8.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A chronicle of the many years of love and turmoil that bind Marianne and Johan, tracking their relationship as it progresses through a number of successive stages: matrimony, infidelity, divorce, and subsequent partnerships.
Starring: Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Gunnel Lindblom, Bibi Andersson, Jan MalmsjöForeign | 100% |
Drama | 83% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Swedish: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A lot of casual armchair historians tend to think of Roots: The Complete Original Series as the first miniseries, but while Roots probably inarguably put the concept and the term firmly on the public consciousness map, real trivia fans know that even in the United States, where Roots became an unabashed sensation, there had been at least a couple of other broadcasts that qualified as miniseries, including QB VII and Rich Man, Poor Man: The Complete Collection (note that the links point to DVDs, both of which seem to be out of print and in the case of Rich Man, Poor Man , insanely expensive). But as with a number of other things, while Americans may feel like “they’ve” invented something, the miniseries had already made a global appearance at least a year or two before even the three aforementioned United States miniseries. Scenes from a Marriage first debuted in the miniseries format on Swedish television in 1973, becoming iconic director Ingmar Bergman's first "long form" television offering. The miniseries was successful enough to warrant an edited version being released as a theatrical exhibition in 1974. The Criterion Collection has aggregated both versions on this Blu-ray release, and while the unedited version obviously provides more content, each is in its own way a visceral portrait of a marriage seemingly careening inevitably toward dissolution.
Scenes from a Marriage is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. This is another release where in lieu of a traditional insert booklet, Criterion provides more of an accordion style foldout, and that foldout insert has the following pretty minimal information on the transfer:
Scenes from a Marriage is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. On widescreen televisions, black bars will appear on the left and right of the image to maintain the proper screen format. This high definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit DataCine from the original 16mm negative A/B cut.Screenshots 1, 2, 4 and 6 through 10 are from the television miniseries found on Disc One of this set. Screenshots 3, 5 and 11 through 18 are from the U.S. Theatrical Version found on Disc Two of this set. I've tried to both reproduce screenshots for some scenes and offer a variety of others across the presentation so that those interested can do some comparing between the two, but the bottom line is I wasn't able to discern much if any difference between the two presentations. I suggest that those interested look, for example, at screenshot 2 (from the miniseries) compared to screenshot 13 (from the theatrical version), screenshot 4 (from the miniseries) compared to screenshot 18 (from the theatrical version), or screenshot 1 (from the miniseries) compared to screenshot 11 (from the theatrical version) to see what I consider at least near identical presentational values in terms of detail, palette and grain resolution. As should probably be expected from the source format, grain can be rather gritty looking at times, and fine detail can tend to recede a bit in midrange and wide shots (there are relatively few really "wide" shots), but overall this is a nicely organic and well detailed looking presentation. Some of the darkest material definitely looks a good deal coarser than the bulk of the presentation, and there are a few passing issues with crush and lack of shadow detail. I note that our Forum for this film has some comments on what some members consider to be lackluster compression on the Theatrical Version of this film that's included in Ingmar Bergman's Cinema, where it shares disc space with Saraband, but I haven't seen that version and so cannot authoritatively state any opinion. I will say that nothing jumped out at me as looking considerably worse on the Theatrical Version of this release when compared to the miniseries version on Disc One.
The soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the original 35 mm magnetic print, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss and crackle.
Scenes from a Marriage offers a workmanlike LPCM Mono track for both of its versions. There's frankly not much ambition to the sound design here, as the bulk of the film is comprised of dialogue scenes either between Marianne and Johan, or other supporting characters. There are a few passing outdoor moments or other snippets where ambient environmental sounds can intrude, but this is really for all intents and purposes one of Bergman's more relentless "talk fests", which is not meant as a disparagement, simply a description. All dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout both presentations, and whatever restoration gauntlet the tracks underwent removed any signs of distortion, dropouts or other damage.
Scenes from a Marriage is one of Ingmar Bergman's most personal and intimate films, for a variety of reasons including some discussed above. It's a kind of gruelling experience at times, especially for those who are married and know how difficult it can be at times. With an understanding of the smaller millimeter source format, technical merits here are solid, and while Criterion hasn't provided a glut of supplements, what's included is quite interesting. Recommended.
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Törst
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Skepp till Indialand / A Ship Bound for India
1947
2003
Efter repetitionen
1984
En passion
1969
Hamnstad
1948
Till glädje
1950
Aus dem Leben der Marionetten
1980
Kvinnodröm
1955
Nära livet
1958
Kvinnors väntan / Secrets of Women
1952
Kris
1946
Skammen
1968
Gycklarnas afton
1953
Tystnaden
1963
Nattvardsgästerna
1963
Såsom i en spegel
1961
Djävulens öga
1960
En lektion i kärlek
1954