A Lesson in Love

Item: A Lesson in Love
Rating: 3
Author: Frank Showalter

(En lektion i kärlek)

1954 | Sweden | 96 min | More...

Reviewed Apr 28, 2021

Add a star if you speak Swedish. Subtitles lose comedic timing. Ingmar Bergman’s acerbic comedy about a gynecologist seeking to reunite with his estranged wife struck me as talky and middle-of-the-road. I bought the performances but struggled to connect with the humor.

More directed by Ingmar Bergman

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Ingmar Bergman arrives. In Stockholm, teens Harry and Monika work dead-end jobs. A chance meeting leads to a date. Romance blossoms between dreamer Harry and free-spirit Monika. But a fight with her drunken father forces Monika to flee her home. Soon, Harry and Monika decide to quit their jobs and run away together in Harry’s father’s boat. They find paradise in the Stockholm archipelago but said paradise proves short-lived.
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Sawdust and Tinsel 1953
I tend to dislike circus movies, for the same reason I dislike circuses. Too much broad artifice and force-fed spectacle. But director Ingmar Bergman’s picture harbors no romanticized notions of circus life. His story sees a tired ringmaster and his mistress treat each other with shocking cruelty as each struggles to escape their lifestyle.
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Smiles of a Summer Night 1955
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