Mr. Sleeman is Coming (Herr Sleeman kommer). Ingmar Bergman. 1957. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐★.
This is Bergman’s first TV movie. It doesn’t seem to have gotten an official release, so I had to get it from teh torrenz.
It’s a play filmed for TV (with multiple cameras, I think). Bergman’s usual cohort of actors (Bibi Andersson, Max von Sydow, etc) show up, and it’s all rather fascinating.
The actors are great and I like the staging, but it’s a bit difficult to get around the central conceit of the film: A girl who’s convinced that she has to marry some aged gentleman (for reasons that are never really explained). Why doesn’t she just run away with young strapping von Sydow?
So it’s a bit difficult to get into it when your left eyebrow is constantly raised.
This post is part of the 87 Bergman Things series.