Bergman's powerful and pitiless essay on passion, jealousy, and betrayal unfolds against the backdrop of an impoverished traveling circus in turn-of-the-century Sweden. Sawdust and Tinsel is considered by many critics to be one of Bergman's finest films, and often favorably compared with such classic tragedies as The Blue Angel and La Strada. The disturbing story revolves around an aging circus owner, who suffers heartbreak and humiliation at the hands of his young mistress and her brutal lover. Harriet Andersson (Monika) exhibits the fierce sensuality for which she became known in her portrayal of the flirtatious mistress. Bergman uses stark black-and-white photography and inspired editing of sound and visuals to construct his haunting allegory of human weakness and spiritual despair.
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This early film by Ingmar Bergman, made before his international hits Smiles of a Summer Night and The Seventh Seal, was vilified by critics when it first came out (one referring to it as "a piece of vomit"), but with time has earned a reputation as one of the master filmmaker's first important works. Sawdust and Tinsel touches on many of Bergman's standard themes--vanishing love, godless existences, the redemptive power of theater--in its telling of a disillusioned circus owner (Åke Grönberg) and his young mistress (Harriet Andersson of Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly) as they set up for yet another performance in a small town. Both contemplate leaving the circus and each other, as Grönberg pays a visit to his now-independent wife (an exceptional Annika Tretow), and Andersson allows herself to be seduced by a local actor (Hasse Ekman), only to find herself used and humiliated. One can see traces of the melancholy Smiles of a Summer Night in the romantic roundelays that start out bright and end up bitter--the constructs may be farcical at times, but the emotions are raw and heartfelt. And stylistically, from the first frame the film evokes strong similarities to The Seventh Seal; in fact, this film marks the first collaboration of Bergman and his legendary cinematographer Sven Nykvist. Despite some awkward dialogue and a static pace, Sawdust and Tinsel shows a young, assured Bergman finding his way to the themes and techniques that would define his later films. A must-see for Bergman aficionados. --Mark Englehart
