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Sawdust and Tinsel [VHS]

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**** 1953. Written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. A land circus owner comes back to the town he left his wife and his children in, three years before. Criterion presents here the uncut version of this film with scenes absent from the VHS and laserdisc editions of SAWDUST AND TINSEL. Among the bonus features, you'll find an introduction by Ingmar Bergman himself, shot in 2003, as well as a very edifying commentary by film scholar Peter Cowie. The theme of humiliation, sexual, physical or simply psychological, is the main theme of SAWDUST AND TINSEL and the underlying element of its most awesome scenes such as the flashback on the beach which is also an homage to Sergei Eisenstein and to other masters of the silent films period. A movie to watch several times.

A new generation of Bergman viewers has begun to discover that many of the lesser-known films by the great Swedish director are among his very best, or, one should say, they speak to modern audiences in a more significant way than the "cannonical" Bergman films do. "Winter Light", "Hour of the Wolf", "Shame" and, yes, "Sawdust and Tinsel" are at LEAST as worth-watching as "Seventh Seal", "Cries and Whispers", etc. "Sawdust" is a harrowing film, even by Bergman's standards, and it's not for the faint hearted, but it is one of the most gripping films I have ever seen; it's filled with horror and humiliation (and more raw pain than a dozen other films) but it finally shows a sincere compassion for its characters, an attribute that ultimately makes it a true work of humanistic art.

This is one of my favorite early Bergman movies, if not just for the opening clown sequence, which is beautifully photographed. I think this is the first film in which Bergman collaborated with Sven Nykvist, perhaps the greatest film duo to ever come into being. Whether or not the critics loved or hated the film, or when or why they took either opinion, is of course of little consequence. Bergman himself seemed to have liked the film, or at least as much as he indicated in his autobiography: he notes, in particular, the successful blending of dream and reality that he so admired in Tarkovsky and that, he felt, he had failed to create in some of his later more ambitious projects.

A circus owner (Gronberg) arrives in his former hometown after an absence of seven years, when he left behind his wife and his two little boys. He hasn't seen them since, and has taken up a new lover: a young, coquettish, simple-minded girl who performs in his circus (Anderson). When the the circus owner decides to pay a visit to his former family, Anderson becomes intensely jealous, thinking that he is leaving her to return to his family. "Fear becomes what is feared" when, sensing abandonment, Anderson allows herself to be seduced by a young actor. Likewise, thinking that his new lover has run off, Gronberg makes a desperate attempt to reconcile with his family. A morbid and most pathetically depressing emotional climax is reached when all the cards are laid on the table at the circus's performance.

The acting/directing in this movie is Bergman at his finest; a 'spontaneous' (thoroughly coordinated) guttoral instinctiveness is pounded on like an out-of-tune piano chord: the emotional progress of the characters in the film is at once difficult to watch, for its ugliness, and strangely attractive. Thematically it probably falls into that category of films more finite in scope, examining love, marriage, and human relationships: but it shouldn't be discounted as small in its aims, for it is full of psychological insight, or at least interesting from that perspective.

I tend to agree with those that find this film a milestone in Bergman's career: essential.

Even in interviews years after "Sawdust and Tinsel" appeared, it's clear that Bergman was still irked by the charge that his film was "vomit." But in a certain way, this comment by a film critic is a vindication of the movie, because in it Bergman is exploring a vision of life that is anything but comforting. Each time I watch this magnificent little film, I'm reminded of Sartre's "No Exit." We're trapped in life, and that's all there is to it. It's entirely appropriate that our reaction to the film should be negative. The challenge is to not confuse our response to the film's theme with an aesthetic evaluation of it.

The film's central metaphor for our existential entrapment is the tawdry circus run by the central character, Albert (Ake Groenberg), a middle-aged man beginning to feel the weight of his mortality. Involved with Anne (Harriet Andersson), a woman half his age, he's worried about his ability to keep her interested, just as she's worried about being deserted by him. A large subtext in the film is the crisis their relationship undergoes, but that crisis--and the relationship itself--must be understood in terms of the alienating existence that humans endure. "We're all stuck in hell. Stuck in hell... I want out of the circus!" as Albert moans.

