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"Dear Herr Thorsten Hedlund...

"It appears to me that heaven is much nearer to us than we think

"perhaps because I'm closer to it!

"I'm not mistaken about my approaching end.

"It seems to me more likely than ever. Although I don't know why!"

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"My soul rejoices at the thought that there's a place up there

"resembling this quite beautiful earth

"for to pass directly to an infinite realm has never appealed to me."

"I imagine it to be like Switzerland

"and shall never forget my first impression of Switzerland

"as the train descended from the Jura.

"I thought I was seeing cloud formations of a wondrous beauty

"but then it dawned on me: They were the Alps!"

"It's heaven itself, said my children. And my wife burst into tears."

Well. There you are. Iwas almost certain you would come.

So you called then?

I felt it.

Why are you sitting here?

Well. I know of no other place to sit while I wait.

- What are you waiting for? - If only I knew...

I've waited 40 years for happiness, or rather the end of unhappiness.

Listen again to this dismal music.

Don't go.

I'll be scared if you go.

Strindberg wrote the play The Freethinker in 1869.

It is one of his first plays, perhaps the very first.

He wrote under the pseudonym Herrved Ulv.

During this period Strindberg studied in Uppsala

and applied to get into Stockholm's School of Dramatic Arts

but was not accepted.

At this time he was at odds with his father

who wanted him to be a chemist.

The play is about a young man who breaks with his family's traditions

and leaves his country to follow his own conscience and ideals.

In the preface Strindberg quotes Jesus:

"I came not to bring peace...

"but a sword."

"Beloved Mummy...

"Thank you for your warm, friendly, loving letter.

"It did my wounded heart good to know you still feel tenderness towards me

"and I hope that in the future. Though humanity may condemn me

"you will always love me as your daughter and believe me.

"August has never been my lover.

"But my firm intention is, as soon as the law allows, to become his wife.

"It's hard to describe. For I have a very strange nature.

"It's hard to describe what is going on in my heart.

"The person who once enters it will, however. Never leave again.

"Even though I appear cold and hard, I have a rich measure of affection

"and gratitude towards those who have been good to me."

Siri von Essen born August 17. 1850

August Strindberg born January 22, 1849

THE FREETHINKER

Merely to sit here...

just to spend an hour with you...

This would be comfort to any soul. It is for mine.

For a soul that burns as mine does...

the relief is indescribable.

- Beautiful words. - But you are beautiful.

So beautiful you deserve to hear beautiful words again and again.

In Berlin. Strindberg meets with Stanislaw Przybyszewski. "Popoffsky"

In Berlin. Strindberg meets with Stanislaw Przybyszewski. "Popoffsky"

Polish author, Satanist. And brilliant pianist...

who once rewrote the First Book of Moses to read

Is it Forsberg? Who once rewrote the First Book of Moses to read

who once rewrote the First Book of Moses to read

"In the Beginning there was Sex..."

- Stop now! - You and your damned lesbiansl "In the Beginning there was Sex..."

You're ridiculous!

Can you answer me? You lie so much you believe yourself!

- Can you answer me? - I have never lied to you!

You do nothing else!

How many times have you deceived me?

- The time's come. - Stop now!

- Can you stop lying. Woman? - You're mad!

Bend forward.

Sooner or later the truth will out. So you may as well tell me now! Strindberg. Engaged to be married

What do you get out of this? With the young Austrian journalist Frida Uhl

with the young Austrian journalist Frida Uhl

has an affair with Popoffsky's fiancée, Dagny Juell.

I won't take this any morel has an affair with Popoffsky's fiancée, Dagny Juell.

Has an affair with Popoffsky's fiancée, Dagny Juell.

Don't hit me! Has an affair with Popoffsky's fiancée, Dagny Juell.

Has an affair with Popoffsky's fiancée, Dagny Juell.

Two weeks later he marries Frida.

How many times? With whom? How many times? Two weeks later he marries Frida.

Two weeks later he marries Frida.

Can you answer me? Two weeks later he marries Frida.

Two weeks later he marries Frida.

Can you answer me? Open the door! With whom?

He believes that Popoffsky will kill him

and writes that he hears the Pole playing through the wall.

1894. Frida Uhl and Strindberg separate after six months marriage.

August Strinberg and Frida Uhl's child Kerstin

is left in Austria with Frida's grandparents.

Kerstin will never see her father again.

1896. Strindberg is in Paris. He has no money.

He has now abandoned writing dramas and novels

and is painting and experimenting in various fields of science.

He photographs the moon without a camera or lens.

He turns to alchemy, trying to make gold by mixing copper and sulphate of iron.

Strindberg is now deep into the existential and religious crisis

which will become known as the "Inferno crisis".

His hands are bleeding.

Now I'll read a little from Inferno

which I'll write a year from now.

"Back once again in my miserable student's room in the Latin Quarter

"I delved into my trunk...

"and drew forth from their hiding place

"six crucibles of fine porcelain which I had robbed myself to buy."

I'm expected to work here...

expected to work in a room that is...

that grows smaller every second.

After 15 years of marriage with August Strindberg

Siri von Essen returns to her homeland, Finland...

together with their three children. Karin. Greta and Hans.

Out there in the yard

just outside my damned window

there are a hundred toilets.

Take note, they have built a hundred toilets outside a hotel.

Did you ever hear of such a thing? How could anyone be so stupid

as to build a hundred toilets just outside a wall where people live?

And they expect you to pay for it!

And these damned toilets will flush up and down all night long!

People will shit and drip... It drips through the window here too.

Karin.

Strindberg wants Karin to come and live with him and Frida

Read this. It's from Daddy. Strindberg wants Karin to come and live with him and Frida

Strindberg wants Karin to come and live with him and Frida

to take care of their child and teach Frida Swedish.

During March - April 1993. Peter Watkins published an article

regarding the mass media and placed it in the Orion Theatre

at the time of our filming. Extracts read as follows:

"The need for alternative audio-visual material and processes

"within global cultures is now painfully clear.

"The problem has become essentially that of power. Personal power."

Free me from my suspicions and I'll give up the fight.

What suspicions?

About who Bertha's father is.

Are there any doubts about that?

Yes, I have some.

- And it's you who've raised them. - I?

Free me from uncertainty. Tell me straight: It is true.

And I will forgive you in advance.

I can't confess to something I haven't done.

