David Erneman (Gunnar Bjornstrand) is a gynaecologist who, having been married for 16 years, yields to the charms of Susanne (Yvonne Lombard), a patient in his clinic, and embarks on an affair that disrupts his marriage. Marianne (Eva Dahlbeck), the wife, flounces off to Copenhagen to sleep with her former fiance, Carl-Adam (Åke Gronberg), a rather boorish sculptor. David eventually gives up his relationship with Susanne and recaptures his wife despite the opposition of Carl-Adam during a brawl in a Danish night-club. Bergman himself described A Lesson in Love as ‘a mere divertissement’, but even within the confines of a light comedy one is faced with the typical Bergman situation of an individual in whom a crisis brings about a fundamental change of attitude to himself and to life. In his great book on the director, Robin Wood acclaimed A Lesson in Love as ‘one of Bergman’s most underestimated and neglected films’ and ‘one of the major works of this period, notable for its freedom and spontaneity of invention, its emotional richness, warmth and generosity.’

1954.
English subtitles.
Black and white.
95 mins.