Scenes From a Marriage

PG

Released Sep 15, 1974

2h 48m

Drama

List

88%

Tomatometer

24 Reviews

95%

Audience Score

5,000+ Ratings

Johan (Erland Josephson) and Marianne (Liv Ullmann) are married and seem to have it all. Their happiness, however, is a façade for a troubled relationship, which becomes even rockier when Johan admits that he's having an affair. Before long, the spouses separate and move towards finalizing their divorce, but they make attempts at reconciling. Even as they pursue other relationships, Johan and Marianne realize that they have a significant bond, but also many issues that hinder that connection.

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Geoff Andrew

Time Out

The film is an uncompromisingly harrowing and honest account of male-female relationships.

Feb 9, 2006

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

One of the truest, most luminous love stories ever made.

Rated: 4/4

Oct 23, 2004

Full Review

Vincent Canby

New York Times

It's a movie of such extraordinary intimacy that it has the effect of breaking into mysterious components many things we ordinarily accept without thought, familiar and banal objects, faces, attitudes, and emotions, especially love.

Rated: 5/5

May 20, 2003

Full Review

Steve Warren

The Barb (Atlanta)

Might look good on TV; but on a theater screen, the technical work drove me up the wall.

May 5, 2023

Full Review

Wayne Harada

Honolulu Advertiser

Incredible acting, fascinating direction, and indelible impressions of love's joys and pains are part of the irresistible charm and grace of Scenes From a Marriage.

Mar 17, 2023

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

This raw and uncompromising motion picture has endured as one of Bergman's finest achievements.

Rated: 4/4

Jan 24, 2021

Full Review

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Alec B

Your mileage for Bergman's incessant probing of these characters may vary but that's ultimately what makes the ending work so well. Ullmann and Josephson are taken apart and put back together so often that you come to deeply understand their perspectives.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/08/24

Full Review

Leaburn O

Whilst I may never have been a huge Bergman fan (Wild Strawberries aside), this really was a painful watch. I never felt any sympathy for either party and just couldn't invest in the story. An examination of the human condition and how it impacts relationships could be an interesting theme but it never captivated. We're just left with angst of two adults unable to hold their bleep together. And it goes on and on and on and…. This completes a list I had of the top 250 films ever, and sadly I ended on a real stinker. Bought this one in DVD as couldn't find on UK tv or streaming. It sits with my other Bergman films in the collection that are unlikely ever to be watched again.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

08/23/23

Full Review

Alexsander F

Filme com uma boa proposta, numa pegada dos filmes do Antonioni, com muito diálogo e tudo caminhando de forma bem lenta.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/03/23

Full Review

dave s

Scenes from a Marriage has none of the visual wonders one would expect from a film directed by Ingmar Bergman and shot by Sven Nykvist. Despite this apparent shortcoming, it is a riveting account of the disintegration of the marriage of an affluent Swedish couple, Marianne (Liv Ullman) and Johan (Erland Josephson). Acknowledging the sobering reality that their love has faded over the period of their relationship, they engage in a series of insightful, searing and sometimes incendiary dialogues as they come to terms with sobering realizations regarding their marriage. Despite its considerable length and preponderance of talking heads, the film is wildly entertaining due to the depth of the characters, the intelligence of the dialogue, and the spectacular performances from Josephson and Ullman, both of whom express as much with their mannerisms as they do with their voices.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

jaime h

The OG, best of the best… perhaps the greatest interpersonal storytelling for a generation, and the largest influence for all that came after. Brilliant and unfettered. Leaves you in shambles.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

william d

No one is more surprised than I am that I actually enjoyed a three hour movie of a married couple just talking. I think it stems from the fact that these characters are not static, they evolve over the course of time, and it was fascinating to see what direction they would take. That is a testament to Bergman's excellent script and the fine performances by Erland Josephson and particularly Liv Ullman.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Ingmar Bergman

Director

Liv Ullmann

Marianne

Erland Josephson

Johan

Bibi Andersson

Katarina

Jan Malmsjö

Peter

Anita Wall

Fru Palm

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Synopsis

Johan (Erland Josephson) and Marianne (Liv Ullmann) are married and seem to have it all. Their happiness, however, is a façade for a troubled relationship, which becomes even rockier when Johan admits that he's having an affair. Before long, the spouses separate and move towards finalizing their divorce, but they make attempts at reconciling. Even as they pursue other relationships, Johan and Marianne realize that they have a significant bond, but also many issues that hinder that connection.

Director: Ingmar Bergman
Screenwriter: Ingmar Bergman
Distributor: Cinema 5 Distributing, Criterion Collection
Production Co: Cinematograph AB
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Swedish
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 15, 1974, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 27, 2019
Runtime: 2h 48m
Sound Mix: Mono

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