Product: Saraband (2005)
Rating: 5.0
Dance of death
Bergman was a devoted admirer of Strindberg, and as a theatre director produced several of Strindberg's plays. One of the best from Strindberg was "Dance of Death," a two-part drama that explores the tangled webs of hatred and dependency that close relationships can breed. I don't think it's too much to see "Saraband," Bergman's final--and one of his best--film as a dance-of-death themed exploration. It's also the case, of course, that a "sarabande" is a dance. In the context of the film, the title also refers to a piece from Bach's 5th cello suite which one of the characters, Karin, plays.The four actors in "Saraband"--Johan (Erland Josephson), Marianne (Liv Ullmann), Henrik (Borje Ahlstedt), and Karin (Julia Dufvenius)--are caught in relationships which, although life-craving, are in fact life-destroying. Karin, the daughter of Henrik, is a budding musician to whom the widowed and grieving Henrik poisonously clings (with just a hint of incest thrown in). Henrik, a 60-year old failure, is the son of Johan, who treats him with an icy indifference that's absolutely chilling (at one point, Johan tells Henrik that so far as he's concerned, his son simply doesn't exist). Johan and Marianne, the old couple first encountered in "Scenes from a Marriage," are both alone in their old age, but cling rather desperately to one another in one of the film's final scenes, as though they know that the night is closing in.If there's any hope from the dance of death that they and we must perform, it's represented by Karin's resolution to break from her father, even with the bitter knowledge that their separation will destroy him, and the moment of recognition that Marianne's adult but schizophrenic daughter displays in the film's closing scene. But these two moments of grace must be taken for what they are. The first brings tragedy, the second is fleeting.This film, beautiful to watch and hear, acted with skill and directed by the 87-year old Bergman with a master's touch, is without doubt one of Bergman's very best. It's also his swansong, which makes the message even more poignant.