All These Women

Last updated

All These Women
For-Att-Inte-Tala-Om-Alla-Dessa-Kvinnor (All these Women.).jpg
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Written by Ingmar Bergman
Screenplay by Erland Josephson
Produced by Allan Ekelund
Starring Bibi Andersson
Harriet Andersson
Eva Dahlbeck
Cinematography Sven Nykvist
Edited by Ulla Ryghe
Music by Erik Nordgren
Color process Technicolor
Distributed by Svensk Filmindustri
Release date
  • 15 June 1964 (1964-06-15)
Running time
80 minutes
CountrySweden
LanguageSwedish

All These Women (Swedish : För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor), originally released as Now About These Women in the UK, is a 1964 Swedish comedy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It is a parody of Federico Fellini's 8½ . [1] [2] Along with Smiles of a Summer Night , the film is one of the few comedy films ever made by Bergman. It was Bergman's first film to be shot in color. [3]

Contents

Plot

Cornelius is a musical critic who visits the summer estate, Villa Tremolo, of the famed cellist, Felix, to write the musician's biography. Cornelius is greeted by Jillker, Felix's impresario, and Tristan, the chauffeur, but Felix remains chiefly unseen. Cornelius glimpses Felix heading for a bedroom with a woman whom he presumes to be Felix's wife. Cornelius meets Adelaide and tells her Felix has retired with his wife, but Adelaide reveals she is Felix's wife. It turns out Felix is unfaithful and has several lovers. Aside from Adelaide, each is given a special nickname. The self-proclaimed "official" mistress is Ms. Bumblebee, who meets and has sex with Cornelius.

While Cornelius is in bed with Ms. Bumblebee, a woman enters the room with a pistol and fires several shots. No one is harmed, but Cornelius believes the shots were meant for Felix. Cornelius becomes concerned that someone is trying to murder Felix and tells Jillker, who is unconcerned, saying that everyone must die. Cornelius remains unable to meet with Felix and finds it difficult to write a biography without an interview. He tells Adelaide that though the threat of murder might add interest to the biography, he hoped Felix's safety would be guarded.

Jillker, citing Felix's total moral decline, resigns as his impresario. Felix emerges to perform in front of his lovers and Cornelius. During the performance, a woman takes out a pistol. However, Felix collapses, dead, during his performance without any shots fired.

Four days after Cornelius's arrival at Villa Tremolo, the lovers, one by one, look over Felix in his coffin, each one remarking on how he looks the same, yet different.

Cast

Release and reception

The film ranked 9th on Cahiers du Cinéma's Top 10 Films of the Year List in 1964. [4] In 2018, The Criterion Collection released the film on Blu-ray in Region A, along with 38 other Bergman films, in the set Ingmar Bergman's Cinema . [5]

Critic Roger Ebert wrote that All These Women was "the worst film he [Bergman] has ever made." [6] Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic wrote "All These Women is intended to be hilarious, but the gift of splitting sides is not in him [Bergman]". [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingmar Bergman</span> Swedish filmmaker (1918–2007)

Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoundly personal meditations into the myriad struggles facing the psyche and the soul". Among his most acclaimed works are The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild Strawberries (1957), Persona (1966) and Fanny and Alexander (1982), which were included in the 2012 edition of Sight & Sound's Greatest Films of All Time. He was also ranked No. 8 on the magazine's 2002 "Greatest Directors of All Time" list. Other notable works include Sawdust and Tinsel (1953), A Lesson in Love (1954), Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Virgin Spring (1960), Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light and The Silence, Shame (1968), Cries and Whispers (1972), Scenes from a Marriage (1973) and Autumn Sonata (1978).

<i>Cries and Whispers</i> 1972 Swedish drama film by Ingmar Bergman

Cries and Whispers is a 1972 Swedish period drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin and Liv Ullmann. The film, set in a mansion at the end of the 19th century, is about three sisters and a servant who struggle with the terminal cancer of one of the sisters (Andersson). The servant (Sylwan) is close to her, while the other two sisters confront their emotional distance from each other.

<i>The Seventh Seal</i> 1957 film by Ingmar Bergman

The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish historical fantasy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in Sweden during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death, who has come to take his life. Bergman developed the film from his own play Wood Painting. The title refers to a passage from the Book of Revelation, used both at the very start of the film and again towards the end, beginning with the words "And when the Lamb had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." Here, the motif of silence refers to the "silence of God," which is a major theme of the film.

<i>Fanny and Alexander</i> 1982 Swedish drama film by Ingmar Bergman

Fanny and Alexander is a 1982 period drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The plot focuses on two siblings and their large family in Uppsala, Sweden during the first decade of the twentieth century. Following the death of the children's father, their mother remarries a prominent bishop who becomes abusive towards Alexander for his vivid imagination.

<i>Persona</i> (1966 film) 1966 Swedish avant-garde psychological drama film by Ingmar Bergman

Persona is a 1966 Swedish avant-garde psychological drama film written, directed, and produced by Ingmar Bergman and starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann. The story revolves around a young nurse named Alma (Andersson) and her patient, well-known stage actress Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann), who has suddenly stopped speaking. They move to a cottage, where Alma cares for Elisabet, confides in her, and begins having trouble distinguishing herself from her patient.

