Review of Autumn Sonata (1978) by Jens T — 10 Aug 2010

One of my favorite scenes from Milos Forman's AMADEUS (1984) is early in the film when Salieri composes a march to be played in honor of Mozart's audience with Emperor Joseph II. The Emperor presents Mozart with the scroll of the composition but Mozart declines it stating he had already memorized the composition in his head. Asked by the emperor to prove it - Mozart not only is able to replay the march but makes improvements to it too. The scene is played for laughs but illustrates beautifully the differences in the musical abilities of the two composers and also sets up the drama to come.

I'm reminded of that particular scene from AMADEUS because director Ingmar Bergman uses the same type of musical upmanship some 6 years earlier to illustrate the emotional rift separating a mother and daughter in his AUTUMN SONATA (1978). The daughter, Eva (Liv Ullman) plays a piano piece by Chopin for her mother, Charlotte (Ingrid Bergman). They have not seen each other for seven years. Charlotte, who has spent much of her adult life away from home (touring as a concert pianist) then demonstrates to Eva how the piece should be performed. Cinematographer Sven Nykvist focuses close until only the faces of mother & daughter are shown. The emotions that well up from Eva at that point as she gazes at her mother just reverberates onto the viewer. No dialogue. It's really an amazing scene?illustrating Ingmar Bergman's genius as a filmmaker. This non-verbal scene sets up the verbal fireworks to come.

AUTUMN SONATA isn't a pleasant film to watch. I think it's probably the most depressing of any of Bergman's films I've seen. Revelations upon revelations are revealed. I'm not quite sure if anyone could be as brutally honest as Eva as she unloads a lifetime's worth of pent-up angst upon her mother Charlotte. t's almost surreal, but so too the way Eva's husband, Victor (Halvar Bjork) breaks down the fourth wall to address the viewer directly at the very beginning of the film.

It's sad too knowing that this was actress Ingrid Bergman's final feature film. It's good seeing that she had aged gracefully and still retained her classic beauty. You can still perceive her style of classic acting especially when compared to that of Liv Ullman's naturalistic modern style of acting. Ullman, who is a beauty herself, is made up to be a mousey-looking woman here - as befitting her emotionally repressed character, Eva.

I really hate to say much more? as I feel the beauty of the film is in the way it unfolds onto the viewer. I'm not too sure yet if this is a film I can watch over and over due to it's subject matter. I definitely admire Bergman's craftsmanship here but the story is just too much to bear at times.

8.5.