Quick takes on 5 Bergman films

How about a series of films by the great Ingmar Bergman, released in the 1950’s? Secrets of Women (sometimes known as Waiting Women) isn’t about a specific person per se, but follows a group of women at a summer cottage as they tell stories to each other, while awaiting the return of their husbands. Rakel tells about her affair one day, and how her husband found out and nearly killed himself over it. Marta tells of her adventures when she was younger and free-spirited, afraid to settle down until she finally ended up pregnant, and finally Karin relates about her and her husband ending up stuck in an elevator over night one evening, and sharing secrets with each other that they never could before in their daily lives. All are fascinating looks at humanity in true Bergman style, though as a total film, I’m not sure it is all that memorable. Still, great acting by several Bergman regulars and certainly not a bad film.

Sawdust and Tinsel is often noted as a film about the battle of the sexes, but I think there’s a lot more going on than just that. It follows a traveling circus and in particular, its leader Albert and his inner circle. The troupe is getting ready to visit a town where Albert’s estranged wife and kids live, whom he hasn’t seen in three years. He is nervous and excited, but his mistress, Anne, the horserider in the circus, is fearful that Albert will leave her to return to his wife. While Albert goes to see his wife, Anne goes to see a local good-looking actor, and both have very different outcomes than what they wanted. Depressed, Albert returns to the circus and confronts Anne, just before their show that night. At the show, Anne’s fling shows up and fights dirty to subdue Albert in front of everyone. The conclusion is gut wrenching, but leaves hope for a future together. This film does have struggle of man vs woman for power, but it also shows people hitting their limits and finding the strength to go on through their friends. The sets and camerawork are amazing (this is Bergman’s first film with renowned cinematographer Sven Nykvist, a relationship that would continue through the next couple decades) and the acting from all, and especially Harriet Andersson as Anne, is the best you’ll find.

Bergman made few comedies in his prolific career, but one is A Lesson in Love, which he probably made in response to the dark Sawdust and Tinsel the previous year. The film is about a man, David (Gunnar Bjornstrand), cheating on his wife with a young woman. But when he finds that his wife is also cheating on him, by visiting a lover in Copenhagen, he boards a train to go there. On the train he shares a car with a man and woman, and bets the man that he can kiss the girl before the train arrives. Of course, the girl ends up being his wife, Marianne (Eva Dahlbeck). It turns out she is having an affair with an old flame name Carl-Adam, the man who she was engaged to before David intervened. The married couple share some memories of their life and kids during the rest of the ride, but the ending is just ambiguous enough to not know who Marianne ends up with at the finale. An average enough film, for my tastes Bergman doesn’t handle comedy as well as he does psychoanalytical dramas, but still, it mostly hits at the right moments.

Dreams is the rare dud from Bergman. Even his films that I don’t think are that good, I can still find moments of enjoyment, but this one is a bore. It is about 2 women, a successful owner of a model agency, and one of her employees. Susanne has power and wealth, but she can’t enjoy her personal success because she is obsessed with an ex boyfriend Henrik, whom she recently dumped when she found out he is married, but whom she still misses. Doris is torn between putting her career as a model or her life with her fiance first. When Susanne takes the crew to Gothenburg, ostensibly for a day shoot but really to beg for Henrik to come back to her, each woman has a day that will set their lives on the right path. Even Bergman regulars Eva Dahlbeck, Harriet Andersson, and Gunnar Bjornstrand can’t help this tedious film. Unfortunately it is just a shallow movie, with none of the deeper elements that Bergman usually gives us.

Brink of Life came in 1958, after Bergman had finally “hit it big” with The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries the previous year. This movie is tremendous. It takes place in a women’s recovery ward in a hospital, and follows three women. Cecilia has just had a miscarriage at the end of her first trimester, Stina is long overdue and waiting for labor to start any day, and the young Hjordis has been admitted for premature bleeding. Cecilia is in physical and mental anguish; she wanted a baby more than anything but is convinced she lost it because her husband did not want it. Stina can’t wait to have her first baby and is on cloud 9. Hjordis, unbeknownst to the nurses, tried to force a miscarriage, but is nearly recovered and about to be discharged. Over the course of 24 hours, we get to know these 3 as they get to know each other. They develop a bond that (hopefully) leads to healing and hope for all three. I loved this movie, and it cemented Bergman in my mind as one of my favorites.