Sarabande

After their divorce, Johan and Marianne lost touch for many, many years. Johan, now a retired professor, has withdrawn to his grandparents' summerhouse in the western province of Dalarna. He bought the house after inheriting a minor fortune from a Danish aunt, a once-famous opera singer. Here he leads a solitary life with his books and a housekeeper. Marianne, who has continued her practice as a family and divorce lawyer, suddenly decides to look up Johan and break through his isolation. Neither of them keeps up regular contact with their daughters, Sara, married and living in Australia, and Martha, who is ill and confined to a nursing home. One beautiful autumn day Marianne stands looking at Johan as he dozes in a lawn chair. She goes up and wakes him with a soft kiss, and after thirty-two years of separation they now begin several intense weeks together.