Saraband
by Ingmar Bergman
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Actor: Börje Ahlstedt, Erland Josephson, Gunnel Fred, Julia Dufvenius, Liv UllmannDirector: Ingmar Bergman
Brand: ULLMANN,LIV
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); English (Original Language); German (Original Language); Swedish (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.78:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-01-10
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Saraband
DVD Review: One Last Gift From The Master
Summary: 5 Stars
THE GIFT OF IGGY:
His films are forever embedded into my heart and soul.
Their beauty. Majesty. Depth. Vision. Courage. Humanity.
Ingmar Bergman.
My god, the mere act of typing his name gives my entire being goosebumps.
So much has been written and said about this grand master of the cinema (by some of the world's greatest critics, and by the man himself) that my fingers tremble with apprehension and humility knowing that these very words I'm writing will now be added to that stock and stall.
In my wildest dreams, I never thought I'd ever get the chance to actually review the latest Bergman film simply because, after 1985's FANNY & ALEXANDER, there was never again supposed to BE another "latest Bergman film."
Yet, here it is. This wonderful gift called SARABAND. It exists. It was made.
And it is another Bergman masterpiece.
I know...with an intro like this, the whole idea of journalistic objectivity gets thrown out the window. Well, let it fly! I simply cannot approach any critical discussion of Bergman with the slightest degree of personal removal. This man's films have literally changed the way I look at this thing we call "life." If anyone were to ask me what are some of the reasons why I love being alive, I'd put the words "The Films Of Ingmar Bergman" at the almost tippy-top of that list.
Suffice to say that that when it comes to Bergman and his oeuvre, those who know, know. Those who don't know, I just feel sorry for. So, dear reader, if you are in the former crowd...we are about to dance delightfully together. If you are of the latter, I ask that you watch the dance from the sidelines and hopefully feel the itch to participate in the near future.
THE RETURN OF IGGY:
For me, one of the true delights of SARABAND is the mere fact that it exists at all.
I didn't know it was coming! I found out about it one day when I saw the poster while standing in the lobby of the Cinema Arts Centre, the local art movie house I often frequent in Huntington, Long Island. My goodness me...there they were...the great Erland Josephson and Liv Ullman...the quintessential Bergman performers...the stars of his SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE...standing next to each other, arm in arm, head to head, in a semi-mournful, yet also comforting embrace. Directly above their heads in large red letters..."SARABAND"...and below it..."An Ingmar Bergman Film."
WHAT??? HUH??? BE STILL MY HEART!!! HUMINA! HUMINA! HUMINA!
A NEW Bergman film!!! Jesus, he's gotta be in his mid-eighties!!! Who'd a-thunk it? It was my understanding that ol' Iggy felt he'd said all he wanted to on celluloid and was devoting the rest of his remaining artistic life to the theater and books of self-reflection. (Oh...by the way...I cannot recommend highly enough Bergman's two books about his life and work, IMAGES (his films) and THE MAGIC LANTERN (his life)...they are remarkable.) I guess the ol'muse grabbed him by the gonads and called him to the cameras for one last fling.
And why not? I remember with great delight the feeling of joy when, at the age of 75, Akira Kurosawa gave us the majesty that is RAN. Not to mention the fact that he made THREE more films after THAT! Does it not give us all hope when we see great works of art still being created by the masters, well into their 7th and 8th decades? It just doesn't get any more life affirming than that.
After a bit of research, I learned that SARABAND was a sequel of sorts to SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE, picking up the story thirty years after the divorce of the two main characters. How cool is that? My mind was all a flutter with the story possibilities such a scenario could create. Of course, what made it all the more exciting was the fact that after almost 20 years of cinematic silence, Bergman was about to let his voice be heard again...a voice that would be adding whatever he himself had learned in the 20 years he had cinematically been absent from our lives. What was Iggy bringing to the table now? What would he be teaching us about ourselves?
THE STYLE OF IGGY:
From the moment you hear the first Bach musical notes sublimely emanating from a Cello on the soundtrack, you know you're in Bergmanland. I couldn't believe how taken I was by this recognition...this instant sense of being in his cinematic world.
It was emotionally devastating for me. "My god, he's back. Thank you! Thank you!"
