Product: Saraband (2005)
Rating: 4.0
Women's Faces
For Bergman devotees like me, any morsel tossed our way by the great master is a treat. Saraband is a good deal more than a morsel, but not the true masterpiece others are claiming. And it takes some investment in Bergman's biography and past works to truly appreciate its depth, I think.As has been pointed out, the film is a tribute to Bergman's late wife, Ingrid (not the actress) and his mourning for her; the film is dedicated to her, and the photograph of "Anna" that is lingered on lovingly by the characters throughout the film is actually a portrait of Ingrid. (Bergman made a short film--never released in the US--called "Karin's Face"--a tribute to his complicated relationship with his mother, where her photographic portrait is similarly examined by the film camera.)As with Fanny & Alexander, I was intrigued to see how Bergman quotes his past works and themes in this film. The Bach saraband that haunts the soundtrack is the same piece of music he used in Cries and Whispers, when the two estranged sisters temporaily make contact in a montage of carressing hands and faces (Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Thulin), silent except for the lone cello of Bach's saraband.Marianne's institutionalized daughter echoes that of Ingrid (the actress) Bergman's character's in Autumn Sonata. The concluding Scene 10 in Saraband is titled Vargtimme (translated as The Hour Before Dawn)which is also the Swedish title of Bergman's 1968 film "Hour of the Wolf," which also begins and ends with Liv Ullmann speaking intimately to the camera (when she was pregnant with Bergman's daughter).As in The Passion of Anna and Cries and Whispers, a character's secrets are revealed in letters and diaries--things they could never say "face to face."It is a melancholy treat to see Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson together on screen again (much like seeing Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg reunited in Fellini's Intervista many decades later to watch their youthful selves in the famous Trevi Fountain scene in La Dolce Vita). I was reminded how much I've missed Ullmann's magnificent face, now wrinkled with age and experience, which has been absent from the movie screen for far too long.To me it's the film's themes of retrospection, regret, loss and becoming reconciled (or not) with one's past that touched me deeply, something the nearing-90 year-old Bergman is obviously engulfed by.There are other things that disturbed or at least distracted me in Saraband. I must say, as someone else pointed out here, I too was puzzled by the "bad math" of Johann and Marianne's history; their ages don't match up with their stated years married and apart. And maybe it's my American puritanical heritage raising its ugly head as I age, but do middle-aged men really sleep in the same bed with their adult daughters in Sweden? Yes, Dad sees Karin as a replacement for his lost wife, but such overt incestuous overtones are over-the-top and unnecessary.And I have never bought into Bergman's trite "crippled child" metaphor. Yes, we are all "institutionalized" in some way by our parents' actions or inactions, but doesn't he make that point without having to rely on such obvious symbols? Nevertheless, I was moved to tears in the epilogue when Marianne reveals that following her time with Johann and his family, she truly touched her instituionalized daughter [the crippled child metaphor] for the first time. It's Ullmann's performance that overcomes the contrivance.The other thing that makes this film outstanding is Bergman's continued reliance on close-ups--and his camera especially loves women's faces. Even without his now-ailing cinematographer Sven Nykvist, Bergman tells as much about the human condition in close-ups of human faces than all the combined dialogue or contrived metaphors of his and others' films combined.One of the few bonuses in this DVD is a "Making of..." documentary. It's intriguing to see how Bergman works with his actors and crew and we learn more about the film's conception in his discussions with them, especially in his recollection of a conversation he had with Erland Josphson that helped him cope with the loss of his wife. And it's interesting, too, to see how Bergman has adapted to the digital age--quite different from the earlier "Making of..." docs of his creation of Fanny & Alexander and earlier movies where film was the medium. And I was suprised to see that most of the outdoor scenes were created in the studio--convincingly so.Overall, not Bergman's best, but well worth the investment and a fitting capstone to an amazing career.