These become self-enclosed worlds for the characters to ruminate and argue, fumbling faintly towards some intellectual conclusion. In Persona , Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson, playing an unwell actress and her nurse respectively, overlap metaphorically and visually, as if two halves of the same person.
Sisters are the focus in both The Silence and again in Autumn Sonata , where Ingrid Bergman arrives as an absent, ageing mother, unprepared for who her adult daughters have become. What happens when the one who dreamt us wakes up and feels ashamed?
Invaluable to the Bergman buff, recommendable to one who isn't. Each one of his films, even the lesser ones I've seen, are loaded with a passion for the material, for the actors, for the pure theatricality of the drama or, every now and then, comedy being presented. It takes a little while to warm up to some of his more psychologically and emotionally heavy works, like Through a Glass Darkly, Cries and Whispers, and The Passion of Anna, but after viewing at least, if not more than, a dozen of his films, the serious film lover can obtain as pure and rewarding a catharsis as from the greatest works of all time.
And, like the most mature of all filmmakers, he never panders to a film-goer's level of intelligence- what you see is what you got- and either you'll like his films for their level of intense human connectedness or distance and themes, or be put off by the lack of "mainstream" movie values.
This documentary, however, should be, if not as special to Bergman fans as to one who might have seen one or two of his films or none at all, a fitting volume of what it's like to make a film. From the very finish of the writing stage until its premiere, Vilgot Sjoman interviews and interjects his questions and his camera at Bergman and the production of Winter Light.
Aside from learning Bergman's influences and thoughts on the story and characters aside from his personal connection- his father was a Lutheran priest- to the religious nature of the picture , the viewer sees the costume testing, the location scouting, the actual shooting process involved in one small scene, looking back once the film's shot, the editing process, and personal reflections on the directorial process.
There is even the critics' responses, which is perhaps the one downside to seeing the documentary before seeing the film it's about- you may be intrigued by the details, but you don't want to get spoiled with information. One of the great strengths of the series of interviews is that Sjoman's questions are direct, concise, and bring out details from Bergman that would be harder for other journalists to conjure up.
There is so much information extracted as to what it's like to make a film, to work with the actors, to get the little things right as much as the character's emotions, when and why to cut in editing, the rhythm of a film.
For a film-viewer not familiar with Bergman the doc might even turn them on to him simply by his methods and philosophies. And for the fan, such as myself, there is a lot of insight that would be missing from certain books, such as the humor that goes on between him and his actors in-between takes.
It's a finite, unique time capsule of cinema, even if you don't think Winter Light is all that great. Quinoa Sep 8, Details Edit. Wild Strawberries , released in December , is also full of haunting, indelible images — such as a clock with no hands and shocked look on an old man as he is being pulled into the coffin by his own dead body.
When Bergman was asked in whether the film was a positive tale of redemption, Bergman was unconvinced. Do you? They may have a moment of illumination, they may see themselves, have awareness of what they are, but that is the most they can hope for.
During the making of The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries , he was also enjoying an intense affair with year-old Bibi Andersson, the lead actor in both films. At the time, his marriage to the journalist and linguist Gun Grut was starting to unravel.
His personal relationships with women seem at odds with his respect for them on screen. And it is truly strange that he, at the same time, gave his actors such amazing roles. In this aspect Bergman is ahead of his time, even today.
He was born in — maybe his attitude to women in his personal life reflects his generation. When he died on 30 July , aged 89, Bergman left behind eight children his son Jan, who had appeared in his film Shame , had died of leukaemia at 54 , whom he had largely ignored during their formative years.
In the studio and the theatre, I could live happily. He surrounded himself with devoted actors — including regulars such as Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Bibi Andersson, Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann — and utilised the same set of superb technicians. David Lean once asked Bergman about his modus operandi. He created a relationship between all the people he worked with.
As ever with Bergman, this is not the whole story. He was not universally respected. Bergman had chosen Guve to play a character based on the young Bergman in the autobiographical Fanny and Alexander. During one scene, Guve laughed unexpectedly, causing Bergman to lose control.
He is also shown as control freak who could fly into a tantrum if a crew member ate one of his favourite biscuits. As Bergman got older his temper got worse. The crap that people had to put up with at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm during the s is insane.
He crushed and destroyed people and should have been told to go home. But he kept the crowds coming and no one intervened. Bergman was sufficiently self-aware — and arguably crafty enough — to admit his flaws to interviewers.
The well-known one is very under control; everything is planned and very secure. The unknown one can be very unpleasant.
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