A “Greatest of-all time” film, revered by critics and Woody Allen alike (his fav Bergman film apparently) And yet. I’ve never been able to get on with it. Possible reasons? Too stagily allegorical. Characters too obviously schematic to be engaging. Too much (Christian) God talk. Anyway, lets give it another – and possibly – final [...]
Another B/w Bergmann film from the 1950′s. Most of them seem indistinguishable from one another. But if this is anything like “Summer with Monika” I’m in for a treat. I’m writing this as i watch. Ballet and ballerinaing is not a good subject for me. Hope this doesn’t stay too long stuck up a tutu. [...]
Another dying female/sister film. Stricken sister Ester (Ingrid Thulin) is boozing vodka, puffing away, trying to translate. She’s in some nameless Soviet-style country in a posh hotel, stuck there in limbo, in transit. There with her younger sister – Anna – who has gone out in a short dress looking for some action; she sees [...]
The Dvd this was on has already been recorded over. So i obviously didn’t get into this film much. There’s a long opening scene of a drawn out drab church service in which the holy sacrament is given/taken. I’d find it boring enough to sit through that in reality – so to watch it enacted [...]
I was wondering whether to bin the vid this film was taped on. Glad i didn’t. It starts off slow but gets intense and intenser. And red. And then redder. The clocks tock. Two sisters – Maria and Karin – sit around watching and waiting for 3rd sister – Agnes – to die of cancer. [...]
A chronicle of the difficult early relationship of Ingmar Bergman’s parents – Henrik and Anna – in Sweden a century ago. Anna’s mother intensely dislikes Henrik and wants to prevent then seeing one another: “You have deep and early wounds, beyond healing or consolation” she slams him with. Henrik’s mother loathes Anna: “Lord forgive me [...]
This is possibly a very good film. But unfortunately i’ve just been watching the inferior dubbed version. Liv Ullmann has been deformed with a yickle baby-girl voice. (I think Ingrid Bergman might have over-dubbed hers) Dubbing displaces and disengages the watching experience. I don’t like it. Anyway, Liv is having a profound encounter with her [...]
It would have been great seeing this in 1953 as a young guy. (Not as the young guy i would have been then – stupidly ignorant – but as the young guy i am now!… Lol…. ) “I’m crazy about you. You’re like someone in a film” says 17 year old Monika to 19 year [...]
That’s Liv Ullmann staring disbelievingly out from inside those big glasses. Her husband Erland Josephson is just telling her he wants to fuck off out of their 10 year old marriage to go shack up with some 23 year old bird. I don’t find Josephson that appealing as an actor anyway, and in this film [...]
