" This room will be ideal for pictures." " Sit here on the sofa." "SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE" "Nice, isn't it?" "Let's see some happy faces." "I NNOCENCE AND PANIC" "Smile." "You too, Mom." "Watch the hair!" "That's the shot." "Are we done?" " I think so." "The girls can go, at any rate." " Good job, girls." " Go have your sandwiches." "Good as gold." "Bye-bye." "How about some shots of the husband and wife on the sofa?" "Sure." "Move forward." "Don't slouch down." " I'll make myself look smaller." " Make it a close-up." "Talk to each other." "Marianne, turn your gaze a bit." " Look as if you're fond of each other." "Now smile at each other." "Hold it." "That's great." "I got my shot, thank you." "Take a few portraits, too." "Well, let's get cracking." "I generally use a standard opener to put people at ease." " I'm not particularly nervous." " All the better." "So, how would you describe yourselves in a few words?" " That's tricky." " Is it?" " I might give the wrong impression." " You think so?" "It sounds cocky if I say I'm bright, youthful, successful and sexy." "My mind has a global scope, I'm educated and a I'm a great mixer." "What else?" "I'm a good friend, even to those less fortunate than myself." "I'm sporty, and I'm a good father and a good son." "I don't have any debts, and I pay my taxes." "I respect our government, no matter what." "I love our royal family." "I don't belong to the state church." "Is that good, or do you want more details?" "I'm a fantastic lover." "Isn't that right, Marianne?" "Maybe we should skip that question." "Your turn, Marianne." "What can I say?" "I'm married toJohan and we have two daughters." "I can't think of anything else." " Sure you can." " I thinkJohan is very nice." " How kind of you." " We've been married for ten years." " Yes, I just renewed the contract." "I lackJohan's boundless self-assurance, but in all honesty, I'm happy I lead the life I do." "It's a good life, if you know what I mean." "What else should I say?" "This is difficult." " She has a great figure." " I'm trying to take this seriously." "I have two girls, Karin and Eva." " You said that already." "Let's move on to the particulars." "How old are you?" " I'm 42, but it doesn't show." " I'm 35." "We come from ridiculously bourgeois backgrounds." "Johan's father is a physician." "My mother is very much the mother." "My father is a lawyer." "It was decided early on that I would become one, too." "I'm the youngest of seven children." "My mother ran a large household." "Nowadays she takes things easier." " Oh, really?" "Oddly enough, we enjoy the company of our parents." "We see each other often, and we rarely clash." "Maybe we should talk about your professions." "I'm an associate professor at the Psychotechnology Institute." "My field is family law." "I belong to a large law firm and deal mostly with divorce." "The interesting thing about my job is " "Don't move!" "Hold that pose." "Take a picture and get that look." "Good." "Great." " Oh, that makes me feel " " You'll get used to it." "How did you meet?" "I'll leave that toJohan." "Now that's an interesting tale." "It wasn't love at first sight." "Both of us socialized quite a lot, and we often ran into each other." "For many years we were heavily involved in political causes and belonged to a drama group at school." "We weren't particularly interested in each other." "I guess Marianne thought I was conceited." "At the time,Johan was in a highly publicized romance with a pop singer." "It gave him a certain image, and he was cocky." "At 1 9, Marianne was married to a boy whose only virtue was a rich father." "He was very kind, and I was crazy about him." "I also got pregnant." " But how did you " " Get together?" "Basically, it was Marianne's idea." "My baby died soon after it was born, and my husband and I split up." "Johan's singer had given him his walking papers." "Both of us were shaken, so I suggested we start seeing each other." "We weren't in love, but both of us were unhappy." "We realized that we got along famously, and our grades improved." "So we decided to live together." "We expected our mothers to be shocked, but they weren't." "They became fast friends." "We were accepted as a couple and got married six months later." " By that time we were in love." " Madly in love." " People saw us as the perfect couple." " And it's been that way ever since." "Without any hitches?" "Our material needs are met." "We get on well with all our friends and relations." "We have good jobs that we enjoy." "We're in good health." "And so on and so forth, to an almost embarrassing degree." "Security, order, contentment, loyalty." "We're indecently fortunate." "We do have our disagreements, but basically we get along well." " Don't you ever quarrel?" " Marianne quarrels." "Johan is so slow to anger that it takes the wind out of my sails." "That all sounds fabulous." "I heard someone say just last night that the very lack of problems could cause strife." "We're well aware of the hazards of a life like ours." "Hazards?" "How do you mean?" "The world is going to the dogs, and I prefer to live and let live." "I'm entitled to simply look out for number one." "It makes me sick to hear about the latest panacea." " I don't feel the same way as Johan." " How do you feel?" "I believe... in compassion." "Could you please expand on that?" "If we all learned to care about our fellow man from childhood, the world would be different." "Hold that pose." "Look into the camera." "I'd better check in the kitchen." "The girls have to go to the dentist, and I'm worried they might sneak off." "Bye." "To be honest, it's not that simple." "That's true." "How do you mean?" "Once upon a time, we felt safe." "Nowadays we realize that bad things can happen at any time." "That's the difference." "Are you afraid of the future?" "If I dwelt on it, I'd probably be paralyzed with fear." "Which is why I don't." "I like this old sofa and that lamp." "They create the illusion of being safe - such a ridiculously fragile illusion." "I like Bach's St. Matthew Passion even though I'm a nonbeliever, because it creates a sense of piety and community." "I depend heavily on interaction with our relatives, since it recreates the childhood experience of feeling protected." "I enjoy Marianne's talk of compassion." "It soothes the conscience, which acts up at inappropriate intervals." "Remaining content requires a certain technique." "You need to put a lot of effort into not caring." "I really admire people who can laugh everything off." "I can't." "My sense of humor isn't well-developed enough to pull that off." "Are you going to include that?" "No, it would be beyond our female audience, if you'll excuse me for saying such a thing." "What should we talk about now?" "I've got lots of questions." "Would it be all right if I made a call first?" "Of course." " I'm sorry it took so long." " That's quite all right." "Where's Johan?" "He had an urgent call to make." "I guess we'll have to amuse ourselves." "You know, I don't think we've seen each other since school." "No." "Do you run into the old crowd often?" "Not really." "It's so nice to see that you and Johan get along so well." "You are truly happy, aren't you?" "Everything you say sounds so wonderful." "But then again, someone should be entitled to a perfect life." "I don't know about perfect, but we're fortunate." "We're happy." "Could you define the word happiness?" "Do I have to?" "It's a women's magazine." "You have to." "If I said anything about happiness, Johan would make fun of me." "No, I can't." "You'll have to make something up." "Don't be evasive." "Happiness is contentment." "There's nothing I really long for." "I want things to stay just the way they are." "What about fidelity?" "Really, now." "Come on, help me flesh this out." "Johan's a dear, but nothing much is said while he's around." "Fidelity." "Yes, fidelity." "In a loving relationship." "What should I say?" "In your line of work you must have come across " "My personal belief is that fidelity needs to be a given." "It can't be an obligation or a rule." "You can't promise fidelity." "Either you're faithful or you aren't." "I'm faithful toJohan simply because I enjoy being faithful." "I don't know how I'll feel tomorrow or next week." "Have you ever cheated on Johan?" "This is getting a bit too personal." "I'm sorry." "I have one last question whileJohan is on the phone." "What about love?" "You have to make a statement about love." "That's what this series is all about." " What if I don't want to?" " Then I'll make something up." "And I assure you, it won't be half as good." "No one ever told me what love was, and I'm not sure you need to know." "But if you want a detailed description, you can look in the Bible." "There Paul describes love." "Right, in Corinthians." "It's beautiful." "The only problem is his definition casts us in such a harsh light." "If Paul is right about love, it's so rare that hardly anyone ever experiences it." "But as a recital piece at weddings and other special occasions, it's certainly very effective." "Personally, I find it's enough to be kind to the person you live with." "Affection is also good." "Humor, friendship, tolerance." "Having reasonable expectations." "If you have all that, then love isn't necessary." "Why are you so upset?" "At work I see people who collapse under the weight of unrealistic emotional demands." "I find it barbaric." "I wish " "What?" "I find it difficult to get the right perspective on this issue." "That's why I'm reluctant to discuss it." "But I wish people " "I wish we weren't forced to play all these roles we don't want to play." "That we could be kinder to each other." "Don't you agree?" "Yes, a more romantic life." "That's not actually what I meant." "I meant the exact opposite." "You see how poorly I express myself." "Maybe we should stick to tangible issues." "Why don't we discuss children and cooking instead?" "I guess we digressed a bit." "Yes, I think so." "So, how do you manage having a career and a family?" "Listen to this:" ""Marianne's eyes are as blue as a folk song and are lit up from within." "When I ask her how she copes with it all, she smiles in shy delight and replies that she and Johan both pitch in."" "Which happens to be true." ""'We understand each other,' she replies, brightening as Johan sits down next to her on the heirloom sofa." "Protectively, he puts his arm around her, eliciting a smile."" " Hey!" " Here comes the best bit." ""As I take my leave, I notice how they secretly appreciate that fact so they can bask in each other's presence once more." "Two souls who have matured together sharing a positive outlook, yet never forgetting to put love in the forefront."" "We were mortified when we read it." "I considered taking action, but our mothers adored the piece." "One thing gets me:" "My eyes didn't get a mention." "Don't they shine with a secret light?" "They're more like dark pools." "The effect is quite sexy." "Katarina has a crush on you." " How about running off with me?" " A change would doJohan good." "He's lived a married life for ten years, and he's never strayed." "Are you sure?" "Certainly." "From the get-go I decided to believe everything Johan tells me." "Did you hear that, Katarina?" "Well, I betJohan is a better liar than you, my silly little darling." "I'm afraid I have a limited imagination." "That's just it." "Less imagination makes for better liars." "Peter embroiders his tales too much." "It's almost touching." "I read your piece in Technical Times." "Even I could understand it." " Actually, Katarina wrote it." " Are you really that clever?" "I was in Germany, and they wanted an article on the spot." "So Katarina whipped one up and read it to me over the phone." "Why does it have your byline?" "It's not discrimination or anything." "We generally collaborate." "That's admirable." "Not if you consider how badly we get along." "Frankly, things are hell." "Cheers, honey!" "Cheers." "But surely I can tellJohan and Marianne how things are?" " What's wrong, Katarina?" " Nothing." "Peter can be such a clod." "That's all." "I'm a clod, all right." "I'm proud to be a clod and to have an imagination." "The odd thing is that Katarina thinks I'm a spineless jellyfish." "Oh, my!" "Let's try to have a pleasant time and not get into life's injustices." "That's why we shouldn't forget " "It's time for a little speech, with reference to that blessed article on the two of you." "Let's not forget that we are in the presence of a happy home that shouldn't be soiled with our emotional crap." "Cheers, Marianne." "The meal was lovely." "I may not envy your domestic bliss, but I do admire your culinary talents." "I mean it." "I really wish Katarina could pick up a few pointers." "Katarina's a much better cook." "Peter thinks I poison his food." "It's a running joke at our house." "It was clear it was a joke, right?" "One that's hard to digest." "Let's have some coffee in the living room." "What should I do now?" "I seem to have put my foot in my mouth again." "The girls will clear the table." "Would you care for a cigar?" "No, thanks." "I've given up smoking." "Really?" "Congratulations." "He got so irritable and antsy that I begged him to start again." "But he won't,just to spite me." "I can't quit." "I'll end up as wrinkled as a mummy and die of cancer, but so be it." "Would you happen to have some aspirin?" "I've got a beastly headache." "Certainly." "I'll go with you." "That way the boys can air their dirty secrets in peace." "Are you game for some chess?" "Sure." "Why not?" "Pick a hand." "I had to get away." "I'm slightly tipsy, which always makes me irritable." "Poor Peter." "He acts like a cornered rat." "Using convoluted language, his eyes darting around the room." "Would you like to lie down?" "No, thanks." "It's nice and quiet here." "You're kind, Marianne." "You're going through a rough patch, aren't you?" "You could say that." "Wouldn't a separation do you good?" "We're headed for just the opposite." "We're going on a long business trip abroad." "Our income hinges on collaboration." "The survival of our Italian company depends on our collective efforts." "All these new synthetics need testing." "And my color schemes and patterns may need modification." "Peter is an analytical genius." "Everything would fall apart if we split up." "We can't afford to." "Why not just work together?" "We've tried that." "I know." "Peter says other women make him impotent." "I don't know if that's the truth, but I think it is." "He goes crazy if I turn away from him." "It's all right." "I like sleeping with him, as long as I have someone on the side." "Don't you have a lover?" "No,Jan broke up with me." "So he finally did." "He detested leading a double life." "It looks like that's all I'm capable of." "So now the cage door has slammed shut on our private hell." "Sometimes I hate Peter so much." "I want to torture him to death." "Some nights, when I can't sleep," "I dream up diabolical ways to hurt him." "Isn't there any way out of this?" "I can't see one." "Have you ever actually talked to Peter?" "Now that's touching." "Well, what did he say?" "He said I should do what I damn well please." "He's only interested in seeing how much we can humiliate each other." "He calls it our dehumanization process." "Maybe he should see a doctor." "He did go see an analyst, but he claimed the man was an idiot." "Maybe you should go away for a while." "One morning I woke up to find the bed empty." "Guess where he was." "Out on a ledge on the eighth floor, gazing down on the street below." "He told me not to worry, that he was only trying to find out who he was." "I had to plead with him." "Finally, I told him to go ahead, but that brought him in." "I wasn't going to get off the hook that easily." "You two had it good once upon a time." "I still feel a certain hopeless tenderness for him." "I understand the anxiety and the feelings of emptiness, disgust and fear." "He knows things about me too." "Things no one else knows." "He says I look like a woman but that I'm a man through and through." "Maybe he's right." "I feel better now." "Shall we go back?" "Yes, that sounds good." "It's pretty damn touching." "What is?" "Your marriage." "Johan and Marianne." "It's so touching, it brings tears to your eyes." "It makes one itch to puncture that beautiful balloon of yours." "You would do that?" "Cheers." "You've been married for ten years." "We just celebrated our tenth anniversary." " No skeletons in the closet?" " You never know." "No, you never know." "Both Johan and I enjoy cleaning up." "Well, what do you know!" "That's where we've been remiss:" "the cleaning." "But that's going to change." "Next week I'll call Marianne and have her arrange for our divorce." "Unfortunately, Peter will back down again before he sobers up." "The adding machine will start running, you see." "It will say, "I'll go through with a divorce if Katarina relinquishes any claim on our Swiss assets."" "To which I counter, "It's my money." "I earned it."" "Then Peter will say, "I made it grow." "You can have the factory."" "And I say, "Great." "A factory in Italy with steadily rising labor costs."" "Katarina, please " ""Take everything in Sweden." "The apartment, the summer cottage, the boat, the stocks and bonds."" "And then I say, "Damned nice of you to leave me with the taxable assets."" "Excuse me for putting a damper on the evening with such trivial matters." "But when Peter talks about splitting up, then I know how drunk he is and that insults are soon to follow." "It's like I always say:" "Katarina is a businessman." "With equal emphasis on both parts of the word." "Business... man." "She's also a brilliant artist." "And she has an IQ of I don't know what." "And she's attractive, too." "A real gem in a stunning package." "How such a paragon could ever spread her legs for me is a mystery." "I think it's time to call a cab and go home." "It can't be pleasant forJohan and Marianne to witness a scene like this." "Johan and Marianne!" "They're candy figurines wrapped in red ribbons, like the gift-wrapped marzipan pigs of our childhood." "It'll do their souls good to catch a glimpse of the depths of hell." "August Strindberg once said," ""Could there be anything more terrifying than a husband and wife who hate each other?"" "What do you say?" "Child abuse could possibly be worse." "But then again, Katarina and I are children." "Deep down," "Katarina is a little girl who cries because no one comforts her when she falls." "And in the opposite corner, I'm a little boy who cries because Katarina can't love me." "Even though I'm bad and mean to her." "Well, on