Day 60: Autumn Sonata (1978)

There is a special beauty found in Ingmar Bergman’s “Autumn Sonata”- a quiet honesty prevailing over the fall country side in which it resides. Filmed in the later years of Bergman’s career, he once again delivers a truly moving film- this time focusing his lens on the brutal repercussions of childhood neglect, both on the children and the parents. Though the narrative is enough to drive the film, the final product is certainly a milestone thanks to the lead performance of Academy Award winner Ingrid Bergman, who, much like her director, was in the swan song of her career. A moving portrait of a woman trapped between her success in work and failure as a parent, Ms. Bergman delivers a powerful performance as rich and complex as her roles in “Casablanca” and “Gaslight” before it.

In “Autumn Sonata” Bergman plays Charlotte Andergast, a prominent concert pianist, who, after spending her parenting years neglecting her children, now finds herself visiting her eldest daughter Eva after an absence of seven years. Eva (Liv Ullmann), a quiet minister’s wife, happily welcomes her mother into her small remote country home and, for awhile, the two get along well- catching up on all things and reminiscing about happier times.

But then Eva lays a bombshell that Charlotte was not expecting on her visit. Helena, Charlotte’s youngest child, who suffers from a physically and mentally degenerative disease, has been living with Eva and her husband for over two years and would also like to visit with her mother.

Shocked by this sudden encounter with a daughter she had, at an early age, institutionalized, Charlotte’s world is turned upside down and past memories and regrets begin to service. She is reminded, both by her own reflections and those of Eva, of the many times she abandoned her family for the sake of her artistic endeavors and, even once, for another lover. Also, she finds herself riddled with guilt for barely knowing her grandson Erik, Eva’s only child, who tragically drowned at the mere age of four. With the past coming slowly to the service, tensions begin to rise between Eva and Charlotte and, as the stories continue to be told, the harshest of truths will be spoken.

One of the great aspects found in “Autumn Sonata” is the relationship between Charlotte and her daughter Eva, but, what makes this relationship so remarkable has less to do with how each interacts with the other, but how both deal with the presence of Helena, the mentally handicapped member of the family. With Eva, we see that she treats Helena with a type of care she might have once gave her deceased son. In fact, it’s very possible that Eva’s volunteering to care for Helena stems from her need to nurture- both after the loss of her son and never experiencing such attention from her own mother. With Charlotte, we find her petrified by Helena and unsure how to react to the growing deterioration of her daughter’s body and mind. Though she puts on a good face while around her daughter, she is almost in tears when alone and thinking of her. But, like she has done with much in her life, she tells herself to stop crying over the issue and her emotional barrier comes forth.

Another reason why this film may feel so personal is that for both the director and his lead actress, the story of a family discounted hits close to home. For Ingmar, the area in which the story takes place resembles much of his childhood, growing up in the country in a minister’s family, and, oddly enough, the famous director said many times that he related most to Helena, seeing her as a personification of the repressed personality he grew up experiencing.

For Ingrid, the famous film star could easily relate to a woman stretched between her work as an artist and her family, as she herself had left her family in the late 1940s to stat anew with Italian director Roberto Rossellini- a scandal that almost ruined her American career. Much like Charlotte, her relationship with her children was, at best, strained.

With “Autumn Sonata,” Ingmar and Ingrid Bergman deliver a film that hits on a personal level that so few films today do and, with their delightful mix of internationally acclaimed directing and acting, the two bring together one of the finest films I have watched during my “Criterion Summer.”

To learn more about “Autumn Sonata,” check out Criterion’s page here.

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