Ingmar Bergman (1918- )
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Career
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Ingmar Bergman in 2005
Background
Theater
Cinema
Career Phases
Central themes
through major films
Family Background
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Born in cultural town, Uppsala
Father Henrik Bergman,
Lutheran pastor
Hedvig Eleonora Church,
Stockholm
“Oscarian Sweden”
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Hedvig Eleonora
Church, Stockholm
Hierarchicies of authority
Moral rigidity
Subjective regulation
Transition from Lutheran,
conservative Sweden to
secular, modern welfare state
Often described as
“autobiographical director”
Anna and
Henrik
Bergman in
The Best
Intentions (Den
goda viljan,
1994)
Theater
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First work as director at
amateur theater in 1938
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August Strindberg (18501912)
Regular direction of theater
(2-3 plays a year) through
1995
Director of theaters in
Helsingborg, Malmö,
Gothenburg, Stockholm
Bergman’s “Troupe”
Pervasive influence of August
Strindberg (1849-1912)
“Theater is my wife, cinema
my mistress”
Cinema
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Script department at Svensk
filmindustri 1943
Sjöström and Stiller influence
as ”artistic masters” at Svensk
filmindustri
Directorial debut 1946 Crisis
(Kris)
Career Production
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91 Titles
Averaged 2 films annually
48 international prizes
9 Oscars
Bergman often speaks of his
childhood fascination with filmstrips
and shadow plays– a theme that
turns up in many of his films
Career Phases
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Bergman as auteur
Optimistic Challenges of 1950s
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Seventh Seal (1957)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Subjective questioning
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Affirmation of vital experience through
choice
The Virgin Spring (1960)
Pessimistic Challenges 1960s-70s
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Persona (1966)
Subjective questioning
Failed affirmations
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Three generations on the set of Wild
Strawberries, Ingmar Bergman, Bibi
Andersson, Viktor Sjöströ, Sven
Nykvist (l-r)
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Metaphysical grounding
Love relationships
Uncertainty and negativity
Humiliation and suffering
Tortuous relationships
Obscured vision
Affirmative Reassessment
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Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Hopeful tone
Art and dream as replenishment in the
face of indifferent, cruel world
The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde
inseglet, 1957)
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Antonius Block returns from the
Crusades with squire Jöns
Journey theme
Opposed doubles
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How can one do good, in a world
of incomprehensible death and
destruction?
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God/Death
Material/Spiritual
Youth/Old age
Light/Darkness
Male/female
The face of death, Bengt Ekeröt
Godless world
Annihilating death
Possibility of material affirmation
Cannes Jury Prize 1957
Dance of Death
Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället,
1957)
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Victor Sjöström as Isak Borg
Strinbergian influence
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Resonance of emotional
experience
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Ingrid Thulin and Victor Sjöström in
Wild Strawberries
Inferno crisis
Significance of dream
Doubles
Identification
Ambivalence
Shame and reconciliation
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Private
Public
The Virgin Spring (1960)
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QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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Medieval ballad as source
Shot in Dalarna, summer 1959
Religious conflict
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Töre (Max von Sydow) and Karin
(Birgitta Pettersson
Formal resolution
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QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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Spare mise en scène
Gistorical setting
Kurosawa’s influence
Themes
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Märeta
(Birgitta
Valberg)
and Töre
Strict, medieval Christianity
Practical paganism
Nature
Silence
Ethical responsibility
Moral duty
Narrative vs. Analysis
Persona (1966)
Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullman
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An actress goes dumb and goes to an island to be cared for by a nurse
From reality of relations to reality of representation
Representation and emotion
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Ambivalent relationship between ”appearance” and ”reality”
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Persona = mask
Alma = inner soul
Aggression
Abandonment
Art and self-reflexivity
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Is art an exercise in Vampirism?
Does art make visible to us beauty we cannot otherwise see?
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
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Alexander’s theatre
Announced as last film of career
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Announced as last film of career
The Little World of The Theater
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Thematic summary
Final Statement
5-hr. Swedish Television Premiere Christmas Day, 1982
Ekdahl family
Affirmation of “flawed performance”
The Cold World of Institutionalized Religion
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Bishop Vergelius
Rescue by Isak
Conclusion
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Sources
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Childhood
Theater
Philosophical questioning
Career
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Prolific
Four phases
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Early entry into theater and film
Secular optimism
Secular pessimism
Qualified affirmation of art
“Scandinavian Cinema”