In the fourth episode of Married Life, Bergman uses john's monologue to point out the ideological core of his later film work:
The three protagonists who cross from the cinema
From the early discussion of religion and belief to the later portrayal of people's intimate emotions and intimate relationships, Bergman's film history is like a history of the development of the spiritual life of Western society:
People left traditional religions, deviated from the classical model of collective belief, and turned to the modern individual society where "God is dead." As the culmination of Bergman's later works, "Married Life" takes the most representative intimate relationship of marriage as a sample and vividly depicts the inability of people who have lost their "faith" in modern society to face emotions and egos.
In the 229-minute full version of Married Life, six parts clearly show the changes in the relationship between John and Marianne and the "one and the other" of the relationship between the two.
At the beginning of the story, John and Marianne appear as the perfect couple to be interviewed, but under the calm appearance is already full of danger.
John and Marianne, interviewed at the beginning of the story
Marianne was a submissive wife who had lost herself, and John was a seasoned and even hypocritical husband.
The rift in their relationship became more apparent after the "abortion incident" and the "sex dispute", and finally revealed after John revealed the existence of his lover Paula. Faced with John's determination to leave, Marianne pleaded bitterly to lose her dignity but had no choice.
However, when Marianne finally accepts the reality, focuses on her own life, and no longer cares about John, the situation has a surprising turnaround: John begins to ignite old feelings, but at this time, Marianne, although still in love with John, has made up her mind to divorce...
Married Life
1973 | Sweden
director
Ingmar Bergman
Starring
Liv Uman Erlan Josephson Gurnell Lindblom Bibby Anderson
Bergman, who has had seven marriages, transformed his thorough thinking about intimate relationships into a stage play-like indoor play, and through the dialogue between John and Marianne alone, it is enough to show the whole picture of their long married life. A large number of close-ups of the characters make everyone who watches the film still in the mirror, looking at the partner, looking at the self, looking at the past, and watching the future.
The bitterness and joy of married life are actually the sorrow and joy of intimate relationships.
The emotional tearing between John and Marianne forms a closed loop of energy in love, one side rises, the other falls, the two can never be synchronized, can only exhaust all their energy in this and the other. However, what Bergman wants to explore is not only the emotional confrontation between the two sides of the intimate relationship, but also the confrontation between the human self and the outside world.
In the self's belief and energy system, intimacy is arguably the greatest temptation.
Mutual gaze in intimate relationships
In the film, Bergman allows John and Marianne to show their past lives and their fears of self through dialogue and monologues.
Marianne, a confused wife who has been given a well-arranged life since childhood and never knows what herself is; John, a fragile husband who is afraid of loneliness and dare not face himself. Intimacy gives them strength, but at the same time it is a vain temptation and imagination. They rely on each other to exist, but in the depths of their hearts they are tired of each other's existence; they cannot face themselves, and how can they fill another lonely soul waiting to be fed with a long-lost and missing soul.
At the heart of what Bergman wants to tell is:
In modern society, when people exist independently like an island, when the ancient faith disappears, how should we face ourselves, find the basis of self and the other side of the spirit.
Marianne in a mental crisis
On the one hand, intimacy is like a way out, love and family seem to be able to shape an earthly utopia, but individuals who cannot achieve self-integrity, when they throw themselves into the arms of others and are eager to grasp that little warmth immediately, have already burned themselves out in this trap.
On the other hand, the shaping of intimate relationships requires both parties to take a part of themselves and reshape a new emotional individual, but what if the egos of people are destined to repel each other? This ideal self-fit is like an emotional utopia, which is more fragile and out of reach in modern society.
Love is colder than death, because love is a man-made paradise, and we walk in with joy and personally shatter the illusions we have created.
Love two people who are colder than death
In order to get rid of loneliness and find support through love, people must first find a complete self and shape their own belief system, but when we really love people with a complete self, intimate relationships require us to cut off part of the bone and flesh, and use a part of the self sacrifice to complete an adventure that does not know the end.
That being the case, what is the way out for Bergman?
In the final part of "Married Life", John and Marianne, who have not seen each other for many years, are reunited in a suburban cottage, marianne wakes up in a nightmare, and the two fall asleep with each other in their arms; at the end of "Shouts and Whispers", the three sisters walk in the autumn colors in their memories, everything is like a quiet fairy tale; at the end of "Fanny and Alexander", the children escape the clutches of their stepfathers and regain happiness and peace. This is the answer given by Bergman: The believer is saved. The spiritual system of the entire Western world, from Plato and Aristotle to Christian theology to modern society, in the face of a way out, if we are willing to believe in the highest ideal world, willing to believe in God and salvation, the original intention to believe in love and beauty, then the pain in loneliness and intimate relationships is nothing more than a sacrifice from human nature to divinity.
It's a gamble, believe, we have a chance to be saved, and if we don't believe, we lose everything.
Article author: Zhang Zhirui
Wild honey smells like freedom
(The article was originally published by the empty mirror solo, and plagiarism must be investigated)