The words "Ingmar Bergman comedy" don't instantly fill me with a sense of delightful anticipation, but he did make many films about adultery and the middle classes which is the topic of many a comedy (particularly the theatre) so why not? This is about a gynaecologist who is having an affair with a patient so his wife tries to hook up with her ex... the gynaecologist's former best friend.
It's a comedy of remarriage and instead of Cary Grant and Irene Dunne we've got Eva Dahlbeck and Gunnar Bjornstrand. Dahlbeck is bright and lively (even if she doesn't appear until half an hour in) and Bjornstrand gives a good performance, even if he looks a bit too old and middle aged (like a stuffy Kevin Kline) when someone handsome would be more fun.
Bergman's touch is actually quite light here and the film bubbles along like a typical Hollywood comedy of the 40s and 50s, complete with wacky support characters and a climactic brawl in a nightclub - albeit with a slightly racier tone that you were allowed to have in Sweden. The plot construction isn't as strong - Bjornstrand's lover just appears at the beginning and never again, the false love interest/best friend character is never a threat because he doesn't really like Dahlbeck; around the two-thirds mark it ran out of pace. But it recovers and has a sweet, bright finale.
I never ever would have watched this if it hadn't been for Bergman and I don't know if I ever will again but it's a surprisingly fun movie.
(NB If I'm not mistaken that's a boom in shadow around half an hour in.)
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