Saraband  (2003)

One has to have watched Scenes From A Marriage before seeing Saraband. Not that Saraband cannot be appreciated on its own, but for the sake of continuity, one should follow the order of the two films. Both Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson (along with the rest of the cast) delivered a superb performance. At no point did I feel that they were acting - I naturally felt that they were real-life characters, and that is the best kind of acting one can achieve. Strong direction and stunning acting really drew me into the story. A message to those who are always deterred by arthouse films because of the tempo, this film is absolutely paced appropriately. Not dead slow, and not in a rush. And did I mention Ingmar Bergman? The master among all masters. Can you really resist such a film?

What can you say about Bergman that has not already been uttered? Here in Saraband, a late made-for-tv work, he distills all the knowledge of a lifetime into a two hour drama. Not alone are the two principals quite peerless in banishing 'acting' from their performances, but the secondary parts of Henrik (Borje Ahlstedt) and his 'cello playing daughter Karin (Julia Defvenious) are simply shorn of artifice, down to a point where you become unaware of the deconstruction that has taken place, and are left to luxuriate in Chekov for today. Please, I beg you, see this film.

This is a film about people who have grown old without growing wise. A father and grandfather Johan, who despises his son and holds him in humiliating financial dependence; Henrik his 61-year old son who repays contempt with hatred; and Marianne, Johan's former wife, who sees the terrible suffering of both but can do nothing to help them outgrow it. Careful, slow camera work and a sound track consisting only of the mournful Sarabande from Bach's 5th Cello suite give the film a measured dignity which never falls into pathos or narcissism. All too accurate as a portrait of human failure to outgrow consuming passions, this film falls short of being a masterpiece. There is more to human nature than this: as Pope John said, not all old men turn to vinegar. Some mature like vintage wine; Bergman's film allows of no such possibility. The film maker has perhaps taken us brilliantly to the limits of his own experience, but can shed no light on what may lie beyond.

This chamber piece concludes Bergman's exploration of the pathology of human relationships. Johan (Erland Josephson) is a reclusive millionnaire who lives in a remote place surrounded by forest and lakes. His son, Henrik (Börje Ahlstedt) lives in a smaller house in his father's grounds with his daughter, Karin (Julia Dufvenius). Karin is a promising cellist and her father is teaching her to play a difficult Bach saraband (a saraband is a slow dance in a certain rhythm). He presses her too far on occasions, even using physical force to stop her leaving a lesson. Johan's wife and Karin's mother, Anna, died a few years before from what sounds like cancer.

This trio is the emotional engine of the film, in particular the hatred between Johan and his son. Lying over all three, like a shroud, is the absence of Anna and her love. When Anna is mentioned in a significant way, her black and white photograph is seen, the camera tracking slowly towards it. I gather that the lovely woman is Bergman's late wife and this fact gives her ghostly presence an autobiographical poignancy. Her death was a devastating blow to her emotionally inadequate husband and son.

Henrik teaches music but makes a poor living. Though not obviously a spend thrift, he cannot live on his income and repeatedly asks his father for money. This keeps him in Johan's orbit despite their mutual hatred for each other. Johan hated Henrik almost from the start - overweight and wheedling - and in one powerful scene he tells his son how, when Henrik was 18, he made an apology of sorts and was rebuffed. It seems Henrick is like he is because of Johan. What emotional damage would be done by a father who was repulsed by you and hated you? Yet Johan does not appear to be a cruel man in other ways. In the last interview he ever gave in 2005, Bergman was asked why he never kept in touch with his many children. He replied that he wasn't really into family life. Could the Johan-Henrik relationship have some bearing on Bergman's own absence of emotional bonds to his offspring?

Henrik's relationship with Karin is far from normal. He is over-dependent on his daughter and this is a strain on her. Although there was nothing explicit, I thought there was sexual overtones to their relationship. They slept in the same double bed and there was one scene (used in publicity photos for the film) where she kneels before her seated father. She puts her arms round his neck and strokes his neck with her hands. She does this as she would to a lover. She is extremly tender and I found this scene surprisingly beautiful.

Marianne (Liv Ullman) plays Johan's ex-wife who decides to look him up. She tries to explore their distant marriage, without much success. She strikes up a relationship with Karin - perhaps the young woman finds some of the love her mother gave her. Marianne's role, though important, is partly a structural device, facilitating the flow of the film, book-ending it with her photographs spread out on her table at home and leading us into the main action (perhaps not an appropriate word for a Bergman film).

Only in the movies can this happen, a bit too far fetched

This is a touching, warm follow up, but typically does not go anywhere fast.

A film which revolves around 4 related main characters exploring the relationships an elderly man has with his ex wife, son and grandaughter. Although it has moments of tension I found it slightly laborious possibly due to the subtitles. The extended monologes and set piece conversational scenes do not suit a non Sweedish speaking audience, as there is a sense that you are missing the nuances of the script.

worthy but not what I was expecting - this is a sequel to scenes from a marriage, which is on my list (30 years before) which I would like to have seen first. watched 5 minutes then returned it

I just wasnt in the mood to watch this so sent it back - but cant review without rating.