Harriet Andersson (born 14 February 1932) is a Swedish actress, best known outside Sweden for being part of director Ingmar Bergman 's stock company. She often plays impulsive, working class characters.
115-491: Harriet Andersson began her acting career as a 15-year-old student at Calle Flygare stage school. She joined director Ingmar Bergman for several stage productions at Malmö stadsteater between 1953 and 1956. In a 2008 interview with Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle , Andersson debunked a rumor that she was discovered by Bergman while working as an elevator operator: "In an elevator! Ha, that's
230-410: A Blu-ray disc box set comprising 39 of Bergman's features. The set spans Bergman's early career, beginning in the 1940s, up to his final film in 2003. The films are organized non-chronologically, and are instead presented in four groupings that mimic the procession of a film festival . Accompanying the discs is a book featuring critical essays on each of the films, intended to guide the viewer through
345-601: A latent schizophrenic . The film title is taken from a verse in First Corinthians (13:12) where Paul of Tarsus says, "For now we see through a glass darkly: But then face to face; Now I know in part; But then I shall know even as I am also known". The plot deals with the actions of four persons during a twenty-four-hour period in an old house a far distance out on the Swedish Archipelago . Some audiences were shocked by Andersson's vivid portrayal of
460-435: A "genuine movie addict". At the same time, a romantic involvement led to a physical confrontation with his father which resulted in a break in their relationship which lasted for many years. Although he did not graduate from the university, he wrote a number of plays and an opera, and became an assistant director at a local theatre. In 1942, he was given the opportunity to direct one of his own scripts, Caspar's Death . The play
575-608: A Summer Night . Bergman rewrote the script five times and was given a schedule of only thirty-five days and a budget of $ 150,000. It was to be the seventeenth film he had directed. All scenes except two were shot in or around the Filmstaden studios in Solna. The exceptions were the famous opening scene with Death and the Knight playing chess by the sea, and the ending with the dance of death , which were both shot at Hovs Hallar ,
690-492: A charismatic rector (this may have explained Bergman's adolescent infatuation with Hitler , which later deeply tormented him). As a six-year-old child, Bergman used to help the gardener carry corpses from the Royal Hospital Sophiahemmet (where his father was chaplain) to the mortuary. When as a boy he saw the film Black Beauty , the fire scene excited him so much he stayed in bed for three days with
805-478: A conversation he had with Erland Josephson helped him to believe that he would see Ingrid again. He said, "I'm not actually afraid of dying. On the contrary, really. I think it'll be interesting." In 2012, Max von Sydow stated in an interview with Charlie Rose that he had had many discussions with Bergman about religion which seemed to indicate that Bergman believed in an afterlife, with von Sydow even claiming that Bergman contacted him after his passing to prove there
920-475: A crimson color scheme for Cries and Whispers (1972), which received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture . He also produced extensively for Swedish television at this time. Two works of note were Scenes from a Marriage ( Scener ur ett äktenskap , 1973) and The Magic Flute ( Trollflöjten , 1975). On 30 January 1976, while rehearsing August Strindberg 's The Dance of Death at
1035-495: A discussion with Ayoade on Bergman's 1966 film, Persona , before a screening. After Bergman died, a large archive of notes was donated to the Swedish Film Institute . Among the notes are several unpublished and unfinished scripts both for stage and films, and many more ideas for works in different stages of development. A never-performed play has the title Kärlek utan älskare ("Love without lovers"), and has
1150-711: A feeling of pessimism, an increase in a penitential style of piety that was slightly masochistic, all aggravated by various disasters such as the Black Death, famine, the Hundred Years' War between France and England, and the Papal schism . This is sometimes called the crisis of the Late Middle Ages , and Tuchman regards the 14th century as " a distant mirror " of the 20th century in a way that echoes Bergman's sensibilities. Ingmar Bergman originally wrote
1265-699: A name for himself early on. His first work after graduation was as a trainee-director at a Stockholm theatre. At twenty-six years, he became the youngest theatrical manager in Europe at the Helsingborg City Theatre . He stayed at Helsingborg for three years and then became the director at Gothenburg city theatre from 1946 to 1949. He became director of the Malmö City Theatre in 1953, and remained for seven years. Many of his star actors were people with whom he began working on stage. He
SECTION 10
#17327974171581380-588: A new one for me. No. I did operate an elevator, but that was when I was 14½! Ingmar did not discover me. I was discovered in 1949 in theater school. Before Monika , I had many small parts. Most of them were a little like Monika. I looked that way. I looked like a bad girl. But I wasn't a bad girl, really. I was a very nice little girl, until I found out what life was." Bergman wrote the title role in Summer with Monika (1953), specifically for Andersson. Filmed in Sweden,
1495-595: A play with the title Från sperm till spöke ("From sperm to spook"). The Swedish director Marcus Lindeen went through the material, and inspired by Kärlek utan älskare he took samples from many of the works and turned them into a play, titled Arkivet för orealiserbara drömmar och visioner ("The archive for unrealisable dreams and visions"). Lindeen's play premiered on 28 May 2012 at the Stockholm City Theatre . In 2018, in honor of Bergman's 100th birthday, The Criterion Collection compiled and released
1610-413: A procession of flagellants led by a preacher who harangues the townspeople. At the town's inn, Raval manipulates Plog and other customers into intimidating Jof. The bullying is broken up by Jöns, who slashes Raval's face. The knight and squire are joined by Jof's family and a repentant Plog. Block enjoys a picnic of milk and wild strawberries that Mia has gathered and promises to remember that evening for
