B I RG I T TA S T E E N E
INGMAR BERGMAN A REFERENCE GUIDE Amsterdam University Press
Ingmar Bergman: A Reference Guide
Ingmar Bergman, the Director. From the filming of The Magic Flute, 1975 (Courtesy: SFI/Cinematograph)
Ingmar Bergman A Reference Guide
Birgitta Steene
Amsterdam University Press
This book has been published with support from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet). Research assistant: Per Olov Qvist
Cover design: Kok Korpershoek, Amsterdam Lay-out: japes, Amsterdam
isbn 90 5356 406 3 nur 670
© Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 2005 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book.
Content Acknowledgements
9
Preface
11
Chapter I Life and Work
23 23 33 37 38 39 41 43 44 45
The Family Setting Debut and Formative Years Artistic Breakthrough at Home and Abroad Religious Crisis Discovery of Fårö The Critical Sixties: The Artist Syndrome Discovery of Television Exile Return to Sweden and Closure
Chapter II The Writer Ingmar Bergman: Cinéma d’auteur The Young Playwright The Writer of Prose Fiction Post-filmmaking Prose
49 49 58 63 64
List of Bergman’s Written Work
66
Chapter III The Filmmaker Enter the Magician Swedish Filmmaking during Bergman’s Formative Years Ingmar Bergman: Filmmaking Credo Ingmar Bergman’s Films: Grouping of a Lifelong Production
Chapter IV Filmography
131 132 133 137 141 155
Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record
155
Foreign Titles of Ingmar Bergman Films
353
Ingmar Bergman as Film Producer
369
5
Content Chapter V Ingmar Bergman and the Media
371
Radio Productions
371
Television Works
407
Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre
455
Part I An Overview
456
Part II Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Mäster Olofsgården, 1938-40 Stockholm Student Theatre, 1940-43 North Latin School, 1941-1942 Civic Centre & Sago Theatre, 1941-42 Open Air Theatre (Folkparksteatern), 1943 The Dramatists Studio (Dramatikerstudion), 1943-44 The Boulevard Theatre, 1944 Hälsingborg City Theatre, 1944-46 Göteborg City Theatre, 1946-50 Intima Theatre, Stockholm, 1950-51 Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten), 1951 Folksparkteatern, 1951 Norrköping-Linköping City Theatre, 1951 Malmö City Theatre, 1952-58 Dramaten, 1961-1976 Head of Dramaten, 1963-1966 Munich Residenztheater, 1977-1984 Return to Dramaten, 1984-2003
473 473 485 493 495 505 506 511 513 530 549 552 554 555 556 596 599 650 668
Opera/Ballet
763
Chapter VII Theatre and Media Bibliography, 1940-2004
773
Chart over Bergman’s Theatre, Opera, TV, and Radio Productions
816
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman
827
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman
879
Chapter X Varia
1031
Media Documentaries on Ingmar Bergman
1031
Stage and Screen Performances by Ingmar Bergman
1035
Awards and Tributes
1038 1045
Awards for individual Films
6
Content Archival Sources Ingmar Ingmar Ingmar Ingmar
Bergman’s Bergman’s Bergman’s Bergman’s
Writings Films Radio Play Productions and TV Work Theatre Productions
1049 1049 1049 1052 1053
Indexes Subject Index
1055
Subject Index Supplement: Literature on Bergman
1071
Title Index
1077
Name Index
1105
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Acknowledgements The following organizations and institutions, listed in alphabetical order, have helped support this Reference Guide, either financially or by offering research assistance: AFI (American Film Institute); SALB (Statens arkiv för ljud och bild, Stockholm); AMPA (Margaret Herrick Library in Los Angeles); BFI (British Film Institute); Cinecitta Film Library in Rome; Cinématèque Française; Danish Film Museum; Swedish Theatre Museum Library; Dramaten (Royal Dramatic Theatre) Library; Dutch Film Library in Amsterdam; Filmoteca nacional, Montevideo; Holger and Thyra Lauritzen Foundation, Stockholm; Göteborg City Museum (theatre section), HSFR (Humanistiska samhällsvetenskapliga forskningsrådet); Malmö Musikteater Museum; MOMA (Museum of Modern Art in New York); Museum of Television and Radio, New York; Museo de film, Rio de Janeiro/Sao Paolo; Nationaltheatret, Oslo; NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities); NFI (Norwegian Film Institute); New York Library for the Performing Arts; Stiftung Deutsche Kinematek in Berlin; SFI (Swedish Film Institute); Sveriges Radio-TV (SR-SVT) Library and Archives; Theatre Record, London; TIN (Dutch Theatre library); University of Washington Library; Vetenskapsrådet (Swedish Science Council). A very special thanks is due to film scholar Dr. Per Olov Qvist in Uppsala for his research assistance in the film and media sections of the guide and for his unfailing patience in checking and helping locate some of the material for this Reference Guide to Ingmar Bergman. With his knowledgeable background, trustworthy and meticulous scrutiny, and many good suggestions, Per Olov Qvist has been an invaluable resource. The following persons have facilitated my search for specific items in the Guide: Kerstin Alfredsson, SR/SVT; Tatjana Beznik, Humboldt University, Berlin; Magnus Blomqvist and Ursula Schlesser at the Swedish Theatre Library; Margaretha Brundin at the Royal Library in Stockholm; Brita Carlsson at Göteborg City Theatre Library; Else Barratt-Due at NRK (Norsk Rikskringkasting); Lone Erritzöe, Bergman researcher in Copenhagen; Barbro Everfjärd and Elisabeth Helge at the SFI Film Library; Dag Kronlund and Vera Govenius at Dramaten Library; Elzbieta Lejczak and Hans Lind at Malmö Music Theatre Archive; Jens K. Nielsen and Virpi Zuck at the University of Oregon; Henrik Sjögren who has generously exchanged information about Ingmar Bergman’s work in the theatre; Agneta Sjöborg at Statens Arkiv för ljud och bild (SALB); Egil Törnqvist, professor emeritus at the University of Amsterdam and himself a Bergman scholar; Gurli Woods, Carleton University, Canada. In the final stages of the manuscript, Associate Professor and Bergman scholar Maaret Koskinen
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Acknowledgement shared information about material from Bergman’s Fårö library, now deposited at the Swedish Film Institute. Maria Karlsson, Uppsala University, Tytti Soila, Stockholm University, Kerstin Petterson, Amsterdam, and Adolfas Vecerskis, Vilnius, have helped with some informational and organizational questions and Anna Karin Fredmer with technical assistance. Dag Nordmark’s meticulous reading of the final manuscript helped correct a few discrepancies. Rochelle Wright and Aleksander Kwiatkowski assisted with some translation and linguistic transcription problems. And of course a special thanks to Ingmar Bergman himself for his unique artistic contribution.
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Preface This Reference Guide to Ingmar Bergman offers a critical overview and annotated record of the artistic career of a very productive filmmaker, stage director, and author. Born in 1918 and still active in his mid-eighties, Bergman has made some 50 feature films, directed more than 120 theatre presentations, a number of radio and television productions, and has authored numerous scripts, plays, and prose works. Possessing a great visual and narrative talent, combined with musical sensitivity and psychological perspicacity, Bergman has projected a moral vision formed since childhood by the values of his Lutheran family background and by a Swedish bourgeois lifestyle. But his artistic production not only reflects the world he knew during his formative years; it also constitutes a serious examination of it. In addition to its personal roots, Bergman’s art has drawn creative stimulation from a still young and expanding film medium and from a dynamic and challenging period in the Swedish theatre, including opera, television, and radio drama. His deep sense of belonging to a native tradition in film and drama with such names as Victor Sjöström and August Strindberg as portal figures does not preclude an equally strong interest in the classical European theatre and international cinema. Bergman has today achieved a world reputation like few other Swedish artists before him. A sign of this is the vast critical response that his work has elicited both in his native country and abroad, manifesting itself in many hundreds of books, articles, and dissertations. Bergman’s achievement has also been recognized in numerous film and theatre awards and in tributes ranging from honorary doctorates to special symposia and Bergman festivals. There are even poems published that testify to his impact on viewers and audiences. To assemble the critical record pertaining to Ingmar Bergman’s œuvre is no small task and poses several questions. The first but not least is a general question: What is the purpose of a Reference Guide? The immediate answer is simple: to provide existing information to interested readers and scholars in a given field. That is, a reference guide is to serve as a cumulative checkpoint where it becomes possible to search and familiarize oneself with existing material on the subject. The second question follows almost automatically: What should be the selective process behind the presentation of the material? Metaphorically speaking, an editor of a Reference Guide might be assumed to spread out a map of the entire territory covered by the artist and his commentators, with roads that point in many different directions so that all corners of the referenced subject’s territory become visible and accessible. But in order for a map to be legible and useful, it must not only record but also describe and define the objects found within its chosen boundaries. And it must also set up
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Preface limits for the amount of information to be provided. This is especially necessary with a prolific artist like Ingmar Bergman whose work (and the critical response to it) spans more than half a century. A Reference Guide like this one is by definition a source book about things already done, and an editor’s task is to track those who have already entered the Bergman territory. But an editor, like a cartographer, must have a vision and must strive to avoid getting caught and ensnared in too much underbrush. A great deal of trivial material exists on Ingmar Bergman. Not all of it has been ignored here, for it too is part of the response that his work has elicited. But serious efforts to examine Bergman’s work have naturally taken precedence over ephemeral treatments. Furthermore, it has also been the editor’s intention to transmit an overview of Ingmar Bergman’s career. For that reason the annotated bibliographical information in the Guide is complemented by surveys of Bergman’s life and work and of his creative activity in different art forms. Much of the published response to Ingmar Bergman’s work, especially his filmmaking, has come from outside his native Sweden. In that material there is often more valuable criticism than Swedish examiners have recognized. But at the same time, foreign studies of Bergman often reveal unfamiliarity with the language and culture that have shaped his work. Both these factors are dealt with indirectly in the Guide. The aim has been to make the volume internationally representative, but there has also been an effort to select and annotate a great deal of Swedish material in order to make non-Swedish students of Bergman aware of the response of his native culture. Ingmar Bergman allegedly grew up with an equally strong interest in puppet theatre and magic lantern experiments, which laid the foundation for a career as a theatre and film director. In his late teens, before engaging in stagecraft in public, he drafted a great many dramatic and prose vignettes, some of which were later developed into film ideas. In the early 1940s he gained a certain reputation as an up-andcoming stage director in Stockholm and in 1944 he experienced a combined debut as a writer, theatre man, and would-be filmmaker: he landed his first contract as a stage director (and administrative head) at the Helsingborg City Theatre in southern Sweden; his film script to ‘Hets’ (Torment, Frenzy) catapulted him into notoriety as an angry young man and social iconoclast; and his first piece of writing was published in the Swedish avant-garde literary magazine 40-tal. Ingmar Bergman was to pursue the areas of theatre, film, and literature throughout his creative life. To these artistic activities he soon added work in radio and television. During specific periods in his life, one or another of these areas may have dominated, but on the whole they have remained interrelated or interdependent and, above all, must be viewed as equally important to Bergman’s artistic persona. However, Bergman’s multifaceted production poses a special organizational challenge to a bibliographer. The standard chronological set-up used in most registrations of an artistic output is maintained in this Guide within the individual chapters, but the chapter division in itself signals Bergman’s different creative fields and prevents an ongoing sequential overview of his total oeuvre. Each individual chapter must start anew with its own consecutive time line. To present Bergman’s entire artistic output as a single continuous production might have had the advantage of suggesting more clearly the interconnection between, for instance, his stage work and his filmmaking. But the approach would make it difficult for a Bergman scholar to follow and assess his
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Preface development within a specific medium, especially in view of the sheer volume and long time span behind each of Bergman’s artistic endeavors, be it in film, theatre, television, radio, or writing. To Bergman’s manifold creative activity one must also add the fact that a film, a stage production, or a media transmission by him may have a multi-genre or multimedia aspect to it, so that different versions of a given Bergman work may exist. Thus, several of Bergman’s TV films, for instance, Scener ur ett äktenskap/Scenes from a Marriage and Fanny and Alexander, have also been edited by him for circulation in the commercial cinema, while some of his stage productions have been adapted for television. Another multi-version example is that of Backanterna/The Bachae from the 1990s, which was first presented as an opera, then as a television performance, and finally as a stage production. Furthermore, the dialogue scripts in a film and television production involving Bergman’s name are seldom identical with the published scripts, which are sometimes referred to as novels rather than screenplays by Bergman himself. Thus, a chapter-by-chapter genre or media presentation of Bergman’s oeuvre still carries its own built-in problems, necessitating a system of cross-listings between film, theatre, media, and interview chapters. An item may thus be listed in several different chapters but is usually only annotated in one place. If, for instance, a given work has been produced as a TV film but has also been shown as a feature film in the cinema, it is listed in both the Filmography and Media chapters but with its accompanying reference and reception record selected accordingly. For instance, the media impact in Sweden of Scener ur ett äktenskap/Scenes from a Marriage is only recorded in the Media Chapter, while the reception for the international film version appears in the Filmography. Bergman himself does not seem to regard multi-versions of a given work as a problem (as long as he had control of the procedure). In an interview with Elisabeth Sörenson, he once said apropos of this matter: ‘Thus I have two different manuscripts – but the film version is incorporated into the TV version. It is the very steel pillar. [—] This is no more strange than when a composer makes an orchestra version and a string quartet (of the same composition)’. [Sålunda har jag två olika manuskript – men filmversionen finns inbakad i TV-versionen. Den är själva stålpelaren... Det är inte egendomligare än när en kompositör gör en orkesterversion och en (version för) stråkkvartett]. On another occasion he looks upon his mixing of artistic areas and choice of performance medium as a playful prerogative: ‘I think it is fun to make a real witches’ brew of TV, theatre, film and music’ (Björkman, Cahiers du cinéma, May 1978). Opting for separate chapter divisions for Bergman’s various areas of creative expression raises the issue of their internal placement in the Guide. Since the incentives for Bergman’s film, theatre, and writing activities are rooted in experiences connected with his childhood and youth and since they have more or less run their continuous course throughout his career, it becomes almost a moot point to try to decide which one of these creative outputs should be listed first in a chapter by chapter presentation. However, there is good reason to begin this Guide – after an initial survey of Bergman’s Life and Work – with an annotation of his penmanship, since it includes material to subsequent chapters: Ingmar Bergman as a filmmaker (Chapters III and IV), Ingmar Bergman as a media director (Chapter V), and Ingmar Bergman as a contributor to theatre art (Chapter VI). Bergman established himself early on as an internationally acknowledged auteur du cinéma whose screenplays formed the basis
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Preface for the majority of his films. After announcing his retirement from filmmaking with the making of Fanny and Alexander (1982), he was to write several TV plays, screenplays, novels, and memoirs. Both his own scriptwriting and his adaptations of theatre texts testify to a link between his literary penmanship and his visual directorial talent operating in different performative contexts. Since the Guide addresses itself to an international and not just a native Swedish audience, it has seemed logical to present the material dealing with Bergman’s contribution to the cinema before presenting his work as a theatre director. Internationally speaking, his filmmaking forms the basis of his standing abroad, whereas his stagecraft has been less known to foreign audiences and limited to a handful of productions presented during guest performances throughout the world or during his eight years of voluntary exile (1976-1984) when he worked as a director at Munich’s Residenztheater. In terms of his impact on Swedish culture, Bergman’s theatre work might be seen as the most crucial part of his career. After declaring his withdrawal from the world of commercial filmmaking in 1984 (but not from media work), he continued for almost twenty years as a prominent stage director, stating again and again his great love and need for the world of theatre. In fact, almost from the beginning of his career in the theatre, Bergman’s stage productions have elicited a critical enthusiasm at home quite comparable to the jubilant foreign reception of many of his films. The rationale for placing the media chapter (V) right after the Filmography (Chapter IV) is that its television section can be seen as an extension of Bergman’s work in the cinema. At the same time, the radio section in the media chapter may serve as a transition to the subsequent theatre chapter, for it includes many broadcast adaptations of Bergman’s own plays and of productions first directed by him on different theatre stages. The following outline identifies the chapter-by-chapter content of this Reference Guide to Ingmar Bergman: Chapter I: Life and Work. This chapter is designed as a comprehensive juxtaposition of biographical data and professional output. Here it is wise to keep in mind that over the years, the real person bearing the name of Ernst Ingmar Bergman has ‘fabricated’ a legend of his own, where family history and personal experiences have undergone fictional transformations. At the same time, however, in presenting an artist who possesses such a strong personal vision as Ingmar Bergman, it is difficult not to link closely his private and public worlds. Bergman has not always lived the life of a recluse on his island of Fårö but has, in fact, been a highly visible person in Swedish culture from the very beginning of his career. Furthermore, he has, by his own account, drawn his subject-matter both from his own background and from his circle of friends and colleagues, including his close relationships with women, many of whom have been active in his professional work. A Life and Letters account of Ingmar Bergman becomes therefore both a personal life story and the artistic metamorphosis of an individual existence. Chapter II: The Writer. The chapter begins with an overview of Bergman’s penmanship, followed by an annotated chronological listing of all his authored material, from his early unpublished prose works in the late 1930s to his late television plays, novels, and memoirs in the 1980s and on. Also included are scripts and articles that Bergman wrote
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Preface under the name of Buntel Eriksson (with Erland Josephson), Ernest Riffe, and other pseudonyms. The annotated material comprises scripts, plays, prose fiction, essays, program notes, and newspaper statements such as open letters (but not cited interview material). Also listed are some items from Bergman’s private Fårö library now deposited at the Swedish Film Institute (SFI), where drafts, notebooks, and the director’s copies of scripts and plays have been organized. All items are annotated under their Swedish title, but wherever applicable each entry also includes a list of published translations. Each item is given an entry number, beginning with number 1. The numbering of entries continues sequentially throughout the Reference Guide. When an entry number is referred to elsewhere in the Guide, it is preceded by the symbol Ø. Chapter III: The Filmmaker. An account of the personal motivations and historical circumstances behind Bergman’s filmmaking is followed by a comprehensive overview of his entire film production. As an organizing principle, Bergman’s films are presented in six major groups following a chronological and thematic outline: (1) early films focussing on the young couple; (2) early family and marriage films, often with women in central roles; (3) religious and existential quest films, often with a male protagonist; (4) films portraying the role of the artist; (5) films focusing on a haunting past, many of them depicting women in crisis; (6) the Bergman family saga. This grouping is to be seen as practical rather than absolute, providing a structural overview of Bergman’s film production but with the implied understanding that many films could in fact be placed in more than one category. Chapter IV: Filmography. Each individual item is presented with a plot synopsis, a detailed credit list, reviews, and commentaries on the film’s reception. The filmography lists all films that were authored and/or directed by Bergman, including some documentaries and a set of soap commercials, as well as works originally made for television but later released in the cinema. The total number of items in the Filmography comprises some 60 entries, or more than one film for every year that Ingmar Bergman was active in the field. At the end of the Filmography is a list of films by other directors which were produced by Ingmar Bergman and his company Cinematograph. Also appearing at the end of the Filmography is a list of foreign distribution titles of Ingmar Bergman’s films. Note that distribution titles are not always identical with titles appearing in foreign translations of his screenplays. Chapter V: The Media Director. Bergman began quite early to direct works for radio, and he became an enthusiastic supporter and contributor to the TV medium soon after its inception in Sweden in the 1950s. The media chapter discusses and annotates his many productions on radio and television, with credits, notes, commentaries, and review references. The chapter comprises: (1) productions of plays by other authors, either originally designed for radio or television or adapted by Bergman for the media; (2) media works authored or adapted by Bergman and originally conceived for radio or television, such as Staden (1950, The City) and Riten (1969, The Ritual); and (3) works authored by Bergman where separate film and TV versions were made, such as Scener ur ett äktenskap/ Scenes from a Marriage and Fanny and Alexander. Chapter VI: The Theatre Director. The theatre chapter consists of two sections. The first provides a chronological survey of Ingmar Bergman’s career as a theatre director; the second gives an annotated listing of his entire work on stage, with credits, commentaries, selective reviews, and guest performances for each item. In-
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Preface cluded at the end of the chapter are Bergman’s opera productions. As in the Filmography and media chapters, the commentary sections to the individual productions in the theatre chapter aim at giving background information while the Reception sections report on debates and other responses. Commentaries may vary in length. An early radio production by Ingmar Bergman from the 1940s may not have elicited much critical reaction, while his stage productions at the Royal Dramatic Theatre after his return from exile in 1984 almost invariably resulted in substantial press coverage. Items causing media debates tend to have longer commentaries (and reception segments). Such information may reflect both the aesthetic assessment by reviewers and the cultural impact of a Bergman production. Productions of Bergman’s own plays are included, whether directed by the author himself or by someone else. Note, however, that Bergman’s playwriting is discussed in the introductory part of Chapter II. Chapter VII: Theatre and Media Bibliography. This chapter includes an annotated list of bibliographical material pertaining to Bergman’s contribution to the theatre and to media arts. However, critical items referring to specific stage productions are listed under the individual production entries in Chapter VI, section 2. Note also that interviews that include references to theatre and media work appear in Chapter VIII (Interviews). At the end of Chapter VII is a chart showing Bergman’s stage and media productions in chronological order. Chapter VIII: Interviews. Over the years, Ingmar Bergman has given innumerable interviews and press conferences. A good many of these are referenced in the commentary section of the individual entries in Chapters IV (Filmography), V (Media), VI (Theatre), or theatre/media bibliography (VII). In this chapter the focus is on interviews that cover several creative areas or pertain to Bergman’s lifestyle or thoughts on his craftsmanship and artistic vision. Chapter IX: Writings on Ingmar Bergman. This chapter consists of an annotated bibliography listing in chronological order a major bulk of critical writings on Ingmar Bergman. This material includes books, dissertations, special journal issues, and articles. As in Chapter VII (Theatre and Media Bibliography), some of the bibliographical items are grouped together according to subject matter. Such group items might include frequently considered topics in the critical Bergman canon, such as his portrayal of women (Ø 975), religious approaches to his films (Ø 997), or literary references to his works (Ø 989). In addition, single events in Bergman’s life and career that have elicited extensive press coverage, such as the tax debacle in 1976 and his subsequent voluntary exile, are annotated as group items. All group items appear as the initial entry in the year when an event occurred or when a group subject was first discussed. An alphabetical list of the group items can be found at the beginning of the Title Index. The editorial approach in selecting material for Chapter IX has been to include critical material pertaining to all of Bergman’s various artistic activities but to be comprehensive rather than all-inclusive. In the selection of the critical material, the following general guidelines have been used: 1. Longer informative and analytical essays, book length studies, and dissertations have been given priority over shorter news items or general presentations of Bergman’s oeuvre.
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Preface 2. A balance has been sought between well-known, oft-quoted articles or books and items that seem representative of a given critic or group of critics; of a particular national assessment of Bergman, or of a specific period in the reception of his works. 3. Special focus has been given to Swedish archival sources, simply because this is where most Bergman material is to be found. At the same time, however, an equally important goal has been to present the student with a fair international sampling of critical writings on Bergman and to indicate how Bergman’s work has been received in different (selective) parts of the world. 4. Critical material pertaining to single works by Ingmar Bergman has been listed in the review or commentary sections following the individual credit listings in Chapters II (The Writer), IV (Filmography), V (Media productions), and VI (Theatre Director). Thus, critical items addressing, for instance, his play Trämålning/Wood Painting, his screenplay Fanny and Alexander, his stage production of Hamlet, or his radio play Staden (The City) will be found under these entry names in the respective chapters. Exceptions are made for longer analytical studies of single works if they include important historical background, comparison with other artists, or discuss inter-arts or inter-media issues. In such cases the items are cross-listed in Chapter IX. Finally, a special effort has been made to include items in the Bibliography that deserve attention but may have appeared in publications with limited circulation and do not always show up in databases. In fact, in scanning such electronic library resources, it becomes clear that a discrepancy often exists between an item’s listing frequency and its actual relevance in the Bergman critical canon. Repeated visibility is not always tantamount to quality or importance; database bibliographical material is unfortunately often the result of authorial self-promotion. Chapter X Varia. This heading covers the following items: A. Media documentaries on Ingmar Bergman. B. Stage and screen performances by Ingmar Bergman (including film voice-overs), most of them from the early part of his career. C. A listing of awards, prizes, and other honors received by Bergman, including items pertaining to his entire contribution to film and theatre or to his overall status as an artist. This list is followed by a list of awards for individual Bergman films. Similar information, including awards to members of Bergman’s film or stage teams, can also be found at the end of film or stage entries in the Filmography (Chapter IV) or Theatre chapter (VI). D. Archival Sources. A list of addresses of archives and libraries holding Bergman material, such as prints of his films, stills, scripts, and clipping files as well as information about his theatre and media productions. All quotations of Swedish origin have been translated into English by the editor (unless a published translation title is noted). The translation is followed in brackets by the original Swedish text. All other quotations regardless of language origin appear only in English.
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Preface Newspaper and Magazine Sources The following Swedish newspapers were checked (abbreviations used in the text are listed in parenthesis and follow normal Swedish praxis): STOCKHOLM PRESS: Aftonbladet (AB), Aftontidningen (AT), Arbetaren,, Dagens Nyheter (DN), Expressen (Expr.), Morgontidningen Social-Demokraten (MT), Ny Tid, Stockholms-Tidningen (ST), Svenska Dagbladet (SvD). GÖTEBORG PRESS: Göteborgs-Posten (GP), Göteborgs-Tidningen (GT), Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning (GHT), Göteborgs Morgonpost (GMP). MALMÖ (and vicinity) PRESS: Arbetet (Arb), Hälsingborgs Dagblad (Hbg), KvällsPosten (KvP), Sydsvenska Dagbladet Snällposten (SDS). OTHER (spot-checked): Bohusläningen, Hallandsposten, Hufvudstadsbladet (Helsinki), Lidingö Tidning, Nerikes Allehanda, Skånska Dagbladet, Upsala Nya Tidning (UNT), Wermlands-Tidningen, Östersunds-Posten, Östgöta-Correspondenten. The following Swedish magazines and trade journals were checked: Biografbladet, Bonniers litterära magasin (BLM), Chaplin, Dramat, Entré, Film in Sweden, Filmhäftet, Filmjournalen, Filmnyheter, Film och bio, Filmrutan, Films in Sweden, Idun, Månads-Journalen, Perspektiv, Röster i Radio/TV, Scen och salong, Skådebanan, Teatern, Teaterronden, Vecko-Journalen, Vi. The following non-Swedish newspapers and magazines were checked: AMERICAN and CANADIAN: America, Atlantic, Christian Century, Cinema (Kansas City), Cinema (Toronto), Cinema Journal, Commonweal, Comparative Drama, Drama Review, Film Comment, Film Criticism, Film Heritage, Film Quarterly, Films in Review, Filmfacts, Hollywood Quarterly, Hudson Review, Jump Cut, Literature/ Film Quarterly, Modern Drama, Movietone News (Seattle), Nation, New Leader, New York Magazine, New York Herald Tribune, New York Times (NYT), New Yorker, Newsweek, New Republic, Saturday Review, Take One, Time, Theater, Theatre Quarterly, Tulane Drama Review, Variety, Village Voice, Wide Angle. BELGIAN: Amis du film et de la télévision, Film en Televisie. BRITISH: Films and Filming, Monthly Film Bulletin, Motion, Movie, New Statesman, Sight and Sound, Spectator, Times (London). DANISH: Berlingske Tidende, Information Jyllands-Posten, Kosmorama, MacGuffin, Politiken. DUTCH: Skoop, Skrien. FRENCH: Arts, L’Avant-scène du cinéma, Cahiers du cinéma, Cinéma, Ecran, Etudes cinématographiques, Image et son, Le monde, Positif, Télé-Ciné. GERMAN: Die Deutsche Bühne, Filmkritik, Film, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Der Spiegel, Theater heute, Die Welt, Die Zeit. ITALIAN: Bianco e nero, Cineforum, Cinema nuovo, Dramma, Filmcritica. NORWEGIAN: Aftenposten, Fant, Morgenbladet, Verldens Gang, Z. SPANISH: Cinema novo, Film Ideal. OTHER (spot-checked): Chicago Times, Cine cubano, Cinéaste (Canada), La cinématographie française, Critisch film bulletin (Netherlands), Die Asta (Denmark), Ecran (France), Ekran (Poland), FIB (Folket i Bild, Sweden), Le Figaro, Film a doba (Czechoslovakia), Film Journal (Melbourne), Hollywood Reporter, Horizon (USA), Jeune cinéma, Listener, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Los Angeles Times,
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Preface Manchester Guardian, Le Monde, Motion Picture Herald (Los Angeles), Observer, Reporter (USA). Clippings and/or printed programs were used from the following archives: American Motion Picture Academy (AMPA), Los Angeles Amsterdam Theatre Museum British Film Institute (BFI) Cinecitta Library, Rome Cinemateca uruguaya (Montevideo) Cinemateco do museo de arte moderna (Rio de Janeiro) Cinemateco do museo de arte moderna (Sao Paolo) Cinématèque française Det danske filmmuseum (Danish Film Museum) Dramaten (Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm) Film Museum Amsterdam Filmmuseum Berlin – Deutsche Kinemathek Museum of Modern Art (Film Section), New York New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Suomen elokuvaarkisto (Helsinki) Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) Sveriges Teatermuseum (formerly: Drottningholms Teatermuseum) Press reviews or reportages from Bergman’s first decades in film, theatre, and media were occasionally unsigned or reviewers used a signature only. The following signatures have been identified: A. A-l A.Fbg/Fbg. AGE Allegro Armand Corinna Don José E.An. Elle E. T. E.v.Z. E.W.O/Eveo. Fale Bure Gvs. Hjorvard Håge Höken I.H. I. O-e Jerome J.L. Jolanta
Alvar Asterdahl Allan Fagerberg Anders Elsberg Olle Halling Olle Olsson Greta Bolin Josef Oliv Elis Andersson Lisa Genell Harrie (?) Ella Taube Eva von Zweigbeck Erik Wilhelm Olsson Henning Olsson Herbert Grevenius Gustav Johansson Herbert Gylling Marianne Höök Ivar Harrie Ingvar Orre Göran Trauung John Landquist Margaretha Sjögren
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Preface Kei -ki/Koski Lucia M. S-g O. R-t Pavane Peo Perpetua P.E.W. PGP Pilo S. Btl S. G-d S. S-r. S. T-d Tell. Tom -yer
Einar Nilsson Hartvig Kusoffsky Louise Gräslund Martin Strömberg Oscar Rydqvist Gerd Osten Sixten Ahrenberg Barbro Hähnel Per-Erik Wahlund P.G. Pettersson Ragnar Ehrling Sven Barthel Sten Guldbrand Sten Selander Stig Tornehed Thorleif Hellbom Åke Thomson Nils Beyer
Ingmar Bergman’s conception of what it means to be an artist is complex. First, he has always emphasized the creative act as a source of pleasure and joy, an emotional state of mind reminiscent of his childhood nursery games with a puppet theatre and a laterna magica. Second, his artistic approach conveys a strong sense of absolute commitment to his work, and a keen sensitivity to both performers and audiences. Third, he combines an intuitive ‘radar’ feel for what is right and essential in a production with a very conscious sense of craftsmanship, resulting in a firm esthetic control of his material. He has always maintained that his directorial persona can only function under self-discipline, careful preparation of a task and a sense of mutual loyalty between himself and his ensembles. In this way he has been able to ward off the personal chaos in his own psyche. Artistic creativity has then worked for him as a form of self-therapy. Over the years Bergman’s public image has undergone marked changes. In his youth he was seen as a gadfly and iconoclast; in the 1960s he was viewed as an obsolete artist and bourgeois traditionalist; in the 1980s he became an icon and master. Some have termed him ‘demonic’ and dominant; some have talked about him as a ruthless presence. But almost everyone who has worked closely with him has testified to his ability to create a sense of comfort and security. By the same token, Bergman’s artistic work has elicited a very divided response among his commentators. On one hand, there has been a recognition of his indisputable talent and an almost jubilant sense of experiencing a unique artist at work; on the other hand, one can notice a sense of irritation at his ‘excessive’ temperament or a resentful feeling of being ‘manipulated’ by his controlling persona. The critical material on Ingmar Bergman also shows a distinct difference between foreign commentators, who have tended to evaluate his work in terms of its metaphysical and psychological thought content, and Swedish reviewers who have often judged his contribution within a current ideological context but who have also been more sensitive both to his theatre aesthetics and to his filmmaking style.
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Preface Relatively few studies of Bergman’s work have focussed on matters of form and structure. There is an explanation for this: A major part of Bergman’s creative material emerges as an example of what Isiah Berlin once termed ‘hedgehog’ authorship; i.e., the work of an artist who is fixed on a relatively limited range of subject matters and who seldom deviates from that personal vision. After half a century of amazing ‘hedgehog’ productivity, Bergman has created a cohesive universe of his own making, a personal mythos where his commentators can ‘feel at home’ and can easily identify such central Bergman subjects as: (1) an existential probing manifesting itself in questioning a silent god figure who seems to have withdrawn from human life; (2) an often ruthless unmasking process that discloses the lies and dead conventions that control human beings and relationships and where language can easily be a deceptive tool; (3) a deterministic portrayal of people as helpless and despondent marionettes, yet so full of vitality that most of Bergman’s works leave some trace of hope behind; (4) a portrayal of Woman as archetype – as the embodiment of strength and survivability; and (5) an exposure of the modern (usually male) artist as a self-centered and destructive individual, often frustrated in his metier and haunted by demons. These themes continued to be explored by Bergman also after he left filmmaking, and they constitute an essential part of his writing legacy. Bergman’s visibility in the film and theatre world during the second half of the 20th century has been considerable from the start. However, what the material collected for this Reference Guide suggests is that Ingmar Bergman has been much more than a media celebrity. He has in fact accomplished a cultural feat that no other Swedish artist before him has realized to quite the same extent: bridging the gap between the forms and expressions of high bourgeois culture and popular art. In the theatre his productions have ranged from operettas like The Merry Widow to Shakespeare’s King Lear or Goethe’s Ur-Faust. In the cinema he has created comedies like Smiles of a Summer Night and The Devil’s Eye as well as somber existential quest dramas like The Seventh Seal and harrowing psychological studies like Persona and Cries and Whispers. And regardless of what Bergman’s own countrymen have thought of his international reputation in the first half of his career, he indisputably came to play an extraordinary role as directeur de conscience for many generations of filmgoers outside of Sweden. Ingmar Bergman has definitely written himself into the annals of film and theatre history. Today there is still a strong interest in his artistic contribution among students of film, theatre, and literature. And despite the large output of Bergman scholarship to date, the subject is rich and much remains to be done. It is hoped that this research guide will help facilitate such future studies about Ingmar Bergman. Stockholm, June 2005 Birgitta Steene
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Childhood toys become artistic emblems: the puppet theatre and the laterna magica
In Bergman’s production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale at the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten) in 1994, the boy Mamillius (Anna Björk) carried on stage a miniature puppet theatre as if to reinforce Bergman’s vision of the play – as fantastic make-believe and playacting. (Photo: Bengt Wanselius. Courtesy: Dramaten)
In Bergman’s film Fanny and Alexancer from 1982, the magic lantern plays an important role for the Ekdahl children, especially young Alexander (Bertil Guve). (Photo: Arne Carlsson. Courtesy: Cinematograph/SFI)
Chapter I Life and Work
The Family Setting Some dates of birth seem auspicious from the start. Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born on Sunday, July 14, 1918. According to Swedish folklore, a child born on Sunday is gifted with second sight, whereas July 14 – Bastille Day – is one of those historical dates that have forever taken on symbolic meaning, signifying rebellion and protest. No astrological prediction could have been more appropriate in Bergman’s case. When he burst onto the Swedish theatre and film scene in the early 1940s, two things became immediately clear: He was a remarkably intense and gifted young man drawn both to the stage and the screen, and he also had a vision aimed at penetrating beneath surface reality to reveal a world of metaphysical and depth-psychological dimensions. Above all, he was a rebel spirit who challenged established social and professional conventions. In youthful defiance he once declared: It entails a great risk [...] to stare yourself blind at the limits set up by the public and the critics, limits I do not recognize and that are not mine. [...] I am glad I am not born with equal part reason and guts. [...] Who says you can’t make noise, tear down barriers, fight with windmills, send rockets to the moon, be shaken by visions, play with dynamite and cut morsels of flesh out of yourself and others? (‘Det att göra film/What is Filmmaking,’ 1954) [Det medför en stor risk [...] att stirra sig blind på de gränser som sätts upp av publiken och kritikerna, gränser jag inte erkänner och som inte är mina. [...] Jag är glad att jag inte är född med lika delar förnuft och inälvor. [...] Vem säger att man inte kan föra oväsen, riva ner barriärer, slåss mot väderkvarnar, skicka raketer till månen, skakas av visioner, leka med dynamit och skära bitar ur en själv och andra?]
Such a self-confident outburst belies, however, the fact that Ingmar Bergman’s start in life was rather problematic. The middle child in a bourgeois clerical family, he was a sickly boy whose arrival in the world was overshadowed by a crisis in his parents’ marriage. His mother Karin had fallen out of love with her husband, Lutheran pastor Erik Bergman, who showed signs of a nervous condition, which affected family life.
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Chapter I Life and Work Erik was also ill with the Spanish flue, the epidemic that claimed many lives during World War I. In her diary quoted by Ingmar Bergman in his memoirs Laterna magica (1987), Karin Bergman reveals the unhappy and desperate mood of her family at the time of Ingmar’s birth: Our son was born Sunday morning, July 14. He had a high fever and severe diarrhea at once. He looks like a little skeleton with a big fiery red nose. He stubbornly refuses to open his eyes. After a few days I had no milk because of my illness. He was quickly christened here in the hospital. His name is Ernst Ingmar. Ma [Karin’s mother] has taken him to Våroms [family summer place] where she has found a wet nurse. Ma is upset at Erik’s inability to solve our practical problems. Erik is upset at Ma’s interference in our private life. I lie here powerless and miserable. Sometimes when I am alone I cry. Should the boy die, Ma says she will take care of Dag [eldest son], and I should return to my job [nurse]. She wants Erik and me to get a divorce as soon as possible ‘before he has hit upon some new madness in his crazy hatred.’ I do not believe I have the right to leave Erik. He is totally overworked and has had nervous problems all spring. Ma says that he is play-acting, but I don’t think so. I pray to God without hope. (The Magic Lantern, p. 289-90). [Vår son föddes söndag morgon den fjortonde juli. Han fick genast hög feber och svåra diarréer. Han ser ut som ett litet benrangel med en stor eldröd näsa. Han vägrar envist att öppna ögonen. Efter några dagar hade jag ingen mjölk på grund av sjukdomen. Då blev han nöddöpt här på sjukhuset. Han heter Ernst Ingmar. Ma har tagit honom till Våroms, där hon funnit en amma. Ma är förbittrad över Eriks oförmåga att lösa våra praktiska problem. Erik är förbittrad över Ma’s ingrepp i vårt privatliv. Jag ligger här maktlös och eländig. Ibland då jag är ensam gråter jag. Om gossen dör, säger Ma att hon tar hand om Dag och att jag ska ta upp mitt yrke. Hon vill att Erik och jag skall skiljas så snart som möjligt ‘innan han med sitt tokiga hat funnit på någon ny galenskap’. Jag tror inte jag har rätt att lämna Erik. Han är alldeles överansträngd och har varit klen i nerverna hela våren. Ma säger att han gör sig till, men det tror jag inte. Jag ber till Gud utan förtröstan.] (Laterna magica, p. 337).
The Bergman marriage, though once founded on love, was somewhat of a social mismatch. Karin Bergman, née Åkerblom, came from a comfortable bourgeois class of engineers and educators. Erik Bergman’s origin was far more humble; his father, an apothecary, died relatively young and his mother had to make sacrifices and rely on moneyed relatives to give her son a university education. But despite the social gap between Erik Bergman and the Åkerblom family, Karin was determined to marry Erik. Her parents disapproved. Their reservations were not based solely on Erik’s modest background; they were also worried about the genetic consequences of the fact that Erik Bergman and Karin Åkerblom were distant cousins in families with a record of mental illness. At the time of their son Ingmar’s birth, the Bergmans had just moved from a small country parish in the province of Gästrikland to the prestigious Östermalm section of Stockholm, where Erik held a position as junior pastor in the Lutheran state church. As such he was both a congregational shepherd and civil servant, by tradition respected occupations in Swedish society. He was well liked by his parishioners, and Karin Bergman fulfilled her duties as a vicar’s wife so well that she later received a medal for her voluntary work in the community. It added to the family status that Erik Bergman was sometimes called on to serve as chaplain at the Swedish Royal
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The Family Setting Court and as spiritual adviser to the Queen. Such connections were not unimportant to Ingmar Bergman’s parents, for both were socially ambitious people. Hence, it was a foregone conclusion that their children would pursue professional careers. The eldest son Dag, though a defiant boy, complied, read Law at Uppsala and became a diplomat. The daughter Margareta, Ingmar’s younger sister, also took a university degree and became a librarian. She too showed signs of a rebellious and high-strung spirit, became pregnant out of wedlock and had an abortion, which caused her parents both worry and chagrin. The middle child Ingmar never completed a university degree or any other formal education beyond the gymnasium. In reading Karin Bergman’s diaries, one perceives a sense of sad resignation at her younger son’s choice of an artistic career and a lifestyle that, from her point of view, seemed bohemian and disorderly. (See Linton-Malmfors, Ø 1526.) But Ingmar Bergman had his goal set by the time he finished high school: I have never as far back as I can remember hesitated on this point of becoming a theater and film director. I think my parents experienced this with a certain amount of anxiety. At first they thought it would calm down, once I started at the university. But it did not. (Donner, Three Scenes with Ingmar Bergman, 1975) [Jag har aldrig så långt tillbaka jag kan minnas tvekat på denna punkt att bli teater och filmregissör. Jag tror mina föräldrar upplevde detta med viss oro. I början trodde de att det skulle lugna ner sig när jag väl började på universitetet. Men det gjorde det inte.]
The public duties of a clergyman’s household meant that the family was under much scrutiny; theirs was a relatively small world, and what people said was not unimportant. Maintaining a proper and well-disciplined front became part of the lifestyle. In later years Ingmar Bergman would compare this situation to a stage performance where he, his parents and his siblings were assigned certain preconceived roles by the community in which they lived: A pastor’s family lives as if on a tray, unprotected from other eyes. The parsonage must always be open. The congregation’s critique and commentary are constant. Both Father and Mother were perfectionists who sagged under this unreasonable pressure. Their working day was open-ended, their marriage difficult, their self-discipline iron-hard. Their two sons reflected characteristics they unremittingly punished in themselves. (The Magic Lantern, p. 9) [En prästfamilj lever som på en bricka, oskyddad för insyn. Huset måste alltid stå öppet. Församlingens kritik och kommentar är konstant. Både far och mor var perfektionister som helt säkert sviktade under detta orimliga tryck. Deras arbetsdag var obegränsad, deras äktenskap svårmanövrerat, deras självdisciplin järnhård. De båda sönerna speglade karaktärsdrag som de oavlåtligt tuktade hos sig själva.] (Laterna magica, p. 15)
Bergman’s earliest biographer, Marianne Höök, once stated that Ingmar Bergman had grown up on a cultural reservation. With this she implied that he carried with him a world whose moral and religious concerns were no longer part of mainstream Swedish society. The emerging secularized folkhem (pre-welfare state) had more pressing issues to deal with than questions of faith and doubt, and already Strindberg had concluded, in his famous preface to Fröken Julie (1887, Miss Julie), that mankind had
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Chapter I Life and Work eradicated conscience (guilt) together with the idea of a godhead. Höök suggested that to most of his contemporaries, Bergman’s religious background and its moral outlook placed him in an older grandparent generation. Marianne Höök’s assessment of Ingmar Bergman’s obsolete status in Swedish culture was colored however by her own times and failed to acknowledge the social and cultural climate in Sweden during Ingmar Bergman’s childhood. When he grew up, Sweden was still a fairly remote and provincial corner of Northern Europe, a homogeneous society rooted in a Lutheran culture. The social structure was hierarchic and class-divided. To all three of the Bergman children, it seemed that life was regulated by a whole set of authoritative rules dictated by parents, teachers, government officials, and by God himself. It was a world in which most children were still expected to be quiet, silent, and obedient. They were taught self-castigation and learned to look upon themselves as guilt-ridden creatures. Even though the Bergman brood may have received a greater dose of the Lutheran ethos than other Swedish children at the time, it is worth remembering that the last edition of a fundamentalist Swedish explication of Luther’s catechism by Henrik Schartau was printed as late as 1925 and was used as compulsory religious instruction of the young. Its rigorous Protestant moralism with its emphasis on obedience before authority is echoed by Ingmar Bergman in his assessment, as an adult, of his own upbringing: To humiliate and be humiliated, I think, is a crucial element in our whole social structure. [...] If I’ve objected strongly to Christianity, it has been because Christianity is deeply branded by a very virulent humiliation motif. One of its main tenets is ‘I, a miserable sinner, born in sin, who have sinned all my days, etc.’ Our way of living and behaving under this punishment is completely atavistic. I could go on talking about this humiliation business for ever. It’s one of the big basic experiences. (Bergman on Bergman, p. 81) [Att förödmjuka och att vara förödmjukad tycker jag är en vital beståndsdel i hela vår samhällskonstruktion. [...] En stor del av min mycket starka protest emot kristendomen är att där finns ett starkt och inbränt förödmjukelsemotiv. En av huvudpunkterna är ‘jag fattig, syndig människa, jämväl i synd född, som i alla mina livsdagar haver syndat’. Detta straff lever vi under och handlar under rent atavistiskt. Det här med förödmjukelse skulle jag kunna tala om praktiskt talat hur länge som helst. Det är en av de stora grundupplevelserna.] (Sw. ed., p. 86)
Central in such a culture was teaching a child never to lie. But Ingmar Bergman, being an imaginative youngster, had some difficulty distinguishing between truthfulness and make-believe. He would concoct stories at school about joining a circus, stories which in a more modern, psychologically sensitive context would seem like compensatory daydreams, but which were punished as lies. As Bishop Vergerus explains to his stepson Alexander Ekdahl in Bergman’s film Fanny and Alexander, the use of a lively imagination was reserved by God for great artists. Children on the other hand had to learn to tell the truth, or they sinned against God’s purpose: Imagination, you understand, is something splendid, a mighty force, a gift from God. It is held in trust for us by the great artists, writers, and musicians. [...] I don’t know what you imagine, Alexander. Do you believe that you can lie and shuffle without any consequences and without punishment?
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The Family Setting
[Fantasin förstår du är något storslaget, en ofantlig kraft, en gåva från Gud. Den bevakas för oss av de stora konstnärerna, diktarna, musikerna. [...] Jag vet inte vad du väntar dig, Alexander. Tror du att du kan ljuga och vrida dig utan konsekvenser och utan straff?]
The 11-year old Alexander’s defiance of his stepfather, the Lutheran bishop, mirrors Bergman’s confrontations with his parents’ values and methods of child rearing. In fact, the film Fanny och Alexander (1982) might be called Bergman’s resurrection of his childhood. It is a story set about ten years before his own birth in the university town of Uppsala, where he spent periods of time as a child visiting his maternal grandmother. Alexander’s life oscillates between two families, the histrionic and fun-loving Ekdahls and the stern Vergeruses, headed by his stepfather. These are two contrasting milieus that represent much of the social contours and mindscape of Ingmar Bergman’s own background. With its rigid moralism the Vergerus world bears a certain resemblance to the Bergman home at Storgatan in Stockholm, facing the imposing Hedvig Eleonora Church. The family dwelt literally in the shadow of its high cupola. In his teens Ingmar Bergman came to feel increasingly alienated from this milieu. In an interview from the 1970s he describes his feelings of estrangement after visits to his parental home: When I used to return to my parents [...] on Storgatan in Stockholm where I had grown up, and saw how everything was the same, everything stood in the same place, I experienced a petrified world that I no longer had any contact with. [...] It was just something dim and infinitely sad, but nothing stimulating or challenging. (Bergman on Bergman, p. 147). [När jag kom hem till mina föräldrar [...] på Storgatan i Stockholm, där jag hade vuxit upp och allting var på samma sätt, allting stod på samma ställe, då upplevde jag att det var en stelnad värld, något som jag inte längre hade någon kontakt med. [...] Det var bara något skymmande och någonting oändligt vemodigt, men inte något stimulerande eller eggande.] (Bergman om Bergman, p. 158). Cf this to quote in NYT, 17 October 1976, p. 15 (‘Bergman in Exile’): ‘When I was in my 30s I never thought I would ever have any contact [with my parents]. We made polite conversation. It was as if they were from another planet. We were absolutely strange to each other.’
Ingmar Bergman only lived at the Storgatan address in his teens, but he turned it into a metaphor for his own troubled adolescence. The Storgatan apartment became a contrast to the yellow wooden vicarage in the Lilljans Forest where he had spent most of his early childhood. The house stood next to the Sofia Hospital, a private dispensary situated in a park-like setting, beyond which was the open countryside: ‘Even on the ground floor’, Bergman once told an early biographer, ‘the blinds never had to be drawn in the dark winter evenings; in Mother’s window there was a lamp with a pink lampshade, which served as a beacon when we ran home in the evenings through the windy, black park’. [Även på bottenvåningen behövde gardinerna aldrig dras för under de mörka vinterkvällarna; i mors fönster fanns en en lampa med en skär lampskärm, som tjänstgjorde som en fyr när vi sprang hem på kvällen genom den blåsiga svarta parken]. (Höök, 1962, p. 22) With time Ingmar Bergman was to become more tolerant about his parents and acknowledge that life in the vicarage did also include moments of festivity and joy.
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Chapter I Life and Work The fact is that neither Erik nor Karin Bergman were fundamentalist in their views on the theatre and the cinema, but actually encouraged their children to engage in dramatic activity, such as puppetry. Erik Bergman was somewhat of a pioneer in using visual aids in his religious instruction of the young. He once arranged a visit for his younger son to the Råsunda Studios, popularly referred to as the Film City on the outskirts of Stockholm. Family gatherings at Christmas time included not only Bible readings but also magic lantern shows and storytelling. Karin Bergman, in particular, carried with her a cultivated interest in literature and theatre. Ingmar Bergman made his debut on stage as a chanterelle mushroom in a children’s pageant based on a popular text by classical Swedish writer and artist of children’s books, Elsa Beskow. Still, Bergman’s first visit to the real theatre proved a minor disaster. Watching a dramatization of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf on stage frightened him so much that he allegedly had to be carried home screaming. A few years later however he watched with fascination a production at the Royal Dramatic Theatre of Gustaf af Gejerstam’s dramatization of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale ‘Big Claus and Little Claus’. The memory of this event lived on in sharp detail, and even at an old age Bergman would point out the very seat where he experienced his first visit to the Royal Dramatic, Sweden’s imposing Jugend-style national stage, whose head he would one day become. Another reason for his recollection of the event might be that the production was staged by Alf Sjöberg (1903-1980) who would direct Bergman’s first screenplay, Hets (1944, Torment/Frenzy) and would become his colleague at the Royal Dramatic. In retrospect Ingmar Bergman would, for many years, associate his happy recollections of the past not with his parental home but with his maternal grandmother’s huge apartment in Uppsala which he often visited as a child. Karin Bergman reminisces in her diary about the special rapport that existed between her son and her mother, Anna Åkerblom: It seems to me at times as if Grandma’s Uppsala were the only protected world he possesses and one he withdrew to like an oasis. Everything connected with the times he could stay with Grandma in Uppsala has a shimmer to it. I believe it is immensely important to Ingmar that Grandma treated him like an equal in many respects. [...] Ingmar was allowed to stay up to talk in quiet with Grandma. They went to the movies together, and they had tea when they came back home. She let him wander around on his own long before he was let loose in Stockholm. – And he, he accepted her as she was, old-fashioned strict and in her own way demanding but at the same time childishly playful and humorous. [...] And pious in an old-fashioned way with morning prayers and evening prayers with Christian principles in all her actions. And he still accepts her just like that, and in some of the things he has written, Grandma or moods from her world crop up. [Det verkar ibland på mig, som om Mormors Uppsala vore den enda hägnade värld han äger, och som han drog sig tillbaka till som till en oas. Allt som hörde samman med de tider då han fick vara hos Mormor i Uppsala har ett skimmer omkring sig. Jag tror att det betyder oerhört mycket för Ingmar, att Mormor behandlade honom som en jämnårig i många sammanhang. [...] Ingmar fick sitta uppe och språka i ro med Mormor.
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The Family Setting De gingo på bio tillsammans, och de drucko té vid hemkomsten. Hon lät honom göra vandringar på egen hand långt innan han släpptes lös i Stockholm. – Och han, han accepterade henne, som hon var, gammaldags sträng och på sitt sätt fordrande men samtidigt barnsligt lekfull och humoristisk. [...] Och gammaldags from med morgonbön och aftonbön med Kristna principer i allt sitt handlande. Och han accepterar henne ännu just sådan, och i somliga saker som han skrivit, så dyker Mormor upp eller tongångar från hennes värld.] (Karin Bergman. Åldrandets tid, p. 81). See Linton-Malmfors, Ø 1526)
Anna Åkerblom was a widow and matriarch who lived alone with her old housekeeper. She was surrounded by the same furniture as when she moved into her patrician apartment as a young bride. Hers was an obsolete world, but to Ingmar Bergman it seemed not faded so much as suspended in time, a place where people and objects had never been young and yet never aged. Like Alexander in the opening sequence of Fanny and Alexander, Ingmar Bergman used to hide under his grandmother’s huge dining room table to eavesdrop on the adults or simply to follow the traveling sunlight on the walls: It is a wintry day in early spring, and he is sitting under the dining room table at his grandmother’s. He has on an apron with a pocket in front, and he has just had the measles. The sunlight is streaming through the high windows, and the beams are moving all the time. They even have a strange buzzing sound, like extraterrestial machines. On the wall there is a painting of Venice, and when the sunlight travels across the picture, the water in the canals begins to flow. The pigeons lift from the square, and the people in the streets turn to each other and begin to carry on whispering conversations. They are real and yet unreal; they can be heard and yet remain silent. [Det är en vinterdag tidigt om våren och han sitter under matsalsbordet hos mormor. Han har ett förkläde på sig med en ficka där fram och han har just haft mässlingen. Solljuset strömmar genom de höga fönstren och strålarna rör sig hela tiden. De har till och med ett egendomligt surrande ljud, som utomjordiska maskiner. På väggen hänger en tavla av Venedig och när solljuset färdas över bilden börjar vattnet i kanalerna flyta. Duvorna lyfter från torget och människorna på gatan vänder sig mot varandra och börjar föra viskande samtal. De är verkliga och ändå overkliga; de kan höras och förblir ändå tysta.] (‘I mormors hus’, Ø 47, Chapter II)
To young Bergman his aging grandmother and her housekeeper took on mythic proportions. As such they were to lend their features to many clever and wise old crones in his works, pointing most obviously to the granny in the two plays Staden (1950, The City) and Mig till skräck (1948, Unto My Fear), as well as to the half allegorized figure of Mrs. Åström in Dagen slutar tidigt (1948, Early Ends the Day). But they also lent their features to such portraits as the witty old Mrs. Armfeldt in Sommarnattens leende (1955, Smiles of a Summer Night), Isak Borg’s old mother in Smultronstället (1957, Wild Strawberries) who refuses to die; and the herb-collecting granny in the Vogler entourage in Ansiktet, (1958, The Magician/The Face) whose rapport with the innocent young Sanna takes on a fairy tale quality; and finally as the wise and sensitive grandmother Helena Ekdahl and her grumpy old cook and housekeeper Siri in Fanny och Alexander.
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Chapter I Life and Work Childhood memories seem to dictate Bergman’s narrative approach – a form of Proustian journey into the past, using flashbacks as a structural tool. In an early script like Eva (1948) and in such films as Sommarlek (1951, Illicit/Summer Interlude) and Smultronstället (1957, Wild Strawberries), repressed memories and subconscious fantasies are unveiled with both painful and healing consequences. By reliving her youth, the ballet dancer Mari in Sommarlek can finally come to terms with the loss of her lover many years earlier; and in Smultronstället, the aging professor Isak Borg, whose initials are the same as Ingmar Bergman’s, finds both peace of mind and self-recognition through visualized recollections of his youth and unhappy marriage. The very genesis of the film is related by Bergman to an episode (later denied by Bergman) when he stopped at his grandmother’s house long after she was gone. As he opened the gate in the early morning hour, childhood memories flooded his mind: It was autumn and a faint sun had begun to fall on the cathedral as the clock was striking five. I went into the little cobblestone yard. Then I went up into the house and took hold of the door knob to the kitchen door, which still had its colored glass pattern; and a feeling ran quickly through me: suppose I open it? Suppose old Lalla (our old cook, she was) is standing inside there in her big apron, making porridge for breakfast as she did so many times when I was little. Suppose I could suddenly walk into my childhood? [...] Then it struck me: Supposing I make a film of someone coming along, perfectly realistically, and suddenly opening the door and walking into his childhood? And then opening another door and walking out into reality again? And then walking round the corner of the street and coming into some other period of his life, and everything still alive and going on as before? (Bergman on Bergman, p. 132-33) [Det var på hösten och det började komma litet sol på domkyrkan och klockan slog just fem. Jag gick in på den lilla gården som var kullerstensbelagd. Så gick jag upp i huset och tog i dörrlåset till köksdörren, som fortfarande hade det där kulörta glasmönstret, och då gick det en ilande känsla igenom mig – tänk om jag öppnar nu och gamla Lalla, alltså den gamla kokerskan, står där inne i sitt stora köksförkläde och lagar frukostgröten, så som hon hade gjort så många gånger när jag var liten. Att jag plötsligt bara kunde stiga in i min barndom. [...] Så slog det mig – tänk om man skulle göra en film om det här att man bara kommer alldeles realistiskt och plötsligt öppnar en dörr, och så går man in i sin barndom, och så öppnar man en annan dörr och kommer ut i verkligheten, och sen svänger man om ett gathörn och kommer in i någon annan period av sin tillvaro, och allting pågår, lever.] (Bergman om Bergman, s. 139-41)
But the sensuous recollections of the past are perhaps captured most fully in later Bergman films like Viskningar och rop (1972, Cries and Whispers) and Fanny och Alexander (1982). These two films begin by letting the camera into rooms breathing with old objets d’art, ticking clocks and faint, whispering voices. What is projected is a luscious world of images and evocative sounds. Like ghosts these projections have no clearly spoken language. In Cries and Whispers their spell is broken when the characters awaken to a day of pain and are ushered into everyday reality. Glimpses of the past lives of four women – three sisters and a housekeeper – are revealed in flashbacks that are signaled by red fade-outs, a shade that Bergman associates with the color of the soul – and with the realm of childhood. In Fanny and Alexander, Alexander’s wandering through his grandmother’s apartment – opening creaking doors, breathing
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The Family Setting on the frozen windowpane, calling out the names of family members, and willing dead objects to life – becomes an invocation to enter the world of childhood, which is both distant and absolutely present. Childhood may have provided the adult artist Ingmar Bergman with major motifs and a fundamental mindscape. But it also offered him the first rudimentary instruments for his theatre work and filmmaking. Being a rather shy, somewhat stuttering and withdrawn child, young Bergman found an outlet for his imagination in puppetry and film projection. The puppet theatre began as a simple play activity together with his sister and two friends, using a sheet and a table as props. Ingmar was the director and prime mover. Puppetry developed into a serious hobby lasting throughout his teens and became crucial not only in teaching him the first steps in stagecraft but in shaping his earliest notions of the human condition. His experience as an amateur puppeteer whose performers were manipulated marionettes may have served as a metaphor for an early deterministic view of life. In his plays for the theatre, Bergman would often cast his characters as doomed creatures governed by forces beyond their control. Dagen slutar tidigt is structured like a morality play in which all the dramatis personae are predestined to die shortly. In Jack hos skådespelarna (1946, Jack Among the Actors), which Bergman unsuccessfully submitted as a radio play, the characters are in the hands of a satanic director who claims he has created a cosmos of his own for a few people who have to obey him: ‘Now I sit here and pull my strings. Pull, pull, jerk, jerk!’ [Nu sitter jag här och drar i trådarna. Drag, drag, ryck, ryck.] The puppeteer/marionette concept, harboring one of the central motifs in Ingmar Bergman’s works – the humiliation theme – is closely related to the clown motif, which had been explored earlier by one of Bergman’s admired authors, Hjalmar Bergman (no kin; 1883-1931), whose novel Clownen Jack portrays a performer, Jack Trabac, as a humiliated buffoon until he revolts and turns the tables on the audience (see Forslund, Ø 992). The most obvious analogy in Ingmar Bergman’s oeuvre is the film Gycklarnas afton (1953, The Naked Night), sharing with Hjalmar Bergman’s novel both the circus setting and a clown’s humiliation, but the theme survives in different forms in many later works, for instance Ansiktet (1958, The Magician/The Face) and Vargtimmen (1967, Hour of the Wolf). Towards the very end of his film career the puppet/humiliation theme even provides the title of his German-produced screen work, Aus dem Leben des Marionetten (1980, From the Life of the Marionettes), in which ‘the protocol’ of a murderer, Peter Egerman, suggests his mental collapse as the inevitable result of a lifelong series of human betrayals. Here friends and family provide a psychologically motivated form of determinism, in contrast to the rather abstracted concept of the demonic director in Jack hos skådespelarna. In varying transformations, however, the diabolic puppeteer as well as the humiliated ‘clown’ figure keep returning in Bergman’s artistic vision as an essential force of evil, thus supporting a statement he made in an interview in 1971: What I believed in [...] was the existence of a virulent evil, in no way dependent on environmental or hereditary factors. Call it original sin or whatever you like – anyway an active evil on which man alone, unlike the animals, has the monopoly. [...] As a materialization of this virulent, indestructable and – to us – incomprehensable and inexplicable evil I manufactured a personage possessing the diabolic features of a medieval morality figure. [...] His evil was one of the springs in the clockwork. (Bergman on Bergman, p. 40)
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Chapter I Life and Work
[Vad jag har trott på [...] var att det existerar en virulent ondska som inte på något sätt är beroende av miljö eller arvsfaktorer. Vi kan kalla den arvsynden eller vad som helst – en aktiv ondska, som människan till skillnad från djuren är alldeles ensam om. [...] Som materialisation av denna virulenta, ständigt existerande och obegripliga, för oss ofattbara ondska tillverkade jag en person som hade den medeltida moralitetens djävulsdrag. [...] Hans ondska var en fjäder i urverket]. (Bergman om Bergman, p. 43]
Moved to a metaphysical level, the representation of an omnipotent puppeteer director finds its counterpart in the silent god figure who gains such a hold over many of Bergman’s characters. It is an invisible and distant god who takes possession of the knight Antonius Block in Det sjunde inseglet (1956, The Seventh Seal) and turns him into a fanatic quester, compelling him to leave his wife to participate in a futile tenyear crusade. It is a similar power, imagined as a rapist god, who separates Karin, the schizophrenic young woman in Såsom i en spegel (1961, Through a Glass Darkly) from her husband. It is the same demonic force that emerges as ‘the spider god’ in the mind of Pastor Tomas in Nattvardsgästerna (1962, Winter Light/The Communicants) and leads him to fail his congregation. The different ramifications of the puppeteer/marionette concept in Bergman’s works might be juxtaposed to the significance of the magic lantern, the other important toy in his childhood. Around the age of ten he became the excited owner of a kerosene-lit projector. It was a Christmas present from a rich aunt and actually meant for his older brother, but Ingmar quickly obtained it in exchange for an army of tin soldiers. Soon all his pocket money went to the purchase of film strips that were on sale in local stores. Simultaneous with his earliest attempts at constructing film sequences, Ingmar Bergman began to frequent the cinema on a regular basis. There were several small movie houses in the vicinity of his home, which had matinee showings on weekends. He went there together with his older brother Dag. But also his grandmother in Uppsala proved a faithful companion to the movies. Though she had the embarrassing habit of rubbing her boots in screeching disapproval of any love scenes, her visits to the cinema with her grandson were highlights in Bergman’s childhood. Within the same magical aura dwelt the machinist in the projection booth, who seemed like a magician in a world next door to heaven, with young Ingmar totally oblivious to the projectionist’s pedophile leanings. The seeds of his future filmmaking were now planted. In his memoir book, fittingly titled Laterna magic (1987, The Magic Lantern) Bergman still remembers his excitement of turning on the projector and seeing images beginning to move on the nursery room wall: I turned the lever and the girl awakened, sat up, moved slowly, stretched out her arms, swung around and disappeared to the right. If I continued to turn the lever, she lay there again and went through exactly the same movements again. She moved. (The Magic Lantern, p. 16) [Jag rörde veven och flickan vaknade, satte sig upp, reste sig långsamt, sträckte ut armarna, svängde runt och försvann till höger. Om jag fortsatte veva, låg hon där igen och gjorde sedan om precis samma rörelser.
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Debut and Formative Years
Hon rörde sig.] (Laterna magica, p. 23)
Ingmar Bergman kept his magic lantern in a nursery closet, a space similar to the one where he is said to have been locked up as a form of punishment when he was a child and told that nasty goblins lived there, who chewed off the toes of naughty children. Karin Bergman relates in a letter to her mother how she felt compelled to put her older son Dag in the closet because of his defiant disobedience. It came to represent a Bergman childhood trauma, while the presence of the magic lantern in the same space constitutes a creative way of dealing with that trauma. The magic machine could transform dark demons into dancing light beams. Film projection became in fact an act of exorcism through which the frightening shadows of early childhood could be controlled. The closet trauma appears as a central psychological reference in a number of Bergman films: Fängelse (1949, Prison), Vargtimmen (1967, The Hour of the Wolf), Ansikte mot ansikte (1975, Face to Face). For Ingmar Bergman as for his alter ego Alexander Ekdahl in Fanny and Alexander, the fearful darkness was dispelled by the hand that sets the projector in motion and by the mind that designs the images. It is no exaggeration to claim that, thanks to his film apparatus, the frightened child Ingmar was rescued by the creative artist and directorial ‘magician’ Bergman.
Debut and Formative Years Ingmar Bergman’s school years were not very happy. He attended a local school run by the Swedish Mission Society and seems to have been a fairly compliant student. But he was picked on by his English teacher, a notorious classroom terror nicknamed ‘Kusken’ (the Coachman), who was later depicted as the sadistic instructor Caligula in Bergman’s film script to Hets (1944, Torment, Frenzy). An older classmate, Gunnar Lindblad, who became one of his early set designers, has described Bergman during his high school years as socially rather reticent and more absorbed in finding technical solutions to his puppet theatre than participating in extra-curricular school activities. The puppet theatre had by then grown from child’s play to an adolescent passion. But a rebellion was brewing. The most explicit sign came in the late 1930s when Bergman left home under dramatic circumstances, after having knocked down his father and insulted his mother. Soon thereafter – and after completing compulsory military service – Bergman assumed his first assignment as a stage director at the amateur theatre section of Mäster Olofsgården, a Christian settlement house in Stockholm’s Old City, at that time a poor section of town. He moved in with the newly married manager of the settlement’s youth activities, Sven Hansson, who in turn kept up a telephone communication with Bergman’s parents and received monetary compensation for son Ingmar’s room and board. Soon Sven Hansson also had to solve conflicts that arose at the settlement center as Bergman shocked the board members with his foul language, his rehearsals on Sundays during morning service, and his rigorous and long training sessions. All the same, Ingmar Bergman was chosen, a year later, as the most valuable volunteer in the settlement’s youth work. While at Mäster Olofsgården, Ingmar Bergman was also enrolled at Stockholm University as a student of literature. Though never completing an academic degree, he
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Chapter I Life and Work attended the lectures of Professor Martin Lamm, a prominent Strindberg scholar, and wrote a seminar paper on Strindberg’s fairy play, Himmelrikets nycklar (1884, The Keys of Heaven), which he had staged in his puppet theatre at home. The paper reads like a prompt copy for a production; it is clear that it was the live theatre that attracted Ingmar Bergman more than any academic pursuits. Soon he became involved with the Student Theatre, which at this time was a lively organization that included a number of future authors and actors. In neutral but hemmed-in Sweden the theatre stage played an important role during World War II as an emotional and intellectual outlet. For Bergman the early 1940s became a crucial apprenticeship period when he set up plays on a number of different stages in Stockholm. Some of his productions were political dramas by contemporary Scandinavian playwrights, but his main motivation was artistic. He would always refer to himself as a non-political person and cites his own youthful unawareness of rising Nazism in Germany as a sign of his political ignorance, despite his stay with a German family for a couple of summers in the mid-1930s. Bergman’s family expressed a sense of cultural affinity with Germany, the country of Martin Luther, rather than loyalty to Nazi ideology. Had the latter been the case, they would hardly have taken in a teenage Jewish refugee as their houseguest, a young man who arrived in 1940 at age 17 and stayed with the Bergmans for seven years. There is no trace of the contemporary political situation in Bergman’s own plays which were performed at the Student Theatre in 1942 and 1943. ‘Kaspers död’ (Death of Punch) and ‘Tivolit’ are projections of his metaphysical and eschatological concerns. ‘Kaspers död’ attracted the attention of Stina Bergman, widow of author Hjalmar Bergman and head of the manuscript department at Svensk Filmindustri (SF). She hired him as a reader and ‘manuscript washer’ but also encouraged him to work on scripts of his own. Only one of these was filmed, Hets (1944, Torment/ Frenzy), but it turned the spotlight on Ingmar Bergman. A year later, the head of SF, Carl Anders Dymling, offered him the opportunity to shoot his first film, Kris (1945). Bergman felt like ‘a kitten in a ball of yarn’ [en kattunge i ett garnnystan] (Från A till Ö, 1973, Ø 154). At first he tried to cover up his novice status and sense of insecurity with an overconfident attitude that alienated many of the studio workers who had been in the profession for a long time. Feeling snubbed and ridiculed, Bergman decided after shooting Kris that he would learn all the technical aspects of filmmaking and master the film medium as a good craftsman. While still engaged in the Student Theatre, Ingmar Bergman had become involved in a stormy liaison with a would-be actress and poet, Karin Lannby, whose modern lifestyle and experiences were light years removed from his own protected bourgeois background. Karin Lannby was older than Bergman, had published a collection of poetry and was rumored to have lived a fast life, married to a sheik and active in the Spanish Civil War. Bergman alludes to her in his portrait of Rut in the script to ‘En kvinnas ansikte’ [A woman’s face]. (See ‘Puzzlet föreställer Eros’, Ø 42, Chapter II). The relationship was of short duration, and the femme fatale was replaced by waiflike Else Fisher, a choreographer whom Bergman married in 1944. Else had created and staged a successful children’s ballet and was considered very promising in her field. The two collaborated on several productions at the Sago Theatre in the newly built Citizens Hall (Medborgarhuset) in Stockholm. Even long after the marriage was dissolved, Else Fisher would contribute to Bergman’s work, for instance in Det sjunde
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Debut and Formative Years inseglet (The Seventh Seal), where she composed the dance performed by the acting troupe (Jof, Mia and Skat) outside the tavern, just prior to the arrival of the train of flagellants. Bergman’s directorial activity continued at an intense pace. It included several productions at a newly founded professional stage, the Dramatists Studio, whose prime mover, an eccentric woman by the name of Brita von Horn, recognized Bergman’s talents. Then, at age 26, he was offered the post as head of the City Theatre in Hälsingborg in southern Sweden. Else Fisher was now pregnant with daughter Lena but also ill with TB and staying in a sanatorium. Within a year after Bergman’s assumption of his new post, the marriage was dissolved. Soon thereafter he married choreographer Ellen Lundström, whom he had met in Hälsingborg. This marriage lasted for some five years. Four children were born, among them a set of twins. Three of them – Jan, Mats and Eva Bergman – were to pursue careers in the theatre, Jan and Eva as directors, Mats as an actor. When Ingmar Bergman arrived in Hälsingborg, its theatre was in financial straits. However, within a 2-year period, he had turned the tide and had gained considerable local support for his undertaking. He assembled a young and energetic ensemble that lived on a shoe-string budget and were totally committed to their theatre work. He designed a repertory of considerable variety, ranging from Shakespeare and Strindberg to New Year’s cabarets. But despite his intense work schedule in Hälsingborg, Bergman’s ties to Svensk Filmindustri were not severed. He came to follow an established pattern within Swedish filmmaking by shooting films in the summer time when the theatres were closed, and actors and directors could be contracted by the film industry on an ad hoc basis. His oft-quoted statement that the cinema has been his mistress and the theatre his faithful wife reflects this situation, where the stage became his home base and filmmaking a less regulated form of involvement. Over the years, he was to remain loyal to both his ‘mistress’ and ‘his wife’, setting up, in fact, a mutually inspiring menage-à-trois. A study of his professional engagements in the theatre reveals a rich thematic and stylistic interchange between his stage productions and his work for the screen (see Törnqvist, Between Stage and Screen, 1995, and Koskinen, ‘Allting föreställer, ingenting är’, 2002). The symbiotic relationship between theatre and film may have dictated his tendency to concentrate the lighting on an actor on stage as a variation of a filmic close-up, or conversely to build his cinematic style on long acting scenes reminiscent of a stage performance. After two years with the Hälsingborg City Theatre, Bergman moved in the fall season of 1946 with his family to Göteborg. Its City Theatre had achieved a remarkable reputation during the war years as Sweden’s leading political theatre and introducer of modern American drama. Bergman now faced a new situation with an already established ensemble that had worked together for many years. The theatre was administered firmly by an elderly director, Torsten Hammarén. Bergman worked under someone who was more knowledgeable and strong-willed than he was. Throughout the rest of his career in the theatre, he would refer to the advice and work style of Torsten Hammarén as a model to follow. Together with scriptwriter and playwright Herbert Grevenius, Hammarén was an incorruptible mentor: ‘When I was green and uninformed, Torsten Hammarén and Herbert Grevenius stand like two stern angels not to be bribed.’ (Magic Lantern, p. 156) [Vid min begynnelse står Torsten Hammarén och Herbert Grevenius som omutligt stränga änglar.] (Laterna
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Chapter I Life and Work magica, p. 185). From Hammarén, Bergman learned the simple, yet difficult basics of working with actors: that some are to be encouraged to stay, others are to be asked to leave. (See Sjögren interview with Bergman, titled ‘Dialog med Ingmar Bergman’, in Ingmar Bergman på teatern 1968, pp. 291-316). Through his own staging of two of his morality plays, Mig till skräck (Unto My Fear) and Dagen slutar tidigt (Early Ends the Day) Bergman’s Göteborg experience also gave him publicity as a playwright. Neither drama text received much critical acclaim, however. Clearly, reviewers preferred Bergman as a director of works authored by others, and Bergman himself soon became skeptical about his role as an instructor of his own plays. Once he had established himself as a scriptwriter, he would stop writing stage plays. Some time after his move to Göteborg in 1946, Bergman’s second marriage was already in trouble: ‘Our home was boiling over with baby cries, drying diapers, whining women and furious scenes of jealousy’. [Hemmet kokade av barnskrik, blöjor på tork, gråtande kvinnor och rasande svartsjukescener.] (Laterna magica, s. 182/Magic Lantern, p. 154). A few years later Bergman met a journalist by the name of Gun Hagberg (Grut), who was married and had two small sons. Leaving her children with a Finnish nurse, she joined Bergman in Paris for three months in the spring of 1949, where he had been sent by Svensk Filmindustri to serve as manuscript adviser for would-be filmmaker Vilgot Sjöman. (See Sjöman, Mitt personregister. Urval 98, 1998, pp. 56-91.) Gun was to report to her magazine editor from the fashion shows. Their passionate relationship led to two painful divorces. In Scener ur ett äktenskap (1973, Scenes from a Marriage) Bergman was to transfer to the screen the awkward moment when he had to reveal his liaison to his wife Ellen (third scene in the film). Gun’s divorce proceedings were ugly and drawn out in court because of the custody issue over her children. This ordeal undermined the relationship. Soon after the birth of a son, Ingmar, in April 1951, the couple separated. Later Bergman would refer to Gun as strong, intelligent, and pragmatic, and used her as a model for the type of women whom actress Eva Dahlbeck would impersonate as Karin Lobelius in Kvinnors väntan (1952, Secrets of Women/Waiting Women), Desirée Armfeldt in Sommarnattens leende (1955, Smiles of a Summer Night), and Stina in Nära livet (1958, Brink of Life/Close to Life). Gun later took a doctorate degree and became a lecturer in Slavic Languages at Uppsala University. She was killed in an automobile accident in Yugoslavia. (See Laterna magica, p. 201; English ed. p. 170.) Memories of their troubled situation and ensuing guilt feelings would live on in Bergman for a long time and resurface in his script to the film Trolösa (2000, Faithless). Bergman’s last production in Göteborg took place in 1948. Moving back to Stockholm after his sojourn in Paris, he made two films: Fängelse (1949, The Devil’s Wanton/Prison), the first film he both scripted and directed, and Till glädje (1950, To Joy). Neither was a box office success. To make matters worse, major film companies in Sweden shut down their studios in 1950-51 in protest over the high entertainment tax. This lockout crisis came at a time when Ingmar Bergman was still searching for his footing as a filmmaker. To help support himself and his sizeable brood, he had to borrow money from SF against a contract, stipulating that he would later make five films for the company at two-thirds of his usual pay. He also wrote and produced a series of commercials for Bris, a deodorant soap manufactured by the Sunlight Corporation. It marked his first contact with teenager Bibi Andersson who
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Artistic Breakthruogh at home and Abroad was to become part of his acting stable both on film and in the theatre, and with whom he was to establish a Higgins-Eliza relationship, a Pygmalian liaison that the actress eventually would withdraw from. Though the Bris commercials were full of clever humor and wit, and were characterized by a Bergman sense of timing, they also signified a very low point in his career. The rescue seemed to come in 1950 when producer Lorens Marmstedt, for whom Bergman had made the film Fängelse in 1949, opened the Intima Theatre, a private stage in Stockholm (not to be confused with Strindberg’s stage of the same name), Marmstedt was a glamorous figure in the city’s cultural life but also a hardnosed businessman. Bergman was invited as a director and his come-back to the Swedish capital was much anticipated after his very successful time as a stage director in Hälsingborg and Göteborg. But his production of Brecht’s Three Penny Opera at the Intima Theatre, his only Brecht production ever, was no public success. He also accepted a directorial assignment to stage Tennessee Williams’, The Rose Tatoo at the Norrköping-Linköping City Theatre and directed a relatively new play by Swedish author Björn-Erik Höijer, Det lyser i kåken (Light in the Shack) at the Royal Dramatic Theatre. In vain, Bergman hoped for a permanent engagement at Dramaten. Instead, it was a provincial stage that would offer him a contract. In 1952 he left Stockholm again, this time to assume the artistic directorship at the Malmö City Theatre in southern Sweden. He now lived with actress Harriet Andersson, whom he had fallen in love with during the shooting of Sommaren med Monika (1952, Summer with Monica). His marriage to Gun Grut was not dissolved until several years later, but their separation was final.
Artistic Breakthrough at Home and Abroad Bergman was to stay in Malmö for six years, during which time the tide turned for him both in terms of his filmmaking and his stage work. He became one of Sweden’s leading stage directors with productions of Goethe’s Faust, Molière’s Don Juan and The Misanthrope, Strindberg’s Spöksonaten/Ghost Sonata, Kronbruden/The Crown Bride and Eric XIV, Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author. Shakespeare is the only one missing from Bergman’s Malmö repertory among those playwrights who have been central to him as a stage director. It was also in Malmö that he solidified his group of actors, welded together by a director who far outpaced the head of the theatre that had hired him, Lars Levi Læstadius. Many of the names to be associated with Bergman’s filmmaking in the mid-Fifties – Max von Sydow, Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson, Åke Fridell – were actors at the Malmö City Theatre under his tutelage. Bergman’s Malmö period coincides with his major breakthrough as a filmmaker. In Sweden he now gained a reputation as a maker of women’s films; besides Sommarlek and Sommaren med Monika he wrote and directed Kvinnors väntan (1952, Secrets of Women/Waiting Women), En lektion i kärlek (1954, A Lesson in Love), Kvinnodröm (1955, Dreams) and Sommarnattens leende (1955, Smiles of a Summer Night). Many of these films belong to Bergman’s ‘rose’ period, i.e., they project a tone of sophisticated humor and erotic badinage in the tradition of such filmmakers as Mauritz Stiller (1883-1928) and Ernst Lubitsch (1892-1947). It was a genre that attracted viewers and
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Chapter I Life and Work pleased Bergman’s major producer, Svensk Filmindustri. After the international recognition of Sommarnattens leende at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival, Bergman’s repeated request to realize Det sjunde inseglet (1956, The Seventh Seal) was finally granted. With its success abroad, Bergman’s financial and creative freedom was secured. By the late 1950s, Bergman film classics were shown all over the world, films like Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Seventh Seal (1956), Wild Strawberries (1957), and The Magician (1958). He had become the epitome of an auteur du cinema (see Chapter III) and his films were part of the international circuit, receiving prizes at Cannes, Berlin, Los Angeles and elsewhere (see Varia Chapter). Internationally, it was a period when, in the words of Time magazine, ‘Bergmania ruled the waves’ (14 March 1960, p. 60).
Religious Crisis Sjunde inseglet/The Seventh Seal also signaled an oncoming crisis, in which Bergman would dramatize his attempts to free himself from his religious heritage. One can follow the process by juxtaposing the film to his play Trämålning (Wood Painting) from 1954 on which The Seventh Seal is based. In the play the basic polarity of the two travelling companions, the Knight and his Squire, expresses the intellectual dichotomy in Bergman's vision. The Squire's cynical humor in the face of death forms a counterpart to the Knight's desperate search for divine certainty. A speech by the latter that was cut from the subsequent screenplay clarifies the Knight's oscillation between faith and doubt: Each morning and evening I stretch my arms toward the Saints, toward God. [...] Again and again I am shaken with absolute certainty. Through the mists of spiritual listlessness God's nearness strikes me, like the strokes of a huge bell. Suddenly my emptiness is filled with music, almost without a key but as if carried by innumerable voices. Then I cry out through my darkness, and my cry is like a whisper: ‘To your glory, oh God! To your glory I live! To your glory!’ So I cry in the dark. Then the dreadful thing strikes all my nerves. My certainty dies as if someone had blown it out. The huge bell is silent [...] [Varje morgon och afton sträcker jag mina armar mot Helgonen, mot Gud. [...] Gång på gång skakas jag av en fullständig visshet. Genom dimmor av andlig slöhet drabbar mig Guds närhet likt slag av en väldig klocka. Plötsligt är min tomhet fylld av musik, nästan utan toner men liksom buren av tallösa röster. Då ropar jag genom alla mina mörker och mitt rop är som en viskning: Till din ära, o Gud! Till din ära lever jag. Till din ära! Så ropar jag i mörkret. Då händer det genom alla mina nerver fasansfulla... Vissheten slocknar som om någon blåste ut den. Den stora klockan tystnar, ...]
The existential and metaphysical questioning reflected in Bergman’s major screen works from The Seventh Seal (1956) to Tystnaden (1962, The Silence) could be called, with a reference to Strindberg’s mental upheaval in the mid-1890s, an inverted ‘inferno crisis’. While Strindberg emerged from his ordeal with a newborn religious faith, Bergman liberated himself from his Lutheran background, though still recognizing the presence of spiritual realities, which was confirmed as late as in a TV interview
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Discovery of Fårö with Ingmar Bergman and Erland Josephson on 4 April 2000, Swedish TV Channel 4, (See Interviews, Ø 950). Inspired in part by Strindberg’s historical drama Folkungasagan (1899, The Saga of the Folkungs), set in the Middle Ages, The Seventh Seal is structured like a medieval morality play in which an Everyman figure, the Knight Antonius Block, returns from the holy crusades to his native Sweden. Travelling with his skeptical Squire, the Knight’s quest seems more modern than medieval, however, and the central idea is closer to postwar existentialist thinking than to a 14th-century religious crusade. Antonius Block’s strong, desperate, and defiant figure re-emerges as the medieval farmer Töre in Jungfrukällan (1960, The Virgin Spring), whose young and beautiful daughter is raped and murdered on her journey to church to offer candles to the Virgin Mary. Unlike The Seventh Seal, which seems to end in futile prayer as Antonius Block speaks for his entourage while facing the figure of Death who has come to claim them all, Töre in The Virgin Spring expresses a quia absurdum est, telling God that he cannot understand His cruelty, yet vows to build a church in His honor on the spot of his daughter’s murder. In both The Seventh Seal and The Virgin Spring, God is a taunting and distant God. In the subsequent so-called trilogy Såsom i en spegel (1961, Through a Glass Darkly), Nattvardsgästerna (1962, Winter Light/The Communicants), and Tystnaden (1963, The Silence), this godhead emerges as an usurping ‘spider god’ who spreads anguish among those who seek him and leaves behind a psychological and metaphysical void. The three films tell their separate stories, but what they have in common is the progression of the theme of God’s silence. In a motto, printed in the published screenplays, Bergman suggests that ‘These three films deal with a reduction. THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY – conquered certainty. WINTER LIGHT – disclosed certainty. THE SILENCE – God’s Silence – the negative imprint’. [Dessa tre filmer handlar om en reducering. SÅSOM I EN SPEGEL – erövrad visshet. NATTVARDSGÄSTERNA – genomskådad visshet. TYSTNADEN –Guds tystnad – det negativa avtrycket.] The setting of each film reflects this movement towards nihilism. Today Bergman denies that the films form a trilogy. Nevertheless, they depict a spiritual development that he himself experienced during this time in his life, as he moved towards a position of agnosticism. It was also a process that freed him from his earlier fear of death and God’s punishment. Death now became associated with the blank moments of unconciousness he had gone through while in a coma during surgery.
Discovery of Fårö In 1958 Bergman turned forty. His six-year contract at Malmö was up. Leaving the city and his relationship with actress Harriet Andersson behind, Bergman returned alone to Stockholm. For the next three years he was engaged in filmmaking. He also turned his attention to the opera and in 1961 presented a much-acclaimed production of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. It was an old dream come true, and the composer himself came to Stockholm and gave his blessing. The production was later revived (in 1966-67) and presented abroad, at the Montreal World’s Fair. In interviews Bergman talked about taking a year-long sabbatical leave to study Bach. The idea never materialized, but it was nurtured for a while by his new love Käbi Laretei, an inter-
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Chapter I Life and Work nationally recognized pianist. Käbi’s marriage to a music conductor was dissolved and she and Bergman married in 1959. He dedicated his 1961 film Såsom i en spegel/ Through a Glass Darkly to her, writing the script for it on the island of Torö in the Stockholm archipelago. Bergman was about to discover his Baltic landscape. It was while looking for a location to shoot Through a Glass Darkly that he was advised by his cinematographer Sven Nykvist to take a look at Fårö (Sheep Island). In part a military reserve characterized by moorlands and strangely formed limestone rocks called raukar, Fårö quickly became both a real and a symbolic place to Ingmar Bergman. Though he lived in the wealthy Stockholm suburb of Djursholm during his marriage with Käbi, in which a son, Daniel Sebastian, was born in 1963, he made Fårö his permanent home after their divorce in 1965. At the edge of the Baltic Sea on an isolated part of the island, he built a compound, including a private screening room and some technical facilities. He would only return to Stockholm for professional reasons. Fårö is a sparsely populated outpost in a modern welfare state. In 1969 Bergman tried to draw political attention to the island with a realistic TV film, Fårödokument (Fårö Document). But Fårö functions also as the symbolic setting for a number of screen works that could be called Bergman’s ‘island films’. Besides Through a Glass Darkly they comprise Persona (1966), Vargtimmen (1967, The Hour of the Wolf), Skammen (1968, Shame), En passion (1969, The Passion of Anna) and Beröringen (1970, The Touch). These ‘island’ films depict haunted characters trapped in various psychological crises. The mood, which is often despairing and nihilistic, is reflected in Bergman’s essay from the mid-Sixties, ‘Ormskinnet’ (The Snakeskin). If one juxtaposes this essay to an earlier one from 1954, ‘Det att göra film’ (What is Filmmaking?), one can see how Bergman’s conception of the function of art changed over a ten-year period. In ‘Det att göra film’ he formulates an image of the artist as an anonymous worker sharing in the rebuilding of a great cathedral. When the medieval dome at Chartres burned down, all the artisans in the neighborhood came together to restore it to its former glory. They did so motivated by a common desire to honor God and to work together, taking great pride in their craftsmanship. In ‘The Snakeskin’ essay Bergman also refers to a collective form of artistic activity, now represented by the busy bodyness of thousands of little ants moving about inside the skin of a dead snake. No more church spires are being built; no religious faith unites the artist and his collective of workers to a common goal; life has become like a hollow snakeskin, and the ants moving inside it have no other raison d’etre than sustaining their own existence. It is no longer the artist’s function to be a moral voice or uphold the spiritual comfort of the human soul. God’s silence means that the artist is placed not among the divinely inspired but ‘in a brotherhood which exists [...] in a selfish fellowship on the warm and dirty earth, under a cold and empty sky’. [i ett brödraskap som existerar [...] i självisk gemenskap på den varma, smutsiga jorden under en kall och tom himmel.] The disillusionment represented by ‘The Snakeskin’ essay is epitomized in the cynical figure of the architect Vergerus in A Passion of Anna, who is not a builder of a cathedral of communal worship but reveals himself to be a constructor of ‘a cultural mausoleum’ for people whom he despises. Thus one might suggest that Fårö, while becoming Bergman’s personal retreat and his ‘smultronställe’ in life, also inspires, through its isolation, both the stark form and stern vision of Bergman’s film work in the Sixties.
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The Critical Sixties: The Artist Syndrome The Critical Sixties: The Artist Syndrome Bergman’s life with Käbi Laretei, an artist whom he admired and respected greatly, and with whom he was to maintain a lifelong friendship and professional contact, was nevertheless a life together with a person totally committed to a field – musical performance – where Bergman played second fiddle. But his own acceptance of the post as head of Dramaten in 1963 was equally time-absorbing. Käbi predicted rightly that his new task would spell the end of their marriage. After a few years, the island of Fårö and the Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann loomed on the horizon. Ullmann became Bergman’s leading actress in such films as Persona, Vargtimmen, Skammen, En passion, Viskningar och rop, Scener ur ett äktenskap, Ansikte mot ansikte (1976, Face to Face), Ormens ägg (1977, The Serpent’s Egg) and Höstsonat (1978, Autumn Sonata). A daughter, Linn, was born to the couple in 1967. Liv Ullmann describes the relationship in her book Forændringen (Changing). She disliked the isolation on Fårö, and by 1971 she and Bergman had separated. As in so many cases with Bergman’s former wives and liaisons, Ullmann too would continue her professional relationship with him. In the 1990s, having turned from acting to filmmaking, she would direct Bergman’s TV plays Enskilda samtal (1995, Private Conversations/Private Confessions) and Trolösa (2000, Faithless). It was of course a triumph for Bergman to be invited to administer Dramaten, the very stage that had been like a sacred place to him in his youth and Sweden’s national theatre forum. What he did not realize at the time, however, was that Sweden in 1963 was at the beginning of a cultural revolution that was to question various forms of elitist art, among them the role of the prestigious national stage. Bergman soon found himself embroiled with government officials who failed to meet his demands for increased subsidies. He also faced a new radical cadre of actors and other co-workers, as well as long-term traditionalists, some of whom were forced to retire, among them the directorial icon Olof Molander and the star actor Lars Hanson. Bergman’s tenure as head of the Royal Dramatic Theatre was brief – only three years, which he later referred to as ‘the worst brine bath in my life’ [mitt livs värsta eklut]. It resulted in improved conditions for the staff but was marred by infighting. The politicized cultural climate began to dominate the public media in Sweden and was to involve much more than Bergman’s position at Dramaten (see Laterna magica, pp. 231-32). But he became particularly disenchanted with the idealogical thrust of a new generation in the Swedish theatre, to the point where he actually left the country to direct a play in Oslo (see Ø 537, Chapter VII). As a filmmaker he encountered the same atmosphere. Already in 1962, filmdirector Bo Widerberg had questioned Bergman’s approach to art. In a series of newspaper articles later pushlished as Visionen i svensk film (Vision in the Swedish cinema), he advocated a social-conscious ‘horizontal’ cinema, as opposed to Bergman’s inner-directed and ‘vertical’ filmmaking. In the contemporary world, so the reasoning went among Swedish intellectuals, an artist could no longer play the exclusive visionary role he once held during the Romantic Age. His task was to engage himself in the service of his society and become committed to the political issues of the day. At the premiere of Bergman’s Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf), the film about the haunted painter Johan Borg who withdraws to a desolate island, one critic asked: ‘Will Ingmar Bergman ever let go of his view of the artist, which is both martyrlike and aristocratic, and has more in common with
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Chapter I Life and Work Werther or Lord Byron than with our Sixties’. [Skall Ingmar Bergman någonsin släppa sin syn på konstnären, vilken är både martyrlik och aristokratisk, och har mer gemensamt med Werther och Lord Byron än med sextiotalet.] (Schildt, AB, 20 February 1968). None of the new generation of filmmakers and theatre workers who emerged in Sweden in the 1960s followed in Bergman’s wake. He was a highly visible but isolated phenomenon. His screen portrayal of the artist as a defeatist individual racked by inner demons suggests not only a private dilemma but reflects his dislike of the rigid intellectual climate in Sweden at the time. His international standing was not threatened, but trends in the European cinema, represented foremost by French filmmaker Jean Luc Godard, had a far more decisive impact on a younger generation of Swedish filmmakers than Bergman’s contribution to the medium. In his native cinema, Bergman was often viewed as an outdated artist who had lost touch with his public. Rather typical of the critical reception of him is the following excerpt from a Swedish review of Nattvardsgästerna/Winter Light: Ingmar Bergman has reached the unique position that he can make exactly the films he wants to make, and it only remains for the public to receive them as a kind of postcard greetings from his private study. For those for whom his personal set of problems is of current concern, Winter Light is perhaps a word on the way, but for the rest of us it appears, to say the least, as an impressive proof of artistic isolation. [Ingmar Bergman har uppnått den unika positionen att han gör precis de filmer han vill och det återstår bara för publiken att ta emot dem som ett slags vykortshälsningar från hans privata studerkammare. För dem som har hans personliga problematik aktuell är kanske Nattvardsgästerna ett ord på vägen, för oss andra framstår den väl, mildast sagt, som ett imponerande bevis på konstnärlig isolering.] (Öhrn, Ny Dag, 13 February 1962)
Thus, within twenty years Bergman’s profile as an artist had changed from that of an angry young man who challenged authority (Hets, 1944) to a filmmaker whose vision was considered passé and irrelevant. Bergman’s decision to retire as head of Dramaten began to take root in 1964-65 after he fell ill with pneumonia and suffered from an ear infection that affected his sense of balance. While hospitalized at the Sophia dispensary, Bergman could look out over the same grounds where he once lived as a child. He began to fantasize that he was a small boy ‘who’d died, yet wasn’t allowed to be really dead, because he kept on being woken up by telephone signals from the Royal Dramatic Theatre’. [som var död och som inte riktigt fick vara död ändå därför att han hela tiden väcktes av telefonsignaler från Dramaten]. (See Bergman om Bergman, p. 219; Eng. ed. p. 199.) Out of this fantasy grew Persona (1966) or what Bergman has called ‘a film poem’ about a boy who, after waking up in what seems to be a hospital morgue, sets a film narrative in motion about two women. One is the hospitalized actress Elisabet Vogler, who has withdrawn from the theatre and her family, and the other is her naïve and flattered nurse Alma who by feeding Elisabet her own life story revitalizes and challenges the actress but also runs the risk of becoming an unsuspecting and humiliated prey for having revealed her innermost self. The psychological tug-of-war between the two women is implied in the ‘Snakeskin’ essay from the same time, where Bergman likens his own role as an artist to that of an insect who captures food from his surroundings,
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Discovery of Television a parasite who feeds on others for his own amusement. But what is also mirrored in the film is the mutual vulnerability of an artist and his ‘public’. Bergman has repeatedly addressed his combined need and fear of the audience: ‘I hate the public, I fear it and I love it. [...] In everything I do, these thousands of eyes, brains and bodies are present. In embittered tenderness I give what I have’. [Jag hatar publiken, jag fruktar den och älskar den. [...] I allt jag gör, är dessa tusende ögon, hjärnor och kroppar närvarande. I bitter ömhet ger jag vad jag har.] (‘Det att göra film’, 1954). The vulnerability of the artist is implied in Bergman’s reaction to the critical response of his work: ‘One of the wounds that has been toughest for me in my adult life has been the fear of being humiliated. Every time I read a review for example – no matter whether it be a favorable one or not – that feeling is brought out in me’. [Ett av de sår som jag haft svårast med i mitt vuxna liv, det är rädslan att bli förödmjukad. Varje gång jag läser en recension till exempel – oavsett om den är berömmande eller inte – lockas den där känslan fram.] (Bergman om Bergman, p. 86; Eng. ed. p. 81.) But Bergman’s creativity is founded on an equally strong belief in the artist’s function as a therapeutic stand-in for his public: ‘Thus, we [the artists] shall exist to mirror human complications, behavior and happenings and serve as some sort of support to other people or some kind of enlightenment or self-examination or what have you’. [Vi (konstnärer) ska alltså vara till för att spegla mänskliga komplikationer, företeelser och skeenden och vara andra människor till någon sorts stöd eller uppbyggelse eller självprövning eller vad du vill.] (Sundgren interview, Röster i Radio/TV, no. 12, 1968).
Discovery of Television In the mid-Fifties while working at the Malmö City Theatre, television had come to nearby Denmark but not yet to Sweden. Television sets were on display in Malmö, however, since it was possible for Swedes living across the Sound from Copenhagen to watch Danish TV programs. One day Ingmar Bergman passed a store in Malmö where a televised concert program was on display. He could not hear the sound from the TV set but watched a pianist on the screen with great fascination. What appeared was a mutilated human being – now a head, now a couple of hands touching a keyboard, now a grimacing face. Bergman had used close-ups in his early films, so much so, in fact, that one of his producers had bawled him out for presenting human beings like so many pieces of meat in a butcher shop (Steene, Focus on the Seventh Seal, p. 43). But what he discovered on that day in Malmö was the intimacy of the television medium and the closeness between viewer and screen figures. As soon as the new medium established itself in Sweden, Bergman began to adapt play productions for television, the first ones being sent live from a studio in Stockholm with actors from Bergman’s Malmö ensemble. Before long, reviewers hailed him as a remarkable television director and predicted that with his visionary power he was predestined to become Sweden’s foremost contributor to TV drama. In 1969 Bergman presented his first authored television script, Riten (The Ritual), a dramatization of an emotional duel between artist and public. Dealing with a trio of actors who are interrogated by a local judge on charges of indecency, the legal questioning becomes a cruel sacrificial rite during which the judge collapses and dies. The
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Chapter I Life and Work film did not win much public acclaim among Swedish television viewers. In 1974, however, Ingmar Bergman took Swedish spectators by surprise when he presented Scener ur ett äktenskap (1974, Scenes from a Marriage), a realistic soap opera, serialized in six Wednesday night episodes on prime time television. Visits to family counseling agencies by Swedish married couples are said to have doubled as the series wore on, and marriage handbooks based on Bergman’s television story were written both in Sweden and Germany. He himself was taken by surprise at the popular response, though it is clear from a reception survey of his entire production that Swedish audiences have always favored his realistic relationship films and have only rarely been flocking to see his more symbolic and metaphysical films. Despite the Swedish success of Scener från ett äktenskap, Bergman could not rest on his laurels. When he directed an elaborate TV version of Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute in the following year (1975), he was publicly criticized for using up too much of SVT’s public service budget. Funds, it was felt by some, should have been disbursed among several artists and used to produce less exclusive or ‘elitist’ art. (See Commentary, Magic Flute, Ø 247, 326). But The Magic Flute became an international success and its production cost was regained. In the following year Bergman wrote and directed Ansikte mot ansikte (Face to Face) for Swedish public television.
Exile It may seem strange that someone with Ingmar Bergman’s international reputation would have difficulty, as was the case in the early 1970s, to come up with financial support for a film. He had founded his own film production company, Cinematograph, in 1969. In making Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers) in 1971, he tapped into his own personal funds, while the actors invested their salaries in the film, and the SFI provided support money of half a million Swedish kronor. It was this latter source that again created a public controversy, since many commentators felt that Bergman had a big enough name to be able to find financing for his film elsewhere. In the U.S. every major studio turned down offers to distribute Cries and Whispers – even though Bergman reportedly asked for only $75,000 in down payment. The project threatened to become a financial liability for Bergman. In the end it was Roger Corman’s newly founded independent production company New World Films that came to Bergman’s rescue. Cries and Whispers became a great critical success in the U. S. and received both the National Society of Film Critics award and the New York Film Critics award as well as an Oscar for best photography. But it was not until 197576 that Bergman secured a co-production contract between an American company and his own Cinematograph. His plan was to begin production of quality films directed by filmmakers other than himself. His departure from Sweden in April 1976 put an end to this project. In 1971 Bergman’s liaison with Liv Ullmann was over, and he was soon to marry an earlier love, Ingrid von Rosen, who left behind a comfortable bourgeois marriage and a number of children, one of whom was a daughter conceived by Bergman in 1959. For the next 24 years, Ingrid would become the secure center in Bergman’s life. She was his mother’s look-alike, a home-maker, and a very competent administrator. She arranged for a reunion between Ingmar Bergman and his many children, but above all
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Return to Sweden and Closure she handled his practical affairs and his correspondence with great skill and tact. She became his comfort at home and his shield to the world. When she died of cancer in 1995, it was a grave blow to Ingmar Bergman; three years later, during an interview on his eightieth birthday, he testified to his lasting sense of loss (Donner, 14 July 1998, SVT, Channel 1). Ingrid was particularly important to Bergman in early 1976 when he was suddenly arraigned by the police during rehearsals of Strindberg’s Dödsdansen (1901, The Dance of Death) at the Royal Dramatic Theatre and was charged with tax evasion. The tax authorities were particularly interested in a Swiss holding company, Personafilm, into which money had been channeled from such film productions as Cries and Whispers, Scenes from a Marriage, and The Magic Flute. A prolonged and complex legal process began. (See Chapter IX, entry Ø 1272.) Ingmar Bergman’s arrest was an event that looked like a symbol. It could have been an episode in one of his own films. Powerful bureaucrats were goaded by a legal system that tempted them to pursue a well-known cultural figure to the point where public exposure caused him the kind of humiliation he had often depicted in his own works. Bergman had to endure virtually libelous attacks by part of the Swedish press (especially from the Social-Democratic paper Aftonbladet) and felt haunted by visions from his authoritarian childhood. Strindberg, his old mentor in the theatre, once wrote in a letter during a period of inner turmoil that he felt like a somnambulist in broad daylight, a sleepwalker dreaming and awake at the same time. Bergman experienced a similar sense of surreal forces overtaking reality, as if he were in Kafka’s world of unapproachable civil servants. The final blow to his equilibrium came when his passport was confiscated. His world collapsed, and he ended up in the psychiatric ward at Stockholm’s Karolinska Hospital. Ingmar Bergman was eventually acquitted on the initial charges of tax evasion, but by that time, he had decided to leave Sweden. After publishing an open farewell letter to a Stockholm daily (Ø 163), Bergman left for Paris and then for Los Angeles. But he departed from both places in a hurry and eventually chose to settle in Munich where his next film, Das Schlangenei (1978, Ormens ägg/The Serpent’s Egg), was going to be shot. During the next several years Munich would remain Bergman’s domicile, where he worked as a director at the city’s Residenztheater. The administrative set-up at the Residenztheater was quite conservative. Bergman’s attempt to introduce more democratic procedures and involve the staff in discussions and decision-making backfired. Infighting ensued, and Bergman’s relations with the head of the theatre grew tense. In 1981 he was asked to leave, and his production in progress was cancelled. But the final outcome of the palaver was that a new head of the theatre was appointed, and Bergman was invited back. He stayed under contract for another two years, despite the fact that the German critical corps who reviewed his stage productions continued to be rather harsh in their judgment.
Return to Sweden and Closure All his life Ingmar Bergman was to feel secure only in familiar surroundings. He hated to travel, and it is said that during one of his rare visits abroad, to Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 1977, he spent his entire time outside the seminar room cooped
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Chapter I Life and Work up in his hotel, watching television. Oversensitive to sharp sunlight, he has preferred the misty climate of Fårö. Even during his exile, he arranged to return to Fårö in the summer time. In fact, his exile cannot be considered absolute; rather it was an exile in professional terms only, and even that must be modified since he continued to work with his Swedish cinematographer Sven Nykvist and several other members of his Swedish staff, including stage designer Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss. When Bergman returned to the Swedish stage in 1984, an official governmental apology had been issued. His re-entry marked the beginning of a truly remarkable period in his creative life. Again, there is a curious parallel to the career of Strindberg, who upon his return home in 1898 after many years abroad embarked on his most productive period in life. Bergman’s career after his exile culminated at the Royal Dramatic Theatre with a cycle of Shakespeare productions. It began with King Lear in 1984. On opening night Bergman made one of his rare appearances on stage. He was met with standing ovations, and the actor Jarl Kulle, who played Lear, greeted him with the words ‘Welcome Home’. Even 20 years later Bergman would remember this moment with gratitude (see Interview Chapter, Nyreröd, Ø 948). He was back at Dramaten, in the ‘Father House’ and for the next 20 years would stage, on an average, one play per year. Apart from Shakespeare dramas like Hamlet and The Winter’s Tale he returned to such old favorites as Molière (The Misanthrope), Ibsen (A Doll’s House and Ghosts), and Strindberg (Miss Julie, A Dreamplay, and The Ghost Sonata). A number of his Dramaten productions from this time went on an international circuit tour, providing opportunities for non-Swedish audiences to become familiar with Bergman’s stagecraft. He also directed a new opera (with music by Daniel Börtz), based on Euripides’ The Bacchae, and as late as 2004 he expressed a wish that he could set up an old opera project of his: The Tales of Hoffmann, which he had discussed doing for the Hamburg Opera before his exile. Bergman’s filmmaking days, on the other hand, seemed to be over with the making of Fanny and Alexander (1982). He declared that big studio and on location productions were simply too taxing and cumbersome at his age. But he would continue to make several TV films, most notably Efter repetitionen (1984, After the Rehearsal), Larmar och gör sig till (1997, lit. ‘Struts and Frets’ but translated as In the Presence of a Clown), and Saraband (2003). Each of these can be seen as a dramatization and commentary on his life as a creative artist. In Efter repetitionen his alter ego, an old theatre director, ruminates on his relationship to the stage. In Larmar och gör sig till, his persona, Uncle Carl Åkerblom, reenacts his passion for the cinema. In Saraband, the action harks back to Scener ur ett äktenskap, his breakthrough on television. In addition, during the same period of time, Bergman also wrote his memoirs Laterna magica (1987, The Magic Lantern) and Bilder (1990, Images. My Life in Film), as well as ‘script novels’ that were made into films or TV productions, directed by other directors: Den goda viljan (1992, The Best Intentions); Söndagsbarn (1993, Sunday’s Child); and Enskilda samtal (1994, Private Conversations). Much of his focus in these works was on his own parental background – so much so that he made a special point of announcing his script to Trolösa (2000, Faithless) as a piece that would not deal with his family. (See report from press conference, SvD, 10 May 1998, p. 14.) Today, the only area in which he has worked lately is radio. A production of Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman was broadcast in 2001, and in the following year he directed Strindberg’s Pelikanen and Toteninsel (The Isle of the Dead). But a planned broadcast
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Return to Sweden and Closure of Ibsen’s Rosmersholm was cancelled. About the same time Bergman sold his apartment in Stockholm and today rarely leaves his Fårö domicile. Much of Bergman’s creative work after his homecoming forms an artistic and psychological closure, constituting a final peace-making with the ghosts of his childhood and, in Trolösa (Faithless), with a painful episode in his adult life. In keeping with such psychological house cleaning, Bergman also arranged to have his private archive transferred to a foundation administered at the Swedish Film Institute (SFI). In the novel Söndagsbarn (1991), which was made into a film in 1993 by his son Daniel, Ingmar Bergman acknowledges a more forgiving view of his parentage: ‘I began to look into my parents’ early life, my father’s childhood and upbringing and I saw a recurring pattern of pathetic efforts and humiliating adversity. I also saw care, concern, and deep confusion’. [Jag började forska i mina föräldrars tidiga liv, i min fars barndom och uppväxt och jag såg ett återkommande mönster av patetisk ansträngning och förödmjukande motgång. Jag såg också omtanke, ömhet och djup förvirring.] The statement confirms Ingmar Bergman’s deep attachment to his roots and their central importance in his long creative life, but also speaks of his greater understanding of his parentage.
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Above: Handwritten text by Ingmar Bergman to an early manuscript of a short story titled ‘One of Jack the Ripper’s early childhood memories’. The somewhat difficult handwriting reads in English translation: One day Jack the Ripper died. Everyone in the theatre thought it was very sad and collected money for a wreath and got ready to go to the funeral in top hat and rented tuxedo, black shoes and white scarf and black stockings. But Jack lay at home in his bed, covered with a white sheet and was sour and cold. For his soul had not gone away but lingered at the intractable man, yet lived such a thing physical life that no one noticed it any longer and everyone, including the doctor, thought that Jack was dead. But Jack heard and saw everything though not the way Kasper or the Whore or the Manager did but more like a small, small child or a flower or something.
