Scenes from a Marriage
Encyclopedia
Scenes from a Marriage (Swedish: Scener ur ett äktenskap) is a 1973 Swedish TV series written and directed by Ingmar Bergman
. The story explores the disintegration of a marriage between Marianne, a lawyer, and Johan, a professor (played respectively by Liv Ullmann
and Erland Josephson
) over a long period, using a restricted cast, a naturalist
, hyper-realistic
cinematic style, claustrophobic close-ups, and strings of rapid, articulate monologues. After major success in Sweden, the series became notorious worldwide when it was condemned for allegedly inspiring a spike in Scandinavian divorce rates, which almost doubled in the year of its release.
The TV version of Scenes from a Marriage is almost five hours long, split in six episodes. In the United States, a 167-minute version was released to cinemas. The film was made on a $150,000 budget and was shot mostly in Fårö
, Gotlands län in Sweden
. The film won several accolades including BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Liv Ullmann (Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama), and a Best Foreign Language Film
. A sequel, Saraband
, was released theatrically in 2003. In 2008, a theatrical adaption by Joanna Murray-Smith
was performed at the Belgrade Theatre
in Coventry
, directed by Trevor Nunn
and starring Imogen Stubbs
and Iain Glen
.
skit/commercial parody "Scenes from an Idiot's Marriage", Martin Short
plays Jerry Lewis
playing a writer who goes through a comedic version of what goes on in Scenes from a Marriage, complete with Lewis's pratfalls and constant mistakes in pronunciation of Swedish names (he constantly mistakes the name Sven Gunderbloom as Sy Worthenson when his wife (Andrea Martin
) announces that she is divorcing him and giving him Gunderbloom's name as her lawyer) and his later pratfalls serving drinks at a dinner party when he gets carried away with using a seltzer bottle, spraying the water everyplace.
Woody Allen's similarly realist film Husbands and Wives
includes several nods to Scenes from a Marriage, including a wife who will not show her poetry to her husband. Allen also co-stars in Paul Mazursky's Scenes from a Mall
, a dark comedy about a marriage falling apart.
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
. The story explores the disintegration of a marriage between Marianne, a lawyer, and Johan, a professor (played respectively by Liv Ullmann
Liv Ullmann
Liv Johanne Ullmann is a Norwegian actress and film director, as well as one of the "muses" of the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman...
and Erland Josephson
Erland Josephson
Erland Josephson is a Swedish actor and author. He is best known to international audiences for his work in films directed by Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Theodoros Angelopoulos.-Biography:...
) over a long period, using a restricted cast, a naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
, hyper-realistic
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
cinematic style, claustrophobic close-ups, and strings of rapid, articulate monologues. After major success in Sweden, the series became notorious worldwide when it was condemned for allegedly inspiring a spike in Scandinavian divorce rates, which almost doubled in the year of its release.
The TV version of Scenes from a Marriage is almost five hours long, split in six episodes. In the United States, a 167-minute version was released to cinemas. The film was made on a $150,000 budget and was shot mostly in Fårö
Fårö
Fårö is a small Baltic Sea island north of the island of Gotland, off Sweden's southeastern coast. It is the second-largest island in the province. It has a population of fewer than 600 and has become a popular summer resort. The island has no banks, post offices, medical services or police...
, Gotlands län in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. The film won several accolades including BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Liv Ullmann (Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama), and a Best Foreign Language Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the awards presented at the Golden Globes, an American film awards ceremony.Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film could be honoured...
. A sequel, Saraband
Saraband
Saraband is a 2003 Swedish drama film directed by Ingmar Bergman, and his last theatrically released work. The film is a sequel to Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage , bringing back to the screen the characters of Johan and Marianne...
, was released theatrically in 2003. In 2008, a theatrical adaption by Joanna Murray-Smith
Joanna Murray-Smith
Joanna Murray-Smith is a Melbourne based playwright, screenwriter, novelist, librettist and newspaper columnist.-Biography:...
was performed at the Belgrade Theatre
Belgrade Theatre
The Belgrade Theatre is a live performance venue seating 858 and situated in Coventry, England. It was the first civic theatre to be built after the Second World War in Britain and as such was more than a place of entertainment...
in Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
, directed by Trevor Nunn
Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...
and starring Imogen Stubbs
Imogen Stubbs
Imogen Stubbs, Lady Nunn is an English actress and playwright.-Early life:Imogen Stubbs was born in Northumberland, lived briefly in Portsmouth, where her father was a naval officer, and then moved with her parents to London, where they lived on an elderly river barge on the Thames...
and Iain Glen
Iain Glen
Iain Glen is a Scottish film and stage actor.Iain Glen was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and trained at RADA where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal. He was married to Susannah Harker from 1993 to 2004; they have one son, Finlay...
.
Episode summary
This plot summary is for the 281-minute, TV miniseries version of the work (the feature film retains the episode names as chapter titles). Each episode concludes with long, quiet, comforting shots of Fårö landscapes, as a "relief" from the up-close, tense and claustrophobic episodes. Each episode is structured around one critical scene, described below, the rest of each episode dedicated to discussion and aftereffects. Some of the episodes occur months or years apart.- Episode 1: Innocence and Panic. The story begins with a laughingly superficial interview of Johan and Marianne by a reporter for a women's magazine. Peter and Katarina visit for dinner, and cruelly humiliate one another, while Marianne laments her inability to express herself. Marianne is pregnant, and regretfully aborts her baby.
