After announcing that Fanny and Alexander would be his last film before he retired from film making After The Rehearsal showed up a year later, so much for truth in advertising. This is what is called a chamber film, it has only three characters and for the most part is a real talk fest as a lot of Bergman's later films got to be. You can't read the subtitles fast enough to keep up with the Swedish dialog in the film.
After The Rehearsal is about theater director Henrik Vogler, (played by one of Bergman's stock company regulars Erland Josephson) staging a version of Strindberg's "A Dream Play." Bergman had a great affinity for this play as he frequently refered to it in his other films and even staged a version of it for Swedish television. As Vogler reviews his notes from the latest rehearsal a young actress, Anna Egerman shows up supposedly looking for a bracelet she lost. The role of Anna Egerman is played by a very young Lena Olin who Bergman was very high on at the time. What Anna Egerman is really at the theater for is to confront Vogler about the affair he had with her mother Rakel Egerman (played by another Bergman regular Ingrid Thulin) years ago.
As Bergman began to wind down his career he gravitated towards making
films for television. His kind of searing emotional dramas were getting
harder to finance and he rightly figured that television was a way to
keep working. Bergman besides being an excellent film maker was also a
talented theater director.
After The Rehearsal appears to be a summation of Bergman's time in the theater, staging plays and working with actors. In a way it's an old man's film since Bergman seems to be reflecting about his past life, career and relationships. If you are a fan of this director you will probably find this film interesting otherwise it's kind of a slog to sit through but with some interesting scenes. The film is well regarding by a number of critics.
Written by Ingmar Bergman, the running time is 70 minutes.
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