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Reviews Counted:15
Fresh:12
Rotten:3
Average Rating:6.9/10
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... [More]
Starring: Pernilla August, Max von Sydow, Samuel Froler, Anita Bjork
Director: Liv Ullmann
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.
Top CriticEach 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.
Top CriticThe sight of von Sydow vomiting up a communion wafer is a pretty good indication that age hasn't mellowed the master one whit.
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.
Top CriticThe 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.
No review available.
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.
Top CriticIt works, and works beautifully, principally because of an outstanding performance by Ms. August.
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.
Top CriticBergman may have withdrawn from film direction, but his presence is deeply felt in Private Confessions.
Private Confessions achieves an enveloping intensity that goes well beyond its occasionally literal and earnest approach.
Top CriticIt'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.
The reward for a pace that's sometimes frustratingly slow is in seeing truths and levels of emotion that are rarely captured on screen.
Top CriticA film like Private Confessions makes most films about romance look like films about plumbing.
Top CriticVon Sydow is magisterial. His gaunt face and rumbling voice have become, for me, impossible to distinguish from Bergman's own.
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