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Scenes from a Marriage More at IMDbPro »Scener ur ett äktenskap (original title)

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35 reviews in total

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46 out of 51 people found the following review useful:
Marriage Is Dead, Long Live Love, 8 October 2004
Author: Galina from Virginia, USA

I used to think that I knew a thing or two about marriage having been married for as long as I have but nothing from my experience had prepared me for the merciless and deep dissection of Marriage: Bergman Style. When we meet Johan and Marianne for the first time, they have been happily (or so it seems) married for ten years. They have two daughters; they are still young, very attractive, healthy, educated, well off, and they seem to love each other very much. But Bergman is not interested in happy families – all happy families are happy in the similar ways. Like Tolstoy many years before him, Bergman explores the second part of the formula – All unhappy families are unhappy in their unique ways.

Bergman and his leading actors Liv Ullmann and Arland Josephson give one of the most truthful, honest, heartbreaking and credible portraits of a couple, one of the most intense character studies ever done on film. For five hours, we share twenty years from the lives of Johan and Marianne as well as their love, hate, misunderstandings, insecurities, anger, jealousy, denial, sadness, pain, despair, and loss. We witness the moments of incredible tenderness and unexpected and shocking violence, both physical and mental. There are no depth that they have not descended in the search of themselves and the meaning of their relationship.

There are actually four marriages Bergman studies in "Scenes from a Marriage" –none of them is happy, all are miserable. Bergman does not deny the possibility of finding a soul mate but his opinion on the modern marriage is quite pessimistic.

It felt like Bergman was saying - marriage is dead, long live love. For hours after the film was over, I could not shake off the sadness and pessimism of it. Only later I realized that even if four marriages in Bergman's film were disastrous, it does not necessarily mean that all couples in the world are or have to be that miserable. Bergman wrote and directed Scenes from a Marriage in 1973 when he was in his 5-th marriage, the one that would last for 24 years until his wife died. He brought in the screenplay (I think so but I may be wrong) the bitterness, resentment, anger and disappointments from his previous four marriages - maybe that's why the film is sometimes almost impossible to watch?

"Scenes from a Marriage" is a masterpiece but it may leave you devastated and emotionally exhausted. I watched the original 5-hours TV version and did not even bother with three hours version. 10/10

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37 out of 38 people found the following review useful:
One of Bergman's most interesting works as a director and one of Ullman/Josephson's very best, 16 October 2004

Author: MisterWhiplash from United States

Scenes from a Marriage (the TV version, even as the theatrical cut is still very good and worth the time if the only copy available) is an intimate, naturalistic portrait of a couple, who at first are seemingly happy, then aren't, then try and find out where they go wrong. It's involving drama at its nexus, and for those who love the theater it's an absolute must see (aside from the theme, no music, all talk). Johan and Marianne are two of Bergman's most interesting, true characters (among his countless others) that he's ever presented, and like many other film artists, you can tell he's lived through at least some if not most of the emotions and trials these characters have been through.

Along with several supporting characters, two of the more notable ones played by Bibi Andersson and Malmjso are a perfect contrast in the first episode of the series. The conflicts that are established throughout the series never pay-off in a mis-fire. Craft-wise there is almost no style except for the minimal lighting by the great Sven Nykvist. And the dialog that goes on between the two leads goes from amusing to tragic, from romantic to bleak, and with all the emotions that I (as one who's never been married) can only guess can be as so. Bergman's script would be just that, a poignant, very profound lot of bits between two people more or less on paper, if not for Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson. They turn on the emotions intuitively, like they've been these people somewhere else at some other time. Or rather, the husband and wife don't have very complicated jobs or economic situation, but the problems lie on the emotional plane, and the intellect they try to put to it. Johan loves another woman, how does that affect Marianne? Marianne asks for a divorce, how does that affect Johan? What will they do to cope? These are questions Bergman poses for his actors, among plenty of others, and they pull off the emotional cues off of each other like the most wonderful theatrical pros.

It's hard to find anything wrong with their acting, cause they don't over-do it (unless you're not into Marianne's changes in feeling in some scenes, which could be understandable), and the bottom line is that despite it being in Europe thirty years ago, it's highly possible these people could be in your house, or in your neighbor's house. Ullmann's Marianne is the 180 of her character from Persona, who could only let out emotions once or twice, mostly as an observer. Josephson's Johan is complex behind is usually sarcastic and simple demeanor- what drives him to do what he does in episode three, or in four? What will the conclusion lead to? Bergman creates a drama that is never boring, never diluted, and asks us to search for ideas about love and relationships we sometimes try and push away. It's a superb, concise treatise about the nature of falling in and out of love, how to differentiate what love is, and essentially what a marriage is. I can't wait to see the sequel, Saraband, which is Bergman's (definite) last film.

