settima

SvenNykvist

Skammen [Shame] (Ingmar Bergman, 1968)

Jun

12

Loving Day

Skammen (1968)

Eva (Liv Ullmann) and Jan Rosenberg (Max von Sydow) (via). DP: Sven Nykvist.

A [favourite] movie couple for Loving Day (USA)

“Sometimes everything seems just like a dream. It's not my dream, it's somebody else's. But I have to participate in it. How do you think someone who dreams about us would feel when he wakes up. Feeling ashamed?”

– Eva

After Vargtimmen (1968), the second of Bergman's Ullmann/Von Sydow cycle. It was followed by En passion (1969).

 

Against the backdrop of war, a violinist couple tends a garden – and marriage – on the island of Fårö.

Gycklarnas afton [Sawdust and Tinsel] (Ingmar Bergman, 1953)

Jun

11

pancakes

Gycklarnas afton (1953)

Ringmaster Albert Johansson (Åke Grönberg) with Anne (Harriet Andersson) – holding a pot – standing over him. DPs: Hilding Bladh & Sven Nykvist.

– All I can offer is pancakes? Will they do?

– They'll do just fine.

Tystnaden [The Silence] (Ingmar Bergman, 1963)

Apr

10

Siblings Day

Tystnaden (1963)

Sisters Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and Anna (Gunnel Lindblom). Similar as in Bergman's Persona (1966), the women's faces appear to complete each other. DP: Sven Nykvist.

#Sisters Ester and Anna arrive with Anna's son Johan in the small Central European town of Timoka. The country verges on the brink of war. Unwell Ester is confined to her hotel room, Anna roams Timoka's establishments, Johan wanders the hotel corridors.

“You need to watch your step among all the ghosts and memories.”

– Ester

It's hard to watch #Bergman's Tystnaden without #StanleyKubrick's ghosts sidling in. Tystnaden however doesn't need consternation to cause dread. The interaction and lack thereof between the three leads and the few extras translate into something merely tangible and evermore frightful.