Scenes From a Marriage - Criterion Collection

Starring:Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Bibi Andersson, Jan MalmsjÃ¶, Gunnel Lindblom, Anita Wall, Barbro Hiort af OrnÃ¤s, Lena Bergman, Rosanna Mariano, Bertil NorstrÃ¶m, Wenche Foss
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Studio: Criterion
Product Type: DVD

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Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage opens with a couple--Marianne (Liv Ullmann) and Johan (Erland Josephson)--being interviewed for a magazine. Every moment seems to teeter on the brink of some rupture; just as they start to get comfortable, the interviewer has them freeze for a photograph. After making some bland general statements, they both start admitting intimate details, confessing that they were brought together by mutual misery, then cheerfully claiming that theirs is a model marriage. The entirety of Scenes from a Marriage, which chronicles their emotional relationship even after their divorce and marriages to other people, continues to have these contradictory moments of honesty and self-deception, cruelty and kindness, concern and self-obsession--all laid bare by the skillful actors and the subtle, constantly shifting screenplay. Every scene is a small movie unto itself; in fact, Scenes from a Marriage was originally a six-episode TV show, which was carefully edited down into a unified film. This is one of Bergman's most immediate and accessible works, concerned more with the facts of human behavior than symbolism or abstract themes. Bergman understands how to balance what could be horrible pain and despair with the characters' earnest efforts to improve their lives. His imitators reduce everything to sheer suffering and alienation; Bergman sees the best in his characters, even when their actions are terrible. This 1973 film won numerous awards, including several acting honors for Ullmann. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Marianne (Liv Ullman) and Johan (Erland Josephson) always seemed like the perfect couple. But when Johan suddenly leaves Marianne for another woman, they are forced to confront the disintegration of their marriage. Shot in intense, intimate close-ups by master cinematographer Sven Nykvist, the film chronicles ten years of turmoil and love that bind the couple despite their divorce and subsequent marriages. Flawless acting and dialogue portray the brutal pain and uplifting peace that accompany a lifetime of loving. Originally conceived as a six-part miniseries for Swedish television, The Criterion Collection is proud to present not only the U.S. theatrical version, but also, for the first time on video in the U.S., Ingmar Bergman's original five-hour television version of Scenes From a Marriage.

Customer Reviews:

Scenes from a Marriage.......2007-07-04

Bergman's ambitious, profound chronicle of love, selfishness, regret and missed connections that often characterize matrimony, and indeed, male-female relations. Long and demanding, but richly rewarding, the film's impact lies less in its portrayal of a subtly stagnating union than in the nuanced nature of the couple's interactions after the marriage is over. An Ingmar peak. Stay with this-it's worth it.

Marriage Is Dead, Long Live Love.......2007-02-03

I used to think that I knew a thing or two about marriage having been married for as long as I have but nothing from my experience had prepared me for the merciless and deep dissection of Marriage: Bergman Style. When we meet Johan and Marianne for the first time, they have been happily (or so it seems) married for ten years. They have two daughters; they are still young, very attractive, healthy, educated, well off, and they seem to love each other very much. But Bergman is not interested in happy families - all happy families are happy in the similar ways. Like Tolstoy many years before him, Bergman explores the second part of the formula - All unhappy families are unhappy in their unique ways.

Bergman and his leading actors Liv Ullmann and Arland Josephson give one of the most truthful, honest, heartbreaking and credible portraits of a couple, one of the most intense character studies ever done on film. For five hours, we share twenty years from the lives of Johan and Marianne as well as their love, hate, misunderstandings, insecurities, anger, jealousy, denial, sadness, pain, despair, and loss. We witness the moments of incredible tenderness and unexpected and shocking violence, both physical and mental. There are no depth that they have not descended in the search of themselves and the meaning of their relationship.

There are actually four marriages Bergman studies in "Scenes from a Marriage" -none of them is happy, all are miserable. Bergman does not deny the possibility of finding a soul mate but his opinion on the modern marriage is quite pessimistic.

It felt like Bergman was saying - marriage is dead, long live love. For hours after the film was over, I could not shake off the sadness and pessimism of it. Only later I realized that even if four marriages in Bergman's film were disastrous, it does not necessarily mean that all couples in the world are or have to be that miserable. Bergman wrote and directed Scenes from a Marriage in 1973 when he was in his 5-th marriage, the one that would last for 24 years until his wife died. He brought in the screenplay (I think so but I may be wrong) the bitterness, resentment, anger and disappointments from his previous four marriages - maybe that's why the film is sometimes almost impossible to watch?

"Scenes from a Marriage" is a masterpiece but it may leave you devastated and emotionally exhausted. I watched the original 5-hours TV version and did not even bother with three hours version.

5/5

Yet another Bergman masterwork...........2006-09-13

This is a masterwork. Bergman managed, somehow, to top himself yet again with this extraordinary miniseries. It is a brutally honest, painful, funny (yes, funny), and depressing portrayal of a marriage disintegrating, getting back together, truly disintegrating, and finally, near the end, coming to somewhat of a reconciliation, even though it's more of a realisation than anything. It's not a tidy little wrapup you're used to in American TV/film. It is simply the story of a marriage between Johann and Marianne. There are many highlights, such as the dialogue in which Johann goes off on women and feminism in episode two. It is hilarious and quite truthful. But the best episode is episode five, when Johann and Mrianne finally sign the divorce papers. Marianne is much more assertive and independent, and Johann is meek and bitter. Marianne lashes into him with every emotion she can muster. Johann eventually breaks out into a pity party, then gets physically violent. Johann was the one who left Marianne for another woman in episode three, leaving Marianne devastated. It turns out that Johann's affair didn't turn out as he expected, and he's turned out to be the meeker of the two, and he doesn't like it. This is such a contrast to the feel good, phony advice that TV gurus, sitcoms, and countless "how to figure out men and women" authors dish out in this country. Relationships are extraordinarily complex things, and here Bergman dives into it like no other filmmaker has. Only Catherine Breillat comes close to the real issues that exist between the sexes as Bergman does here. I, like many others, initially saw only the theatrical version (and it was dubbed in English as well). I also saw it when I was around 19 or 20, so I didn't really get it. I watched it because it was "intellectual", I guess. But seeing it now, and having open my eyes to the world a little wider, I really appreciate it. Thanks to Criterion, I've seen the miniseries version, and it is far superior (like Bergman's Fanny and Alexander) to the cut version. And it plays better on a television, with the full framing intact (the theatrical version is matted). The penetrating closeups of faces really make this extraordinarily intimate telefilm/film/miniseries. You must see the entire series, as opposed to the edited film (while good, it still doesn't get at the heart of the series). If you really want to figure out men and women (or come as close as you probably ever will), see this miniseries. You still won't help you figure out men and women in a permanent sense, but it will help you understand things a bit better. Bergman is a master filmmaker, one of the best this world has ever given us.

my man berg man.......2006-03-23

i watched one episode while my mom was in the room and it was kind of awkward. i was glad she fell asleep about ten minutes in. i watched 'em all with rapt attention, boy are they cool.

Scenes from a Marriage - Criterion Collection.......2005-09-30

After seeing the recent release Saraband in the theatre, it was an absolute necessity to see the start of the saga. I was delighted to enjoy the intense emotions portrayed by the actors. It was a riveting look inside a marriage that is working well, or is it?

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