People are voting emotionally.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This 1958 Bergman film is often overlooked, sandwiched as it is between Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries on one side and the Faith Trilogy on the other. Nevertheless, it still offers many profound moments and remains a complex tale about masks and illusions.The film can be read as Bergman, the master illusionist, destroying the critics who set out to humiliate him. The fact that the magician has no apparent voice of his own but lets his act speak for him is a reflection of the director's role, quietly manipulating the audience from behind the scenes through his art.The traveling group of entertainers representing the restless, roaming life of the artist is a common motif through much of Bergman's middle-period work including Sawdust and Tinsel and the Seventh Seal. These characters are depicted as never at home in society, nor appreciated by it. Invariably they represent low-culture forms of entertainment from circuses and medieval troupes to, in this case, a magic and animal magnetism/hypnotism show. Perhaps there was still a feeling at this time that cinema could not be one of the high arts? This is ironic as Bergman was, of course, doing so much to legitimise cinema as a serious art form with each film he produced at this time.Masks and layers of truth are symbolic throughout the film. The magician lives his role and is only exposed at the end, after he has broken through his critics' own masks and truly scared them for one fleeting moment.Likewise, hands are symbolic throughout this piece. As an apparent mute, the magician expresses his thoughts through his hand gestures and it is a disembodied hand at the end that he uses as part of his tricks.The ending, however is truly subversive. Whilst the audience are encouraged to identify with the magician has he outwits the cynical and mocking critics, once his masks are stripped away, he is shown to be, indeed, just another vagabond entertainer who grovels for some money, whilst the critic, humiliated moments before, re-assumes his own mask. Rejected by the woman who loved the illusion and not the man behind it he seems on the verge of another defeat. Once the audience is tempted to conclude that perhaps the critics were right after all, Bergman follows with a feint of his own: the magician has found royal favour and is off to perform at court. Whilst the petty officials have rejected him, he is about to be received by the highest office in the land.In terms of social strata, he has moved from a station well-below the officials to a privileged audience with the king that they themselves have probably never had. The artist has triumphed over his critics.

Some reviewers have set themselves out to compare The Magician squarely against Ingmar's previous two masterpieces, The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries and mark The Magician down, unfairly. It almost cannot be possible to attain the dizzy heights of adulation of those two and as such, we are treated something lighter and possibly, more enjoyable.Mr Bergman, in his long illustrious career covered many types of subjects. Starting with straightforward and rather dull dramas, through kitchen-sink (Ikea style?!!) and onto the darker shades of human psychology. And beyond, sometimes.The Seventh Seal succeeded due to its extraordinary storytelling and imagery - along with just about everything else. Wild Strawberries due to its poignancy and leading performances that resonated with a sense of recognition and support in its audience. Other titles offer dark, deep blackly brooding death obsessed monologues that brush against exquisite period dramas of superb detail and cinematography.The Magician, though has always been one of my favourites. Neither comedy nor horror film but light, often humorous drama that touches upon the Wonder in us all. We all want to see behind a master of illusion and the mixture of nostalgia, set in the comparatively fairytale setting of Scandinavia. I almost find it more akin to Conan Doyle than the witch- hunting or almost unfathomable symbolisms found in many other Bergman's. As Bergman is one of my favourite directors of all time, warts and all and have 47 of his films I'd say this has much to offer, both to fans such as myself as well being good family entertainment that strengthens his cinematic arsenal, not weakens it.

I don't think the ending was disappointing at all! What really stroke me in this movie, what I find the best - is the final part, for all its turning points. Vergerus and the others SEEM so triumphant and the Magician so humble, but just seconds before Vergerus was trembling with fear and almost denying his lifelong convictions. The humble one had mastered all of them before. I think the whole movie is about illusion and how people are eager to believe in magic. The hosts find themselves very powerful in the end, but probably the same story will go on at the king's court now. The magician succeeded with his act, quite because he was exposed in the end. It wouldn't have been such a great thing for a real magic - empowered person to scare them. But they were all fascinated by actors / director, really... what a great performance! the film viewer himself was in for the game. A charlatan, yes, but what a dangerous one. The hosts lose after all, having been deceived by someone so weak...

It's not Bergman as his most tormented or saturnine, but it's thoroughly entertaining, more theatrical (in a good sense) than say Persona or In a Glass, Darkly, and still an unqualified masterpiece on a level of artistry that no one making films today seems to be able to achieve. It makes me think in some ways of Shakespeare's plays like the Henry IV with their mix of tragedy and comedy--all done with tremendous showmanship. I'll bet Orson Welles admired this film-- if he ever saw it.Bergman seems almost forgotten today. Films like this one, Naked Night, Hour of the Wolf, Persona, etc., hardly ever crop up on TV or film festivals. When Bergman is represented, it's usually by The Seventh Seal (not my favorite, and a film that begs for a parody), Wild Strawberries, Smiles of a Summer Night (because of the musical version, no doubt), or Fanny and Alexander, which is more recent, and most important, in color. What a pity. The man created a body of work virtually unsurpassed in the second half of the 20th century.