The Magician (1958)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman

Film Review

In The Magician, the great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman combines the elements of the expressionist horror film and traditional farce to make some deeply felt statements about bourgeois hypocrisy and the failings of human nature.   The film is stylistically masterful - the atmospheric black and white photography capturing the creepy mood of the darkest Edgar Allen Poe story, with an amazing (albeit tongue-in-cheek) horror sequence that is genuinely terrifying in its execution.  The film stars Max von Sydow as the enigmatic Dr Vogler, a creepily mesmeric performance that is on a par with his portrayal of the knight Antonius Block in Bergman's earlier The Seventh Seal.

The idea for The Magician came to Bergman whilst he was working as a theatre director in the mid to late 1950s.  It was then that he became aware of the way in which the public were invariably disappointed by actors when they were met in real life.  On stage, in costume and make-up, actors were revered and applauded; out in the street, they weren't given a second glance.  The public appeared to be genuinely surprised when an actor even asked for money.

This double-sided appreciation of performers is one of a number of dual themes which Bergman explores in The Magician.  The notion of duality - of opposites in eternal conflict, two contrasting facets of a universal whole - is something that runs through much of Bergman's cinema.  One of the most frequently recurring instances of this is the struggle between faith and reason, a central theme in The Magician.  This film is set at a time when scientific breakthroughs were radically altering not just the way Man lived, but the way he thought.  Science itself was seen as something magical, and so the dichotomy between faith and reason was by no means as clear cut as it is today.

One thing that hasn't changed is the ease with which Man allows himself to be duped, if it so suits him .  Then, as now, people are all too willing to believe in something which will improve their lot - particularly if will make them richer or enhance their love life.  No human being is entirely rational.  Even the most trenchant of logicians will - if pushed far enough - succumb to fear of the unknown and allow superstition to take possession of his soul.  In The Magician, Bergman makes this point with an almost sinister relish.  Here's a man who clearly likes his comedy to be painted black.

As well as being a very entertaining and artistically inspired film, The Magician can also be interpreted as a metaphor for Bergman's experiences as filmmaker.  Every time, the director's experience of making a film was soured by the sceptics - dubious cash-conscious producers, unsympathetic critics with a backlog of invective - who seemed determined to thwart his artistic endeavours and expose him as the meanest charlatan.  Of course, there were many others who weren't so critical, who embraced the brilliance of Bergman's work with an almost blind faith.   Bergman seemed to be equally perturbed by his rottweiler detractors and his sheep-like aficionados, and this film was presumably his attempt to encourage his audience to look at his work with a more honest eye and a more open mind.

Film Synopsis

The year is 1846.  A troupe of travelling performers, the Magnetic Health Theatre, is making its way across Sweden.  The troupe consists of Dr Vogler, a mute magician, his assistant (who is in truth his wife Manda), an elderly woman resembling a witch and Tubal, the show's talkative barker.  Arriving in Stockholm, the troupe is taken to a grand house to meet the town's officials, who include minister of health Dr Vergerus, police chief Starbeck and councilman Egerman.  Vogler's reputation has spread far and wide, but his hosts are determined to expose him as a fraud.  During a performance in which Vogler's art is revealed as trickery, the magician dies before his astonished audience.  However, things are not quite what they seem…