Meeting the Madwoman by Linda Schierse Leonard

Excerpt from
Autumn Sonata
By Ingmar Bergman

“A mother and a daughter-what a terrible combination of feelings and confusion and destruction! Everything is possible and everything is done in the name of love and solicitude. The mother’s injuries are to be handed down to the daughter, the mother’s disappointments are to be paid for by the daughter, the mother’s unhappiness is to be the daughter’s unhappiness. It’s as if the umbilical cord had never been cut. The daughter’s grief is the mother’s secret pleasure.”