Persona (1966)

En passion (1969)

 

 

A recently divorced man meets an emotionally devastated widow and they begin a love affair.

 

A typically bleak Bergman drama explores once again the impossibility of true relationships and offers superb performances and excellent cinematography, but this time around the story seems construed and is quite heavy-going in execution.

Maltin***1/2: "Stark drama, beautifully acted...Superior cinematography by Sven Nykvist." 

 

 

Scener ur ett äktenskap (1973)

Skammen (1968)

In the midst of a civil war, former violinists, who have a tempestuous marriage, run a farm on a rural island, and in spite of their best efforts to escape their homeland, the war impinges on every aspect of their lives.

Highly intense study of what war does to human beings; the setting is incredibly bleak and apocalyptic, and the director doesn't spare the audience from some harrowing moments; the performances are excellent, of course.

Maltin****: "Powerful, brilliantly acted drama...One of Bergman's best."

Persona (1966)

A nurse is put in charge of a mute actress and finds that their personas are melding together.

A seemingly reduced two-person drama electrifies as an intense study with an innovative cinematic style; a true masterpiece that obviously has heavily influenced the art of cinema ever since.

Halliwell***: "Intense clinical study presented in a very complex cinematic manner which tends to obscure the main theme while providing endless fascination for cineastes."

Maltin***1/2: "Haunting, poetic, for discerning viewers..."

Pope Joan (1972)

The medieval legend of Pope Joan, a woman, who was made Pope for a brief period around 855 A.D.

Despite some production value and a star cast this quite pedestrian movie hardly makes much out of a rather spectacular story.

Halliwell (no star): "Uninspiring pageant, brutish and rather silly, full of would-be medieval sensationalism."

Maltin BOMB: "Dim story...Performers seem to be embarrassed, as well as they should..."

Persona (1966)

On the set: Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann