Thursday, April 02, 2020

Autumn Sonata / Höstsonaten (1978)

A shy wife invites her famous pianist mother for an extended visit after many years without seeing each other.

An intense film about the relationship between a woman and their mother that contains many realities applicable to other types of relationships. It starts slowly, banal, with characters who seem cut out from everyday life, who chat a lot without saying anything. Then the discussion changes and evolves at the same time as the awkwardness, timidity and formality of ones who have not seen each other for a long time evaporates, revealing Ingmar Bergman's amazing understanding for the human psyche. The two characters alternate throughout the film between the roles of victim and oppressor in a heartbreaking way, both having an authentic arsenal, for one of them an arsenal that was gathered and planned for an entire life almost unconsciously, and for the other, an almost accidental one, one that is merely a consequence of their own injuries and previous oppression. A true lesson about the need for balance when it comes to the human ego.

Directed by: Ingmar Bergman
Cu: Liv Ullmann, Ingrid Bergman, Lena Nyman, Halvar Björk

Rating: 9/10

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