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23 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
Surprisingly Superb, 19 March 2003
9/10
Author: ian_harris from London, England

I didn't expect to like this movie, given its period, headline subject matter etc. But don't let those factors put you off, there is real depth and some top notch scenes in this surprisingly superb movie.

Max von Sydow, Gunner Bjornstrand and Ingrid Thulin are three of Bergman's most consistent quality performers and all three have major roles in this film. There are a fair number of stereotypical character parts, mostly performed by ensemble quality character actors. Bibi Andersson is capable of far more than her giggly girl part enables her to show in this film. Indeed, there is some comedic material in this film reminiscent of Smiles of a Summer Night, but don't mistake this movie for one of Bergman's less masterful light pieces, this has real depth and substance.

There are some amazing bits of cinematography, especially the early scenes. The pacing of the movie is masterful, as is the clever use of parallels in the story - the failed actor "dying" and then reviving is a prelude to the pivotal incident around Vogler's "demise".

Top notch scenes include Mrs Egerman opening up to Vogler - she seems so lost - also both scenes in which Bjornstrand's character (Vergerus) insists that he was not taken in by the "magic".

This is now in my Bergman top 5, which makes it a "must see" in my book.

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16 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
"The Tortured Soul of an Artist or Smiles of a Summer Night meets Hour of the Wolf.", 17 September 2005
7/10
Author: Galina from Virginia, USA

With the exception for the abrupt and somehow rushed and unsatisfying ending, "Magician" is a typical (in a good sense of the word) Bergman's film that I liked a lot. I would call it "The Tortured Soul of an Artist or Smiles of a Summer Night meets Hour of the Wolf." I did not know what to expect from the film and was pleasantly surprised by an interesting story; impressive (especially in the earlier scenes in the woods) black and white cinematography; perfect blend of humor, intense drama, and mystery. Acting was perfect - not a big surprise with the cast like that: Max von Sydow, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Bibi Andersson, and Erland Josephson. I'd like to mention Naima Wifstrand as Granny Vogler - what a great actress and what a character - she stepped out from the pages of the fairy tales, the old witch, wise and powerful; she also provides many comical scenes.

7.5/10

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12 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
satisfying on many levels: a reflection on Bergamn as illusionist, 3 October 2005
9/10
Author: straiton from Tokyo, Japan

Many people may have missed the satisfaction of reading the extra layer of meaning in this film: that the "magician" is the the filmmaker or visa versa, in this case Bergman himself. Without giving anything of the plot away, I can say that The Magician is a reflection on Bergamn's role as a creator of illusions. He uses the story of a roving theatrical troupe with an magician to illuminate the metaphor. The apparently abrupt turn of events at the end is Bergman's signal that he is the master of your perceptions in this medium, that he compares to the experience of dreaming.

It is interesting to compare this film with Fellini's 8 1/2, another filmmaker's reflection on the process and meaning of film-making. Two very different sensibilities are at work in these two films, but with surprisingly close parallels in their endings, and involuted plots.

I found this film highly satisfying on many levels, even taken at its apparent face value, as a romp. Seen a second time the illusionist begins to emerge more clearly, from the moment the film opens, with the lighting of the arc lamp of a film projector.

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10 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
a Bergman film that's not depressing or about death!, 8 July 2005
8/10
Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

I've seen a lot of Ingmar Bergman films and sometimes I don't want to see one of his films about death or mental illness. Well, starting in the 1960s to the 1980s, these were the main themes of his movies, but in some of his earlier films, these are not so pervasive--such as the movies The Devil's Eye (a comedy) and The Magician ("Ansiktet"). Because of this, they may be more approachable to the average viewer who would balk at the much more serious tone of such classics as Through a Glass Darkly (deep depression), Persona (mental illness), Autumn Sonata (repressed anger and abandonment), The Seventh Seal (death and the plague) or Fanny and Alexander (child abuse and emotional neglect).

