The complicated relationships between a circus ringmaster, his estranged wife and his lover.The complicated relationships between a circus ringmaster, his estranged wife and his lover.The complicated relationships between a circus ringmaster, his estranged wife and his lover.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
- Theatre Actress
- (uncredited)
- Ropewalker
- (uncredited)
- Greven - Circus Artist
- (uncredited)
- Mrs. Meijer - Circus Artist
- (uncredited)
- Fair Anton
- (uncredited)
- Theatre Actor
- (uncredited)
- Artillery Officer
- (uncredited)
- Theatre Actress
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- Ingmar Bergman(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBergman's first collaboration with cinematographer Sven Nykvist.
- GoofsWhen Anne is at the theatre and standing in the middle of the stage, the orientation of how she holds her parasol changes from the long shot to the medium shot.
- Quotes
Frost: I had a dream this afternoon while I slept off the booze. I dreamt that Alma came to me and said, "Poor Frost, you look tired and sad. Wouldn't you like to rest a while?" "Yes," I said. "I'll make you small as a little unborn child," she said. "You can climb into my womb and sleep in peace." So I did as she said and crept inside her womb and I slept there so soundly and peacefully, rocked to sleep as if in a cradle. Then I got smaller and smaller, until at last I was just a tiny seed, and then I was gone.
- Alternate versionsA scene in the first half of the film, in which the circus troupe parades into town to publicize their show, is unaccountably missing from the American version. In this scene, one furthering the film's theme of humiliation, the local police confiscate the performers' horses, which forces them to pull the heavy wagons back to their camp themselves.
- ConnectionsEdited into Short cuts från Sandrews (1999)
Their live is miserable, though things could always be worse. When we first see the troupe, they've escaped some unnamed disaster that claimed half their costumes. They're starving and haven't been paid in some time. The owner decides to throw on the most extravagant show they possibly can to hide the fact that they are in such terrible shape. That idea of artifice is really what runs through the whole movie. The owner and his mistress don their finest clothes (a performer drily notes that the mistress' dress miraculously survived the disaster) and walk into town to the local theater to ask for a professional favor in the form of a loan of costumes.
The director of the theater immediately insults and degrades the pair upon their arrival, all done in a flowery delivery with elegant prose. He draws up the idea of artifice again, calling the pair's costumes a poor mask for their condition and even pointing out that the theater itself is artifice but a more worthy one. They do get the costumes in the end (the payment being taking the insults). The mistress fights off a seduction from a theatrical player, and the pair take back the costumes to the circus.
The fact is, though, neither can hide the fact from themselves that they hate their existence and they hate each other. The owner goes into town to find his wife and ends up begging her to take him back, which she refuses to do. The mistress finds the actor who tried to seduce her and ends up giving into his very forceful attempts at seduction (to the point that she calls it a rape in an explanation to the owner). It's this inability to find satisfaction in the things outside of their world, the fact that the desired artifice of the new existence keeps falling down, that drives the characters to despair.
The movie doesn't completely end on a downer. There is an attempted suicide, but after it fails, the troupe must simply continue. They've made enough from their performance in town to eat and continue. They don't need to disband. They can keep on dressing up in their own artifice while deriving whatever satisfaction from live they can behind the scenes. The irony of the fact that Andersson is so beautiful while the owner spurns her so harshly only to keep her in the end is particularly interesting. What's behind her artifice of cheap costumes and cheap perfume? A beautiful woman who loves him and stays with him. That's something to hold onto, even if the owner can't quite figure it out yet.
- davidmvining
- Nov 22, 2019
- How long is Sawdust and Tinsel?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 33 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1