What does it matter to you?

Do you think a man would trumpet out his shame publicly?

If I say it's not true. You won't be convinced

but if I say it's true. That would convince you.

You want it to be true.

Do you have any grounds for your suspicions?

Yes and no.

You want me to be guilty, to be rid of me

and get full control of the child.

- But I won't fall into that trap. - Laura...

You don't understand.

You want power over the child. But still keep me as a provider.

Yes, power...

What's this life and death struggle been about if not power?

For me. Since I don't believe in a life to come...

my child was my after-life.

My idea of immortality, perhaps the only one with any basis in reality.

Take that away and you cut off my life.

Why didn't we separate in time?

Because the child bound us together

but the bond became a chain.

- Who is the father? - You!

No, I am not.

A crime lies buried here and it's beginning to stink.

And what a hellish crime!

I've served 17 years hard labour and I was innocent.

- How can you repay me for that? - You're completely mad.

1879. Strindberg writes The Red Room

a devastating exposé of corruption and hypocrisy

in contemporary Swedish life

combined with lyrical descriptions of Stockholm

the city he so loves.

Attention!

Company, forward.

March!

"The Katarina Church bell rang 7 times. Then Maria with its splenetic descant.

"And the Great Church and German Church chimed in with their bass

"and soon all space quivered with the sound of the city's 7 bells.

"But when they grew silent. One after the other

"in the distance there was still one singing its peaceful evensong.

"It had a higher tone. A purer ring

"and a quicker tempo than the others. For that is what it has.

"He listened and tried to discover where the sound came from

"for it seemed to awaken a memory in him.

"Then his features became pliant

"and his face expressed the pain a child experiences

"when it feels it has been left alone.

"And he was alone

"because his mother and father lay in Klara Cemetery

"from where the bell could still be heard.

"And he was a child

"for he still believed in everything, both in truth and in fairy-tales."

In the summer of 1875 August Strindberg is 26 years old.

He works as an assistant at the Royal Library in Stockholm

and studies the roots of the Chinese language.

He had worked as a journalist the past few years

and also written his first plays...

including The Outlaw

The Freethinkerand his future masterpiece Master Olof...

which was refused by the Royal Dramatic Theatre.

Afew weeks earlier a friend had been in touch with Strindberg.

An opera singer

who asked him to look after his girl-friend

while the opera singer went to Finland.

The girl's name was Ina Forsten.

Looking after this girl turned into an amorous summer adventure.

And one day Ina takes Strindberg on a shopping tour in Stockholm.

This is the beginning of some scenes

from Strindberg's marriage to Siri von Essen.

12 years later these scenes appeared in A Madman's Defence.

Oh. Hello.

Hello. Ina.

This is Baroness Wrangel. And this is Mr. Strindberg.

How do you do?

I hope you received my invitation.

Thursday...

- I'm looking forward to it. - I'll expect you at seven.

That'll be fine.

- Goodbye. - Goodbye. Baroness.

"It was on Drottninggatan, one burning summer's day

"we met on the crowded pavement, you and I."

Excuse me.

May I ask you a question?

What are you doing here?

It's to be an apartment house.

- An apartment house? For whom? - For the rich.

For the rich?

How do you feel about that?

- There should be housing for all. - Sorry, I didn't hear you.

- There should be housing for all. - For all?

Yes, so the poor could live better.

Is it usual for women to work on buildings?

Yes.

We have to earn as much as we can.

These are hard times, so we must.

- How much do you earn? - Less than the men.

- Less than the men? - Yes.

- Do you have a family to support? - Yes. Four children. So it's hard.

1850. There are 20.000 children born in wedlock in Stockholm.

And 15.000 illegitimate children.

Over 40% of the children born in Stockholm at this time

are to unmarried mothers.

Almighty God and Father.

We are in need and know not what to do.

Hide not Thy face.

Carl Oscar Strindberg. Aged 44

Abandon us not and take not Thy hand from us. Carl Oscar Strindberg. Aged 44

Abandon us not and take not Thy hand from us.

Abandon us not and take not Thy hand from us. Commissioner for a steamship company

commissioner for a steamship company

You can not have forgotten to be merciful commissioner for a steamship company

You can not have forgotten to be merciful

You can not have forgotten to be merciful carrying freight and passengers on Lake Mنlaren.

Carrying freight and passengers on Lake Mنlaren.

Nor out of wrath can You refuse us Your compassion. Carrying freight and passengers on Lake Mنlaren.

Nor out of wrath can You refuse us Your compassion.

Punish us for our misdeeds but help us still, for Thy name's sake.

Ulrika Eleonora Norling, aged 32, earlier a serving girl

You are with us still. Lord. We are Thy children, baptized to be Thine. Ulrika Eleonora Norling, aged 32. Earlier a serving girl

You are with us still. Lord. We are Thy children, baptized to be Thine.

You are with us still. Lord. We are Thy children, baptized to be Thine. Later Carl Oscar's house-keeper and mistress before they married.

Later Carl Oscar's house-keeper and mistress before they married.

Restore our joy and lift us from misery. Later Carl Oscar's house-keeper and mistress before they married.

Later Carl Oscar's house-keeper and mistress before they married.

Whatever comes... later Carl Oscar's house-keeper and mistress before they married.

Withdraw not our comfort that you are our Father.

- For Jesus Christ's sake, Amen. - Amen.

In the poor district of Sِdermalm

20 of the 26 drinking wells are unusable.

The high infant mortality rate has lowered the average life-span

for a man living in Stockholm to 20 years, for a woman to 26 years.

Because of sanitary conditions in Stockholm

30% of all children die before they are one year old.

We have to educate ourselves. We must organize.

Just a moment. Look what we have already.

We have the pillars of our society.

We have the new general school regulations. Relief for the poor

and all this to help serve the less fortunate.

Police and soldiers fill the streets and we don't have a chance.

Calm down. We'll work this out. Stay calm. There may be police here.

- How does poor relief help us? - You have the poor percentage.

- What? - The poor percentage.

We are left in a room where we may get a little food.

Food from you.

But what else do we get? Nothing!

We're barely treated as humans. We are animals!

You want to live in the Palace?

Born in shit and you'll die in shit.

And there's no way you can get out. That's the way it is.

Now I'll tell you what happened this morning when you'd gone to school.

