Original subtitles

Autumn Sonata was an encounter between Sweden's two greatest Bergmans:

Ingmar Bergman and Ingrid Bergman.

How was it to work together?

Well, it happened that at a film festival —

and I've ended up at a few.

There Ingrid and I met for the first time.

My Ingrid was also there, so there were two Ingrid Bergmans.

We had a pretty nice evening together,

and then they wanted to photograph the three of us together.

And then suddenly...

Ingrid Bergman the actress

secretly gave me a note.

I didn't have time to read it until later in my room.

It said...

"When we met five years ago, you promised me

we'd make a film together."

And I thought...

I should try to keep that promise.

This was during my exile.

I was away from Sweden, staying in Munich at the time.

I was busy writing a script.

I had talked to Liv about it, that she'd have a part in it.

We'd been very indecisive as to who should play the mother,

this concert pianist.

There were a few names.

And suddenly it hit me:

Ingrid Bergman is absolutely perfect for the part.

The tension that might arise between Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Bergman,

these two incredibly strong personalities —

mother and daughter —

That could really be something.

So we all sat down

at a table and read the script.

That's when I got a real shock.

Because Ingrid

had prepared herself to the nth degree for this role.

She had read it and knew her lines practically by heart.

She had probably stood in front of a mirror

and rehearsed inflections and gestures — all of it.

So she sat at the table and practically performed the role

in a frightfully overacted manner.

I remember I got this headache,

and I don't know where it came from.

It must have been a headache from sheer fear.

What do you do

with this incredibly strong and solid human being?

How can I get her to dismantle

this interpretation of the role that she has already decided on?

The kind that's best played on a stage in a theater

that only seats 2,000 people,

not in front of a camera.

The first few days of shooting were a nightmare.

Ingrid simply wouldn't take direction.

She did it her own way...

and it was terrible.

I thought, "We have to have a talk."

At that point I learned...

that Ingrid suffered from a severe form of cancer.

Her life was incredibly —

Her life had in fact become limited,

because her cancer was so far advanced...

that it was impossible to operate.

She'd had one or two operations already.

And so we talked about this,

and about this overacting of hers.

And I said,

"You're doing something completely different

from what I had in mind.

Is there any way we could meet halfway?

After all, you wanted to work with me.

Couldn't we try it my way, or use both ways?

Partly your way —"

Then she says —

She wasn't upset or anything.

She said, "l want to see what I've done."

So she watched her takes...

and then she came into my office,

closed the door and said,

"You're completely right.

Completely right.

I'm going about this wrong. We'll redo it."

And so we reshot those days...

and all of a sudden she was very sensitive

and fantastic to work with.

She was amazing...

and great.

A real handful, but great.

These hardships and difficulties —

there was something fun in them.

There's also a substance in this script that I like.

For Ingrid, and for the substance of this script,

I think this movie is definitely worth seeing.

Then let's!