Scenes From A Marriage [1973]

Customers buy this item with Autumn Sonata [1978] DVD ~ Ingrid Bergman

Total RRP: £39.98 Price For Both: £28.96

Amazon.co.uk Review
Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage opens with a couple--Marianne (Liv Ullmann) and Johann (Erland Josephson)--being interviewed for a magazine. Every moment seems to teeter on the brink of some rupture; just as they start to get comfortable, the interviewer has them freeze for a photograph. After making some bland, general statements, they both start admitting intimate details, confessing that they were brought together by mutual misery, then cheerfully claiming that theirs is a model marriage. The entirety of Scenes from a Marriage--which chronicles their emotional relationship even after a divorce and marriages to other people--continues to have these contradictions, moments of honesty and self-deception, of cruelty and kindness, concern and self-obsession, all laid bare by the skilful actors and the subtle, constantly shifting screenplay. Every scene is a small movie unto itself; in fact, Scenes from a Marriage was originally a six-episode TV show, carefully edited down into a unified film. This is one of Bergman's most immediate and accessible works, concerned more with the facts of human behaviour than symbolism or abstract themes. Bergman understands how to balance what could be horrible pain and despair with the characters' earnest efforts to improve their lives. His imitators reduce everything to sheer suffering and alienation; Bergman sees the best in his characters, even when their actions are terrible. This 1973 film won numerous awards, including several acting honours for Ullmann. --Bret Fetzer

DVD Description
An intimate exploration of a disintegrating marriage, this powerful drama features faultless performances from two of Bergman’s greatest acting collaborators – Liv Ullmann (Autumn Sonata, Persona) and Erland Josephson (Cries and Whispers). When Marianne discovers that her husband, Johan, is involved with a younger woman (Bibi Andresson - Persona), she re-evaluates her life and the importance of her marriage. Time passes, their relationship changes and the couple divorce. Then – several years later – they have an illicit affair during which they talk with frankness and understanding about their feelings for one another. Capturing the trauma of a beleaguered marriage in painful close-up, this exhaustive study of doubt, despair and confusion is brought to life by the superb photography of Bergman’s frequent cinematographer, Sven Nykvist.

See all Reviews

Autumn Sonata [1978] DVD ~ Ingrid Bergman  (6)  £15.98

Saraband [2005] DVD ~ Liv Ullmann  (5)  £19.99

Wild