Scenes From a Marriage
Paula is never seen in Ingmar Bergman’s theatrical version of “Scenes From a Marriage,” and she is the character that sets Marianne and Johan on the path their lives will take throughout the feature’s 169 minutes. I’ve never seen the television version- at some point, I will- but it’s hard to imagine that works extra two hours adding more to the drama and pain Bergman shows in this version. In this form, it is, honestly, perfect.
We begin with the couple (played by Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson) being interviewed about love for a magazine. They have just renewed their marriage after ten years together, and have two lovely daughters to show for it. Later they have a couple of friends over. Their marriage is a disaster, and they are ready to throw in the towel.
On a Sunday morning, Marianne wants to just stay in and spend time with Johan and their daughters all day; they usually go to visit her parents for dinner. When she calls her mother, she relents. Before that, he goes to work, and shows a colleague some poetry he hasn’t even shown Marianne; when she says it is mediocre, he starts to feel down. Their day ends as they talk about the lack of joy in their sex life.
Johan comes home from a trip, and tells Marianne that he is having an affair with Paula that has been going on for a while. Johan has his whole plan of escape in order, leaving Marianne no say in the matter, and the responsibility of the kids. Devastated, she calls one of their friends for support, but learning that they already knew just makes it all the more crushing for her.
One can see the episodic structure that Bergman set in motion for the miniseries- the last three paragraphs essentially describe episodes 1-3 of six; his gift is how epic this film feels for only having a handful of settings. Chronicling the next decade of their lives together, “Scenes From a Marriage” is about as brilliant a use of episodic storytelling as we’ve gotten in film. The scenes do not overstay their welcome, and have arcs that are entirely their own in terms of the tension between the characters. The shift in dynamic between Marianne in “Paula”- where Johan has all the conviction in the moment- and Marianne in “The Vale of Tears”- where she seems to have finally rediscovered her agency- is a brilliant showcase for Ullman, and a way for Josephon’s character to be put in his place, even though he’s still capable of not making her feel heard by the end. We think there might be a way for them to find peace.
I first watched “Scenes From a Marriage” around the time Bergman’s final film, “Saraband,” came to America. The film is another chapter in the lives of Johan and Marianne, a final exclamation point in Bergman’s exploration of humanity, and how lives filled with pain and heartbreak can still acknowledge love and affection with one another, even if their lives cannot be spent together in the end. That film shows us more about the impact the lives these characters have lived have impacted their children. Like Linklater’s “Before” trilogy- which no doubt took some inspiration from this film- we get conversation over action, simply showing characters reveal themselves in that most intimate of ways we’re capable of, going through the highs and lows of life.
“Scenes From a Marriage” was the first of Bergman’s “heavy” films, if you will, that truly landed with me. (I think “Wild Strawberries,” which might be my favorite of his, was still in my future.) When I first saw it, I was years away from being married myself, and so from a practical manner, I wasn’t able to identify with what Bergman was showing me. I was, however, at a time in my life where I was struggling with my own sense of identity, and sometimes, it came out in ways that left me disappointed in who I am. Now that I’m five years into my own marriage, I recognize more of the struggles that Bergman has on display here, and I’m thankful for how we’ve made our marriage work, and that I’ve grown to the point where, hopefully, some of the mistakes made by the characters here will not be replicated in my own.
