This is the best Bergman movie I have seen so far
and arguably the best comedy on film.  It does not
have the heavy handed pseudo-philosophical stuff
that is usually present in his "serious" films.  Here
the messages are casually meted out in ordinary
conversation--just about everything Desiree's mother
utters is a gem.
 
The main character in the film strives for things he
does not and cannot have.  In the end, he sees both the
power and the wisdom of social convention and surrenders
to it.  The same is true with everyone else in the film.
Some willingly others are forced, but none is
happier as the result.  The end of the film is permeated
with a sense of despair, but this is what comedies
are supposed to do.  Good comedies make people laugh,
but great ones make people laugh in tears.

Eugene Xia