A welcome anomaly in the career of the famously angst-ridden director, this eight-part rondo is a dazzling comedy of manners suffused with the shimmering eroticism of summer nights. Under the influence of +A Midsummer Night's Dream, Bergman sets his mismatched couples awhirl, and in the stumbling slapstick and sublime ecstasy of the chase, he gently punctures the illusions and pretensions that have made their current ties so stifling. Of course, as is the director's wont, the men are the truly benighted creatures here, in particular the hapless Frederik, who is as blind to the farcical nature of his marriage as he is to the intentions of the designing Desiree. But even amidst the Ryarp manor's lush atmosphere of abandon and sensuality, none of the players can escape an undercurrent of bittersweet longing, a sense of the transience of romantic love. Despite a characteristic dash of Strindbergian venom, one might not immediately recognize the director's signature in the elegant epigrams and polished wit of the screenplay, but his genius is evident in the inspired ensemble of acting of the entire company, particularly the ineffable work of these four intoxicating actresses.