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G L E A N I N G S:
Two Films by Ingmar Bergaman
K S SIVAKUMARAN
I would like to talk about three films I had seen at the
International Film Festival of India which concluded on December 3 at
Panaji, Goa. The two films are by the late Swedish Director Ingmar
Bergman. There was a Focus on his films at the Festival.
I could manage seeing only two of them because there were other films
for me to see. The two films were: Autumn Sonata made in 1978 and the
other Through a Glass Darkly made in 1961.
While I enjoyed the first film as an excellently crafted Cinema of
the artistic kind, I must admit that due to my poor understanding of the
dark side of Swedish life as portrayed by August Strindberg on whose
drama the film was based.
The latter film has too many allusions to be grasped and interpreted.
But the former film was beautifully executed as a fine psychological
drama on the screen.
To make it easy for you let me quote the synopsis of the film as
given in the brochure. But unfortunately it is very brief. If I were to
explain the film scene by scone, it would become an essay. And on the
net one could gather studies on the film itself.
Here we go: " Autumn Sonata tells the story of a famous pianist who
is confronted by her neglected daughter. Eva, a timid and reserved wife
of a countryman, invites her mother, Charlotte, to stay with her after a
seven-year separation.
Charlotte is a concert pianist, whose career has dictated prolonged
separation from her family. Having recently experienced the death of her
husband, Charlotte is eager to rekindle her relationship with her
daughter.
However, their congenial reunion is short lived, as Eva begins to
confront her mother's alienated affection."
Now, let me give my impressions. The acting is marvellous. Ingrid
Bergman as the mother and Liv Ulman as the daughter engaged in a
diatribe of intellectual exchanges simply fascinates one.
But it was not mere stage drama filmed, but interspersed with smooth
cutting and editing bringing the past , the present and the future in a
continuous flow of emotion and thought.
The Music plays an important ingredient for the whole structure of
the film.Excerpts from Chopin's Predulium No 2 in A Minor, Bach's suite
No 4 in E Flat major and Handel's Sonata in F major, Opus 1 was
fascinating to keep you entranced. The cinematography and the editing,
the decor and the costumes aptly suited to the period in which the story
happened.
I enjoyed the film once again after seeing it many moons ago.
Out of the seven films, I saw one more of Bergman: Through a Glass
Darkly. This was depressing for me. I don't blame the director for it.
The synopsis:
"Four family members are vacationing on a remote island, shortly
after one of them, Karin, was released from an asylum.
Karin's brother, an adolescent playwright named Minus, exhibits faint
symptoms of the disease as well and their father David, a writer ,
appears to take a perverse pleasure in observing the decline of his
daughter, who it is hinted,, may provide the material for David's
upcoming Magnum Opus.
Although sane David is shown as severely alienated from his own
family; the final scene show Minus shedding tears of joy because his
father spoke to him briefly. Karin's illness leads her to have visions,
which she believes will culminate in her seeing God, but she is
terrified when "God' turns out to be a giant spider.
The title derives from a Biblical passage in which seeing through a
glass darkly refers to human understanding of god when alive; the view
clears only after death. The film is often considered the first part of
a trilogy focused on spiritual issues together with *Winter Light* and
*The Silence*."
In this film Harriet Anderson plays the major role of Karin.
Admittedly, I will not see this film again at my age.
Contact: [email protected]
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