The Magician

Max von Sydow provides an extraordinary presence as a 19th century illusionist. Thematically, it fits nicely into the type of films Ingmar Bergman was making in the late-50's, though the execution is not up to the standards of his best films. It is about magic vs. rationalism or faith vs. scepticism or art vs. science or illusion vs. reality, because after all, they are almost all the exact same conflict. The magician stands in as the artist character of Bergman's film against the cold intellectual man of science. At times, there is an almost fairy tale like atmosphere created, but at the end, I was never quite sure what was being communicated. It is, however, unmistakably a Bergman film.