Dreams (1955)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman

Film Review

Dreams is a comparatively minor work in the filmography of Ingmar Bergman, made just before the two films that secured his international reputation: Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) and The Seventh Seal (1957). Different in tone and subject from the kind of film that Bergman is most strongly associated with (dense, contemplative studies in faith and human relationships) Dreams is a light romantic drama, of the kind the director frequently tackled in his early period, from the late 1940s to early 1950s.

The film features Harriet Andersson, Bergman's former lover and the star of his earlier film, Summer with Monika (1953).  Less stylised and challenging than the director's subsequent films, Dreams resembles a conventional mix of melodrama and romantic comedy of this era.  It is certainly a very different kind of film from Bergman's subsequent films - much lighter in tone, much less angst-ridden, far less philosophical - but the author's distinctive imprint can be felt throughout, in the meticulous mise-en-scène and his intense concern for human beings. 

What makes the film instantly identifiable as Bergman's work is the alluring chiaroscuro cinematography and his skilful use of the close-up which make dialogue superfluous and convey, far more profoundly than words, the feelings and motivating impulses of the protagonists.  It's a sign of Bergman's humanity and extraordinary artistic talent that such an anodyne tale of transient love is told with such sensitivity, insight and poetry - a foretaste of the greater films that were yet to come.

Film Synopsis

Susanne Frank is a fashion photographer with a successful agency in Stockholm.  Doris is her favourite model, a sensitive and naïve young woman.  Having ended her relationship with her boyfriend, Palle, Doris agrees to accompany Susanne on a trip to the town of Gothenburg, ostensibly for a photo shoot.  Susanne's ulterior motive for the trip is to try to rekindle an affair with her former lover, Henrik, who is now settled with a wife and family. Whilst drifting around Gothenburg, Doris encounters a kindly middle-aged man, Consul Otto Sönderby, who offers her expensive gifts and persuades her to spend the afternoon with him.  Later, Susanne is reunited with her lover, but the liaison proves to be brief….