Chapter II The Writer Bergman’s writing encompasses his entire creative life. His earliest pieces were jotted down in notebooks, some of them to be developed later into plays, film scripts, and short pieces of fiction. The original drafts are deposited in a special Bergman archive at the Swedish Film Institute, where the Ingmar Bergman Foundation, constituted in 2002, will administer, preserve and convey knowledge about Bergman’s collected artistic work. A special database is being developed. Maaret Koskinen has recorded and discussed some of this material in her book I begynnelsen var ordet. Ingmar Bergman och hans tidiga författarskap (2002). Some early stage plays by Bergman were published, and a few pieces of short fiction appeared in literary journals – all of it in the 1940s and early 1950s. But the main part of his writing consists of published and unpublished screenplays. Copies of scripts (not to be confused with the deposited Fårö material) are kept in SFI’s library (see introduction to Filmography). Some scripts may require Bergman’s permission to use. Chapter II lists not only Bergman’s fiction but also his program notes, prefaces, essays, radio talks, and open letters. Bergman’s own plays are registered here, while specific stage productions of these plays are recorded in the Theatre chapter (VI).
Ingmar Bergman: Cinéma d’auteur During Ingmar Bergman’s lifetime, the concept of authorship has become more tenuous. Traditionally, it signified a writer whose texts were autonomous enough to be read and experienced as such, without requiring any other art form in order to appear complete. But Ingmar Bergman’s authorship is usually not of this kind, for most of his writing falls within the categories of stage plays and film scripts; i.e., written works that presuppose a theatrical or cinematic medium to become fully realized. Bergman himself has suggested as much, referring to a dramatic or filmic text as a musical score, as notes to be played on by a director and by an ‘orchestrated’ ensemble. For that reason, says one of his commentators, ‘Bergman’s scripts should not be judged by criteria appropriate to more explicitly literary works. A Bergman text is only a sketch for another and quite different creation...’ (Mosley, The Cinema as
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Chapter II The Writer Mistress 1981, p. 19). Nevertheless, Bergman’s written texts must be seen as a very vital part of an ongoing creative process. Acknowledging the subjective basis of his output, he has described the process from initial impulse to manuscript writing as originating deep down in his own subconscious. In the 1959 essay ‘Each film is my last’ [‘Varje film är min sista film’] which is Bergman’s most complete statement on his own scriptwriting, he describes the birth of a script in both biological and psychological terms: it begins as ‘vague and indefinite fetal movements’ [vaga och obestämda fosterrörelser] or as ‘a brightly colored thread sticking out of the dark sack of consciousness’ [en skarpt färgad tråd som sticker ut ur medvetandets mörka säck]. The moment of inspiration is no more than a visual impression or a bar of notes; it may be a particular light illuminating a street scene or a face. It is like a fleeting dream that may evaporate or come back to him ‘as fruitful associations and images’ [som fruktbara associationer och bilder]. The original motif seems to contain its own rhythm which determines the sequential pattern of the film in the making (‘Varje film...’, p. 2). This early stage in the creative process is an emotional state expressing itself in visuals. Bergman distinguishes this from a later intellectual and cognitive stage when the material is shaped into words. The first phase is characterized by the pleasurable discovery of raw material for a film, while the actual shaping of that material into words is a laborious process. In Bilder/Images. My Life in Film, his memoir book about his filmmaking, he defines it as ‘a matter of arriving at how you should organize the Epilogue’ [Det gäller att komma fram till hur man ska organisera Epilogen]. In the earlier essay from the 1950s, he outlines the writing process as more complex and difficult: So I have decided to make a certain film. Now begins a complicated work, difficult to control: to transfer rhythms, moods, atmosphere, tensions, [...] pitches and smells to words and sentences in a readable or at least decipherable manuscript. It is difficult, if not impossible. The only thing that can be provisionally materialized is the dialogue, but even a dialogue is a sensitive matter that can offer resistance. (‘Each Film is...’, p. 2) [Jag har alltså beslutat mig för att göra en viss film och nu vidtar ett komplicerat och svårbemästrat arbete: att överföra rytmer, stämningar, atmosfärer, spänningar, [...] tonarter och dofter till ord och meningar i ett läsbart eller åtminstone tydbart manuskript. Detta är svårt för att inte säga omöjligt. Det enda som till nöds låter sig materialiseras är dialogen men även en dialog är en känslig tingest, som kan erbjuda motstånd.] (‘Varje film...’, pp. 2-3)
In interviews Bergman has dated the beginning of his authorship to 1941 though his first notebook goes back to 1937-38. It was, however, during a sickleave from mandatory military service in 1941 that he began to write, having withdrawn to his grandmother’s summer house in Dalecarlia: As a pure diversion I began to write a play, and it felt immensely encouraging and stimulating. So I wrote one more play and still another, and suddenly I had written twelve plays in the course of four months. That’s how it began. [...] Everything happened very suddenly and was unplanned. I don't know why, but it was pure pleasure. It was a completely new feeling that I had not experienced before, this business of just sitting down and writing in longhand and seeing the words emerge. I liked it a lot. [...] It was just an enormous [...] comfort (tröst). [...] Something opened up for me...
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Ingmar Bergman: Cinéma d’auteur
[Som ren förströelse började jag skriva en teaterpjäs och det kändes oerhört uppmuntrande och stimulerande. Så skrev jag en pjäs till och ännu en, och plötsligt hade jag inom loppet av fyra månader skrivit tolv pjäser. Det var så det började. [...] Allt skedde mycket plötsligt och oplanerat. Jag vet inte varför, men det var bara ett nöje. Det var en helt ny känsla som jag inte hade upplevt tidigare, detta att bara sätta mig ner och skriva för hand och se orden komma fram. Jag tyckte mycket om det. [...] Det var bara en enorm [...] tröst. [...] Någonting öppnades för mig [...] (Assayas-Björkman. Tre dagar med Bergman, 1992, pp.12-13).
Bergman’s statement points to the therapeutic function that the creative act would come to have for him. The transformation of a subjective world into artistic form, be it as a play, a script, a piece for television, or a novel, was to become a continuing form of psychological purgation, without which he says he probably would have gone mad. At the same time, his quoted remarks above suggest his joy in writing, its aspect of a diversion, almost like a playful game. A lifetime later he would repeat his sense of pleasure at formulating himself in words. In his memoir book Bilder/Images. My Life in Film he writes (p. 228/216): ‘At the writing-desk I am [...] pleasantly entertained. I write for my own pleasure, not for eternity’. [Vid skrivbordet är jag [...] angenämt förströdd. Jag skriver för mitt nöjes skull, inte under evighetens synvinkel.] Though many of his earliest writing efforts remained incomplete and/or unpublished, Bergman had ambitions to be recognized as a literary author. In the early 1940s, concurrent with his debut as a stage director and his work as a reader of screenplays at Svensk Filmindustri (SF), he brought out a couple of short pieces of prose fiction in prestigious literary journals such as BLM and 40-tal. Later, Sweden’s leading publishing firm Bonniers accepted a collection of his plays (Moraliteter, 1948); other plays were published by Radiotjänst (Swedish Public Radio). But Bonniers turned down a second volume of plays, giving as a reason the economic risk in publishing works in this genre. Bergman would later recall how this rejection stunned him and put a stop to his attempts to make a name for himself as a literary author: ‘It really bruised me, for I felt like an outsider in literature and in my own generation’. [det sved ordentligt i skinnet, därför att jag kände mig stå utanför litteraturen och min egen generation] (see Hammer, Ø 699, Interviews). His way of dealing with the disappointment was to deny that he had ever had any literary ambitions at all. Soon he stopped writing plays and began to call attention to himself as a filmmaker. In his essay ‘Det att göra film’ (1954), he writes somewhat defensively: ‘I myself have never had any ambition to be an author. I do not want to write novels, short stories, essays, biographies, or even plays for the theatre. I only want to make films. [...] I am a filmmaker, not an author’. [Själv har jag aldrig haft någon ambition att vara författare. Jag vill inte skriva romaner, noveller, essäer, biografier eller ens teaterpjäser. Jag vill bara göra film. [...] Jag är en filmskapare, inte en författare.] More than 15 years later, he still found it necessary to downplay the importance of the verbal aspect of filmmaking; in a note to the published script of Beröringen (1970, The Touch), he says: ‘The words can never express what the finished film wants to convey [...] at any rate, the manuscript is always a halfbaked-product, a pale and diffuse reflection’. [Orden kan ju aldrig uttrycka det den färdiga filmen vill förmedla [...] under alla förhållanden är manuskriptet alltid ett halvfabrikat, en blek och osäker spegelbild.] Bergman’s defensive attitude about his writing also resulted in his refusal for a long time to have his screenplays published in Sweden, claiming that there was no real
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Chapter II The Writer tradition in his country for bringing out film scripts in print (see Jungstedt, Ø 736, Interviews) and that the published film texts by his predecessor Hjalmar Bergman (1889-1930) did not read very well. However, an American edition of four of his screenplays from the 1950s was published in 1960. These scripts immediately achieved a separate ‘print’ status; they were presented not as prompt copies or shooting scripts but as texts to be read, and constituted what the American film critic Pauline Kael once called ‘a hybrid genre’, part drama, part novel. In other words, Ingmar Bergman began early on to evolve his own form of screenplays in which he dealt with the subjects and themes that were of personal importance to him. Differing a great deal from the standard technical shooting scripts developed by the film industry, they usually included ‘non-cinematic’ features, such as references to color (in intended B/ W films) and smell. More significantly, they used metaphors and similes that give literary significance to the text but were hardly transposable to the screen unless transformed into a piece of visual surrealism. An example is the opening lines to Det sjunde inseglet (1956, The Seventh Seal): ‘The knight [...] stares directly into the morning sun which wallows up from the misty sea like some bloated, dying fish. The sky is gray and immobile, a dome of lead’. [Riddaren [...] stirrar rakt in i morgonsolen som väller upp ur det disiga havet som en uppsvälld döende fisk. Himlen är grå och orörlig, en dom av bly.] Bergman began his career in the cinema at a time when literary authorship had a much higher cultural status in Sweden than filmmaking, especially in the solid bourgeois circles where he grew up. In a concerted effort to find not only good stories to transpose to the screen but also to raise the status of the cinema by aligning it to a literary canon, Swedish film producers nurtured a nostalgic wish to resurrect the native cinema’s old literary penmanship, which had lent prestige to the industry in the silent era when Victor Sjöström, Mauritz Stiller, and Gustaf Molander had based their most important films on the novels and stories by Selma Lagerlöf. In the early 1940s Swedish film producers voiced the view, like a mantra, that the key to recapturing the international scene was to locate a golden boy with a talent for good scriptwriting. Hence, the emergence of Ingmar Bergman as one of the world’s foremost cinéma d’auteurs is the story of a personal talent encountering the right cultural circumstances during his formative years. Also from an international perspective, Bergman’s screen authorship was an undertaking whose time had come. In 1948, Alexandre Astruc launched a new concept for filmmaking based on literary features, which he called ‘le caméra stylo’. The cinema, argued Astruc, was no longer a fairground attraction or an offshoot of the boulevard theatre. It was becoming ‘a form in which and by which an artist can express his thoughts [...] or translate his obsessions exactly as he does in the contemporary essay or novel.’ (See Alexandre Astruc, ‘The Birth of a New Avant-garde: “le caméra stylo”, in Peter Graham, ed., The New Wave. London: Secker & Warburg, 1968, pp. 17-23. First published in Ecran français, no. 144, 1948). Astruc’s ideas form the basis of the concept of the ‘cinéma d’auteur’ as launched in Cahiers du Cinéma in the 1950s under the editorship of such critics and filmmakers as François Truffaut, Eric Rohmer, JeanPhilippe Comolli, and Jean-Luc Godard. Soon ‘auteurism’ became a prominent feature in the British film magazine Movie and was also advocated in the U.S. by film critic Andrew Sarris. Sarris was co-editor of an English edition of Cahiers and was to be instrumental in introducing Bergman’s films to American audiences.
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Ingmar Bergman: Cinéma d’auteur ‘Auteurship’ was not, however, tantamount to providing literary scripts to the film industry. The concept coexisted with the demands by cinema purists to stress the difference between word and image as artistic expressions and to refer to the one as a literary (non-cinematic) instrument and to the other as the essence of filmmaking. Ingmar Bergman came to reflect this dichotomous view on filmmaking as both a literary-based tradition and a field whose serious practitioners emphasized the visual hegemony of the medium. Bergman would for instance claim that ‘since long I have felt a certain disinclination to tell stories on film. [...] I consider an attachment to epic and drama one of the curses of the cinema.’ [jag har sedan länge haft en viss olust att berätta historier på film. [...] jag anser att en av filmens förbannelser är bundenheten till epik och dramatik]. Yet, at the same time he would dismiss the idea that storytelling – usually associated with literary practice – would be detrimental to the film medium: ‘I do not find storytelling itself objectionable’. [jag finner [inte] själva berättandet förkastligt.] (‘Varje film är min sista film’, p. 4) In the end and despite his ‘literary disclaimers’, what would be unique about Bergman as a filmmaker was the extent to which he passed on a literary story-telling tradition to the screen, combining it with the role of an image maker. Or as the Danish critic Jesper Tang once noted apropos of Bergman’s screenplays: ‘Ingmar Bergman is – there is no doubt – first and foremost the master of images and visual rhythm, but on the other hand he makes use of the written word in his filmmaking in a skillful way that is rare among directors.’ (Tang, Kosmorama, 24, no. 137, 1978, p. 39). Clearly, Bergman needed, at least up to the writing of Persona (1966), to set down his theme and vision not only in a minimal verbal way in order to clarify his cinematic intention, but also in such a fashion that the printed text achieved its own autonomy of being. It is not surprising therefore to find certain discrepancies between Bergman’s screen dialogue and the printed (written) text. By the mid-1950s Bergman had established himself as both the author and director of films possessing an unmistakable personal voice. Few of his films after Gycklarnas afton (The Naked Night) in 1953 were to be authored by writers other than himself. Bergman could now be seen as a filmmaker whose personality could be traced in the thematic consistency of his works for the screen. Eventually, his auteurship would also result in a distinct Bergman film style with the close and sensitive registering of the human face as a particular trademark. Bergman has always been an astute psychological observer and narrator, focused on the inner turmoil of characters close to his own psyche and life experience. Bergman’s screenplays bear little resemblance to dialogue scripts (FIAF-designated Script IV). What is clear however is that the writing stage for him is not the final stage, for it is followed by the encounter between text and writer on the one hand and director, performers and cinematographer on the other. In its last, practical moment in the creative process, the Bergman script may undergo noticeable changes; however, these are usually related to the respective medium of expression (cinema, radio, television) and do not mean that the basic theme and personal vision differ when transposed from script to realized performance. Bergman’s comments in a 1987 radio program, ‘Vägen till Hamlet’ [The road to Hamlet], (SR, Channel 1, 17 April 1987), suggest a similar process in his theatre work from original directorial interpretation and early blocking of a play to his rehearsal encounter with the actors, which may affect details in a production but not his basic conception of the play.
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Chapter II The Writer Soon after his 1959 essay ‘Varje film är min sista film’, Bergman’s filmmaking began to proceed much more unequivocally from the visual, with an increasing emphasis on the human face. The final scene in Tystnaden/The Silence (1962) can serve as emblematic in this context: The camera registers the face of a child (Johan) whose lips move to test some words in an unknown language. The words have been handed to him on a piece of paper by his dying aunt who is a translator by profession, an interpreter of words. But while the camera moves closer and closer to the boy’s face, the words on paper remain inaudible when read by Johan. The ending of The Silence becomes a clear statement of image superceding word as a communicative tool. Persona from the mid-Sixties is the logical extension of this attempt to tell a story visually rather than verbally. The opening ‘prologue’ to that film consists of a cavalcade of images, of seemingly unrelated visual impressions that impact emotionally on the viewer but ‘make sense’ only when articulated intellectually. These images, loaded with symbolic references to both film history and Bergman’s earlier screen works, apparently took shape as the film was being shot. At any rate, they are not specified in the script, where the images on the film strip are described as mutable nature images of trees, clouds, moon landscapes, and mountains, while murmuring words ‘begin to surface like shadows of fish in steep and deep waters’ [börjar dyka fram likt skuggor av fiskar i ett bråddjupt vatten]. A comparison between Persona’s script and the finished screen product conveys in fact an ongoing process of a script being transformed into a motion picture. Bergman named the original script to Persona ‘Kinematografi’, thus indicating that he viewed the manuscript as part of a filmic process and not as a selfcontained verbal/literary product. And yet, in a prefatory note to the script, he addresses both readers and viewers (while talking about ‘Kinematografi’ as a musical score to be realized in collaboration with his cast and crew): I have not accomplished a film script in the ordinary sense. What I have written seems to me more like a melody [melodistämma] that I think I can instrumentalize with the help of my collaborators in the course of the shooting. I am uncertain on several points and, in at least one instance, I know nothing at all. For I discovered that the subject I had chosen was very big and that what I wrote or included in the final film (what a terrible thought!) had to be very arbitrary. Therefore, I invite the reader’s or viewer’s imagination to freely use the material that I have placed at their disposal. [Jag har inte åstadkommit ett filmmanuskript i vanlig bemärkelse. Vad jag har skrivit tycks mig närmast likna en melodistämma, som jag tror, att jag med mina medarbetares hjälp ska instrumentera under inspelningens gång. På många punkter är jag osäker och på åtminstone ett ställe vet jag ingenting alls. Jag upptäckte nämligen, att det ämne jag valt var mycket stort och att vad jag skrev eller vad jag tog med i den slutliga filmen (ruskiga tanke!) måste bli ytterligt godtyckligt. Därför inbjuder jag läsarens eller åskådarens fantasi, att fritt förfoga över det material, som jag ställt till förfogande.]
Bergman’s ‘uncertainty’ about the outcome of the Persona project is built into the script and is still reflected in the final film version with its enigmatic, unresolved ending. What ‘Kinematografi’ clearly suggests, however, and the film Persona confirms, is Bergman’s abandonment of the traditional narrative of his earlier films in which he would always prepare the reader/viewer for any shift in time or place through the
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Ingmar Bergman: Cinéma d’auteur explicit use of dreams or clearly stated flashbacks. A prime example is Smultronstället/ Wild Strawberries, structured as a life journey on both conscious and subconscious levels, where the aging protagonist’s nightmares and reminiscences are announced through his own first person narrative. There is a cohesiveness and completeness to Bergman’s written scripts from the 1950s that will change by the time he constructs Persona. Descriptive passages become increasingly rare in the script, the dialogue more cryptic or modernistic in its structure. There are also more marked differences between the script and the final film. In Viskningar och rop/Cries and Whispers the script is ‘no more’ than a ‘dear friends’ letter addressed to the film’s actresses. Here it is as much the presumed response of his cast as Bergman’s sparse presentation in the epistular text that constitutes the ‘script’. Bergman’s development as a screenwriter describes in fact a textual pruning process that culminates with the script for Cries and Whispers (1972). This process is analogous to his development of the chamber film concept, beginning with Såsom i en spegel (1960, Through a Glass Darkly), using only a handful of characters, a stark island or closed-room setting, and music rather than words as fleeting moments of communication between people. These ‘chamber film scripts’ are verbally frugal, suggesting that the writer Bergman now worked in closer collusion with the image-maker Bergman who sees the finished film in his mind but also seeks closer collaboration with his performers. However, a reversal of sorts takes place in the mid-1970s, beginning with the script to Scener ur ett äktenskap (1973, Scenes from a Marriage). Like the later scripts to Ormens ägg (1977, The Serpent’s Egg) and Höstsonat (1978, Autumn Sonata), the published screenplay to Scenes is a complete dialogue script but also retains a feature that characterized the scripts to both Persona and Cries and Whispers: Bergman’s own voice and commentary. The published volume of Scenes from a Marriage contains a preface, an explanatory message from the author to his readers: To prevent the constrained reader from getting lost in the text, I believe – contrary to my habit – I should write a commentary on the six scenes. Those who are offended by such guidance should skip the following lines. First scene: Johan and Marianne are conventional and set in their ways and believe in material security. They have never found their middle-class way of life oppressive or false. They have conformed to a pattern which they are prepared to pass on ... etc. [För att den nödtvungne läsaren inte ska gå vilse i texten tror jag att jag mot min vana bör ge en kommentar till de sex scenerna. Den som upplever ett sådant dirigerande som en förolämpning bör hoppa över följande rader. Första scenen: Johan och Marianne är barn av fasta normer och den materiella trygghetens ideologi. De har aldrig upplevt sin borgerliga livsföring som tryckande eller osann. De har inordnat sig i ett mönster som de är beredda att föra vidare... etc.] (p. 5)
This ‘intrusion’ of the author’s persona serves the function of providing the uninitiated reader with information similar to the ‘Dear friends’ letter in Cries and Whispers. The opening passage in the preface to Scenes is formulated like a polite invitation, somewhat punctilious in its fear of seeming imposing. But the rest of the preface is a synopsis and, above all, an interpretation of the plot, as if the author
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Chapter II The Writer Bergman distrusted his own screenplay as a self-contained story. In that sense it is still a scriptwriter cum filmmaker at work, reasoning that without the screen, the reader should at least have access to the guiding voice of the author. The preface might also have been dictated by the fact that Scenes from a Marriage was Bergman’s first venture into a new medium, a serialized television story, where he was still somewhat hesitant about his ability to communicate. And communication has always been at the heart of Bergman’s creativity. As a young man he once said in a radio interview (2 January 1947) that he had no interest in ‘closet writing’ produced for a select few. His artistic output was always to be viewed as part of a communicative process where no creative effort of his would be considered complete until performed and presented to a responsive audience. In yet another radio interview (25 February 1950), he declared his artistic goal to be ‘to speak simply about simple matters so that everyone will be able to understand and grasp what I mean and perhaps think about it and about what I perhaps have to contribute’ [att få tala enkelt om enkla saker, så att alla ska kunna förstå och begripa vad jag menar och kanske fundera på det och på det jag möjligen har att komma med]. It is probably this anxious desire to reach a reading or viewing audience that resulted in the use of what might be called Bergman’s intercepting voice: The narrator arresting his own narrative is an increasingly self-conscious feature in his writing. An explicit example occurs in the published version of Enskilda samtal (1996, Private Conversations), the fictional story of his mother’s marital crisis and love affair with a young theologian. At a most critical moment when Anna Bergman sits ‘straight and still with folded hands and a dry, wide-open look towards a dawn that never comes’ [rak och stilla med knäppta händer och en torr vidöppen blick mot en gryning som aldrig kommer], the narrator interrupts his own account, hesitant about how to proceed: It is most necessary that I break off at exactly this moment to think over the situation. Where do the waters well forth? What does truth look like? – Not the way it was in reality, that is uninteresting. Rather, this one thing: how is truth shaped or – how do the main actors’ thoughts, feelings, their anxious disposition shift, form and deform, and so on ad infinitum. I must stop and become careful: You give me a deadly blow. I give you a deadly blow. The main characters’ mental landscape is exposed to a violent quake – like a natural catastrophe. Is that at all possible to depict, and most importantly: is it not the long-term consequences in bodies, souls, minds and facial features that become visible little by little, perhaps a long time after the collapse? Is an anticipated dispute of this kind particularly verbalized? Rather, is it not fumbling, desperate and confused [...]? How do I depict the poisoning that imperceptibly fills the home like a nerve gas and that eats away everybody’s mind during a long time, perhaps the whole life? How do I depict partisan positions that of necessity become blurred and vacillating since the other players never have the possibility of sharing a factual truth? No one knows – everyone sees. [Det är i högsta grad nödvändigt att jag hejdar mig just i detta ögonblick och tänker över situationen. Var går källådrorna fram? Hur ser sanningen ut? – Inte hur det var i verkligheten, det är ointressant. Utan detta enda: hur gestaltar sig sanningen eller – hur förskjuts och formeras, deformeras huvudaktörernas tankar, känslor, deras ångestbenägenhet och så vidare i all oändlighet. Jag måste hejda mig och bli varsam: Du tillfogar mig ett dödligt hugg.
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Ingmar Bergman: Cinéma d’auteur Jag tillfogar dig ett dödligt hugg. Huvudpersonernas själsliga landskap utsätts för en våldsam skakning – som en naturkatastrof. Går detta överhuvudtaget att skildra, och viktigast: är det inte de långsiktiga konsekvenserna i kroppar, själar, sinnen och anletsdrag som blir synliga så småningom, kanske långt efter själva sammanbrottet? Är en uppgörelse av den art som nu förestår så särskilt verbaliserad? Blir den inte snarare fumlig, desperat och förvirrad...? Hur beskriver jag den förgiftning som omärkligt fyller hemmet som en nervgas och som fräter allas sinnen under lång tid, kanske hela livet? Hur skildrar jag ställningstaganden och partiskheter som nödvändigtvis blir suddiga och osäkra eftersom de medspelande i andra planet aldrig har möjlighet att ta del av en faktiskt sanning? Ingen vet – alla ser.] (printed text based on Script I, pp. 61-62)
Here ‘the intercepting voice’ is different from the author’s address to the reader/ viewer in ‘Kinematografi’ which was an invitation to participate in the creative process. In the instance just quoted, on the other hand, the author/narrator questions his (and everybody else’s) ability to formulate a mental and psychological crisis. It is an approach clearly associated with Bergman’s undertaking to depict his parents’ life. In fact, Bergman’s authorial presence in his scripts begins to take a different turn when he, after the making of Fanny and Alexander, abdicates his role as director in the cinema (but not on stage or in the media) and turns over to others – Bille August, Daniel Bergman, Liv Ullmann – the task of filming his own scripts. What was a voice commentary or a direct address to performers and readers in Persona, Cries and Whispers, and Scenes from a Marriage becomes in Den goda viljan (1992, Best Intentions) and Enskilda samtal (1996, Private Conversations) the voyeuristic presence of an aging son recreating his parents’ story with far more realism than when he projected himself as Fanny and Alexander’s young title figure in a fantasy of his childhood. In Trolösa (2000, Faithless), based on the memories of a painful event in his own adult life, Bergman is both author and narrator, both inside and outside of his story. In the script he decamouflages his narrative self by calling him Ingmar Bergman, but this too is part fiction since it is understood that this figure named Ingmar Bergman will be enacted by a professional actor, Erland Josephson. Given these convoluted authorial/narrative positions, so similar to modernistic meta-experimentations in contemporary fiction, it comes as no surprise that Ingmar Bergman begins to look upon his scriptwriting as the work of a modern novelist – he refers for instance to Den goda viljan/Best Intentions as a novel. It is a long and yet clearly staked road that Ingmar Bergman, the filmmaker/writer, has travelled since his early insistence to have his film scripts recognized as both narrative outlines and musical scores to be completed in the film studio. Relatively little has been written on Ingmar Bergman as a writer of scripts. See the following items annotated in Chapter IX (Writings on Ingmar Bergman): Alpert, Hollis. ‘Bergman as Writer’. Saturday Review, 27 August 1960, pp. 22-23; Benedyktowicz, Zbigniew. ‘Obraz i słowo. O scenariuszach Bergmana’. Tygodnik Powszechny, no. 4, 1974; Ingemansson, Birgitta. ‘The Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman: Personification and Olefactory Detail’. Literature/Film Quarterly 12, no. 1 (1984): 27-33; Koskinen, Maaret. I begynnelsen var ordet. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand, 2002, passim;
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Chapter II The Writer Ohlin, Peter. ‘Through a Glass Darkly: Figurative Language in Ingmar Bergman’s Script’. Scandinavian Canadian Studies/Etudes Scandinaves au Canada 3, 1988, pp. 73-88; Scott, James. Film: The Medium and the Maker. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1975, pp. 11-13, 167-68, 179-83, and 211-14; Tang, Jesper. ‘Bergman som scriptforfatter’ [Bergman as scriptwriter]. Kosmorama 24, no. 137 (Spring 1978): 39; Törnqvist, Egil. Bergman’s Muses. Æsthetic Versatility in Film, Theatre, Television and Radio. Jefferson, N.C. & London, 2003. Chapter 3, titled ‘From Screenplay to Film: Bergman’s The Communicants’, pp. 46-64. Viswanathan, Jacqueline. ‘Ciné-romans: le livre du film’. Cinéma IX, no. 2-3 (Spring 1999): 1336; Welsh, James. ‘Symposium on Published Scripts: Bergman and Anderson for Sophomores’. Cinema Journal 11, no. 1 (Fall) 1971: 52-57. Winston, D. in his The Screenplay as Literature. London: The Tantivy Press, 1973, pp. 96-115 (on script to Smutronstället/Wild Strawberries).
The Young Playwright As a young artist in the making, Ingmar Bergman wrote both fiction and, above all, drama. In fact, most of his earliest artistic ventures were those of a would-be playwright. Few of Bergman’s early dramatic efforts were ever published, but some of them exist in handwritten drafts or typed manuscript form in SFI’s Ingmar Bergman Archive. They have titles like ‘Reskamrater’ (Travel Companions, an adaptation of a tale by H.C. Andersen), ‘Stationen’ (The Station), ‘De ensamma’ (The Lonely Ones), ‘Kaspers död’ (Death of Punch), ‘Tivolit’ (The Fun Fair), ‘Fullmånen’ (The Full Moon), ‘Dimman’ (The Fog), ‘Om en mördare’ (About a Murderer). Of these ‘Tivolit’ and ‘Kaspers död’ were staged by Bergman in the early 1940s at the Stockholm Student Theatre. When performed there in 1943, ‘Kaspers död’ was advertised as a play that ‘breaks with all currently acceptable literature and theatre conventions’ [bryter med alla för tillfället vedertagna litteratur- och teaterkonventioner]. (See program note titled ‘Möte med Kasper’, Ø 13). Contemporary reviews, though short, suggested however an affinity with expressionistic Schrei-dramen of the 1920s; for that reason, some critics found the play passé. Bergman responded by subtitling his next work – ‘Tivolit’ – ‘ett teaterstycke från tjugotalet’ [a theatre piece of the Twenties]. Actually, these early plays from Bergman’s Sturm und Drang period adhere to a mindscape in modern Swedish drama which began with Strindberg's post-Inferno production and was revived in 1918 by the playwright and novelist Pär Lagerkvist, in a series of one-act dramas called Den svåra stunden (The Difficult Hour). Lagerkvist’s desperate, expressionistic cry for meaning in a world where God remains silent certainly reverberates in Bergman’s early play production. A program note to one of his stagings from the Forties – a dramatization of contemporary Swedish novelist Olle Hedberg's work Bekänna färg (Show your cards) – suggests that Bergman was well aware of Lagerkvist's metaphysical stance. Hedberg, says Bergman, did not even have ‘the belief in Pär Lagerkvist’s blind and dead God who sits frozen in his heaven’ [tron på Pär Lagerkvists blinde och döde gud som sitter frusen i himlen]. However, in a volte face move at the end of ‘Kaspers död’, Bergman lets his title figure face not a stern, silent god but a kind judge who proclaims the existence of
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The Young Playwright human love. What is depicted in ‘Kaspers död’ is a split image: ‘a god frozen in his heaven’ and a providential force. Eventually the cold, satanic god figure would become the dominant one in Bergman's metaphysical probing and emerge as the possessive ‘spider god’ and ‘the god of silence’ in such films as Såsom i en spegel (Through a Glass Darkly), Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light), and Tystnaden (The Silence). In the mid-1940s Bergman submitted a play titled Jack bland skådespelarna (Jack Among the Actors) to the theatre section at the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation. It was refused but later published by Bonniers (1946). Jack bland skådespelarna can be seen as a sequel to ‘Kaspers död’, as suggested by the name of its central character, Jack Kasparsson. A corporal in the army, Jack joins a provincial theatre group, led by a director he has never met. The plot evolves like a Pirandellean game of identities until the Director, still invisible, decides to dissolve the troupe. In the end he appears before Jack and reveals his true ‘bergmanian’ nature: he is both god figure and devil. Bergman's collection of three plays, published two years later (1948) under the common title Moraliteter (Morality Plays), maintains the metaphysical probing of his earlier works for the stage. His implied definition of a morality play suggests a work that is a moral fable but not a religious allegory in the medieval sense of the term. Bergman's ‘moralities’ do not have the abstracted juxtaposition of salvation and damnation as do their generic Christian prototypes, such as Everyman and The Castle of Perseverance. Rather, his Moraliteter are modern dramas where conflicts may be unraveled in terms of profane psychology. This is especially true of the first play in the collection, Rakel och biografvaktmästaren (Rachel and the Cinema Doorman), a conventional melodrama about a tempting lover, a suicidal impotent husband, a protective wife (Rakel), and a childlike woman (Mia) who is shot and killed accidentally. In a later screen version of Rakel och biografvaktmästaren that appears as one of the episodes in Kvinnors väntan (1952, Secrets of Women), Bergman omitted Mia. But Mia (Maria) surfaces again as the juggler Jof 's wife in Det sjunde inseglet. (1956, The Seventh Seal). The second dramatic work in the same volume, Dagen slutar tidigt (Early Ends the Day), maintains a more explicit morality play pattern by using allegorized characters and binary moral opposites typical of the genre. With its oscillation between worldly decadence, clairvoyance, and metaphysical despair, Dagen slutar tidigt becomes a dramatic hybrid, part mental thriller, part metaphysical fantasy. Again, an absolute and invisible power determines human life. An old woman, Mrs. Åström, has heard a voice ordering her to tell five different people that they are going to die the following day. She is to accompany them on their journey, and as such she becomes an early version of the figure of Death in Det sjunde inseglet. The play also bears a certain resemblance to Sutton Vane’s drama Outward Bound, the first stage work to be directed by Ingmar Bergman back in 1938 (see Ø 344). The last of Bergman's three morality plays, Mig till skräck (Unto My Fear) raises a question that was possibly provoked by his increasing involvement in the filmmaking industry in the late Forties: To what a degree can an artist concede to popular demand or production pressure without losing his creative integrity? Paul, the main character in Mig till skräck, is a young writer of metaphysical novels who gives in to his publisher’s wish that he change the religious ending of his book. This has fatal consequences for Paul’s sense of self-respect. Soon betrayals and lies jeopardize the
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Chapter II The Writer future of his marriage and his relationship with other people. In a scene anticipating the film Fanny och Alexander, made some 40 years later, an old Jew by the name of Isak, who is a friend of Paul's grandmother, explains why Paul's artistic compromise was unforgivable: ‘You went into futility with open eyes. Others don't see it. But you chose it in full awareness and in clear possession of your senses’ [Du gick in i meningslösheten med öppna ögon. Andra ser det inte. Men du valde det i fullt medvetande och i klar besittning av dina sinnen]. It is a measure of Bergman's growth as a dramatic artist that this rather simplistic moral exhortation in Mig till skräck would, in Fanny and Alexander, develop into a complex encounter between the young imaginative child Alexander – a potential artist – and the visionary Isak (and his locked-up relative Ishmael). Isak shows his young protégé the profound power of conviction, which can bring about miracles like self-illuminating mummies and inexplicable rescues of imprisoned children. From a dramaturgical point of view, Mig till skräck is still an apprentice work in which Bergman tries to telescope a lifetime into Paul's conflict with his publisher. When compared to a later confessional life journey by Bergman, undertaken by the aging Isak Borg in Smultronstället (1957, Wild Strawberries), Paul’s situation in Mig till skräck seems static, and he himself experiences no inner conflict but only a prolonged sense of self-pity. However, the play contains a storehouse of Bergman role figures that will appear in his later production. Two of the most colorful ones are Paul's grandmother and her housekeeper, Mean, old women who perform the roles of evil and good fairies (Mean’s name has no connection to the English word ‘mean’). During his formative years as a writer and director, Ingmar Bergman was also active in the radio theatre, by tradition a strong dramatic medium in Sweden. In 1951 he submitted and published Staden (The City), the same year Pär Lagerkvist received the Nobel Prize in literature. Bergman’s play shares with Lagerkvist’s works the central concept of ‘utplånande’ or ‘being wiped out/annihilated’. The main character in Staden is a failing artist with the symbolic name of Joakim (Jack) Naked. The figure of Joakim Naken, whose name might be seen as an alternative to Jack Kasparsson (Jack Clownson) appears in a number of unpublished manuscript fragments from the late 1940s. A complete manuscript dated 1949 and titled ‘Joakim Naken eller Självmordet. Melodram i tre akter’ [Joakim Naked or the Suicide. Melodrama in three acts] was submitted to Bonniers for publication but was refused. See (Ø 61). In a radio interview in 1966, when Staden was rebroadcast, Bergman told his listeners that the play was written after a crisis in his life. He had been ‘kicked out’ from Svensk Filmindustri, he had left the Göteborg City Theatre, his affiliation with the Intimate Theatre in Stockholm as a guest director was unhappy, and his private life was in shambles after a second divorce. When he finally began to work his way out of his depression, he felt a need to transform his experiences into a play. Writing as therapy functioned as a valid principle for Bergman. As in a number of Ingmar Bergman's early works for the stage and the screen, which are structured as explorations of the past, Staden too is a psychological journey back to the city of childhood and youth. Its protagonist, Joakim Naken, travels into the surreal landscape of the subconscious. The contours of the city take on the grotesque features of a painting by Hieronymous Bosch. Joakim encounters a pastor who insists that life be regarded as a correctional institution; he runs into a former mistress who has been through a painful divorce; he is confronted with his wife who
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The Young Playwright is condemned to death for killing three of their children. Allegorical figures appear, such as Oliver Mortis or ‘Döden i din ande’ [Death in your spirit]. A strange old man named ‘The Pump’ makes predictions of a natural calamity that will destroy the city. Spiritually bankrupt, Joakim learns however that a new city will be built on the ruins of the one to be destroyed. His grandmother provides him with encouragement and hope: ‘You must believe in a sense of fellowship, in the keen expectations of tomorrow, in your own possibilities’ [Du måste tro på en sorts gemenskap, på morgondagens starka förväntningar, på dina egna möjligheter]. But as in Mig till skräck, Staden ends on a note of optimism that is not really motivated by the dramatic context. A comparison with Ibsen's Peer Gynt comes to mind. Like Peer, Joakim Naked is a self without integrity, who comes to realize the futility of his life, only to be saved by a representative of womankind. In a speech reminiscent of Peer Gynt's famous onion metaphor, where the peeling of one layer after another only reveals the lack of a core, Joakim Naked admits: ‘Now I have stripped to the skin [...] and the same thing happened to me as to a person I saw in a film. When he undressed and took the bandages off his face and hands, there was neither body nor face nor hands. There was nothing’. [Nu har jag klätt av mig in på bara skinnet [...] och samma sak hände mig som en person jag såg i en film. När han klädde av sig och tog bandaget från ansiktet och händerna, fanns det varken kropp eller ansikte eller händer. Där fanns ingenting.] The most obvious literary incentive for Staden is not Ibsen's play, however, but Strindberg's drama Till Damaskus (1898, To Damascus). The second half of Bergman’s play takes place at the house of Joakim Naked's grandmother where he runs into all the people he has met earlier, though his first encounter with them took place in a nightmare. There is a certain structural similarity here between Staden and Strindberg’s Till Damaskus, which is also conceived as a circular confessional journey. The protagonists in both plays oscillate between self-accusation and reluctant penitence, and both are engaged in a spiritual quest that starts at a low point in their lives. The two works are station dramas with the dramatic action composed as a series of crucial stops and encounters with people who serve as catalysts in a self-centered conflict. Joakim Naked's excessively emotional attitude towards women and his mood swings between strong hate and nostalgic love seem also quite Strindbergian in origin. Bergman himself has readily admitted his young dependence on Strindberg’s work, which he deliberately copied: The first time I came in contact with Strindberg, I was twelve. It was an enormous experience, and I believe my first plays... I quite simply copied Strindberg. I tried to write like him, dialogues, scenes, everything. Beyond all comparison Strindberg was my idol. His vitality, his anger, I felt it inside me. And I believe I wrote quite a few Strindberg-inspired plays. [Första gången jag kom i kontakt med Strindberg var jag tolv år. Det var en enorm upplevelse, och jag tror att mina första pjäser... jag kopierade Strindberg helt enkelt. Jag försökte skriva som honom, dialoger, scener, allt. Utan jämförelse var Strindberg min idol. Hans vitalitet, hans vrede, den kände jag inom mig. Och jag tror att jag skrev en hel del Strindbergsinspirerade pjäser.] (Tre dagar med Bergman, Ø 919, p. 14)
Bergman began his stage career with several remarkable productions of Strindbergian dramas: Lycko-Pers resa (Lucky Per's Journey) in 1939; Pelikanen (The Pelican) and
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Chapter II The Writer Svarta handsken (The Black Glove) in 1940; Fadren (The Father) and Spöksonaten (The Ghost Sonata) in 1941. From Strindberg's naturalistic dramas he learnt the rapid, highstrung repartees in an emotional duel between man and woman. From Strindberg the expressionist he absorbed both a modernist dramatic form and a revival of the medieval morality play with its abstracted characters and Christian ethos. From Strindberg the writer of history plays Bergman borrowed plot elements and took similar liberties with historical events; an example is the play Trämålning (1954, Wood Painting). Here Bergman telescopes history into a 14th-century setting that includes references to the Crusades, the bubonic plague and witch burning, events which in reality took place over several centuries. As with Strindberg in his medieval play Folkungasagan (1898, Saga of the Folkungs), Bergman allowed dramatic expediency to overrule historical fact. A key word in the critical assessment of Bergman’s early stage plays is ‘excess’. This becomes particularly apparent in his dark drama Mordet i Barjärna (Murder at Barjärna), which he presented at the Malmö City Theatre in 1952. This highly theatrical production provoked a very harsh response from reviewers, many of whom felt that Bergman’s grotesque spectacle about a 19th century murderer and priest could not be redeemed by his virtuoso stagecraft. Members in the audience reportedly walked out on opening night, a rare phenomenon in the Swedish theatre world. Though sometimes performed in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Bergman’s early stage plays have not been part of the theatre repertory since then. Bergman himself has repeatedly announced his own lack of interest in reviving them: I haven't staged my own plays very often. I am not particularly fond of them, so I am not all that happy about having others stage them either. They are not very good. A few, two or three are not so bad. But to stage your own works becomes a kind of unbearable masturbation. [Jag har inte särskilt ofta satt upp mina egna pjäser. Jag är inte särskilt förtjust i dem, så jag ser inte gärna att andra sätter upp dom heller. Dom är inte särskilt bra, tycker jag. Ett fåtal, två eller tre, är inte så dåliga. Men att sätta upp sina egna verk blir en sorts outhärdlig masturbation.] (Tre dagar med Bergman, p. 17)
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The Writer of Prose Fiction Bergman’s early stage plays comprise the following titles (not including unpublished drafts; for these, check the bibliographical record of Bergman’s writing after this introduction): Kaspers död (1940) Tivolit (1941) Reskamraten (1942) Jack hos skådespelarna (1946) Moraliteter (1948; includes Rakel hos biografvaktmästaren, Dagen slutar tidigt, and Mig till skräck) Kamma noll (1948) Staden (1950) Mordet i Barjärna (1952) Trämålning (1954) Apart from reviews, relatively little has been written on young Ingmar Bergman as a playwright. See the following items: Gado, Frank. The Passion of Ingmar Bergman. Durham: Duke UP, 1986, pp. 19-36; Himmelstrand, Ulf. ‘Ingmar Bergman och döden’ [IB and death]. SvD, July 7, 1952, p. 4. (On Dagen slutar tidigt); Koskinen, Maaret. Ingmar Bergman: Allting föreställer, ingenting är. Stockholm: Nya Doxa, 2000, pp. 24-29, and I begynnelsen var ordet, 2002, pp. 157-172, 249-262. Læstadius, Lars-Levi. ‘Kamma noll’. Röster i Radio, no. 28 (10-16 July) 1949, p. 6. Ring, Lars. ‘Tidiga pjäser låter oss kika in i Bergmans verkstad’ [Early plays let us look into B’s workshop]. SvD, 13 February 1998, p. 19-20. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ingmar Bergman as a Playwright’, in Ingmar Bergman. New York: Twayne, 1968, pp. 25-37. Wallqvist, Örjan. ‘Puritanen och Kasperteatern’. AT, 6 September 1949, p. 2-3.
The Writer of Prose Fiction Bergman’s earliest writing, both published and unpublished, is often composed as short stories or fictional vignettes. In fact, many of his first film ‘scripts’ were subtitled ‘short stories for film’ and were conceived as prose narratives rather than screen dramas. This is especially the case prior to his international breakthrough as a filmmaker in 1956. Many of these fragments and vignettes also suggest that some of his early authorial figures, Kasper and Jack, first emerged in narrative prose form. One work, ‘Kaspernoveller’ (1942, Punch stories) includes a fragment that appeared in the modernistic magazine 40-tal. Titled ‘En kortare berättelse om ett av Jack Uppskärarens tidigaste barndomsminnen’ [A shorter tale about one of Jack the Ripper’s earliest childhood memories], the piece is, like much of Bergman’s initial fiction, written in a somewhat burlesque style, while revealing its roots in a personal world and functioning as a kind of urtext that embodies familiar Bergman conflicts: eschatological fears and strident parent-child or man-woman relations. (See Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet. Ingmar Bergman och hans tidiga författarskap 2002). The rhetorical pitch in this early work is excessive and hysterical, the depicted world often nightmarish and expressionistic. In that sense a story like ‘Jack Uppskäraren’ shares the tone of Berg-
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Chapter II The Writer man’s early plays for the stage: there is a strong resemblance between Jack’s adult memory of a nightmarish, sexually ambivalent encounter as a 3-year-old with a miniature girl who turns out to be a boy he later murders, and the misogynist tensions (as well as grandmother setting) of Paul’s personal drama in the play Mig till skräck (1948). But Jack Uppskäraren’s child murder motif also lives on as a recurrent scene in several of Bergman’s later film scripts, sometimes involving the death of an actual small person, sometimes presented symbolically as a rag doll or a fish. In ‘Eva’ the narrator’s child memory concerns the accidental death of a little blind girl; in ‘Fängelse’ the main character, Birgitta Carolina, has a nightmare in which her baby is transformed into a fish whose neck is broken; in Smultronstället Isak Borg’s mother pulls a rag doll out of a box of childhood mementoes in a scene alluding to emotional atrophy; in Persona the ‘double take’ of Alma and Elisabeth is related to Alma’s abortion and Elisabeth’s rejection of her boy; in Vargtimmen, in a flashback fishing episode, the painter Johan reenacts Jack’s childhood memory in the drowning of the boy who attacks him on the cliffs. Thus, Bergman uses one of the most famous murderers in history, Jack the Ripper, to launch a recurrent motif and set of image clusters that in retrospect can be seen to form a receptacle of Bergman themes. In the milk-and-strawberry sequence in The Seventh Seal, the Squire Jöns offers to sing a bawdy song about an amorous fish. Perhaps this is a humorous reference to Bergman’s novella titled ‘Fisken. Fars för film’, originally published in Biografbladet 31, no. 4 (Winter) 1950-51 and 32, no. 1 (Spring) 1951. In this absurd story about Joachim who encounters a fairytale fish that gives him three wishes to be fulfilled, the plot revolves around a sexual conflict between Joachim and two women (wife and mistress). Condemned to death for having killed his wife’s lover, Joachim escapes execution because of a malfunctioning guillotine. His last wish is to return to the womb of his mistress. There seems to be a foreshadowing here of Frost’s concluding lines in Gycklarnas afton (The Naked Night) where he tells of a dream he has had in which he returned to the womb of his wife Alma. Ultimately the fish metaphor is connected to a creative process, to an archetypal moment of conception.
Post-filmmaking Prose After declaring his exit from filmmaking with Fanny and Alexander in 1982, Bergman continued to produce prose works of very conscious literary form, such as his memoirs Laterna magica/The Magic Lantern (1987), structured like a Proustian series of personal recollections interspersed with more contemporary events. His ‘novels’ like Den goda viljan/Best Intentions (1991), Söndagsbarn/Sunday’s Child (1992/93), Enskilda samtal/Private Conversations (1994/95) move freely between biographical fact and reconstruction of an emotionally charged human story that happens to be his (fictionalized) family’s. Den goda viljan depicts the early years in the marriage of a young pastor and his wife; it signals upcoming marital problems, family tensions and ends about the time of the birth of a second son, Ingmar. Söndagsbarn centers on the childhood of this second son, nicknamed Little Pu, and focusses a great deal on the relationship between father and son. Enskilda samtal, finally, tells the story of the mother, approaching middle age and in love with a much younger theology student. Together with the TV play Larmar och gör sig till/In the Presence of a Clown (1994), all
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Post-filmmaking Prose these works form a compressed family history, not quite documentary, not quite fiction. Names have been reshuffled and events telescoped for the sake of dramatic convenience. Thus for instance, a crucial background incident in Den goda viljan – the Queen hearing Pastor Bergman preach – did not take place until 1924 when young Ingmar was six (Den goda viljan ends in 1918 just prior to his birth). There is a clear difference between Bergman’s early plays and prose works from the late 1940s and his depiction of his family saga after the making of Fanny and Alexander. The early works are permeated with the often desperate and definitely rebellious tone of an angry young man, presented in an intense and loud expressionistic style. The later works are written by an old man whose main concerns are to seek understanding and possibly reconciliation with those who gave him life and material to create with. The urgent spirit at one time that shaped the adolescent outbursts by the writer Bergman has not only mellowed, it has returned to using language as a literary tool and recognizes that words employed imaginatively can shape and manifest a universe as much as images in films. All of Ingmar Bergman’s literary works after he left his large-scale filmmaking in 1982 have borne the signs of a writer who can look upon his past with a certain distance but who has also rediscovered the pleasure that lies in story-telling on paper. The narrator Bergman supersedes the filmmaker but also closes the creative circle that began with his first literary sketches in his notebooks from his late teens. Thus, there is both a psychological closure and a creative completeness to Ingmar Bergman’s writing. In the critical canon examining Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking, it is not uncommon to find quoted samples of a Bergman ‘text’ which move back and forth between his published script and the filmed dialogue. However, there are often important discrepancies between the script and the finished film. This becomes accentuated in the late prose works, which Bergman knew he was not going to film himself. If the original Swedish manuscript has been translated, the refereed ‘text’ takes on an even more nebulous status. (See Törnqvist, ‘Ingmar Bergman Abroad. The Problems of Subtitling.’ 1998, 23 pp. Ø 1650). Any student of Bergman’s late prose faces in fact a rich field of variations between the written and the filmed texts. On the one hand, Bergman’s fiction after Fanny and Alexander contains self-conscious notes that cannot be transferred to the screen. On the other hand, the very same texts borrow the approach of a former filmmaker. Thus, Best Intentions, Sunday’s Child, and Private Confessions seem built on three ‘filmic’ principles: (1) visualization of a scene through concrete detail; a word written must be a word seen; (2) making people confront each other in ‘close-ups’; making them face each other in sharp and direct dialogue; (3) telling a story elliptically, using a cutting technique that forces the reader to fill in the gaps and become a participant in the narrative. Emotional involvement, not intellectual understanding is the ultimate purpose, so that reading the text is a little like watching a (Bergman) film, i.e., being drawn into the magic of a world projected on the screen in a dark cinema. For additional comments, see reception of Bergman’s post-filmmaking prose, Ø 185, 188, 191, 192, 194, 199. Bergman’s late prose works suggest that the further behind he left the film studio, the more he moved towards an acceptance of himself as a writer. However, this is not to say that he himself has regarded these late printed texts as words in search of a reader only. In fact, in several cases he has directed his own late writings for television, such as Sista skriket (The Last Scream), Larmar och gör sig till (In the Presence of a
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Chapter II The Writer Clown) and Saraband. In the introductory piece ‘Monolog’ in the collection Femte akten (2000, The Fifth Act) which includes Sista skriket, he suggests that the written word is a flexible tool, as much an instrument for a performance as a reading experience: I wrote the texts in this book without giving a thought to their possible medium, using a method something like that of the harpsichord sonatas by Bach – though they are otherwise not comparable. They can be played by string quartets, wind ensembles, guitar, organ or piano. I wrote them in the way I have been accustomed to writing for more than fifty years – it looks like drama but could just as easily be film, television or simply texts for reading. [Bokens texter är skrivna utan tanke på eventuellt medium vid ett framförande ungefär som cembalosonater av Bach (utan jämförelse i övrigt). De kan spelas av stråkkvartett, blåsensemble, gitarr, orgel eller piano. Jag har skrivit som jag varit van att skriva sedan mer än femtio år – det ser ut som teater men det kan lika gärna vara film, television eller bara läsning.] (p. 8).
For discussions of Ingmar Bergman’s prose works, see the following: Ekbom, Thorsten. ‘Ingmar Bergman tillbaka till det skrivna ordet’ [IB back to the written word]. DN, 25 January 1993, p. B1-B2. (review of Söndagsbarn, contrasting it to Bergman’s early short story ‘En kortare berättelse om en av Jack Uppskärarens tidigaste barndomsminnen’ [A short tale about one of Jack the Ripper’s earliest childhood memories]. 40-tal, no. 3, 1944, pp. 5-9). Haverty, Linda. ‘Strindbergman: The Problem of Filming Autobiography in Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander’. Literature/Film Quarterly 16, no. 3, 1988: 174-80. James, Caryn. ‘Bergman as Novelist’. In Ingmar Bergman. An Artist’s Journey, ed. by Roger W. Oliver. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1995, pp. 112-115. Koskinen, Maaret. I begynnelsen var ordet. Ingmar Bergman och hans tidiga författarskap. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand, 2002, pp. 290-299 and passim. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Laterna magica’. Finsk Tidskrift, no. 2-3 (Spring 1988): 78-90. —. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Bilder och den självbiografiska genren’. Finsk Tidskrift, no. 5 (Autumn 1991): 274-286. Vinge, Louise. ‘The Director as Writer: Some Observations on Ingmar Bergman’s “Den goda viljan”’. In A Century of Swedish Narrative: Essays in Honour of Karin Petherick’. Norwich: Norvik Press, 1994, pp. 281-93. Wright, Rochelle. ‘The Imagined Past in Ingmar Bergman’s The Best Intentions.’ In Ingmar Bergman. An Artist’s Journey. On Stage, On Screen, In Print, ed. by Roger W. Oliver. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1995 pp. 116-25.
