Feature Film, 1946

It Rains on Our Love

A newly-released prisoner and a confused girl meet at a railway station and attempt to start a new life in a cottage on an allotment.

"Bear in mind that Birger Malmsten is no Jean Gabin and most of all you are no Marcel Carné."
Lorens Marmstedt to Bergman during the shooting

About the film

Ingmar Bergman writing on the genesis of the film in Images: My Life in Film:

A few days after the premier of Crisis, the telephone rang. It was Lorens, saying: 'Dear Ingmar. That was an awful film! Hard to imaging anything worse! I suppose your phone is ringning off the hook with offers'. Lorens Marmstedt was an independent producer with a small but well-regarded production company, Terrafilm. He had just been saked by Karl Kilbom, of Sweden's Folkbiogrefter Company, to produce two films. The first project was a Norwegian play called Good People by Oscar Braathen. Herbert Grevenius was the foremost theater critic of the 1940s, and we were good friends. He was the driving force behind the decision to maka me the head of Helsingborg's City Theater. He was also the one who, in 1946, through his connections with Torsten Hammarén, opened the doors for me to Gothenburg's City Theater.

I had read Herbert's screenplay and found it rather tedious. Lorens Marmstedt agreed and asked me how much time it could take me to rewrite it. I promise to do it over the weekend if I was provided with a secretary.

 

Det regnar på vår kärlek, bakombild, Bergman, Barbro Kollberg, Birger Malmsten_eng

 

 

 

Shooting the film

According to Bergman himself, the shooting gave him some hard but valuable lessons. Writing in Images

Lorens was a harsh teacher. He was ruthlessly critical and forced me to reshoot scenes he found poor. He could says: 'I've been speaking with Hasse Ekman, who has seen the rushes, and I've had spoke to Kilbom. I must keep things open! It may well be that you won't be allowded to finish shooting. Bear in mind that Birger Malmsten is no Jean Gabin and most of all you are no Marcel Carné'. Lamely I try to defend myself by pointing out some scenes I thought were pretty good. Then Lorens looked at me with his icy light-blue eyes and said: 'I don't understand how you can wallow in this simmering self-satisfaction!'.

 

Det regnar på vår kärlek_David_eng

 

 

 

And he goes on:

I raged; I was desperate and humiliated; but I had to admit he was right. Every day he took the trouble to sit through the rushes. Even though he criticized and insulted me in front of the staff, I had to take it, since he was participating passionately in th birth and development of the film. I cannot remember that he praised me even once during It Rains on Our Love for anything I had done. What he did do was give me a lesson. He said: 'When you and your pals see the dailies, you're in a state of emotional chaos. No matter what, you want everything to be good. That's the reason you have a natural tendency to make excuses to your failures and overstimate what you are seeing. All of you are supporting one another. This is normal, but it's also dangerous. Submit yourself to a psycological excercise. Don't be enthusiastic. Don't be critical either. Put yourself at point zero. Don't let your emotions get involved in what you're seeing. Then you'll see everything.' This piece of advice has been invaluable to me throughout my professional life.

 

Det regnar på vår kärlek, David, Maggi_eng

 

 

 

Sources

  • The Ingmar Bergman Archives.
  • Ingmar Bergman, Images: My Life in Film.

Images/video

Collaborators

  • Barbro Kollberg
  • Birger Malmsten
  • Gösta Cederlund
  • Ludde Gentzel
  • Douglas Håge
  • Hjördis Petterson
  • Benkt-Åke Benktsson
  • Sture Ericson
  • Ulf Johanson
  • Julia Cæsar
  • Gunnar Björnstrand
  • Erik Rosén
  • Magnus Kesster
  • Åke Fridell
  • Torsten Hillberg
  • Sif Ruud
  • Edvard Danielsson
  • Bertil Anderberg
  • Gösta Prüzelius
  • Einar Hylander
  • Gösta Qvist
  • Karl Jonsson
  • Nils Alm
  • Carl-Harald
  • Erland Josephson
  • Nils Hultgren
  • Albert Johansson
  • John W. Björling
  • Karin Windahl
  • Brita Billsten
  • Margot Lindén
  • P.A. Lundgren, Art Director
  • Per Lönndahl, Boom Operator
  • Hilding Bladh, Director of Photography
  • Göran Strindberg, Director of Photography
  • Alva Lundin, Titles
  • Tage Holmberg, Film Editor
  • Lars Nordberg, Production Mixer
  • Herbert Grevenius, Screenplay
  • Erland von Koch, Music Composer
  • Gun Holmgren, Script Supervisor
  • Ingmar Bergman, Screenplay
  • P A Lundgren