Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

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Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) – I. Bergman

The Ingmar Bergman boxset from Criterion is “curated” so that the films are presented not in chronological order but thematically.  Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), Bergman’s first big success, was selected for “Opening Night” on the first disc.  Bergman himself provides a brief introduction (circa 2003) and (afterward) there is a discussion of the film by critic Peter Cowie and writer/Bergman friend Jörn Donner. I probably watched the film 25 years ago and I did not remember it at all.  At the start, I worried that I would be lost as we are quickly introduced to a number of characters in Sweden circa 1901:  Fredrik Egerman, a lawyer (played by Gunnar Björnstrand, a regular member of Bergman’s troupe), his teenage bride, Anne (Ulla Jacobsson), his teenage son, Henrik (Björn Bjelfvenstam, and their saucy teenage maid Petra (Harriet Andersson).  Next, we are informed that Fredrik’s ex-lover Desiree Armfeldt (Eva Dahlbeck) is starring in a local theatrical production and Fredrik and Anne attend, instantly arousing Anne’s jealousy -- and we find out that Anne is still a virgin when Fredrik solicits Desiree’s advice is helping him to secure Anne’s interest in sex.  Because, yes, this is a sex comedy (in the French tradition?).  Following this, we swiftly learn that Henrik is interested in both Petra and Anne, Anne is probably interested in Henrik not Fredrik, Desiree is still interested in Fredrik but is mistress to Count Malcolm (Jarl Kulle) who is insanely jealous and violent.   When Desiree gets her aged mother to invite the entire cast to her country estate for the weekend, she and Malcolm’s wife Charlotte (Margit Carlqvist) hatch a plan to have every person end up with the right partner.  Along the way, we see the king’s secret moving bed, a game of Russian Roulette, and a romp in the hay by Petra and a lusty groom.  In fact, the film has both darkness (suicide, Russian Roulette) and light (witty repartee, lusty antics) which is fitting for the midsummer’s sunlit night in Scandinavia, when passions run high and we learn of the three smiles of the title.  As shot by Gunnar Fischer, Bergman’s main cinematographer of this era, the film looks beautiful in B&W, with the final dappled light of early morning at the film’s close signalling that all’s well that ends well.  A tour de force.