1725-443: A response what he viewed as Håkanson's implication that students "who did not fit some arbitrary prescription of worthiness deserved the system's cruel neglect". Bergman also stated in the letter that he "hated school as a principle, as a system and as an institution. And as such I have definitely not wanted to criticize my own school, but all schools." The international success of this film led to Bergman's first opportunity to direct
1840-534: A rocky, precipitous beach area in north-western Scania. In the Magic Lantern autobiography Bergman writes of the film's iconic penultimate shot: "The image of the Dance of Death beneath the dark cloud was achieved at hectic speed because most of the actors had finished for the day. Assistants, electricians, and a make-up man and about two summer visitors, who never knew what it was all about, had to dress up in
1955-412: A series of pictures which carry that swell of contributions and contradictions so effortlessly that you could tell the story to a child, publish it as a storybook of photographs and yet know that the deepest questions of religion and the most mysterious revelation of simply being alive are both addressed." The Jesuit publication America identifies it as having begun "a series of seven films that explored
2070-472: A smilingly disbelieving Mia. Block and Jöns visit a church where a fresco of the Danse Macabre is being painted. The squire chides the artist for colluding in the ideological fervor that led to the crusade. In the confessional , Block tells the priest he wants to perform "one meaningful deed" after what he now sees as a pointless life. Upon revealing to him the chess tactic that will save his life,
2185-658: A temperature. Despite living a Bohemian lifestyle in partial rebellion against his upbringing, Bergman often signed his scripts with the initials "S.D.G" ( Soli Deo Gloria ) — "To God Alone the Glory" — just as J. S. Bach did at the end of every musical composition. Gerald Mast writes: "Like the gravedigger in Hamlet , the Squire [...] treats death as a bitter and hopeless joke. Since we all play chess with death, and since we all must suffer through that hopeless joke,
2300-509: A theatrical career that included periods as Leading Director of Sweden's Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm and of Germany's Residenztheater in Munich. He directed more than 170 plays. Among his company of actors were Harriet Andersson , Bibi Andersson , Liv Ullmann , Gunnar Björnstrand , Erland Josephson , Ingrid Thulin , Gunnel Lindblom and Max von Sydow . Ernst Ingmar Bergman
2415-433: A trilogy or cinematic triptych . Bergman initially responded that he did not plan these three films as a trilogy and that he could not see any common motifs in them, but he later seemed to adopt the notion, with some equivocation. His parody of the films of Federico Fellini , All These Women ( För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor ) was released in 1964. Persona (1966), starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann,
SECTION 20
#17327974171582530-407: A year later. During the next ten years he wrote and directed more than a dozen films, including Prison ( Fängelse ) in 1949, as well as Sawdust and Tinsel ( Gycklarnas afton ) and Summer with Monika ( Sommaren med Monika ), both released in 1953. Bergman first achieved worldwide success with Smiles of a Summer Night ( Sommarnattens leende , 1955), which won for "Best poetic humour" and
2645-484: A year, he had created a private world by playing with this toy in which he felt completely at home. He fashioned his own scenery, marionettes , and lighting effects and gave puppet productions of Strindberg plays in which he spoke all the parts." Bergman attended the Palmgren School as a teenager. His school years were unhappy, and he remembered them unfavourably in later years. In a 1944 letter concerning
2760-519: Is a film Bergman considered one of his most important works. While the highly experimental film won few awards, it has been considered his masterpiece. Other films of the period include The Virgin Spring ( Jungfrukällan , 1960), Hour of the Wolf ( Vargtimmen , 1968), Shame ( Skammen , 1968) and The Passion of Anna ( En Passion , 1969). With his cinematographer Sven Nykvist , Bergman made use of
2875-590: Is also parodied in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991), with the titular characters meeting Death and challenging him to several contemporary games. The film is referred to in several songs. The plot is recapitulated in Scott Walker 's "The Seventh Seal" from his album Scott 4 . There is a passing reference in Bruce Cockburn 's song "How I Spent My Fall Vacation", from his album Humans , in which
2990-487: Is always in my head. He is part of my upbringing and I was fortunate to meet him and get advice from him." Writer and director Richard Ayoade counts Bergman as one of his inspirations. In 2017, the British Film Institute (BFI) hosted an Ingmar Bergman season and Ayoade said in a Guardian interview that he saw everything in it, "which was one of the best two months ever." The BFI's programme included
3105-415: Is going to happen to those of us who want to believe but aren't able to?" Death, impersonating the confessional priest, refuses to reply. Similarly, later, as he eats the strawberries with the family of actors, Antonius Block states: " Faith is a torment – did you know that? It is like loving someone who is out there in the darkness but never appears, no matter how loudly you call." Melvyn Bragg notes that
3220-681: Is humiliating" and joked that the private lavatories he secured at the theatres in which he worked represented his "most lasting contribution to the history of theatre." In 1958, he won the Best Director award for Brink of Life at the Cannes Film Festival , and won the Golden Bear for Wild Strawberries at the Berlin International Film Festival . In 1960 Bergman was featured in
3335-626: Is most appealing to the eye." In January 2002, the film was voted at No. 82 on the list of the "Top 100 Essential Films of All Time" by the National Society of Film Critics . In 2012, the film ranked 93rd on critic's poll and 75th on director's poll in Sight & Sound magazine's 100 greatest films of all time list. In the earlier 2002 version of the list the film ranked 35th in critic's poll and 31st in director's poll. In 2022 edition of Sight & Sound's Greatest films of all time list
3450-486: The 2012 edition of Sight & Sound 's Greatest Films of All Time . Other notable works include Sawdust and Tinsel (1953), A Lesson in Love (1954), Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Virgin Spring (1960), Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light and The Silence (both 1963), Shame (1968), Cries and Whispers (1972), Scenes from a Marriage (1973), and Autumn Sonata (1978). He
