Ingmar Bergman Loses Chess Match With Death

Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman died today at the age of 89 in Sweden. I (and many others) consider him to be one of the greatest directors of all time. He made quite an impression on me when I was coming of age in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Earlier this year, I watched many of his works during a three week "Bergman Marathon." Here is my post of that wonderful experience.

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I just completed my "Ingmar Bergman Marathon"! Over the past three weeks, my wife and I watched 11 classic films from the great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman (born 1918).

It started off about three weeks ago when I rented "Wild Strawberries" on a whim. I had first seen it in 1970. After thoroughly enjoying it, we decided to re-immerse ourselves in Bergman. These are the films we watched: (the ones with the * are ones I had seen before in the early 1970s)

Smiles of A Summer Night* (1955)
The Seventh Seal (1957)*
Wild Strawberries (1958)*
Virgin Spring (1960)
Through A Glass Darkly (1961)*
Winter Light (1962)*
The Silence (1963)
Persona (1966)
The Passion of Anna (1969)*
Cries and Whispers (1972)*
Scenes from a Marriage (1973)*
Fanny and Alexander (1982)

As I watched them, I couldn't help but compare my feelings about these films to the feelings I had when I first watched them over thirty-five years ago. Back then, I was a student in my early twenties trying to open my mind up to the big issues of life. At that time, these films helped do just that. Today, I'm in my late fifties and have had my own life experience, and these films helped to put that in perspective.

When I first saw "The Seventh Seal," "Wild Strawberries," and "Winter Light," I was entranced, delighted and provoked by the big metaphysical issues Bergman confronted and explored. Plus Bergman's writing is outstanding. These three films still stand up well today, and rightly deserve to be called "Classics."

When I saw "The Passion of Anna" and "Cries and Whispers" in theatrical release in the early 1970s, I was amazed by their ideas, boldness, and subject matter. When I saw them again, I was less impressed. The late 1960s and early 1970s were a confusing time, and Bergman's own confusion comes out clearly — especially in "The Passion of Anna." Now that I've had my own taste of life (business, marriage, fatherhood, death of loved ones, etc.), I scratched my head over some of the decisions his characters made. These films, nonetheless, are still provocative and worth seeing. 

What's especially enjoyable about Bergman is he presents us with consistent glimpses into his evolving vision of God, man's place in the world, love, human relationships, and fear. I use the word "consistent" because Bergman uses the same film technicians and actors repeatedly. In a way, it's comforting to see Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, and Gunnar Bjornstrand, and then Liv Ullman, and Erland Josephson adopt different roles in his work. I use the word "evolving" because Bergman moved from a religious/metaphysical orientation to an existential one.

Bergman, along with Kubrick, Kurosawa, and Fellini, is one of the six or seven greatest directors of the second half of the twentieth century. Watching eleven of his films in a short period was fun, personally revealing, and above all inspiring!

If you haven't seen a Bergman film in a while, check one out. Criterion has done a fine job of bringing the films to the DVD format and adding special features and commentaries. The so-called "Trilogy" from the early 1960s — "Through A Glass Darkly," "Winter Light," and "The Silence" — is not a bad place to begin.

What are your favorite Bergman films?

Comments

[Stephen Denny]

I think it's fair to say it was a draw.

[David Armano]

This post has inspired me to join Netflicks. I have many films I need to see.

[Tim Siedell]

The Seventh Seal is my personal favorite. Wild Strawberries would be a close second.

You broke the news to me. I hadn't heard of his passing.

[Mr. Zeus]

Sport's equal of a cinema director would have to be the coach. Although they aren't the ones performing on the field (screen), they are in charge of making key decisions, orchestrating all the team's components (cast/screenplay/soundtrack/camera angle/etc.), and inspiring/motivating their players (actors).

Bill Walsh, a man who surely brought you great joy in the 80's with the 49ers, and the 90's briefly with Stanford, died this morning after a long battle with leukemia.

RIP 'Father of the West Coast Offense'
'Coach of the Decade'

[Roger von Oech]

Stephen: You're probably right - no worse that a stalemate.

David: Watching classic films (especially those from the Criterion Collection) rented from Netflix will make your brain grow.

Tim: Both of those are favorites of mine as well.

Alex: Good comparison between NFL Head Coach and film director. Both will be missed.

[Pawli Tillman Swedenborg]

Yes, he was truly one of a kind and many will mourn him. However, my fellow countryman placed his stark, permanent tattoo on movie history; his movies will live on.

My favorite Bergman film?
This is where I furrow my brow, squint my eyes, tap absentmindedly on the keyboard with my index finger...and realize that I don't have one. Come to think of it, that question is nearly impossible to answer, since each movie jostles those little grey cells, and leaves one with a chest saturated with EMOTIONS -whatever they may be.

"Faithless" (2000) was the movie which re-awakened my Bergman appreciation, and a movie which probably (and hopefully) re-awakened, or introduced, Bergman awareness to younger movie fans.

Watching "Fanny and Alexander" as a pre-teen, I was unable to appreciate Bergman's trademark complexity, which is why I recently re-watched it...and got homesick, but that's another story.

Scanning the English subtitles I noticed that many subtle forms of delicious, weighty semantics were lost during the sometimes coarse - and sometimes inaccurate- translation. Sadly, non-Swedish speakers are robbed of the full experience.

Then again, Bergman's intricate thoughts were probably not all accurately translated into the viewers' minds even in Swedish.

You will be missed, Ingmar.

[Valeria Maltoni]

I remembered the post, Roger. It was great back then, it is really touching now. I will remember Igmar Bergman as one of the greatest as well.