Autumn Sonata [1978] [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Lena Nyman, Halvar Björk, Marianne Aminoff, Arne Bang-Hansen, Gunnar Björnstrand, Erland Josephson, Georg Løkkeberg, Mimi Pollak, Linn Ullmann, Eva von Hanno, Sven Nykvist, Ingmar Bergman, Sylvia Ingemarsson, Katinka Faragó, Lew Grade, Martin Starger, Richard Brick: DVD

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Special Features
1.66 Wide Screen
DVD 5
Swedish
Region 0
Dolby Digital Swedish
Dolby Digital
Star And Director Filmographies
Scene Selection
Original Theatrical Trailer
Philip Strick Film Notes
The Bergman Collection Trailer
English

Synopsis
In this drama written and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, Eva, the meek, seemingly complacent wife of a parson, invites her mother, Charlotte, a world famous pianist, to come for a visit, hoping for a reconciliation after a long period of estrangement and virtually no interaction. Instead, long-repressed feelings of rage toward her mother for repeatedly abandoning her as a child begin to surface and finally culminate in a cathartic confrontation between the two women. Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Bergman (in her final movie role) give excellent and emotionally charged performances as Eva and Charlotte.

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6 Reviews

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4.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Bergman., 16 April 2006

By	David Welsh (Oslo, Norway) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

H�stsonaten brought together two of the great Swedish legends of cinema - Ingmar Bergman and Ingrid Bergman (they're not related.) Ingmar would make only two more films before announcing his retirement as a film director, and it was Ingrid's very last feature. The film is an intense exploration of the dysfunctional relationship between a mother (played by Bergman) and daughter (Liv Ullmann). Scenes of apparent normality are juxtaposed with scenes of deep and traumatic revelation as the two women struggle with their love and their hate for each other and discuss the very different ways in which they see the past. This is classic Bergman: intense drama, fantastic writing and the outstanding performances he always manages to get from his actors.

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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bergman on Bergman, 19 May 2003

By	degrant "degrant" (London) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

While some of Ingmar Bergman's actors consistently gave great performances over a number of films, the greatest one-off performance in a film of his is that of his namesake, Ingrid, in this, her last film before she died of cancer.

Well into her seventh decade, Ingrid Bergman's beauty as an aging concert pianist, Charlotte, is striking, especially in contrast with her daughter played by Liv Ullman. Ullman's astonishingly attractive looks (which dominate such classics as "Persona" "The Passion of Anna" "Cries and Whispers" and "Scenes from a Marriage") are convincingly masked by the dowdy attire, owlish glasses and prissy manner which give great credibility to her depiction of a priest's wife, unloved by and resentful of her mother.

Unique among Ingmar Bergman's films, the principal relationship under examination is that of mother and daughter. The closest film in this respect is "Cries and Whispers" but there the presence and unflattering characterisation of the mother is principally designed to informs the tortured relationship between the sisters Agnes, Maria and Karin as we see the similarities between Maria and her mother. Although "Autumn Sonata" touches on many of Bergman's favourite themes, the mother and daughter angle gives a freshness to the film and makes the quality of the acting all the more treasurable.

"Autumn Sonata" tends to be forgotten in comparison with Bergman's other late period works, both those made in exile from Sweden and those made before such as "Cries and Whispers" and the trimphant home-coming "Fanny and Alexander" both of which richly deserved Oscars.

Although "Autumn Sonata" is not as technically adventurous or as stunning visually as others, Ingrid Bergman deserved more than the Oscar nomination she received and the awards bestowed upon the film as a whole were richly deserved. Furthermore, the use of the Chopin prelude, in revealing Charlotte's personality is perhaps the most successful use of music in Bergman's directing history.

The extras are spare as one has come to expect from Tartan. Best is the original trailer which manages to capture the film's essence without being sensationalist or sentimental.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A BERGMAN CLASSIC, 8 Aug 2007

By	stuart "s.vernon" (MIDDLESBROUGH, ENGLAND) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Before she was an international star of incomparable charisma and beauty, and even before Ingmar Bergman became a legendary director of films bleak and intense, Ingrid Bergman played in the Swedish cinema. So it is entirely apropos that someday Bergman might direct Bergman.

