''All These Women'' ( sv, För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor), originally released as ''Now About These Women'' in the UK, is a 1964 Swedish comedy film directed by
Ingmar Bergman. It is a
parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...
of
Federico Fellini's ''
8½
' (Italian title: , ) is a 1963 surrealist comedy-drama film directed and co-written (with Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano and Brunello Rondi) by Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini. The metafictional narrative centers on Guido Anselmi, played by M ...
''. Along with ''
Smiles of a Summer Night
''Smiles of a Summer Night'' ( sv, Sommarnattens leende) is a 1955 Swedish comedy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It was shown at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. In 2005 ''TIME'' magazine ranked it one of the 100 greatest films s ...
'', the film is one of the few comedy films ever made by Bergman. It was Bergman's first film to be shot in color.
Plot
Cornelius is a musical critic who visits the summer estate, Villa Tremolo, of the famed
cellist, Felix, to write the musician's biography. Cornelius is greeted by Jillker, Felix's
impresario
An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer.
His ...
, and Tristan, the chauffeur, but Felix himself remains chiefly
unseen. Cornelius glimpses Felix heading for a bedroom with a woman whom he presumes to be Felix's wife. Cornelius meets Adelaide and tells her Felix has retired with his wife, but Adelaide reveals she is in fact Felix's wife. It turns out Felix is unfaithful and has several lovers. Aside from Adelaide, each is given a special nickname. The self-proclaimed "official" mistress is Ms. Bumblebee, who meets and has sex with Cornelius.
While Cornelius is in bed with Miss Bumblebee, a woman enters the room with a pistol and fires several shots. No one is harmed, but Cornelius believes the shots were meant for Felix. Cornelius becomes concerned someone is trying to murder Felix and tells Jillker, who is unconcerned, as everyone must die. Cornelius remains unable to meet with Felix and finds it difficult to write a biography without an interview. He tells Adelaide that though the threat of murder might add interest to the biography, he hoped Felix's safety would be guarded.
Jillker, citing Felix's total moral decline, resigns as his impresario. Felix emerges to perform in front of his lovers and Cornelius. During the performance, a woman takes out a pistol. However, Felix collapses, dead, during his performance without any shots fired. Four days after Cornelius' arrival to Villa Tremolo, the lovers, one by one, look over Felix in his coffin, each one remarking on how he looks the same, yet different.
Cast
Release and reception
The film ranked 9th on
Cahiers du Cinéma's
Top 10 Films of the Year List in 1964. In 2018,
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...
released the film on
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
in
Region A, along with 38 other Bergman films, in the set ''
Ingmar Bergman's Cinema
''Ingmar Bergman's Cinema'' is a Blu-ray disc box set featuring 39 films directed by Ingmar Bergman, released by the Criterion Collection on November 20, 2018 in the United States. The set spans Bergman's early career, beginning in the 1940s, up ...
''.
Critic
Roger Ebert wrote that ''All These Women'' was "the worst film he
ergmanhas ever made."
Stanley Kauffmann
Stanley Kauffmann (April 24, 1916 – October 9, 2013) was an American writer, editor, and critic of film and theater.
Career
Kauffmann started with ''The New Republic'' in 1958 and contributed film criticism to that magazine for the next fifty ...
of ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'' wrote "''All These Women'' is intended to be hilarious, but the gift of splitting sides is not in him
ergman.
References
Further reading
*Review i
LIFE 16 Oct 1964p. 19
External links
*
*
{{Ingmar Bergman
1964 films
1960s parody films
Films directed by Ingmar Bergman
Films with screenplays by Ingmar Bergman
Swedish comedy films
1960s Swedish-language films
Films scored by Erik Nordgren
1964 comedy films
1960s Swedish films