Saraband - Breaking Down Bergman - Episode #45
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- čas přidán 7. 10. 2019
- Ingmar Bergman's final film picks up with Marianne and Johan, the famed couple in "Scenes From a Marriage," roughly three decades after they separated. The film ties up a few loose ends with the characters, but why did Bergman decide to bring the characters back?
David Friend and Sonia Strimban explore the weight of the film in Bergman's broader work.
Friend and Strimban are watching the career of the Swedish director from his first film to his last, in order, and discussing their observations. Visit the main channel for more details.
#breakingdownbergman #ingmarbergman #livullmann #erlandjosephson - Zábava
Woah woah woah you're still alive!
I just took Henrik's boundary-crossing/incestuous actions with Karin as a very damaged, grieving person trying to make a replacement wife of his daughter. Bergman and the actor, Börje Ahlstedt, managed to make him psychologically plausible to me. Not easy to watch, always, but plausible. Sonia gets close to it when she says that the death of Anna has caused the family to disassemble. I don't think things were great between these people when she was alive, but everyone's love for her (her husband's, her daughter's, her father-in-law's) was a kind of stabilizing element.
It's significant to me that of the three who knew her, Karin is the only one who relates to her in human terms. She doesn't see her mother as a mysterious superior being up on a pedestal, too good for this world, but as a human being who had feelings and made choices. Marianne, who didn't know her, also tries to understand her. The men don't.
Thank you for these keen observations, (how the different protagonists relate to Anna)! I never thought of this but it makes great sense to me now.
I saw Anna as the personification of Love and how one reacts when it is lost. This expression helps Marianne come to terms with the possible loss of love for Johan, as through the eyes of Karin we see and she sees that it is possible to have lost Love and move on with ones life if one is willing to break away from the restrictive nature of a Love once felt which still clings to us. This element can be seen through the character of her father, who enviously loves to the point of damaging obsessiveness which is present in what I regarded as a metaphorical passionate kiss. How we long to cling to the love once felt and idealise it, attempting to feel it again through others vicariously. In essence it is a treatise on the damaging nature of love, its snare like hangover, once its purest form (Anna) has died.
From the Life of the Marionettes is a masterpiece.
Before I get too deep into my review, I want to address the glaring age continuity error from Scenes From a Marriage to Saraband. His age was mentioned in Scenes as 42 and hers was 35. Now he is 86 and she is 63. Go figure.
It must be said that this isn't any kind of continuity error or age discrepancy within this film, just from the previous film to now. I want to say this had to be done intentionally. Why exactly? I am unsure. Perhaps, to give Johan more age on Marianne to make him more grandfatherly.
I couldn't help but notice how Saraband was shot in a much more cinematic fashion as apposed to Scenes From a Marriage, which was shot with the simplicity of your typical television show. Technically, Saraband is a television film, but its cinematography is rather beautiful.
Of course, Scenes From a Marriage was first presented as a television miniseries due to its great length, however it was always a long film moreso than a TV show.
This film is extremely well-acted. Considerably better than its predecessor. Ingmar Bergman certainly showed that age is but a number and that he was one of the rare geniuses in his craft that could still make magic at his age, which was 85 when Saraband was released.
I love the fact that even though this is a sequel of sorts, the first and only in the brilliant career of Ingmar Bergman, the focus is not on the previous main characters, Johan and Marianne, but rather Henrik and Karin. I found their story to be a lot deeper and more interesting. Mr. Bergman still had his amazing talents as both writer and director all the way until the end.
For this, his final motion picture, he chose a less is more approach as apposed to its predecessor which was over 5 hours. I think that approach worked beautifully as it left us wanting a little more. More explanation in some areas, to see more of the story play out and so on. But we got what we got and it was a near perfect film.
Cries and Whispers also used that approach, merely touching on certain stories within the film which effectively left the audience wanting more, but that made the film even greater, in my opinion. The same can be said about Saraband. That is one of the reasons I consider it superior to Scenes From a Marriage.
Always great to see a new video from you guys!
Thanks for your work!
have to disagree with you on this one. to me, this is probably one of the greatest films ever made. I was weeping by the end. I know that it lacks some of the beauty and focus of his earlier, incredible work (winter light, wild strawberries), but it makes up for it through liv ullmans incredible performance, and the heartbreaking quality of the dialogue. Im alone in thsi one, but I think its pretty much perfevt
No, you are not alone, many consider this a masterpiece.
Enfin ! Thanks very much.
One more to go! It'll be up soon, I promise.
Hi! First of all, thank you so much for doing this entire project. Coincidentally, I started going through Bergman’s filmography in sequence right around the same time you got started, and I discovered your videos somewhere in the 1960s films and from then on enjoyed watching your analysis afterward (in addition to reading the documents in the big blue Bergman Archive book published by Taschen, which is a treasure). At one point I thought you gave up so was very happy when you re-appeared. I find both of you insightful and eloquent and you have enriched my understanding of his work, and this is true even though I don’t always agree with your opinions. Now that I’m done with the whole cycle, I plan to start all over again, and this time I’ll be sure to catch those early episodes of yours I missed!
Regarding Saraband: I disagree about your take on the incest in this film. As a clinical psychologist and Bergman lover, that jarring father-daughter kiss doesn’t strike me as a throwaway “moment” at all, but a fundamental part of the story. Before we witness their kiss, we see that Henrik and Karin share a small bed together-even though she is already a developed young woman-and they engage in intimate pillow talk more like a husband and wife. Their relationship we might say suffers from inappropriate boundaries, suppressed aggression, and ambivalence, and the explicitness of the kiss finally makes clear how much Karin needs to leave home, no matter what that means for Henrik. Poor boundaries, suppressed aggression, and general ambivalence also characterized the early stage of Marianne and Johan’s relationship, so I think Bergman is saying something here...
Thanks again!
I think You guys missed the whole thing!
The whole movie was about Marianne and her growth.
When she goes to see her own daughter and touched her daughter’s face and all the life that was produced because of this touch. She stopped chasing a guy who loved others instead she directed her attention to a someone much more meaningful.
And the incest, and John be in love with her daughter in law!
Showed that love knows no boundaries.
The Photograph of Anna, is Bergmans mother (Karin) And Karin in Saraband is the modern version of Karin. The one Parent that Ingmar really loved.
Saraband Karin together with her father is Ingmars father, portraid as weak , manipulative , cruel and insecure only for defending his right to declare his atoned religious beliefs. The one parent he really loathed and passes on trauma on little Ingmar.
Were the father and daughter having an incestuous relationship?