After the Rehearsal

Drama · 1984R

With this spare chamber piece, set in an empty theater, Ingmar Bergman returned to his perennial theme of the permeability of life and art. Lingering after a rehearsal for August Strindberg’s A Dream Play (a touchstone for the filmmaker throughout his career), eminent director Henrik (Erland Josephson) enters into a frank and flirtatious conversation with his up-and-coming star, Anna (Lena Olin), leading him to recall his affair with Anna’s late mother, the self-destructive actress Rakel (Ingrid Thulin). The sharply written and impeccably performed After the Rehearsal, originally made for television, pares away all artifice to examine both the allure and the cost of a life in the theater.

Starring

Erland Josephson, Katinka Faragó, Ingrid Thulin, Anna Asp, Ingmar Bergman, Lena Olin, Nadja Palmstjerna-Weiss, Ingmar Bergman, Sven Nykvist, Bertil Guve

Director

Ingmar Bergman