The story is about a traveling group of hoaxters who put on a show combining magic and "animal magnetism" (i.e., an early name given to hypnosis). When they arrive at a Swedish town, they are forced to come to an audience with the local official and his cronies who want to prove that the act is a fraud. Bergman really doesn't try to resolve this issue, but instead shows how the town officials are really rather petty and mean people. How this traveling group deftly survives this encounter is the main focus of the movie. I especially liked the portion of the movie about the autopsy. It sounds gross, but I thought it was actually kind of funny. One of the officials is a cold and rather nasty doctor who longs for a chance to do an autopsy on the hypnotist. He gets far more than he bargains for--that's all I really want to say--otherwise it might ruin the suspense.

So, overall I liked the movie. It was not great but well acted and not the least bit depressing.

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
what is art if not magic?, 31 January 2005
10/10
Author: cheese_cake from dc, usa

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

a group of people is touring the countryside in a coach. they include a purported magician (max van sydnow), his wife/assistant, an old crone who they refer to as grandmother and who gives an impression of practicing witchcraft and a merry, complacently fat coachman. on the way they encounter a man who is dying of alcoholism, who stirs up some deep feelings in the magician. when they reach a city, the man dies and they fall in the clutches of the city magistrate on account of this and other matters. the elite of the city bands together to watch the magician's magic show. they mock the magician cruelly, accusing him of being a charlatan, a fake. after the show, the magician plays a series of tricks on the parties, which scares the hell out of them, and makes it seem like supernatural forces are present among them. but, in the end, his tricks are revealed and in an astonishing moment, the magician forgetting all his dignity and composure, grovels for a few kronor's (dollars). not getting even a single kronor, they are threatened with jail if they don't get out of town immediately and henceforth continue on their journey. many people do not get this movie, given that the artist/magician is shamed at the end. but that pivotal scene is totally misunderstood...bergmann's movie's work on many levels and that which is presented plainly is often the least plain, much like the magician's magic. the magician/artist is correctly depicted as being unsure of whether he really is an artist or a fake. the conflict within him is part of being a real artist. bergmann's point was that art and magic are similar. illusion is but a feint, a parry in a different direction, while the audience is lured unsuspecting into a bigger trap, which when revealed is devastatingly powerful in what it says about their psyche. the magician's magic is concerned not with tricks but with subtle psychological manipulation. when the extent of his psychological grasp is revealed in the end, he is immediately hated, because he understood his audience better than themselves. their whole mirage of being the superior scientific elite is shattered. about the only complaint one could make about this movie is that the magician is overly tormented. as in other bergman movies, one wonders what is the source of this torment. while it could be explained, it's best to enjoy this additional hue to the wonderful masterpiece, that is this movie, and let it percolate in your psyche. it goes without saying that the performance of the actors was superb, really exemplary. as was the cinematography. you will not see better cinema than this.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
My brief review of the film, 18 December 2005
Author: sol- from Perth, Australia

An appropriately mysterious Gothic tale with fascinating characters, who may or may not actually possess certain powers, the material is envisioned well by Ingmar Bergman, with careful attention to lighting design, and the acting is superb. Max Von Sydow is given the most intriguing part to play, and he pulls it off well, but Ingrid Thulin and Naima Wifstrand both deserve mentions for breathing life into their fey characters too. The film is about illusions ultimately, and those who are too critical to suspend their disbelief. It is a bit hard though interpreting exactly what Bergman intended by some of the oddities that he has placed in, such as dispersing poison to a young man. Are these attempts to add humour to the tale? Even with these odd inclusions and rushed ending that is a let down, it is quite a satisfying film overall. The music is great, the acting is excellent, and the interesting characters help make this film one of Bergman's most intriguing pieces.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
I didn't die, but i haunt the living., 5 June 2009
8/10
Author: JohnRouseMerriottChard from United Kingdom

Vogler's Magnetic Health Theater rolls into town and is promptly summoned for a meet with the town big wigs. Hoping to expose all involved in the theatre as charlatans, the disbelievers request a personal show before allowing the show to go public. With very interesting results.

There is a belief amongst many Ingmar Begman fans that Ansiktet {The Magician} is far too accessible a piece to be considered one of his greatest pieces. And whilst it does find Bergman more easy to understand for the casual viewer, it's however still complex enough to thrill and niggle the mind in equal measure. Taking two factors that he very much adored, masks and magic, Bergman threads them off into various directions, and in the process testing us the audience as to just what to expect from the story. The mysterious wonder of it all is naturally aided by Bergman's use of light and shadowy trickery, symbols loom heavy without dampening the theme on offer, with nothing of course actually quite being as it seems.

