"Actor: Eva Dahlbeck"

• Smiles Of A Summer Night | DVD | (24/09/2001) from £10.16   |  Saving you £9.83 (96.75%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The film which established its Swedish writer/director on the stage of world cinema, 1956's Smiles of a Summer Night is what some people would consider a contradiction in terms--an Ingmar Bergman comedy. Set in the 19th century, Smiles features Bergman stalwart Gunner Bjornstrand as Fredrik, a lawyer yet to consummate his marriage to his young wife Anne. He has hankerings after a former mistress, the voluptuous actress Desiree, who is now mistress to the bellicose Count Malcolm, whose own wife attempts to seduce Fredrik in order to make Malcolm jealous. Fredrik's wife, meanwhile, hankers after her own stepson, an austere young man confused by his repressed sexual longings. This web of romantic intrigue is eventually disentangled at a weekend party held by Desiree's mother, a formidably acerbic, fairy godmother-style figure.Smiles of a Summer Night is sparkling but mordant, stronger on absurdism than belly laughs and it is lent shade by the long shadows of existential angst. It conveys all of Bergman's core messages about human relationships but in a light, operatic bundle of cinematic joy.On the DVD: Presented in the original academy ratio, the film is restored here to its original, silvery glory. There are extensive notes from Bergman's memoirs, in which he talks candidly about the near-suicidal depression he was in when he wrote this ironically light script, as well as additional notes from critic Derek Malcolm, who aptly compares the film to a Mozart opera and Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game. --David Stubbs

• All These Women | DVD | (26/07/2004) from £7.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (150.19%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Pretentious music critic Cornelius is writing a biography on a famous cellist. In order to execute the very best research Cornelius goes to stay in his house for a few days prompting all sorts of comedic consequences... A change of pace for Bergman this black farce (his first feature in colour) is his distinctive way of taking a pot shot at critics a film that proves Berman can be enchanting and amusing without losing his familiar melancholic air.

• Waiting Women | DVD | (23/05/2005) from £9.98   |  Saving you £10.01 (100.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  'Waiting Women' is an episodic work composed of three segments thr third of which represents Bergman's first foray into comedy later honed in the erotic farce 'A Lesson In Love'. Three women (all sisters-in-law) talk about their marital problems while waiting for their husbands at a summer cottage. The first story concerns Rakel (Anita Bjrk) and an adulterous episode that changed her marriage forever. In the next intensely visual segment featuring only limited dialogue Marta (M

• A Lesson In Love | DVD | (06/12/2004) from £25.63   |  Saving you £-5.64 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Bergman brings a refreshing wit to this dark domestic comedy tale of a married couple who desperately need each other. David (Gunnar Bjrnstrand) is a gynaecologist who is involved with a young patient. His wife Marianne (Eva Dahlbeck) learns of this transgression and begins an affair with his best friend. They attempt a trial separation however an ecounter upon a train bound for Copenhagen reminds them of the good times and connection they have with each other. Mirroring the

• Eva | DVD | (23/05/2005) from £8.98   |  Saving you £11.01 (122.61%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Years after a childhood accident leads to the death of his friend a 10 year old blind girl Bo moves to a remote island with his beautiful wife Eva. Troubled by nightmares that figure him as the killer close to him he is in a constant state of anxiety. Then one stormy night he is forced to confront his greatest fears and assume the responsisbility for the lives of those he loves as he rows his pregnant wife to the mainland. Released in 1948 this gripping film was the second Berg