the bright side, there can't possibly be anything worse than this." "That's why I think we're ready for a divorce." "Only if you're sensible." "Only if the two of us simultaneously, and in the presence of witnesses, sign all the papers." "So neither of us can cheat the other." "We'll call you sometime this week." "We have a fine business lawyer." "Mr. Borglund can help you with the business end." "What do you say, Katarina?" "Even if our finances are resolved, you'll never let me go." "I know that." "So you think you're so bloody irreplaceable, my dear Katarina?" "Just when did this occur to you?" "That would be interesting to know." "Couldn't you tell me?" "Tell us?" "You force me to have sex with you, since you can't get it up with anyone else." "You have an insatiable need for guilt." "Now that it's over between you and Jan, you feel desperate." "Now Peter's the only one who cares and has the proper patience." "So you think you're the only one?" "Isn't that touching?" "You think I don't have anyone else." "Let me tell you something, Peter." "Forgive me for being so frank, but Peter's challenging the truth, and he needs to be enlightened." "I want you to know this:" "I find you utterly repulsive." "In a physical sense, I mean." "I could buy a lay from anyone just to wash you out of my genitals." "Abide with me Fast falls the eventide" "The darkness deepens Lord with me abide" "You son of a bitch!" "When other helpers fail" "And comforts flee" "Help of the helpless" "Oh, abide with me" "Whatever that's supposed to mean." "I hope that won't stain the carpet." "I'm not sure about liqueurs." "Send me the bill." " No." "Do it!" "Could you please pour me a cup of coffee?" "I'm " "I'm pretty drunk." "Please forgive us." "We don't usually behave like this." "But you're our best friends." "Our only friends." "Forgive me." "Forgive us." "Call me a cab." "I'll take my bacchante home, and we'll finish our little scene." "The finale is generally inappropriate for an audience." " What time is it?" " Ten past 1 2:00." " I'm glad we got rid of them." " Yes, things got a bit too festive." "Do you believe two people can spend a lifetime together?" "It's a ridiculous convention passed down from God knows where." "A five-year contract would be ideal." "Or an agreement subject to renewal." " Would that apply to us, too?" " No." "Why not?" "We're the exception that proves the rule." "So you think we'll stay together?" "Now that's a strange question." "Doesn't it bother you to never get to sleep with anyone else?" " No." "Does it bother you?" " Sometimes." "I'll be damned." "On a purely theoretical plane." "I wonder if something's wrong with me." "I don't have fantasies like that." "I'm content." "Well, so am I." "Oh, now I get it." "I know why Katarina and Peter go through hell." "They don't speak the same language." "They have to translate everything into a common language." "I think it's simpler than that." "You and I understand each other." "We speak the same language." "That's what makes us click." "I think it's the money." "If you speak the same language and trust each other, money is not a problem." "You and your languages." "I see it at work all the time." "Sometimes it's like husband and wife are talking on telephones that are out of order." "Sometimes it's like listening to pre-programmed tape recorders." "Sometimes all you get is the vast silence of outer space." "I don't know which is worst." "I have my doubts." "What if we were factory workers and had to have the kids in day care?" "It doesn't matter." "I don't agree." "If you speak the same language, your environment isn't a factor." "That's a romantic point of view." "Would a life like that affect us?" "Are you serious?" "Yes, I'm serious." "We wouldn't get along as well?" "I really mean it." "Regardless of language." "Isn't there just as much potential for alienation and loneliness now?" "Absolutely not." "A dull, strenuous job would wear people down to a greater degree." "You're dumber than I thought." "And you're the romantic, by the way." " We'll see." " And exactly what will we see?" " I don't know." "Do you?" " You're teasing me." " Yes, I am." " Aren't you hungry?" " Yes, I'm ravenous." "How about a sandwich and a beer?" "Sounds great." "Johan?" "I have something to tell you." "Don't worry." "It's nothing bad." "Now that sounds ominous." "What is it?" "I'm pregnant." " I told you that three weeks ago." " I didn't want to worry you." "That was considerate." "What should we do?" " Do you want to have an abortion?" " I want this to be a joint decision." " It's your decision." " Why mine?" "It's obvious." "You're the one who ends up with the burdens and the delights." "You mean it's all the same to you?" "Not at all." "What do you want?" "Truthfully." "It's not that easy." " Is it so hard to be honest?" " You're being unreasonable." "What was your immediate reaction?" "You know I don't have immediate reactions." "I'm an invalid in that regard." "Do you want to have another child?" "I have nothing against it." "It might even be nice." "But you're not all that enthusiastic." "Give me an honest answer." "Why should I be honest all the time?" "Tell me what you want." "I happen to have asked you first." "When did this accident happen?" "You are on the pill, aren't you?" "I forgot to take them when we were on our trip." " Why didn't you tell me?" " I figured it didn't matter." "Did you want to have a baby?" "I don't know." "That's no answer." "Maybe I thought that if we got pregnant, then it was meant to be." "Oh, my God!" "Come on!" "A modern woman like you who preaches birth control." "True, it doesn't really make sense." "I guess you've already made your mind up." "I guess I hoped you'd be pleased." "Well, I am rather pleased." "You haven't felt sick at all?" " I've never felt better." "Our mothers will be beside themselves with joy." "What do you think the girls will say?" "Right now they tolerate anything we do." "One more act of stupidity on our part could hardly matter." "They'll forgive us." "You know, I'll enjoy having a baby around." "And you're awfully cute with a bulging tummy." " What's wrong now?" " Nothing." "You're crying, so something's wrong." " I'm telling you, it's nothing." " There must be something." "Do you know what you want?" "No." " Maybe we don't want more kids." " Do you think so?" "Well, the prospect of breast-feeding, all that laundry, and getting up at all hours " "We've put that all behind us." " I feel so guilty." " Why?" "Guilty that I wanted to have a baby and looked forward to it, only to change my mind when it actually happened." "Why impose a moral aspect on it?" "This is my fourth child." "One died and I'm going to kill one." " You can't think like that." " Well, I do." " You've got to be practical." " No, I don't." "What's the issue here?" "The issue is love." " Aren't you being a bit too intense?" " No." "Could you enlighten me?" "No, I can't." "It's an emotional thing." "It's as if I no longer perceived myself as being real." "You aren't real either." "Neither are the kids." "But this baby is real." "It could be the other way around." "We're pitiful, self-indulgent cowards that can't connect with reality and are ashamed of ourselves." "There's no affection, love or joy in our lives." "We could very well have this baby, and I was right to be pleased and daydream about it." "I think it was an honest feeling." "I'm mature enough to be a mother now." "I don't understand." "It's like you've had the abortion already." "I have." "You can't judge yourself for your thoughts." "This is a serious matter." "It will influence our future." "What if we do something we can't take back?" "What if we haven't realized how serious this is?" "What ridiculous, nebulous, intangible demands." "They're pure superstition." "You don't understand." "Not one damn word makes sense." "We're trying to run away." "We're trying to avoid drama here, which is healthy, in my opinion." "You don't look very happy." "I find this conversation distasteful." "Couldn't we have this baby and just be happy about it?" "Couldn't we enjoy our little slipup and just love it for happening?" "I've said all along that it would be nice." "You made this conversation difficult, not me." "Should we make a decision?" "What decision?" "To keep the baby." "All right, let's keep it." "I feel very relieved." "There's nothing strange about feeling torn." " No, I suppose not." " That's generally the way it is." "The issue wasn't really the baby." "No, I suppose not." "It was about you and me." "Hello there." "How are you?" "I feel a little sick." "Was it rough?" "Not really." "Could you lower" "Of course." "The doctor said you could come home tomorrow or the day after." "I need to catch up on my sleep." "We could spend a week in the country when you're up to it." "I can take some time off after the tenth." "I asked your mother if she could take the girls, and she agreed readily." "That might be nice." "I had dinner with Gunnar and Sven yesterday." "They said that Sture might be sent to Pretoria as an ambassador." "I wonder what Aina will think." "It will be a blow." "Giving up bridge with Princess Christina on Fridays." "She'll never survive that." " When will they know?" " Anytime now." "Did you tell the Egermans we can't make it to their dinner party?" "No, I forgot about that." "I'll do it right away." "Have you spoken to our parents?" "I told them you had minor surgery, scheduled on short notice because the doctor was going abroad." "What did Mother say?" "She oozed sympathy." "She could be here any moment." "That's what I'm afraid of." "I can call her and tell her to come later." "I can tell her you're asleep." "No, that would only make things worse." " Are you in pain?" "Just a little sore, that's all." "I thought we might discuss the summer cottage, if you're up to it." "Of course I am." "We could add on a nice veranda." "Like those old farmhouses have." "A blue one." " Shouldn't we paint the whole house?" " Yes." "And we'd better fix the roof, too." " Can we afford it?" " Yes, it won't cost all that much." " Why don't you talk to Gustav?" " I will." "Hold me." "Does that feel better?" "Good." "I really regret doing this." "I really do." "You'll feel better tomorrow." "What have I done?" "There's no point in dwelling on it." "In a few week's time you'll have forgotten all about it." " Do you think so?" " I'm convinced you will." " I don't know how to get over this." " Oh, darling." "Don't you think you should try to rest now?" "You see, I really have to go now." "Take care." "Bye." "Give my love to the girls." "Just get some sleep." "I'll tell the nurse you're resting in case your mother should turn up." "That's probably a good idea." "Why don't you give her a call and save her the trouble of coming?" "You're a sweet man." "I'm glad you think so." "We'll have a nice time in the country." "We'll have lots of good food, and we'll rest and watch TV." "And not think." "And we'll hold each other." "Sleep tight." "Don't forget to call the Egermans." "I won't." "This was the first episode of Scenes From a Marriage." "It was called "Innocence and Panic. "" "And while you look at this footage of Faro, here are the credits." "The actors were Liv Ullman, Erland Josephson, Bibi Andersson," "Jan Malmsjo, Anita Wall, Roseanna Mariano and Lena Bergman." "Sven Nyqvist and his assistant Lars Karlsson manned the cameras." "Wardrobe, Inger Pehrsson." "Props, Gunilla Hagberg." "Makeup supervisor, Cecilia Drott." "Audio and mix, Owe Svensson and his assistant Arne Carlsson." "Editing, Siv Lundgren." "Script supervisor, Ulla Stattin." "Other contributors were Anders Bergkvist, Stefan Gustafsson," "Lars Hagberg, Adolf Karlstrom," "Kent Nystrom, Bo-Erik Olsson and Siri Werkelin." "Lars-Owe Carlberg was the production supervisor, and the lab was Film Teknik." "Nils Melander designed the lighting effects on Eastman Color film." "The series was produced on Faro by Cinematograph." "The year is 1973." "SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE" "Johan and Marianne have been happily married for ten years." "Johan is an associate professor, and Marianne is a lawyer specializing in family law." "They lead a comfortable life with their two daughters." "One day they have Peter and Katarina over for dinner." "After dinner, their guests start to quarrel dramatically." "Their conflict lies in emotional and material ties, and they struggle violently to break free from each other." "Their loyal friends do their best to mediate between them." "A few weeks later, Marianne discovers she's pregnant." "Johan takes the news calmly, but without enthusiasm." "After deliberation, they decide that Marianne will have an abortion." "They try to play down the issue, but Marianne experiences unexpected qualms." "THE ART OF SWEEPI NG THI NGS UNDERTHE RUG" "Good morning." "Good morning." " Did you sleep well?" " Like a log." "How about you?" "Fine." "Only I woke up at 5:00 and couldn't go back to sleep." "Why is that?" "I was irritated." "Should I feel guilty?" "For once you're innocent, my dear." "The thought of Sunday dinner with the folks had me steaming." "We always have Sunday dinner at your parents' place or mine." " And that's insane." " We do it to please them." "Well, I'm going to cancel." "You're going to cancel?" "What will your mother say?" "She can say whatever she likes." "I want to spend the day with you and the kids." "Well, if you can pull it off" "I certainly can." "The more I think about it, the madder I get." " Is your period coming up?" " Why do you always say that?" "Well, isn't it?" "All right, my period's due on Monday, but that's not why I'm annoyed." "What's bothering you?" "Just think about it." "Every last second of our time is accounted for and booked solid." "We have our vacations." "Don't you understand?" "Our vacations are even more tightly scheduled." "Aren't you going to wake the girls?" "They're sleeping in today." "Karin has the day off, and Eva has a sore throat." "I want her to be well by Sunday, to avoid all the snide remarks." "Weren't you going to cancel dinner?" "I want you to do it." "I don't want to lock horns with your mother." "Well, aren't you going to call your mother?" "Didn't we agree you would do it?" "No, honey." "I'll hold your hand and provide moral support." "All right, I'll do it." "My heart is racing." "The first baby steps in the great revolt." "Aren't they in?" "What a relief." "Miss Alm, is my mother in?" "May I speak to her?" "How is your knee, Miss Alm?" "Oh, it isn't any better, then?" "It's worse?" "Now, that's too bad." "What does the doctor say?" "He's not very understanding." "I see." "Hello, Mother." "How are you?" "Good." "Dad's already gone?" "That's right, he was going out to the country." "You let him go off on his own like that?" "Oh, Erik went with him." "That's nice." "Listen, I have something to tell you." "That's right." "How did you guess?" "Why?" "I'd like to spend Sunday with Johan and the girls." "No, we're not going anywhere." "We just don't feel like coming over for dinner, that's all." "I don't believe for one second that Dad's been looking forward to it." "Really, Mother, it should be a pleasure and not a duty." "I see." "I see." "You hadn't told me that." "To be honest, not entirely thrilled." "No, forget it, Mother." "We'll show up, like we said we would." "That'll be just fine." "Excellent." "Yes, we're looking forward to it." "Bye-bye, Mother dear." "Bye." "The revolution was smothered at birth." "Aunt Elsa is coming to town." "She hasn't visited in six months." "She was looking forward to seeing us, and she has a gift for you." "And Mrs. Danielsson was coming over to cook." "And your Dad was so looking forward to seeing us." "I still think you were brave to try." "We'll cancel another time." "Don't be upset." "Will you be home for dinner?" "I'll meet you at the theater at 7:20." "Don't you like coming home anymore?" "Things are certainly complicated today, aren't they?" "I wish we could spend a whole week in bed just cuddling." "And both of us could cry." "That's not the life we chose to lead." "I wish I could be certain our mothers didn't do the choosing." "You suffer from a maternal persecution complex." "Is this the life you wanted?" "Yes." "What if we started cheating on each other?" "Marianne, please." "What would you do?" "Kill you, of course." " Sometimes I wish " " What?" "Nothing." "Wait a second." "I'll go with you." "Wouldn't it be better if you took your own car?" "No, this way we can drive home from the theater together." " What about the girls?" " Mrs. Andersson is coming today." "I'll call her from town and ask if she can cook something." "She makes great pancakes." "I'll go wake the girls." " I'm in a hurry." " It'll only take a minute." "I like riding with you in the morning." "We should do it more often." "Did this put you in a bad mood?" "I don't like winging it." "But I do." "Sometimes I wish that I could go with the flow." "Eat when I'm hungry, sleep when I'm tired, and have sex when I'm in love." "Maybe even work a little, if I felt like it." "Sometimes I long to simply float along, and maybe even sink." " Who doesn't?" " You." "You don't." "What would you know about that?" "I know you pretty well by now." "You're too well-adjusted." "You like things to be tidy." "So do you." "Do I?" "You're a perfectionist." "Really?" "You detest disorder in mind and body." "Really?" "I see." "That's a fact." "I'm not so certain." "Of what?" "I'm not certain I know who I am." "Oh, by the way, please pay your parking tickets." "There's a whole stack of them." "Yes, sir." "See you at the theater." "Yes, it's me." "Oh, hi, Mother." "The line's so bad, I didn't recognize your voice." "I'm fine, thank you." "How are you?" "You're concerned?" "Now why is that?" "Marianne's mother called..." "and she's concerned too?" "Good grief." "No, Marianne and I are getting along fine." "We're healthy, cheerful and insanely happy." "Nothing's wrong, I swear." "Don't worry." "Your intuition?" "Well, it's led you astray." "Marianne and I are happy together." "Tell Marianne's mother she should do something more constructive than gossip about worst-case scenarios." "I'm pretty busy right now, Mother." "I'll see you soon." "We'll stop by on Friday, just like we promised." "Give my best to Dad." "Damn." "Hi." "Am I disturbing you?" "Please do." "I just had to see what you're up to." "There are so many rumors floating around." "What are you doing?" "This does look mysterious." " Shouldn't you be in Lund?" " Yes." "But the students are demonstrating for some deserving cause or another, and the lectures were canceled." "Lucky you." " What's this going to be?" " Take a look." " What