Bergman's Smiles on a Summer Night is a delightful and mild-mannered comedic effort studying love and the different natures of relationships those of opposing genders go through with one another in regards to feeling strongly for the opposite sex. It is quite the engaging piece observing the webs and complications created once one person's feelings for another takes over, a film balancing those whom are married with former girlfriends they cannot rid their feelings of; with young men wanting to begin relationships; with married women whom feel for younger men despite being indirectly related to them, to name but a few. It is quite the involving, rather scathing film looking at people rich in attitudes towards culture and finer things but utterly devoid of any kind of sensible or moral outlook on sexual relations; a quite brutal comedy covering people sneering down at those of a generational difference below, despite those of whom occupy such a space are infinitely the more well-natured and humanist amidst all the other fatuity.
The film begins with a lawyer named Fredrik Egerman (Björnstrand) occupying his decorated office, a rich space inside of a large and rich manor house in Sweden. From the manner in which his general location is decorated with props and items, we can tell the man has a substantially large amount of money and appears both regimental and thorough in his business, particularly when the time comes to speak to his younger son Henrick (Bjelfvenstam) who's a piano player; is studying to become a priest and has feelings for both his mother-in-law Anne (Jacobsson) and a young house-servant called Petra (Andersson). Egerman has tickets to an opera that evening, instilling a sense of high-culture about the man further embedded when it is revealed he will be watching a former girl friend of his within the show, suggesting previous exposure to those working within an industry of such high-end culture. Furthermore, the actress he was once in a relationship with unfolded not so soon after a previous wife died thus implying a mentality of the man as one that enjoys the company of women.
Frederik observes this actress-come-former lover Desiree Armfeldt (Dahlbeck) on stage, Desiree given a big build up as she lingers off stage by the characters within the play further-still characters within the film, dialogue to do with the power she has over most men complimenting what will later transpire in the film as a whole; her appearance on stage is greeted by an array of applause and she is the focal point of everybody's attention. Fredrik meets her back-stage, his once stiff and regimental demeanour made to look somewhat false as she bosses him about in her dressing room and later comes to look down and laugh at him at his drenched figure having fallen over once outside into a large puddle. Their relationship and knowing of one another will come to form a great part of Bergman's film. Cause for concern arrives in the form of a count named Carl-Magnus Malcolm (Kulle), a man of militarian profession; Desiree's current lover and a man whom verbally reiterates his credentials when it comes to conflict and disagreements when he talks of his rich and successful history in dueling and fighting; he's also pretty handy with a fruit knife and barely even reacts to a gentleman (in the form of Fredrik) standing there wearing not much in his lover's dormitory such is his professionalism. He clashes with Frederik when Carl-Magnus finds him in Desiree's back-stage dressing room, and Bergman frames them in profile with Desiree's beaming figure standing between them highlighting what, or who, it is they are essentially clashing over, face to face.
The film is deceptive in its initial beginning and surroundings, the film not so much about a love triangle involving Fredrik, this actress and her current lover as much it is about human nature's reaction toward love and firm relationships; the sorts of relationships people get into with those of the opposite gender and the vast characteristics and mannerisms that define these relationships as perpetrated by those enacting it. Some are forlorn and forbidden; some are comedic and rather quirksome, others are defined by one man's general attitude towards women and its consequent points during which violence threatens to burst into life as a result of said separate attitudes. Bergam balances scenes of great drama and tension with that of lighter, fluffier content rather well; all the while maintaining focus of the film's core thesis and doing well to engross us in the different stories and strands each of the bevy of characters find themselves caught up in.
The film begins with a lawyer named Fredrik Egerman (Björnstrand) occupying his decorated office, a rich space inside of a large and rich manor house in Sweden. From the manner in which his general location is decorated with props and items, we can tell the man has a substantially large amount of money and appears both regimental and thorough in his business, particularly when the time comes to speak to his younger son Henrick (Bjelfvenstam) who's a piano player; is studying to become a priest and has feelings for both his mother-in-law Anne (Jacobsson) and a young house-servant called Petra (Andersson). Egerman has tickets to an opera that evening, instilling a sense of high-culture about the man further embedded when it is revealed he will be watching a former girl friend of his within the show, suggesting previous exposure to those working within an industry of such high-end culture. Furthermore, the actress he was once in a relationship with unfolded not so soon after a previous wife died thus implying a mentality of the man as one that enjoys the company of women.
Frederik observes this actress-come-former lover Desiree Armfeldt (Dahlbeck) on stage, Desiree given a big build up as she lingers off stage by the characters within the play further-still characters within the film, dialogue to do with the power she has over most men complimenting what will later transpire in the film as a whole; her appearance on stage is greeted by an array of applause and she is the focal point of everybody's attention. Fredrik meets her back-stage, his once stiff and regimental demeanour made to look somewhat false as she bosses him about in her dressing room and later comes to look down and laugh at him at his drenched figure having fallen over once outside into a large puddle. Their relationship and knowing of one another will come to form a great part of Bergman's film. Cause for concern arrives in the form of a count named Carl-Magnus Malcolm (Kulle), a man of militarian profession; Desiree's current lover and a man whom verbally reiterates his credentials when it comes to conflict and disagreements when he talks of his rich and successful history in dueling and fighting; he's also pretty handy with a fruit knife and barely even reacts to a gentleman (in the form of Fredrik) standing there wearing not much in his lover's dormitory such is his professionalism. He clashes with Frederik when Carl-Magnus finds him in Desiree's back-stage dressing room, and Bergman frames them in profile with Desiree's beaming figure standing between them highlighting what, or who, it is they are essentially clashing over, face to face.
The film is deceptive in its initial beginning and surroundings, the film not so much about a love triangle involving Fredrik, this actress and her current lover as much it is about human nature's reaction toward love and firm relationships; the sorts of relationships people get into with those of the opposite gender and the vast characteristics and mannerisms that define these relationships as perpetrated by those enacting it. Some are forlorn and forbidden; some are comedic and rather quirksome, others are defined by one man's general attitude towards women and its consequent points during which violence threatens to burst into life as a result of said separate attitudes. Bergam balances scenes of great drama and tension with that of lighter, fluffier content rather well; all the while maintaining focus of the film's core thesis and doing well to engross us in the different stories and strands each of the bevy of characters find themselves caught up in.