All These Women (1964)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

All These Women (1964) – I. Bergman

Rather weird Bergman comedy, his first film in colour -- which some argue is his response to Fellini’s 8 ½ while others maintain it is his worst film ever.  I wouldn’t go that far but the plot about a famous cellist (always offscreen) besieged by a critic/biographer and surrounded by both wife and mistresses does offer a faint echo of the Italian maestro.  Clearly Bergman is trying to poke some fun at himself while also lashing out at those who might judge him. Jarl Kulle (also seen in The Devil’s Eye) plays the critic as a sort of Daffy Duck, always winding up with egg on his face, engaged in one slapstick moment after another.  He lusts after all these women (including Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson, and Eva Dahlbeck) and suggests that he will write a “tell-all” biography, unless the cellist plays the critics own composition on his next radio program.  Oh yes, and it is set in the 1920s with stereotypic costumes, hairstyles, and music:  prominently “Yes, We Have No Bananas”. It’s variously naughty, stagey, boring, and curious, but definitely not canonical.