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Demons

1987, Movie, NR, 125 mins

Demons: Review

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Released in Sweden in 1986 and based on a play by Lars Noren, this portrait of marital turmoil makes WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? look like "The Honeymooners." Green and Froeling have been married for ten years, though from the outset it's clear that anger and resentment dominate their life together. After his mother's funeral, Green returns to their flat with her ashes. He has been phoning all day, but there has been no answer, and he suspects the sultry Froeling of infidelity. They begin the barbed insults that grow more brutal and rancorous as the long evening wears on. Green's brother and sister-in-law are due to arrive, but they cancel the engagement. Dreading the thought of spending the evening alone with Froeling, Green invites Granath and Oscarsson, a couple from their building, to come up for drinks. Before the young couple arrives, Green and Froeling make violent love. Granath is bespectacled and rather straight-laced; Oscarsson complains about the constraints of motherhood. One drink follows another, and the tension builds as the vitriol between Green and Froeling increases to dangerous levels. Soon, Granath and Oscarsson are behaving badly towards each other. Oscarsson is worried about their infant son and anxious to go home, but Granath, titillated by Froeling, wants to remain. Green, the cold, distant instigator of most of this ugliness, eventually pushes Froeling so far that she launches herself through a glass door. Her psychological attack then becomes as cutting as her husbands'. With the women out of the room, Green homosexually propositions Granath as the two play an aggressive game of catch with a valuable glass vase. At first, it appears he is only trying to make Granath uncomfortable, then it seems his desire is genuine. Disgusted, Granath knocks Green around the room. Froeling announces that her husband is impotent, saying that only bizarre fantasies like watching her make love with other men excite him. She says that on a trip to North Africa he urged her to bring young boys back to the room with her. Granath makes love with Froeling, though he is racked with guilt almost immediately. Oscarsson mothers Green. As dawn breaks, Green and Froeling are left alone in the living room, which Oscarsson has festooned with hundreds of small candles. Producing a hammer and nails, Froling crucifies Green on the floor amidst the flickering candles. As in Edward Albee's play, the soul-crushing psychological warfare being waged here is born of desperation. Froeling is desperate for some show of emotion from Green, who is unflagging in his stoic refusal. He tells Froeling he loves her but he does not like her, and when she fears he will hit her, he promises he will do it only when she is certain he will never do it again. Green admits there are times when he wakes up in bed next to her and can only think of how helpless she is and how she must be protected. Green, too, craves tenderness but does not know how to ask for it. Whether or not he is gay is less important than his inability to admit how much he needs to feel loved. He is deeply hurt when Froeling says all he has ever been is a way of passing the time after the devastation of her break-up with her only real love. Ironically, nothing could be further from the truth, and she will do anything to keep Green. Froeling may or may not actually nail Green to the floor, but the symbolic intent of this action would seem to have something to do with a desperate attempt to "save" the relationship. Granath's and Oscarsson's cruelty to each other is less severe, but, though their children may serve as a bond missing in the other couple's relationship, it seems implicit that they, too, may be headed for the same battles. There are several instances in which glass is broken, suggesting that a marriage, like glass, is a fragile thing, which when shattered is capable of inflicting tremendous hurt. The film is generally well-paced, though a bit overlong if only because of the magnitude of the emotional sparring we witness. (There is one notable instance of comic relief as Green, after being belted by Granath, carries on with a hanky spouting like a carnation from one of his nostrils.) The performances are strong, particularly that of the ravishing Froeling, however, it is difficult to like any of these characters, save, perhaps, Oscarsson, who is slower than the others but more in touch with her ability to show compassion. It is unfortunate that we are never given a chance to see a more sympathetic side to these characters, because it is hard to feel much empathy for their suffering. However, this works both ways, for, if we cared more for them, it might be even more difficult to endure the pain they heap upon each other. leave a comment
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