Smiles of a Summer Night

UPC: 037429193921

Studio: Criterion

Summary: Bergman's comic masterpiece opens with middle-aged lawyer Frederik Egerman (Gunnar Bjornstrand) again failing to consummate his marriage with the much younger Anne (Ulla Jacobsson). While visiting a former lover, actress Desiree Armfeldt (Eva Dahlbeck), he crosses swords with her current lover, Count Malcolm (Jarl Kulle), after both men learn that Frederik is the father of her illegitimate child. At Desiree's behest, her mother invites Egerman, the Count, and their wives along with Egerman's grown son, Henrik (Bj?rn Bjelvenstam) to her manor house for the weekend. Before their departure, divinity student Henrik wards off the eager advances of the housemaid by reading from the Bible aloud, but it seems clear that he and Anne are quite taken with one another. After arriving at the Ryarp estate the guests are served a dinner spiked with a love potion which provokes swift reactions. The bewildered Frederik becomes aware of the increasingly intense bond between Henrik and Anne, and the Countess (Margit Carlquist) makes a public bet with her husband that she can seduce Frederik. Shocked by the dinner-table conversation, the strait-laced Henrik retires to his room to commit suicide. In the course of his bumbling attempt, he has the good fortune to learn why so many prefer sex to death. ~ Michael Costello, Rovi

Category: Comedy

Awards: Best British Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts International Poetic Humor Prize – Cannes Film Festival Film Presented – Telluride Film Festival

Features: New high definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound
Video introduction to the film by director Ingmar Bergman
New video conversation with film historian Peter Cowie and writer J?rn Donner
Swedish theatrical trailer
New and improved English subtitle translation
Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
24-page booklet including a new essay by theater and film critic John Simon and an essay by film critic Pauline Kael

Smiles of a Summer Night

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 05/25/2004

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 108 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Subtitles: English

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Opening Credits [1:44]
2. Fredrik Egerman [3:18]
3. Family Gathering [3:34]
4. Afternoon Nap [2:15]
5. Desir?e's Performance [3:39]
6. Father to Son [3:29]
7. Goodnight to Anne [5:14]
8. Backstage Reunion [7:18]
9. Moonlight Promenade [1:13]
10. Old Memories Awakened [6:45]
11. "Will There Be a War?" [6:29]
12. Mrs. Armfeldt's Wisdom [:02]
13. Meet the Malcolms [5:04]
14. From Petra With Love [2:40]
15. Woman of the House [4:22]
16. Charlotte Pays a Visit [4:09]
17. Weekend Gathering [5:51]
18. Smoking and Scheming [6:15]
19. Strange Brew [2:17]
20. A Little Night Music [7:28]
21. Special Delivery [3:13]
22. Summer Night Smiles [5:50]
23. For Jesters and Fools [4:28]
24. Russian Roulette [:45]
25. For Eighteen False Smiles [6:47]
26. "Does it Hurt?" [1:29]
27. "I Promise" [1:55]
28. Color Bars [1:31]

Michael Costello

A welcome anomaly in the career of the famously angst-ridden director, this eight-part rondo is a dazzling comedy of manners suffused with the shimmering eroticism of summer nights. Under the influence of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Bergman sets his mismatched couples awhirl, and in the stumbling slapstick and sublime ecstasy of the chase, he gently punctures the illusions and pretensions that have made their current ties so stifling. Of course, as is the director's wont, the men are the truly benighted creatures here, in particular the hapless Frederik, who is as blind to the farcical nature of his marriage as he is to the intentions of the designing Desiree. But even amidst the Ryarp manor's lush atmosphere of abandon and sensuality, none of the players can escape an undercurrent of bittersweet longing, a sense of the transience of romantic love. Despite a characteristic dash of Strindbergian venom, one might not immediately recognize the director's signature in the elegant epigrams and polished wit of the screenplay, but his genius is evident in the inspired ensemble of acting of the entire company, particularly the ineffable work of these four intoxicating actresses. ~ Michael Costello, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Svea Holst  Actor 
Gunnar Nielsen  Actor 
Mille Schmidt  Actor 
Mona Malm  Actor 
Anders Wulff  Actor 
Birgitta Valberg  Actor 
Boerje Mellvig  Actor 
Ulf Johansson  Actor 
Gosta Prnzelius  Actor 
Sigge Fuerst  Actor 
Björn Bjelvenstam  Actor 
Julian Kindahl  Actor 
Hans Str__t  Actor 
John Melin  Actor 
Arne Lindblad  Actor 
Naima Wifstrand  Actor 
Lena Soderblom  Actor 
Bibi Andersson  Actor 
Yngve Nordwall  Actor 
Sten Gester  Actor 
Gull Natorp  Actor 
Anders Wulff  Actor 
Ingmar Bergman  Director 
Ingmar Bergman  Screenwriter 
Eric Nordgren  Composer (Music Score) 
Allan Ekelund  Producer 
Eva Dahlbeck  Actor 
Ulla Jacobsson  Actor 
Harriet Andersson  Actor 
Margit Carlquist  Actor 
Gunnar Björnstrand  Actor 
Jarl Kulle  Actor 
Åke Fridell  Actor 

Country: Sweden