Ingmar Bergman Vol 3

As ever with Bergman, don’t expect any light-hearted fare though you might be surprised to learn that this Limited Edition Vol 3 Set contains two comedies (yes, really), namely ‘The Devil’s Eye’ and ‘All These Women’. The remaining works confront the viewer with more familiar Bergman topics such as faith, religion and the general exploration of the human psyche. Presented as a Limited Edition 5-disc Blu-ray box set, Volume 3 contains eight films made between 1960 – 1969.

Disc 1 starts with the supernatural comedy THE DEVIL’S EYE (1960) in which an actor (Gunnar Björnstrand) delivers a rather witty introduction about superstition and religion before we find ourselves amidst the action – beginning with Satan (Stig Järrel) complaining about a pain in his eye, which he puts down to the Irish proverb that “A woman’s chastity is a stye in the Devil’s eye”. After further pondering, Satan comes to the conclusion that the stye has been brought on by young maid Britt-Marie (Bibi Andersson), the pretty but chaste daughter of a deeply religious Vicar (Nils Poppe). Britt is engaged to Jonas (Axel Düberg) whilst the Vicar, although very much in love with his wife Renata (Getrud Fridh), encounters marital problems as his spouse misses fleshly delights and passion. This setup provides enough reason for Satan to ensure chastity needs to come to an end and thus he decides to send serial heartbreaker Don Juan to Earth in order to seduce Britt-Marie BEFORE her wedding to Jonas. Meanwhile, Don Juan’s loyal servant Pablo (Sture Lagerwall) travels with his master – his mission is to seduce the love-starved Renata and thus jeopardise her marriage to the Vicar even further… Satan’s plans go pear-shaped when the usually indifferent Don Juan falls in love with Britt-Marie (who steadfastly ignores his advances…) Will true love succeed or will the Devil gain the upper hand? This battle of wills (and wits) is riotously funny and thus a rarity among the Bergman canon.

The second film on Disc 1 is the award-winning THE VIRGIN SPRING (1960) based on a 13th century ballad. It sees the great Max von Sydow as Per Töre, a prosperous and pious man who lives with his equally religious wife Märeta (Birgitta Valberg) and his virginal yet spoilt daughter Karin (Birgitta Pettersson) on a secluded farm. Also on the farm live some servants including the fiery Ingeri (Gunnel Lindblom) who is not only pregnant with an out-of-wedlock child but – unbeknownst to the others - has rejected Jesus Christ in favour of the Norse god Odin. She hates Karin seeing how others treat her with respect while they make no secret of the fact that Ingeri is considered a ‘fallen woman’. When Per decides to send his daughter Karin to a church in order to deliver some candles, Ingeri has to accompany her on the long journey. Along the way the two young women have a fall-out and Ingeri stays behind in an old mill while Karin continues on her own and makes the acquaintance of two impoverished goat herders (Axel Düberg and Tor Isedal) and a young boy (Ove Porath) who, after accepting bread from the naïve Karin, first rape and then kill her before robbing the dead girl of her fine garments. Some days later the two herdsmen and the boy arrive at Per Töre’s farm, not realising that he is the dead girl’s father. It’s only after they try selling her blood-stained clothes to Märeta under pretence the garments belonged to their sister that revenge takes its course… This is not an easy film to watch, despite magnificent performances, in particular von Sydow. At the same time it addresses the question whether in certain situations, breaking one of the Ten Commandments (‘Thou shalt not kill’) can be justified in the eyes of God.

Disc 2 features, depending on ones opinion, the most depressing two films out of the lot. THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY (1961) sees the director’s ex-wife Harriet Andersson as Karin, a young women recently released from a psychiatric clinic where she was held due to her frequent spells of schizophrenia. While she, her devoted husband Martin (Max von Sydow), her younger brother Minus (Lars Passgard) and her father David (Gunnar Björnstrand) all sojourn on a remote island (which looks about as bleak as the entire film), fractures within the family soon occur: during a fishing trip, Martin – a respected doctor – reveals to David that Karin’s mental condition is incurable. Meanwhile, David – a renowned novelist who uses his daughter’s illness for his latest work, not only suffers from writer’s block but has a strained relation with his son Minus, in addition, he has been feeling depressed for some time and even contemplates suicide. On the other hand, Minus feels neglected by his father and – like many an adolescent – encounters sexual frustrations. This cheerful scenario provides the base for the unfolding drama during which Karin engages in incestuous sexual activity with her younger brother (leaving Minus even more confused and enraged) while her own mental state collapses after she snoops around in her father’s study, only to stumble across his diary in which he has scribbled that her illness is incurable. Soon after, she cracks completely and sees apparitions of God in the shape of a giant, evil-faced spider (thankfully these apparitions remain firmly in her demented mind) and her husband Martin has no other option than to call for an ambulance. Despite this gloomy scenario the performances are excellent, with Minus providing the moral anchor between his father and sister. The film even won an Academy Award in the category ‘Best Foreign Language Film’!
If anything, even more downbeat (if that’s still possible) is WINTER LIGHT (1963) in which Bergman regulars Gunnar Björnstrand and Ingrid Thulin take on the leads – Björstrand as pastor Tomas Ericsson who undergoes a severe existential crisis (triggered by the death of his beloved wife) while Thulin plays the mousy looking Märta, an atheist and Tomas’ former love-interest who still has her sights set on him. The film also stars Max von Sydow as Jonas Persson, a father of three (his wife is expecting their fourth child) who is severely morose and commits suicide upon hearing that China is developing an atomic bomb. Once again, the film addresses familiar Bergman themes and just as in ‘Through A Glass…’ God is depicted as a Spider-entity. Those who love their religion will be fascinated by this film as it offers plenty to ponder over while those who don’t belong the former group will end up drifting in the same morose state as Max von Sydow’s character…

