The Dove is an Academy Award-nominated 1968 short film (14 minutes) directed by George Coe and Anthony Lover.
It is a parody of the films of Ingmar Bergman. Victor (Coe), an elderly professor, is being driven to his university to give a lecture. When he stops to take a poop in a roadside outhouse, he finds a wooden dove inside. The sight of the dove sends his memories back decades, to an eventful picnic by the lake with his extended family, including his sister Inga.
Film debut of Madeline Kahn, who plays Sigrid.
Tropes:
- Affectionate Parody: Made by people who obviously knew Bergman well. The stark black and white cinematography is very Bergman-esque. The main plot of an elderly professor being driven to university is from Wild Strawberries. We see Death dressed up as he was in The Seventh Seal, and the Chess with Death bit is parodied. And the incest plot is from Through a Glass Darkly.
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: All the dialogue is in faux-Swedish that mostly consists of putting "-ska" at the ends of words. "Water" is "Hâ‚‚O-ska."
- Bathos: The entire film runs on this, as it juxtaposes a very meticulous recreation of the aesthetic of Ingmar Bergman with silly faux-Swedish dialogue and scatological humor.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: When Anders disapproves of Sigrid's lust for Inga, Sigrid tells him that she saw him the night before, with the cow.
- Bird-Poop Gag: A Running Gag involving a dove, pooping. Eventually, the dove poops on Death's cloak.
- Butch Lesbian: Sigrid, who wants Inga for herself, ostentatiously smokes a cigar.
- Brother–Sister Incest: Victor and Inga share a long French kiss. Later they embrace and kiss again while skinny-dipping in the lake.
- Captain Obvious: As Victor rides down the road he tells the viewer "I'm still alive."
- Chess with Death: Parodied. Inga plays badminton with Death for her life. And wins when the dove poops on Death and distracts him.
- Comically Serious: Most of the acting, and especially the narration, like when Victor tells us with grave seriousness "I have a hernia."
- Deliberately Monochrome: In classic Bergman style.
- The End: "ENDSK". More faux-Swedish.note
- The Grim Reaper: Just as serious as he was in The Seventh Seal. When the dove poops on his cloak, he complains that he just had it dry cleaned.
- Patrick Stewart Speech: Before the game starts, Victor gets sick of Death being condescending and tells him "All men are not such weaklings as you think! The game has not yet begun."
- Running Gag: Whenever we see a dove, it poops. The last time, the dove saves Inga's life by pooping on Death.
- Running Gag Stumbles: As Victor and Inga cavort nude in the lake, we hear the cry of a dove. Victor looks up apprehensively, but Inga says "It's a different dove."
- Skinny Dipping: Inga and Victor celebrate their escape from Death with some incest in the lake.
- Visual Innuendo: Sigrid offers her cigar to Inga and says "Phalliken symbolsk?"
