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A romantic comedy of manners with a satirical edge, Smiles of a Summer’s Night takes place in 1900 and was inspired in part by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Full of subtle eroticism and wit, Ingmar Bergman’s romance proposes that falling in love - or lust - beyond the parameters of social convention is not only unavoidable, but may even be the key to personal happiness. Fredrik is a lustful lawyer living a platonic marriage with a virginal wife, Anne. Henrik, his son by his previous marriage, is after Petra, the family maid. Fredrik’s old mistress, an actress named Desiree, is in town, and he goes to see her. But now she has a new lover, the fierce Count Malcolm, who in turn has a formidable wife, Charlotte. All are invited to Desiree’s mother’s estate for a weekend party… "Smiles of a Summer Night" was the inspiration for Woody Allen's "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy".
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