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31 out of 33 people found the following review useful:
Sometimes hard to take, but unbearably wise, 18 August 1999
Author: Gary Dickerson (gary@selfhelpradio.net) from Lexington, KY

"Scenes From A Marriage" is quite simply that: we meet Marianne & Johan ten years into their union & we witness half a dozen scenes of their lives. I'm not married, but I have of course known many people, family & friends, who were married & who talked, acted, & lived much like this couple does. That they are well-educated & affluent is somewhat irrelevant - married couples often seem to be keeping a certain secret (some keep it better than others) that they disguise with contentment, ritual, obligation, affection. Most of the time they keep this secret even from themselves. This movie is about the gradual discovery of the two main characters of the nature & ramifications of that secret.

As far as Bergman films go, it's strangely pretty, in color, with two attractive leads. But I think perhaps Bergman (& Sven Nykvist) sought to give us a sense of familiarity with the suburban, middle-class surroundings to lure us into a false sense of the security of the marriage in question. Without giving anything away, I suggest that this film is no less dark & heavy than other Bergman films; it rather goes for the heart in the way that you often wish modern dramas about relationships would. It's not trite, nor contrived, nor easily resolved. It's wise as life.

The movie was edited down by Bergman from a six-episode television series, which comprise the "scenes." The cast is great, but it's Ullmann & Josephson's show, & Ullmann is such a magnificent actor that I marvel at her expressive face, which Bergman smartly keeps his camera on.

It's unbearably wise, & sometimes difficult, but there aren't many films out there as honest as this one.

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33 out of 42 people found the following review useful:
dissects the complexity of human relationships as an almost unbearable shrine to honesty, 25 March 2002

Author: poetellect from USA

Ohmygod. Liv Ullman really deserved an Oscar for this one, as did Bergman. WOW- not many movies are this honest, this heartbreaking, this true, and this tumultuous- we see two people, in and out of a relationship over fifteen years, experiencing all the pain, loss, love, hate, anger, jealousy, denial, sadness, and so on that finding one's soul-mate brings, stretched out long-term.

Not many movies even come close to this one's brutality in its genuine awareness of people. Most modern films (and television, for that matter) cannot even come close to the psychological precision of Bergman's films. Perhaps "Scenes from a Marriage" is his best work- more accessible than "Wild Strawberries", more compelling than "Persona." This is definitely a film to seek out.

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20 out of 22 people found the following review useful:
The Tragedy of Emotional Illiteracy (Review is about the 5 Hour Version), 17 May 2005

Author: Rich Dunbeck from United States

Johan and Marianne have been happily married for ten years. Following the rough choice to abort their child, the marriage begins to fall apart. Theirs is a marriage of convenience anyway, so it is no surprise that they have looked elsewhere for love and comfort. One day, Johan runs away with another woman, and the process of divorce begins. "Scenes from a Marriage" (Scener ur ett aktenskap) is an intense and personal look at the sanctity of marriage in a world where divorce is in vogue.

"Scenes" begins with Johan and Marianne being interviewed for a magazine article about their perfect marriage. Johan is confident in his happiness. He loves his wife, has fathered two children, and has a well-paying job. Marianne is sure of nothing, other than that she's happy. She tries to talk about her future, but the photographer cuts her off for a picture. She never gets to finish her thought. One wonders what she would have said if she'd gotten to same amount of time to speak as Johan did.

During the course of an epic five-hour ride, the two will switch places. Johan will become uncertain of what he wants, and Marianne will become liberated and truly happy. It's what happens in between that fascinates. "Scenes from a Marriage" focuses on the in between moments in life. Most of the time there are only two characters on screen at a time. Filmed in an intimate, documentary-like style, the film gives us the feeling that we're watching a home movie about the down time in the couple's life. This is when they real emotions come to the surface. Johan reveals his passion for Paula, the woman who has seduced him away from Marianne. Marianne, reserved in public, let's her anger, pain, and jealousy flow freely when they are alone together.

It is this that makes the film work. The film was written and directed by Swedish master Ingmar Bergman, a man who knows how to create arrestingly real drama. Bergman knows that the little moments in life are utterly more fascinating then the overblown public moments that most movies show. By allowing us into these personal moments, Bergman allows Johan and Marianne to become like old friends to the viewer, and that makes the story all the more impactful.

The performances by Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson as Marianne and Johan are nothing short of revelatory. Let's face it, most actors don't shoot for the stars in television productions. Ullman and Josephson treat "Scenes" like any one of their theatrical films. This approach is much appreciated. I only wish they could teach American TV actors a thing or two. Ullman and Josephson deliver more meaningful and powerful performances in the course of five hours than half of the American network line-ups could provide in 5 seasons.

