Fans of "Police Academy 6", stay away. This is far too intelligent for you.
Fans of Kubrick's films, stay away. This is not intelligent enough for you.
Fans of TV soap operas, you should give this one a try.
This time, Bergman's script is nothing less than exhilarating. The story is absolutely amazing.
Ingrid visits her daughter Liv. They talk. Liv's cripple sister, Lena, appears. Ingrid talks to Lena. Ingrid talks to herself. Liv talks to her husband. They talk to Ingrid. Liv plays the piano. Ingrid plays the piano. Liv and Ingrid talk. And they talk. Flashbacks. After a while they talk more. Flashbacks. And guess what? They talk again. And again. Flashbacks. Lena screams. Liv narrates, thinking about suicide. Ingrid on a train, happy to finally leave the movie. Liv narrates more. Guess how the movie ends? Liv talks. To the camera, this time. She has bored Ingrid so much that the cameraman was the only person left to talk to at the end.
If your idea of fun is to watch a mother and a daughter "confront their inner demons and their troubled past" (as some critics would probably put it), then you'll enjoy this piece of crap. A soap opera, nothing more, but with better dialog. Except that this time around the acting is worse than usual. Liv is unconvincing; screaming and tamper-tantrums do not necessarily good acting make. Ingrid is a little better, but she completely destroys the illusion she creates of being a good actress when we hear her speaking English in 3-4 scenes. It is when we hear English spoken here that we get a glimpse into how much worse Bergman films would sound if they were in a language we could understand. As it is, Bergman, quite wisely, hides behind Swedish (he could have easily made more English-speaking movies). When we hear Ingrid in Swedish we don't notice how silly some of the dialog really is. I mean, it's still silly, but not as silly as when you can actually understand it directly.
This oppressive, overwrought drama has all the Bergman traits: flashbacks, marathon dialogs, marathon monologues, reddish/brown colours that dominate, unresolved issues between family members, shouting, misery, wretchedness – and even a crippled person this time. I've always considered it a very cheap dramatic shtick to put a crippled person into the story, sort of under the motto "if I can't get 'em to cry with the other stuff, surely a cripple will get the tears rolling". Check out the truly pathetic scene when Lena is crawling on the floor, shouting "Mama!". I mean, it's so damn manipulative that it can only work with uncritical or inexperienced viewers.
Plot-wise, Bergman really lays on the misery. Not only is Liv scarred for life by her mother's cold behaviour, but she also has a cripple sister. And her health has been worsening steadily for years. And Liv thinks about suicide. And she and her husband couldn't have children for a long time. And if you think that was enough for Bergman, you're wrong: you see, Liv eventually gave birth to a son, but alas, he's dead. And he was just a child, of course, when he died. Of course. So basically, the only disaster Bergman didn't include was the sky falling on everyone's collective heads.
I found it rather pretentious (you can't have a(n honest) Bergman review without this word) how Bergman keeps throwing in all those names of classical composers, and their works. It's sort of his way of saying, "see? I listen to classical music, and these are my favourite pieces of it". As if anyone cares what he listens to. You're an educated, cultured ex-Nazi, we get it.
There is an endless scene with Liv and Ingrid that lasts about 20 minutes (if I'm not mistaken). If you survive that, you can watch any of his other movies. (Except "The Silence"; that will test even the most boredom-immune viewer.)
The melodious, soft-as-a-bird's-beak Swedish language lends audio beauty to this visual feast. The sound coming out of these actors' mouths are like music to my ears...
If you are unhappy with "Autumn Sonata", which you must be, just google "Vjetropev Bergman Spoofs" and this will lead you to my video clips with the vastly improved movie. Have fun.
Fans of Kubrick's films, stay away. This is not intelligent enough for you.
Fans of TV soap operas, you should give this one a try.
This time, Bergman's script is nothing less than exhilarating. The story is absolutely amazing.
Ingrid visits her daughter Liv. They talk. Liv's cripple sister, Lena, appears. Ingrid talks to Lena. Ingrid talks to herself. Liv talks to her husband. They talk to Ingrid. Liv plays the piano. Ingrid plays the piano. Liv and Ingrid talk. And they talk. Flashbacks. After a while they talk more. Flashbacks. And guess what? They talk again. And again. Flashbacks. Lena screams. Liv narrates, thinking about suicide. Ingrid on a train, happy to finally leave the movie. Liv narrates more. Guess how the movie ends? Liv talks. To the camera, this time. She has bored Ingrid so much that the cameraman was the only person left to talk to at the end.
If your idea of fun is to watch a mother and a daughter "confront their inner demons and their troubled past" (as some critics would probably put it), then you'll enjoy this piece of crap. A soap opera, nothing more, but with better dialog. Except that this time around the acting is worse than usual. Liv is unconvincing; screaming and tamper-tantrums do not necessarily good acting make. Ingrid is a little better, but she completely destroys the illusion she creates of being a good actress when we hear her speaking English in 3-4 scenes. It is when we hear English spoken here that we get a glimpse into how much worse Bergman films would sound if they were in a language we could understand. As it is, Bergman, quite wisely, hides behind Swedish (he could have easily made more English-speaking movies). When we hear Ingrid in Swedish we don't notice how silly some of the dialog really is. I mean, it's still silly, but not as silly as when you can actually understand it directly.
This oppressive, overwrought drama has all the Bergman traits: flashbacks, marathon dialogs, marathon monologues, reddish/brown colours that dominate, unresolved issues between family members, shouting, misery, wretchedness – and even a crippled person this time. I've always considered it a very cheap dramatic shtick to put a crippled person into the story, sort of under the motto "if I can't get 'em to cry with the other stuff, surely a cripple will get the tears rolling". Check out the truly pathetic scene when Lena is crawling on the floor, shouting "Mama!". I mean, it's so damn manipulative that it can only work with uncritical or inexperienced viewers.
Plot-wise, Bergman really lays on the misery. Not only is Liv scarred for life by her mother's cold behaviour, but she also has a cripple sister. And her health has been worsening steadily for years. And Liv thinks about suicide. And she and her husband couldn't have children for a long time. And if you think that was enough for Bergman, you're wrong: you see, Liv eventually gave birth to a son, but alas, he's dead. And he was just a child, of course, when he died. Of course. So basically, the only disaster Bergman didn't include was the sky falling on everyone's collective heads.
I found it rather pretentious (you can't have a(n honest) Bergman review without this word) how Bergman keeps throwing in all those names of classical composers, and their works. It's sort of his way of saying, "see? I listen to classical music, and these are my favourite pieces of it". As if anyone cares what he listens to. You're an educated, cultured ex-Nazi, we get it.
There is an endless scene with Liv and Ingrid that lasts about 20 minutes (if I'm not mistaken). If you survive that, you can watch any of his other movies. (Except "The Silence"; that will test even the most boredom-immune viewer.)
The melodious, soft-as-a-bird's-beak Swedish language lends audio beauty to this visual feast. The sound coming out of these actors' mouths are like music to my ears...
If you are unhappy with "Autumn Sonata", which you must be, just google "Vjetropev Bergman Spoofs" and this will lead you to my video clips with the vastly improved movie. Have fun.