faterson Review of A Lesson in Love

A Lesson in Love (1954)

Bergman Goes Screwball: an Egomaniac's Marriage

[7/10 · 13 May 2012]

I used to adore this movie in my early 20s for some reason, and watched it several times then. I'm no longer that impressed today. Ingmar Bergman admitted he loved watching US screwball comedies in his youth, so this is his take on that genre. Imagine Cary Grant in his typical role in a black-and-white US screwball comedy, and that's exactly the character ably portrayed by Gunnar Björnstrand in _A Lesson in Love_. But, there's one big difference: Björnstrand is not just the Swedish version of Cary Grant here: he at the same time manages to be the same character he portrays in arguably Bergman's greatest masterpiece, _Wild Strawberries_ -- a film made 4 years after this one. Indeed, another parallel between the two is the character of the elderly professor, portrayed here by the veteran actor Olof Winnerstrand; 4 years later, it would be another veteran actor, Victor Sjöström, once again as the father of the Gunnar Björnstrand character. In fact -- and this is astonishing -- many of the insights and sentiments spoken by the characters in _A Lesson in Love_ could appear, unedited, in _Wild Strawberries_, too; there's a consistency of outlook in these Bergman-like characters, even in a film that is presented as pure comedy. Whereas _Wild Strawberries_ focuses on the father, _A Lesson in Love_ highlights the son's marriage struggles; both have in common that they are portrayed as egomaniacs -- while whatever occurs in the movie is meant to correct that bad assessment of the character; nothing is so clear-cut in Bergman's world as to make it possible to condemn anyone as pure egomaniac, and that's that. Harriet Andersson is great in portraying a teenage girl's identity crisis; the performance is as realistic as one would expect in any dramatic movie. Feminists would shred _A Lesson in Love_ to pieces nowadays, because it shows the man ultimately "winning" over -- or "winning over" -- the woman. The slapstick is so-so, and will likely impress the viewer more when it is watched in a normal viewing environment; however, if you choose to stop and rewind and re-watch several scenes in closer detail, you are apt to notice several awkward moments. Some takes are so flagrantly unsynchronized to the preceding takes that it almost makes you wince; it's as if Bergman wanted to finish the movie as fast as possible. However, the dialogues and observations are witty or clever enough to keep you interested for the 90+ minutes of the movie's runtime, even if the ending (starting with the quay scene) is far-fetched and difficult to believe as realistic.