THE FILMS OF INGMAR BERGMAN

A City-Wide Retrospective
July 14 through July 29

Perhaps the most pivotal event in the life of Ingmar Bergman [born 1918] occurred at age 10, when he traded half his toy soldiers for a movie projector. From his earliest youth, Bergman has been among the most hardened of film buffs, and from his university days, an enfant terrible of the theater. He achieved his ambitions early, having a screenplay produced by Sweden's top director and heading a major European theater by 26 and making his first film by 28. An overview of the progression of his brilliant career in cinema might read: from an early focus on tormented, sensitive male protagonists, he moved to strong female leads, to a series of God-haunted works, to island-location "chamber" works, to powerfully scathing examinations of intimate relationships (with romantic comedies interspersed throughout), ending with the warmth and charm of his later films, THE MAGIC FLUTE and FANNY AND ALEXANDER. Bergman's work with his stock company made him arguably the greatest director of actors in the history of the medium. His overall technical mastery, brutal honesty and relentless search for truth have earned him international acclaim as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. The Ingmar Bergman retrospective will be presented at four Washington, DC-area locations: The AFI Silver Theatre; the AFI National Film Theater at the Kennedy Center; the National Gallery of Art; and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Check websites and newspaper listings for film schedules and ticket information.

*All films in the retrospective are in Swedish with English subtitles.


Film: FANNY AND ALEXANDER
[Fanny och Alexander]
Genre: Ingmar Bergman Series
Running Time: 188 min
Format: Color
Sound: Swedish with English subtitles
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Website:

Synopsis:
It's Christmas at the pleasure-loving Ekdahls, circa 1907. The brother and sister of the title spectate as their clan gathers for one of the cinema's greatest-ever holiday celebrations. But after their theater-manager father dies and their actress mother Ewa Fröling marries bishop Jan Malmsö, their world constricts to stern family terrors. A tale of two families: one theatrical, warm, loving, hedonistic; the other clerical, mean-spirited, cold, self-righteous and vain. But there's a secret friend to the rescue, Erland Josephson's Jewish antique dealer, bringing with him a taste of the supernatural. A dazzling period recreation highlighted by Sven Nykvist's sumptuous photography. A gigantic worldwide success and one of Bergman's warmest and most autobiographical works. Oscars for Best Foreign Film, Cinematography, Art Direction, Costumes, and nominations for direction and screenplay. "If, as announced, this is the master's last film, he leaves us in a blaze of glory"-David Shipman, The Story of the Cinema. Directed/written by Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, 1983, color, 188 min.

Film: THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
[Såsom I En Spegel]
Genre: Ingmar Bergman Series
Running Time: 89 min
Format: Black and White
Sound: Swedish with English subtitles
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Website:

Synopsis:
During a family's island summer holiday, schizophrenic daughter Harriet Andersson (in arguably the greatest performance in Bergman's entire oeuvre) inexorably descends into outright madness. Even so, father Gunnar Björnstrand tells his son, "God is love; love is God." With a four-person cast that includes Max von Sydow, this is the first of Bergman's "chamber" films and the first of his "God and Man" trilogy. Oscar for Best Foreign Film, plus a nomination for screenplay. Directed/written by Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, 1961, b&w, 89 min.

Film: WINTER LIGHT/ THE COMMUNICANTS
[Nattvardsgästerna]
Genre: Ingmar Bergman Series
Running Time: 80 min
Format: Black and White
Sound: Swedish with English subtitles
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Website:

Synopsis:
A day in the life of rural pastor Gunnar Björnstrand battling with his own loss of faith-from morning services through his failure to comfort a suicidal Max von Sydow, to his anguished encounter with mistress Ingrid Thulin (highlighted by her monologue in tight closeup) and an evening high mass. Number two in the "God and Man" trilogy. "Masterly even by Bergman's own standards"- David Shipman. Directed/written by Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, 1963, b&w, 80 min.

Film: THE RITE [Riten]
Genre: Ingmar Bergman Series
Running Time: 72 min
Format: Black and White
Sound: Swedish with English subtitles
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Website:

Synopsis:
Powerfully intense (even by Bergman's standards) chamber play on the interaction of critics, the audience and the artist. When actors Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand and Anders Ek are brought in for questioning on an obscenity charge, magistrate Erik Hell subjects them to group and individual interrogations. As a response, the troupe performs their "act" for him, with mortal results. Bergman's first original work for TV was released in theaters abroad. The priest in the confessional is none other than Bergman himself. Directed/written by Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, 1969, b&w, 72 min.

Film: THE SILENCE [Tystnaden]
Genre: Ingmar Bergman Series
Running Time: 96 min
Format: Black and White
Sound: Swedish with English subtitles
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Website:

Synopsis:
In a stiflingly hot foreign city seemingly on the brink of war, sisters Ingrid Thulin and Gunnel Lindblom, haunted by the loss of their father, are trapped in a hotel (deserted except for a dwarf troupe), unable to speak the language or bear each other's presence. The most overtly allegorical of Bergman's works (Mind vs. Body? Father=God?) and a tour de force of sound effects orchestration. The final statement of the "God and Man" trilogy: "God's silence-the negative impression." Despite (or because of) its censorship difficulties for overt eroticism, a giant boxoffice success. Directed/written by Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, 1963, b&w, 96 min.

Film: PERSONA
Genre: Ingmar Bergman Series
Running Time: 84 min
Format: Black and White
Sound: Swedish with English subtitles
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Website:

Synopsis:
Nurse Bibi Andersson's increasing frustration with mute actress Liv Ullmann (in her Bergman debut), under her care after an on-stage breakdown, leads to deeply personal confessions- including "one of the rare, truly erotic sequences in movie history" (Pauline Kael) and to an identification with the patient, particularly in the shot where their faces fuse into one. This print from the Swedish negative includes the explicit opening title sequence, cut on its first US release. "Bergman at his most brilliantÉ an infinitely rewarding film."-Tom Milne, Time Out. National Society of Film Critics' Awards-Best Film, Director and Actress (Andersson). Directed/written by Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, 1966, b&w, 84 min.

