April 9, 2012

19 Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

****
Country: Sweden
Director: Ingmar Bergman



With the possible exception of Alfred Hitchcock, no film director made as many great movies as Ingmar Bergman. And no director in movie history has more of a reputation for seriousness than Ingmar Bergman. Marital strife, parent-child conflict, childhood trauma, identity confusion, spiritual crisis, madness, war, above all death—think of a somber, disturbing, or depressing subject and chances are Bergman made a movie about it. Yet among all those serious films he is so well known for, in 1955 he made one of the most delightful romantic comedies ever filmed, Smiles of a Summer Night.

In Sweden, the time around the summer solstice, when it stays light nearly all night long as it does in all such northern latitudes, is a special time of year. This is a time for the celebration of fertility and the time when magic is believed to have its greatest power over humans, just as in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. In the film, which takes place sometime early in the twentieth century, we are introduced to four men and four women who come together at a rustic weekend house party in midsummer, a traditional time for losing one's inhibitions and indulging in emotionally risky behavior. Fredrik Egerman is a self-centered middle-aged lawyer who for two years has been married to Anne, a naive 19-year old. The marriage has never been consummated because of Anne's fear of sex, and Fredrik, who has resolved to wait until she is ready for sexual relations, is growing restive. When he learns that his former mistress, the actress Desirée Armfeldt, is in town appearing in a play, he can't resist going to see her. Accidentally learning of her husband's renewed interest in Desirée, Anne understandable becomes deeply upset.

Their situation is complicated by several things. Fredrik's grown son from his first marriage, Henrik, a rather priggish, sexually inexperienced theology student, is clearly in love with his stepmother Anne. The actress Desirée's current lover is a possessive, compulsively competitive Count and officer in the Swedish Army who is determined to humiliate Fredrik and drive him away from Desirée. His wife the Countess, a woman nearly as haughty as her husband, has been embittered by the Count's infidelity, dismissing love as "a loathsome thing." Completing the ensemble are the Egermans' mischievous, highly sexed maid Petra—she has already seduced young Henrik—and the philosophical coachman she encounters during the country weekend, Frid, a man whose lustiness matches her own.

Desirée comes up with a scheme to gather all these people together at her elderly mother's country house for a midsummer weekend party. After she has brought her players together, she then proceeds to use her sense of the theatrical and her knowledge of the psychology of love and sex to orchestrate a romantic farce in which her cast acts out an elaborate sexual game of Change Partners. Her mother plays her part by providing for her guests at the midsummer dinner a special wine reputed to have an aphrodisiac effect on those who drink it. This is the magic that bewitches the guests and allows Desirée to guide events to a felicitous conclusion in which romantic difficulties are resolved and everyone ends up paired with the appropriate sexual partner.

In Smiles of a Summer Night, Bergman takes a decidedly light-hearted view of sex and love. He presents sex as a game not to be taken too seriously, a game of pursuit and conquest analogous in the use of strategy by its players to a military campaign. Treating sex as a toy, his characters are in love not so much with the object of their desire as with the idea of love itself. For a male film writer and director, Bergman always showed unusual sympathy for the women in his movies. In Smiles of a Summer Night it's the women who maintain a sensible attitude toward sex and love while the men, more driven by their libidos than by good sense, generally behave like fools. Left to their own devices, the males in the picture make a mess of things. It's Desirée, conspiring with her mother and the Countess, who sorts out the muddle created by the men and manipulates the situation to the outcome that is most satisfactory for everyone.

With its complex skein of relationships and the way its characters pair off then separate, shuffle, and re-form into new pairs, this is in every sense an ensemble movie. But if pressed, I would single out three members of the cast for special attention. As Desirée, Eva Dahlbeck is intelligent, poised, and shrewd. She comes across like a goddess in Greek mythology who descends from Olympus and proceeds to maneuver people not only for her own amusement, but to ends that are best for themselves. Gunnar Björnstrand, who made nineteen movies directed by Bergman, plays Fredrik Egerman as a stoical middle-aged man whose life experience has inured him to the frustration, humiliation, and even rivalry of his own son that he must endure to continue playing the game of love. Finally there is Harriet Andersson, who brings to Petra the maid the earthy eroticism and freedom from sexual inhibition that the better educated and better-off people in the movie crave but seem too self-conscious to attain.

Gunnar Björnstrand and Eva Dahlbeck


Harriet Andersson

For those acquainted with Bergman's work, the most surprising thing about Smiles of a Summer Night is the lightness of his touch here. The picture has the delicacy of an early Lubitsch musical or one of Mozart's more airy operas, The Marriage of Figaro or Così fan tutte. Subjects that in a different context Bergman would treat with the utmost gravity—the uncertainty of human relationships, sexual jealousy, the plight of overly cerebral people trying to find happiness in life—are treated here as something to poke fun at. Even the moment late in the film when farce seems about to slide into tragedy and you think Aha! At last here comes the Bergmanesque gloom turns out to be played for laughs, a cheeky joke on the viewer. It's Bergman's most amiable and playful movie. For once he treats the human condition as the object not of spiritual agonizing, but rather of gentle mockery.

