Dreams

A very minor Bergman work, the film has traces of his style, especially in the first few scenes with quick edits and close-ups to draw attention to detail, as well as a well-filmed roller coaster ride. However, the screenplay does not match the quality of the directing, with basically two stories that do not gel all that well together. What the film is meant to be a study of is never clearly focused, with themes of desire as well as women's liberation both present. The middle section of the film dragged a little too, but still it is interesting to see such an early piece of work from Bergman. It is not much compared to what would later come in his career, but the film has enough interesting elements to certainly make it worth a look.

I am a great admirer of Ingmar Bergman's work, there is always many things that are interesting. Not all his work are masterpieces, but so far I have not seen a film of his that I'd class as bad. Dreams is a very good movie, one of his most underrated without being up there with his finest. Some of the contrasting themes were perhaps more confidently explored in later films and the film could have been longer, but this is all a matter of preference. It is superbly directed and beautifully made, an oft-characteristic with Bergman's films. The music is hauntingly understated, while the dialogue is written in a meaningful and thought-provoking way and the story is austere, romantic, painful and ironic and observed in a masterful way. The characters are seen as selfish but compellingly real, while the acting has nothing that would strike anybody as questionable. Harriet Anderssen ties with Liv Ullman as the best of the female performers in Bergman's films, and her performance is utterly magnetic in every way possible, quite charming and very photogenic. Eva Dahlbeck- looking very classy and stunningly elegant- and Gunnar Bjornstrand provide great support, and Bergman himself even makes a cameo. All in all, an underrated film that does deserve to be seen more. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Susanne can't stop thinking of Henrik, overwhelming, it makes her feel sick, like a moth to a flame, a thoroughbred who's lame, no use to man nor beast while she's like this.

Doris found a sponsor for the day, if she wants something he's quite happy to pay, but the cost could be quite high, if she stayed with this old guy, who wants someone to take the loneliness away.

An eventful day in the lives of two quite different women, both belittled and humiliated for different reasons, looking for something that can't be conjured and is often fleeting. Eva Dahlbeck is always worth devouring wherever she performs and whatever she is in, and Harriet Andersson seldom puts a foot wrong whenever she's around either.

Ingmar Bergman's early film Dreams (1955), beautiful but sadly underrated and little known, presents the stories about two dissimilar women and their loves, and touches on all the timeless and tough realities of torment, longing, loneliness, and aging in a simple and sublime way. Everyone who ever was madly and desperately in love and for some reasons could not be with the object of their longing should appreciate this film. Speaking of making Dreams, Ingmar Bergman comments, "By this time Harriet (Andersson) and I had terminated our relationship, and we were both feeling quite sad. Our sadness weighs down the film". Bergman regulars Harriet Andersson and Eva Dahlbeck (both will play in the same year's Smiles of a Summer Night, a very successful and sparkling Bergman's comedy) portray two women, the owner of a model agency, Doris (Dahlbeck) and her top model, Susanne (Andersson). A major figure in Ingmar Bergman's films of the 1950s, Eva Dahlbeck was stunning - an elegant, poised, sophisticated classical blonde beauty with high intelligence and the talents in acting and writing.

Harriet Andersson was discovered at the age of 20 by Ingmar Bergman who made especially for her screen debut the film "Summer with Monica". Extraordinary and versatile as an actress, her roles ranged from the naive young girls with erotic charisma to the young woman losing her grip with reality in Through a glass darkly (1962) to the fearless breakthrough performance as a dying woman in Cries and Whispers. In Dreams, she is absolutely charming. Camera loved her - sexy, sweet, and innocent, she lit the screen in her every scene.

I really liked this lesser-known Bergman film. More properly translated as The Dreams of Women, the film stars Eva Dahlbeck and Harriet Andersson as a photographer and her model. The two travel to a location shoot, and the story splits in two as each has their own romantic misadventure. Andersson is admired by an older, rich man (Gunnar Bjornstrand), who buys her all kinds of nice things. Eventually, she follows him back to his home where she learns of his troubles. Dahlbeck contacts a married man with whom she was having an affair (Ulf Palme), and when the two meet Palme's wife shows up to disrupt the assignation. The Dahlbeck segment is pretty typical Bergman, but, of course, it's beautifully done with some fantastic acting by Dahlbeck. I thought the Andresson/Bjornstrand segment was just wonderful. I think this might be Bjornstrand's best performance. Certainly very high up there. I also really loved Kerstin Hedeby, who plays Bjornstrand's daughter. This may feel like a small film in Bergman's career, but it's an excellent small one. The laid-back style, especially the long, wordless sequences, reminds me more of the Italian films of the period than of Bergman. This certainly would be better regarded if it were directed by Visconti or Antonioni. 9/10. YES.