Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Hitchcoc As one goes through the Bergman canon (I've seen all the films that are available to me) I continue to embrace them. I don't know why. There is enough angst to light a city in his work and this one, originally made for television, is no exception. A woman, Marianne, goes to see her ex-husband, Jonas, after thirty some years. He is a self centered, cruel man who has attained great wealth. They strike up a conversation and she stays for a time in his house. He has a son, Heinrich, who is a failure in the eyes of his father, even though he is an accomplished cellist and organist. He loved the old man at one time and was pushed away for the most trivial of reason. Heinrich has a daughter, Karen, who is also a cellist and since the death of her mother, two years previously, has been under the constant thumb of her father. He is about as needy as one can be and forces her to stay lest he do harm to himself. I could go into great detail concerning these people. but I will leave that to you, the viewer. As with so many Bergman characters, honest discourse is nearly impossible for them. The loving an fragile are ground into the turf. This was Bergman's swan song and he didn't back off from the blackness of human nature.

Cosmoeticadotcom In 2003 Swedish film legend Ingmar Bergman made his last film ever- although he's said that before, some two decades after his prior farewell to film with Fanny And Alexander. He should have never come back after that valedictory, for his effort, Saraband, a supposed sequel to his 1973 Swedish television smash Scenes From A Marriage, is a bad film- the worst I've yet to see from Bergman, and a bad film by any measure. His other 'bad' films, Cries And Whispers and The Serpent's Egg, at least had some redeeming features, as the former was overall, a good solid film, while the latter showed some potential near the end. Saraband, by contrast, is an utter void, and takes all of Bergman's worst tendencies, shoves them all together in one film, recycles the worst parts of a half dozen other of his films, and the concoction is godawful, starting with the abysmal writing. I believe Ingmar Bergman, as a screenwriter, had a strong claim to being the greatest published writer of the 20th Century. Period. But, this work is bad, really bad, not only as a screenplay and a film, but most especially as a sequel to the great Scenes From A Marriage. And it starts with the bad writing.First off, before I delve into that, however, all the major critics are wrong about this film- in their qualitative assessment as well as its ties to Scenes From A Marriage. This is in no way shape nor form a sequel to that film because the two older lead characters, Johan and Marianne (Erland Josephson and Liv Ullman), while sharing superficial qualities in common with the earlier film's qualities, are clearly not the same characters, just as one has to posit that the characters in the TV miniseries version and the shorter film version of Scenes From A Marriage are different characters because they do not go through the exact same things, and key plot elements in one are not in the other. Think of them as parallel universes with slight differences. That contemporary critics miss the obvious in their arts reviews no longer astounds me, it only saddens me. There are too many key differences, however, to be overlooked. If that is so, then the two main characters in this film are even farther removed from the Scenes From A Marriage universe. Yes, they have the same first names, are a divorced couple, and had two daughters together, split up over Johan's similarly named lover- Paula, and work in similar professions to their younger doppelgangers, but all other similarities end there…. What made Scenes From A Marriage a great film was its writing, alone, and that Bergman never condescended. He let his viewers fill in the blanks they knew of from their own lives to background the scenes he showed within. In this film Bergman does not trust his audience, and condescends relentlessly. This is the sort of film that any producer worth their salt should have nixed, for it is an embarrassment to both them and to a great artist who is manifestly past his prime. Real greatness is knowing both what art to create and how, and what art to just leave in the bad idea pile. Bergman manifestly has lost that ability to discern, and this film's greatest flaw is, indeed, that it was ever made. It showcases all of his prior worst tendencies without a dram of his former redeeming greatness. It is forced, overwrought, trite, poorly written and acted, and just plain dull. Bergman leaves no melodramatic angles unused, and all to poor effect- death, suicide, insanity, incest; even Henrik's supposed life or death weighing on his abused daughter. Bergman has, like a child, finally ripped the zit off his face that was annoying him so long, and, with the pimple off, exposed a good deal of the red pulpy flesh beneath, and it ain't pretty!As for the DVD features, there are only a few trailers, a long making of featurette that, unfortunately, is not well structured nor insightful, and the DVD is not dubbed. It only is subtitled, albeit in crisp gold lettering. Saraband is an unfortunate end to one of the greatest careers in human arts, but worst of all shows the utter bankruptcy of most contemporary arts criticism, in that the critics too often excuse what an art lacks as if it has it in full, merely because of the artist's prior works or reputation. By allowing great artists' bad work a pass it sets up a precedent, so that the critic is not singled out for having shamed themselves by 'attacking' a master, that tells lesser artists that they do not have to strive either, and thus the downward cycle starts, and society ends up with reams of rotting garbage as bad art, and no one willing to pinpoint the stench. Welcome to the 21st Century world of art, and be thankful last century's Ingmar Bergman never had to deal with it, lest many of his greatest works would have never been made!

