Port of Call

Port of Call (Hamnstad), directed by Ingmar Bergman, is an early Swedish film about Berit, a suicidal factory worker fresh out of reform school, trying to escape her overbearing mother, who jumps into the sea and is rescued by a sailor with whom she then falls in love. The film includes a subplot remarkably bold for its time: Berit's friend Gertrud dies from complications of an illegal abortion, a subject far too explicit for Hollywood standards of 1948. The film shows the strong influence of Italian neorealism, an influence Bergman himself acknowledged, citing Rossellini and De Sica. It became Bergman's first commercially successful film. Who it's for: anyone curious about an early Bergman film, influenced by Italian neorealism, that tackles subjects like abortion, domestic abuse, and suicide with a boldness rare for 1940s cinema. Who it's not for: those familiar with Bergman's later, more abstract and philosophical period expecting the same style here, since this belongs to an earlier, more socially grounded, realist phase of his career.