''The Dove'' (''De Düva'') is a 1968 Oscar-nominated American short film that parodies the films of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman.

Background

The film borrows heavily from the plot lines of some of Bergman's most famous films. There is a journey by car back to the location of childhood memories as in '' Wild Strawberries''. The main characters meet with the shrouded figure of Death as in ''

The Seventh Seal ''The Seventh Seal'' ( sv, Det sjunde inseglet) is a 1957 Swedish historical fantasy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in Sweden during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight (Max von Sydow) and a game of ch ...

''. The film was directed by

George Coe George Coe (born George Julian Cohen; May 10, 1929 – July 18, 2015) was an American actor. He was a cast member for the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' and voiced the character of Woodhouse in ''Archer''. Early life Coe was born in ...

and Anthony Lover.

Madeline Kahn Madeline Gail Kahn ('' née'' Wolfson; September 29, 1942 – December 3, 1999) was an American actress, comedian and singer, known for comedic roles in films directed by Peter Bogdanovich and Mel Brooks, including '' What's Up, Doc?'' (1972), ' ...

made her first film appearance, in a supporting role. The dialogue and voice-over narration are spoken mostly in a heavily accented fictional language, which is mostly English made to sound like Swedish, with many of the nouns ending in "ska". (For example, the subtitled word "eventually" is spoken in dialogue as "sooner or lateska".) There are also a smattering of Yiddish words. The film often was shown in repertory film houses as a short feature when Bergman films were on the bill; audiences frequently did not realize that the short was a comedy until individuals started laughing when they began to understand the fake Swedish. The subtitles, which often do not literally match the dialogue, add to the humor.

Plot

Victor, a 76-year-old physics professor traveling by chauffeured car to give a university lecture, decides to visit his boyhood home. In the outhouse, he finds a figurine of a dove that reminds him of a summer picnic from his youth. Later in the flashback, Victor (played by Coe) and his beloved sister Inga run through the woods until they come across

Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, who has come to claim Inga. Victor wagers that Death will not win a ''badmintonska'' (

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

) competition with Inga—parodying ''The Seventh Seal'', in which the competition is a game of chess. Death agrees, with the condition that if he wins he will take both Inga and Victor. After Inga wins the competition, thanks in whole or in part to the accidental bird droppings of the Dove, she and Victor happily run to the lake to go skinny-dipping.Chicago Film Archive Catalogue
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Notes

References

External links

* *
The Dove
' on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dove, The 1968 films American parody films American short films Fictional-language films Ingmar Bergman Films about personifications of death 1960s English-language films 1960s American films 1968 independent films American independent films