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Brink of Life
A review By Eric Cole
Ingmar Bergman's "Brink of Life", the story of three very different women in a Swedish hospital's maternity ward, has been called "documentary-like" by many observers. Truffaut very much favored it due to this realistic interpretation, which isn't often used about a Berman film.
To an extent, that observation has some merit. Set in a hospital, it has an extremely institutional feel. Much of the crew came down with the asian flu during filming, and resorted to using hospital masks while doing their work. The dominant visual vibe is provided by the hospital backdrop, and Bergman is deprived of the opportunity for much of his visual mastery: the lighting is fairly even out of necessity, the film takes place entirely indoors, and the images vary little. This removes much of the possibility of some of Bergman's favorite visual motifs. On a surface level, then, it is clearly more of an example of realism than just about anything else he has done.
However, the superficial appearance of realism belies some of the manipulative technique Bergman is known for. Subtle use of framing is evident throughout. The camera movement is very suggestive in the film's first half. The editing is very uneven as the mood of the film dictates. The film's foundation doesn't allow for the type of extravagance Bergman is usually known for, but it isn't completely minimalist, either; the technique is just more subtle.
Narratively, "Brink of Life" is composed of two primary paradoxes, neither of which are very subtle. First, the insitutional and sanitized appearance of the film is strongly contrasted with an extremely emotional story. The three woman-subjects are all forced to deal with varying emotional crises, most of which are very powerful. The authority of the hospital has stripped these women of most coping mechanisms, such as comfort, privacy, and continued contact with loved ones, and their emotions are laid bare. Bergman is fond of using closeups to highlight his actors' expressions, and he makes great use of that here; all three leads do a great job, as simple facial expressions carry the film at times. The vitality of their emoting is fairly blatantly contrasted with the setting, and it makes for an interesting effect.
Second, also paradoxically, Bergman seems to make the point that life and death exist necessarily in the face of each other, and in a symbiotic way. The life-death dichotomy is shown throughout, as the "Brink of Life" seems to be attached to an equivalent "Brink of Death".
While this seems to be the primary lesson of the movie, it isn't explored very deeply; "Brink" isn't nearly as challenging, or rewarding, as Bergman's next few films, the Faith Trilogy. Nevertheless, it is probably an underappreciated piece, with fairly dominant drama.