An elegant follow-up to Bergman's acclaimed WILD STRAWBERRIES, THE MAGICIAN is set in Sweden in the mid-1800s and stars Max von Sydow as the mysterious Albert Vogler, of Vogler's Magnetic Health Theater, a magician and spiritualist who is en route with his troupe--including Vogler's wife, disguised as a young man (Ingrid Thulin); an old crone who peddles herbal remedies and love potions (Naima Wifstrand); and an overbearing manager (Åke Fridell)--to a small town where they are hoping to give a lucrative performance. The group is unexpectedly detained, however, in the home of a prominent citizen, where a skeptical doctor (Gunnar Björnstrand) challenges Vogler to give a demonstration of mesmerism and prove that he does in fact possess supernatural powers.

Although Bergman thought of THE MAGICIAN as a comedy, its more menacing moments are reminiscent of the horror and suspense films of the silent era. Alternately somber and lighthearted, this esoteric treatise on the nature of truth and illusion should appeal to all moviegoers with a taste for cerebral cinematic fare.