Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

The Serpent's Egg Blu-ray Movie Review

Come to the — oh, never mind.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 28, 2018

There’s a telling moment during the “appreciation” of Ingmar Bergman in general and The Serpent’s Egg in particular by Barry Forshaw included on this new Blu-ray as a supplement where Forshaw seems hesitant to admit that Bergman was anything less than an absolute genius 100% of the time. The moment comes as Forshaw gets to The Touch, Bergman’s pretty universally derided 1971 film with Elliott Gould and Bibi Andersson. Forshaw kind of hems and haws and stumbles for a moment, obviously in respectful deference to this iconic figure, before saying something like “Bergman couldn’t make a bad movie if he tried,” to which some snarkier viewers watching The Serpent’s Egg might respond, “Well, he certainly could come pretty darned close some of the time.” Even Liv Ullmann, one of the two marquee stars of The Serpent’s Egg, isn’t that reticent about discussing the shortcomings of this film in an archival interview also included on this Blu-ray as a supplement. As Ullmann gets into, she felt that Bergman was simply “overwhelmed” by having one of the few huge budgets in his long and now legendary career, and that that, along with other vagaries of this production, caused Bergman to (again, in Ullmann’s own assessment) fall away from his natural talents.

The supplemental package included on this disc also makes the perhaps debatable case that Bergman was trying in his own way to recreate the German Abstract Expressionism of the 1920s, but some curmudgeons (ahem) may feel like the iconic director was really trying to recreate something considerably more contemporary, namely Bob Fosse’s 1972 film version of Cabaret. Not only is there the understandable prevalence of a perverse Berlin society teetering on the edge of Nazism due to the setting of both films, but there’s something dangerously close to both the Kit Kat Club and the venerable Sally Bowles herself in The Serpent’s Egg which I think you’d almost have to be willful to deny.

This film’s “Christopher Isherwood” (so to speak) is a former trapeze artist named Abel Rosenberg (David Carradine), now unemployed and often falling down drunk, who comes back to his boarding house one night to discover his brother, his former partner in a circus, has committed suicide. He briefly meets with Inspector Bauer (Gert Fröbe) and has a chance meeting with the owner of the circus where he used to work, before going to this film’s version of the Kit Kat Klub to meet this film’s version of Sally Bowles, Manuela (Liv Ullmann), who had been married to Abel’s now deceased brother. Abel brings an envelope left by his brother for Manuela which includes a pile of cash and a troubling note with largely indecipherable writing, but with one phrase about “poisoning” which Abel is barely able to make out.

There is so much that is so patently bizarre about The Serpent’s Egg that it’s hard to even know where to begin. Aside from arguably overly twee elements like Abel being a former trapeze artist (which at least harkens back to Bergman’s early effort Sawdust and Tinsel), the sight (and sound) of Liv Ullmann attempting to get her “Dietrich” on (for want of a better description) is just flat out weird, and for some may be downright laugh provoking. (Ullmann’s song and dance routines may bring to mind Bette Midler’s famous assertion that “I never miss a Liv Ullmann musical” when the much lamented Lost Horizon was released.) But all of this strangeness actually pales in comparison to the “big reveal” that Bergman saves for the final act, where the entire enterprise tips unashamedly into Grand Guignol territory, replete with a Mad Doctor engaging in horrifying experiments.

As is discussed in some of the supplements, and actually kind of at least alluded to in some of Ullmann’s own comments, Bergman was frequently thought of as “an actor’s director”, and, according to Forshaw, “a woman’s director”. That said, there is a really perplexing mishmash of performance styles on tap here which may ultimately be the biggest hurdle The Serpent’s Nest needs to overcome. I can’t help but think that Carradine was purposefully directed to give what amounts to almost a lobotomized accounting of Abel, even in moments when the Jewish character supposedly has almost anti-Semitic things to say about his fellow “tribe members”. Carradine kind of drifts through this film like a rudderless boat, making any of the supposed horrors the character experiences feel dissociative and distant. This somnambulistic approach clashes pretty inorganically with some of the more hyperbolic acting in the piece and creates even more tonal imbalances than are already present due to the oddities of Bergman’s screenplay.

