The successful business man Peter seems to live in a perfect marriage, but he admits having murder fantasies about women to his psychiatrist. Intending to live out his dark urges, Peter contacts a prostitute which leads to a catastrophe. The film is arguably the darkest one of Bergman’s body of work, not only due to its subject matter and disturbing imagery, but also because of the circumstances of its creation. Bergman shot the film as a commissioned work for the ZDF in his unbeloved Munich exile, and it was rarely ever screened in cinemas or on TV. In his examination of the human abyss, Bergman is relentlessly unsparing, dealing with personality loss, bloodlust, violence and sadism. Strong stuff, but Bergman succeeded in creating a dazzlingly rough masterpiece that has retained its ability to fascinate to this day.