Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known ...

(14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish director, writer, and producer who worked in film, television, theatre and radio. He is recognized as one of the most accomplished and influential filmmakers of all time, and is well known for films such as '' The Seventh Seal'' (1957), '' Wild Strawberries'' (1957), '' Persona'' (1966), ''

Cries and Whispers ''Cries and Whispers'' ( sv, Viskningar och rop, lit=Whispers and Cries) is a 1972 Swedish period drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin and Liv Ullmann. The film, set in ...

'' (1972), and '' Fanny and Alexander'' (1982). Bergman directed over sixty films and documentaries for cinematic release and for television, most of which he also wrote. He also directed over 170 plays. From 1953, he forged a powerful creative partnership with his full-time

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

Sven Nykvist. Among his company of actors were Harriet and

Bibi Andersson Berit Elisabet Andersson (11 November 1935 – 14 April 2019), known professionally as Bibi Andersson (), was a Swedish actress who was best known for her frequent collaborations with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. Early life and career Anders ...

Liv Ullmann Liv Johanne Ullmann (born 16 December 1938) is a Norwegian actress and film director. Recognised as one of the greatest European actresses of all time, Ullmann is known as the muse and frequent partner of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. She acted in m ...

, Gunnar Björnstrand, Erland Josephson,

Ingrid Thulin Ingrid Lilian Thulin (; 27 January 1926 – 7 January 2004) was a Swedish actress and director who collaborated with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. She was often cast as harrowing and desperate characters, and earned acclaim from both Swedish a ...

and Max von Sydow. Most of his films were set in Sweden, and numerous films from '' Through a Glass Darkly'' (1961) onward were filmed on the island of Fårö. His work often deals with death, illness, faith, betrayal, bleakness and insanity.

Philip French Philip Neville French Order of the British Empire, OBE (28 August 1933 – 27 October 2015) was an English film critic and radio producer. French began his career in journalism in the late 1950s, before eventually becoming a BBC Radio prod ...

referred to Bergman as among the greatest artists of the 20th century. Mick LaSalle compared Bergman's significance in film to that of Virginia Woolf and James Joyce in literature.

List of accolades

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 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." Many filmmakers have praised Bergman and some have also cited his work as an influence on their own: *

Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky ( rus, Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ɐrˈsʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ tɐrˈkofskʲɪj; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Russian filmmaker. Widely considered one of the greates ...

held Bergman in very high regard, noting him and Robert Bresson as his two favourite filmmakers, stating: "I am only interested in the views of two people: one is called Bresson and one called Bergman." Such was Bergman's influence, Tarkovsky's last film was made in Sweden with Sven Nykvist, Bergman's longtime cinematographer, and several of Bergman's favoured actors including Erland Josephson. Bergman likewise had great respect for Tarkovsky, stating: "Tarkovsky for me is the greatest director."Title quote of 2003 Tarkovsky Festival Program, Pacific Film Archive. * Alejandro González Iñárritu while entering the Berg-man compound (Bergman's house) on the remote island of Fårö for a documentary called ''Trespassing Bergman'' stated "If cinema was a religion, this would be Mecca, the Vatican. This is the center of it all." * Bertrand Tavernier stated: "Bergman was the first to bring metaphysics — religion, death, existentialism — to the screen ... but the best of Bergman is the way he speaks of women, of the relationship between men and women. He's like a miner digging in search of purity." *

Nuri Bilge Ceylan Nuri Bilge Ceylan (, born 26 January 1959) is a Turkish photographer, filmmaker and actor best known for the Palme d'Or winning ''Winter Sleep (film), Winter Sleep'' (2014). Early life Ceylan was born in Istanbul on 26 January 1959. His interes ...

Steven Soderbergh Steven Andrew Soderbergh (; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor. A pioneer of modern independent cinema, Soderbergh is an acclaimed and prolific filmmaker. Soderbergh's direc ...

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* Wes Craven * Pedro Almodóvar *

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran� ...

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New H ...

* Adoor Gopalakrishnan *

Olivier Assayas Olivier Assayas (born 25 January 1955) is a French film director, screenwriter and film critic. Assayas is known for his slow-burning period pieces, psychological thrillers, neo-noirs and French comedies. His work has become synonymous with the ...

