Observations on Film Art: Victor Sjöström’s Stirring Flashbacks
4,937 views · Published 10 December 2018 · 1:27 · Indexed 26 September 2026
Channel: CRITERION · 2018 · Film & Animation
Nearly a century after its initial release, Victor Sjöström’s silent-era ghost story THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE continues to haunt audiences and challenge them with its innovative storytelling techniques. For this episode of Observations on Film Art, an original series now streaming on the Criterion Channel, film scholar Kristin Thompson examines Sjöström’s use of flashbacks and how they inform the narrative and enrich its themes of redemption. This excerpt features Thompson reflecting on her first encounter with the film in graduate school and introducing its four key flashbacks.
