Filmed in Germany, during Bergman's tax-related exile with a predominantly German cast and crew, From the Life of the Marionettes continues the story of Katarina and Peter Egermann, the feuding, childless, professional couple who appear in Scenes From A Marriage. This is an unusually raw and explicit drama in which all the scenes are shot in black and white except the opening sequence and the epilogue.

Peter Egermann (Robert Atzorn), outwardly stable and well adjusted, suffers from depression, feelings of sexual inadequacy, and barey suppressed rage toward his wife, Katarina (Christine Buchegger). This eventually leads to the brutal rape and murder of a prostitute, known only as Ka, a nickname for Katarina. An intense and experimental film, whose complex structure allows us to explore the mind of a man driven to extremes, From the Life of the Marionettes is one of Bergman's most daring works.