Review: Kohtauksia eräästä avioliitosta
Through pain to light
Scenes from a Marriage is an eloquent and simplified drama
What are popular movies and TV series made of? Relationships, especially relationships and marriages. That is, about one basic human state and an attempt to become whole in the vicinity of another person. The novels also delve into the union of a man and a woman, its stages, birth and the pain of disintegration.
Marriage is also a familiar theme on the stage of theatres, although rarely in such a simplified way as in the Helsinki City Theatre’s play Scenes from a Marriage.
The play was originally Ingmar Bergman’s successful six-part TV series from 1973. Bergman filmed the series on his home island of Fårö and thought it would only be a small series. But things turned out differently. Johan and Marianne’s relationship was – and still is – of interest to many, because there are features in the violent process of love and disintegration that many people recognize, and most of them even personally.
Scenes from a Marriage on the Pasila stage of the Helsinki City Theatre is a stripped-down and simplified version. The performance, dramatised and directed by Pasi Lampela , is unpretentious and clear. It is based on strong acting. Merja Larivaara and Eero Aho give their all and the audience enjoys: this kind of theatre has been longed for!
Strong text, strong actors. Everything unnecessary has been eliminated, only a husband and wife are seen on stage.
At the beginning of the play, a voice from outside the stage interviews Johan and Marianne for a magazine. A journalist – Marianne’s old schoolmate in the TV series – asks about happiness and such. An image of a harmonious marriage is created, a myth of family happiness.
Scene by scene, the relationship between Johan and Marianne begins to unravel. Not everything is quite what it seems. In close trust, it is also possible to lie and double life.
The marriage described by Bergman is not just “a marriage”, but it is quite special, as it goes on a roller coaster of betrayal, emptiness, selfishness and love, while remaining on a kind of mask of civilisation until the end. The viewer can see through the mask, but at the latest the end of the play tells us that love and friendship can lead people to positive encounters even years after the union has broken up.
Ingmar Bergman also made a film version of the TV series of the same name, which received the 1975 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film. Scenes from a Marriage has been the inspiration for several films on the same subject.
Bergman made a sequel to the story of Johan and Marianne, the TV film Saraband, which was completed in 203. It was Bergman’s last directorial work.