It is probably true to say that the two most traumatic experiences in the career of Ingmar Bergman were the Tax affair of 1976 and the reception given to 'Sawdust and Tinsel' twenty-three years earlier. A handful of enlightened critics appreciated the film's merits but film goers were generally repulsed by its pessimism, brutality and pitilessly Strinbergian portrayal of the relationships between men and women.
Suffice to say that with the passage of time it is now perceived as a landmark in this director's oeuvre and shows his increasing mastery of the medium.
Although more fully-clothed than in Bergman's 'Summer with Monika' from the same year, Harriett Andersson's sensuality is just as evident here as Anne, mistress of circus owner Albert who arouses his insane jealousy by having a fling with a local ham named Frans, which leads to the direst consequences. The character of Albert, obviously inspired by Emil Janning's deceived trapeze artist in Dupont's 'Variété', gives powerful Ake Gronberg his best role whilst the febrile Hasse Ekman impresses as Frans who persuades Anne in Mephistophelian manner to sell herself for a worthless trinket.
Ironically one of the most telling scenes is the most subdued, in which Albert pays a visit to Agda, the wife he has not seen for three years, touchingly portrayed by Annika Trekow. We get a glimpse of the loving and peaceful domesticity that Albert has chosen to desert in favour of life as an itinerant performer.
Bergman's camera angles here are impressive as is his use of mirrors to eliminate the need for cross-cutting. The sequence on the beach where the clown is humiliated by his wife is Bergman's most brilliant to date. Karl-Birger Blomdahl's jagged, dissonant score is spot on whilst this is the first time that Bergman is working with a young cinematographer named Sven Nykvist.
There is little doubt that the deepening of Bergman's talent is due in no small part to Miss Andersson, whose affair with Bergman had caused the break up of his third marriage. Indeed critic David Thomson has gone so far as to say that this is the first of his films 'to define the perameters of his relations with his actresses.'
Suffice to say that with the passage of time it is now perceived as a landmark in this director's oeuvre and shows his increasing mastery of the medium.
Although more fully-clothed than in Bergman's 'Summer with Monika' from the same year, Harriett Andersson's sensuality is just as evident here as Anne, mistress of circus owner Albert who arouses his insane jealousy by having a fling with a local ham named Frans, which leads to the direst consequences. The character of Albert, obviously inspired by Emil Janning's deceived trapeze artist in Dupont's 'Variété', gives powerful Ake Gronberg his best role whilst the febrile Hasse Ekman impresses as Frans who persuades Anne in Mephistophelian manner to sell herself for a worthless trinket.
Ironically one of the most telling scenes is the most subdued, in which Albert pays a visit to Agda, the wife he has not seen for three years, touchingly portrayed by Annika Trekow. We get a glimpse of the loving and peaceful domesticity that Albert has chosen to desert in favour of life as an itinerant performer.
Bergman's camera angles here are impressive as is his use of mirrors to eliminate the need for cross-cutting. The sequence on the beach where the clown is humiliated by his wife is Bergman's most brilliant to date. Karl-Birger Blomdahl's jagged, dissonant score is spot on whilst this is the first time that Bergman is working with a young cinematographer named Sven Nykvist.
There is little doubt that the deepening of Bergman's talent is due in no small part to Miss Andersson, whose affair with Bergman had caused the break up of his third marriage. Indeed critic David Thomson has gone so far as to say that this is the first of his films 'to define the perameters of his relations with his actresses.'