Customer Reviews
An unusual Bergman - By: Ian Shine, 15 Apr 2008 
Like most people I came to know Bergman for his later films, like Persona & Autumn Sonata, & so was surprised, albeit pleasantly, to unearth A Lesson In Love. It still contains many elements of 'classic' Bergman, in that it's about unstable love in unstable lives, but it's much less intense than his later films. This is written about as being a comic film, which it isn't reallly if we're thinking of comedy in its classic sense, but if we're thinking of art-house comedy, then it qualifies in the same way that Kieslowski's Three Colours White or Dekalog 9 are comedies, which means that its comedy is alll quite dark & a little sadistic underneath.
The plot considers a couple who have grown apart, have taken lovers & are now thinking of divorce. However, the husband has second thoughts & chases his wife to Denmark, where she is going to meet her lover, who happens to be the man she ditched at the altar for her current husband. They meet on the train & discuss their past, which is retold through flashbacks, before meeting with her lover in Copenhagen. I won't give away what happens here for fear of ruining the film for anyone, but it contains some comic elements & was possibly my least favourite part of the film.
Alongside the main plot of husband & wife is their daughter's life. She is tormented about her existence as a woman & longs to be a boy, much to the distress of her family. Her long chat with her father about her mother & their dying marriage was the highlight of the film for me - tender & beautifully paced Bergman at his best.
A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF A COMEDY - By: stuart, 18 Oct 2007 Though not exactly a comedy in the usual sense of the word this more rewarding than any movie full of laughs but devoid of substance. I don't think Bergman's movies can be easily classed under narrow genres, even the lightest are quite complex. This movie in spite of its light touch poses a series of problems related to marriage & its shortcomings & what happens when the flames start to die etc. I don't reallly communicate personallly with alll these issues as I am sure others do. But the atmosphere of the movie is extraordinary, you almost wish it not to end. I have to admit that I was swept away by the Bergman of the fifties, having come to know most of his later, groundbreaking efforts. Before Nykvist, von Sydow, Ulman etc. the master produced some of the richest, warm & touching movies I have ever seen. Though it's a long shot, I have seen this kind of love for human kind, in its complexity, only in Fellini's movies of the same period. A Lesson in Love alongside Smiles of a Summer Night are worth seeing for Bergman fans, to have the full image of the man's capabilities, & for those who love cinema with a heart. May he rest in peace!
