A Gosta Ekman picture that co-starred a very young Ingrid Bergman, Intermezzo feels like a baton being passed from one method of acting to another. Ekman, the veteran Swedish stage actor and silent film star, emotes forcefully while wearing what appears to be heavy stage makeup. Bergman, meanwhile, simply exists, doing just enough to allow the camera to imagine what else is going on behind her eyes. (Ekman’s character describes her as “smiling, yet full of melancholy,” which may be as good a way as any to sum up Bergman’s unique screen presence.) Ekman stars as Holger Brandt, a world-famous violinist whose older accompanist (Hugo Bjorne) has retired. As a replacement, he recruits Bergman’s Anita Hoffman, who is his young daughter’s piano teacher and a promising soloist in her own right. Their shared love of music soon leads to other passions. Director Gustaf Molander, who wrote the screenplay with Gosta Stevens, takes care to consider the repercussions of the affair—Brandt’s wife (Inga Tidblad) and daughter (Britt Hagman) get plenty of attention—even if this is ultimately the sympathetic story of an artistic genius who loves too much, pays a price, and is ultimately welcomed back home. As a result, Bergman’s Anita leaves the scene fairly early, yet the film was key to her transition to Hollywood. She would reprise the role in 1939’s Intermezzo: A Love Story for David O. Selznick’s United Artists, opposite Leslie Howard.
(2/15/2023)