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19 comments:

  1. This is my all-time favorite Bergman film (it's also on the overall list of faves too). It is so lyrical and mystical. I absolutely love the closing shot. A masterpiece.

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    1. Kim, I certainly agree this is a masterpiece. I'm a huge fan of Bergman, but I know he isn't to everyone's taste. This is his most atypical film and just a delight. It's the film for those who think they don't like Bergman.

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    2. "With the possible exception of Alfred Hitchcock, no film director made as many great movies as Ingmar Bergman."

      As it is I can't agree with you more. Neither can my site colleague Allan Fish, who sent me an e mail asserting that Bergman produced 13 masterpieces, while Hitchcock has 12, both ahead of any other. These are just numbers of course, and while I don't agree exactly with every assertion one way or the other I do agree that because they are both so prolific, and because their greatest work isn't restricted to any specific decade or time period, they managed to achieve greatness more often. Dreyer, Bresson, Murnau and Kubrick are unquestionable masters, but they worked slowly and produced far less, even if that fact has little bearing on the overall scheme. Renoir and Fellini fall in between, with only Chaplin (if we count the short) the possible equal of Berman and Hitchcock in the sense you are proposing here.

      This is a magisterial essay on a vital film in Bergman's output, a film that John Simon in his seminal study INGMAR BERGMAN DIRECTS regards as one of the director's four supreme masterpieces with PERSONA, WINTER LIGHT and SAWDUST AND TINSEL. Simon's study of course predates the advent of CRIES AND WHISPERS and FANNY AND ALEXANDER, so all assessments are relative. But still, methinks it's a telling specification.

      I absolutely love your comparison of SMILES to the 'delicacy of an early Lubitsch musical' or 'one of Mozart's more airy operas' and the concluding coda that the film is a kind of 'gentle mockery' and I'd add there are the specters of the Bard, Strindberg and Chekhov hovering over these proceedings. SMILES is a theatrical film that recalls Carne's CHILDREN OF PARADISE and Renoir's RULES OF THE GAME in the manner it showcases electrifying ensemble acting and like Shaw's PYGMALION, Chekov's THE CHERRY ORCHARD and Beckett's WAITING FOR GODOT it's a comedy with a far more serious underpinning, one in which as Pauline Kael notes "theer are no winners in the game of love." Your own assessment of the performances here is truly magnificent as is the entire scholarly treatment of one of the cinema's most profound and sophisticated comedic pieces. Despite the film's exceeding theatricality, one must acknowledge Bergman's roving eye for cinematic devices, including the use of windows. SMILES is a probing psychological film that explores the entire range of human emotion, running from youthful adoration to neurosis, to capriciousness and final resignation. Gunner Fisher's stunning black and white cinematography is exquisite and the 'man being ruled by pride and the momen by their heart' theme is the domain of Ophuls.

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    3. Sam, thank you so much for your comment. I did a count of Bergman vs Hitchcock masterpieces of my own and came up with 12 for Bergman and 10 for Hitchcock (but haven't seen any of Hitchcock's silents). As I watched "Smiles" I couldn't help thinking of Bergman's experience in theater directing. With its marvelous dialogue and plot construction, one could almost believe this was a film version of a play rather than of an original screenplay. Still, it is entirely cinematic, although not in a showy way. Bergman isn't afraid to have characters speak about their thoughts and feelings or to hold the camera still while a scene plays out.

      I thought your comment about "Smiles" showing the entire emotional and psychological range of human attitudes toward love and sex was well taken. Bergman's films always seem to me incredibly dense, and this one follows that pattern despite its lighthearted tone.

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  2. This sounds great. I'm ashamed to say I'm not as familiar with Bergman's films as I should be. I love "The Seventh Seal" and "Fannie and Alexander" so there's no reason why I shouldn't have seen more of his films. So many movies, so little time. The comparison of this film to Lubitsch is a tantalizing one. I'll be on the lookout for it.

    I think TCM has "Autumn Sonata" planned for the next month or so. I'll make sure to check that one out.

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    1. Kevin, this is a real one of a kind film in Bergman's filmography. If you want to see more Bergman, I recommend this one most highly because it's the most enjoyable and least painful. If you watch it, "The Seventh Seal," and "Fanny and Alexander," you'll experience the complete range of Bergman. And what a range that is.

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  3. Mr. Finch,
    Fantastic essay here and completely agree with you on all points. It is one of the greatest comedies ever made and coming from Bergman, is quite a fascinating film to dissect. From an influence standpoint, this one clearly seems to draw parallels later with the work of Woody Allen. There's also a film by Ophuls, called La Ronde, that I just recently watched that I thought was a bit like this one in tone, but was made in 1950, but is filled with all kinds of love trysts. But, Smiles is still a product of that true genius, Bergman, my favorite director of all time.

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    1. Jon, thanks! So many people are put off by Bergman's seriousness, so it's good to hear from someone who appreciates him as much as I do. You're right about this being a great film for analysis. I find this rare in comedies, because unless they're satirical in some way, like "Dr. Strangelove" for example, their appeal is to the sense of humor, not the intellect. That makes good comedies easy to like but hard to discuss.

