The past is ourselves: Revisiting Peter Watkins' Edvard Munch.

This article examines Peter Watkins' 1974 film biography *Edvard Munch*, focusing on how Watkins' original 1972 script outline and production choices reflect his intention to portray not only the Norwegian artist's life but also broader societal, cultural, and historical themes. Watkins' film employs a non-chronological, subjective narrative structure, integrating Munch's personal diaries and expressionist art to evoke emotional engagement rather than intellectual analysis, encouraging viewers to "feel" the artist's experience. The collaboration with cinematographer Odd-Geir Søther helped realize this vision through documentary-style techniques and a distinctive blue tint that echoes Munch's symbolic use of color. Ultimately, the film situates Munch's personal struggles as emblematic of the universal challenges of modernity, linking past, present, and future in a continuous flow of historical and emotional experience.