BACCHAE, THE {BACKANTERNA} {SWEDISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES} (TV
Summary
A musical adaptation of Euripides' Greek drama directed by Ingmar Bergman. Dionysus, the God of wine and fertility, appears in the city of Thebes as a mortal. He has come to seek revenge on Pentheus, the King of Thebes, who refuses to recognize that Dionysus is a God. In his mortal disguise and known only as a foreigner, Dionysus lures the women of Thebes towards the mountains where the Maenads, female devotees of Dionysus, sing his praise. Pentheus becomes angry at the foreigner who is enticing the women away from the city. He becomes even more enraged when he sees that his own grandfather is being led to the mountains by Teiresias, a blind prophet. Teiresias attempts to warn Pentheus about the consequences of a mortal warring against a God, but Pentheus is stubborn in his ways and refuses to accept that Dionysus is divine. Pentheus has the strange foreigner arrested and thrown in jail. However, Dionysus escapes and returns to the women of Thebes. Pentheus catches up to them and announces that he plans to attack the Maenads even though his mother is one of them. Dionysus convinces Pentheus that he should visit the Maenads dressed as a woman and spy on their actions before he attacks.
A slave returns from the mountains of the Maenads to the women of Thebes and announces that Pentheus has been savagely killed by his own mother who, in a religious trance, mistook him for a lion and tore off his head with her bare hands. Pentheus' mother returns from the mountains with her son's head in her hands. She continues to think that she is carrying the head of a lion until her father brings her out of her trance and points out what she has done. Suddenly, Dionysus appears as himself and announces the punishments for the various people who have offended him and committed crimes against humanity. In the end, the once great city of Thebes is left without a ruler and in complete chaos. In Swedish with English subtitles.
Details
- NETWORK: Sveriges Television (Sweden)
- DATE: November 30, 1992
- RUNNING TIME: 1:22:37
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:37405
- GENRE: Drama; Music
- SUBJECT HEADING: Dionysus (Greek diety); Drama; International Collection - Sweden; Music; Mythology, Greek; Pentheus (Greek mythology)
- SERIES RUN: Sveriges Television (Sweden) - TV, 1993
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Mans Reutersward … Producer
- Ingmar Bergman … Director
- Euripides … Writer
- Philip Vellacott … Writer, Based on the translation by
- Suzanne Tang … Writer (Misc. Credits), English Subtitles
- Daniel Bšrtz … Music by
- Sylvia Lindenstrand … Cast, Dionysos
- Laila Andersson-Palme … Cast, Teiresias
- Sten Wahlund … Cast, Kadmos
- Peter Mattei … Cast, Pentheus
- Anita Soldh … Cast, Agaue
- Berit Lindholm … Cast, Alfa
- Paula Hoffman … Cast, Beta
- Camilla Staern … Cast, Gamma
- Ellen Andreassen … Cast, Delta
- Anne-Marie Muhle … Cast, Zeta
- Kristina Hammarstrom … Cast, Eta
- Anna Tomson … Cast, Theta
- Eva Osterberg … Cast, Lambda
- Carina Morling … Cast, XI
- Amelie Fleetwood … Cast, Rho
- Lena Hoel … Cast, Sigma
- Helena Stroberg … Cast, Tau
- Ingrid Tobiasson … Cast, Omega
- Marianne Orlando … Cast, Talatta
- Carl Magnus Dellow … Cast, Soldaten
- Per Mattsson … Cast, Herden
- Peter Stormare … Cast, Budbararen
- Kicki Bramberg … Cast, Teiresias Ledsagare
- Jukka Korpi … Cast, a Vakter (a Guard)
- Staffan Eek … Cast, a Vakter (a Guard)