Sawdust and Tinsel (1953)

Sawdust and Tinsel (Gycklarnas afton)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Written by Ingmar Bergman (uncredited)
1953/Sweden
Sandrews
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Anne: I can crack nuts with my teeth too.

Frans: Now I’m scared.[/box]

This is a stunningly photographed film.  There is a little too much cruelty and humiliation for my taste but sometimes that’s just Bergman.

It is maybe 100 years ago in Sweden.  Albert Johanssen owns the traveling Alberti circus. The circus has fallen on hard times and was forced to leave half its costumes in the last town to pay off some debt.  Albert lives with the much-younger Anne (Harriet Andersson).

The film begins with one of the performers telling another about an incident that happened some years before.  This story is photographed in almost surreal, but very beautiful, blindingly bright light.  The wife of a clown, an aging beauty, goes swimming naked with a bunch of soldiers.  Her husband comes to get her.  When they emerge from the water a boy has stolen their clothes and the clown must carry his naked wife home over rocky ground in his bare feet.

When the circus arrives in the next town.  Albert and Anne go to try to borrow some costumes from the resident theater troupe.  One of the actors tries to seduce Anne but she refuses him in a humiliating way.

Albert’s wife lives in the town and he dresses up to visit her and his sons over Anne’s strenuous objections.  In spite, she goes to the theater and looks up the actor.  He is more successful in seducing her this time, bribing her with a supposedly valuable necklace. Albert tells his wife he wants to return to her but she won’t take him back.  He spots Anne coming out of a goldsmith’s shop and immediately suspects she has been unfaithful.

Humiliation, cruelty, and despair follow but life goes on.

This is a beautiful, interestingly shot, and well-acted film.  It simply was not enjoyable for me.  I think it’s a personal thing and that many Bergman fans might love it.

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