One of the most important films in the Swedish cinema, Torment represents Ingmar Bergman's first filmed screenplay, and a directorial masterpiece by Bergman's great predecessor, Sjöberg. The story concerns a teenage boy in his first encounters with evil in the oppressive world of the prepschool student. Terrorized by a sadistic schoolmaster, he becomes involved with a shopgirl who is also threatened, but by a figure whom she refuses to name. The couple's pathetic attempt to hide from evil in love ends in tragedy.
“Bergman's script elucidates many of the themes he has been dealing with in the 30 years since his own student days: psychological conflict, authoritarian sadism, the struggle for self-determination and sordid sexuality.
“The film's dark mood, like the expressionistic nightmare at its center, comes from a perfect union of script and direction aimed at drawing the viewer into the position of a tyrannized student. Though Torment is realistic in treatment, the powerfully composed images are almost dreamlike in composition, suffusing the entire work with a consistently effective style.” --Philip Chamberlin