Musik i mörker

In Sweden, the upper-class pianist Bengt Vyldeke (Birger Malmsten) suffers an accident in the military drill and becomes blind. He returns to the house of his aunt Beatrice Schröder (Naima Wifstrand) and is initially supported by his sister Agneta (Bibi Skoglund) since his fiancée Blanche (Marianne Gyllenhammar) has called off their engagement and his friends have abandoned him. When Agneta goes to the university, the young servant Ingrid (Mai Zetterling) helps Bengt in his daily life and falls in love with him. But she overhears a conversation between Bengt and Beatrice when his master belittles her calling Ingrid of "little maid". Bengt travels to play piano in the restaurant of a cunning manager and finds humiliation and loneliness. Years later he meets Ingrid, who has studied and is near to graduate and he falls in love with her. But Ingrid has a boyfriend Ebbe (Bengt Eklund), strong and handsome, and Bengt has to fight with his inferiority complex first to win the love of Ingrid.

"Musik i mörker" is a melodramatic romance by Bergman with fight of classes in the darkness. Only recently the firsts films of my number one director have been released in Brazil by Versátil Distributor and all of them are bleak non-Hollywoodian romances. Birger Malmsten is again the lead star and the sweet Mai Zetterling is impressively gorgeous with her wonderful eyes. It is amazing the fight of classes in this period of Sweden. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Música na Noite" ("Music in the Night")

Bengt's lost his sight and is blind, his future now closed and confined, a musical career, may also disappear, a world for which he wasn't designed (just how do you come to terms with losing your sight and all the unplanned futures it brings).

Ingrid is a servant, a maid, she's become Bengt's supporter and aid, now he's opened her eyes, to the world and its skies, no longer surrounded by shade (the foundation for all success - opportunity, empowerment and education).

It's not a complex tale of two people finding themselves, but it's a beautifully performed story of two people falling in love under circumstances neither would have wished for, as their social status adjusts and their outlooks align.

'Music in Darkness' is early Bergman, his fourth as a director. Early Bergman is actually same expression like Early Kurosawa or Early Hitchcock - usually well made (far from being amateurish), but shallow in plot and void of depth in characters and dialogue. 'Music in Darkness' is exactly like that. Beautiful cinematography, but no other Bergman traits. If one wouldn't know it's a Bergman movie then they would think it's just OK melodrama about blind musician and his struggles with life and love. Pretty predictable and by the numbers drama that actually follows more classical Hollywood formulas than carries Bergman's voice (I guess that's the reason this is called Early Bergman). The subject of depression and human's inner fights are only touched on the surface. By far from being a bad movie, but nothing too memorable also. Competently directed little film.

I have nothing but love and admiration for Sweden's greatest director Ingmar Bergman, and would see anything with his involvement. Music in Darkness is a very early work of his, if I remember correctly it was one of his first. And it is interesting, but I don't class it up there as among his best. I wouldn't say that anything in Music in Darkness is particularly bad, it's just the matter of what was done here has been done better in his later films. Bergman is no stranger to melodrama, and Music in Darkness is basically that, but I do think his later films show it in a more expansive, less broad way. The characters don't feel bland or indifferent, there is effort to make the lead character not one-sided, but again the characters are rather broadly-defined and somewhat stereotypical, later on merged with Bergman's intelligent way of dealing with complex subjects the characters felt somewhat more real. The acting is good, there is some expression and enthusiasm, though none of the performances are up there with the truly great performances in Bergman's resume. These aside, Bergman does direct as intelligently and disciplinary as usual, and the script does provoke some thought. The score is haunting and fits the melodramatic atmosphere very well. The story is more straightforward than most Bergman films, but it is not dull and is interesting. But the standout here was the cinematography, which is remarkably good for an early film of a truly great director. In conclusion, interesting Bergman film but not quite what I call great. 7/10 Bethany Cox

A film directed by Ingmar Bergman at the beginning of his career, based on a screenplay written by someone else, Dagmar Edqvist who adapted it from his own play.

It tells the story of a young man who becomes blind in a military accident and has to rebuild his life with that big limitation. At first a huge, insurmountable obstacle, but which, little by little, becomes not only tolerable, but even a means for rediscovering the world, music and love, with a new sensitivity and a positive attitude towards life.

It may not be one of the Swedish master's best films, but it's certainly worth seeing.