Maybe this isn't the deepest film of Bergman - or the most spectacular film visually - but there is something with this movie that I like. Maybe that's the stripped and easy settings, that's differently in comparison with other films directed by Bergman, or maybe that's the three interesting women's stories - that the film is about - that touches me.

And maybe Bergman knew that. Maybe he knew that films about pregnancies and all that concern about that, touches people. Maybe he knew that it was an excellent idea to directing a film, that takes place in some gloomy hospital wards - for the gloomy settings, leaves space to a film that entirely focus on three - more or less - wounded souls.

Maybe he knew that. Maybe he knew that it was the way to a masterpiece.

This movie is fairly straight forward, with women in various situations facing childbirth.

What transforms this movie is the astonishing performances that Bergman is able to obtain from the actors. It's something that is so frequent in the first half of his career. There's something vibrant and remarkable, that transcends plot. You can see why he became so famous. Very few directors seem to be able to obtain such spontaneous performances from their actors.

Like so many of his early films, there's not much here that you might not see in the theatre. Yet it has such remarkable life to it.

What makes this film special is that in 1958 it was examining the emotions and process of childbirth, openly talking about unwanted pregnancy and abortion, and showing it all from the perspective of three women in a hospital. The fact that it acknowledges what it does is in stark contrast to films coming out of America, where the most innocuous of things about a woman's body or even having a baby was suppressed. There is an interesting dynamic in trying to convince an unwed woman to have the child because of all of the support Sweden's public health system now provided, the guilt and turmoil of emotions each feel because of stressful situations or events, and the heartfelt support they show each other. It's a quiet movie for the most part, one that examines feelings and lets us know that coming into the world is not such a simple thing, but a truly gripping moment occurs when one woman is patronized by a male doctor and sedated against her will. I can't say it was one I would reach for and re-watch necessarily, but I'm impressed by the subject matter, and think at the time it would have felt truly groundbreaking.