<i>Scenes from a Marriage</i> 1973 television miniseries by Ingmar Bergman

Scenes from a Marriage is a 1973 Swedish television miniseries written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Over the course of six hour-long episodes, it explores the disintegration of the marriage between Marianne, a divorce lawyer, and Johan, a reader in psychology. The series spans a period of 10 years. Bergman's teleplay draws on his own experiences, including his relationship with Ullmann. It was shot on a small budget in Stockholm and Fårö in 1972.

<i>Smiles of a Summer Night</i> 1955 film

Smiles of a Summer Night is a 1955 Swedish comedy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It was shown at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. In 2005, Time magazine ranked it as one of the 100 greatest films since 1923.

<i>The Virgin Spring</i> 1960 Swedish drama film by Ingmar Bergman

The Virgin Spring is a 1960 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in medieval Sweden, it is a tale about a father's merciless response to the rape and murder of his young daughter. The story was adapted by screenwriter Ulla Isaksson from a 13th-century Swedish ballad, "Töres döttrar i Wänge". Bergman researched the legend of Per Töre with an eye to an adaptation, considering an opera before deciding on a film version. Given criticism of the historical accuracy of his 1957 film The Seventh Seal, he also invited Isaksson to write the screenplay. Other influences included the 1950 Japanese film Rashomon. Max von Sydow played Töre.

<i>From the Life of the Marionettes</i> 1980 West German film by Ingmar Bergman

From the Life of the Marionettes is a 1980 television film directed by Ingmar Bergman. The film was produced in West Germany with a German-language screenplay and soundtrack while Bergman was in "tax exile" from his native Sweden. It is filmed in black and white apart from two colour sequences at the beginning and end of the film.

<i>Hour of the Wolf</i> 1968 Swedish film by Ingmar Bergman

Hour of the Wolf is a 1968 Swedish psychological horror film directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann. The story explores the disappearance of fictional painter Johan Borg, who lived on an island with his wife Alma (Ullmann) while plagued with frightening visions and insomnia.

<i>The Touch</i> (1971 film) 1971 film

The Touch is a 1971 Swedish romantic drama film directed and written by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Elliott Gould, and Sheila Reid. The film tells the story of an affair between a married woman and an impetuous foreigner. It contains references to the Virgin Mary and the Holocaust.

<i>Through a Glass Darkly</i> (film) 1961 film

Through a Glass Darkly is a 1961 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, and starring Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow and Lars Passgård. The film tells the story of a schizophrenic young woman (Andersson) vacationing on a remote island with her husband, novelist father (Björnstrand), and frustrated younger brother (Passgård).

<i>Winter Light</i> 1963 film

Winter Light is a 1963 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring his regulars, Gunnar Björnstrand, Ingrid Thulin and Max von Sydow. It follows Tomas Ericsson (Björnstrand), pastor of a small rural Swedish church, as he deals with an existential crisis and his Christianity.

<i>Shame</i> (1968 film) 1968 Swedish drama film

Shame is a 1968 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, and starring Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow. Ullmann and von Sydow play Eva and Jan, former violinists, a politically uninvolved couple whose home comes under threat by civil war. They are accused by one side of sympathy for the enemy, and their marriage deteriorates while the couple flees. The story explores themes of shame, moral decline, self-loathing and violence.

<i>The Silence</i> (1963 film) 1963 Swedish film

The Silence is a 1963 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Ingrid Thulin and Gunnel Lindblom. The plot focuses on two sisters, the younger a sensuous woman with a young son, the elder more intellectually oriented and seriously ill, and their tense relationship as they travel toward home through a fictional Central European country on the brink of war.

<i>Secrets of Women</i> (film) 1952 film

Secrets of Women is a 1952 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman. It was screened within the official selection of the Venice Film Festival in 1953. It is a drama about youthful relationships, told in flashbacks by a group of women.

<i>Sawdust and Tinsel</i> 1953 film

Sawdust and Tinsel is a 1953 Swedish drama film directed by Ingmar Bergman.

<i>The Devils Eye</i> 1960 film by Ingmar Bergman

The Devil's Eye is a 1960 Swedish fantasy comedy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman.

<i>Fårö Document</i> 1970 Swedish film

Fårö Document is a 1970 Swedish documentary film directed by Ingmar Bergman. It was shot on the island of Fårö and is about its inhabitants.

References

  1. ↑ Gado, Frank (1986) The passion of Ingmar Bergman p.310
  2. ↑ Donald F. Theall (1995) Beyond the word: reconstructing sense in the Joyce era of technology, culture, and communication p.35
  3. ↑ Vermilye, Jerry (2002). Ingmar Bergman: His Life and Films. Jefferson, North Carolina and London: McFarland & Company Publishers. p. 122. ISBN   978-0-7864-1160-3 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ Johnson, Eric C. "Cahiers du Cinema: Top Ten Lists 1951-2009". alumnus.caltech.edu. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  5. ↑ Chitwood, Adam (12 July 2018). "Criterion Announces Massive 39-Film Ingmar Bergman Blu-ray Collection". Collider . Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  6. ↑ Ebert, Roger. "The Serpent's Egg" . Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  7. ↑ Kauffmann, Stanley (1968). A world on Film. Delta Books. p. 290.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.