Scenes From a Marriage (The Criterion Collection)
by Ingmar Bergman
List Price:
Our Price: $28.59
You Save: $21.36 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $15.99 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bibi Andersson, Erland Josephson, Gunnel Lindblom, Jan Malmsjö, Liv UllmannDirector: Ingmar Bergman
Brand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Swedish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 167 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-03-16
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of Scenes From a Marriage (The Criterion Collection)
Movie Review: A powerhouse film that will shake you to your core...
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm going to divulge some very personal information here, but to anyone that is familiar with my reviews they will know that this is not unlike me. I don't have a personal blog (although I really should) and since film, music and or the printed page touches me very deeply I feel obligated to let that ring true within my reviews. I feel that if a film speaks to me then I have to explain why, for isn't that the whole reason to discuss film in the first place. So, with that said; I have a question for you.
Have you ever sat with friends and witnessed the drunken desires to divorce and listened to their raging accusations and bitter disagreements? Have you ever heard your best friend label his wife `despicable' or `soulless' or heard his wife label him a `liar' and `selfish' or `demanding'?
Sadly, I have, and I know I'm not the only one.
To be brutally honest in the past three years I have watched four of my closest friends go through divorce, and each time I (being the emotionally connective counterpart) wind up being the one to hear everything; providing the shoulder to cry on. It's a tough job, and it takes it toll emotionally on a person. I've cried myself to sleep on many occasions reliving the moments shared in such disarray with the people I care about the most, and it's not something I ever long to experience again. In fact, I recently told my best friend that if he ever went through a divorce I think it would kill me.
I just don't think I could take it.
I recently sat down to watch Ingmar Bergman's highly acclaimed film `Scener ur ett Aktenskap' with very high expectations, but what I received is far more than I could have imagined. This is a film so brutally honest that I was forced to turn it off no more than twenty minutes in because the verbal lashings proved to be too real for me to bear. The situation (two couples talking civilly when one couple just starts laying into each other and expressing their very candid desires to divorce) was something I had found myself in, recently at that, and it just destroyed me, right there on my couch. I was trembling terribly, so much so that my wife put the movie on pause and told me to get a hold of myself. An hour or so later, after my wife had gone to bed, I sat down alone and finished the film. The experience was surreal and devastating at times, one that I never want to repeat but will never forget.
The one and only film I can recall that had such an intense impact on me was the masterpiece known as `4 Luni, 3 Saptamani si 2 Zile'. Both films deal with two of the most painfully controversial subjects (this being divorce, the other being abortion) and both approach the subject from a completely neutral yet brutally honest angle. While I don't know if I could handle watching either of them again, at least not anytime soon, both films stand apart as most probably the greatest films ever made.
Films are designed to reach an individual, and these two films tap into the deepest, darkest most unreachable places within our souls.
The film tells of the marriage of Johan and Marianne. The opening of the film has the couple being interviewed for a magazine article, and this very scene marvelously shows the just how uncomfortable these two are with one another. They act as if they are deeply in love, yet as they talk of themselves and how they met you can see, in their eyes alone, just how `fake' they know they are being. The following scene (the one that forced me to take a break from the film) has Marianne and Johan discussing the article with their friends Katarina and Peter. The drinks are flowing and before long Katarina and Peter are tearing each other apart; expressing their desires to be rid of one another, the whole time Johan and Marianne are crumbing inside. This scene is the catalyst for the films depiction of Marianne and Johan's marriage, for it serves as an extreme case for them to avoid. After their friends leave Marianne and Johan discuss reasons their friends loathe one another so much and try to convince themselves that their marriage is stronger than that; but as time progresses they find that they too are susceptible to the same wayward course.
Johan soon confesses that he has fallen in love with another woman and that he is leaving his wife and two daughters. Marianne is understandably heartbroken, but her reaction is one of defeat not of anger. She pleads and fights with Johan to stay, to give their marriage another try, but it is of no use. He is done with trying.
