Gycklarnas afton

Sawdust and Tinsel is a dispiriting portrayal of the lives of a group of circus performers, lives filled with deceit, defeat, toil and poverty. The performers travel around with the little Circus Alberti, which is going through hard times. In the town where the circus arrives, the ringmaster Albert Johansson has to beg the town's theatre director Sjuberg for permission to borrow some costumes, as the circus has just had to sell some off for lack of money. Albert's wife and children live in the town; he left them three years ago when she could no longer bear circus life. Now Albert too wants to retire from the toil, but his wife Agda does not want him back, for she has done well for herself and runs two shops. Albert's humiliations are not over for the day, however. That same evening he is beaten up by the actor with whom his mistress Anne has been unfaithful to him. She too has had a humiliating day. Even so, they get back together in the end, for they see no other option.

With Bergmans pessimistic view of life in mind, it is natural to see the film as an allegory of human life. Despite the film's gloom, it appealed to me, not least because it was visually immensely beautiful in its black and white.