Smiles of a Summer Night

Although Swedish director Ingmar Bergman rarely ventured into lighthearted comedy, the beautiful 1955 pastoral romp Smiles of a Summer Night was an exception and a smashing success to boot at both the Cannes Film Festival and the box office. After a long and thoroughly entertaining setup, the film follows a middle-aged lawyer (Gunnar Bjornstrand) and his still-virginal wife (Ulla Jacobsson) to a friend's country house for a summer weekend visit during the year 1900, where they mingle with other guests, including the lawyer's ex-mistress (Eva Dahlbeck), and a bandy rooster count and his wife. Over the course of the weekend, everyone finds new love in the arms of another. Bergman, who worked out the complicated relationships by way of looking at the story as a mathematical love problem, has more on his mind, however, than mere farce, and the subtext of the film is a running commentary on the foibles and excesses of the aristocratic class, most pointedly in the playfully unreserved courtship between a resident servant and a visiting maid (Harriet Andersson). The film inspired two later works: composer Stephen Sondheim's smash musical A Little Night Music and Bergman fan Woody Allen's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982). Bowing on DVD as part of the peerless Criterion Collection, Smiles of a Summer Night boasts a characteristically luminous transfer but only a small handful of extras (a typically coy four-minute interview/introduction by Bergman, a 17-minute conversation between film historian Peter Cowie and writer Jörn Donner, and a 24-page booklet). One of the true classics in the early Bergman oeuvre, this is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (R. Pitman)[Blu-ray Review—May 10, 2011—Criterion, 108 min., in Swedish w/English subtitles, not rated, $39.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1955's Smiles of a Summer Night boasts an excellent transfer and a mono soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are identical to those on the previous DVD release, including a video intro by director Ingmar Bergman (4 min.), a conversation between Bergman scholar Peter Cowie and Fanny and Alexander executive producer Jörn Donner (17 min.), trailers, and a booklet featuring an essay by critic John Simon and a 1961 review by Pauline Kael. Bottom line: a welcome Blu-ray debut of a beloved Bergman classic.]