In the lat 19th-century, a slightly-aging and totally amoral actress invites to her country-house party two married men---a lawyer and a count---who have both been her lovers in the past. She also asks them to bring along their wives. She has plans on taking one of them away from his present wife, but also ensure that all her guests leave paired up. The math doesn't work out until an uninvited guest also shows up.
The film's plot—which involves switching partners on a summer night—has been adapted many times, most notably as the theatrical musical, A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Wheeler and Harold Prince, which opened on Broadway in 1973, and as Woody Allen's film "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" (1982).
What actually strikes me about the film is how generally upbeat it is. Bergman is best known for dark, moody existential films. And this is not one of those. Others have noted the same (how can you not?) and point out the strangest thing of all: this was during the darkest period in Bergman's life. So tragedy makes comedy?
The film's plot—which involves switching partners on a summer night—has been adapted many times, most notably as the theatrical musical, A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Wheeler and Harold Prince, which opened on Broadway in 1973, and as Woody Allen's film "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" (1982).
What actually strikes me about the film is how generally upbeat it is. Bergman is best known for dark, moody existential films. And this is not one of those. Others have noted the same (how can you not?) and point out the strangest thing of all: this was during the darkest period in Bergman's life. So tragedy makes comedy?