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Review

Reminiscent of Denys Arcand’s work with The Decline of the American Empire and The Barbarian Invasions, Ingmar Bergman revisits in Saraband characters he first introduced in Scenes from a Marriage. After many years without contact, Marianne (Ullmann) visits Johan, one of her ex-husbands, at his country house. Henrik, Johan’s son from another marriage, also lives on the property with his daughter Karin. Henrik and Karin are still in mourning for wife and mother Anna, whose death from cancer wrecked profound devastation upon them. Fragile Henrik was unable to keep his job teaching at university; he spends his time with a small local orchestra and tutoring Karin in cello. Johan misses Anna also, but his emotional distance and stoic demeanor disallow maudlin sentiment. The loss of Anna was the loss of a key element in the family dynamic, and precipitates unavoidable crisis. Director Bergman has crafted another entry in his explorations of human heart and family psyche in this studied contemplation on relationship and the ties that bind one person to another. The story, which often comes across like a Mamet play in Swedish, is told in 10 episodes. Analysis and description is punctuated by eruptions of long-suppressed emotion and the exposure of a sadness that reaches across generations. Bergman can yet impart a distillation of human flaws and foibles with unblinking clarity.

 -- Ann Yarabinee