Directed by Ingmar Bergman
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Criterion Collection)
The owner and ringmaster of a bankrupt, downtrodden circus visits his ex-wife when it stops in his home town. While away, his girlfriend, who rides a horse in the traveling show, has a sexual encounter with an actor in a local theater troupe. He gets a tearful confession after confronting her later the same day in their caravan, then contemplates suicide. Instead, he takes it out on the sickly circus bear and the show goes on as planned. When the actor shows up for the performance that night it leads to a brawl. There is not a happy character or relationship to be found anywhere in this bleak, disturbing circus show. It starts with a surreal flashback that threatens to overshadow everything that follows. The gun play is unsettling as is the violence shown towards circus animals, although the worst occurs off screen. I wanted to like the film more, and the cinematography by Sven Nykvist is peerless, his first work with Bergman, but my tolerance for violence towards animals is rather low and impeded my enjoyment.
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