Product Description

Distinguished lawyer Frederik Egerman lives with Anne, his picturesque, young wife, his son Henrik, a forlorn student of the cloth, and Petra, the flirtatious yet sensible maid. One summer evening Frederik takes Anne to see a play starring his former lover Desirée, the veteran actress with an equally seasoned reputation. With her glamorous stage entrance and one inviting smile, she sparks the lives of the parties involved into a game of love and loyalty that barely masks each player's percolating insecurities. Through witty dialogue, theatrical direction, and an ensemble cast, director Ingmar Bergman delivers a raw exhibition of human desire.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10212 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 2004-05-25
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: Swedish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 108 minutes

Amazon.com
Ingmar Bergman achieved international stardom with this classic melancholy comedy about the romantic entanglements of three 19th-century couples during a weekend at a country estate. It's exactly what you'd expect from a bedroom farce filtered through the ideas and eyes of Bergman: sharp, serious, pensive, austerely sexy, and ultimately sobering. Still, anyone who thought the Swedish filmmaker was incapable of a little fun has only to watch Bergman's orchestrations of these dangerous liaisons. Prosperous lawyer Fredrik (Gunnar Björnstrand) is married to the comely young Anne (Ulla Jacobsson), who (despite his best efforts) remains a virgin. Henrik (Björn Bjelfvenstam), Fredrik's grown son from a previous marriage, is desperately in love with Anne--and having an affair with the maid (Harriet Andersson)--despite the torturings of his pious soul. When actress Desiree (Eva Dahlbeck), Fredrik's former mistress, breezes into town, Fredrick pays her a visit, only to find himself jealous of her relationship with the piggish Count Malcolm (Jarl Kulle), who just happens to be married to Anne's best friend, the depressed and suicidal Charlotte (Margit Carlqvist); both women have a decided bone to pick with Desiree. All convene at the estate of Desiree's mother for a weekend of confrontations, illicit romance, dinner, dueling, and eventual pairing with the right romantic partner. Bergman winningly conveys the aspects of love among both the young and the old--those who feel they'll live forever and those whose impending mortality colors their actions. Absolutely brilliant and heartfelt, a true cinematic masterpiece. The basis for Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, of "Send in the Clowns" fame. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews

Don't look back it from Bergman's "second period"....
If you're a fan of Bergman's works about psychological abuse, personal disaster and disintegrating relationships, this film is definitely not for you. But it reaches a hand across to his late work, sharing a kind of sunlit-but-shadowed atmosphere that's both in the physical environment, and in the people he displays. Less stiff than Bergman's other early attempts at humor (The Devil's Stye, for example), the storyline is engaging, the characters interesting and all-too-human; and the outdoors scenes really bring some life to a director who was all too easily stagebound. There are few outright laughs in this film, but a great many smiles and a warm willingness to embrace humanity with all its flaws.

Definitely a film to treasure, and one that bears repeated viewing. I'd put it fairly close to Wild Strawberries and The Seventh Seal for its success at creating a film with a unique tone and attitude, in which all the parts contribute magnificently to the whole.

Bergman's romantic comedy
"Smiles of a Summer Night" is probably one reason why Bergman hasn't made particularly many comedies, even though this is a big award-winner. This film is not at all bad - I would give it 9/10 stars for remaining entertaining throughout, but had the script--or rather, SOME LINES--been adapted or dramatized a bit, this story could easily have been presented as another one of Bergman's "philosophical dramas;" Russian roulette, suicide, and adultery (mistresses and wives meeting under social circumstances) are a few of the ingredients for this summer - this might not sound very much like typical 1955 comedy ingredients, but my laughs weren't always silent; at times I felt highly amused, and I can see how he did pull off something new in cinema with this film, but Bergman certainly has more talent in making movies that probably shouldn't be presented in their opening as "a romantic comedy," though there is a nice and warm vibe to this exceptional film. I doubt that it will disappoint any dedicated Bergman fan, or that this edition will disappoint any costumer, as Criterion rarely fail at restoring old pictures.

Not there yet....but miles away from everybody else
Smiles of a Summer Night it's not one of my Top 10 Bergmans,but it's a fine example of 50's European cinema.Bergman said : "a mixture of operetta and comedy".Pauline Keal said : "One of the few classics of carnal comedy." Woody Allen said :"Even Smiles of a Summer Night, which some consider his 'comic masterpiece', is a very charming film, it has a warmth to it.." Enough said.