late husband's business, but fails, and we see the darkness in the grocery store almost swallowing her whole from the scarce source of light in the space.

Overall, and quite surprisingly, "Ingeborg Holm" lacks a sentimental or overly melodramatic tone. Sjöström's tone is subtle and restraint which once again reminds one of Italian neorealism. Although the film has no drama of nature which one so closely associates with the golden age of Swedish cinema, it uses a lot of outdoor on-location shooting, and its grimness, sobriety, and artistic excellence bring the style of the movement to mind very vividly. All in all, the film stands as a perfect instance for Peter Cowie's seemingly exaggerated claim that "there is no more stirring feat in the entire history of silent film than the Swedish achievements between 1913 and 1921." Sjöström's "Ingeborg Holm" is precisely this to any film enthusiast: something utterly stirring.

An early directorial effort by Victor Sjöström

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 27 November 2011]

Today, most folks have never heard of Victor Sjöström. Perhaps this is not the case in his native Sweden, but here in the States, few would recognize his name today. It's a shame, really, as he was a huge star in the silent era--both as a director and actor--and occasionally as a writer. Today, you are most likely to see him, however, if you watch Ingmar Bergman's classic "Wild Strawberries" as he plays the aging professor in the leading role. Here in "Ingeborg Holm", he directs one of his earliest films.

The story begins with a man learning that the banks will loan him the money for his dream--to open his own grocery store. However, he soon dies and his wife, Ingeborg, tries to make a go of it but fails. The business is soon sold out from under her and she becomes quite ill. She is forced to go on public assistance and things look pretty bleak. The family is sent to live in a dormitory at the workhouse and the three children are placed in foster care. Can things get any worse (the answer is an emphatic YES)? Is there any hope for our heroine and her children? Tune in and see for yourself.

This film is a very effective criticism of the Swedish welfare system of the time. The system is often unfeeling and uncaring and the film convinces the viewer of this through Ingeborg's sad story. It also helps that Hilda Borgström is able to show so much exhaustion and sadness in the title role. Overall, an unpleasant film in some ways, but also an extremely well-constructed one that is quite touching. And, a film with a theme that still resonates today--almost 100 year later.

By the way, the first 90% of the film is in amazingly good condition. Unfortunately, the finale is a bit rough--but it's still watchable.

A Hard And Moving Portrait Of A Ruined Life

[FerdinandVonGalitzien · 7/10 · 19 March 2011]

The Holms are a happy Swedish family who live an easy bourgeoisie life. In order to further improve their living, Herr Sven Holm requests a line of credit in the amount of 10.000 kronor in order to open a grocery shop.

Unfortunately things will change drastically for the Holms when Herr Sven falls ill with tuberculosis and dies. The grocery store, in the meanwhile, was left improperly unattended by an employee. Frau Ingeborg Holm is left bankrupt and alone with her three small children. This forces her to ask for help in a poorhouse.

Sweden has contributed to mankind some debatable inventions. For example, there's the safe but unstylish tank automobiles made in that Northern country ( nothing in common with elegant "Hispano-Suiza" cars )... or.. that modernen and consequently, ugly furniture manufactured in pieces that the buyer must to try to assemble ( ah, the "Rococo" overloaded style! ) ...or ...with not a trace of a four string quartets, the Swedish instead tormented aristocracy with bands of four longhaired youngsters singing tunes that even today are popular among commoners… But certainly the most important Swedish contribution to the whole world was Social Security for their population via a program that provides protection to their commoners with unemployment insurance, poverty protection and pensions, among others. It's a public welfare state that other countries will model years later.

But unfortunately things weren't always that way as Herr Victor Sjöström depicted in his early silent film "Ingeborg Holm", directed by the Swedish director in the silent year of 1913.

The film was based on a play by Herr Nils Krok, who can be seen posing as the film starts in an elegant old photograph ( nothing in common with the coloured ones that the youngsters put in their modernen profiles ). The picture version tells the human tragedy of Frau Ingeborg Holm, who due to circumstances and the blows of fate, will face destitution. Her personal drama is worsened by the unsympathetic and strict poorhouse rules that during the last centuries were applied by Swedish officialdom.