Disc 3 starts with the rather curious THE SILENCE (1963) in which Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and Anna (Gunnel Lindblom) are two emotionally estranged sisters who, together with the latter’s young son Johan (Jörgen Lindström), are stayin in a luxury hotel (which has seen better days) in the fictional city of Timoka – a place on the brink of war. While the depressed Esther (is there ever anyone in Bergman films who isn’t depressed?), a literary translator, suffers from ill-health, anxiety attacks and numbs her fears with vodka, her more upbeat sister Anna soon embarks on a steamy dalliance with a local waiter. Meanwhile, the somewhat neglected little Johan explores the near derelict hotel’s corridors and encounters a group of Spanish dwarfs who perform in the local cabaret, among other interesting characters. Despite the occasional light-hearted interlude, the film ends on a dark note…
The second film offers much-needed comedy relief – hard to believe that Bergman was capable of producing comedies given his penchant for doom and gloom. Although ALL THESE WOMEN (1964) starts with a funeral we know from the entire set-up that this is going to be an offbeat (occasionally even slapstick) comedy – and in colour at that! When the coffin bearing the corpse of famed cellist Felix is displayed, surrounded by what looks like cardboard scenery, his wife bids the corpse farewell… until we realise that several more ‘widows’ are following as Felix not only had a wife but many mistresses! The film then goes into flashback and we encounter musical critic Cornelius (Jarl Kulle) arriving at Felix’s summer estate Villa Tremolo in order to interview the musician for a planned biography. Throughout the film, Cornelius never gets to meet Felix, instead he makes the acquaintance of his host’s wife and the various mistresses, in particular ‘Bumblebee’ (Bibi Andersson) with whom he soon starts an affair before everything around him descends into chaos. With its surreal sets and madcap dance interludes this is great fun and one wishes that Bergman would have made more comedies throughout his career!

Unfortunately, for Disc 4 and 5 we’re back in the usual Bergman territory of ‘angst’ and identity crisis. PERSONA (1966) is the perfect example. Here, Liv Ullman plays Elisabet Vogler, a stage actress who suddenly stops speaking (in a flashback scene we witness Elisabet stop speaking during a performance of ‘Electra’). Alma (Bibi Andersson) is the young nurse assigned to look after Elisabet and attempts to get to the bottom of things, even taking her to a remote cottage by the sea. Although initially Elisabet continues with her silence, we might get an inkling as to the state of her mind when, at the start of the film, we see disturbing images of a lamb being killed, a giant spider (yes, spiders again!) crawling along a surface, a bloody crucifixion and a boy waking up in a morgue… it’s symbolic of course but once we realise how these images are connected to Elisabet’s fragile psyche we begin to understand the reasons. As the two women grow closer we learn that Alma, too, suffers from a deep psychosis brought on by something that happened in her past… It’s a disturbing yet powerful study of someone undergoing a huge identity crisis and the fact that Elisabet’s character remains silent while Alma does all the talking suggests that both women may well be the same person…

Last we have THE RITE (1969) with its bold topic of censorship in which professional actors Sebastian (Anders Ek), Hans (Gunnar Björnstrand) and Thea (Ingrid Thulin) are accused by narrow-minded Judge Abrahamson (Erik Hell) of participating in a play deemed as obscene. During the course of the film the actors, all of whom have their own dirty secrets, challenge the Judge – first individually and then together – in order to change his mind and confront his own sexual sensibilities. The film may shock Bergman purists as it features sexual content, nudity, and pagan S&M imagery…

With its limited edition (5000 copies), this Vol 3 is certainly not the easiest thing to watch, especially during times which are depressing enough as it is. For Bergman completists it’s a ‘must’ however and the Bonus material includes intro, audio commentary, a 2007 documentary (‘The Men and Bergman’), ‘Persona’ trailer, stills gallery and 100-page booklet.