When a woman (Harriet Andersson) dying of cancer in early twentieth-century Sweden is visited by her two sisters, long-repressed feelings between the siblings rise to the surface.
It was for the saturated color and light scheme that cinematographer Sven Nykvist was awarded the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. The picture has five nominations in all, including Best Picture, which is quite a feat for a foreign film.
Bergman, despite a whole list of great films to his credit, had trouble financing the picture. Ultimately, to save costs, the main actresses and Nykvist gave their salary as a loan and were nominally co-producers. As such, depending on how their contracts were worded, they may have come out far ahead in the process.
Most interestingly, the film could not find US distribution because it was (again) deemed to be "not commercial" (which may be fair). Thus, by pure chance, this highly acclaimed picture fell in the lap of Roger Corman, who had just started his own distribution company (New World). Corman paid Bergman $75,000 for it and made $1 million in profit, which no doubt went to finance future Corman projects. This may be the single most artistic film ever associated with Corman, and surely the highest-rated.
It was for the saturated color and light scheme that cinematographer Sven Nykvist was awarded the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. The picture has five nominations in all, including Best Picture, which is quite a feat for a foreign film.
Bergman, despite a whole list of great films to his credit, had trouble financing the picture. Ultimately, to save costs, the main actresses and Nykvist gave their salary as a loan and were nominally co-producers. As such, depending on how their contracts were worded, they may have come out far ahead in the process.
Most interestingly, the film could not find US distribution because it was (again) deemed to be "not commercial" (which may be fair). Thus, by pure chance, this highly acclaimed picture fell in the lap of Roger Corman, who had just started his own distribution company (New World). Corman paid Bergman $75,000 for it and made $1 million in profit, which no doubt went to finance future Corman projects. This may be the single most artistic film ever associated with Corman, and surely the highest-rated.