3565-552: The Book of Revelation , used both at the very start of the film, and again towards the end, beginning with the words "And when the Lamb had opened the seventh seal , there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour" ( Revelation 8:1). Thus, in the confessional scene the knight states: "Is it so cruelly inconceivable to grasp God with the senses? Why should He hide himself in a mist of half-spoken promises and unseen miracles?...What
Harriet Andersson - Misplaced Pages Continue
3680-587: The Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2003. Bergman was married five times: The first four marriages ended in divorce, while the last ended when his wife Ingrid died of stomach cancer in 1995, aged 65. Aside from his marriages, Bergman had romantic relationships with actresses Harriet Andersson (1952–1955), Bibi Andersson (1955–1959), and Liv Ullmann (1965–1970). He was the father of writer Linn Ullmann with Ullmann. In all, Bergman had nine children, one of whom predeceased him. Bergman eventually married all
3795-460: The Crusades to find the country ravaged by the plague . The knight encounters Death, whom he challenges to a chess match, believing he can survive as long as the game continues. The knight and his squire pass a caravan of actors: Jof and his wife Mia, with their infant son Mikael and actor-manager Jonas Skat. Waking early, Jof has a vision of Mary leading the infant Jesus , which he relates to
3910-570: The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, he was arrested by two plainclothes police officers and charged with income tax evasion. The impact of the event on Bergman was devastating. He suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of the humiliation, and was hospitalised in a state of deep depression. The investigation was focused on an alleged 1970 transaction of 500,000 Swedish kronor (SEK) between Bergman's Swedish company Cinematograf and its Swiss subsidiary Persona , an entity that
4025-576: The Swedish Film Institute launched a new Ingmar Bergman Prize to be awarded annually for excellence in filmmaking. Still, he remained in Munich until 1984. In one of the last major interviews with Bergman, conducted in 2005 on the island of Fårö , Bergman said that despite being active during the exile, he had effectively lost eight years of his professional life. Bergman retired from filmmaking in December 2003. He had hip surgery in October 2006 and
4140-564: The Swedish Film Institute , estimated the immediate damage as ten million SEK (kronor) and hundreds of jobs lost. Bergman then briefly considered the possibility of working in America; his next film, The Serpent's Egg (1977) was a West German-U.S. production and his second English-language film (the first being The Touch , 1971). This was followed by a British-Norwegian co-production, Autumn Sonata ( Höstsonaten , 1978) starring Ingrid Bergman (no relation) and Liv Ullmann , and From
4255-515: The seventh seal , there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." Here, the motif of silence refers to the "silence of God," which is a major theme of the film. The Seventh Seal is considered a classic in the history of cinema , as well as one of the greatest films of all time . It established Bergman as a director, containing scenes which have become iconic through homages, critical analysis, and parodies. Disillusioned knight Antonius Block and his cynical squire Jöns return from
4370-525: The 'art' of film, and it quickly became a staple of high school and college literature courses... Unlike Hollywood 'movies,' The Seventh Seal clearly was aware of elite artistic culture and thus was readily appreciated by intellectual audiences." The representation of Death as a white-faced man who wears a dark cape and plays chess with mortals has been a popular object of parody in other films and television. Several films and comedy sketches portray Death as playing games other than or in addition to chess. In
4485-509: The 15th century. In addition, the main period of the Crusades is well before this era; they took place in a more optimistic period. With regard to the relevancy of historical accuracy to a film that is heavily metaphorical and allegorical, John Aberth, writing in A Knight at the Movies , holds the film only partially succeeds in conveying the period atmosphere and thought world of the fourteenth century. Bergman would probably counter that it
4600-673: The Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics. The film was included in " The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made" in 2002. Empire magazine, in 2010, ranked it the eighth-greatest film of world cinema. In a poll held by the same magazine, it was voted 335th 'Greatest Movie of All Time' from a list of 500. In addition, on the 100th anniversary of cinema in 1995, the Vatican included The Seventh Seal in its list of its 45 "great films" for its thematic values. The film
4715-498: The European film community, and the critics and readers of Cahiers du Cinéma , among others, discovered him with this movie. Within five years of this, he had established himself as the first real auteur of Swedish cinema. With its images and reflections upon death and the meaning of life, The Seventh Seal had a symbolism that was "immediately apprehensible to people trained in literary culture who were just beginning to discover
Harriet Andersson - Misplaced Pages Continue
4830-531: The German noble families Flach [ sv ] and de Frese introduced at the Swedish Riddarhuset . Bergman's paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather were cousins, making his parents second cousins. On his mother's side, he was descended from Dutch merchant Paul Calwagen, who left Holland for Sweden in the 17th century; Paul's Dutch-Swedish wife, Maria van der Hagen, was a descendant of
4945-680: The Ingmar Bergman Foundation, the Bergman Estate and the Bergman Center on Fårö. The prize includes a visit to the Bergman Estate as well as to Bergmans personal archive in Stockholm. The Seventh Seal The Seventh Seal ( Swedish : Det sjunde inseglet ) is a 1957 Swedish historical fantasy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman . Set in Sweden during the Black Death , it tells of
5060-643: The Life of the Marionettes ( Aus dem Leben der Marionetten , 1980) which was a British-West German co-production. He temporarily returned to his homeland to direct Fanny and Alexander ( Fanny och Alexander , 1982). Bergman stated that the film would be his last, and that afterwards he would focus on directing theatre. After that he wrote several film scripts and directed a number of television specials. As with previous work for television, some of these productions were later theatrically released. The last such work
