SOMMARNATTENS LEENDE/Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

B

Directed at a faster pace, Bergman's SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT would have turned something like a French farce. But Ingmar Bergman's pace is slower and more studied so than instead of a frantic farce we get an elegant comedy of manners, a comedy of carnal confusion. It is well known that the great director was going through a particularly painful period in his personal life and credits this film with saving him from suicide. A group of people living in Sweden at the turn of the last century are involved in a series of convoluted relationships. Everything comes to a head when they are all invited to spend a weekend at the mansion of a famous actress. I hardly need to mention (after all this is a Bergman film) that the acting is first class throughout and the ensemble cast (led by the great Gunnar Bjornstrand) are superb. This film was the basis for Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (filmed twice) and was spoofed by Woody Allen in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S SEX COMEDY. The film (like the previously reviewed TORMENT) ends with one of the great life-affirming moments in the cinema, all the more effective because it comes from Ingmar Bergman. Rating *****

TORMENT/Frenzy (1944)

Directed by Alf Sjoberg from a script by Ingmar Bergman, TORMENT is an engrossing film. Part school drama, part rites of passage story and part thriller, with none of the elements overpowering the others. A student preparing for graduation is tormented by a sadistic teacher. One night after returning from a trip to the cinema he sees a woman seemingly unwell in the street. It turns out she is drunk and is a local shopgirl who also seems to be working part-time as a prostitute (in 1944, even in Sweden, this is not actually stated). The boy goes to her assistance and ends up spending the night with her. They begin an affair but the girl lives in terror of one of her "visitors" who turns out to be the the sadistic school master. To tell more would be unfair as this is an engrossing film with several surprising twists. Performances are excellent throughout with the lovers played by the young Alf Kjellin and Mai Zetterling. But it is Stig Jarrel as the teacher who steals the film. He reminded me of a cross between Walter Slezak and Anton Walbrook. I've commented before on this blog about the moments of pure gothic horror in many of Berman's films and there is a real heart-stopping moment in this film, which, although Sjoberg is the director, I must believe was in Bergman's script. The film ends on a real moment of hope which is beautifully conveyed. Rating ****