Originally a five-hour miniseries, Bergman’s episodic film gives us Johan (Erland Josephson) and Marianne (Liv Ullman), a successful middle-class couple who find themselves torn between irreconcilable differences and habitual affection. Scenes is spare, unadorned, and unflinching in its depiction of the small jealousies and unspoken resentments which can tear a relationship apart. The material may be bleak, but the performances are extraordinary, and the writing is powerful and rich with insight.
—Edmund Barns