5175-594: The Palms) at the 50th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival . He won many other awards and has been nominated for numerous other awards. Academy Awards In 1996, Entertainment Weekly ranked Bergman at No. 8 in its "50 Greatest Directors" list. In 2002, Bergman was listed at number nine on the British Film Institute 's Sight & Sound list of the top ten film directors of modern times. MovieMaker magazine ranked Bergman at No. 13 on their 2002 list of The 25 Most Influential Directors of All Time . Bergman
5290-1037: The Swedish Guldbagge Award , the Norwegian Amanda and best actress awards on the Venice Film Festival (1964) and the 9th Moscow International Film Festival (1975). In 1968, Andersson received the Bodil Award for Best Actress for her role in the Henning Carlsen Danish comedy People Meet and Sweet Music Fills the Heart . Recently, Andersson won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Stockholm International Film Festival 2010. Harriet Andersson
5405-442: The book Swedish Film Classics , writes The international response to the film which among other awards won the jury's special prize at Cannes in 1957 reconfirmed the author's high rank and proved that The Seventh Seal regardless of its degree of accuracy in reproducing medieval scenery may be considered as a universal, timeless allegory. Much of the film's imagery is derived from medieval art. For example, Bergman has stated that
5520-544: The charges were dropped, Bergman became disconsolate, fearing he would never again return to directing. Despite pleas by the Swedish prime minister Olof Palme , high public figures, and leaders of the film industry, he vowed never to work in Sweden again. He closed down his studio on the island of Fårö , suspended two announced film projects, and went into self-imposed exile in Munich , West Germany . Harry Schein , director of
5635-414: The chess pieces over but Death restores them to their place. On the next move, Death wins the game and announces that when they meet again, it will be the last time for all. Death then asks Block if he achieved the "meaningful deed" he wished to accomplish. The knight replies that he has. Block is reunited with his wife and the party shares a final supper, interrupted by Death's arrival. The other members of
5750-556: The cinematography, but soon went on to describe the film as "a horror film for children" and said that beyond the superficial, it is mostly reminiscent of Bergman's "sophomoric films from the 40s." Bergman's international reputation, on the other hand, was largely cemented by The Seventh Seal . The film ranked 2nd on Cahiers du Cinéma 's Top 10 Films of the Year List in 1958. Bosley Crowther had only positive things to say in his 1958 review for The New York Times , and praised how
5865-541: The concept of the "Silence of God" in the face of evil, or the pleas of believers or would-be-believers, may be influenced by the punishments of silence meted out by Bergman's father, a chaplain in the State Lutheran Church. In Bergman's original radio play sometimes translated as A Painting on Wood , the figure of Death in a Dance of Death is represented not by an actor, but by silence , "mere nothingness, mere absence...terrifying...the void." Some of
SECTION 50
#17327974171585980-740: The costumes of those condemned to death. A camera with no sound was set up and the picture shot before the cloud dissolved." Upon its original Swedish release, The Seventh Seal was met with a somewhat divided critical response; its cinematography was widely praised, while "Bergman the scriptwriter [was] lambasted." The film won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Non-Italian Film in 1961. Swedish journalist and critic Nils Beyer, writing for Morgon-tidningen , compared it to Carl Theodor Dreyer 's The Passion of Joan of Arc and Day of Wrath . While finding Dreyer's films to be superior, he still noted that "it isn't just any director that you feel like comparing to
6095-452: The court painter Laurens van der Plas . Bergman's mother was also a descendant of the noble Tigerschiöld and Weinholz families, as well as the Bure [ sv ] family. Bergman grew up with his older brother Dag and younger sister Margareta surrounded by religious imagery and discussion. His father was a conservative parish minister with strict ideas of parenting. Ingmar
6210-581: The cover of Time , the first foreign-language filmmaker to do so since Leni Riefenstahl in 1936. In 1971, Bergman received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the Academy Awards ceremony. Three of his films ( The Virgin Spring , Through a Glass Darkly , and Fanny and Alexander ) won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film . In 1997, he was awarded the Palme des Palmes (Palm of
6325-613: The day before it was filmed. On the morning of the shoot, he would briefly speak to Nykvist about the mood and composition he hoped for, and then leave Nykvist to work, lacking interruption or comment until post-production discussion of the next day's work. By Bergman's own account, he never had a problem with funding. He cited two reasons for this: one, that he did not live in the United States, which he viewed as obsessed with box-office earnings; and two, that his films tended to be low-budget affairs. ( Cries and Whispers , for instance,
6440-520: The experience. Upon its release, The New York Times critic Glenn Kenny assessed the set as "impressive and almost exhaustive", and interpreted it as "a fresh case for [Bergman's] continuing importance", in response to criticisms such as Jonathan Rosenbaum 's 2007 opinion piece "Scenes From an Overrated Career". The Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award is awarded annually at the Gothenburg Film Festival , in partnership with
6555-399: The film Torment (sometimes known as Frenzy ), which sparked debate on the condition of Swedish high schools (and which Bergman had written), the school's principal Henning Håkanson wrote, among other things, that Bergman had been a "problem child". Bergman wrote in a response that he had strongly disliked the emphasis on homework and testing in his formal schooling. In 1934, aged 16, he
