It’s interesting the talk of, “is it a series or is it a film?” that dominates film culture when a great filmmaker does something in the realm of television. David Lynch is really seen as a forerunner in the film-to-TV transition because of “Twin Peaks,” the ’90s version, and the more recent Showtime return, but Ingmar Bergman was already out there in the 1970s. You likely know the title, “Scenes From A Marriage,” a 1973 Swedish Television miniseries that Bergman wrote and directed and subsequently edited into an acclaimed film version too (He did the same with 1982’s “Fanny & Alexander” which was a series first). Anyhow, “Scenes From A Marriage” is getting the remake treatment via HBO and will return as a limited series and what a cast.
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In place of the bickering, soon-to-be divorcing Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, HBO has set Michelle Williams and Oscar Isaac to be the two powerhouse leads. Stack this one on top of 2021’s or 2022’s given the pandemic, most anticipated TV series list right now. “Scenes From a Marriage” the original chronicles the many years of love and turmoil that bind a couple through matrimony, infidelity, divorce, and subsequent partners (fyi, it’s fantastic).
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This version comes from “Our Boys” and “The Affair” co-creator Hagai Levi, Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res and Endeavor Content. Written and directed by Levi, also an exec producer, the series adaptation re-examines the original series iconic depiction of love, hatred, desire, monogamy, marriage, and divorce through the lens of a contemporary American couple.
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Bergman’s original story of a disintegrating marriage is emotionally wrenching and tough— Bergman was married five times, had many famous relationships (many with his leading ladies), and he drew on his own experiences, including his relationship with Ullmann.
This is the kind of series that immediately gets the bells for TV award season, honestly. Emmys and the Golden Globes will likely already have a slot reserved for both Williams and Isaac and the acting wattage between them—whew, even on paper, this sounds like a seven-course emotional meal that is going to wreck us all. I can’t wait. [Deadline]