Reminds me of Hitchcock's Rebecca

I can see it. Very different films under the hood, I think, but I can see it. On the surface I think there's enough justification for that association. Although probably only on the surface. The battle of the sexes/battle of the classes core of Strindberg/Sjöberg's work is really not there in Hitchcock's film (if we can call it Hitchcock's film -- it's probably more accurate to call it O. Selznick's film, despite Hitchcock's virtuoso direction). "Rebecca" lacks the thematic foundation of the later film. For all its masterful use of the elements of mood, tone, and atmosphere, there's not a lot of depth in "Rebecca" beneath the surface. That's typical of American cinema, of course, versus the much more thematically profound cinema produced in Europe. I think "Rebecca" calls to mind, if anything, Hitchcock's themes from his later film, "Vertigo", regarding the past as a living entity that we keep buried inside of us, tormenting us with its dreadful control over our lives, and forcing us to ultimately resign ourselves to its will. For this reason, I always said "Rebecca" reminded me vaguely of many of the films of Alain Resnais, although obviously it doesn't go anywhere near into the same level of depth as a film like "Last Year at Marienbad". I also remember thinking during "Rebecca" something like, "If Bergman made a Hollywood film…". I'm not sure how much I still feel that way, retrospectively, but the suffering of the characters in the film under the hand of a higher power that may only exist in their own minds certainly warrants at least some minor comparisons to Bergman. Naturally, it's a small step from Bergman to Strindberg, and from Strindberg to Sjöberg. So yeah, I can see why you'd say that.