Saraband
by Ingmar Bergman
List Price:
Our Price: $9.82
You Save: $10.12 (51%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.02 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: B?rje Ahlstedt, Erland Josephson, Gunnel Fred, Julia Dufvenius, Liv UllmannDirector: Ingmar Bergman
Brand: ULLMANN,LIV
Cinematographer: Jesper Holmstr?m
Cinematographer: Per-Olof Lantto
Cinematographer: Raymond Wemmenl?v
Cinematographer: Sofi Stridh
Cinematographer: Stefan Eriksson
Writer: Ingmar Bergman
Editor: Sylvia Ingemarsson
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Original Language); German (Original Language); Swedish (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-01-10
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of Saraband
Movie Review: As cold as ever; maybe that's the problem
Summary: 3 Stars
At first, "Saraband" seems to be a sequel to "Scenes From a Marriage." The main characters are named Johan and Marianne, played by Erland Josephson and Liv Ullmann. They were once married for a long time, and had two children together. Then they got divorced, but are still drawn to each other, years later.
However, there's a lot of new back-story. Johan now has another son from another marriage. That son has an alienated teenage daughter who has great musical talents, and needless to say, father, son and grand-daughter do not get along. At first, this feels like unnecessary weight hung onto the story of "Scenes From A Marriage," which had enough back-story of its own. But ultimately, I agree with the reviewer who suggested that "Saraband" is actually not about the same people at all. The protagonists are a totally different divorced couple, but they happen to also be named Johan and Marianne. It's similar to how Bergman reused names like Vogler and Vergerus in his earlier films.
What happens next is pretty much what always happens in Bergman films. The characters engage in horrific emotional abuse. In my review of "Persona," I said that all Bergman films are about people elaborately inflicting emotional suffering on each other. That rule certainly holds here. Johan despises his son, and crudely insults him in conversation. Liv Ullmann, as Marianne, smiles cutely, her dimples twinkling merrily, but her contempt for Johan is even deeper and more subtle. She knows his weaknesses more than anyone else; she humiliated him by moving on to have an extensive sex life after he divorced her, even while he was already beginning to wither away. Many times in this film, it feels like the only reason why she came to see Johan now is to feel her own power and superiority over him one more time. In a powerful scene involving Johan's night terrors, she finally takes pity on him, but even that is really another expression of her victory, since she doesn't intend to take him back.
The other major conflict is between Karin and her father. The father is basically a softer, more vulnerable version of the well-meaning but stifling parent figure that Bergman explored in "Autumn Sonata" (and just like in that film, music is the nominal reason for the conflict). His extreme emotional neediness is made clear in the nightmarish kissing scene (if there's one scene in "Saraband" that stays in one's mind, it's that one), in which the daughter ambiguously seems to relish in the power she has over him.
So if you're wondering whether Bergman might have lost his touch in the 20 years that passed between "Fanny and Alexander" and "Saraband," you can put your mind at ease. He's in his prime here, as cold and brutal as ever. "Saraband" is just as intense as "Scenes From A Marriage."
But at the same time, the film's very strength is its weakness. It's another flawless, vicious emotional assault from the master...but that makes it feel exactly like one of his seventies films. It could have easily been made in 1975 with the exact same story and script. The only hint that it was actually made in 2003 can be seen in Karin's contemporary-looking tank top (which she wears with no bra underneath -- oh Ingmar, you've still got it). The tank top is seriously the only sign of the times to be found in the whole film; it stands out so much that it feels out of place. The film takes place in a remote rural region, so there are no traces of modern technology to get in the way of Bergman's trip back in time.
The reason why Bergman's perfect seventies recreation is a weakness is because he had actually begun to venture outside this emotional range in "Fanny And Alexander." The latter film was pretty much the only time when Bergman ever took a real interest in something other than senseless cruelty, and depicted other types of human interaction in a believable way. Possibly this was because the film dealt with childhood, which Bergman has felt nostalgic for ever since "Wild Strawberries." In any case, it was a sign that maybe, he was taking steps to move beyond the worldview that he depicted in the seventies.
But there are no such signs in "Saraband." In that sense, the film is a step backward, because it really is identical in tone to "Scenes From A Marriage," "Cries And Whispers," "Persona," and "Autumn Sonata." I don't insist that an artist always has to do something different with each new work, but Bergman already showed all these conflicts earlier, and really, how many unrelentingly cruel films do you need to watch before you start to wish there was something more?
