Another “light” Bergman movie to begin with, this goes very deep towards the end. Again he has a fantastic leading lady, Maj Britt-Nilsson, very Audrey Hepburn/Tautou / Anna Karina -ish. She plays both older and younger versions of herself flawlessly. This aspect of the story, the older, more restrained dancer looking back on her fun and fancy-free youth, coupled with the stunning shot at the end when she finally removes the “wall” of her stage make-up reminded me immediately of Deborah in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time in America – I wonder if Leone was consciously borrowing the idea. In any case, it struck me just as powerfully here and lifts an otherwise simply, light romance to something completely other.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 9th, 2005 at 4:00 pm in 4 hearts, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.