List of Bergman’s Written Work Listed below in chronological order are both published and unpublished works by Ingmar Bergman. Some early unpublished items have been located by the editor, but for the most part such material stems from Ingmar Bergman’s private papers at Fårö, recently deposited at the SFI. Though annotated here, students are advised to check
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List of Bergman’s Written Work Maaret Koskinen’s inventory in her book I begynnelsen var ordet. Ingmar Bergman och hans tidiga författarskap. Ø 1681, p. 321 ff. In addition to copies of Bergman’s film scripts included in his recent gift of personal material, unpublished scripts are also available in the Swedish Film Institute and, at times, in Uppsala Film Studio’s library. The manuscript designation for Bergman’s film scripts that is used here follows the international FIAF formula: Script I Script II Script III Script IV
describes action but not in terms of takes describes and divides action into takes but does not list length of takes states length of each take gives dialogue list only
Script titles are listed under their original title in Swedish. Translations of individual scripts appear in the Swedish script entry. In addition, major volumes of translations that contain more than one script are listed separately under the translated title and under the year of publication. For instance, the volume Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman, which contains translations of the scripts to Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende), The Seventh Seal (Sjunde inseglet), Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället), and The Magician (Ansiktet), is listed as a separate entry (Ø 110) under its year of publication (1960), but there are also cross references to this volume of translations in the individual entries to the four original film titles (Ø 91, 98, 101, 102).
1935-37 1.
Studentuppsatser, Palmgrenska Samskolan [Student themes, Palmgrenska Lyceum]. Bergman’s Fårö papers include some of his school essays on various assigned themes: ‘Hemmet och de olika familjemedlemmarnas uppgifter’ [The home and various family members’ tasks], dated 18 September 1935; ‘Är det berättigat att tala om den gamla goda tiden?’ [Is it justifiable to talk about the good old days?], dated October 25, 1935; ‘Den moderna ungdomen’ [Modern youth], dated 19 November 1935; ‘Recension av någon bok, jag nyss läst. Guy de Pourtales “Richard Wagner”’ [Review of a book I have read recently. G. de P’s ‘Richard Wagner’], dated 5 February 1936. See Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet, 2002, p. 336). Not annotated among Ingmar Bergman’s Fårö papers is his graduation essay at the Palmgrenska school, spring 1937, titled ‘Några huvuddrag i Selma Lagerlöfs författarskap’ [Some main features in Selma Lagerlöf ’s authorship]. The Palmgrenska school no longer exists; its student material has been transferred to Stockholms Stadsarkiv. This item is catalogued there under Palmgrenska, Klass L III, volume F 1:21. Bergman singles out the following aspects of Selma Lagerlöf ’s authorship: her love of people and of nature, her interest in the supernatural, and her imagination.
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Chapter II The Writer
1938 2.
Group Item: SFP, Mäster Olofsgården newsletter, 1938-1940 SFP was an abbreviation of ‘Storkyrkoflickorna och Storkyrkopojkarna’ (Great Church girls/ boys), an organized youth group at Mäster Olofsgården, a settlement house in Stockholm’s Old City. See introduction, theatre chapter. *
During his two years as director at MO-gården’s amateur theatre section, Bergman wrote several notices about his own productions and about film and theatre offerings in Stockholm. His first note, titled ‘Till främmande hamn’ [lit. To a foreign port], appeared in SFP no. 3, 1938, and concerns his thoughts about his first production at MO-gården, Sutton Vane’s Outward Bound. Cf. theatre chapter (VI), Introduction and (Ø 344). Material is available at Mäster Olofsgården Archive. Bergman’s Fårö papers contain a small notebook with references to Mäster Olofsgården. See also Henrik Sjögren’s Lek och raseri, 2002, pp. 43-60, for selective quotes from SFP notices.
Additional SFP items written by Bergman are listed below in chronological order: *
‘Teatraliskt i stan’ [Theatrics in town], SFP, no. 2 (1939), p. 1.
Short presentation by Bergman of theatre and film offerings in Stockholm, recommending Strindberg and several French films. Bergman’s comments are motivated by a desire to ‘prove that there is much worthwhile to see on stage right now and that Stockholm’s theatre world has stepped out of its mud bath level’ [bevisa att det finns mycket värt att se på scenen just nu och att Stockholms teatervärld har tagit steget ut ur sin gyttjebadsnivå]. In another column in the same SFP issue, Bergman worries about the reception of his next production (see next item) since it might be too ‘exclusive’ a repertory; he recalls the inappropriate laughter and insensitive response to his presentation of Outward Bound a year earlier: ‘We cherubs, raggamuffins and others have our own experience of a hard-to-please audience and a strange, somewhat unappreciative corps of critics’ [Vi kyrkänglar, trashankar och andra har ju våra erfarenheter av en hårdflirtad publik och en egendomlig, något oförstående kritik]. *
‘Experimentteater!’ [Experimental theater], SFP, no. 3, 1939, p. 24.
Announcement signed ‘B-man’ of two performances, to be presented at Nicolai Elementary School on Ash Wednesday: Danish author Axel Bentzonich’s dramatic short story ‘Guldkarossen’ [The Golden Chariot] and Runar Schildt’s play Galgmannen [The Hangman]. This column is juxtaposed to one expressing Bergman’s worries that the Mäster Olofsgården audience seems reluctant to accept an ‘exclusive repertory’ on its premises. *
‘Lycko-Pers resa’ [Lucky Per’s journey], SFP, no. 3, 1939, p. 5.
Presentation of Strindberg’s play directed by Bergman at Mäster Olofsgården and focusing on the moral content of the play. Cf. Commentary, Ø 347. See also SFP, no. 2 (1939), p. 1, for note on rehearsals of Strindberg’s play; cf. Koskinen, I begynmelsen var ordet. p. 338. *
‘Evenemang’ [Events] SFP, no. 8, 1939, p. 8.
Signed ‘Regissören’ (The Director) this is a brief presentation of an upcoming double bill: Edmond Rostand’s 18th-century play ‘Romantik’ (Romance) and Doris Rönnqvist’s play ‘Höstrapsodi’ [Autumn Rhapsody]. Bergman proudly announces that Mäster Olofsgården’s theatre section is now self-supporting with its own volunteer composer, light and art designers, photographer and PR-man.
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List of Bergman’s Written Work *
‘Experimentteatern igen’ [Experimental theater once more], SFP, no. 9 (1939), p. 3.
A personal presentation of Bergman’s forthcoming production at Mäster Olofsgården of Pär Lagerkvist’s drama Mannen som fick leva om sitt liv (The Man Who Lived His Life Over/The Man Who Lived Twice). Bergman is anxious to point out the ‘professional’ care behind the production both in terms of stagecraft and character analysis. The article clearly shows his total commitment to his directorial task, where the rehearsals had become ‘moments of spiritual recreation’ [stunder av andlig rekreation]. His subsequent analysis of Lagerkvist’s drama is a piece of moral exhortation to his presumed audience, asking them not to be turned away by the high seriousness of the piece. *
‘En saga’ [A fairy tale], SFP, no. 3 (1940), p. 4.
Presentation of Macbeth, scheduled for production in early April 1940; see Commentary in (Ø 355). *
‘Ringaren i Notre Dame’ [The Hunchback of Notre Dame], SFP, no. 4 (1940), p. 6.
Brief review of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Entry also includes a critical comment on Ingrid Bergman’s performance in Juninatten (Night of June). *
‘Ett spelår tilländalupet’ [A year’s repertory has come to an end], SFP, no. 5 (1940), pp. 8, 14.
Summing-up of 1939-40 season at Mäster Olofsgården amateur theatre section. This is the most telling of Bergman’s SFP notices, oscillating between self-defense and irony, and suggesting both enthusiasm and frustration in his work. In addition to rehearsals of five productions (two of them double bills), Bergman arranged regular film showings and a course where the goal was to discuss the majority of Strindberg’s plays (!). Listing the past season’s repertory, Bergman outlines the work schedule for the theatre group and next year’s program, with planned productions of Strindberg’s Oväder (Storm), and John Masefield’s Good Friday, plus a filmmaking project during the summer months. None of this materialized, since Bergman left Mäster Olofsgården for other theatre activities. *
‘Vår lilla stad’ [Our Town], SFP, no. 1 (1940), n.p.
Brief commentary on Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, produced at the Royal Dramatic Theatre.
3.
‘Vaxdukshäftet’ [The wax cover notebook]. Among Bergman’s Fårö papers, now deposited at SFI. Work book containing handwritten short stories and other prose fragments. Some of this material seems to be early sketches for the film script to ‘Hets’. The undated notebook is probably from the summer of 1938. ‘Vaxdukshäftet’ is discussed by Maaret Koskinen in her book I begynnelsen var ordet, 2002, pp. 23-60. Among its content is the following material: *
‘En sällsam historia’ [A strange tale].
Short story about a young man’s encounter in a florist shop with a woman who turns out to be a prostitute widow supporting her only child. She is later found murdered. 11 pp. *
‘Familjeidyll’ [Family idyl]. Seven handwritten pp. Translated into German as ‘Aus einem Notizbuch vom Sommer 1938’ in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, edited by Renate Bleibtreu. Hamburg: 2002.
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Chapter II The Writer About a high school student’s confrontation with his father who loses control and gets a revolver. The boy hits the father with a chair, whereupon the father locks himself up in a room. The boy, after trying to calm his mother, drifts around in the city and is later reprimanded at school for his absenteeism. *
‘Fragment’. 12 pp.
Story taking place in school, divided into four short chapters. Names of the main characters – Jan-Erik Widgren and Caligula – are the same as in the film ‘Hets’. *
‘Judas’. Synopsis of a play in five acts, 6 pp.
*
Untitled short story in fourteen chapters suggesting the content of ‘Hets’. The manuscript was inserted in the notebook but could be of a later date. 114 pp. In Bilder (Images. My Life in Film) Bergman talks about revising the script for ‘Hets’ in 1942. The plot revolves around the schoolboy Jan Erik Widgren and his conflicts at home and in school (with his teacher Caligula). Story also deals with Jan-Erik’s divided attraction to two different women: the somewhat vulgar Vanja and the family girl Britt. Vanja may be an early draft for Berta in ‘Hets’.
*
Untitled story about a young boy’s decision to leave his girlfriend.
Fragment is of interest in that it suggests two later Bergman themes: Love as sacrifice and lying as a form of self-deception.
1939 4.
‘Tivolit. Filmfantasi efter Hjalmar Gullbergs dikt med samma namn’ [The Tivoli. Film fantasy after Hjalmar Gullberg’s poem with the same name]. This handwritten film synopsis consists of 104 short ‘takes’ and lists 15 characters. A text on the front page reads: ‘Regi: Ingmar Bergman, Foto: Axel Bergström, Medverkande: Medlemmar ur Mäster Olofsgårdens teatersektion’ [Direction: IB, Photo: AB, Participants: Members of MO theatre section]. Title suggests Bergman’s early interest in the film medium but also his literary anchoring. Hjalmar Gullberg was one of Sweden’s leading poets at the time. The brief poem ‘Tivoli’ is included in his 1932 collection of poetry, Andliga övningar [Spiritual exercises]. Gullberg’s ‘tivoli’ is a carousel referred to as an earthly dance of death, a rather ‘pre-bergmanian’ metaphor.
1940 5.
‘Himmelrikets nycklar: Sagospel, drömspel, vandringsdrama’ [The Keys of Heaven: Fairy play, dreamplay, station drama]. Unpublished undergraduate thesis (3betygsuppsats) for Professor Martin Lamm’s Strindberg seminar. Institute of Literary History, Stockholm University, fall 1940, 22 typed pp. Among Bergman’s Fårö papers. Bergman’s analysis of Strindberg’s play reads like a prompt copy for a stage production.
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List of Bergman’s Written Work
1941 6.
‘Cirkusen’ [The Circus]. Undated handwritten manuscript in three acts, probably identical with ‘Clownen Beppo’, a pantomime play staged in 1941 at the Sago (Fairy Tale) Theatre (a children’s stage) in Stockholm’s Civic Hall. 25 pp. Bergman’s first wife, Else Fisher, choreographed ‘Clownen Beppo’, and Bergman was responsible for the dialogue. The dramatis personae in ‘Circusen’ are: Regissören, Lejonet, Beppo, Dummer-Jöns, herr Bofvén, Camomilla (The Director, the Lion, Beppo, Clod-Hans, Mr. Crook, Camomilla.) 25 pp., typewritten. (Cf. Ø 374), theatre chapter (VI). See also Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet, 2002, pp. 157-160, for brief discussion of ‘Cirkusen/Clownen Beppo’.
7.
Stage adaptation of H.C. Andersen’s tale ‘Elddonet’ (The Tinder Box) for the Sago Theatre at Medborgarhuset [Civic Hall], Stockholm. Manuscript not located. Cf. Ø 367 & 385, Theatre chapter VI.
1942 8.
Dramatikerstudions programblad, no. 1, 14 September 1943. Untitled brief introduction by Bergman to his production of Kaj Munk’s play Niels Ebbesen (cf. Ø 379), Theatre chapter.
9.
‘De ensamma’ [The Lonely Ones]. Alternate title: ‘Adjunkt Alman’ [High School Teacher Alman]. Handwritten play manuscript. Dated Duvnäs, 12 August 1942. 50 pp. There is also a handwritten 8-page dialogue fragment of the same play including the following people: Bror, Lisa, the Father, Kreutz, Mr. Andersson. A type-written undated ms covers only pp. 15-39. Dramatis personae: Erik Alman, father and high school teacher; Alice Alman, mother; Bror Alman, their son; Lisa Didricks, Bror’s girlfriend; Miss Alma Karlsson, housekeeper. A family drama about a weak, yet authoritarian father’s confrontation with his son, Bror (same name as younger son Widgren in ‘Hets’). Alman commits suicide. Among Ingmar Bergman Fårö papers deposited at SFI.
10.
‘Fullmånen’ [The Full Moon]. Handwritten play manuscript in three acts with following date notation: Skrivet i Sigtuna 17 oktober 1942 – forts. (förlovningsferie). [Written in Sigtuna 17 October 1942 – cont. (engagement vacation).] In SFI Special Ingmar Bergman Papers. Play (apparently unfinished) contains Bergman’s first reference to the character of Jack the Ripper (cf. Ø 26, below). The setting of Act I is an open square filled with a variety of people: Businessmen, Vagabonds, Voices, the Mayor, the Devil (Hin), Grandma, a Girl and Jack the Ripper. Second Act takes place in the palace with the King, the Jester, the Girl, Servants and three Soldiers. Act III is set at the tavern amidst a gloomy Jack the Ripper, a blind Mother, the Hero (‘sneezing and coughing’), the Town Cryer and some Individuals.
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Chapter II The Writer 11.
‘Kaspernoveller’ [Punch Stories] These unpublished stories were long thought to be lost, but surfaced recently in Bergman’s Fårö storage and are now deposited at SFI. They are dated 1942-43 and consist of three texts: ‘Om varför gangstern skriver vers’ [About why the gangster writes poetry]; ‘Interiör från familjen Kasper’ [A scene from the Punch family]; and ‘Berättelsen om när Kasper och Lebemannen foro ut på landet’ [The tale of when Punch and Dandy travelled into the countryside]. Both the Kasper and Jack figures – and their negative alter egos, Gangstern (the Gangster) and Lebemannen (the Dandy) – are emblematic characters in many of Bergman’s early drafts; they represent a combination of rebellious, bohemian, and self-destructive character types, moving in an expressionistic setting with themes revolving around such subjects as death and womanhood. ‘Om varför gangstern skriver vers’ was published in German as ‘Warum der Gangster Verse schreibt’ in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 25-39. For more details, see Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet, 2002, pp. 321-22].
12.
‘Kaspers död’ [Death of Punch]. Unpublished typewritten stage play, 22 pp. Manuscript is structured as follows: Prologue. Punch and Judy (Kasper and Kasperina). Act I. Punch, two Prostitutes (Subba I and II), the Man of the World, the Sinner, the Gangster, the One, the Other. Act II. Punch, a Voice, the Gangster, the Man of the World, the One, the Other, Child I, Child II, the Girl. Play was produced at the Student Theatre, Stockholm University, 24 September 1942. (See Ø 363).
13.
‘Möte med Kasper’ [Encounter with Punch]. Program note to production of ‘Kaspers död’ (Ø 12) at Student Theatre, September 1942. Program note is available at Royal Library in Stockholm and in Swedish Theatre Museum Library. ‘Möte med Kasper’ appears in German translation, ‘Begegnung mit Kasper’, in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 40-42. For other Kasper fragments from same period, see Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet (2002), pp. 322-23.
14.
‘Operan’ [The Opera]. Handwritten and unpublished opera libretto, dated Duvnäs, 9 August 1942. 49 pp. Among Ingmar Bergman Fårö papers deposited at SFI. Dramatis personae: Sven, the Boys, the Girls, the Fiddler, Karin, the Old Gentleman, the huldra (troll woman), näcken (water sprite). This may be the opera that Bergman makes references to in several interviews and alludes to indirectly in the film Såsom i en spegel/Through a Glass Darkly when the teenage boy Minus relates his creative literary output to his father David.
15.
‘Reskamraten’ [The Travel Companion]. Play in three acts, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of same name. Dated August 1942. The play was submitted that year to the Swedish Radio but was refused, though in fairly mild terms. Available in Swedish Radio Archives. Also in Ingmar Bergman Fårö papers deposited at SFI.
72
List of Bergman’s Written Work The cast includes the following characters: Dying Father, The Old Woman, The Host, Johannes, The Old Man, The King, The One, The Troll, Head of Council, The Other, The Princess, The King of Toads, The Travel Companion, The Gnome, The Uncle.
16.
‘Rädd att leva’ [Afraid to live] and ‘En bekännelse’ [A confession]. Two versions of same film script, dated October 1942. ‘En bekännelse’ has numbered set descriptions to the left, dialogue to the right. There is also a typed manuscript in seven acts. Among Bergman papers deposited at SFI. For more detail, see Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet, 2002, p. 323, 340.
17.
‘Stationen’ [The Station]. Handwritten, unpublished play in three acts, dated at end Duvnäs, 9 August 1942. 93 pp. There is also a typed, undated version of same. 39 pp. In Ingmar Bergman Fårö papers deposited at SFI. Dramatic conflict revolves around a dysfunctional family consisting of a sick father (Station Master Anders Bergström), a fun-loving mother (Brita), and their children Mary, 26, and Cecilia, 18. Also among the dramatis personae is Jon Andersson, Bergström’s assistant and successor. For discussion, see Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet, 2002, pp. 62-64.
18.
‘Tivolit’ [The Tivoli]. Handwritten draft to a play, dated August 1942. 11 pp. In Ingmar Bergman Fårö papers, deposited at SFI. Consists of four separate fragments, of which Fragment III is a prologue and Fragment IV is titled ‘Epilog’. There is also an expanded fragment, titled ‘Några av dem. Pjäs i fem bilder av Ingmar Bergman’ [Some of them. Play in five tableaus by IB]. Manuscript is typed, with the title in Bergman’s handwriting, and dated 22 October 1942. Fragment also includes a Prologue. A play titled ‘Tivolit’ was staged by Bergman at the Stockholm Student Theatre in October 1943. Plot follows a group of tivoli performers during the off-season until the day the fun fair opens its gates again in late spring. See (Ø 366), and Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet (2002), pp. 71-79; 157-181.
1943 19.
‘Dimman’ [The Fog]. Handwritten, untitled and incomplete manuscript to a play; most likely a draft to ‘Dimman’, a play mentioned by Bergman in an early interview done by Jolo (see Ø 688) and in early theatre programs listing titles of Bergman’s works, but never staged. The last scene in this draft takes place in a fog where the male protagonist commits suicide. There is also a typed manuscript divided into 20 chapters, 40 pp., and dated Gimo, 4 July 1943. In SFI Ingmar Bergman Papers from his private Fårö archive. A play about a problematic mother-son relationship. The son’s cousin, a young woman by the name of Marianne, arrives from Germany. The mother shoots the girl, the son (Edgar) kills himself. A play full of Strindbergian elements such as mother/vampire motif and the unmasking theme. It was at this time that Bergman set up Strindberg’s Pelikanen (The Pelican) at Stockholm Student Theatre (see Ø 361).
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Chapter II The Writer 20.
‘Dröm i juli’ [Dream in July]. Handwritten, undated, untitled, and incomplete play in a tivoli setting. In three parts, ending with the text: ‘end of first act’. In SFI Ingmar Bergman Fårö Papers. Judging from the cast of characters, this fragment is a draft of Bergman’s 1946 unpublished play of same title (see Ø 38).
21.
‘Hets’ [Frenzy]. Film script. At SFI/USF [Swedish Film Institute/Uppsala Student Film Studio] libraries. Script I, 47 pp. Bergman’s synopsis to Hets in its original form, written as a narrative with a good deal of dialogue and dated 22 March 1943. Front page has a dedication to ‘Caligula and all his likes, [teaching] dead as well as living languages, religion, geography and history.’ [Caligula och alla hans gelikar (som undervisar) döda såväl som levande språk, religion, geografi och historia]. Script II, 158 pp. Serialized as a novella in Filmjournalen, no. 51 (1944) through no. 8 (1945), and in Bildjournalen, no. 12 through 15 (1959). On 7 November 1944, GP reported that Bergman had been asked to write a novel based on his film script. He declined with these words: ‘It [Hets] is conceived as a film and will not become a novel, short story, drama, or TV play.’ [Den är tänkt som film och den blir varken roman, drama eller television.] In 1948 Peter Ustinov adapted the film script to the stage. The play, Frenzy, opened at St. Martin’s Theatre in London 21 April 1948. It was also performed in January 1948 in Oslo under direction of Per Gjersøe (see Ø 967). London production was reviewed in NYT, 22 April 1948, p. 35: 2. Script IV, dialog list, Swedish only, 25 pp. A shooting script with minor notations is among Bergman’s Fårö papers, deposited at SFI., as well as several drafts and/or synopses of ‘Hets’ among them a prose version in fourteen chapters. (See Ø 3) above. Another manuscript in the same collection is a mixture of play and film script. See Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet (2002), p. 323 for more details. Koskinen discusses the Hets material in same book, pp. 34-57. See also (Ø 24) and (Ø 27) below.
22.
‘Jack hos skådespelarna’ [Jack among the actors]. Handwritten play manuscript, dated Gränna, 4 August 1943. Three typewritten samples among Bergman Fårö papers, one of them marked ‘Bonniers förlag’, the publishing house that published a version of the play in 1946. (Stockholm: Bonniers, 1946. 101 pp.). The play was submitted to the Swedish Radio in 1946 but was refused, together with ‘Rakel och biografvaktmästaren’, later published (1948). The radio reader’s verdict was harsh: ‘Drama about existential anguish. [...] Expressionistically obscure in places, mystifying lines. [...] Strong inclination towards the macabre. A great deal of offensive material about drunkenness and sexuality. Uneven characterization. Unsuitable for the radio’. [Drama om livsångest. [...] Expressionistiskt dunkel här och var, mystifierande repliker. [...] Stark dragning åt det makabra. Massor av stötande saker om fylla och sexualia. Karaktärsteckningen ojämn. Olämplig för radio]. Source: SR (Sveriges Radio) archives. Expressionistic drama in two acts about a troupe of actors who are treated like marionettes by their director, an autocratic and diabolic figure. The title figure is a corporal, Jack Kasparsson, who joins a theater troupe of three actors – husband, wife, and lover. In Pirandellean fashion they perform a triangle drama of soap opera quality and become the parts they enact. As such they are replaceable, and others can step in and assume their roles. When a husband in the troupe dies, Jack Kasparsson takes over the part of lover, while the former lover now shoulders
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List of Bergman’s Written Work the cloak of married cuckold. The play, like life, can go on as before until the Director decides to dissolve the ensemble.
23.
‘Matheus Manders fjärde berättelse’ [Mathew Manders’s fourth tale]. Untitled handwritten manuscript in seven acts, dated Åkeslund 12.10.43 (12 October 1943), with Author’s preface. Also a typewritten version, 52 pp. Cast of characters include Kerstin, Krister, Erik, Gerd, Elna, Civil Servant, Officer, Mutti, Manfred. Plot revolves around a mystical diabolical character by the name of Matheus Manders [possibly named after Ibsen’s Pastor Manders in Gengangere/Ghosts ]. Bergman’s Manders is described as a civil servant with ‘the face of a dancer of death’ [en döddansares ansikte] who has a devastating impact on a group of young people. The manuscript, in SFI Ingmar Bergman Fårö Papers, might be identical with an early, apparently lost Bergman work called ‘Om en mördare’ (About a murderer). ‘Matheus Manders fjärde berättelse’ has been translated into German as ‘Matheus Manders vierte Erzählung’ and published in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 43-81.
1944 24.
‘Hets’: Kniv på en varböld’ [Torment: Knife on a boil]. SF (Svensk Filmindustri) special program to ‘Hets’, n.d. Program issued in connection with opening of Hets in October 1944 to celebrate SF’s 25th anniversary as a production company. Bergman contributes with a statement outlining his three ambitions with Hets: to expose a sickness but free the spectator from pain; to render harmless the Caligulas in society; to elicit symphathy for Caligula because, though sadistic, he acts out of fear.
25.
26.
‘Samtal mellan en ekonomichef och en teaterchef’ [Conversation between a head of finances and a theatre head]. Hälsingborg Theatre Program at end of fall season 1944, pp. 1-7. Bergman promises more than Strindberg and Shakespeare on the repertory. ‘En kortare berättelse om en av Jack Uppskärarens tidigaste barndomsminnen’ [A short tale about one of Jack the Ripper’s earliest childhood memories]. 40-tal, no. 3, 1944, pp. 5-9. Translated into French by A. Amlie (‘Un souvenir d’enfance de Jack L’Eventreur’) in Cinéma 59, no. 34 (March) 1959: 39-44. Also translated into Polish by Tadeusz Szczepański in Kino, no. 287, 1991: 7-11. Short story in which Bergman introduces once more the vulnerable, rebellious, and self-destructive Jack figure. (See Ø 11) above, ‘Kaspernoveller’ [Punch stories]).
27.
‘“Skoltiden” ett 12-årigt helvete’ [School a 12-year hell]. AB, 3 October 1944, pp. 1, 11. In connection with the premiere of ‘Hets’ Bergman gave an account of his years in school, which formed the background for the film. Cf. Commentary to (Ø 202) in Filmography. Response by his former headmaster Håkansson at Palmgrenska School appeared in same paper (AB) on 5 October 1944, p. 16. Reply by Bergman, same paper, 9 October 1944, p. 10.
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Chapter II The Writer 28.
‘Hösttankar’ [Autumnal Thoughts]. In Hälsingborg City Theatre program, Fall 1944. Tongue in cheek dialogue in which theatre director foresees the dissolution of traditional stages and a return to ambulatory performances on church steps. As director, Bergman wishes three things for the Hälsingborg City Theatre: That it be a platform of serious proclamations; That it be a bulwark against stupidity, indifference, crudeness and dullness; That it be a challenge and a playground for fun.
29.
‘Vi måste ge Macbeth’ [We have to present Macbeth]. Helsingborgs Dagblad, 14 November 1944, p. 7. Before the opening of his second Macbeth production, Bergman discussed the circumstances around his first presentation of the play in 1940 and his rationale for presenting it again. See Theatre chapter (Ø 401).
1945 30.
Group Item: Untitled program notes from Bergman’s tenure at the Helsingborg City Theatre, 1945-46 season. See also titled items (Ø 25, 28). *
Program note to production of Sune Bergström’s comedy ‘Reducera moralen’ [Reduce the morals], 12 April 1945.
Bergman proudly announces that the theatre has got its state subsidies back and promises that it will continue to be ‘the stormy center of our city’ [stadens oroliga hörn]. *
Program note to production of Franz Werfel’s play Jacobovski och översten (Jacobowski and the Colonel), 9 September 1945.
At the opening of a new theatre season, Bergman set down a Six-point Declaration concerning the function of the Helsingborg City Theatre and its ensemble. See Theatre/ Media Bibliography (Ø 502, Chapter VII), for fuller listing. *
Program note to production of Olle Hedberg’s ‘Rabies/Bekänna färg’ (Rabies/Show your cards), 1 November 1945.
Could be called IB’s modernist manifesto, a defense of Swedish fyrtiotalist literature (see Ø 952), which is said to be a truthful reflection of the disillusioned and desperate post-war generation. *
‘Avskedsintervju’ [Farewell interview], in playbill program to Björn Erik Höijer’s play Rekviem, at the Helsingborg City Theatre, 6 March 1946.
Tongue-in-cheek interview between a fictional journalist and Ingmar Bergman. For fuller annotation (see Ø 507), Theatre/Media Bibliography, Chapter VII.
31.
‘En slags tillägnan’ [A kind of dedication]. Program note to Bergman’s Malmö production of Strindberg’s Pelikanen (The Pelican), 25 November 1945. Bergman pays homage to Olof Molander, prominent director of Strindberg’s dramas since the mid-1930s. See Commentary, Ø 392.
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List of Bergman’s Written Work 32.
‘Möte’ [Encounter], in printed theatre program to production of Ingmar Bergman’s play Rakel och biografvaktmästaren [Rachel and the cinema doorman], produced at Malmö City Theatre, September 1946, pp. 8-9. A tongue-in-cheek dialogue between a playwright and the director of his play (Author Bergman directed the production of ‘Rakel’). (Cf. Ø 43) below.
33.
‘Blick in i framtiden’ [Look into the future]. Unpublished manuscript, Swedish Radio Archives, Stockholm, n.p. See Theatre/Media Bibliography (Ø 500).
34.
‘Kris’ [Crisis]. Film Script. Script II, titled ‘Mitt barn är mitt’ [My child is mine], dated May-June 1945, SFI/USF Archives, Stockholm, 161 pp. Copyright: SF. Script IV (Dialogue list in German, titled ‘Krise’, with a synopsis of content), 18 pp. Bergman’s script is an adaptation of Danish playwright Leck Fischer’s play Moderhjertet [The mother heart]. Original title is sometimes referred to as Moderdyret [The mother animal]. Bergman also uses title Moderskärlek [Mother love]. (See Ø 2) in Filmography. There are some divergencies between Script II and Script IV: in the latter, based on the released film, a voiceover opens and ends the story; in Script II the speaker is only heard in the beginning.
35.
‘Marie’ Unpublished short story, available in SFI Library, and dated 1945. The story was later expanded in collaboration with Herbert Grevenius to form the script for Bergman’s film Sommarlek (1950, Summer Interlude).
1946 36.
‘Antagligen ett geni’ [Probably a genius]. Röster i Radio, 1946:50, p. 14. Portrait of playwright Björn Erik Höijer whose radio play Sommar had been awarded second prize in a radio contest. Bergman’s brief article is a defense of playwriting as an art form that addresses the broad public and a critique of the modern Swedish poets (fyrtitalisterna), who have at their best a readership of 300 people. (See Ø 952)
37.
‘Det regnar på vår kärlek’ [It rains on our love]. Film Script. SFI/USF Archives. Copyright: Nordisk Tonefilm. Script II. Unpublished and undated adaptation of Oscar Braathen’s play Bra Mennesker [Good people], 127 p., plus some additional notes. Collaboration with Herbert Grevenius. One SFI Script II copy is scriptgirl’s shooting script. Text indicates that Bergman changed the dialogue at the end by extending the conversation between the young couple and the Man with the Umbrella. Script IV (dialogue lists) in English (36 pp.) and German (39 pp.). Production lists are also available containing time and shooting schedules, plus some idiosyncratic notes complaining about noise from airplanes and the troublesome search for extras: 18 cats!
38.
‘Dröm i juli. Filmmanuskript av I. Bergman.’ [Dream in July. Screenplay by I. Bergman]. Referred to as Version I, January 1946. Date at end of manuscript is 24
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Chapter II The Writer January 1946. Manuscript is among SFI Special Ingmar Bergman Papers. See Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet (2002), p. 324, for further details. Violent drama in tivoli setting with drunkenness, fights, and involuntary manslaughter. The ‘dreamer’ of this nightmare is Gunnar, a 25-year-old musician. His wife Eva is expecting a child. An old circus artist Folke, married to Alfhilda, may be an early portrait of Frost and his wife Alma in Gycklarnas afton/The Naked Night (1953). Cast also includes the old owner of a variety show, Mr. Kasparsson, who has artistic ambitions. He has a son, Paul, about 40. These names resurface in Bergman’s stage plays from the 1940s.
39.
‘Kannibalen’ [The Cannibal]. Typed, unpublished and undated manuscript. In SFI Special Ingmar Bergman Papers. An absurdist parody of the holy communion. The dramatis personae are Chief of Police, Mr. Fall, his Wife and a Prisoner named Samuel. Mr. Fall, who has committed 33 cannibalistic murders in one day, asks the Chief of Police to arrest him and have him executed. Mr. Fall has also cut open his own stomach to find his soul, which he keeps attached to a string and plans to cook for dinner. God has walked into his room; Mr. Fall kills him with fire prongs, then drinks his blood and tastes a piece of his flesh. He gives his soul to the prisoner Samuel.
40.
‘Komedien om Jenny’ [The comedy about Jenny]. In SFI’s Ingmar Bergman Fårö Papers. Unpublished early screenplay never filmed. Despite the comedy designation, the listed set of characters suggests that this may be an early draft for Dagen slutar tidigt (Early Ends the Day), one of three plays in 1948 collection Moraliteter (Ø 56).
41.
‘Om att filmatisera en pjäs’ [About filming a play]. Filmnyheter 1, no. 4, 1946, pp. 1-4. About the genesis of ‘Kris’, the first film directed by Bergman, who reveals that he did not like the original play by Leck Fischer, on which the film is based, until he invented the character of Jack.
42.
‘Puzzlet föreställer Eros. Novell för filmen av Ingmar Bergman’ [The Puzzle Represents Eros. A short story for the screen by IB]. Typed, unpublished manuscript dated Persborg, Monday 7 October 1946, on the front page and on the last page, 9 October 1946. 108 pp. SFI Library, Stockholm. This short story forms the basis of a 201-page ‘Script II’ adaptation by director Gustaf Molander, titled ‘Kvinnan utan ansikte eller puzzlet föreställer Eros’ [The woman without a face or the puzzle represents Eros], written between 9 December 1946 and 15 January 1947. According to notes in Molander’s copy, ‘Script II’ has a 5-page additional dialogue, which Bergman was asked to provide. ‘Script IV’ (dialogue list) in English, 34 pp. In connection with Molander’s filmatization, Bergman published an interview with himself about the script to ‘Kvinna utan ansikte’. Titled ‘Rut’, the interview reveals that the main character, Rut Köhler, is based on Bergman’s personal experience. See Filmnyheter 2, no. 11, 1947, pp. 1-4. Note that in the original short story, Rut’s last name is König, not Köhler.
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List of Bergman’s Written Work 43.
‘Rakel och biografvaktmästaren. Teaterpjäs i tre akter av Ingmar Bergman’ [R and the cinema doorman. Stage play in thee acts by IB]. Sveriges Radio Archive. One handwritten and one typed manuscript among Bergman’s archival Fårö papers. This play was submitted to the Swedish Radio but was rejected in no uncertain terms: ‘He wallows in crude and hellish aspects of life’ [Han frossar i alltings råhet och djävlighet]. This is an early version of a published play with the same name, printed in Moraliteter, 1948 (Ø 56). There is an unpublished English translation by Michael Meyer in Bergman’s Fårö papers.
44.
‘Svensk film och teater: Ett samgående eller motsatsförhållande’ [Swedish film and theatre: Collaboration or opposition]. Unpublished lecture given 3 February 1946 in Höganäs City Hall. Arranged by Höganäs Föreläsningsanstalt [H. lecture society]. Advertised in Helsingborgs Dagblad, 2 February 1946, p. 13 and announced in a note in same paper, 3 February 1946, p. 14, but no write-up on content.
1947 45.
‘Det förtrollade marknadsnöjet’ [The magic country fair]. Biografbladet 28, no. 3 (Fall) 1947: 1. This is a Bergman tribute to Méliès and the magic dimension of filmmaking. Published in French as ‘Le plaisir ensorcelé de la fête foraine’. Positif 421, March 1996: 68-71, and in German as ‘Das verzauberte Rummelplatzvergnügen’. Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002), pp. 82-83.
46.
‘Ej för att roa blott’ [Not just to entertain]. Sveriges Radio (SR), 2 January 1947. Bergman participating in a radio discussion with other young Swedish artists about the serious ambitions of contemporary literature, sculpture, music, and theatre. Bergman’s contribution takes the form of a dialogue with actor Anders Ek about the fyrtiotalism movement. (Cf. Ø 952), Chapter IX.
47.
‘I mormors hus’ [In grandmother’s house]. Program note to Göteborg City Theatre production of Bergman’s play Mig till skräck [Unto my fear], October 16 1947. Available at Göteborg Theatre Museum and Swedish Theatre Museum, Stockholm. Translated into German as ‘In Grossmutters Haus’, Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 86-91. Tobias, fictional author of a drama about the writer Paul, depicts Paul’s background, which is reminiscent of the apartment of Bergman’s maternal grandmother in the city of Uppsala.
48.
‘Skepp till India land’ [A ship to India]. A film script. SFI Library, 138 pp. Script II. Unpublished and undated adaptation of Martin Söderhjelm’s play of the same name. With production lists. Serialized as a film novella in the popular magazine Fickjournalen, beginning in no. 44 (1947). Script IV. Dialogue list in English, titled ‘Land of Desire’, 28 pp.
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Chapter II The Writer Among Bergman’s Fårö papers, deposited at SFI, are two typed copies of the script with set and character descriptions to the left, dialogue to the right. One copy is unmarked, the other appears to be assistant director’s copy. See Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet (2002), p. 326.
49.
‘Tre tusenfotingfötter’ [Three centipede feet]. Filmjournalen 29, no. 51-52 (December) 1947: 8-9, 53. Bergman writes about filmmaking as teamwork and presents producer Allan Ekelund, set designer P.A. Lundgren, and cinematographer Göran Strindberg.
1948 50.
‘Brev från Ingmar Bergman’ [Letter from IB]. Terrafilm 10 år. Stockholm: Terrafilm, 1948, p. 20. Letter from Bergman in booklet celebrating the Swedish production company Terrafilm’s 10th anniversary. Letter is adressed to producer Lorens Marmstedt and likens Terrafilm to ‘a beautiful, capricious, lustful, and witty lady in the prime of her life’ [en vacker, nyckfull, vällustig och kvick dam i sina bästa år].
51.
‘Ett dockhem’ [A doll’s house]. Unpublished screenplay adaptation of Ibsen’s famous play. SFI Library Archives, Stockholm, ca. 105 pp. Spring 1948. This represents Bergman’s first contact with Hollywood. The script was commissioned in early spring 1948 by David O. Selznick but never filmed. Alf Sjöberg was also contacted for the film project. According to Selznick, plans were dropped later that spring because of difficulty in finding a suitable cast. See GT, 29 January 1948; GHT, 13 March 1948, p. 9; DN, 30 April 1948, p. 3, and SvD, 2 May 1948, p. 9. Ingmar Bergman received $ 6,000 for the job, with which he bought his first real 9.5 mm projector (see Bergman om Bergman [Ø 788], p. 137, Eng. ed. p. 147). Bergman introduces his adaptation of Ibsen’s play as ‘a tale about the little doll wife Nora and her way out of dreams and lies to clarity and liberation’ [en berättelse om den lilla dockhustrun Nora och hennes väg ut ur drömmar och lögner till klarhet och frihet]. The opening scene is reminiscent of the Christmas scene in Fanny and Alexander, with giggling children, a big, tightlipped and sulking old housemaid, and father Torvald Helmer opening the season’s celebration ‘with patriarchal self-satisfaction’ [med patriarkal självtillfredsställelse], then feigning a stomach ache, so that he can disappear and return as Santa Claus. The props include a music box – a familiar Bergman emblem. On a sofa sits ‘Uncle Eyolf Rank’, and at the piano is Aunt Kristin. The entire party dances a Swedish long dance through the apartment, then sits down to listen to the Christmas gospel. The script ends with Torvald crying and being consoled by the old housemaid. A train whistle is heard. Torvald rushes out in his night shirt to the station. Nora is on board the train. As it leaves, Torvald falls to his knees, crying out: ‘But she lives, she lives...’ [Med hon lever, hon lever ...].
52.
‘Fängelset’ [The prison]. Unpublished Film Script. In SFI and USF Library Archives. Script II for ‘Fängelse’ (The Devils’s Wanton/Prison), dated November 1948 and subtitled ‘En moralitet för filmen’ (A morality for the cinema), ca. 200 pp.
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List of Bergman’s Written Work Script IV (dialogue lists) in English, titled ‘Prison’ (ca. 23 pp), and in German, titled ‘Gefängnis’ (ca. 57 half-size pp.), plus synopsis and Swedish press clippings, 2 pp. Endings of ‘Fängelset’ in Script II and IV vary. Script IV ends with a conversation between Martin, the director and Paul, the teacher about God and the meaning of life. Script II ends with Martin and an actress, Greta, at work together in the film studio. Film title was changed from ‘Fängelset’ [The prison] to ‘Fängelse’ [Prison]. ‘Fängelse’ dialogue was excerpted in Filmrutan 1, no. 2 (March 1958), pp. 12-18. Among Bergman’s Fårö papers, deposited at SFI, there is an early typewritten short story version of ‘Fängelse’, titled ‘Sann berättelse. Novell för film av Ingmar Bergman’ [True tale. A short story for the cinema] and dated Duvnäs, August 10, 1948. See also Ø 60 and Ø 62 below.
53.
‘Hamnstad’ [Port of call]. Unpublished film script. SFI and USF Library Archives. Script II at SFI is an adaptation of Olle Länsberg’s voluminous (400 pages) manuscript ‘Guldet och murarna’ [The gold and the walls]. Script II is dated 19 May 1948, 119 pp. Script IV (dialogue list) in German, titled ‘Hafenstadt’, 23 pp. Bergman’s Fårö papers, deposited at SFI, contain a typed director’s copy with some handwritten notes and sketches by Bergman, as well as a map showing in some detail the interior and exterior scenes from shooting the film in Göteborg and Stockholm.
54.
‘Kamma noll. Komedi i tre akter’ [Come up empty. Comedy in three acts]. Typewritten, unpublished play, produced at Malmö City Theatre, 8 December 1948; directed by Lars-Levi Laestadius. SFI Library, Stockholm, ca. 47 pp. Three typewritten copies, found among Bergman’s Fårö papers, are dated Hälsingborg, 17 April 1948. Play has the following motto on front page: ‘Ger man djävulen rent spel förlorar han. (kammar noll)’ [If you give the devil fair play he loses (comes up empty)]. The play is a three-act triangle comedy, set in the Stockholm archipelago, with a married couple, their daughter and her boyfriend (both 17) and a femme fatale from the city, whose arrival sets off a nasty intrigue. The comedy designation seems somewhat stretched and was probably dictated by the play’s happy end.
55.
‘Kinematograf.’ [Cinematograph] Biografbladet 29, no. 4 (Winter), 1948: 240-41. Bergman talks about his grandmother’s apartment, his aunt’s Christmas gift of a laterna magica, and his first ventures into filmmaking. This article was published in French, titled ‘Le cinématographe’. Positif 421 (March) 1996: 68-71.
56.
Moraliteter [Morality plays]. Stockholm: Bonniers, 1948. 256 pp. Three plays published under the common name of Moraliteter. Individual titles are: Dagen slutar tidigt (Early ends the day), Mig till skräck (Unto my fear), and Rakel och biografväktmästaren (Rachel and the cinema doorman). Only the first of these is designed as a morality play with a metaphysical vision. The second is a study of an author who sells his integrity for commercial recognition; the third one is a Strindbergian marriage drama that later became the Rachel episode in the film Kvinnors väntan (Secrets of Women/Waiting Women).
Review Åke Runnquist, ‘Den demoniska silverpennan’ [The demonic silver pen]. BLM, April 1948, pp. 292-94.
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Chapter II The Writer 57.
‘Själva händelsen’ [The event itself]. Filmnyheter 3, no. 20, 1948, pp. 4-7. Bergman writes about an automobile accident and the new sense of life that this brush with death created in him. Out of this episode came the idea for the script to the film Eva. Translated into German as ‘Das eigentliche Ereignis’ in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 86-91.
58.
‘Trumpetspelaren och vår herre’ [The trumpet player and our Lord]. Unpublished film synopsis and partly completed scenario, sold in February 1948 to SF. Later completed by Gösta Stevens and Gustaf Molander as script for the film Eva, directed by Molander. Script II, available at SFI, is subtitled ‘Novell för filmen’ (Short story for the screen) and dated 10 May 1948, 153 pp. Two typed script copies titled ‘Eva. Novell för filmen av Ingmar Bergman’ [Eva. Short story for the screen by Ingmar Bergman] are among Bergman’s Fårö papers. With a note that film script is by Gustaf Molander. Cf. Next item.
1949 59.
‘Den lille trumpetaren och Vår Herre. Utdrag ur en prosaberättelse’ [The little trumpeteer and Our Lord. Excerpt from a tale in prose]. Maneten. Litterär kalender, ed. by Claes Hoogland. Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag, 1949, pp. 63-75. Excerpt from a short story. Episode depicts scene in film Eva where young Bo meets the blind girl Marthe.
60.
‘Filmen om Birgitta-Carolina’ [The film about Birgitta-Carolina]. ST, 18 March 1949, p. 4. Reprinted in part in Röster i Radio/TV, no. 23 (1962), pp. 27-28 before TV showing of film. On the eve of the opening of ‘Fängelse’ (Prison/The Devil’s Wanton), Bergman published this brief essay in a Stockholm daily, in which he talks about the genesis of the film and his conception of the main character, the prostitute Birgitta Carolina.
61.
‘Joakim Naken eller självmordet. Melodram i tre akter (Sista akten i tre tablåer) av Ingmar Bergman.’ [Joakim Naked or the Suicide. Melodrama in three acts (Last act in three tableaus) by IB]. Handwritten manuscript dated Paris 23 October 1949. With a note reading: ‘This is a tragicomedy about the murderer and self-murderer Joakim Naked who lived and worked in Lyon around the turn of the century’ [Detta är en tragikomedi om mördaren och självmördaren Joakim Naken som levde och verkade i Lyon runt sekelskiftet]. Also in type-written sample, 102 pp. In Fårö papers. See Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet, 2002, p. 325, for listing of other drafts about Joakim Naked. Cf also (Ø 83), ‘Historien om Eiffeltornet’.
62.
‘På förekommen anledning’ [Upon request]. DN, 5 April 1949, p. 11. Reprinted in Filmnyheter 4, no. 8 (1949): 3. Open letter formulated as an advertisement and response to a department store complaint about main character’s job affiliation. See Commentary to ‘Fängelse/Prison’, in Filmography, (Ø 210).
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List of Bergman’s Written Work 63.
‘Till glädje’ [To joy].Unpublished Film Script. In SFI and USF Library Archive. Script II, dated June 1949, ca. 125 pp. Script II was serialized as film novel in Filmjournalen 32, nos. 12 through 20 (1950). Among Bergman’s Fårö papers, deposited at SFI, there is a director’s script dated June 1949 with some handwritten dialogue changes.
64.
‘Törst’ [Thirst]. Fårö papers, deposited at SFI. Typed copy of director’s script with the standard format at the time (set and character descriptions to the left, dialogue to the right). Contains some commentaries by Bergman and detailed notes made before the shooting. See Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet, 2002, p. 327.
65.
‘Vi ser på filmen’ [We look at the movies]. Swedish Public Radio, 1 November 1949. Contribution to radio discussion about current film fare.
1950 66.
‘Blad ur en obefintlig dagbok’ [Pages from a non-existent diary]. SFI Library, 4 pp. Unpublished impressionistic thoughts about filmmaking. Bergman talks about his mixed feelings of panic, pleasure, and professional joy in making a film, and his sense of obsession with the film medium. He likens directing to an organist playing on a huge organ with notes instead of a script. What a director needs above all is know-how and a good condition. As for inspiration, that is fine too, but nothing to rely on. ‘Diary’ ends with a pep talk at the end of a week of filmmaking.
67.
‘“Fisken” Fars för film’ [The fish: A farce for film]. Biografbladet 31, no. 4 (Winter) 1950-51: 200-225; 32, no. 1 (Spring) 1951: 18-21, no. 2 (Summer) 1951: 85-88, no. 3 (Fall) 1951: 110-15. Reprinted in Aura IV, no. 4, 1998: 62-88. Translated into German as ‘Der Fisch. Farce für den Film’. In Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 92-134. Translated into Polish as ‘Ryba. Farsa filmowa’ by T. Szczepański in Kwartalnik Filmowy, no. 14, 1996. An absurd story about an early Bergman prototype, Joachim (alias Jack, Johan), who encounters a fairytale fish that gives him three wishes to be fulfilled. The plot revolves around a sexual conflict between Joachim and two women (wife and mistress). See introduction to this chapter.
68.
‘Frånskild’ [Divorced]. Film script by Bergman and Herbert Grevenius, dated 9 November 1950 for film directed in 1951 by Gustaf Molander. SFI and USF Library Archives. Script I (114 pp.) and Script II (169 pp.).
69.
‘Medan staden sover’ [While the city sleeps]. Script I (ca. 140 pp) and Script II (139 pp.). Scripts are dated 29 January 1950. Script II contains location map and director’s (Kjellgren) notes. SFI and USF Archives.
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Chapter II The Writer Adaptation by Ingmar Bergman and Lars-Eric Kjellgren of a short story by Per Anders Fogelström titled ‘Ligister’ (Hoodlums).
70.
‘Sommarlek’ [Summer interlude]. Unpublished film script. Based on a short story by Bergman called ‘Marie’ (see Ø 35) and completed together with Herbert Grevenius. In SFI and USF Library Archives. Script II, titled ‘Sommarleken’ [The summer interlude] and dated 1 March 1950; 146 pp., plus 14 pp. additional text (takes 558-59) which introduces a ballet master masked as Coppelius, who visits Marie in her dressing-room at the Opera. In the original version, David, Marie’s male friend, appears instead. Script IV (dialogue list) in English, titled ‘Summer interlude’, 29 pp. Among Bergman’s Fårö papers there is a typed copy of the script marked ‘Film 3/50, Annalisa Ericson Sommarleken’. Ericson plays a ballerina in the film. This copy, presumably Ericson’s, also contains some stills from the film and location photographs. See Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet, 2002, p. 327. ‘Sommarlek’ was translated into French (but with Swedish film title retained) in Oeuvres, 1962, pp. 23-101 (Ø 122).
71.
‘Untitled program’ note to Bergman’s production of Bertolt Brecht’s play, The Threepenny Opera, which opened at Stockholm’s Intima Teatern, 17 October 1950. Bergman points out his use of Brecht’s 1938 London edition of play, which he was introduced to through Lotte Lenya’s record. Reveals strong reservations about the work. Fascinated by the music, but text bothers him for its detachment and cynicism.
72.
‘Untitled manuscript’ in prose about a Monsieur Bazin and his wife, Madame B. Seems inspired by Bergman’s stay in Paris in 1949. Plot somewhat reminiscent of Trolösa (Faithless). See Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet (2002), p. 325.
1951 73.
74.
‘Bo Dahlins anteckningar angående föräldrars skilsmässa’ [Bo D’s notes re: his parents’ divorce]. (See Ø 97), 1956 (‘Sista paret ut’). ‘Bris’ Commercials. Bergman’s Fårö papers, deposited at SFI, contain stenciled manuscripts to three of the Bris commercials (see Filmography, Ø 215); they are titled ‘Operation’, ‘Uppfinnaren’ (The inventor) and ‘Trolleriet’ (Magic act), each 2 pp.
75.
‘Mordet i Barjärna. Ett passionsspel av Ingmar Bergman’ [Murder at Barjärna. A passion play by IB]. Unpublished play produced at Malmö City Theatre in 1952. Directed by Ingmar Bergman. Copy at Malmö City Theatre Archives. Cf. Sjögren, Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968), pp. 113-18. Prologue is translated into German as ‘Ich stand auf dem Berg’ in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002), pp. 135-136.
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List of Bergman’s Written Work Historical play about a priest who gets involved in adultery and murder. An early draft, titled ‘Jonas och Mari’ [Jonas and Mari], has recently been located among Bergman’s Fårö papers, now deposited at the SFI. Same source also contains a handwritten copy of the play in a brown envelope marked ‘Obs! Farligt Obs! Detta kuvert får ej röras av någon’ [Note! Dangerous Note! This envelope may not be touched by anyone]. See Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet (2002), pp. 325-326. Cf. Commentary and Reception to Malmö production of play, (Ø 414), Theatre Chapter VI.
76.
‘Leka med pärlor’ [Playing with pearls]. In SF program for ‘Sommarlek’ (Summer Interlude), issued at opening of film, pp. 5-7. Bergman writes about the source of the script for ‘Sommarlek’, begun at age 18. Repeats that filmmaking is teamwork: ‘A film is indeed like a centipede, and all the feet must keep the same pace. I have figured out that 129 persons have been more or less involved in “Sommarlek”’. [En film är verkligen som en tusenfoting och alla fötterna måste hålla jämna steg. Jag har räknat ut att 129 personer har varit mer eller mindre involverade i Sommarlek.]
77.
‘Ni vill till filmen?’ [So you want to be in the movies?]. Filmjournalen, no. 36 (9 September), 1951, pp. 14, 26. Reprinted in French as ‘Vous voulez être comédien’ Positif, no. 447, (May 1998): 62-64. Faked ironic telephone conversation between Ingmar Bergman and would-be actor who wants to make it in the movies.
78.
‘Staden’ [The city]. In Svenska radiopjäser [Swedish radio plays]. Stockholm: Sveriges Radios förlag, 1951, pp. 41-95. Expressionistic drama and/or morality play in three acts about Joakim Naken, whose childhood faith and security collapse during a nightmarish Sturm-und-Drang period while tin soldiers drum a funeral march. The title refers to Joakim’s return to the city of his childhood, where he listens to the wisdom of his grandmother. At the time of the first broadcast of Staden on Sveriges Radio (SR), Bergman published an account of the genesis of the radio play: ‘Anteckningar kring Staden’ [Notes about the City]. Röster i Radio, no. 19, 1951, p. 7. Bergman gives a brief account of how he assumed a protective incognito called Joakim Naken, who was able to sense the present, the past, and the future at the same time. With Joakim as his alter ego, Bergman explores a world without grace, which became the play Staden. The 1951 production was aired again on 20 February 1966 in a radio drama series called ‘Radioteater i 40 år’ [Radio Theatre during 40 years]. At that time Bergman was interviewed about the play by Gunnar Ollén on Swedish Radio (15 minutes). (Cf. Ø 542)
1952 79.
‘Kvinnors väntan’ [Waiting women].Unpublished and undated film script. In SFI and Uppsala Film Studio archives. Script II, 185 pp. With prop list, credits, location list, and shooting plan, 18 pp. SFI Script II copy is that of head of film inventory (propman) Gustav Roger. His copy includes notes about exterior and studio shooting. Script has a total of 894 takes. Arne Sellermark adapted Script II for serializing in popular magazine Allers, beginning in no. 49 (6 December 1952), p. 45.
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Chapter II The Writer Script IV (dialogue list) in English, 31 pp.
80.