Herr Sjöström admirably depicts the process of loss that affects Frau Holm's life and her desperation, abandonment, helplessness and finally insanity. It's a terrible sad odyssey that Frau Holm will suffer and includes making heartbreaking decisions such as when she is forced to put her children in an orphanage.

Certainly "Ingeborg Holm" is not an easy film. It is an uncomfortable drama in which Herr Sjöström denounces in a realistic and harsh way the injustice caused by strict central government laws that have no concern for their subjects.

Such bitterer sensations continue during the whole film climaxing at the end of the picture when Frau Holm, after 15 years, reunites again with one of her sons. This is a wonderful scene full of infinite sadness and very moving ( at this point it must be said that the original music score composed and performed by Herr David Drazin for the longhaired "Kino" modernen disc edition, is absolutely touching and elegant ).

But this is not a happy ending because there is no comfort in this reunion; there is not a chance in recovering the happy old days when times were better for Frau Holm and her three children. Instead Frau Holm has lived a miserable life in where everything she had and loved was destroyed. Herr Sjöström depicts a desperate, hard and moving portrait of a ruined life.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must pay a visit to his aristocratic fostered parents.

A Standard for Early Feature-Length Films

[Cineanalyst · 7/10 · 7 February 2009]

"Ingeborg Holm" displays some exceptionally polished film-making for 1913. That's not to say there's anything new or rare here in film technique. Director Victor Sjöström follows the standards of the day: mostly long-shot framing, fixed camera positioning, almost no scene dissection. One standard I tend to find especially boring is the use of the same camera position for every scene that uses the same set, as with the grocery store scenes in this picture. A couple scenes, however, feature low-key lighting for dramatic effect--a technique also used early on by Yevgeni Bauer (see his 1913 feature-length film "Twilight of a Woman's Soul") and especially by Danish filmmakers. Sjöström (and early Swedish filmmakers in general) was, doubtless, heavily influenced by Danish cinema.

It also seemed to me that scenes in this film didn't linger as much as with other early long films. Many pictures before "The Birth of a Nation" tended to be very slow and theatrical, especially melodramas like this one, but not here. The tableau style, where a title card describes the action of the scene and there are no intertitles within the scene, seems to help this time. Sjöström and cinematographer Henrik Jaenzon also find some good camera positions to exploit the appropriately drab sets and occasional outdoor scenery, and the lighting is very good for the era. It also helps that the print available from Kino is very sharp (with only some deterioration in a few scenes), with a nice musical score.

The film's story is a depressing social drama of a woman who loses her husband, wealth, children and, thusly, her sanity. These events sometime appear very sudden, and it's rather surprising this film doesn't fall completely into the pit of lurid melodrama. Much credit for not doing so must be given to the lead actress Hilda Borgström. Her style isn't naturalistic (she oft employs the common silent film acting bit of standing still and staring into nothing to convey emotion), but she thankfully forgoes much of the histrionics and over-gesticulation that many of her profession transferred to cinema from theatre. I found her performance to be surprisingly engaging. Additionally, Aron Lindgren impressively plays dual roles, as the father and the grown up son.

I Ended Up Liking This Film!

[silentmoviefan · 6/10 · 24 February 2013]

In the mid-1990's, Turner Classic Movies had a documentary I really enjoyed called "Cinema Europe". This movie was one of the movies that clips were shown from. For some reason, I wanted to see every film the documentary touched on. I learned, fairly early on, that just because it was on the documentary didn't mean it was a good film. The ending, which "Cinema Europe" got wrong by the way, is why I liked this film. I'll let you watch it to see just what it was. I'm glad the ending was what it was because it was one of the most depressing films I'd ever seen. Ingeborg's husband has a stroke, a worker ruins the store, her husband dies, her children are all taken away from her, one dies and I guess the other one dies, too, because you don't hear from him after he's put in a foster home. This is an awful lot on poor Ingeborg's mind. Her youngest child is a baby and when he doesn't recognize her when he's brought in for a visit, her mind snaps. But the ending is not as bleak as the rest of the picture, far from it. There are also some other things to like about this film. One is the fact that it did help bring about change in Swedish policy. Also, they do something neat that some movies from that period did. The playwright is introduced, star Hilda Bergstrom is introduced and the actor playing the baby is introduced. I thought that was a nice touch.

