In 1973, Ingmar Bergman took a less than optimistic look at marriage through his mini-series depicting the lives of a couple, married for a decade, in Scenes from a Marriage. Starring Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, Scenes from a Marriage takes an almost documentarian eye on the lives of a marriage as it is on the precipice, several times, of either falling apart or falling together. The interactions between the couple are filmed in such a claustrophobic way that the audience becomes voyeurs watching the most intimate details in the lives of others. Despite the audience feeling as though they don't belong in the innermost crevices of these lives, Ingmar Bergman films each moment in such a gentle humanist way that perfectly explores the stages of a relationship.Marianne (Liv Ullmann) and Johan (Erland Josephson) have been married for ten years when the audience first meets them, and they describe themselves as a happily married couple. Johan works as a college professor and Marianne as a divorce lawyer. They revel in the fact that their marriage is nothing like their friend's Katarina (Bibi Andersson) and Peter (Jan Malmsjö) who they often see carrying on one of their many open arguments. Despite not having an outwardly volatile relationship, there is a clear detachment between Marianne and Johan, and a sense that they are not as happy as they have convinced themselves that they are. The camera checks in with them over the next 10 years as they encounter extramarital affairs, differences in developing the lives of their children, and the constant back and forth about whether or not they will divorce. Throughout each trial and tribulation, what Marianne and Johan truly need to solve is how exactly they feel about each other. Do Marianne and Johan love each other, have they just tolerated with each other out of a level of comfort and routine, or do they actively dislike each other? While attempting to discover their true feelings for each other, they also must figure out how to relate to each other as they continue to navigate their lives and care for their two daughters. As the pieces of their lives are about to fall, it is unclear whether or not they will end up being married, friends, or strangers.Full disclosure: There was scarce a doubt that I was going to love this. I greatly enjoy slow, dialogue-heavy films with brooding emotions percolating just beneath the surface. Scenes form a Marriage had all of the above characteristics and was carried out in such a sincere way thanks to master director, Ingmar Bergman. The slow, "talky" film perfectly illustrates the idea of marriage. Most of a marriage is what happens in day-to-day life and isn't punctuated by much in the way of grand happenings. Only when we reflect on multiple years spent together do we recount the larger issues that have taken place during a marriage. Those larger issues are few and far between with proximity dictating a married couple sharing the banal existence of everyday life as long as their marriage lasts. It is this preoccupation with daily lives that allow people to see beyond what drew them to their partner in the first place. When two people become comfortable in their unchallenged existence, they begin to look for excitement beyond their homes. Such a quest for excitement may lead to an affair, as was the case for Johan in Scenes from a Marriage. Conversely, close proximity allows us to learn about our partner in a more intimate way than anyone else. Living with someone may also create a bond so strong that partners become devoted to one another and are most taken by an image of their partner in everyday life that reminds them that there is no one else they'd rather be with. As depicted in the final scene when Marianne begins to cry as she watches Johan singing after cleaning up the house, it is often in the moments that our partner is most "themselves" that we find the most alluring. There's something about knowing that no one else gets to see the one we love in this particular way that allows us to look past all of the daily annoyances. Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson give pitch-perfect performances delivering actions and emotions that perfectly allow the viewer to read beyond what they are saying to understand what they are truly feeling. Scenes from a Marriage is an emotional exercise that almost feels voyeuristic to witness, yet is one that we are blessed to experience that will stay in the minds of the audience long after the credits roll.

Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson star in "Scenes from a Marriage," an Ingmar Bergman miniseries/film from 1973. The two leads are Marianne and Johan. In the beginning of the film, they are being interviewed and we learn that they both have careers, have two daughters and seem reasonably happy. He's a bit egotistical; she is shyer. One day Johan comes home and announces he's in love with a woman named Paula and is going away with her for at least six months if not longer. Marianne knew nothing of his unhappiness, that he had been thinking about leaving her for four years, and is devastated, particularly when she learns that all her friends knew.We see Marianne and Johan's relationship unfold over the next years, fighting with verbal and physical abuse, love-making, anger, and honesty.Johan, as we find out from one of his colleagues, did not live up to his potential. This is perhaps one reason for his unhappiness. What is puzzling to many who see this film is how these two got together in the first place. Their love story doesn't sound like much of one when it's related at the beginning, and he is incredibly cruel to her, the way he talks about having sex with her and how he hates her body. And yet somehow, a connection remains.The other question is why such a strikingly beautiful woman like Marianne would have given this guy the time of day when she probably could have had her pick.Some of this may be answered in the six-hour version - the version I saw was only three. It's an emotional roller-coaster, no matter which version, and realistic in its honesty. What can be said about the acting - I can't think of a word for Ullmann other than amazing. Josephson has a difficult role - he's completely unlikable, but then at the same time, he's pathetic. Bibi Andersson is magnificent in a small role.Bergmann has made a film about feeling and being loved, about the ups and downs of a marriage, the expectations of both people, and asks what is love really - sexual passion or the comfort of knowing someone intimately and sharing a history.These two characters show up again in "Saraband," which takes place thirty years later. There are some connections that just can't be broken.

This was the first film of Bergman that I had a go at, and for sure it is the last. Everything in it is so terribly trivial. Shallow and painfully boring story and endless monologues of terribly shallow, weak and boring people. Every moment in this horrible movie just made me want to slap the characters. It has nothing to do with reality. Not mine, anyway. They both are so lame, so weak, the dialogue is pretentious, unnatural. If I've known people like this in real life I would avoid them like fire. Watching them in a movie was painful, the only thing that made me go all the way through was the reputation of the director. Which is by ruined now. Watch dogs sleeping for three hours instead is my advice. For them you will at least feel something. For these 2 losers, no way... Horrible.

This is an actor's masterpiece. The two leads are about as adept as any I've ever seen. This is also about what love is, that unexplainable, elusive, unpredictable thing that sometimes can't be fathomed. The two characters go about their business of caring for each other despite the incredible mistakes and baggage each has. There is physical abuse and verbal abuse and serious of catastrophic events and bad acts. Sort of like life, right. We soon realize that it doesn't matter if these characters aren't like us. They are displayed as amazingly well developed people who have our interest every minute of the film. Some may say it is incredibly talky, but that's the central issue: the talk is what they are about and the nuances of their conversations and interactions is important to the viewer. The pacing is excellent. We get to see them in their most primal and most painful. They never stop loving each other or, in one sense, hating each other. This movie will be with me for a long time and it will haunt (in the best sense of the word) the relationships I find myself in. This is a true masterpiece.