I agree with another comment here that the two stories do not have the same thematic confluence that is found in Bergman's later and more complex work. There is much to enjoy nonetheless, especially the always remarkable Gunnar Bjornstrand. Both stories end with one woman telling another woman more about herself than she would like to know and a man stands impotently at a window. Perhaps the main thing that keeps it from equaling his later works is that he did not hit upon a believable way to show the younger woman evolving. Instead she is revealed to us to be what the feral daughter of her elderly would-be patron calls her: an imbecile and borderline prostitute. At the end of the film the older woman has regained whatever sympathy the actress playing her Eva Dahlbeck and Bergman have expertly lost her and has grown as a person. The same cannot be said for Harriett Andersson's character. It is still quite an enjoyable minor film and a successful stepping stone. This film was made right on the cusp of his years when he made one masterpiece after another.