Secrets of Women

Based on a story by Gun Grut, Kvinnors vantan (Secrets of Women or Waiting Women) is the story of a group of sisters-in-law who each tell each other stories about their husbands as they’re all set to return home during a summer holiday. Written for the screen and directed by Ingmar Bergman, the film is a reflective look into a group of women who all talk about their relationships as well as reveal about some of the drawbacks of marriage. Starring Anita Bjork, Eva Dahlbeck, Maj-Britt Nilsson, Birger Malmsten, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Karl-Arne Holmsten, Jarl Kulle, Aino Taube, and Hakan Westergren. Kvinnors vantan is a witty yet engaging film from Ingmar Bergman.

Four sisters-in-law are at their family summer home waiting for their respective husbands to arrive as three of them talk about their marriage in some revealing stories about certain aspects of their lives. It’s a film whose simple premise that is sort of told in a reflective narrative as these women are waiting for their husbands to arrive as they’re with the kids and others as they tell their stories to a young woman who is interested as she also has a lover she’s waiting for. Ingmar Bergman’s screenplay follows a simple structure where three of the five women in the living room tell their respective stories on their marriages.

The first story from Rakel (Anita Bjork) has her recalling an affair with a friend in Kaj (Jarl Kulle) while she is married to Eugen (Karl-Arne Holmsten) as it relates to his reaction about the affair. The second story from Marta (Maj-Britt Nilsson) is about how she met Eugen’s younger brother Martin (Birger Malmsten) that lead to a pregnancy while recalling the time she was about to give birth to their child without him present. The third and final story from Karin (Eva Dahlbeck) is about her marriage Fredrik (Gunnar Bjornstrand) on a night where they get stuck in an elevator that has them revealing so much to each other. It is told to Marta’s younger sister Maj (Gerd Andersson) who is hoping to run away with her lover Henrik (Bjorn Bjelfvenstam).

Bergman’s direction definitely has some elements of style in some of the compositions that he creates yet he maintains that air of intimacy into the direction as it is focused on a group of women telling stories to one another. Shot mainly in parts of Stockholm and Paris as well as the Swedish countryside where the main bulk of the story takes place. There are a few wide shots in some of the locations as well as this lavish scene at the Parisian night club that Marta goes to where she meets Martin that include shots of topless women. Much of Bergman’s direction emphasizes on close-ups and medium shots with the few wide shots used for stylistic reasons as the intimacy play into how characters are shot inside a room or inside an apartment.

There are also these moments where Bergman would have the camera linger on for a few minutes knowing when not to cut as it adds to the conversations and dramatic moments in the film with Karin’s story about being in an elevator with Fredrik being the funniest segment of them all. The rest of the film is dramatic with Rakel being the most serious of the three yet Bergman does keep an air of intrigue into the drama as well as raise questions into why the fourth sister-in-law in Annette (Aino Taube) hasn’t told her story. Overall, Bergman crafts an engrossing yet compelling film about a group of women waiting for their husbands to arrive at the summer home.

Cinematographer Gunnar Fischer does brilliant work with the film’s black-and-white photography with the usage of shadows and light for the scenes inside the elevator, the Parisian nightclub, and in some exterior scenes as it is one of the film’s highlights. Editor Oscar Rosander does excellent work with the editing as it is straightforward with a few stylish bits in rhythmic cuts for the humor and drama as well as some stylish superimposed dissolves for a montage scene in Marta’s story. Production designer Nils Svenwall does fantastic work with the look of the Parisian nightclub interiors as well as the look of the homes of the characters including the room where the women talk about their marriages.

Costume designer Barbro Sorman does terrific work with the dresses and clothes that the women wear that each play into their personalities. The sound work of Sven Hansen is superb for its natural approach to the sound as well as some of the raucous atmosphere of the clubs and the sound effects in the elevator. The film’s music by Erik Nordgren is wonderful for its orchestral score that include some woodwind-based pieces as well as some lush strings to play into the drama as well as bombastic music for the Parisian club scene.

