Autumn Sonata

Reflecting on Autumn Sonata in a memoir written years later, filmmaker Ingmar Bergman realized that some critics were probably right in saying that this 1978 film was “Bergman doing Bergman.” A wrenching and magnificent mother-daughter portrait, Autumn Sonata stars Ingrid Bergman, who brings glamour and authority to the role of Charlotte, a famed pianist who all but abandoned daughters Eva (Liv Ullmann) and Helena (Lena Nyman) to pursue her career. After a seven-year absence, Charlotte visits Eva and superficialities quickly give way to terrible recriminations as the latter unleashes a torrent of resentment and outright hatred on several painful topics, including the severely disabled Helena, who now lives with Eva and her husband, Viktor (Halvar Björk), after having been institutionalized by Charlotte. Sven Nykvist's exquisite cinematography relies on close-ups of faces twisted by emotion as the director cuts deftly from the unflinching present to still-life memories of the past, all rendered in painterly compositions and burnished autumnal color schemes. Re-issued on DVD and bowing on Blu-ray, this Criterion Collection release features extras including a 2003 introduction by Bergman, audio commentary by Bergman expert Peter Cowie, interviews with Ullmann and Ingrid Bergman, and an engrossing three-and-a-half hour “making-of” documentary capturing scenes ranging from early rehearsals to on-set conflicts between the two Bergmans. Highly recommended. (T. Fry)