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 se... more »e 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.« less
Don't look back it from Bergman's "second period"....
05/07/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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
Patrik Lemberg | Tammisaari Finland | 03/30/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
""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."
Send In The Clowns
Gary F. Taylor | Biloxi, MS USA | 12/18/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This was director Ingmar Bergman's break-through film, the winner of the 1956 Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, the first of his many internationally acclaimed films. The story is a time honored one, referrencing the same tradition of romantic complications found in Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and Rostand's LA RONDE: every one is either in love with or married to the wrong person.A famous actress with two very different lovers invites both, their wives, and the son of one lover to her mother's country estate in the hope of sorting out the romantic entanglements to her satisfaction--and the result is considerable charm and unexpectedly dry wit. All the performances are excellent, with Eva Dahlbeck's Desiree a standout, but the real star of this ensemble piece is the unexpectedly witty script. Never quite veering over into broad farce but never sinking into romantic sentimentality, it is a very precisely written tale, and both cast and director make the most of it.In the face of Bergman's later work, SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT may seem rather slight, and indeed both psychology and cinematography is considerably less complex than one expects. Even so, it is very much a Bergman film: the visual style is distinct, and the themes of appearances vs. reality, the inability to correctly interpret another's behavior, and the failure to understand one's self are very much in evidence--only here to comic effect. It is in every way a charming film that Bergman fans will enjoy.Incidently, SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT was successfully translated to the stage as the musical A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, the score of which includes the famous "Send In The Clowns." Fans of the original film will be interested to compare the two works."
Not there yet....but miles away from everybody else
Patrik Lemberg | 05/19/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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."
SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT: the lighter side of Ingmar Bergman
Donato | La Verne, CA United States | 08/12/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I came to Ingmar Bergman films in the mid-sixties, as a teen, and liked them because they seemed so stark, so unlike the typical Hollywood fluff. They called 'em art films, but I liked Bergman because of the characters and the stories, not to mention the look and feel of his films. It was only when Criterion Collection released SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT this year that I finally got to see a film I had heard a lot about but never bothered to seek out. Criterion's other Bergman films were all must-haves so I ordered Smiles right away. (I have seen Sondheim's A Little Night Music on stage some three times and saw the film, so I suppose this Bergman source film seemed less unknown than his others. And, by the way, after seeing Smiles, I appreciate even more how nicely Sondheim et al adapted this film.) True to Criterion's high standards and TLC in presenting its films, Smiles looks as good as it must have when it was released almost fifty years ago. This light comedy involves several pairs of lovers who, for a variety of reasons, might be better off if the deck were shuffled and they ended up in another pairing. Aging actress, married lover; aging lawyer, too-young virgin wife; tortured soul son of lawyer, saucy maid temptress, and lawyer's too-young virgin wife; wife of military man who knows husband has mistresses, including the aging actress. Shuffle the deck a few times and a lot can happen in a movie with characters such as these. Sondheim wrote the entire score to A Little Night Music in waltz tempo, which perfectly captures the whirling intricacies of the relationships. Bergman started it all with a very entertaining and perfectly cast film, full of both comedy and the human dimension of mismatched people who may be investing too much energy in the wrong person. It all sounds confusing, but, trust me, you'll enjoy the heck out of this picture. If you think Bergman is just The Silence, Cries and Whispers and Winter Light, you're in for a real treat with SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT."