Nature, Pathos, Heroism: Victor Sjöström’s Silent Film Adaptation (1917) of Ibsen’s “Terje Vigen” (1862)

Abstract

Launched in 1917, Victor Sj€ ostr€ om’s famous film adaptation of Ibsen’s “Terje Vigen” celebrated its centenary in 2017 (Sj€ ostr€ om 2006).The film was directed by the highly regarded Swedish artist Victor Sj€ ostr€ om, who also played the leading role. In the film, which was a huge success worldwide, the Norwegian coastal landscape is portrayed in imposing and powerful nature imagery. Sj€ ostr€ om was a pioneer in developing the use of landscape imagery in fiction filmmaking. This article deals with the film as an adaptation of Ibsen’s epic poem, and the main focus will be on the representation of nature in the film. How is nature exploited? How do the nature pictures relate to still landand seascapes of the pictorial art tradition? What symbolic and ideologic functions do they have? The overall argument is that Sj€ ostr€ om’s film, through its strong emphasis on nature, atmospherics and emotions as well as drama, complicates the heroism of Terje Vigen, and, moreover, that this actually picks up on something that is latent in Ibsen’s poem.