The Magician

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Jonathan I If the movie ended with Vogler coming back to life to haunt Dr Vergerus and left the audience with some unanswered questions it would have been perfect Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 04/11/24 Full Review Taylor L Bergman's unusually lighthearted and seldom-mentioned reflection on the role of truth - truth with respect to our own personal nature, and with respect to the personas that we show to others. At first a mesmerizing Gothic horror, Max von Sydow slaps on a couple pieces of silly facial hair and at once becomes the mysterious Dr. Vogler, a mute of unknown past and potentially stunning power; his manipulation of a group of doubting aristocrats is a masterful excerise in not only tone but visual design and delivery, with swirling shadow and carefully chosen words leaving more questions than answers. And the physical play between light and dark is actually thematically relevant here, as the effectiveness of Vogler's performance not only reveals hypocrisy among his haughty audience members but begins to cause cracks in his own psyche as well, showing a fine line between the master of the macabre and a pitiful charlatan. But the film's most distinctive choice is its cross-genre design, one of the more extreme comedy-dramas that the director ever took on. Scenes of lust and frolic that are intended not only as superficial jokes but plays on the public-facing personas that the characters usually put on, a testament to the multifaceted nature that every person hides with mixed success. Late rug-pulls may make The Magician less of an easily digestible watch, and may even alienate potential viewers that are invested in Bergman's hypnotic powers, but they only serve to add to his unique take on deception and the role that it plays in everyday interactions, whether as a snake-oil salesman or a respected member of the community. A seldom-mentioned masterpiece that gets overlooked simply by virtue of the number of high quality films that Bergman put out for so many years. Definitely hornier than your average Bergman film, too. (4/5) Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review dave s For some reason, The Magician seems to get lost in the vast body of Ingmar Bergman's films, existing in the shadows of The Seventh Seal, his ‘faith' trilogy, and his later masterworks like Cries and Whispers and Persona. Albert Vogler (Max von Sydow) and his troupe, all with supernatural abilities of some sort, travel Europe as part of Vogler's Magnetic Health Theater, mystifying audiences. It's a story about illusion and reality, filled with the philosophical insights Bergman is known for. It's compelling viewing featuring some intelligent dialogue and great cinematography courtesy of Gunnar Fischer, a regular in Bergman's crew in the early years. The only possible fault with the film is what feels like a tacked on final scene that doesn't seem to be inconsistent with all that came before it. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member A masterpiece that by any other director would be more widely seen, it is a magical work of art about the magic of how art works, how an audience is as much a part of the fiction, giving the performance its effective power, as the artists. In that, it serves as a thesis for Bergman's oeuvre at large: "The author presumes there's a great general thing called truth somewhere out there. That theory is pure illusion. One goes step by step by step by step into the darkness. The movement [re: the performance] itself is the only truth." Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Though not considered one of Ingmar Bergman's masterpieces, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It's part drama/romance/horror/comedy, he really covers the gamut in this one. It also features almost his entire stable of actors from that time period, it was nice seeing so many familiar faces in one film. I also loved the cinematography which is outstanding, especially earlier in the film when they are in the woods. This is a very rewarding Bergman film and I found it an easy watch. Give it a try! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Bergman's The Magician transcends genres being, at times, funny, intense, scary, dramatic, and at all times thoughtful. Bergman creates such a diverse cast of characters that they all bring their own unique, but necessary, presence to each scene. Another extremely well-done Bergman movie. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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