Yet, typical of Bergman, there's some small consolation. At the end of the film, Albert and Anne return to one another. The circus-entrapment continues. The tawdry troop hitches up its wagons and moves on to another town, as it apparently always will. And Anne and Albert realize that their relationship is built on fear and loneliness as much as love. Like everything else, it's sawdust and tinsel. But in this circus we call life, that's no small thing.

Very good performances throughout the film, particularly by Ake Groenberg. The lighting is magnificent, and bears all the characteristics of later Bergman/Nyqvist collaborations.

This review is for the Criterion DVD edition of the film.

Sawdust and Tinsel released in Sweden as "Gycklarnas afton" is about the owner of a travelling circus and his girlfriend.

The film has been described by Criterion as a battle of the sexes film. This could be considered an understatement. This also led to the censors cutting five minutes from the film for the American release. These scenes are included here for the first time in the United States.

The DVD includes two special features. A 2003 introduction to the film by director Ingmar Bergman, and audio commentary by Peter Cowie.

This is mediocre when compared to the later Bergman films but still is one that should be seen.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Ingmar Bergman's "Gycklarnas Afton" aka "Sawdust and Tinsel aka "The Naked Night" (1953) is a sad tale of passion, jealousy, betrayal, and humiliation set in a shabby traveling circus in the beginning of 20Th century in Sweden. When it was originally released in 1953, the movie met the fierce controversy and misunderstanding from both the critics and the viewers. Even now, more than fifty years later, Bergman remembers what one of the critics said about "Sawdust and Tinsel", "I refuse to make an ocular inspection of Mr. Bergman's latest vomit." The master said that he's always liked the film and it was enough for me to try to find and watch it.

The story itself is not original and has been told many times - it concerns the aging circus owner who fell under the spell of his young and breathtakingly sensual mistress Anna (Harriet Anderson - God Almighty and who would not? If ever any woman could change my sexual orientation, it would've been Anderson of "Dreams", "Smiles of a Summer Night", and "Sawdust and Tinsel". Those dark deep eyes - one minute, the big and naive eyes of a little sweet girl, next second - elongated promising eyes of a natural born seductress, enchantress, and a heart breaker. Her lips, long dark hair, and the body of a dancer and a model make her the embodiment of irresistible femininity.

Filled with the images of exquisite elegance, photographed in striking black and white colors, this study of a love triangle - circus manager loses his mistress to an attractive, young but sadistic actor while trying (without a success) to reconcile with his ex-wife - leads to a powerful and devastating climax. The guns put to one's head may not fire at the end of the naked night but the feelings of despair, hopelessness, and humiliation are overwhelming and not easily shaken.

It's amazing when a film is disliked and misunderstood when released, and is then praised and labelled as a masterpiece decades later. Ingmar Bergman's 'Sawdust and Tinsel' is one of those films. I'm not exactly sure why the film was regarded so lowly, but thankfully, it is now recognised for what it is.

The film isn't quite Bergman's best, but it is certainly close. 'Sawdust and Tinsel' is a pessimistic, yet truthful study of human nature in relationships. The film's central character, Albert, is a ringmaster of a travelling circus, and is passing through the town where his wife and children are living. The pair have been separated for some time and are clearly dealing with the situation in different ways. His wife Agda has moved on. Albert is still affected and has been unfaithful to his wife, as he is travelling along with his mistress. What unfolds is an interesting character study that looks at human insecurity, disloyalty, selfishness, unhappiness and emotional strain.

It's no wonder that Ingmar Bergman is titled 'The Swedish Master'. 'Sawdust and Tinsel' is full of insight and certainly shows Bergman's talent. He does some excellent things with mirrors in certain shots and creates a lot of mood throughout the film. The highlight is, without question, one of the first scenes in which Frost, the circus clown, comes to collect his wife Alma from the ocean, where she is swimming with an army regiment. Every element works and Alma's selfishness and Frost's pain are clear in the scene, adding to the effect. Practically everything that Bergman has done in this film is excellent. The only point of criticism though, is that the cinematography is a bit hit and miss, as some scenes are too bright, giving them an overexposed look.

