Bergman used to trash this movie - it and The Touch were two he always bagged. For the first half hour or so I thought he was being way too hard on himself, showing off with his self-deprecation - it was a perfectly acceptable spy thriller with men in hats driving around in cars and hanging around in alleyways talking mysteriously. The opening spiel which said "this is all made up and takes place somewhere that doesn't exist" was annoying (and patronising) but I went with it.
It's set in a fictional Eastern European country where a secret agent for the baddies goes to visit his ex who is a (unpaid) secret agent for the goodies (a people smuggler) and she winds up trying to kill him... which is fairly full on for the hero. She's not the only hero - there's a dull honest cop who is investigating. There are villainous associations, people who aren't what they appear to be, car chases, assassinations and a race for the border. It's crap.
Signe Hasso, who appeared in some Hollywood movies, plays the lead but isn't that good - no one in this movie is, really. It's done well enough technically, with some nice cinematography, a few funky camera angles, and gets novelty points for being a Bergman thriller with an anti-Soviet slant. But it's dull and confusing and I found it a real struggle to watch. Maybe this is hindsight but Bergman's contempt for his material does come across.
(This was actually made before Summer Interlude but released afterwards.)
No comments:
Post a Comment