I reckon anyone with any sense would avoid a family birthday party like the plague, but not 'Alexander" (Erland Josephson) who invites his lot to his seaside home for lunch. He was an actor and fancies himself as a bit of a disillusioned philosopher who craves the decency of times gone by - even though were probably never really there in the first place. Anyway, the party soon sets off down the usual path of familial discord and just when things couldn't get any more awkward, the house starts to tremble and loud aircraft sounds are heard passing overhead. They turn to the television and it tells them that a nuclear war has began before going blank. Now, they have no electricity and no way of knowing what's going on in the outside world and this adds more to their frustrations and fears and drives "Alexander" to his knees in prayer. He prays, he offers everything he has and is - if only his family are spared the worst. It's now that we are introduced to the enigmatic "Otto" (Allan Edwall) who suggests that salvation may indeed be in his hands, but first he must visit - and possibly placate - the reclusive "Maria". Who is she and what power might she have to alter this terminal train of events? This has many of the traits of an Ingmar Bergman film. The usual dysfunctional dynamics, the style of presentation and I'd say the glacial pace of the plot development, but it is't actually that quick. What makes it work though is the striking effort from Josephson in offering us a character who at times looks like he has but a limited grasp on realty, but who also has a deep spirituality to him. Though he doesn't much care for his brood, he will sacrifice anything and everything to see them safe. There's enough dialogue to convey meaning, but no more and the camerawork does most of the rest of the heavy lifting accompanied by some beautiful JS Bach. It's a film that tantalises our brains. We don't get anything, really, handed to us - we can treat it as a load of emperor's new clothes if we like, or we can imagine just how we might deal with impending disaster and consider what pacts we might make with God - or, for that matter, anyone else - to avert catastrophe. Susan Fleetwood is on top form as "Adelaide", a woman not entirely anchored in reality either and the below stairs machinations add a bit of necessary diversion to the intensity of the principal plot as we take a leisurely 2½ hours to reflect on what we might chose to reflect on with armageddon looming. It's a big screen experience, this film. Not just for the cinematography but also to help concentrate - no easy feat at times, here.

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