Word: esters
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...game, a sophisticated version of hide-and-go-seek. Because the experience is the opposite of. aesthetic, Bergman's talents seem much better after leaving the theatre. Once settled in his favorite coffee shop, the new critic will have fun exploring the film's cornucopian symbolism. Two sisters, Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and Anna (Gunnel Lindbloom), and Anna's little boy, Johan (Jorgen Lindstrom), interrupt their railroad trip in a strange country where a strange language is spoken, because of Ester's strange coughing fits. They rent a room in a hotel with long corridors and no other guests (except...
...visible story is slow and simple. A lesbian named Ester, her younger sister Anna, and Anna's young son Johan are passing by train through a country whose inhabitants speak a foreign tongue, devised by Bergman to subvert communication. When Ester falls ill, they stop at a hotel. An incestuous relationship between the women has ended in bitterness, and Anna-after a few days of taunting her sister with a series of heterosexual escapades-takes the boy and goes away, leaving her to die alone...
...Ester, Ingrid Thulin seethes with the conflicts that kill, projecting a sad heroism that may well surpass the script's intentions. "I am known for my clear logic," she cries, but her body betrays her. During a hot, restless afternoon, she seeks escape from "horrible forces" in liquor, distracted reading, and autoeroticism...
...substitute for love is blind animal warmth. "How nice that we don't understand each other," she babbles, unburdening herself to the sullen waiter (Birger Malmsten) she has invited into bed, dumbly grateful that all they have in common is the language of desire. Then, "I wish Ester were dead." To hasten the process, she lets Ester come in and watch...
...Ester's farewell. Wholly indifferent, Anna turns toward the open window, sensating, reviving her spirits with the shock of rain and wind against her flesh. The boy continues reading, still driven by his own need to know all that is knowable...