Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

Smiles of a Summer Night Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 10, 2011

Winner of Best Poetic Humor Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Ingmar Bergman's "Sommarnattens leende" a.k.a. "Smiles of a Summer Night" (1955) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; a short introduction to the film by the director; and a video interview with film historian Peter Cowie and writer Jorn Donner. The disc also arrives with a 24-page illustrated booklet. In Swedish, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Dangerous beauties

It is a battle of the sexes, period style. The players know each other but trust no one. The strategies are excellent, the performances flawless. The women are elegant and sexy, while the men are strong but clumsy.

Middle-aged lawyer Fredrik Egerman (Gunnar Bjornstrand, The Seventh Seal, Persona) lives a quiet life with his seventeen-year-old wife Anne (Ulla Jacobsson, One Summer of Happiness, Zulu), who is still a virgin. The two have little in common, which is why Fredrik has started thinking about repairing his relationship with the beautiful actress Desiree Armfeldt (Eva Dahlbeck, A Lesson in Love, Dreams).

But Desiree has started seeing Count Carl Magnus Malcolm (Jarl Kulle, Fanny and Alexander, Babette's Feast), who in addition to beautiful women also likes guns. Countess Charlotte Malcolm (Margit Carlqvist, Anna, My Darling, To Joy) already suspects that the Count might be having an affair with another woman and plans to confront him.

From his previous marriage Fredrik has one son, Henrik (Bjorn Bjelvenstam, Wild Strawberries), who is slowly but surely starting to realize that his future has been predetermined. He often wonders why Anne married his father. Petra (Harriet Andersson, Cries and Whispers, Dogville), his father’s eighteen-year-old beautiful maid, often fantasizes about having Anne's life.

As fate will have it, Fredrik and the Count meet at Desiree’s place. Fredrik is disappointed but not shocked to see that his former lover has allowed another man to share her bed; the Count is outraged to discover that his mistress apparently needs two men to please her. He throws Fredrik out and then heads back home.

Things become complicated when Charlotte confirms that the Count has been seeing Desiree. Instead of confronting the beautiful actress, however, she visits her good friend Anne to inform her that Fredrik has also been having an affair and see if she would be interested in helping her punish the cheaters. Shortly after, the two women approach Desiree.

The crucial battle takes place in the mansion of Desiree’s elderly mother (Naima Wifstrand, The Magician, Hour of the Wolf), a former courtesan and brilliant tactician who understands men better than any of the young women, who invites everyone to spend the weekend with her. After the guests arrive, important discoveries and confessions are made, and a decisive game of Russian roulette played.

Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night is a charming and witty comedy about the games men and women love to play. The film is loosely divided into large episodes, each focusing on the rocky relationships between the main characters.

Bergman is equally merciless to the two sexes. Even though the women always appear a step ahead of the men, they are just as naïve and vulnerable, extremely easy to manipulate. Unsurprisingly, their triumphs are typically short-lived and failures difficult to forget.

There is plenty of talk about true love and longing but the romantic overtones are weak. Even the new relationships during the second half of the film are inspired by fantasies born of frustration, not a desire to love.

Smiles of a Summer Night is one of only a few Bergman films where Death isn’t felt. The main characters are aware of it but what they fear is loneliness. Naturally, the atmosphere is mostly relaxed and peaceful, and the film free of macabre symbolism.

Note: In 1956, Smiles of a Summer Night won the Best Poetic Humor Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Smiles of a Summer Night Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.36:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:

"This high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a new 35mm print made from the original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS system and Pixel Farm's PFClean system, while Digital Vision's DVNR system was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction.

Telecine supervisor: Maria Palazzola.
Telecine colorist: Greg Garvin/Modern Videofilm, Los Angeles."

Aside from a few inherited shaky frame transitions, the high-definition transfer Criterion have used for their Blu-ray release of Smiles of a Summer Night is indeed very pleasing. Fine object detail is consistently strong, especially during close-ups, while contrast levels dramatically improved. Edge-enhancement is not a serious issue of concern, though there is a limited number of scenes where I noticed small traces of it. Also, selected noise corrections have been performed but the integrity of the film has been preserved. Naturally, the film has a slightly dated but certainly very pleasing organic look. Finally, Criterion have carefully removed various scratches, debris, and specks. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Smiles of a Summer Night Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: Swedish LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:

"The monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a 35mm optical soundtrack print. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube's integratd workstation."

Understandably, the Swedish LPCM 1.0 track has a limited dynamic amplitude. The dialog, however, is crisp, clean, stable, and very easy to follow. There are no distortions either. While viewing the film, I also did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, hissings, or sudden audio dropouts to report in this review.

Smiles of a Summer Night Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Swedish Trailer - the original Swedish theatrical trailer for Smiles of a Summer Night. In Swedish, with optional English subtitles. (2 min, 1080i).

• Ingmar Bergman Introduction - a short introduction to the film by the legendary Swedish director, which was recorded in his theater on Faro Island. The program was produced for SVT Svensk Television in the summer of 2003. In Swedish, with optional English subtitles. (4 min, 1080i).

• Peter Cowie and Jorn Donner - film historian Peter Cowie and writer Jorn Donner discuss Smiles of a Summer Night, Ingmar Bergman's breakthrough film, as well as the Swedish director's legacy. The conversation was recorded for Criterion in 2003 in Stockholm. In English, with optional English subtitles. (17 min, 1080i).

• Booklet - a 24-page illustrated booklet containing John Simon's essay "Midsummer Merry-Go-Round"; Pauline Kael on Smiles of a Summer Night; and technical notes.

Smiles of a Summer Night Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Smiles of a Summer Night, a light sexy comedy, is one of Ingmar Bergman's most important films. It saved his career in Sweden, while its success at the Cannes Film Festival established him as one of the most exciting European directors and gave him the freedom to experiment with more channeling projects. Two years after Smiles of a Summer Night was first screened, Bergman completed his legendary The Seventh Seal. Criterion's presentation of Smiles of a Summer Night is very good. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.