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The story of The Indelicate Balance is classic Sarno in every respect. A family tensely awaits the arrival of a prodigal son, Harald, who is the object of an unwholesome affection on the part of his mother, Lena. Haralds pretty new bride, Karin, is awkwardly introduced to the clan consisting most conspicuously of a sister, Ingrid. It soon becomes apparent she had been engaged in an inappropriate relationship with Harald as a teenager for which the mother, Lena, has never forgiven her. All is not well in Harald and Karins marriage either: since their betrothal, Harald has been unable to pursue either his painting career or to consummate their marriage.
Vying jealously for Haralds attention, Lena gradually pushes Karin closer to Ingrid, who eventually initiates her into an erotic lesbian alliance. Meanwhile, Lenas doting begins to manifest a deeply scandalous tendency of its own. Acting as her sons muse, she inspires Harald to begin painting again only to seduce him in the solitude of his studio. For a moment, Harald and Karins marriage appears gravely imperiled as each is paired off with new romantic counterparts. Harald, however, finally ruptures the scandalous impulses that threaten to destroy the couples fragile union.
Taboo sex has played a key role in Sarnos work since his earliest days. Far from being prurient in nature, Sarnos interest in the theme has much to do with his Freudian understanding of human sexual development, with its deep roots in the psychosexual politics of the family. As far back as Sin in the Suburbs - in which a wife-swapping couple discovers that their teenage daughter has secretly infiltrated their suburban sex club - Sarnos films treat the awakening of sexual identity as a crisis in family loyalty. The twofold impulses one must surmount to enter the heterosexual order - excessive attachment to ones parents and narcissistic love of self - form the poles between which Sarnos narratives compulsively navigate. While the director has frequently claimed that many of his stories are based upon true-life events, his work also bears a deeply psychoanalytic resonance as well.
The films deeply analytical themes are buttressed all the more by its resiliently objective technique - a trademark of Sarnos cinema and an important factor in reinforcing the psychological dimension of his work. Unswervingly direct and unblinking in its voyeurism, Sarnos camera watches his characters like a psychoanalyst, listening for their smallest confessions, watching for the least sensible tremors of their flesh. His characteristically expressionistic lighting also lends itself to an atmosphere of confession: note the frequent use of eye-lights and purposeful darkening of overhead spaces, contributing to the atmosphere of secrecy and observation - perhaps even of entrapment. Note as well the deftly employed classical soundtrack (borrowed by his music editor from un-copyright protected Soviet-era recordings). The juxtaposition of Shostakovichs Eighth Symphony over the opening sequence of the driving car evokes Bernard Herrmanns famous score for Hitchcocks Psycho - a tense, eruptive, driving force that underscores the mood for much of the film.
Shooting on The Indelicate Balance took approximately three weeks by the Sarnos best estimates. The film was then assembled in Stockholm at Ingemar Ejves Filmmakarna post-production facility. The fate of the film after that, however, will probably always remain something of a mystery. Unacknowledged by The American Film Institute Catalog of Feature Films 1961-1970, it would appear that it was not released into the United States in either 1969 or 1970, in spite of the fact that the only known print bears a 1969 declaration of copyright. Nor is there any indication that the film was ever released in Sweden, in spite of the fact that the dialogue track was recorded in the Swedish language. A version of the film was apparently submitted to the MPAA in 1971, which granted it an R rating. Indications on the print used to make the present transfer suggest, in fact, that this might be the very print submitted to the MPAA, a circumstance which could explain the clearly truncated sex scenes visible in the existing version.
In spite of its murky exhibition history, however, The Indelicate Balance stands up as one of Sarnos most personal and accomplished films. Unhampered by inadequate resources or by other forms of creative interference, the film reflects Sarnos obsessions at their most unadulterated. Still viscerally engaging in spite of long years in obscurity, The Indelicate Balance regains its place as one of Sarnos most compelling works.
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