Saraband

Lutheran, The, Sep 2005 by Brussat, Frederic, Brussat, Mary Ann

MOVIE Saraband is the film that 85year-old Ingmar Bergman has said will be his last. This Swedish film writer and director has made some 40 works including such classics as Wild Strawberries, The Magic Flute, The Silence, Cries and Whispers and Autumn Sonata. He was awarded three Oscars for best foreign-language film: The Virgin Spring, Through a Glass Darkly and Fanny and Alexander. This film, which was shot for television in high-definition video, is a touching and emotionally resonant sequel to the 1973 film Scenes from a Marriage.

After not seeing him for 30 years, Marianne (Liv Ullmann) decides to visit her ex-husband, Johann (Erland Josephson), who lives in a large, secluded house by himself. He isn't happy with her surprise visit. Johann's son Henrik, from a previous mar riage, lives nearby with his 19year-old daughter, Karin. He is a musician who is teaching her cello and has high hopes that she will enter the conservatory. Both of them are still mourning the loss of Anna, his wife and her mother, who died of cancer two years ago.

Marianne meets Henrik in a nearby church where he is playing the organ. He talks freely about his hatred for his father who seems to have nothing but contempt for him. After he leaves Marianne says a silent prayer in front of an altar. In the closing scenes of the film, father and daughter, and ex-husband and wife have meaningful encounters with each other (Sony Pictures Classics, R-brief nudity, language, a violent image).

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