The Touch
In a small Swedish town, physician Andreas Vergerus and his wife Karin Vergarus have a loving yet somewhat pedestrian fifteen year marriage which has spawned two now early teen children. They befriend visiting Jewish-American archaeologist David Kovac who is working on a dig of an old church site. Admitting to her that he fell in love with her the first time he laid eyes on her at the hospital on the day that her mother passed away, Karin easily succumbs to David's advances, she never having cheated on Andreas before. Although David transforms, having a passive-aggressive nature in their relationship including bouts of physical violence against her, Karin ends up falling in what she believes is love with David in he representing what is missing with Andreas, while she still remains loyal to Andreas and their marriage. Andreas is aware of something concerning David which may provide some answers as to David's behavior toward Karin, which become a little more clear when Karin meets Sara.
The film underperformed commercially against its limited budget of $6.9M, earning $6.5M globally (-5% loss).
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
The Touch (1971) showcases precise narrative architecture, characteristic of Ingmar Bergman's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 15-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 1 hour and 55 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 7.1, the film balances conventional beats with creative variation.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes Karin lives a seemingly perfect bourgeois life in Sweden with her husband Andreas, a successful doctor, and their two children. She appears content but emotionally restrained in her comfortable, orderly existence.. Structural examination shows that this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 13 minutes when Karin meets David, an intense American-Jewish archaeologist, at the museum. There is an immediate, powerful attraction that disrupts her emotional equilibrium and awakens something dormant within her.. At 12% through the film, this Disruption aligns precisely with traditional story structure. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.
The First Threshold at 28 minutes marks the transition into Act II, occurring at 25% of the runtime. This demonstrates the protagonist's commitment to Karin makes the active choice to begin an affair with David, crossing the line from her safe, controlled existence into a passionate but tumultuous relationship that will consume her., moving from reaction to action.
At 57 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 50% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Significantly, this crucial beat A violent confrontation or moment of crisis with David reveals the destructive nature of their relationship. What seemed like liberation now shows its dark underbelly - David's rage, possessiveness, and instability., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 85 minutes (74% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, The relationship reaches its nadir - either through David's complete breakdown, a violent incident, or Karin's realization that she has sacrificed everything for a man who cannot be saved. The dream of passionate fulfillment dies., demonstrates the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Second Threshold at 92 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 80% of the runtime. Karin gains clarity about her situation - neither relationship can give her what she needs. She must face the truth about herself, her choices, and the impossibility of return to innocence or simple resolution., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
The Touch's emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 15 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs proven narrative structure principles that track dramatic progression. By mapping The Touch against these established plot points, we can identify how Ingmar Bergman utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish The Touch within the drama genre.
Ingmar Bergman's Structural Approach
Among the 6 Ingmar Bergman films analyzed on Arcplot, the average structural score is 7.1, reflecting strong command of classical structure. The Touch takes a more unconventional approach compared to the director's typical style. For comparative analysis, explore the complete Ingmar Bergman filmography.
Comparative Analysis
Additional drama films include Eye for an Eye, South Pacific and Kiss of the Spider Woman. For more Ingmar Bergman analyses, see Wild Strawberries, Scenes from a Marriage and Persona.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
Karin lives a seemingly perfect bourgeois life in Sweden with her husband Andreas, a successful doctor, and their two children. She appears content but emotionally restrained in her comfortable, orderly existence.
Theme
At her mother's deathbed or funeral, a conversation touches on the theme of buried emotions and unexpressed needs - what lies beneath the surface of a seemingly stable life.
Worldbuilding
Establishment of Karin's orderly world: her marriage to Andreas, her role as mother, the death of her mother, and the comfortable but emotionally distant patterns of her upper-middle-class Swedish life.
Disruption
Karin meets David, an intense American-Jewish archaeologist, at the museum. There is an immediate, powerful attraction that disrupts her emotional equilibrium and awakens something dormant within her.
Resistance
Karin resists and debates the pull toward David while continuing her domestic life. She is drawn to him but hesitant, wrestling with the implications of pursuing this dangerous attraction that threatens her stable world.
Act II
ConfrontationFirst Threshold
Karin makes the active choice to begin an affair with David, crossing the line from her safe, controlled existence into a passionate but tumultuous relationship that will consume her.
Mirror World
David represents the mirror world - raw emotion, chaos, need, and intensity. Through him, Karin explores what she has suppressed: passion, selfhood, and authentic feeling, even as it proves destructive.
Premise
The affair unfolds with intensity and turmoil. Karin experiences both the ecstasy of awakened passion and the agony of David's instability, jealousy, and emotional violence. She navigates between two worlds, unable to fully commit to either.
Midpoint
A violent confrontation or moment of crisis with David reveals the destructive nature of their relationship. What seemed like liberation now shows its dark underbelly - David's rage, possessiveness, and instability.
Opposition
The affair continues to deteriorate. David's psychological fragility and emotional abuse intensify. Karin is trapped between her guilt toward her family and her inability to break free from David. The opposing forces of duty and desire crush her.
Collapse
The relationship reaches its nadir - either through David's complete breakdown, a violent incident, or Karin's realization that she has sacrificed everything for a man who cannot be saved. The dream of passionate fulfillment dies.
Crisis
Karin sits in the darkness of her soul, confronting what she has done, what she has lost, and who she has become. She processes the wreckage of both relationships and faces her profound loneliness.
Act III
ResolutionSecond Threshold
Karin gains clarity about her situation - neither relationship can give her what she needs. She must face the truth about herself, her choices, and the impossibility of return to innocence or simple resolution.
Synthesis
The aftermath. Karin attempts to navigate her relationships with both Andreas and David with new understanding. She may end the affair definitively or attempt reconciliation with her husband, but without illusions about easy answers.
Transformation
Karin is left isolated, neither fully returned to her marriage nor sustained by the affair. She has been transformed through suffering but not redeemed - she is more aware, more alive, but also more alone and wounded.