Rent The Magician (1958)

Great Beard, Shame About the Punchlines - The Magician review by griggs

This had me for a while. The opening is all fog, whispers and that lovely ominous sense that something nasty is about to happen. Gunnar Fischer shoots it beautifully, and for a stretch it feels like Bergman is winding up a proper eerie little nightmare. Then the film keeps stopping to nudge you in the ribs with comedy, and that is where it loses me.

What interested me more was the idea underneath it all. Vogler is basically a performer getting picked apart by people who want to expose him, humiliate him and still be entertained by him. As Bergman self-mythology, it works. Max von Sydow does a lot with very little, mostly just staring, brooding and letting his face carry the meaning. Fair enough, given the original title is The Face.

But the mix never quite settles. The funny bits are too broad, the uncanny bits too good to be interrupted, and the whole thing feels stuck between a sly joke and a genuinely unsettling film. There is plenty here to admire. I just never quite fell for it.