‘Sommaren med Monika’ [Summer with Monica]. Unpublished film script by Ingmar Bergman and Per Anders Fogelström, upon whose novel with the same name the script is based. Script II, titled ‘En sommar med Monika’ [One summer with Monica] and dated 9 July 1952 (124 pp.) at SFI Archives. Script IV (dialogue list) in English, 15 pp., and in German, 16 pp. SFI and USF Archives.
81.
‘Spela pjäs. Tre lektioner av Ingmar Bergman’ [Performing a play. Three lessons by IB]. Several copies of an undated stencil marked Malmö stadsteater elevskola [Malmö Theatre acting school], 46 pp. Malmö theatre archives; also in Bergman’s Fårö papers. Dramatic exercise for Malmö City Theatre acting students where a director and playwright (Martin) presents his play about two (twin) characters, Mr. A and Mr. One, who compete for his attention.
1953 82.
‘Gycklarnas afton’ [Eve of the clowns]. Unpublished film script. SFI Library Archives. Undated Script II but with final shooting date listed as 31 May 1953. Script II is subtitled ‘Ett skillingtryck på film av Ingmar Bergman’ [A penny print on film by IB], 115 pp. One of two SFI copies of script is the copy used by cinematographer Hilding Bladh; the other copy is probably the director’s copy, containing inserted sketches and additional handwritten dialogue. Script II has a different ending from the released film version: Albert, the circus owner, joins Jens, the coachman, at dawn and falls asleep in a scene reminiscent of the opening sequence of the film. In the film Albert joins Anne, and the two walk silently side by side as the circus wagons roll on. In Script II, the last ‘shot’ of Anne has her look out the window at a picture of the Virgin Mary, which appears on an emblematic sign listed as part of the circus inventory. Script II of ‘Gycklarnas afton’ was serialized as a film novella in Filmjournalen 35, no. 25-26 through no. 38 (1953). Script II was used for the translation into French by C.G. Bjurström and Maurice Pons, ‘La nuit des forains’, published in Oeuvres, 1962, pp. 102-60. Also translated into Polish by A. Asłanowicz as ‘Wieczór Kuglarzy’ and published in Ingmar Bergman Scenariusze, 1973, pp. 32-93. Script IV (dialogue list) – two copies in English, one titled ‘The Buffoon’s Evening’, 25 pp., with production notes; the other titled ‘Sawdust and Tinsel’, 25 pp.
83.
‘Historien om Eiffeltornet’ [The tale of the Eiffel tower]. BLM 22, no. 7 (November) 1953: 498-500. Excerpt from Bergman’s play ‘Joakim Naken’ (see Ø 61), set in Lyon where Joakim is director in an early film studio. Because of a troubled personal and professional life, Joakim has assumed a new personality and has moved into a boardinghouse where he meets the landlady’s young daughter Marthe. He describes a filmatization of the Eiffel Tower, where the tower is perso-
86
List of Bergman’s Written Work nalized. An imaginary film producer demands a happy end. Joakim toys with the idea of having the Eiffel Tower cross the Atlantic and marry the Statue of Liberty.
84.
‘Ingmar Bergman intervjuar sig själv inför premiären på Sommaren med Monika’ [IB interviews himself before the opening of ‘Summer with Monica’]. SF program to ‘Sommaren med Monica’. SF Archives, Stockholm. Reprinted in Filmnyheter 8, no. 2 (1953): 4-5. Tongue-in-cheek interview. Bergman suggests that nude bathing should become obligatory in all Swedish films: ‘In a country where the climate seldom permits anything but tub baths, ice baths and sauna, we should be given the illusion – with the help of the cinema – that there exists some idyllic area where well-shaped girls splash around as God created them, without getting goose pimples all over their bodies’. [I ett land där klimatet sällan tillåter annat än karbad, isbad och bastu borde vi delges illusionen – med filmens hjälp – att det existerar någon idyllisk plats där välformade flickor plaskar runt så som Gud skapade dem utan att få hönshud på hela kroppen.] Bergman ends ‘interview’ with a nature vignette from the shooting of the film, a moment at sea that he calls ‘evighetens sommar’ [eternity’s summer].
85.
‘En lektion i kärlek’ [A lesson in love]. Unpublished Film Script. SFI and USF Library Archives. Script II, dated 22 July 1953, 161 pp. Script IV (dialogue list) in Swedish only, 33 pp. Dialogue excerpt in Filmrutan 1, no. 2 (March 1958): 12-18. See also Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet, 2002, p. 327, for reference to director’s copy in his Fårö papers, dated 22 July 1953, which contains descriptions of dramatis personae.
86.
‘Vi är cirkus!’ [We are like a circus]. Filmjournalen, no. 4, pp. 7, 31. Translated into German as ‘Wir sind ein Zirkus!’ in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002), pp. 137-39. Short essay comparing filmmaking to the circus. Both are popular art forms that present entertainment and illusion.
1954 87.
‘Det att göra film’ [Making films]. Filmnyheter 9, no. 19-20 (December): 1-9. SF also brought out an English version. Available at SFI library. Originally given as a presentation at University of Lund, 25 November 1954, this essay was also presented as a radio talk in a slightly altered form on 17 April 1955, and reprinted under the title ‘Filmskapandets dilemma’ [The dilemma of filmmaking] in Hörde ni?, no. 5 (May 1955), pp. 427-33. It was delivered as a lecture in Copenhagen, 14 November 1959. The essay outlines the practical and ethical aspects of being a serious filmmaker.
Translations Danish: Dutch:
‘Ingmar Bergman om att göra film’ in Kosmorama, no. 44 (April 1959): 182- 183; ‘Bekentenis van een filmmaker’ in Critisch Film Bulletin 12, no. 11 (November 1959): 83-84;
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Chapter II The Writer English:
French: German:
Italian:
Spanish:
‘What it Means to Make a Film’ (Stockholm: SF, n.d), tr. by P.E. Burke and Britt Halvorson and reprinted in part in the introduction to Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman (Ø 110), pp. xiii-xxii, and in the September 1960 issue of Horizon. Same version also appeared under title ‘Why I Make Movies’ in The Emergence of Film Art, ed. by Lewis Jacobs (New York: Hopkinson & Blake, 1969), pp. 294-302. Essay appeared in two segments under titles ‘I am a Conjurer’, Films and Filming 2, no. 12 (September 1956): 14-15; and ‘Dreams and Shadows’, Films and Filming 3, no. 1 (October 1956): 15-16. Also reprinted in a translation by Royal S. Brown in Film Makers on Film Making, ed. Harry M. Geduld (Bloom?ington: Indiana University Press, 1967), pp. 177-90. Still another English translation by Alice Turner appeared in Interviews with Film Directors, ed. Andrew Sarris (New York: Avon Books, 1967), pp. 34-45. Also referred to as ‘What Is Filmmaking’; ‘Qu’est-ce que faire des films?’ Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 61, (July 1956): pp. 10-19; SF issued a German translation by Dorothea Tribukeit, titled ‘Film Machen’ (n. d), which also appeared in Filmklub-Cinéclub 5, no. 4 (November-December 1960): pp. 236-46; Published as ‘Fare dei film e per me una necessita di natura’ in Cineforum 5, no. 45 (19 May 1965), pp. 366-72; it was also excerpted as ‘Il nostro lavoro’ in Cinema Nuovo no. 83, (25 May 1956, p. 302). ‘Eso de hacer peliculas’, appeared in Film Ideal, no. 68 (1964), pp. 13-17, and as ‘El Cine segun Bergman’ in Filmoteca, no. 16 (1972/73).
There are certain discrepancies between the translated versions of this essay and the original text.
88.
‘Kvinnodröm’ [Women’s Dream]. Unpublished film script. Script II, 137 pp. At SFI Library Archives. Several copies. One copy is the scriptgirl’s copy and contains ca. 100 pp. bound notes and ca. 10 loose pages, most of them technical and revealing the fast tempo and sequence of shooting the film, as well as notes about disruptions caused by bad weather and airplane noise. Script II was the basis of the serialized novella in the Swedish magazine Allers 85, no. 50 (1961) through 86, no. 1 (1962). Script IV (dialogue list) in English, 21 pp. SFI and Uppsala Film Studio archives. One handwritten and one typed copy titled ‘Kvinnodröm. Novell för filmen av Ingmar Bergman’ [Women’s dream. Short story for the film by IB] are among Bergman’s Fårö papers, deposited at SFI. The format is not that of a film script.
89.
‘Spöksonaten’ [The Ghost Sonata]. Program note in Malmö City Theatre program to Bergman production of Strindbergs’s drama, 5 March 1954. Available at Malmö Music Theatre library. Bergman relates his earlier experiences with Strindberg’s play and reminisces about his reaction to Olof Molander’s Dramaten production in 1942.
90.
‘Trämålning. Moralitet av Ingmar Bergman’ [Wood painting. Morality play by IB]. In Svenska radiopjäser. Stockholm: Sveriges Radios förlag and Bonniers Uggleböcker, 1954, pp. 9-61. With a brief prefatory note introducing the author as a director and writer.
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List of Bergman’s Written Work Trämålning is an one-act play originally written by Ingmar Bergman for his acting students at Malmö City Theatre and later expanded into a script for ‘Det sjunde inseglet’/The Seventh Seal. In the original play, the Knight’s role is relatively minor. Death does not appear in person; and the Squire Jöns dominates the action. A narrator is included. Early drafts of the play are among Bergman’s Fårö papers, deposited at SFI. In one of these, a 41-page typewritten version, the narrator’s name is Martin. See Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet, 2002, p. 326.
Translations Danish: English:
French: German:
Polish: Spanish:
‘Kalkmaleri’, tr. By Aage Henriksen. In Drama. En grundbog, ed. by Sejer Andersen. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1978; ‘Painting on Wood’, tr. by Randolph Goodman and Leif Sjöberg. Tulane Drama Review 6, no. 2 (November 1961): 140-52, reprinted in Focus on ‘The Seventh Seal’, 1972 (Ø 1220), pp. 150-73. Paul Britten Austin did an English translation for BBC broadcast on 12 February 1962 (not published); ‘Peinture sur bois’, In L’Avant-Scène du Théâtre, no. 199 (June 1959), pp. 36-41; ‘Holzmalerei. Stück in einem Akt von Ingmar Bergman’, tr. by Barbara Meyer & Sibylle Rahm; among Bergman’s Fårö papers and not published. ‘Tafelbild’, in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, (Ø 1678) pp. 140-166; ‘Malowidło na drzewie’, tr. by L. Kałuska. Życie Literackie, no. 39, 1960; An excerpt was published in Cuadernos de Cine Club del Uruguay (Montevideo), 1961, 16 pp. and titled ‘El retablo de madera’, tr. by Michael Bibin.
1955 91.
‘Sommarnattens leende’ [Smiles of a summer night]. Film Script. SFI and USF Library Archives. Script II, subtitled ‘En romantisk komedi på film av Ingmar Bergman’ [A romantic comedy on film by IB] and dated Rättvik, 27 May 1955, 184 pp. With production notes. Script II was excerpted and published in Folket i Bild (FIB), no. 51 (1956), pp. 20-23. Script was also adapted as a serialized novella in Allers, nos. 14 through 18, 1960. Script II has never been published in its entirety in Swedish but has appeared in several translations, such as: English:
French: German: Italian:
‘Smiles of a Summer Night’, in Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman (Ø 110), pp. 5-94. This text is the basis of Steven Sondheim’s musical ‘A Little Night Music’, 1973. See New York Times, 26 February and 4 March 1973, p. 26:1 and sec. 2, p. 1:4, respectively; ‘Sourires d’une nuit d’été’, Oeuvres, 1962, (Ø 122) pp. 161-246; reprinted in L’Avant-Scène du Cinéma 454, 1996, 102 pp; ‘Das Lächeln einer Sommernacht’. In Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, (Ø 1678) pp. 167-240; ‘Sorrisi di una notte d’estate’, in 4 film di Ingmar Bergman (Ø 110), pp. 56-90.
Script IV (dialogue lists) in English (no title), 23 pp.; in German, titled ‘Das Lächeln einer Sommernacht’, 56 pp.; in French, titled ‘Sourires d’une nuit d’été’, 23 pp. See also Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet (2002), p. 327, for reference to Bergman’s typed script containing his commentaries and sketches, plus a subtitle/note stating: ‘put together by B. with great effort’ [med stor möda sammanskriven av Bergman].
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Chapter II The Writer 92.
‘Filmskapandets dilemma’. (See Ø 87).
1956 93.
‘Aforistiskt av Ingmar Bergman’ [Aphoristic by IB]. Bergman program note to ‘Det sjunde inseglet’ in Swedish and German. Did not appear in English and French programs to the film. Reprinted in Swedish in program to ‘Sista paret ut’ [Last couple out], 1956, and Vi på SF (Stockholm: SF, April 1957), n.p. Reprinted in German as ‘Aforistisches’ in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 241-243. Aphoristic statement grouped under three headings: ‘The Forbidden, the Permissible, and the Necessary’ [Det förbjudna, det tillåtna och det nödvändiga]. It is forbidden ‘to mourn the gifts that the fairies did not give you. [...] To be tempted by your neighbor’s film and not steal it’ [att sörja över de gåvor som feerna inte gav dig. [...] Att frestas av din grannes film och inte stjäla den]. It is permissible ‘att begå vilket brott, vilket konstnärligt våld, vilka hissnande lögner som helst så länge de är i sanning förföriska’. [to commit any crime, any artistic violence, any dizzying lies you please, as long as they are truly seductive]. It is necessary ‘att vara så upptagen att man inte har tid att tänka på vad som är förbjudet’ [to be so busy that you don’t have time to think about what is forbidden].
94.
‘Anders de Wahl och den sista rollen’ [A. de W. and his last role]. FIB no. 18, 1956, p.11. Account by Bergman of last role by grand old actor (‘the old lion’) in Swedish theatre, whom Bergman directed in Björn-Erik Höijer’s drama ‘Det lyser i kåken’ [There is light in the shack]. Their work together was marked by arguments, ruthless exchanges, and strong commitment. Having suggested one day that de Wahl quit his (small) part, Bergman discovered an actor who ‘was great, fearful, and inexplicable, a magician practicing his magic’ [var stor, rädd och outgrundlig, en trollkarl som utövade sin trollkraft].
95.
‘Kära Eva och Harriet. Ingmar Bergman skriver brev till två “filmflickor”’ [Dear Eva and Harriet. IB writes a letter to two ‘film girls’]. FIB no. 12, 1956, pp. 12, 39. Open letter to actresses Eva Dahlbeck and Harriet Andersson, both holding central parts in Bergman’s films at the time (Dreams, Smiles of a Summer Night).
96.
‘Sex frågor till Ingmar Bergman’ [Six questions to IB]. Bildjournalen, no. 38, 1956, pp. 8-9. Appeared in French as ‘Bergman par lui-même’, Cahiers du cinéma, no. 85 (July 1958), p. 15; in German (untitled) in Action 4, no. 7 (October 1968): 36; in Spanish in preface to ‘El septimo sello’, Cuadernos de Cine Club del Uruguay (Monteviseo), 1961, pp. i-ii. Brief statement in which Bergman talks about himself as a bourgeois person and ‘an actor not born’ [en ofödd skådespelare].
97.
‘Sista paret ut’ [Last couple out]. Unpublished film script. Cf. Ø 73. Undated Script II, subtitled ‘En film av Ingmar Bergman’ [A film by IB], 138 pp.
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List of Bergman’s Written Work Script IV (dialogue list) in German, titled ‘Junge Herzen im Sturm’, 25 pp. and 37 pp. The longer version has synopsis and production notes. A copy of Script IV is subtitled ‘Ur Bo Dahlins anteckningar angående föräldrarnas skilsmässa, återberättade av Ingmar Bergman’ [From Bo Dahlin’s notes about his parents’ divorce as told by IB]. SFI Library Archives, Stockholm. USF Archives, Uppsala, has a copy with a handwritten addition by Ingmar Bergman. A typed copy of Uppsala version is also among Bergman’s Fårö papers and dated 24 October 1951, with a 7 page addition presumably of later date, probably 1956 in connection with Alf Sjöberg’s filmatization of script. Cf (Ø 224) in Filmography.
98.
‘Sjunde inseglet’ [The Seventh Seal]. Film script. SFI and USF Library Archives. Unpublished Script II, dated 5 June 1956 and dedicated to Bibi Andersson, 128 pp. There are several copies of Script II at SFI, one of which has 6 pages of loose notes from the shooting of the film, and another which is a director’s copy full of half-legible notes, all of them of a technical nature. Excerpts from Script II appeared in FIB, no. 51 (1956), pp. 20-23. Script II was adapted as a serialized novella in Allers 84, nos. 14 through 18 (1960), but has never been published in its entirety in Swedish. Script II has, however, appeared in numerous translations: Czech: English:
French: German:
Italian: Polish: Spanish:
‘Selmá pecet’, in Filmové povídky, 1982, pp. 5-52; ‘The Seventh Seal’ in Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman, 1960, (Ø 110), pp. 95164, reissued as a separate paperback in 1968, 92 pp.; also as Lorrimer paperback, London, 1968, together with last part of Ingmar Bergman’s essay from introduction to Four Screenplays; new edition 1984, 82 pp. Script was excerpted in Focus on The Seventh Seal (Ø 1220), pp. 154-58; ‘Le septième sceau’ in Oeuvres, 1962, pp. 247-308; ‘Das Siebente Siegel’, Cinemathek 7 (Hamburg: M. von Schröder, 1962), 85 pp., tr. by Thabita von Bonin (includes IB’s program note to The Seventh Seal, originally issued by SF in 1956; and foreword by Jacques Siclier; ‘Il settimo sigillo’, in 4 film di Ingmar Bergman (Ø 110), pp. 91-154; ‘Siódma pieczęć’, in Ingmar Bergman Scenariusze, 1973, pp. 96-162; ‘El septimo sello’, Serie Cine, no. 10 (Barcelona: Colección Voz Imagen, 1965), 160 pp., tr. by Julio Acerete; excerpted in Cuadernos de Cine Club del Uruguay (Montevideo), 1961.
Script IV (dialogue list) in Swedish, 27 pp. Excerpts from Script IV appeared in Filmrutan 1, no. 2 (March 1958), pp. 12-18.
99.
Untitled program note to ‘The Seventh Seal’. Issued by SF (Svensk Filmindustri) in connection with the American opening of the film, n.d. Reprinted in Focus on The Seventh Seal, pp. 70-71. Also printed in French as ‘Ingmar Bergman explique Le septième sceau’, Arts, no. 667 (23-29) April 1958, p. 4, and in Jacques Siclier. Ingmar Bergman. (Paris: 1960), pp. 81-82. Appeared in German in ‘Das Siebente Siegel’, Cinemathek 7 (Hamburg: M. von Schröder, 1962). Bergman reminisces about mural paintings in Swedish country churches that he visited with his parson father, and states briefly his intention with the film.
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Chapter II The Writer
1957 100.
‘Ingmars självporträtt’ [Ingmar’s self-portrait]. Se, no. 9 (3 March) 1957: 33-34. Translated into German as ‘Ingmars Selbstporträtt’ in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 243-246. Asked by the tabloid Swedish journal Se to draw his own portrait, IB relates an alleged incident at the Cannes Film Festival in 1956, when a Russian portrait artist drew a picture of him: two faces, one showing an old man, the other a young boy. To these Bergman adds a third one, called figuren [in the sense of ‘a real character’]. The essay is composed as an argument between these three about Bergman’s real identity. As if in a Pirandellian game, the portraits change roles with each other and contradict what they have stated earlier.
101.
‘Smultronstället’ [Wild Strawberries]. Film script. SFI and USF Library Archives. Script II to ‘Smultronstället’ dated 31 May 1957, 159 pp, plus 8 handwritten pages. There are several copies of Script II, one of which has one page of production notes and a very detailed production chart, made by production manager Gustav Roger. One Script II copy is Bergman’s and contains some additions, most notably an expansion of Alman’s examination of Professor Borg in the second nightmare sequence, including the microscope episode and Borg’s diagnosis of the ‘dead’ woman. In Script II Isak’s wife is called in by Alman and appears as Marianne dressed in black. She accuses Isak of having killed her child. Script IV (dialogue lists) in English, titled ‘Wild Strawberries’, 24 pp.; in German titled ‘Am Ende des Tages’, 20 pp.; and in French ‘À la fin du jour’, 17 pp. ‘Smultronstället’ has never been published in Swedish as a screenplay. It appeared serialized as a novella in Allers, nos. 16 through 20 (1962). It has been published in numerous foreign-language editions: Czech: English:
French: German:
Italian:
Persian: Polish: Russian:
‘Lesní jahody’, in Filmové povídky, 1982, pp. 53-100; ‘Wild Strawberries’ in Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman (Ø 110), pp. 165-239; reprinted as a separate volume in 1970, 120 pp., and also translated by David Kushner and Lars Malmström as Classic and Modern Filmscripts, no. 18 (London: Lorrimer, 1970), 120 pp. [Lorrimer edition includes part of the introduction to Four Screenplays and Bergman’s homage to Victor Sjöström (Ø 109), plus sample of cutting continuity, pp. 96-120]; ‘Les fraises sauvages’ in Oeuvres, 1962, pp. 310-78; ‘Wilde Erdbeeren’ in Spectaculum 1, 1961, pp. 7-55, tr. Ingrid von Schering; reprinted in 1964 in a separate volume (Frankfurt a.M: Suhrkamp), 100 pp.; and in a new translation by Anne Storm in Wilde Erdbeeren und andere Filmerzählungen, 1977, pp. 7-72. Also tr. by Conrad Maria Färber in Arbeitsgemainschaft der Jungendfilmarbeit und Medienerziehung, Regensburg 1962, and excerpted in ‘Filmmaterialen’ Filmreihen 4, Psychoanalyse und Film. Aachen: 1980, pp. 61-65; 4 Film di Ingmar Bergman (Ø 110), pp. 156-222. Also in Scene di vita conjugale: L’immagine allo specchio; il posto delle fragole (Ø 174) and excerpted in Cinema Nuovo, no. 144 (March-April 1960), pp. 169-78; Title page not transcribed (SFI), tr. Houshang Taheri (Teheran: Ibn Sina, 1969), n.p.; ‘Tam, gdzie rosną posiomki’ in Ingmar Bergman Scenariusze, 1973, pp. 164-234; See Gordonskaja, (Ø 1178), pp. 119-90;
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List of Bergman’s Written Work Spanish: Turkish:
Fresas salvajas, tr. E. Ripoli-Freixes (Barcelona: Ayman, S.A Editora, 1968), 140 pp.; Yaban lilekleri, Ankara: Bilgi yayeinever, 1965, 95 pp.
1958 102.
‘Ansiktet’ [The Face/The Magician]. Film script. SFI and USF Library Archives. Script II, subtitled ‘Komedi av Ingmar Bergman’ [Comedy by IB] and dated 4 June 1958, 161 pp. Script IV (dialogue list) in English, titled ‘The Face: A Screenplay by Ingmar Bergman’, 28 pp., with one page of production notes. ‘Ansiktet’ has never been published in Swedish. It has appeared in several foreign-language editions: English: French: Italian:
‘The Magician’, in Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman, 1960 (Ø 110), pp. 243325; ‘Le visage’ in Oeuvres, 1962 (Ø 122), pp. 380-453; ‘Il volto’ in 4 Film di Ingmar Bergman, 1960 (Ø 110), pp. 203-300.
A typed copy of ‘Ansiktet’ is among Bergman’s Fårö papers, deposited at SFI. It is annotated in Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet (2002), p. 328, with a quote from the front page: ‘Mitt hjärta ängslar sig i sin litenhet för det som borde vara dess största längtan: Tre mäktiga floder vars namn är GUD, KÄRLEK OCH DÖD..’. [My heart is anxious in its smallness for what ought to be its greatest longing: Three mighty rivers whose names are GOD, LOVE AND DEATH...].
103.
‘Dialog.’ Filmnyheter 13, no. 11 (1 September) 1958: 1-3. Conversation between Bergman and an imaginary writer, in part an early draft of the 1959 essay ‘Varje film är min sista film’ [ ‘Each Film Is My Last’] Main topic is filmmaker’s responsibility to his public. IB expresses his ambivalent feelings towards his audience. This ‘conversation’ has appeared in: Dutch: English: French: German: Spanish:
104.
‘Bekentenis van een filmmaker’ in Critisch Film Bulletin 12, no. 11 (November 1959): 83-84; ‘Conversation Piece’ in Films and Filming 5, no. 8 (May 1959): 31; ‘Dialogue’ in Cahiers du cinéma, no. 93 (March 1959): 24-26; ‘Dialog’ in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, (Ø 1678), pp. 247-249; (untitled) in ‘El septimo sello’, Cuadernos de Cine Club del Uruguay (Montevideo), 1961, pp. xv-xvii.
‘Jag vill vara med i leken’ [I want to be part of the game]. Röster i Radio-TV, no. 7, 1958, pp. 22, 53. In connection with his early TV work, Bergman writes a brief essay in which he states his ‘readiness to rush in on the arena and do somersaults’ [beredskap att rusa in på scenen och slå kullerbyttor] and hopes he will not be excluded from the TV medium in the future.
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Chapter II The Writer
1959 105.
‘Djävulens öga’ [The Devil’s Eye]. Film script. SFI Library Archives, Stockholm. Script II, subtitled ‘Komedi av Ingmar Bergman’ [Comedy by IB] and dated Rättvik, 28 August 1959, 191 pp. SFI also has a longer copy of Script II with some photo-technical notes and a location list. Script copy also among Bergman’s Fårö papers with some handwritten changes, as well as assistant director Lenn Hjortzberg’s location and shooting list.
106.
‘Kära Allers familjejournal’ [Dear Allers family journal]. Allers, no. 49 (6 December), 1959, p. 45. Letter to Allers in connection with magazine’s serializing of ‘Kvinnors väntan’ [Waiting women], beginning in no. 49, 1959. Bergman maintains that film and literature are two different matters, but hopes that Arne Sellermark’s adaptation of his film script for Allers’ readers will prove entertaining.
107.
Untitled editorial. Filmrutan 2, no. 1: 1. Critical comment about high entertainment tax on film. Throughout the 1950s when Swedish film production companies, some of which also owned movie house chains, were in financial straits, a lively debate eventually led to a redistribution of tax revenues and the establishment of SFI (Swedish Film Institute).
108.
‘Varje film är min sista film’ [Each film is my last]. Filmnyheter 14, no. 9-10 (19 May) 1959: 1-8. Also aired on SR, 1 January and 6 January 1960, and issued as a pamphlet by SF in Swedish, English, French, German, and Italian, n.d. This was originally a speech given at the Student Society at Copenhagen University on 14 March 1959 and printed in Danish film magazine Kosmorama no. 44, 1959, pp. 182-85. It was also serialized under Danish title ‘Stadier på filmens vej’ [Stages on Film’s Way] in the Copenhagen newspaper Politiken, 4 and 8 May 1959 (kronik page). Best known among Bergman’s essays on filmmaking, ‘Varje film är min sista film’ [Each Film Is My Last Film] is divided into three sections that might be subtitled: (1) the script, (2) the studio, and (3) professional ethics. The first section discusses the creative process from impressionistic vignette to completed film script; the second section deals with instruction of actors; and the last section explains Bergman’s three commandments: Thou Shalt Be Entertaining at All Times; Thou Shalt Obey Thy Artistic Conscience at All Times; and Thou Shalt Make Each Film as though It Were Thy Last. The last of IB’s three commandments was reprinted in the English, French, German, and Italian SF programs to ‘Ansiktet’ (The Magician/The Face), 1959. For additional translations of this essay, see: English:
‘My Three Most Powerfully Effective Commandments’, tr. by P.E. Burke and Lennart Svahn. Films and Filming 5, no. 10 (July 1959):8, 28. Also in Film Comment 6, no. 2 (Summer 1970): 9-13; and in Film World (India) 1965/66, pp. 145-47; and excerpted under the title ‘Bergman Tells How He Directs His Actors’ in Making Films in New York 4, no. 5 (October 1970):16, 32-34; and under the heading ‘Film and Creativity’ in American Cinematographer 53, no. 4 (April) 1972: pp. 427-31, 434;
94
List of Bergman’s Written Work French:
German:
Italian: Polish:
‘Chacun de mes films est le dernier’, tr. Louis Marcorelles. Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 100 (October 1959): 44-54; and in Cinématographie française no. 266 (1964), n.p., and in Cinéma 59, no. 41 (November- December 1959): 39-49. Reprinted as an introduction to French edition of Oeuvres (Ø 122); ‘Jeder Film ist mein letzter Film’, in Der Film, ed. Theodor Kotulla (Munich: R. Piper & Co., 1966), 2: 239-48; also published in German program to ‘Fängelse’ (Das Gefängnis). Die kleine Filmkunstreihe Hefte no. 22, 1961; ‘Ogni mio film e l’ultimo’ (Stockholm: Svenska Institutet, n.d.); ‘Każdi film jest moim filmem ostatnim’, in Ingmar Bergman. W opinii krytyki zagranicznej. Ed. by Donata Zielińska, Warsaw: Filmoteka Polska, 1987, pp. 130139.
1960 109.
‘Extract in Memory of Victor Sjöström.’ Sight and Sound 29, no. 2 (Spring) 1960: 98. Reprinted in Wild Strawberries (London: Lorrimer, 1970). Also published in Swedish in FIB no. 13 (25 March) 1960, p. 24. Bergman’s homage to Victor Sjöström, filmmaker and actor.
110.
Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman. Translated from the Swedish by David Kushner and Lars Malmström; New York: Simon & Schuster, 1960. 330 pp; New York: Garland, 1985. 384 pp; New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989. 380 pp. First publication of Bergman scripts in any language. Volume contains text to ‘Smiles of a Summer Night’, ‘The Seventh Seal’, ‘Wild Strawberries’, and ‘The Magician’. This volume was published in an Italian edition as 4 film di Ingmar Bergman, translated by Bruno Fonzi and Giacomo Oreglia. Turin: Giulio Einaudo, 1961, 310 pp.
Reviews Film Quarterly 14, no. 3 (Spring 1961): 61-62; Films and Filming 7, no. 5 (February 1961): 42; Le Soir, 20 April 1962; Manchester Guardian, 1 December 1961, Arts Section; National Review, 22 April 1961, pp. 257-8; New York Times, 21 February 1965, sec. 7, p. 43. Parool, 29 April 1961; Times Literary Supplement (London), 20 January 1961, p. 8. The NYT review listed above is written by Pauline Kael and pertains to the paperback release of Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman. Kael is very appreciative of Bergman as a writer: ‘Just on the basis of the printed page, Bergman is revealed to be a modern dramatist of considerable stature, a man whose theatrical “effectiveness” is comparable to that of Tennessee Williams or Edward Albee.’ Cf however Kael’s critical view of Bergman as a filmmaker (see Ø 1011).
111.
‘Förbön’ [Blessgiving]. Chaplin, no. 8 (November) 1960: 187. Reprinted as ‘Andlig sömngångare och falskspelare’ (Spiritual sleepwalker and counterfeiter). Chaplin 1988, no. 2-3, 76, 157. Translated into German as ‘Fürbitte’ in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 250-254.
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Chapter II The Writer ‘Prayer’ by Ingmar Bergman before his ‘execution’ in special Bergman issue of Swedish film journal Chaplin. The ‘execution’ was part of a hoax carried out by Bergman himself under the pseudonym of Ernest Riffe. See also (Ø 128).
112.
‘Kära skrämmande publik’ [Dear frightening public]. Undated program note issued by SF at premiere of Djävulens öga (The Devil’s Eye), 9 October 1960. Bergman engages in a dialogue with an imaginery viewer. He is not sure the public will look upon Djävulens öga/The Devil’s Eye as a comedy.
113.
‘A Page from My Diary.’ Program issued by SF in English and French (but not in Swedish) at the opening of Jungfrukällan/The Virgin Spring. SF, Stockholm, 2 pp. Translated together with ‘Why I Make Movies’ in The Emergence of Film Art, ed. by Lewis Jacobs (New York: Hopkinson & Blake, 1969), pp. 294-302. Also appeared in French as ‘Journal d’Ingmar Bergman’ in Cinéma 60, no. 51 (November-December 1960): Brief account of an episode when Bergman and his crew stop their work to watch some cranes flying above. IB realizes that he belongs in Sweden and decides to turn down an American offer.
1961 114.
‘Away with Improvization—This is Creation.’ Films and Filming 7, no. 12 (September 1961): 13. Expressing skepticism about improvization in filmmaking, IB discusses the Russian film ‘Lady with the Dog’, based on a Chekhov story. This article was originally published in Swedish in Chaplin, no. 18 (March 1961), 61-63, and is based on an interview with Bergman by Bengt Forslund: ‘Ingmar Bergman ser på film’ [IB looks at film]. See Interviews (Ø 734).
115.
Cuadernos de Cine Club del Uruguay. Montevideo: Cine Club, 116 pp. Spanish excerpts from scripts to Det sjunde inseglet/The Seventh Seal, and Jungfrakällan/The Virgin Spring, plus play text to Trämålning/Wood Painting.
116.
‘Lustgården’ [Garden of Eden; also listed in English as ‘Pleasure Garden’]. Film script. At SFI Library Archives, Stockholm, and Uppsala Film Studio Archive. Script II (148 pp) of film comedy written together with Erland Josephson under the joint pseudonym Buntel Ericsson, dated 15 August 1961. A film based on Script II was produced by SF and directed by Alf Kjellin. Script IV (dialogue list) in Swedish only, 28 pp.
117.
118.
4 film di Ingmar Bergman. Tr. by Bruno Fonzi and Giacomo Oreglia. Torino: Giulio Einaudo, 1961, 310 pp. See (Ø 110). ‘Nattvardsgästerna’ [The Communicants]. Film script. Two undated Script II, SFI and UFS Archives, 134/118 pp. Complete text with notes. Script IV, British version titled ‘The Communicants’. 22 pp. In English at SFI. SFI has costume sketches for the film by Mago.
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List of Bergman’s Written Work Bergman’s Fårö papers, deposited at SFI, include a director’s copy marked L-136, dated 1961/ 62, with a biblical quote on the title page (Matthew 9:2); some handwritten notes and two maps of location and shooting schedule. ‘Nattvardsgästerna’ was published in Swedish in En filmtrilogi, 1963, pp. 69-118; reissued as PAN paperback in Filmberättelser 1, 1973. A serialized adaptation of ‘Nattvardsgästerna’ appeared in Allers 87, no. 6 through no. 10 (1963). Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light) has been published in numerous foreign editions: Czech: English: French: German:
Italian: Russian:
119.
‘Hosté vecere páne’, in Filmové povídky, 1982, pp. 151-91; ‘Winter Light’ in A Film Trilogy, 1965, pp. 62-101; ‘Les communiants’ in Une trilogie, 1963, pp. 112-98; ‘Licht im Winter’ in Wilde Erbeeren und andere Filmerzählungen, 1979 pp. 12974; also as ‘Die Abendmahlsgäste’ in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 255-303; ‘Luci d’inverno’ in Sei film, 1979, pp. 3-58; Excerpt in Gordonskaja (Ø 1178), pp. 191-239.
‘Såsom i en spegel’ [Through a glass darkly]. Film Script. SFI Library Archives. Script II, 148 typewritten pages, undated and marked ‘L-131: En film av Ingmar Bergman’ [L-131: A film by IB]. There are three copies; one copy is studio manager’s copy (Gustaf Roger) and has sketches and outline of studio and exterior takes. In this copy the script is still titled ‘Tapeten’ (The Wallpaper). This copy includes some minor changes in dialogue (not in IB’s handwriting) and some indicated cuts. No Script IV available, but a synopsis in English is included in SFI archival material to film. Bergman’s Fårö papers, deposited at SFI, include several manuscripts: a director’s copy with a quote from Corinthians 13:2 and a handwritten note by Bergman: ‘Tålamod. Jag måste ha tålamod. Jag måste stilla mig och ha tålamod. Tålamod. Förutsättningen är tålamod’ [Patience. I must have patience. I must calm down and have patience. Patience. Patience is the prerequisite]. Among the same papers is editor Ulla Ryghe’s copy with a map of locations and shootings. See Koskinen. I begynnelsen var ordet, (2002), p. 328. ‘Såsom i en spegel’ was printed in Swedish in En filmtrilogi, pp. 7-68. PAN paperback ed. in Filmberättelser 1. Excerpt in Chaplin, no. 23 (November 1961), pp. 199-209. The following are translated editions of Såsom i en spegel: Czech: English: French: German:
Italian: Persian: Spanish:
120.
‘Jako v zicadle’ in Filmové povídky, 1982, pp. 101-149; ‘Through a Glass Darkly’ in A Film Trilogy, 1965, pp. 15-61; ‘Comme dans un miroir’ in Une trilogie, 1963, pp. 3-111; ‘Wie in einem Spiegel’, Cinemathek 1 (Hamburg: Marion von Schröder, 1962), 85 pp., tr. by Thabita von Bonin, with postscript by Reinhold E. Thiel; also published in Wilde Erdbeeren und andere Filmerzählungen 1977, (Ø 167), pp. 73-128; ‘Como en un espejo’ in Sei film, 1979, pp. 59-123; Also in Scene di vita conjugale: L’immagine allo specchio; il posto delle fragole, 1979; Title page not transcribed, tr. Houshang Taheri (Teheran: Ibn Sina, 1967), n.p. ‘Como en un espejo’, Serie cine 12 (Barcelona: Coleccion Voz Imagen, 1965), pp. 7-27, tr. Feliu Formosa, with foreword by Julio Acerete.
‘Såsom i en spegel’. Program note issued by SF at opening of the film on 16 October 1961. Bergman claims that the performing artist is a priest and his performance a cult act. The artist is simply an instrument serving his public.
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Chapter II The Writer
1962 121.
‘Min pianist’. [My pianist]. Vecko Revyn, no. 11 (pp. 16-18, 79). Ingmar Bergman writes about his wife Käbi Laretei and the importance of music in his life.
122.
Oeuvres. Translated by C.G. Bjurström and Maurice Pons. With a foreword by René Micha. Paris: Laffont, 1962. 453 pp. French edition of ‘Sommarlek’, ‘Gycklarnas afton’ (La nuit des forains), ‘Sommarnattens leende’ (Sourires d’une nuit d’été), ‘Sjunde inseglet’ (Le septième sceau), ‘Smultronstället’ (Les fraises sauvages), and ‘Ansiktet’ (Le visage). This edition also includes Bergman’s 1959 essay ‘Varje film är min sista film’ (‘Chaque film est mon dernier’). (See Ø 108).
123.
‘Tystnaden’ [The silence]. Film Script. SFI Library Archives, Stockholm.
Script II, subtitled ‘Opus 26: En film av Ingmar Bergman’, dated 18 April 1962, 115 pp. Script IV (dialogue list) in English and French, 10 pp. Bergman’s Fårö papers, deposited at SFI, contain several scripts on ‘Tystnaden’, among them a bound script in grey felt, dated Djursholm, 18 April 1962; a typed script, same date, with some cuts; a possible director’s copy in black binding, same date, with shooting plan, set and cast lists and sequence division; a script titled Opus 26, part handwritten, part typed and with some sketches. See Koskinen. I begynnelsen var ordet, (2002), p. 329. ‘Tystnaden’ was published in Swedish in En filmtrilogi, 1973, pp. 119-65; issued in PAN paperback Filmberättelser 1, 1973 (see Ø 153). It was also serialized in Swedish magazine Allers no. 4 through no. 8 (1967). ‘The Silence’ has been published in numerous translated editions. Samples: Czech: English:
French:
German: Italian:
Polish:
‘Mlcení’, in Filmové povídky, 1982, pp. 193-230; ‘The Silence’ in A Film Trilogy, translated by Paul Britten Austin (London: Calder & Boyars, 1965, pp. 101-43. This edition contains the screenplays ‘Through a Glass Darkly’, ‘Winter Light’, and ‘The Silence’. Also issued in U. S. paperback, Orion Press, 1968; ‘Le silence’ in Une trilogie, translated by J. Robnard (Paris: Laffont, 1963), pp. 199-270; also in L’Avant-scène du cinéma, no. 37 (1964), pp. 1-50, and in a separate volume (Paris: Seghers, 1972); ‘Das Schweigen’, Cinemathek 12 (Hamburg: M. von Schröder, 1965), 61 pp; also in Wilde Erdbeeren und andere Filmerzählungen, 1977, pp. 175-220; ‘Il Silenzio’ in Ingmar Bergman by Tommaso Chiaretti (Rome: Lo Schermo, 1964), pp. 143-201; also in Sei film, 1979, pp. 127-76, and excerpted in Cineforum 4, no. 43 (February 1964): 133-65; Bergman Scenariusze, 1973 (Ø 151), pp. 235-87.
1963 124.
En filmtrilogi: Såsom i en spegel, Nattvardsgästerna, Tystnaden. Stockholm: Norstedt, 164 pp. Issued in PAN paperback as Filmberättelser 1 (1973). 168 pp. First Swedish edition of any Bergman screenplays. Contains Swedish text to Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light and The Silence.
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List of Bergman’s Written Work Press Reception This being the first collection of Bergman film scripts published in Sweden (cf. Four Screenplays, (Ø 110), may have led reviewers to focus on two questions: Could the scripts revise the Swedish ambivalence towards Bergman’s filmmaking, and what was the relationship of the scripts to the finished films? Though Bergman’s real ‘literary’ breakthrough in Sweden was not to come until 1987 with the publication of Laterna magica, almost all reviewers of En filmtrilogi found positive ‘literary’ qualities in the published trilogy. At the same time they also pointed out that Bergman’s written dialogue needed his image-making to carry artistic weight. There was an element of surprise at discovering the asceticism of Bergman’s written language as compared to his early plays with their excessive emotionalism and occasional verbal bombasm. Bo Strömstedt’s review with the headline ‘En diktare’ [A Poet] and Sverker Göransson’s discussion of ‘Ingmar Bergmans kammarspel’ [IB’s chamber plays] are examples of a new recognition of Ingmar Bergman, not as a literary writer but a filmmaking poet. This was an important observation in that it paved the way for a greater sympathetic understanding of the film trilogy than had been the case at its initial screen exposure. Reviews (all of which also discuss Vilgot Sjöman’s book L 136, a diary from the shooting of Nattvardsgästerna) include: Axelson, Sun. ‘Tre liknelser’ [Three parables]. ST, 30 October 1963, p. 7; Cornell, Jonas. ‘En bild av Ingmar Bergman’ [A picture of Ingmar Bergman]. KvP, 17 October 1963, p. 3; Edström, Mauritz. ‘Filmdiktaren Ingmar Bergman’ [The auteur Ingmar Bergman]. DN, 22 November 1963, p. 4; Göransson, Sverker. ‘Ingmar Bergmans kammarspel’ [Ingmar Bergman’s chamber plays]. GHT, 17 October 1963, p. 3; Janzon, Åke. ‘Bullret kring Tystnaden’ [The noise around The Silence]. SvD, 21 October 1963, p. 3; Schildt, Jurgen. ‘Ingmar Bergman – skrivet och beskrivet’ [Ingmar Bergman – written and described]. AB, 16 December 1963, p. 3; Strömstedt, Bo. ‘En diktare’ [A poet]. Expr., 16 October 1963, p. 4. Translated editions of this volume include: Danish: English: French:
125.
En filmtrilogi. (Copenhagen: Det Schønbergske Forlag, 1966); A Film Trilogy. Trans. by Paul Britten Austin (London Calder & Boyars, 1965) and (New York: Grove Press, 1965, 1967). 143 pp. Une trilogie. Trans. by C.G. Bjurström (Paris: Laffont, 1963). 270 pp.
‘För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor’ [Not to speak about all these women]. With Erland Josephson. Script II, undated, SFI and USF Library Archives, ca 100 pp. Several copies of Script II are among Bergman’s Fårö papers, dated 1963: a handwritten director’s copy with a preliminary shooting schedule, dated 21 March 1963; a bound script with the name of the editor (Ulla Ryghe), and a separate dialogue list. For more detail, see Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet, 2002, p. 129. Script II was adapted as a film novella in Allers 88, nos. 25 through 29, 1964.
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Chapter II The Writer 126.
‘Jag tvivlar på Filmhögskolan’ [I doubt the Film School]. Chaplin, no. 42 (December 1963): 304-5. Plea by Bergman for a Swedish cinemateque and for a film school that would give novice filmmakers more than one chance to make a film.
1964 127.
‘Bergman svarar på Ibsenkritik’ [B. responds to Ibsen Criticism], SvD, 4 December 1964, p. 16. Response to critique by Olof Lagercrantz of Bergman’s 1964 production of Hedda Gabler at Dramaten. See Theatre chapter VI (Ø 440), Reception. For Bergman’s full statement, see the program to Ulla Isaksson’s play ‘Våra torsdagar’ [Our Thursdays], which opened at Dramaten in early December 1964 (not directed by Bergman).
128.
Riffe, Ernest [Ingmar Bergman]. ‘Recueilli’. L’Express, 5 March 1964. Article in the form of a self-interview. Reprinted in L’Avant-Scène du Cinéma, no. 121 (January) 1971, p. 68, under title ‘Bergman parle des femmes’. (Cf. Ø 111).
129.
‘Seminarium om personinstruktion’ [Seminar about casting]. Unpublished notes from a seminar held by IB at Stockholm Film School, 18 September 1964, SFI Archives, Stcokholm, ca. 6 pp. Bergman begins the seminar by stating one basic premise: the professional actor is the alpha and omega of filmmaking. He bases his talk on three scenes from his own films: (1) Tystnaden/ The Silence (Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom and Birger Malmsten in bedroom sequence); (2) Såsom i en spegel/Through a Glass Darkly (Harriet Andersson and Lars Passgård in the attic); (3) Nattvardsgästerna/Winter Light (Ingrid Thulin’s long letter monologue).
130.
‘Trois textes pour Venice. Pour ne pas parler.’ Cahiers du cinéma, no.159 (October) 1964:12-13. One of three texts written by filmmakers in connection with Venice Film Festival. Bergman’s text gives his reason for declining an invitation to Venice Film Festival: ‘All artists except actors should be invisible. [...] The artist should not appear at Christmas celebrations or festivals.’
1965 131.
‘Den fria, skamlösa, oansvariga konsten – ett ormskinn, fyllt av myror’ [The free, shameless, irresponsible art – a snakeskin filled with ants]. Expr., 1 August 1965, p. 4. Also published as preface to Swedish edition of Persona. Stockholm: Norstedt, 1966. This essay was originally written as a speech for the Erasmus Award ceremonies in Amsterdam in Spring 1965, which Ingmar Bergman did not attend because of illness. The essay plays the same central role for Bergman’s views on filmmaking in the 1960s as did ‘What is Filmmaking?’ and ‘Each Film Is My Last’ (Ø 87, 108) in the 1950s. Ingmar Bergman denies that art can have
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List of Bergman’s Written Work any healing or therapeutic function. He sees the artist as a self-absorbed but curious explorer of the world within his reach. The essay, usually referred to as ‘Ormskinnet’ (The Snakeskin) has been published in: Dutch: English:
French:
German:
Italian: Spanish:
132.
‘Credo van een Filmer’ in Supplement. Algemeen Handelsblad, 7 October 1965, and as ‘Ingmar Bergman over kunst’. Baal + Frascati, no. 3 (April) 1986; ‘The Serpent’s Skin’ in Cahiers du cinéma in English 11 (September 1967): 24-29. Also appeared as ‘The Snakeskin’ in Film Comment 6, no. 2 (Summer 1970): 1415, and under the heading ‘Film and Creativity’ in American Cinematographer 53, no. 4 (April 1972): 378-79. Item is also included as a preface to American edition of ‘Persona’ and ‘Shame’ (New York: Grossman. 1972), pp. 11-15. Excerpt and summary in English, Sight and Sound, Autumn 1965, p. 176; ‘La peau du serpent’ in Cahiers du cinéma, no. 188 (March 1967), pp. 16-18. An excerpt titled ‘À propos de Persona’ appeared in Cahiers, no. 179 (June 1966), p. 10; in Arts, no. 27 (30 March 1966), pp. 16-17, under the title ‘Je suis un boulinique’; and in Cahiers du cinéma 453, p. 89, titled ‘L’art est pour moi sans importance’; Excerpt appeared in Kurt Habernoll’s review article on ‘Persona’ in Abend, 29 December 1966. Also translated in full as ‘Die freie schamlose verantwortungslose Kunst – eine Schlangenhaut voller Ameisen’. Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 375-380; ‘La priogione della mia solitudine’ in Cineforum 7, no. 61 (January 1967): 19-29; ‘La piel de serpiente’ in Filmoteca, no. 16 (1972-73), pp. 6-8.
‘Kinematografi’ Film Script for Persona, dated Ornö 17 June 1965. Two copies of typewritten ‘Script II’ titled ‘Kinematografi’ at SFI and one copy at USF Archives. 89 pp. One copy at SFI is copy left by Bergman to be typed up as final shooting script. ‘Kinematografi’ has a prefatory note by Bergman that is not included in published (1966) version of Persona, which instead includes ‘Ormskinnet’ (Ø 131). There are some notable differences between Script II and the final film. In the script the famous prologue consists of only a short film strip with rapidly shifting images of nature (clouds, trees, moon landscape), followed by atmospheric sounds of words. Nurse Alma’s face emerges, followed by the main ‘story’. Unlike the film version, there is no boy and no hospital morgue where he wakes up, and no doubling of Alma’s and Elisabeth’s face. Nor is there any reference later on in the script that the film breaks during Alma’s and Elisabeth’s confrontation, though there is a meta-filmic insert just before Alma and Elisabeth move to the doctor’s summer house (scene 13). Script has some additional dialogue, most notably a fairly long passage in which Elisabeth Vogler talks about her happy and hermetically close relationship to her husband. The book version of Persona was published in Sweden in 1966 (Stockholm: Norstedt), 94 pp. Reprinted as Norstedt/Pan paperback in Filmberättelser 2, 1973, pp. 5-46.
Reception (of Persona as book) Reviewers were as intrigued by Bergman’s preface (‘Ormskinnet/The Snakeskin’) as by the script (which some referred to as a novel). Focus was on Bergman’s view of art as disguise (förställning) and life as role-playing. One critic (Ericsson) thought Persona (the book) covered up the fact that Bergman, as a director, always gave the impression of being greater than the sum of his actors, a weakness according to the reviewer that revealed Bergman’s inability to be
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Chapter II The Writer affected by his instruments; his actors merely confirmed his already shaped vision, formed by his personal experience and feelings.
Reviews Ericsson, Göran O. ‘Förkonstlingen och tystnaden’ [Artificiality and silence]. ST, 18 October 1966, p. 5; Kruskopt, Erik. ‘Tystnaden ingen utväg’ [Silence no way out]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 27 October 1966, p. 7; Leiser, Erwin. ‘Das Schweigen des Künstlers’. Die Weltwoche, 9 December 1966. Perlström, Åke. ‘Den åldrande Ingmar Bergman’ [The aging IB]. GP, 18 October 1966, p. 2; Wejbro, Folke. ‘Ingmar Bergmans “Persona” i bokform’. Gefle Dagblad, 19 October 1966, p. 6. The script has also appeared in numerous foreign-language editions, such as: Danish: English: French:
German: Italian: Polish: Russian:
Persona, tr. Claes Lembourn (Copenhagen: Det schönbergske, 1967), 82 pp. (includes ‘Snakeskin’ essay); ‘Persona’ in Persona and Shame, 1971, pp. 20-101 (includes ‘Snakeskin’ essay, pp. 11-15); ‘Persona’ in L’Avant scène du cinéma, no. 85 (October 1968), 52 pp. (dialogue only); complete script to Persona in French printed in ‘Cris et chuchotements’ suivi de ‘Persona’ et ‘Le Lien’ (Ø 169), 1979, pp. 64-132; ‘Persona’ in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift-Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 304-342; In Sei film (Ø 173), 1979, pp. 267-310; ‘Persona’ in Bergman scenarieusze (Ø 151), 1973, pp. 288-321; Iskusstvo kino, no. 8 (1991): 133-49.
1966 133.
‘Vargtimmen’ [Hour of the wolf]. Film script.
Script II, subtitled ‘L-165’. En film av Ingmar Bergman, dated Djursholm, August 1964 and April 1966, 89 pp. Also English copy, 62 pp. Script IV (dialogue lists) in English, 22 pp. SFI and USF Archives. One Swedish Script II copy, used as shooting script, has additions referring to ‘the marsh sequence’ (last sequence, followed by final narrative vignette with Liv Ullmann). It replaces pp. 79-87 in other copies of Script II and consists of the grotesque voice of ‘The Mother’ who abuses Johan, surrounded by various bird figures. This addition is retained in published version of the script, as well as in English Script II copy, pp. 59-60. Vargtimmen was published in Swedish in Filmberättelser 2, 1973: 49-85; and in English in Four Stories of Ingmar Bergman, 1976, pp. 97-168. It appeared as Wolfsstunde in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift-Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 340-374.
1967 134.
‘Falskspelet’ [The fraud]. Allers, nos. 46-50, 1967, various pagination. A narrative film script edited for Allers by Arne Sellermark. Setting is in a film studio. Plot revolves around a middle-aged couple – an actor and his wife (a dancer) – whose marriage is breaking up. In an introductory note, Bergman explains that the script was written after the
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List of Bergman’s Written Work making of ‘Sommarnattens leende’ (1955), which was such an ordeal that Bergman tabled the thought of filming ‘Falskspelet’ (see Allers, no. 46, p. 29). A 90-page unpublished script with same title is among Bergman’s private Fårö papers, now deposited at SFI.
135.
A Film Trilogy. Tr. by Paul Britten Austin. London: Calder & Boyars, 1967. 147 pp. Contains translation of screenplays to Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, and The Silence. Also issued in U.S. paperback by Orion Publishers, 1968.
136.
‘Skammen’ [The Shame]. Film script. Script II in Swedish, titled ‘Skammens drömmar’ [Dreams of Shame], dated Grindstugan, 21 May 1967, 123 pp. Two copies in English, 128 pp. and 114 pp., apparently translated at different times; variance at length is due to typescript and differences in English usage. One copy has no translator listed; the other (114 pp.) lists the name of Alan Tapsell. Script II ‘Skammen’ was published in Filmberättelser 2, 1973: 87-140. It has appeared in the following translations: English: German:
‘Shame’ in Persona and Shame, 1971 pp. 105-91; ‘Die Schande’ in Wilde Erdbeeren und andere Filmerzählungen, 1977, pp. 221-72.
Script IV (dialogue list) in Swedish, 34 pp., SFI Archives, Stockholm. Script IV was published in Italian in Cineforum 9, no. 83 (March): 177-83. ‘Skammen’s’ motto, listed in Script II and in some published editions, is a quote from the German poet Christoph Martin Wieland (1733-1813): ‘Things Vanish: Become but Dreams.’
1968 137.
