A Lesson in Love Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

A Lesson in Love Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 16, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Criterion's Ingmar Bergman's Cinema set.

It understandably may be well nigh impossible to choose an "all time greatest filmmaker" of the 20th century, if for no other reason than that personal tastes differ, but I can't imagine any "devoted cineaste" not having Ingmar Bergman at least near the top of their own aggregation. Criterion has been feting some iconic creative forces with expansive box set compendia of films, including Essential Fellini and The Complete Films of Agnès Varda, but in terms of overall offerings and packaging extras, Ingmar Bergman's Cinema may itself be sitting atop a list of finest Blu-ray collection offerings. Some of the films in this impressive collection have in fact had prior releases by Criterion, as should probably be expected, but there are a fair number making their Blu-ray debuts. As tends to be the case with Criterion releases, technical merits are also generally excellent, and the supplements can be very appealing.

A Lesson in Love is a thoroughly enjoyable deconstruction of the so-called war between the sexes, and it might be much better remembered had Ingmar Bergman not followed up this 1954 opus with 1955's Smiles of a Summer Night, a film which examines some of the same content and in fact with at least some of the same performers. In this outing, Gunnar Björnstrand portrays a gynecologist named David Erneman, a guy whose profession might seem to indicate he knows something about women, but who still seems curiously inept at times when navigating some roiling female waters, not necessarily those limited to his estranged wife, Marianne (Eva Dahlbeck). It's perhaps salient to note that Marianne herself is a rather surprisingly late addition in a story that has already seen David attempting to call it quits with a paramour named Susanne Verin (Yvonne Lombard).

The film makes liberal use of flashbacks as it unravels the thorny relationship between David and Marianne, which sees Marianne also having had a former assignation she may be on the verge of returning to. A Lesson in Love was by some accounts made as a kind of "recovery" from what had been the relatively disastrous release of Sawdust and Tinsel, and if Bergman himself doesn't really address that issue in his brief introduction to the film included on this disc as a supplement, he perhaps alludes to a certain "cathartic" element courtesy of having attended the premiere in a somewhat trepidatious spirit, only to be mightily relieved when he heard the hearty laughter of the audience. And a lot of A Lesson in Love is in fact rather witty and spirited, even if it doesn't quite match the consistent ebullience of Smiles of a Summer Night.

Much like in Smiles of a Summer Night, there a number of star-crossed relationships that need to be sorted out, and if things aren't quite as "multifaceted" as they are in Bergman's more famous film, there's some appealing banter here between Björnstrand and Dahlbeck in particular, both of whom are excellent and provide the film with some buoyant energy. Kind of interestingly, Harriet Andersson is kind of consigned to a supporting role in this effort.

A Lesson in Love Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Lesson in Love is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.38:1. Criterion's kind of overwhelming insert book offers nice summations of each film's transfer attributes, and the relevant data points for this film are as follows:

Picture element: 35 mm interpositive
Scanner: Scanity
Transfer resolution: 2K
Sound element: 35 mm optical track
Picture and sound restoration: Swedish Film Institute

A bit more information is imparted in a text card preceding the presentation that discloses the digital restoration was completed in 2015. This is a largely very winning presentation of a lesser known Bergman film. Detail levels are often quite impressive on any number of textures and patterns on everything from outfits to things like the upholstery on a train where David and Marianne "meet cute" (remeet cute?). Contrast is generally good, occasionally just slightly anemic at times, though with blacks solid for the most part and still nicely free of crush. There's recurrent if rather minor damage that has escaped whatever restoration gauntlet was undertaken. Eagle eyed videophiles may be able to spot any number of smalls nicks and blemishes, though nothing is ever very intrusive. Grain resolves naturally throughout the presentation. My score is 4.25. 2015 digital restoration from an interpositive

A Lesson in Love Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Lesson in Love features LPCM Mono audio in the original Swedish. This is something of a talk fest, though there are occasional dollops of ambient environmental effects and a bit of music by Dag Wirén, all of which sounds fine if not overwhelmingly robust. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout and I noticed no problems with regard to damage or dropouts. Optional English subtitles are available.

A Lesson in Love Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Criterion has packaged Dreams and this film together on one disc. After choosing A Lesson in Love from the main menu, the following supplement is accessible:

• Ingmar Bergman Introduction (HD; 4:29) is subtitled in English.

A Lesson in Love Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A Lesson in Love might have fared better in the overall Bergman filmography had it not been understandably overshadowed by the much more exuberant and thoughtful Smiles of a Summer Night. Still, as a kind of appetizer for that more substantial meal, A Lesson in Love is quite inviting on its own virtues, even if those qualities are a bit smaller scale and less resonant than Bergman was able to achieve a year later. Technical merits are solid, and the introduction by Bergman rather charming. Recommended.