Directed by Ingmar Bergman
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)
Bergman masterfully weaves a complex story of two crumbling relationships and a new one that develops in its ashes, as well as asking broader philosophical and religious questions. This would have fallen apart in the hands of a lesser director, but not so here, with numerous spine-tingling scenes including his longest dream sequence yet and a narrator who may or may not be the Devil himself. The core character is Birgitta, a young prostitute who gets pregnant only to have her baby taken away by its indifferent father. She is haunted by the decision. She takes up with an alcoholic, suicidal actor who has just left his wife. Together, they try to exorcise their demons. Bergman provides some comedy relief from the heavy subject matter with an extended silent movie sequence, but he can't resist including the Devil and Death as masked characters. There are no on-screen credits, they are all spoken after a prologue.
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