It Rains on Our Love

'It rains on our love" (1946) is an early film by Ingmar Bergman. Bergman was a director who had to learn his trade so the film is worth watching , but it isn't great.

The film is about two vagabonds, a man (David played by Birger Malmsten, a regular actor in Bergman films up till 1950) and a women (Maggi played by Barbro Kollberg), that are treated roughly by society. Of course (representatives of) society do see that differently. In their view the vagabonds fail to adapt to society's norms.

Films about vagabonds always remind me of "the little tramp", the ultimate vagabond, most certainly if a stray dog is involved, as is the case in "It rains on our love". See also "A dog's life" (1918, Charlie Chaplin). Chaplin however was much more competent in finding the right mix between comedy and sentimentality than the young Bergman, and also than the mature Bergman I guess, because Bergman quit making films in this genre after a while.

The film ends with a courtroom scene, and this is one of the most memorable scenes of the film. In the beginning the two vagabonds are on trial, but when their lawyer starts his defence the roles are quickly reversed and it almost seems that society is on trial.

This lawyer (Gosta Cederlund) is a remarkable appearance in "It rains on our love". He starts as a sort of narrator / guradian angel and all of a sudden becomes a character. Most unusual!

This is a romantic and exciting feel-good movie about a lovable naive couple with a questionable background, trying to start all over together and adapt themselves to the society. The young star director Ingmar Bergman here effectively portrays typically good and bad sides of the human behaviour. The main theme returns over and over again - how do people live with their past, and how do they handle the resulting conflicts and moral dilemmas? Despite the age of this movie (released in 1946) it does not feel old fashioned in any way. Common to Bergman's movies to come, this one is way ahead of its time. The story and acting feel just as fresh as any modern movie and is a pure enjoyment to watch, without any boring or embarrassing moments.

Ingmar Bergman is without a doubt one of the, if not likely to be considered the best filmmaker who ever lived.

Whilst most well known for his later works, beginning in the 1950s, he also made some great films in the 40s, this one being a good example of a great commentary on contemporary society and love.

The actors all do an incredible job, and the writing is masterful - as per usual with Bergman of course.

It showcases his brilliant cinematography, cutting and editing that is very characteristic for the director, and one that would often be found later in his works.

Overall, a beautiful piece that is definitely recommended for any lover of film and fans of Bergman.

Maggi needs to take the next train, she's confused, alone and feels the strain, escaping her past, with baggage amassed, no hope and with nothing to gain (sometimes things don't turn out the way you had hoped).

David overnights at the station, going nowhere and not on vacation, bleak future ahead, no hope only dread, an outcast and left to damnation (just as today, a blemished past can lead you to the fringes).

Together they make a fresh start, so much better as two than apart, it's a struggle, a battle, being treated like cattle, to haul the metaphorical cart (a lot easier together though, to carry the baggage of the past).

The biases and prejudice against those who don't conform to societies ideals, as relevant today as ever it was, and quite possibly more abundant and widespread in a more diverse ecology. Beautiful and sincere performances throughout, leaves you determined to never give up or give in.

The title sounds like another of Bergman's early dockland melodramas, but this - his second film - is more good-natured whimsy in an attractively photographed rural setting.

Some of the scenes and compositions feel like flash-forwards to Bergman's fifties work; two that specifically anticipate 'Wild Strawberries' are the courtroom setting it concludes with and the fairy godfather played by veteran actor Gösta Cederlund (billed as the "Man with Umbrella") who gatecrashes it to serve as the young lovers' defence counsel. Having emerged in the opening shot from behind an umbrella like the stranger in the dream sequence at the start of 'Wild Strawberries', Cederlund thereafter saunters in and out of the action - sometimes in a haze of cigar smoke like Leon Ames as Mr.Candle in 'Yolanda and the Thief' - occasionally breeching the fourth wall to comment urbanely on the action.