Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Movies in 2026 42

 

A Woman's Face, (Gustaf Molander, 1938)

You never know what you're going to find in the Criterion Channel back alleys. I was searching for something, but came across a collection of early (pre-Hollywood) Ingrid Bergman films. This led me to Gustaf Molander's A Woman's Face. I didn't know anything about Molander, although I guess he directed the original Swedish version of Intermezzo, which inspired the later Hollywood version. It was an odd film, with Ingrid Bergman starting as cruel blackmailer with a horribly scarred face, who, after having her face operated by a kind surgeon, turned into a very nice, self-sacrificing person who ends up saving a boy's life (even though she had initially been involved in a plan to kill him). In the end it's somewhat redeemed by avoiding the temptation of staying in Sweden to be with the man she loves and instead travelling to China with the surgeon to do more helpful things in the world. Apparently, Ingmar Bergman co-wrote the script, which is strange because it certainly didn't feel like an Ingmar Bergman film, but we all have to start somewhere. At a certain point, after her facial scars were cleaned up, it occurred to me that she had been transformed into Ingrid Bergman, that is, impossibly beautiful (her character would have benefitted from a few lingering minor scars). I don't know if I would necessarily recommend it, but I also don't think that I'm any worse off for watching it - plus, well, you get to watch Ingrid Bergman, FFS.

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