Despite being tipped at one time to world premiere at Cannes or Venice, Saraband - the new film from legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman - will make its debut on Swedish broadcaster SVT on Dec 1.

The film, which stars Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Borje Ahlstedt and Julia Dufvenius, reunites the characters from Bergman's award-winning Scenes From A Marriage, which was first aired in 1973.

Although it was made for TV, Scenes From A Marriage was released worldwide and received a number of awards including a Golden Globe.

Like most of Bergman's films, Saraband is produced by the Swedish national broadcaster. The perfectionist veteran filmmaker declined from both Cannes and later Venice to premiere the film, claiming to be unhappy with the initial print of his first film shot on HD.

Bergman has compared his film to: "a concerto grosso, a concert for a full symphony orchestra, with four soloists." The title refers to Sarabande, an erotic dance popular among royalty in the 17th and 18th century.

Since his official retirement from filmmaking with Fanny And Alexander in 1982, the now 85 year-old Bergman has nevertheless directed a number of films for TV including After The Rehearsal (1984), Karin's Face (1986) and In the Presence Of A Clown (1997). He has also written scripts for films like Bille August's The Best Intentions (1992), Daniel Bergman's Sunday's Children (1992) and Liv Ullmann's Faithless (2000).