The film follows their relationship through the years as they separate, divorce and eventually remarry (not each other), the whole time they remain as close as they can be, frequently visiting with one another to `talk'. They are the closest of friends, even if they are no longer in love with one another.
For anyone who has seen the movie `Closer' with Jude Law and Julia Roberts I want to draw a certain comparison. While this film is infinitely better made and acted, they are both rather blunt films. The films entirety basically contains scene after scene of Johan and Marianne talking to one another, with only the first four scenes containing any other actors. Within their conversations they bare their souls to one another, rather abruptly and bluntly, sparing no detail. It can be uncomfortable, awkward and crushing to say the least, but it is so real, so raw and so honest. Unlike `Closer', this film contains more that one standard emotion running through the actors. These words, no matter how hurtful, feel so much more forgiving when considering the gamut of natural emotions flooding from the actors very expressions.
How Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson were denied Oscar nominations is beyond me. The film itself was completely snubbed come Oscar time, despite the fact that it was hugely popular and garnered a lot of other awards attention. Many rave this as Bergman's finest film, and I have to agree. Despite the fact that I have not seen all of his films, it is hard for me to think of a film better than this one.
In my opinion the greatest films ever produced are the films that move us in ways we are not often moved. They are the films so honest that they are hard to watch, because we see ourselves and those we love. They don't necessarily have to pain us as this film does; it can call to mind the happiness that we've experienced in life. The most important thing is that the film reaches a special part of us. Bergman was able to paint a very real portrait of true love, one that fluctuates through real emotions; some hard to handle, others utterly redemptive. There is a glimmer of hope that rests in the films final frames, a hope not of reconciliation but of contentment.
It'll be a while, if ever, that I am able to watch this masterpiece again, but until that day comes I know that its memory will haunt me.
Summary of Scenes From a Marriage (The Criterion Collection)
Marianne (Liv Ullman) and Johan (Erland Josephson) always seemed like the perfect couple. But when Johan suddenly leaves Marianne for another woman, they are forced to confront the disintegration of their marriage. Shot in intense, intimate close-ups by master cinematographer Sven Nykvist, the film chronicles ten years of turmoil and love that bind the couple despite their divorce and subsequent marriages. Flawless acting and dialogue portray the brutal pain and uplifting peace that accompany a lifetime of loving. Originally conceived as a six-part miniseries for Swedish television, The Criterion Collection is proud to present not only the U.S. theatrical version, but also, for the first time on video in the U.S., Ingmar Bergman?s original five-hour television version of Scenes From a Marriage.Similar DVD Movies
8 1/ 2 (The Criterion Collection)HVC; Release date: 2001-12-04; DVD
Best price: $17.20
Price in other shops:
Ingmar Bergman: Four Masterworks (The Criterion Collection)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2007-12-04; DVD
Best price: $58.55
Price in other shops:
The Magic Flute (The Criterion Collection)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2000-05-16; DVD
Best price: $17.97
Price in other shops:
The Seventh Seal (The Criterion Collection)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2009-06-16; DVD
Best price: $18.71
Price in other shops:
Wild Strawberries (The Criterion Collection)BERGMAN,INGMAR; Release date: 2002-02-12; DVD
Best price: $22.79
Price in other shops:
The Magician (The Criterion Collection)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2010-10-12; DVD
Best price: $17.50
Price in other shops:
The Virgin Spring (The Criterion Collection)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2006-01-24; DVD
Best price: $21.50
Price in other shops:
The Ingmar Bergman Trilogy (Through a Glass Darkly / Winter Light / The Silence) (The Criterion Collection)BJORNSTRAND,GUNNAR; Release date: 2003-08-19; DVD
Best price: $44.70
Price in other shops:
PersonaANDERSSON,BIBI; Release date: 2004-02-10; DVD
Best price: $13.21
Price in other shops:
Autumn Sonata (The Criterion Collection)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2000-01-18; DVD
Best price: $21.50
Price in other shops: