10. From The Life Of The Marionettes (1980)
Written and filmed in Germany during Bergman's tax exile years, From the Life of the Marionettes is a bleak and devastating movie. Katarina and Peter Egermann, last seen as the bickering couple in Bergman's Scenes From a Marriage, are having dire problems with their relationship. Katarina taunts Peter by going with other men. Peter's mental health begins to deteriorate due to this and he becomes very neurotic. He murders a prostitute in a Peep Show and sodomises her dead body. And it is off on a journey to a Hospital for the Criminally Insane we go. The performances in the film are terrific - Robert Atzom really brings to life Peter's slow descent into insanity. Unusual for a Bergman film, there are no mildly playful moments to temper the misery. Bergman must have been in a very depressed state of mind when he directed this film but it also shows a very experimental attitude to film making from the non linear narrative, flashbacks and careful use of colour. Sven Nyvkist, as usual, does a sterling job for Bergman in helping him create the visuals for the film. One of the few Bergman movies to have an '18' rating, From the Life of the Marionettes is both disturbing and solemn.