The smile of a summer night
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The smile of a summer night |
| Original title | Sommarnattens end |
| Country of production | Sweden |
| original language | Swedish |
| Publishing year | 1955 |
| length | 108 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ingmar Bergman |
| script | Ingmar Bergman |
| production | Allan Ekelund |
| music | Erik Nordgren |
| camera | Gunnar Fischer |
| cut | Oscar Rosander |
| occupation | |
| |
The smile of a summer night (Original title: Sommarnattens leende ) is a black and white shot Swedish comedy film by Ingmar Bergman from 1955. The film was Bergman's first major international success.
action
Sweden in the summer of 1901. The lawyer Frederik Egerman comes home in a good mood and announces that his 19-year-old wife Anne, with whom he is second married, is going to the theater with her. Although they have been married for a long time, the marriage between the two has not yet been consummated . Fredrik has his son Henrik from his first marriage, a prospective theology student who is unhappily in love with his stepmother and tries to distract himself with the sensual young family servant Petra. Anne secretly loves Henrik, who is closer to her in age and worldview than the middle-aged, cynical Fredrik.
A play is played in the theater in which Frederik's former lover Desiree Armfeldt plays the leading role. The two had a two-year affair after the death of Fredrik's wife, which Desiree eventually ended. In the theater, Anne wants to go home before the end because she realizes that her husband, who half asleep called her “Desiree”, is still in love with the actress. Frederik brings Anne home, but secretly returns to the theater to speak to Desiree again. She invites him to her home.
On the way to Desiree, Frederik falls into a puddle. Desiree hangs up his clothes to dry; she gives him a nightgown and dressing gown. A boy comes in, Desiree's son: he is named Fredrik and was born shortly after their affair ended, but Desiree does not finally reveal to the lawyer whether he is the father. Desiree's current lover, the quick-tempered military officer Count Malcolm, arrives later. He forces Frederik to go home wearing only his nightgown. The next day, Count Malcolm reports his affair to his wife Charlotte and orders her to tell Anne about her husband's alleged infidelity. Charlotte loves her husband despite his extramarital affairs and reports to Anne. Both women wonder about the character of Desiree, who can apparently easily bring men under her influence.
Meanwhile, Desiree invites the two married couples Malcolm and Egerman as well as Frederik's grown son Henrik to her mother's country estate on the midsummer festival . She promises Countess Malcolm that she will get her husband back because she wants to try again with Frederik. After an argument with his father, Henrik tries to hang himself, but accidentally comes across a mechanism that moves Anne's bed in the next room into his room. The two sleep together and drive off in a carriage on the summer night, supported by the servant Petra, who has since started a stormy relationship with Frid, a servant of the Armfeldts. Frederik seeks consolation from the Countess, whereupon Desiree alarms the Count. This challenges Frederik to Russian roulette . When Frederik pulls the trigger, a shot goes off, but he remains unharmed - the count only loaded the gun with soot. The aristocratic couple reconciles and Desiree takes care of Frederik.
In the course of the White Night , the dilemmas of the four lovers seem to have resolved - Frid tells Petra about the three smiles of the summer night: the first smile seems to be really lovers for the few, the second smile to most people who pretend love or imagine , the third finally for the unfortunate and sad.
background
Production and film launch
The Smile of a Summer Night was created between June and August (with two additional days of shooting in November) 1955 in the Råsunda Filmstudios in Filmstaden , Solna , celebrated its Swedish premiere on December 26 of the same year and opened in German cinemas on January 31, 1958 .
The actresses Birgitta Valberg and Bibi Andersson , who also played in other Bergman films, can briefly be seen on stage as co-actresses of Desiree.
Position in Bergman's work
The film was the fourth and most successful in a series of comedic works unusual for Bergman, in which he brought together the team Eva Dahlbeck / Gunnar Björnstrand ; starting with the “elevator episode” from Sehnsucht der Frauen (1952) and continued with Lesson in Love (1954) and Women's Dreams (1955). The international success of the film and its award at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1956 enabled Bergman to implement his dream project The Seventh Seal with Carl Anders Dymling , director of the film production company Svensk Filmindustri .
German version
The film was re- dubbed in 1965 on the occasion of the German re-release by Berliner Synchron GmbH .
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Anne Egerman | Ulla Jacobsson | Marianne Lutz |
| Desirée Armfeldt | Eva Dahlbeck | Edith Schneider |
| Petra | Harriet Andersson | Heidrun Kussin |
| Charlotte Malcolm | Margit Carlqvist | Sabine Eggerth |
| Fredrik Egerman | Gunnar Bjornstrand | Holger Hagen |
| Carl Magnus Malcolm | Jarl Kulle | Lothar Blumhagen |
| Frid | Åke Fridell | Martin Hirthe |
| Henrik Egerman | Bjorn Bjelfvenstam | Thomas Danneberg |
| Mrs. Armfeldt | Naima Wifstrand | Ursula War |
| Cook Beata | Jullan Kindahl | Anneliese Würtz |
| Malla | Gull Natorp | Elf tailors |
Reviews
“Ingmar Bergman's turn-of-the-century social comedy is inspired by Schnitzler and Strindberg , and also refers to Shakespeare's ' Midsummer Night 's Dream ', whose cheerful and melancholy tone is, however, mixed with a dash of bitterness. An elegantly staged study of the interrelationships between reason and eros, sensuality and asceticism. "
Awards (selection)
- Special award for his poetic humor at the 1956 Cannes International Film Festival
Aftermath
The American composer Stephen Sondheim wrote the musical A Little Night Music together with Hugh Wheeler in 1973 , which is based on Bergman's film. In 1977 a film version of the musical was made, also under the title The Smile of a Summer Night .
Web links
- Smiles of a Summer Night in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The smile of a summer night in the online film database
- The smile of a summer night at rotten tomatoes (English)
- Review by Erik Pfeiffer on filmzentrale.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Introduction to The Seventh Seal on the website of the Ingmar Bergman Foundation , accessed on July 9, 2012.
- ↑ John Simon: Smiles of a Summer Night: Midsummer Merry-Go-Round. Accessed April 10, 2020 (English).
- ^ The smile on a summer night on the website of the Ingmar Bergman Foundation, accessed on July 9, 2012.
- ^ A b The Smile of a Summer Night in the Lexicon of International Films .
- ^ Hauke Lange-Fuchs: Ingmar Bergman: His films - his life, Heyne, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-453-02622-5 , pp. 110-121.
- ↑ The smile of a summer night on Filmstarts.de, accessed on July 27, 2012.
- ^ The smile on a summer night on Synchrondatenbank.de, accessed on July 9, 2012.