I thought of it as a rather poetic (also quite comic) depiction of an all-too-ordinary relationship, dispensing with polite dialogue and boiled down to the raw emotion. How they meet is a perfectly inspired take, just as is the resolution. A "Who am I, help me understand my place in the world" love story.
The performers are mesmerizing--and amazing--for how they absolutely catapult themselves into roles that require phenomenal energy.
If you have perhaps avoided this movie because of the hype about how appreciators of Bergman would like this, and you have suspected that to be unlikely, you'd be right.
Mayer Vishner: My hesitation about your work, is that it enables people to fool themselves that all they have to do is change the lightbulb or recycle all their plastic bags, as long as they feel that way, no politician will pick it up.
Colin Beavan:
And I feel that it is completely true. It’s both. … If you have a political stance, then there is an tremendous integrity to living in a way that reflects that political stance.
Mayer…
I saw this film because I had somehow gotten a week long temp job wherein I was supposed to be present in the movie theater box office to oversee ticket sales and then at the end of the day I was to look over the accounts for the day and make sure everything justified and then deposit the take at the bank. I was 17 and the manager kept trying to talk me out of doing some things I was…
