Bergman Meets
Bergman
By
Raymond Benson
It
was the first and only time two famous filmmaking Swedes worked together—the
enigmatic, existential, and brilliant director Ingmar Bergman, and the glamorous,
international star of Hollywood, Ingrid Bergman (no relation). According to Ingmar in a filmed introduction
he made in 2003, he and Ingrid had met and agreed that one day she would act in
one of his films. Then, apparently he
and Ingrid met again at a film festival in the mid-70s. She reminded him of their promise; he told
her about the script he was working on, in which Liv Ullmann would play the
daughter, but he hadn’t cast the mother yet. Done deal. But, in a
recently-filmed interview, Ullmann relates how the two Bergmans did not get
along very well for the longest period. Ingrid wanted to do it one way, Ingmar another—and he had never dealt
with such a headstrong Hollywood personality before. In the end, though, Ingrid capitulated to the
director, eventually admitting that he was right. He must have been, for she was nominated for
a Best Actress Oscar and picked up a slew of other awards in 1978, and sadly,
it was to be her final feature film.
Autumn Sonata is a chamber piece
and feels as if it could be a stage play; indeed, it has been adapted to the
stage after the fact. The story is simple—a
world-famous concert pianist in her sixties stops touring for a moment to visit
her estranged forty-something daughter and husband in Norway. Both of them seem to know that they’re going
to come to blows at some point during the stay, and they do. The last act is a painful, cathartic
angst-fest, as both women—mother and daughter—have it out with what went wrong
with their relationship. Oh, and to
complicate things, the mother’s other daughter
is at the house, too—and she suffers from a severe disability (possibly
Multiple Sclerosis). By the end, the
actresses will be exhausted and spent—and the audience will be as well. This is serious, heavy-hitting Bergman (the
director), and it displays just how effortlessly—it appears—he could dig deeply
into the emotional psyches of two very gifted actresses, more so than we have
ever seen before. It’s not a
particularly “fun†time at the movies, but it is a powerful exercise in acting and directing. Serious fans of the theatre, and with the
Bergmans—both of them—will surely find this to be a stunning little drama.
Sven Nykvist’s color cinematography is gorgeous
in its new 2K digital restoration. The
Blu-ray exhibits some natural graininess, but the improvement over Criterion’s
earlier DVD release of the film is substantial. Extras include the previously mentioned Introduction by Bergman himself;
audio commentary by Bergman scholar Peter Cowie; the Liv Ullmann interview; a
vintage interview between Ingmar Bergman and critic John Russell Taylor at the
National Film Theater in London in 1981; and, astonishingly, a three-and-a-half-hour “making of†on-set
documentary. That’s more than twice as
long as the movie itself. The film
chronicles the entire production—initial readings, rehearsals, dress
rehearsals, filming—it certainly gives you a feel for how Bergman worked. The usual classy booklet (with an essay by
critic Farran Smith Nehme) and packaging, hallmarks of The Criterion Collection, make Autumn Sonata a terrific addition to the home collection.
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