‘Fantastic is the Word.’ Film World, no. 3, pp. 4-5. Account of genesis of Shame. Story was originally conceived as a civil war, with same setting as in The Silence. Title of film refers to humiliation and degradation of human life in war.
138.
‘En passion’ [A passion]. Film script.
Script I, titled ‘En passion’, dated 11 August 1968, 56 pp. Script II, titled ‘Annandreas: Förslag till scener ur ett äktenskap’. [Annandreas: Suggestions for scenes from a marriage], dated 10 May 1968, 164 pp. Script IV (dialogue list) in English, 31 pp. SFI, Stockholm. ‘En passion’ was published in Filmberättelser 2, 1973, pp. 141-80. The text was based on Script I. Translations include the following language publications: English: French:
139.
‘The Passion of Anna’ in Four Stories by Ingmar Bergman, 1976 pp. 132-68; ‘Une passion’ in L’Àvant-scène du cinéma, no. 109, 1970, 54 pp.
‘Riten’ [The rite]. TV Film script. Script II, SR/TV Archives, Stockholm, ca. 119 pp. Published in Swedish in Filmberättelser 3, 1973: 7-55;
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Chapter II The Writer Translations Danish: German: Italian:
140.
‘Ritus’ in 4 Filmmanuskripter, 1975, (Ø 165), pp. 5-62. ‘Der Ritus’ in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift-Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, (Ø 1678), pp. 382-427. ‘Il rito’ in Sei film, 1979, (Ø 173), pp. 177-228.
‘Schizofren intervju med nervös regissör’ [Schizophrenic interview with nervous director]. Chaplin, no. 84 (October) 1968: 274. First printed in Expr., 25 September 1968, p. 12, under the heading ‘Utför med Ingmar Bergman’ [IB downhill]. ‘Interview’ was printed in English and French in Film in Sweden no. 3, 1968, pp. 1-9 (with pictures from ‘Skammen’) and reprinted in English in Take One 2, no. 3 (1969): 11, and in Making Films in New York 4, no. 3 (June) 1970: 12. It also appeared in Spanish in Nuova Film (Montevideo), no. 4 (Winter/Autumn) 1969: 35-36, and in German under the title ‘Engeln und Dämonen’ in Argus (Munich), 7 November 1968, n.p. Under his old pseudonym, Ernest Riffe, Bergman prints a fictitious interview with himself in which he comments sarcastically on the tendency among critics to define his political, religious, and moral values.
1969 141.
‘Fårö-dokument 69’. TV Film script. Script IV, in English at SFI, 19 pp. This is identical with text in film. Script IV, ‘Subtitles’ in English, 66 pp. Several copies at SFI.
142.
‘Reservatet’ [The Sanctuary]. Unpublished typescript, subtitled ‘En banalitetens tragikomedi’ [A tragi-comedy of banality], SR/TV2 Archives, Stockholm. Typed manuscript in English titled ‘The Lie’ and translated by Paul Britten Austen is available at SFI Archives, Stockholm, ca. 40 pp. ‘Reservatet’ was published in Filmberättelser 3, 1973: 58-99. It has appeared in the following translated volumes: Danish: German:
‘Reservatet’ in 4 Filmmanuskripter, 1975, pp. 61-105. ‘Das Reservat’ in Wilde Erdbeeren und andere Filmerzählungen, 1979, pp. 273316.
‘Reservatet’ was planned as a Eurovision play, to be produced in a number of different national TV versions in Europe. Swedish TV version was directed by Jan Molander and televised on 28 October 1970 and retransmitted on 9 April 1971. British version, directed by Alan Bridges, was aired on BBC 1 on 29 October 1970. In the U.S. ‘The Lie’ was produced on 24 April 1973 by CBS Playhouse and directed by Alex Segal. Cf Media Chapter V (Ø 324).
143.
‘Skrämd och illamående bevittnar jag TV-jakten’ [Horrified and sick I witness the TV witch-hunt]. Expr., 8 June 1969, p. 4. Open letter from Ingmar Bergman to SR/TV Corporation, stating his indignation at methods used by a team of news reporters to track down a local politician and expose him to TV cameras in a nervous and unprepared state.
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List of Bergman’s Written Work 144.
‘Svenstedt och Korridoren’ [Svenstedt and The Corridor]. Expr., 11 October 1969, p. 4. Open letter from Ingmar Bergman, supporting removal of a member in a film jury (film critic C.H. Svenstedt), because he had collaborated on a script for one of the films to be judged. Ingmar Bergman calls Svenstedt ‘a clown and a tail-wagger. [...] Take him away. He stinks’. [en clown och svansviftare. [...] Ta bort honom. Han stinker.]
1970 145.
‘Beröringen’ [The Touch]. Film script. Script I, dated September-October 1970, SFI Archives, Stockholm, 86 pp., plus 20-page location list. This script was the basis of the version printed in Filmberättelser 3 (Stockholm: PAN/Norstedt, 1973), pp. 103-149. Swedish published manuscript includes a preface by Ingmar Bergman in which he cautions the reader that a script is a half-baked piece of writing, ‘a pale and tentative mirror image’ [en blek och osäker spegelbild] of the finished film. The text to ‘Beröringen’ [The Touch] has appeared in a number of translated editions: Danish: English: French:
‘Berøringen’ in 4 Filmmanuskripter, 1975, pp. 107-56; ‘The Touch’ in Four Stories of Ingmar Bergman, 1976, pp. 7-56; ‘Le lien’ in ‘Cris et chuchotements’ suivi de ‘Persona’ et de ‘Le lien’, 1979, pp. 133203.
1971 146.
‘Min mors dagböcker avslöjar vem hon var’ [My mother’s diaries reveal who she was]. Husmodern, no. 39, 1971, pp. 18-19, 65, 67. Bergman talks about his discovery of his mother’s diaries after her death and how a more complex portrait of her began to take shape in his mind. See also Linton (Ø 1526), and Commentary to ‘Viskningar och rop’ in Filmography (entry Ø 255).
147.
‘Persona’ and ‘Shame’. Trans. by Keith Bradfield. (London: Calder & Boyars; New York: Grossman, 1971), 191 pp.
148.
‘Viskningar och rop’ [Whispers and Cries]. Film script.
Script I, subtitled ‘En film av Ingmar Bergman’, dated 3 June 1971, 69 pp. This is the script closest to the film version and contains dialogue. Script II, 31 pp., has IB’s introductory remarks to his crew and a presentation of the characters. SFI has English and French translations of Script II. Excerpt of Script II was published in Chaplin, no. 114 (1972), pp. 88-89, as part of an article by L.-O. Löthwall on ‘Cries and Whispers’. Same text appeared in French translation in Cinéma 72, no. 171 (December 1972), pp. 25-27. Most complete published French version of ‘Viskningar och rop’ can be found in L’Avant-scène du cinéma, no. 142 (December 1973), pp. 3-55, which contains Bergman’s notes to his actors, his literary script, and the dialogue script. Swedish publication of script appears in Filmberättelser 3, 1973: 153-71.
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Chapter II The Writer The following translated editions of ‘Viskningar och rop’ are all based on Script II: Danish: English: French:
German: Italian: Polish:
4 filmmanuskripter, 1975, pp. 159-95; New Yorker, 21 October 1972, pp. 38, 46. Also in Four Stories by Ingmar Bergman, 1976: 57-94; ‘Cris et chuchotements’, L’Àvant-Scène du Cinéma. no. 142 (December 1973): 55 pp., and in volume titled ‘Cris et chuchotements’ suivi de ‘Persona’ et de ‘Le lien’, 1979, pp. 3-63 (Ø 169). Also as ‘Une lettre de B à ses collaborateurs de Cris et chuchotements’, Cinéma 72, no. 171 (December 1972): 25-27, and in Ecran 73, no. 15 (May 1973): 11-12; ‘Schrei und Flüstern’ in Wilde Erdbeeren und andere Filmerzählungen, 1977, (Ø 167), pp. 363-400; ‘Sussuri e grida’ in Sei film, 1979, pp. 229-65; ‘Szepty i krzyki’ in Bergman Scenarieusze, 1977, (Ø 164), pp. 323-55.
1972 149.
‘En själslig angelägenhet’ [A Matter of the Soul], dated Fårö, 11 August 1972. Copyright 1990. Published in English translation by Eivor Martinus in New Swedish Plays, ed. by Gunilla M. Anderman. (Norwich: Norvik Press), 1992, pp. 33-64 and in French as Une affaire d’âme (see (Ø 199). The play was later included in a volume of three pieces, titled Föreställningar (Ø 199), 2000. ‘En själslig angelägenhet’ is a monologue (broadcast in 1990) by a woman on the verge of a breakdown who, having plunged a knife in her doctor’s throat, speaks in many different voices about the emotional control she has experienced with her father and her lover.
150.
‘Scener ur ett äktenskap’ [Scenes from a Marriage]. TV script. Script II subtitled ‘Sex dialoger för televisionen av Ingmar Bergman’ [Six dialogues for television by IB], dated June 1972, SFI Archives, Stockholm, 230 pp., plus a 4-page preface. Published editions of ‘Scener ur ett äktenskap’ follow original Script II format, i.e., Swedish television format, except that Ingmar Bergman added a preface to the printed script, in which he addressed his prospective reader. For a commentary, see introduction to this chapter. Swedish script was published as Scener ur ett äktenskap (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1973), 196 pp. Translated editions include the following: Czech: Danish: Dutch: English: Estonian: French: Georgian: German:
‘Scény z manzelského zivota’, Fílmove povídky, tr. Z. Cerník, D. Hortlová, J. Osvald. (Prague: Odéon, 1982), pp. 231-332; Scener fra et aegteskab, tr. Claus Lembourn (Copenhagen: Det Schønbergske, 1974), 172 pp. Scenes uit een huwelijk, tr. Cora Polet. (Utrecht: Bruna, 1975), 144 pp; Scenes from a Marriage, tr. Alan Blair (New York: Pantheon Books, 1974), 199 pp; Stseenid hest abielust, tr. T. Saluläär. (Tallinn: Peridoodika, 1978), 138 pp; Scènes de la vie conjugale, tr. C.G. Bjurström and L. Albertini (Paris: Gallimard, 1975), 202 pp, and 1992, 216 pp.; Scvenebi cvolkumrul cvxovrebidpn. (Tblisi: Xeloveba, 1992), 378 pp.; Szenen einer Ehe, tr. Tabitha von Bonin. (Hamburg: M. von Schröder, 1974), 204 pp; (Berlin: Volk und Welt, 1976, and 1983), 378 pp.;
106
List of Bergman’s Written Work Hungarian: Italian:
Japanese: Norwegian: Polish: Portuguese: Russian: Spanish:
Jelenetek egy hça zassfagbil. (Budapest: Europa könyvhiadi, 1977, 1987, and 1996); Scene di vita coniguale, tr. P. Monaci. (Torino: Einaudi, 1974), 191 pp. Also in Scene di vita conjugale; L’immagine allo specchio; il posto delle fragole (Ø 174), 1979; Aru kekkon no feukei, tr. K. Kazuo. (Tokyo: Herarudo-entëapuraizu, 1981), 246 pp.; Scener fra et ekteskap, tr. C.F. Prytz. (Oslo: Gyldendahl, 1974), 195 pp.; Sceny z życia małżénskiego, tr. Maria Olszańska and Karol Sawicki. (Poznań: Wydawictwo Poznańiskie, 1975), 161 pp.; Cenas da vida conjugal, tr. J. Bernardes. (Rio de Janeiro: Nirdica, 1974), 155 pp. and as Cenas de um casamento sueco (Lisboa: Sécula, 1975), 190 pp.; Sceny iz supruzjeskoj zjizni. (Moscow: Progress, 1979), 202 pp.; Escenas de un matrimonio, tr. J.P. Vega. (Barcelona: Fernando Torres, 1975), 191 pp.
1973 151.
Bergman. Scenariusze. (Warszawa: Wydawnictwa artystyczne i filmowe, 1973), 288 pp. Scripts to ‘Wieczir kuylarzy’ [Gycklarnas afton]; ‘Siodma pieczęć’ [Sjunde inseglet]; ‘Tam, geziearosna poziomli’ [Wild Strawberries]; ‘Milczenie’ [Tystnaden]; ‘Persona’.
152.
‘Det var bara roligt’ [It was nothing but fun], Röster i Radio-TV, no. 15 (1973), pp 4-6; reprinted in part in Röster i Radio-TV, no. 35 (1974), p. 16. Article appeared in Danish (‘Et par måneders arbejd men et livs erfaring’), Politiken, 13 May 1973, p. 42. Bergman writes about the pleasure of making his first TV series, ‘Scener ur ett äktenskap’.
153.
Filmberättelser [Film stories], Vols. 1-3. Stockholm: PAN/Norstedt, 1973. Paperback editions of the following Bergman scripts in Swedish: Vol 1, Såsom i en spegel, Nattvardsgästerna, Tystnaden, 167 pp.; Vol 2, Persona, Vargtimmen, Skammen, En passion, 180 pp.; Vol 3, Riten, Reservatet, Beröringen, Viskningar och rop, 187 pp. These texts, which contain not only the descriptions and dialogue of the films but also Bergman’s comments, are virtually unillustrated, possibly in an effort to present them as autonomous texts and allow the reader to visualize the text for himself. In line with this, the texts contain no production information about the films.
Reception Critics remarked on Bergman’s development from a tentative literary writer in the 1940s to greater artistic self-assurance. What surprised the reviewers in particular was how readerfriendly Bergman’s published scripts were with a simple syntax and word choice, the implication being that his films based on these scripts had been viewed as difficult and complex. This in turn confirmed that the Swedish response to Bergman’s filmmaking was not very different from the gloom-and-doom image of him among many foreign viewers.
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Chapter II The Writer Reviews Franzén, Lars-Olof. ‘Berättelser som förklarar’ [Stories that explain]. DN, 3 December 1973, p. 4; Ohlsson, Joel. ‘Läsa filmmanus torr upplevelse’ [Reading film manuscripts a dry experience]. Arb, 23 April 1974, p. 2; Svensson, Lars. ‘Bergman i bokform’ [B in book form]. Helsingborgs Dagblad, 23 November 1973, p. 21; Tunbäck-Hanson, Monika. ‘Bergmans filmer i bokform’. GP, 8 December 1973, p. 2.
154.
Kommentar till serie ö. [Commentary to Ö series]. SFI, Stockholm, 1973. 21 pp. In connection with a retrospective showing of his films (3 September to 1 October 1973) at SFI Cinematheque in Stockholm, Bergman offered brief comments on nine of his films, from Kris to The Devil’s Eye.
155.
Mandrup-Nielsen, Mads. ‘Jag skulle vilja slå ihjäl er’ [I’d like to kill you]. Röster i Radio/TV, no. 15 (7-13 April 1973], p. 6. Mads Mandrup-Nielsen is introduced as a 28-year-old film scholar who has just started a new company named Dansk Sandheds AS [Danish Truth, Inc.], which is a consortium of progressive, politically conscious younger critics. The so-called interview consists of a long analysis of Scenes from a Marriage. Bergman’s response consists of three no’s and an expressed desire to kill the critic. One can assume that this interview is a hoax in the same spirit as his earlier Ernest Riffe essays (Ø 111, 128, 140).
156.
Strindberg. A Dream Play, Adapted by Ingmar Bergman. (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1973). 58 pp. Bergman’s adaptation of Strindberg’s play for his 1970 Dramaten production, translated by Michael Meyer.
157.
‘Trollflöjten’ [The Magic Flute]. TV Film script. SFI Archive. Script II, 111 pp., dated November 1973. With additional 28 pp. of Bergman’s commentaries that range from a presentation of Schikaneder’s old Vienna theatre, where the original ‘Magic Flute’ was performed, to an analysis of the characters and an explanation of the changes made by Bergman. For anyone interested in his filmatization of Mozart’s opera, these commentaries are very valuable source material. They appeared in a press folder presentation of the film in French as ‘Comment j’ai découvert La Flute enchantée’, n.d. Script I, 175 pp., dated 1974, is a music score to ‘Trollflöjten’ (The Magic Flute) referred to as ‘the Ingmar Bergman version’. SFI Archive material for ‘Trollflöjten’ also includes a typed sheet outlining the production schedule.
158.
‘Un film pour vous divertir.’ Cinéma Québec 3, no. 1 (September) 1973: pp. 13-15. Reprint of Bergman’s statements during press conference at Cannes Film Festival in 1973 when ‘Cries and Whispers’ was shown out of competition.
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List of Bergman’s Written Work
1974 159.
‘Ansikte mot ansikte’ [Face to face]. Film script. Script II, dated 7 December 1974, SFI Archives, Stockholm. Two copies are available: one 148 pp., the other 182 pp. Longer script reverses the opening sequences in the film but is otherwise identical with film version. Shorter script is the one used as basis for printed editions of Script II. Both versions include Bergman’s address to his fellow workers, which is also printed in numerous foreign editions of the screenplay. Ansikte mot ansikte was published in Swedish in 1975 (Stockholm: PAN/Norstedt), 106 pp.
Translations include the following Bulgarian: Danish: Dutch: English:
French: German: Norwegian: Polish: Spanish:
Lice sieíy’l lice. tr. V. Ganyeva. (Sofia: Narodna kultura, 1984), 131 pp.; Ansigt til ansigt. tr. C. Maaløe. (Copenhagen: Schønberg, 1976), 89 pp.; Van aangezicht tot aangezicht. tr. R. Törnqvist-Verschuur. (Utrecht: Bruna, 1976), 98 pp.; Face to Face, tr. Alan Blair. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1976), 119 pp., and (London: Marion Boyars, 1976), 116 pp.; also excerpted in Mademoiselle, no. 8 (April 1976), pp. 189-99; Face à face, tr. C.G. Bjurström and L. Albertini. (Paris: Gallimard, 1976), 130 pp.; Von Angesicht zu Angesicht, tr. Hans-Joachim Maass. (Hamburg: M. von Schröder, 1976), 172 pp; (München: Heyne, 1978), 220 pp.; Ansikt mot ansikt, tr. G. Nyqvist. (Oslo: Aschehough, 1976), 80 pp.; Twarza w twarz, tr. by Z. Łanofski (Warszawa: no publisher listed), 1978), 110 pp.; Cara a cara, tr. A. Valiente, Angel Comas Puente and Enrico Ripoll-Freixes (Barcelona: Ayma S.A. Editora, 1977), 147 pp.
1975 160.
4 filmmanuskripter Trans. by C. Maalboe. (Copenhagen: Det Schönberske 1975), 195 pp. Danish editions of The Ritual, The Lie (Reservatet), The Touch, and Cries and Whispers.
1976 161.
Four Stories of Ingmar Bergman. Trans. by Alan Blair. (London: M. Boyars; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday), 168 pp. Reissued as Anchor paperback, 1977. Scripts to The Touch, Cries and Whispers, Hour of the Wolf, The Passion of Anna.
162.
‘Jeder Mensch hat Träume, Wünsche, Bedürfnisse.’ Goethepreis 1976: Ingmar Bergman. (Frankfurt a.M.: Dezernat Kultur und Freizeit), 30 pp. (including all speeches at the ceremony). Bergman’s speech (ca. 2 pp.) delivered at Goethe Award ceremonies in Frankfurt an Main, West Germany, 28 August 1976. Reprinted under the title ‘Der wahre Künstler spricht mit seinem
109
Chapter II The Writer Herzen’ in Filmkunst 74 (1976): 1-3. Also appears under entry title in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift-Ton, ed by Renate Bleibtreu, (2002), pp. 464-468. Bergman discusses briefly the humanistic, psychological, and professional bases of artistic activity.
163.
‘Nu lämnar jag Sverige’ [Now I leave Sweden]. Expr., 22 April, pp. 4-5. In an open letter to the Stockholm tabloid Expr., Ingmar Bergman announces his immediate intention of leaving Sweden in the aftermath of his arrest by tax authorities earlier in the year (see Ø 1272). He feels compelled to depart because his sense of security at work has been shattered, and states that he will leave his Swedish assets behind, dissolve his film company, sell his property, and maybe write a farce about the whole affair. He ends his letter with a quote from Strindberg: ‘Look out, you devil, so I don’t put you in my next play!’ [Se upp din djävel så du inte hamnar i min nästa pjäs!]. A résumé in English of this letter appeared in Screen International, 8 May 1976, p. 23.
1977 164.
Ingmar Bergman Scenariusze [Ingmar Bergman screenplays]. Trans. by A. Asłanowicz. (Warsaw: Wydawnitctwa Artystyczne i Filmowe), 355 pp. Polish edition of Gycklarnas afton, Sjunde inseglet, Smultronstället, Tystnaden, Persona, and Viskningar och rop (cf. Ø 151), 1973.
165.
‘Ormens ägg’ [The Serpent’s Egg]. Film script. Script IV in English available at SFI. Undated. Published in Swedish in paperback. (Stockholm: PAN/Norstedt, 1977). 129 pp. This text is the basis of following translations: Czech: Dutch: English: French: German:
Italian: Polish: Portugese: Spanish:
166.
‘Hadí vejce’, in Fílmove povídky, 1982, pp. 333-99. Het slangeei. (Utrecht: Bruna, 1980), 315 pp.; The Serpent’s Egg, tr. Alan Blair (New York: Pantheon Books, 1977), 150 pp. Paperback ed. Bantam Books, 1978; L’Oeuf du serpent, tr. C.G. Bjurström and L. Albertini (Paris: Gallimard, 1978, and 1997), 137 pp. Das Schlangenei, tr. Heiner Gimmler (Hamburg: Hoffman und Campe Verlag, 1977), 172 pp. (German script excerpt was also published in Fern und Fernsehen VIII, no. 3 (March) 1988: pp. 44-49); L’uvo del serpente, tr. R. Pavese. (Torino: Einaudi), 1980), 138 pp.; Jajo weza, tr. by Z. Łanofski. (Warsaw: Dialog, no. 4, 1978; (Czytelnik, 1980); O ovo da serpente, tr. P. Johns (Rio de Janeiro, 1978), 111 pp.; El huevo de la serpiente, tr. L. Långström (Barcelona: Aymae, 1977). 152 pp.
‘Den förstenade prinsen’ [The Petrified Prince]. Unpublished script. Currently at SFI Bergman archive but also circulating in U.S. in typescript in an English translation by Alan Blair. ‘Den förstenade prinsen’ was planned as Bergman’s contribution to a projected Fellini and Bergman film on the theme of love, produced by Warners. See (Ø 1174).
110
List of Bergman’s Written Work ‘The Petrified Prince’ is a ‘pornographic’ fantasy, a grotesque variation of ‘The Magic Flute’. It tells the story of a mute and paralyzed prince named Samson, who is enslaved by his queen mother, an aggressive whore who repeatedly rapes her son. Samson makes an unsuccessful attempt to murder his mother but is threatened by a newly arrived father figure who tries to castrate him. Samson runs away with a young mother/whore to establish his own neurotic family.
167.
Wilde Erdbeeren und andere Filmerzählungen. Trans. by Anne Storm. (Munich: Heine, 1977, 1980), 400 pp.; (Munich: Hanser, 1980), 444 pp. German edition of Wild Strawberries, Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, The Silence, Shame, The Touch, Cries and Whispers, and The Lie.
1978 168.
‘Höstsonat’ [Autumn Sonata]. Film script Script IV in Swedish at SFI library. There are several manuscripts in Bergman’s Fårö papers. See Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet, p. 332. The script was published in Swedish as Höstsonaten by Norstedt, 1978, and as PAN paperback edition, 1980. 98 pp. This text is the basis of following translations: Bulgarian:
Danish: Dutch: English: French: German: Norwegian: Polish: Portuguese: Russian:
Esenna sonata, tr. V. Ganyeva. (Sofia: Narodna kultura, 1981), 73 pp. Also in Kino Izkustvo XXXIV, no. 5 (May) 1979: 83-112, and in Film a Doba XXIV, no. 12 (December) 1978: 668-679; Høstsonaten, tr. Asta Hoff-Jörgensen. (Copenhagen: Schönbergske, 1979), 95 pp.; Herftsonate, tr. by Jan Ogærts. (Utrecht: Bruna, 1979), 86 pp.; Autumn Sonata, tr. Alan Blair. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1978), 84 pp.; Sonate d’autonne, tr. C.G. Bjurström and L. Albertini. (Paris: Gallimard, 1978, and 1997), 73 pp.; Herbstsonate, tr. H. Gimmler. (Hamburg: Hoffman und Campe), 95 pp; and (Munich: Heyne, 1980), 111 pp.; Høstsonaten, tr. A. Amlie. (Oslo: Cappelen, 1978), 101 pp.; Sonata jesienna, tr. by Z. Łanowski. (Warsaw, 1980); Sonata do Outtono, tr. Bernardes. (Rio de Janeiro: Nordica, no date), 127 pp.; Osennjaja sonata. Kinopovesti. (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1988), 253 pp.
1979 169.
‘Cris et chuchotements’, suivi de ‘Persona’ et de ‘Le Lien.’ Tr. by J. Robnard and C. de Seynes. (Paris: Gallimard, 1979), 203 pp and 1994, 231 pp. French editions of Cries and Whispers, Persona, and The Touch.
170.
‘Fanny och Alexander’ [Fanny and Alexander]. Film script. Script I, dated Fårö, 8 July 1979. This was the basis of published Swedish edition from 1982 (Stockholm: Norstedt), 224 pp.
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Chapter II The Writer Among translations of this script are the following: Czech: Dutch: English: Estonian: French: German:
Hungarian: Italian: Norwegian: Polish: Portugese:
Fanny a Alexander, tr. Z. Cerncik. (Praha: Mladça fronta, 1988), 166 pp.; Fanny en Alexander, tr. R. Törnqvist-Verschuur. (Amsterdam: Manteau, 1984), 199 pp.; Fanny and Alexander, tr. Alan Blair. (New York: Pantheon, 1982), 216 pp, and (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982), 216 pp.; Fanny ja Alexander, tr. A. Aaloe. (Tallinn: Periodiodika, 1991), 142 pp.; Fanny et Alexandre, tr. C.G. Bjurström and L. Albertini. (Paris: Gallimard, 1983), 237 pp.; Fanny und Alexander: Roman im sieben Bildern, tr. Hans-Joachim Maass. (Munich: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1982), 235 pp., and (Berlin: Volk und Welt, 1984), 216 pp.; Fanny és Alexander, tr. C.K. Lazli. (Budapest: Çarçadia, 1985), 226 pp.; Fanny e Alexander, tr. P. Muscarello, R. Pavese. (Milano: Ubulibri, 1987), 145 pp.; Fanny og Alexander, tr. G. Malmström. (Oslo: Aschehoug, 1983), 203 pp.; Fanny i Aleksander, (Warszawa: Czytelnik, 1987), 294 pp.; Fanny e Alexandre, tr. J. Bernardes. (Rio de Janeiro: Nordica, 1985), 269 pp.
Hanif Kureishi in New Statesman & Society, July 7, 1989, reviewed the book version of Fanny and Alexander, concluding that the printed version was ‘Bergman minus the magic’.
171.
‘Fårö-dokument 79’. TV film script. Script IV. Dialogue list, 32 pp. plus 5 pp. of additional text that is also inserted in the far left column of the script page. SFI also has a cut version of the script, which was used for an international distribution copy of the dialogue. SFI Archive has several Script IV copies in English (38, 39, and 47 pp.) and one in Spanish: Lista de dialogos. Documento de Fårö 1979, 29 pp.
172.
‘Jag trivs nästan varje dag’ [I like it almost every day]. Expr., 31 March 1979, p. 4. Letter from Ingmar Bergman to Stockholm evening paper Expr. The paper had published an article on Ingmar Bergman by Björn Nilsson, 3 February 1979, p. 4, asking him to return home after what was termed a highly critical reception of his theatre productions in Munich by West German press. Bergman’s letter depicts the theatre life in Munich and refers to himself as a somewhat suspect person in a foreign context. West Germans had difficulty understanding his need for privacy. Letter ends with an homage to Fassbinder, not as a filmmaker but as ‘the clown of German bourgeois life’ [det tyska borgerliga livets clown]. See also group entry (Ø 1272) in Chapter IX.
173.
Ingmar Bergman. Sei film. Tr. by Giacomo Oreglia. (Turin: Guilio Einaudi, 1979), 320 pp. Italian edition of The Ritual, Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, The Silence, Persona, and Cries and Whispers.
174.
Scene di vita conjugale; L’immagine allo specchio; il posto delle fragole. Tr. by P. Monaci. (Milano: Club degli editori, 1979), 388 pp. Italian translations of Scenes from a Marriage, Through a Glass Darkly, and Wild Strawberries.
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List of Bergman’s Written Work
1980 175.
‘Efter repetitionen’ (After the Rehearsal). TV-play, copyright in summer 1980. Manuscript dated ‘Fårö, 5 August 1980’. Script IV in German titled ‘Nach der Probe’ available at SFI, dated 1981. 56 pp. Published in Swedish in Femte akten. (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1994), pp. 1761. Femte akten was also published in French as Le cinquième acte in 1997 and in English as The Fifth Act in 2001. (see Ø 195). Other translations of ‘Efter repetitionen’ include: Bulgarian: French:
German: Polish:
Kino (Sofia), 3 (July) 1993, pp. 1-80; ‘Après la répétition’ in Théatre en Europe (Paris), no. 5 (January 1985), and in L’Avant-Scène du Cinéma, no. 394 (July 1990); the latter publication was richly illustrated, 79 pp.; ‘Nach der Probe’, in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp 642-677; ‘Po próbie’, tr. by Z. Łanowski in Dialog, no. 9, 1986.
‘Efter repetitionen’ was televised on SVT, channel 1, in 1983; (see Ø 332), Media chapter V.
176.
Slangeei (Het), Het uur van de wolf, Een passie, Beroering, Schreeuw zonder antwoord. (Utrecht: Bruna, 1980), 315 pp. Dutch edition of The Serpent’s Egg, Hour of the Wolf, A Passion, The Touch, Cries and Whispers.
177.
Ur marionetternas liv [From the Life of the Marionettes]. (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1980), 171 pp. Manuscripts in Bergman’s Fårö papers with notes, dated 1979. Translations Dutch: English: French: German: Norwegian:
Dans van de marionetten, tr. Jan Bogaerts (Utrecht: Bruna, 1981), 127 pp.; From the Life of the Marionettes, tr. Alan Blair (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980), 98 pp.; De la vie des marionettes, tr. C.G. Bjurström and L. Albertini, with a preface by Ingmar Bergman (Paris: Gallimard, 1980), 112 pp. New ed. 1997; Aus dem Leben der Marionetten. (Hamburg: Hoffman Campe, 1980), 107 pp. A German version of Script IV is in SFI library; Fra marionettenes liv, tr. A. Amlie. (Oslo: Cappelen, 1980), 139 pp.
1982 178.
Filmové povídky. Prague: Odéon, 1982. Czech edition of The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, The Silence, Scenes from a Marriage, The Serpent’s Egg. With an afterword by J. Cieslar. Tr. by Z. Cerník, D. Hortlová, J. Osvald.
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Chapter II The Writer
1983 179.
Ingmar Bergman Seminar. Video Recording dated 2 December 1983, Dept of Cinema Arts, Stockholm University, 2 December 1983. Video recording from a seminar with Bergman in the Department of Cinema Arts at Stockholm University in December 1983.
1984 180.
‘Förord till en översättning’ [Preface to a translation]. Dramaten’s program to Bergman’s production of King Lear. Also in published play text, Stockholm: Ordfront, 1984, pp. 5-6. Brief commentary by Bergman to Britt G. Hallqvist’s new translation of Shakespeare’s play.
181.
‘Karins ansikte’ [Karin’s face]. Unpublished text is basis of a film about Ingmar Bergman’s mother. Visual text consists of photographs of Karin Bergman, the last one being a passport picture, taken shortly before her death in 1967.
1985 182.
Cinéma, no. 327 (30 October 1885): 3. Compilation of published quotes by Bergman on himself, the cinema, Sweden, and women.
183.
184.
‘De två saliga’ [The Blessed Ones]. Manuscript to TV play adapted from Ulla Isaksson’s novel with the same name. Cf. 180. Manuscript in SFI Bergman (Fårö) archive includes director’s copy with shooting plan and group photograph, dated 1985. ‘Propos.’ Positif 289 (March 1985): 17-19. A collage of statements made by Bergman at a press conference in Venice on 9 September 1983. Subjects deal with ‘Fanny and Alexander’, filmmaking versus filming for television, and impact of Strindberg.
1987 185.
Laterna Magica. (Stockholm: Norstedt). 337 pp. New edition 1988. There are several different versions of manuscript among Bergman’s Fårö papers with alternate titles such as ‘Peeling onions’ (Skala lök) – a reference to Peer Gynt – and ‘Tim Konfusenfej’. See Koskinen, (Ø 1681), p. 335. Bergman’s memoirs, in English-speaking world usually referred to as his autobiography. Book has a non-chronological structure, with alternating chapters on childhood, theatre work, the
114
List of Bergman’s Written Work tax affair in 1976, marriage crises, teenage summers in Nazi Germany, encounters with artists like Laurence Olivier, Greta Garbo, and Herbert von Karajan. Despite the title, the book contains relatively little information on Bergman’s filmmaking.
Reception Swedish reception was enthusiastic. Three aspects of the book dominated in the reviews: (1) Its narrative structure, moving back and forth between past and present; a form that most commentators referred to as cinematic but that actor Erland Josephson termed ‘theatrical’; (2) its often ruthless self-revelation, painting its author in a rather negative light, a mea culpa moral voice that made reviewers question the book’s purpose and sometimes its authenticity; (3) its emphasis on bodily functions, which several critics related to Bergman’s directing method – one that never rested on theoretical reasoning but on very concrete physical details. Bergman’s stylistic talent seems to have come as a surprise to many, who mentioned his drastic humor, his keen observations, and his ability to set the scene for an event in short, precise descriptions. Foreign reception was by and large more ambivalent than the Swedish. Despite the English subtitle ‘An Autobiography’, most commentators abroad expected the book to focus on an account of Bergman’s experiences in the film trade. What fascinated many Swedish reviewers, namely the book’s place in the Swedish literary canon with roots in Strindberg’s autobiography Tjänstekvinnans son (The Son of a Servant), was of little interest to critics abroad, whose interest in Bergman stemmed mostly from his filmmaking.
Reviews (Swedish) Brohult, Magnus, ‘Bergmans brutala uppriktighet’ [Bergman’s brutal honesty]. SvD, 21 September 1987, p. 4; Donner, Jörn. ‘Livet som skådespel’ [Life as a play]. SDS, 20 September 1987, p. 4; Holmqvist, Bengt. ‘Ingmar Bergman mellan änglar och avgrund’ [Ingmar Bergman between angels and abyss]. DN, 21 September 1987; Josephson, Erland. ‘Kroppen mobiliserar själen’ [The body mobilizes the soul]. Expr., 21 September 1987, p. 4; Palmqvist, Bertil. ‘Kärleken, konsten, det svåra åldrandet’ [Love, art, the difficulty of aging]. Arb, 21 September 1987, p. 4; Schildt, Jurgen. ‘Prosten Bergmans son har talat’ [Parson Bergman’s son has spoken]. AB, 20 September 1987, p. 4-5; Zern, Leif. ‘Ur kaos och mörker’ [Out of chaos and darkness]. Expr., 20 September 1987, p. 4; Wortzelius, Hugo. ‘Bergman kastar masken’ [Bergman discards the mask]. UNT, 21 September 1987, p. 14. Note: Thomas Svensson at the Library School in Borås did a special study of the Swedish reception of Laterna magica: ‘Mottagandet av Ingmar Bergmans självbiografi Laterna Magica. Specialarbete.’ Bibliotekshögskolan. Borås: 1992, 26 pp.
Reviews (Foreign) Bresser, Jean Paul. ‘Vrees doet het gevreesde werkelijkheid worden’. Elsevier, 10 October 1987, pp. 1-4; Ciment, Michel. ‘Bergman juge d’Ingmar’. Positif, no. 324 (February 1988): 28-30; Corliss, Richard. ‘Books’. Film Comment XXIV, no. 6 (Nov/Dec 1988): 77-79; Friedrich, Regine. ‘Auf der Suche nach Beschädigungen’. Frankfurter Rundschau, 29 March 1988; Haakman, Anton. ‘De autobiografie van Oedipus zelf ’. Vrij Nederland, 7 November 1987; Horowitz, Mark. ‘Scenes from a Life’. American Film, XIV, no. 1, October 1988, p. 55-58; Jenny, Urs. ‘Hals über Kopf durch den Abgrund des Lebens’. Der Spiegel, no. 38, 14 September 1987;
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Chapter II The Writer Kousbroek, Rudi. ‘Ingmar Bergman en het theater. De monoloog van een orakel’. NRC Handelsblad, 12 February 1988; Lane, Anthony. ‘The Guts of Greatness’. The Independent, 19 May 1988; Meyer, Michael. ‘The Demonic Charm of a Complex Mind’. The Sunday Times, 15 May 1988; Mosley, Philip. ‘Ingmar Bergman. The Magic Lantern’. Film Criticism XVII, no. 1 (Fall 1992): 5457; Strunz, Dieter. ‘Ingmar Bergman ist der Philosoph unter den Leinwand Meistern’. Berliner Morgenpost, 25 October 1987; Note: In connection with American edition of The Magic Lantern, Nelson Entertainment Inc. issued a video release of nine of Bergman’s early films: Torment, Port of Call, To Joy, Summer Interlude, Secrets of Women, Sawdust and Tinsel, A Lesson in Love, Dreams, and Smiles of a Summer Night.
Articles Allen, Woody. ‘Through a Life Darkly’. NYT, 18 September 1988, sec 7, p. 1, 29, 30-34. (See Ø 1454). Behrendt, Poul. ‘Tvånget att göra upp’ [The need to settle accounts]. SvD, 17 Jan 1988, Sunday section, p. 10. Originally published in Danish Magazine Kritik. (See Ø 1456). Fara, S. ‘La magia misteriosa della lanterna bergmania’. Cinema Nuovo XXXVII, no. 313 (MayJune 1988): 10-12. Kosubek, G. ‘Bergman sucht Bergman. Freunde und Feinde’. Film und Fernsehen no. 7. 1988: 3435 and no. 8, 1988: 21-26. (Presentation of Laterna magica with excerpts from book). Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Laterna magica’. Finsk tidskrift, no. 2/3, 1988: 78-90.
See also Jan Myrdal response to Bergman’s account of his political ignorance in Laterna magica (see group entry Ø 1439). Olle Svenning used the autobiography to bring up the 1976 tax case again: ‘Ingmar Bergman väcker minnen’ [IB evokes memories]. Arb, 2 January 1988. See also reply by Harry Schein in same paper, 15 January 1988. Bergman’s brother-in-law, Paul Britten Austen, expressed concern that the subjective dimension of Laterna magica as a memoir book would be viewed as truthful facts. ‘Apropå årets bästsäljare’ [Apropos of the year’s bestseller], KvP, 23 December 1987.
Translations Bulgarian: Chinese: Czech: Danish:
Dutch: English: Estonian: French:
Laterna magica, tr. V. Ganyeva. (Sofia: Chemus, 1995), 310 pp; also excerpts in Bulgarian Film journal Kinoizkustvo XLIV, no. 1 (January 1989), pp. 30-44; Baigeman zichuan, tr. Li Senayo. (Taipei: Yuanliu chuban gongsi, 1994), 270 pp.; Laterna magica, tr. Z. Cernciu. (Praha: Odeon, 1991), 287 pp.; Laterna magica, tr. I.E. Hammar. (Copenhagen: Lindhardt og Ringhof, 1987, and 1997), 253 pp. Second edition: (Valby: Borgen, 1990) (2 vol). 268, and 252 pp.; Laterna magica, tr. Karst Woudstra. (Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1987), 283 pp; published in Series ‘Grote Cineasten’; The Magic Lantern, tr. Joan Tate. (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1988), 312 pp. and (London: Penguin, 1989), 308 pp. and (New York: Viking, 1988), 308 pp.; Laterna magica. (Tallinn: Eesti Ramat, 1989), 254 pp.; Laterna magica, tr. C.G. Bjurström, L. Albertini. (Paris: Gallimard, 1987);
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List of Bergman’s Written Work German:
Mein Leben, tr. Hans-Joachim Maass. (Hamburg: Hoffman und Campe, 1987), 350 pp; (Berlin: Volk und Welt, 1988), 319 pp; (Frankfurt am Main: Gutenberg, 1989), 350 pp; (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1992), 350 pp.; Greek: Hëe magikëe kamera: mia autobiografia, tr. T. Kallifatides. (Athen: Kaktos, 1989), 286 pp.; Hebrew: Laterna magikah. (Tel Aviv: Am oved, 1991), 222 pp.; Hungarian: Laterna magica, tr. K. Lazli. (Budapest: Europa, 1988), 285 pp.; Icelandic: Töfralampin: sjalsvisaga. (Reykvavik: Gjölvi, 1992), 269 pp.; Italian: Lanterna magica, tr. F. Ferrari. (Milano: Garzanti, 1987, and 1990), 259 pp.; Japanese: Bergman jiden, tr. K. Buich. (Tokyo: Shinchëo-sha, 1989), 349 pp.; Latvian: Laterna magica, tr. I. Kagevska. (Riga: Liesma, 1993), 232 pp.; Lithuanian: Laterna magica, tr. Z. Maleikaitele. (Vilnius: Alma Littera, 1994), 284 pp.; Norwegian: Laterna magica, tr. S. Ness. (Oslo: Aschehoug, 1987), 232 pp.; Polish: Laterna magica, tr. Z. Łanowski. (Warszawa: Czytelnik, 1991), 274 pp.; Portuguese: Lanterna magica, tr. A. Pastor. (Lisboa: Caravela, 1988), 312 pp; Lanterna magica: una autobiografia, tr. A. Pastor. (Rio de Janeiro: Guanabara, 1988), 292 pp.; Roumanian: Lanterna magicela, tr. D. Shafran, E. Florea, C. Baneiu. (Bucuresti: Editura Meridiane, 1994), 316 pp.; Russian: Laterna magika. (Moskva: ‘Iskusstvo’, 1989), 285 pp.; Serbo-Croatian: Moj livot: laterna magica, tr. M. Rumac. (Zagreb: Grafyki zavod Hrvatske, 1990), 303 pp.; Slovakian: Laterna magica. (Bratislava: Slovenskij spiso valelij, 1991), 524 pp.; Spanish: Linterna magica, tr. M. Torres, F. Uriz. (Barcelona and Buenos Aires: Tusquets, 1988), 319 pp; excerpts in El Pais, 14 February 1988; Turkish: B y l fenar, tr. G. Tauskein. (Istanbul: AFA, 1990), 335 pp.
1988 186.
The Marriage Scenarios: Scenes from a Marriage, Face to Face, Autumn Sonata, tr. A. Blair. (London: Aurum), 347 pp. and (New York: Pantheon, 1988), 407 pp.
1989 187.
‘Mine danske engle.’ [My Danish angels]. Morgenavisen (Danish), 18 November 1989. Also in Universitetsavisen, 11 January 1990. Speech (tr. by Henrik Egede) by Bergman at his reception of Danish Sonning Price for 1990 (see Chapter IX, Ø 1477). His three Danish angels (= literary/critical influences) were (1) Søren Kierkegaard’s Sickness unto Death, a book that fascinated him at age 16 for its dark streak and humor; (2) Georg Brandes’ book about Shakespeare, which he read some 40 years later and which opened a way for him into Shakespeare’s texts; and (3) Kaj Munk’s play Ordet, which Bergman’s father took him to see in a small private theatre in Stockholm; Bergman was a teenager and much moved by the play. Later he read and staged other works by Munk, whom he felt close to for ‘his emotional strength, his intellectual confusion, and his dangerous romantic love of strong individuals’ [hans känslostyrka, hans intellektuella förvirring, hans farliga, romantiska kärlek till starka individer]. Bergman also talks about his visits (during his Malmö period in the 1950s) to the Danish Film Museum in Copenhagen, which ‘seemed to be administered by heaven’ [verkade administreras av himlen].
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Chapter II The Writer
1990 188.
Bilder. (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1990), 435 pp. Using his work books and filmmaking diaries, Ingmar Bergman analyzes a number of his own films, grouped into thematic units. The book project started as a series of conversations with Bergman’s editor, Lasse Bergström. It was in part prompted by Bergman’s dissatisfaction with the earlier interview book Bergman om Bergman (1971) in which he felt he had been manipulated by the interviewers. See article by Harry Schein, ‘Ingmar Bergmans filmer’. Dagens Nyheter, 18 November 1990, p. A2, arguing that Bilder [Images] exposes the gap between critical interpretors and the filmmaker.
Reception Bergman’s negative reference to Bergman om Bergman (Ø 787) prompted many reviewers to juxtapose it to Bilder. The consensus was that the two works complemented each other (sometimes to the point of repeating the same statements verbatim) and gave the impression of a filmmaker for whom his films were still alive, almost like works in progress. This, it was argued, gave an unusual vitality to a book that offered both remembered vignettes of the films’ genesis and an account of a lifelong artistic process. (See Aghed, Koskinen, Zern) The book was termed self-exposing, unusually engaging, and honest. (See Wortzelius.) National Film Theatre (NTF) published a program (February 1994): 22-23, to celebrate publication of Images – My Life in Film.
Reviews Aghed, Jan. ‘Det blev en djävla promenad’ [It turned into a hell of a walk]. SDS, 22 October 1990, p. 4; Arrhenius, Sara. ‘Bilder med hygglig skärpa’ [Images with adequate focus]. AB, 22 October 1990, p. 5; Nasta, Dominique. ‘Images’. Revue du Cinéma, no. 33-35 (1993): 194; Ellingsen, Thor. ‘Bergmans “jævla spasertur”’. [B’s hell of a walk]. Dagbladet (Norwegian), 25 March 1991; Kell (Keith Keller). ‘Bilder’. Variety, 7 January 1991, p. 110; Magny, Joel. ‘Bergman à la lettre’. Cahiers du Cinéma. no. 453, 1992: 84-88 (review article); Nasta, Dominique. ‘Images’. Revue Belge du Cinéma, no. 33-35 (1993): 194; Olsson, Sven E. ‘Med dämonerna som medarbetare’ [With the demons as collaborators]. Arbetet, 22 October 1990, p. 4; Roy, André. ‘Images’. 24 Images, no. 81 (Spring 1996): 62; Wickbom, Kaj. ‘Bergman naket uppriktig’ (B nakedly outspoken). Barometern, 22 October 1990, p. 17; Wortzelius, Hugo. ‘Ingmar Bergmans bilder. Självutlämnande och äkta’ [IB’s images. Self-exposing and genuine]. UNT, 22 October 1990, p, 16; Zern, Leif. ‘Vägen till mellangärdet’ [The road to the diaphragm]. Expr., 22 October 1990, p. 4-5.
Translations Chinese: Danish: Dutch: English:
Baigeman lun dianyin. (Taipei: Yuanliu chuban gongsi, 1994), 350 pp.; Billeder, tr. J. Stegelmann. (Copenhagen: Lindhardt og Ringhof, 1990), 435 pp; also in (Copenhagen: Bogklubben 12 bøger, 1991), 435 pp.; Beelden: een leven in films, tr. K. Woudstra. (Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1992), 433 pp.; Images: My life in film, tr. M. Ruuth. (New York: Arcade Publishers, 1994), 442 pp. and (London: Bloomsbury, 1994), 442 pp.;
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List of Bergman’s Written Work Estonian:
Pildid. (Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1995), 367 pp, and Kartiny. (Tallinn: Alexandra, 1997); Finnish: Kuvasta kuuvan, tr. H. Eskelinen. (Helsinki: Otava, 1991), 399 pp.; French: Images, tr. C.G. Bjurström, L. Albertini. (Paris: Gallimard, 1992), 407 pp.; German: Bilder, tr. J. Scherzer. (Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1991), 378 pp.; Hungarian: Képek, tr. K. Lcaszli. (Budapest: Europa, 1992), 390 pp.; Italian: Immagini, tr. R. Pavese. (Milano: Garzanti, 1992), 406 pp.; Norwegian: Bilder, tr. A. Amlie. (Oslo: Aschehoug, 1991), 437 pp.; Polish: Obrazy, tr. T. Szczepański. (Warszawa: Wydawnictwa artystyczne i filmove, 1993), 439 pp.; Portugese: Imagens, tr. A. Pastor. (Sao Paolo: Martin Fontes, 1996), 441 pp.; Russian: Bilder was excerpted under title ‘Kartiny’ in seven issues of Iskusstvo Kino, no. 17 (January-July 1993); Serbo-Croatian: Slike, tr. L. Rajic. (Novi Sad: Promety, 1996), 338 pp. Spanish: Imagenes, tr. J.Uriz Torres, F. Uriz. (Barcelona: Tusquets, 1992), 371 pp.
189.
Ingmar Bergman, Seminar at Svenska Filmklipparförbundet [Swedish Film Editors Association], 16 December 1990. Typewritten manuscript available at SFI. Bergman discusses his editing experiences.
1991 190.
‘Backanterna’. Text adaptation by Ingmar Bergman for his staging of Euripides’s play as an opera. Text is available as special program, Royal Opera, Stockholm.
191.
Den goda viljan. (Stockholm: Norstedt. New edition: MånPocket, 1992), 394 pp. First handwritten version of ‘Den goda viljan’ is dated 1988; last, typed version 1990 (2 February), with subtitle ‘Fyra Akter av Ingmar Bergman’ [Four Acts by Ingmar Bergman]. Among Fårö papers. Den goda viljan (Best Intentions) is a narrative of Bergman’s parents as young adults. Their story takes place during ten years prior to Ingmar Bergman’s birth in 1918. It was made into a film, directed by Bille August.
Reception (of the book) ‘The yet unborn child Ingmar Bergman is swishing about in the narrative’s fetal water, as if he saw the whole thing from within the womb’ [Det ännu ofödda barnet Ingmar Bergman ligger och skvalpar i berättelsens fostervatten, som såg han alltsammans inifrån livmodern]. Sverker Andréason’s (GP) imaginative description of Ingmar Bergman’s narrative position in his novel Den goda viljan sums up the focus among reviewers: the author was both an astute observer and an empathetic participant in the drama about his parents up to the time of his own birth. Many critics read the book as Bergman’s search to understand himself through his parents in a portrait of them that was part fact, part fable. (See Kollberg, Westling, Zern) The book was seen as Bergman’s attempt to understand and become reconciled with his parentage, a process that had started with Laterna magica. Bergman calls Den goda viljan a novel, but reviewers preferred to see it as a script or a play of epic and dramatic dimensions; they pointed to the predominance of dialogue and referred to descriptive passages as stage directions filled with color, smell, and physical presence or as a form of visualizing fiction. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s prose is seeing’, wrote Leif Zern. ‘It comes quite
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Chapter II The Writer close to the characters, depicting – not the emotion itself but its background; the result is both very clear and inexplicable’. [Ingmar Bergmans prosa är seende. Den kommer helt nära personerna och beskriver – inte själva känslan men dess bakgrund; resultatet är både mycket tydligt och oförklarligt.] Leif Zern, who referred to Den goda viljan as ‘one of the most moving love stories in Swedish literature’ [en av de mest rörande kärleksberättelserna i svensk litteratur], described Bergman’s approach as that of a director instructing his actors. Events were described for the readers by an involved observer who retained a unique objectivity ‘as if we were face to face with facts that openly reveal their secret’ [som om vi var ansikte mot ansikte med fakta som öppet avslöjar sin hemlighet]. Lars Olof Franzén – somewhat more lukewarm to the work but intrigued by its narrative method – suggested that Bergman forced the reader to participate as an ‘actor’ by using a technique characteristic of Bergman’s manipulative filmmaking. Den goda viljan confirmed the critical reception of Laterna magica. Ingmar Bergman was recognized as a major writer in Swedish literature: ‘Best Intentions is a new artistic conquest for Ingmar Bergman. As an innovative love novel it will become incorporated in Swedish literary history’ [Den goda viljan är en ny konstnärlig landvinning för IB. Som en nydanande kärleksroman kommer den att införlivas med den svenska litteraturhistorien] (Magnus Brohult, SvD). Another reviewer (Aghed, SDS) concluded that ‘as a literary creation, the book ‘Den goda viljan’ stands securely and extremely convincingly on its own’ [Som litterär skapelse står boken ‘Den goda viljan’ stabilt och ytterst övertygande på egna ben].
Reviews, Swedish Aghed, Jan. ‘Den goda viljans genuine arvtagare’ [The real inheritor of good intentions]. SDS, 4 December 1991, p. A 4; Andreasson, Sverker. ‘Ljuset som förvandlar’ [The light that transforms], GP, 2 December 1991, p. 4; Brohult, Magnus. ‘Förnämligt verk om de stora livsfrågorna’ [Superb work about the big questions in life]. SvD, 2 December 1991, sec. 2, p. 2; Franzén, Lars-Olof. ‘Bergman berättarglad men ofarlig’ [B a happy narrator but harmless]. DN, December 1991, p. B1; Kollberg, Bo-Ingvar. ‘Släktkrönika om starka viljor och självutgivande kärlek’ [Family chronicle about strong wills and self-exposing love]. UNT, 24 December 1991, p. 12; Westling, Barbro. ‘Drömmen om att äntligen bli sedd’ [The dream of being seen at last]. AB, 2 December 1991, p. 4-5; Zern, Leif. ‘Tystnad, tagning kärleksroman’ [Silence, take, love novel]. Expr., 2 December 1991, p. 4.
Reviews, Foreign ‘Goede bedoelingen’. Groene Amsterdammer, 6 January 1993.
Translations Czech: Danish: Dutch: English: Finnish: French:
Dobrca veáule. (Praha: Argo-Panda, 1992), 415 pp.; Den gode vilje, tr. A. Feilberg. (Copenhagen: Lindhardt og Ringhof, 1991), 228 pp; also in (Copenhagen: Bogklubben 12 bøger, 1992), 288 pp.; Goede bedoelingen: roman, tr. K. Woudstra. (Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1992), 377 pp.; The Best intentions, tr. Joan Tate. (New York: Arcade Publ. and London: Harvill, 1993), 295 pp.; Hyvö tato, tr. M. Kyrö. (Helsinki: Otava, 1992); Les meilleures intentions, tr. C.G. Bjurström, L. Albertini. (Paris: Gallimard, 1994), 482 pp.;
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List of Bergman’s Written Work German: Greek: Hungarian: Italian: Japanese: Korean: Norwegian: Polish: Russian: Slovakian: Spanish:
Die besten Absichten, tr. H. Gimler. (Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1993), 435 pp; new ed. 1996, 436 pp.; Hoi kalyteres protheseis, tr. A. Konidarëe, N. Serbetas. (Athens: Synchronaëe epochëe, 1995), 361 pp.; A legjobb szçandekok. (Budapest: Europa, 1993), 394 pp.; Con le migliori intenzioni, tr. C.G. Cima. (Milano: Garzanti, 1994), 332 pp.; Ai no feukei, tr. O. Shinji. (Tokyo: Sekaibunka-sha, 1993), 430 pp.; Choeseon-eui-e kido (Soeul: Hang gyeror, 1993), 373 pp.; Den gode viljen, tr. G. Malmström. (Oslo: Aschehoug, 1991), 317 pp.; Dobre chęci, tr. H. Thylwe. (Warszawa: Czytelnik, 1995), 326 pp.; Blagie namerenija, tr. A. Afinogenova. (Moskva: Chudozjestvennaja literatura, 1996), 300 pp.; Dobrca vueëla (Bratislava: Vydavat eelstvo, 1993), 326 pp.; Las mejores intenciones, tr. M. Torres. (Barcelona: Tusquets, 1992), 331 pp, and (Barcelona: Circulo de lectores, 1993), 413 pp.
