THE ABDICATION (1974)

Sweden, 1654. In a beautiful candle-lit ceremony, Christina (Liv Ullmann), the queen of Sweden, abdicates. As she leaves the castle, her demeanor changes from solemn to joyful; she lets down her hair and laughs, runs through wheat fields and does a little spin reminiscent of Maria bursting into song in opening of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Alas, Christina does not sing, but instead goes striding purposefully from Sweden to the Vatican. She has abdicated in order to convert to Catholicism, and has assumed that she will be given special treatment by the aging pope himself. However, her arrival causes consternation amongst the cardinals who are afraid that her conversion is not sincere, but the equivalent of a 17th century publicity stunt—in the year it took her to get the Vatican, scandal spread about her supposed licentious merry-making, not to mention rumors of a same-sex love affair in which she indulged. Christina is subjected to a lengthy investigation, conducted by Cardinal Azzolino (Peter Finch), and the two play a sort of power game with each other during which we see flashbacks to her earlier life. The two are combative at first, but soon they warm to each other. She admits having had deep feelings for two of her friends, Magnus and Ebba (who eventually become a couple themselves) and claims she has always been disappointed in love and will remain a virgin—unless she gives herself to Azzolino. He seems to be considering such an arrangement (she suggests that she fake her death and the two could live together), but when the pope dies, he rethinks their situation.

This has a reputation as an interesting failure—some ravishing sets and cinematography, but a sluggish pace, an awkwardly fractured narrative, and two mismatched actors. It's based on a two-character play, though one can't complain that it's stagy; its main strengths are its elaborate settings and its visual style. Though I usually love Ullmann, her Christina comes off as unstable and unsympathetic—her two moods are haughty and imperious—and we never get any sense of what has given her such a strong desire to convert. Finch's character, which he embodies more smoothly that Ullmann does hers, is more traditional, but my belief in their desire ebbed and flowed. The theoretically important character of Christina's mute dwarf jester, who accompanies her everywhere, is muted partly due to a tragic off-screen circumstance—Michael Dunn, who plays the dwarf in flashback scenes, died during filming, and was replaced by a far less charismatic actor in the present scenes. The flashback scenes of Christina's escapades with her friends are interesting but not developed very much. This is certainly not a disaster but it does make promises it can't fulfill. Directed by Anthony Harvey, better known for THE LION IN WINTER, and based on this film, one suspects that Harvey had less to do with the brilliance of that earlier film than his leading actors (Katharine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole) did. [TCM]