Ingmar Bergman in five films

July 11, 2018: With sixty films to his credit, many of which have become classics of psychological and conjugal torment, Ingmar Bergman's filmography highlights both its stylistic register and its striking thematic coherence. .

Here are five key works from a six-decade career that has marked the history of cinema and influenced generations of filmmakers to the present day.

– The Seventh Seal & # 39; (1957) –

The masterpiece of Bergman's era at the time of the Crusades contains one of his now iconic scenes: a knight playing a game of chess with Death.

He encapsulates Bergman's central preoccupations – how faith is sustained in the face of evil and human misery.

Recipient of a prize in Cannes and quickly considered a classic of art and essay, "The Seventh Seal" was also a hit with moviegoers of the time, and has been the subject of many popular parodies.

Fifty years after its release, the British newspaper The Guardian regarded him as "a flawless gold standard of artistic and moral seriousness".

– & # 39; Persona & # 39; (1966) –

Two women, 84 minutes of nearly constant close-ups and a morphing of their faces – Bergman intensified the psychological intensity in this mysterious drama in an isolated cottage on the island of Faro.

Exploring the relationship between a silent actress and her nurse, Bergman's beautifully shot film questions the unstable foundations of identity.

– "Scenes of a Marriage" (1973) –

Bergman was one of the few directors of his generation to successfully transition from film to television, especially with this six-part mini-series addressing the marital problems of a couple who is going through a prolonged divorce. by infidelity.

Bergman drew on his own troubled relationship with Liv Ullmann, who played the woman in the series.
According to Roger Ebert, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American film critic who wrote at the Chicago Sun-Times in 1974, the Bergman series was "the truest and brightest of love stories" and revolved around the 39, one of his classic themes. – communication between two people.

– Fanny & Alexander & # 39; (1982) –

Bergman revisited all stages of childhood life from marriage to old age with this epic tale tracing the life of a brother and sister with strong autobiographical connotations. He was filmed mainly on the spot in his birthplace, the city of Uppsala.

Shot by director of photography Sven Nykvist, Bergman's latest film was a sumptuous family epic that caught the attention of Charles Dickens and won four Oscars including best foreign film.

The three-hour cinema version was cut from an original five-hour television mini-series.

"Fanny and Alexander" came third after "Apocalypse Now" and "Raging Bull" in a survey of the best films of the past 25 years given to filmmakers and critics around the world by the British magazine Sight and Sound in 2002.

– 'Saraband & # 39; (2003) –

After a break of nearly 20 years, Bergman returns for a final hurray with this TV sequel to "Scenes from a Marriage". He revisits his characters two decades later and explores the painful lessons of life, from failures of parenthood to selfishness at the heart of human relationships.