Away from Holm

[thinbeach · 7/10 · 30 June 2018]

We enter Ingeborg Holm in idyllic fashion, with a happily married couple and their numerous children playing in the garden and eating meals together in peace, tranquility and love. But just as the husband receives credit to open a store, everything falls apart, and we exit the film in the pit of despair. Ingeborg Holm is the unlucky heroine to walk into a Victor Sjostrom film, and this one is as sad and heavy as any he made. The husband falls ill and dies, the shop goes bankrupt, and Ingeborg must become a housemaid, living in shared quarters with other maids - the only one given any screen time being a nasty one at that. Her children are fostered out, and suddenly she finds herself in an environment as loveless and empty as her past was lovely and full. But Sjostrom doesn't stop there, as her kids fall ill, lose memory of her, and cause such despair that Ingeborg loses her mind and becomes mentally ill.

It is not pleasant viewing, but effectively communicates the power of cherished family connections, and the unpredictable ways fate can turn our lives on their head. I can't help but feel a modern film would spoil subject matter like this - lingering too long, and too close to the tears, wringing out every last drop of drama - but being 1913, with scenes generally shot in one wide take, and no sense of urgency in the editing, the film is allowed to breathe, and we always stay distant enough from the tears so as not to get overly sentimental. It doesn't work for every film, but it works for this one. With such subject matter, one does not need close ups to feel the pain.

Victor Sjöström was a master before Griffith

[lambchopnixon · 10/10 · 12 May 2011]

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 (1913)

[MartinTeller · 6/10 · 12 January 2012]

Again, this is an early not-that-bad drama from Sjostrom about a person driven mad by tragic circumstances. It has a nice sense of restraint, especially for its era, with a fine performance by Hilda Borgstrom and a well-paced story. Nothing about the movie sucks. It just takes a little something extra for me to get involved with a silent film... some sort of avant-garde twist or dazzling technique or some thrilling action. Yeah, it's a good plot with a sympathetic protagonist, but my heart just wasn't in it. I can't imagine anyone besides a Sjostrom scholar watching this more than once.

6/10

For 1913, this feature is years ahead of many, startlingly good!

[mmipyle · 10/10 · 3 February 2009]

Over the weekend I watched "Ingeborg Holm" (1913), directed by Victor Sjöström, and starring Hilda Borgström as Ingeborg. This early Swedish feature is 96 minutes long, and it has recently been released by Kino Video. I must admit that the film rather astonished me because of the quality of pacing, of acting, of story - nearly everything; others from this year and before that were anything near a feature length, for the most part, are exceedingly antiquated by modern standards. "Ingeborg Holm" is anything BUT antiquated. I recently watched "Terje Vigen" (1917), also directed by Sjöström, and was riveted from beginning to end. It made me want to see more of his work. This became available to me, and I eagerly watched it. It certainly didn't disappoint. The story concerns what were called "workhouses" in Scandinavia. It begins by showing Ingeborg Holm's husband, through diligence and good economic behavior, being able to begin to operate his own grocery store. Unfortunately, just after opening, the husband suffers a hemorrhage and dies. Ingeborg takes over the running, but unfortunately, through the untoward grafting of an employee she ends up bankrupt. She and her three children are left with a choice to take 20 kronor a month or for Ingeborg to go work in a workhouse. She chooses the latter. I won't give away all the plot, but you can be sure that she suffers the incredible inhumanity that was inherent in that system at the time. It is said that this film nearly single-handedly began an improvement in the social system of Sweden.

