BTXVI 1953: Sawdust and Tinsel

Sawdust and Tinsel (Gycklarnas afton). Ingmar Bergman. 1953. ⭐⭐⭐⭐★★.

Finally cinematographer Sven Nykvist is on board (for part of the film). Unfortunately, he doesn’t return to the fold until 1960, I think…

This film perhaps marks the beginning of the end of the end of the “Early Bergman” stretch of films? You’ve got Harriet Andersson and Gunnar Björnstrand, so you just need Eva Dahlbeck back…

The picaresque bits are very Italian, but the obsessions are mostly pure Bergman.

It was a box office bomb at the time. It’s well regarded now (in the risible Empire best-of list, it’s the highest-rated Bergman film), but I’m kinda unimpressed watching it now. Secrets of Women, for instance, seems like a more well-put-together film to me…

But, yes, there are some awesome scenes here.

This post is part of the 87 Bergman Things series.

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