As Swedish film became increasingly known and shown internationally, the pressure mounted to move away from strictly nationalistic themes and material. The Monastery of Sendomir marks a departure for Sjöström in reaching outside Scandinavian literature to adapt a work by Austrian Franz Grillparzer. The film also depends significantly less on outdoor and landscape photography. But Sjöström and cinematographer Henrik Jaenzon demonstrate their compositional abilities and use of light, especially in the many night scenes. The setting is the monastery of Sendomir in mid-1600s Poland. There, an aging monk tells the story of Count Starschensky who, questioning his wife's fidelity and the paternity of his child, lays a trap to catch her. When his suspicions are confirmed, jealous rage threatens to destroy everything he loves.