Bergman has a sharp talent for observing human conflicts without claiming to fully understand them.
Saraband (2005)
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Reviews Counted:77
Fresh:72
Rotten:5
Average Rating:7.9/10
Consensus: If Saraband appears to be a minor entry in Ingmar Bergman's filmography, it's still an accomplished piece of work from one of cinema's greatest masters.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for brief nudity, language and a violent image.
Runtime: 2 hrs
Genre: Foreign Films
Theatrical Release:Jul 8, 2005 Limited
Box Office: $478,554
Synopsis: After their divorce, Johan and Marianne lost touch for many, many years. Johan, now a retired professor, has withdrawn to his grandparents' summerhouse in the western province of Dalarna. He... After their divorce, Johan and Marianne lost touch for many, many years. Johan, now a retired professor, has withdrawn to his grandparents' summerhouse in the western province of Dalarna. He bought the house after inheriting a minor fortune from a Danish aunt, a once-famous opera singer. Here he leads a solitary life with his books and a housekeeper. Marianne, who has continued her practice as a family and divorce lawyer, suddenly decides to look up Johan and break through his isolation. Neither of them keeps up regular contact with their daughters, Sara, married and living in Australia, and Martha, who is ill and confined to a nursing home. One beautiful autumn day Marianne stands looking at Johan as he dozes in a lawn chair. She goes up and wakes him with a soft kiss, and after thirty-two years of separation they now begin several intense weeks together. Also present on the property is Henrik, Johan's son from an earlier marriage. Henrik is staying in the lake cottage with his daughter Karin. His beloved wife and Karin's mother Anna has been dead for two years, but her presence is still intensely palpable. Henrik has not managed to get over Anna's death. He took early retirement from his position at Uppsala University and is devoting himself now to writing a book about Bach's St. Johan Passion and giving his daughter cello lessons. Karin is very gifted and plans to try out for the conservatory. All summer they have been working together to prepare for her audition. Henrik also plays in a little chamber orchestra in Uppsala. Johan's relations with his son Henrik have always been tense and complicated, but he had a warm and close relationship with his daughter-in-law Anna, and he, too, misses her terribly. Marianne's sudden appearance and presence unleashes the hidden power struggle that has been going on around Karin. Karin seeks out Marianne and begins to talk about Henrik, about her beloved dead mother and her very complicated and oppressive existence living with her father. A powerful contemporary drama about the struggle for power, liberation, and reconciliation. -- © Sony Pictures Classics [More]
Starring: Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Borje Ahlstedt, Julia Dufvenius
Starring: Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Borje Ahlstedt, Julia Dufvenius, Gunnel Fred
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Screenwriter: Ingmar Bergman
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
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Reviews for Saraband
So many great directors seem to go out with a whimper. Ingmar Bergman has gone out with a bang.
We find [Bergman]at 87, sifting through his pictures, wondering at the choices he's made.
Insightful as ever but a little dated in the set-up and treatment of the shooting.
Powerful and more than a little depressing, but it's also essential filmmaking for anyone who cares about one of the giants of cinema.
Any Bergman is better than most of the art-house dramas that have been shipped to the States from Europe in recent times.
While bringing an abundance of inspiration to this world, Bergman unapologetically refused to ignore the pain and darkness that infects mankind. There will never be another filmmaker like him.
confessional outbursts are captured in lengthy takes, usually in mercilessly tight close-ups.... It's as if Bergman is taking X-rays of their souls.
Even if it is, as he claims, his last film, Saraband will be a testament to Bergman's skill as a filmmaker, still a creative force to be reckoned with after 60-plus years in the business.
The performances -- welling, unified and multidimensional -- are beyond praise, as are Bergman's visual images.
Like the best of Ingmar Bergman's films, Saraband has a hypnotic quality that draws in audiences who are patient.
A haunting series of heartbreaking duets between people for whom love is distant and death is uncomfortably close.
Most films are so insipid that there's something perversely refreshing about a movie in which a monstrous father compliments his son for his 'healthy dose of hatred...'
Bergman is still at the top of his game, every bit as much in control of his faculties for deciphering human misery.
Latest News for Saraband
July 30, 2007:
Legendary Director Ingmar Bergman dies at 89
Ingmar Bergman, the "poet with a camera," died in his sleep at his home in Faro, Sweden Monday at the age of 89. The director of such influential films as The Seventh Seal,... More...
October 05, 2005:
Summer Tomatometer Wrap-up #3: The Best of the Limited Releases
In the hot summer months, everyone's looking for a way to cool down. This summer, movie audiences decided one of the best places to beat the heat was in the barren,... More...
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