Ingmar Bergman's classic black-and-white Swedish film about male vanity and feminine manipulation doesn't waste a single frame of celluloid. Everything is tightly controlled, from the angle of the camera, to the length of each shot, and even the lighting. The dialogue has equal importance and the entire thing comes together to create one of the great lush romantic comedies in the style of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.'
Lawyer Fredrik Egerman has a new, young wife: Anne. Anne is delightful, gorgeous, and full of energy. She's also the same age as Fredrik's son, Henrik, who has just returned from seminary in hopes to become a priest. He says gloomy, religious things like, "You can't prevent the birds from flying above your head, but you can keep them from nesting in your hair." The household has a young bisexual maid who fancies all three of her masters and makes it her mission to spoil the righteousness of gloomy Henrik. Of course, when the moment comes, Henrik cries, "We have sinned. And it was a complete failure." Anne looks lovingly at old Fredrik as he sleeps until he unconsciously mutters the name, "Desiree." Desiree happens to be the name of an actress, "The One and Only," the posters say. Fredrik is eager to see her latest show when it comes to town. When they see the show, The One and Only Desiree Armfeldt gives a glance in Fredrik's direction. "Why did she stare at us?" Anne demands, and quickly insists that they leave. It is then revealed that Anne is still a virgin, even through a year and a half of marriage with old Fredrik. When they come home from the theater, they find they've interrupted Henrik's failed sin with the maid.
And this is the moment that Fredrik looks around and realizes he's living with a group of young, hormonal kids at the peak of their sexual discovery. Whether excited by it, or frightened by it, they are all preschoolers. He needs to get out, and he goes to see that actress whom, it is learned, he'd had a liaison with many years ago. The dialogue between the two is relieving. At last, two adults unafraid and unembarrassed and unamused about the nature of sexuality. The joke is soon on them when Fredrik falls in a puddle and wears Desiree's lover's nightshirt as they wait for his clothes to dry. The lover won't be by, Desiree explains, he's a dragoon and can only visit when he has leave. Turns out, he had leave. He peacocks in, "Five hours with you, three hours with my wife," he explains. A duel for the actress's passion ensues between the two men, one vain and cocky enough to discuss his mistress openly with his wife, the other who loves his wife as a novelty and doesn't wish to hurt her.
The men are the peacocks, and the women are the manipulators. The dragoon's wife tells Anne of Fredrik's midnight rendezvous with the actress and the two plot to get their men back, "Men are horrible, vain and conceited, with hair all over their bodies." Desiree has other plans. She wants Fredrik permanently. She devises a weekend at her mother's country estate, inviting Fredrik and co. and the dragoon and spouse. Her mother inquires about the invitees, "If they're actors, they'll have to sleep in the stables." Desiree explains to a suspicious mother, "For once I was truly innocent." "It must have been early in the evening," says Mother.
The rest involves an ancient wine infused with a stallion's sperm that induces the drinkers with lustful thoughts; a suicide attempt by Henrik: "Dear God, please let the bird's nest in my hair," he pitifully begs; a shocking elope; a plot from the women against the men; an epiphany; an affair; and a tense game of Russian roulette. And of course, the three smiles of the summer night.
'Smiles of a Summer Night' is of a genre long gone, a genre in which a group of coupled lovers switch, have affairs, compete for affection, and end up in the most convenient place for all concerned, all with a light brevity and lush atmosphere. The costumes are lavish and the locations and sets gorgeous. This is the film that solidified Ingmar Bergman as a true filmmaker. It was an enormous success in the foreign market in the 50s, but didn't have the same success in the United States until after the censorship board was dismantled. It's the kind of movie that makes you wish you were born in that time and place. A time when the country was still green and full and the roads were paths of dirt. A time when houses were built with style and people dressed with formality. A time when middleclass families had maids and ate home cooked meals and read books and went to the theatre. No television or celebrities or billboards along the roads to clutter their minds. A simple time when people took pleasure in very simple things, like tending to the garden. How sad that in today's world, such a life seems romantic.
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