Summary of Saraband
A woman visits her ex-husband after thirty years, as he, his son and granddaughter continue to mourn the loss of the son's wife who died two years earlier. Genre: Feature Film-Drama Rating: R Release Date: 2-MAY-2006 Media Type: DVDYou know you're back in Bergman country when a character begins speaking to the camera right from the start. In the prologue to Saraband, which was made for Swedish television, Marianne (Liv Ullmann) recounts the changes that have taken place since Scenes From a Marriage, the miniseries-turned-feature that introduced the central couple. Johan (Erland Josephson) has retired from academia, while she continues to practice family law. Since splitting up for good, they haven't seen each other in over 30 years. Marianne decides it's time to reconnect and makes plans to visit Johan at his remote cottage. While they catch up, she gets to know his estranged son, Henrik (B?rje Ahlstedt), and beloved granddaughter, Karin (Julia Dufvenius), who are staying in the guest house. Both are still reeling from the death of Henrik's wife, Anna, two years ago. Although she never appears--she's represented by a portrait of Bergman's late wife, Ingrid, to whom the film is dedicated--Anna's ghost haunts them all (even Marianne, who never knew her). Divided into 10 parts plus the prologue and epilogue, Saraband looks more like a play than a film, which is not necessarily a drawback (it's in keeping with the "scenes" of the original series). The focus is on the characters and their words. They could be anywhere at any time; their problems are personal yet universal. For two hours, the outside world does not exist. In the complete universe Bergman has created for them, it doesn't need to. As much a love letter to his wife as to his muse, Ullmann--who has rarely been better--Bergman has stated that Saraband will be his final work. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Art House & International DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in My Top 100 Favorite Films on DVD Part 3
Monster's BallLions Gate; Release date: 2002-06-11; DVD
Best price: $5.25
Price in other shops:
Transamerica (Widescreen Edition)HUFFMAN,FELICITY; Release date: 2006-05-23; DVD
Best price: $2.82
Price in other shops:
Coffin Joe - Awakening of the BeastRelease date: 2003-07-29; DVD
Best price: $9.69
Price in other shops:
21 GramsUniversal Studios; Release date: 2004-03-16; DVD
Best price: $3.36
Price in other shops:
Factory Girl (Unrated)Release date: 2007-07-17; DVD
Best price: $3.02
Price in other shops:
The HoursParamount; Release date: 2003-06-24; DVD
Best price: $2.70
Price in other shops:
La Ley Del Deseo (Law of Desire)TFI INTERNATIONAL; DVD
Best price: $27.76
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Widescreen Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2003-08-26; DVD
Best price: $3.50
Price in other shops:
FleshImage Entertainment; Release date: 2005-10-11; DVD
Best price: $11.98
Price in other shops:
Bridget Jones's DiaryRelease date: 2001-10-09; DVD
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
Autumn Sonata - Criterion CollectionBERGMAN,INGRID; Release date: 2000-01-18; DVD
Best price: $23.74
Price in other shops:
Fanny and Alexander (Special Edition Five-Disc Set) - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2004-11-16; DVD
Best price: $39.61
Price in other shops:
Bergman Island- Criterion CollectionIMAGE ENT.; Release date: 2009-06-16; DVD
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
The Ingmar Bergman Trilogy: The Criterion Collection (Through a Glass Darkly / Winter Light / The Silence)BJORNSTRAND,GUNNAR; Release date: 2003-08-19; DVD
Best price: $50.99
Price in other shops:
FaithlessRelease date: 2002-10-22; DVD
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
The Passion of AnnaSYDOW,MAX VON; Release date: 2004-02-10; DVD
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
The Ingmar Bergman Special Edition DVD Collection (Persona / Shame / Hour of the Wolf / The Passion of Anna / The Serpent's Egg)BERGMAN,INGMAR; Release date: 2004-04-27; DVD
Best price: $24.88
Price in other shops:
PersonaANDERSSON,BIBI; Release date: 2004-02-10; DVD
Best price: $6.54
Price in other shops:
Cries & Whispers - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2001-06-19; DVD
Best price: $18.34
Price in other shops:
Scenes From a Marriage - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2004-03-16; DVD
Best price: $30.36
Price in other shops: