Because he was so inspired by Ingmar Bergman, I wish I would have done my Bergman retrospective after my Woody Allen retrospective to better draw comparisons between Allen and his idol. Autumn Sonata, the film directed by Bergman in 1978, reminded me a lot of Woody Allen's 1978 feature, Interiors. Both of the films relied on a deep examination of the family, and the interpersonal relationships of relatives. Allen's film used extreme close-ups to better submerge the audience in the narrative, and Bergman's film used the close-up on a character as they delivered a monologue that I have seen in a few of his films during this project. Autumn Sonata focuses on a daughter determined to win the love of her mother, who she feels has always placed more priority on her career as a concert pianist. An amazing exploration of a multi- layered relationship, Autumn Sonata is not to be missed.

It is Ingrid Bergman's big screen swan song and the two renowned Bergman compatriots' one and only collaboration. Charlotte Andergast (Bergman) is a renowned pianist who recently lost her companion Leonardo (Løkkeberg), so she accepts the invitation to stay with her eldest daughter Eva (Liv Ullmann) and her husband Viktor (Björk) for some time, whom she hasn't seen for seven years.This highly nerve-wracking chamber drama begins with Viktor's breaking-the-fourth-wall monologue about him and Eva's temporal life, he is a minister and how they are united under the guidance of the parish work. Then Eva brings him the letter she writes to invite Charlotte, at first impression, Eva is a tender, self-effacing and soft-spoken woman. Only when Charlotte arrives, who is presumably a self-centered artist with elegance, a vivacious but neglectful mother, garrulous about the last days of Leonardo, puts on a strong patina of being high spirited and after the initial and necessary pleasantry, Eva throws the first bomb, she tells her Helena (Nyman), Charlotte's bed-ridden, mentally disabled younger daughter, is also here, whom Charlotte puts in a health institution for years, but now she has been under the attendance of Eva for two years. The mother-daughters reunion proceeds into a rather awkward situation, as Charlotte is more than unwillingly to face her ill daughter, which clearly evokes her guilty conscience for being absent most of the time. After dinner, a turbulent undercurrent is grafted on Charlotte's professional advice on Eva's piano skill, from Eva's angle, she never quite inherit any merits from her mother, neither the look or the talent. This is one of the main reason of their clash, under her vulnerable mien, she is in hopeless anguish. After an interlude about the premature death of Viktor and Eva's four-year- old son and a tête-a-tête between Viktor and Charlotte (during which Viktor refers that Eva is incapable of love), in the still of the night, Charlotte is awaken from a nightmare, Eva hears the noise and they embark on a thorough heart-to-heart two-hander, Eva divulges all her unhappy childhood memories and attributes it to Charlotte's career-first option; while Charlotte tries to justify the story from her side, but in no avail, both actresses' performances are sparklingly galvanizing, Ullmann is fearlessly aggressive, arbitrarily unforgiving, while Bergman refutes with a tour-de-force achievement, unyieldingly emits compassionate remorse and unexpected perplexity. Both actresses competently consummate their characters' emotional arcs, which is undeniably enthralling to watch, even for those who don't feel comfortable in Bergman's school. Personally I will give the edge to Bergman, considering her the harsh similarities between the role and her legendary personal life, and it is a stupendous curtain call for her illustrious career, although I impulsively think this performance is her career-best. The bond between a mother and a daughter often comes off as an amalgam of love and hatred, AUTUMN SONATA is at its best to dissect the relationship in dialectics, there is no right or wrong in the story, firstly, viewers is prone to cold-shoulder Charlotte's self-seeking pretentiousness, her failure in motherhood, but, when Eva's anger is fully emancipated, her one-sided blame- shooting accusation is also defectively biased, Ingmar Bergman is a true maestro in concocting this kind of brutal revelation of human being's deep-rooted character deficiency, it is not a parable, it is just a real life situation may occur to many others, unfortunately this time one might also sense a tint of misogyny. In the end, there is no sign of reconciliation despite Eva writes an apologetic letter, which Charlotte may or may not receive, the whole mess cannot save them from their respective mental condition, leastwise, they know each other better afterward, the scar may never be healed and truth hurts, yet everyone of us is living with both pain and happiness, simultaneously, as long as we come to terms with that, we will be fine.

