Life is just like a sonata, we are born, depart, and then return: Reviewing Autumn Sonata in the view of Sonata form

Autumn Sonata is perhaps the most suitable film for those who are new to the works of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman.

The story revolves around a mother and daughter who haven't seen each other in seven years. One day, the daughter, Eva, invites her newly widowed mother to visit her at home. The mother is a successful pianist but is not interested in her daughter's life. During the visit, Eva hopes to reconcile with her mother and improve their relationship, but she also plans to express her resentment. Over the course of a few days, the long-standing emotional conflict between mother and daughter is revealed. Finally, on the second night of her mother's visit, they have an intense conversation about everything that has happened in the past.

The film's story is not complicated, and the relationships between the characters are relatively simple. However, this seemingly simple story left me contemplating deeply after watching it. As a daughter and a woman who has been considering whether to become a mother, the mother-daughter relationship presented in the film weighed heavily on me. The seemingly calm relationship between mother and daughter is not just about love and being loved, but also about jealousy, disappointment, and even hatred. Director Bergman and actress Bergman both demonstrate their skillful techniques in this film, making it an undisputed classic.

Today, I want to analyze the plot of the movie using the structure of sonata form. After comparing the plot with this structure, I discovered that the entire movie resembles a sonata about autumn, just as its title suggests.

Introduction

According to the definition of Sonata form from wikipedia, a sonata-allegro movement is divided into sections. Each section is felt to perform specific functions in the musical argument. It may begin with an introduction, which is, in general, slower than the main movement.

In the movie, the Introduction part is when Eva's husband Viktor breaks the fourth wall and looks directly at the camera, introducing his wife in a calm tone. The pace of this section is slow, but Viktor says a sentence that I think is crucial: "Sometimes I stand there, looking at my wife, and she doesn't know I'm there." After watching the rest of the plot, it is known that this feeling is exactly what Eva felt about her mother since childhood.

Also in this section, Viktor recites a passage from Eva's book, showing Eva's psychological dilemma: "My biggest obstacle is not knowing who I am. I am groping in the dark, hoping that someone will love me for who I am now. However, that possibility is remote for me.”

Next, Eva shares her belief with Viktor, which she wrote to her mother. Through the letter, the audience learns that the mother and daughter haven't seen each other in seven years, and Eva is very much looking forward to her mother's visit.

As the opening of the movie, this part is like the introduction section of a sonata, slowly starting to enter the main theme.

Section 1 : Exposition

The first required section is the exposition. The exposition presents the primary thematic material for the movement: one or two themes or theme groups, often in contrasting styles and in opposing keys, connected by a modulating transition.

Based on this definition, I believe the exposition in the film occurs when Charlotte has her first conversation with her daughter in the bedroom after returning home. In this conversation, Charlotte incessantly talks about her own feelings after the death of her lover, showing her self-centered attitude by hardly paying any attention to her daughter whom she hasn't seen in seven years.

It wasn't until Eva showed signs of sadness that Charlotte remembered to ask about her daughter's life. Eva was thrilled that her mother was showing interest and proceeded to tell her about an organ concert she had performed in at the parish, hoping for her mother's praise. However, Charlotte once again shifted the conversation back to herself, talking about the five successful campus concerts she had organized.

Charlotte's self-centeredness and pride provoked Eva's retaliation. She bluntly interrupted her mother and revealed that she had brought her disabled sister, Helena, back home, in an effort to get back at her mother. Charlotte was shocked to hear this and her previously light-hearted pride was replaced with worry about how to deal with Helena.

This was the first conflict between the mother and daughter in the movie. Through this conversation, the theme of the movie was revealed: the daughter longed for her mother's love, but the mother was always self-centered. In order to retaliate against her mother, the daughter decided to make her face her most unwilling past, to remind her of her cruelty and hypocrisy.

Section 2: Development

The exposition is followed by the development where the harmonic and textural possibilities of the thematic material are explored. The development of a sonata is mainly about presenting the musical idea in a new way, even using sharp contradictions and conflicts, ultimately leading to the transition to the third part. Based on this definition, I believe the development of the film starts from dinner and continues until the mother falls asleep the next day.

In this section, the piano playing scene again shows Charlotte's self-centeredness and strong character. When faced with her daughter's timidity and longing for approval, Charlotte doesn't hold back and points out Eva's flaws in her playing, giving a demonstration of a stronger and more perfect version of herself. The contrast between Charlotte's strength and self-centeredness and Eva's inferiority and timidity is striking.

Next day, after tucking her mother into bed, Eva sits on the stairs and cries, while Charlotte lies in bed with no emotions, calculating her investments and reminiscing about the past.

This scene intensifies the conflict between the mother and daughter, highlights Charlotte's self-centered and emotionally avoidant attitude, and emphasizes Eva's profound sense of loneliness and despair. Just like the characteristics of "Development" in Sonata, the contrasts and conflicts contained in this section are guiding the theme to gradually develop into the third section.

Section 3 Recapitulation

The recapitulation of a sonata emphasizes the return to the original key and unifies the piece. In my opinion, the recapitulation of the film starts from when Charlotte can't sleep at midnight and continues until she leave at the morning.

In this part, the conflict between mother and daughter finally erupts. Eva, who has been suppressing her emotions in the previous two parts, cries out her inner pain and ruthlessly exposes all of her mother's hypocrisy and lies, placing all the blame on her mother.

Charlotte also reveals for the first time in this conversation that she can't feel love within herself and has never known how to love others. Faced with her daughter's accusations, she ultimately can't argue or face it, and can only flee again in the early morning.

Also in this section, the second daughter Helena screams for her mother, but ultimately receives no response.

Eva longs for maternal love and to love her mother, but thinks she can't receive love and is filled with resentment. Helena, who is disabled, is in a state of muteness. Even after being abandoned by her mother once, she still screams and calls out for her mother. And the mother herself has never received maternal love, so she doesn't know how to love her own children.

Behind the mother-daughter trio, there is also Viktor, who genuinely loves his wife, but is not believed by his wife.

This part once again repeats and reinforces the conflict between mother and daughter.This is a dilemma about love, and everyone in the movie is caught in it with nowhere to escape.

Coda

In a sonata, the movement may conclude with a coda, beyond the final cadence of the recapitulation.

In the end, the story returns to its calm, lonely, and sad beginning. Eva's inner pain remains and writes to her mother again, but she doesn't know if there is still a chance to mend their relationship. Will they ever meet again? Will they ever love each other again? Eva doesn't know, and neither do we, the audience.

The story ends in sorrow, like the final notes of a sonata about autumn. After listening to it, we seem to sense the arrival and end of autumn. What follows is the colder and lonelier winter.

In a review of this film, someone quoted a music academy professor's analysis of sonatas, which left a deep impression on me. The professor talked about how sonata form is so interesting because it has a clever similarity to life development. Starting from the first movement, it progresses step by step to the fifth movement. The change can only be felt at a specific point in the fifth movement, and upon returning to the first movement, life is completely different.

Bergman also said something similar in an interview: when we are young, we escape from our parents, and then step by step, we return to them. At this moment, we have grown up.

Among all the great works of art in the world, they all contain the theme of birth, depart (from parents, home or childhood), and returning home. The starting point and endpoint of life may seem similar, but our souls have changed drastically.

Therefore, in my opinion, the reason why the Autumn Sonata is sorrowful is because it shows the passage of time, and our attempts to return home and relive the experience of finding love. However, such efforts ultimately fail. Eva and Charlotte are unable to return to their parents, maybe they never will.

If you want to read more about Autumn Sonata, you can click here to my another article about How does Bergman use close-up shots to depict the furthest distance between us