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...

stated: "My all-time favorite because he embodies passion, emotion and has warmth." *

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films ''Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and ''The Shape of Water'' (2017), winning the Academy Awards for Be ...

said: "Bergman as a fabulist — my favorite — is absolutely mesmerizing." *

Asghar Farhadi Asghar Farhadi ( fa, اصغر فرهادی, ; born 7 May 1972)Soureh Movie Database

Todd Field William Todd Field (born February 24, 1964) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for directing three feature films: ''In the Bedroom'' (2001), '' Little Children'' (2006), and ''Tár'' (2022). He has received three Academy Award nomi ...

stated: "He was our tunnel man building the aqueducts of our cinematic collective unconscious." *

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...

said: "I have a profound admiration for him (Bergman) and for his work, even though I haven't seen all of his films. First of all, he is a master of his métier. Secondly, he is able to make things mysterious, compelling, colorful and, at times, repulsive." * Woody Allen has referred to Bergman as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera". He said, "For me it was ''Wild Strawberries''. Then ''The Seventh Seal'' and ''The Magician''. That whole group of films that came out then told us that Bergman was a magical filmmaker. There had never been anything like it, this combination of intellectual artist and film technician. His technique was sensational." Allen has credited Bergman with inventing "a film vocabulary that suited what he wanted to say, that had never really been done before. He'd put the camera on one person's face close and leave it there, and just leave it there and leave it there. It was the opposite of what you learned to do in film school, but it was enormously effective and entertaining." * Krzysztof Kieślowski stated: "This man is one of the few film directors — perhaps the only one in the world — to have said as much about human nature as Dostoyevsky or

Camus Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His works ...

." *

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

stated: "I believe Ingmar Bergman, Vittorio De Sica and Federico Fellini are the only three filmmakers in the world who are not just artistic opportunists. By this I mean they don't just sit and wait for a good story to come along and then make it. They have a point of view which is expressed over and over and over again in their films, and they themselves write or have original material written for them." Kubrick praised Bergman as "The Greatest film-maker, 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." * Ang Lee stated: "For me the filmmaker Bergman is the greatest performer of all...", "He (Bergman) is like God to me. I will take inspiration. I won't dare to imitate" * François Ozon * Park Chan-wook * Éric Rohmer stated: "''The Seventh Seal'' is the most beautiful film ever." * Marjane Satrapi *

Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of acclaimed anime films, including ''Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer'' (1984), ''Angel's Egg'' (1985), ...

Paul Schrader Paul Joseph Schrader (; born July 22, 1946) is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He first received widespread recognition through his screenplay for Martin Scorsese's ''Taxi Driver'' (1976). He later continued his collabo ...

stated: "I would not have made any of my films or written scripts such as ''Taxi Driver'' had it not been for Ingmar Bergman. What he has left is a legacy greater than any other director. I think the extraordinary thing that Bergman will be remembered for, other than his body of work, was that he probably did more than anyone to make cinema a medium of personal and introspective value." * Martin Scorsese said: "I guess I'd put it like this: if you were alive in the '50s and the '60s and of a certain age, a teenager on your way to becoming an adult, and you wanted to make films, I don't see how you couldn't be influenced by Bergman. You would have had to make a conscious effort, and even then, the influence would have snuck through." *

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

stated: "His love for the cinema almost gives me a guilty conscience." *

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...

stated: "I have great admiration for Bergman...It's Bergman whom I continue to be fascinated by. I think he's remarkable. I envy his stock company, because given actors like that one could do extraordinary things." *

André Téchiné André Téchiné (; born 13 March 1943) is a French screenwriter and film director. He has a long and distinguished career that places him among the most accomplished post- New Wave French film directors. Téchiné belongs to a second generation ...

* Lars von Trier, in reference to having once sent Bergman a letter, jokingly said, "I have seen all his movies, he is a great source of inspiration to me. He was like a father to me. But he treated me in the same way he treated all his children. No interest whatsoever!"

Legacy accolades in popular culture

A Bergman-themed parody spoofs the

allegory As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

of cheating death (Bergman's ''The Seventh Seal'') in the sketch comedy show '' Saturday Night Live season 1'' (ep. 23, 24 July 1976). The sketch, titled "Swedish Movie", is somberly narrated in the third-person by a Swedish-speaking Death (Tom Schiller) with English subtitles scrolling. The baleful voice-over dialogue, revealed to be emanating from the apparition of Death personified, imposes upon dreamily preoccupied lovers Sven ( Chevy Chase) and Inger ( Louise Lasser) who send a not-so-silently jeering Death out for pizza. '' Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'' includes a sketch based on '' The Seventh Seal'' in which middle-class weekenders at an isolated farmhouse are visited by

The Grim Reaper Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper (usually depicted as a berobed skeleton wielding a scythe) causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other b ...

. A television spoof of ''Persona'' appeared in an episode of the Canadian comedy series '' SCTV'' in the late 1970s. ''SCTV'' later aired another Bergman parody, this time of ''Scenes From A Marriage'' that featured actor

Martin Short Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, and writer. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. In 2019 Short became an Officer of the Order of Canada. He ...

portraying comedian

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...

as the star of a fictional Bergman film called ''Scenes From An Idiot's Marriage''. ''

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey ''Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'' is a 1991 American science fiction comedy film, and the feature directorial debut of Pete Hewitt. It is the second film in the ''Bill & Ted'' franchise, and a sequel to ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' (1989). ...

