Review of The Magician (1958) by Ryan H — 09 Dec 2012

Watch out for Vogler's Magnetic Health Theater; they might be filled with witches. On the surface it seemed like The Magician was going to be a normal Ingmar Bergman melodrama (which isn't normal at all).

What it turns out to be is Bergman's most under-appreciated gem. The character drama pulls you in while the subtle comedy gives it air, then it slams you with suspense and altering realities in the end.

What Ingmar Bergman does here is try to explain the relationship of artist and audience. It opens with the troupe travelling to a new town where Granny Vogler becomes nervous about spirits. Far off they hear a man's cries.

Albert finds the man and he explains that he's a drunken actor who's about to die. They take the actor in the carriage until his last moments, then drop him off at a cemetery. When they come close to reaching the town they're stopped at a mansion.

The head people of town want to meet them before they can go any further. If there's any kind of true, dark witchcraft going on then they will be put on trial. The troupe must put on their show in order to move forward.

But first they are allowed to enjoy themselves that night, for their act will be done the next day. That night's when we get to truly understand and feel a connection with these people. Albert's a mute with a fake beard and hair, which makes us think he's probably hiding something else.

The "man" that's with him turns out to be his wife. The old woman sells love potions to the young people around. The other man in the troupe, the one who speaks for them as much as possible, ends up spending his night with a widow.

She knows his love potions are fake, but she doesn't care, she needs her night of passion. Then there's the wife of the policeman who feels an attraction to Albert because she believes in his powers and she wants to communicate with her dead daughter.

She's oddly turned on by him. Simson's the coach driver who shacks up with Sara after she takes the love potion. He's quite obviously a shy virgin trying to play it cool. But really, Albert hates these people.

Why do they have to observe him? Just let him do his thing and then leave him be. This whole time we think we're watching this character melodrama with bits of humor, but then once they put on their performance the next day we see there might be some truth behind the magic.

Albert gets the policeman's wife to say terrible things about her husband, then he binds another man with invisible chains. After he freaks out the man kills Albert on accident. The doctor gets his chance to do the autopsy that he wanted to do from the beginning.

However, he finds himself trapped in the attic with the body and Albert starts haunting him. Did Albert really die? If not, whose body was that? How did he pull off that intricate death? This scene proves to be terrifying.

And after he lets out the doctor, Albert goes around asking people to give him money. He tells the doctor he deserves money because he let them feel something genuine. That's what they wanted, right? Instead he gets one shilling and is told to leave.

In the end, only Albert, Manda, and Simson continue forward and the other two stay behind, plus Sara wants to come along. When they get held up they get a message from the doctor saying news has arrived that the King wants to see them for a night of entertainment.

A great honor. Happy music plays as they ride away. So what's Bergman doing here? It seems quite obvious to me: Bergman's work always bring about a strong emotion within me. He has the ability to really cut into the depth of the soul within his films.

Some audience members look for that and crave it, others don't want it. But as a vulnerable artist doing something so personal to himself he feels aggravated by those who ask for more only to be angry when they get something real and honest.

It's a beautiful and personal film that really flips itself within the last 20 minutes. Easily one of my favorite films I've seen by Ingmar Bergman.