Ingmar Bergman
by Andre Soares
Ingmar Bergman, one of the most influential and respected filmmakers of the 20th century, died today, July 30, at his home in Faro, Sweden. He was 89.
During his four-decade film career, Bergman created some of the most complex, most adult films ever made. Some of those were simply mind boggling, others were emotionally stirring, others yet were both. And just about all of them were thematically daring and — courtesy of collaborators such as Gunnar Fischer and Sven Nykvist — visually stunning.
Bergman’s films were also powerfully acted. Among the performers he either discovered or helped develop — mostly women — are Liv Ullmann (with whom the director had a long-term relationship), Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Harriet Andersson, Maj-Britt Nilsson, Ulla Jacobson, Erland Josephson, Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand, Eva Dahlbeck, Gunnel Lindblom, and Birger Malmsten.
Among the director’s best-known work are Sommarnattens leende / Smiles of a Summer Night (1955); Det Sjunde inseglet / The Seventh Seal (1957); Smultronstället / Wild Strawberries (1957), winner of the Golden Bear at the 1957 Berlin Film Festival; Såsom i en spegel / Through a Glass Darkly (1961); Persona (1966); Viskningar och rop / Cries and Whispers (1972); and Fanny och Alexander / Fanny and Alexander (1982), winner of the best foreign-language film Oscar.
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Fantastic director! Through a Glass Darkly is a great movie. My favourite quote of Bergman is ‘I hope I never get so old I get religious.’
Harriet Andersson is awesome in “Through a Glass Darkly.”
Hm. And I thought that line about not getting too old/not believing in God was *mine*…