. and i think part of the reason for that be and aside from some notable us of symbolism ( some subtle and some not so subtle and in part due to the photography ) and the story be rather simple . this give bergman room to try and get u to understand these character . in lessor hand ( or rather and hand not a proficient in the soul search drama a bergman be ) this could be almost a tv melodrama . but i would disagree with some critic notably with ebert that bergman have lose his tone with this picture . in some way it be more modernly set than some of his other film ( and that it be in english set it apart from some of his trademark svensk filmindustri picture ) and however it doesn not hurt it terribly so . there be time while watch the film and mostly in the first fifty minute and that i think this be one of bergman best and by give his control somewhat over to the actor and who be all sensational . while it doesn not quite live up towards the end and and feel abruptly finish and the climax doesn not feel too compromise . the touch be like the adrian lyne film ( which draw itself from a chabrol film ) unfaithful and only this film seem a little more steeped in reality than outright sexuality . karin ( bibi andersson and one of bergman key actress ) live a rather calm and routine life with her husband andreas ( max von sydow ) and their two child . after her mother dy ( which i suppose set up her emotional indecisiveness for the film ) and she meet david ( elliot gould ) and and the two slowly begin an affair . but david be not the most stable of people and and it shake karin up at first . soon they fall in love and but be separate and the sort of usual machination with an infidelity story begin to unfold and and yet not lose the emotion from before . the three key actor of the film and andersson and von sydow and and gould and seem to live in these character and and especially gould ( for whom this would be his only role with the director ) convey a sort of double nature that be also within karin . his performance be one that i would put in a list of his best you can tell everything he want and fear in his face and action and within the careful framing and this be a man on the edge . bergman have once describe gould a a difficult actor to work with and but that tension come out the right way on screen and at least from my perspective . a i mention and in lessor hand this could become a further melodrama and and part of the film refusal to subvert to that category be a credit to not only bergman and but to cinematographer sven nykvist . whenever i see a film with their collaboration ( or even if it nykvist with and perhaps and a lessor director ) and i always watch for how nykvist move the camera . how seamlessly he follow these character and and in their darkest recess he light them like the light and control on their face be part of the writing . a lot of time ( appropriately so ) one may not even feel the presence of the camera and a if nykvist doesn not even have a technique . but it be here where not only do he and bergman go with their touch of light and dark and they also go for a documentary feel in the production . basically and this be an experiment for bergman and a it be for his fan to endure . he experiment with a genre do hundred of time and he experiment with music ( unlike some of his drama and which include bach or mozart and here it kind of pop sound for the period ) and and he experiment with his cast this time around . be it a powerful and awe inspiring a his trilogy or his other great work . probably not . but it be unfortunately pan down a a lessor work of his and which isn not necessarily true . the film also need to be see by more people of today and a it be virtually impossible to buy on video or dvd . a .