Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night presents an unusual romantic comedy. This is not a mindless date night film where boy meets girl and, after a series of funny encounters, they fall in love and live happily ever after. Instead, it's a comedy that's more witty by means of clever dialogue and verbal one-upsmanship in a film with a variety of romantic entanglements.
We have Frederik, the older widower and sarcastic lawyer, his very young second wife Anne, and Frederik's son Henrik, a seemingly troubled youth studying theology who much more closely mirrors Anne's age. We also have Malcolm, a jealous military man and the perpetually unfaithful husband to Charlotte, herself an aggressive and seemingly vengeful personality. Then there is Petra, the promiscuous household servant, and Desiree, the famous actress and mistress to, at one time or another, both Malcolm and Frederik, who ties the different pieces of the plot together.
Throughout, these various characters meet, spar, ally, disband, arrange, and rearrange themselves. The dialogue is excellent, and the movie presents the viewer with ample material on which to reflect about the meaning of love and the right approach to relationships, including whether the current answer is the permanent answer or merely a transient solution. As for the negatives, the music came across as overly dramatic and pushy, as though telling you how to feel about the scene, rather than subtly enhancing the experience, and certain plot developments felt overly sudden and forced.
On the whole, the movie certainly is worthy of a watch.
We have Frederik, the older widower and sarcastic lawyer, his very young second wife Anne, and Frederik's son Henrik, a seemingly troubled youth studying theology who much more closely mirrors Anne's age. We also have Malcolm, a jealous military man and the perpetually unfaithful husband to Charlotte, herself an aggressive and seemingly vengeful personality. Then there is Petra, the promiscuous household servant, and Desiree, the famous actress and mistress to, at one time or another, both Malcolm and Frederik, who ties the different pieces of the plot together.
Throughout, these various characters meet, spar, ally, disband, arrange, and rearrange themselves. The dialogue is excellent, and the movie presents the viewer with ample material on which to reflect about the meaning of love and the right approach to relationships, including whether the current answer is the permanent answer or merely a transient solution. As for the negatives, the music came across as overly dramatic and pushy, as though telling you how to feel about the scene, rather than subtly enhancing the experience, and certain plot developments felt overly sudden and forced.
On the whole, the movie certainly is worthy of a watch.