After having neglected her children for many years, world famous pianist Charlotte visits her daughter Eva in her home. [imdb]
Nominated for 2 Oscars:
Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman
Best Original Screenplay
There are two things worth noticing about Autumn Sonata: it's the first time Swedish legends Ingmar Bergman and Ingrid Bergman worked together and it was, unfortunately, Ingrid Bergman's last big screen performance. But what I way to go, if I may say that: to me, from what I've seen, this is easily the best written role she's explored and probably her best performance. But more on that in a week or so, on my other blog.
The film is the emotional knock out Ingmar Bergman had gotten people used to by 1978, but even so, I didn't remember it as being THIS deep. It's probably one of his best written screenplays, at least dialogue-wise. The emotions displayed by the story make the film difficult to watch at times, yet the performances win you over because both actresses give a master class of acting. I think it should've won for both its nominations and it stands there as one of Ingmar's most respected achievements.
My rating for the film: 8.5/10. Ingrid would've had the win in the bag had it not been for a) the foreign language factor and b) the fact that she'd undeservedly won her 3rd Oscar 4 years before.
Posts
Ingrid was wonderful but personally, I would have given the win to Liv Ullman (if she had been nominateid).
ReplyDeleteI too think Liv Ullmann should have definitely been nominated, probably instead of Burstyn. But even so, I have strange feeling about her performance: there were some scenes where I might've gone a different way and even if she was great for all of it, the were some debatable moments. Which I can't say about Bergman, who felt more honest and was superb all around
ReplyDeleteI think Ingrid gave not only her best performance, but also one of the best performances ever. I am almost sure (or at least I realy hope so) that she will be your #1 and she deserves it.
ReplyDeleteAnd she would have won, if hadn't won four years before. I think she was such a huge star that the foreign language factor was not against her. And well Coming Home was a popular movie because of the politics (now it's quite dated). I guess Bergman still received many votes as I think all the old school, conservative actors went with her (like Jimmy Stewart or John Wayne).
hard to say how the vote went exactly...
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Geraldine Page also took some votes away from Bergman, just because it was her 6th nom and Geraldine really was a true American theatre legend.
Burstyn had no chance obviously, but one might argue that Jane Fonda's chances could've also been hurt by Jill Clayburgh, as I'm sure she had wild fans in the younger voters section, especially women.