Bergman's second feature as director is a tale about two young lovers just trying to make it against the odds, but this isn't as good as his later entry in that genre, Summer with Monika. The acting isn't as good, or the story, or anything really. Like Crisis I kept thinking this could star Sandra Dee and be made in the 1950s.
The story feels like one problem piled on top of each other instead of a driving narrative - he's just out of prison, he's pregnant to some other guy, their landlord is nasty, the bitchy wife of his boss causes the guy to lose his job, they lose the baby, a bureaucrat picks on them. There's an irritating Greek chorus who pops in and out of the action and too many scenes of the lead duo being happy.
Bits of it are interesting - I was struck by the beginning where the guy picks up the girl and they have sex at his place and aren't punished; I also liked the smiling landlord who is actually a manipulative bastard. And as this went along and concentrated on the one story (the two heroes copping stick because the guy punches out a snobby bureaucrat) I started to enjoy it a lot. It's lively late teen melodrama made by a talented man who hadn't found his voice yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment