About

Before I had time to reflect, there were six distinct dialogues about love, marriage and all manner of things besides. Johan and Marianne, or Marianne and Johan, had allowed themselves to be brave, cowardly, happy, sad, angry, loving, confused, uncertain, satisfied, cunning, unpleasant, childish, mean, unfathomable, magnificent, petty, physically affectionate, heartless, stupid, wretched, helpless: in a nutshell, typical human beings. — Ingmar Bergman

Originally shot as a miniseries for Swedish television, Scenes from a Marriage is said to have been so popular that its broadcasts rendered the streets of Stockholm empty and sent the national divorce rate soaring. Never before had the inner workings of a relationship been expressed with such complexity and eloquence on screen.

Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson's portrayal of the couple at the centre of this depiction of the slow collapse of a marriage is spellbinding. They inhabit their characters and bring a startling level of honesty to their performances. In writing the screenplay, Bergman drew from the dissolution of his own relationships – including the one he'd had with Liv Ullmann in the years prior to the series.

The director himself edited the extensive amount of material shot for television into a theatrical cut for international cinema release, thus bringing the intimate 16mm footage out of the lounge room and into movie theatres around the world.

M | Adult themes, Sexual references, Low level sex scene