1992 192.
‘Söndagsbarn. 3 akter för bio’ [Sunday’s Child. Three acts for the cinema]. (1992). Film script. Script II at SFI, 123 pp. Copyright: Cinematograph AB, Fårö. Script II, at SFI, 216 pp. This longer version is a breakdown of original script (above) into 679 takes, with titles. Script includes one comment by director (Daniel Bergman) that he plans to include shots of mural paintings from Det sjunde inseglet/The Seventh Seal (church sequence) in young boy Pu’s visit to an old church where his father is to preach. The first Script II above is the text used for publication of Söndagsbarn (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1993), 123 pp. Söndagsbarn (Sunday’s Child) is a portrait of the boy Pu (Ingmar Bergman’s nickname) at age eight. Pu is described in ways that bring to mind the boy in Persona: ‘His look is somewhat sleepy, his cheeks childishly full and his mouth half open, probably adenoids’ [Uppsynen är något sömnig, kinderna barnsligt fylliga och munnen halvöppen, troligen polyper]. Ingmar Bergman’s text is a novelistic narrative rather than shooting script, sometimes kept in a humorous ‘literary’ style, as when comparing the pastor who built the Bergman family’s rented summer house to Noah and his Ark. ‘Noah was not a builder either but strictly speaking a good-natured, somewhat alcoholic tugboat skipper on the Euphrates’ [Noa var inte heller någon byggare utan strängt taget en godmodig, något alkoholiserad pråmskeppare på Eufrat]. Söndagsbarn is both a novella and a piece of autobiography, with an author who interrupts the narrative to comment on it. Pu’s story is interwoven with flashforwards to an adult Ingmar Bergman visiting his aging and dying father. In a note Bergman called Söndagsbarn ‘an exactly retold memory.... the closest to anything I have ever dared to come’ [ett exakt återberättat minne.... det närmaste jag vågat komma någonting någon gång].
Reception (of book) ‘Who would have thought’, wrote one reviewer (Ström), ‘that one could again be fascinated by the rounds in the Bergman family?’ [Vem kunde tro att man åter skulle kunna fängslas av turerna i den bergmanska familjen?] Once more, Bergman’s stylistic and narrative skills amazed Swedish critics: ‘Here a language is born that more and more bears the genuine signs of authorship; clear and lucid and [...] reflected in an unmistakable desire to tell stories’ [Här föds ett språk som alltmer bär författarskapets äkta kännetecen; klart och genomlyst; [...]
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Chapter II The Writer speglad i en omisskännlig lust att fabulera], wrote Asta Bolin in Vår lösen. She was seconded by Eva Ström in SDS: ‘Bergman’s strength as an author lies in his self-evident confidence, knowing that he will be able to spellbind and seduce an audience with his words. More than a literary text, his story feels like it was brought to the reader orally, which is both unusual and refreshing today’ [Bs styrka som författare är den självklara trygghet han har i förvissningen att han skall kunna trollbinda och förföra ett auditorium med sina ord. Mer än som en litterär text känns hans berättelse som muntligt framförd till läsaren, både ovanligt och uppfriskande i dag]. Some even felt that Söndagsbarn was superior to Den goda viljan, more stringent and less wordy. What was emphasized in particular was Bergman’s ability to juxtapose very concrete and evocative vignettes, filled with color and smell, and to write dramatic dialogues signalling the dark forces at work underneath an idyllic summer landscape. The film version of Söndagsbarn (directed by Daniel Bergman, son of Ingmar Bergman and Käbi Laretei) premiered prior to the publication of the book. Critics who compared the two usually preferred the elder Bergman’s literary work (see Hansell, Expr. and Palmqvist, Arb).
Reviews (of book) Andersson, Gunder. ‘Långt farväl till pappa’ [Long farewell to daddy]. AB, 25 January 1993, p. 4; Andréason, Sverker. ‘En färd som försonar’ [A journey that reconciles]. GP, 25 January 1993, p. 4; Axelsson, Bo. ‘Söndagsbarn’. Tidningen Boken, no. 2, 1993, pp. 7-8; Bolin, Asta. ‘Den faderlöse fadern’ [The fatherless father]. Vår lösen, no. 2, 1993, pp. 99-100; Brohult, Magnus. ‘Dödens oupphörliga närvaro’ [Death’s constant presence]. SvD, 25 January 1993, p. 22; Ekbom, Torsten. ‘Ingmar Bergman tillbaka till det skrivna ordet’ [IB back to the written word]. DN, 25 January 1993, p. B1-B2; Elam, Ingrid. ‘Berättelse från ett oändligt avstånd’ [Story from an immense distance]. GT/KvP, 25 January 1993, p. 4; Hansell, Sven. ‘Metmask och högmässa’ [Fishing worm and Sunday sermon]. Expr., 25 January 1993, p. 4; Kollberg, Bo Ingvar. ‘Självbilden hos ett söndagsbarn’ [The self-portrait of a Sunday child]. UNT, 8 February 1993, p. 10; Palmqvist, Bertil. ‘Skimrande barndomsskildring’ [Shimmering childhood tale]. Arb, 25 January 1993, national ed., p. 4; Ström, Eva. ‘Uppfriskande Bergman’ [Refreshing Bergman]. SDS, 25 January 1993, p. A4; See also review article by Magnus Bergh, ‘Flodens sång: Dalälven från Selma Lagerlöf till Ingmar Bergman’ [The song of the river: The Dala River from Selma Lagerlöf to IB]. BLM, no. 5, 1993, pp. 39-41.
Translations Czech: Danish: Dutch: English: Estonian: Finnish: French: German:
Nedelnaatka, tr. Z. Cernçik. (Praha: Volvox Globator, 1995), 78 pp.; Søndagsbarn, tr. A. Feilberg. (Copenhagen: Lindhardt og Ringhof, 1993), 101 pp.; Zondagskinderen, tr. K. Woudstra. (Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1994), 140 pp.; also (Den Haag: Stichting Kitgeverij, 1996), 157 pp.; Sunday’s Children, tr. Joan Tate. (New York: Arcade Publ., 1994), 153 pp, and (London: Harvill, 1994), 107 pp.; P hapäevalapsed. (Tallinn: Perioodika, 1997); Sunnuntailapsi, tr. M. Kyrö. (Helsinki: Otava, 1993), 138 pp.; Enfants du dimanche, tr. C. G. Bjurström. (Paris: Gallimard, 1995), 155 pp.; Sonntagskinder, tr. V. Reichel. (Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1996), 160 pp.;
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List of Bergman’s Written Work Hungarian: Italian: Norwegian: Polish: Portugese: Slovakian: Spanish:
Vascarnapi gyerekek (Budapest: Europa könyvkichi, 1994), 131 pp.; Nati di domenica, tr. G. Cima. (Milano: Garzanti), 1993, 144 pp.; Søndagsbarn, tr. A. Amlie. (Oslo: Aschehoug, 1993), 114 pp.; Niedzielne dziecko, tr. H. Thylwe. (Warszawa: Prószyński i Ska, 1994), 100 pp.; Filhos de domingo, tr. I. Ribero. (Lisboa: Difel, 1995), 165 pp.; Nedeliatko. (Bratislava: H & H, 1995), 134 pp.; Niños del domingo, tr. M. Torres. (Barcelona: Tusquets, 1994 and 1996), 142 pp.
1993 193.
‘Sista skriket. En lätt tintad moralitet’ [The Last Scream/The Last Gasp. A Slightly Tinted Morality Play]. Undated manuscript of one-act play, SFI Archives. Includes pasted stills from the silent cinema and a note referring to ‘Dramatens produktionsplan, söndagen den 24 januari 1993. Pjäs av I. Bergman på Lilla scenen avsedd för säsongen 1996/97’ [Dramaten production plan, Sunday 24 January 1993. Play by I. Bergman on the Small Stage intended for the 1996/97 season]. Play depicts the encounter between Swedish filmmaker from the silent era, Georg af Klercker, and film producer Charles Magnuson. The play premiered at the Swedish Film Institute’s Cinema Victor in connection with the showing of the SFI restoration of two silent films by Klercker. It was also performed a few times in Göteborg, Malmö, and Dramaten. (See Theatre Chapter, Ø 474). It was also televised (see Media Chapter, Ø 338) and published in special Bergman insert in Chaplin, vol. xxxv, no. 3, 1993, pp.19-26. ‘Sista skriket’ is also included in 1994 volume titled Femte akten (Ø 195).
1994 194.
‘Enskilda samtal.’ [Private Confessions/Conversations]
Script I, marked ‘Konfidentiellt’ in SFI Archive, 173 pp. Dated at the beginning of script ‘Fårö 1 juni 1994’ and at end ‘8 juni 1994.’ Script I is the text used for published version of Enskilda samtal (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1996), 166 pp. New Månpocket edition in 1997. Script II at SFI, 41 pp. plus 1 p. This is basically a dialogue manuscript and marked as the final TV script, dated 5 May 1997. The script was made into a television film, directed by Liv Ullmann. (See Ø 340), Media chapter. Enskilda samtal (Private Conversations/Private Confessions) is a novel about Ingmar Bergman’s mother, here called Anna Bergman. The book’s title refers to the Lutheran alternative to Catholic confession: Anna Bergman has five private conversations with her pastor Jacob, whom she has known since her first communion. The occasion is a marital crisis in her life: she has fallen in love with a young theologian. At one point the narrator intercepts the conversations with hesitant questions to himself. See introduction to this chapter. For genesis of novel, see Christina Rosenqvist, ‘Karin Bergman & kärleken’ [Karin Bergman and love]. Vi, no. 47-48, 1996, pp. 59-62.
Reception (of book) Like all of Ingmar Bergman’s films and books rooted in his childhood, Enskilda samtal was seen by the critics as circling around two essential questions: Bergman’s relationship with his parents and his questions of faith and doubt. His empathy with his subject, Anna Bergman, and her unhappy life was felt to be so close to self-identification that one reviewer suggested a para-
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Chapter II The Writer phrase of Flaubert’s famous phrase about his creation, Madame Bovary: ‘Anna, c’est moi’. (Elensky) With a language that one critic (Enander) called ‘brilliantly suggestive’ [briljant suggestivt], Bergman emerged as ‘one of our country’s really great authors’ [en av vårt lands verkligt stora författare]. Another reviewer (Schottenius, Expr.) called Enskilda samtal ‘autobiographical grains of sand that take on a pearly glow in new mussel shells’ [självbiografiska sandkorn som får en pärleglans i nya musselskal]. Like a mantra, reviewers repeated that in his focus on images, cues and stage directions, Bergman revealed his filmmaking basis in his literary works: ‘All that is, is visible. All that is said is spoken’ [Allt som är är synligt. Allt som sägs är talat] (Schottenius). In fact a number of reviewers had a hard time separating Bergman’s literary text from their own memories of his films. There was also a sense that Bergman had become his own prisoner, forever returning to his childhood past (Jonsson). The reviewer in SvD (Elensky) likened him to a snake in a new skin that had not completely shed its old.
Book Reviews Elensky, Torbjörn. ‘Återigen nya masker för nya taskspelare’ [Once more new masks for new entertainers]. SvD, 11 November 1997, p. 26; Enander, Christer. ‘Bergmans hemlighet’ [Bergman’s secret]. Tidningen Boken, no. 1-3, 1997, p. 3; Haryson, Kajsa. ‘Enskilda samtal’. Femina månadsmagasin, no. 12, 1996, p. 122; Jonsson, Stefan. ‘Fånge i sitt eget hem’ [Prisoner in his own home]. DN, 11 November 1996, p. B2; Lutz, Volke. ‘Ein Seitensprung macht die Ehe zur Hölle’. Berliner Morgenpost, 25 April 1997; Palmqvist, Bertil. ‘Den sanna kärleken överlever inte sanningen’ [True love does not survive truth]. Arbetet Nyheterna, 11 November 1996, national ed., p. 4; Rudvall, Agneta. ‘Enskilda samtal’, Svenska kyrkans tidning, no. 48, 1996, p. 3; Schottenius, Maria. ‘Lögn och bikt’ [Lies and confession]. Expr., 11 November 1996, p. 4; Tunbäck-Hansson, Monika. ‘Regissören vinner över författaren’ [The director wins over the author]. GP, 11 November 1996, p. 37; Westling, Barbro. ‘Mamma än en gång’ [Mom once more]. AB, 11 November 1996, p. 5.
Translations Danish: Dutch: English: Finnish: French: German: Hungarian: Norwegian: Polish:
195.
Personlige samtaler, tr. A. Feilberg. (Copenhagen: Lindhardt og Ringhof, 1996). 151 pp.; Vertrouwelijke Gesprekken, tr. Karst Woudstra. (Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1997), 159 pp.; Private confessions, tr. Joan Tate (London: Harvill, 1996 and New York: Arcade Publ., 1997), 161 pp.; Yksitysiä keskusteljuja, tr. H. Thylwe (Helsinki: Otava, 1996); Entretiens privés, tr. Alain Gnaedig. (Paris: Gallimard, 1997), 167 pp.; Einzelgespräche, tr. V. Reichel. (München: Hanser, 1996), 188 pp; new ed. (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2001), 152 pp.; Öt vallompas, tr. K. Lasszlo. (Budapest: Europa, 1996), 162 pp.; Fortrolige samtaler, tr. K.O. Jensen. (Oslo: Aschehoug, 1996), 135 pp.; Rozmowy poufne. (Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Warszawskie, 1996), 147 pp.
Femte akten. Stockholm: Norstedt, 1994, 175 pp. Contains the following works: ‘Monolog’ [Monologue]; ‘Efter repetitionen’ [After the Rehearsal]; ‘Sista skriket’ [The Last Gasp/The Last Scream]; ‘Larmar och gör sig till’ [In the Presence of a Clown].
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List of Bergman’s Written Work ‘Monolog’ is a personal preface in which Bergman talks about his approach to the written word. The remaining three works are written in dialogue form. ‘Efter Repetitionen’ became a TV film, see (Ø 332); ‘Sista skriket’ a theatre and TV play see (Ø 474) and (Ø 338); and ‘Larmar och gör sig till’ a TV film (see Ø 340), Media Chapter V. The book title is a reference to Ibsen’s Peer Gynt where death (‘The Passenger’) in the last act jokes with Peer: ‘One does not die in the middle of the fifth act.’ All of the works included in Bergman’s Femte akten have in common that they deal with emotional and professional finales: an aging director summing up his views of his profession; a has-been filmmaker dismissed by his producer; a would-be cinematographic inventor whose grand performance ends in a short circuit explosion.
Reception Almost all reviews consisted of plot and theme summaries of the works in the volume and had few comments about Bergman as an author, except for references to his skills as a writer of dialogue.
Book Reviews Andréason, Sverker. ‘Konsten trotsar döden’ [Art defies death]. GP, 31 October 1994, p. 40; Davidsson, Katarina. ‘Femte akten’. Montage, no. 35-36, 1995, p. 76; Larsson, Lisbeth. ‘Fem akter är fler än fyra dramer’ [Five acts are more than four dramas]. Expr., 26 November 1995, p. 4; Munkhammar, Birgit. ‘Det luktar och knarrar teater’ [It smells and creaks of theatre]. DN, 31 October 1994, p. B2; Palmqvist, Bertil. ‘Fredsfördrag med levandet’ [Peace treaty with life]. Arbetet Nyheterna, 24 October 1994, national ed., p. 5; Ring, Lars. ‘Filosofi, dödsrädsla och tarvligheter’ [Philosophy, fear of death and vulgarities]. SvD, 10 February 1995, p. 24; Westling, Barbro. ‘En demon har blivit ödmjuk’ [A demon has humbled]. AB, 31 October 1994, p. 4.
Translations include English: French:
German: Hungarian: Polish:
The Fifth Act, tr. by Linda Rugg and Joan Tate. (New York: The New Press, 2001), 152 pp.; Le cinquième acte, tr. C.G. Bjurström. (Paris: Gallimard, 1997). Also published in L’Avant Scène du Cinéma, no. 394 (July 1990): 3-75 (with an analysis by Alain Bergala and a filmography); ‘Larmar och gör sig till’ is translated as ‘In Gegenwart eines Clowns’ in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 754-830; Az ötödik felvongas, tr. K Lasszlo. (Budapest: Europa, 1995), 171 pp.; Piekąty akt, tr. E. Niewiarowska. (Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Warszawskie, 1997).
1998 196.
3 för en. Den goda viljan, Söndagsbarn, Enskilda samtal. (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1998). Swedish paperback volume of Best Intentions, Sunday’s Child, and Private Conversations.
197.
‘Vous voulez être comédien?’ Positif, no. 447 (May 1998): 62-64. (See Ø 77), 1951.
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2000 198.
Bergmans 1900-tal. En hyllning till svensk film, från Victor Sjöström till Lukas Moodysson. (Göteborg: Göteborg Film Fesival), no pag. With a preface by Gunnar Bergdahl. English edition titled Twentieth Century of Bergman (!), also produced by Göteborg Film Festival. Bergman selects and comments on 35 Swedish films made in the 1900s.
199.
Föreställningar. Trolösa, En själslig angelägenhet, Kärlek utan älskare (Stockholm: Norstedt, 2000), 296 pp. This volume contains three ‘performances’ [föreställningar] by Bergman, three ‘scores’ for films. The first one (Trolösa/Faithless) was made into a film directed by Liv Ullmann (see Filmography, (Ø 259). The second one (En själslig angelägenhet/A Matter of the Soul) became a radio play; and the third one (Kärlek utan älskare/Love without Lovers) was never produced at all. ‘Trolösa’ (pp. 5-126), dedicated to ‘Lena och Liv’ [actress Lena Endre and director Liv Ullmann], is dated Fårö 10 September 1997 and is preceded by a motto, a quote from playwright Bobo Strauss: ‘No form of common failure, neither illness nor ruin nor professional adversity, gives such a cruel and deep echo in the subconscious as a divorce. It touches directly at the roots of all anguish and revives it. With a single stroke a divorce penetrates as deeply as life itself will reach.’ ‘En själslig angelägenhet’ (pp. 127-58), dated Fårö 11 August 1972, is a monologue (broadcast in 1990) by a woman on the verge of a breakdown. (Also listed in Ø 149) The third text, ‘Kärlek utan älskare’ (pp. 159-296) was written in Munich and dated 4 March 1978. According to Bergman’s prefatory note it was refused by several film production companies. Printed text is dated Stockholm, 20 December 1999. The story tells of film director Marco Hoffmann who has disappeared, leaving behind some fragments for a film. The editor Anna Bergman tries to make a cohesive feature out of the material (the manuscript is gone). A projection room displays sixteen undressing girls. Spectators buy time in a slot machine to watch them. Peter Egerman visits one of them, Ka. An interim vignette presents a variation of a classical love myth, Philemon and Baucis, an old married couple who don’t want to be separated in death and are turned into a tree. The next scene shows a court theatre; excerpts from Shakespeare’s The Tempest are performed. Peter works in Ludwigswerke, gets involved in business machinations, buys out a newspaper editor. At a party he shoots Bauer, a police chief, and is himself shot by Wolfgang, Bauer’s 12-year-old son. Back in the projection room, Marco returns and puts a match to the reels. The ‘film’ goes up in smoke.
Reception Reviews were more critical but also more perceptive than in the reception of Bergman’s previous collection of prose works, Femte akten. The focus was on Bergman’s fictional world, the closed bourgeois room, and on his dramaturgical structure. The three pieces in the volume were seen as a progression: From ‘faithless’ role-playing to the madhouse and the world of creative chaos, and from a conventionally constructed realistic relationship drama in Trolösa to a surreal inner-directed conflict in En själslig angelägenhet and a grotesque political caricature in Kärlek utan älskare. Almost all reviewers regretted that Kärlek utan älskare had been rejected by film producers (though Bergman used part of the story in From the Life of the Marionettes) and suggested that this work in particular might have led him to pursue a new track in his filmmaking rather than the classical route of bourgeois drama.
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List of Bergman’s Written Work Several reviewers pointed out that a reader’s reaction to such works as Femte akten and Föreställningar was inevitably influenced by the faces of Bergman’s actors in his earlier film and theatre productions. This implies a critical change from the response to such earlier Bergman publications as Den goda viljan, Söndagsbarn, and Enskilda samtal, where reviewers often stressed the autonomy of the literary text.
Book Reviews Lindblom, Sisela. ‘Kött och blod bland boksidorna’ [Flesh and blood on the book pages]. DN 11 September 2000, p. B1; Olsson, Ulf. ‘Bordellens bilder’ [Images of the brothel]. Expr., 11 September 2000, p. 4; Palmqvist, Bertil. ‘Kunde ha inlett en ny epok’ [Could have inaugurated a new epoch]. Arb, 11 September 2000, p. 7; Ström, Eva. ‘Hur bryter man sig ur det Bergmanska mörkret?’ [How does one break out of Bergmanian darkness?]. SDS, 16 September 2000, p. A4; Tjäder, Per Arne. ‘I det sammanpressade rummet’ [In the compressed room]. GP, 11 September 2000, p. 36; Westling, Barbro. ‘Försoning? Aldrig i livet’ [Reconciliation? Never in your life]. AB, 11 September 2000, p. 5; Wickbom, Kaj. ‘Föreställningar’ [Performances]. Filmrutan, no. 4, 2000, pp. 42-43.
Translations Danish: English:
French:
German:
Forestillinger, tr. by Ib Lindberg & Lise Skafte Jensen. (Copenhagen: Lindhardt og Ringhof, 2000), 224 pp.; Translation of ‘En själslig angelägenhet’ by Eivor Martinus titled ‘A Matter of the Soul’, appeared in New Swedish Plays, ed. by Gunilla Anderman. (Norwich, East Anglia: Norvik Press, 1992), pp. 33-64; Une affaire d’âme, tr. by Vincent Fournier. (Paris: Cahiers du Cinéma, 2002), 320 pp. Includes, besides title text, a translation of Trolösa (Infidèles) and Kärlek utan älskare (Amour sans amants). Translation of Trolösa was published under title ‘Treulose’ in Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift-Ton, ed. by Renate Bleibtreu, 2002, pp. 754-830.
2001 200.
Gengångare. Ett familjedrama av Henrik Ibsen. Adaptation and Translation by Ingmar Bergman. With an afterword by Ingmar Bergman. Dated Fårö in May 2001. Printed in Dramaten Program 10 for 2001-2002. Stockholm: Dramaten, 2002. See Commentary to 2002 production of Gengångare (Ghosts), (Ø 487), theatre chapter VI.
2003 201.
‘Saraband’. Script for TV feature film, directed by Ingmar Bergman. Televised on 1 December, 2003. Saraband was published by Norstedt (Stockholm: 2003), 107 pp. Working title was also ‘Anna’. Original title – ‘Saraband’ – refers to Bach’s fugue. In a press interview on 28 January 2002, Bergman presented the story as a free-standing continuation of Scener ur ett äktenskap (Scenes from a Marriage), using the same actors – Erland Josephson and Liv Ullmann – as in the 1973 TV version (see Ø 343), media chapter (V).
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Chapter II The Writer Translations French:
Sarabande, tr. by Vincent Fournier. With a preface by Jacques Aumont. Paris: Edition des Cahiers du Cinéma, 2004-2005, 112 p.
2004 201a. ‘Sommarprataren’ [Summer speaker]. Radio talk. SR, 18 July 2004. Bergman talks about his musical taste and the importance of music in his life and work. Available for purchase on CD from SR.
201b. Tre dagböcker [Three diaries]. With Marie von Rosen. Stockholm: Norstedt, 2004. Three diaries kept separately by Bergman, his wife Ingrid, and their daughter Maria during Ingrid’s terminal illness in 1995. The diaries were edited by Bergman and Maria.
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Bergman’s real international breakthrough as a filmmaker came with The Seventh Seal (1956) and established him as a screen director whose personal vision focused on metaphysical and religious issues. The still photo is taken during the shooting of the film, as Bergman is seen talking with the figure of Death (Bengt Ekerot). Photo: Gunnar Fischer. Courtesy: Svensk Filmindustri (SF)
Chapter III The Filmmaker To follow a highly visible and prolific artist’s production is to partake in the making of a creative persona, which may undergo different metamorphoses over the years, depending upon the kind and degree of mythmaking that particular cultural contexts help formulate. The public image of a young Ingmar Bergman in the emerging Swedish folkhem of the 1940s differs from the critical view of him in the politicized 1960s or the portrait of him as an aging artistic giant in the early 21st century. For just as personalities change and develop over the years, so do the esthetic and cultural interpretations of such personalities. Yet, in the case of Ingmar Bergman, the object himself has helped solidify his image through his own ability to shape his life into a legend. One expressive aspect of his self-created persona lies in the way Bergman has used, again and again, his own childhood games as an entryway into an imaginary landscape. To the filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, a toy projector in the nursery closet harbored features that would become important to him as a screen artist. In his essay from 1954 ‘Det att göra film’, he writes about the lifelong spell of his ‘little rickety projector’and about his sensuous recollection of his first encounter with it: It was my first magic box. [...] I have often wondered what fascinated me and still fascinates me in the same way. Something can occur to me in the film studio, or in the darkness of the editing room, when I have the small frame in front of me and the film strip running through my fingers, or during the fantastic birth process of mixing and the finished film slowly unveils its face. [Det blev min första trollerilåda. [...] Jag har ofta undrat över vad som fängslade mig så restlöst. Och vad det är som fortfarande fängslar mig på exakt samma sätt. Det kan komma över mig i ateljén eller i klipprummets skymning, då jag har den lilla bilden framför mig och filmbandet löpande mellan mina fingrar, eller under mixningens fantastiska födelseprocess, då den färdiga filmen långsamt avtäcker sitt ansikte.]
To Bergman his childhood projector came to signify a number of important aspects of the film medium. First and foremost his ‘rickety’ toy suggested the magic of movement. As in classical philosophy, motion became associated with the life process itself. There was something miraculous just in his being able to initiate movement with
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Chapter III the Filmmaker mechanical means and thus simulate life. Second, the projected image was both copy and mimesis, imprint and representation, fake and reality. Third, Bergman’s exposure to the magic ‘box’ was analogous to his role as a young puppeteer: it gave him the satisfaction of exerting the rudimentary control of a director, of shaping his own world. Finally, the overriding importance of the magic lantern lay in its potential to help him portray and at the same time transcend his own subjective world. Bergman came to realize quite early that to him the essence of filmmaking lay in its potential to go beyond the spatial and temporal limits of physical reality and depict an inner mindscape. In the essay from 1954, ‘Det att göra film’ [What is Filmmaking?], he speculates about the special power of the film medium: I cannot help thinking that the medium at my disposal is so fine and complicated that it should be able to illuminate the human soul more strongly, to reveal more ruthlessly, cover new realms of reality of which we are still ignorant. Maybe we should even be able to find a crack through which to penetrate the twilight land of suprareality... [Det är en tanke jag inte kan värja mig för att jag sysslar med ett medium som är så raffinerat att vi skulle kunna belysa människosjälen oändligt mycket skarpare, avslöja ännu hänsynslösare, inmuta helt nya domäner i verkligheten åt vår kännedom. Kanske skulle vi till och med finna en springa att tränga oss ut i öververklighetens skymningsland...]
Filmmaking: Enter the Magician In keeping with his assessment of the magic potential of the film medium, Ingmar Bergman’s earliest attempts at defining his position as a filmmaker centered on the role of fantasy in the cinema. In a 1946 talk in a film club at Uppsala University, when Bergman was at the very beginning of his film career, he attacked the new realism in the American cinema and advocated a return to ‘magic’ and ‘illusionism’. He formulated his views as an homage to Georges Méliès, ‘the first imaginative artist in the cinema’ [den första fantasifulla konstnären inom filmen], who, in a bold and naïve way, had challenged the use of the camera as a documentary recorder of reality. Méliès was a practicing magician turned filmmaker. Though technically primitive compared to modern film projection facilities, his apparatus embodied the essence of filmmaking as a popular rather than sophisticated art. It is an approach defended by Bergman: There is nothing shameful or degrading about the cinema having been at one time a form of peep show entertainment, a clown and conjuring act. But it is wrong and denigrating to deny its origin and make it lose its sense of magic and its clowning qualities, which are so stimulating to our imagination. [Det är inte fel och förnedrande för filmen att den ursprungligen varit ett marknadsnöje, ett gyckel och taskspeleri, men det är fel och förnedrande att den förnekar detta sitt ursprung. Att den håller på att förlora sin magi och sina fantasieggande gycklaregenskaper.] (‘Det förtrollade marknadsnöjet’, Biografbladet 28, no. 3, 1947, p. 149).
Bergman’s somewhat defensive tone might be juxtaposed to the role of the cinema at the time. Whether viewed as an escapist medium or valued for its potential as a
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Swedish Filmmaking during Bergman’s Formative Years serious social and psychological medium, the cinema was deemed to be an inferior form of cultural expression that could not compete with the theatre in terms of elegance, depth, or poetry. As one of the leading film and theatre critics in Sweden at the time (and one of Bergman’s early supporters), Nils Beyer once wrote: There is no romantic glow about the camera, the celluloid and the projector. [...] The cinema cannot compete with the theatre as dream, playfulness or imaginative vision. [...] Practically all movies we see are filmed naturalistic theatre. [Det finns ingen romantisk glöd kring kameran, celluloiden och projektorn. Filmen kan inte tävla med teatern som dröm, lekfullhet eller fantasifull vision. [...] Praktiskt taget alla filmer vi ser är filmad naturalistisk teater.] (En bok om film, 1947).
Bergman, on the other hand, liked to point out from the start that the laterna magica, as a precursor to the film camera, possessed the capacity to spellbind the viewer and provide a spectacle of enchantment. In the past, viewers had been drawn like curious and excited children to the laterna’s magic world. To Bergman an ideal audience was one that preserved such a childlike willingness to let themselves be ‘duped’. He viewed himself as a magician whose success was based on an ability to use his apparatus to put the viewers in an emotionally intense state of mind and ‘make them laugh, scream with fright, smile, believe in fairy stories, become indignant, feel shocked, charmed..’. [få den att skratta, skrika av skräck, le, tro på sagor, indigneras, chockeras, bedåras...] (‘Det att göra film’, 1954, p. 5) The seductive power of the camera would later be made into a motif in a number of Bergman films. It serves as an important signifier in Fängelse (1949, Prison), Ansiktet (1959, The Magician/The Face), Fanny och Alexander (1982), and Larmar och gör sig till (1993, In the Presence of a Clown).
Swedish Filmmaking during Bergman’s Formative Years To Ingmar Bergman, filmmaking was not only a playful and magical game. It could also be a painful undertaking, a form of ‘self-combustion and self-effusion, a tapeworm 2,500 meters long that sucks the life and spirit out of me’ (quoted in Time, 14 March 1962, p. 62). This observation refers both to the taxing filmmaking process itself and to his own involvement in the script, which has almost always been a form of personal statement. But Bergman’s description of the filmmaking situation also refers to the structure of the film industry in Sweden when he entered the field. Unlike the various subsidized city theatres where he was contracted to work as a stage director, the cinema dwelt in a more commercial sphere that seemed to follow the same box office guidelines as Hollywood. The Swedish film industry was in the hands of private companies that relied on profit for their survival. Their final goal was clearly expressed, in the alleged words of Olof Andersson, one-time head of Svensk Filmindustri, the leading film company in Sweden at the time: ‘A good film is a film that sells.’ Seemingly well aware of the commercial backbone of Swedish filmmaking at the time, Bergman presented a talk at Lund University in the early 1950s (later to be developed into the essay ‘Det att göra film’), in which he referred to the industry as a ‘brutal’ enterprise system and likened his own role in the cinema to that of an acrobat
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Chapter III the Filmmaker performing a rope dance, a balancing act prompted by popular demand and by production company expectations. The filmmaker carried with him his personal skill and vision, but he also had to appease a whole complex of investors, critics, and entertainment seekers. Without bringing profits to the film industry coffers, a filmmaker’s magic touch might be dispelled overnight: If I make [...] two or three films that are economic flops, the producer rightly claims that he no longer dares invest his money in my talent. Suddenly, I find myself a suspect figure, an embezzler who will have plenty of time to contemplate the usefulness of his so-called artistic ambitions. The magician is robbed of his apparatus. [Om jag således gör [...] två eller tre filmer som innebär ekonomisk förlust, anser producenten med rätta att han inte längre vågar satsa sitt guld på mina talanger. Jag finner mig då helt plötsligt vara en misstänkt figur, en penningförskingrare, och får god tid att tänka på vad mina så kallade konstnärliga ambitioner egentligen hade för nytta med sig. Trollkarlen är berövad sin apparatur.] (‘Det att göra film’, p. 4)
Bergman later acknowledged that during his early years in filmmaking he ‘went on sawing away very furiously at the very branch I was sitting on’ [sågade väldigt häftigt i den gren jag satt på] (Bergman om Bergman, p. 63; Eng. Ed. p. 57). He certainly did not mince his words about the film production industry which, he said, left a filmmaker ‘trampling in a marshland with his nose above the water, a marshland of economic troubles, conventional attitudes, stupidity, fear, insecurity and confusion’ [står och trampar i ett träsk med näsan ovanför vattnet, ett träsk av ekonomiska bekymmer, konventionalism, dumhet, rädsla, osäkerhet och virrighet]. He did not hesitate to rile the production companies for curtailing artistic freedom to safeguard a lucrative success: It would be desirable if film producers, as well as other captains of industry, would provide laboratories for the creative artist. [...] But film producers have only faith in engineers and imagine, in their stupid reverence, that the salvation of the industry comes about through technical inventions. [...] I sometimes get a tired desire to accommodate myself and make myself into what they want me to be, though at the same time I know that this would be the end and totally meaningless. Therefore, I am glad that I am not born with equal part reason and guts. [...] Why shouldn’t we scare the film producers? It’s part of their profession to be scared, they get paid for their ulcers! [Det vore önskvärt att filmproducenterna såväl som andra fabriksledare ställde laboratorier till de skapande krafternas förfogande. [...] Men filmproducenterna har bara förtroende för ingenjörer och inbillar sig med stupid vördnad att industrins räddning går genom tekniska uppfinningar. [...] Jag får en trött lust att anpassa mig och göra mig sådan man vill ha mig, samtidigt som jag vet att detta vore slutet och den fullständiga likgiltigheten. Därför är jag ändå glad att jag inte är född med lika delar förnuft och inälvor. [...] Varför skall man inte skrämma filmproducenter? Det hör till deras yrke att vara rädda. De har betalt för sina magsår!] (‘Det att göra film’ p. 8)
Some 40 years later Bergman would depict the somewhat cynical commercial attitude of the film industry in his one-act stage play, Sista skriket (‘The Last Gasp/Sream’). Bergman imagines a meeting between Georg af Klercker, a Swedish filmmaker on the
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Swedish Filmmaking during Bergman’s Formative Years skid, and the mogul Charles Magnusson, the founder of Svenska Bio (1909), a company that reconstituted itself in 1919 as Svensk Filmindustri (SF). In the play, Magnusson is not insensitive to the artistic potential of the medium, but he is an entrepreneur who views a filmmaker’s contribution as an investment. Af Klercker is really not much to stake his money on at this point. Therefore, Magnusson can afford to ignore him. Bergman’s assessment of his own situation in the 1940s and 1950s is incorporated into Sista skriket, a fact that he confirmed in a program interview: ‘Since I myself had several times been almost kicked out and dismissed, I really understand how af Klercker must have felt’ [Eftersom jag själv vid ett flertal tillfällen nästan hade blivit utsparkad och avskedad, förstår jag verkligen hur af Klercker måste ha känt det] (see Åhlund, Chaplin, 1992, Ø 926, Interviews). Magnusson, himself dismissed from his post in the late Twenties, was long gone when Ingmar Bergman was hired in 1941 in the manuscript department at Svensk Filmindustri. Gone were the golden years of Swedish filmmaking when the silent Swedish cinema had established an international reputation with directorial names like Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller and cinematographer Julius Jaenzon (Mr. Julius), all of whom had been active in the U.S. Jaenzon’s fate is indicative of the decline that took place in the 1930s. When Ingmar Bergman entered the scene, Jaenzon had become an embittered alcoholic whose talent had gone to waste as the talkies took over and Swedish filmmaking turned to a formula production of mostly popular so-called ‘pilsner farces’ and elegant ‘champagne’ comedies and melodramas. The war years, however, offered a different perspective for Swedish film production companies, since the influx of foreign movies diminished, while the box office demand for new features increased. Filmmakers who had been ostracized in the 1930s were now invited back. One of them was Alf Sjöberg, who was to direct Bergman’s first script, ‘Hets’ (1944, Torment/Frenzy). The Swedish cinema also witnessed the emergence of a new generation of producers who were on the lookout for young talents. Carl Anders Dymling at SF, Lorens Marmstedt at Terrafilm, and Rune Waldekranz at Sandrews all recognized Bergman’s potential. Victor Sjöström, the grand old man of the Swedish silent cinema who had returned from Hollywood and become one of the artistic advisers at SF, also supported Bergman, especially during the shooting of the first film he directed, Kris (1946). By the early 1950s Bergman had created a name for himself in the film studio as a determined young film artist whose will was not easily ignored. As a matter of fact, there was a saying among those who dwelt within the radius of Bergman’s studio work that ‘what Ingmar wanted, Dymling always wanted, the producers always wanted it, God always wanted it’ [Vad Ingmar ville, ville alltid Dymling, ville alltid bolagsherrarna, ville alltid Gud] (Lillie Björnstrand. Inte bara applåder, Stockholm: Tiden, 1975, p. 144). Bergman’s artistic career was also helped by the close connection between stage and screen in the Swedish cinema, dating back to the silent era. The stage-cum-screen tradition provided the filmmaker with an important asset – working with stage actors who had, for the most part, a highly professional and disciplined training. This suited the rather rigid work morale of Ingmar Bergman. Over the years he came to surround himself with a ‘stable’ of actors. They did not constitute a film repertory company but were nevertheless a team he knew well from his years as a theater director in Hälsingborg, Malmö and Göteborg, and whose capacities and extraordinary skills he had
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Chapter III the Filmmaker been able to assess on stage. Without doubt these ties between stage and screen contributed to the professional quality of Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking and also helped establish certain specific aspects of his film style. As Törnqvist remarks in his book Bergman’s Muses (see Chapter IX, Ø 1689), ‘Bergman’s interest in pictorial composition rather than camera movement, his preference for continuity editing, for panning above cutting, and for long takes may all be seen as theatrical characteristics’ (p. 218). To this one might add his increasing focus on the actor’s dominant space above that of panoramic nature scenes, so common in traditional Swedish filmmaking. The very timing of Bergman’s arrival in the film studio was perfect. Had he shown up ten years later, he would have found a cinema in growing economic difficulties. The Swedish film industry produced some 40 films a year in the 1940s. Ten years later the number had diminished to less than half, and only a few film companies had survived the industry’s financial crisis. With his passionate commitment to the medium and his intense determination, Ingmar Bergman might eventually have succeeded at any time, but it is unlikely that he would have been given the same opportunity to learn the trade and use the existing production facilities. His first five years as a filmmaker can be seen as a trial-and-error period when he worked with different production companies, cinematographers and actors while absorbing a variety of film styles, from French film noir to Italian neo-realism. He once stated that he would have been willing to make movies about anything, ‘even the telephone directory’ [till och med telefonkatalogen] (Kommentar till serie från A till Ö, Ø 154). Filmmaking was a craving ‘as primitive and elemental as hunger and thirst’. [lika primitiv och elementär som hunger och törst] (‘Det att göra film’, Ø 87). But he shared the film studios with a very talented group of filmmakers of his own generation, among them Hasse Ekman and Lars-Erik Kjellgren, who seemed to take much more naturally to the medium. In fact, by the end of the 1940s, Bergman had come to fear that his filmmaking days were numbered. He had tried his luck at three different production companies: Svensk Filmindustri, Sandrews, and Terrafilm. A studio lockout in 1950-51 aggravated his situation. The final blow seemed to come in 1953 when Gycklarnas afton (The Naked Night) – today considered one of Ingmar Bergman’s early master-pieces – got a lukewarm reception. In an excessive response, one reviewer opened and closed his column with the following oft-quoted line: ‘I refuse to dissect any further Ingmar Bergman’s latest throw-up’ [Jag vägrar att ockulärbesiktiga Ingmar Bergmans senaste spya]. Bergman says in retrospect: Of course I experienced both the public and critical fiasco as something catastrophic. I knew that for each time things went to pot my subsequent chances to make film became more limited. I knew that for each time my situation became more insecure and risky. The sector narrowed. It was a very uncomfortable feeling. (Bergman on Bergman, p. 82) [Det är klart att jag upplevde både publikfiaskot och kritikerfiaskot som något katastrofalt. Jag visste att varje gång det gick åt pipan så var mina fortsatta möjligheter att få göra film begränsade. Jag visste att för varje gång blev det osäkrare och riskablare. Sektorn blev trängre. Och det var en mycket obehaglig känsla]. (Bergman om Bergman, s. 87)
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Ingmar Bergman: His Filmmaking Credo Ingmar Bergman: His Filmmaking Credo Between 1945 and 1956, the year of his international breakthrough with Sommarnattens leende (1955, Smiles of a Summer Night), Ingmar Bergman directed thirteen feature films, of which he had written the script to eight. After his Cannes recognition in 1956, SF finally let him make Det sjunde inseglet (1956-57, The Seventh Seal), giving him the modest sum of 75,000 kronor (at the time about $15,000) and 35 shooting days to complete the project. True to form, he disciplined himself to finish the takes in 34 days and within the allotted budget. The film cemented his filmmaking reputation abroad, and The Seventh Seal was hailed in the U.S. as ‘the first truly existential work for the cinema’ (Andrew Sarris, Film Culture, 1959). During the 1950s Bergman also formulated certain fundamental principles that would guide him as a filmmaker and keep him from undermining his artistic integrity in a profit-oriented industry. His artistic credo, eventually published in the 1959 essay ‘Varje film är min sista film’ [Each Film is My Last] (Ø 108), was set down as three ‘commandments’ which were presented under the following headings: – Always Be Entertaining. [Var alltid underhållande] – Thou Must Follow Thy Artistic Conscience. [Du skall följa ditt konstnärliga samvete] – Every Film Is My Last Film. [Varje film är min sista film] The first exhortation – to be entertaining – was dictated by the viewing and paying public who had the right to demand a vital and enjoyable experience. This did not mean however that the filmmaker had to give in to audience pressure: In his second commandment Bergman chooses loyalty to his artistic vision as his number one priority. This is, however, a rather tenuous and tricky dictum, since it implies all kinds of moral transgressions in the name of poetic license: ...I am permitted to falsify if it is artistically defensible, I may also lie if it is an attractive lie, I ought to murder my nearest ones or myself or anyone else if it helps my film, I may prostitute myself if it is beneficial to the cause, and I have to steal if I don’t have anything of my own to present. [...jag tillåts förfalska om det är konstnärligt försvarligt, jag får också ljuga om det är en attraktiv lögn, jag bör mörda mina närmaste eller mig själv eller vem som helst, om det hjälper min film, jag får också lov att prostituera mig om det gynnar saken och jag måste stjäla om jag inte har något eget att komma med]. (p. 7)
Yet, though all means were permissible as long as they served an artistic goal, it did not imply a laissez-faire approach to filmmaking, one that seeks the easiest way out to reach the end product. On the contrary, behind the second commandment lies an absolute demand on the creative self to submit to whatever rigorous discipline and humiliating circumstances necessary to maintain artistic integrity. Bergman’s third commandment, finally, is one of caution, based on his own recognition of the precarious economic basis of filmmaking which meant that each new film he made might very well be his last. For this reason he decided that his only loyalty had to be to the film in the making. But in return, such a focus on the work at hand, precluding any looking back or looking forward, gave Bergman a sense of artistic comfort, for he knew that only he and his team could influence the way a
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Chapter III the Filmmaker given film would take shape. By following his third commandment and relying on his own creative strength and not worrying about future filmmaking opportunities or about the day when the public might be indifferent to his art, Ingmar Bergman could also maintain his sense of professional pride and his vitality as a film artist. Bergman’s three commandments form his artistic catechism. But he also developed certain fundamental concepts about the film medium, which can be distilled as follows from several short essays, program notes, and interviews: 1. Filmmaking required of Bergman that he develop a narrative approach and a visual style that could accommodate what he called ‘the dramaturgy of the juicy dream’ [den smaskiga drömmens dramaturgi]. As a young script reader at SF, he had been trained by his boss, Stina Bergman, in the realistic and formulaic American approach to scriptwriting: This technique was extremely obvious, almost rigid: The audience must never have the slightest doubt where they were in the story. Nor could there be any doubt about who was who, and the transitions between various points of the story were to be treated with care. High points should be allotted and placed at specific places in the script, and the culmination had to be saved for the end. (Images. My Life in Film, p. 118) [Denna filmdramaturgi var ytterst påtaglig, närmast rigid: publiken skulle aldrig behöva sväva i tvivelsmål om var man befann sig. Ingen tvekan skulle råda om vem som var vem, och berättelsens transportsträckor skulle behandlas med omsorg. Höjdpunkter skulle fördelas och placeras på bestämda därför avsedda ställen i manuskriptet. Kulminationen skulle sparas till slutet]. (Bilder, s. 118)
American film dramaturgy, which had gained international acceptance, was too linear for Bergman’s purposes. To him the film medium should attempt to ‘penetrate into hitherto unseen worlds’ [tränga in i hittils osedda världar]. But the transition from a dramaturgy with roots in 19th-century realism to a modernistic structure that attempted to depict the associative and fragmented pattern of the subconscious or nocturnal psyche was not without problems. Bergman retained as guiding principles some fundamental aspects of his first exposure to American-style scriptwriting: a clear plot development and a sense of climactic timing. In fact, clarity in presentation was to remain a self-imposed demand by Bergman throughout his filmmaking career. But it created a certain tension in him between an artistic desire to experiment with a new visual language and his equally strong desire to be understood and communicate with an audience: The result is a tug-of-war between my need to search for a filmically associative form to express a complicated situation and my demand for absolute clarity. Since I do not create my work for the edification of myself or a few people but for the entertainment of the masses, the latter imperative usually wins out. Nevertheless, I sometimes try the riskier alternative, and it turns out that the public also absorbs an advanced irrational style with a keen sense. [Det blir slitningar mellan mitt behov att söka ett filmiskt associativt uttryck för en komplicerad situation och mina krav på absolut klarhet. Eftersom jag inte skapar mitt verk till min egen eller fåtalets uppbyggelse utan till miljonpublikens underhållning segrar för det
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Ingmar Bergman: His Filmmaking Credo mesta det senare imperativet. Ibland prövar jag likväl det riskablaste alternativet och det har visat sig att publiken förvånansvärt lyhört absorberar även en avancerad irrationell linjeföring]. (‘Varje film är min sista film’ Each Film Is My Last, p. 4-5)
Bergman refers to his modernistic approach to film narration as walking ‘the dangerous roads’ [de farliga vägarna]. He knew that the medium had to be challenged and the public tested. Yet, still towards the end of his career, he suspects that his filmmaking approach ‘might not have been clear enough and simple enough’ [har kanske inte varit tillräckligt tydlig och tillräckligt enkel] (Tre dagar med Bergman, Ø 919, p. 64). 2. Filmmaking is based on good craftsmanship. While the impulse to create for the screen might spring from an inner drive and a desire to convey a personal vision, the hard reality is that without a craftsman’s competence, the result will be disappointing. Ever since the silent era of filmmaking, Swedish film production had had a wellestablished crew of skilled craftsmen, many of whom reacted negatively to Bergman as a temperamental novice. Bergman became convinced that some of them helped sabotage his early filmmaking efforts. This challenged him to learn all the technical aspects of the trade, so that he could better control a production: ‘I was all the time declared an idiot until I stubbornly and step by step learnt everything that had to do with my profession. Today there is no one who can rap me over the knuckles in technical matters’ [Jag blev oavbrutet idiotförklarad tills jag benhårt steg för steg lärde mig allt som hade med mitt yrke att göra. I dag är det ingen på det tekniska planet som kan slå mig på fingrarna] (Bergman on Bergman, p. 58/Bergman om Bergman, p. 63). To achieve professional skill as a filmmaker became a matter of great pride to Ingmar Bergman: ‘I say, my films are good craftsmanship. I am diligent, conscientious and extremely careful. I make my work for daily use and not for eternity. My pride is that of a craftsman’ [Jag säger att mina filmer är ett gott hantverk. Jag är flitig, omsorgsfull och ytterst noggrann. Jag skapar mitt arbete för dagligt bruk och inte för evigheten. Min stolthet är en hantverkares] (‘Det att göra film’/‘What is Filmmaking?’ 1954, Ø 87). 3. Filmmaking is teamwork. Ingmar Bergman’s control of a film production was to become legendary, but so would his sense of loyalty to his staff of co-workers. As a director he seems to have functioned like an old-fashioned company leader who demanded an absolute work morale from his employees but also shielded them in moments of crisis. His actors have expressed, in a variety of different ways, the sense of security and trust they have felt in his leadership. Actor Anders Ek, a man of strong will and conviction, admired Bergman for his ability ‘to guide him towards profound depths’ [att leda fram mot de stora djupen]. Actress Eva Dahlbeck once claimed that working with Bergman was like being placed in a garden, around which the director built a secure fence that prevented any disturbing visitors from entering the area. (See interviews in Filmnyheter 9, no. 12, 1954: 4-6, 21.) Bergman’s creative vision could never bear too much impulsive improvization. Instead, he evolved a directorial approach where moments of concentrated and controlled takes would alternate with relaxed pauses, often filled with laughter and small talk. The filming itself had to proceed with careful planning, a precise and punctual tempo; yet it should not be so strenuous as to cause fatigue: Every limb in the big collective must know what is to be done. The whole mechanical apparatus must be freed from all uncertainty. These preparations must not take too long,
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Chapter III the Filmmaker however; they must not tire or bore those involved. The rehearsals before a take must occur in full awareness [of what needs to be done] and with technical precision. (‘My Three Powerfully Effective Commandments’, Film Comment 1970, p. 11) [Jag vet t. ex. att allt i en scen måste vara noga förberett, varje lem i det stora kollektivet måste veta vad som ska göras. Hela mekaniken måste vara självklart befriad från all osäkerhet. Dessa förberedelser får inte ta för lång tid, de får inte tråka ut eller trötta de inblandade. Repetitionerna till tagningen måste ske under klar medvetenhet och teknisk precision.] (‘Varje film är min sista film’, Ø 108, p. 5).
In his adolescence Bergman experienced the important transition from silent cinema to the talkies, from visual images accompanied by captions to sound tracks. Sound and image came to share equal space in his imagination. To him this was part of his own childhood experience. In Laterna magica, there are numerous references to audiovisual impressions that used to fascinate him as a child: A swishing light beam, a scratching ink pen, a creaky cart drawn by a horse on a cobblestone street. Such recollections of sounds and images find their way into his filmmaking. Likewise his use of music in his filmmaking goes far beyond serving as an emotional complement, for it is built into the very montage and rhythm of a sequence. At times it seems to dictate the very movement of a scene and determine the camera’s approach to the photographed image. For instance, in a brief and fleeting reconciliation scene between the two sisters Karin and Maria in Viskningar och rop/Cries and Whispers, a few bars on a cello seem to guide the camera’s caressing pendulum between the women’s faces: the music suppresses the sound of their voices and assumes the role of an invisible conductor. As a result, there is, as Michel Chion has remarked, a tremendous difference in experiencing a Bergman film with or without sound. Bergman’s creation of audiovisual illusion is, in Chion’s wording, ‘an added value’ to the optical illusion of the image, an enrichment brought about by a synchronic use of sound and image. (Michel Chion. Audio-Vision. Sound and Screen, ed. & transl. by Claudia Gorbman. New York: Columbia UP, 1994, p. 5) Bergman once speculated on how valuable it would be for him to have at his disposal a musical method whereby to realize a film script. What he calls for is a score that could transform his vision into notes: So I have decided to make a particular film, and now begins a complicated work that is hard to master: To transfer rhythms, moods, atmospheres, tensions, musical scores to words and sentences in a [...] readible manuscript. [...] And then I come to the essential matter, I mean the montage itself, the rhythm, the inner relationship of the images, the whole vital third dimension without which the finished film will be a dead mechanical product. I cannot specify distinct musical keys, [...] I don’t have the slightest chance of suggesting the breathing and pulse of the work. I have often asked for a kind of musical score that would give me the chance of translating all the shades and notes of my vision. . . [Jag har alltså beslutat mig för att göra en viss film och nu vidtar ett komplicerat och svårbemästrat arbete: Att överföra rytmer, stämningar, atmosfärer, spänningar, sekvenser, tonarter, till ord och meningar i ett läsbart [...] manuskript. [...] Men så kommer jag till det essentiella, jag menar själva montaget, rytmen, bildernas inbördes relation, hela den livsviktiga tredje dimension utan vilken den färdiga filmen är en död fabrikationsartikel. Jag kan
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Ingmar Bergman’s Films: Grouping of a Lifelong Production inte ange tydliga tonarter [...] jag har inte minsta möjlighet att antyda verkets andhämtning eller puls. Jag har ofta efterlyst en sorts notskrift som skulle ge mig en chans att översätta visionens alla dagrar och toner...] (‘Varje film är min sista’/Each Film is my Last, p. 3)
Ultimately, what Bergman implies in his reference to musical analogies is something that lies beyond mere notes and technicalities. Filmmaking to Bergman is related to music as an art built on creating a flow of harmony and balance, intercepted by moments of dramatic climaxes or crescendos. All great art in fact is to Bergman like capturing a sense of rhythm, a mood and a movement that tries to emulate breathing itself: All art has to do with breathing in and breathing out. Because our whole life consists of rhythms of day and night; light and darkness; black and white; breathing in and breathing out – and in this we live. If we don’t inscribe rhythm in every interpretation, every recreation – swiftly, slowly, restrained, you let loose, you make a pause, you maintain the whole time a tension, so that the public is given an opportunity to breathe along – well, then it does not function. [All konst har med in- och utandning att göra. Därför att hela vårt liv består av rytmer med dag och natt; ljus och mörker; svart och vitt; inandning och utandning – och i detta lever vi. Om vi inte skriver in rytmen i varje interpretation, varje återskapande – snabbt, långsamt, återhållet, man släpper lös, man gör paus, man upprätthåller hela tiden en spänning, så att publiken hela tiden får en möjlighet att andas med – ja, då fungerar det inte.] (Interview in Mikael Timm. Ögats glädje, 1994, p. 129)
Ingmar Bergman’s Films: Grouping of a Lifelong Production Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking spans more than half a century or half the history of the film medium. His prolific production demands some kind of organized classification even though it is important to bear in mind that almost any categorization of such a large and rich material will imply certain intellectual shortcuts. Yet, despite the risk of oversimplifying, one might divide Bergman’s films into different groups where the selected approach is both chronological and thematic. Other organizing principles such as a focus on stylistic features or on clusters of actors and actresses/male and female parts would be equally feasible. Sometimes a shift in theme also signals a shift in style and milieu, and a given actor can serve as inspiration for a film narrative. The classification used here should not obscure the fact that there are in Bergman’s entire filmmaking what one might call certain primordial tensions and conflicts that permeate his production from beginning to end; a strong moral viewpoint determines both his metaphysical and psychological motifs; there is a continuous awareness of the interplay, both on the social and personal level, between control and humiliation, often presented as a series of shifting positions, so that his characters are seldom either absolute winners or losers. Within the framework of such ‘constant themes’ as the quest motif; the scapegoat or humiliation motif, the confessional motif, the voyeuristic or parasitical motif, Bergman develops conflicts and situations that de-
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Chapter III the Filmmaker monstrate an emotional tug-of-war between human beings, and between individuals and their gods and demons. A number of important turning-points in Bergman’s filmmaking may be noted. The first occurs after his international breakthrough in the mid-Fifties, which enabled him to dictate his own terms and create his major auteur films of that decade: Sjunde inseglet (1956, The Seventh Seal), Smultronstället (1957, Wild Strawberries), Ansiktet (1958, The Magician/The Face), and Jungfrukällan (1960, The Virgin Spring). A second turning-point takes place in the early Sixties when he moves from the epic journey format and/or ‘historical’ films of the preceding decade to the chamber films, beginning with Såsom i en spegel (1961, Through a Glass Darkly) and culminating with Viskningar och rop (1972, Cries and Whispers). This shift coincides with Bergman’s discovery of the stark Fårö landscape and with the definite establishment of Sven Nykvist as his cinematographer. Yet another shift has to do with his recognition of the intimate potential of the TV medium. Though he had explored television since the 1950s, it was at first reserved for adaptations of some of his play productions. But with the documentary TV film Fårö-dokument (1969) and the television series Scener ur ett äktenskap (1973, Scenes from a Mariage), he used the medium as a realistic form of screen projection. Bergman’s next turning-point, finally, seems conditioned by his homecoming in the early 1980s after several years in exile. It is now he begins to explore his family history, which brings a new psychological intensity to his films (including his TV films and his scripts). Color, which played such a vital part in Viskningar och rop, is now explored to the fullest in Fanny och Alexander (1982). In the charts below, Bergman’s role as either director or scriptwriter is divided into six different group headings. Film titles are indicated as follows: Scripts revised by Bergman but based on literary works by others are marked rev. plus author’s name. Films originally conceived for television have script references marked TV. Titles listed are original Swedish titles, followed by English distribution titles. For more details, check individual films in the filmography chapter (IV) and in media chapter (V).
