Popular reviews

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  Review by Darren Carver-Balsiger ★★★★★ 17

  Shame is one of Ingmar Bergman's greatest films, and a film that is distinctively his work even though it has a few atypical features. After the incomparable Persona, Bergman followed it up with three lesser known masterpieces from 1968-69. The informal trilogy - Hour of the Wolf, Shame, The Passion of Anna - each follow different couples played by Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow whose lives are disrupted by violence. These films also utilised genres or styles that Bergman rarely worked with - horror, war, French New Wave influences. These films are atmospheric and intense, and Shame being a war film set in the future is no exception.

  Shame is about war in the most abstract sense. Like Tarkovsky's Sacrifice,…

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  Review by theriverjordan ★★★★½ 26

  Having concluded his trilogy on the shame of man before God, Ingmar Bergman turned to the shame that men level at each other from within their own barbed hearts.  

  Somehow, it is more unforgiving of a expulsion than one could imagine ever even being conjured by a god. 

  It takes a man’s own self-loathing to contain the knowledge of how best to use it in subjugating another. 

  “Shame” pairs with Bergman’s “Hour of the Wolf” in being a rare genre film from the director. Where “Wolf” was his sole entry in horror, “Shame” belongs to the niche we might today call ‘dystopian science fiction.’ 

  Set in an indeterminate future, “Shame” depicts a bickering couple caught up in a war…

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  Review by Lucy ★★★½ 2

  "and the whole time i knew that there was something i should remember, something someone had said. only it escaped me"

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  Review by braden ★★★★½

  “How do you think someone who dreams about us would feel when he wakes up. Feeling ashamed?”

  Amid the endless bombings and destitution of a fictional war, Ingmar Bergman’s Shame follows a married couple as the violence and disintegration of their country is reflected in their relationship; crippling their remaining strength and soundness as the progressively harsh conditions expose their deeper insecurities. The slow dissolution of the pair unfolds with masterful ease and naturality, gracefully flowing from comfortable to shattering as the futile war insists upon their lives; demolishing hopes of restoring tranquility and growing contempt for both each other and themselves. With such exceptional performances from both Liv Ullman and Max von Sydow, Shame is a really gorgeous - albeit harrowing - entry in Bergman’s filmography; effortlessly evoking such raw, realistic emotion that never ceases to amaze.

  
  Bergman Ranked

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  Review by Justin Peterson ★★★★½ 4

  Criterion Collection Spine #961
  (Foreign language film)

  A captivating anti-war film that focuses on the lives of innocent people being destroyed, rather than the conflict itself.

  "Sometimes everything seems just like a dream. It's not my dream, it's somebody else's. But I have to participate in it. How do you think someone who dreams about us would feel when he wakes up. Feeling ashamed?"

  I had my eyes on Ingmar Bergman's Shame for a while, and I am thrilled to say it did not disappoint. The film reminded me a lot of both 'Come and See' and Andrei Tarkovsky's 'The Sacrifice', which are two 80s anti-war films with a similar look and feel. The story follows a couple played by…

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  Review by mary ★★★★★

  I am not the same person i was one ingmar bergman movie ago

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  Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★½ 2

  The tone in this Ingmar Bergman film changes so suddenly and successfully about twenty minutes in, that even though often passed over in the Swedish auteur's body of work; it has the right to a position alongside his most extraordinary achievements.

  It's a politically aware piece of work which attends former violinists and politically apathetic Jan and Eva Rosenberg, played by Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann, as they manage a farm on a pastoral island when their home comes under the terrorisation of war. As it develops, and despite their best undertakings to flee their homeland, the action impinges on every aspect of their lives and assumes the form of a parable about life during wartime with various Kafkaesque…

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  Review by Zegan ★★★★½ 5

  The difference between Shame (2011) and Shame (1968) is that Shame (2011) feels so hot, while Shame (1968) feels so cold

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  Review by Catus ★★★★

  Ingmar Bergman but every time there’s a close-up shot of Liv Ullmann’s face the entire Bee Movie starts playing

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  Review by Edgar Cochran ★★★★½ 4

  Ullmann has changed from Alma ("soul") to Eva ("the first woman created that dragged his husband into sin"). Von Sydow has changed from the abused artist to the repressed artist. The immediate mental connection we make with the violin, genre-wise, is drama, and feeling-wise, is elegance. It's also a capricious instrument, known among musicians to be the one that constantly betrays the player, and therefore, one of the most complicated to handle.

  The film simultaneously is and isn't about war. I recently read a comment that said "all art is political", and this feature is the counterevidence for that statement. Both violinists are apolitical, and so is the depiction of war. Understanding the motives of both sides struggling is futile,…

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  Review by Stringer Bell ★★★★½ 10

  She really said "Cry if you think it helps"
  That's so damn cold blooded man.

  This is a powerful and horrifying entry in Bergman's filmography, expanding his scope beyond the personal and near autobiographical to a large scale exploration of the death of humanity and human connection in the face of war.
  Bergman's crisp and calculated framing and execution really elevates everything here. The compositions and fluid camera work are, as always top tier and top notch.
  While the external stakes are incredibly high, I may say that some of the smaller scale stakes between the couple, the microcosm of the theme, don't feel as fully realized. Overall, it's a small nitpick and the narrative is believable enough for me…

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  Review by Soumajit Nath ★★★★½

  90/100

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  Bergman's take on war tragedy! But it's more like a personal tragedy which eventually has served itself as an universal one— it's a tragedy of two individuals, tragedy of an imperfect couple, tragedy of a family, tragedy of a relationship and tragedy of humanity when war prodigy comes close to closer in order to destroy everything.. even the moral values from insides including honesty, respect, empathy, peace, beliefs and nonviolence. Then the question becomes more shear and sharp— who is ashamed in here or who needs to be ashamed?— the individuals who are cowards enough to sit back in home with his family where his country is war torn? OR the person who is in the battle ground…