Le Lien

I've heard a lot of things about this film -- it generally gets low reviews, is described as "unBergmanesque", and the fact that its so difficult to find led me have very low expectations for the film. I expected something between the atypical Bergman plot of "The Serpent's Egg" and the disturbing social violence of "From the Life of the Marionettes." I finally tracked down a copy, poor in quality, and expected mediocrity at best when I put it in.

After having just finished watching it, I can say I was very pleasantly surprised with the film. A lot of the things said about it are just plain false -- the plot is very much in keeping with Bergman's other material. A married woman, Karin (Anderson), falls in love with a disturbed architect, David (Gould), and the two begin an emotionally confused love affair. Karin is caught between her happy bourgeois life with her husband (Sydow) and children, and her passionate, unconventional relationship with David. Acting in bad faith, Karen refuses to choose between her two lives, though both David and her husband eventually push the decision on her. Like most Bergman films, its a psychological roller coaster and a bleak portrayal of the coarseness of human relationships.

Bibi Anderson does a wonderful job in a very difficult role, and Max von Sydow plays the part of the honest and good intentioned husband very well, playing hard on the viewer's sympathies. The stiff performance of Gould echoes that of Carradine in "The Serpent's Egg," so it must unfortunately be attributed to Bergman's struggle with directing in English, not on Gould himself. If I recall, the film was made in both Swedish and English, both versions filmed at once, which poses obvious production difficulties which might account from the some times mechanical treatment of the script.

The film has an excellent pace to it, and moves very swiftly and smoothly, wonderfully shot by Nykvist in a way very similar to "The Passion of Anna." Unlike a lot of Bergman's depressing work in the 1970s, I felt good about the film when it was over.

I don't know why this film has such a poor reputation -- I'm very much baffled after having seen it. My guess is the obvious mistake of having made it in English accounts for most of this.

Its seems a lot like Bergman's other work in this period. Very Good.

I guess the ones who are most apt to truly understand the depth of this movie are those who live a situation similar as Anderson's character - a housewife, dutiful to her husband and children, living a normal, stable, yet boring life. Then bursts into her life a charming, attractive, mysterious and intriguing man. Elliott Gould gives an amazing performance - different from the usual type of character he portrays, still perfect and natural. Thinking back at the movie, I cannot imagine any other actor doing playing the role the way he does. The movie is simply wonderful.

In a small town in Sweden, Karin Vergerus (Bibi Andersson) is a middle-class housewife, married with Dr. Andreas Vergerus (Max von Sydow) and having a son and a daughter. She meets the disturbed German-American Jewish architect David Kovac (Elliott Gould), who is restoring a church in her town, and has recently become friend of her husband. David has drinking and smoking problems and after a dinner party at the Vergerus's home, he confesses his infatuation for Karin to her. This declaration revives her sensuality and femininity, which were forgotten after fifteen years of stable and loyal marriage. Karin has an affair with David, tearing apart her world: in one side, she has the stability and safety of her boring marriage and bourgeois life, and in the other side, she has the freedom of the relationship with her lover. She has lots of difficulties to decide the course of her life. This magnificent open end film is another wonderful work of Ingmar Bergman, his first English spoken movie. Bibi Andersson, Max von Sydow and Elliott Gould have again outstanding performances in a touching story about a thirty-four years woman divided in two possible lives and without knowing how to decide the way to be followed. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): `A Hora do Amor' (`The Hour of the Love')

Separate cultural worlds entwine and collide, as David and Karin collude and backslide, betraying a friend, the other a partner, to gorge on themselves as their passions are transferred, not sure what will come of their clasps and embrace, with eyes that adore though there's often no grace, two lost lonely souls, with nowhere to go, marooned in their worlds by the seeds they have sowed.

It's not the most engaging piece of cinema from the maestro, Bibi Andersson is as gorgeous as ever and presents Karin in a way only she could. As for Elliot Gould, I'm not sure he really fills the role, cultural European Arthouse cinema is not what I would ever associate him with, and it shows, especially if you compare him to the legacy of legends that have preceded him.

Not one of Ingmar Bergman's- Sweden's greatest director and one of the greats in film history- masterpieces like The Seventh Seal, Fanny and Alexander, Wild Strawberries, Cries and Whispers and Persona. But it was better than I'd heard it was and it beats All These Women and The Serpent's Egg any day. The Touch is wonderfully shot by Sven Nykvist, no surprise as Nykvist's cinematography was always striking, complimenting the gritty yet beautiful locations just as well. There are moments where Bergman's inexperience in bilingual shows but he still directs capably and most thoughtfully with not many signs of heavy-handedness or pretensions if any at all. The music is appropriately atmospheric and takes care not to be intrusive. The story for the first two thirds is touching and mostly compelling, with themes and plot strands that are relatable to anybody going through the same thing, it didn't come across as heavy-handed to me, and have a sense of Bergman's style. Bibbi Anderssen is superb in a very nuanced portrayal, if there was a pick for the best thing about The Touch it would definitely by Anderssen's performance. Max Von Sydow is as enigmatic and stoic as ever, with facial expressions and eye contact that speaks volumes, a very sympathetic performance. The Touch is sadly hurt by mainly Elliot Gould as a rather stiff lead, and the awkward dialogue written for him(Anderssen and Von Sydow are not as badly affected though, though they have had much better material) and padding in the final third particularly that leads to literally nowhere are just as problematic. That is personal opinion though. Overall, not a bad film at all, in fact it is an interesting one especially for Anderssen and the cinematography but Bergman has done much better than this. 7/10 Bethany Cox