Scenes From a Marriage

It's been three decades since the original 1973 Scandinavian broadcast of Ingmar Bergman's Scenes From a Marriage, which sparked a cultural phenomenon that sent divorce rates skyrocketing and spurred record numbers of couples to seek psychological counseling. The great Swedish actors Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson play Marianne and Johan, married for 10 years and seemingly happy, but over the course of Bergman's compassionately insightful six-part TV miniseries, the relationship undergoes a series of seismic shifts that will have profound repercussions for both of them. Infidelity, divorce, and its aftermath are as much a part of Bergman's dramatic odyssey as love, children, and elusive happiness--it all fits under the heading of "marriage"--and this low-budget masterpiece remains one of the greatest, most intimate, painfully honest, and emotionally complex love stories ever filmed. For its international theatrical release a year later, Bergman masterfully edited the series down to a 169-minute feature film, and this superb three-disc addition to the Criterion Collection features both versions, along with a critical comparison of the two by noted film scholar Peter Cowie, and interviews with Bergman, Ullmann, and Josephson (who talk about how their own lives were forever changed by this singular creative experience). Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (J. Shannon) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—Sept. 18, 2018—Criterion, 297 min., PG, DVD: 3 discs, $39.95; Blu-ray: 2 discs, $49.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1973’s Scenes from a Marriage features an excellent transfer with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Featuring both the five-hour TV miniseries and the U.S. theatrical version, extras include 2003 interviews with costars Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson (25 min.), a 1986 Swedish TV interview with director Ingmar Bergman (15 min.), a 2003 interview with Bergman scholar Peter Cowie (15 min.), and an essay by author Phillip Lopate. Bottom line: a signature Bergman classic makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]