This is not one of Bergman's better films, perhaps understandably so as he was still in the earliest stages of his career. The main problem is with the script and characters which focus on the relationship between a frustratingly subservient woman (Maj-Britt Nilsson) and her selfish scumbag (for want of a better word) husband (Stig Olin).
Judging by this film and Summer Interlude which was made the following year, Bergman appears to have chosen Nilsson to play beautiful young women who deserve much better but instead fall for annoying young men; especially so in the character of Stig in this film, played fairly unconvincingly by Olin. Nilsson, on the other hand, is very good.
Olin's character spends the first part of the film whining and complaining, making the viewer wonder what on earth Marta (Nilsson) sees in him. He then spends the rest of the film mostly ill-treating and disregarding her which then leaves us asking why she puts up with it all.
Stig is a thoroughly selfish unpleasant character who happily lies down and accepts his wife's offer to make tea and a sandwich as she goes into labour, attends an orchestra rehearsal instead of being with her as she gives birth, is unfaithful to her and then beats her when she finally confronts him about it.
This outdated depiction of marriage is finally complete as Marta honestly blames herself for provoking her husband into repeatedly striking her.
Perhaps this was convincing stuff 60 years ago but the portrayal of a young woman who is prepared to give so much yet accept so little in return just doesn't ring true today.
Their subsequent reconciliation towards the end of the film seems artificial and tacked on purely as a means of building up to an emotional (but as it turned out, overly sentimental) climax.
I found it impossible to feel any sympathy for the husband at the end of the film so Bergman's attempts to move his audience just didn't work for me. One feeling I did get as the film ended was a reminder of the very similar way Beethoven's 9th Symphony was used at the end of A Clockwork Orange. This could have even been a direct reference by Kubrick.
The similarity was so strong that I was half expecting Stig's son to turn to us and say 'I was cured, alright' as the camera moved in on him in the final shot.
Judging by this film and Summer Interlude which was made the following year, Bergman appears to have chosen Nilsson to play beautiful young women who deserve much better but instead fall for annoying young men; especially so in the character of Stig in this film, played fairly unconvincingly by Olin. Nilsson, on the other hand, is very good.
Olin's character spends the first part of the film whining and complaining, making the viewer wonder what on earth Marta (Nilsson) sees in him. He then spends the rest of the film mostly ill-treating and disregarding her which then leaves us asking why she puts up with it all.
Stig is a thoroughly selfish unpleasant character who happily lies down and accepts his wife's offer to make tea and a sandwich as she goes into labour, attends an orchestra rehearsal instead of being with her as she gives birth, is unfaithful to her and then beats her when she finally confronts him about it.
This outdated depiction of marriage is finally complete as Marta honestly blames herself for provoking her husband into repeatedly striking her.
Perhaps this was convincing stuff 60 years ago but the portrayal of a young woman who is prepared to give so much yet accept so little in return just doesn't ring true today.
Their subsequent reconciliation towards the end of the film seems artificial and tacked on purely as a means of building up to an emotional (but as it turned out, overly sentimental) climax.
I found it impossible to feel any sympathy for the husband at the end of the film so Bergman's attempts to move his audience just didn't work for me. One feeling I did get as the film ended was a reminder of the very similar way Beethoven's 9th Symphony was used at the end of A Clockwork Orange. This could have even been a direct reference by Kubrick.
The similarity was so strong that I was half expecting Stig's son to turn to us and say 'I was cured, alright' as the camera moved in on him in the final shot.