6670-500: The film has a rating of 88/100 based on 15 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The Seventh Seal significantly helped Bergman in gaining his position as a world-class director. When the film won the Special Jury Prize at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival , the attention generated by it (along with the previous year's Smiles of a Summer Night ) made Bergman and his stars Max von Sydow and Bibi Andersson well known to
6785-451: The film ranked 72nd in the director's poll. In 2012 it was voted one of the 25 best Swedish films of all time by a poll of 50 film critics and academics conducted by film magazine FLM. In 2018 the film was ranked 30th in BBC's list of The 100 greatest foreign language films. In 2021 the film was ranked at No. 43 on Time Out magazine's list of The 100 best movies of all time . The film
6900-412: The final scene of the 1968 film De Düva (mock Swedish for "The Dove"), a 15-minute pastiche of Bergman's work generally and his Wild Strawberries in particular, the protagonist plays badminton against Death, and wins when the droppings of a passing dove strike Death in the eye. The photography imitates throughout the style of Bergman's cinematographers Sven Nykvist and Gunnar Fischer . The film
7015-506: The greatest artists of the 20th century ... he found in literature and the performing arts a way of both recreating and questioning the human condition ." Director Martin Scorsese commented that "it's impossible to overestimate the effect that [his] films had on people." Terrence Rafferty of The New York Times wrote that throughout the 1960s, when Bergman "was considered pretty much the last word in cinematic profundity, his every tic
SECTION 60
#17327974171587130-429: The greatest film-maker at work today [...], unsurpassed by anyone in the creation of mood and atmosphere, the subtlety of performance, the avoidance of the obvious, the truthfulness and completeness of characterization. To this one must also add everything else that goes into the making of a film; [...] and I shall look forward with eagerness to each of your films." Film critic Philip French referred to Bergman as "one of
7245-451: The highest regard. There he also states that he managed to push the envelope of film making in the films Persona and Cries and Whispers . Bergman stated on numerous occasions (for example in the interview book Bergman on Bergman ) that The Silence meant the end of the era in which religious questions were a major concern of his films. Bergman said that he would get depressed by his own films: "jittery and ready to cry... and miserable." In
7360-553: The image of a man playing chess with a skeletal Death was inspired by a medieval church painting from the 1480s in Täby kyrka , Täby , north of Stockholm , painted by Albertus Pictor . Generally speaking, historians Johan Huizinga , Friedrich Heer and Barbara Tuchman have all argued that the Late Middle Ages of the 14th century was a period of "doom and gloom" similar to what is reflected in this film, characterized by
7475-588: The island of Fårö, his name and date of birth were inscribed under his wife's name on a tomb at Roslagsbro churchyard, Norrtälje Municipality , several years before his death. Bergman developed a personal "repertory company" of Swedish actors whom he repeatedly cast in his films, including Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson, Erland Josephson , Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom , and Gunnar Björnstrand, each of whom appeared in at least five Bergman features. Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann, who appeared in nine of Bergman's films and one televisual film ( Saraband ),
7590-415: The journey of a medieval knight ( Max von Sydow ) and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death ( Bengt Ekerot ), who has come to take his life. Bergman developed the film from his own play Wood Painting . The title refers to a passage from the Book of Revelation , used both at the very start of the film and again towards the end, beginning with the words "And when the Lamb had opened
7705-466: The knight discovers that it is actually Death with whom he has been speaking. Leaving the church, Block speaks to a young woman condemned to be burned at the stake for consorting with the Devil . He believes she will tell him about life beyond death, only to find that she is insane. In a deserted village, Jöns saves a mute servant girl from being raped by Raval, a theologian who ten years earlier persuaded
7820-419: The knight only sees her terror and gives her herbs to take away her pain as she is placed on the pyre. They encounter Raval, stricken by the plague. Jöns stops the servant girl from uselessly bringing him water, and Raval dies alone. Jof then sees the knight playing chess with Death and decides to flee with his family, while Block knowingly keeps Death occupied. As Death states "No one escapes me", Block knocks
7935-467: The knight to join the Crusades and is now a thief. Jöns vows to destroy his face if they meet again. Jöns kisses the servant girl, who resists his advance. He then tells her to repay her debt by becoming his servant. She reluctantly agrees. The group goes into town, where the actors are performing. There, Skat is enticed away for a tryst by Lisa, wife of the blacksmith Plog. The stage show is interrupted by
8050-412: The mothers of his children, with the exception of Liv Ullmann. His daughter with his last wife, Ingrid von Rosen, was born twelve years before their marriage. He had dozens of mistresses throughout his life and would justify the affairs to his various wives by telling them: "I have so many lives." Although Bergman once described himself as one who had lost his faith in an afterlife, in 2000 he stated that
8165-582: The motion picture shows the romantic history of two disaffected youths from first meeting to a summer idyll followed by their hasty marriage and subsequent divorce. Although the romantic relationship with Bergman was brief, they continued to work together. Andersson appeared in several of his best-known films, including Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Cries and Whispers (1972), and Fanny and Alexander (1982). In Through A Glass Darkly , in which Andersson appeared with Max von Sydow and Gunnar Björnstrand , she portrays
8280-497: The movie's medieval theme a compelling and urgent contemporary relevance... Yet the film succeeds to a large degree because it is set in the Middle Ages, a time that can seem both very remote and very immediate to us living in the modern world... Ultimately The Seventh Seal should be judged as a historical film by how well it combines the medieval and the modern." Similarly defending it as an allegory, Aleksander Kwiatkowski in