I could hardly stand the disturbing feeling of intimacy between Charlotte, the mother, and Eva, the daughter. "Autumn Sonata" is so real that it almost fails as a film for a more transcending merit that goes as far as your soul can reach. I don't know how to express it, the movie left me speechless, torn between the guilt from witnessing such heart-breaking displays of hatred on an almost voyeuristic level, or a strange feeling of fascination. Ingmar Bergman's "Autumn Sonata" is the cinematic demonstration that family is indeed the reservoir of all our repressed feelings, emotions, the source or the obstacle to our own life-guiding energies. The flute sound that introduces the film has a rustic serenity resonating like the appeasing lullaby for our worried minds. The quietness of a little house far from the town, Eva, not beautiful, hardly pretty, is embodying the austerity of her environment in a chameleonic way. Liv Ullman, Ingmar Bergman's muse, is again totally mesmerizing in a role that proves her immense versatility, but wait till you see Ingrid Bergman, in one of the greatest female performances ever, rightfully Oscar-nominated. When she makes her entrance, the whole place is inhabited by a shining aura. As Charlotte, Ingrid Bergman's charisma cancels out the apparent dullness of Eva and her insignificant husband. Charlotte is the authoritarian guiding force of the story, and our eyes follow her, secretly wishing that she would be the one to awaken Eva. But don't expect THAT awakening.The movie is an eye-opening experience, proving how the relationships with parents are children's cement to build their personality. Parents either enlighten your soul, or make you live in their shadows. I remember a line from "The Godfather Part II" where Fredo wished he could be like his father, a man with power, with a loving family, Michael had these words: "It's not easy being a son" Oh God, how right he was. When the mere idea to be better than your father is intolerable, the least you can do, is to please him. We all put some people on a personal pedestal, and "Autumn Sonata" talked to my soul through the story of a daughter whose ego was dwarfed by her mother's undeniable aura.The contrast between Charlotte and Eva, in beauty, colors and personality echoed my own contrast with the person I respect the most in that world, and I guess this is the reason why I'm so disturbed, because I can't even dare to imagine the pain he indirectly caused me, not because of him but because of the way I perceived him. But how can I blame him for my own perceptions? Or aren't the perceptions in fine inspired by a certain behavior? My empathy for Eva was so omnipresent that it perverted any possibility to rationally judge the film, with that reserve I admire so much from Northern cultures, and that has been so wrongly associated with coldness. But relating to Eva isn't saying much, because ironically, Charlotte was the character I respected the most. call it the 'Eva' of 'Fredo' syndrome.Ingmar Bergman's most unique talent is to convey universal feelings through simple shots, looks, or a specific use of music. Here, music plays a significant role as it highlights the talent of Charlotte, a virtuoso concert pianist, to play with emotions, to fake or overact them, and it lures us into the conviction that she used that talent even with her daughter and late husband. Eva's talent is more debatable, her mother reproaches that she plays it too sentimental, without passion, which are two separate things. Indeed, Eva seems passionless, and Charlotte, with her bright red dress is the quintessential lively old woman. But we know this is prefabricated, we know Charlotte's personality is only a cover while Eva simply fears to contradict her mother. There's one scene where Charlotte sobs while remembering her lover's death then she pulls herself together as if there was a natural weakness in grief. Ironically, Eva mourned during her whole life an inexistent childhood caused by a mother she loved despite everything.And progressively, the film reveals the complexity of Eva's torment and by drinking some red wine, like draining a sort of Charlotte-like force in her heart; she gains enough confidence for the ultimate confrontation with Charlotte. The slow pacing of the first act was simply the patient build-up until an exhausting but so emotionally rewarding climax, paralleled with Eva's long waiting before she could find the strength to open her heart. And then, Eva like drunk by the exquisite delight of having the last word, bluntly tells the truth right in the face of Charlotte, taking so many years off it. The devastated face of Charlotte immediately contrasted with Eva's confident eyes, Eva, almost embellished by her new confidence.Incapable to react to such hatred, she's hopelessly taking every emotional hits, realizing how responsible she is for her daughter's sadness, but maybe even sadder that she didn't realize it before. Yet, the ambiguity of the film relies on this strange impression that each character plays against the words, as said Liv Ullman in an interview, one of the first disagreement in Bergman's careers was when Ingrid refused to say 'hold me' after getting so many insults, when her instinctive reaction would've been to slap her daughter in the face, and being a woman, she probably knew better than Ingmar in that department.And indeed, she says 'hold me', but her eyes keep a dignity, while the real slap in the face is that masterpiece of austere realism, but even more poignant and heart-breaking as I dare anyone not to relate to it. Each family is built on dreams of stability and happiness but we all have our shameful secrets, our lies, our Oedipian feelings that can poison our entire existence. Watching "Autumn Sonata" is like an antidote against that poison.

"Autumn Sonata" is probably the most emotionally draining and exhausting film I've ever seen. It stars Liv and Ingrid Bergman in what must be described as a tour de force for both women. Ingmar Bergman here studies the complex relationship between a mother and daughter, and it's something that many of us can relate to.The lovely Eva (Ullmann), here a plain parson's wife, invites her recently widowed (perhaps by a second husband) mother Charlotte (Bergman) to visit. When her mother arrives, we see immediately that Charlotte is a vibrant, glamorous woman with a busy life - very different from her daughter. When Eva mentions that her handicapped sister Lena, removed from a care facility, is now living with her and her husband, Charlotte freezes up. It's obvious that she wouldn't be there had she known. When Eva speaks of her dead son, who drowned as a small boy, Charlotte says that during that time, she was recording the Mozart sonatas. She is uncomfortable when Eva tells her that her little boy Erik is still with her in spirit.Bottom line: Charlotte is a self-involved, cold woman who gave birth to a mediocre daughter and a sick one, and she'd rather forget the whole thing. Eva, of course, keeps trying to win her mother's love. Finally, one night, the two have it out in a long, stunning series of scenes that leave the viewer gasping for air.This is one of the most brilliant films I have ever seen, with performances unsurpassed by anyone. Both Ullmann and Bergman give amazing portrayals of complex women with a difficult history between them. Ingrid Bergman was such a great treasure, and here she caps off her prolific, wonderful film career with her finest work. Ullmann again proves why she is a favorite actress of Bergman - her face pinched and pained, holding herself together with a paper clip as she sobs that her mother could never accept her as she was, a woman living with the pain of just not being good enough.What is it about these Swedish actresses - Garbo, Ullmann, Bergman - that they can plunge such a dagger in the heart - is it something in their culture that allows such depth of emotion - I don't know. I just know I'll never forget the impact of this amazing film.