Au seuil de la vie

Getting close to the end of my Ingmar Bergman quest, I now see him as a director that I admire highly. And I love his films, so far actually All These Women is the only one I didn't like. So Close to Life is a gem. The subject matter is a challenging one indeed, but handled very intelligently by Bergman that is never dealt with in a heavy-handed way. This is further advantaged by a thoughtful script and superb direction. Same with how the characters are written, how Bergman portrays women in his films never fails to compel or amaze me. These characters are not stereotypes or ones that don't engage you in any way, these characters are ones that are compellingly real. As always with a Bergman film, So Close to Life is incredibly well made, being strikingly and atmospherically shot and with memorable scenery and imagery. The acting is exceptional from some of the best ever Swedish actors, so much so that it is difficult to give a definite standout. If I did have to choose, Bibbi Andersson probably whose performance is up there among her best. All in all, a Bergman gem yet sadly overlooked. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Without too much variation (hardly any), or adjustment, modification, this incredible presentation would take very little contemporisation - and perhaps that's why its effect today is just as impactful as it must have been upon release, with three stellar female performances built around stories as believable and real, both in isolation and the way they're weaved together, to leave the viewer under no illusion of the heartache and pain they all endure.

Eva Dahlbeck, Ingrid Thulin and Bibi Andersson are immense as the three ladies in the maternity ward revealing their thoughts and their secrets.

I saw this film 50 years ago, and already then it impressed me as possibly Ingmar Bergman's best film. It's the closest he ever got to a documentary, and the whole film is shatteringly replenished with intimate close-ups of three mothers at the last stage of the most interesting condition for a woman, two of them giving births, the third being there after a failed abortion. There are other women as well, some nurses and two female visitors but very few men, four altogether, two of them being doctors and two husbands, a failed one and Max von Sydow. The finest acting is presented by Ingrid Thulin, who introduces the film with her passionate and shattering martyrdom and who stays the dominating element of the film although only resignedly from the background; but all these characters are given their own life and space and important part in this every day shattering drama of life, death and birth in totally organic realism.

Seeing it again after 50 years and on the centennial of Ingmar Bergman's birth. it roused an enormous interest in Bergman's other early films from the 50s, which used to be his best, but this is still for me number one.

'Brink of Life' (aka. 'So Close to Life') is a gripping, fairly early minor work from quite possibly the most consistently rewarding film maker of emotional drama that ever lived.

Three women from very different worlds find themselves in the same maternity ward, confronting different dilemmas in the face of the human race's oldest routine.

While Bergman's films are almost always bleak portrayals of suffering and confrontation, his films also remind us that suffering can be as fleeting as happiness; despair can be replaced by strength, just as certified happiness can face unexpected disaster. There is a comfort in his sadness, a powerful reminder of existence, even when it hurts.

Bergman favourites are featured: the always incredible Ingrid Thulin shines, as does Bibi Andersson in the role of a confused and insecure young unmarried mother-to-be. Eva Dahlbeck perhaps steals the show with her portrayal of trauma.

Undervalued Bergman film whose themes are pregnancy and birth. I've never seen these subjects discussed in a film with such lucidity. Three women in various states of pregnancy are in a hospital room together. We are first introduced to Ingrid Thulin, who is only a few months pregnant. She has come to the hospital because she has had a hemorrhage. She loses the fetus, which gives her a new view on her relationship with her husband (Erland Josephson). One of her roommates, played by Eva Dahlbeck, is nearing the end of her pregnancy. She has a loving relationship with her husband, and they cannot wait to have their child. The third roommate is Bibi Andersson, a young, single woman who has had an abortion before. She doesn't want this baby, either, but neither does she want to have another abortion. Childbirth really is a frightening thing. Even if the woman has a man, she is alone within herself when the event happens. I think this may be one of Bergman's best films, although the poor quality of the video harmed its effect quite a bit. It had white subtitles, and, since the entire film takes place in a hospital, you could imagine that the white hospital gowns and sheets and such really block the subtitles a good amount of the time. There were certainly some major bits of dialogue that I had no chance of understanding. I eagerly await a proper DVD release, although I'm not going to hold my breath. The three actresses are absolutely brilliant, especially Bibi Andersson, who definitely gives one of her best performances.