Bergman's second color film is one of his most economical--spare, straightforward, but in no sense lightweight. Four people have escaped to a remote island off the Swedish mainland but find that they cannot escape the injustice, violence and guilt of modern life. An intricate four-way relationship between Max von Sydow, Erland Josephson, Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann is played out against a mysterious situation in which an anonymous sadist is killing animals on the island. Bergman interrupts the narrative with two unusual devices that only serve to increase the profundity--and believability--of the film: each character is given a lengthy passage in which to reveal the most important incident in his or her life; and each actor has a moment in which to comment on the role being played. Penelope Gilliatt calls The Passion of Anna (also known as A Passion), "supreme...one of the most specifically modern films I have ever seen."