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 & 3 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

After Karin gets up to leave before playing the saraband, the wires from the lights, and the end pins for the cellos are no longer on the floor, despite being there once Karin and Henrik's conversation began.

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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

Profound, soulful film of human love and hate

For many years "The Seventh Seal" has not only been my favorite Bergman film, but my all-time list topper. Although others have since moved into that place, Bergman's genius as a probing and revelatory filmmaker continue to astound and reward me.

"Saraband" for me is about as good as he gets...and that's high praise. Here the human soul in anguish is laid bare in all its honest need...a thwarted one...for love and understanding. A once married couple, Marianne and Johann (brilliantly portrayed by Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson) do their saraband even after 30 years apart. And like that dance, in its repetitive themes, their relationship as well as that of Johann's son and granddaughter form a kind of tragic rondo, sadly and inexorably replicated. Henrik, the 61 year old son (portrayed with amazing profoundity by Borje Ahlstedt) cannot extricate himself from the slings and arrows aimed at him continually by his father. The one character, now dead, who serves as a graceful inspiration to them all is Henrik's wife and his daughter, Karin's mother...Anna. We see her beautiful face in a photographic portrait, but her loving presence in their memory is so strong it becomes a kind of living influence. Karin, played by the stunning Julia Dufvenius, is also the victim of the family dynamic and forms the important fourth in this saraband of life and fate.