Scènes de la vie conjugale

I saw Scenes of a marriage recently and have never stopped thinking about it since. The way it deals with the relationship story revolving around divorce is masterful. This unlike marriage story (similar type) isn't sad or emotional, this is depressing and it's beauty lies in the dialogues. The realistic take on love and relationships is never easy but this despite having a foreign language absorbed me in a way I hadn't imagined.

The camera work is really nice and the close-up shots made the film feel less like a movie and more like a scene happening in front of you.

I was really hyped for the latest hbo show which is a remakes of this but now after watching this, I don't think it will be as good as this, maybe an American style will be different but this is otherwordly.

Bergman's true essence lies in a deep study of the human condition which was very clear from Winter Light (my first Bergman) and his films are known to be depressing and leave a deep impact on the viewer and this is exactly what this did.

Both the characters were brilliantly written and how they react to their circumstances was really outstanding. The pacing is handled really well it just doesn't feel like a 3 hour long story about a couple talking.

After watching this, I could see how much of an inspiration it has served to some of my favourite movies of the same type.

Before Midnight took a realistic turn by escaping from the fantasised romance, Marriage story was also inspired from this and I am glad that I finally saw this movie.

The acting also was flawless by both the leads and it surely needs masterclass to portray such complex characters.

"Scenes from a marriage (1974, Ingmar Bergman) is an adaptation of the TV mini-series from the same director a year earlier. At the moment of writing this review (december 2021) the film is the highest rated Bergman movie on the IMDB database.

The film can be interpreted as a sort of "When Harry met Sally" (1989, Rob Reiner) in reverse. In "When Harry met Sally" a man and a woman take a very long time finding out that they are destined for each other. In "Scenes from a marriage" a man (Johan played by Erland Josephson) and a woman (Marianne played by Liv Ullmann) take a very long time finding out that their breaking up and divorce is not the end of their relationship (and maybe not even the end of their love). When we add "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966, Mike Nichols) to the equation we can make the following mapping:

"When Harry met Sally" is about the pre marriage phase.

"Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf" is about the marriage phase.

"Scenes from a marriage" is predominantly about the post marriage phase.

From this mapping it can be derived that in essence the naming of "Scenes from a marriage" is less fortunate.

Given the high rating the movie was a bit of a disappointment for me. I have seen better Bergman films, for example "Fanny and Alexander" (1982), also a TV mini series turned into a feature film.

The reason for the disappointment is I think the fact that in the movie the blame for the failure of the marriage is somewhat unilateral put on Johan. It is not a bad guy versus good girl movie, certainly not, but already in the first scene we see a confident Johan boasting at a journalist while Marianne is the modesty itself. Also in later scenes the man (not always Johan) is usually the one acting annoyingly. In the second scene for example Johan and Marianne are dining with a couple that starts quarilling with each other after a couple of drinks. By the way this scene owes a lot to "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf".

Disappointing for me or not the film has had a lot of influence. Sometimes the influence is on the whole oeuvre of directors such as Woody Allen and Richard Linklater. Sometimes the influence is on specific films about failed marriages such as in "Winter sleep" (2014, Nuri Bilge Ceylan) and "Loveless" (2017, Andrey Zviagintsev).

One of Ingmar Bergman's most well known films, but also looked to be one of his most challenging (on paper at least). Part of that's because of the length. I watched the theatrical cut, which is already about 168 minutes, and there's an extended miniseries cut (which looks like the original version) that's about two hours longer.

I liked this enough to probably give the miniseries a watch at some point, probably somewhere off in the reasonably far future though. The "short" version still felt like a full experience, and went by pretty quick considering its length.

Part of what also made this film look challenging was its subject matter and minimalist style. Being about the breakdown of a marriage and shot in a very simple way, I was worried it would get dull or boring to watch, but it kept me engaged throughout.

It's the acting and writing that really make this as good as it is, and the low-key, simple visuals really help ensure the focus is on the performances and the dialogue. I even found myself liking how stark and static the feel of the film was, as it worked well with the subject matter (a few of those quick zooms didn't look great though, but maybe the effect looked less jarring at the time).

Occasionally there was a line of dialogue that felt a little forced, but that could be as a result of the subtitles filling in gaps, due to the shorter runtime of the theatrical version. But overall, the writing is pretty strong, and I like how it focused on personal issues, thoughts, and feelings, specific to the characters, as I've found in the past that some of the broader, more overtly philosophical Bergman dialogue about "life" and "society" in general doesn't always do it for me.

But in the end, this is one of the best Bergman films I've watched so far, and between this and Smiles of a Summer Night last week, I've been really enjoying diving back into his films. I've only ever seen the theatrical version of Fanny and Alexander, but it remains my favourite film of his, so I may watch the extended miniseries version of that next, to continue this successful run of Bergman films.

Very talky, almost all in close ups. Like being on stage. The couple is clearly depicted early on - he's full of himself and she's subservient.

The film will try to show how their lives unraveled over the years, but strictly from dialogue in rooms, as we never meet the mistress, children, parents, or anyone else. Basically, an essay not a film, on male/female values. Bergman has made much better films.

"Scenes from a Marriage" (1974) directed by Ingmar Bergman is yet another of his numerous masterpieces, having directed more than 40 feature films in his career.

The film follows two characters, Marianne and Johan, and in typical Bergman style, he examines ontological questions of love, loneliness, being and what it means to be 'fulfilled' through the two protagonists. As with all of Bergman's films, 'Scenes From a Marriage' is not simply a plot narrative, in this case about a married couple and their 'ups and downs'. Rather, with his usual finesse and intellect, Bergman successfully probes into what it means and feels like to need the love, security, and validation of another person and the consequences of life-changing decisions that can happen in a marriage.

"Scenes from a Marriage" is a seminal masterpiece from one of the greatest directors in film history, and on par with many of his other films, and in my opinion only bested by two of his films "Winter Light" (1963) and "Persona" (1966).