Sehnsucht der Frauen

I love this movie; although not amongst Bergman's best, it is very funny in parts and should not be shunned. Maybe slightly overlong - each time I watch it I wait impatiently for the lift-scene near the end of the film - but very much worthwhile. Indeed, the scene in the lift with Gunnar Bjornstrand (great actor) and Eva Dahlberg is fascinating, funny and frivolous - for the year it was made.

Sisters in law do reveal, why married life's so far from ideal, their journeys to (some) contentment, established often on resentment (from them or their partner or both), and how it's left a mark and how they feel. Rakel had an affair with her best friend, Marta caught a child and so was penned, Karin got a confession, Annette mild depression, and Maj, aims to become them in the end.

Rejoice that the worlds we live in today, in at least some parts of the planet, have holes in their nets big enough for the trapped to escape and forge futures for themselves, unburdened by tradition and past practices.

Four sisters-in-law sit around a table and tell each other stories of how they fell in love.

It's Ingmar Bergman's first comedy and that's probably why this particular film appealed to him, with its anthology structure. Bergman assembled his usual flawless cast and gave them roles they sink themselves into, with a gradually ascending level of hilarity in the four. Yet like all good comedies, like all good stories, it has a serious, if not particularly solemn statement to to make: love isn't one thing to all people. It's different for every human being.

Gunnar Fischer's black-and-white cinematography is lush and romantic. That's something modern audiences don't understand: black and white photography is more romantic than color, because it hides more; by reducing vivid life to mochmatic mages, it engages the viewer, forcing him or her to imagine, to invest effort into the viewing, and thus engage in the creative process. Bergman knew this, and with the help of his fine cameramen, brought this to life.

Early Bergman, and from the onset it is clear an artist is at work. The first conversation piece, with all 5 waiting women in the same room, is a long shot approaching 4 minutes, with various of the women talking. There are also already some typical Bergman postures, with one woman talking intensely and the one next to her staring vapidly past her downwards, seemingly lost in her own inner world. All that in well and good, but as soon as I heard the first monotonous monologue from the mother, her eyes turning to heaven, speaking of how she can not reach out to her husband", not even to scratch his eyes out, my Bergman-radar immediately hit the red zone. And surely enough, we are in for group therapy all the way, as each woman tells of one significant episode from their lives with their husbands. But it is a very elegant movie, and along the way you become quite sympathetic, even though all the stories describe infidelity and frigid bourgeous lives. My eye was caught by Eva Dahlbeck, who I also recently saw in Sommarnöje sökes. Here, at 32, she is sizzlingly hot. Overall it is a movie not to be missed by Bergman lovers, if mainly for historical reasons. His next movie was Monika, so this one can be said to commence his golden period. For the trivia-consumers: IMDb informs that Eva Dahlbeck has recently filed for divorce, after, ahem, 67 years of marriage. You go, girl!

See it. Lyrical, beautifully shot, quietly hilarious in spots, this film is seldom screened. Perhaps more than his better-known works, this film showcases Bergman's love of women. Bjork, Dahlbeck and especially Nilsson are adoringly photographed; this is passionate young Bergman. A delight.