8395-492: The next two decades. From the early 1960s, he spent much of his life on the island of Fårö , where he made several films. In the early 1960s he directed three films that explored the theme of faith and doubt in God, Through a Glass Darkly ( Såsom i en Spegel , 1961), Winter Light ( Nattvardsgästerna , 1962), and The Silence ( Tystnaden , 1963). Critics created the notion that the common themes in these three films made them
8510-432: The note "Complete disaster!" written on the envelope; the play is about a director who disappears and an editor who tries to complete a work he has left unfinished. Other canceled projects include the script for a pornographic film which Bergman abandoned since he did not think it was alive enough, a play about a cannibal, some loose scenes set inside a womb, a film about the life of Jesus, a film about The Merry Widow , and
8625-399: The old Danish master." He also praised the usage of the cast, in particular Max von Sydow, whose character he described as "a pale, serious Don Quixote character with a face as if sculpted in wood", and "Bibi Andersson, who appears as if painted in faded watercolours but still can emit small delicious glimpses of female warmth." Hanserik Hjertén for Arbetaren started his review by praising
8740-733: The only question about the game is how long it will last and how well we will play it. To play it well, to live, is to love and not to hate the body and the mortal as the Church urges in Bergman's metaphor." Melvyn Bragg writes: "[I]t is constructed like an argument. It is a story told as a sermon might be delivered: an allegory...each scene is at once so simple and so charged and layered that it catches us again and again...Somehow all of Bergman's own past, that of his father, that of his reading and doing and seeing, that of his Swedish culture, of his political burning and religious melancholy, poured into
8855-458: The party then introduce themselves, and the mute servant girl greets him with " It is finished. " Jof and his family have sheltered in their caravan from a storm, which he interprets as the Angel of Death passing by. In the morning, Jof sees a vision of the knight and his companions being led away over the hillside in a Dance of Death. The title refers to a passage about the end of the world from
8970-591: The play Trämålning ( Wood Painting ) in 1953 / 1954 for the acting students of Malmö City Theatre . Its first public performance, which he directed, was on radio in 1954. He also directed it on stage in Malmö the next spring, and in the autumn it was staged in Stockholm, directed by Bengt Ekerot , who would later play the character Death in the film version. In his autobiography, The Magic Lantern , Bergman wrote that " Wood Painting gradually became The Seventh Seal , an uneven film which lies close to my heart, because it
9085-404: The possibility of faith in a post-Holocaust, nuclear age". Likewise, film historians Thomas W. Bohn and Richard L. Stromgren identify this film as beginning "his cycle of films dealing with the conundrum of religious faith". Medieval Sweden as portrayed in this movie includes creative anachronisms. The flagellant movement was foreign to Sweden, and large-scale witch persecutions only began in
9200-746: The powerful influences on the film were Picasso 's picture of the two acrobats, Carl Orff 's Carmina Burana , Strindberg 's dramas Folkungasagan ("The Saga of the Folkung Kings") and The Road to Damascus , the frescoes at Härkeberga church, and a painting by Albertus Pictor in Täby church. Just prior to shooting, Bergman directed for radio the play Everyman by Hugo von Hofmannsthal . By this time he had also directed plays by Shakespeare , Strindberg , Camus , Chesterton , Anouilh , Tennessee Williams , Pirandello , Lehár , Molière and Ostrovsky . The actors Bibi Andersson (with whom Bergman
9315-603: The presence of God as represented in the dark world of a schizophrenic. Like several other Bergman associates, she has also had a career in English-language films including performances in Sidney Lumet 's The Deadly Affair (1966) and later in Lars von Trier 's Dogville (2003). Her autobiography, a set of interviews with Jan Lumholdt, was published in 2006. Andersson has won several acting awards, including
9430-482: The rest of his life. He then invites Plog and the actors to shelter from the plague in his castle. When they encounter Skat and Lisa in the forest, she returns to Plog, while Skat fakes a remorseful suicide. As the group moves on, Skat climbs a tree to spend the night, but Death appears beneath and cuts down the tree. Meeting the condemned woman being drawn to execution, Block asks her to summon Satan so he can question him about God. The girl claims she has done so, but
9545-400: The results were often "disastrous" when he did not do so. As his career progressed, Bergman increasingly let his actors improvise their dialogue. In his later films, he wrote just the ideas informing the scene and allowed his actors to determine the exact dialogue. When viewing daily rushes , Bergman stressed the importance of being critical but unemotive, claiming that he asked himself not if
9660-451: The same interview he also stated: "If there is one thing I miss about working with films, it is working with Sven" (Nykvist), the third cinematographer with whom he had collaborated. Although Bergman was universally famous for his contribution to cinema, he was also an active and productive stage director throughout his life. During his studies at what was then Stockholm University College, he became active in its student theatre, where he made
9775-434: The song's narrative is bracketed by two young men watching the film in a cinema. On Iron Maiden 's album Dance of Death (2003), the title track was inspired by the final scene of The Seventh Seal where, according to guitarist Janick Gers , "these figures on the horizon start doing a little jig, which is the dance of death." The song "The Hawthorne Passage" from Agalloch's Album The Mantle contains an audio sample from
9890-489: The themes were elevated by the cinematography and performances: "the profundities of the ideas are lightened and made flexible by glowing pictorial presentation of action that is interesting and strong. Mr. Bergman uses his camera and actors for sharp, realistic effects." Film critic Pauline Kael called it "A magically powerful film." The film is now regarded as a masterpiece of cinema. The Village Voice ranked The Seventh Seal at number 33 in its Top 250 "Best Films of
