Three Strange Loves (Torst). 1949. Directed by Ingmar Bergman.

(9/3/00)

I was very tired and this film really grated on me. A young woman has an affair with a man she finds out is married. She becomes pregnant and has an abortion, finding out afterwards that she won't be able to have any more children. She marries another man and they go on a train trip where she does nothing but whine and complain. He has a dream or a fantasy about killing her. When he tells her about it afterwards he mentions that even though they are miserable together, at least they aren't alone. They have each other.

The first scene in which the woman is restless and can't sleep is impressive. There are some lovely exterior shots of a summer idyll. That's where the married man offhandedly mentions that he has to get back to his wife soon. To the young woman's shocked, "You're married?" he nonchalantly replies, "What, did you think I wasn't?"

The whole film smacks of a close observation of human behavior. But it is just annoying here. Or at least it annoyed me on first viewing. Why does this guy stay with this woman? How can he stand her?

Ther is also a story about the husband's former lover, who coincidentally went to ballet school with the bride. She is exploited by her psychiatrist who tries to convince her that she can't function without him. This woman runs across another woman who had been in the same ballet school and who seems interested in having a lesbian relationship.