☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½
The
Magician (1958) – I. Bergman
Opening like a Hammer Horror film and
then returning to this spooky supernatural world repeatedly throughout the
film, Bergman still manages to concentrate on his primary themes of this
era. Max Von Sydow – in disguise – plays
the titular Magician who is mute, depleted, unconvinced in his own abilities
but yet the show must go on. The artist
here is challenged by his critics who, following the principles of science
which deny the “inexplicable” (which is to say beauty, the sublime, the
mysteries of art) nearly assassinate him.
Bergman knows that the creation of (spellbinding) art is through use of
the artist’s tricks of the trade (smoke and mirrors here) but the effect on the
audience is what counts and the artist must not get despondent despite knowing
what is behind the curtain. Despite
these deeper themes, the film plays well as an entertainment, luring in viewers
and surprising them with a twist at the end.
Beautifully shot and acted, I must add.
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