Modes of Representation in Ingmar Bergman’s Gycklarnas afton
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29173/scancan55Abstract
ABSTRACT: Ingmar Bergman’s 1953 Gycklarnas afton [Sawdust and Tinsel] is a film that has received little attention, despite major critics’ agreement that it is a masterpiece, Bergman’s first classic. To ascertain why it warrants the critical acclaim of most serious film scholars, this article uses a close-reading methodology to examine four different aspects of the work: the frequent occurrence of metafilmic moments, the radically experimental Frost and Alma sequence, the film’s extensive and complex use of mirrors, and the unusual editing and shot compositions that mark the beginning and end of the film. These strategies document a self-reflexive aesthetic, a thorough-going preoccupation with the notion of performance both within and outside theatrical institutions, presenting a tacit argument for the impossibility of authentic subjectivity, the importance of the mask. Ultimately the film presages precisely those elements of Bergman’s later production that have made him one of the most important figures in twentieth-century film.