Originally made for television and directed by distinguished Swedish actress-turned-director Liv Ullman, this provocative drama is a sequel to director-turned-screenwriter Ingmar Bergman's autobiographical Bille August-directed drama Best Intentions (1992). Returning to their roles of Bergman's parents are actors Pernilla August and Samuel Froler; their discussions are divided into five sections that take place over several years beginning on a Sunday in July, 1925 when young Anna Bergman runs
into her old friend and mentor Jacob (Max von Sydow) an aged priest. She is obviously distraught about something and soon confesses to him that she has been cheating on her husband Henrik, also a priest, with yet another man of the cloth named Tomas Egerman (Thomas Hanzon). Jacob suggests she immediately end the affair and inform her husband. Several weeks pass and Anna finally heeds Jacob's advice. When her words finally sink in, Henrik becomes angry and begins grilling her for details. Her further confessions make matters worse. The tale then flashes back to Anna's seduction of Tomas, a situation which reveals truths unspoken by Anna in her confessions. The fourth segment of the story is set several years later. Anna visits the now elderly and frail Jacob. The final discussion jumps back to 1907 when the adolescent Anna first met Jacob and this segment reveals a few more truths about the nature of her friendship with Jacob. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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