Focus On: Ingmar Bergman
Bagel Brunch
Sunday, August 7
Bagels at 10am • Film at 11am

SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE

In conjunction with our presentation of Ingmar Bergman’s Saraband (opens August 5), the legendary filmmaker’s new sequel to his classic Scenes from a Marriage, we are pleased present a rare screening of the original. Originally conceived as a six-part series on Swedish television, Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage went on to achieve worldwide acclaim and success. It explores the ten-year marital relationship between Johan (Erland Josephson), a professor of psychology, and Marianne (Liv Ullmann), a lawyer. When the film begins, the couple, who conform to the ideal image of married bliss, are being interviewed on a television program. When Johan is asked to describe himself in a few words, he says confidently: “It might sound conceited if I described myself as extremely intelligent, successful, youthful, well-balanced, and sexy. A man with a world conscience, cultivated, well read, popular, and a good mixer...I’m a splendid lover, aren’t I Marianne?” When Marianne is asked to describe herself, she says: “Hmm, what can I say...I’m married to Johan and have two daughters.” The film then begins to deal with the underlying tensions in the marriage that slowly come to light — their disenchantment with each other and their eventual breakup. According to Liv Ullmann, the film was so successful in Sweden that people who never ordinarily saw a Bergman film would stop Ingmar on the street to talk to him about it. Bergman himself was amazed at the response: “I live on a small island in the Baltic Sea with mostly farmers and fishermen. For the first time they really liked something I had done...Nothing I have done means anything until two other people start talking about it on the basis of their experience.” (Sweden, 1974, 163 min., color • Writer/director: Ingmar Bergman)

“Never before has this extraordinary director and writer explored relationships between the sexes with such compassion and humor. The simplest, most lucid, most spare film that Bergman has ever made” —Vincent Canby, NEW YORK TIMES