Smiles of a Summer Night plays as part of our Members' Summer Selection season, and was proposed by Jonathan Wakeham, who writes: 'I would love to celebrate the 70th anniversary of one of Ingmar Bergman’s best-loved films. It’s one of his few comedies, as four men and four women are caught up in a delicious and dangerous dance of attraction, manipulation, betrayal and desire. Starring many of Bergman’s regular players, it would be a perfect midsummer screening.'
After fifteen films that received mostly local acclaim, the comedy Smiles of a Summer Night at last ushered in an international audience for Ingmar Bergman. In turn-of-the-century Sweden, four men and four women attempt to navigate the laws of attraction. During a weekend in the country, the women collude to force the men’s hands in matters of the heart, exposing their pretensions and insecurities along the way. Chock-full of flirtatious propositions and sharp witticisms delivered by such Swedish screen legends as Gunnar Björnstrand and Harriet Andersson, Smiles of a Summer Night is one of cinema’s great erotic comedies.
Cast:
Gunnar Björnstrand, Ulla Jacobsson, Eva Dahlbeck, Harriet Andersson