To Joy

Ingmar Bergman's "To Joy" (Till glädje) is one of his earlier films. It opens and ends with a community orchestra and choir playing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

The story features the courtship and marriage of Stig Eriksson and Marta Olsson, who met while playing violin in the orchestra. Victor Sjöström, who stars in "Wild Strawberries" is the conductor of the orchestra. At the beginning of the film we learn that Marta has been killed in an accident at their summer cottage. It's followed by a long flashback about their tempestuous relationship.

Stig believes himself a skilled player and dreams of a solo career, but his hopes are dashed in one disastrous performance. Stig and Marta have a troubled relationship, but the last several years have seen reconciliation and joy.

It is said the film is semi-autobiographical about Bergman's first two marriages. I found the film an engaging reflection of a couple working through their first six or seven years of marriage.

Ingmar Bergman has rapidly become one of my favourite and most admired directors. He did go on to better things than To Joy and his other early films, but a lot of promise can be seen here. The characters are not as dimensional or compelling in their realism, like in the best of Bergman's films, Marta can be seen as too perfect and Stig is not an easy person to like at all. However, the acting is very good. Stig Olin and Maj-Brit Nilsson give strong performances but Victor Sjostrom gives the best performance. As ever with Bergman, To Joy is superbly directed, while the script is thoughtful and the film itself is beautifully shot. The story is intriguing and paced well, and there are some good themes that are well done they were written even more compellingly in Bergman's later films. The music is amazing and utilised beautifully. Overall, one of the better Bergman films if not among his better overall ones. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The "Joy" part, by the way, refers to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" from the Ninth Symphony. It pops up twice, once near the beginning and the other time at the end. It's hard to figure out where this film is aiming. The leading man is unpleasant in every way. He is completely self-centered, self-involved and pessimistic. His wife on the other hand is everything good he is not. And yet the film doesn't necessarily follow through on her character. There are some big payoffs though. It's always a joy (pun intended) to see Victor Sjostrom on screen. He would appear later in Bergman's "Wild Strawberries", again as an old man. This time he's an orchestral conductor who gets to know the two young protagonists over the years. They are both musicians. The husband is chasing after fame on stage and the film makes his lack of real talent painfully obvious. The musical excerpts are quite extraordinary. What you see is actually what you hear! Hollywood could pick up on something here - big time. Again, Sjostrom's job as conductor is impeccable. A lot of work went into this. The symmetry is also wonderful with the last images matching the first. And after all, the "Ode to Joy" doesn't arrive until the end of Beethoven's last symphony

Curtis Stotlar

Somewhat one-sided and sometimes melodramatic portrait of a doomed marriage, this still has it share of lovely moments, not least of which is the on-screen performance of great classical music by the orchestra that both protagonists are part of.

While their romance starts sweetly, Stig rapidly turns into a hateful character, his failure to reach stardom as a solo musician translated into taking out his frustrations on his sweet wife, and coldly having an affair to counter his feelings of impotence and self-loathing.

While an interesting portrait of an artist's own ambition standing in the way of being better at their craft (it's Stig's need for approval and outward success that doesn't allow him to really thrown himself, body and soul into his music – or his marriage), Marta his wife just comes off as too perfect a martyr.

There are moments where the acting is very strong, and some of the photography is lovely, but the film just feels a bit like the character of Stig – too self-conscious and too sure about who is right and wrong. Still, there are lots of hints of Bergman's genius to come, and it's well worth seeing for those.

This is my favourite film. It is perceptive, gentle, full of deep human understanding. Inspirational, running the whole gamut of the human condition, leaving one sad, but also feeling and understanding what true joy really is. Sublime.