      I also thought of Ophuls while watching "Smiles" and in particular the film you mention, "La Ronde." The difference is that the strong sense of melancholy in Ophuls's films about love isn't present here. There is a sense of melancholy present, but it's a gentle form of melancholy and eventually dissipated at the film's conclusion.

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  4. Great and informative essay as always. I am embarrassed to say I have only seen four Bergman films, "Monika," "Cries and Whispers," "The Touch" and most recently, "Hour of the Wolf." As Kevin wrote the "comparison to Lubitsch is tantalizing" here. I actually recorded, "The Seventh Seal" off TCM some time ago and still have not watched it. This film along with "Shame," "Persona" and "The Passion of Anna" all films I keep telling myself I want to see. They are on that never ending "list."

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    1. John, I haven't seen "Monika" (I'd love to see it, but it's not available on DVD) or "The Touch," but I have seen the others. "Smiles" isn't anything like those, which are all pretty heavy going. If someone wanted to explore Bergman further, I'd advise them to put "Smiles" at the top of the list.

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    2. John, I just did a bit of research and found that "Monika" will be released as "Summer with Monika" by Criterion in late May. I'm looking forward to it.

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    3. That's good news R.D. I saw "Monika" years ago on a VHS tape, remember liking it but would like to see it again. Thanks!

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  5. R.D.,
    I've not had the pleasure of seeing Smiles of a Summer Night. The great thing about having you around (Other than your awesomeness)is you offer up these wonderful articles which open up my eyes to what I've been missing or unable to see for myself.

    I have to admit that when I think of "great directors" Ingmar doesn't often come to mind straight away. That's painful to admit. Your description of what his films consist of was perfect! (My apologies to Sweden as well for not often thinking of your genius son!)

    I did see The Best Intentions as well as Private Confessions in the 90's and I was wondering if you had also seen the trilogy and if so, did you find it an accurate biopic of Bergman, enlightening?

    Whenever Ingmar's films come up I always think of The Devil's Eye as that film's so funny, clever, left such an impact on me during the late 90's the first time I saw it.

    Hope to see Summer Nights in the future.
    Well done R.D!
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    1. Page, thank you for your comment. I haven't seen the trilogy on Bergman you mention. Thanks for reminding me of it. I'll have to check it out. I know a bit about Bergman's personal life but not a lot. I do think his films tell us a lot about his inner life, though.

      Your mention of my description of the typical Bergman film reminds me of an anecdote Pauline Kael once related. A group of her friends was discussing which culture portrayed in foreign cinema was most unlike the American mindset. Her friends opted for India, while she went for Scandinavia on the basis of her viewing of Bergman's films. She might have had a point, which explains why his work doesn't appeal to many American viewers, because his bleak point of view seems so out of tune with American optimism.

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  6. R.D.
    Your mention of Pauline Kael and her friends views reminded me so much of Laurence Olivier. I've been plowing through the latest bio on him and after reading the chapter on his making of Henry V on location in Ireland. Other than being pompous and a total ass most of the time every time his Shakespearean plays or films didn't go over with American audiences he blamed their lack of intellect or outright ignorance when it came to appreciating Shakespeare or his performances more importantly.

    As an American I'm certainly doing my best to embrace films made all over the world! Ha Ha

    I hope you'll find the Ingmar trilogy. It's a real treat.
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  7. SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT is also my favorite Bergman film. Indeed, I admire all his films from that time period (e.g., THE VIRGIN SPRING, THE SEVENTH SEAL), while latter Bergman works seem more overwrought to me. There's a wistful, magical quality to SMILES (which reminds somewhat of another fave, Renoir's more class-heavy RULES OF THE GAME). I am also a fan of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, Sondheim's musical adaptation of SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT and even Woody's offbeat (and under-appreciated) homage, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S SEX COMEDY.

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    1. Rick, for me "Smiles" is so unlike any other Bergman film I've seen that it's hard for me to think of it as a Bergman film, much less compare it to any other one. As much as I admire Bergman as an artist, and as many adjectives as I can think of to describe his artistry, "enjoyable" wouldn't be one, with the exception of this film. My own favorite Bergman movie has always been "Wild Strawberries." It's the one that I find balances the humanity of "Smiles" with the intellectual appeal of his other films.

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  8. I recently saw Wild Strawberries and loved it, as I love "Smiles" as well. I think some people who stay away from Bergman fear they just won't "get" him, and "Smiles" is the perfect starting point to eliminate that fear. I really enjoyed your review and hope you continue looking at Bergman's films in the future.

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    1. Filmboy, Bergman definitely isn't for everyone. His strategy of combining heavy intellectual themes with drama can be a challenging one. The psychological and emotional turmoil of his characters can be intriguing or off-putting depending on one's tastes. I find room in my film viewing for the entire range of approaches and in his solemnity Bergman is clearly at one extreme. But nobody was better at doing what he did in movies. I can't think of another filmmaker who explored psychology and the human spirit more probingly.

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