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The film is set in pre-World War II/Weimar Berlin (the films was actually co-production between Germany and the US) and is set around a circus- recalling two later films influenced by Bergman: Woody Allen's Shadows & Fog and Wim Wenders's Wings of Desire/Sky Over Berlin.
The setting and themes have also been repeated subsequently, perhaps as retribution and comprehension of the Third Reich- this followed Cabaret and the exploitative Salon Kitty, but also fits in the same thematic/historical contiuum as films like The Marriage of Maria Braun,Mephisto, Invincible and Faraway, So Close!.
However, this is far from Bergman's most coherent work- lapsing into nastiness as perhaps he had only done previously on The Hour of the Wolf. David Carradine is miscast, though Bergman regular Liv Ullmann is present. As ever, the photography by Sven Nkyvist is brilliant- reason alone to buy this film.
The Serpent's Egg is good value at this budget price, I would be more reticent buying it if it were conventionally art-housed price (£15 plus). It is rarely seen and an oddity in Bergman's canon as films like Torment (which he didn't direct) or The Hour of the Wolf. This is far from his best work of the 1970's, Scenes of a Marriage- which is a much sounder purchase if you haven't seen it.
Bergman looks at Germany in the 20s as laying the groundwork for Hitler and the Nazis.
Liv Ullman is terrific, as always. And if David Carradine is only good, not great, he certainly didn't deserve the critical attacks
he received. The nature of his character is a man so locked in passivity as to be enigmatic. You might not like that kind of
character, but it's certainly not the actor's fault for carrying it out well.
Yes, some of it is slow, and some a bit obvious, but those charges could also be leveled against some Bergman films labeled
masterpieces.
As a cautionary tale of where we were once before, and could end up again, I've certainly seen far worse. It has some truly
chilling moments. And I think seeing it again may reveal even more...
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