Bergman stopped making films in 1983 with Fanny and Alexander, although that didn’t mean that he withdrew into retirement. He continued to work in television and to direct theater, and also found the time to write several novels. He was married five times and conducted numerous romantic affairs, most notably with actress Liv Ullman, who appeared in several of his films. His various relationships produced nine children.
Lisa McKay is Blogcritics' Executive Editor. At BC she can usually be found hanging out in the film section. She recently started food blogging at Will Kill for Food.
In her spare time, she watches movies, listens to music, reads, and caters to the whims of two spoiled cats. …
The Seventh Seal - Criterion Collection
After a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight challenges Death to a fateful game of chess. More than forty years after its initial release, Ingmar Bergman's stunning allegory of man's apocalyptic ...
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Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
The Seventh Seal is masterful and captivating. I watched it recently with some friends, and my children wanted to watch it, too. I explained ahead of time it would be monochromatic and confusing, but my nine-year-old loved it. I could see her thinking about it for several days. Great, great film.
2 - Bill Sherman
Went through an intense period of Ingmar Bergman worship back in college (with my first viewing of The Seventh Seal) that has abated slightly as I’ve grown older but still holds as an abiding love for his movie work. I remember feeling disheartened when I learned that Fanny and Alexander was to be his last complete film, and I have to admit to having limited knowledge of his later TV work. But, damn, could that man make movies . . .
3 - El Bicho
Checkmate, Ingmar. Truly one of the greats of all-time. Thanks for the write-up.
4 - Rodney Welch
Bergman did not stop making films in 1983; there was also "After the Rehearsal" in 1984, and a few years ago he made "Saraband," the sequel to "Scenes from a Marriage."
5 - Bill Sherman
Weren't those both TV productions (as was the original Scenes from A Marriage) as opposed to full-blown feature films? Granted, the distinction can be minor when discussing an artist like Bergman, but it did affect, I suspect, how broadly his work was distributed outside of his native country.
6 - Lisa McKay
It would appear (according to my sources, anyway) that After the Rehearsal and Saraband were both produced for Swedish television and that Fanny and Alexander was indeed the last film he made exclusively for theatrical release.
7 - Rodney Welch
Both "After the Rehearsal" and "Saraband" were released theatrically in this country, so that makes them films.
I saw "Sarabande" in a theater last year. It brought him lots of press; Bergman's comeback and all that. It was also nominated for a Cesar Award in France -- the equivalent of our Oscar --as "Best European Union Film."
8 - El Bicho
"Both "After the Rehearsal" and "Saraband" were released theatrically in this country, so that makes them films."
If you want to get technical, Saraband was a made-for-television movie that aired on Swedish public television in December 2003. Where you first experienced something doesn't change what it is.
9 - Rodney Welch
El Bicho --
You tell me, then: what does determine what it is? When is a film not a film?
I could just as well say that where it was first presented doesn't establish its identity either. Look at Fassbinder's 15-hour "Berlin Alexanderplatz." It was photographed with high artistic values and is regarded by many as one of the greatest films of the late 20th Century. It also first aired over several nights on German TV. Doesn't that make it a mini-series -- even if it wasn't shaped into one-hour segments or filmed to allow for commercial breaks?
There have been films that were originally made for TV, and then went on to have successful theatrical releases.
Fact of the matter is, these have become increasingly outdated categories in determining what a "film" is. When we think "made for TV" we tend to mean movies that aren't really movies, because the production values are lower and they are made for mass consumption -- not at all unlike the vast amount of product that Hollywood churned out in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.
It's hard to argue, when you get right down to it, that a Lifetime movie is less genuine than, say, an old B-movie starring Sonny Tufts.
And "made for TV" no longer means what it used to mean; not when you have cable programming that is better than a lot of what you see at the theater.
Another point worth keeping in mind: in all likelihood, most of the films you probably regard as great are ones you have only seen on TV. At least, that's the case with me. I've never seen Citizen Kane in a theater, for example. In my head, it's a great film; in actual experience, it's a TV movie.
Anyway, however you slice it, the statement Bergman "stopped making films" after Fanny and Alexander is simply incorrect.
Saraband is a film and a damned fine one. It's the sequel to another great film, Scenes From a Marriage. Oh, wait, that's not a film though, is it, since it first aired on Swedish TV?
10 - Bill Sherman
You raise some good points, Rodney: the distinction between film and filmed television movies has grown progressively blurrier over the years. At one point, you could more clearly differentiate between film and television as media " so much so that when teevee producers attempted to pawn off sixties teleseries as feature films in other countries (as with, say, Man from U.N.C.L.E. features), the difference was more discernible. With the growing use of more cinematically filmed teevee series, though, this distinction has grown blurrier.
With Bergman, the issue for me comes down on the man’s own words. When he finished making Fanny and Alexander, Bergman stated repeatedly that this was his last feature film. Now, this statement could be taken as seriously as one of David Bowie’s “retirements,” or it could be taken to mean that the man himself saw a clear difference between the work he produced for the moviehouses and the work he produced for the TV screen. I think it’s the latter, but you’re free to disagree.
I first saw Citizen Kane (and Seventh Seal) on the big screen as part of a university film society program " definitely, the optimal way to view either work . . .
11 - DukeDeMondo
Great piece, Lisa. I imagine if any filmmaker got anywhere near to presenting what might go through a man's head five minutes afore dying, it's Bergman. the pre-titles sequence in Persona is, i'm willing to bet, exactly what that whole "Life flashing" carry on probably looks like. Or when a baby's just about to be born. headed for the hospital sheets out there, i'm guessing something very similar to that amazing sequence is running rings around its brain. All that anyone need ever know about anything can be found in The Seventh Seal, Persona, Wild Strawberries and Hour Of The Wolf. God bless you, Mr Bergman, you brilliant old bastard.
12 - Rodney Welch
Everybody changes their mind, Bill. Saraband is as much of a film as Through a Glass Darkly. The technical differences are unimportant.