Scenes from a Marriage (1973)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Scenes from a Marriage (1973) – I. Bergman

In 1973, Ingmar Bergman created a six-part TV miniseries (close to 5 hours) depicting a marriage that collapses and the aftermath.  Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson play the couple and their acting skill is astounding (especially Ullmann’s, as she has the wider range of emotions to play).  Bergman pulls no punches – this is often raw and intense and vulnerabilities are exposed.  Anyone in a long-term relationship will have a lot to think about.  But yet, the view of relationships seems to be overtly Bergman’s and the autobiographical nature of these “scenes” is obvious – he is Josephson’s character (Johan) but he has immense sympathy for Ullman’s character (Marianne) and the film “takes her side”.  You could say that this is because of Bergman’s own guilt over his series of failed marriages and many concurrent affairs (including with Ullmann).  Naturally, the characters discuss this guilt and where it comes from and whether it is justified.  They discuss a lot of heavy things (the film is all talk), perhaps more than in the usual marriage (unless it is self-destructing), and problems with gender roles are explicitly chewed over.  Johan blames the “women’s lib” movement and Marianne blames the role stresses that she experiences (mother, wife, lawyer, daughter).  Of course, Johan is a complete cad – he cheats on Marianne – but he is a painfully honest cad, breaking up their marriage and explaining in terrible detail why he is doing so, in a way that can’t help but hurt them both.  After this moment, we check in with the relationship at varying intervals in the future (roughly one, five, and ten years later).  Johan and Marianne have taken different trajectories (his academic career and his newer relationship are struggling but she is feeling more and more confident and self-aware).  Yet – and this may be Bergman’s fantasy – they are still close, perhaps still in love, still volatile (able to set each other off), and impossible to extricate from their relationship.  Is this optimistic? Maybe.  It _is_ evidence of the way that people can impact each other, for better or for worse. I am not certain that I “believe” that this is the way most failed marriages play out (but the emotional moments in the film always seem to ring true). Bergman edited the 5-hour version down to 2 ½ for a feature film that played in the US in 1974 (both are in the blu-ray boxset) – it is possible that the short version would be even more intense without the natural lulls.  Although Ullmann and Josephson are on screen all of the time, we also see another couple with a distressed marriage (including Bibi Andersson), Johan’s partner in a workplace affair, and Marianne’s mother. The interactions with these other characters offer some counterpoints.  I could go on – there is much to digest.  If I’ve scared you (or the content itself does), let me say that despite the topic/events, the film is never less than absorbing and can be funny, thrilling, challenging, and yes distressing, but always worth watching.