I was dressed and came out...

and then the doorbell rang.

And not just a little trinkle. The way Aunt Liset rings.

It was a firm, rather long ring.

I was quite scared. Mother went and opened the door.

Just imagine: It was the police!

The police?

Yes. The police!

The newspaper industry in Stockholm is expanding.

In the fight for readers. Newspapers use social conditions as a weapon

to shape opinion for or against the need for change in society.

We must organize.

We must see that we get people in parliament who can speak for us.

- How shall we do that? - The daily press can help us.

We have Aftonbladet. An excellent newspaper.

We must see that the paper and its ideas get wide circulation.

- Did you say Aftonbladet? - Yes.

- That liberal rag... - It's liberal but it isn't a rag.

- Stockholm's Dagblad... - That's a rag!

- I've never heard anything so dumb. - Then there's a lot you haven't heard.

Chapter 1 Afraid and Hungry.

Now I'm going to read a few lines from Part 1 of The Son of a Servant.

It's about Strindberg's childhood until he was a student

and he described it as the story of the development of a mind.

He wrote Part 1 of The Son of a Servant in about 4 months.

In April he sent the manuscript to Bonniers for publishing. 1886.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation

but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.

Forever. Amen.

- Father wants to speaks to you. - Yes. Wait. Sit down!

I've something important to say.

When I came home from work today

I noticed someone had drunk wine from the bottle in the cabinet in the hall.

- The children have been... - Don't interrupt!

Someone has drunk the wine.

August, you look guilty.

Well?

"Rearing a child consisted of scolding and hair-pulling

"'I pray the Lord my soul to take' and 'Do as you're told! '

"The child had duties, not rights.

"Everyone else's wishes were heard. His were ignored."

"He could do nothing without doing something wrong

"go nowhere without being in someone's way

"utter no word without disturbing someone.

"Finally he did not even dare to move.

"The supreme duty and greatest virtue was to sit on a chair and be quiet."

- Confess. - August!

I'm sorry. Father.

There's a pot. Guess what's in it?

Can you imagine what it contains?

Urine.

A pail of urine standing in the room day in and day out.

It is here.

A pail of urine in the middle of my room, where I live and work.

Here a man is expected to concentrate

with the permanent stench of his own excrement stinging in his nose.

Is this worthy of a human being?

Is this worthy of a human being?

You have known Luther?

Yes.

I want to do his work in my country.

- Is that all? - What do you mean?

It's too little. Luther is dead.

He began. We'll go further.

Where will you lead me?

Far. Far. Olof!

- I'm afraid of you, Father Gert. - Yes, yes. You should be afraid.

You see? You see?

How people crawl on their knees to the two persons sitting on thrones?

The greatest one is the Pope.

He has two keys in one hand and a thunderbolt in the other.

Now he lifts the thunderbolt and thousands of souls are damned.

The King's palace in Stockholm

the largest royal building in the Northern hemisphere

is guarded and policed by a large military garrison.

Close ranks... Eyes frontl is guarded and policed by a large military garrison.

Is guarded and policed by a large military garrison.

Attention.

Stand to.

Shoulder arms.

Eyes left.

At this time. The monarchy is trying to crush the forces of social reform

as represented by the liberal paper Aftonbladet.

The King sponsors the conservative paper Svenska Tidningen

to attack Aftonbladet.

At the same time the King also sponsors two radical papers

Folkets Rِst and Sِndagsbladet, to attack the liberals from the left.

- Tell us about your play. - The one I'm writing now?

May, 1875. For the first time August Strindberg visits

It's a revision of Master Olof May, 1875. For the first time August Strindberg visits

May, 1875. For the first time August Strindberg visits

which I wrote a few years ago. May, 1875. For the first time August Strindberg visits

I'm trying to do a new version. The home of the Baron and Baroness von Wrangel.

The home of the Baron and Baroness von Wrangel.

It was refused for some reason. The home of the Baron and Baroness von Wrangel.

Is it similar to the other one you wrote, The Freethinker?

Yes, there are certain parallels.

You are interested in the problem of religion. I believe?

Yes. But, at the same time, it's about a person...

who dares to change habitual patterns.

A man who defies conventions. Seeks new ways and challenges...

- That's exciting... - They're the ones who...

- The theatre is fascinating. - Skهl, Sofia.

My wife's interested in the theatre.

As a child I dreamt of being on stage.

- Now you're a wife and mother. - Yes. I am.

- Imagine if I had children... - That will come.

The Reform Bill of 1865.

The four-tiered Parliament is abolished and a two-chamber one established.

The First Chamber is for the nobility, the clergy

bureaucrats and affluent businessmen.

The Second Chamber is for citizens and farmers.

Despite the political reform

only 5.5% of the male population over the age of 25

The way to get rid of the military...

The way to get rid of the military... have the right to vote.

The king and the military are only a symptom of the disease of our society.

The belief that humans aren't equal... I believe all human beings are equal.

So the working class must have a say in shaping society.

If our children are to grow up. We must have better housing.

We must be able to heat our homes. We must have water...

the opportunity to be clean... ourselves and our homes...

For this, we must have a say in shaping our society.

If we can't. Nothing will happen.

If I may say so, all you need is patience

because the government and king know exactly what the problems are.

As I said. We now have poor relief. We have new school regulations.

This is the way it is and, as this century progresses

people will be better off, with greater equality

but we must have order.

Our regiment will get new horses in two weeks.

How nice.

A couple of dozen new coursers that we'll train.

There'll be an inspection in a month.

And the Defence Ministry complains that they don't have any money.

Right. We should have a larger share of the national budget.

Things are in a sorry state.

Do you know that the Swedish Army has the worst rifles in all of Europe?

- After Portugal, of course. - Father says that too.

There are many reforms coming now and of course it costs money.

This is something that is really in the nation's interest:

A strong defence force.

He turns to his neighbour on the other throne and they both smile.

The years 1868 - 1870 are the hardest in Sweden.

80,000 people emigrate.

But then. Olof. There is a murmur in the air

a kind of grumbling from the people.

"Who grumbles?" the Pope calls, shaking his thunderbolt.

And the Emperor shakes his sword.

No one replies, Olof.

But the grumbling and murmuring continues, calling. "Think! Think!"

"Who's shouting 'Think! '?"

The Emperor asks. Turning pale.

"Bring him here and I'll take his life," the Pope cries.

