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General Major 


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TITLE |
Autumn Sonata (1978) |
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NOTES |
Bergman
plays a professional pianist, Charlotte, too busy to |
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bother with
her daughters, Eva and Helena. Helena has |
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somekind of
degenerative nerve disease and she has been |
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put in a
home. I don't think it is stated exactly what her |
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condition
is. But the other daughter who Charlotte hasn't |
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seen for
seven years has taken her sister home and is looking after her. |
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Lena
(Helena) is in a wheelchair with full back support. She is |
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unable to
speak clearly. Her sister talks about Lena not being |
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so ill in
the past. Now with her mother visiting after such a |
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long absence
the mother is upset at Lena's prescence. In |
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effect
Charlotte abandoned her two daughters for her career. |
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The film is
about facing the past and as Ibsen says in Peer |
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Gynt peeling
off the layers of an onion to get at the heart. This |
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is another
Bergman (the director) master class in trying to |
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understand
relationships. |
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Notes
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