Saraband (2003)

Marianne, some thirty years after divorcing Johan, decides to visit her ex-husband at his summer home. She arrives in the middle of a family drama between Johan's son from another marriage and his granddaughter.

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writer:

Ingmar Bergman

Stars:

Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Börje Ahlstedt

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Liv Ullmann	...	Marianne
Erland Josephson	...	Johan
Börje Ahlstedt	...	Henrik
Julia Dufvenius	...	Karin
Gunnel Fred	...	Martha

Storyline

Marianne and Johan meet again after thirty years without contact, when Marianne suddenly feels a need to see her ex-husband again. She decides to visit Johan at his old summer house in the western province of Dalarna. And so, one beautiful autumn day, there she is, beside his reclining chair, waking him with a light kiss. Staying at a cottage on the property are Johan's son Henrik and Henrik's daughter Karin. Henrik is giving his daughter cello lessons and already sees her future as staked out. Relations between father and son are very strained, but both are protective of Karin. They are all still mourning Anna, Henrik's much-loved wife, who died two years ago, yet who, in many ways, remains present among them. Marianne soon realizes that things are not all as they should be, and she finds herself unwillingly drawn into a complicated and upsetting power struggle.

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Plot Keywords:

male full frontal nudity | undressing | visit | marriage | cello lesson | 

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Genres:

Drama | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for brief nudity, language and a violent image

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Classics

Country:

Sweden Denmark Norway Italy Finland Germany Austria

Language:

Swedish English German

Release Date:

1 December 2003 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Saraband

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$34,304, 10 July 2005, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$645,634

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$975,181

Company Credits

Production Co:

SVT Fiktion, Danmarks Radio (DR), Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although not acknowledged as a sequel to Scenes from a Marriage (1973), the characters Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson portray have the same names and occupations as they did in Bergman's acclaimed Swedish television miniseries and the action takes place 30 years after their divorce; the same amount of time that had passed since "Scener ur ett äktenskap" was filmed. Ullman's character also refers to the "idiot" that he had left her for as Paula, the character he left her for in "Scener ur ett äktenskap".

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Goofs

There are some interesting discrepancies in relation to the time line of the characters. The ages given for the characters are 63 (Marianne), 86 (Johan) and 61 (Henrik). Marianne says that she has not seen Johan for 32 years and that they had been married for 16 years. This means that she married Johan when she was 15 and he was 38. Johan had a falling out with his son when Henrik was 18/19, which must have been after Johan's marriage to Marianne.

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Connections

Follows Scenes from a Marriage (1973)

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Soundtracks

Symphony no. 9 in D Minor, Movement 2: Scherzo
Composed by Anton Bruckner
Performed by The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Herbert Blomstedt

User Reviews

Moving and challenging

"Saraband" is a moving and challenging, successful return by Bergman to the quality of films of an earlier period, like "Hour of the Wolf" or of course "Scenes from a Marriage," with characters held in confessional close-ups, trapped by ego and anxiety.

With an intolerable burden of the generations, a young woman must make a choice that may be tragic. There are no useful models, not even the briefly glimpsed folk-art carving of the Last Supper with John, the beloved disciple, blissful on the lap of Jesus, not law, Kierkegaard, whiskey, or Bach either.

It is regrettable if after all these years this is Bergman's "Tempest" (though then appropriately involving Erland Josephson--all the actors are necessarily extremely good). Shakespeare did go on to work on "The Two Noble Kinsman."

SVT could have given Bergman film instead of digital recording. RAI uses film for its splendid productions, or it used to. Seen in a theatre, the visual quality was imperfect. How could people think this work would not deserve general theatrical release?