From the Life of the Marionettes

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From the Life of the Marionettes

Directed by	Ingmar Bergman
Produced by	Konrad Wendlandt Horst Wendlandt Ingmar Bergman
Written by	Ingmar Bergman
Starring	Robert Atzorn Heinz Bennent Martin Benrath Toni Berger Christine Buchegger
Music by	Rolf A. Wilhelm
Cinematography	Sven Nykvist
Editing by	Petra von Oelffen
Release date(s)	November 3, 1980
Running time	104 min
Country	West Germany Sweden
Language	German
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Aus dem Leben der Marionetten (From the Life of the Marionettes) is a 1980 film directed by Ingmar Bergman. The film was produced in West Germany with a German language screenplay and soundtrack while Bergman was in "tax exile" from his native Sweden. It is filmed in black and white apart from two colour sequences at the beginning and end of the movie. It is set in Munich. The title is a quotation excerpted from a passage in The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi:

"Most unfortunately in the lives of the Marionettes there is always a BUT that spoils everything".

Unlike Collodi's story, however, Bergman's is unremitting bleak in tone.

The film charts the disintegration of the relationship of Katarina and Peter Egermann, the feuding couple seen briefly in Bergman's earlier Scenes From a Marriage. As Katarina seeks other lovers, the emotionally repressed Peter descends into neuroses, eventually leading him to murder a stripper/prostitute (played by Rita Russek), with the same name as his wife, at a Munich peep show before sodomising her dead body. In the closing sequence he is incarcerated in a mental asylum. An odd counterpoint to the depressing tone of the film is the sprightly disco soundtrack over the end credits.

[edit] Cast

Robert Atzorn - Peter Egermann
Heinz Bennent - Arthur Brenner
Martin Benrath - Mogens Jensen
Toni Berger - The Guard
Christine Buchegger - Katarina Egerman
Gaby Dohm - Secretary
Erwin Faber
Lola Müthel - Cordelia Egermann
Ruth Olafs - Nurse
Karl-Heinz Pelser - The Interrogator
Rita Russek - Ka
Walter Schmidinger - Tim

[edit] External links

Aus dem Leben der Marionetten at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e The films of Ingmar Bergman

1940s	Crisis • It Rains on Our Love • A Ship to India • Music in Darkness • Port of Call • Prison • Thirst

1950s	To Joy • This Can't Happen Here • Summer Interlude • Secrets of Women • Summer with Monika • Sawdust and Tinsel • A Lesson in Love • Dreams • Smiles of a Summer Night • The Seventh Seal • Wild Strawberries • Brink of Life • The Magician

1960s	The Virgin Spring • The Devil's Eye • Through a Glass Darkly • Winter Light • The Silence • All These Women • Persona • Hour of the Wolf • Shame • The Rite • The Passion of Anna

1970s	The Touch • Cries and Whispers • Scenes from a Marriage • The Magic Flute • Face to Face • The Serpent's Egg • Autumn Sonata

1980s	From the Life of the Marionettes • Fanny and Alexander • Karin's Face • After the Rehearsal

1990s	In the Presence of a Clown

2000s	The Image Makers • Saraband