Visually, it lacks the aesthetics of Bergman's black and white movies. Theatrically, it's melodramatic. Both Ingrid and Liv overact their parts (Liv's ridiculous, oversized eyeglasses are a distraction.) Ullmann's climactic monologue of woes is the most powerful part of the movie but too long. In general, it lacks subtlety and the ending is a weak attempt at transformation which lacked credibility for me. Maybe in its day it was groundbreaking psychologically but I think better acting and editing was needed for greatness. The subplot with the disabled sister and especially the cryptic flashback to her youth seem unneeded to me, just a thickening rather than a new flavor. The scene where daughter and then mother play the same piano work by Chopin is quite original and well done. It merits seeing as a work by Bergman with Bergman as lead for your fund of film experience.

Autumn Sonata is a gem of a film from renowned Swedish director Ingmar Bergman which centers around the complicated and difficult relationship of a famous pianist, Charlotte and her eldest daughter, Eva, portrayed by stalwarts Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann respectively.Autumn Sonata begins with the pianist mother Charlotte visiting Eva and her husband. Initially, the mother-daughter relationship does seem a bit frigid though courteous. Gradually, as the film unfolds, several dimensions to this relation gets revealed -Charlotte's career, Eva's childhood, the presence of a second daughter among others.Autumn Sonata's most enduring memory is its crescendo involving the two brilliant actors Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann. While it would amount to being a spoiler attempting to describe what happens, it can suffice to say that Ingmar Bergman's greatness bursts through in this climax and one discovers the tremendous potential of a chamber drama.This is no doubt what great cinema is about and while one of the two central figures certainly blows the viewer away with her intensity, the tremendous impact and presence of the other can only be felt on multiple viewing, and this chemistry is what contributes to Autumn Sonata being perhaps one of the best films ever made, most certainly by Ingmar Bergman and maybe even in the history of cinema.

Swedish screenwriter, playwright, producer and director Ingmar Bergman's 39th feature film which he wrote, is a West-Germany production which premiered in Stockholm, Sweden. It was shot at a film studio in Oslo, Norway during the period when the director was in exile due to his conflicts with the Swedish Government, and produced by American producer Richard Brick, Russian-born English film producer Lew Grade (1906-1998), Austrian-born Swedish film producer Katinka Faragó and American film producer Martin Starger. It tells the story about Charlotte Andergast, a world renowned concert pianist who after seven years abroad visits her daughter Eva who lives on the countryside with her husband Victor who is a preacher and her multi-disabled sister Helena who Eva brought home from the institution her mother had placed her in after abandoning them to pursue her career.Distinctly and precisely directed by filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, this condensed and finely paced psychological character-piece draws an incisive portrayal of a materialistic artist's afflicting relationship with the daughter she has neglected for many years and her struggle to redeem herself and gain her religious daughter's forgiveness. While notable for it's naturalistic milieu depictions, prominent set design by production designer Anna Asp, cinematography by cinematographer Sven Nykvist (1922-2006), costume design by Swedish costume designer Inger Pehrsson and use of music, this dialog-driven, existentialistic and humane chamber-piece depicts two converging and deeply internal studies of character.This atmospheric, straightforward and concentrated story about a heart- to-heart conversation during one autumn night between a reunited daughter and mother, is impelled and reinforced by it's emotional depth, substantial character-development, riveting dialog, cogent narrative structure, the profound acting performances by Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann, Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982) in her next to last acting role and the fine supporting acting performances by Swedish actor Halvar Björk (1928-2000) and Swedish actress Lena Nyman (1944-2011). A consistently involving and masterful melodrama which gained, among other awards, the NSFC Award for Best Actress Ingrid Bergman at the 13th National Society of Film Critics Awards in 197 and the NBR Award for Best Director Ingmar Bergman at the 50th National Board of Review Awards in 1978.

