Scenes from a Marriage (Theatrical version)
This is the kind of film that could leave you devastated, and it’s not exactly the funniest or ‘enjoyable’ film in the world. But there is a reason why it was so popular in Sweden, it’s such an Ibsen. It’s as if all those realistic Swedish plays and novels have come to life in this little domestic portrait.
So yes, of course the film affects me. In these long relationships, I talk like they talk and, to some degree, I even think how they think. I started watching the film knowing that it led to more divorces in Sweden,
The best scene of the film are the close-ups of Liv Ullmann’s face when she hears about her husband leaving. Her, from today’s perspective, strange glasses intensify that look too. Though, of course, I don’t actually know if it is the best scene. I am only watching the shorter theatrical release version, and just like with Fanny and Alexander and am quite convinced that I would prefer the longer version. But, beggars cannot be choosers, and considering how much I liked the film already, I will be sure to see the longer version one day. After all, I already feel like the film was over too quickly, with 3 hours running time! Maybe watching it over 6 days, like a TV miniseries, would make sense.
Unfortunately, I hated the husband. The film would gain a little bit more depth if both sides are at fault in a similar manner, but maybe this is actually more realistic. That there is no balance between the two might just as well be the root of their problems. At any rate, the guy contradicts himself and plays the part who hurts, whereas Marianne is clearly the one who is being hurt. Male dominance and idiocy is so lame, even in this film. I know that all those artsy Italians and French do exactly the same thing, but there are different aspects. In “Le Amiche”, there’s the man who leaves his wife for another girl and then goes back without caring much about the feelings of both women, but there also is the career woman who decides to leave the man she liked because she thought her career was more important to her. “Domicile conjugal” is practically the French version of “Scenes from a Marriage”, where the husband is even more of an asshole than Johan here, but Nouvelle Vague films see strong female characters much more often even, like in “Pierrot le Fou” or “Jules et Jim”. With Bergman, man and woman always play their roles, even when it comes to their place in relationships. Even the “the woman is frigid” cliché is being brought up, my my.
Nevertheless, the film is filled with amazing one-liners that are so true it almost hurts physically. The amazing thing is not that they were smart people saying smart things, they are just normal people saying things a very normal person would easily come up with as well – just as irrational and silly (especially when Johan says he wanted “to be honest” after hiding his affairs from his wife for years) but filled with a wisdom that really only Bergman could come up with.
I would usually either find actresses beautiful or not that beautiful. It’s a personal, subjective impression, which mostly has nothing to do with whether they are major or good actresses or not, including Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Emmanuelle Béart, Julie Delpy, Virginie Ledoyen, Monica Vitti, Claudia Cardinale, Ornella Muti, Nora Zehetner, Greta Garbo. Liv Ullmann is the fascinating exception – there are scenes in which I am stunned by her dashing beauty, in other scenes I think that she looks fairly normal. But maybe, in some sense, she is the most beautiful woman of all of them.
Considering how long it’s been since I saw one of Bergman’s films last time, I had a hard time putting this film into context with his other work. (Bergman was so damn productive!) I wonder if this will happen to me with Godards too. But, this is one of his masterpieces for sure.