'' includes a further spoof on the theme of playing games with Death from Bergman's ''The Seventh Seal''. Bill and Ted are set to play a game with Death. Rather than chess, they play checkers. When Bill and Ted win, Death challenges them to a best of three match, wherein they play Battleship and other games from popular culture. The Muppets franchise had a spoof of Bergman's style in a segment entitled "Silent Strawberries" from the TV special, ''

The Muppets Go to the Movies ''The Muppets Go to the Movies'' is a one-hour television special starring Jim Henson's Muppets. It first aired May 20, 1981 on ABC as promotion for ''The Great Muppet Caper'', which was released in the United States a month later. Plot With the ...

''. In Season 2 Episode 2 of '' Welcome to Sweden'', Jason Priestley asks to meet Ingmar Bergman.

Directed Academy Award performances

Bergman directed two Oscar nominated performances.

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

In 1971, Bergman received the

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is awarded periodically by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Governors Awards ceremonies to "creative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion pictur ...

at the Academy Awards ceremony. Three of his films won the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

. The list of his nominations and awards follows:

BAFTA Awards

Berlin Film Festival

* Won: Golden Bear for Best Film, '' Wild Strawberries'' (''Smultronstället''), 1957 * Won: FIPRESCI Prize, '' Wild Strawberries'', 1957 * Nominated: Golden Bear for Best Film, '' Through a Glass Darkly'' (''Såsom i en spegel''), 1961 * Won: OCIC Prize, ''Through a Glass Darkly'', 1961

Cannes Film Festival

Venice Film Festival

Cesar Awards

Bodil Award

Golden Globe Awards

Nastro d'Argento

Guldbagge Awards

Other awards and honours

* Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1961 * Erasmus Prize, 1965 *

The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize or Gish Prize is given annually to "a man or woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind's enjoyment and understanding of life." It is among the most prestigious and on ...

, 1995 * Career

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

at Venice Film Festival,

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

* Goethe Prize, 1976 * Commandeur de la

Légion d’honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

, 1985 * BAFTA Fellowship, 1988 * Japan Art Association's '' Praemium Imperiale'', 1991 * On 6 April 2011, the

Bank of Sweden Sveriges Riksbank, or simply the ''Riksbank'', is the central bank of Sweden. It is the world's oldest central bank and the fourth oldest bank in operation. Etymology The first part of the word ''riksbank'', ''riks'', stems from the Swedish w ...

announced that Bergman's portrait is featured on the new 200 kronor banknote, which was issued in 2015.

Exhibitions

* ''Ingmar Bergman.The Image Maker'',

Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow The Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow (MAMM; russian: link=no, Мультимедиа Арт Музей, Москва) is a Russian state museum dedicated to the presentation and development of contemporary art related to new multimedia technologies ...

, 2012 * ''Ingmar Bergman: The Man Who Asked Hard Questions'', Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, 2012

Filmography

References

Bibliography

* ''Bergman on Bergman: Interviews with Ingmar Bergman.'' By Stig Björkman, Torsten Manns, and Jonas Sima; translated by Paul Britten Austin. Simon & Schuster, New York. Swedish edition copyright 1970; English translation 1973. * ''Filmmakers on filmmaking: the American Film Institute seminars on motion pictures and television'' (edited by Joseph McBride). Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1983. * ''Images: my life in film'', Ingmar Bergman. Translated by Marianne Ruuth. New York, Arcade Pub., 1994, * * ''The Magic Lantern'', Ingmar Bergman. Translated by Joan Tate New York, Viking Press, 1988, *
The Demons of Modernity: Ingmar Bergman and European Cinema
', John Orr, Berghahn Books, 2014. *

External links

* * *
Ingmar Bergman Face to Face

The Ingmar Bergman Foundation

Ingmar Bergman all posters

Bergmanorama: The magic works of Ingmar Bergman

* ttp://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Exclusive/0,,617467,00.html Xan Brooks reports on Bergman's interview for Reuters ''The Guardian'', 12 December 2001
Bergman Week

Regilexikon

on Bergman, with links to DVD and Blu-ray comparisons of his major films ;Bibliographies

Ingmar Bergman Site

{{Smiles of a Summer Night

Accolades The accolade (also known as dubbing or adoubement) ( la, benedictio militis) was the central act in the rite of passage ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. From about 1852, the term ''accolade'' was used much more generally to ...

Bergman, Ingmar