am I supposed to do?" " Hold this pen." "When I turn off the lights, you'll see a bright dot on the wall." "Try to touch it with the tip of the pen." "If you miss, draw a line to it." "We'll get it all on camera." " But it's dark." " We're using infrared lighting." "I'll watch you on the monitor." "Lights out." "Be my guest." "Go ahead." "Are you pulling my leg?" "Not at all." "Go on." "Could you " "It keeps moving." "It's not a trick." "Actually, the dot is stationary." "I've had enough of this!" "Turn the lights back on." "My, you're upset." "That was unpleasant." "Yes, it makes you nervous." "Funny, isn't it?" "Look how you drifted, getting more and more irritated by the minute." "So what does it prove?" "That remains to be seen." "This is only the beginning." " I'd like a cigarette." " Go ahead." "Have a seat." "No!" "I gave up smoking six days ago, and it's a pain!" "Having withdrawal symptoms?" "Stefan's away and my friends are avoiding me." "I'll go back to it, but I'll try to stick to my guns a while." "Go on, take a cigarette." "Bromeus left a pack behind when he spied on me yesterday." "Oh, that's heaven." "What a relief." " That's much better." " But your conscience will suffer." "You have to choose your vices with care." "Well?" "Right." "I spent the entire afternoon yesterday reading your poems." "Very carefully, from start to finish." "Twice." "They baffled me." " Were they so very strange?" "That's not it." "They weren't strange?" "Well, I might be wrong." "Has Marianne read them?" "No, you're the only one I've shown them to." "Marianne's not interested in poetry." " She ought to be interested in you." " She is, but not in that respect." "She's not?" "Really?" "What's so odd about that?" "You and I've been friends since we were students." "We've never been sexually involved." "You can provide an objective opinion before I try the publishers." "I wouldn't bother." "Are they that bad?" "No, it's not that they're bad." "If only that were the case." "They're mediocre, is that it?" "Insipid, proper and puerile?" "They're too personal, like indulging in spiritual masturbation?" "In our old crowd, many believed you were destined for greatness." "We admired you." "You were way ahead of us." "We admired and even envied you." "What's that got to do with my poetry?" "Nothing." "It was just a thought." "I guess the withdrawal symptoms colored your view." "You appear stressed." "That's possible." "I'm going to show them to others before I scrap them." "Of course you should." "The publishing houses will have to tell me how bad they are." "I've offended you." "You sure have." "I'm sorry." "At least there's one person who appreciates them." " Who would that be?" " Are you curious?" "My dear littleJohan." "Pay no attention to me." "It was just my craving talking." " Right." "Well, I've got to go." "I'll leave your poems at the door." "Give my love to Marianne." "You know I'll always be there for you." "That's nice of you." "Bye." "I'll see you around 1 2:30, then." "Bye." "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." "In this first meeting we usually establish the issues and look at how to solve them." "I want a divorce." "How long have you been married?" "Over 20 years." "Do you have a profession?" "No, I'm a housewife." "Why do you want a divorce?" "There's no love in our marriage." "Is that the reason?" "Yes." "You've been married for a long time." "Was this always the case?" "Yes, always." "And now that your children have left the nest, you want to leave as well." "My husband is a responsible man." "He's kind and conscientious." "I have nothing to complain about." "He's been an excellent father." "We've never quarreled." "We have a nice apartment and a lovely summer cottage we inherited from my mother-in-law." "We're both fond of music." "We belong to a chamber music society and play together." "It all sounds ideal." "Yes, it does." "But there is no love between us." "There never has been any." "Forgive me for asking, but have you met someone?" "No, I haven't." "What about your husband?" "As far as I know, he's never been unfaithful." "Won't you be lonely?" "I guess." "But it's even lonelier living in a loveless marriage." "Have you told your husband you want a divorce?" "Of course." "Fifteen years ago I told him I didn't want to live with him anymore, since there was no love in our marriage." "He was very understanding." "He merely asked me to wait until the children had grown up." "Now all three have grown up and left home." "Now I can have my divorce." "So what does he say?" "He keeps asking me what's wrong with our marriage." "And I tell him I can't go on with a relationship that lacks love." "Then he asks me what love is supposed to involve." "But I tell him I don't know." "How can I describe something that's not there?" "Have you been on good terms with your children?" "Emotionally." "I've never loved my children." "I know that now." "I used to think I did." "You always do." "But I know now that I never loved them." "Still, I've been a good mother." "I've done all I could, even though I never felt anything for them." "I know just what you're thinking." "Really?" ""A spoiled woman with no sense of humor." "She has everything she could possibly want but still she goes on about love." "What about friendship, loyalty, security?"" "Something like that, yes." "Let me tell you something." "I have a mental picture of myself that doesn't correspond to reality." "Pardon me if I ask you a personal question." "Isn't it true that love " "What were you going to ask?" "I'm not sure." "Forgive me." "I tell myself I have the capacity to love." "But it's been... bottled up." "The life I've led has stifled my potential." "The time has come to change all that." "The first step is divorce." "My husband and I... cancel each other out." "That sounds frightening." "It is frightening." "Something peculiar is happening." "My senses - sight, hearing, touch - are starting to fail me." "This table, for instance." "I can see it and touch it." "But the sensation is deadened and dry." "Do you understand?" "I think I do." "It's the same with everything." "Music, scents, faces, voices." "Everything seems puny, gray" "and undignified." "I picked up a bunch of brochures." "I figured we could take a trip abroad." "Aren't we going to be at the cottage?" "We have the spring and the fall." " Where did you think of going?" " I have no idea." "We've never been to Florence." "Or how about the Black Sea?" "And there are some amazingly cheap trips to Africa." "OrJapan." "We could seeJapan." "Why this sudden urge to travel?" "Don't you think it would be fun?" "I don't know." "Well, then, that's that." "Are you disappointed?" "When you're in a bad mood, you make the strangest accusations." "You claim I don't care about our marriage." "Isn't that what you say?" "Well, I'm trying to show I care." " How thoughtful of you." " Why so sarcastic?" " I mean it." "I'm just not keen on traipsing around the world in the blistering heat." "Not when I could be fishing." " Then everything will be the same as usual." "Could life be so treacherous that it could go wrong just like that?" "Almost imperceptibly?" "Do you mean us?" "Is it a matter of making the wrong choice?" "Or do we jog along in the same rut without thinking until we end up on the garbage heap?" "Has something happened,Johan?" "Nothing." "I swear." "We're honest with each other, aren't we?" "I think so." "It's not good to bottle things up." "No matter how silly it is, it's better to get it off your chest." "Of course it is." "What time is it?" " 1 :1 5." " My watch keeps on stopping." "Where were we?" "Oh, yes." "Honesty." "I suppose you mean about sex?" " Sometimes I think" "You can't expect constant intimacy." "It would be too tiring." "Yes, that's the big question." "I'm so very fond of you." "Do you know that?" "I'm so scared of losing you." "I don't say nice things often enough, even though I know they mean a lot." "I'm not very talented in that department, but I'll try to improve." "You're so sweet." "And I'm very, very fond of you." "I'll try to remember that." "But right now I have to go." "I'm going for a walk." "Karin needs some new slacks." " You bought her a pair last week." " Those were for Eva." "Can't Karin wear hand-me-downs?" "That's just not done nowadays." "Now for some food and drink." "And to get out of these clothes." "Getting through Ibsen on nothing but a hot dog was an ordeal." "Nora was good." "But the play is damned dated." "Even Strindberg thought so." " Out of envy." "Things have changed in a hundred years, though not in the way Ibsen expected." "Like what?" "Feminism is a tired subject." "Women nowadays can do whatever they want." "Only they can't be bothered." " Oh, that's interesting." "There's something pathetic about women's libbers, especially when they're trying to galvanize their sisters, that provincial, moronic mob of deluded females." "Just you wait and see." "I'll never see anything." "These two women at work have shared the same cubicle for ages, but they still address each other as Miss Schoultz and Mrs. Palmgren, and each seizes every opportunity to sabotage or bad-mouth the other." "What a convincing argument." "Have you ever heard of a female symphony orchestra?" "Picture 1 1 0 women with menstrual problems trying to play Rossini's Overture to The Thieving Magpie." "Lucky no one can hear you." "Women are crazy." "Just picture a carcass of a man, a rotten drunkard, fit for the grave." "Wonderful women will hover over this wreck of a man like big white birds." "His carcass stinks, he abuses them, but it makes no difference." "It's a combination of greedily sparkling eyes, rosy cheeks, and an air of martyrdom." "Some silly champion of women's rights, a progressive bishop, claimed that women have been tyrannized for so long that they accept being degraded." "Now that was extremely stupid." "Women snagged the best bit:" "the role of the martyr." "Now that they play it to perfection, they're not about to give it up." "They've achieved their objective - the collective guilt of men - which provides them with certain favors." " Would you like a blanket?" " Yes." "Did you order heating oil?" "Females in public office would be forced to share responsibilities." "They would lose their comfortable role as the underdog and have to give up their pet vices - rearing children and being oppressed." "What moving words." "I once heard this lady say," ""But don't we women have an aptitude for tenderness?"" "I was too polite to laugh, but I wanted to ask her," ""Don't you women have an aptitude for cruelty, vulgarity and ruthlessness?"" "By the way, I don't mean a word of this." "Cheers." "Remember when our parents almost threw us out because we joined the May Day parade?" "You were more zealous about politics." "And you accused me of neglecting our home." "That was the year we came down with the Asian flu." "We thought the future was bright." "It's nice to have faith in things." "And we had the pleasure of annoying our parents at the same time." "You were such a hothead back then." "Not as bad as your dad." "No, you were worse." "Pretty and hotheaded." "You were awfully attractive as a socialist." " Aren't I now?" " What?" " Awfully attractive?" " Of course." "But married couples aren't as hot for each other after a while." "That's not true in our case, though." "We're just too busy." "When evening rolls around, we're exhausted." "That wasn't meant as a reproach." "I swear." "We like each other in every way." "Not in that way." "Not very much, anyway." "Oh, yes, we do." "Our life is full of little evasions and restrictions." "I can't help the fact I don't enjoy it as much as I used to." "There's a perfectly natural explanation." "Don't lay this guilt on me." "Don't get so upset." "I think we have it nice." "Things are not as passionate as they once were, but we could be worse off." "Without a doubt." "Sex isn't everything, after all." "If you're not satisfied, go find yourself a mistress who's more imaginative and exciting." "I do my best, I assure you." "There we have it." " You've got that look again." " I haven't got any look." "That look and that tone of voice." "Instead of brooding,just spit it out." "You'll just lose your temper." "No, I'm listening -with an open mind." "Sometimes I wonder why we complicate this problem so awfully." "Making love is pretty basic." "It shouldn't be a huge, overshadowing issue." "It's your mother's fault, if you ask me, though you don't like my saying so." " What a superficial analysis." " Don't be a sourpuss." "I'm being nice." "You think it's my fault we don't enjoy it anymore." " You just said you do your best." " I really do." "Can't you hear how preposterous that sounds?" "Are you calling me a liar?" "No, for Christ's sake." "Then I don't understand." "Let's drop this and go to bed." "It's late." "It's just like you to start a discussion to get me all riled up only to yawn and say it's bedtime." "You suffer from devastatingly high standards." "We've often joked and argued about it." "But can't our poor sex life be spared your ambitions?" "Why won't you cut me some slack?" "First you attack me for not trying and then for making the effort." "What a mess I've made." "Yes, you sure have." "It would be more helpful if you were kind." "There, there, sweetheart." "I shouldn't have brought it up." "It's possible to talk too much about these things, you know." "Yes, it is." "I know you should discuss everything and not keep secrets." "But in this case I think it's wrong." "I think you're right." "Some matters should be protected from prying eyes." "You think so?" "I'm sure of it." "We hurt each other for no reason, and the barbs are still there when we go to bed." "It's like lying on a bed of nails." "What are you laughing at?" "The bed of nails bit." " Go on and laugh, then." " Let's go to bed." "Only if you admit that you've been tactless." "I apologize." "Don't I give you enough affection?" "Affection takes time." "Then you don't get enough." "We don't get enough." "Or give enough." "That's why I wanted us to go away this summer." "Affection shouldn't be kept just for vacations." "You're nice... for a moron." "It's lucky I'm married to you, then." "You have moments of greatness, interspersed with sheer mediocrity." "I'm sure that's true." "At our age, tens of thousands of brain cells burn out every day, and they're never replaced." "Well, a fool like you must lose a million a day." "You're adorable, even if you do scold and fuss." "Right." "I'm nearly asleep anyway." "I'll just go check on the children." "Don't worry." "I'm practically asleep." " Aren't you going to set the alarm?" " I've got it in my hand." "If you like, you can make love to me." "Thanks for the offer, but I'm too tired." "Good night." "This was the second episode of Scenes From A Marriage called "The Art of Sweeping Things Under the Rug. "" "While you look at this footage of Faro, here are the credits." "The actors, Liv Ullman, Erland Josephson and Gunnel Lindblom." "Sven Nyqvist and his assistant Lars Karlsson manned the cameras." "Wardrobe, Inger Pehrsson." "Props, Gunilla Hagberg." "Makeup supervisor, Cecilia Drott." "Audio and mix, Owe Svensson and his assistant Arne Carlsson." "Editing, Siv Lundgren." "Script supervisor, Ulla Stattin." "Other contributors were Anders Bergkvist, Stefan Gustafsson," "Lars Hagberg, Adolf Karlstrom," "Kent Nystrom, Bo-Erik Olsson and Siri Werkelin." "Lars-Owe Carlberg was the production supervisor, and the lab was Film Teknik." "Nils Melander designed the lighting effects on Eastman Color film." "The series was produced on Faro by Cinematograph." "The year is 1973." "SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE" "Johan and Marianne have been happily married for ten years." "They lead a comfortable life with their two daughters." "One day Marianne declares that she wants to back out of Sunday dinner with the folks." "This spark of defiance is snuffed out." "Eva, a colleague, comes to seeJohan in the lab." "She has read Johan's poems, poems he has kept secret." "She pans his poems as kindly as possible, butJohan is devastated." "A woman, Mrs.Jacobi, comes to see Marianne." "She wants to file for divorce after 20 years of marriage." "She feels her marriage has been devoid oflove and that this has caused her emotions to atrophy." "Listening to her tale, Marianne feels inexplicably disturbed." "Marianne and Johan meet for lunch." "They try to reach out to each other but fail." "That evening they begin to discuss their deteriorating sex life." "However, confused and worried about the consequences, they decide to sweep matters under the rug instead." "Just look at this!" "What a mess!" "No, you clean it up yourselves." "Lights out in five minutes." "Good night." "It can't be!" "You're here already?" "I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow." "What a lovely surprise!" "Are you hungry?" "How sweet of you to get here sooner." "The girls are asleep." "We all went to bed early." "There was nothing on TV, so we turned in early." "The girls and I have been dieting today." "Would you like a sandwich?" "That sounds nice." "Or should I fry some ham and eggs?" "Or heat up some soup?" "Sandwiches and beer will be just fine." "By the way, Peter and Katarina are going to call you on Monday." "It's quite an ordeal they're going through." "Are they getting divorced?" "They don't seem to know what they want." "Is that so strange?" "I advised them to get separate lawyers, but they refused." "Listen, change into your pajamas and I'll bring a tray up to the bedroom." "Sounds good." "And here I was worried you might be angry with me." " Why should I be angry?" " I was nasty on the phone last night." "Oh, that." "That was nothing." "I called back, but you must have unplugged the phone." "I was pretty tired." "I'd spent the day with that zombie from the ministry." "It makes you wonder about the idiots in charge of our well-being." "I still think I behaved badly." "Let's drop it." "You never want to finish discussions, do you?" "But this won't take long, dear." "All I wanted to say was that you were right, but so was I." "If you don't want to wear a tuxedo, that's your business." "I agree." "But if I think you should get a new tux, then I have a right to say so." "I don't like tuxedos." "I hate wearing a tuxedo." "It's a ridiculous getup." "I feel like a dressed-up chimpanzee." "Yes, you told me that." "Let's not quarrel." "I love you, even if you won't wear a tux." "It's hardly essential to our marriage." " It sure seemed that way last night." " I told you I was wrong." "I'm getting hungry just watching you eat." "I can't help it - I've got