June Night

Rating:
Summary: Ingrid Bergman caught up in a story of love and scandal
Review: "June Night" ("Juninatten") was the final film Ingrid Bergman made in Sweden before returning to the United States to continue the Hollywood career she had begun the previous year when she starred in David O. Selznick's version of her 1936 Swedish hit "Intermezzo." Bergman plays Kerstin Nordback, a young girl with neither friends nor family working as an apothocary in a small town. At the boarding house the landlady spies on her to make sure Kerstin is doing nothing wrong. At the library she encounters a sailor, Nils Asklund (Gunnar Sjoberg), who is also alone in the world. He tells her about all the sights he has seen in the world and they have an affair. In time Kerstein tries to break it off, but Nils threatens to commit suicide. However, he ends up shooting her instead. Kerstein survives and at Nils' trial helps to convince the jury that he had really meant to harm himself. However, the scandal is too much for her reputation and she has to move to Stockholm under a new name, Sara Nordana. There she finds her perfect match in Stefan Von Bremen (Olof Widgren), but the newspapers find out about her true identity.

This 1940 film, also translated as "A Night in June," was directed by Per Lindberg, with a screenplay by Ragnar Hylten-Cavallius based upon a story by Tora Nordstrom-Bonnier. Swedish critics were particularly pround of "Juninatten," especially in terms of Bergman's performance and Lindberg's direction. Unfortunately, the Second World War disrupted the growth of the country's film industry; Lindberg made only three more films before his death in 1944. Besides Bergman's performance, which makes it clear why she went on to become an international star, what is most striking about this film is that this is a rather adult treatment of the topic. Swedish films always seem to take a more realistic and less judgmental look at "romance." This film is in Swedish with English sub-titles. The World Classics Cinema Collection currently consists of eight of these early films with Ingrid Bergman.

Rating:
Summary: A Luminous Ingrid Bergman Shines in this film...
Review: A nicely paced film about the possibility of second chances and starting over, June Night is above all else a perfect vehicle for the amazing acting and astonishing beauty of a young Ingrid Bergman (the mother of Isabella Rossellini)... The frankness of the film sets it ahead of other films of its time, (the Swedes tend to be more open about many things than other countries, at least they were earlier)... A nice, solid picture with a lot going for it, it kept me interested from beginning to end. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: This slice of Stockholm in the 40's will surprise
Review: JUNE NIGHT / Sweden 1940 (2.5 STARS)
16 December 2003: Through the divine Ingrid Bergman is at her prettiest best (we can see why she was lured away to Hollywood very soon after this her last film in Sweden), I could not understand her character's motivations in this film.
•Mise-en-scene: The film starts dramatically with a shoot-out and the rehabilitation that follows. There is intensity in the character's motivations and her crisis is real. I was amazed at how modern Stockholm was way back in 1940.
•The Stockholm community, though lovable has been created more with an eye to theatrical platitudes than to portray real people. Despite this we enjoy their little shenanigans and feel for their individual wants. But by the time we get to the end, we no longer feel the connect with any of the lead characters. It is not so much the fact that we despise Bergman's character for the choices she make as it is a lack of the director's ability to build a real person with real motivations - good or bad.
•Cinematography, Editing & Sound: In contrast with Casablanca made only two years later, the technical finesse is lacking and the sound and editing look more rookie, though none of that stopped me from wondering at how modern Swedish cinematic language was at that time when few other nations were ready to experiment with morality quite in the same way as were the Swedish, way back in the 1930s.

Rating:
Summary: Subtitles
Review: June Night proves that smooth dialogue DOES have an existence. It's clever and very mature in its content, doesn't leave off and have the viewer wondering what it was they might have missed. So often the translation to English comes off as awkward, but not so with this film. It's a smart and emotionally engaging rendition. The words are laid out in a very clean white script for easy reading, (luckily not overly large) so the full picture is clearly visible (a minor pet peeve i have with certain foreign films).

And, of course, the performances! Ingrid delivers a hard, knock-down portrayal of Kerstein, the mysterious, alluring girl around town. The supporting cast, Olof Widgren as the potential love interest, and the three lasses whom befriend Kerstein, only heighten the intrigue of Ingrids' character.

Per Lindberg is behind the directors chair on this one, and, despite June Night's slow pace (Per took his time), the movie unfurls as it was meant to. The pieces gently fall into your lap until you're left nodding in agreement. It all ends just as it should and you realize the ninety minutes went by much more quickly than you had previously thought.

It's a fine display of Bergman's talents and a rare foreign film treat. I happily recommend this.

Rating:
Summary: Subtitles
Review: June Night proves that smooth dialogue DOES have an existence. It's clever and very mature in its content, doesn't leave off and have the viewer wondering what it was they might have missed. So often the translation to English comes off as awkward, but not so with this film. It's a smart and emotionally engaging rendition. The words are laid out in a very clean white script for easy reading, (luckily not overly large) so the full picture is clearly visible (a minor pet peeve i have with certain foreign films).

And, of course, the performances! Ingrid delivers a hard, knock-down portrayal of Kerstein, the mysterious, alluring girl around town. The supporting cast, Olof Widgren as the potential love interest, and the three lasses whom befriend Kerstein, only heighten the intrigue of Ingrids' character.

Per Lindberg is behind the directors chair on this one, and, despite June Night's slow pace (Per took his time), the movie unfurls as it was meant to. The pieces gently fall into your lap until you're left nodding in agreement. It all ends just as it should and you realize the ninety minutes went by much more quickly than you had previously thought.

It's a fine display of Bergman's talents and a rare foreign film treat. I happily recommend this.