 | Philip P. |
8 out of 10 people found this review helpful
I couldn't get this film out of my mind for days. If you like car chases, plot twists and characters who remind you of the folks next door, give it a miss. If you want an intense and focused study of the twists and contortions of human nature, this one is hard to beat. The acting is superb. Was this review helpful? Yes
|
No
|
 | James F. |
7 out of 9 people found this review helpful
This movie is probably too long and dull for 99 percent of America. And I don't mean that 99 percent of America is stupid with no attention span. But this movie really requires effort to watch. If you can, watch this alone late at night. If you're in the 99 percent you'll fall asleep. If you're in the one percent, you will be drawn into complex web of human emotions that climaxes in a horrifying scene that will scare the bejeezus out of you. This is a film about women shown to us through Ingmar Bergman's own understanding of them. Women play the roles of the loving caregiver/nurse, the cold and reserved matriarch, and the whimsical but cruel mistress. This movie will stay in your head, not just for days, but for years. It is really a work of art. Was this review helpful? Yes
|
No
|
| Keith G. |
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful
Among Bergman's very best, fully marrying mind, heart and soul. Intensely beautiful, with red, the color of blood, death, passion, everywhere, and with performances that are astounding. This film also helped me realize that Bergman is a director experienced as much in the aftershocks and absorption of seeing his films as in the moment of watching them. Tears came to me an hour after watching the film, not while I was seeing it. Itâs not the way Iâm used to film working, but Iâve found I've had that experience too many times with Bergman for it to be mere coincidence. The exploration of the slow painful death of a 19th century woman on her two sisters and long time maid (and lover?) is the subject, but it is experienced more like a poem than like a story. And the moments of horrific reality (Iâve never seen on screen sickness and death so real) and poetic grace and surreal dream images dance together with nary a hitch. Was this review helpful? Yes
|
No
|
 | Cary B. |
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful
A slow, somber and ponderous drama rife with symbolism but no coherent plot. Can't really recommend it. Was this review helpful? Yes
|
No
|
 | Darlene A C. |
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful
and it went on and on and on.... until I wanted to die Was this review helpful? Yes
|
No
|
| Alicia C. |
3 out of 6 people found this review helpful
I feel as if the movie is too alien to the American cultule to cross over. It has lesbian issues (I say issues because it's more blatent than an over tone) but I don't know if that is what the movie is about. If you get/enjoy german-like movies it's for you, I myself will stick to the Japanese genre since I seem to understand that culture.
Was this review helpful? Yes
|
No
|
| Raymond O. |
3 out of 6 people found this review helpful
The film is arty and beautiful, but also painfully boring. Coming from a Tarkovsky fan, that's saying something. Everything about this movie is exceptionally dull. It's the story of women who seem emotionally disconnected from everything, the viewer included. Even the scene in which a woman mutilates her vagina with a shard of glass fails to generate any enthusiasm. Of course, her husband's reaction doesn't help; not an ounce of shock or worry in it; he seems to think of it as a very minor inconvenience. Not one of these women has an interresting story. And it's all so slow and tedious. One woman describes her situation as "a tissue of lies." No, honey; it's a tissue of boring. Was this review helpful? Yes
|
No
|
 | Thom M. |
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful
This is an artsy movie that I am glad I watched once-- but you could not pay me to view it again. There is a lot of symbolism, but I found that since I was not very interested in the plot or the characters I could not invest much thought into what the symbolism meant. Bottom-line: although this movie is unique, it is too slow, odd, and depressing for most viewers. Was this review helpful? Yes
|
No
|
 | Albert S. |
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful
This movie failed its main characters by not giving any of them motivations for their actions. There has got to be a reason for the drastic things they did. It also failed by not telling a story for any of them which had a beginning, middle and end. I was especially frustrated by the scene where the dead sister came back to life-- what did that mean? I like many foreign films which come highly rated, but this one disappointed. Was this review helpful? Yes
|
No
|
| Sally M. |
2 out of 8 people found this review helpful
The only thing I found "superb" about this movie was that it was over!!!You won't miss a thing by not watching this one,unfortunately I can't get back the time I WASTED. Was this review helpful? Yes
|
No
|
