Escenas de un matrimonio

Ohmygod. Liv Ullman really deserved an Oscar for this one, as did Bergman. WOW- not many movies are this honest, this heartbreaking, this true, and this tumultuous- we see two people, in and out of a relationship over fifteen years, experiencing all the pain, loss, love, hate, anger, jealousy, denial, sadness, and so on that finding one's soul-mate brings, stretched out long-term.

Not many movies even come close to this one's brutality in its genuine awareness of people. Most modern films (and television, for that matter) cannot even come close to the psychological precision of Bergman's films. Perhaps "Scenes from a Marriage" is his best work- more accessible than "Wild Strawberries", more compelling than "Persona." This is definitely a film to seek out.

The lawyer Marianne (Liv Ullmann) and the professor Johan (Erland Josephson) have been married for ten years, having two daughters. One night, Johan tells Marianne that he met a young woman, Paula, and he will travel to Paris with her for eight months. Caught by surprise, the perfect world of Marianne falls apart, and she starts living alone. Along the next ten years, they meet each other in different situations, in a relation of love and hate for each other. The first time I watched this theatrical movie I was single and was less than twenty years old. In that occasion, I loved the performances of Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, but I found the story too long. Today, with twenty-five years of marriage, I have watched this film again on video: what a masterpiece! Ingmar Begman presents an amazingly credible and honest story of the relationship of a couple along twenty years of their lives. Liv Ullmann is so beautiful and has such a stunning performance that impressed me. Erland Josephson also has a magnificent performance as an insecure but sensitive man, full of contradictions and without knowing how to make a decision about his feelings. Unfortunately the VHS spoken in Swedish distributed by Concorde in Brazil has many dialogs without subtitles. Sometimes, four, five sentences are omitted in the translation, or a long speech of a character is resumed to a five or six words sentence. A crime against the viewer! Highly recommended for married couples as a lesson of life. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): `Cenas de um Casamento' (`Scenes From a Marriage')

Scenes from a Marriage is a film about a breakup. We are not talking about some ephemeral youthful relationship, but a happy marriage of many years between a couple who truly feel they are happy together.

Yet cracks become visible, and soon the whole structure comes tumbling down as the once happy couple spends the next 15 years of their lives trying to make sense of it all. The film (aired in Sweden as a 6 part miniseries) is 5 hours of the most intense, painful, emotional conversations ever committed to celluloid. It is filmed almost entirely in close-up with sparse lighting and no music. I have watched it multiple times and by the end of the emotionally grueling experience it feels as though you have lived through each moment Johan and Marianne have experienced, no matter how far from your actual life any one detail might be.

That may not seem like the most pleasant viewing experience, but I should add that the film is not quite as harrowing as my description might make it seem. Yes, intense doesn't even begin to describe it, but Bergman has created the film with such honesty that there is no manipulation or unnecessary suffering. Even the immortal Eric Rohmer has never displayed this level of understanding into basic human relationships. Again, there is no manipulation here; Bergman would never stoop so low as to include suffering merely for the sake of additional drama. What is actually present in every second of the film is simply many lifetimes worth of wisdom on love, loss and moving on.

There are no easy answers in Scenes from a Marriage. The film is an emotional roller-coaster from start to finish. The person who is handling things the best will just as often have hit a new low when they are revisited down the road. The couple's bond will never disappear and yet they can never be what they were to each other. Old feelings resurface, old wounds reopen, old passions return and throughout it all Sven Nykvist's camera does not flinch. No film has done more with such a stark palate of images.

What elevates the film to "second favorite movie ever" level for me is not just the insight into human interaction, though that is my favorite subject matter in film. Scenes from a Marriage is not content to merely show what the loss of a loved one is like, Bergman also has a point beyond a simple documentation of the dissolution of a marriage.

By the final chapter, perfectly titled "In the Middle of the Night in a Dark House Somewhere in the World", an epiphany is reached. Johan and Marianne do not necessarily "get back together" or "never see each other again", but a certain level of acceptance is reached. That which can never be understood, which no one can put into words, and which has no solution is somehow grasped in the final scenes of this magnificent movie. Like a fleeting glimpse of the sun from inside a cave, all the mysteries of life and love briefly make sense.

While I never leave a viewing of Scenes from a Marriage feeling any less confused about the grand questions of life, I can't help but suspect that for a time during its brief 5 hours I almost had it. What more could any artist want from their viewer?

There are few other films that have the direct authenticity of this one. It is very frank, honest, tender, and heartbreaking. The performances of the two primary actors are amazing. Never once did I doubt their sincerity. In every single scene they overwhelmingly conveyed the intense and nuanced emotions of the couple. I use the word "overwhelmingly" because that is exactly what it is. At times it is hard to watch. Especially the scene in which Johan admits his infidelity. I could feel Marainne's hurt/anger/confusion. There are moments of intense tenderness, as in the last scene where Johan comforts Marianne after her nightmare. To be sure, the actors had some incredible material with which to work. Bergman knows human nature as much as any of modern writer. His dialog is poetic at times, and achingly authentic at others. They way the couple eviscerates and dissects each other is alarmingly, yet honest. Rarely is a character saying what they actually feel. Rarely do the characters know what they feel. They, like many people, really are "emotional illiterates." Bergman's direction is minimal, and that is what makes it so effective. The emphasis is completely on the characters and their existences. This is a powerful, evocative film. And I have seen only the theatrical version. I can imagine the full TV version is even more detailed.

"Scenes From A Marriage" is quite simply that: we meet Marianne & Johan ten years into their union & we witness half a dozen scenes of their lives. I'm not married, but I have of course known many people, family & friends, who were married & who talked, acted, & lived much like this couple does. That they are well-educated & affluent is somewhat irrelevant - married couples often seem to be keeping a certain secret (some keep it better than others) that they disguise with contentment, ritual, obligation, affection. Most of the time they keep this secret even from themselves. This movie is about the gradual discovery of the two main characters of the nature & ramifications of that secret.

As far as Bergman films go, it's strangely pretty, in color, with two attractive leads. But I think perhaps Bergman (& Sven Nykvist) sought to give us a sense of familiarity with the suburban, middle-class surroundings to lure us into a false sense of the security of the marriage in question. Without giving anything away, I suggest that this film is no less dark & heavy than other Bergman films; it rather goes for the heart in the way that you often wish modern dramas about relationships would. It's not trite, nor contrived, nor easily resolved. It's wise as life.

The movie was edited down by Bergman from a six-episode television series, which comprise the "scenes." The cast is great, but it's Ullmann & Josephson's show, & Ullmann is such a magnificent actor that I marvel at her expressive face, which Bergman smartly keeps his camera on.

It's unbearably wise, & sometimes difficult, but there aren't many films out there as honest as this one.