SARABAND is a story about regret, lost chances, selfishness and greed. It is told through four major characters. The film is essentially a ten-act play (no surprise from this greatest of theater directors) in which there is no more than two characters per act. Each act/vignette begins with a black screen, the sounds of a cello, and an epitaph designed to help set the emotional mood for what we are about to witness. The film essentially deals with the reunion between the characters of Marianne (Ullman) and Johan (Josephson), (who Bergman fans already know from SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE, although knowledge of that film is not necessary to enjoy this one) and the relationship between Johan and his hated son Henrik (Borje Ahlstedt), as well as Henrik's obsessive relationship with his nineteen-year old daughter Karin (Julia Dufvenius). The way in which all four of these characters interlock with each other is pure Bergman. It is one of the films great delights to see these actors play off each other using what can only be described as that one of a kind, highly stylized and totally intense Bergmanesque cinema acting technique. Since the camera only has two characters to look at in each scene, we get to examine every facial tick, every pore, every breath of these superb actors as they battle with each other in a macabre dance of family dysfunction, grief and turmoil.
IGGY PLOT POINTS:
For reasons even she herself cannot explain, Marianne is compulsively drawn towards wanting to see her ex-husband again after thirty years. When she visits him, she not only becomes a part of Johan's life again, but the life of his granddaughter, a gifted cellist, who lives in a house on Johan's country estate with her father Henrik, Johan's son, who is both her musical teacher, mentor and tormentor. Father and son have a deep hatred for each other that is only tempered by their mutual love for Henrik's deceased wife...a woman of such beauty and love, that her absence has literally destroyed them all. It seems that she was the glue that held them all together, and since she's been gone these past two years, Henrik overcompensates for his loss by clinging to his daughter for companionship and love, while forcing her to study the cello and master it far beyond her own natural gifts. There is also more than just a hint of incest in this father/daughter relationship, and Karin is choking to death from her father's obsessive need for love, devotion and attention. He wants her to study to be a great solo cellist, while all she desires is to just be part of the orchestra, without all the pressure. Marianne can literally do nothing but listen, observe and try to offer advice and succor to all the principles involved. In the end, all these dynamics come crashing into one another, resolving themselves in a way only Ingmar Bergman could devise and pull of. It is devastating, fascinating and beyond beautiful. It hurts so good!
WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT, IGGY?
So, what was he finally trying to say? What drove him, after 20 years, to come back to us? Perhaps SARABAND is a message about appreciating what you have in life, and cherishing it. Maybe it's about how regret can be so soul crushing; we should do our best to avoid creating situations in life where regret may leer its ugly head. Maybe he was just trying to say that no matter how long we live, us human beings will never really have it all figured out, this thing called life...and perhaps we never will.
Message or no message, what does it matter? SARABAND is our now. Ours to cherish, absorb, think about and enjoy for as long as we are deemed worthy to exist by whatever powers that be...if any. I think even Ingmar would appreciate that kind of positive thinking.
Description of Saraband
A woman visits her ex-husband after thirty years, as he, his son and granddaughter continue to mourn the loss of the son's wife who died two years earlier.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 2-MAY-2006
Media Type: DVD
You know you're back in Bergman country when a character begins speaking to the camera right from the start. In the prologue to Saraband, which was made for Swedish television, Marianne (Liv Ullmann) recounts the changes that have taken place since Scenes From a Marriage, the miniseries-turned-feature that introduced the central couple. Johan (Erland Josephson) has retired from academia, while she continues to practice family law. Since splitting up for good, they haven't seen each other in over 30 years. Marianne decides it's time to reconnect and makes plans to visit Johan at his remote cottage. While they catch up, she gets to know his estranged son, Henrik (Börje Ahlstedt), and beloved granddaughter, Karin (Julia Dufvenius), who are staying in the guest house. Both are still reeling from the death of Henrik's wife, Anna, two years ago. Although she never appears--she's represented by a portrait of Bergman's late wife, Ingrid, to whom the film is dedicated--Anna's ghost haunts them all (even Marianne, who never knew her). Divided into 10 parts plus the prologue and epilogue, Saraband looks more like a play than a film, which is not necessarily a drawback (it's in keeping with the "scenes" of the original series). The focus is on the characters and their words. They could be anywhere at any time; their problems are personal yet universal. For two hours, the outside world does not exist. In the complete universe Bergman has created for them, it doesn't need to. As much a love letter to his wife as to his muse, Ullmann--who has rarely been better--Bergman has stated that Saraband will be his final work. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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