- Episode 2: The Art of Sweeping Things Under the Rug. Marianne tries to back out of a Sunday dinner with her parents but fails and realizes how difficult it is for her to defeat other people's expectations. Johan flirts, and Marianne offers counseling.
- Episode 3: Paula. The couple retreat to their countryside cabin. Johan separates from Marianne, and begins dating Paula.
- Episode 4: The Vale of Tears. Johan is disillusioned with his current lover and revisits Marianne. They discuss divorce, but can't bring themselves to sign the papers, then attempt to have sex, but Johan cannot maintain his erection.
- Episode 5: The Illiterates. Marianne and Johan meet at his office to sign divorce papers, but Johan refuses. The two fight savagely.
- Episode 6: In the Middle of the Night in a Dark House Somewhere in the World. Marianne and Johan have married other people, but are unhappy. They arrange to meet again at the cabin from Paula; on the way, Marianne visits her mother, consoling her after the death of her husband. Mother reveals that she always did her duty as a wife, though is vague and uncertain as to whether or not she loved her husband. At the cabin, Marianne sees Johan as small and vulnerable, and finds it touching. She admits to enjoying sex with her current husband in a way she never did with Johan, which upsets him. She claims she has always felt a kind of responsibility and attachment to Johan. The two fall asleep in conversation. When Marianne wakes up panicking from a nightmare, Johan comforts her, and the two lie together on top of the quilts. Johan declares that they are "the emotional illiterates" and, like many people, are incapable of marriage; yet they do not separate.
In popular culture
In the 1984 SCTVSecond City Television
Second City Television is a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from Toronto's The Second City troupe that ran between 1976 and 1984.- Premise :...
skit/commercial parody "Scenes from an Idiot's Marriage", Martin Short
Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...
plays Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
playing a writer who goes through a comedic version of what goes on in Scenes from a Marriage, complete with Lewis's pratfalls and constant mistakes in pronunciation of Swedish names (he constantly mistakes the name Sven Gunderbloom as Sy Worthenson when his wife (Andrea Martin
Andrea Martin
Andrea Louise Martin is an American and Canadian actress and comedienne. She has appeared in films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, on stage in productions such as My Favorite Year, Fiddler on the Roof and Candide, and in the television series, SCTV.-Personal life:Martin, the oldest of three...
) announces that she is divorcing him and giving him Gunderbloom's name as her lawyer) and his later pratfalls serving drinks at a dinner party when he gets carried away with using a seltzer bottle, spraying the water everyplace.
Woody Allen's similarly realist film Husbands and Wives
Husbands and Wives
Husbands and Wives is a 1992 American drama film directed and written by Woody Allen. The films stars Allen, Mia Farrow, Sydney Pollack, Judy Davis, Juliette Lewis, Liam Neeson and Blythe Danner. It was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Best Writing,...
includes several nods to Scenes from a Marriage, including a wife who will not show her poetry to her husband. Allen also co-stars in Paul Mazursky's Scenes from a Mall
Scenes from a Mall
Scenes from a Mall is a 1991 satirical film directed by Paul Mazursky with a screenplay by Roger L. Simon and Mazursky, starring Bette Midler and Woody Allen. Woody Allen's character, Nick, is married to author Deborah, played by Midler. After years of a happy marriage, Nick reveals to her he's had...
, a dark comedy about a marriage falling apart.
Cast
- Liv UllmannLiv UllmannLiv Johanne Ullmann is a Norwegian actress and film director, as well as one of the "muses" of the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman...
– Marianne - Erland JosephsonErland JosephsonErland Josephson is a Swedish actor and author. He is best known to international audiences for his work in films directed by Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Theodoros Angelopoulos.-Biography:...
– Johan - Bibi AnderssonBibi AnderssonBibi Andersson is a Swedish actress.-Early life:Bibi Andersson was born as Berit Elisabeth Andersson in Kungsholmen, Stockholm, the daughter of Karin , a social worker, and Josef Andersson, a businessman...
– Katarina - Jan MalmsjöJan MalmsjöJan Wilhelm Malmsjö is a Swedish stage and actor, musical star and singer. He is married to Marie Göranzon and father to Jonas Malmsjö.-Biography:...
– Peter - Gunnel LindblomGunnel LindblomGunnel Lindblom , is a Swedish film actress and director. As an actor she has been particularly associated with the work of Ingmar Bergman, though in 1965 she performed the lead role in Miss Julie for BBC Television...
– Eva - Anita WallAnita WallAnita Wall is a Swedish stage and film actress. She won the Eugene O'Neill Award in 2008.-Reference:...
– Fru [Mrs] Palm - Barbro Hiort af OrnäsBarbro Hiort af OrnäsBarbro Hiort af Ornäs is a Swedish actress. She was born in Gothenburg, Sweden. Along with Bibi Andersson, Eva Dahlbeck, and Ingrid Thulin, she won the Best Actress Award at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival for the film Brink of Life....
– Fru Jacobi - Lena BergmanLena BergmanLena Bergman is a Swedish social services employee. She is the daughter of Ingmar Bergman and Else Fisher and was born in Stockholm, Sweden. In her youth, she appeared as an extra in three of her father's movies.-Filmography:...
– Karin, sister of Eva - Wenche FossWenche FossEva Wenche Steenfeldt Stang , better known as Wenche Foss, was a leading Norwegian actress of stage, screen and television.-Biography:...
– Modern - Rossana Mariano – Eva, aged 12
- Bertil Norström – Arne