Review of From the Life of the Marionettes (1980) by Private U — 29 Aug 2007

I have to confess to ambivalent feelings about this one. Rather like an unusually lurid soap opera, only more sophisticated (if arguably pretentious), it is certainly engrossing, but you can't help feeling that it shouldn't be.

The characters aren't quite sympathetic enough for the film to be a high tragedy, and it is all rather on the prurient side. Worth watching, nevertheless - but I can't believe this is the pinnacle of Bergman's art.