Brink of Life

Eva Dahlbeck is simply amazing. Thulin and Andersson are great too, but Dahlbeck really won me over. She provides the film's most devastating moment, one of the most heart-wrenching and sorrowful scenes I've ever seen in a Bergman film. I also get such a kick out of Max Von Sydow when he's playing an upbeat character. A film not without flaws, but rewarding nonetheless

Fantastic performances and intertwining stories that get better and better right up to a magnificent, if slightly telegraphed, ending.

This film begins with a strong sense of torment, but as it progresses it gradually starts to resemble something more like a public service announcement, so that it almost seems like a journey from Bergmanesque darkness and pessimism to the lightness and optimism of an improving welfare state (and that may well be how it functioned at the time). It is quite a nice little drama, but its greatest pleasures lie in seeing a bunch of Bergman regulars in youthful and exuberant form.

Apart from one clumsy expository monologue early on, Bergman's in fine form here, examining with his usual insight and intensity the complex emotions of pregnancy and womanhood. The characterizations are top-notch and the interactions between the three women beautifully handled. I also got a kick out of seeing a young Erland Josephson, and Max von Sydow being all upbeat.

Is this less-considered little chamber drama actually the saddest and most painful film Ingmar Bergman ever made? In my estimation it's a contender at least. The austerity of a hospital serves to level the playing field and intensify the humanity: these women are temperamentally, economically, and spiritually unique from each other, but here they commiserate on common terms. This depiction of institutional influence, if not outright control of women's bodies will probably forever be relevant.

The many faces of potential motherhood. Birth is in many ways a sort of miracle, for as Bergman so powerfully show here it is always on the brink of death. Make no mistake, the institutional control of women's bodies is on trial here. A Bergman film set entirely in a hospital is always going to be super austere, and it is but he still somehow - due mainly to the three female leads and superb writing - infuses the film with intense humanity.

This movie about three women meeting in a maternity ward shows (again) that Bergman was one of the best directors of well-rounded women characters. I would almost say writer, but this happens to be one of the few movies Bergman adopted from a screenplay not written

This quiet drama is minor is a relatively minor film from his peak period, which naturally means it's only an excellent film that deals with fundamental human issues in profound and unsentimental manner ... and has three powerhouse performances at it's center.

Capricórnio

Three women together in a room where none of the usual class and societal limitations apply. Bergman can now simply shove his favourite actors together and create an excellent movie about anything. That's not to say Isaksson's script is lacking, though like "Thirst" it's obviously adapted from a short story, and it outclasses his previous movies on similar themes (even if the moral feels a bit antiquated). But even where the script feels a bit theatrical, Thulin, Andersson and Dahlbeck soar.

An interesting Bergman with a monolithically urgent, brooding and contemplative tone. There's a hint of religiosity in the way he ties together the emotional states of the characters with the medical fates of their childbearing efforts. It's one of the ones I can't imagine I'll ever watch again, because its considerable rewards are frankly dwarfed by its overbearing sulkiness.

Mês especial do centenário de Ingmar Bergman filme #22 Bergman realmente tem um feeling especial ao retratar mulheres, creio que nenhum outro diretor homem conseguiu esse grau de excelência e empatia para com mulheres. Coleção Versátil Ingmar Bergman Volume 11

Bergman's most bourgeois film, and maybe since - his worst-

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The master of cinematic uncomfortability has me yet again physically trembling after another quality piece of art. Bergman uses a maternity ward to explore not only the anxieties (mental and physical) on childbirth, but also the very reason of being born, utilising as always a terrific cast that, along with the very simple and effective cinematography and dialogue, bluntly attack the audience with the harsh realities of the "miracle" of life.

I suppose something had to come along and ruin my run of impressive Bergman's.

Really, Eva Dahlbeck is wonderful.