I can't say enough nice things about this film because the comparison that most Americans will make will be with D. W. Griffith. Griffith only compares in a few shorts by 1913, maybe "Female of the Species", and others like it. But his next year's (1914) "Judith of Bethulia" doesn't begin to compare favorably with "Ingeborg Holm". "Ingeborg Holm"'s pacing is superb, its plot line developed as many feature silents wouldn't be for years yet. The acting has moments of early histrionic style, but for the most part it is remarkably realistic and measured. The film could bring tears to some. For me, it was a wonder to behold such an early film with such high quality.

The lead is Hilda Borgström. There were moments, especially near the end, where her eyes kept reminding me of Bette Davis. Those who have seen "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" will see the eye comparison immediately! Also, the man who plays the Poorhouse Superintendent, Georg Grönroos, looks so much like the American President, Theodore Roosevelt, as to be uncanny. His habit of taking off and putting on his reading glasses is so similar as to make one wonder if he wasn't copying Roosevelt. Anyway, it was nearly unnerving at times! One more note: the film, as with many of the period, is divided into acts, each act obviously following the length of a reel. At the end of each reel there is considerable nitrate deterioration. At the end of the picture there is massive deterioration, but still not enough to not be able to follow the picture. Overall, the quality is first rate, the picture usually quite good, if not excellent. If you're a fan of silent film, especially early silents, and if you like social drama, this is an outstanding way to quickly go through 96 minutes!

Boring but Historical

[matthewssilverhammer · 6/10 · 8 August 2018]

There are two historical things that make this worth watching: the fact that it's often considered the first real narrative full-length film, and that it's emotional storyline made a real-world impact on Swedish social security laws. Otherwise, it's largely a melodramatically sad slog with a few great moments (hiding Ingeborg in the floor).

Stunning for a pre-war silent

[davepitts · 9/10 · 31 March 2010]

Here is a 1913 feature with a true dramatic arc, one that holds the attention and shows a spatial awareness of the celluloid frame. The plot, which concerns a long-suffering mother whose children are taken from her, is its weakest feature -- there were plenty of these manipulative stories, up through "Sarah and Son" and "Stella Dallas," and you have to accept the archaic, treacly nature of the material to enjoy the film. It benefits greatly from a clear print, in which all the faces and settings are in good focus (outside of some intermittent nitrate decay.) The lead actress, Hilda Borgstrom, is a honey blonde with a convincing technique and lovely features -- she looks something like Blanche Sweet. Victor Sjostrom tells the story in extended medium and long shots, as you would expect in a 1913 film -- most film makers were still thinking of their sets as theater stages, and the power of cinematic story-telling through editing was still being theorized. But Sjostrom's use of foreground and background compensate for the static camera placement. In his most dramatic use of foreground/background, early in the film, we see Ingeborg's husband thrash and die in his sickbed, while, through an open door in the back of the room, we can see Ingeborg bustling happily around her house. Thus, while the shot lingers at one setting, we know before she does that her husband is dead and that she will soon face life's troubles without him. This film is far more coherent and structured than most films of the early feature era -- if you have a liking for silent melodrama, this is out on a Kino disc which pairs it with "A Man There Was", directed 4 years later by Sjostrom with a more flexible technique. Both are important early films if not masterworks.

fascinating silent film.

[LW-08854 · 7/10 · 24 December 2023]

I found this film pretty fascinating. The music was beautiful, the cinematography uses a lot of fixed shots. We see the real brutality of the workhouse and family separation when a mother cannot afford a doctor. The film was made in 1913 in Sweeden and yet the themes remain quite relevant today. Some of the scenery is actually quite beautiful, which makes such a contrast with the despair and madness. If you'd like to check out a silent film I would recommend this. It's also an example of the benefits of sampling a foreign film every now and again. The fact it's Swedish doesn't really matter actually as it's a silent film anyway.

Sjostrom misses the bus!