"Bring him here. I'll take his soul."

- Rabble! - That's what they are.

This has nothing to do with you. It's a police matter. Damn!

Long live the king!

Silence!

Hit me but don't touch her.

Silence!

November 1868. A spectators' stand is built in Stockholm

in readiness for the unveiling ceremony of the statue of Karl Xll.

The stand is reserved for paying spectators.

A demonstration develops.

Stones are thrown at the police.

The troops are sent for and there are many arrests.

Republican sentiment is strong.

On the same day that we filmed these scenes in 1993

the Danish police in Copenhagen opened fire

on a crowd of unarmed demonstrators.

I shall read a few paragraphs from The Swedish People.

The Swedish People was one of Strindberg's most important works.

And there are many reasons for this. First of all...

criticism he suffered then and later over The Swedish People

affected him very deeply.

He was outraged and crushed and it marked him...

so that he suffered from it most of the rest of his life.

The island of Kymmendِ in the Stockholm archipelago.

The Swedish People also has another significance

in that it has been very important to the writing of history generally.

This is the first time anyone told the history of the lower classes

a writer describing the way of life of ordinary people.

It had never been done before, so. In this sense

it was a completely pioneering work

as regards the study and writing of history.

The Swedish People became the most lavish literary work of the decade.

It was illustrated by Carl Larsson and, as we said, it was an attempt

to write the history of ordinary people

the perspective of simple people on their own lives and environment

from the 9th Century onward.

This is what Strindberg writes about the Middle Ages...

"The common fate of ordinary people in the Middle Ages was oppression.

"They worked and with their work they supported not just themselves

"but also the vast luxury of court, state and church.

"As if this were not enough...

"the farmer. Who seems doomed always to bear the heaviest burden

"will too be oppressed by those it pleases the king

"to appoint as county governors.

"The Swedish people are patient

"but it has happened now and again that they have broken their chains

"and taught the king and nobles what their tranquility dependent upon.

"Let us never forget that our greatest medieval hero was Engelbrekt

"and that he and men like him showed the powerful they could go too far...

"in their oppression."

Amongst Strindberg's friends at this time

are a number of radical young writers

acutely aware of the need for a modern literature

which will sharpen the debate on social issues.

They call themselves "Young Sweden".

My name is Ann-Charlotte Edegren Leffler.

I am a writer.

I was born in 1849.

I am married to District Judge Gustav Edegren.

My background is middle class.

My father is a member of parliament and a headmaster.

I have two brothers. Gِsta and Fritz.

One is a professor of mathematics. The other of linguistics.

They inspired me very much while I was growing up.

I myself have not studied, since I am a woman.

I always wanted to be a writer. I told stories at the age of 6

although I couldn't yet write.

But. At the age of 20. Iwas helped by my father

to publish a book of short stories, By Chance.

That was my debut.

In her series of novels. From Life. Ann-Charlotte Leffler

attacks social, religious and moral conventions

and unmasks the hypocrisy of contemporary society.

How important is the feminist movement? And unmasks the hypocrisy of contemporary society.

And unmasks the hypocrisy of contemporary society.

It is very important. Without it... That's why I write.

I believe that every woman also has a right to education

to choose her profession. To have an occupation. To set herself free.

I suffered greatly when my brothers studied and I sat idly at home.

If I had a daughter. I would raise her the way my brothers were.

She'd go to school, at least until 20.

My name is Alfhild Agrell and I am also a writer.

I've lived in Stockholm a few years

but I was raised in Hنrnِsand. In Norrland.

It was there I began to write. My sister got a clever idea.

She decided. When we were only 10 or 12, to publish a newspaper

written just by girls. About things that interested girls.

And it could only be bought for girls.

I got married when I was 19 to Per Ahlbin Agrell

just after my father died.

Then I lived in Sundsvall for a few years.

When I came to Stockholm 5 years ago I began to write again.

And after a few years I had an article published in Dagens Nyheter

which gave me the will to continue.

So lately I've mostly written plays

one of which has been performed at the Dramatic Theatre.

In my plays I try to reflect the middle-class woman's marriage.

Today she lives in a cage. Like a bird that can't fly away.

With our legal system and all the reactionary ideas

a woman has no freedom.

She is locked into marriage. Iocked into her husband's estimation of her.

My way of changing this is to write plays

that show the truth about the real situation.

Strindberg's autobiographical novel, A Madman's Defence

covers the period from when Strindberg first meets Siri von Essen in 1875

to the time of its writing in 1887 - 1888.

At the beginning, the novel describes their romantic and passionate meeting.

Passages of tenderness and longing stand in contrast

to the hate-filled descriptions of his wife

which form the remainder of the book.

The many good times spent by the couple

on Kymmendِ in these years are never mentioned.

Instead, Strindberg characterises this period in their marriage

by quarelling, growing suspisions of infidelity

and the prolonged episode of the dog...

"First there was a dog. A King Charles spaniel."

"A monster with running eyes."

- Can't you hang the laundry later? - It won't get dry.

The dog.

Your skirt will get dirty.

"I hate dogs."

- This is incredible! - Stop it!

How can you sit for hours playing with a little dog?

Can't you stop playing with that disgusting beast?

- Don't talk like that. - Why can't you let him go?

I haven't washed my feet for 2 weeks!

Two weeks...

In shit and dung!

In shit and dung!

Siri had a good childhood.

She was the only child. So she was loved and spoilt by all.

They lived on an estate called Jackarby. Outside Borgه.

The main Helsinki to Petersburg road passed through the estate.

She played lots of boyish games as a child.

She was quite a wild little girl.

She climbed trees and rode horseback.

Her mother didn't approve.

She worried about Siri's clothes.

She slept with curlers in her hair

so that she could be a nice little aristocratic lady during the day.

As Siri grew up her mother thought she should speak French with her.

She also had to write letters in French to her girlfriend. Constance.

But they used to write to each other secretly in Swedish.

At 10, she composed solo dances.

She liked dancing very much.

She gave performances always of a romantic figure

like an angel or an elf.

Her father spent most of his time in the libary with his books.

When she wanted to be a dancer, he said

"Of course you can when you grow up, my child."

She liked her father very much.

He liked most of the things she did.

But he felt she should be hardened and develop moral courage.

So he let her go alone up into the attic at Jackarby

even though they said there were ghosts.

