Ingmar Bergman R.I.P.

[Doctor Strange]

I know that Bergman isn't generally held in the same stratospheric esteem now that he was back in the 1960s when I first became a film buff, but I still love many of his films, and I couldn't let his death pass without mention.

He was an astonishingly brilliant filmmaker. As a writer/director, he was a master of getting the best out of all his collaborators, especially actors and cinematographers. His films are utterly unique: they're never less than fascinating, and the best are powerful statements of the human condition!

A short list of his masterworks: Smiles Of A Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, The Magician, The Virgin Spring, Hour Of The Wolf, Persona, Winter Light, Cries And Whispers, Scenes From A Marriage, The Magic Flute, Autumn Sonata, Fanny And Alexander - and lots of others! (If you're truly interested in film, you have got to see some of these!)

Maybe now he has the answer to one of the key questions that runs through so many of his films - God's silence...

 

[herringbonekid]

i doubt that films as serious and introspective as Bergman's would find funding today. or much of an audience for that matter. he is the very pinnacle of art cinema as far as i'm concerned.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I loved Bergman's films, saw Wild Strawberries, The Virgin Spring, The Seventh Seal, The Silence, The Magician and many numbers.

My very favorite is The Seventh Seal, which I have in video. And I loved watching Max Von Sydow, Ingrid Thulin, Liv Ullman, Gunnar Bjurnstrand, Bibi Andersson, and Bergman's stock actors that he utilized from film to film.

What a wonderful film legacy he has left us.

karol

 

[jake_fink]

Bergman was one of the brightest stars in a period when film was taken seriously as an art form and when people went out to see movies in order to be challenged, astonished and moved. His like just doesn't exist anymore and that is too, too bad.

 

[HadleyH]

___

"One of the world most prominent film makers is gone ... but his films will live on long after his memory is forgotten".

 

[Doctor Strange]

The always useful Arts & Letters Daily has a nice set of links to various obits and appreciations from all kinds of publications. Some of them are extremely perceptive.

http://www.aldaily.com/

After skimming these, I find myself even more moved, and determined to revisit some of Bergman's films that I haven't seen in far too long... plus a few that I've never seen!

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I, too, would like to revisit some old Bergman favorites and see some of his films I missed.

He was one of several prominent "foreign" film-makers in the world in the 50's-70's, among them Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, David Lean, Federico Fellini, Luis Bunel, Michael Cacoyannis, Peter Weir and others.

There were Giants in those days, such wonderful films they made.

karol

 

[BellyTank]

R.I.P

I was watching Swedish TV yesterday-
Foyle's War was cancelled...

Serious stuff.

B
T

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I am reminded that The Seventh Seal is one of my favorite films of all time, certainly in the top 10, maybe in the top 5.

One reason, besides the fact it is a good story and has some of the best visual images of any film, is that, at one time or another in my life, I have identified with one or more of the main characters in the film.

The knight, Antonius Block (Von Syndow) earnestly wants to believe in god but can't quite make it. But, he tries, vying for time by playing chess with Death. I felt that agnosticism through most of my adolescence, into and through college.

By the time I was an activist in New York City, I was certainly the squire (Gunnar Bjurnstrand), earthy, practical, mocking the religious, but defending the underdog. a man who could live for the moment.

I have always been drawn to the childlike, visionary actor, played by Nils Poppe, and his wife (Bibi Anderson). They were the natural but spiritual couple, who, along with their child, were able to escape the plague.

Of all Bergman's films, I believe it to be the very best.

karol

 

[Doctor Strange]

You're right: the archetypal characters in The Seventh Seal reflect all of us at different points in our lives.

The Seventh Seal is certainly a wonderful film. I showed it to my kids and my sister (in separate viewings) within the last couple of years, and it never fails to engage, shock, and lead to some serious discussion/thinking. And it's visually stunning, of course, and wonderfully written. (Death, to the Knight on their first meeting, "Long have I walked at your side.") The only thing I don't think has aged well in it is the ponderous musical score, which seems unnecessarily harsh and intrusive.

But I'm not sure that it's my favorite Bergman film. I am also very partial to Smiles of a Summer Night (admittedly, it's in a much lighter vein), Wild Strawberries (a very powerful, beautiful film), The Magic Flute (I am not an opera fan in general, but I love this opera, Mozart's music, and Bergman's filming), and Fanny and Alexander (a wonderful summation of so many Bergman themes). I also really like The Virgin Spring and Cries and Whispers... but those are a lot tougher to watch. (And I am less of a fan of his 1960s films than those from before and after.)