One of the most important films in Swedish cinema, Torment represents Ingmar Bergman’s first filmed screenplay, and it is a directorial masterpiece by Bergman’s great predecessor, Alf Sjöberg. The story concerns a youth (Alf Kjellin) in his first encounters with evil. Terrorized by a sadistic schoolmaster, he becomes involved with a shopgirl (Mai Zetterling), who is also threatened, but by a figure whom she refuses to name. The couple’s pathetic attempt to hide from evil in their love ends in tragedy. Zetterling’s performance propelled her to international fame, and she considered this her finest screen role.