It was scary.

But she did it all the same.

"Fate is strange!

"It was the same old apartment in which my parents had lived

"the house in which I had spent the most miserable years of my childhood."

Welcome, Sofia. It's so nice to have you here.

It's nice to be here. It's so scary. It's a different world.

- You too. Mr Strindberg. - I'm sorry?

Welcome. It's nice to have you here this evening.

Thank you. It's nice to be here.

It's as if there were ghosts in here. Perhaps you haven't noticed?

- No. - Exciting.

- What sort of ghosts? - We haven't noticed.

I lived here as a child.

When memories come...

When you return after many years...

it's as if they moved about the walls.

Did you see anything?

Sofia In de Betou. Aged 19, cousin of Siri von Essen.

Some people claimed to. Sofia In de Betou. Aged 19, cousin of Siri von Essen.

Sofia In de Betou. Aged 19, cousin of Siri von Essen.

Do you know anyone who has? Sofia In de Betou, aged 19, cousin of Siri von Essen.

I've heard of people who have.

There's a young woman who can certainly drive out ghosts.

Miss Forsten.

"Presently the Baroness returned with her little girl

"and began to put her to bed in her small iron cot.

"The little child began to cry and refused to sleep.

"After a few futile attempts to calm her

"her mother threatened her with the rod."

"I cannot bear to see a child being spanked without losing my temper.

A little more? "I cannot bear to see a child being spanked without losing my temper.

"I cannot bear to see a child being spanked without losing my temper.

Not for me. "I cannot bear to see a child being spanked without losing my temper.

Strindberg? "I can remember scolding my own father about it on one occasion.

"I can remember scolding my own father about it on one occasion.

Thank you. I've had enough. "I can remember scolding my own father about it on one occasion.

"Filled with an almost uncontrollable rage, I was forced to intervene."

1909. Strindberg writes to his daughter Kerstin for the last time.

"I am 60 years old and live in a boarding house...

"But I am a writer

"and life is to me simply material for plays. Mostly tragedies...

"Adieu! And think of me only as a memory. Your Father."

Quiet! Gather round here all of you and see the miracle.

Come. Come closer.

Look, the perfect image of her mother.

I must take this opportunity again

to cheer for the lovely young Greta and her beautiful mother and...

her pleasant father.

Let us raise a cheer for all of them.

The history of rulers!

Sweden's history...

We have a history and we must try to...

We shall try to write it, since it hasn't been done yet.

The idea behind The Swedish People

that the history of Sweden is the history of the Swedish people

is in opposition to the ideas

of the conservative historian Erik Gustaf Geijer...

...that Swedish history is the story of its monarchs.

I'll crush those bloody fools!

Silly professors! We'll piss on them!

Shit on them!

We'll go down and dig up shit. We'll see history as it really was.

The history of the people... ordinary people.

Those who slaved for thousands of years to build this country up.

Those who really deserve to be mentioned.

It's them, my dear Carl.

It's their history and it's for them we'll write history.

It's just that those damned...

...professors. They're so scared.

Popular science, popular culture.

It's a popular work we want to do.

It's important that people understand.

And, my dear Carl. You shall sketch. Paint. Illustrate.

- People will get involved... - We'll get paid too.

No bloody monumental paintings of kings on fat horses and other shit.

- What do you want? - The truth!

- What truth? - Somewhere. Somewhere...

What truth are you searching for?

Simple human truth, unadorned.

Truth that isn't romantically improved upon...

that doesn't praise the ruling class.

That is the truth we want.

But, if we return to the point, which points shall we make?

Besides those already mentioned. We've discussed women's rights...

I want to discuss literary matters...

new literature that liberates human beings...

We must discuss culture generally.

Connect it with a naturalistic view...

Culture today is like children's fairy-tales: Short, sweet stories.

We must attack the Swedish Academy and the persons there.

Or at least one person: Af Wisén...

We've seen how Europe has developed: Denmark and Norway are ahead of us.

There's a similar situation in other areas. Someone rules...

They've succeeded.

Carl David af Wisén, conservative critic and secretary to the Swedish Academy.

- They've come further. - It's the establishment. Carl David af Wisén, conservative critic and secretary to the Swedish Academy.

Carl David af Wisén, conservative critic and secretary to the Swedish Academy.

A bureaucracy, many institutions. But...

Wisén is the villain in this.

We must attack them.

He can't decide things for all of Sweden.

We must break new ground too. We can't stick to the old ways.

That's why we've gathered here: To air our views for once.

We translate books. That's one way.

- That is one way. - Yes.

And we publish our own newspaper.

Should we separate the two things? Is it right to try?

- The one gives the other. - It's the same thing.

- We must have both. Right? - Yes. Of course.

The important thing is that women have voting rights.

There's child labour, too.

The one doesn't exclude the other.

But we must keep them separate.

It's important to take up these problems and air them

so the people see how things are: The situation of women

what child labour entails, how the working class really lives.

I thought of something that's very effective in the church:

How they describe the beginning of Christianity.

It's about equality.

- I think it would be hard... - Very good.

- Everyone equal? - Yes.

Now we're jumping from subject to subject again.

What do you mean. We separate things?

I mean don't mix up women's rights with the problem of the proletariat.

They belong together. Child labour does too.

How?

I don't think we change subjects much. It's part of the whole society.

I just wanted to...

Yes, it all hangs together but it doesn't make it easier

if we try to consider all things at once.

It can be overwhelming.

We may not be able to find our way. We must be specific.

What is the primary thing? Where shall we begin?

The "Young Sweden" writers want Strindberg to take up their banner

and lead them in their struggle for social reform.

But Strindberg is reluctant. And writes to a friend

"I want to be free! I don't want to be hounded out

"and bound hand and foot to a programme..."

Art was an excuse to get fucked.

To be honest. I don't know what the hell I'm doing now.

Then it's time we began working on something important

something we're committed to.

We can kick the chairs out from under these damned bigwigs

who talk about "reality".

Knock them off their high horses!

What is art to you then?

What is art to you?

It's accepting...

that truth is subjective, not to follow some damned leader

to be completely free, free of all conventions

of all bloody norms...

Everything.

Total freedom. That's the basis...

of all artistic work, of artistic expression.

Everything you can say that's really worthwhile...

that has any value.