10005-400: The work of "the conjurer," as Bergman called himself in a 1960 TIME cover story. In an interview with Playboy in 1964, he said: "The manifestation of sex is very important, and particularly to me, for above all, I don't want to make merely intellectual films. I want audiences to feel, to sense my films. This to me is much more important than their understanding them." Film, Bergman said,
10120-776: The work was great or terrible, but rather if it was sufficient or needed to be reshot. Bergman's films usually deal with existential questions of mortality, loneliness, and religious faith. In addition to these cerebral topics, however, sexual desire features in the foreground of most of his films, whether the central event is medieval plague ( The Seventh Seal ), upper-class family activity in early twentieth century Uppsala ( Fanny and Alexander ), or contemporary alienation ( The Silence ). His female characters are usually more in touch with their sexuality than their male equivalents, and unafraid to proclaim it, sometimes with breathtaking overtness (as in Cries and Whispers ) as would define
10235-434: Was Saraband (2003), a sequel to Scenes from a Marriage and directed by Bergman when he was 84 years old. Although he continued to operate from Munich, by mid-1978 Bergman had overcome some of his bitterness toward the Swedish government. In July of that year he visited Sweden, celebrating his sixtieth birthday on the island of Fårö, and partly resumed his work as a director at Royal Dramatic Theatre. To honour his return,
10350-453: Was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoundly personal meditations into the myriad struggles facing the psyche and the soul". Some of his most acclaimed works include The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild Strawberries (1957), Persona (1966) and Fanny and Alexander (1982), which were included in
10465-483: Was also appointed assistant director of the film. In his second autobiographical book, Images: My Life in Film , Bergman describes the filming of the exteriors as his actual film directorial debut. The film sparked debate on Swedish formal education. When Henning Håkanson (the principal of the high school Bergman had attended) wrote a letter following the film's release, Bergman, according to scholar Frank Gado, disparaged in
10580-449: Was also ranked No. 8 on the magazine's 2002 "Greatest Directors of All Time" list. Bergman directed more than 60 films and documentaries, most of which he also wrote, for both cinema releases and television screenings. Most of his films were set in Sweden, and many of his films from 1961 onward were filmed on the island of Fårö . He forged a creative partnership with his cinematographers Gunnar Fischer and Sven Nykvist . Bergman also had
10695-544: Was born in Uppsala on 14 July 1918, the son of nurse Karin (née Åkerblom) and Lutheran minister (and later chaplain to the King of Sweden ) Erik Bergman . His mother was of Walloon descent. The Bergman family was originally from Järvsö . On his father's side, Bergman was a descendant of the noble Bröms , Ehrenskiöld , and Stockenström clergy families of Finnish, German, and Swedish origin. His father also descended from
10810-421: Was everything that one's imagination could desire— angels , saints , dragons, prophets , devils, humans..." Although raised in a devout Lutheran household, Bergman later stated that he lost his faith at age eight, and came to terms with this fact while making Winter Light in 1962. His interest in theatre and film began early; at the age of nine, he traded a set of tin soldiers for a magic lantern . Within
10925-577: Was finished for about $ 450,000, while Scenes from a Marriage , a six-episode television feature, cost only $ 200,000.) Bergman usually wrote his films' screenplays, thinking about them for months or years before starting the actual process of writing, which he viewed as somewhat tedious. His earlier films are carefully constructed and are either based on his plays or written in collaboration with other authors. Bergman stated that in his later works, when on occasion his actors would want to do things differently from his own intention, he would let them, noting that
11040-495: Was his demanding mistress. While he was a social democrat as an adult, Bergman stated that "as an artist I'm not politically involved ... I don't make propaganda for either one attitude or the other." When asked in the series of interviews later titled "Ingmar Bergman – 3 dokumentärer om film, teater, Fårö och livet" conducted by Marie Nyreröd for Swedish TV and released in 2004, Bergman said that of his works, he held Winter Light , Persona , and Cries and Whispers in
11155-430: Was in a relationship from 1955 to 1959) who played the juggler's wife Mia, and Max von Sydow , whose role as the knight was the first of many star parts he would bring to Bergman's films and whose rugged Nordic dignity became a vital resource within Bergman's "troupe" of key actors, both made a strong impact on the mood and style of the film. Bergman grew up in a home infused with an intense Christianity, his father being
11270-432: Was included in film critic Roger Ebert 's list of " The Great Movies " in 2000. Entertainment Weekly voted it at No. 45 on their list of 100 Greatest Movies of All Time . In 2007, the film was ranked at No. 13 by The Guardian 's readers poll on the list of "40 greatest foreign films of all time". Indian film maker Adoor Gopalakrishnan praised the film saying "One can watch 'Seventh Seal' even without subtitles as it
11385-470: Was indeed a life after death, though he chose not to elaborate further on the exact meaning of the statement. In an early draft of his autobiography, Bergman admitted to raping his then-girlfriend Karin Lannby. The portion was edited out for the final version. Bergman suffered from insomnia and severe stomach problems dating back to childhood. He called his nervous stomach "a calamity as foolish as it
11500-457: Was locked up in dark closets for infractions such as wetting himself. "While father preached away in the pulpit and the congregation prayed, sang, or listened", Ingmar wrote in his autobiography Laterna Magica , "I devoted my interest to the church's mysterious world of low arches, thick walls, the smell of eternity , the coloured sunlight quivering above the strangest vegetation of medieval paintings and carved figures on ceilings and walls. There
11615-498: Was made under difficult circumstances in a surge of vitality and delight." The script for The Seventh Seal was commenced while Bergman was in the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm recovering from a stomach complaint. It was at first rejected by Carl-Anders Dymling , head of Svensk Filmindustri and Bergman was given the go-ahead for the project from Carl-Anders Dymling only after the success at Cannes of Smiles of
