Autumn Sonata

Autumn Sonata (1978) is about a mother and daughter meeting after seven years. Charlotte is a celebrated concert pianist, Eva is her daughter, living in a country parsonage. The visit begins politely and turns into a reckoning that lasts one night. At its centre is a scene at the piano: Eva plays a Chopin prelude, then Charlotte plays the same piece, and the difference between the two performances explains the entire relationship. The real story is in the names. Ingmar Bergman and Ingrid Bergman were not related, they simply shared a surname, and Ingrid had wanted for years to work with her namesake. This was their only film together, and the last feature Ingrid Bergman made for cinemas. It was made during the worst stretch of Ingmar Bergman's life. Accused of tax evasion, he had left Sweden for Munich, and he produced this through his German company Personafilm. It was shot in an old studio outside Oslo. A German production, financed with British and American money, filmed in Norway, spoken in Swedish. Ingrid Bergman was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won the National Society of Film Critics award. The film took the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. It runs 93 minutes. Good for: chamber drama built on two performers, family reckonings, and Bergman's use of the close up. Less good for: the film is a conversation and it is punishing. Charlotte is never quite allowed a real defence, the accusation runs one way, and some viewers will find that unfair.