ign logo IGN.com | AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | GameSpy | FilePlanet | TeamXbox | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | Direct2Drive

RottenTomatoes.com

RT Bug Squash
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Photos & Trailers The Vine Forums
Box Office | In Theaters | Opening | Upcoming | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
Register for free site & special features! | Log In | What is RT?
                       
MOVIES / ON DVD / PRIVATE CONFESSIONS
Private Confessions

Rate This Movie

Write a Review
Share This Movie
Add to List
Buy DVD
Buy Poster

Bookmark and Share

Private Confessions (1996)

80%
75%
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
80 %
Reviews Counted: 15 Fresh: 12  Rotten:3 Average Rating: 6.9/10
Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 2 hrs 7 mins
Synopsis:
The autobiographical story of Ingmar Bergman's parents: his passionate but isolated mother Anna, and his stern, moral father Henrik--a Lutheran minister, and their icy marriage. Presented out of sequence as five conversations, the Bergman penned script is beautifully directed and... [More]
The autobiographical story of Ingmar Bergman's parents: his passionate but isolated mother Anna, and his stern, moral father Henrik--a Lutheran minister, and their icy marriage. Presented out of sequence as five conversations, the Bergman penned script is beautifully directed and photographed by his protegees Liv Ullman and Sven Nykvist. [Less]

Genre: Foreign Films

Starring: Pernilla August, Max von Sydow, Samuel Froler, Anita Bjork

Director: Liv Ullmann
Screenwriter: Ingmar Bergman
Producer: Ingrid Dahlberg
Composer: J.S. Bach

DVD Info

Release:

Jan 25, 2000

[DVD Details]

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
T-Meter Critics
 
 
Top Critics
 
 
RT Community
 
 
My Critics
 
 
My Friends
 
 
DVD
 
 
 
1 - 15 (sorted by date)
Text View
Arrange By: Name | Fresh | Rotten | Date | Source
 
 
Ratings Image

Ullman isn't particularly interested in the angst of human interaction or the difficulty of knowing truth; she seems fascinated by the pathos of feelings that are all the more intense for being of questionable integrity.

Full Review | Comment
07/31/07 07:37 PM
Ronnie Scheib
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Each sequence is introduced by an intertitle suggesting it will contain an isolated conversation, an archly inaccurate notion that deepens the drama by appearing to deny its complexity.

Full Review | Comment
07/31/07 07:36 PM
Lisa Alspector
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

The sight of von Sydow vomiting up a communion wafer is a pretty good indication that age hasn't mellowed the master one whit.

Full Review | Comment
07/31/07 07:36 PM
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Ratings Image

Ullmann handles the rich material with simplicity and feeling, using snatches of classical music only sparingly and concentrating on the faces of her exemplary cast.

Full Review | Comment
07/31/07 07:35 PM
David Stratton
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

The actors clearly respond, August conveying the turmoil of a woman trapped by circumstances and her own febrile emotions, Sydow a figure of towering moral authority and compassion.

Full Review | Comment
02/09/06 03:16 AM
Trevor Johnston
Time Out
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
06/19/05 01:58 PM
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image

Coming from the master's hand, the result is unique, akin to a deep plunge into a northern lake -- there's a chilling clarity to the experience, a harsh beauty that's softened, yet never redeemed, by unexpected pockets of relative warmth.

Full Review | Comment
03/19/02 08:05 AM
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

It works, and works beautifully, principally because of an outstanding performance by Ms. August.

Full Review | Comment
02/14/01 08:22 AM
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve
Ratings Image

I doubt that Bergman's script would have made much of a film even if he had directed it himself, but it might have been less confused.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
Amy Taubin
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Bergman may have withdrawn from film direction, but his presence is deeply felt in Private Confessions.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
Ed Kelleher
Film Journal International
Ratings Image

Private Confessions achieves an enveloping intensity that goes well beyond its occasionally literal and earnest approach.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

It's the next best thing to Bergman -- a thoughtful, if slightly long drama enlivened by warm performances and some thoughtful meditations on the subject of adultery.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Ratings Image

The reward for a pace that's sometimes frustratingly slow is in seeing truths and levels of emotion that are rarely captured on screen.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

A film like Private Confessions makes most films about romance look like films about plumbing.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Von Sydow is magisterial. His gaunt face and rumbling voice have become, for me, impossible to distinguish from Bergman's own.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
Walter V. Addiego
San Francisco Examiner
1 - 15 (sorted by date)
Text View
See More Topics...

Related Forums

Click here to be the first to post a message on this forum.

Around the Network

• Private Confessions at Rotten Tomatoes
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | ModCenter | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive

By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2008, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.