Peter Watkins: "Much concern has been expressed in recent years

"at the growing concentration of economic and social power

"within the world's mass media...

"For example. The phenomenon of 'media barons'

"such as Kerry Packer (Australia), Robert Maxwell (Britain)

"And Rupert Murdoch (Australia - USA).

"This concentration of media ownership into fewer and fewer hands

"should not surprise us.

"After all, the mass media represent raw power

"in economic, political. Corporate

The ruling class is the problem in Sweden today. "In economic, political. Corporate

The ruling class is the problem in Sweden today.

The ruling class is the problem in Sweden today. "Social and personal terms..."

That's a fact.

They can talk for 7 hours on Swedish television

about the economic crisis, as they did last week.

There wasn't one person on that panel

who defended what you called the labour problem

the cause of low-income workers. The real losers in this crisis.

They only talk in various modes:

Cheese-paring economists and power-saw economists

saying the crisis must be paid for by the majority.

And the media are just as domineering as in those times:

A single class interest.

You shouldn't chuckle with embarassment.

I know you do it because of talk of a confidence crisis in socialism.

Capital is part of that vocabulary but capitalism is still the problem.

The emperor's more naked than ever. That's what's happening now

and they try to hide it with talk shows that take up half the TV time.

And yet Svante Nycander at Dagens Nyheter is not satisfied.

He'd give the economist prophets

more hours of unchallenged TV time.

How bad the crisis really is

or how much is merely discussion of a crisis in the mass media...

That's something.

We are greatly manipulated by the mass media.

And since we talk all the time of an economic crisis, everyone debates it.

Ten years ago it didn't exist.

It is scary to see the twists and turns of emphasis on economic questions.

Let us just take the most extreme recent example.

There are many examples of severance clauses

but you said we will go through this crisis together.

How can Volvo workers, hundreds of whom have been laid off...

How can they go through this crisis together with the CEO

who gets 75 million in severance pay and never has to work again?

How can they agree on a common solution to this crisis?

One solution would be to take the 75 million from this old man.

He's not old. Actually he's 42.

When they say go jointly through the crisis

they mean we should 'jointly' back up

the richest 10% of the people in the country.

I feel that 'jointly' is the wrong word here.

What would you do about culture?

If you compare the situation today, what would you do?

Write plays? What about? Whose side would you be on?

How would you go about it? Street theatre? Could you tell us?

New forms. Try a variety of views.

Try to make it sparkle with a lot of different views.

Seek new forms.

It seems now as if we're tied to a single perspective.

There's a lot of apathy. No one has the energy.

We need a new will. We must find some kind of hope.

In those days there was some hope for the future and an optimism

that doesn't exist now.

There was also a belief in progress

which we don't have now.

The media is also a problem. TV is the most powerful influence

and it's completely engaged by quiz shows today.

That really should be changed.

Such entertainment drowns the will to change society.

Watkins' statement continues by describing the repression

exercised by global television to prevent public debate

about this concentration of power.

Watkins describes also how the mass audio-visal media deliberately use

a rapidly edited and fragmented language-form (pictures and sound)

To manipulate audiences to stay in front of the screen.

An extract from The Swedish People

"Lately we have noticed that the press is not living up to its task

"of dealing with the big questions of our time.

"Lts misdemeanour is that it has made the people accustomed to deal

"with small and petty interests which takes their attention

"from the bigger issues."

What do you have to say? Nothing?

- What can one say? - There's nothing to say.

- It's a sick man's fantasies. - It's shocking to hear.

Strindberg, the most important writer of our time...

But not our most important historian.

That's it. The Swedish People pretends to be a history book.

This is a sick man who had problems in his childhood

and he tries to redress this through self-promotion

with sarcastic attacks in his book.

The attack on Geijer is shameful.

- I agree. - One of our time's...

If one has scientific pretensions, one should be scientific.

There is nothing scientific about The Swedish People.

Science is not the point.

It's to involve the population. Not just professors and experts.

A literary monstrosity!

- It's nothing. - Strindberg represents a new...

Nonsense, it's not history. It's not a novel. It's nothing!

To a large part of the population it's an important book.

The majority don't give a damn that you in the Capital sit drinking punch.

Most people can't afford this book.

It encourages many people to begin reading. To learn to read.

1865 - 1875. The Stockholm press expands its output tenfold.

Many weekly magazines. Such as The Family Journal and The Family Friend

target directly the middle-class.

These weekly magazine invite an escape from reality

in the form of horror stories, romances and many illustrations.

The number of children born in wedlock in Stockholm begins a sharp climb.

The age of the so-called "nuclear family" has begun.

Hello, my boy. The age of the so-called "nuclear family" has begun.

The age of the so-called "nuclear family" has begun.

Hello. Father.

- What are you doing. August? - Playing with nuts.

I see that. Where did you get them?

- I found them. - Found them?

Where?

- On my way home from school. - Such fine nuts?

- Where on the way? - By the roadside.

So these fine nuts...

You can't find nuts like that just anywhere.

Tell me now where you got them.

August!

At the wagonmaker's.

- Did he give them to you? - No. They were on the ground.

They are his property, not yours.

Did you steal them?

What is the truth about Strindberg's parents?

Were they the despots he makes them out to be?

Can we trust his version?

He says himself this is not an autobiography.

Nor is it pure fantasy but simply the story of a mind's development.

What is true? What is fiction?

We can never know.

And the question poses itself.

What is the artist's responsibility

when he presents us with such a story?

The artist's freedom versus his responsibility.

Excuse me. I'd like to ask you a few questions if I may.

I'll begin with you and Siri.

When you went away into exile. Did you discuss it together?

Of course we did...

since I was, in fact, forced to leave.

Was Siri happy to go with you?

I think you are trying to insinuate something that...

- No, no... ...there was no discussion at all.

I thought she was working in the theatre...

Can you shut up?

It was simply this:

I felt I was forced to get away because I was under attack

from just about everybody.

But I think it was hardest for Siri and the children.

They were subjected to terrible persecution

because I was attacked and they were being attacked indirectly.

You must see. I find it strange.

She wanted to be an actress and she had worked in the theatre.

Was she happy giving it up?

It wasn't a question of being happy.

The situation was forced on us by circumstances.

All right, forget that. I have another question.

You often accuse Siri of being unfaithful. True?

- Not accuse, I just state a fact. - Were you unfaithful to her?

