487. Skammen/Shame (1968)

Running Time: 103 minutes
Directed By: Ingmar Bergman
Written By: Ingmar Bergman
Main Cast: Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Sigge Furst, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Birgitta Valberg
Click here to view the trailer

BERGMAN WEEK: CHAPTER VII

Moving right along with the conclusion of the "Bergman Week" festivities, we come to "Shame", one that I had to track down via YouTube and one that I was less than impressed with.

Jan (von Sydow) and Eva (Ullman) are a married couple, living on a farm during a civil war. They're former musicians, now forced to sell various crops and raise chickens due to their war town country. Their relationship isn't the most stable, as Jan is extra sensitive, weeping often for what seems like no reason at all. Jan's sensitive nature makes Eva impatient, forcing her to snap at him often. However, just as quick as they get into tiffs, they make-up, promising one another that they'll spring for a bottle of wine once their day of work is through. The couple have no political affiliation and thus they are casualties of war, civilians unable to escape threat. Jan's solace comes in ignoring the world around him, while Eva constantly bickers with him for not repairing the radio so that they can hear what's going on. When paratroopers land in their front yard, Jan and Eva are unable to avoid the war any longer and are eventually taken prisoner, thought to be allies for the opposition. It doesn't take long before they're released by their old friend Col. Jacobi (Bjornstrand), but it's almost too late to repair their relationship, which has been torn apart due to forces beyond their control.

Perhaps Mr. Bergman and I are just polar opposites. In THE BOOK, it states that Bergman thought the script was uneven, resulting in a poor first half and a better second half - I couldn't disagree more. The film started out fantastic, as I was able to really relate to these characters who had no political affiliation and were being forced to self destruct through no fault of their own. Usually when I hear the words "war" and "politics" when hearing a movie description, I dread what is to follow. However, the main characters of the film weren't concerned with the war and or the politics, so I was good to go. Anyway, here we have this couple - a seemingly normal couple who have their spats and make-up sessions and make due by doing manual labor and enjoying a bottle of wine to spoil themselves. I absolutely love Liv Ullmann and after seeing her in "Scenes from a Marriage", I declared her my absolute favorite actress at a time when not many actresses struck my fancy. Max von Sydow, although not appearing in any movies that have totally wowed me, has grown on me and honestly, I think he has marvelous talent.

Well, anyway, the movie went from 90 to 0 in record time, resulting in what I thought to be a poor second half. Once the Rosenberg's were captured and taken into the prison, the movie went downhill and fast. I think what happened is that I had this film pegged - I thought I'd be witnessing a film about a couple working through their relationship and day to day struggles, all the while using the war as a backdrop to add to their problems. When the couple were actually pulled into the middle of the violence and war torn situations, it got really stale, really fast for yours truly. I think I made a big mistake making "Scenes from a Marriage" the first Ingmar Bergman movie I ever saw. Now every time I pop in one of his films, I expect a very dialogue driven, examination of relationships and that's obviously not what I'm getting every time. I also think that I took such a sine to "Scenes...", that it made my expectations for the rest of Bergman's portfolio high and thus I'm finding myself disappointed more frequently than usual.

It's not that "Shame" is a terrible film. It will probably work for most people. I just found that as the film progressed, it got too complicated, in what could have been a very uncomplicated, straightforward story about a couple living in a war torn land. When Jan has his change of character, when Jacobi is introduced and when the war really starts to become the focal point is when I mentally checked out.

RATING: 6.5/10 Again, it may have just been high expectations, but it just didn't hit the spot as well as I would have liked it to. There's only three Bergman films left and I'm really hoping that one of them totally blows me away...TOTALLY!

MOVIES WATCHED: 412
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 589

March 17, 2012 9:00pm
Happy St. Patrick's Day