Film: HOUR OF THE WOLF
[Vargtimmen]
Genre: Ingmar Bergman Series
Running Time: 89 min
Format: Black and White
Sound: Swedish with English subtitles
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Website:

Synopsis:
"Four in the morning, the hour when most people die and most babies are born." High Gothic from Bergman: sandwiched between to-the-camera explanations by wife Liv Ullmann, vanished artist Max von Sydow's diary reveals that he has been haunted by phantoms, including a spectral dinner party. But Ullmann notes she has seen them too. "Dazzling flow of surrealism, expressionism, and fullblooded Gothic horror"-Tom Milne. National Society of Film Critics' Award-Best Director. Directed/written by Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, 1968, b&w, 89 min.

Film: SHAME [Skammen]
Genre: Ingmar Bergman Series
Running Time: 102 min
Format: Black and White
Sound: Swedish with English subtitles
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Website:

Synopsis:
Bergman's scathing look at the disintegration of humanity in war. In the backwash of a seemingly endless conflict, the marriage of musicians Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullmann has already grown rocky-then the enemy army invades! The only way out is to deal with quisling Gunnar Björnstrand. "It ends with one of the cinema's most awesomely apocalyptic visions. A masterpiece."-Tom Milne. "One of Bergman's greatest films"-Pauline Kael. National Society of Film Critics' Awards for Best Film, Director, and Actress. Directed/written by Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, 1968, b&w, 102 min.

Film: THE PASSION OF ANNA/ A PASSION
[En Passion]
Genre: Ingmar Bergman Series
Running Time: 101 min
Format: Black and White
Sound: Swedish with English subtitles
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Website:

Synopsis:
On the island of Fårö, reclusive Max von Sydow finds himself involved with cynical couple Bibi Andersson and Erland Josephson and high-strung widow Liv Ullmann. Menacing innuendos are exchanged at a dinner party, even as seemingly major happenings transpire off-screen and a mysterious predator is killing the island livestock. Bergman intercuts this post-modern meditation on identity with the actors' opining on their roles to the camera. Relatively unsung, one of Bergman's greatest works: "sublimely beautiful"- Joseph Morgenstern, Newsweek. National Society of Film Critics' Award for Best Director. Directed/written by Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, 1969, color, 101 min.

Film: CRIES AND WHISPERS
[Viskningar och Rop]
Genre: Ingmar Bergman Series
Running Time: 91 min
Format: Black and White
Sound: Swedish with English subtitles
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Website:

Synopsis:
Amidst the blood-red backgrounds of a turn-of-the-century mansion and the atmosphere of a dream, Liv Ullman and Ingrid Thulin keep a death-watch over spinster sister Harriet Andersson. Flashbacks tell their story of disappointed lives, meaningless marriages and sisterly conflicts-with a final moving image suggesting what has been lost. "A self-portrait (in composite) of the great beloved of my childhood."- Ingmar Bergman. "Reduces almost everything else you're likely to see this season to the size of a small cinder"- Vincent Canby, New York Times. Awarded an Oscar for Cinematography and nominated for Best Film, Director, Screenplay and Costumes. Directed/written by Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, 1972, color, 91 min.

Film: SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE
[Scener ur ett Äktenskap]
Genre: Ingmar Bergman Series
Running Time: 282 min
Format: Black and White
Sound: Swedish with English subtitles
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Website:

Synopsis:
Bergman chronicles some ten years in the relationship of Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, beginning with their seemingly perfect two-career, twochildren marriage-contrasted with Jan Malmsjö and Bibi Andersson's bickering-progressing through an extramarital affair and blunted reconciliations and remarriages to a final peace. "Bergman has never before made such an exhilarating film about grownup love, with all its twists, rituals, and benedictions"-Penelope Gilliatt, The New Yorker. Directed/written by Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, 1973, color, video, 282 min.

Film: THE MAGIC FLUTE
[Trollflöjten]
Genre: Ingmar Bergman Series
Running Time: 135 min
Format: Black and White
Sound: Swedish with English subtitles
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Website:

Synopsis:
Prince Tamino must rescue the fair Princess Pamela, daughter of the Queen of Night. To do so, he must enter Sarastro's Temple of Wisdom. In a characteristic twist, Bergman made Sarastro and the Queen husband and wife. Shot on a replica of the 18th century Drottningholm Court Theater, Bergman dispenses with theatrical illusion to show the working parts of this production, including a youthful extra killing time with a comic book. A dream of Bergman's since his childhood marionette theater, making it "the best time of my life." "A wonderful bit of sorcery-passionate, elegant and lighthearted... the most beguiling offering of the year"-Jay Cocks, TIME. Directed by Ingmar Bergman, from Die Zauberflöte by Mozart and Schikaneder. Sweden, 1975, color, 135 min.

Film: AUTUMN SONATA [Höstsonaten]
Genre: Ingmar Bergman Series
Running Time: 93 min
Format: Black and White
Sound: Swedish with English subtitles
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Website:

Synopsis:
In a long-planned collaboration, Ingrid Bergman (in an Oscar-nominated performance) returned to Swedish cinema after forty years for her last feature role, a concert pianist returning home to an anguished reunion with neglected daughter Liv Ullman. "The best Bergman film in years, filled with his liberating mixture of violence and tenderness that is the sign of emotional truth" -Jack Kroll, Newsweek. Directed/written by Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, 1978, color, 93 min.