Piove sul nostro amore

The title sounds like another of Bergman's early dockland melodramas, but this - his second film - is more good-natured whimsy in an attractively photographed rural setting.

Some of the scenes and compositions feel like flash-forwards to Bergman's fifties work; two that specifically anticipate 'Wild Strawberries' are the courtroom setting it concludes with and the fairy godfather played by veteran actor Gösta Cederlund (billed as the "Man with Umbrella") who gatecrashes it to serve as the young lovers' defence counsel. Having emerged in the opening shot from behind an umbrella like the stranger in the dream sequence at the start of 'Wild Strawberries', Cederlund thereafter saunters in and out of the action - sometimes in a haze of cigar smoke like Leon Ames as Mr.Candle in 'Yolanda and the Thief' - occasionally breeching the fourth wall to comment urbanely on the action.

Bergman is still making his way here, with a story that revolves around the struggle to be accepted by society if one has a stain on one's past. A man meets a woman who's missed her train, and they have a fling which leads to deeper feelings. The trouble is, he's fresh out of prison, she's pregnant from some other one-night stand, and they're both broke. The fact that the man has trouble accepting the woman's pregnancy initially was an interesting touch, since he too is judged for mistakes he's made, and it's also refreshing to see the open treatment of premarital sex.

The couple seem to get a break from a guy who lets them stay in his cottage and sets him up with a job, but between those who can't accept that an ex-con can go straight or the couple living together "in sin," and those who prey on their simplicity, they have a tough go of it. The film is a condemnation of narrow-mindedness which I liked, but it gets a little heavy-handed in a courtroom scene towards the end, and in the film's final moments, as sweet as the gesture was. The leading couple (Barbro Kollberg and Birger Malmsten) make a good-looking pair and I appreciated what the film was going for, but guard your expectations.

Ingmar Bergman is without a doubt one of the, if not likely to be considered the best filmmaker who ever lived.

Whilst most well known for his later works, beginning in the 1950s, he also made some great films in the 40s, this one being a good example of a great commentary on contemporary society and love.

The actors all do an incredible job, and the writing is masterful - as per usual with Bergman of course.

It showcases his brilliant cinematography, cutting and editing that is very characteristic for the director, and one that would often be found later in his works.

Overall, a beautiful piece that is definitely recommended for any lover of film and fans of Bergman.

Maggi needs to take the next train, she's confused, alone and feels the strain, escaping her past, with baggage amassed, no hope and with nothing to gain (sometimes things don't turn out the way you had hoped).

David overnights at the station, going nowhere and not on vacation, bleak future ahead, no hope only dread, an outcast and left to damnation (just as today, a blemished past can lead you to the fringes).

Together they make a fresh start, so much better as two than apart, it's a struggle, a battle, being treated like cattle, to haul the metaphorical cart (a lot easier together though, to carry the baggage of the past).

The biases and prejudice against those who don't conform to societies ideals, as relevant today as ever it was, and quite possibly more abundant and widespread in a more diverse ecology. Beautiful and sincere performances throughout, leaves you determined to never give up or give in.

This early Ingmar Bergman film already bears the marks of a great director with a striking sense of images - the cinematography is already here remarkable, at times touching on expressionism. It is a well written idyllic story of a young couple in trouble, he being just released from prison after a year for theft, and she being pregnant by an unknown man. They break into a small empty summer house, in which the owner of it takes them red-handed - and decides to rent it to them, so they start a life there under difficult and very basic circumstances. That's the set-up of the play, which turns in various different directions as the young couple struggle on in a cold October weather with lots of raining, and they have to endure some harassment from authorities, one of them being a very self-complacent and sanctimonious priest - a typical Bergman character, who always loved hanging out priests of double standards. It's an enjoyable film with a very appropriate score by Erland von Koch, combining dark comedy with social criticism in a perfect frame of idyllic environment - an ideal film of coziness.