The Best Intentions (1992)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Charming and brutal

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

The Best Intentions (Swedish: Den goda viljan) (1992) Director: Bille August Watched: 7/11/18 Rating: 7/10 For parents' story, Bergman hands over the reins; Finds lavish funding. Deft performances, But tedious fights/trite scenes. Haunting score/soundtrack. Her mother's rebuke. Class struggle, religious woes. Love's perseverance. Swedish beauty/Nordic gloom; Lengthy but quite affecting. Haiku Sonnets are comprised of 4 3-line haiku plus a couplet of either 5 or 7 syllables, adding up to 14 lines, the same number of lines found in a sonnet. (5-7-5, 5-7-5, 5-7-5, 5-7-5, 7-7/5-5) #HaikuSonnet #PoemReview #BasedonaTrueStory #ClassStruggle #Danish #PalmedOr #Swedish

In 1909, poor, idealistic theology student Henrik Bergman falls in love with Anna Åkerbloom, the intelligent, educated daughter of a rich family in Uppsala. After their wedding Henrik becomes a priest in the north of Sweden. After a few years Anna can't stand living in the rural county with the uncouth people. She returns to Uppsala, Henrik stays in the north.After a long and successful career, Bergman wrote this script: essentially the story of his parents, who were second cousins, who fell in love despite some obstacles. And he did not just write it as a throwaway, he passionately threw himself into it and it became a three-hour epic.I do love that directing duties fell to Bille August. I would think with a story so personal, Bergman himself would want to have complete control. But no, he distanced himself. And that was a brave, bold move. His family's story as told by a third party.

An intelligent, very well made story of love and conflict across a number of years in early 20th century Sweden. Written by Ingmar Bergman, it feels like one of his films, if perhaps slightly less brilliantly realized. But the complex love and marriage of Henrik and Anna is always absorbing (if occasionally melodramatic), and these are both complicated, full individuals (and performances) heartbreaking one moment, infuriating and selfish the next. Beautifully shot, acted with honesty and intensity, this 3 hour film captures just how hard it is for two people to be both themselves and a couple.

Having seen at least a couple dozen Bergman films, this biographical movie made a lot more sense to me than if I hadn't. I could see bits and pieces of his other films, particularly parallels with Fanny and Alexander. This movie was written by but not directed by Ingmar Bergman and tells about a portion of his father and mother's lives (with particular focus on the father). However, unlike the cruel and over-zealous preacher from Fanny and Alexander, Bergman's father is a flawed man full of dichotomies. A very pious and severe man with little sense of humor, he also apparently has no problem with premarital sex (with two different women) and is an advocate for the working poor. I think these inconsistencies and his father's difficulty with expressing normal human emotions lead to Bergman's earlier works (such as the professor in Wild Strawberries and the persistent theme of living in the barren wilds in movies such as The Passion of Anna and Shame).So, why didn't I score the movie higher? Well despite the insights, the movie was very long and occasionally tedious--particularly for the Bergman novices. Plus, although the movie gave us some insights, the actual span of time covered in the film was rather limited. It was like a glimpse but an incomplete glimpse of the man.