The Serpent's Egg Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: I breathed a huge sigh of relief when my order of Ingmar Bergman's Cinema arrived just as I was finishing up this review. As fans of that deluxe set no doubt know, it also includes Criterion's version of The Serpent's Egg, which is advertised as being a 2017 digital restoration by the Swedish Film Institute culled from a duplicate negative source. I've uploaded a few screenshots from the Criterion version in positions 21-28 of this review so that those interested can compare and contrast. I'm sure Svet will be uploading many more screenshots when his review of the Criterion version goes live, and my hunch is he may very well be more positively disposed toward the film as a whole than I am, for those who may feel I've given it short shrift here. I'll just cut to the chase and say to my eyes the Criterion is the clear overall winner in presentation, but there are still occasional moments of coarseness in both presentations that I'll discuss a bit further below. Somewhat hilariously, given Barry Forshaw's comments quoted above, Criterion has put this film on the same disc as The Touch.

The Serpent's Egg is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following generic information on the transfer:

The Serpent's Egg is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 with 2.0 mono sound [sic]. The HD master was provided by MGM.

This is a highly variable looking presentation, one that suffers at times from anemic contrast, shallow densities and a lack of shadow detail (I found all three of these elements improved on the Criterion, from my quick scanning of that version). Blacks are a bit milky and at times things can lack sharpness and detail levels fluctuate. Things look best in brightly lit moments, especially when Bergman and Sven Nykvist utilize extreme close- ups, where fine detail on elements like Abel's curduroy jacket pop at least reasonably well. There are some odd intermittent anomalies which interestingly also crop up on the Criterion version. A scene with an elderly lady looks nicely organic on both versions with the sudden exception of a return to her after a cut to Abel, where there's a good deal of yellow splotchiness (contrast screenshots 5 and 19 for "before and after" looks at this sequence in the Arrow version, and then look at screenshot 27 from the Criterion version). That same roughness also just kind of shows up willy-nilly partway through the morgue scene (see screenshot 18 from the Arrow version and screenshot 26 from the Criterion).

The Serpent's Egg Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Serpent's Egg features an LPCM mono track which faithfully reproduces the film's often turgid dialogue and its use of kind of Weill-esque music cues (it looks to me like Liv is lip synching again, much as she did in the Bacharach-David musical). There is occasional urban bustle in the soundtrack that also sounds fine, but overall this is a relentlessly talky (and then, later, screamy) film that doesn't feature over the top sonics.

The Serpent's Egg Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with actor David Carradine


• Bergman's Egg (1080p; 25:42) is the appreciation by Barry Forshaw mentioned above. This is now the second Arrow "talking head" feature I've seen recently with some really annoying cross cutting between needlessly slightly different angles.


• Away from Home (1080p; 15:54) is an archival piece with Liv Ullmann and David Carradine.


• German Expressionism (1080i; 5:36) is an archival piece with author Marc Gervais.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 3:18)


• Image Gallery (1080p; 15:40)

As usual, Arrow has also provided a nicely appointed insert booklet.

The Serpent's Egg Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

When Liv Ullmann kind of figuratively rolls her eyes as she discusses the fact that Bergman was given enough money to "build a whole Berlin street!" (as she almost excitedly utters, with a subtext that she understands the absurdity of it all), you may feel you have permission to accept the fact that even the great Bergman could have a misfire or two over his long and deservedly lionized career. If Cabaret invited audiences in with a hearty if somewhat sinister "Willkommen", I have a feeling some folks watching The Serpent's Egg may feel more like singing "Auf wiedersehen". I only had the chance to quickly peruse the Criterion version before posting my review, but my initial reaction is it has a more pleasing appearance than this version. Arrow on the other hand offers several interesting supplements not present on the Criterion. The film is going to be an acquired taste one way or the other.