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Rating: "My attitude can sometimes be childish. But if an artist loses the joy in what they do, they will no longer be an artist" (Ingmar Bergman).
So there is freshness, fun, a mockery in this pleasantly unexpected Bergman where a breath of fresh air contrasts with the scorching infernal setting from which the story begins. And who but Don Giovanni can bring the calculating warmth of the devil to solve the eye sty of the boss through the seduction of an earthly maiden?
But beyond the adventure's divertissement, it is the care for expressions, the rhythm of situations, the steady shots that move everything, the search for the sound of language, the weaving of words that transform into arias in their perfection, allowing us to savor the intellectual transcendence through a genuine play that woos and seduces you.
The coolness of knowing they are fucked up by the devils is hilarious. Those two blockheads with wigs, dolphins of the devil, are admirable in their nonchalance in accepting damnation. They happily rinse in their broth of pieces of shit.
And who but Satan can describe the quintessential seducer with a dash of admiration and a tone of exaltation: "Yet all this is less than nothing for the unsurpassed, the uncontested, the artist, the magnificent... Don Giovanni." And his servant Pablo sums up all human miseries revealed with disarming ease.
The total theatricality of evil can tire the asexual celestial angels at most, but it has an exquisite allure for us incarnate beings since the darkness does not want our destruction but proceeds with an alien allure, not of this world, to the capitulation of our soul aiming for conquest, being careful to achieve it without bloody battles. The prince of hell aims for possession while seeking to maintain the physical and mental integrity of the targeted subject: "Twenty years old, beautiful as a rose, flawless, intelligent, with a great body and healthy teeth. She is engaged. And yet, she is a virgin. Nevertheless..."
And there you understand that Satan is the lord of deceit: he whispers, suggests, smoothes, warns, consoles, endorses, possesses, and confirms that he never says yes: "Can Pablo accompany me? Pablo can accompany you." He proposes perdition but the choice is ours and the Swede beautifully paints the "pass the buck" with vibrant colors, even though the film is in black and white, through the purity of the protagonists' weaknesses, whether saintly or damned they may be: "Nothing is cruel enough for the one who loves" (Satan).
This film is a hoot, with sharp amusement, a razor-edge chess game, looking out over a precipice dressed in costume and with a Fiat 500 convertible instead of a carriage.
"To be, or no to be", magnificently binary the result of Ingmar that confirms the mathematical proof of reincarnation: "In hell, free will is truly a concrete reality".
"You are truly a Don Giovanni. So they say..."
"Do you have experience with women? Enough..."
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