Ingmar Bergman believed in art without borders. He was both a genius of film making and theatrical performances, but in many of his productions he brought elements from other arts – music, poetry and paintings. ‘The Magic Flute‘ realized in 1975 is his deep exploration of the classical opera. Bergman takes over Mozart’s last opera, sublimates its content and adds more than a touch of Scandinavian flavor to the humanist and masonic message of the story, and creates one of the best adaptation of operas to cinema screens. ‘The Magic Flute‘ which was originally produced for TV and which does not even mention the name of the director in the credits is a bright facet of the multiple personalities of the great director, and probably one of the best filmed operas ever made.
A curtain raises at the beginning of the movie and we are in a opera house. This is actually the theater in the 18th-century Drottningholm Palace, located on an island of the Stockholm Archipelago that the Swedes proudly call their national Versailles. The heavenly music of the Overture is played, but we do not see the orchestra – we see faces in the audience, falling or already being under the spell of Mozart’s music. They are so different, and so is their living of the sublime music. This masterpiece, and any work of true art has as many different incarnations as people who enjoy them. More time is spent on a beautiful little girl (who happens to be Bergman’s own daughter). ‘The Magic Flute‘ can be a piece of music for children, but it tells no pure fairy tale story. Under the pretext of a fairy tale Mozart has hidden a story that describes a deadly fight between Good and Evil, between Ration and Darkness, between Freedom and Tyranny. It’s a love story, but love needs to be conquered with pain, and the lovers need courage and character in order to meet each other and to prevail. ‘The Magic Flute‘ is also no conventional and no linear story. A good queen and the beautiful fair ladies in her entourage will change under our eyes to become the forces of evil. The tyrant who abducted the young and beautiful princess will prove to be an enlightened ruler. Things are not what they seem to be, magic controls every aspect of life and destiny, and true love is conquered with courage and wit.
The music is sublime, and so is the singing of the Swedish team. Singing in Swedish never bothered me, it actually gave the music at some moments in time Wagner-esque tones. Visuals are very respectful for the theatrical techniques and rules in Mozart’s time. Bergman expands the space of the stage, inviting us, spectators to join and wander freely in the deep spaces of the theater, just to find ourselves back in our armchairs by the end. Many of the spectators will have the reflex of applauding by the end, so realistic the staging and the acting succeed to be. Bergman‘s ‘Magic Flute‘ is a trip in enchanted territory.