An Interpretation of Passion of Anna
Subjective Storytelling in Ingmar Bergman's 1969 Experimental Film
Aug 5, 2008
It’s easy to write off the film’s experiments as meaningless pretension, but doing so lets the viewer miss out on another bold and complex film by the filmmaker who brought us Through a Glass Darkly, Persona and The Silence.
Andreas Winkelman (Max von Sydow) is the Subject of the Movie
The protagonist of Passion of Anna is, contrary to expectations the title may have created, Max von Sydow’s character- Andreas Winkelman. The movie starts with him in stasis and ends with him in crisis. He is defined by his introspectiveness. He lives so much in solitude, he has learned to look inwards with exacting precision.
He feels his loneliness very acutely, and reaches out to people to try and cope with the loss of his wife. He doesn’t speak unnecessarily: both of his lovers through the film comment on the fact that he won’t speak to them. This seems to be because he takes things in and deals with them in his own mind, rather than as part of a social unit.
The key to interpreting most of the film’s mysteries lies in its essentially subjective viewpoint. It seems, from the interviews with the lead actors, that it’s an objective ensemble movie. However, deeper consideration reveals that the entire movie is from the very biased viewpoint of Andreas Winkelman.
Anna's Letter Establishes Point of View
Take for example the shot of the letter which recurs so frequently in the movie. Early in the film, Andreas rummages through Anna’s bag and finds a letter written to her by her husband before his death. In it the husband pleads with her to let their relationship end to avoid the otherwise inevitable “psychological and physical violence.” The camera pans across the lines of the letter, letting the audience read it for themselves as von Sydow murmurs its contents to the mic.
The shot of this letter reappears whenever Anna is talking about how ideal her marriage was. A quick (if unfair) interpretation of this is that Bergman is reminding us that her marriage wasn’t all chocolate and roses. Rather, remember that Andreas is the only one who has read this letter. This isn’t the filmmaker explaining his character’s complexity, its Andreas’ realization that Anna is romanticizing her past.
Flashbacks and Fantasies in Passion of Anna
This interpretation fits with other, more obvious moments in the film. We get to see inside Andreas’ head in the late scene where he remembers his wife- a shot that, like the recurring letter, is literally from Andreas’ eyes.
It seems that there may be a flashback from Anna’s viewpoint: the car crash in the final scene which doesn’t actually happen. However, compare that to Andreas’ flashback. Andreas’ was long, a complete memory. This is a brief flash. It is much more similar to the recurring image of the letter than to the flashback proper.
The quick cut to the crashing car is a fantasy of Andreas, rather than a memory of Anna. Andreas is frightened about Anna’s stability, the slickness of the road, and the fact that her last lover (her husband) was killed in a car crash which she survived. This is a momentary blip in Andreas’ mind, where he is overtaken for a moment by a thought.
Interviews with von Sydow, Andersson, Ullmann, Josephson
Perhaps the most interesting experimentation in the film, given the interpretative key of Andreas Winkelman’s mind are the interviews. They make the film about Andreas, rather than of Andreas.
There is no perfect analogy for the relationship an actor has to the character, but the connectedness they have makes the ones’ commentary on the other a form of introspection. This is interesting for Andreas/von Sydow because his character is so wrapped up in himself. His perspective, the film’s perspective can best understand the character/actors by how they understand themselves.
This representation makes the film dynamic. It brings the meta-narration that Bergman was hashing out in Hour of the Wolf and Persona to the forefront, and involves it directly in the plot and character of the film.
Passion of Anna is a Puzzle
Passion of Anna is a fascinating movie with many intricacies that this article didn’t have the space to cover. It is highly recommended both as an intellectual puzzle and an emotionally compelling story.