to have a sandwich." "I'm so hungry, I'm dizzy." "I've lost almost five pounds this week." "Does it show?" " No." "I can feel a difference, though." "But it seems so pointless at times." "I mean, why should we deny ourselves the good things in life?" "Why can't we be fat and cheerful?" "Remember Aunt Miriam and Uncle David?" "They were big, fat and cheerful." "They slept in that creaky double bed of theirs, holding hands, content with each other, fat and happy." "Why can't we be like them?" "Brimming with contentment?" "What's the matter?" "Are you upset?" "Has something happened?" "What's wrong?" "Tell me." "I came here to tell you something." "I've gone and fallen in love." "It's absurd, and probably a big mistake." "Most probably a big mistake." "I met her at that convention in June." "She was the interpreter and secretary." "Actually, she's studying for her degree." "She's going to teach Slavic languages." "She's nothing much to look at." "You would probably think she's ugly." "I have no idea what this will lead to." "I have no idea about anything." "I'm utterly bewildered." "Of course, I'm happy in one way." "But I do feel damn guilty about you and the children." "We've always gotten along so well." "Things have been no better and no worse than for the average family." "Say something, for Christ's sake." "I don't know what to say." "You probably think it was wrong of me not to tell you sooner." "I didn't know how it would turn out." "I figured I'd get over it." "I didn't want to worry you." "It's funny." "What's funny?" "That I didn't notice anything." "I didn't suspect a thing." "Everything's been just like usual." "Better, in fact." "You've been so sweet." "I've been a silly, blind fool." "I didn't even notice." "Christ." "No, you never noticed." "But you've never been particularly observant." "Where do we go from here?" "I don't know." "Do you want a divorce?" "Are you going to marry her?" "Why tell me tonight of all times?" "What's the sudden rush?" "We're leaving for Paris tomorrow." "I want to get away." "At least for a while." "I was going this fall anyway, to see Grandin and his assistant." "Paula has this study grant and wants to use it this fall." "I want to be with her." "I can't make it without her." "So we're leaving tomorrow." "Now that I'm here, talking to you," "I feel like scrapping the whole thing." "I just feel frightened and tired." "Nothing could be more absurd or cliche." "I know just what you're thinking." "I have no excuse." "How can you know what I'm thinking?" "I'm trying not to feel guilty." "That would just be an act." "This is how it is, and nothing can be done about it." "Let's go to bed." "It's late." "I guess you'll be leaving early tomorrow." "I have an appointment at 9:00." "Then I suggest we go to bed." "Aren't you going to change?" " You have marks on your chest." " I know." "How tactless of you both." "Do you know if my gray suit is here or in town?" " It's at the dry cleaners." " What a nuisance." " Did you want to take it with you?" " Of course." "I have the receipt, if you'd like to pick it up." "I won't have time." "I'll be busy until 3:00." "And then we leave." "If you like, I could pick it up." "I'll do your packing, too." "You're not very good at it." "No, thank you." "Now you're being silly." "I'm quite conventional." "Besides the suit, I think you have everything you'll need." "There are clean shirts and underwear, so you can take those with you." "Why don't you travel in your jacket and flannels?" "They make you look youthful." " Whatever you say." "How long will you be gone?" "It all depends." "What do you mean?" "I've been granted a leave of absence for six months, and I'm bringing a month's worth of work with me." "So I guess I'll be away for at least seven or eight months." "I want to make a clean break." " And if I'm not here when " " I don't give a damn." "Do you know how long I've had this in mind?" "Not the affair with Paula, but how long I've wanted to leave?" "Don't say it." "I've wanted to be rid of you for four years." " No more." " You're right." "Words don't mean much." "What are you going to live on?" "I mean, during your leave of absence." "You'll have to pay child support." "Don't worry." "I'll manage." "You must have assets I'm not aware of." "Indeed I do." "How is that possible?" "Shut up and listen!" "Even though it's none of your damn business." "I've sold the boat and taken out a loan." "The bank will pay you and the girls 1 ,600 kronor a month." "We'll make other arrangements when I get back." "I suggest you ask one of your lawyer colleagues for advice." "I don't give a damn." "You can name your price!" "I'm not taking a thing, apart from my books, if that's all right with you." "I'll vanish." "I'll dematerialize." "I'll pay all I can to support you and the children." "My needs are minimal." "All that interests me is to end this." "Guess what I'm fed up with most of all." "All this harping about what we're expected to do and what we must take into consideration." ""What will your mother think?" "What will the children say?"" ""How shall we arrange the dinner party, and shouldn't we invite my father?"" ""We must go to the coast, to the mountains, to St. Moritz."" ""We must celebrate Christmas, Easter, birthdays, name days -"" "Every single goddamn occasion!" "I know I'm being unfair." "I know I'm way out of line." "I know we've had a good life together." "And I think I still love you." "In fact, I think I love you more now that I've met Paula." "Can you understand this bitterness?" "I can't think of a better word than bitterness." "No one can explain it to me, since I have no one to talk to, except Erik Bromeus, and he's an intellectual illiterate with little to offer beyond his money, though that does come in handy." "I don't understand any of this." "I don't understand this bitterness that just keeps on growing." "I don't understand." "How come you haven't said anything?" "How can you discuss what you can't find words for?" "How do you say that sex is boring even when, technically, everything's fine?" "I feel like hitting you, looking all prim while eating your breakfast." "And the girls acting all silly and pretentious." "Why have we turned them into spoiled brats?" "It's not your fault, Marianne." "Everything's gone down the tubes, and no one knows why." " I must have done something wrong." " Would you stop it?" "Blaming yourself is an easy way out!" "Lets you feel noble and humble." "Neither of us is to blame." "There's no point in wallowing in guilt." "Though God knows I feel so guilty I can barely breathe." "It's the luck of the draw." "A cruel fluke." "Why should we be exempt from humiliation and disaster?" "It's perfectly logical, so why cloud the issue?" " My poor darling " " I don't want your sympathy!" "All these words I'm spouting are just empty talk." "I don't imagine for one minute that I've touched on the truth about us." "I don't think there is such a thing as the truth." "No matter what we say or do, it will hurt." "Don't go." "That's impossible." " What if I beg?" " It's no use, and it's embarrassing." "Couldn't you postpone your trip for a month or two?" "I believe we can save our marriage." "We could make a fresh start." "Allow me that much." "Maybe Paula would understand me." "Maybe I should meet her and talk to her." "Let's face this together." "You're presenting me with a fait accompli." "You're putting me in a ridiculous and intolerable situation." "I know exactly what you mean." "What will our parents say?" "What will your sister think?" "What will our friends think?" "Lord, think of all the gossip!" "How will it affect the girls, and their friends' mothers?" "What about the dinner parties we're already scheduled to attend?" "And what will you tell Peter and Katarina?" "To hell with all that!" "It feels good to act like a cad." " That wasn't what I meant." " Then what did you mean?" "Nothing." "I forgot to set the alarm." "When do you need to leave?" "Please set it for 5:30." "I need to pack, and I have to be at work by 9:00." "I've been meaning to get a new alarm clock." "This one is so noisy." "And it's not very reliable, either." "There." "It's set for 5:30." "I'll wake up on my own anyway, so you don't have to worry." " Tell me about Paula." " For the love of" "What's the point?" " I want you to." "Why torment yourself?" "It's not self-torment." "I want to know what she's like." "It's much worse to try to picture someone you know nothing about." "Do you have a picture of her?" "Could we not do this?" "Please do it for me." "You asked for it." "Now, where did I put my wallet?" "I guess it's in my coat pocket." "Here are two pictures of her." "That one was taken two years ago, when she was on vacation." "The passport picture was taken two weeks ago." "It's a good likeness." "She has a lovely figure." "And lovely breasts." "Right?" "Yes, she has lovely breasts." " Does she dye her hair?" " It's possible." " What a nice smile." "How old is she?" " Twenty-three." "She hasn't been very lucky in love." "She's been engaged twice." "In that respect, I think she's made a muddle of her life with all kinds of men." "Does that bother you?" "It sure does." "Her frankness can be quite unpleasant." "I would prefer not to know anything, but she insists on giving me the details of her erotic past." "Which is trying, since I suffer from retrospective jealousy." "She has no illusions." "She says she has no great hopes for the two of us." "She's convinced I'll go back to you, that she doesn't have a chance against you." "Sometimes it sounds like lines from some old hackneyed melodrama." "She tries to protect herself from every kind of failure, a somehow rather touching trait." "There's something childlike about her, in spite of her intelligence and general competence." "She's insanely jealous, but then again, so am I." "She's terribly afraid of you, and I can understand that." "But she's also afraid of my secretary and of other women I associate with." "She's unsure of herself, but I do help her as much as I can." "It's all pretty strange and bewildering." "Are you good together in bed?" "Yes, we are, actually." "At first it was awful." "I wasn't used to it." "Being with other women, I mean." "I guess you and I have spoiled each other." "We took a trip together." "You went away together?" "I gave some lectures in Copenhagen in April, remember?" "Back in April " "We fought so much that they asked us to check out." "I told you I changed my hotel because the traffic was so noisy." "We ended up in a squalid place on a back street, and suddenly we clicked." "We made love around the clock." "It was better than anything she'd ever experienced before, she said... which was extremely flattering." "I know what you're thinking, and it's true." "Things between the two of us improved after Copenhagen, too." "Did you tell Paula that?" "I didn't dare." "I told her you and I had stopped sleeping together long ago." "I said I was impotent." "Since I had been impotent with her, I claimed it happened with you too." "The problem with Paula is that she's so damn intuitive." "Or maybe I'm just a lousy liar." "She can tell when I'm lying." "She can see straight through me." "But that'll probably do me good." "It keeps me on my toes." "I've always been so gullible." "Not just gullible." "You and I have taken refuge in a hermetically sealed existence." "Everything's been orderly, and it's all gone like clockwork." "But the lack of oxygen has smothered us." "And now your little Paula will revive you?" "I don't possess much self-knowledge, and I know very little about reality, in spite of all the books I've read." "But I believe that this catastrophe is the chance of a lifetime." "Has Paula filled your head with garbage like that?" "How naive can you get?" "This conversation can do without your taunts and sarcastic remarks." "You're right." "I'm sorry." "I'm trying." "I'm trying to be as honest as I can, and it's not exactly easy." "We've never talked like this before." "Is it any wonder we're naive, insecure and childish?" "What else could we expect?" "This affair with Paula is a disaster for you and me both." "I've tried to break free over and over again, but it's impossible." "She won't let me go." "And I'm obsessed with her somehow." "It sounds so damn melodramatic to say you're obsessed by anyone, but it's the only word that fits the bill." "At first I resisted, but now I've let everything go straight to hell." "And that suits me just fine." "You're in a tight spot." "I just don't know." "I don't know anything." "Come and lie beside me." "Please." "I want you to make love to me." "Please?" "For old times' sake." "Lie here in my arms." "We'll fall asleep together." "I don't think I can sleep." "The best thing would be to pack my things and leave." "Lie down and close your eyes." "You'll doze off." "We need rest." "Tomorrow will be a tough day." "I'm so goddamn ashamed of myself." "We'll talk about that later." "Right now it's just you and me." "We have a few hours left together." "Would you like to pack or have breakfast first?" "You decide." " Tea or coffee?" " Tea, please." "Could you help me with this fingernail?" "It's split." "Go over to the window." "Have you started biting your nails again?" "Have you seen my book of Speer's memoirs?" "I'm sure I put it on the nightstand." "I thought you were done, so I lent it to Mother." "Nice of you." "Christ!" "It's split, so I have to trim it down." "I'll put a bandage on it." "What do you do to your nails?" " That's fine, thank you." "Should I pack this shaver, or will you take the one from town?" "I've got to go to the apartment anyway, so leave this one and I'll grab the other." "Do you want the dry-cleaning receipt?" "Yes, I might make it after all." "Where is it located?" "In Storgatan, across from the church." "I know the one." "I don't want to bring these." "They'll come in handy in winter." "Which pajamas are you taking?" "Go make breakfast while I finish packing." " Does this bother you?" " Yes." "It seems indecent somehow." "I don't know why." " What are you staring at?" " Nothing." "What about your mail?" "I'll send you my address." "You can forward the important letters and pay the bills in the usual way." "The plumber was supposed to repair the bathroom in town." "Have you called him, or should I do it?" "I figured it might have slipped your mind." "Should I take care of it so we get it done?" "The guy is never in when I call." "I hadn't forgotten about it." "What about your car?" "Will you leave it in the garage?" "I've asked Paula's sister to take care of it." "No point letting it sit around, and she's just moved out of town." "I understand." "Could you please cancel my dentist's appointment?" "What are we going to do about your father's birthday dinner?" "Please call him and explain." "Would you, please?" "That's almost the worst part." "Maybe I could write him a letter?" "Do whatever you like." "Just don't forget." "Dealing with our parents will be rough." "What should I tell Miss Andersson?" "I don't give a damn what the cleaning lady thinks!" "Why are you so angry?" "She's been with us for ten years." "She's loyal and we can't do without her." "Well, I might as well tell you." "She caught me and Paula red-handed one morning." "I didn't know you had changed her day, and she walked in on us." "It was awfully embarrassing." "That was about a month ago." "My car had broken down and we'd had dinner at a restaurant nearby, and I figured it wouldn't matter if we spent the night there." "I asked the old girl to keep her mouth shut." "But she was nearly rabid with indignation and loyalty to you." "Then she made us breakfast and was her usual bossy self." "She treated Paula as if she was an innocent victim of my brutal lusts." "Why don't you say anything?" "What a relief that I won't have to tell Miss Andersson." "What is it, Marianne?" "Oh, it'll pass." " What should I tell the girls?" " Say whatever you like." "That you fell in love with someone else and walked out on us?" "That about covers it." "It also has the advantage of being true." "I don't expect them to understand." "I have to leave now to avoid traffic." "Good-bye, Marianne." "Take care." " Good-bye." " I might be back in a week." " If only you were!" "We'd make a fresh start." "We'd throw out our stale old routines." "We'd talk about the past." "Figure out where we went wrong." "You'd hear no accusations from me." "Johan... this all seems so unreal." "I don't know what to do." "You're shutting me out." "Any solution would be better than this." "Couldn't you promise to come back?" "That would tide me over." "Then you wouldn't be leaving me without hope." "Even if you have no intention of returning, you could say you do." "I have to go now." "Fredrik?" "It's me, Marianne." "Sorry to wake you." "Is Birgit there?" "No, let her sleep." "So, how are things?" "Oh, so you like quiet mornings on your own." "Well, I won't keep you." "It's cloudy here." "How nice for you." "Fredrik, there's something I need to talk to you about." "I really need to talk." "You and Birgit are our friends." "I have to " "It's all so unreal, Fredrik." "You see " "I'm about to burst into tears, but crying only makes things worse." "You see..." "Johan has fallen in love with another woman." "Her name is Paula, and they're leaving for Paris today." "Couldn't you talk to him and ask him to wait a bit?" "Tell him he shouldn't rush off like this." "What?" "You have talked to him?" "I see." "I see." "So, the two of you have known all along." "You knew, but you never told me?" "And you call yourselves friends?" "How could you be so goddamned disloyal to me?" "I don't care what you say!" "All those times we've gotten together, and neither of you said a word!" "Damn you!" "What kind of friends are you anyway?" "To hell with your reasons!" "How many others already know?" "I'd really like to know that!" "Lots of people." "I see." "That's good to know!" "This was the third episode of Scenes From A Marriage." "It was called "Paula. "" "And while you look at this footage of Faro, here are the credits." "The actors were Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson." "Sven Nyqvist and his assistant Lars Karlsson manned the cameras." "Wardrobe, Inger Pehrsson." "Props, Gunilla Hagberg." "Makeup supervisor, Cecilia Drott." "Audio and mix, Owe Svensson and his assistant Arne Carlsson." "Editing, Siv Lundgren." "Script supervisor, Ulla Stattin." "Other contributors were Anders Bergkvist, Stefan Gustafsson," "Lars Hagberg, Adolf Karlstrom," "Kent Nystrom, Bo-Erik Olsson and Siri Werkelin." "Lars-Owe Carlberg was the production supervisor, and the lab was Film Teknik." "Nils Melander designed the