Take, for example, the scene where Marianne discovers that she is the last person to know about Johan's infidelity. The camera gets in close on Ullman's face to reveal all the little details of her expression. Ullman's face is a mask of horror and shame. Her eyes are crying out in despair much louder than her voice can.

There is another fantastic scene in which Marianne who, in the ultimate irony, is a divorce lawyer listens to a client discuss her loveless marriage. The comparison to Marianne and Johan's marriage is undeniable. The look on Marianne's face as she sees her future self in her client is hard to describe, but undeniably affecting.

Johan has less emotional depth, as one of the main plot points is that Paula saps the life out of him as the relationship progresses. However, look at the earliest scenes of the film, where he is overflowing with happiness. The joy in his eyes and his voice are so real it's hard to believe that the whole thing was carefully scripted by Bergman rather than improvised by Josephson.

It is said that, following the initial airing of "Scenes from a Marriage" on Scandinavian TV, the divorce rate in Scandinavia grew immensely. More surprising is that Ingmar Bergman was, and still is, delighted by this fact. The film does provide somewhat of an argument for staying together (Johan and Marianne bounce back and forth on th divorce issue several times) and ultimately, as far as I understand, says that even the most strained relationships can be helped. I suppose it is all up to individual interpretations.

I think that "Scenes from a Marriage" is a film about communication. The lack of communication, and the inability to communicate at all, are the major contributing factors in the breakdown of Johan and Marianne's relationship. It isn't until the divorce papers come that the communication begins. A lack of communication with their own emotions prevents the two from seeing any way out other than divorce--they simply assume that it's too late and that all is said and done. It doesn't have to be that way, and "Scenes from a Marriage" will provide a wake up call to anyone who thinks it does.

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15 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
At once poignant, considered, bitter, painfully insightful, 16 September 2001

Author: Andy White (acwhite86) from Pennsylvania, US

Bergman set the standard for commentary on relationships with this film. Liv Ullman & Erland Josephson are extraordinary as a couple viewed over the course of their marriage and breakup thereof. Bergman and cinematographer Sven Nyquist do an absolute masterful job following both -- Liv Ullman truly has one of the most expressive, beautiful faces in cinema, and Bergman's genius is that he captured every nuance of her perfect performance masterfully.

Don't expect a single extraneous, out-of-place shot. Expect the perfect cinema-plus-verite of long-term relationships that various others, including Woody Allen in his efforts (Annie Hall and onwards,) have tried to riff on -- but never as well.

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18 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Another Ingmar Bergman`s Masterpiece, 16 May 2004

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The lawyer Marianne (Liv Ullmann) and the professor Johan (Erland Josephson) have been married for ten years, having two daughters. One night, Johan tells Marianne that he met a young woman, Paula, and he will travel to Paris with her for eight months. Caught by surprise, the perfect world of Marianne falls apart, and she starts living alone. Along the next ten years, they meet each other in different situations, in a relation of love and hate for each other. The first time I watched this theatrical movie I was single and was less than twenty years old. In that occasion, I loved the performances of Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, but I found the story too long. Today, with twenty-five years of marriage, I have watched this film again on video: what a masterpiece! Ingmar Begman presents an amazingly credible and honest story of the relationship of a couple along twenty years of their lives. Liv Ullmann is so beautiful and has such a stunning performance that impressed me. Erland Josephson also has a magnificent performance as an insecure but sensitive man, full of contradictions and without knowing how to make a decision about his feelings. Unfortunately the VHS spoken in Swedish distributed by Concorde in Brazil has many dialogs without subtitles. Sometimes, four, five sentences are omitted in the translation, or a long speech of a character is resumed to a five or six words sentence. A crime against the viewer! Highly recommended for married couples as a lesson of life. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): `Cenas de um Casamento' (`Scenes From a Marriage')

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11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Stunningly authentic, 12 September 2006

Author: jdoan-4 from United States

There are few other films that have the direct authenticity of this one. It is very frank, honest, tender, and heartbreaking. The performances of the two primary actors are amazing. Never once did I doubt their sincerity. In every single scene they overwhelmingly conveyed the intense and nuanced emotions of the couple. I use the word "overwhelmingly" because that is exactly what it is. At times it is hard to watch. Especially the scene in which Johan admits his infidelity. I could feel Marainne's hurt/anger/confusion. There are moments of intense tenderness, as in the last scene where Johan comforts Marianne after her nightmare. To be sure, the actors had some incredible material with which to work. Bergman knows human nature as much as any of modern writer. His dialog is poetic at times, and achingly authentic at others. They way the couple eviscerates and dissects each other is alarmingly, yet honest. Rarely is a character saying what they actually feel. Rarely do the characters know what they feel. They, like many people, really are "emotional illiterates." Bergman's direction is minimal, and that is what makes it so effective. The emphasis is completely on the characters and their existences. This is a powerful, evocative film. And I have seen only the theatrical version. I can imagine the full TV version is even more detailed.

