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Ingmar Bergman ___________________
Sweden (1918- )
One of the most important figures of the modern cinema, this phenomenally talented artist, through a series of films dating back to the 1940s, practically created and defined his own genre. Noted for pictures that probe the inner reaches of human emotion, Bergman has served as a model for generations of filmmakers around the world. His primary concerns are spiritual conflict and the fragility of the psyche; within these frameworks, he has crafted a body of work celebrated for its technical and textual innovation. Bergman's interest in life's enduring questions was undoubtedly fueled by a strict Lutheran upbringing (his father was chap lain to the Swedish royal family). As a child, Bergman displayed an active imagination and a love for the theater, which was also manifested during his training as an actor and director at the University of Stockholm.
Entering the Swedish film industry as a script assistant, Bergman first tasted screen success as the writer of Alf Sjoberg's Torment in 1944. He made his directorial debut one year later, with 1945's Kris but the prototypical Bergman picture, filled with the thematic and stylistic aspects that were to become the director's trademark, would not appear until 1949, beginning with The Devil's Wanton. This otherwise minor work touched on many of Bergman's continuing concerns: God, the Devil, spiritual torment, and mortality. It was followed by a series of pictures which marked Bergman's maturation as an artist-Summer With Monika, the circus allegory Sawdust and Tinsel (both 1953), and Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), a romantic comedy of manners set in the country, which nonetheless has many fierce, pointed attitudes about love (and which also inspired the Broadway musical "A Little Night Music" by Stephen Sondheim and Woody Allen's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy in 1982.) Smiles of a Summer Night also presaged Bergman's magnum opus, The Seventh Seal (1957). That tale (set in medieval times) of man's search for meaning-and his chess game with Death-not only became an art-house staple but, along with the same year's Wild Strawberries (starring the great Swedish director Victor Sjostrom as a professor looking back at his life), established a Bergman stock company, consisting of actors Gunnar Bjornstrand, Erland Josephson, Max von Sydow, Ingrid Thulin, Harriet Andersson, and Bibi Andersson, and cinematographer Gunnar Fischer; Liv Ullmann and cinematographer Sven Nykvist would later join the illustrious group.
Bergman continued to strike out into new narrative and thematic areas with The Magician (1958), an examination of the role of the artist; The Virgin Spring (1959), another medieval morality play, but much more stark, with a father avenging his daughter's rape and murder; The Devil's Eye (1960), a slight, amusing diversion with the Devil trying to corrupt a pure woman; and the disturbing "trilogy" of Through a Glass, Darkly, Winter Light (both 1962), and The Silence (1963), which probes loneliness and the loss of faith. All These Women (1964) was a minor comedic jibe at critics, notable only as Bergman's first color film. It did not prepare audiences or critics for Persona (1966), a masterpiece exploring the nature of art and identity through the relationship between a nurse (Bibi Andersson) and a withdrawn actress (Ullmann, her first for Bergman). Another extraordinary series of "chamber" films followed, examining war (Shame 1968), madness (Hour of the Wolf 1968), and isolation (The Passion of Anna 1969).
After a disappointing English-language debut, The Touch (1971, starring Elliott Gould), Bergman had his biggest U.S. success with Cries and Whispers (1972), an unrelenting look at a family awaiting death that marked the peak of his visual mastery (invaluably aided by Nykvist, who won an Oscar for his cinematography on this film). He went on to the disintegration of a marriage in Scenes From a Marriage (1973, originally made in long form for Swedish television), a marvelous adaptation of Mozart's The Magic Flute (1975), and a psychiatrist's nervous breakdown in Face to Face (1976, also made for Swedish television, and featuring a staggering Ullmann performance) before he was arrested in his home country for tax evasion. Supported by German backers, he made The Serpent's Egg (1978, dealing with the roots of Fascism in 1920s Berlin), the story of a mother-daughter conflict, Autumn Sonata (1978, starring Ingrid Bergman in her last film performance), and From the Life of the Marionettes (1980). Fanny and Alexander (1983), a family saga set in turn-of-thecentury Sweden, was a beautiful, charming, and surprisingly joyful summation of his life and most of the themes in his films. It was warmly greeted on both sides of the Atlantic. It was announced as the director's final film, but his made-for-television After the Rehearsal (1984) followed it in U.S. theaters. Since the mid 1980s Bergman has concentrated on directing for the theater. His script for The Best Intentions (1992), depicting the courtship of his parents, was directed by Bille August. His subsequent screenplay, Sunday's Children (1993), was directed by his son, Daniel Bergman.
Bergman was nominated five times for Best Screenplay Oscars (Wild Strawberries, Through a Glass, Darkly, Cries and Whispers, Autumn Sonata, Fanny and Alexander) and three times as Best Director (Cries and Whispers, Face to Face, Fanny and Alexander). Cries and Whispers was nominated for Best Picture and the films The Virgin Spring, Through a Glass, Darkly and Fanny and Alexander won the awards for Best Foreign Language Film. He personally won the Academy's prestigious Irving Thalberg Memorial award in 1970. His autobiography, The Magic Lantern, was published in 1987. (Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia. Copyright © 1994)
Bergmanorama: The Magical Works of Ingmar Bergman. 1998. More fun than useful, but it does contain some interesting quotes from Bergman on a variety of subjects.
IngmarBergman.com Not very scholarly or deep, but useful bio and list of books on Bergman.
Ford, Hamish. "The radical intimacy of Bergman." Senses of Cinema November 2002. Good brief overview of his work.
Ford, Hamish. "Why The Seventh Seal Was Made When It Was." University of North Carolina. May 1, 2000 Brief but useful paper about the historic background of the film. (Author is not identified--could be a prof or student.)
Mishler, William. "The Virgin Spring and The Seventh Seal: A Girardian Reading."
Comparative Drama 30.1 (Spring 1996): 106-123.
Interesting, but somewhat esoteric article, that discusses religion in the film in the context of Rene Girard's view that religious systems provide scapecoats that help control violence in society.
PN1998.3.B47 B63 1997 C.1 1997
PN1998.3.B47 A3 1988 1988
PN1998.A3 B4677 1972
PN1997.B3943 S8 1972
PN1998.A3 B472 1971
PN1998.A3 B464 1969
PN1998.A3 B468 C.2 1968
PN2778.B4 D613 C.2 1964
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