lighting effects on Eastman Color film." "The series was produced on Faro by Cinematograph." "The year is 1973." "SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE" "Johan and Marianne have been married for ten years." "Since they never quarreled, they both believed they were happy." "One day,Johan tells his wife he has met another woman and that their marriage is over." "When several years have passed, they plan to finalize their divorce." "One summer evening, they meet atJohan's office to sign the papers." "However, this task turns out to be easier said than done." "During the preceding year," "Marianne has succeeded in finding herself." "She feels assured ofherself and enjoys life once more, while the opposite applies forJohan." "His grand plans for the future have gone down the drain, and the authorities that fund his research have humiliated him." "He feels hostile, crushed and insecure." "He is still involved in a demanding and draining relationship with Paula." "Suddenly he balks at getting divorced." "This triggers a brawl between Johan and Marianne." "The brawl turns into an altercation that leaves them drained." "Long-suppressed aggressions surface, and the atmosphere is hostile when they sign the papers." "I N THE MI DDLE OF THE NIGHT I N A DARK HOUSE SOMEWHERE I N THE WORLD" " Hello, dear." " Hi, Mom." "I seem to have dozed off." "How's your foot?" "The pain is gone, but I feel a bit handicapped." "When can you go back to work?" "Not for another week." " Do you get any sleep at night?" "Just a little, but I mustn't complain." "Would you like some tea?" "Miss Alm brought out the tray 30 minutes ago, so I've already had mine." "Sorry I'm late." "I had a client I couldn't get rid of, and sometimes I must make time to listen." "Certainly." "I understand." " The tea's still nice and hot." " Would you like some toast?" " No, thank you." " How about some crackers?" "No, I'm on a diet." "How ridiculous." "I work out daily, and Henrik and I play tennis twice a week." "It's good for me." "By the way, there's something I'd like to know." "Are you coming to the interment of the ashes?" " What's the date?" " The 1 8th." "Let me see if I'm available." "Sorry, I can't make it." "I'll probably be in court all day." "Will it be in Uppsala?" "That was your father's wish." "Your brothers and sisters will be there." "Please, Mother." "The interment is merely a formality." "That's a matter of opinion." "Could we change the date?" "The others can make it." "And it's our wedding anniversary, but perhaps you've forgotten that." " Won't that be needlessly upsetting?" " Not for me." "In any case, I can't be there." "Well, then, that's that." "By the way, the girls send their love." "They plan to drop by tomorrow." "Now isn't that nice." "Eva and her boyfriend came to see me." "She was wearing a dress and was quite ladylike." "Her boyfriend looked nice too." "They stayed and talked for an hour." "Karin's more difficult." "She's the image of her grandfather." "Poor Dad." "I didn't mean to slight your father." "I didn't think you had." "I've thought quite a bit about our marriage." "I've had time to reflect on things, with my bad foot and all." "What conclusions have you reached?" "None at all, surprisingly enough." "What do you mean?" "We had a good life." "We had our disagreements, but we never quarreled." "We never stooped to insults." "We kept silent instead." "It was better that way." "The hostility would fade, and we'd forget our differences." "We never nursed grievances, Fredrik and I." "I miss him, but I don't really feel any more alone than when he was alive." " I'm sorry to hear that." " Why?" "Both of us were always busy, he with his pursuits, I with mine." "Mother." "May I ask you something?" "Ask whatever you like." "Please don't think I'm tactless." "I don't think you are." "How did the two of you get along in bed?" "Your father was more interested than I was." "What more would you like to know?" "He took what he wanted, and I never refused him." "I considered it my duty to be at his disposal." "He had other women as well." "What about you?" " Me?" " Did you have other men?" "During our engagement, I fell in love with another man and wanted to break things off." "But my parents told me not to do anything rash, and that was that." "Did you ever hate Dad?" "What do you mean, hate him?" "When you married, you entered a contract entirely in his favor." "Didn't you ever hate him for it?" "I liked him." "And we were as blind as kittens." "We had no idea what we were getting into." "That's not possible." "That's not what I meant." "What do you mean?" "I wonder how it would have been if we had confided in each other." "If we had spoken freely." "You didn't?" "No, our parents taught us a rule." ""Cope with your own problems."" "And you never regretted it?" "Not exactly regretted." "But I can't help thinking about our heroic silences." "It must have been hard on your dad." "He was such a lively person." "Much more vibrant than me." "Do you reproach yourself for it?" "I don't know." "But it's ghastly." "I guess ghastly is far too dramatic a word, but it's extraordinary that you can spend a life together without " "Without really touching?" "Yes, perhaps that's what I mean." "So now you think it's your fault?" "You mean I should be sitting here with a guilty conscience?" "Well, I'm not." "We did our best." "But then again " "It sounds stilted if you put it into words." "He's vanished into the darkness, taking his life along with him." "The funny thing is that he's taken my life as well." "I guess this is what's called facing the truth, isn't it?" "May I ask one more question?" "I guess I can't get out of it." "Why were you so angry with me when Johan and I divorced?" "He was the one who walked out on me." "I wasn't angry." "I was sad." " You criticized me so." " I did?" "I thought you might side with me." "You could have helped me out, but you didn't." "Why was that?" "It was the other way around." "I know I told your father that we shouldn't interfere, and that we should behave as usual." "Your dad was furious, not me." "It just goes to show " "Heavens, I have to run." "Do you really have to?" "I'll be here on Monday around 5:00." "Then we can have dinner." "I'm afraid I have dinner plans." "But I can stay until 6:30." "Can't you bring your dress so you can get ready here?" "We'll see." "It was so nice talking with each other." "Let's do it more often, Mother." "Pop into the kitchen and say hello to Miss Alm, or she'll be upset." "Oh, my goodness." "I will." "Good-bye, Mother." "Give my love to Henrik and the children." "Henrik's away and won't be back until Monday." "Bye, dear." "Come in." "Hi." "Am I disturbing you?" "Please do." "What are you and your wife doing this evening?" "We're busy." "What a pity." "I'm throwing a little party at my place." "You're welcome to drop in for a while." "There'll be seven or eight guests." "I'm sorry, it's impossible." " Well, have a nice weekend." " Likewise." "Couldn't we get together sometime?" "I'm too busy." " Are you tired of me?" " Come now, Eva." "Just tell me if you want out, instead of making excuses." "Fine." "It's over between us." "Well, isn't that dandy?" "I had to pry it out of you." "I didn't want to hurt you." "Oh, that's right." "I'm sorry, but I really have to finish this damned report." "Why of course, my dear." "I won't disturb you." "Well, thanks for everything." "You were an awfully sweet lover." "Even if you're a tad absent-minded." " Thank you." "You earn a high score yourself." "Is there someone else?" " To be honest, yes." " Who?" " I'm not telling." " Someone I know?" " Possibly." " I bet it's Lena..." "It is Lena." "It certainly isn't Lena." "Oh, well." "She's good-looking." "But isn't she too young and flighty for you?" "I'm telling you, it's not Lena." "I don't care anyway." "Bye, darling." "Bye-bye." "Yes?" " Hi there." " Hi." " Have a nice weekend." " Likewise." "These long weekends with the family are a damn pain." "I heard you were assigned to a survey." "Should I congratulate you?" " I don't see why." " I suspected as much." "For the next two years I'll be out of the loop." " What a bore." " Anyway, the survey's idiotic." "When it's finished in two years, it will be completely worthless." "It's nothing more than a political smoke screen." "Get a load of this." "Why don't you ask to get out of it?" " I have." "Our supervisor is the biggest clown in the Swedish civil service." "Before we know it, he'll be a member of the government." "What did he say?" "He spoke in riddles that I had to interpret as best I could." "It wasn't all that encouraging." " Well, see you." " My newspaper." "Sorry." "Have you screwed Lena?" " Honestly, no." " But you have the hots for her?" " How about you?" " Well, yes." "I don't think I'd dare." "Have you given up?" "Call it what you like." "Well, I keep in shape." "Exercise, tennis, swimming." "I watch my weight, too." "Just in case things get up close and personal." "The bare facts, you know." "Bye!" "You're such a bastard!" "Not because you don't care for me, though." "It was fun while it lasted, and we both knew it wasn't for life." "But you're a jerk for not telling me that you'd had enough." "Do you know what's wrong with you?" "You're so fucking spoiled and stuck-up that everything bores you." "You'll be so bored, you'll fade away and blend into your bookcase." "You're cocky, smug and spoiled!" "You're lazy to the bone!" "You want everyone else to live for you." "Remember when you had that checkup and found out you'd shrunk an inch or so?" "Talk about the truth!" "Why don't you fight back?" "Raise hell?" "Why pretend to be humble when you're always so proud?" "This is so interesting " "You're so pompous, so spoiled that " "That what?" "I'm fond of you, silly man." "That's why I'm hard on you." "And I feel a bit sorry for you." " How kind." "Thank you." " You're welcome." "Let me know when you tire of Lena's firm young breasts and long for my flatter but more maternal charms." "It's not Lena." "Well, she's a great secretary." "And I'm sure she's very sweet." "But she's too young." "You'll get hurt." "I've told you, it's not Lena." " I've got my intuition." " Yes, you do." " I can tell you're deeply involved." " Maybe I am." "And it can't be anyone but Lena." "Good-bye." "Hi there." "Are you ready to go?" "Then I'll pick you up." "That's not a good idea?" "How about Karlaplan, over by Narvavagen?" "What do you say?" "I'll be there in two minutes." "Bye." "What fun this is!" "I went out to the summer cottage yesterday and turned on the heat, and I cleaned and stocked up on food." "Just like old times." "When was I there last?" "Seven years ago." " What about you?" " I don't spend much time there." "Henrik's not fond of the seaside." "The girls and I go out there occasionally, but they have their own lives nowadays." "How's your husband?" "Overworked." "He suffers from high blood pressure." "How's your wife?" "She's in Italy for a rest cure." "Isn't it amazing they're both abroad at the same time?" "It's practically indecent." "That's what's so nice." "The place hasn't changed much." "It's a bit dilapidated." "It needs fixing up, but we can't afford it." "Put the car away or Erik will see it and come over." "Imagine the gossip if he saw you." " I will, dear." "Aren't you going to do it now?" "I'll do it later." "This does feel kind of strange." "Why don't we lie down on the bed?" "Come on." "This is silly... but I'm as nervous as if it were the first time." "But it's not." "Come on." "It's been nearly a year now." "It was the day before my birthday." "And today's August 28." "You seduced me." "I did." " Did you ever go see the last act?" " No." "We must have looked funny sneaking out of the theater." " What made you decide to do it?" " I don't know." "The second I entered the theater, I saw you sitting there all alone." "You looked so lonely." "It seemed natural to pounce on you." "I was terribly pleased." "So was I." "You said, "Let's go."" "And you blushed." "No wonder." "I had such a hard-on." "You got me pretty hot too." "We hadn't seen each other for two whole years." "That's right." "Two years." "And now it's our first anniversary." "No." "What do you mean?" "It's not our first anniversary." "It's our 20th." "We got married 20 years ago." "That's right." "Twenty years." "An entire lifetime." "We've spent a whole grown-up life together." "Isn't that strange?" "My darling... my sweetheart." "It feels strange to be in this wretched old bed together." "Our hotel rooms were better." "More anonymous." "It was wrong of us to come here." "We should have gone to Denmark." "There wasn't time." "This is fine." "It isn't fine at all." "I know -we'll call Fredrik." "He has a cottage nearby." "How will we get in?" " I expect a neighbor has a key." " This'll never work." "There's no harm in trying." "Fredrik?" "Johan here." "How are you?" "I've never been better." "Listen, this is a delicate matter." "Are you alone?" "Could I possibly borrow your cottage for the weekend?" "Exactly, but it's not what you think." "Very pretty." "Young?" "Almost too young." "It's a sticky situation." "Thanks!" "That's great." "I owe you one." "Don't say a word to Birgit." "Women don't understand things like this." "Right then." "The key's under the stone step." "Fine." "Yes, blonde." "With a fabulous figure." "I'll call you." "I really appreciate this." "Thanks." "Give my love to Birgit." "No, better scratch that." "Bye." " Here it is." " Nice place." "Here's the stone step." "It must be here." " Let's clean up." " Yes, let's." "What's wrong?" "Are you crying?" "You're so touching." "I'm being silly." "Touching?" "Well, I'll be damned." "It's the truth." "My dear, beloved Johan." "You've grown so small." " You think I've shrunk too?" "You're better this way." "Soft and gentle." "You used to look so tense and guarded." "You don't say." "Are people mean to you?" "I don't know." "I've stopped being on the defensive." "Someone said I'd gone slack and gave in too easily." "It's not true." "But I've accepted my true dimensions with a certain sense of humility." "It makes me kind..." "and a bit mournful." "You had such great expectations." "No, you're wrong." "Those were my family's expectations." "I really wanted to live up to them, though." "So I tried to fulfill other people's expectations." "When I was little, I had modest aspirations for the future." " What did you want to do?" " Haven't I told you?" " You might have, but I've forgotten." " It happens." "My poor knees." "You're getting old." "So tell me." "You might remember that I had this old uncle." "He had a shop that sold toys and stationery." "I often went to visit him, since I was a sickly child and needed quiet surroundings and fresh air." "Sometimes I got to help my aunt and uncle out in the shop." "I loved it." "My dream was to have a shop like that." "There you have my ambitions." "We should have had a little shop." "How content we would have been." "We'd have grown fat and comfortable, had a lot of kids, slept well at night, and been respected, and we never would have quarreled." "It's strange talking about everything that never came to pass." "You wouldn't have liked living in a small town." "No, probably not." "My dream was to fight for oppressed people." "There were no limits to my ambition." "And I ended up being a divorce lawyer." "Let's clean this place up." "Cheers." "Do you think people who live together can ever be completely honest?" " We couldn't." " Is it even necessary?" "Do you mean if we had always told the truth and never kept any secrets?" "Were we even aware that we kept secrets?" "Of course we lied." "I did, anyway." "You did?" "At the beginning of our marriage, I was unfaithful to you." " Really?" " Does that come as a shock?" "I don't know." "Yes, I think so." "It was nothing serious." "I felt crushed by the demands of marriage and motherhood, so I jumped ship for a while." "I'll be damned." "If you wonder about my conscience, it never said a word." "Well, what do you know." "And if we'd told the truth?" "If I had told the truth back in the spring of 1 95 5, it would have smashed our marriage to smithereens." "I would have broken from my parents, sold our daughters and killed you." "Although, in fact, I loved you." "Do you apply this experience in your new marriage as well?" "Why, of course." "I lie all the time." " So do I." " There, you see?" "Does it bother you?" "Sure." "But what can I do?" "Does it bother you?" "I don't know." "My wife Anna isn't interested in those problems." "She has tailored our relationship to our mutual convenience." "Do you love your wife?" "The question all women ask." "I enjoy having breakfast with her." "And she likes taking care of you." "She says she's fond of me and feels safe with me." "I'm the one she wants, amazingly enough." "It sounds like you've been lucky." "Would I be cheating on her with you if that were the case?" "Maybe you love us both." "You wanted to know how things are with my husband?" "Getting married was a big mistake." "We looked on it as a joke." "When did you meet?" "A few years ago." "To be frank, it was a sexual affair." "I see." "Henrik is very- how should I put this?" " convincing in that respect." "He truly enjoys sex." "And he made me realize that I felt the same way." "I wasn't all that keen on it before." "So I remember." " You don't like this subject, do you?" " No, I don't." "But it can't be helped." "I was obsessed by this new sensation." "I felt insatiable." "How nice." "For you, I mean." "I became very attached to Henrik, and he was pretty fond of me." "But it wasn't long before I caught him with other women." "What do you know." "I was hurt and humiliated." "Even jealous." "Jealous, you?" " Can you imagine?" "There was this violent scene, and I told him to go to hell." " Well, did he?" " Yes." "He did." "He said I was too histrionic, and then he left." "Later I begged him to come back." "Then we took a trip and got married." "Since then, we've had our ups and downs." "Mostly downs." " I'd like to ask you something." " I know what it is." "You once said I used sex to get even." "I tried that with Henrik, but he didn't pay the slightest attention." "He said my antics bored him, and he would go shower affection on some other woman." "So much for getting revenge." "I stopped acting like that." "I've broken the pattern." "We get along just fine nowadays, don't we?" "Yes, of course." "Johan, you look so thoughtful." "I was just thinking how everything's fine, that's all." "Fantastic." "Couldn't be better." "Only I can't take it!" "I knew you didn't want to hear the truth." "Do you really think I care about your orgasms with that