1955: Smiles Of A Summer Night

Smiles Of A Summer Night (1955, Bergman) 8/10


In 1955, Swedish director Ingmar Bergman was almost at the end of his rope. Literally. With a series of bleak critical and commercial flops in his native Sweden, Bergman was given one last chance to repair his tattered career by his bosses at Svenskfilmindustri. Despite being regarded as an extremely talented figure, the esteemed playwright and theatre director had not yet manage to transcend his literary and theatrical success onto the big screen. Wondering, whether he should end his life, Bergman thankfully decided to press ahead and gathered his stock theatre troupe for one last gasp at cinematic glory. The result was a worldwide and critical success that put Scandinavian cinema on the map: the film was Smiles of a Summer Night.

Ingmar Bergman's enchanting 1955 comedy of manners Smiles of a Summer Night is a witty, aphrodisiacal and salacious film about destiny, humiliation and jealousy. Drawn from Bergman's theatre background, the film pays homage to the satire of Moliere and the bawdy sexuality of Shakespeare and feels as equally theatrical as it does cinematic. Set in turn of the century Sweden, the film chronicles the relationships of a group of Swedish aristocrats who realize their true desires and identities at a lavish party on an isolated country estate.

The fulcrum of the film is the character of Frederik Egerman (Gunnar Bjornstrand). The affluent, middle-aged lawyer has been unable to consummate his relationship with his young bride Anna and still holds feelings for his former mistress: renowned theatrical performer Desiree Armfeldt (Eva Dahlbeck). After unconsciously revealing his desires for Desiree in a dream, Egerman begins to seek out his former lover for advice about the relationship with his wife Anna (Ulla Jacobsson).

Soon Egerman realizes he got more than he bargained for as Desiree begins her own quest to recapture the father of her child. Utilizing the influence of her aristocratic mother (Naima Wifstrand), Desiree invites the Egermans, her current lover Count Carl-Magnus (Jarl Kulle) and his wife Charlotte (Margit Carlquist), as well as Frederik's grown son Henrik (Bjorn Bjelvenstam) to a vast country estate were covert dealings and games of chance reveal the true fates of those involved.

Smiles of a Summer Night is often considered an anomaly in the angst-ridden director's career. Filmed during the lowest creative period in Bergman's life, the film is surprisingly cheerful and magical in portraying the wants and desires of a group people blind to the desires of those around them and within themselves. The film's 1900 setting allows for class distinctions to be more defined and for the differences of custom and moralities to be showcased to hilarious effect. In the case of Frederik Egerman, while he appears to be an honest and upright husband, there are facets to his past with Desiree that are scandalous as he courted several women at once.

Bergman's meditation on chance and circumstance is a delightful wonder brimming with enthusiasm and barbed wit. It is through this wit that the film's focus on humiliation and jealousy is realized. On a spoken level, the wit is used to outclass another. In context to the rest of the picture, the wit allows characters to reveal their fears, desires and humiliations, which brings about waves of jealousy and frustration. What is interesting however, is the way Bergman analyzes these frustrations.

For the most part these disappointments occur only with the film's upper and middle-class characters such as the Egermans. A perfect example is in the character of Henrik, who for all his moralizing desperately wants to engage in sin, thus he is firstly embarrassed about abandoning his priestly virtues for lust. Secondly, when Henrik attempts to sleep with his father's housemaid Petra (Harriet Andersson), he is unable to do so because of his own impotence. Similarly, his father Frederik cannot consummate his marriage to his own wife, who is in return embarrassed about not being able to do so. However, in the context of the entire picture the humiliation suffered by characters such as Henrik allows them to see their predetermined fates in the game of love.

The film becomes an exercise in carefully crafted dialogue and poised acting through some of the best comedic performances in cinematic history. The performances are all excellent, especially the work by the four female leads: Eva Dahlbeck, Ulla Jacobsson, Margit Carlquist and Harriet Andersson. Each of these women adds their necessary character traits with astute perfection: Dahlbeck's refinement, Jacobsson's naivety, Carlquist's resentment and Andersson's overt sensuality.

Mixed with the central male protagonists, Bergman manages to create a polished comedy that works on many levels. As Bergman had previously worked with the majority of the cast before in his theatre group and in other films, which allowed for the director to best exploit his actors talents and resulted in strong chemistry between the major players, particularly between Dahlbeck and Gunnar Bjornstrand.

The film's cinematography by Gunnar Fischer is one of the most endearing in black and white photography. Unlike American cinematographers of the period, Fischer does not turn the film into an overtly romantic piece, but rather drew on ancient Swedish traditions of pagan fantasy allowing for wonderful dashes of light outdoors and elegant scenes indoors.

Controversial upon its initial release in America, the film's overt lasciviousness and frank musings on adultery, fornication and passions caused quite a stir. It is often quite noted by film makers such as Martin Scorsese that religious authorities at the time placed the Catholic Film Office's infamous list of films that were deemed to be morally unacceptable.

Despite its earlier controversy, the tragicomic Smiles of a Summer Night still proves to be a mesmerizing, yet bittersweet affair. For all the jovial abandon displayed by his characters, Bergman is unafraid to display the dark side of romance: bitterness, regret and pretentiousness. Yet, Bergman is able to cast an overall product that is bright, punctilious and impulsive, brimming with aged earnestness and youthful ambivalence. With its spirited performances, overt sensuality and flavorful wit, Smiles of a Summer Night earns its reputation as one of the best romantic comedies of all time: a rare film that titillates with life, as well as intellect and pleasure.

* Smiles Of A Summer Night is available through Criterion Home Video

** I have also previously published this review on Rottentomatoes.com

Copyright 2006 8½ Cinematheque