IT is fitting that Ingrid Bergman ended her cinema career back home in Sweden, working with namesake Ingmar Bergman, on a film that, despite its subtitles and harsh emotional tone, was recognised in Hollywood when she received yet another Academy Award nomination.
Bergman had, of course, three Oscar statuettes already on her mantelpiece. This year's short Glasgow Film Festival retrospective acknowledges these accolades (Gaslight, her first win, screens on February 23), as well as her popular appeal in eternal classics such as Casablanca, Spellbound and Notorious.
In Autumn Sonata, concert pianist Charlotte (Bergman) visits the home of her daughter Eva (Liv Ullman), only to discover that her other daughter, Helena (Lena Nyman), whom she abandoned in a home when her debilitating illness became pronounced, is also there. In a compelling two-handed sequence, Eva berates her mother to the point where our sympathies shift around. Here and elsewhere, Bergman delivers a masterclass of close-up acting, as the actress guides a lifetime of guilt, discomfort, remorse and narcissistic self-interest across Charlotte's face.
Alan Morrison
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