Saraband

**Saraband (2003)** _Directed by Ingmar Bergman_ Even though some of Bergman's blocking and filming here have taken on a 21st century tinge (this was made for Swedish television), the narrative and film overall are still recognizably pure Bergman: the highly spiritual church scene of Marianne, the horizontal parallel faces, the tight close-ups like that of Karin and Henrik, and some wide vistas that are just so Bergman. It's ironic that the day before I saw Saraband, I happened to watch A White, White Day, and it is impossible not to compare these two filmmakers who are treating nearly the same subject: grief, damaged relationships, family dysfunction, the inability to let go. It is like putting an Icelandic novice boxer in the ring with Mohamed Ali. Hlynur Pálmason makes a competent film about a man consumed by grief and suspicion; Ingmar Bergman makes a masterpiece…