Liv Ullman plays Eva, the shy and reclusive daughter of famous, narcissistic concert pianist Charlotte (Ingrid Bergman). Charlotte is at loose ends after her lover dies, and returns to Sweden to visit her daughter. Both mother and daughter share personal tragedies. Charlotte's daughter (and Eva's sister) Helena, who lives with Eva, is immobilized by a neurological disease. She hasn't told Charlotte that Helena is in the house, because she fears that her mother, repelled by Helena's disability, will refuse to visit. Eva's tragedy is the drowning of her four-year-old son, Erik. Her husband grieves, but in Eva's mind, he's still alive. Charlotte, who took excellent care of her lover in his final illness, has always neglected her daughters. She's frankly bored by Eva. In a brilliant scene, alone in the guest bedroom, she withdraws back into her private life, musing about money and playing Ravel. Poor Eva is still trying to wring some love and recognition out of her mother. The evening culminates in a middle-of -the-night brawl between Eva and Charlotte. Eva accuses her mother of being cold, withholding and of abandoning her, Helena and their father. It seems to me that Eva is blaming her mother for too much and letting her father off the hook. When I first saw this film when I was younger, I identified with the Eva character, but now seeing it as an adult and a parent, I have more balanced sympathies. Charlotte is self-absorbed and puts her music first, but if she were a man it would be acceptable. She'll never give Eva the love she wants. Eva withdraws into her fantasy relationship with her dead son--in death, he gives her the unconditional acceptance she's always longed for. This is a brilliant film, both Ullman and Bergman are brilliant and pull out the stops. It's also great to watch it on DVD; it's so emotionally wrenching that it's good to be able to take a break and come back to it.
Review of Autumn Sonata
