L'attente des femmes

A very beautiful film by master Ingmar Bergman. Four women, all sisters-in-law, await their husbands in a house on an island. They converse, and soon begin to tell each other the big stories of their lives. The first tells how she had an affair with her teenage sweetheart and how her husband reacts. The second tells of how she was seduced and became pregnant. And the third tells about how she once got her husband to admit his philandering when they were stuck in an elevator. Meanwhile, in the framing episode, a younger sister of one of the women has fallen in love with the fourth brother. The first and third stories are a little cliched, especially the elevator sequence, but they're still quite great. Being trapped in an elevator is a nice, easy, and overused way for two characters to solve problems, but the dialogue between Gunnar Bjornstrand and Eva Dahlbeck is so excellent that it works out wondefully. The heart of the film is in the second story. It's so simple and well-done, so utterly beautiful in its conception and execution. It is, of course, a flashback, like the other two stories, but the story itself is also told in flashbacks. It works far better than I would have ever guessed. Secrets of Women is an underrated Bergman film, a must-see for any fan. 9/10.