A classic

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since it is a classic, I was quite eager to give it a second chance. Well, even if I was able to enjoy it slightly more this time around, to be honest, I still had a hard time to care for the damned thing though. Fist of all, I was surprised by how little I actually remembered this movie which wasn’t really a good sign. It’s interesting that the only thing I did remember was when Alexander, Fanny and their mother went to live with Edvard Vergerus but, somehow, I think it does make sense. Indeed, even if Vergerus was definitely a dreadful guy, he was however the only fully developed character in this whole story and, therefore, the only one who made an impression on me. For example, at some point, Emilie made the decision to marry with Edvard but they never gave us any explanation why and, then, 5 mins later, she was complaining about her marriage and wanted out. As a result, it was rather difficult to root for her but it’s something that could be said about all the characters in this movie. Indeed, you spend more than 3 hours with them but you don’t really get to know any of them. At least, even he still remained an enigma, I was more able to appreciate the mysterious scenes involving Alexander who was an intriguing young boy. However, I still don’t get why his sister was mentioned in the title since she did so very little and had so little impact on everything happening around her. Anyway, this movie is obviously considered as a massive masterpiece, and, I guess, as far I’m concerned, it belongs to the category 'misunderstood masterpiece’. What I mean by that is that I was able to see all the craft behind it, I could see it was obviously a work of Art but I'm afraid I didn't really get it. Basically, there was a lot of symbolism that went just way over my head. I mean, during the whole thing I was scratching my head thinking 'What did he mean with all this?' and, honestly, at the end of the movie, I didn't get some answers. Still, such a challenging movie should always be praised when you see how simplistic and moronic are the movies produced by Hollywood and I will not a blame a movie because I just didn't get it. Anyway, to conclude, even though it is definitely an acquired taste, it is still a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Ingmar Bergman's work.


7/10