Product: Saraband (2005)
Rating: 5.0
Bergman and the Joys of his Film Concerts
For many years the films of Ingmar Bergman have haunted us, films that dare to enter territories untouched by others, peopled by actors of consummate skill, extended monologues both spoken and silent, and secret doors into the souls of some of the most fascinating characters created for the screen. SARABAND is no exception: this theme and variations is written and performed and directed to perfection. It leaves the viewer speechless.Marianne (Liv Ullmann) is a successful lawyer in her 60s who returns to her ex-husband's solitary retreat just for a visit. Her ex-husband Johan (Erland Josephson), since remarried and redivorced, has a son Henrik (Börje Ahlstedt) by another wife who lives nearby on the lake: Henrik is a musician and writer and lives with his daughter Karin (Julia Dufvenius), teaching her cello in preparation for an audition at the music conservatory. What Marianne finds after thirty years absence is that Johan and Henrik are on bitter terms, that Karin is frustrated with her demanding teacher/father, and that the recurring 'saraband' movement of this story is the mutual adoration and mourning of Anna, Karin's mother and Henrik's deceased wife. Marianne and Johan muse over their past lives, discovering that despite circumstances they still love each other. Marianne is able to open the hearts of Karin, Johan, and Henrik and provide a tender voice that brings a degree of resolution to a family broken.As with all of Bergman's films it is not the story content as the method in telling that makes his films so indelibly and quietly passionate. Everything is understated: solo sequences are played with Bach's solo cello suites, and when two or more characters interact the music becomes Brahms and Bruckner. This is an elegant pastoral about looking into the mirror of our souls in old age and finding both the beauties and the missed opportunities of a life now passing toward the end. Each of the four actors is splendid, though watching Liv Ullmann in her native tongue is a renaissance of memory of all the fine work this extraordinary actress has done. Bergman gives us an elegy not a eulogy and one can only hope for more. Highly recommended on every level. In Swedish with English subtitles. Grady Harp, February 06