The Magician follows a traveling magic troupe that's arrested by the local police, purportedly to investigate whether the the reports of their activities elsewhere - an alleged blend of pseudo-medicine and charlatan illusions - pose a danger. Really, the police chief had them arrested and escorted to the house of a local wealthy person and his wife in order to settle a bet between the man and his doctor friend: whether there exist inexplicable forces beyond the ken of science. To settle the bet, the magician troupe is forced to perform their act in the morning before an audience of the various house members and guests.
The movie is somewhere between Bergman's earlier Smiles of a Summer Night in its comedic elements, particularly in the funny but melodramatic flirtatious scenes, and Bergman's later and more serious The Rite, which also involves members of a stage act being interrogated by the authorities over the content of their performance. Overall, The Magician is quite enjoyable. It does a terrific job of by turns entertaining the viewer and exploring the lines between reality and the supernatural as well as stagecraft and truth, leaving you guessing until the end whether the titular magician actually has extraordinary powers or is "merely" a skilled illusionist. This film also has some excellent camera work that creates creepy scenes.
The movie is somewhere between Bergman's earlier Smiles of a Summer Night in its comedic elements, particularly in the funny but melodramatic flirtatious scenes, and Bergman's later and more serious The Rite, which also involves members of a stage act being interrogated by the authorities over the content of their performance. Overall, The Magician is quite enjoyable. It does a terrific job of by turns entertaining the viewer and exploring the lines between reality and the supernatural as well as stagecraft and truth, leaving you guessing until the end whether the titular magician actually has extraordinary powers or is "merely" a skilled illusionist. This film also has some excellent camera work that creates creepy scenes.