#60 - Autumn Sonata

#60 is what some call Ingmar Bergman's tour de force of his later career - (all the remaining movies he did were telemovies, so to speak) -

My only exposure to Ingmar up till now has been the Seventh Seal, and as I watched the trailer beforehand, it was very clear to me this was NOT going to be that kind of movie - LOL - in fact I thought the trailer was kinda dull

But it's a pretty good film - a mother and daughter reunite 7 years after their last time together when the mother's husband (lover?) dies.   Both of them bring a ton of baggage with them and that's kind of how the movie plays out

some thoughts - I guess close-up's are one of Ingmar's signature moves but I was surprised how much of this movie was closeups - Sometimes it was in dialogue, or sometimes watching a face as a slightly off-kilter piano performance is played for a period of a couple minutes.  If I knew an actor/actress who was looking for inspiration, I'd probably recommend this one as there is a lot of subtle playing out of emotions on these faces, especially Ingrid's face during her daughter's performance

as a side bit of snark, this is probably the kind of expression that can't happen today in modern cinema as the botox revolution practically takes away most of the facial expressions an older actress can make - but snark aside, to see an older Ingrid in this role is a stark reminder of how few good roles are available for women after a certain age

There is a ton of literature out there to suggest there is some biographical hints in this film in Ingmar's life as well as pointing out it pairs Ingrid and Ingmar together for the first time.   Liv Ullmann, who I guess was Ingmar's muse and lover for several years, plays the other lead role.   As I keep watching his films it's my understanding she pops up in a lot of lead roles in other films and for this one she is made up to look almost twice her age with none of her beauty.

I regret I did start to fall asleep on first viewing - (at 1am - dialogue driven movies in a foreign language can be a little tough) but I got thru it fairly well

in regards to special features, there's the usual interviews, an alternate english track.  If you love the film, there's a ridiculous oversized 3.5 hr documentary about every facet of the film-making, from table reads to costume trials, etc that you can watch and enjoy.

as a whole, I liked this movie more than I thought i would which is good cause some of these European dramas can be a bit of a chore - part of me wishes more external shots of the beauty of Norway were available - (dialogue in Swedish, but shot in Norway) but c'est la vie

I might get one more movie in here this month but I'm about to move so I've got to start looking at packing and starting up again when i get back to Minneapolis

RB