I could hardly stand the disturbing feeling of intimacy between Charlotte, the mother, and Eva, the daughter. "Autumn Sonata" is so real that it almost fails as a film for a more transcending merit that goes as far as your soul can reach. I don't know how to express it, the movie left me speechless, torn between the guilt from witnessing such heart-breaking displays of hatred on an almost voyeuristic level, or a strange feeling of fascination. Ingmar Bergman's "Autumn Sonata" is the cinematic demonstration that family is indeed the reservoir of all our repressed feelings, emotions, the source or the obstacle to our own life-guiding energies. The flute sound that introduces the film has a rustic serenity resonating like the appeasing lullaby for our worried minds. The quietness of a little house far from the town, Eva, not beautiful, hardly pretty, is embodying the austerity of her environment in a chameleonic way. Liv Ullman, Ingmar Bergman's muse, is again totally mesmerizing in a role that proves her immense versatility, but wait till you see Ingrid Bergman, in one of the greatest female performances ever, rightfully Oscar-nominated. When she makes her entrance, the whole place is inhabited by a shining aura. As Charlotte, Ingrid Bergman's charisma cancels out the apparent dullness of Eva and her insignificant husband. Charlotte is the authoritarian guiding force of the story, and our eyes follow her, secretly wishing that she would be the one to awaken Eva. But don't expect THAT awakening.The movie is an eye-opening experience, proving how the relationships with parents are children's cement to build their personality. Parents either enlighten your soul, or make you live in their shadows. I remember a line from "The Godfather Part II" where Fredo wished he could be like his father, a man with power, with a loving family, Michael had these words: "It's not easy being a son" Oh God, how right he was. When the mere idea to be better than your father is intolerable, the least you can do, is to please him. We all put some people on a personal pedestal, and "Autumn Sonata" talked to my soul through the story of a daughter whose ego was dwarfed by her mother's undeniable aura.The contrast between Charlotte and Eva, in beauty, colors and personality echoed my own contrast with the person I respect the most in that world, and I guess this is the reason why I'm so disturbed, because I can't even dare to imagine the pain he indirectly caused me, not because of him but because of the way I perceived him. But how can I blame him for my own perceptions? Or aren't the perceptions in fine inspired by a certain behavior? My empathy for Eva was so omnipresent that it perverted any possibility to rationally judge the film, with that reserve I admire so much from Northern cultures, and that has been so wrongly associated with coldness. But relating to Eva isn't saying much, because ironically, Charlotte was the character I respected the most. call it the 'Eva' of 'Fredo' syndrome.Ingmar Bergman's most unique talent is to convey universal feelings through simple shots, looks, or a specific use of music. Here, music plays a significant role as it highlights the talent of Charlotte, a virtuoso concert pianist, to play with emotions, to fake or overact them, and it lures us into the conviction that she used that talent even with her daughter and late husband. Eva's talent is more debatable, her mother reproaches that she plays it too sentimental, without passion, which are two separate things. Indeed, Eva seems passionless, and Charlotte, with her bright red dress is the quintessential lively old woman. But we know this is prefabricated, we know Charlotte's personality is only a cover while Eva simply fears to contradict her mother. There's one scene where Charlotte sobs while remembering her lover's death then she pulls herself together as if there was a natural weakness in grief. Ironically, Eva mourned during her whole life an inexistent childhood caused by a mother she loved despite everything.And progressively, the film reveals the complexity of Eva's torment and by drinking some red wine, like draining a sort of Charlotte-like force in her heart; she gains enough confidence for the ultimate confrontation with Charlotte. The slow pacing of the first act was simply the patient build-up until an exhausting but so emotionally rewarding climax, paralleled with Eva's long waiting before she could find the strength to open her heart. And then, Eva like drunk by the exquisite delight of having the last word, bluntly tells the truth right in the face of Charlotte, taking so many years off it. The devastated face of Charlotte immediately contrasted with Eva's confident eyes, Eva, almost embellished by her new confidence.Incapable to react to such hatred, she's hopelessly taking every emotional hits, realizing how responsible she is for her daughter's sadness, but maybe even sadder that she didn't realize it before. Yet, the ambiguity of the film relies on this strange impression that each character plays against the words, as said Liv Ullman in an interview, one of the first disagreement in Bergman's careers was when Ingrid refused to say 'hold me' after getting so many insults, when her instinctive reaction would've been to slap her daughter in the face, and being a woman, she probably knew better than Ingmar in that department.And indeed, she says 'hold me', but her eyes keep a dignity, while the real slap in the face is that masterpiece of austere realism, but even more poignant and heart-breaking as I dare anyone not to relate to it. Each family is built on dreams of stability and happiness but we all have our shameful secrets, our lies, our Oedipian feelings that can poison our entire existence. Watching "Autumn Sonata" is like an antidote against that poison.