Although initially intended for the small screen, AFTER THE REHEARSAL was Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's final film to be released theatrically. (He went on to write several scripts and direct for stage and television.) Henrik Vogler (Erland Josephson), an aging director in the... [More]

Although initially intended for the small screen, AFTER THE REHEARSAL was Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's final film to be released theatrically. (He went on to write several scripts and direct for stage and television.) Henrik Vogler (Erland Josephson), an aging director in the process of staging a production of August Strindberg's A DREAM PLAY, remains in the theater alone one night after a rehearsal has taken place to reflect on his life and career. He is subsequently joined by young ingenue Anna (Lena Olin), who seems to have romantic designs on him, and later by Rakel (Ingrid Thulin), a former lover of Henrik's and possibly Anna's mother. Although rather modest in scale--this is a film with one set and essentially three actors--the philosophical ramifications of this short (just over 70 minutes) Bergman feature on the nature of art and the artist's creative dilemma are typically far-reaching. It is almost impossible not to conclude that the womanizing Vogler represents Bergman himself, who, like his alter ego, was romantically involved with several of his longtime leading ladies. [Less]