The film’s incredible cast feature some notable small roles from Aino Taube as the fourth wife Annette who doesn’t have much to say, Hakan Westergren as Annette’s husband Paul who is eldest brother of the family, Bjorn Bjelfvenstam as Annette and Paul’s son Henrik who is also Maj’s lover, Gerd Andersson as Marta’s younger sister Maj who listens to the stories of her sister and her other sisters-in-law, and Jarl Kulle in a terrific performance as Rakel’s lover Kaj who is also a friend of her husband as he would play into some of the emotional waters of their marriage. Karl-Arne Holmsten is superb as Rakel’s husband Eugen as a man who is fragile as he would have a hard time coping with the flaws of his marriage to Rakel. Birger Malmsten is fantastic as Martin Lobelius as an artist who would meet and fall for Marta only to get her pregnant as he wouldn’t know about the existence of her child as well as cope with his own issues in being part of a revered family.

Gunnar Bjornstrand is excellent as Karin’s husband Fredrik as a man who always like to look at his best as he deals with his own shortcomings and neglect towards Karin once they get trapped in an elevator. Maj-Britt Nilsson is brilliant as Marta as a young woman married to Martin as she deals with how they met and how their relationship took a drastic turn due to their affair and what she had to deal with by herself. Eva Dahlbeck is amazing as Karin as Fredrik’s wife who reveals about secrets she has been keeping from her husband while trying to find ways to relate to him again despite the flaws in their marriage. Finally, there’s Anita Bjork in a radiant performance as Rakel as a woman in an affair with a longtime friend as she deals with its complications as well as the emotional chaos it would bring into her marriage.

Kvinnors vantan is a remarkable film from Ingmar Bergman. Featuring a great cast, a captivating script, gorgeous visuals, and themes of love, marriage, temptation, and desire. It’s a film that follow three stories of relationships told by three sisters-in-law as they wait for their husbands to arrive at the family summer home. In the end, Kvinnors vantan is a marvelous film from Ingmar Bergman.

Ingmar Bergman Films: (Crisis) - (It Rains on Our Love) - (A Ship to India) - (Music of Darkness) - (Port of Call) - (Prison) - (Thirst (1949 film)) - (To Joy) - (This Can’t Happen Here) - (Summer Interlude) - Summer with Monika - Sawdust and Tinsel - A Lesson in Love - Dreams (1955 film) - Smiles of a Summer Night - The Seventh Seal - (Mr. Sleeman is Coming) – Wild Strawberries - (The Venetian) - (Brink of Life) - (Rabies) - The Magician (1958 film) - The Virgin Spring - The Devil's Eye - Through a Glass Darkly - Winter Light - The Silence (1963 film) - All These Women - Persona - (Stimulantia-Daniel) – Hour of the Wolf - (Shame (1968 film)) - (The Rite) - The Passion of Anna - (The Touch) – Cries & Whispers - Scenes from a Marriage - (The Magic Flute) - (Face to Face) - (The Serpent’s Egg) – Autumn Sonata - From the Life of the Marionettes - Fanny & Alexander - (After the Rehearsal) - (The Blessed Ones) - (In the Presence of a Clown) - (The Image Makers) – Saraband

© thevoid99 2019

2015 Cannes Marathon: Miss Julie (1951 film)

(Co-Winner of the Palme d’Or w/ Miracle in Milan at the 1951 Cannes Film Festival)

Based on the play by August Strindberg, Miss Julie is the story of a count’s daughter who falls in love with one of her servants in 19th Century Sweden. Written for the screen and directed by Alf Sjoberg, the film is an exploration into class, sex, and power at a time where everyone had a role to play as a woman struggles with this role. Starring Anita Bjork and Ulf Palme. Miss Julie is an evocative yet intense drama from Alf Sjoberg.

Set in 19th Century Sweden, the film revolves a woman who just broke off her engagement with another man as she copes with her unhappiness with one of her servants whom she falls in love with. It’s a film that plays into a world where two people are in love but are forced to deal with their class and social differences as well as what is expected for them. Even as the titular character (Anita Bjork) is coping with memories of her own childhood and her late mother (Lissa Alandh) where Julie also talks to the servant Jean (Ulf Palme) who keeps her company while expressing his own feelings for her. Still, Jean knows that being with her would cause trouble as he’s already betrothed to someone else. Just as the two reflect on their own childhood, the script allows the two to bond as well as ponder the possibilities of being together. At the same time, the two cope with their own internal struggles of who they are and where they come from as it plays to the reasons into why they couldn’t be together.

