Aging circus performer Albert (Åke Grönberg) angers his mistress (Harriet Andersson) when he visits his estranged wife, triggering a roundelay of sexual betrayal and emotional anguish in this early Ingmar Bergman classic. Reviled by critics upon its release, the film is now regarded as an essential Bergman work, highlighted by a legendary flashback in which Albert recalls a clown who finds his wife swimming nude before a crowd of soldiers.