Romancefest 2016: Smiles of a Summer Night

Let's go back across the ocean for Sweden's SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT, a 1955 Ingmar Bergman romantic comedy. I mostly know Bergman for his more dour stuff, though even that has its comedic moments, so it was nice to see an outright comedy from him. He has such a huge filmography and it's all so important that any chance I have to check off a new Bergman flick, I'm excited to do so.

As the title might suggest, this is a little bit of a riff on A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, though not a straight adaptation by any means, and was probably an inspiration for Woody Allen's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S SEX COMEDY.

It's the turn of the century and Gunnar Bjornstrand stars as a once divorced, newly remarried lawyer. He has yet to hook up with his much younger new wife (Ulla Jacobsson) and has to put up with his melancholy adult son from his previous marriage (Bjorn Bjelfvenstam) who is moping around the house so hard he doesn't even notice the sexy maid (Harriet Andersson) at first.

Bjornstrand and his wife attend a play starring an actress (Eva Dahlbeck) Bjornstrand dated in between his marriages, and Bjornstrand visits the actress to share his problems with her and get her advice. After all, he feels she was the only one who ever really understood him. Dahlbeck has a son who might be Bjornstrand's and is now having an affair with a high up in the military (Jarl Kulle) who is married to a friend of Bjornstrand's wife. He catches the two in what he thinks is a compromising position, and misunderstandings ensue.

Soon everyone's conspiring and they all end up at the actress' mother's country house for a weekend away. I'm sure you can imagine the hijinks.

Bjornstrand is properly put-upon as the hapless husband and Dahlbeck is convincingly wise as the "been there, done that" actress. Even the more thankless roles are effectively acted by the rest of the cast, and the comedy definitely makes the translation from 1950s Sweden to 2016 America.

It is clear to see Bergman's strengths even in this relatively early and lighthearted work as he juggles many characters and multiple motivations, all involving relationships. SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT may not have the arthouse profundity of his great works like THE SEVENTH SEAL, but it does profoundly understand the art of love.