A Swedish housewife begins an adulterous affair with an American archaeologist, unaware of his emotional scars as a Holocaust survivor; consequently, their relationship will be painfully difficult.
Acting
Gould's nervous energy collides with Andersson's aching restraint.
Direction
Bergman's first English-language film, stripped of Scandinavian comfort.
Cinematography
Sven Nykvist's close-ups that feel like invasions.
Director
Ingmar Bergman
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Bergman wrote this during his own affair with Liv Ullmann, while still married to Ingrid von Rosen. Art imitating messy life.
Critics panned it in '71, but it's been quietly reclaimed as Bergman's most painfully honest look at how survivors carry their damage into new rooms.
SE
