were used, including Stockholm Film Studios, Uppsala County and Tureholm Castle. Release The film was announced at a press conference in Stockholm in December 1991. To avoid taking attention away from Bille August, Bergman did not attend. The six-hour version of the film ran on Swedish television in four parts in December 1991. The film played at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1992. Distribution for the three-hour theatrical version in the United States, Japan and numerous countries in Europe was secured by July 1992. Reception Critical reception Derek Elley of Variety wrote the film "packs a sustained emotional wallop that lightens its three-hour span," and Pernilla August "holds the screen in a series of throat-catching sequences." Janet Maslin, writing for The New York Times, said that the second boy Anna is pregnant with at the end of the film is Ingmar Bergman, "whose screenplay looks back at the social, economic and personal forces that turned his parents' early years together into a tug of war," while Bille August's direction is "more decorous and less bold." Maslin stated the film "loses momentum" with the romance story lacking significance. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone panned the film as a "three-hour Swedish soap opera" that "fails to live up to its pedigree," while calling Pernilla August "wonderfully expressive" and Max von Sydow and Ghita Nørby excellent. Entertainment Weekly'''s Owen Glieberman gave the film an A, praising it as "the most moving film I’ve seen this year," and said that Pernilla's "radiant sensuality and pride evoke an entire Bergman universe of emotionally engulfing women." Kenneth Turan, writing for The Los Angeles Times, felt the film is missing Bergman's direction, but it has strength in his screenplay and an acting quality "uniformly quite high," with "special nods" to Pernilla and von Sydow. People critics judged the film to be "equally memorable" to Bergman's 1973 miniseries Scenes from a Marriage, filled with "vivid, literate confrontations" that Bille August gives "naturalistic fervor". The Time Out review states The Best Intentions lacks the joy of Fanny and Alexander and the length of the film is challenging for the viewer. In 2016, The Hollywood Reporter ranked the film 69th among 69 counted winners of the Palme d'Or to date, concluding "August’s rather bland direction made this a forgettable Palme." The film has an 81% score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 16 reviews. Critic Vincent Canby also identified Sunday's