MOVIE · 1986

The Sacrifice

Drama149 min

Alexander, a journalist, philosopher, and retired actor, is celebrating his birthday with friends and family when an announcement of nuclear war shatters the gathering. Erland Josephson is Alexander, a middle-aged intellectual whose fear turns into a desperate vow to God in the hope of stopping the catastrophe. Susan Fleetwood is part of the circle around him as the film shifts from a domestic occasion into a crisis of faith. In Swedish and built as a parable, the story brings Christian and pagan imagery into the same charged space, keeping its focus on one man, his family, and the possibility that sacrifice might alter the course of events.