Night Games

Night Games is the story of a man’s attempt to understand his sexual inhibitions by exploring his incestuous obsession with his mother. In flashbacks we see how her dissolute and often cruel sexual games in their castle home both tantalized and tortured the man as a young boy. Film curator Albert Johnson wrote, “In her perusal of senseless immoralities and jaded pleasure, [Mai] Zetterling does not turn the eye of the camera away, but keeps it firmly centered on every nuance of frustration, regret, and flickering hope. The result is a masterwork of introspection.” Ingrid Thulin is superb as the depraved mother. John Waters named Night Games his favorite film.