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12 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Compelling drama with a brilliant performance by Liv Ullmann, 21 June 2001

Author: Dennis Littrell (dalittrell@yahoo.com) from SoCal

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

One of Director Ingmar Bergman's great talents was his deep understanding of women and his love for them. In Liv Ullmann he found a woman who could express that passion so that it could be felt by others. In the cinema that I most admire there is a collaboration of love and adoration between the director and the star that is expressed in the performance. We see this in the work of Krzysztof Kieslowski and to a lesser extent in the work of Roman Polanski and Roger Vadim. And I guess I might mention Benoît Jacquot and Andre Techine who first directed, respectively, Judith Godrèche and Juliette Binoche. But with Bergman there is a wider expression of this love and admiration to include the experience of pathos and tragedy. To understand what a woman is in the fullest extent of her being is what Bergman strives for, not just the revelation of a pretty girl. In Bergman we find the kind of all encompassing psychology characteristic of Shakespeare or Ibsen, in which the characters are fully fleshed and expressive of a wide range of human experience.

This begins slowly as a stage play and continues as something seen on television and then suddenly springs like a trap and we are immersed in a compelling drama about people who are interesting and alive, people like ourselves who have the longings and the frustrations that we live but seldom express. As Marianne and Johan watch their friends expose the sordid details of their failed marriage, they are understanding and quietly smug that they are different, especially it is Marianne who is proper and conventional, always alert to the necessities of propriety, who feels this way, and is so happy that their marriage, while not perfect, will last. And so it appears.

And then we have the scene in which Johan tells her that he is in love with a younger woman. It is nothing short of magnificent, one of the most memorable in all of cinema, and done with such subtly and power, infused with a deep underpinning of a wild and desperate, yet cunning expression of love from Liv Ullmann that would win over the devil himself. This is a woman at thirty-five, when everything that means anything to her is suddenly threatened, and this is how she responds, with genius.

Or, some might say, with madness. Johan's dull indifference is absurdist, and Marianne's incredible tolerance and "understanding" of his behavior is stunning. Yet when it happens to us, sometimes we are just a bit ahead of ourselves and we realize what has really happened, and like Marianne we are generous and sad instead of insanely jealous. And Johan's insufferable arrogance and "worldly" understanding of himself makes us want to scream. And then it turns and he says, "I'm beaten," and there is just a trace of a triumphant smile on her face. At forty-five, he is a beaten man. "You win," is what he is saying. And now he becomes a bit pathetic. His behavior, when it is she who has the upper hand, is crude and ugly. Of course hers was cunning and desperate when he had the upper hand. And then it turns again and then again, and we have twenty years of a marriage.

One thing I must say, this is a little too intense for TV! (The entire production, six hours worth, was originally made for Swedish TV.)

I was pleased to see the photos of Liv Ullmann as a child and then as a little girl and then as a teen and then as a young woman worked into the script. She is so beautiful and wholesome in a distinct way, like no other actress, and yet I knew her in the ninth grade in the person of a girl with the same red hair and the same white, reddish, freckled skin. The range that Liv Ullmann displays in this film is remarkable, but she is not alone. Co-star Erland Josephson is also outstanding. And they had better be since they command the screen for most of the 170 minutes this version runs. What Bergman does that keeps us glued to the tube is he tells the truth. It's a Bergman truth, but it is a truth so beyond the contrivances and superficialities of most movies that we are fascinated.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

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10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
A Meaningful Film, 23 July 2005
Author: Myshkin_Karamazov

Enormous success it had with audiences of Swedish TV, where it was shown in six episodes paved way for its theatrical release. This however called for compromising almost half the original length of celluloid.

As one of more easily understandable Bergman films, "Scenes From A Marriage" met much enthusiasm on both sides of the Atlatic.

The film showcases great two of Ingmar Bergman's favorite actors. Both Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson give lively mature performances, lauded by critics.

Being a down-to-earth family drama with strong social commentary of great relevance, "Scenes From A Marriage" has something important to convey. It is a meaningful picture.

It reflects on the nature of relationship between man and woman. It invites us to ponder on this basic issue, a cornerstone of human society Although not quite in the same league with bona-fide Bergman classics like "The Seventh Seal" and "Persona", "Scenes From A Marriage" remains a powerful movie.

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