Scenes from a Marriage

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Scener ur ett äktenskap
DVD cover
Directed by	Ingmar Bergman
Produced by	Lars-Owe Carlberg
Written by	Ingmar Bergman
Starring	Liv Ullman Erland Josephson
Release date(s)	April 11, 1973 (premiere on Swedish TV)
Running time	155 min. 295 min. (TV version)
Language	Swedish
IMDb profile

Scenes from a Marriage (Swedish: Scener ur ett äktenskap) is a Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The story follows a married couple - Marianne and Johan - whose relationship eventually reaches divorce after several fluctuations. Their relationship continues after their divorce and they cannot keep apart.

It was filmed in 1973 and stars Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson in the aforementioned principal roles. The film won several accolades including BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Liv Ullmann (Best Actress - Drama), and a Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Film.

Filmed on a $150,000 budget it was mostly shot in Fårö, Gotlands län in Sweden. It was first released as a TV mini-series of 6 episodes spanning 295 minutes: it was then cut down to 155 minutes for the cinematic release. The full-length mini-series version, as well as the theatrical version, is now available on a Region 1 DVD set released by the Criterion Collection.

In 2003, Bergman, Ullman and Josephson returned to participate in Saraband. Despite the fact that their characters are again named Marianne and Johan, Saraband is not a sequel to Scenes from a Marriage.

[edit] Plot summary

This plot summary is for the 295-minute, TV miniseries version of the work. Each episode concludes with comforting shots of Fårö.

Episode 1, ‘’Innocence and Panic’’: The story begins with a laughingly superficial interview of Johan and Marianne by a reporter for a women's magazine, which nevertheless already begins to reveal the tensions the two keep hidden inside. The couple’s friends Peter and Katarina come over for dinner. The latter two are locked in a mutually destructive marriage and are ready for divorce. Later, in bed, Marianne reveals that she is pregnant, and Johan suggests that she get an abortion. In a hospital bed after the abortion, Marianne is regretful.

Episode 2, ‘’The Art of Sweeping Things under the Rug’’: Marianne tries to back out of a Sunday dinner with her parents but fails and realizes how difficult it is for her to defeat other people's expectations. Johan mildly flirts with a colleague at work who savagely criticizes his poetry. Marianne, a lawyer, counsels an older woman who wants a divorce after twenty years of marriage. Marianne and Johan discuss their sex life, and we learn that Marianne has become disinterested in physical intimacy.

Episode 3, ‘’Paula’’: Johan arrives at the couple's summer home and responds coldly to Marianne’s affectionate welcome. He laconically reveals that he has been having an affair with a younger woman named Paula and says that he is going abroad with her for an undetermined period. Marianne is devastated, her anguish evident in close-ups of the actress's face. Johan leaves in the morning. Marianne calls mutual friends to plead with them to stop Johan, but they reveal that they known about the affair for some time, which deepens Marianne’s despair.

Episode 4, ‘’The Vale of Tears’’: Johan is disillusioned with his lover Paula and visits Marianne, who has a lover of her own. They talk of divorce. Johan tries to seduce her, but she declines, claiming that she still longs for him and would only be hurt by the intimacy. They eventually attempt to make love, and Marianne admits that she wants them to get back together. They end up spending the night together without having sex. Marianne confesses that Paula has written her a letter.

Episode 5, ‘’The Illiterates’’: Marianne and Johan meet at his office to sign divorce papers. Marianne seduces him, but afterwards she confesses that she has only done so in order to prove to herself that she no longer feels anything for him. Angry, bitter retorts follow. Marianne claims that in her marriage she was stifled by Johan and society's expectations of her. Johan admits he wants Marianne back and refuses to sign the papers. When Marianne declines, Johan physically attacks her, and the two fight savagely. Afterwards, the two pick themselves up and sign the divorce papers.

Episode 6, ‘’In the Middle of the Night in a Dark House Somewhere in the World’’: Many years have passed since the story began. Marianne visits her mother after her father has died, and her mother reveals that she always did her duty as a wife. At his job, Johan drops his current lover and meets Marianne for a tryst at a friend's cabin. Both are now married, but their spouses are away. Marianne sees Johan as small and vulnerable and finds it touching. She admits to enjoying sex with her current husband in a way she never did with Johan, which upsets him. The two come to an understanding after Marianne awakens from a nightmare in the middle of the night. They decide that what they have together is the closest they can get to love.

[edit] External links

• Scenes from a Marriage at the Internet Movie Database
• Criterion Collection essay by Phillip Lopate
• Alternative Film Guide essay on film

Films by Ingmar Bergman

Crisis • A Ship to India • Summer with Monika • Smiles of a Summer Night • The Seventh Seal • Wild Strawberries • The Magician • The Virgin Spring • Through a Glass Darkly • Winter Light • The Silence • All These Women • Persona • Hour of the Wolf • Skammen • The Rite • The Passion of Anna • The Touch • Cries and Whispers • Scenes from a Marriage • The Magic Flute • Face to Face • The Serpent's Egg • Autumn Sonata • From the Life of the Marionettes • Fanny and Alexander • Karin's Face • After the Rehearsal • In the Presence of a Clown • Saraband