Remaking scenes from a marriage: social memory and the cross-cultural representation of the heteronormative couple

This article examines the 2021 adaptation Scenes from a Marriage,createdbyHagaiLevi,asacross-culturalremakeof Ingmar Bergman’s 1973 miniseries Scener ur ett äktenskap. Through a comparative analysis of their pilot episodes, the study examines the screenwriting strategies employed in adapting the narrative across distinct cultural, temporal, and ideological contexts. Beyond thematic and formal changes, the article highlights how shifting representations of intimacy, gender roles, and emotional conflict mirror broader transformations in social memory and cultural identity. Drawing on theories of adaptation and memory (Halbwachs, Hutcheon, Bazin), the remake is approached as both reinterpretation and cultural inscription, where fidelity to the original intersects with innovation in character construction, narrative framing, and emotional articulation. Particular attention is given to dramaturgical mechanisms such as the reversal of gender roles, the representation of abortion, and the meta-cinematic opening that foregrounds the constructed nature of fiction. By contrasting Bergman’s existential, quasi-essayistic portrait of marital collapse with Levi’s contemporary reconfiguration, the article situates the remake as a site of negotiation between individual and collective memory. Ultimately, it argues that adaptation operates as a form of cultural thought, shaping the ways intimacy and the heteronormative couple are reimagined within contemporary audiovisual fiction.