11730-516: Was mainly used for the paying of salaries to foreign actors. Bergman dissolved Persona in 1974 after having been notified by the Swedish Central Bank and subsequently reported the income. On 23 March 1976, the special prosecutor Anders Nordenadler dropped the charges against Bergman, saying that the alleged crime had no legal basis, and added that it would be like bringing "charges against a person who has stolen his own car, thinking it
11845-510: Was making a difficult recovery. He died in his sleep at age 89; his body was found at his home on the island of Fårö, on 30 July 2007. It was the same day another renowned existentialist film director, Michelangelo Antonioni , died. The interment was private, at the Fårö Church on 18 August 2007. A place in the Fårö churchyard was prepared for him under heavy secrecy. Although he was buried on
11960-707: Was married to childhood friend Bertil Wejfeldt 1959–1963/4. She has a daughter, Petra Wejfeldt (b. 1960), whom Andersson named after her character in Smiles of a Summer Night . She lived with the Finnish director Jörn Donner for some years in the 1960s, and she appeared in Donner's films, A Sunday in September (1963), To Love (1964), Adventure Starts Here (1965) and Anna (1970). Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007)
12075-433: Was never his intention to make an historical or period film. As it was written in a program note that accompanied the movie's premier "It is a modern poem presented with medieval material that has been very freely handled... The script in particular—embodies a mid-twentieth century existentialist angst... Still, to be fair to Bergman, one must allow him his artistic license, and the script's modernisms may be justified as giving
12190-494: Was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes the following year. This was followed by The Seventh Seal ( Det sjunde inseglet ) and Wild Strawberries ( Smultronstället ), released in Sweden ten months apart in 1957. The Seventh Seal won a special jury prize and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and Wild Strawberries won numerous awards for Bergman and its star, Victor Sjöström . Bergman continued to be productive for
12305-528: Was ranked at No. 36 on Empire magazine's "Top 40 Greatest Directors of All-Time" list in 2005. In 2007, Total Film magazine ranked Bergman at No. 7 on its "100 Greatest Film Directors Ever" list. In 2017, New York magazine ranked Bergman at number 55 on their list of The 100 Best Screenwriters of All Time . Stanley Kubrick admired the work of Bergman and expressed it in personal letter: "Your vision of life has moved me deeply, much more deeply than I have ever been moved by any films. I believe you are
12420-766: Was scrupulously pored over, analyzed, elaborated in ingenious arguments about identity, the nature of film, the fate of the artist in the modern world and so on." Bergman's work was a point of reference and inspiration for director Woody Allen . He described Bergman as “probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera”. Bergman's films are mentioned and praised in Annie Hall and other Allen films. Allen also admired Bergman's longtime director of photography Sven Nykvist and invited him to return as his DP on Crimes and Misdemeanors . Danish Director Thomas Vinterberg has cited Bergman as one of his major influences, "Bergman
12535-400: Was seen by members of Svensk Filmindustri , which then offered Bergman a position working on scripts. He married Else Fisher in 1943. Bergman's film career began in 1941 with his work rewriting scripts, but his first major accomplishment was in 1944 when he wrote the screenplay for Torment (a.k.a. Frenzy ) ( Hets ), a film directed by Alf Sjöberg . Along with writing the screenplay, he
12650-532: Was selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 30th Academy Awards , but was not nominated. On Rotten Tomatoes , the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on 72 reviews, with an average rating of 9.20/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Narratively bold and visually striking, The Seventh Seal brought Ingmar Bergman to the world stage – and remains every bit as compelling today". On Metacritic ,
12765-564: Was sent to Germany to spend the summer holidays with family friends. He attended a Nazi rally in Weimar at which he saw Adolf Hitler . He later wrote in Laterna Magica ( The Magic Lantern ) about the visit to Germany, describing how the German family had put a portrait of Hitler on the wall by his bed, and that "for many years, I was on Hitler's side, delighted by his success and saddened by his defeats". Bergman commented that "Hitler
12880-533: Was someone else's". Director General Gösta S Ekman, chief of the Swedish Internal Revenue Service, defended the failed investigation, saying that the investigation was dealing with important legal material and that Bergman was treated just like any other suspect. He expressed regret that Bergman had left the country, hoping that Bergman was a "stronger" person now when the investigation had shown that he had not done any wrong. Although
12995-528: Was the director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm from 1960 to 1966, and manager from 1963 to 1966, where he began a long-time collaboration with choreographer Donya Feuer . After Bergman left Sweden because of the tax evasion incident, he became director of the Residenz Theatre of Munich , West Germany (1977–1984). He remained active in theatre throughout the 1990s and made his final production on stage with Henrik Ibsen 's Ghosts at
13110-409: Was the last to join this group (in the film Persona ), and ultimately became the most closely associated with Bergman, both artistically and personally. They had a daughter together, Linn Ullmann (born 1966). In Bergman's working arrangement with Sven Nykvist, his best-known cinematographer , the two men developed sufficient rapport to allow Bergman not to worry about the composition of a shot until
13225-511: Was unbelievably charismatic . He electrified the crowd. ... The Nazism I had seen seemed fun and youthful." Bergman did two five-month stretches of mandatory military service in Sweden. He later reflected, "When the doors to the concentration camps were thrown open ... I was suddenly ripped of my innocence." Bergman enrolled at Stockholm University College (later renamed Stockholm University ) in 1937, to study art and literature. He spent most of his time involved in student theatre and became
#157842