[JohnHowardReid · 5/10 · 10 November 2014]

A rather dated story – exposing the Dickensian condition of contemporary Swedish work-houses – that contrives to be both irredeemably downbeat yet persistently dull, directed with a total lack of movie know-how by Victor Sjostrom who has obviously gone out of his way and made strenuous efforts to ensure that the camera never moves, wobbles or betrays even the slightest shudder. This obviously took some doing as the camera was hand-cranked, and the only way to do it so successfully would be to encase the camera in an extremely sophisticated holder of some sort that was heavy enough to ensure that no vibration was possible when the film was being cranked. How such an inveterately heavy yet extremely cumbersome apparatus was moved around to various real locations defies logic unless the whole thing was carefully taken apart for transportation and then meticulously re-assembled. It amazes me that any director could be so perverse. After all, movies with camera movement – although not common – were not unknown even in 1901. Some critics have argued that the whole idea was to present a movie to audiences as if it were a stage play, but thinking along these lines obviously doesn't apply in this instance in which there are more changes of scene than a stage could easily accommodate and even some real locations. It's a shame that this exposé of Swedish work houses lacks the strenuous punch that a less stage-bound director than stolid Sjostrom would have given it. Available on a good Grapevine DVD.

Sobering Realism

[iquine · 7/10 · 14 September 2017]

(Flash Review)

Hailed as one of the first ever films to have a truly realistic narrative and where the actors aren't overacting like most silent films of the period. The films hits on the head of the failure of society caring for those in need. A financially responsible family, with three small children, takes the risk to start their own grocery story when suddenly illness strikes the family and their business fails, eventually bankrupting them. Established society's regulations takes their effect and you see the dramatic results. The film uses effective lighting and restrained acting to highlight the authentic story.

heartfelt silent film

[elodienoyes · 6/10 · 22 August 2023]

Beautiful background music added to this Swedish silent film from 1913. This is first silent film I've seen and I didn't know what to expect. To my surprise, I was able to stay engaged for the full 73 mins and ended up enjoying the style in which the film is presented. The story of a widowed mother tugs at your heartstrings and is a bold commentary on the treatment of lower-class individuals (particularly women) at the time. Would recommend this film to anyone interested in deepening their understanding of European film from the early 20th century. I would not recommend this film to anyone looking to tune out to a relaxing (somewhat short) film.

Master Victor Sjöström's Swedish Melodrama is one of the earliest notable works about a mother's Tragedy in the cinema world.

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 7/10 · 30 July 2022]

Ingeborg Holm / Margaret Day (1913) : Brief Review -

Master Victor Sjöström's Swedish Melodrama is one of the earliest notable works about a mother's Tragedy in the cinema world. I am a big fan of Victor Sjöström and his prominent classics from the 1920s decade. It gives me an immense pleasure to view his early films, which were made on basic formulas as per the requirements and understanding of the era. Ingeborg Holm forced me to think about all the films based on Mother's tale, and I quickly realised how influential it was. It was much before Chinese cinema made "SheNu" / "The Goddess" (1934) and Indian cinema made the classic "Aurat" (1940). However, Holm's story is not that broad. It sticks to the basics while dealing with a relatable and emotional topic like motherhood. When I tried to find out the similarities between this film and other ones, I found the Marathi film "Chimni Pakhare" close to it, but then the main character had to go through different conflicts. The best close answer was the Telugu flick, "Jeevana Jyothi" (1975), which also had a double role boost. Imagine, a film from the 1910s decade influencing modern well-known films. The film is about a mother with three children who had to send her children to foster homes due to the financial crisis after her husband's death. The insanity angle is also used well by mixing it with high-end melodrama. I remember Hilda Borgström from Victor's "The Phantom Carriage" (1921), but today I noticed that her face and expressions are familiar with those of Lillian Gish. Her face kept reminding me of Gish, who also happened to work during the same period of time. Victor Sjöström's film has everything to make a classy watch, but it missed the classic tag by just an inch, in my opinion. Nevertheless, a great work from the early stages of movies that set many iconic formulas once and for all.

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Bravo netflix

[andysbar · 9/10 · 19 February 2021]

I dont know if netflix got involved before or after the restoration .but this a great achievement for1913 may be I'm a wimp but the end made me cry. More like this netflix please

A tale of suffering.

[ulicknormanowen · 9/10 · 16 June 2021]

A Restoration which ,except for the very last pictures, does the great director's work justice.

