After The Rehearsal

Filmed for Swedish television, AFTER THE REHEARSAL was advertised as Bergman's farewell to cinema (a claim also made upon the release of FANNY AND ALEXANDER in 1983). Partly autobiographical, it concerns an aging theater director, Josephson, who looks back on the pain and suffering he has caused those around him, especially the actresses he has loved and left. After the rehearsal of his fifth production of August Strindberg's Dream Play, the director rests on a couch onstage. There he is visited by Olin, a young actress who has returned to the theater in search of a bracelet she supposedly left behind. There is a mutual attraction between actress and directo...