Thulin, Ingrid

THULIN, Ingrid

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Nationality: Swedish. Born: Solleftea, 27 January 1929. Education: Studied ballet; then studied at the Royal Dramatic Theater, Stockholm. Family: Married 1) Claes Sylwander, 1951; 2) Harry Schein, 1956. Career: Stage actress at theaters in Stockholm, Malmö, and other Swedish cities; 1948—film debut in Känn dej som Hemma ; 1957—first of several films for Ingmar Bergman, Wild Strawberries ; 1965—first film directed, Hängivelse. Awards: Best Actress (collectively awarded), Cannes Festival, for Brink of Life, 1958; Swedish Golden Bug for Best Actress, for The Silence, 1963. Address: Kevingestrand 7B, 18231 Danderyd, Sweden.

Films as Actress:

1948

Känn dej som Hemma (Holmsen); Dit Vindarna Bär (Ohberg)

1949

Havets Son (Husberg); Kärleken segrar (Love Will Conquer ) (Molander)

1950

Hjärter Knekt (Ekman); Nar Kärleken kom till byn (Mattsson)

1951

Leva pa hoppet (Gentele) (as Yvonne)

1952

Möte med Livet (Werner); Kalle Karlsson fran Jularbo (Johansson)

1953

En Skärgardsnatt (Logardt); Goingehovdingen (Ohberg)

1954

Två Sköna Juveler (Huberg); I Rök och Dans (Gamlin and Blomgren)

1955

Hoppsan! (Olin); Danssalongen (Larsson)

1956

Foreign Intrigue (Sheldon Reynolds) (as Brita)

1957

Aldrig i livet (Ragneborn); Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries ) (Bergman) (as Marianne Borg)

1958

Nära livet (Brink of Life ; So Close to Life ) (Bergman) (as Cecilia Ellius); Ansiktet (The Face ; The Magician ) (Bergman) (as Manda Vogler/Aman)

1960

Domaren (Sjöberg)

1962

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Minnelli) (as Marguerite Laurier); Agostino (Bolognini) (as the mother)

1963

Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light ) (Bergman) (as Märta Lundberg); Tystnaden (The Silence ) (Bergman) (as Ester); Sekstet (Sextet ) (Hovmand)

1964

Die Lady (Games of Desire ; Frustration ) (Albin and Berneis) (as Nadine Anderson); Der Film den Niemand sieht (Triyandafilidis)

1965

Return from the Ashes (J. Lee Thompson) (as Dr. Michele Wolf)

1966

Nattlek (Night Games ) (Zetterling) (as Irene); La Guerre est finie (The War Is Over ; Krigetar Slut ) (Resnais) (as Marianne)

1967

Domani non siamo più qui (Rondi)

1968

Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf ) (Bergman) (as Veronica Vogler); Badarna (I, a Virgin ) (Gamlin) (as the cook); Adelaide (Fino a farti male ; The Depraved ) (Simon) (as Elisabeth Hermann); Cuore di mamma (Mother's Heart ) (Benelli) (as Eloisa)

1969

Riten (The Rite ; The Ritual ) (Bergman—for TV) (as Thea Winkelmann); La caduta degli dei (The Damned ) (Visconti) (as Baroness Sophie von Essenbeck); Un diablo bajo la Almohada (Forque)

1970

It Rained All Night the Day I Left (Gessner)

1971

N. P. (N.P.—The Secret ) (Agosti) (as the wife); Malastrana (Corta notte delle bambole di vetro ) (Lado)

1972

Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers ) (Bergman) (as Karin); La Sainte famille (Marchon)

1973

En handfull kärlek (A Handful of Love ) (Sjoman)

1975

Mose (Moses ; The Lawgiver ) (de Bosio—for TV) (as Miriam); Monismanien 1995 (Monismania 1995 ) (Fant); La Cage (Granier-Deferre) (as Hélène); Il viaggio nella vertigini (De Gregorio)

1976

Salon Kitty (Madame Kitty ) (Brass) (title role)

1977

The Cassandra Crossing (Cosmatos) (as Elena Stradner)

1983

Le Corsaire (Giraldi—for TV)

1984

Efter Repetitioner (After the Rehearsal ) (Bergman) (as Rakel Egerman)

1985

Freibuter (Giraldi—for TV)

1987

Il giorno prima (Control ) (Montaldo) (as Mrs. Havemeyer); Orn

1988

La Casa del sorriso (House of Smiles ) (Ferreri)

1990

Faccia di lepre

Films as Director:

1965

Hängivelse (short)

1978

En och en (One and One ) (co-d with Josephson and Nykvist, + ro as Ylva)

1982

Brusten Himmel (Broken Sky )

Publications

By THULIN: book—

Nagon jag kande [Somebody I Knew], Stockholm, 1992.

By THULIN: article—

"Ingrid Thulin Comments on Visconti," in Dialogue on Film (Washington, D.C.), no. 3, 1972.

On THULIN: articles—

"Ingrid Thulin," in Ecran, March 1979.

Sorenson, E., in Chaplin (Stockholm), vol. 33, no. 4, 1991.

Aristarco, G., "Due casi esemplari di modello, persona, attrice," in Cinema Nuovo (Rome), March/April 1992.

* * *

Of all the actresses brought to prominence through the films of Ingmar Bergman, Ingrid Thulin perhaps best exemplifies the cool, blond Swedish beauty who combines sensuality and suffering with Nordic intensity. She first worked with Bergman, who was the artistic director of the Malmö Municipal Theater, after she had trained at the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm in the late 1940s. In the film Wild Strawberries, however, playing the sister-in-law, she made her mark in Swedish cinema and began her long and fruitful career in Bergman's films. She appeared in a variety of roles in his films from 1958 in Brink of Life, for which she received an award at Cannes along with Bibi Andersson, to 1972 when she starred with Harriet Andersson and Liv Ullmann in Cries and Whispers. Often cast as a mistress (Winter Light, Hour of the Wolf, The Rite ), Thulin capitalized on the enigmatic quality of her stunning beauty and her tragic face which conveys a unique combination of pain and pleasure. Her career in Swedish cinema has not been restricted to the films of Bergman, however, and she also has been active in the movies of many other Swedish filmmakers—among them Alf Sjöberg and Mai Zetterling. Particularly noteworthy was her appearance in the latter's Night Games.

Ingrid Thulin's international career ranks her among the three great Swedish actresses with Ingrid Bergman and Greta Garbo. While the films in which she has appeared outside Sweden have made uneven use of her talents, her performances in Luchino Visconti's The Damned and Alan Resnais's La Guerre est finie were marked by brilliance. Especially memorable, because it so movingly captured her unique style, was her portrayal of Yves Montand's loving and long-suffering wife in the Resnais film. She has acted, but not always very effectively, in a wide variety of other international films—among them a number of Italian productions, as well as Vincente Minnelli's remake of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. She has directed the short film Hängivelse and the feature Brusten Himmel, and co-directed One on One with Erland Josephson and Sven Nykvist.

—Charles L. P. Silet