After the Rehearsal (1984)

Efter repetitionen

1984 | Sweden | Ingmar Bergman | ★★★★★

Starring Erland Josephson, Lena Olin, and Ingrid Thulin, Ingmar Bergman's After the Rehearsal is a powerful, psychologically probing made-for-television chamber drama, filled with intense close-ups, furrowed brows, and affecting performances.

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"In this psychological romantic drama from Ingmar Bergman, theatre director Henrik Volger (Erland Josephson) is struggling to stage a play by August Strindberg. Staying behind after rehearsals to work, Henrik talks with aspiring actress Anna (Lena Olin), who he has just cast in the production. It transpires that Henrik was once involved with her late mother, Rakel (Ingrid Thulin), and Anna's visit causes him to reminisce about their doomed relationship, and about the nature of his own closed-off emotional state." Tartan

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Stotty's 1980s Favourites

Summer with Monika (1953)

Sommaren med Monika

1953 | Sweden | Ingmar Bergman | ★★★★★

Ingmar Bergman's beautifully crafted Summer with Monika is a tender, sensuous story of young blue-collar love gone awry, featuring bold scripting, oft breathtaking photography, and a star-making performance from the vital, utterly bewitching Harriet Andersson.

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"Inspired by the earthy eroticism of Harriet Andersson, in the first of her many roles for him, Ingmar Bergman had a major international breakthrough with this sensual and ultimately ravaging tale of young love. A girl (Andersson) and boy (Lars Ekborg) from working-class families in Stockholm run away from home to spend a secluded, romantic summer at the beach, far from parents and responsibilities. Inevitably, it is not long before the pair are forced to return to reality. The version initially released in the U.S. was reedited by its distributor into something more salacious, but the original Summer with Monika (Sommaren med Monika), presented here, is a work of stunning maturity and one of Bergman’s most important films." Criterion

See also:

Stotty's 1950s Favourites

The Burden (2017)

Min börda

2017 | Sweden | Niki Lindroth Von Bahr | ★★★

Swedish film-maker Niki Lindroth Von Bahr's The Burden is a gorgeously crafted though only mildly diverting animated short film, comprised of a series of strikingly choreographed but decidedly downbeat musical song and dance numbers.

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"An animated musical with apocalyptic undertones. The story takes place in 4 different episodes in 4 different settings. All of the settings are located in a modern, generic market place next to a large freeway. The characters, portrayed as animals, perform musical numbers with singing and dancing." Festival de Cannes