Roger Burke Before watching this final film by perhaps the greatest film maker of all, I looked up the meaning of saraband in one of my dictionaries: "a slow, stately Spanish dance, esp. of the 17th and 18th centuries, in triple meter, derived from a vigorous castanet dance." Much intrigued by that title, and how it relates to a sequel for Scenes From A Marriage (1973), I settled back for a couple of introspective hours.I've seen only seven or eight of Bergman's films. Compared to them, Saraband is different in that the story opens with Marianne (Liv Ullman) talking to the camera, pulling the viewer in as though an old friend or family member. And, throughout the whole narrative, Marianne occasionally glances at the camera, with a wry smile, a confused look, a hurt expression, continuing the intimacy established at the start and firmly cementing the relationship between the viewer and the fictional players. As somebody once said, all the world's a stage, and so forth...Thirty years after divorcing Johan (Erland Josephson), Marianne, perhaps rashly, decides to visit her ex and…what? Even Marianne, after talking with Johan for ten or fifteen minutes, rehashing old times and so on, takes a moment, when Johan goes to see about dinner, to look at me with a resigned expression and say: "Oh, God, I think this was a mistake." As the story progressed, maybe she had a point.Because she becomes enmeshed between the opposing views of Johan and Henrik (Borje Ahlstedt), Johan's son by another marriage, about the future musical career of Karin (Julia Dufvenius) who is Henrik's only daughter and a talented cellist. Henrik, an accomplished organist and also a cellist, wants to continue as Karin's music teacher and get her an audition at the Conservatorium; Johan, instead wants to send his grand-daughter off to a master Russian cellist, mainly to get her away from Henrik who is, demonstrably, overly protective and overly dependent – almost abnormally one might say - upon Karin since the death of Anna, Henrik's wife, two years prior.Hence, Marianne is, in succession, subjected to the individual viewpoints of each, and valiantly listens, as Marianne always does anyway: to Johan's impatience and anger towards Henrik; Henrik's hatred and fear of his father; and Karin's sadness and indecision. The conversations are searing to the soul. Not an enviable position for Marianne to be in, but she copes – and in the process discovers, at the end, perhaps the saddest self-knowledge of all.The resolution of the triadic impasse unfolds, almost inevitably, and this is where the title is so effective – as a metaphor for the slow destructive dance the other three engage upon, each desperately wanting what the other doesn't, and all overshadowed by the ghost of Anna, loved and lost by all three. It's indeed painful and yet powerful to watch: painful because you can easily recognize aspects of your own persona, hopes, and fears; yet powerful because Bergman provides the counterpoints as more-or-less normal choices that face everybody throughout life.Bergman is not beyond making jokes, however, when Johan, in discussion with Marianne, remarks there're only two requirements for a good relationship: "a good friendship and unflinching eroticism." If that's not Bergman talking then it's Kubrick. And, later in a self-referential gybe, Marianne - becoming exasperated with Johan's carping about Hendrik – tells him he's "like a forgotten character in an old film. And a stupid film!"The most important jokes are always those that poke fun at oneself, no?When it comes, as it must, the final scene between Johan and Marianne is a testament to deep and abiding friendship that goes way beyond mere physicality or carnal knowledge. So, in my opinion, as an end to a great career in film, Saraband actually goes on forever and wherever a man and a woman meet to find out whether they belong to each other. What could be better epitaph? This film stands in its own right, as a poignant and truthful statement about human relationships. For better appreciation, however, I'd recommend seeing Scenes From A Marriage first.Recommended for all adults.

MartinHafer Technically speaking, this film is very well-made. The acting, cinematography and all the other aspects of this "little" film are excellent. However, it is important to point out that this type of film about people and relationships won't appeal to everyone--particularly those who demand a Hollywood-style film. Also, it is a sequel to director Bergman's ultra-famous SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE. Like this previous film, this movie was originally made for European TV but was later released as a feature film. Finally, while people might naturally expect that the relationship between the two original leads, Marianne and Johan (Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson), after the first portion of the film, the relationship between them seems to be only a starting point and the focus changes almost exclusively to the sick relationship between Josephson's son and grand-daughter. This wasn't BAD, but in a way it was sad because the scenes between Ullman and Josephson were wonderful and I wanted to see more or this--the acting was so real and these quiet moments were very slow but also very moving.The bulk of the movie involves the sick relationship between Karin (the grand-daughter) and her father, Henrik. Since the death of Henrik's wife, he has placed all of his energy in training Karin to be a concert cellist. Instead of being his daughter, her needs are pretty much irrelevant to Henrik and she is a thing instead of a person. The viewer learns about this when Karin comes to her grandfather's house but finds that his ex-wife is the only one there. Although they have no blood relationship and don't know each other, Karin needs to talk and tells her how frustrating this relationship is with her father. Over the course of the film, however, you learn that this relationship is far more disturbing. Although it is not technically incestuous, the pair sleep in the same bed and late in the film, Henrik kisses Karin full on the mouth! Also, the emotional blackmail that he uses to control her is disturbing. This is a super-interesting film from a psychological standpoint though I am sure many in the audience will feel "creeped out" over it.Sure, there's much more to this very talky movie than just this relationship. The interaction of Johan and Henrik is very sad--as both men are so totally self-absorbed and screwed up that they both seem incapable of a mature relationship with anyone. In addition, the film focuses a lot on despair and loneliness--certainly NOT surprising from a Bergman film! If you are looking for all the problems to be solved or have a deeper significance, then you WILL be disappointed. Alienation and despair are nothingness are indicative of Bergman's own philosophy and permeate the film. Exceptionally well-made but depressing--it's worth a look unless you have depression. In that case, the film's grimness might drive you over the edge!