- Why should I answer that? - All right, forget it.

I'm asking the questions but if you refuse to answer...

- Why ask such personal questions? - Because I want to know.

- I think it's important. Don't you? - Important to know I was unfaithful?

- I think it means something. - Have you ever been unfaithful?

This film is about you.

- Have you ever been unfaithful? - That's irrelevant.

The film is about you. You have no reason to question me.

Don't I? Jesus!

If you ask questions. I have every reason to query your questions.

Especially your motives.

Why is it interesting if I've been unfaithful?

- You're an interesting person. - It's a personal question, isn't it?

All right. No personal questions.

What do you think of this?

There are two sides.

Conservatives think you're sloppy. Unscientific.

It's precisely those old fools in their academic chairs...

- Calm down. There are others. - What do you mean?

- "Fresh. Lively" Handelstidningen. - Handelstidningen!

The most rigid conservatives! Absolute imbeciles. Idiots!

How can they be given space in newspapers? It's incredible!

The reviews are not all bad.

It's all bad when my friends and colleagues

refuse to defend what I write.

They all belong to the same damned coterie.

- Some of them think it's good. - Oh?

Yes. "Fresh and lively." Surely that's good?

"Fresh and lively." I've spent a whole year working

and it's a fresh and lively tale! Thank you very much!

But read what that damned Eichorn wrote. Read this!

And he's a prominent man with the right to write in a newspaper.

I am Carl Oscar Strindberg.

I was born in 1811 in Stockholm. The youngest of three children.

My brother Johan Ludvig became a wholesaler. He's dead now.

My dear sister Liset married Samuel Owen.

When I was still young. I started work in my father's spice shop.

He sold spices. But also cloth. Wine and other things.

My father Zacarias was a well-known merchant in the city.

In 1846 I started my steamboat commission at Riddarholmen.

My brother-in-law Samuel helped me to get started.

We have many boats in operation.

We've done well, except for some financial problems a few years ago.

There's the Sigtuna boat.

10:30. Right on time.

I'm married. Eleonora. My beloved wife.

She's given me 11 children. Seven are still alive. Thank God.

We're doing well.

We have a few troubles. One of which is the damned hole in my leg.

A sore that never heals.

We have some problems with the children.

It'd be odd if we didn't.

1861.

Probably in this year Carl Oscar Strindberg starts to keep a diary.

His first entry. For 1811. consists of three words: "I was born."

We have a thief in the family.

Do you know what happens to boys who lie and steal?

August, you are a thief!

You accuse your parents in "The Son of a Servant".

It's severe criticism of them, isn't it?

- Yes. - It's there to read.

But the way you treated your children...

I must say, your parents were angels...

compared with the way you treated your children.

In letters to your 9-year old daughter Kerstin, for instance. You write:

"Adieu! And think of me only as a memory. Your father."

A 9-year-old! Christ! How could you?

In this scene, we mistakenly referred to Kerstin Strindberg as aged 9

when Strindberg wrote to her that she must forget him as a father.

In fact, she was aged 15.

- Are you human? How could you? - Do you know the circumstances?

- The letters are there. - You know nothing of the situation.

You have a couple of letters from which you draw many conclusions.

- Have you ever? - You can't possibly...

Just try to answer the question, for God's sake!

If you want, take a pen and write it instead!

You know nothing about the situation.

- You have a couple of letters... - The situation...

What do you know about the circumstances?

How the hell could you write that to a 9-year old girl?

I don't understand. You call yourself a man!

What's that got to do with it?

- You call yourself a man... - Ah...

A man is a person who doesn't write certain things to children?

Can't you answer? How could you write that to a child?

- Because the situation was... - The situation!

So the situation releases you from all responsibility as a human being?

- Of course it doesn't. - No.

You called. I felt it.

Why are you sitting here?

What are you waiting for?

My friend. We met yesterday for the first time.

We talked alone for 4 hours.

You aroused my sympathy but you mustn't abuse my kindness.

Enemies everywhere, alone everywhere.

Why did you leave your wife and children?

"Not as a step-daughter

"but rather as my wife's teacher in the Swedish language.

"This proposal is simply to make things easier for your mother.

"And assist you. Karin. To make your way in the world

"without missing her like a child."

- I don't want to go to Germany. - You don't have to.

- I don't want to leave here. - You don't have to go to Germany.

I don't understand what he means.

You want power over the child but still to keep me as a provider.

Yes, power...

What's this life and death struggle been about if not power?

For me, since I don't believe in a life to come...

my child was my after-life.

My idea of immortality. Perhaps the only one with any basis in reality.

Take that away and you cut off my life.

Why didn't we separate in time?

Because the child bound us together

but the bond became a chain.

- Who is the father? - You!

No, I'm not!

A crime lies buried here and it's beginning to stink.

And what a hellish crime!

I've served 17 years hard labour and I was innocent.

- How can you repay me for that? - You're completely mad.

That is your hope.

I've had my suspicions a long time but I dared not hear them confirmed.

I have suffered this for you What will you do for me?

What can I do?

I swear before God and all that's sacred that you're Bertha's father.

What of it? You've said that a mother can commit any crime for her child?

But I don't want to go.

I beg you. Tell me everything.

- I don't know what he means. - I'm as helpless as a child.

Can't you hear I'm begging, as if to my mother?

Can't you forget I'm a man?

Are you crying?

Yes, I'm crying although I'm a man.

Karin, we'll do this. Write a letter.

I'll help you.

- What shall I write? - I'll help you.

Begin with the date. Helsinki.

May 8, 1894.

By now, Siri von Essen had ceased to write to her former husband

and it was Karin's duty. As the eldest child

to reply to Strindberg's letters.

Usually Karin wrote a draft which Siri corrected and changed

before Karin wrote the final letter.

Siri says. " Karin writes in such a cold way that you shiver."

1900. Strindberg meets Harriet Bosse, a 22-year-old Norwegian actress.

She works with the new method of acting introduced by Stanislavsky.

Strindberg casts Harriet Bosse for the lead role of The Lady

in his drama "To Damascus".

He spoke about how hard life has been for him

how he longed for a ray of light

for a woman who could reconcile him with humanity and women.

Then he placed his hands on my shoulders

and looked deep into my eyes.

Then he asked...

"Would you like to have a baby with me, Miss Bosse?"

