Ingmar Bergman 1918 – 2007
Acclaimed film director Ingmar Bergman died today at the age of 89. Bergman is perhaps most famous for his existential masterpiece “The Seventh Seal”, and his life-affirming tale of love and repentance “Fanny and Alexander”.
Liv Ullmann with Ingmar Bergman in 1968.
“I want to be one of the artists of the cathedral that rises on the plain. I want to occupy myself by carving out of stone the head of a dragon, an angel or a demon, or perhaps a saint; it doesn’t matter; I will find the same joy in any case. Whether I am a believer or an unbeliever, Christian or pagan, I work with all the world to build a cathedral because I am artist and artisan, and because I have learned to draw faces, limbs and bodies out of stone. I will never worry about the judgment of posterity or of my contemporaries; my name is carved nowhere and will disappear with me. But a little part of myself will survive in the anonymous and triumphant totality. A dragon or a demon, or perhaps a saint, it doesn’t matter!” – Ingmar Bergman
For Pagan film buffs he will be fondly remembered for his classic take on the uneasy co-existence between Christianity and paganism “The Virgin Spring”.
“Based on a ballad of that era [13th c] by Ulla Isaksson, it’s both one of the more unusual and accessible of Bergman’s pictures. Tore (Max von Sydow) is a lord who, with his wife Mareta (Birgitta Valberg) is a recent convert to Christianity, with different degrees of devotion. Their teenage daughter Karin (Birgitta Pettersson) is both devout but also somewhat vain and flighty. When she insists on wearing an elaborate dress to take candles on an overland journey to the local church, she attracts the attention of several herdsmen (Axel Dyberg and Tor Isedal) and their younger broher (Ove Porath). They rape and murder Karin, stealing her garb, under the observant eyes of her adopted sister, Ingeri (Gunnel Lindblom), a pagan worshipper of Woden, who brought a curse down upon Karin. But the herdsmen make the mistake of coming to Tore’s home and attempting to sell Karin’s dress, triggering an outraged paroxysm of vengeance.”
Bergman’s films have influenced directors as diverse as Woody Allen, Wim Wenders, and Wes Craven, and his penetrating observations about faith and doubt were groundbreaking.
“Bergman was the first to bring metaphysics – religion, death, existentialism – to the screen,” – Bertrand Tavernier
Bergman was one of the great modernist filmmakers, and because of his vision, the art of film-making is a richer and more thought-provoking medium.
2 responses so far
Here, here!
Don’t forget Bergman’s “Dukes of Hazzard” script.
Comrade K: It’s “Hear, hear,” as in “listen up,” not as in “this place.”