Alf Sjoberg’s direction is very mesmerizing for the way he captures not just life in the middle of 19th Century countryside where many of the servants at this estate are having a celebration in the middle of this intense story. Sjoberg’s direction not only has some wide and medium shots to play into this celebration and events that goes on outside of the story but also play into a world where Julie is and how oppressed her life was as a child and as an adult. Sjoberg’s usage of tracking shots and other stylistic shots that blur the idea of past and present not only help create moments that play into Julie and Jean’s own tumultuous past but also their own sense of repression. Sjoberg’s close-ups with these backdrops that play into not just Julie and Jean’s own desires but also the world that they come from. Most notably in the former as it relates to her relationship with her late mother and the ideals that her mother tried to instill upon her which would add to Julie’s own anguish about herself and what she wants. Overall, Sjoberg creates a truly captivating and mesmerizing film about a woman’s anguish towards what she wants and what she is expected to do.

Cinematographer Goran Strindberg does amazing work with the film‘s black-and-white photography that manages to bring in something natural to some of the film‘s exterior settings with its ponds and creeks along with some unique lighting for some scenes set at night. Editor Lennart Wallen does excellent work with the editing with its stylish usage of transition wipes as well as inspired usage of dissolves to play into the idea of past and present. Art director Bibi Lindstrom does fantastic work with the look of the estate and its interiors to play into the world that Julie lives in. The sound work of Lars Lalin is terrific to play into the atmosphere of the celebration gathering as well as sparse moments inside the rooms of the estate. The film’s music by Dag Wiren is superb for its orchestral-based score that plays into the drama with some eerie pieces as well as some somber moments that play into Julie’s sense of torment.

The film’s brilliant cast include some notable small roles from Inger Norberg and Jan Hagerman in their respective roles as the young Julie and Jean, Kurt-Olof Sundstrom as Julie’s fiancee, Inga Gill as a servant named Viola who has feelings for Jean, Ake Claesson as a doctor in a flashback scene, Margaretha Krook as the house governess from the flashback scenes, and Max von Sydow as a farmhand who spies on Julie and Jean. Anders Henrikson is terrific as Julie’s father who adores his daughter while Lissi Alandh is fantastic as Julie’s mother in the flashback scenes who is a woman of immense darkness as she would do things that would trouble Julie as an adult.

Marta Dorff is amazing as the cook Kristin who is betrothed to Jean as she also talks to Julie as she brings a complexity to her character as someone that wants to help Julie but is very devoted to Jean whom she loves very much. Ulf Palme is excellent as Jean as a servant who has feelings for Julie as he tries to serve her while willing to talk to her about her own feelings and offering her the chance to escape from her life. Finally, there’s Anita Bjork in a radiant performance as the titular character as this woman who is in love with Jean but her social and class standing as well as her disdain towards men bring a sense of anguish into the character as it’s a very intense performance from Bjork.

Miss Julie is a remarkable film from Alf Sjoberg that features great performances from Anita Bjork and Ulf Palme. It’s a film that plays into the idea of desires in a world where two people are repressed by their own social and class backgrounds as well as what is expected from them in these roles. In the end, Miss Julie is a tremendously rich and powerful film from Alf Sjoberg.

Alf Sjoberg Films: (Den starkaste) - (They Staked Their Lives) - (Den blomstertid) - (Hem fran Babylon) - (The Heavenly Play) - (Kungajakt) - Torment (1944 film) - (Resan bort) - (Iris and the Lieutenant) - (Only a Mother) - (Barabbas (1953 film)) - (Only a Mother) - (Karin Mansdotter) - (Wild Birds) - (Last Pair Out) - (The Judge (1960 film)) - (On (1966 film)) - (The Father (1969 film))

© thevoid99 2015