In my opinion this is one of Bergman's greatest films, and perhaps only beginning to be recognised as such. I have said before in my reviews on Bergman that I have a love/hate relationship with his work as I believe he was homophobic and not always as understanding about women as he may have thought he was. In this film, ' Waiting Women ' he explores several women's lives and here he has in my opinion pinpointed one essential observation; that men become childlike in their relationships with women. And that women endure their childish moods, rages and unfaithfulness, and above all their crying when they childishly get hurt. Three of the stories show this, and out of the three told in depth I like best the first two. The first shows a woman torn between two men; a childhood love and a petty husband who prefers his antique furniture. No spoilers about who she chooses. The second story is a masterpiece in itself; a young woman in Paris seduced by a man and conceives a child by him. A banal story ? Not in Bergman's hands. Paris is the city where this takes place and it has never been portrayed in such a surreal way, and can can dancers will never look the same in other too often cliched films. The imagery itself is astonishingly filmed and bizarre in a brilliant way, including her seduction. The last story is set in a lift and it is witty and wise, and Eva Dahlbeck is superb as a wife with a dubiously faithful husband. To sum up I believe Bergman's work was at its finest before ' The Seventh Seal ' made him a world wide ' great ' director. Open to debate. X certificated in the UK with cuts in 1959 the film actually was made in 1952!!! Would it have survived the censor before 1959 even with cuts ? Again open to debate, especially if we could know what the reasons would have been.
Review of Secrets of Women
