''The Serpent's Way'' () is a 1986 Swedish

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Bo Widerberg Bo Gunnar Widerberg (; 8 June 1930 – 1 May 1997) was a Sweden, Swedish film director, screenwriter, writer, film editing, editor and actor. Biography Early life Widerberg was born in Malmö, Malmöhus County, Sweden. Career Bo Widerberg began ...

. It is based on the novel The Way of a Serpent by

Torgny Lindgren Gustav Torgny Lindgren (16 June 1938 – 16 March 2017) was a Swedish writer. Lindgren was the son of Andreas Lindgren and Helga Björk. He studied in Umeå to become a teacher and worked as a teacher until the middle of the 1970s. For several ...

. The film was screened in the

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

section at the

1987 Cannes Film Festival The 40th Cannes Film Festival took place from 7 to 19 May 1987. French-Italian actor Yves Montand served as jury president for the main competition. French filmmaker Maurice Pialat won the ''Palme d'Or'', the festival's top prize, for the drama ...

- 404 link and in competition at the

15th Moscow International Film Festival The 15th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 6 to 17 July 1987. The Golden Prize was awarded to the Italian film '' Intervista'' directed by Federico Fellini. Jury * Robert De Niro (United States – President of the Jury) * Tengiz ...

. At the 22nd Guldbagge Awards

Stina Ekblad Stina Åsa Maria Ekblad (born 26 February 1954) is a Swedish-speaking Finnish actress. Living in Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as wel ...

won the award for Best Actress.

Plot

A salesman and his son sexually abuse the generations of women of a poor family as payment for debt. Janni must see his mother, sister, niece and wife all being exploited, and the family grow bigger with the abuser's kids.

Cast

as Tea Alexisdotter *

Stellan Skarsgård Stellan John Skarsgård (, ; born 13 June 1951) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his collaborations with director Lars von Trier, appearing in ''Breaking the Waves'' (1996), ''Dancer in the Dark'' (2000), '' Dogville'' (2003), ''Melancholia' ...

as Karl Orsa Markström *

Reine Brynolfsson Reine Claes-Göran Brynolfsson (born 15 January 1953) is a Swedish actor. He was born in Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the f ...

as Jani *

Pernilla August Pernilla August (; born 13 February 1958), also known as Pernilla Östergren Pernilla Wallgren, and Pernilla Wallgren-Östergren, is a Swedish actress, director and screenwriter. She was a longtime collaborator with director Ingmar Bergman and ...

as Eva (as Pernilla Östergren) * Tomas von Brömssen as Jacob *

Pernilla Wahlgren Pernilla Nina Elisabet Wahlgren (; born 24 December 1967) is a Swedish singer and actress. She has sung in Melodifestivalen several times; her 1985 entry titled "Piccadilly Circus (song), Piccadilly Circus" became popular and successful. She has ...

as Johanna * Ernst Günther as Ol Karlsa * Birgitta Ulfsson as Grandma * Johan Widerberg as Jani as a child *

Melinda Kinnaman Melinda Rosalie Kinnaman (born 9 November 1971) is a Swedish-American actress. Early life Kinnaman is a dual citizen of Sweden and the United States. Kinnaman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to American parents Dee and Steve Kinnaman. Her fathe ...

as Eva as child

References

External links

* * 1986 films 1986 drama films Swedish drama films 1980s Swedish-language films Films directed by Bo Widerberg 1980s Swedish films {{1980s-Sweden-film-stub