When a German Marxist revolutionary retires to Sweden with his wife, he hires young Swedish secretary Tomas to move in and edit his diaries. Soon enough, the couple is subjecting Tomas—and his girlfriend—to a series of game-like dares involving seduction, power plays, and possibly, murder.

Contributing to the European cinema she so admired with a psychodrama of sexual, political, and intellectual entropy, Susan Sontag’s lacerating first film sees an old guard hunger for zealous young minds and bodies. Shades of Bergman and Godard? Of course—but with a deviance that is all of her own.