Private Confessions

The sequel to Best Intentions, same actors, but with Liv Ullman directing. Not as interesting. Poor Henrik has almost no time in this one, it's much more devoted to Anna. I think the movie suffers for it, especially in comparison to the other film. Anna's love for Tomas is described more than it's shown, and the result is that the affair as a whole doesn't ring true... nor does some of the dialogue. And the standard Bergman struggle with religious doubt at the end feels very tacked on.

The Pernilla August Show. Bergman obviously felt sorry for sidelining his mom a bit in Sunday's Children, so here she gets to be the centre of attention for three hours and August squeezes in a lifetime's worth of Bergman monologues while Ullmann in the director's chair does her best to imitate her old boyfriend. Not bad, but much too much of a good thing; in the end, you could have cut this down to the scenes with Fröler and von Sydow and delievered a short sharp 60 minutes.