Ingmar Bergman

Director

July 14, 1918 (89 years)

† July 30, 2007

Uppsala, Uppsala län, Sweden

Biography

Ernst Ingmar Bergman (July 14, 1918 – July 30, 2007) was a Swedish filmmaker. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known as "profoundly personal meditations into the myriad struggles facing the psyche and the soul." Bergman directed more than 60 films and documentaries for cinematic release and for television screenings, most of which he also wrote. Most of his films were set in Sweden, and many films from 1961 onward were filmed on th…

Filmography

8.1

The Seventh Seal

When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.

8.0

Autumn Sonata

After a seven-year absence, Charlotte Andergast travels to Sweden to reunite with her daughter Eva. The pair have a troubled relationship: Charlotte sacrificed the responsibilities of motherhood for a career as a classical pianist. Over an emotional night, the pair reopen the wounds of the past. Charlotte gets another shock when she finds out that her mentally impaired daughter, Helena, is out of the asylum and living with Eva.

8.1

Persona

A young nurse, Alma, is put in charge of Elisabeth Vogler: an actress who is seemingly healthy in all respects, but will not talk. As they spend time together, Alma speaks to Elisabeth constantly, never receiving any answer.

8.3

Fanny and Alexander

Through the eyes of ten-year-old Alexander, we witness the delights and conflicts of the Ekdahl family, a sprawling bourgeois clan in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Sweden.

8.1

Wild Strawberries

Crotchety retired doctor Isak Borg travels from Stockholm to Lund, Sweden, with his pregnant and unhappy daughter-in-law, Marianne, in order to receive an honorary degree from his alma mater. Along the way, they encounter a series of hitchhikers, each of whom causes the elderly doctor to muse upon the pleasures and failures of his own life. These include the vivacious young Sara, a dead ringer for the doctor's own first love.

8.1

Scenes from a Marriage

Johan and Marianne appear to have a stable marriage, but their relationship begins to unravel when Johan reveals an affair. Over the course of several years, the series follows their separation, divorce, and continued interactions as they form new relationships while remaining emotionally bound to one another. Told across six episodes, the narrative traces the changing terms of their intimacy, conflict, and dependency. (Note: This entry covers the 1973 six-part Swedish television miniseries. A condensed theatrical feature assembled from the same material was released separately in 1974.)

8.1

Scenes from a Marriage

Johan and Marianne are married and seem to have it all. Their happiness, however, is a façade for a troubled relationship, which becomes even rockier when Johan admits that he's having an affair. Before long, the spouses separate and move towards finalizing their divorce, but they make attempts at reconciling. Even as they pursue other relationships, Johan and Marianne realize that they have a significant bond, but also many issues that hinder that connection.

7.9

The Virgin Spring

Devout Christians Töre and Märeta send their only daughter, the virginal Karin, and their foster daughter, the unrepentant Ingeri, to deliver candles to a distant church. On their way through the woods, the girls encounter a group of savage goat herders who brutally rape and murder Karin as Ingeri remains hidden. When the killers unwittingly seek refuge in the farmhouse of Töre and Märeta, Töre plots a fitting revenge.

7.8

Fanny and Alexander

As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.

7.3

Summer with Monika

One summer day, two teens begin a reckless affair and abandon their families to be with one another.

7.1

The Devil's Eye

Don Juan is sent from Hell to Earth with a mission: to seduce a virgin in order to spoil her pure wedding. The mission becomes frantic when Don Juan falls in love for the first time in centuries.

7.9

Winter Light

A Swedish pastor fails a loving woman, a suicidal fisherman and God.

7.4

The Passion of Anna

A recently divorced man and an emotionally devastated widow begin a love affair.

7.4

Hour of the Wolf

While vacationing on a remote German island with his younger pregnant wife, an artist has an emotional breakdown while confronting his repressed desires.

8.3

Face to Face

A psychiatrist temporarily separated from her family begins to experience severe psychological distress while working at a mental hospital and returning to her childhood home. As her professional responsibilities and personal relationships intersect, she undergoes a breakdown that forces her to confront long-suppressed memories and fears. (Note: This entry refers to the 1976 four-part Swedish television miniseries. A condensed theatrical feature edited from the same material was released separately in 1976.)

7.9

Cries and Whispers

As Agnes slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so immersed in their own psychic pains that they are unable to offer her the support she needs.

7.5

The Silence

Traveling through an unnamed European country on the brink of war, sickly, intellectual Ester, her sister Anna and Anna's young son, Johan, check into a near-empty hotel. A basic inability to communicate among the three seems only to worsen during their stay. Anna provokes her sister by enjoying a dalliance with a local man, while the boy, left to himself, has a series of enigmatic encounters that heighten the growing air of isolation.

7.4

The Magician

A traveling magician and his troupe arrive in a Swedish town in the 1840s, where their act is scrutinized by local authorities and a skeptical medical official. Their stay leads to a series of confrontations that test the boundaries between performance, belief, and deception.

7.2

The Magic Flute

The Queen of the Night enlists a handsome prince named Tamino to rescue her beautiful kidnapped daughter, Princess Pamina, in this screen adaptation of the beloved Mozart opera. Aided by the lovelorn bird hunter Papageno and a magical flute that holds the power to change the hearts of men, young Tamino embarks on a quest for true love, leading to the evil Sarastro's temple where Pamina is held captive.

7.5

Shame

In the midst of a civil war, a pair of former violinists in a tempestuous marriage oversee a farm on a rural island. In spite of their best efforts to escape their homeland, the war impinges on every aspect of their lives.