workaholic?" "I applaud your emancipation." "Most impressive." "You should write a novel." "The Women's Lib movement would rejoice." "I hope you're not as stupid as you sound." "I don't give a damn!" "Suddenly it matters terribly." "No, not really." "It's just a taste of the marvelous things life has to offer." "Think of the awareness we've gained." "It's magnificent." "Almost fantastic." "We've discovered ourselves." "It's unbelievable." "One faces up to his insignificance, the other, to her greatness." "Here we are, bad-mouthing our spouses." "They're almost right here in this room with us." "It's mental group sex to the max!" "It's like a textbook on life." "It's fabulously clever, but I can't stand it." "I know what you mean, but I don't find it terrible." "I can't abide this cold light directed on my every endeavor." "How I battle with futility." "I console myself with the thought that life is what you make of it." "But it's of no comfort." "I want something to long for." "I don't feel the same way." "I realize that." "I persevere." "I enjoy myself." "I rely on common sense and my gut feeling." "They work in tandem." "I'm content with my direction." "Time has given me a third partner:" "experience." "You should be a politician." " Maybe you're right." " Good Lord." "I like people." "I enjoy negotiation, prudence, compromise." "Rehearsing your campaign speech?" "Am I so impossible?" "Only when you preach." "I won't say another word." "Promise me:" "no more intimate truths tonight." "I promise." "Promise me you won't mention that orgasmic athlete again." "Not a word." "Promise to rein in your awful levelheadedness." "That will be difficult, but I'll try." "Could you possibly" "I say possibly- use your boundless feminine powers sparingly?" "I see that I'll have to." "All right, then." "Let's go to bed." "What is it?" "There, there." "Come, sit here beside me." "There, there." "What brings on nightmares?" "What do you think causes them?" " Maybe it's something you ate." " You think so?" "Unless there's something in your well-ordered world you can't get at." "Hold me." "I'm shivering, even though I'm hot." "I might be coming down with something." "The girls have been sick." "You'll feel better soon." "Pull the covers up." "That's nice." " What were you dreaming about?" "We were crossing a dangerous road." "I wanted you and the girls to hold on to me." "But my hands were missing." "All I had left were stumps." "I'm sliding around in soft sand." "I can't get a hold of you." "You're all up there on the road, and I can't reach you." "What a horrible dream." "Johan?" " Yes, my dear." " Are we living in utter confusion?" " You and I?" " No, all of us." " What do you mean?" "I'm talking about fear, uncertainty and ignorance." "Do you think that secretly we're afraid we're slipping downhill and don't know what to do?" "Yes, I think so." "Is it too late?" "Yes." "But we shouldn't say things like that." "Only think them." "Have we missed something important?" " All of us?" " No, you and I." "What would that be?" "At times I can read your mind, and I feel such tenderness that I forget myself." "Without having to efface myself." "It's a new sensation." "Do you understand?" "I understand." "Sometimes it grieves me that I've never loved anyone." "I don't think I've ever been loved either." "That distresses me." "Now you're being dramatic." " Am I?" " I know what I feel." "I love you in my selfish way." "And I think you love me in your fussy, pestering way." "We love each other in an earthly and imperfect way." "But you're so demanding." "I am." "But here I am, in the middle of the night, without much fanfare, in a dark house somewhere in the world," "sitting with my arms around you." "And your arms are around me." "I'm not the most compassionate of men." "No, you're not." "I don't seem to have the imagination for it." "No, you're rather unimaginative." "I don't know what my love looks like, and I can't describe it." "Most of the time I can't feel it." "And you really think I love you too?" "Yes, I do." "But if we harp on it, our love will evaporate." "Let's sit like this all night." "Oh, no, let's not." "No?" "One leg's gone to sleep, my left arm's practically dislocated," "I'm sleepy, and my back's cold." "Then let's snuggle down." "Yes, let's." "Good night, my darling." "It was good talking to you." "Sleep well." "Thanks." "Same to you." "This was the final episode of Scenes From A Marriage, called "In The Middle Of The Night in a Dark House Somewhere in the World. "" "And while you look at this footage of Faro, here are the credits." "The actors were Liv Ullman, Erland Josephson," "Gunnel Lindblom, Wenche Foss and Bertil Norstrom." "Sven Nyqvist and his assistant Lars Karlsson manned the cameras." "Wardrobe, Inger Pehrsson." "Props, Gunilla Hagberg." "Makeup supervisor, Cecilia Drott." "Audio and mix, Owe Svensson and his assistant Arne Carlsson." "Editing, Siv Lundgren." "Script supervisor, Ulla Stattin." "Other contributors were Anders Bergkvist, Stefan Gustafsson," "Lars Hagberg, Adolf Karlstrom," "Kent Nystrom, Bo-Erik Olsson and Siri Werkelin." "Lars-Owe Carlberg was the production supervisor, and the lab was Film Teknik." "Nils Melander designed the lighting effects on Eastman Color film." "The series was produced on Faro by Cinematograph." "The year is 1973." "SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE" "Johan and Marianne have been happily married for ten years." "They had a good life surrounded by family and friends." "One day, like a bolt from the blue," "Johan tells his wife he has fallen in love with Paula, that he plans to go abroad with her for eight months, and that their marriage is over." "Since then, a year has passed and Marianne has recovered a little." "One day,Johan calls her." "She asks him over for dinner." "They both act a bit reserved when they meet." "After a while, Johan begins to tell Marianne about a job he's been offered in the States," "an offer he feels honored to receive." "It's also an excellent opportunity to get rid of Paula, who is too histrionic and demanding." "Marianne tries to tell Johan about her baby steps towards a new outlook on life, a more honest approach." "Both of them are apprehensive and vulnerable." "They decide to go to bed together." "However, they fail to achieve any real intimacy, and Johan leaves." "Once more, Marianne is left all alone." "THE I LLITERATES" "Come on in." "Sorry I'm late." "Dad called right when I was leaving, and he went on and on even though I told him I was busy." "So how are you doing?" " I have a cold." " You look pretty sick." "It started with a sore throat I thought would pass and progressed into a sneezy chest cold that keeps me coughing all night long." "I'm running a temperature, too." "I wanted to postpone this meeting, but since you're going abroad," "I guess we'd better file these papers before you leave, right?" "PoorJohan." "I hope Paula takes good care of you." "She's come down with a stomach flu." "It's all terribly romantic." "You'll pull through." " You're certainly in a good mood." " Maybe I am." " Any special reason?" " I'm always excited before a trip." "And it's spring, and I bought a new skirt." "What do you think?" "Isn't it nice?" "Though the light in here doesn't do the color justice." "What do you think?" " It's nice." "I'm glad we could meet here at your office." "Saves us some time." "It's not exactly cozy." "But it's fine for divorce matters." "Look at this." "Here's the agreement, word for word as we decided." " Then I don't need to read it." " Never sign what you haven't read." "Don't look so grumpy." " I'm not grumpy." "You're as grumpy as can be." "Here's a list of our common property and its distribution." "It's just a list." "It doesn't require a signature." "You get Granny's clock?" "That must be a mistake." "Your grandmother gave it to me." "We've already discussed this." "I don't recall discussing Granny's clock." "If you're so attached to it, keep it, but it happens to be mine." "You're always right, aren't you?" "Take the clock." "I'm not going to squabble over trifles." "Make sure I haven't fleeced you out of anything else." "Your sarcasm is wasted on me." "I have such a miserable cold." "How about a glass of fine old brandy?" "Sounds good." "Egerman gave me a bottle." "Some grateful Parisian colleagues gave him a whole case." "Cheers." "Not bad, huh?" "I like it." "I don't care for brandy as a rule, but this is very nice." "I feel better already." " It's hard." " What's hard?" " Getting divorced." " It's just paperwork." "I still think it's hard." "We've been living apart for ages, we rarely see each other, we've both agreed to it, but I still feel guilty." "It's strange." "It's strange." "So it is." "On my way over, I was in a good mood." "I was determined not to cry or be affected by it all." "You said you felt guilty." "Let's go sit over on the couch instead." "And put the lights out." "The glare is ghastly." "How can you work in such a bleak room?" "The couch isn't comfortable either." "It's fine if you put your feet up." " More brandy?" " Yes, please." " Comfy?" " Yes." "Is this building empty tonight?" " There's a night watchman." " How nice." "What's nice about it?" "I don't know." "It's just nice, that's all." "Nothing's nice when you're sick." "Stop feeling sorry for yourself." "It's not like it's terminal." "This gets better and better." "You really are in a good mood." "Yes, I am." "To be honest, I'm in love." "With that David person?" " No, that's over." " Really?" "Don't worry about that." "Give me a kiss." "I've got a cold." "I never catch your germs, so give me a kiss." "I want you to." "Was it what you expected?" "Much better." "Now put your hand on my breast." " Are you seducing me?" " That's right." "Right here on the carpet, right now." "Doesn't that sound like fun?" "You look suspicious." "Afraid of the night watchman?" "After all, we're still married." "Come lie on top of me." "People should make love on the floor more often." "Lock the door." " No one will walk in on us." "You never know." "I'm kind of a prude." "Lock the door." "Just in case the watchman comes." " Right." "Hurry up." "He might be eavesdropping." " No, it's time for his rounds." "Is it wise to take your slacks off with a cold like that?" " You can keep me warm." " So you don't freeze your thing off." "Poor baby, you're so miserable." "Kiss me." "I enjoy being kissed by you." "Close your eyes or I'll feel self-conscious." "Now put your hands on my hips." "Good." "That's nice." "What if the watchman walked in now?" "He could join us." "We're liberated." "Let's stay here all night... and just drink and make love." "We'll file our divorce papers tomorrow." " A penny for your thoughts." " My thoughts?" "Wouldn't you like to know." " Are you hungry?" " Always." "What about some steak tartare and beer?" "You shouldn't be taking me out." "I'm in Uppsala with my students." "Poor Paula." "In that case, I'd love to have dinner with you." "Where's the bathroom?" "Down the hall and to the left." "Let's sign these papers and go out and celebrate." "Pay tribute to a long and happy marriage." "I think I'll take them home and study them in peace and quiet." "Why the about-face now after all our talks?" "You told me yourself I should read them." "Then by all means, let's read through the whole thing." "Make sure I haven't cheated you." "Why are you so upset?" "I'm not." "Let's start reading." "You look pissed off to me." "I am, but I'll control myself." "Like I always do when subjected to your whims." "Let's get off this tedious subject." "It's late, and tomorrow's a working day." " Don't you want to have dinner?" " No, thank you." "I'm grateful for the favors already bestowed upon me." " Talk about whims." " Now look here,Johan!" "It's pointless even trying to discuss this now." "Let's stuff these into an envelope." "Then you can take them home, and you and Paula can pore over the wording to make sure I haven't screwed you over." " What's going on?" " Nothing." " We were good friends a minute ago." " Right." "By the way, don't forget Eva's birthday." "Do I usually forget the children's birthdays?" "No, because I always remind you." "Could you pay for her trip to France?" "I can't afford it." " How much is it?" " Two thousand kronor." "Are you out of your mind?" "Out of the question!" "Ask your mother to foot the bill." "I've borrowed too much from her as it is." "Well, I can't afford it." "I just paid Karin's orthodontist." " Doesn't she have free dental care?" " She refuses to go to that clinic." "Eva will have to cancel her trip." "I don't have any money." "It won't do her harm to learn she can't have everything." "She's too goddamn spoiled." "And she has no manners." "Last week she visited my mother and her behavior was appalling." "Your mother told you that?" "Well, Eva's at a difficult age." "You'll have to discipline them." "Don't let the girls rule the roost." "What kind of talk is that?" "They trust me." "We talk about everything, and for that I'm grateful." "I could care less about petty details like manners." "Tell her I can't afford the trip." "Tell her yourself." "Why?" "You have custody." "All I do is fork out huge sums in child support, which I'm taxed on, leaving me high and dry." "Why do I have to take on more idiotic expenses?" "There's nothing to that effect in these papers, is there?" "It's not the kids' fault we're worse off because you ran off with another woman." "I never expected that remark from you." "Sorry." "It was a stupid thing to say." "I guess I'll have to speak to our daughter." "The problem is, we don't communicate." "When she comes to visit, she just reads comic books or sprawls in the best easy chair and watches TV." "She talks in monosyllables as if she was a moron." "Paula can't get a word out of her." "The only thing that elicits a response is money or a ticket to the movies." "But she'll chat for hours on the phone with her friends." "I don't feel much paternal affection." "You sound ridiculous when you talk about the children that way." "Ridiculous and childish." "Well, I'm not amused." "I accidentally brought them into the world, and I've paid a small fortune to raise them." "I've reached my limit." "I refuse to play at being father." "I reserve the right to dislike them as much as they dislike me." "Why are you silent?" "Are you mad?" " I was just thinking." " Thinking?" "You used to be different." "Your attitude towards the girls, I mean." "Do you remember?" "You were so pleased when my stomach grew big, and so eager for Eva to have a baby brother or sister." "Do you remember how involved you were?" "How you helped me care for them?" "We did everything together." "The nanny Mother hired finally gave notice out of sheer desperation." "You spent all your time with the girls." "You read to them and played with them." "You were so gentle and patient." "Much more patient than I was." "Do you remember how worried you were over every little illness?" "You dealt with them better than I did." "And they loved you." "You remember our Saturday nights together?" "What happened?" "Where did we go wrong?" "When did the children grow indifferent towards you?" "When did you grow indifferent towards them?" "Where did all that love go?" "And all that joy." "No use crying over spilt milk." "Children grow up, relationships are broken off, love runs out." "And so does affection, friendship and closeness." "That's the way it is." "You and I were born with silver spoons in our mouths." "We've squandered our resources, leaving us poor, bitter and angry." "However trite, it's the truth." "We're emotional illiterates." "We've been taught about anatomy and farming methods in Africa." "We've learned mathematical formulas by heart." "But we haven't been taught a thing about our souls." "We're tremendously ignorant about what makes people tick." "That signals the end of my lecture." "I had nothing more to say anyway." "How about some more brandy?" "Then we can decide about dinner." "I don't agree with you, but no matter." "By the way, that job in the US went down the tubes." "Not that it matters." " That's a shame!" "Well, I was pretty disappointed." "There was the usual wheeling and dealing." "First things were postponed, then there was no money, and then they sent someone else." "That's life." "Cheers!" "When was this?" "Back in May." "I had to request a new leave of absence." "Then Oberg suggested I apply directly to the chancellor, and they informed me Akerman was going instead" "Granted, he's done more research lately, but there's something's fishy nonetheless." "PoorJohan." "I'm sorry." "I don't understand their mind-set." "A few weeks ago we were supposed to go to a conference in Oslo, and suddenly the department tells us we're not allowed to go." "That there isn't any money, and that we need to get to work." "That's no way to talk to us, damn it!" "It's not like we're kids playing hooky." "That's the way they treat you nowadays." "Like you're worth nothing." "People like me have become inconvenient." "Our politics are all wrong too." "Not progressive." "Not to the left of left." "I'm overage, out of the race " "I could die laughing." "I'll be 45 this summer." "I can expect to live another 30 years." "Viewed objectively, I'm dead weight." "I'll spend the next 20 years being a damn nuisance." "I'm an expensive, unproductive unit that ought to be eliminated." "And I'm supposed to be in my prime, brimming with experience." "But it's, "Throw the loser out." "Let him rot!"" "I'm so goddamn tired." "If I had the courage, I'd pack it all in and move to the country." "Or apply for a position as a teacher in a small town." "Sometimes I wish I could " "Well, that's my story." "Paula has a very ambivalent attitude toward the situation." "Sometimes she says she loves me come what may, and at other times she calls me a useless parasite." "Sometimes she just packs her bags." "I don't know which alternative would be the most satisfying." "By the way..." "I think she's cheating on me." "Not that I care." "My jealousy has passed." "Actually, everything has passed." "I hardly know who I am." "Someone spat on me and now I'm drowning in the spittle." "Am I boring you?" " It's funny." " What's funny?" "I wanted to have sex with you today to see if I felt anything." "All I felt was lukewarm affection." "You know what?" "I think I'm breaking free at last." "It's taken a long time and it's been very painful, but I'm free of you now to start living my own life, and that feels absolutely wonderful." "Allow me to congratulate you." "I don't know why I told you." "It's callous of me to say it when you're having such a rough time." "But oddly enough, I