This time again, the old film, or rather, the mini-series (4 episodes) “Good intentions” / Den goda viljan, 1991, directed by Bille August, screenwriter Ingmar Bergman, who wrote a semi-autobiographical script about his parents.
Watch out for spoilers!
------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------
Henrik Bergman (Samuel Fröhler) is studying at the theological faculty, his mother, raising him alone, dreams of becoming a priest. They live extremely poor, the mother borrows money for her studies from wealthy aunts, she herself earns a living by cleaning, which for health reasons has to be left, and music lessons, for which there is little demand. At the same time, Henrik, being invited by a wealthy grandfather at the request of his dying grandmother to ask him for forgiveness (it is not explained in detail why, but once they had a break in relations), and to say goodbye, rejects both this offer and the offer of his grandfather to pay for his studies, he is not one who forgives. By nature, he is a rather modest and shy person, but, as it turns out, he is not kind and can show cruelty, selfishness, and jealousy. A friend of Henrik Ernst (Björn Chiellemann) invites him to dinner in his family, where he feels clearly out of place, he does not belong to their circle, they are rich and otherwise well-bred, however, he manages to like Ernst’s sister Anna (Pernilla August, the director’s wife) and he liked her. Their father Johan (Max von Sudov) is already very old and sick, he is a good man, but his wife Karin (Gita Nerby) runs everything in the house, but she did not like Henrik at all, although she immediately understood Anna's feelings. She forbids her to see Henrik, after a while Anna falls ill with tuberculosis and is sent for treatment in Switzerland. Henrik is ordained and becomes a priest. But Anna did not forget Henrik, just as he did not forget her, she writes him a letter, which is intercepted by her parents, and his mother and completely destroys, although his father is against it. The mother goes for Anna in a sanatorium, together they go to Italy, at which time her father dies. After the death of his father, the mother feels some remorse and confesses to Anna what she did, Anna goes to Henrik and is convinced of the safety of his feelings. Everything goes to the wedding, but then Henrik is assigned to a remote northern parish, where he is sent as an assistant to the local pastor, who is already old. They go there with Anna, as with the future wife, and here their first major quarrel occurs even with some assault on his part - he expresses the desire to get married already in this parish, despite the fact that the wedding is already planned and should take place in Uppsala, it should be a luxurious event, and Anna is not going to refuse her. In the end, the wedding will take place where planned, but after it, instead of a honeymoon, they immediately leave for the parish where Henrik will serve. A very difficult life begins in this wilderness, Henrik seems happy, sometimes he begins to show his character, various events occur, including tragic ones. After some time he is offered a place in Stockholm, which is preceded by even a meeting with the Queen, Anna would be happy to leave, but he initially refuses, in the end, being pregnant with his second child (this will be Ingmar), Anna leaves back to her mother. They live apart for a while, but at the end we learn that Henrik accepts a job offer and informs Anna, who is about to give birth.
As far as I can see from various sources, the story is very close to the true story of the Bergman family, and the image of Henrik is close to the image of his father, who raised his children in strictness and even resorted to corporal punishment. An attempt is made to understand why it became so, albeit without detailed analysis, rather hints. The actors are very good, they play very well too. I drew attention to a very interesting musical accompaniment, it is very restrained and unusual. The next year after the series was released, a feature film was compiled from it, which received recognition at various film festivals, primarily at Cannes, where the film received the Palme d'Or and Pernilla August received the prize for Best Actress, this was the first time that a husband and wife were simultaneously awarded such awards.
I liked the show and probably won’t watch the movie.