The Passion of Anna
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bibi Andersson, Britta Brunius, Lars-Owe Carlberg, Malin Ek, Sigge F?rstBrand: SYDOW,MAX VON
Primary Contributor: Bibi Andersson
Primary Contributor: Liv Ullmann
Primary Contributor: Max von Sydow
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Swedish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Color, Dubbed, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-02-10
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of The Passion of Anna
Movie Review: The Passion
Summary: 5 Stars
To those used to seeking entertainment from conventional American films, even those with supposedly strong dramatic themes, this film might well seem bleak, plotless, and depressing. That is exactly how it seemed to me when I first watched it several years ago, when I was new to Bergman's films and foreign films in general.
'The Passion' will require close attention as well as some interpretive intellectual effort on the part of the viewer. I think I'm safe in thinking this is not the sort of movie-watching experience the general public is looking for. I've found that for myself, the film approaches the richness of the best psychological fiction with the reinforcement of strong visual corroboration. After now having seen it for the third time, I believe it has left a deeper impression than any other film I've seen to date by this director.
As I see it, the richness of the film derives from its treatment of many crucial themes concerning the impact on human beings, particularly intelligent or sensitive ones, from their interaction with the world at large. Alienation, humiliation, interpersonal power-struggles for dominance, guilt and innocence, self-deception, hypocrisy, and downright insanity are some of the forces which collide when the four main characters interact.
The depiction of these conflicts is open-ended enough that different viewers will probably see more emphasis on different aspects of these undercurrents. It seemed to me the central message was the need of the individual for self-respect, and the difficulty of achieving this for most. For this reason, Andreas is definitely the main character. He is a man in torment due to his feelings of being humiliated by the world. He has been utterly unsuccessful in gaining control of his life, and has given up and sought refuge on an island. His mental agony is so great that he often gives way to incoherent shouts of outrage when alone.
At the other pole is Andreas' wealthy and successful architect neighbor, Elis. Elis humiliates Andreas further by offering him financial assistance with an attitude of thinly disguised contempt. Elis seems to be firmly in control of his destiny, and exerts a powerful domineering presence on others, but his way of dealing with life is really a sham. His constant one-upmanship is an artificial mode which distances him from any honest participation in human relationships.
Elis' wife Eva, who projects a perky, cute and playful image, feels herself eclipsed and rendered useless by her husband's self-sufficient and overbearing personality. Her feelings of inadequacy make her vulnerable to acts of impulsiveness in a vain search for self-worth.
Finally, there is Anna, a friend of Eva's who is staying with them on the island. Anna cannot bear facing the truth about life when it doesn't conform to her wishes. She tries to show an exterior of honesty and virtue, but in reality she will not admit the truth about herself to anyone, including herself. Her hypocrisy and fraud has led to a dichotomy in her personality which could easily be called insanity. Yet, to some degree, her self-righteousness and manipulative behavior is well-represented in the real world at large.
When Anna and Andreas become a couple living on the isolated island, a scenario for 'disturbing and dangerous acts of violence, both psychical and physical', is laid down. There are many visual symbols and cues that reflect and reinforce the violence of these underlying conflicts in the couple. For instance a sadistic maniac has been cruelly torturing and killing defenseless domestic animals on the island. An old man, Johan, has been accused of the crimes and threatened by some of the islanders, though the accusation is patently ridiculous. Johan's plight represents the extreme consequences which an alienated individual faces from the mob-mentality of common humanity.
Other cues which accentuate various aspects of the human circumstances are: the remoteness and isolation of the island itself; a very brooding dream of Anna's, laden with sinister foreboding of a revelation she doesn't want to face; a bird flies into their cottage at night and injures itself so badly that it must be put out of it's misery. Andreas says it was flying alone at night "because it was scared of something". As he washes up afterward, we get a clear view of the blood on his hands; The ticking of a clock during certain scenes suggests the inexorable progress of events beyond the power of a lone human to prevent.
The film is laden with such symbolic imagery. There even seem to be tenuous connections to Christian concepts, even though other Bergman films have given me the impression he is hostile to religion. For instance, Anna's dream takes place at Easter. The major theme of the dream has to do with the execution of an older woman's son, and the implication is that Anna bears the guilt for his execution. And prominently displayed in the cottage of Johan, Andreas' elderly friend, is a picture of Christ, apparently with children. We see Johan suffused with an ethereal glow of light which gradually illuminates him, seeming to relate the persecution of this innocent man to that of Christ's.
Andreas seems to sum up the major import of the film in a lengthy monologue in which he explains to Anna why they can't leave the island and "get away for a while". His loss of self-respect has caused him to accept his humiliation. He now only wants escape and solitude. He suspects this is a the common human condition, but that most people are able to go on by living in denial.
The film is an exploration of common human problems presented in dramatically exaggerated terms through the actions of the psychologically wounded characters. I don't see the film as being a nihilistic rejection of life so much as a portrayal of how things go wrong through human weakness. There is much to think about here, and the viewer is always free to accept or reject what he deems appropriate. There will no doubt be many who would prefer to watch 'A Wonderful Life'.
Summary of The Passion of Anna
'the art of Ingmar Bergman reaches its pinnacle (Life) in this penetrating portrait of fourlost souls seeking solace in one another, even as their lives are torn apart by deception, isolation and psychological turmoil. On a windswept, barren island, Andreas (Max von Sydow) lives simply and quietly until he becomes entangled with Anna (Liv Ullmann), a beautiful, mysterious widow, and a neighboring couple (Bibi Andersson, Erland Josephson) harboring their own sorrows and illusions. But soon, secrets from Andreas and Anna's pasts threaten to shatter not only their desperate attempt at love but their tenuous hold on reality as well.Art House & International DVD Video
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