chamber-film phase

[farima_mt]

(One has the feeling that the Ingmar Bergman figure in the films, at least in the chamber-film phase,is usually Max VON Sydow.)
from (Ingmar Bergman interviews by Raphael shargel/interview with John Simon)
Could you help me what chamber-film phase means here? Does it mean in the beginning phase???
Thanks in advance.

 

[Thomas Tompion]

Chamber music is music played by a small group of instrumentalists. Bergman's trilogy (Through a Glass Darkly / Winter Light / The Silence) is often called the Chamber Trilogy because it uses a small group of the same actors. Those films were made in the early 60s and I suspect that this is the stage of Bergman's work which they are talking about.

 

[Copyright]

It's describing a phase in his career when he was shooting "chamber films" -- films shot in a chamber: 1 a large room used for formal or public events.

It probably also is related to this definition of chamber:6 [as modifier] Music of or for a small group of instruments: a chamber orchestra -- in that there are a small number of actors in the chamber.

Evidence of this is in this article on StarPlus.com: Autumn Sonata is an intense yet frequently overlooked family drama. It is excessively talky, and rightly so, with the two main protagonists holed up in a country estate after a seven-year separation to duke out their problems in a passionate dialogue.

In other words, character-based films that focus on a few actors in a single setting. (Please know that this is just surmise on my part.)

Edit: Cross-posted with Thomas.

 

[farima_mt]

Thanks a lot,that was really helpful.