Scenes from a Marriage

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Scenes from a Marriage
DVD cover
Directed by	Ingmar Bergman
Produced by	Lars-Owe Carlberg
Written by	Ingmar Bergman
Starring	Liv Ullmann Erland Josephson Bibi Andersson Jan Malmsjö Gunnel Lindblom Anita Wall Barbro Hiort af Ornäs
Cinematography	Sven Nykvist
Editing by	Siv Lundgren
Release date(s)	April 11, 1973 (TV premiere) 15 September 1974
Running time	155 min. 295 min. (TV version)
Language	Swedish
Followed by	Saraband

Scenes from a Marriage (Swedish: Scener ur ett äktenskap) is a 1973 Swedish film and mini-series written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The story follows the relationship between Marianne and Johan (played by Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson) over the course of a number of years.

Scenes from a Marriage was first released as a TV mini-series of 6 episodes spanning 295 minutes. It was cut down to 168 minutes for cinematic release. When released on VHS and laserdisc, the 168 minute version was used. The Criterion Collection DVD includes both versions. The film was made on a $150,000 budget and was shot mostly in Fårö, Gotlands län in Sweden. The film won several accolades including BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Liv Ullmann (Best Actress - Drama), and a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2008, a theatrical adaption by Joanna Murray-Smith was performed at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, directed by Trevor Nunn and starring Imogen Stubbs and Iain Glen.

[edit] Episode summary

This plot summary is for the 295-minute, TV miniseries version of the work (the feature film retains the episode names as chapter titles). Each episode concludes with comforting shots of Fårö.

• Episode 1: Innocence and Panic. The story begins with a laughingly superficial interview of Johan and Marianne by a reporter for a women's magazine, which nevertheless already begins to reveal the tensions the two keep hidden inside. The couple’s friends Peter and Katarina come over for dinner. The latter two are locked in a mutually destructive marriage and are ready for divorce. Later, in bed, Marianne reveals that she is pregnant. Johan & she discuss the possibility of abortion. In a hospital bed after the abortion, Marianne is regretful.

• Episode 2: The Art of Sweeping Things Under the Rug. Marianne tries to back out of a Sunday dinner with her parents but fails and realizes how difficult it is for her to defeat other people's expectations. Johan mildly flirts with a colleague at work who carefully yet demeaningly criticizes his poetry. Marianne, a lawyer, counsels an older woman who wants a divorce after twenty years of marriage. Marianne and Johan discuss their sex life, and we learn that Marianne has become uninterested in physical intimacy.

• Episode 3: Paula. Johan arrives at the couple's summer home and responds coldly to Marianne’s affectionate welcome. He laconically reveals that he has been having an affair with a younger woman named Paula and says that he is going abroad with her for an undetermined period. Marianne is devastated, her anguish evident in close-ups of her disillusioned face. Johan leaves in the morning. Marianne calls mutual friends to plead with them to stop Johan, but they reveal that they have known about the affair for some time, which deepens Marianne’s despair.

• Episode 4: The Vale of Tears. Johan is disillusioned with his lover Paula and visits Marianne, who has a lover of her own. They talk of divorce. Johan tries to seduce her, but she declines, claiming that she still longs for him and would only be hurt by the intimacy. They eventually attempt to make love, and Marianne admits that she wants them to get back together. They end up spending the night together without having sex. Marianne confesses that Paula has written her a letter.

• Episode 5: The Illiterates. Marianne and Johan meet at his office to sign divorce papers. Marianne seduces him, but afterwards she confesses that she has only done so in order to prove to herself that she no longer feels anything for him. Angry, bitter retaliations ensue. Marianne claims that in her marriage she was stifled by Johan and society's expectations of her. Johan admits he wants Marianne back and refuses to sign the papers. When Marianne declines, Johan physically attacks her, and the two fight savagely. Afterwards, the two pick themselves up and sign the divorce papers.

• Episode 6: In the Middle of the Night in a Dark House Somewhere in the World. Many years have passed since the story began. Marianne visits her mother after her father has died, and her mother reveals that she always did her duty as a wife, though is vague and uncertain as to whether or not she loved her husband, Marriane's father. At his job, Johan drops his current lover and meets Marianne for a tryst at a friend's cabin. Both are now married, but their spouses are away. Marianne sees Johan as small and vulnerable and finds it touching. She admits to enjoying sex with her current husband in a way she never did with Johan, which upsets him. The two come to an understanding after Marianne awakens from a nightmare in the middle of the night. They decide that what they have together is the closest they can get to love.

[edit] Cast

• Liv Ullmann - Marianne
• Erland Josephson - Johan
• Bibi Andersson - Katarina
• Jan Malmsjö - Peter
• Gunnel Lindblom - Eva
• Anita Wall - Fru [Mrs] Palm
• Barbro Hiort af Ornäs - Fru Jacobi
• Lena Bergman - Karin, sister of Eva
• Wenche Foss - Modern
• Rossana Mariano - Eva, aged 12
• Bertil Norström - Arne

[edit] External links

• Scenes from a Marriage at the Internet Movie Database
• Scenes from a Marriage at Allmovie
• Criterion Collection essay by Phillip Lopate

v • d • e The films of Ingmar Bergman 1940s Crisis (1946) • It Rains on Our Love (1946) • A Ship to India (1947) • Music in Darkness (1948) • Port of Call (1948) • Prison (1949) • Thirst (1949) 1950s To Joy (1950) • This Can't Happen Here (1950) • Summer Interlude (1951) • Secrets of Women (1952) • Summer with Monika (1953) • Sawdust and Tinsel (1953) • A Lesson in Love (1954) • Dreams (1955) • Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) • The Seventh Seal (1957) • Wild Strawberries (1957) • Brink of Life (1958) • The Magician (1958) 1960s The Virgin Spring (1960) • The Devil's Eye (1960) • Through a Glass Darkly (1961) • Winter Light (1962) • The Silence (1963) • All These Women (1964) • Persona (1966) • Hour of the Wolf (1968) • Shame (1968) • The Rite (1969) • The Passion of Anna (1969) 1970s Faro Document (1970) • The Touch (1971) • Cries and Whispers (1972) • Scenes from a Marriage (1973) • The Magic Flute (1975) • Face to Face (1976) • The Serpent's Egg (1977) • Autumn Sonata (1978) • Faro Document 1979 (1979) 1980s From the Life of the Marionettes (1980) • Fanny and Alexander (1982) • Karin's Face (1984) • 2000s Saraband (2003) TV plays Mr. Sleeman Is Coming (1957) • The Venetian (1958) • Rabies (1958) Storm Weather (1960) • A Dream Play (1963) • Don Juan (1965) • The Misanthrope (1974) • Hustruskolan (1983) • After the Rehearsal (1984) • De två saliga (1986) • Markisinnan de Sade (1992) • Backanterna (1993) • The Last Gasp (1995) • In the Presence of a Clown (1997) • The Image Makers (2000)

Awards and achievements
Preceded by The Pedestrian	Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film 1975	Succeeded by Lies My Father Told Me