The Best Intentions

By the end, we no longer know why characters are choosing to leave or stay, live or die. Even more depressingly, the director follows suit, allowing scenes to ramble on well past their bedtime, and the film loses its grip.

August keeps a discreet distance from the harsher realities, making The Best Intentions must viewing only if you find diluted Bergman better than no Bergman at all.

Though the level of acting is uniformly quite high, the true star of The Best Intentions is Bergman's script.

Throughout, Bergman sets up a series of vivid, literate confrontations involving Frler, August and other articulated characters. Director August stages these tense, intimate, emotional wrestling matches with naturalistic fervor.