I curtsied and replied, completely hypnotised

"Yes, thank you." And so we were engaged.

May 6. 1901. Strindberg and Harriet Bosse marry.

March 25, 1902. Harriet's daughter, Anne-Marie, "Lillan"

with whom Strindberg develops a fond relationship. Is born.

In the summer 1882. Strindberg was on Kymmendِ in the Stockholm skerries

writing a book he called The New Kingdom.

The New Kingdom was a stringing attack

on the whole Swedish establishment in all its guises.

He attacks the Royal Dramatic Theatre, the Swedish Academy

the army, the university and all the state authorities.

He attacks the sacred cows of Swedish literature

like Bellman and Geijer

and particularly the critics of The Swedish People

whom he derides with special vigour.

In a chapter called Moses he gives his scurrilous view of Swedish Jews.

In his autobiography The Son of a Servant

he calls The New Kingdom his revenge.

- Good morning. - Good morning, sir!

"Your Bright Sun Comes Up Again"

One. Two...

They were afraid finally to move, to make a sound.

Their primary duty and virtue was to sit still and stay silent.

August.

I didn't steal any damned nuts.

You mustn't swear.

Siri entered a religious crisis after her confirmation.

She began to feel totally powerless against sin and evil.

She viewed herself critically.

She began to condemn wordly books, thoughtless talk, jokes and games.

She had an enormous sense of guilt.

"One morning, after I had walked down the rue de Fleurus

"to comfort myself by having a look in the paint-shop window...

"I entered the Luxembourg Gardens

"now in full bloom and lovely as a fairy-tale.

"There on the ground I found two twigs. Broken off by the wind.

"They were shaped like the Greek letters for P and Y...

"It struck me that these stood for Popoffsky.

"I called on Providence and recited the Psalms of David to my enemies."

I'm going to read a paragraph

from one of the essays entitled The Public Lie.

"Since the society is built upon broken agreements...

"that is to say lies...

"simple natural relationships are now so complicated

"that 'the public sector' has become a singular necessity

"a kind of silent social agreement

"that cannot be broken without some anguish.

"Thus dreadful turbulence may follow a true word spoken at the right time.

"It's no joke that so indiscreet a man is called a danger to the society."

So the talk about you and him travelling abroad is nothing?

Yes, it worries me a little... a lot.

He gets these ideas.

Come on, you bastards!

They write and talk about him so much now.

He feels a lot of pressure.

He'd like to leave right away.

What will you do?

We'll go with him, the children and I.

But only for a short time.

I don't understand you.

One minute the theatre is best for you, then it is best here.

One minute he's jealous, the next there is nothing to worry about.

Then he wants to go abroad. The next minute he doesn't.

Constantly hopping about.

But he sits in his writer's cottage. Writing away, in his own world.

Then he steps outside

and it's as if he doesn't realize this is another world here.

And he remains behind in his...

unreal world.

And gets these ideas.

His jealousy is groundless.

If he's jealous of a dog. Well...

It's so ridiculous. It's laughable.

But it's not pleasant when these outbursts come.

It's very trying.

Strindberg and Harriet constantly quarrel

as their feelings for each other grow ever stronger.

"Unrighteous witnesses come forward.

"They question me about it. That which I do not know.

"They reward me with eternal pain. Forsaken is my soul.

"I wore mourning when they were ill. I mortified my soul and I fasted.

"I prayed with my head bowed.

"I acted as if the man was my friend, my brother.

"I walked bent over like someone mourning their mother."

If you reflect spontaneously on what...

characterizes Strindberg's attitude to religion

you can't fail to be struck by his enormous sense of guilt

the huge burden of guilt...

he seemed to contend with in various ways all his life.

One wonders...

where this enormous sense of guilt actually came from

and it's not far-fetched to imagine

that something affected him very deeply in childhood

the pietistic tradition...

a strict. Moral, law-abiding piety

that influenced him in a deep sense during the whole of his life.

There is so much talk in Luther's theology of the law and the gospel.

"The law. Commandments. Norms...

"serve the purpose," Luther says. " of making people aware of their guilt

"aware of how impossible it is to adhere to this law

"simply because human beings are what they are: Human."

And it is this insight that adherence to the law is impossible

that makes man realize his need for the gospel.

As Luther says, "The law drives man to Christ. Towards atonement."

In Strindberg's case. It's as if...

this law anaesthetizes him virtually all his life.

He mentions in many places that Christ is completely alien to him.

Particularly during his "Inferno crisis"

he works so hard to identify with religious figures and interprets...

and tries to grasp what is happening within him in metaphysical terms.

He says it is The Old Testament

that gives him comfort and helps him interpret his inner experiences.

The New Testament leaves him cold. He doesn't understand it.

Words like compassion mean nothing to him.

I believe it is a dark and dismal image of God that we find...

in Strindberg's writings and in his attitude to religion.

But Strindberg is no theologian

and he writes that when he returns to religion it is not a religion...

of opinions based on theories.

It is rather. He says, a stream of perceptions that condense into ideas

a state of mind that he tries to deal with and understand.

And I feel. At the bottom of it all

there is a kind of existential point of departure which is this guilt

that he can never be rid of.

August...

You must promise to take care of your brothers and sisters.

And promise me one thing more.

Be very wary, August. Wary of...

of bad women.

Live by the word of God. August. Then life will be good to you.

I wanted to go to acting school.

You have that natural brilliance that so many actresses lack.

A kind of power, honesty.

I'm convinced you'll be excellent on stage.

The question is how passionately you want to

and how strong your will is.

You're not talking about the theatre again?

Haven't you given up those whims?

"Beloved Lady!

"You don't believe you have genius. You think genius is a sharp brain.

"It isn't.

"I don't have the sharpest of brains but I have fire.

"My fire is the greatest in Sweden

"and, if you wish. I will set fire to this whole vile nest.

"You have fire.

"It's that hidden flame that worries and torments you

"that drives you and has been glowing there for years

"and that so many damned fools have sought to smother.

"Come. Fulfill your high goals!

"You can be an actress.

"I'll give you your own theatre. I and Edvard B. And Frippe.

"I shall act with you and write and love you.

"You've a crime on your conscience.

"You wanted the rewards of genius. But you refused martyrdom.

"And it is a sweet martyrdom.

"Fulfill your destiny.

"Be the greatest actress in this country!"

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