don't care." "I've taken your feelings into account far too often." "Being considerate killed our love." "If I hadn't let myself get sidetracked by guilt," "I'd have known everything we did was wrong." "Remember after Karin was born?" "When sex became impossible?" "How we put the blame on my two pregnancies." "We concocted so many reasons why making love gave us no pleasure." "Warning lights were flashing all around us, but we ignored them." "These postmortems are so pointless." "Your idiotic sarcasm drives me crazy!" "What gives you the right to tell me what to think and feel?" "Lord, how I hate you." "I used to think that quite often." ""Lord, how I hate her."" "Especially when we made love and I felt your indifference." "And when I saw you naked at the bidet afterwards, washing out the nasty stuff I'd deposited inside you." "I'd think, "I hate her body, the way she moves."" "I should have beaten you." "I wanted to smash that hard white resistance that emanated from you." "But we chatted away and talked about how well we got along." "Tell me, why do I enjoy sex now?" "I do everything he asks." "Just you wait." "When you're married to him, everything will repeat itself." "Just you wait and see." "Your behavior's deeply rooted." "Then you'll look for a new lover to free you from your loathing." "You're wrong." "There is such a thing as simple affection." "To say nothing of sensuousness." "And physical desire." "In your case, that's all blocked." "Do you really think I wasn't miserable too?" "I'd think, "Is this how it's supposed to be?"" "We'd console ourselves with the thought that sex wasn't everything, that in other respects we were happy." "Talk about deluding ourselves." "You're forgetting certain unpleasant details." "Be so kind as to refresh my memory." "You know what you did?" "You cashed in on your sex organs." "They were a bargaining chip." "A night of sex for a night of peace." "Good behavior earned me a lay." "Bad behavior or criticism made you withdraw." "It was grotesque the way you carried on." "You were worse than any whore!" " You would never face the truth!" " What goddamned truth?" "Some sort of female truth, or your truth?" "You're completely out of your mind!" "Am I supposed to be a doormat?" "Am I a substitute for your mother?" "All that carping about how I neglected our home!" " That's not true!" " Yes, it is." "That's all I ever heard!" "You piled the guilt on, you and your parents!" "I felt inadequate at work and at home, and I was a washout in bed too." "I was hedged in by all the griping and endless demands!" "Goddamn you!" "Was it so strange that I used sex for leverage?" "I was outnumbered, having to fight you, both sets of parents and society!" "When I think about what I endured, I could scream!" "I tell you this: never again!" "You sit there whining about conspiracies." "Well, it serves you right!" "I hope you'll have it rammed down your throat that you're a useless parasite." "You're being utterly grotesque!" "So what?" "That's what I've become!" "The difference between your grotesqueness and mine is that I won't give in!" "I intend to face reality the way it is." "If there's one thing I truly appreciate, it's being alive." "I enjoy overcoming difficulties." "I don't ask for any favors " "Great!" "Then we don't have to feel sorry for each other." "We can chuck our guilt out the window." "We're almost human." "It's a pity we ever met in the first place and decided to live together." "What a glorious fiasco." "The sooner we sign the papers, the better." "We'll divide our worldly goods and go our separate ways, thank you." "Do you think I don't know what you're thinking?" "You don't want a divorce!" "That's preposterous!" "Is it?" "Then prove it by signing the papers right now!" "All right, I will." "Johan, be honest now." "Look at me!" "You've changed your mind." "You don't want a divorce, do you?" "You were going to tell me today, right?" "Would that be such a crime?" "You want to hear me admit that I give up?" "Well, I do!" "I'm sick of Paula!" "I want to come home!" "Don't look at me like that." "I'm a failure." "I'm going downhill." "I'm scared and I have no home." "This isn't the right time to ask you to resume our marriage." "If you think pity will help " "You asked me, and I'm giving you a straight answer." "I was tied to you more profoundly than I realized." "I needed our home and family... and a regular life to lead." "I'm tired of being alone." " Alone?" "Loneliness with Paula is worse than being all alone." "I can't stand either." "I can't talk about this." "Now you know everything." "I wonder how it would turn out." "I know it would be better than ever." "We would be more earnest." "Don't you think so?" "Don't you think so, Marianne?" "After a week or so, we'd slip back into our old patterns." "The same old complaints, the same old aggression." "All our good intentions would be forgotten." "We wouldn't have learned a thing." "Everything would be the same or worse." "It would be a mistake." "How can you be so sure?" "How many times do I have to repeat that all I feel for you is simple pity?" "I don't want you to beg me." "I'm not certain I could cope." "Nothing could be worse than that." "Couldn't we give it a try?" "Have you forgotten how I begged you to come back?" "Have you forgotten how I groveled and wept and pleaded?" "I even turned to religion for a while and prayed to get you back." "Have you forgotten the occasions we met, and all your half-truths and evasions" "that merely showed your complete indifference to me?" "I didn't know any better back then." "You can't reproach me for that now." "Reproach?" "Now there's a fantastic word!" "You know what I think?" "I think you are foolishly naive." "Do you think I've made it this far, started a new life, for which I'm thankful every day, only to ditch it and save you from your pitiful self?" "If I didn't think you were so deplorable, I'd laugh at you!" "When I think of how you've treated me, I feel sick with fury!" "Go on, glare as much as you like." "I'm immune to it." "If you only knew how many times I've dreamed that I've killed you, stabbed you, murdered you, beaten you to death." "If you only knew what a goddamn relief it is to finally say this to your face!" "You know, you're beautiful when you get angry." "That's nice to know." "You, on the other hand, look silly." "And you have lipstick on your cheek." "If I understand you correctly, you'd prefer to see the divorce through." "That's exactly how I'd like to sum up what I've already said." " Some more brandy?" " Yes, please." "Heavens, we've almost polished off the entire bottle!" "No wonder I feel so emancipated and cocky." " How do you feel?" " Fine, thanks." "Feels like my cold is gone." "I haven't coughed in a while." " Let's be sensible." " So you weren't being sensible?" "No, it wasn't sensible, but it was wise and reasonable, which you should comprehend." "I'm trying my best to comprehend." "If I may say something sensible and reasonable, you should be glad I've finally been able to break free." "That I want to live my own life." "You should follow my example." "Free yourself from the past, and then make a fresh start on different terms." "This moment is your opportunity." "I'd like you to answer a question." "Now you sound all pathetic again." "What's the point?" "Why make a fresh start?" "I have no such desire." "What do you mean?" "I've told you this several times now, but you just won't listen." "I don't want to start over." "I have no curiosity about what lies ahead." "That's your depression talking." "You're looking for sympathy." "You hit the nail on the head." "When I think of who I used to be, that person is like a stranger." "When we made love earlier, it was like sleeping with a stranger." "Isn't that funny?" "To be honest, it was rather exciting." "Perhaps one day we'll be very good friends, and in time we'll learn to know each other as we really are, without those horrible " " Horrible what?" " Those horrible masks." "Masks?" "If only we could meet as the people we were meant to be, and not as people trying to play the parts others have assigned us." "That's impossible." "We start putting on those masks as infants." "No one ever really finds themselves." "That's not true." "I live a much more honest life now than I ever did." "And happier?" "All that talk about happiness is nonsense." "Happiness for me is enjoying a good meal." "I'm not like you." "Can't you see this situation frightens me?" "I feel so tempted to just tear up the divorce papers." "Time and again I think," ""Why should I be entitled to a life on my own?" "Do I actually believe I have a mission apart from you and the children?"" "I feel so tempted to make a fresh start with you." "I'm so much stronger and more independent now." "I could really be supportive now when you're having a rough time." "I feel such tenderness for you." "I must be out of my mind!" "I know we have to get a divorce." "I know it's the right thing." "It's terrible." "I understand..." "I think." "Listen, let's not talk about this anymore." "How about that supper?" "I think I'm too drunk." "Can't we sit here a while longer?" "If you don't make me sentimental." "We'll sit over here on the couch." "And I won't cry." "Don't say things that will make me cry." "Sit down." "How about going home?" " You mean my place?" " Of course I mean your place." " We can't." " Why not?" "Because there's a man there waiting for me." "And he'll be pretty upset that I've been out late, that I reek of brandy, and that the papers aren't signed." "Is he the jealous type?" "Not really." "But he knows about my masochistic tendencies." "Guess what he said as I was leaving." ""You and your husband will have sex, and you'll come home with a guilty conscience." "And the papers won't be signed, and you'll break up with me."" "Are you going to tell him we made love?" "No, I don't think I will." "I'm tired." "It's late, and we've been drinking." "I think we should take a brisk walk and go home to our respective mates." "You're amazing." "No, I'm just a health nut." "Come on, dear." " What about the papers?" "The papers." "When I came here, I was determined to go through with the divorce." "I'm not so sure anymore." " That's generous of you." " Not in the way you think." " How, then?" " I've been considering getting married." " Really?" "I'm not sure, but I think so." "My boyfriend suits me in every way, and the girls like him." "We get along well, and he's been through a divorce too." "When he suggested we get married, I felt tempted." "Tear up those papers,Johan." "Do whatever you like." "They're not really important." "It's all the same to me if I bear your name or someone else's." "What a sermon." " Shall we go?" " Damn it, I'll gladly sign the papers." " Do as you please." "I don't care." " Don't go." "It's late." "Could I call a cab?" "Dial zero for an outside line." "Please send a cab to Malmrosgatan 45." "Thank you." "Want a lift?" "You really shouldn't drive." "I'll stay here a while longer." "Please don't brood." " It's none of your business." " Come on." " I want you to stay." " I don't want to." "You're tired and drunk." "Let me go!" "I don't want you to go." " Don't be ridiculous." " Don't be ridiculous yourself." "We never behaved like this in our marriage." "Let's not start now." "Give me the key." "I don't give a damn what you say!" "Now I can see your well-ordered brain whirling away." ""What do I do now?" "Has he gone crazy?" "Is he going to hit me?"" "If you really want to know, I think you're a riot." "If I'm such a riot, why aren't you laughing?" "You look scared to me." "Let me cancel my cab " "What for?" "They only wait around for ten minutes or so." "Just take it easy." "This will take quite a while." "Fine." "So what do you want to say?" " Nothing." "I just want to look at you." "Go ahead." "I might have expected this from someone like you." "I constantly warn women in the process of a divorce against being alone with their aggrieved husbands." "I never thought it would happen to me." "Shut your mouth." "I'm not afraid." "I couldn't care less what you do." " Shut up!" " You're crazy!" "Give me the key." "I'll go wash off this blood." "I'm not letting you out." "You asshole!" "You bitch!" "I'll show you!" "I could kill you!" "I could kill you!" "Marianne, are you " "Hey, are you all right?" "I guess I've only got myself to blame." "How about that key?" " You want me to help you?" " No, please don't." "This was the fifth episode of Scenes From A Marriage, called "The Illiterates. "" "And while you look at this footage of Faro, here are the credits." "The actors were Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson." "Sven Nyqvist and his assistant Lars Karlsson manned the cameras." "Wardrobe, Inger Pehrsson." "Props, Gunilla Hagberg." "Makeup supervisor, Cecilia Drott." "Audio and mix, Owe Svensson and his assistant Arne Carlsson." "Editing, Siv Lundgren." "Script supervisor, Ulla Stattin." "Other contributors were Anders Bergkvist, Stefan Gustafsson," "Lars Hagberg, Adolf Karlstrom," "Kent Nystrom, Bo-Erik Olsson and Siri Werkelin." "Lars-Owe Carlberg was the production supervisor, and the lab was Film Teknik." "Nils Melander designed the lighting effects on Eastman Color film." "The series was produced on Faro by Cinematograph." "The year is 1973." "SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE" "Johan and Marianne have lived together happily for ten years." "They have settled conflicts on the best of terms, suppressing any hostility or menacing truths." "One evening,Johan turns up unexpectedly at the summer cottage where Marianne and the girls are staying." "He curtly tells his wife that he has fallen in love with another woman, Paula, and that they plan to leave for Paris the next morning" "and stay for at least eight months." "He claims to want a clean break with the past and is brutally honest in his approach." "Utterly unprepared for this, Marianne is devastated." "After a night of emotional upheaval, they pack Johan's bags." "When he is about to leave, Marianne starts to plead with him, butJohan leaves anyway." "After he has left, she calls a family friend and asks him to speak toJohan." "She finds out that several people in their circle knew all about Johan's affair with Paula." "This news comes as an additional shock." "THE VALE OF TEARS" "Please come in." "You look nice." "That's a pretty blouse." "You think so?" "I bought it a few weeks ago, but I'm afraid it's too girlish for me." "You look great." "Take your coat off." "Standing here in the hall makes me nervous." "I feel nervous too." "I haven't been able to get much done today." "It's silly, but it's been more than six months since I've seen you." " How come you suddenly" " Paula's in London for a week." " Would you like a drink?" " Yes, please." "I'd love a whiskey." "Straight." "It settles the stomach." "Calms you down." " You like whiskey nowadays?" " Yes, imagine that." "Cheers." "Aunt Berit's looking after the girls, to everyone's mutual delight." "They're going to the theater, and then to the country tomorrow." "That's convenient." "I mean, it might have been awkward seeing the kids." "How are they doing?" " Don't ask just to be polite." "But please don't forget their birthdays again." "I bought them presents from you, but they weren't fooled." "Couldn't you take them out to dinner or to the movies?" "It's awful the way you never get in touch with them." "They hardly ever mention you anymore." " That's understandable." "Can't Paula let you see us without starting a fight?" "If you're going to start with that, I'd better leave." "You've said yourself that she's insanely jealous." "What am I supposed to do?" "Are you such a coward that you can't stand up to her?" "Yes." "I'm sorry." "That's all right." "I know you find the situation absurd, but scolding won't do any good." " Would you like some more whiskey?" " Yes, please." "How are things,Johan?" "Pretty much as usual." "And you?" "I can't complain, I guess." "Could be worse." "It was silly of me to suggest this." "We can't seem to talk without hurting each other." "I have an excellent suggestion:" "Let's have dinner." "We're probably both starving and that's why we're so touchy." "That's an excellent suggestion." "You look funny in that haircut... and you've put on some weight." "You really turn me on." "What should we do about that?" " We'll see after dinner." "Have a seat." "New china?" "I inherited it." "Sweet old Aunt Elsa died six months ago, and she left me a few things." "She thought I was so domestically inclined." "Most of the stuff is useless, but the china is nice." "I made stew, and there's cheese and wine for dessert." "I didn't have time to whip up anything fancy." "But you usually like my cooking." " It sure smells delicious." "Have you heard that Martin's getting married again?" "I ran into them in town, and they were so embarrassed about not having called me." "I almost felt sorry for them." "His new girlfriend is a bit dim, but rich." "I hear her father's company went bankrupt a while back." "So Martin's messed up again." "Isn't he one of your closest friends?" "Not exactly." "Why do you ask?" "You sounded so smug." "A wise man once said that the misfortune of a friend is not entirely unpleasant." "Cheers, Marianne." "This wine is nice." "It's nothing special." "Just an inexpensive claret, but it's good." "I don't mind telling you things are going pretty well for me." "I've been offered a chair at Cleveland University for three years." "Really?" "It's a great opportunity." "Both financially and career-wise." "That's where things are happening in my field." "And I'll be glad to emigrate." "There's nothing to keep me here." "I'm fed up with this academic backwater." "And I have no desire to go on being fleeced by the tax man." "So I'll be leaving this spring, if all goes well." "Congratulations." "And now for the unspoken question:" ""Are you taking Paula with you?"" "And the answer is no." "Call it running away, if you like." "I've had it." "Paula's been good for me." "She's taught me things about myself." "But there's a limit." "To be honest, I'm pretty tired of her." "I suppose you think it's disloyal of me to bad-mouth her." "But she forfeited my loyalty long ago." "I'm fed up with her." "Her emotional fits, her tirades and tears, followed by making up again and endearments." "I'll tell you this, Marianne." "The best thing about Paula was that she taught me how to fight." "Even hitting her wasn't out of bounds." "You wouldn't believe me if I told you everything." "Sometimes it was like some grotesque play in which I was both actor and audience." "Our fights would last for days on end