After the Rehearsal

Rarely, in fact, has a film succeeded so well in projecting the kinds of interior states usually conceded to novels, but forfeited by films.

"After the Rehearsal" evolves into such a fascinating, convincing reflection of backstage psychology and emotional combat that it should prove irresistible to anyone susceptible to the lore of the theater.

What we are left with at the end of After the Rehearsal, however, is the very strong sense of an artist who has sacrificed many lives for the sake of his art, and now wonders if perhaps one of those lives was his own.

The definitive statement of Bergman the film director on Bergman the theater director.