Ingrid plays Charlotte, a concert pianist who has, upon the recent death of her longtime lover, Leonardo, returned to her native land to visit her daughter Eva (Liv Ullmann), whom she hasn't seen for seven years, and her husband Viktor (Halvar Bjork), who is a minister. Ullmann is frumpish in specs with her hair up and her dress loose and ill-fitting. She is Ingrid's nerdish daughter who has been throughout her life entirely overshadowed by her glamorous mother. Eva has an unpleasant surprise for mom. Her other daughter, Helena (Lena Nyman), who suffers from a crippling disease, perhaps muscular dystrophy, is on hand. Eva didn't tell her mother that Helena was now living with them. She says she didn't tell her because she knew that, if she had, Charlotte would not have come. And so we can guess that there are issues that will come out, issues between mother and daughter that have been festering for decades.

I got goose bumps seeing Ingrid Bergman as an elderly woman, and seeing the smooth, graceful style again, the elegant presence, a hint of the old gestures, the sly glances, the tentative smiles... It was really wonderful and at the same time disconcerting to examine her face (Sven Nykvist's intense close ups expose every inch of skin) and sigh and remember and understand the effect of the passing years. Ingrid is elegant but she has been robbed of her beauty so now we are able to see her character; unfortunately Ingmar's script allows little of the real Ingrid Bergman to appear. Hers is not a pleasant part to play. She is an entirely selfish and self-centered woman who has put her career before her family, but is unaware of what she has done. Eva seizes this opportunity to punish her mother by dredging up the neglect of her childhood to throw it in her mother's face (which perhaps explains why Charlotte hasn't been home in seven years). The sheer cold hatred that Eva expresses is enough to make the devil himself cringe. After a bit one begins to feel sorry for Charlotte, despite her failures as a mother, to have a daughter so unforgiving and so hateful.

Liv Ullmann is rather startling in this portrayal, with her penetrating eyes, her hard, Neandethalish forehead, the severe specs, and the uncompromising tone of her voice. Charlotte is ashamed and begs for forgiveness and tries to defend herself, but it is no use. Eva is too strong for her. This is one of the more intense scenes in cinema, and one not easily watched. Meanwhile in the upstairs bedroom and then in the hallway and down the staircase, Helena has heard them arguing and is pulling her crippled body over the floor, desperately trying to reach them. She cries out, "Mama! Mama!" but is not heard.

Viewers might want to pick sides between mother and daughter to say which is the more at fault. Indeed, it is hard to say who Bergman himself found more at fault. Perhaps there is no fault, only human weakness and stupidity. Such scenes are usually followed by a greater understanding, forgiveness and a willingness to start anew. However, although Charlotte wants that, it is not clear in Bergman's script that anything good will come of what has happened. Charlotte leaves, the minister returns to looking at his wife, (having overheard the argument, about which he has said nothing) and Eva writes a letter to her mother. It is not clear whether she wants to patch things up or to gain another opportunity to pick her mother to pieces. The viewer is left to decide.

Perhaps the best scene in the film is the one that follows dinner the night of Charlotte's arrival in which Eva plays the piano, a Chopin prelude. She has worked hard on it and hopes to please her mother. Alas, her play is not so good. After all, the mother is a genius, the daughter only the daughter of a genius. Charlotte sits down next to Eva and takes the keys to gently demonstrate how the piece should be played. We see and feel at once the inadequacy of the daughter in her mother's eyes. It is a great scene filmed with a tight focus on the faces of the two women. When Eva turns to stare at her mother, who is, of course, playing brilliantly with great finesse and touch, the expression on Eva's face, held for many long seconds, is unforgettable.

Not to second guess the master, but I would have liked to have seen the entire movie played in this, a more subtle key than that which followed. However when it comes to dysfunction and disease, Ingmar Bergman is unrestrained.

Ingrid Bergman was nominated for an academy award for best actress in this, her last feature film (she had already been diagnosed with cancer), but lost out to Jane Fonda in Coming Home (1978).

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Exhausting!!!
Phew - what an experience! Watching this film felt like be being a relunctant spectator at a bull fight. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Room For A View

5.0 out of 5 stars Filmmaking at its best
Autumn Sonata is a great psychological study of a dysfunctional relationship between a self-absorbed mother and her two daughters, as well as the devastating damage inflicted by... Read more

Published 19 months ago by Alojz Kajinic

5.0 out of 5 stars More than a classic
Well, I adore Bergman. He knows how to work with colors. The movie is overwhelmed with tones of brown and yellow emphasizing the season. Read more

Published on 16 Jul 2003 by tamerhirca

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	62% buy the item featured on this page: Autumn Sonata [1978] [DVD] 4.8 out of 5 stars (6) �6.98
	11% buy Passion Of Anna [DVD] [1969] 5.0 out of 5 stars (1) �4.48
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Autumn Sonata [1978] [DVD]

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