It could have been a mushy melodrama, for the mother's fate is really awful .But Sjöstrom transcends his subject with his stunning directing and his principal, Hilda Borgstrom .

Remarkable scenes: the first scenes,with the whole family,full of joie de vivre,and the father,proud of having provided part of the capital of the shop he is about to open; the clerk, seducing the girls with his boss's stuff ; the mother/son separation,when the boy cannot bring himself to leave her, desperately hangs on to her , comes back to her ten times; the little girl who doesn't know her estranged mom anymore; the insane asylum where,with an incredible economy of means (a repetition close to horror movies) , the director creates a crazy atmosphere ;the mom rocking a plank in a cloth ; the return of the son and the face of the actress whose eyes reflect insanity before beaming with happiness.

Impressive and deeply moving,at a time the actresses had to make do with expression.

Well Done and Moving Realist Drama

[Screen_O_Genic · 9/10 · 15 May 2019]

A woman loses her husband and children in quick succession as the hand of fate lands her a tragic blow. Good direction, cinematography and acting for the time make this one of the essential silents and a standout in Scandinavian and world cinema. A must for fans of film history and movies in general.

Great Hilda Borgstrom In The Film

[classicchocolate00 · 8/10 · 25 September 2013]

Ingeborg lost his husband(He was died by his disease), her family did not possess enough money to repay debt. She had to work in a workhouse for housekeeping and repaying it. Unfortunately she said goodbye to her children. One day, her second child(I do not remember the child was a daughter or a son) had got disease, so Ingeborg ran away from there to see the child. But that child was died in too young age by the disease sadly. She went back the workhouse to work and earn money. Several days later, her last child(Son) went to there to take a medical examination. Several years later, the son and last child of hers came to find his mother.

I am quite pleased Hilda Borgstrom to be a legendary actress in her generation. Hilda's performance looked realistic. The film was also hopefully listed in the top grossing films of 1915.

This Is Where The Full Narrative Plots In Movies Began

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 7 May 2021]

The classic narrative films so familiar in "The Golden Age of Hollywood" movies had its beginning in October 1913 with Sweden's "Ingeborg Holm." Writer/director Victor Sjostrom adapted the Nils Krok 1906 play about a family who sinks to the depths of poverty after the father dies just as he assumes ownership of a store.

What sets "Ingeborg Holm" apart from the movies produced previously to the autumn of 1913 was the breath of its plot. Instead of taking a slice of a full-scale biography of the characters and producing a film on one particular stand alone event, here Sjostrom portrays an entire family's history, beginning when the head of the household receives bank funding to begin his enterprise. He continues the plot until years later, concluding in an emotional reunion with the mother and her long-absent son.

"Ingeborg Holm" fits all the criteria in cinema's full narrative definitions. A classic narrative begins by introducing all the characters who will propel the plot forward, just as Sjostrom illustrated with the comfortable middle-class family embarking on its new enterprise. Narratives contain a triggering event which shakes things up. Here, the father dies and his assistant at the store rips off the family's profits. Sjostrom continues the narrative plot by showing the mother-led family sinking into poverty, with the kids shunt off to the poor house. Events lead up to the conclusion, where the director visually reveals Sweden's lack of a safety net for the country's poor caused by, through no fault of themselves, their hardships.

Hollywood would follow Sjostrom's pattern of full narrative movies, especially during its classic 1930's--1950's golden age. There are variations of the narrative pattern in movies today, but the Swedes were the first to put into practice on film what literature and drama had been delivering for centuries.

Today's movie viewers may be familiar with Sjostrom by his last appearance on the screen in Ingmar Bergman's 1957's "Wild Strawberries," where he had the leading role of an aging professor who rediscovers his past through a journey to receive a honorarium.

