Efter repetitionen (1984) (TV)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writer:

Ingmar Bergman (writer)

Release Date:

9 April 1984 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Rational, exacting, and self-controlled theater director, Henrik Vogler, often stays after rehearsal to think and plan...

Plot Keywords:

Actress | Director | Mother Daughter Relationship | Human Relationship | Nudity

Cast

Erland Josephson	...	Henrik Vogler (older)
Ingrid Thulin	...	Rakel Egerman
Lena Olin	...	Anna Egerman (older)
Nadja Palmstjerna-Weiss	...	Anna Egerman (younger)
Bertil Guve	...	Henrik Vogler (younger)

Also Known As:

After the Rehearsal (USA)

Runtime:

70 min | Argentina:90 min

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 | France:Unrated | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-8 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Sweden

Company:

Cinematograph AB

Trivia:

This was Ingmar Bergman's first film after saying he was retiring from making movies.

Soap writ existential..

This is only my second Ingmar Bergman viewing, the first being the magnificent "Seventh Seal", which left me with a long lasting impression. Perhaps it is not fair to compare this little ditty to the impressive, thoughtful epic that was the former film, but it was with such unrealistic expectations that I started watching "After the Rehearsal".

Unfortunately, I left the film disappointed and indifferent. The plot revolves around an aging play director's relation to his young lead actress, and concerns itself with acting, the personal relations of people in the profession, parenthood and estrangement. Alas, I'm afraid even my simplistic presentation makes the film sound far more interesting than it really is. In the end, "After the Rehearsal" only amounts to a monotonous (if articulate) study of romantic and interpersonal manipulation. I suppose viewers interested in acting and the theater might find something of interest in this movie, especially concerning the issues of what it means to act and direct, and how it affects persons of the field.

Personally, however, I was not engaged at all to the characters' petty personal issues, nor could I project parallels to issues larger than their own particular microcosm from their mundane -if eloquent- verbal sparring. If the "Sevent Seal"'s characters could be likened to those of Dostoyevsky's literature, "After the Rehearsal"'s protagonists would be more similar to Oscar Wilde's aestheticists and their monologues. Who do you prefer?