Hello Cinetv community!
Firts of all, the language barrier, subtitles are all, specially in cinematic life, there is no relation or similarity between my mother tongue and Swedish, I could easily perceive the emotions and meanings of the words due to the acting of the cast.
Digital copy, of one of the very few surviving poster of this movie, already sold and in hands of a collector, source in the link.
It was Ingmar Bergman's particular way of recording, the close-ups, the movements, the angles, and all the plot devices hidden on the house, all those details are what makes this movie tick. It easily allows one to SEE what it was intended to be shown, and feel what it tries to express, the language barrier crumbles upon a great director with a good script and a great cast.
I loved and hated at the same time, the fact that is so deeply emotional and feels so personal that it would never boast to be a blockbuster, is such a dense plot that it cuts deep on the wound on Eva's(Character) soul, and it makes you feel her loneliness and pain.
You see, European cinema is deeply personal. Directors like Bermang are deeply influenced by that style. There are several panels on the faces of the characters so they express their feelings, that kind of shot that makes you feel the vibe and emotion of the characters.
In comparison, Latin American cinema is often depicted as either poor or experimental, our cinema is lacking and is now evolving, with deep influences from both Hollywood, and Europe.
Venezuela's film industry is currently in a coma, with the government and other people in power, the filmmakers are more focused on making documentaries on our sociopolitical situation, than on making a cinema.
As European films focus more on the feelings of the characters, on their souls or their conflicts, meanwhile Venezuelan films copy the movement and speed of narrative from Hollywood, is more about showing the story and the changes, movies like Cyrano, Brother, and Blue and Not So Pink, focus the feelings of the characters by changing their surrounding and actions, but they did not focus on the acting at all.
Spoiler ahead, what is next is my approach to this wonderful film. It is both an analysis and a review
Autumn sonata is willout a doubt a tough nut to crack from a man's perspective, is not just the focus on Viktor's almost invisible participation, but the way the movie directs its feeling towards Eva, in a way that you can reach her feelings but not touch her existence.
As a film is easy to review it, is a film about a mother-daughter relationship, loss, grieve, neglects, and above all, PAIN, is a film about learning about pain and life.
Charlotte decides to visit her daughter after the loss of a close friend, to repair their relationship, it follows with a conflict and the appearance of other family members. That would close the synopsis with ease and willout spoilers.
Most people just focus on Eva and her relationship with her mother, as the main plotline from this movie is okay, but, for me, this is not the main plotline of the movie. For me, is Viktor the one that drives the story by placing the situations for Eva's and Charlotte's progress on repairing their mother-daughter relationship.
Let me elaborate, Viktor is the narrator and the invisible hand behind all the actions performed in this movie, if you look closely enough, Eva and Charlotte's conflict have existed since she was a small child, meaning that she didn't have a motherly love from the get-go.
When we extrapolate that lack of motherhood to her current self, the one that lost a child, and it becomes more unbearable to watch, that hard feeling of loss that got her stuck since the death of Erick, while Viktor decided to move on, in part thanks to his faith, and in part because of his deep love for Eva, and his desires for her happiness.
As Viktor narrates to the camera while Eva plays piano and tells us about her, and suddenly decides to just step out of the main plotline, and remain a spectator like us, in almost absolute silence over the rest of the film.
You come to realize Bergman's intentions with this move. Viktor character over time sacrifices himself as a father to awaken himself as a Husband, while his's wife total detachment towards him looks like a recoil from the loss of Erik. From Viktors perspective, just as much as the loss of her faith.
There is no evidence of loss of faith in her, you might argument, but I will point forward one single fact: she wedded Viktor, a local priest, only a faithful woman would marry a man of God. But the entire house outside of Viktor's office is oblivious to any religious image or symbol.
Back when the flashback about Erick's childhood shows, there are religious symbols on the house. When Erick is already deceased, those were all placed inside Viktor's office, like representing Viktor taking a hold on his faith to survive, and Eva abandoning it for the same reason.
When Viktor steps aside from the plot, you see a deep love and sacrifice. When he wisely decides not to interfere when Eva and her mother are screaming and expressing their long pent-up feelings in the living room when he takes the call, and later on, arrange for Charlotte visit.
All those acts, were acts of pure love, a way to express himself as both a father of his late son and husband of Eva, the fact that he helped Eva on nursing Helena, at the time Helena is first's introduce as a character for us, is the main pointer on it.
He not just focused himself on pushing Eva out of her conform zone, he made a bold move to help her heal her mother-daughter relationship with her mother, and if you look to the past, at the time he created an opportunity for her to nurse Helena, so she has someone else than him that love her in her home.
The loss of her attachment to Viktor can be a logical conclusion of Erik's passing, and it makes sense by how much Erick resembles Viktor.
All this is closed by Bergman with an ending that is hard to swallow because Eva decides to open herself to her mother and try to fix the relationship, while Charlotte wonders about Helena's life, and sees Helena's situation as shameful to her.
As the closing scene begins; Charlotte truly considers the content of Eva's letter albeit shortly, just to forget about it and focusing on her music career all over again.
That loss of Charlotte's friend, and that paint is what reconnected Eva with Charlotte, the loss of her friend is the cause of her dilemma, are loss and loneliness the only way these two characters can be related? Why Viktor and Helena, both of the characters that try to reach others with love are ignored or neglected?
All these questions are left in my head but the feelings of loss, love, loneliness, and grieve are marked upon my heart for days after seeing this film.
Why did it hit me that bad? My fiancée is pregnant, and she almost loses the baby once, there was a lot of bleeding and pain, but God blessed the baby with life and is healthy so far, is still only in the fifth month, but my connection with Viktor is one of understanding.
If I lose both the baby and my fiancée, I would break down for years, maybe decades. Viktor's loss of Erick was not alone, as Eva grown detached from him and lost her will to live with happiness, Viktor found himself losing both his wife and his son, with his son passing.
So Viktor decided to move the wheel a bit. Took advantage of Charlotte's visit to help Eva move on with her life, at least on one single progress, because any progress was an improvement to none. As to not make the character evil or manipulative, Bergman's decision to cast it aside, was the right move Viktor would lose focus and remain in the shadows, along with his love for both his wife and his child.
And the spotlight would be on a life-changing decision for Eva. The desire to forgive her mother and make amends with her. And the newfound will to move on with her life.
With this, I will close this analysis on this wonderful film. And I really hope you see it, is a great time for those that love films that are focused on the acting and the characters, is a great movie about the mother-daughter relationship, and is far deeper than it seems.
If you loved this post, don't forget to stop by the upvote box and stop by to say hello in the comments, I wish you some free time to watch a couple of foreign films, and Don't forget the Pop Corn!
This post is being summited to the contest Foreign Cinema
All the pictures used in this post were taken by me from my copy of this film, on DVD.
I thank the team behind Grammarly plug-in for being my best tool during the creation of this text.