As is normally the case under the master director, the cast are uniform-ally strong. With Gunnar Bjornstrand and Ingrid Thulin particularly standing out. But really this is all about tricks and ideas relating to magic and its blending in with reality. So much so that with the end comes an awakening that we the audience are indeed props in one of Bergman's shows, and that can never be a bad or even an accessible thing.

A fascinating picture from a very fascinating director. 8/10

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Power of the imagination, 14 February 2007
7/10
Author: PeteMcD (pm010w8854@blueyonder.co.uk) from Dundee, Scotland

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Baroque tale of this bizarre troupe led by a mute Max von Sydow who may be a conjurer, or an occultist, or even just a charlatan. He may also be very rich or very poor. Identity is never clear-cut in a Bergman film. As more of von Sydow's and other characters' past is revealed, the more our preconceptions of them crumble.

We also have a playful array of devices - wigs, false beards, women as men, alive people as dead - to confuse, disrupt, provoke. The mis-en-scene adds to the sense of deceit, chaos. Bergman's not hugely noted for his exterior shots, his camera fixes hard on faces and enclosed spaces, but the painterly shots in the forest near the start are real skewed Gothic claustrophobia.

The main plot concerns the troupe having to convince a sceptical bunch of bourgeois dignitaries in 19th century Stockholm that their act is palatable to the wider public. Through each disbelieving reaction - a police chief, a doctor, a politician etc - we are given rational arguments against irrational events. But a strange thing soon happens. Each of the hard-nosed dignitaries in some way succumb to the group's power, are broken by it.

The film does not promote supernaturalism per se - in the end, it is all an act - more it attacks those who lack imagination, the close-minded, the absolutists, the hypocrites. The servants living below the house who do not dismiss the troupe are treated with far less contempt by the filmmaker than the rich intellectuals who mock.

I know it all sounds kinda high-brow, but its touch is light, with a pretty funny script at times, incredibly bawdy for something that was made in 1958. Also the denouement where the doctor faces both the death of himself and his beliefs, has a suffocating sense of dread that wouldn't be amiss in a more generic horror film.

I haven't seen The Prestige, but I guess if you liked that, you should be interested in this.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Religious symbolism in Ansiktet (The Magician), 5 September 2006
9/10
Author: yabullar from United States

Most of Ingmar Bergman's films are meant to titillate the intellect. The Magician is no exception. It is rich with symbolism. I think it ranks right up there with "Death in Venice" on the list of misunderstood movies.

I believe the most rewarding level of meaning in "The Magician" is the religious one. Bergman was often concerned with the implications of religious beliefs. And almost always from the attitude of doubt. Consider the lines in The Seventh Seal where the vicious monk, annoyed with the knight's persistence, asks, "Will you never stop asking questions?" and the knight replies resolutely, "No. Never."

Watching this movie with the idea of Vogler as Jesus provides a perspective that informs the characters and their conduct. This melancholy magician, doubted and persecuted by the powerful, surrounded by strange and suspicious persons, is simultaneously visionary and earthy flesh and blood. He only wants to perform his miracles for the masses. Or is he a charlatan? What a powerful way to pose that question.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Weaker Bergman?, 2 June 2006
9/10
Author: Django6924 from Hollywood, CA

It's not Bergman as his most tormented or saturnine, but it's thoroughly entertaining, more theatrical (in a good sense) than say Persona or In a Glass, Darkly, and still an unqualified masterpiece on a level of artistry that no one making films today seems to be able to achieve. It makes me think in some ways of Shakespeare's plays like the Henry IV with their mix of tragedy and comedy--all done with tremendous showmanship. I'll bet Orson Welles admired this film-- if he ever saw it.

Bergman seems almost forgotten today. Films like this one, Naked Night, Hour of the Wolf, Persona, etc., hardly ever crop up on TV or film festivals. When Bergman is represented, it's usually by The Seventh Seal (not my favorite, and a film that begs for a parody), Wild Strawberries, Smiles of a Summer Night (because of the musical version, no doubt), or Fanny and Alexander, which is more recent, and most important, in color. What a pity. The man created a body of work virtually unsurpassed in the second half of the 20th century.

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