Fear

Roberto Rossellini’s film with Ingrid Bergman exploring the inner turmoil of a woman pushed to the edge through the guilt of her infidelity.

Six years after Germany Year Zero, Roberto Rossellini returned to Germany to make this noir-influenced examination of solitude, alienation, and a crisis of moral values in contemporary life. Loosely based on the Stefan Zweig novel Angst, Fear explores the inner turmoil of a woman pushed to the edge through the anxiety and guilt of her infidelity.

Ingrid Bergman stars as Irene, the wife of a prominent German scientist, Albert Wagner (Mathias Wieman). Irene has been engaged in an illicit affair which she goes to great pains to hide in order to keep her husband blissfully unaware. However, when her lover’s jealous ex-girlfriend, Luisa (Renate Mannhardt) learns of the relationship and proceeds to sadistically extort her, Irene’s life soon spirals out of control.