Film Reviews

Saraband

• Rating:
• Director: Ingmar Bergman
• Starring: Borje Ahsledt
• Details: Sweden/107mins (15s).

After thirty years of no contact, Marianne (Ullman) decides to drop in on former husband Johan (Josephson) and wake him from his slumber with a sweet kiss. Much has happened in those years; Johan re-married and has borne a son, Henrik (Borje Ahsledt) who lives on his father's estate with his daughter Karin (Julia Dufvenis). Marianne learns that Johan and Henrik's relationship is strained and there is little or no contact between them but they do agree on one thing - Karin's talent for the cello must be realised. Johan wants Karin to enrol in a prestigious college while Henrik wants her to stay home to practice as a soloist. Henrik motives are not altogether sound, though, as a fear of abandonment and a hint of incest is whispered. Veteran director Ingmar Bergman reprises the couple and characters that starred in Scenes From A Marriage, and slows the pace of this film to coincide with his ageing protagonists. This deathly slow pace, and the fact that there is never more than two actors on screen at any given time, loses the audience's attention. Creating an emotional distance between the characters - and showing that by placing the actors away from each other - is a very well cinematically, but it doesn't make it a good film.

Review by Gavin Burke