This is an under-appreciated film that is certainly worth viewing. It is quite hard to come by, but maybe one day, someone will do a proper release on DVD.

Ingmar Bergman has called this his first true film, the first step into murky autobiographical terrain, and the coming together of his soul-searching about love, sex, faith and identity with his grasp of cinematic language. Using the metaphor of life as a travelling circus and in particular his legendary philandering, Bergman is the circus owner cuckolded by his mistress and the actor in a local theatre troupe who seduces her. The flashback which appears early in the film encapsulates Bergman's theme where the circus clown's wife strips for a legion of soldiers on the beach, while canonfire and the music of Karl-Birger Blomdahl explodes. This sequence has the starkness of a silent movie and the luridness of a peepshow flick, it's closeups as beautiful and evocative as Carl Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc. Although nothing that follows matches the brilliance of this flashback, some scenes come close - the seduction of the sensual Harriet Andersson, the circus owners visit to his wife who defines the life she is glad to be free of as one of "insecurity, misery, flight, lice and sickness", and a fight in the circus ring. Bergman's rambles when the circus owner gets drunk, in his resolution, and with the theatre scenes where his coverage of the director is too respectful - he gives him a ludicrous low angle introduction, perhaps out of his own feeling of being a director for the theatre. But the use of the circus animals, in particular the cat which lives in the owner's wagon in reaction to a gun is masterly. From the performance we see given by the clowns and the smallness of their working space, I presume we are to feel the way the circus wife does about this kind of life. However what we also see that she doesn't is the bacchanalian playfulness of the troupe, that which keeps them moving from town to town, where one person's escape is another's adventure. This film has been criticised by Pauline Kael in her 5001 Nights at the Movies collection as being bleak, where no one is saved from damnation, but I cannot agree. Perhaps that's the clown in me.

Ingmar Bergman's 1953 film Sawdust and Tinsel is a film rarely mentioned in discussions of the director's greatest works. With a filmography like Bergman's, it's easy for a film like this to get lost in the shuffle. It is acknowledged that this film marked a turning point in Bergman's career and was his first film to be photographed by Sven Nykvist, the director of photography he would forge a legendary collaboration with. Despite being highly overlooked, it is worth noting that Sawdust and Tinsel is in some ways one of Bergman's more accessible works. If anything, it's more straight-forward than some of his other, well-known films and shows the beginnings of a great director beginning to hone his craft.

Albert (Åke Grönberg) is the aging ringmaster of a travelling circus called Cirkus Alberti. It's clear to Albert, his young mistress Anne (Harriet Andersson), and everyone else that the circus is going under and Albert quietly muses that "things would be better in America." Albert has not seen his wife or his children in three years and plans to visit them as they travel through the next town, much to the chagrin of Anne. When Albert and Anne visit a local theatre to borrow costumes for that night's performance, they are taunted by the troupe's director Mr. Sjuberg (Gunnar Björnstrand) while Anne catches the eye of the lead actor Frans (Hasse Ekman). With Albert going to visit his wife and Frans determined to get what he wants, it becomes increasingly clear that both Albert and Anne are trying to break free from the circus and each other.

It is clear within minutes why Bergman found a kindred spirit in Nykvist. The black & white photography wonderfully contrasts the ideals and associations we have with a circus and it's beautifully shot in a downbeat way. However, I can only imagine what a beautiful, yet drearily atmospheric film this may have been if shot in color. What I believe Nykvist did that really captured Bergman's attention is an early scene where a member of Cirkus Alberti recounts a story to Albert about two other circus members; the clown, Frost (Anders Ek) and his wife Alma (Gudrun Brost). The story depicts a distraught Frost discovering his wife swimming naked with a military regiment. It goes without saying, this scene is incredibly well-shot. Nykvist shoots it to evoke films from the silent era, particularly those of Sergei Eisenstein. Not only is this scene a brilliant piece of photography, but it's also a triumph for Bergman. With the exception of a couple sounds and some thundering music, Bergman keeps the scene silent and it is remarkable how he manages to capture the emotions displayed so powerfully while discarding all sound. This is a testament to the skill of Ek and Brost as well, as they convey the emotions required so beautifully without words.

