Ingmar Bergman conceived Autumn Sonata at an agonizing time in his career. The ending holds out a slender thread of hope for the future, but it's likely that mutual incomprehension will continue to plague them for the rest of their lives. In a series of increasingly painful confrontations Eva and Charlotte pick over the past, dredging up grievances and discontents galore. Adding to the stress is Charlotte's shock at learning that her other daughter, Helena, is living in Eva's house after years of treatment for an incurable degenerative disease that Charlotte prefers not to think about, much less face up to in person. Eva is greatly excited at the prospect of this reunion, but tensions start building immediately after Charlotte's arrival, as chance words and ill-considered remarks push emotional buttons and reopen old wounds, especially with Eva, who has felt neglected and overshadowed by her professionally preoccupied mother as long as she can remember. Ingrid Bergman plays her mother, Charlotte, a world-famous concert pianist who hasn't seen Eva for seven years but comes for a visit while recovering from a loss in her own life. Ullmann plays Eva, a shy and insecure woman who lives in rural Norway with her husband, Viktor, the pastor of a local church. This was the first and only joint venture of Bergman and Bergman, and despite disagreements on the set they proved to be an excellent team. The other is the performance by his near namesake, the great actress Ingrid Bergman, in her last theatrical picture before her death four years later. One is the provenance of the production, which Bergman filmed in forty days at a "primitive" studio facility in Norway during the exile from Sweden that he imposed on himself starting in 1976. Two other elements of the film are unusual, however. In addition, Bergman's wife at the time (named Ingrid Bergman!) was one of the production administrators Linn Ullmann, his daughter with Liv Ullmann, plays Liv's character as a child and his former wife Käbi Laretei, a concert pianist, recorded the Frédéric Chopin prelude that both main characters play during the story. It also reflects the remarkable talents of collaborators who had worked closely with him before: Liv Ullmann plays one of the main characters, Sven Nykvist did the cinematography, and the quintessential Bergman actors Erland Josephson and Gunnar Björnstrand appear briefly in small, wordless roles. Ingmar Bergman had directed almost fifty films by the time he made Autumn Sonata in 1978, and in some ways - its intimate scale, emotional density, and clarity of expression - this somber drama is typical of his work.
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