Saraband
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Movie Reviews of Saraband
Movie Review: familiar themes, classic Bergman
Summary: 5 Stars
Saraband is really not a sequel, not in the traditional sense. It's perhaps more accurate to say the characters Johan and Marianne from Scenes From a Marriage play a large part in this new drama. It wasn't what I expected, but it turned out to be a wise choice, I think. Rather than simply revisit two characters from 30 years ago and see where they are now (which would have been interesting enough), Bergman chose to include and focus on the story of Henrik (Johan's son) and Henrik's wife and daughter. The story is fascinating, disturbing, thought-provoking; classic Bergman.
Though Saraband probably won't be remembered as Bergman's finest achievement, it is certainly Bergman at his finest, and, whether intentionally or not, the film definitely echoes other Bergman classics. The light coming in through the church windows in an empty church reminds of questions raised in Winter Light. The daughter wandering through the woods and into a stream reminds us of violations of The Virgin Spring. Likewise, inappropriate surrogate relationships (I'll put it that way for those who haven't seen the film) reminds us of issues raised in The Silence. And issues of love between parents (particularly fathers) and their children raised in Through a Glass Darkly and Wild Strawberries also appear here. Bergman does not provide us with answers any more than he did when he raised these questions some 40 years ago, but he can still make us think. So if Saraband is Bergman's last film, it's a very fitting exit.
The documentary on the making of the film is, for me, no less emotionally moving than the film itself -- it touchs on Bergman's thoughts on making his last film, the death of his wife and his own mortality.
Movie Review: The end of the road
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the things that truly impressed me with this film is the meticulous attention that Bergman paid to small details. His selection of music is a case in point.
The second movement of Bach's Fifth Cello Suite (Sarabande), whose excerpts we hear in this film, is intimate and very sorrowful (almost like a piece of funeral music), as if to signal the end of the road. The non-chordal nature of this movement (it consists of a single melodic line) was a great way to subtly remind us of the existential loneliness of the four main characters, as well as our own.
Or, take for example Bruckner's Ninth Symphony, which Johan (one of the four main characters) was listening to very loudly in one scene. Bruckner spent the last nine years of his life composing this symphony (and actually never finishing it). Its Adagio is contended, at least by some Brucknerites, to be a farewell to life.
This very last of Bergman's films feels like his own requiem. It can make us sad, that's for sure. But the music of his cinematography is still heavenly beautiful.
Movie Review: Saraband
Summary: 5 Stars
In today's film environment, watching a new Bergman feature is like experiencing a rain-shower during a drought. Anyone who recalls 1973's "Scenes" will be particularly moved by the reunion of Ullmann and Josephson. But the director is wise enough to include some fresh characters who help us better understand the ones we think we already know. The sub-plot concerning Henrik's over-reliance on the lovely, talented Karin is heart-rending, as is the nasty, unbridgeable divide between father and son. Ullmann's Marianne, wiser and more observant than in earlier days, calmly tries to make sense of all this dysfunction, right along with us. A worthy swan-song for the octogenarian director, "Saraband" is piercing, profound and altogether brilliant.Movie Review: Ingmar's Timeline Distorted
Summary: 5 Stars
SARABAND is a wonderful movie but for those of us familiar with
SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE there are inconsistencies. In this film
Marianne is more than 20 years his junior, in SCENES they were
about the same age and there was no mention of an earlier marriage
and the nogoodnik son. But if you ignore this then it is a film
well acted.
Movie Review: Amazing,unforgatable movie expirience...
Summary: 5 Stars
There is nothing left in today cinema,after Bergman decided
to quit the whole goddamn business...What's left after the Master is miserable attempt to combine useless,moving,empty
images...made for Oscars and popcorn eaters. A must for every still thinking head !!!