Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Scenes from a Marriage Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 17, 2023

Note: This version of 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.

Rather interestingly, Criterion has packaged the discs in the immense Ingmar Bergman's Cinema as a kind of virtual "film festival", including what are called "Centerpiece" attractions. Both the television and feature film version of Scenes from a Marriage are afforded this special designation as Discs 7 and 8 in the huge set. This two disc "centerpiece"(s?) offers the same content as the two disc Scenes from a Marriage standalone release from Criterion that I reviewed several years ago, and so those interested in both some plot information as well as my general reaction to the film are encouraged to read my Scenes from a Marriage Blu-ray review. (This release does include Saraband as another feature on the second disc. That film will be reviewed separately.) The technical information below will repeat verbiage from my original review, as appropriate.

Scenes from a Marriage Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Scenes from a Marriage is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. 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: 16 mm original negative A/B cut
Scanner: Spirit DataCine
Transfer resolution: High definition
Transfer facility: Chimney Pot / Stockholm Sound element: 35 mm magnetic print
Picture and sound restoration: SF Studios

Since I reviewed the original Criterion release, which had a bit more technical information in the foldout included in the keepcase, I'll include the info printed there as well:

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.

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.

Screenshots 1, 3, 5 and 7 are from the television miniseries found on Disc 7 of this set. Screenshots 2, 4, 6 and 8 are from the U.S. Theatrical Version found on Disc 8 of this set. Those interested may also want to visit my original review, where I tried to both reproduce screenshots for some scenes and offer a variety of others across the two presentations 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, with what I consider at least near identical 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, as mentioned above, shares disc space with Saraband, but I didn't notice anything so egregious between the two presentations that it struck me as overtly problematic, and in fact in some ways I actually preferred the grain resolution on the theatrical version to that on the television version.

Scenes from a Marriage Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Ingmar Bergman (1080i; 15:13) is a 1986 interview with the icon where he discusses the background and filming of Scenes from a Marriage. In Swedish with English subtitles.


• Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson (1080i; 24:45) is a really interesting set of 2003 interviews done by Criterion with Ullmann in New York and Josephson in Stockholm. Both of them discuss their characters and the production. Ullmann speaks in English and Josephson in Swedish with English subtitles.


• On the Versions (1080i; 15:03) features Peter Cowie analyzing the differences between the television miniseries and the feature film, including some of the editing decisions Bergman made.

Note: As can probably be gleaned from screenshots 9 and 10, Disc 7 has the Television Version and no supplements. Disc 8 has the U.S. Theatrical Version and the supplements listed above.

Scenes from a Marriage Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Scenes from a Marriage is one of Ingmar Bergman's most personal and intimate films, for a variety of reasons including some discussed in my original review which is linked to 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 (as is joked about in Bergman Island, which takes place in the house where large swaths of this was filmed, there's a sentiment that the film led to as many divorces as anything else). 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.