until we collapsed from sheer exhaustion." "The food is terrific." "Here I am, going on about myself." "But I'm in such a good mood." "Then perhaps we could discuss our divorce?" "If you're going abroad, we might as well get the ball rolling." "What do you think?" " As you like." "I'd like us to file for divorce." "You never know." "I might want to remarry, and things would be complicated if you're in the States." "You have someone in mind?" "Maybe I do." "Come on, tell me more." "It'll keep me from rattling on." "Would you like some more?" "No, thanks, and stop being evasive." "How are things?" "Judging by your appearance and your attitude, they must be pretty good." "I'm curious:" "Do you have a lover?" "I'll get the coffee." "You do want coffee, right?" "Yes, please." "You've rearranged the furniture." "Do you mind?" "Of course not." "I've moved into your study." "Where are my things?" "In storage." "I'm paying for it." "I decided I was entitled to a study, so I bought new furniture and put up new curtains." "I also put up my own pictures, the ones you never liked." "Was that tactless?" "Should I have waited until the divorce was final?" "Or observed a year of mourning?" "I also changed the phone listing." "It's in my name now." " That's good." " You sound bitter." " No, you did the right thing." " Thank you." "I was tired of working at the writing desk in the bedroom." "It was uncomfortable." "But in the old days, all that mattered was that you had a study." "Come take a look." "I've gotten rid of the double bed." "Why?" "I felt lost, all alone in such a big bed." "So this room has a more chaste air now." "Where do you keep your lover?" "For the time being, it's better for us to meet at his place." " You mean because of the girls?" " No, silly." "They want me to remarry." " I'll be damned." " Would you like something to drink?" " No, thanks." "This is a decent place to live in." "You live out of town, right?" "We live in a crowded concrete hutch on the tenth floor." "With a view of another concrete hutch." "Drunken 1 3-year-olds lurk in the downstairs entrance to mug people." "The building is falling apart, and it's so drafty that our curtains flutter." "For two weeks I had to fetch water from a hydrant, and the toilets didn't work." "People avoid the subway station after 8:00 p.m." "And in the middle of the complex lies what some demented architect called the "piazza."" "I find it rather interesting." "It's the way I picture hell." "I didn't know you believed in hell." "Paula actually likes the place." "She says it fits in with her picture of the world." "It's familiar." "I don't really care where I live." "To me, every domicile is only temporary." "Security must come from within." " Does yours?" "I didn't feel that way as long as I lived here." "Material things were so important." "We became dependent on rituals." "I don't know what you mean." "Our sense of security was anchored in externals." "Our possessions, our cottage in the country, our friends, our incomes, our food, our parents, holidays." "I'll describe my take on security." "The way I see it... loneliness is absolute." "Anything else is an illusion." "Never expect anything but trouble." "If something nice happens, all the better." "Just don't imagine you can do away with loneliness." "A sense of togetherness can be created in, say, religion, politics, love, art." "But loneliness is still all-encompassing." "The treacherous part is that every once in a while you're struck by an illusion of togetherness." "Just remember that it is an illusion." "That makes it easier when everything returns to normal." "You have to face the fact that loneliness reigns supreme." "It puts an end to your moaning." "Then you feel safe and secure." "And you learn to accept how pointless it all is with a certain satisfaction." "I don't mean you should be resigned." "You should carry on as best you can, if only because it's better to do your best than to give up." "I wish I were as certain as you." "It's all talk." "You find yourself expressing thoughts to fend off the emptiness inside." "It's funny, come to think of it." "Has it ever struck you that emptiness hurts?" "You'd think it would make you dizzy, or queasy in spirit." "But this void inside me is physically painful." "It stings like a burn." "Or like when you were little and you'd been crying, and the whole inside of your body ached." "At times, Paula's tremendous political commitment astonishes me." "She's so sincere, and so very involved within her group." "Her conviction answers her questions and fills the void inside her." "I wish I could live the way she does." "I really mean that, without any sarcasm." "Why are you sneering?" "Do you think I'm talking rubbish?" "So do I... but who cares?" "I don't know what you're talking about." "It seems so theoretical." "I don't know why." "I rarely talk about such huge matters." "I guess I move on another plane." "A superior plane, I suppose?" "A special plane reserved for women with a privileged emotional life, and a happier, more down-to-earth approach to the mysteries of life." "Perhaps." "Paula gives herself airs like that." "Particularly when she's read the latest Women's Lib gospel." "Sounds like you're disappointed." "That's just your imagination." "You should know I think about you all the time." "Wondering if you're all right, or if you're afraid or lonely." "Every day, several times a day," "I wonder what I did to cause the breach between us." "I know it's a childish way of thinking, but there you are." "What did I do wrong?" "Why not ask a psychiatrist?" "I see one several times a week." "Sometimes we meet in private." "Is he your lover?" "We did have sex a few times, but it was no good." "So we stopped that and devoted ourselves to my soul instead." "What have you learned?" "Nothing." "Basically, I'm learning to talk." "And I threw your things out of the study and moved mine in." "It left me feeling guilty, but awfully bold." "Well, it led to something, then." "What an enormous yawn." "Sorry, it's the wine." "And I haven't slept well." "I've been so tense." "If you'd like to go, feel free." "Don't make a big deal out of it." "You can take a nap if you like." "I'll wake you in an hour." "So much fuss about a yawn." "I don't want to sleep." "I want to hear about your inner quest." "That's much more interesting, I promise you." "There's not much to tell." "Though something funny did strike me, but I haven't told my therapist yet." "That sounds exciting." "My therapist told me to jot down everything that pops into my head." "No matter how irrelevant." "Thoughts, memories, dreams." "I haven't written much so far." "I'm not used to writing." "It generally turns out stilted and kind of silly." "Why don't you read me what you wrote last night?" "I'd really like to hear it." "Would you really like to hear it?" "Are you sure?" "I'll just go get my notebook." "I wrote for hours on end, you know." "I was up until 3:00, so I looked like the dickens this morning." "It figures that would happen the night before I see you." "You look so pretty." "So terribly pretty, Marianne." "No compliments, please." "Take an interest in my soul instead." "Go sit down." "Go sit down." "Don't." "No." "Please." "Let me read to you instead." "One good thing needn't exclude the other." "I've been thinking about this all this time." "About having sex with you." "I've been longing for you." "But after you leave," "I'd be left with my longing, and I don't want that." "Don't you realize I'm in love with you?" "Sometimes I hate you for what you did to me." "Sometimes I don't think of you for hours, and it's heaven." "I have everything I could want." "I have my friends, even lovers." "There's the kids and my job that I enjoy and am good at." "Yet I'm bound to you." "I don't know why." "Maybe I'm a masochist, or the kind of woman who can only ever love one man." "I don't know." "It's so hard,Johan." "I don't want to live with anyone but you." "Other men bore me." "I'm not trying to make you feel guilty, or blackmail you emotionally." "I'm just telling you how I feel." "That's why I can't bear you kissing me and making love to me." "I can't explain it any other way." "Because you'll walk away, and I'll be left longing for you." "I've sort of enjoyed having you at a distance." "So let's keep our hands to ourselves." "You'll just leave me devastated." "I'm still in love with you." "Why say that when it isn't true?" "Don't you think I've longed for you?" "I have." "We were good together." "We were friends." "We had fun." "If we feel like having sex, why shouldn't we?" "It only shows we still long for each other." "Why have all these reservations?" "Why worry about tomorrow?" "No,Johan." "Johan, I don't want to." "I want you to stop it!" "I don't want to pine and weep and long for you." "Please understand." "This is really how it is." "It's no good." "If you're going to persist, you might as well leave." "I don't want to sleep with you." "Please try to understand." "I'm trying to understand, but I can't." "Look, I'll just sit here." "I'll sit here and you can read to me." "Then I'll go home and call Paula and say I've been to the theater." "May I have some more coffee?" "I feel terribly foolish." "I just want to hide somewhere and cry." "Well... if you like, I could leave now." "We could have dinner tomorrow." "Perhaps that would be better." "No, stay after all." "I'm busy tomorrow." " Hi there." " Hi." "I really, really like you." "And I'm acting like a child." "Everything's all right." "The situation's under control." "We've pulled through the crisis." "I can barely read my own writing." "The beginning isn't important." ""Yesterday I was seized by a reckless gaiety." "For the first time this year, I felt a zest for life, eager to know what the day might bring."" "And so on." "Right." "Here it is." ""Suddenly I turned and looked at an old school picture from back when I was 1 0." "I seemed to detect something that had eluded me up to then." "To my surprise I must admit that I don't know who I am." "I haven't the vaguest idea." "I've always done as I was told." "As far as I can remember" "I've been obedient, well-adjusted, almost meek." "I did assert myself once or twice as a girl, but Mother punished any lapses from convention with exemplary severity." "My entire upbringing, and that of my sisters, was aimed at making us agreeable." "I was ugly and awkward, a fact I was constantly reminded of." "I later realized that if I kept my thoughts to myself and was ingratiating and predictable, my behavior yielded rewards." "The most momentous deception began at puberty." "All my thoughts, feelings and actions revolved around sex." "But this I never told my parents." "Or anyone at all, for that matter." "Being deceitful and secretive" "My father wanted me to follow in his footsteps and become a lawyer." "I dropped hints that I wanted to be an actress, or do something else in the world of theater." "But they laughed at me." "Since then I go on pretending." "Faking my relationships with others, with men." "Always putting on an act in a desperate attempt to please." "I've never considered what I want, but only," "'What does he want me to want?" "'" "It's not unselfishness, as I used to believe." "It's sheer cowardice." "Even worse, it stems from my being ignorant of who I am." "I've never led a dramatic life." "I have no gift for that sort of thing." "But for the first time I feel excited by the prospect of finding out exactly what I want to do in life." "In the snug world Johan and I lived in, taking everything for granted, there is an implied cruelty and brutality that frightens me more and more when I think back on it." "The trappings of security come at a high price:" "the constant erosion of your personality." "It's so easy right at the outset to thwart a small child's cautious attempts to assert itself." "In my case, it was performed with injections of a poison that is 1 00 % effective." "Guilt." "At first, it was directed towards my mother." "Later, towards others." "And finally, towards Jesus and God." "In a flash I see what kind of person I would have been had I never allowed myself to be brainwashed." "And I wonder whether I'm hopelessly lost." "Whether the potential for joy that was innate in me is dead, or whether it merely lies dormant and can be awakened." "I wonder what kind of wife and woman I would have become if I'd been able to use my resources as they were intended." "Would Johan and I ever have gotten married in that case?" "I'm sure we would have, because if I analyze it honestly, we were genuinely in love in a devoted and passionate way." "Our mistake was that we never broke free from our families to create something worthwhile on our own terms."" "You weren't going to call me tonight." "You have no reason to be jealous, I assure you." "What?" "I sound funny?" "No, I just don't want to wakeJohan." "No, he's sitting." "Sitting in the living room, sleeping like a little child." "My conversation bored him." "No, you shouldn't come over." "Don't be silly, David." "We can have dinner and see a movie tomorrow." "Doesn't that sound good?" "Call me tomorrow morning as usual." "Of course I sound strange." "I can't very well coo sweet nothings." "Johan might be awake." "Precisely." "I'll go wake my beau and send him packing." "You can call me back in an hour." "Isn't that a fine idea?" "Bye for now." "No, he hasn't even tried to kiss me." "I promise, the evening was hardly passionate." "Oh, darn, I fell asleep." "And your words were so interesting, too." "Forgive me." "Could you go on?" "That is, if I haven't offended you?" "I think you should go home and get some sleep." "I'm not offended." "Really." "Yeah, I guess I should go." "Please keep in touch, if only for the children's sake." "Of course." "You're always welcome here." "If only Paula wasn't so jealous." "But I guess she feels justified." "It's hard on her too." "When will you know about the US?" "In a month or so." "Let me know how it goes." "I'll call or write." "We need to decide about the divorce." " Do you want to marry again?" " I don't know." "I'd rather wait." "What do you think?" "I'm not sure what I think." "You will stay tonight, won't you?" "Yes, I'll stay." "How do you feel?" "Frightened." "How about mustering up some courage?" "Some courage?" "You know... we don't have to have sex." "We could just hold hands." "And sleep." " It's nice being close to you." "I've got your favorite pajamas in there." "You're very pretty." "I'm fat." "No one could tell you've had two kids." "Don't look at me." "It makes me self-conscious." "Hi there." "Never mind the phone." "It's not important." "It might be your lover." "What could he want at this hour?" "Does he know I'm here?" " Sure." "Damn, he's persistent." "I better pick up." "Hello." "I can't talk right now." "Yes,Johan is still here." "We've gone to bed, if you really want to know." "So I can imagine." "What do you expect me to say?" "Yes, I'm sorry, it's true." "I don't know." "I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me again." "Ever again." "Try to behave like an adult, for once." "Yes, it is a shame, but I really don't want to talk right now." "So long, David." "Take care." "Your lover, I gather." "My former lover." "You didn't have to say I was here." "Maybe I should have invited him to join us?" "Are you in love with him?" "Sometimes you ask such goddamn silly questions." "Sorry." "Shall we talk about my love life?" "Are you angry with me?" "I'm not angry, but I'm on the verge of tears." "The trouble with me is that I can't get angry." "I wish that for once in my life I could really lose my temper, as I sometimes feel I have every right to." "I think it would change my life." "But that's not the point." "You spoke earlier about loneliness." "That bit about being strong on your own." "I don't believe in your gospel of isolation." "I think it's a sign of weakness." "What's wrong, Marianne?" "It's so humiliating." "What's humiliating?" "I think about you... and I think about myself and about the future." "I can't see how you're going to cope without me." "Sometimes I think in desperation, "I must look afterJohan." "He's my responsibility." "It's up to me to make sure he's all right." "That's the only way my life will be worthwhile."" "I don't believe people are strong all on their own." "You have to have someone's hand to hold." "Johan." "I think we're making a mistake." "We ought to work on our relationship." "Our relationship is our greatest opportunity here in life." "We're wasting our chance." "You can't go away for several years without me." "You won't make it." "You'll be so frightened and unsure of yourself without me." "Forgive me for crying." "I don't mean to." "What is it?" "Can't you sleep?" "Not a chance." "I feel miserable." "I'd better go home." "Forgive me." " That's Paula's handwriting." " She wrote to me." " What's she up to now?" " She sent this before she left." "You should read it." "Read it here." ""Dear Marianne, I suspect you're surprised to get a letter from me." "I assure you there's no ulterior motive behind this letter." "I took this job in London to get away for a week and thereby break a vicious cycle of jealousy and suspicion." "I know Johan will contact you the minute I've gone." "I only have myself to blame, as I've kept him from seeing you and the children." "If only it were possible to put things right."" "Isn't that typical of Paula." "She wants us to be friends." "She can't stand this hostility." "How touching - particularly the fact that you believe her." ""Johan is the gentlest, kindest, most affectionate person I've ever met." "He has no self-confidence at all, though he tries to put up a brave and cheerful front."" "You can say anything about anyone." "It always fits in some respect." "This was the fourth episode of Scenes From A Marriage." "It was called "The Vale Of Tears. "" "And while you look at this footage from Faro, I'll give you the credits." "Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson were the actors." "Sven Nyqvist and his assistant Lars Karlsson manned the cameras." "Wardrobe, Inger Pehrsson." "Props, Gunilla Hagberg." "Makeup supervisor, Cecilia Drott." "Audio and mix, Owe Svensson and his assistant Arne Carlsson." "Editing, Siv Lundgren." "Script supervisor, Ulla Stattin." "Other contributors were Anders Bergkvist, Stefan Gustafsson," "Lars Hagberg, Adolf Karlstrom," "Kent Nystrom, Bo-Erik Olsson and Siri Werkelin." "Lars-Owe Carlberg was the production supervisor, and the lab was Film Teknik." "Nils Melander designed the lighting effects on Eastman Color film." "The series was produced on Faro by Cinematograph." "The year is 1973."