Well, yes, it's true there are no car chases or explosions in this movie and it wasn't boffo at the box office, but it does pack an emotional punch. Although The Wild Duck is not as well known in the Anglo world as some of Ibsen's other plays, it's considered his masterpiece in Scandinavia, and the writers do a very good job of adapting it for the screen. There are even a few gunshots, and the last one is as wrenching an experience as I've had in a long time. The film is dark in more than theme however, as the lighting seemed unnecessarily dim. The cast is mostly good, especially Liv Ullmann as earth mother Gina, but the usually excellent Jeremy Irons is miscast as the main character Hjalmar (here called Harold)-- he's just too lean and hungry to play the complacent, pleasure loving blow hard. Sorry it wasn't another "Mad Max" but as long as people can't find a local production of plays by hacks like Chekov and Ibsen, film makers are doing the public a service by bringing them well crafted adaptations like this.
