Ingmar Bergman

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

I've thrawled though his dire shite now.
What a piece of womanhating tedious cunt he was.
That his name is even mentioned in the same sentence as Kurosawa, is a disgrace.
Bergman was a deranged fuckmuppet doing the same script 50 times.

In his later days, for a decade or more, he had a maid, a fucking maid, and do you know how he communicated with her?
He would leave notes telling her that the egg was overcooked. Not tell her, there was only his deranged old cunt arse in the house and his maid, and he would not even speak to her, but leave notes.
Biggest overrated director cunt ever, Bergman.

[Slightly Brown]

Ingmar Bergman

I let my maid know my eggs are overcooked by only taking one mouthful and then leaving the rest. She’ll figure it out eventually.

[slackster]

Ingmar Bergman

I know next to nothing about Bergman's life and foibles, but I can think of a good half dozen Bergman films I'd happily return to see multiple times. One of later ones - Fanny & Alexander - is one of my favourite movies ever.

[Edie St Pierre]

Ingmar Bergman

I've only ever seen 'The Seventh Seal', which is a fantastic, amazing, headfuck of a film that I love to bits.

[G-Man]

Ingmar Bergman

I'm not a fan, but Bergman clearly was a brilliant filmmaker.

[Lucia Lanigan]

Ingmar Bergman

I've only seen The Hour of The Wolf, his gothic horror one, which is brilliant. I mean, the parodic ideas of what European arthouse directors do are in there - some close-ups of dour faces, and the whole thing's about an artist tortured by his benefactors - but it's great.

[diggedy derek]

Ingmar Bergman

What a lame troll thread.

Maybe it would be interesting to have a proper debate about Bergman, who isn't my fave director, but stands up better now than the overrated Kurosawa.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Ingmar Bergman

Call it whathever you want, diggedy, but it is my honest opinion.

[diggedy derek]

Ingmar Bergman

There's a few things to consider. Sure, Bergman probably left cold sardonic notes for his housekeeper, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility that there was warmth and humour in that relationship. Bergman was a charming guy by many accounts. That's not to say he wasn't a cold bastard – he was married five times and had too many affairs. But, to his credit, he doesn't tried to hide the coldness of his characters, far from it. I think it you watch Bergman's films you get an honest - a searingly honest - portrait of who he is.

Bergman's reputation is made more visible but also diluted by the number of films he made. Often it was two a year, I guess for several reasons - one, he was well supported by the Swedish film institute people, two, his films were pretty cheap, and three, he made a few for TV. His films are often best considered as TV dramas, really, sometimes very understated, often best considered as a whole body of work, like Ozu's. His films are often just episodes.

He's made many great films, many depressing ones, many surprising ones. The Magician, for instance, is one of the most entertaining films you'll ever see. Received wisdom on his films is often wrong. The Seventh Seal is a film which affirms life, even/especially as there's death all around. Wild Strawberries is a funny, optimistic film with gentle gallows humour.

He's not one of my very favourite directors, as I find his world of unending self-analysis and psychological cruelty hard to relate to. And as it happens I love Kurosawa, but would stand by him being somewhat overrated – Bergman was a more original thinker, if not always the most pleasant one.

[delicatemoth]

Ingmar Bergman

The Seventh Seal is a staggeringly beautiful, terribly moving and achingly funny film; I saw it for the first time only a few years ago and could not believe how good it is. If everything else he ever did was shit he would still be a great film-maker for that one film.

[Wyatt Earp]

Ingmar Bergman

Pietro Paolo Virdis wrote: Call it whathever you want, diggedy, but it is my honest opinion.

Not enough though, is it? Honesty?

[Slightly Brown]

Ingmar Bergman

Christ, I thought this was just a flame-thread by Ganja (whom I like) but apparently not. Anyway, have you seen Wild Strawberries? The relationship the lead character has with his housekeeper? Go have a watch, and then have a big old think. As for Bergman, the man was a stone-cold genius. I’m...och, I’m about to get worked up here. Tell you what, you love Kurosawa (as do I, by the way: I didn’t realise it was a competition), but you watch the scene at the end of The Virgin Spring and tell me that doesn’t have all the twitchy/nervy-coiled-spring-pre-violence of the just-before-the-battle scene in The Seven Samurai.

Great post by DD, by the way.

[Nefertiti2]

Ingmar Bergman

Some oddities

I love his version of The Magic Flute the overture is especially fine

Karin's face is also unforgettable. I saw this supporting some other film. Cant remember the other film but have never forgotten this one. Bergman has a genius for faces as these both show.

[Jimski]

Ingmar Bergman

delicatemoth wrote: The Seventh Seal is a staggeringly beautiful, terribly moving and achingly funny film; I saw it for the first time only a few years ago and could not believe how good it is. If everything else he ever did was shit he would still be a great film-maker for that one film.

Yes, I quite agree. A film for those who think Bergman can't do humour. A plethora of excellent deadpan lines.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Ingmar Bergman

Good post, DD.
Maybe I've seen his body of work over to short a period of time. I found it repeatative, with the core of the plot going back to the relationship between his parents far to often.

[Edie St Pierre]

Ingmar Bergman

Every film-maker ever has little motifs, stylistic tics and narrative things that can make watching lots of their films in small space of time feel repetitious though.

[Benjm]

Any fans of the frosty Swede still out there might be interested to know that 101 Films is currently knocking out a 31 film Bergman box set for £59.99.

[G-Man]

PPV is going to rush out and buy the set.

[Benjm]

I felt that PPV was sitting on the fence a little on this one. Perhaps this could be the in depth retrospective to banish those nagging doubts.

[Mr Cogito]

I liked her in Casablanca.

[adams house cat]

I like Bergman's films although I've not always found them an easy watch. Same for Kurosawa. "Seventh Seal" and "Wild Strawberries" are wonderful and "Yojimbo" and "Throne of Blood" are masterpieces.

[Satchmo Distel]

Persona had a huge reputation back in the 80s but I don't know if it's lasted well. The Seventh Seal is just an awesome journey, whereas Yojimbo is, I think, Kurosawa being playful compared to his more sombre work.

I saw Ran in a film club at Leicester University in 1987-88 and despite the slow pace, the visuals were just stunning. Similarly, Wings Of Desire can only be experienced properly on a big screen and is deeply moving.