Ingmar Bergman

[Lyev]

There is a currently ongoing "Ingmar Bergman Season" on at Film4 (http://www.film4.com/videos/article/ingmar-bergman-season-on-film4) which I have tried to keep up with. Maybe folks outside the UK won't be aware of it? Because Channel 4 is a UK-based channel, but anyway, Bergman's themes are typically philosophical; death, religion, God, morality etc. so half of me wants to commit to these films -- I have enjoyed them so far -- but on the other hand, half of me wants to dismiss as pretentious art cinema. When I expressed an interest in doing an essay on the The Seventh Seal to my film teacher, he dismissed it as a "boring, pretentious and long". Other than The Seventh Seal, the one I enjoyed most was The Silence which is about a priest who abandons religion amidst a turbulent relationship with one of his parishioners and the disillusionment with the low attendance of his sermons.

The formal elements like the cinematography etc. of these movies is pretty cool too, and I wonder how much this is down the Swedish setting. There are lots of shots of the shore and the sea, clifftops, snow, forests etc. He also makes lots of "chamber" movies; there is one that is set on a Swedish island and there is a beautifully shot scene in the belly of a dilapidated boat whilst it is raining, which is contrasted against the actual happening of the scene; that the protagonist is going insane curled up in the fetus position which is quite distressing (people going mad seems to be another recurring motif throughout his movies). There is also an interview with Woody Allen from a couple years back which can be found free on the Film4 website, which some folks might find interesting. He says he would rank The Seventh Seal as one of his favourite movies of all time.
Anyone else watched any of his films; have any thoughts?

[communard71]

I like a few of his movies but above all, The Virgin Spring. The rape scene in it is among the most powerful pieces of art I have ever seen, and the father’s revenge in the end, made me actually cry a bit, and I never cry for movies (maybe because I am now a father of a little girl, I don’t know), I get chills just thinking about it. The action is so quick and intense and the shadows and silence during powerful moments contribute to the overall effect. I could take or leave the kinda cheesy religious ending but I can understand how others might consider it moving. Sounds like a cool film festival.

[JustMovement]

I saw one of his movies and was really disappointed because he was meant to be the classic director. I cant even remember what it was called.

Then I watched Wild Strawberries. One of if not the best move ive ever seen. Not pretentious at all, but really comes grapples with what is important in life. Honestly I cannot reccommend this movie enough, especially if you are not into artistic pretentious cinema

[praxis1966]

Yeah, he's probably one of my all time favorites... I've seen too many of The Gloomy Swede's films to list off the top of my head and really enjoyed each in their own way. I think probably for subtext his Faith Trilogy is my favorite, although Wild Strawberries is kinda where my heart's at.

[RNL]

When I expressed an interest in doing an essay on the The Seventh Seal to my film teacher, he dismissed it as a "boring, pretentious and long".
Long? It's an hour and a half...

I used to like Bergman's films more than I do now, but his work in the late '50s through to the late '60s/early '70s is really outstanding.

Check out The Virgin Spring if you haven't seen it.

Cries and Whispers is also pretty amazing. Very atmospheric. I've actually always thought Bergman (& his cinematographer Sven Nykvist) was able to evoke the experience of nightmares very clearly. It's been a while since I've seen it, but I remember thinking the nightmare sequence in Autumn Sonata was the best cinematic depiction of a nightmare I'd ever seen (even if I liked the rest of the film less than his earlier work).

[praxis1966]

Nail. Head. Hit, RNL. Nykvist doesn't get nearly as much credit in the popular consciousness for his contributions to Bergman's work as he deserves. In fact, I'd go so far to say that Bergman would have been a fraction of the filmmaker he's revered as without him.

[Lyev]

Yeah, of what I've seen of his (haven't seen Seventh Seal properly yet, or Wild Strawberries, bear in mind) The Faith trilogy was one of my favourites. Winter Light and Through a Glass Darkly in particular.

Also, as a point of discussion, apart from religion and death (these always seem to be linked in the Bergman movies I've seen) as central recurring themes, what do people think about the role of sexuality in films? I read that The Silence was largely popular outside of Sweden because of its sexual nature. Some interpretations say the tank etc. in that movie is "phallic" (this info is largely from the wikipedia page on it by the way). I do not think the film is primarily about sex though, but I am not sure. Anyway, if the film is not directly about sexuality, why does Bergman include it (and quite evocatively if I may say so)? I think it is perhaps something to do with faith's relationship to repression of desire, yet "faith" in the strictly religious sense (churches, priests, bibles etc.) does not appear as it does in the former two movies of the faith series. So again, I am not sure. Any thoughts from anyone?

Long? It's an hour and a half...It was something along those lines. Perhaps "long" wasn't the word he used; something along the lines of "tedious". Suffice to say he was disdainful.


Check out The Virgin Spring if you haven't seen it.This one seems to be one of the most popular of his movies.


Cries and Whispers is also pretty amazing. Very atmospheric. I've actually always thought Bergman (& his cinematographer Sven Nykvist) was able to evoke the experience of nightmares very clearly. It's been a while since I've seen it, but I remember thinking the nightmare sequence in Autumn Sonata was the best cinematic depiction of a nightmare I'd ever seen (even if I liked the rest of the film less than his earlier work).I just watched Cries and Whispers yesterday too. It is pretty hard to watch; the mood is so stifling. The self-harm part has stuck with me particularly. And the saturation of red in the mise-en-scene soon becomes oppressive. Now that you mention it, the film is strangely dream-like; I am thinking here of the red fades between scenes. And the excess of colour (mainly red) is interesting considering the contrast against all the other movies of his I've seen, which are black & white. Actually, perhaps if it weren't for the bright crimson everywhere (which is of course quite integral to the atmosphere etc.) this film could almost be in monochrome like his other films, since the primary colours apart from the red seem to be simple white against black or vice versa. And the three sisters give such good performances, too.