An excellent, measured social drama that remains frustratingly relevant

[I_Ailurophile · 10/10 · 8 March 2023]

Especially in contrast to other titles whose prints have severely deteriorated before preservation, it's always astonishing to see a silent film that's marked by such pristine image quality, not least one from as early as 1913. All the rich detail of the sets and costume design, and the nuances in the cast's performances, are seen with perfect fidelity, and even handwritten notes before the camera are perfectly legible, something which can much more rarely be said of any contemporary fare. Similarly, it's sadly, infuriatingly noteworthy that the narrative core of 'Ingeborg Holm' remains as relevant and impactful today as it was over 100 years ago; conditions have changed, but not meaningfully so. This may not make as immediate an impression as other pictures Victor Sjöström would go on to make, yet this is only because it pointedly takes its time to let the plot unfold in its own time. In every substantive way it's just as compelling and stands just as tall on its own merits, and at length is a classic completely on par with anything else in the Swede's body of work.

Part and parcel of being a social drama, but also perhaps reflective just of how Sjöström would continue to refine his skills and style over time, I think it's safe to say this feature is relatively simple and straightforward, with perhaps less of the artistic slant or utmost depth that would define 1917's 'A man there was,' let alone 'He who gets slapped' in 1924. Yet that purity might be more appropriate anyway for a movie starkly portraying the cruel, indifferent treatment, harsh judgment and stigma, and profound failures of capitalist society to provide for those who are least able and most in need. Sweden in the 1910s, as seen in 'Ingeborg Holm,' looks much more like modern global society than too many people would have the courage or honesty to admit as unfeeling bureaucracy and contemptible socioeconomic machinery drive people to ruin. Sjöström's tale, adapted alongside Nils Krok from his own play, may center the titular character, in a particular time and place, yet this could just as easily be a story unfolding in, say, the United States in 2023. That says as much, I think, about Sjöström, and Krok, as it does about the state of the world.

That universality lends the production immense, terrible power. As it does, the crew behind the scenes put in excellent work enrich the visuals with fine minutiae for our eyes to wash over. The busy aesthetics of the Holm homestead or business, or other functional settings, notably contrast with the bare, dour appearance of Ingeborg's new surroundings, and the costume design and hair and makeup likewise take a turn. To an extent one can observe in the acting the more exaggerated expressions and body language that flowed from the stage into the silent era to compensate for lack of sound, yet still the players demonstrate a commendable measure of subtlety in their performances. As Hilda Borgström and her costars explore their roles, we can see glimpses of the more tactful, natural comportment that would become more prominent in the later years of the silent era and certainly following the advent of talkies - and it is most gratifying. Meanwhile, Sjöström's direction and the cinematography of Henrik Jaenzon may not readily leap out in the same way such facets would even a few years later in the man's career, yet still I don't think there's any arguing that there's a precision and mindfulness to the craft that is everything it needs to be while letting the story itself take precedence. By any point of comparison the construction here is rather uncomplicated, but Sjöström nevertheless shows keen intelligence in orchestrating shots and scenes; if in any way 'Ingeborg Holm' is fundamentally less dynamic than successors like 'Eld ombord,' it's primarily just because of the unflinching approach to such a serious topic.

So maybe 'Ingeborg Holm' isn't as wholly resplendent and inspired as the likes of 'The outlaw and his wife' or 'The wind.' I'd say this has less to do with the filmmaker himself, though, than it does with the status of an art form that was still developing. Practically speaking, cinema was still learning to walk in 1913. But even at that, this picture bursts with significant weight, tremendous heart, grave intent, and absolute sincerity while telling a tale that comes to bloom with compelling tension and emotional gravity all its own. Maybe it's not instantly grabbing as other works even within Sjöström's own oeuvre, yet its import then and now is undeniable, and its strength builds to a soft yet potent, rather staggering crescendo over these 73 minutes. When all is said and done I dare say this is ultimately just as superb and essential as anything else the filmmaker gave us, with the differences being merely the nature of the subject matter, and the deliberate pace at which it metes out its striking drama. I can understand why silent movies don't appeal to all comers, yet aside from the most stubborn of modern viewers, all told frankly I think this is a title that earns a solid recommendation for one and all. Well made in every regard, and specifically very well written with crucial themes that ring true even many decades later, 'Ingeborg Holm' may be a less celebrated gem in Sjöström's crown as a filmmaker, but it's just as deserving and is well worth seeking out.