Review of Shame (1968) by Ryan M — 17 Jan 2009
This movie absolutely broke my heart and reminded me why Liv Ullmann is one of my favorite actresses. It fits nicely into Bergman's loose "personality disentegration" canon, which also includes 'Persona', 'Hour of the Wolf', 'The Passion of Anna', etc.
, but it has a much broader template: war. This may have been Bergman's best effort at bringing out the tender vs. violent dialectic that he so loved to write into his characters, and it avoids the Guignol routine that you get from lovers in admittedly great later films like 'Scenes From a Marriage' and 'Fanny and Alexander'.
I was also blown away by how "slack" and moody the film gets for its final third, and the elliptical ending really put ice in my bones. Among Bergman's many other movies I think only 'Fanny and Alexander' reaches the heights of 'Shame' in exploring the relationship between dreaming and waking.
.. Point is this is a crushing and genius movie from an artist I will go to my grave idolizing.
This review of Shame (1968) was written by Ryan M on 17 Jan 2009.
Shame has generally received very positive reviews.
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