Dreams (1955)

Dreams (Kvinnodröm)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Written by Ingmar Bergman
1955/Sweden
Sandrews
First viewing/Hulu

[box] “All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.” ― Edgar Allan Poe[/box]

I enjoyed this lesser-known Bergman film but it is certainly not a must-see.

Suzanne (Eva Dahlbeck) is a fashion photographer and Doris (Harriet Andersson) is her model.  When they have to go to Gotheberg for work, Suzanne dreams of a meeting with her married lover and Doris is at loose ends, having just broken up with her boyfriend.

The rest of the film is broken up into individual stories of the women.  Doris is picked up by an elderly man (Gunnar Bjornstrand) who proceeds to indulge her every expensive whim and Suzanne does have the longed-for reunion.  Both incidents turn out very different from what they could have expected.

This is quite OK but fairly trivial.  There is one fantastic sequence when Bjornstrand and Andersson ride some scary attractions at an amusement park.  The stories start out looking comic but switch tone mid-way through.  The transitions are not all that smooth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZdryPxlgcg

Clip