The film has a wonderful score by Karl-Birger Blomdahl, who never before and never again scored a film for Bergman (in fact, this was the only theatrical film he ever scored). It's a score that's both memorable and hits the right notes for each scene, but it also has a whimsical charm that recalls the music of Nino Rota. Also stand-out is the production design by Bibi Lindström, which is absolutely impeccable. Finally, there are some terrific performances, particularly by Grönberg and Ek. Grönberg's performance is really something in both its fierce intensity and quiet subtlety. It's a bravura performance. Andersson is quite good as the naïve, young Anne; but Ek is the star supporting performer. His performance is a great example of physical acting and I was surprised to discover he had no history of acting during the silent era. If you watch Ek's physical mannerisms alone, you'll be impressed; but he's effective when he's required to speak as well.

Although uncredited in the film, the screenplay by Bergman is deeply human and stunningly well-written. For some reason, this film made me recall the early work of French director Marcel Carné and his foray in "poetic realism." If you've seen Children of Paradise you may agree that Sawdust and Tinsel is material that would have suited Carné splendidly. What I find interesting is the contrast between this film and the "poetic realism" of Carné's early films. While Sawdust and Tinsel has the perfect setting for poetic realism, it's interesting how Bergman uses it to evoke cold emotional realism while Carné would have used a more poetically-charged style. Bergman's story is emotionally involving and his dialogue, while not poetic, is emotionally honest and expressive. This is a film that is able to elicit the emotions of the viewer in it's dealings with so many different emotions experienced by its characters. Take the duel at the end, which is an emotionally devastating, extraordinarily effective scene.

While Sawdust and Tinsel lacks the scope and iconic status of Bergman's later films, it's a stunning achievement that straddles the line between masterpiece and simply "great." Beginning with The Seventh Seal in 1957, Bergman began cranking out films that most consider the greatest films ever made and he didn't seem to end that extraordinary run until 1982 with Fanny and Alexander. I think if Sawdust and Tinsel had a different director, it would probably be held in much higher regard. As for the DVD release, it should come as no surprise that Criterion has done a splendid job with it. The film has a wonderful, but brief introduction by Bergman himself and the restoration of the film makes it look brand new. While not the greatest of the director's works, this is a minor masterpiece that deserves more attention and accolades. Obviously, I highly recommend you look into this.

GRADE: A-

This early Bergman film is the potent visual seed from which all his later (greater) films grow.To see it, is to see them before they had been articulated and flowered.All the acting in this superb film is first rate: Ann,(Anderson),dripping with sensuality, but with a profound saving innocence.Albert(Gronberg), driven as the circus director,by anger and humiliation.And Frost(Eckman), the clown to end all clowns,who we see at the beginning, in an expressionistic flash-back shot in stark sunlight, of unimmaginable horror in long-off crowd shots or in close-ups comparable to Christ, carrying his cross(his partner,Alma). We are in a travelling circus trekking across the country to its next town.This town is where Albert's wife lives with his children, and he's going to see them.She is now successful, and he wants to leave his younger mistress and the circus and settle down in security and peace. Anne fears him returning to his wife, and she cuckolds him with a sleazy theatrical cad.Bergman's vision of the sexual-emotional battle between the sexes is particulary well realized,the hoops we all(yes us) have to jump through to bond, through humiliation and desire and the need for security.

However the creative artist -another theme-is driven by demons and lays bare his soul.We also get the interplay and contrast between cinematic space and theatrical space.Bergman came from a theatrical tradition and utilises it with his use of light and shadow and long-shot.With cinematic space, he moves right up close, or people move towards the camera, like Anderson.Albert's close ups show him in all his sweaty suffering.But he is, like the theatre director, a tyrant, and they both keep their shows on the road.But the theatre folk look down their noses at the circus folk at the bottom of the pecking order.This circus is not Felliniesque,but more like one of the lower circles of hell.As Bergman said in praise of this film, and why he likes it: it is wild,but never loses control.This came after Summer with Monika, and before Smiles of a Summer's Night and The 7th Seal. Bergman proves his genius.