As was confirmed this morning, Ingmar Bergman, one of the last living greats of 20th century cinema died last night at the age of 89.
Bergman first gained international attention with 1955’s Smiles of a Summer Night, a romantic comedy that inspired the Stephen Sondheim musical, A Little Night Music and kept pushing the limits of cinematic expression up until his last work, which was Saraband, a made-for-television film that aired on Swedish public television in December 2003.
In his half a century of filmmaking Bergman has won 4 Academy Awards (for best foreign language film in 1960, 1961 and 1983) and created works that have inspired several generations of film majors around the world. (one of his biggest fans being Woody Allen, who sprinkled Bergman homages throughout his movies, most notoriously and hilariously with that white-clad reaper in Love and Death)
DC had a chance to see some of his most lauded work in the last two months as part of AFI’s Janus Film Series including Wild Strawberries, Persona and Seventh Seal (considered by many the ultimate in rite-of-passage movie viewing for any film buff).
But we need a good, proper retrospective now, showcasing the famously intricate writing, and melancholic imagery that dealt with everything from madness to plague to death in ways both beautiful and devastating.
but for now we leave you with this Liv Ullman/Bibi Anderson moment from Persona:
Related stories:
Washington Post
Woody Allen talk about Bergman in a Channel 4 audio clip
honestly, this is so sad. i mean, i assumed his film-making days were over - in reality. but in my soul i really wanted and needed there to be one more. ’saraband’ destroyed me (in the way a punch in the nether-region feels disturbingly good) and ’scenes from a marriage’ also had that remarkably devastating quality. ‘wild strawberries’ is the reason i love movies, and ’summer with monika’ is the best bergman i didn’t know existed (i highly recommend it).
i have ‘persona’ at home, just by chance via netflix. i think i might stay in this weekend and have my own memorial service…
August 2, 2007 at 9:35 am
I drank whisky with Bergman in Staad in 1992.
July 31, 2007 at 1:22 pm