A Lesson in Love (1954)

I suppose the right category for this movie would be romantic-comedy, but it's done so well by Ingmar Bergman and has so many nice touches, that it seems to be more than that. The premise is that after a gynecologist strays and has an affair with a young patient, his wife to go back to her old lover, and he wants her back.Eva Dahlbeck is great as the wife, and delivers empowering lines like "A woman wants to feel she's a woman – not a wife", and "A man can be immoral and he's only a 'he-man', but a woman who satisfies her instincts is a strumpet." Yvonne Lombard is very sexy as his mistress, and Andersson, who starred the previous year in the title role of 'Summer with Monika' as well as a bombshell in 'Sawdust and Tinsel', displays great range in playing his tomboy daughter who wants an operation to become a man so that she's not "dependent on a man". Gunnar Björnstrand is the gynecologist, and reminded me of Edward Norton, while Åke Grönberg plays their boisterous old friend who she goes back to.The story is cleverly told out of sequence in flashbacks, including Bergman taking his time in the middle of the movie to reveal to us that the woman he's met in a train car is actually his wife. The movie is light and has great dialogue, but at the same time has the touches characteristic of Bergman, and asks some deeper questions. Is 'the marital bed is the death of love', as the man says? Is to 'wallow in physical love to be like baboons', and do affairs burn out, eventually, into boredom? And lastly, as the teenage daughter talks to her grandfather in a nice scene, does God exist, and what does it mean to die? This movie has it all – a beautiful and talented cast, effortless direction, and a great script. Definitely recommended.

I used to adore this movie in my early 20s for some reason, and watched it several times then. I'm no longer that impressed today. Ingmar Bergman admitted he loved watching US screwball comedies in his youth, so this is his take on that genre. Imagine Cary Grant in his typical role in a black-and-white US screwball comedy, and that's exactly the character ably portrayed by Gunnar Björnstrand in _A Lesson in Love_. But, there's one big difference: Björnstrand is not just the Swedish version of Cary Grant here: he at the same time manages to be the same character he portrays in arguably Bergman's greatest masterpiece, _Wild Strawberries_ -- a film made 4 years after this one. Indeed, another parallel between the two is the character of the elderly professor, portrayed here by the veteran actor Olof Winnerstrand; 4 years later, it would be another veteran actor, Victor Sjöström, once again as the father of the Gunnar Björnstrand character. In fact -- and this is astonishing -- many of the insights and sentiments spoken by the characters in _A Lesson in Love_ could appear, unedited, in _Wild Strawberries_, too; there's a consistency of outlook in these Bergman-like characters, even in a film that is presented as pure comedy. Whereas _Wild Strawberries_ focuses on the father, _A Lesson in Love_ highlights the son's marriage struggles; both have in common that they are portrayed as egomaniacs -- while whatever occurs in the movie is meant to correct that bad assessment of the character; nothing is so clear-cut in Bergman's world as to make it possible to condemn anyone as pure egomaniac, and that's that. Harriet Andersson is great in portraying a teenage girl's identity crisis; the performance is as realistic as one would expect in any dramatic movie. Feminists would shred _A Lesson in Love_ to pieces nowadays, because it shows the man ultimately "winning" over -- or "winning over" -- the woman. The slapstick is so-so, and will likely impress the viewer more when it is watched in a normal viewing environment; however, if you choose to stop and rewind and re-watch several scenes in closer detail, you are apt to notice several awkward moments. Some takes are so flagrantly unsynchronized to the preceding takes that it almost makes you wince; it's as if Bergman wanted to finish the movie as fast as possible. However, the dialogues and observations are witty or clever enough to keep you interested for the 90+ minutes of the movie's runtime, even if the ending (starting with the quay scene) is far-fetched and difficult to believe as realistic.

David and Marianne Erneman's marriage is going through a crisis, after 15 years.Gynecologist David is having an affair with a patient of his.She has gotten involved with her former lover Carl-Adam.On the train they meet again and do some reminiscing.A Lesson in Love (original title En Lektion I Kärlek) from 1954 is a film from Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman.The cast is great.Eva Dahlbeck and Gunnar Björnstrand work great together as Marianne and David.Yvonne Lombard is wonderful as Susanne Verin.Harriet Andersson is terrific as Nix.Åke Grönberg does great job as Carl-Adam.Olof Winnerstrand plays Professor Henrik Erneman.Renée Björling is Svea Erneman.John Elfström is Sam.Birgitte Reimer portrays Lise.The movie has a lot of good.I liked the grandpa's birthday sequence.And when they look back at Marianne's and Carl-Adam's wedding is rather amusing.The dance sequence is quite funny.The temptress takes David to dance and then he prepares to kiss her lovely lips.This represents Bergman at not his best.But even Bergman at not his best is better than many other filmmakers could come up with.

This movie makes me wonder a number of things: how come Swedish acting is so bad now when it was so good back then, if liberal thoughts like those in this movie made it to the big screen back in the 50's, how come there was a revolution in the 60's, what did the general public think of this movie at the opening. In this movie having a fling is presented as good for the marriage. The girl who strongly dislikes her feminine sides, and much rather wants to be a bay is accepted. I don't really want to go into the plot much more than that, but it is definitely worth watching, I just wish they would have dropped Cupid at the end.