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List Price: $49.95Amazon.com's Price: $38.99 You Save: $10.96 (22%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780780028029
Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, NTSC
ISBN: 0780028023
Label: Criterion
Manufacturer: Criterion
Number Of Items: 3
Publisher: Criterion
Region Code: 1
Release Date: March 16, 2004
Running Time: 299 minutes
Sales Rank: 27778
Studio: Criterion
Theatrical Release Date: September 15, 1974
Editorial Review:
Description:
Marianne (Liv Ullman) and Johan (Erland Josephson) always seemed like the perfect couple. But when Johan suddenly leaves Marianne for another woman, they are forced to confront the disintegration of their marriage. Shot in intense, intimate close-ups by master cinematographer Sven Nykvist, the film chronicles ten years of turmoil and love that bind the couple despite their divorce and subsequent marriages. Flawless acting and dialogue portray the brutal pain and uplifting peace that accompany a lifetime of loving. Originally conceived as a six-part miniseries for Swedish television, The Criterion Collection is proud to present not only the U.S. theatrical version, but also, for the first time on video in the U.S., Ingmar Bergman’s original five-hour television version of Scenes From a Marriage.
Amazon.com:
Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage opens with a couple--Marianne (Liv Ullmann) and Johan (Erland Josephson)--being interviewed for a magazine. Every moment seems to teeter on the brink of some rupture; just as they start to get comfortable, the interviewer has them freeze for a photograph. After making some bland general statements, they both start admitting intimate details, confessing that they were brought together by mutual misery, then cheerfully claiming that theirs is a model marriage. The entirety of Scenes from a Marriage, which chronicles their emotional relationship even after their divorce and marriages to other people, continues to have these contradictory moments of honesty and self-deception, cruelty and kindness, concern and self-obsession--all laid bare by the skillful actors and the subtle, constantly shifting screenplay. Every scene is a small movie unto itself; in fact, Scenes from a Marriage was originally a six-episode TV show, which was carefully edited down into a unified film. This is one of Bergman's most immediate and accessible works, concerned more with the facts of human behavior than symbolism or abstract themes. Bergman understands how to balance what could be horrible pain and despair with the characters' earnest efforts to improve their lives. His imitators reduce everything to sheer suffering and alienation; Bergman sees the best in his characters, even when their actions are terrible. This 1973 film won numerous awards, including several acting honors for Ullmann. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - "We're emotional illiterates..."
At one point in Bergman's incredible "Scenes from a Marriage," Johan tells his soon-to-be ex-wife Marianne that their marriage has failed in large part because both of them are "emotional illiterates." We were born with silver spoons in our mouths, he says, and educated in the best schools. But we weren't taught a thing about our souls.
"Scenes," one of Bergman's best films, is so intense that I find myself glad it's a series instead of a single piece. I need the time between segments ... Read More
Rating: - Scenes from an emotional marriage!
The movie begins with a magazine interviewing a successful business couple, Johan and Marianne, and their two young girls appear for a minute. And from this introduction, one can see the selfish Johan reflecting on the marriage as he seems self-absorbed with nothing warm to say about his wife of 10 years, Marianne. It's indicative that the marriage is faltering.
Marianne and Johan are professionals, she an attorney, he a professor. The viewer begins to dislike Johan; he's arrogant, disrespectful, ... Read More
Rating: - Genius, But Some Perspective in Order
It's absolutely mind-blowing that only the hacked down 3h version was seen in the US before this box was released. I don't subscribe to the Bergman is an insane original genius school. Instead, I think that what is great about him is the fact that he is constantly trying new things, and this is a radical film. What's great is that it is so in many ways, and some of them almost sneaky. The breaks in time are the key here. The action recommences and the viewer is left to try and fill in both backward and forward in time. ... Read More
Rating: - Like a Beethoven's piano sonata
Like Beethoven in his piano sonatas, the genius of Bergman builds an extremely impressive whole out of many small and seemingly simple elements.
At the surface level, the film is about a marriage between Marianne and Johan (played superbly by Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson). At a deeper level, the film is an honest insight into the human condition, with all its complexities (physical and metaphysical) including despair, joy, self-deception, self-obsession, cruelty, etc. Bergman's understanding of the ... Read More
Rating: - Deep Understanding of Human Nature and Foibles
Some movies are so real you stop thinking of them as movies and incorporate them into your real life's experiences, as though they personally happened to you. You might say they are exactly the opposite of escapism. I am always extremely grateful for such films, and this is one of them. Not only is it one of them, it is one of the very best I have ever seen. Scenes From A Marriage will speak to you, whether you have been married or not, so long as you have a soul and have thought about life and love and the human condition ... Read More
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