Group I. Films from the Forties and early Fifties. Focus: The Young Couple Hets (1944, Torment/Frenzy) Kris (1946, Crisis)
Script Director & Script rev. from play by Leck Fischer Director & Script rev. from play by Oscar Braathen Director & Script rev. from play by Martin Söderhjelm Director & Script rev. from novel by Dagmar Edqvist Director & Script rev. from novel by Olle Länsberg Script Director & Script Director & Script
Det regnar på vår kärlek (1946, It Rains on Our Love) Skepp till India land (1947, Land of Desire/Ship to India) Musik i mörker (1948, Night is My Future/Music in Darkness) Hamnstad (1948, Port of Call) Eva (1948) Fängelse (1949, The Devil’s Wanton/Prison) Sommarlek (1950, Illicit Interlude/Summer Interlude) Sommaren med Monika (1953, The Story of a Bad Girl/Monica, Summer with Monica)
Director & Script with P.-A. Fogelström
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Ingmar Bergman’s Films: Grouping of a Lifelong Production In this first group of films, which could also be referred to as Bergman’s apprentice works, we find a variety of visual styles, from the neo-realistic study of lower class urban life in Hamnstad to the Carné-inspired lyricism and film noir imagery of Det regnar på vår kärlek, Skepp till India land and Fängelse. But the period also includes the nostalgic though tragic Sommarlek, the first of Bergman’s films exploring a native Swedish genre, the poetic summer film. The summer landscape is also the setting of Sommaren med Monika. The mood of these early films is often melancholy and escapist, though frequently erupting into rebelliousness. The young couples are seldom integrated in a middleclass lifestyle, but bourgeois authority casts its long shadow. The plots include a number of minor characters who represent law, morality, and order: policemen, members of the clergy, school teachers, and stern parents. Their function is to stall and frustrate the young couples in their search for freedom and love; they stand for repression. The couples bond together, sometimes with the blessing of a providential figure like the Man with the Umbrella in Det regnar på vår kärlek but sometimes with tragic outcomes as in Fängelse.
Group II. Early Family or Marriage Films, often with Women as Central Characters Törst (1949, Three Strange Loves/Thirst)
Director/Script w. Herbert Grevenius, rev. from story by Birgit Tengroth. Script Director & Script
Frånskild (1951, Divorced) Kvinnors väntan (1952, Secrets of Women/ Waiting Women) En lektion i kärlek (1954, A Lesson in Love) Kvinnodröm (1955, Dreams) Sommarnattens leende (1955, Smiles of a Summer Night Nära livet (1957, Brink of Life/So Close to Life)
Director & Script Director & Script Director & Script Director & Script w. Ulla Isaksson
The generation gap that operated on both a family and social level in Bergman’s earliest films, with an older generation seeking control over the young, becomes more inner-directed in the films in the second group and often involves painful erotic tensions between young and old. Mari’s bittersweet young love in Sommarlek is played out against the cynicism of her lascivious uncle Erland. In Kvinnodröm and Sommarnattens leende the erotic desires of older men for young women remain unfulfilled: The young are only in love with youth. By the mid-Fifties Ingmar Bergman had become known as a connoisseur of women. His films were often advertised in the Swedish trade journals as particularly appealing to the female public, and script excerpts were published in popular women’s magazines. In a whole series of films, Bergman explored the loneliness of housewives and forlorn young girls. Stepping out of his adolescent spleen, he concluded that the world of women was his universe. Bergman’s first biographer, Marianne Höök, states in her book Ingmar Bergman (1962): The women in Ingmar Bergman’s films are usually more interesting than the men. In contrast to the crudely cliche-like depictions of women in the Swedish cinema, where the
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Chapter III the Filmmaker vamp and the rosy peasant girl are amply represented, Bergman’s subtle view of women came as a liberation. [Kvinnorna i Ingmar Bergmans filmer är vanligtvis mer intressanta än männen. I motsats till de grovt schablonlika porträtten av kvinnor i den svenska filmen, där vampen och den rödkindade bondflickan finns väl representerade, kom Bergmans subtila syn på kvinnor som en befrielse.] (Höök, 1962, p. 84)
Nära livet (1957, Brink of Life) is in some ways the epitome of Bergman’s portrayal of women in the Fifties. Three women meet in the maternity ward – Cecilia, Stina, and Hjördis. Bergman had depicted a female collective in an earlier film, Kvinnors väntan (1952, Secrets of Women). But while the women in that film formed a cohesive unit of mutual strength and confidentiality, Nära livet projects three different destinies threatened by forces beyond the women’s control. Young Hjördis tries to abort a pregnancy she did not want; Cecilia desperately wants her baby but miscarries; Stina, although she is a glowing, healthy housewife, gives birth to a stillborn baby. To give birth is a phenomenon rather than a biological function and becomes part of the same puzzling existential situation as that facing Antonius Block in Det sjunde inseglet. The philosophical mood is in some ways the same in both films: Death stalks nearby and strikes inexplicably: ‘Chance becomes the deciding factor for the weal and woe of mankind’ [Slumpen blir den avgörande faktorn i människors väl och ve] (Ulla Isaksson (author of script) in Vi magazine, no. 12, 1958, p. 20).
Group III. Religious or Existential Quest Films of the Fifties and early Sixties, often with Male Protagonists Det sjunde inseglet (1956, The Seventh Seal) Smultronstället (1957, Wild Strawberries) Jungfrukällan (1960, The Virgin Spring) Såsom i en spegel (1961, Through a Glass Darkly) Nattvardsgästerna (1963, Winter Light/The Communicants)
Director & Script Director & Script Director Director & Script Director & Script
All of the films in the first and second groups, with the exception of Sommarnattens leende, are set in contemporary Swedish society. But in several of the films in the third group Bergman shifts the action, or part of the action, to the past. The setting ranges in time from the early Middle Ages in Det sjunde inseglet and Jungfrukällan to the turn of the last century in the flashbacks in Smultronstället. As an alternative to the ‘historical’ setting, Bergman introduces the stark and abstracted winter landscape in Nattvardsgästerna (1962) and the isolated island setting in Såsom i en spegel (1961). Both milieus are removed from today’s urban reality and provide a distancing effect. The focus in the third group of films is on a religious or existentialist quest, dominated by male protagonists. It is now that Antonius Block, the brooding Knight in Det sjunde inseglet, emerges as a Bergman prototype. In the disguise of a 14thcentury homebound crusader, he poses some basic questions about the nature of the divine and the purpose of living. The bureaucratic authorities of the earlier films are
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Ingmar Bergman’s Films: Grouping of a Lifelong Production replaced by an elusive divinity, alternately named the silent God or the spider God. Even such a seemingly non-religious film as Smultronstället can be placed within a similar framework. Its main character, Isak Borg, is really engaged in a struggle for his own soul and peace of mind, as if participating in a Christian penitence drama. Det sjunde inseglet and Smultronstället are road movies or station dramas in the sense that much of the action is structured as a journey where different stops along the way become moments of reflection and inner testing. One might compare such a structure to the soul-searching of the medieval morality play, where different ‘stations’, i.e., encounters between the protagonist and other characters, represent a choice of virtue or vice, good or evil. The Crusader Antonius Block in Det sjunde inseglet is in fact an Everyman figure looking for a sign from God. Like a morality play protagonist, he encounters a series of events and characters that signify different options to pursue. Professor Isak Borg in Smultronstället sets out on a journey of social recognition after a long life in the medical profession; but he too becomes a quester in search of a deeper personal commitment to life. Töre’s daughter in Jungfrukällan travels to church with offerings to the Virgin Mary. Her journey, abruptly terminated by her murder, is completed by Töre in a defiant and absurdist act of faith as he promises to build a church on the very spot where his only daughter was cruelly ravished and killed. Bergman’s so-called trilogy (Såsom i en spegel, Nattvardsgästerna and Tystnaden) depicts the eventual demise of the providential god of Bergman’s religious heritage but also exposes the failure of the earthly father. David in Såsom i en spegel is so absorbed in his own frustrated efforts to write that he is tempted to use his own daughter’s mental illness as an object of study. Tomas, the pastor in Nattvardsgästerna, fails to be the father of his flock that his congregation has a right to expect. In Tystnaden, the father of the child Johan is conspicuously absent and the substitute father figure, the old waiter in the foreign hotel where the action takes place, is a kind but doddering fool. In the films that date from the 1950s, Bergman furthered the tradition of the socalled Swedish style of cinematography that dated back to the silent cinema: a high contrast photography with frequent use of back-lighting, silhouette shots, a serene, somewhat theatrical scenography and rather slow pacing. Gunnar Fischer, trained in this school of cinematography was the perfect instrument for that time. But a definite change becomes noticeable in the early 1960s, which coincides with Bergman’s switch of cinematographers. The lyrical nature poet Gunnar Fischer was then replaced by the more robust though uniquely talented Sven Nykvist. In Jungfrukällan (1960) Nykvist still seems to be following in Fischer’s tracks as he photographs a legendary Swedish landscape with glittering waterways and sunlight filtering through birch trees, and contrasts this to dark foreboding shadows in murky interiors. But as Bergman develops a new kind of cinematic structure, what one could call ‘the film of the confined space’, Nykvist’s camera work becomes more subtle, using a great deal more greyish tones than the earlier black and white contrasts. One can see the shift very clearly in Såsom i en spegel (1961). Bergman now discards the historical milieu of the central films of the Fifties, the use of flashbacks, the physical journeys. Travelling, if it occurs at all, becomes more confined and reflects the characters’ stymied situation. It is as though many of the films of the Sixties emanate from the state of mind of Isak Borg during his night-
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Chapter III the Filmmaker marish dreams in Smultronstället. The defiant quester Antonius Block in Det sjunde inseglet, who challenges Death to a game of chess, is now replaced by the frustrated and insecure pastor Tomas in Nattvardsgästerna (1962); by the neurotic painter Johan Borg in Vargtimmen (1967); the disintegrating artist Jan Rosenberg in Skammen (1968); the forlorn islander Andreas Winkelman in En passion (1969). In these films the road is no longer the main setting or spatial metaphor but is replaced by the circumscribed island landscape, as bleak and confining as a sickroom, yet absolute in its envelopment by the sea. The Baltic setting of many of Bergman’s films from the 1960s is realistic in the sense that it is geographically identifiable; yet it serves a symbolic function as an extension of the troubled state of mind of the characters. This focus on interior psyches rather than external action is noticeable in Bergman’s increasing use of the close-up. It was in fact during the shooting of the first of his ‘Baltic’ films, Såsom i en spegel, that he declared the importance of the human face to his filmmaking. At the same time, he expressed his reservations of the beautifying imagery of his earlier films: Our work in films must begin with the human face. We can certainly become absorbed in the esthetics of montage; we can bring objects and still life into a wonderful rhythm; we can make nature studies of astounding beauty, but the approach to the human face is without doubt the hallmark and distinguishable feature of the film medium. (Hollis Alpert, ‘Style is the Director’, Saturday Review, 23 December 1961, p. 40) [Det mänskliga ansiktet är utgångspunkten för vårt arbete. Vi kan visserligen fördjupa oss i bildmontagets estetik, vi kan sammanföra föremål och stilleben till underbara rytmer, vi kan göra naturstudier av häpnadsväckande skönhet, men närheten till det mänskliga ansiktet är utan tvivel filmens adelsmärke och särtecken.] (‘Varje film är min sista film’, p. 5)
With Såsom i en spegel Ingmar Bergman claimed to have found a new direction for himself by concentrating on only four people (see Forslund, Chaplin no. 18, 1961). He coined the term ‘chamber film’ for this new type of cinema focusing on few characters and building up an intense and intimate atmosphere. The term ‘chamber film’ is a direct reference to the chamber plays of August Strindberg (1849-1912), the Swedish playwright whose strong influence Bergman has frequently acknowledged. Written in 1907-08, Strindberg’s chamber plays were dramatic attempts to convey, through the portrayal and interaction of a small group of people confined to a single locale, a set of associative relationships structured like a musical composition, as variations of a leitmotif leading up to a concluding coda. In similar fashion, Bergman abandoned the larger orchestration of his earlier films and discarded conventional film music. The only music heard in his chamber films are a few bars of a Bach or Brahms composition, almost always played on a single instrument. Even the inclusion of a fragment from Mozart’s Trollflöjten/The Magic Flute in a puppet scene in Vargtimmen is toned down to the chamber music level. The reductive process in terms of film acoustics in the chamber films marks their contrast to the much more rhetorical, male-oriented films of the Fifties, which seem to emanate from verbalized crucial moments in the protagonists’ life: Antonius Block in Det sjunde inseglet speaks with Death in a confessional dialogue and addresses a Christ figure in church in defiant words. Isak Borg in Smultronstället is quite analytical about his journey into the past. Though he relives his life in visual dreams, he is
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Ingmar Bergman’s Films: Grouping of a Lifelong Production presumably writing down the events of the day in his diary and retelling them to us. Language then is an important vehicle in Bergman’s male universe. But with Såsom i en spegel, dialogue becomes subservient to imagery and gesture. The first two words learned by Ester in the unknown language in Tystnaden are naigo and kasi, face and hand. Rapport comes not through verbal communication – words in fact are often like missiles announcing warfare – but through touch and look. The reduction of the spoken element in Bergman’s films culminates in such works as Persona (1966), where one of the characters, Elisabet Vogler, acts mute, and Viskningar och rop (1972) where the conversations are sparse and punctuated with long moments of silence or faint whisperings from voices that never fully materialize. There is both a consciousness of the visual medium and a philosophical aspect to this reduction of speech. The relatively sparse dialogue of the chamber films is not only a manifestation of Bergman’s attempt as a filmmaker to free himself from verbal dominance, it is also his questioning, through the cinema, of the trustworthiness of the spoken word. Finally, silence can be interpreted as an absence of life – the whisperings in Viskningar och rop are like the faint echoes of the dead, still in touch with the living. Silence also signifies the Christian deity’s withdrawal from human destinies.
Group IV. Films Exploring the Role of the Artist and/or Directorial Persona Till glädje (1949, To Joy) Gycklarnas afton (1953, The Naked Night/ Sawdust and Tinsel) Ansiktet (1958, The Magician/The Face) För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor (1964, All These Women) Persona (1966, Persona) Vargtimmen (1967, The Hour of the Wolf) Skammen (1968, Shame) Riten (1969, The Ritual) Herbstsonate (1978, Höstsonaten/Autumn Sonata) Ur marionetternas liv (1979, Aus dem Leben der Marionetten/From the Life of the Marionettes) Efter Repetitionen (1984, After the Rehearsal) Larmar och gör sig till (1997, In the Presence of a Clown) Trolösa (2000, Faithless)
Director & Script Director & Script Director & Script Director & Script w. Erland Josephson Director & Script Director & Script Director & Script Director & Script (TV) Director & Script Director & Script Director & Script Director & Script Script
Bergman’s artist is the central character in the fourth group of films. His role ranges from the vulnerable circus director Albert Johansson in Gycklarnas afton to the potential mesmerizer Albert Vogler in Ansiktet or the neurotic wreck Johan Borg in Vargtimmen and the moral coward Jan Rosenberg in Skammen. Gone now is a naive visionary like the juggler Jof in Det sjunde inseglet, whose second sight enabled him to see the holy Virgin. What Bergman develops instead is the other aspect of Jof ’s destiny: to be exposed to ridicule, a scapegoat figure forced to perform a table dance in the tavern to the jeers of an onlooking crowd. There are in fact vestiges in Bergman’s portrayal of the artist of a Platonic pharmakos myth: Plato banished the artist
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Chapter III the Filmmaker from his utopian society for fear that his visionary power might excite the citizens and bring chaos and madness. Bergman’s depiction of the artist and his audience maintains a more precarious balance: at times the artist is destroyed, at other times the onlooker becomes the scapegoat. It is part of Bergman’s conception of the relationship between artist and audience that performer and spectator take part in a ritual, a cult act in which worship and symbolic sacrifice constitute the essential elements. In the TV film Riten this conflict is the very fabric of the film. Like participants in old religious rites, Bergman’s artists can take possession of their audiences. The acting trio in Riten drives to death a Judge who has been sent to question them on a charge of obscenity. Vogler in Ansiktet brings the rational doctor Vergerus to the verge of madness by playing macabre tricks on him in an attic; his namesake Elisabet Vogler in Persona takes possession of the nurse Alma until Alma’s self-identity is threatened. A distinct element of eroticism becomes part of such encounters. Elisabet Vogler and Alma take turns in representing the two sides in a symbiotic relationship of would-be lovers exhibiting attraction and repulsion, separateness of self and fusion of self. The actress feeds on Alma’s life story vicariously; Alma’s identification with Elisabeth is so strong that she momentarily replaces her in a meeting with Elisabeth’s husband. Bergman’s artist may create illusions that provide pleasure and entertainment but also cause irritation and anger. His audiences counter either by being mesmerized by his performance or by exposing the artist as a fake and liar and ostracizing him from their midst, from organized society. The humiliation motif is built into such an encounter between artist and spectator. Albert Johansson, the pedestrian owner of Circus Alberti in Gycklarnas afton and his clown Frost face in turn jeering crowds: Frost in the flashback beach sequence where soldiers become cruel voyeurs of his ordeal as he tries to rescue his wife Alma, and Albert during a performance in the circus round, exposed to a taunting public. Albert Vogler in Ansiktet attracts the mistress of the house but is insulted by the Egerman household, where his troupe has stopped to perform a seance. The self-absorption of the artist is a dominant motif in such Bergman films as Persona, Vargtimmen, Skammen, and Höstsonaten, whose neurotic or egotistical protagonists confirm what Bergman suggests in his essay ‘The Snakeskin’ from 1965: that artistic activity in a godless world is self-focussed and has lost its element of worship, of meaningful ritual. A figure like the self-centered pianist mother in Höstsonaten has lost all spirituality and can only fantasize about money and her next performance. In earlier films, an artist like the hypnotist Albert Emanuel Vogler in Ansiktet was both prophet and charlatan; wearing a Christ mask, he ‘acted’ mute before a 19th century upper-class group of Pontius Pilates and performed ‘miracles’ before both susceptible and skeptical people. Such Christ references in Bergman’s portrayal of artists are not uncommon in his films from the 1950s. Frost, the clown in Gycklarnas afton, performs his own Golgotha walk, barefoot and humiliated as he struggles to carry his wife on his back like a cross; Jof, the visionary juggler and actor ‘Det sjunde inseglet’, assumes a tortuous pose, half bear, half figure on a cross, as he is forced to dance on the table in the tavern scene; David, the father and writer in Såsom i en spegel, breaks down in anguish in front of the window, so that window frame and body form the pattern of a cross. The same pose is used to define Tomas’s anguish in Nattvardsgästerna. But in Persona the sacrificial implications of the artist’s role shift from Christian metaphors
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Ingmar Bergman’s Films: Grouping of a Lifelong Production to old classical references. Elisabeth Vogler, the silent actress with ‘the cold eyes’ who feeds on her nurse to regain vitality is clearly a pythia figure. In Vargtimmen, the communal aspect of art is transformed into a ludicrous dinner party whose participants literally turn into the artist’s ‘consumers’, parasitical bird demons who cannibalize the painter Johan Borg. But the artist is himself a ‘cannibal’, a detached observer who feeds on other human beings. In Persona Bergman’s alter ego is a young boy who wakes up in a morgue as if from a deep sleep. Just before this scene, we have been introduced to a collage of images, potential material for a film. The boy’s awakening and subsequent movements culminating with his wiping a glass screen with his hand until a woman’s face becomes visible set the ‘plot’ in motion; the boy is a creative consciousness who leads us into the fictional story, which is at the same time his dream or his reminiscing. The rather abstracted nameless boy in Persona, who serves more as a vehicle than actual participant in the film narrative, may be juxtaposed to the title figure in Fanny and Alexander (1982), who opens the film story by taking the spectator through his grandmother’s apartment, where the narrative develops. Persona’s boy figure may also be juxtaposed to the male protagonist Peter Egerman in Ur marionetternas liv/Aus dem Leben des Marionetten. Both these films grew out of a painful period in Bergman’s life when he was trying to ‘relocate’ himself as an artist. In 1965-66 he had left his position at the Royal Dramatic Theatre and was physically ill. In 1978-79, he was still looking for a footing in exile and felt he had failed to convey his sense of pain and frustration in his first foreign-made film Das Schlangenei. The artistic persona appears much more camouflaged in the story of Peter Egerman than in Bergman’s other films in this group. Peter’s story revolves around deception and self-deception and maintains a narrow distinction between reality and fantasy or nightmare. Though Bergman chose to make Peter a German businessman, he also provided him with a desperate aggressiveness and vulnerability that makes him a kin to many of Bergman’s artist figures. Like Johan Borg in Vargtimmen he is haunted by ‘demons’ from his past, and as in Ansiktet and Persona, Aus dem Leben... depicts a world in which a sensitive individual is driven to despair by people who abuse him or fail him. In probing deeper and deeper into Peter’s psyche, Aus dem Leben... is much closer to a film like Persona than to the work preceding it, Das Schlangenei. When art loses its aspect of ritual and cult act, the artist is thrown back upon himself. When the ‘director’ has no subject at hand, he may invent his own muse, like Henrik invents an affair with his young actress in Efter repetionen or ‘Bergman’ invents Marianne in Trolösa. What is depicted in these instances is actually the creative process itself: an artist’s material beginning to take shape in his mind, not smoothly and painlessly but as a complicated mixture of personal tensions and professional selfawareness. The director in Efter repetitionen and the ‘Bergman’ coach in Trolösa both resist the intrusion of personal matters and old memories and are fascinated and revitalized by them.
Group V: The Haunting Past: Memories and Nightmares En passion (1969, Passion of Anna) Beröringen (1970, The Touch) Viskningar och rop (1972, Cries and Whispers)
Director & Script Director & Script Director & Script
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Chapter III the Filmmaker Scener ur ett äktenskap (1974, Scenes from a Marriage) Ansikte mot ansikte (1975, Face to Face) Höstsonat/Herbstsonate (1978, Autumn Sonata) Trolösa (2000, Faithless) Saraband (2003)
Director & Script TV Director & Script TV Director & Script Director & Script Director & Script TV
In his works from the 1970s onwards, Bergman’s characters have left their religious baggage behind, but they seldom, if ever, seem able to free themselves from the traumas of their past or from some mysterious force of the mind that takes possession of them. Anna in En passion (1969) wreaks havoc on her lover Andreas Winkelman and herself by her fixation on a marriage and an accident in the past that may or may not be self-styled; the psychiatrist Jenny in Ansikte mot ansikte, almost succeeds in committing suicide when the ghosts of her childhood begin to haunt her; the sisters in Viskningar och rop all have their lives shaped by past circumstances beyond their control, be it illness, rigid conventions and role playing, or unhappy but insoluble marriages. Even young Alexander in Fanny och Alexander is pursued to the bitter end by his stepfather’s evil ghost, who threatens to never let go of him. In Bergman’s world no one escapes his or her destiny. The puppeteer director of his youth continues to pull the strings of his human marionettes, but now the manipulator dwells inside them like an internalized psychological demon. The men and women of Bergman’s films from the 1970s have little in common with the young couples in the very first films he made. Their relationships start where those of the young couples ended: in marriage. But this is followed by ennui, a drifting apart, impending divorce or break-up. Far from socially maladjusted like their younger predecessors in the films of the 1940s, Bergman’s mature couples of the seventies hark back to such marriage films as Kvinnors väntan and En lektion i kärlek. Sophisticated and comfortable in their middle-class lifestyle, they have achieved an economic status beyond what the working-class youngsters of such films as Det regnar på vår kärlek, Hamnstad and Fängelse could dream of. Nevertheless, they are seldom able to bond together but instead face loneliness and anxiety. At the end of Scener ur ett äktenskap Marianne awakens from a nightmare that has thrown her into a state of fright. The episode seems in a way to signal the exploration of the troubled mind of Jenny, the psychiatrist in Ansikte mot ansikte. In two preceding films, En passion and Viskningar och rop, Bergman portrays women who dwell in the same anguished world as some of his leading male characters in the quest films of the Fifties. More and more men and women share the dubious pleasure of inhabiting the same angst-ridden bergmanian universe. Thus, a film like Viskningar och rop could in some ways be seen as the female counterpart to Isak Borg’s encounter with his impending death in Smultronstället. The women’s attempt to deal with the present crisis of Agnes’ death takes the form of a series of flashbacks into their past, reminiscences as painful as Isak Borg’s reexamination of his life. Both films end on a similar note of nostalgia and reconciliation. Isak is led by young Sara, the eternally young sweetheart, through a verdant landscape where he discovers his long since dead parents on a summer outing. Agnes, the dying woman in Viskningar och rop, pictures herself, in a voice-over reading from her diary, together with her sisters in the luscious
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Ingmar Bergman’s Films: Grouping of a Lifelong Production park on her estate. It is a moment of epiphany, a family communion that may be as much dream and wishful thinking as was Isak Borg’s final vision of his parents. The idealization of the maternal as embodied by the housekeeper Anna in Viskningar och rop (culminating in a pietà scene when she takes the dying Agnes to her bosom) is reinforced in the caring grandmothers in Ansikte mot ansikte and Fanny och Alexander or in the competent ex-wife Marianne in Saraband. But it is counterbalanced by the critical portrait of the mother in Höstsonaten (1978). Here Bergman seems to launch on another examination of the parent motif, this time focussing not on a critique of the father but on a scathing exposure of the mother. Charlotte, the professional pianist, neglects her two daughters, one of whom is mentally retarded. During a visit to her married daughter Eva, Charlotte’s self-absorption in her career becomes the basis for violent accusations by Eva. Though Charlotte is portrayed more superficially by actress Ingrid Bergman than the script suggests, she nevertheless joins the league of selfish parents that used to appear in Bergman’s earlier films, but this time the confrontation is far more ruthless, which made the film a target for feminist critique. Höstsonaten was made during Bergman’s exile from Sweden. Many had speculated that his creativity would dry up outside of his native country or that the frustrations he would face working with foreign crews would sabotage his future film projects. Some saw signs of this when Das Schlangenei was released in 1977, a year after his departure from Sweden. The film, set in pre-Nazi Germany in 1923, became his first critical and public fiasco since the early 1950s. His second German-made film, Aus dem Leben der Marionetten, did not reach mass audiences in Europe or the United States, though it was well received in France. On the whole it fared better with the reviewers in Sweden than elsewhere, perhaps in response to a need among the critics to atone for their government’s treatment of Bergman. In retrospect, it is a film that has, like Gycklarnas afton, attained a special place in the Bergman canon. It is also a favorite of Bergman himself. In Tre dagar med Bergman (p. 66), he says to the interviewers apropos of the making of From the Life of Marionettes: I found myself in a difficult situation, far away from my homeland where I did not want to return. I had already tried to express my pain and suffering in The Serpent’s Egg, but without succeeding. That whole project was a big mistake. But in From the Life of the Marionettes I found a way, a form, a very definite and distinct form to which I could transfer my pain, my anguish and all my difficulties and reshape them into something concrete. I love that film. [Jag befann mig i en vansklig situation, långt borta från mitt hemland dit jag inte ville återvända. Jag hade redan försökt att ge uttryck för denna smärta och detta lidande med Ormens ägg men utan att lyckas. Hela det projektet var ett stort misstag. Men i Ur Marionetternas liv fann jag en sätt, en form, en mycket bestämd och tydlig form till vilken jag kunde överföra och omforma min smärta, min ångest och alla mina svårigheter till någonting konkret. Jag älskar den filmen.]
None of Bergman’s films made outside of his native country can be said to spring directly from his foreign experience. Ormens ägg was written before his arrest in Stockholm in 1976. Höstsonaten was the fulfillment of a promise made long before to actress Ingrid Bergman. Aus dem Leben der Marionetten was based on the couple Peter and Katarina, who appeared briefly in the opening sequence of Scener ur ett
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Chapter III the Filmmaker äktenskap. As for the technical crew, Sven Nykvist and several members of the production team remained part of Bergman’s staff for his foreign films and provided a link to his previous filmmaking. In Das Schlangenei, the elaborate studio set reflects more the ambition of American producer Dino de Laurentiis than Bergman’s own intentions as these are indicated in the script. In both Herbstsonate and Aus dem Leben der Marionetten, Bergman toned down any extravagance in the mise-en-scène. In fact, Marionetten’s concentration on black-and-white close-ups brought the spectator back to the world of Persona and seemed like an explicit visual statement by Bergman, suggesting that he always carried his cosmos within him. (Bergman conceived the film in black and white, but compromised with the German TV producer by opening the film in color. See Tre dagar med Bergman, p. 64.) As Bergman shifted his focus once more to women in such films as En passion, Beröringen/The Touch, Viskningar och rop, and Hörstsonaten, he began to employ color, which he had only done once before, in another woman-dominated film, För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor from 1964. In this ‘intermezzo’ in Bergman’s filmmaking, color was used in a deliberately gaudy, pyrotechnical manner that fit the farcical mood of the film. In films like En passion and Viskningar och rop color plays a more subtle role. In En passion it serves to underscore the repressed emotions of the characters on the Baltic island by projecting them against a subdued scale of earth tones. In Viskningar och rop Bergman has stated that the use of red dissolves to signal the flashbacks in the lives of the four women is connected with his own childhood fantasies of the soul as a membrane of red. But red also connotes passion and sexual arousal, as in the flighty Maria’s case, or blood when passionate emotions spell hatred, self-destruction, and revenge, as in Karin’s case. Red is also the life force that is draining from the cancerous Agnes’ frail body. Finally, the shift from black and white to color in Bergman’s filmmaking is in keeping with his memories of the male and female worlds of his childhood. The male figures wear the stark black garb of a man of the cloth and move in the light of harsh realities. The women dress more colorfully and their presence is associated with the prismatic world of filtering light, a visualization of an inner world of passion – sensuous, dangerous and spiritually redemptive.
Group VI. The Family Saga Fanny och Alexander (1982, Fanny and Alexander) Den goda viljan (1991, Best Intentions) Söndagsbarn (1992, Sunday’s Children) Enskilda samtal (1996, Private Confessions) Larmar och gör sig till (1997, In the Presence of a Clown)
Director & Script Script Script Script Director & Script, TV
With his reconciliation with the Swedish government in the early 1980s and the warm reception he encountered upon returning to Sweden, Ingmar Bergman began to look upon his distant past with less critical eyes. For his filmmaking, this mellowed view resulted in Fanny och Alexander. The film can in fact be seen as his cinematic testament – a filmmaker’s homage to and exploration of his childhood, part fiction, part retrospection. Thematically, Fanny och Alexander is a summation of long-established
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Ingmar Bergman’s Films: Grouping of a Lifelong Production Bergman motifs and conflicts: the creative world of the laterna magica juxtaposed to a world of repression and humiliation. A linkage is established between these two milieus not only in terms of the widowed Mrs. Ekdahl’s marriage to Bishop Vergerus but also in an explicit stress on ritual in both households: the one pertaining to the theatre, the other to the church. Ingmar Bergman’s work for the cinema, so often associated with a world of existential pain and anguish, ends with a celebration of human togetherness and family bonding, and with an affirmation of the healing power of the imagination. With Fanny och Alexander, Bergman restores magic and art as top priorities in his universe. The film reconfirms his own loyalty to the playful fantasy-maker Méliès, his filmmaking Vergilius whose name he invoked in his youthful lecture at the Uppsala Film Studio some 40 years before making Fanny och Alexander. After he bid farewell to filmmaking, Bergman wrote and directed a number of works for television. Perhaps the most remarkable one is Larmar och gör sig till/ In the Presence of a Clown. The plot revolves around a fictionalized relative, Uncle Carl, who dabbled in film entertainment in the early days of the cinema. Partly set (for its climax) in the wintry village of Frostnäs where Nattvardsgästerna once took place and using some of the same characters (though not actors), the small group of onlookers are exposed to the accidental short-circuiting of Carl’s film projector. However, out of this provincial chaos amidst candle light and a clinking piano emanates Schumann’s Aufschwung, and the would-be filmmaker and his mistress assistant perform a kind of rite amidst a small crowd of spectators. For a brief moment, the assembly hall in Frostnäs becomes a cult place. One is reminded that the title of the first film set in the same god-forsaken part of the world was ‘Nattvardsgästerna’ or ‘The Communicants’. In that film, Tomas, the doubting minister, never gave comfort to the villagers who came to his church, the way Carl’s primitive and aborted film showing does, as it is miraculously metamorphosed into a secular communion that brings about a healing stillness among the audience, as powerful as any holy sacrament. Larmar och gör sig till depicts a spiritual moment on a small scale and becomes a moving companion piece to the more flamboyant Fanny och Alexander and, above all, a tribute to art as ritual and worship. Bergman executes a self-referential tour de force that forms a fitting finale to his wish expressed at the beginning of his film career to participate in building ‘a cathedral on the plain’.
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Bergman's early filmmaking took place under rather primitive circumstances, as suggested in this photo during the filming of Summer with Monica (1953) where Bergman and his crew are seen standing in the water by an island in the Stockholm archipelago. To save on transportation costs, the rushes from each day's filming were collected to be sent later by boat to the film laboratory. There, scratches were discovered on the negatives, so that retakes had to be made.
From the shooting of Fanny and Alexander in 1982 (Courtesy: Arne Carlsson/Cinematograph/SF)
Chapter IV Filmography
Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record The Filmography Chapter lists in chronological order all screen works that were scripted and/or directed by Ingmar Bergman. Each film entry comprises a plot synopsis, credits, notes, critical commentaries, a reception summary, and reviews. The credits include major crew members and a complete cast list. Names of Swedish cinemas where a film first opened are usually limited to one or two samples. Commentaries for those Bergman scripts that have been filmed by other directors tend to be less extensive, unless the Bergman script became the subject of a media debate. The title heading used in each entry is the Swedish distribution title, followed by its year of release and, in brackets, by its English title. In the rest of the entry, only the original distribution title is used, except in direct quotes where the refereed title appears. At the end of the Filmography is a selective list of foreign distribution titles. Foreign titles of Ingmar Bergman’s early films were often the invention of distributors looking for a way to cash in on the reputation of the Swedish cinema as a producer of sexually titillating films. Title explanations are included before the synopsis of the film narrative when the foreign distribution title departs radically from the original or when the Swedish title, though translated literally, carries connotations not conveyed in English. A special organizational problem involves Bergman works that were originally conceived for television but have also circulated (abroad) as commercial feature films and then often in a specially edited, abridged version. As a rule, the original television version has been seen by a Swedish or Scandinavian audience only, while the version adapted for cinema viewers has had an international circulation but a limited or no movie house showing in Bergman’s own country. In an interview Bergman once commented on making parallel cinema and TV versions of the same work (see preface, p. 19). However, his statement only applies to works that were designed from the start to circulate in two different versions, i.e.,
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Chapter IV Filmography films like Scener från ett äktenskap/Scenes from a Marriage, Ansikte mot ansikte/Face to Face, and Fanny and Alexander. But the fact is that in several cases, a Bergman film made only for television was also sold as a movie house product – despite Bergman’s protest. Examples are Riten/The Ritual from 1969 and Efter repetitionen/After the Rehearsal, a TV film transmitted in 1984. The procedure followed here with regard to both multiple-version and multipledistribution works has been to focus on the foreign reception in the Filmography entry (i.e., on the internationally circulated cinema versions) and to single out Swedish (or sometimes Scandinavian) reviews and comments in the media chapter (i.e., information that pertains directly to the TV transmission, including press debates). For space-saving reasons, a full synopsis and complete credit list only appears once in such cases, and then always, for the sake of consistency, in the Filmography listing. A shorter synopsis and credit list is included for the same item in the media chapter. Variations in length between the film and TV versions are noted in the respective context. Date of entry may differ between the filmography and media listings. For instance, Scener ur ett äktenskap has a 1974 title date in this chapter but a 1973 date in the media chapter, thus referring to its first TV transmission. However an item originally conceived for television may, occasionally, have a later release date than the film version. The following works are involved [first date after the title refers to first television showing, second date (if different) to its international release]: Riten (The Ritual), 1969 Fårö dokument 1, 1969, 1970 Scener ur ett äktenskap (Scenes from a Marriage), 1973, 1974 Trollflöjten (The Magic Flute), 1975 Ansikte mot ansikte (Face to Face), 1976 Fårödokument 2, 1979, 1980 Fanny and Alexander, 1984, 1982-83 Efter repetitionen (After the Rehearsal), 1984 Den goda viljan (Best Intentions), 1991-92, 1992 Enskilda samtal (Private Confessions/Conversations), 1996, 1998-99 Larmar och gör sig till (In the Presence of a Clown), 1997, 1998 Saraband, 2003 For eighteen of Bergman’s feature films, documentary footage or ‘bakomfilmer’ are or will be available in the Ingmar Bergman Archive at the Swedish Film Institute. ‘Bakomfilmer’ so far pertain to the following film titles: Gycklarnas afton, 1953 En lektion i kärlek, 1954 Kvinnodröm, 1955 Sommarnattens leende, 1955 Det sjunde inseglet, 1957 Smultronstället, 1957 Ansiktet, 1958 Nära livet, 1958 Såsom i en spegel, 1961
Nattvardsgästerna, 1962 Persona, 1966 Skammen, 1968 Viskningar och rop, 1972 Scener ur ett äktenskap, 1973 Ansikte mot ansikte, 1976 Ur marionetternas liv, 1980 Höstsonaten, 1981 Efter repetitionen, 1984
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record In addition, documentary footage from Bergman’s film Beröringen/The Touch, 1970, was used in Stig Björkman’s portrait of Ingmar Bergman (see Chapter VIII, Interviews, Ø 796). A documentary was made by the American producer of The Serpent’s Egg (see film entry in this chapter, Ø 249). Special TV documentaries have been made using several of Bergman works. For a complete list, see Varia, segment A. 202.
HETS, 1944 [Torment, Frenzy], B/W Director Screenplay
Alf Sjöberg Ingmar Bergman
The Swedish word hets implies stress, a tense atmosphere, an agitated mood. The verb hetsa connotes the baiting of animals; as a reflexive verb, hetsa upp sig carries the meaning of ‘working oneself into a frenzy’. To have a hetsigt temperament means to be hot-tempered and choleric. All of these connotations have a bearing on both the school situation and the personal relationships in Hets/Torment, which is a film depicting teacher abuse, parental and social pressure, young passion and frustration, and sexual promiscuity.
Synopsis Hets, the first film scripted by Bergman, takes place in a boys’ school in Stockholm in the 1940s; in the conservative upper-class home of one of the pupils, Jan-Erik Widgren; and in the cheap lodging of a young girl, Berta Olsson, who works in a tobacco shop. The opening sequence, establishing the use of film noir-inspired photography, depicts the late arrival of a young schoolboy and the rigid school atmosphere during compulsory morning prayers. Later during a Latin class the friction between Jan-Erik and a sadistic teacher nicknamed Caligula becomes evident. A love story develops between Jan-Erik and Berta, whom he has found drunk in the street. Jan-Erik’s performance in school deteriorates, and he becomes the target of Caligula’s sarcasm and despotism. The dramatic action reaches its climax when Jan-Erik finds Berta dead in her bed. Outside in the hallway, Caligula is crouching like a frightened animal. Brought to the police station, he becomes hysterical until an autopsy establishes that Berta died of natural causes (a heart attack). Caligula turns the tables on Jan-Erik by reporting his affair with Berta to the school principal. Jan-Erik responds by hitting Caligula and is subsequently suspended from school. When his classmates matriculate, Jan-Erik stands alone in the rain outside the school watching them emerge in their white student caps, symbolic of educational success. What follows is an addition to the original script: Jan-Erik moves away from home to Berta’s apartment where the school principal visits him, offering to help. Later, Jan-Erik finds Caligula on the stairs, trembling with fear and self-pity. Ignoring him he steps out into the sunshine. The final shot shows him standing on a hill overlooking the city. Slowly he begins to walk down towards it. (The ending brings to mind the opening vignette in Strindberg’s novel Röda rummet/The Red Room where an angry young Arvid Falk stands in the same location as he begins his exploration of the city’s corruptive mores and institutions).
Credits Production company Executive producer Production manager Director Assistant Director
Svensk Filmindustri Harald Molander Gösta Ström Alf Sjöberg Ingmar Bergman
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Chapter IV Filmography Artistic Director Screenplay Cinematography Architect Music Costumes Make-up Editor
Victor Sjöström Ingmar Bergman Martin Bodin Arne Åkermark Hilding Rosenberg Mimmi Törnquist Carl M. Lundh, inc. Oscar Rosander
Cast Caligula Caligula’s mother Jan-Erik Widgren Berta Olsson School Principal Teacher ‘Pippi’ Jan-Erik’s friend Sandman Jan-Erik’s father Jan-Erik’s mother Jan-Erik’s brother Dr. Nilsson, physician Student Pettersson Student Krantz Student without hymn book Teacher proctoring late arrivals Student arriving late at school Teachers at morning prayer Physicians at the morgue Police Woman The Pastor at Berta’s funeral Parish Assistant Lina, Widgren’s housemaid Student Extras
Stig Järrel Hilda Borgström [part cut in released version] Alf Kjellin Mai Zetterling Olof Winnerstrand Gösta Cederlund Stig Olin Olav Riégo Märta Arbin Anders Nyström Hugo Björne Jan Molander Birger Malmsten Bengt Dalunde Gunnar Björnstrand Bertil Sohlberg Nils Hultberg, Rune Landsberg Torsten Hillberg, John Zacharias Lillie Wästfelt Edvard Danielsson Selma Sandberg Greta Stave Curt Edgard, Arne Ragneborn, Rolf Bergström, Paul ‘Palle’ Granditsky, Lennart Nyberg, Carl-Olof Alm, Sten Gester, Allan Linder, et al.
Bergman’s voice is heard once on the radio in Berta’s apartment. Filmed on location at Norra Latin School in Stockholm and Råsunda Studios, beginning 21 February 1944 and completed 25 May 1944. Distribution U.S. Distribution Running Time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Oxford Films 101 minutes 12 September 1944 2 October 1944, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm), et al 21 April 1947
Commentary Hets was part of SF’s 25th anniversary program aimed at quality production and introducing a new policy of giving aspiring young filmmakers a chance to succeed in the industry. Bergman’s original script, ending with the matriculation sequence, was considered too depressing, and he
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record was asked to add the scene depicting Jan-Erik’s return to Berta’s apartment. During the shooting Bergman, who was more of a script boy than an assistant director, was however assigned the task of handling the outdoor scene at the end, shot in South Stockholm. He describes the job in Bilder/Images. My Life in Film, pp. 119-122. The screenplay to Hets has never been published, but the story appeared as a novella in Filmjournalen, nos. 51/52 (1944) – 8 (1945) and in Bildjournalen, nos. 12-15 (1959). Several early drafts of ‘Hets’ are among Bergman’s Fårö papers, now deposited at SFI. These drafts are discussed extensively in Maaret Koskinen’s book I begynnelsen var ordet, 2002, pp. 34-57. Peter Ustinov made a stage adaptation based on the film, entitled ‘Frenzy’. It opened at St. Martin’s Theatre in London, 21 April 1948. The script was also dramatized as a stage play and performed in 1948 in Oslo by the city’s newly founded Studio Theatre. See Øyvind Anker (Chapter IX, Ø 1141). Upon the release of Hets, the production company (SF) issued a brochure (Stockholm: SF, n. d., 11 pp.), which contains brief statements by Bergman (see Ø 24), Alf Sjöberg (director), Hilding Rosenberg (composer) and Erik Tuxén (music director). In connection with the premiere of Hets, Bergman published a brief newspaper account of his own years in school: ‘Skoltiden ett 12-årigt helvete’ [School a 12-year hell]. Aftonbladet 3 October 1944, pp. 1, 11. A comment by his former headmaster (Håkansson) at the Palmgrenska School in Stockholm appeared in the same paper (AB) on 5 October 1944, p.16. Reply by Bergman in same paper, 9 October, p. 10.
Reception Literary magazine BLM’s editor Georg Svensson reviewed Hets and praised SF for bringing together so much talent. In the public response to the film there was more focus on Bergman’s script than on Alf Sjöberg’s direction. Part of the film’s tremendous impact in Sweden can be related to its timely story, which coincided with an intense discussion of the old-fashioned structure of the Swedish school system and the need for democratic reform. For sample views see the following: Beklädnadsfolket 1, no. 11 (1944), pp. 18-19, (article by Elsa Brita Marcussen titled ‘Skolans auktoritestro måste bort’ [School Authoritarianism must disappear], with a commentary on the added ending of the film); SF Nyheter, no. 30, pp. 4, 14 and no. 33 (1944), pp. 1, 4 (résumés of public response to Hets); ST, 6 October 1944, p. 7 (article by Stig Järrel’s teacher); SvD, 12 October 1944, p. 4 (editorial); Svenska Morgonbladet, 13 October 1944, pp. 4 (Margot Wohlin, school pedagogue); Tidning för Sveriges läroverk (Journal of the Swedish Teachers Association): no. 20 (21 October 1944), pp. 321-22 (editorial) and p. 330; no. 21 (4 November) 1944, p. 350, and no. 2 (20 January) 1945, pp. 36-37. Film was attacked in all articles in this teacher publication; Vecko-Journalen, no. 43 (22 October 1944), p. 9 (editorial by Carl Björkman, leading Stockholm film critic); Vecko-Journalen, no. 45 (5 November) 1944, p. 32. Swedish author Frank Heller [Gunnar Serner] wrote: ‘To air his antipathy for the Swedish school system, Mr. Ingmar Bergman mobilizes both a triangle drama and a sample of Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopatia sexualis, a study that has played a great and, most often, sad role in literature’ [För att lufta sin antipati för det svenska skolsystemet, mobiliserar herr Ingmar Bergman både ett triangeldrama och ett prov på Krafft-Ebings Psychopatia sexualis, en studie som har spelat en stor och oftast sorglig roll i litteraturen].
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Chapter IV Filmography Hets/Torment opened to several devastating reviews in the U.S. on 21 April 1947 but later became somewhat of a cult film. See also Filmnyheter, no. 8, 1947, p. 10, referring to positive reviews in Newsweek (‘honest approach makes for unusual film’). According to head of Svensk Filmindustri, Carl Anders Dymling, the Legion of Decency began a crusade against the film in New York and other American cities. SF has no further data on this. Filmnyheter, no. 17 (1949), p. 15, carries a news item about a similar reception of Torment in Canada, where local censorship boards closed cinemas, and students in at least one city demonstrated by burning the head of the censorship board in effigy.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 3 October 1944; Göteborg press, 7 November 1944 (see especially GP, 7 November 1944, p. 4); BLM 13, no. 9 1944, p. 785; Vi no. 42 (1944), p. 11; Vecko-Journalen, no. 42 (1944), pp. 28, 46.
Reviews Cinématographie française, 13 November 1947, n.p. (no. 1285); Monthly Film Bulletin, no. 150 (13 June 1946), p. 86; New York Herald Tribune, 22 April 1947, p. 34:2; New York Times, 22 April 1947, p. 34:2; NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968 p. 2177; Newsweek, 14 April 1947, pp. 96-97.
Interviews and Longer Articles In connection with a Swedish TV broadcast of Hets in 1972, Torsten Jungstedt interviewed Alf Sjöberg (director), Allan Ekelund (production manager), and Jarl Nylander (assistant photographer) about the filming of Bergman’s first film script. See Röster i Radio-TV, no. 11 (4-10 March 1972), pp. 16-17. Peter Cowie interviewed Bergman in September 1982 about his memories of the shooting of Hets and of Alf Sjöberg as a director. See Monthly Film Bulletin L, no. 591 (April 1983): p. 84-85; item has somewhat misleading title ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Schooldays.’ Birgitta Steene published an essay on Hets titled ‘The Sjöberg-Bergman Connection: Hets. Collaboration and Reception’ in Tijdsschrift voor Skandinavistiek 20:1 (1999): p. 85-102.
See also Bergman, Karin. Detta underliga skådespel som heter livet (Linton, Ø 1526), pp. 152-53; Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 230-32; Dansk Film Museum program note, 4 March 1953, 4 pp; Der frühe Bergman (Ø 1326), pp. 61-69; Filmnyheter 1, no. 11 (1946):17-9 (reception in England); S. Krohn, Filmorientering (NFI/Norwegian Film Institute), no. 96. (March 1966), 4 pp; SF-nyheter, no. 21 (1945), pp. 10-13; Svensk filmografi, 1940-1949 (Ø 1314), pp. 385-88. Updated information on internet: www. svenskfilmdatabas.se
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KRIS, 1946 [Crisis], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman, adapted from a radio play by Leck Fischer
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Synopsis Kris opens with a speaker voice-over introducing the idyllic town where 18-year-old Nelly lives with her foster mother, Ingeborg. Nelly is courted by Ulf, a considerably older agronomist. Preparations are under way for Nelly to attend her first ball, with Ulf as her escort. However, on that same day, Nelly’s biological mother, Jenny, arrives in town and is later joined by her lover, Jack. Jenny wants Nelly to work in her beauty parlour in the city. At the ball Jack approaches Nelly and offers her a drink which he calls ‘Jack the Ripper’s Evensong’. He and Nelly cause a scandal by interrupting the traditional entertainment with modern improvised jazz. Escaping outdoors, Jack explains to Nelly that he is a ‘moonlight creature’ who can love no one but himself. The rendez-vous is intercepted by Ulf, but Nelly decides shortly thereafter to leave town. Arriving in the city she begins to work in her mother’s beauty parlor. Ingeborg, now deathly ill, travels to the city in search of Nelly but has to return home alone. One evening Jack comes to the beauty salon where Nelly is alone. The couple is surprised by Jenny. In a vengeful mood she tells Nelly that Jack is a mythomaniac who makes up stories about himself to arouse women’s sympathy. Jack leaves very upset and shortly afterwards shoots himself against the flickering neon signs of a theatre. Nelly is shocked by his suicide but returns home to the small town where she is warmly received by Ingeborg and, somewhat more hesitantly, by Ulf.
Credits Production Company Exexcutive Producer Production Manager Director Artistic Advisor Screenplay
Alternate titles
Architect Music Sound Props Make-up Continuity
Svensk Filmindustri Harald Molander Lars-Eric Kjellgren Ingmar Bergman Victor Sjöström Ingmar Bergman, based on radio play by Leck Fischer entitled Moderhjertet [Mother heart], first produced by Danish radio (DR) on 27 September 1944. Drömmen om Nelly [The dream of Nelly], Mitt barn är mitt [My child is mine], Moderdyret [The mother animal] Arne Åkermark Erland von Koch Lennart Svensson Harry Malmstedt, Ragnar Carlberg Carl M. Lundh, Inc. Seivie Ewerstein
Cast Nelly Jack Ingeborg, Nelly’s foster mother Jenny, Nelly’s mother Ulf Uncle Edward, physician Aunt Jessica Malin, housekeeper Mayor Mayor’s Wife
Inga Landgré Stig Olin Dagny Lind Marianne Löfgren Allan Bohlin Ernst Eklund Signe Wirff Svea Holst Arne Lindblad Julia Caesar
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Chapter IV Filmography Singer at ball Nelly’s dance partner Beautician Assistant at beauty parlor Customers at beauty parlor Man in the beauty parlor Musician at ball Trumpet Blower Bass Tuba Player Flute Player Clarinet Player/Orchestra Leader Pianist Wife of Town accountant at ball Young Woman on train Old Woman on train Gypsy Woman Men in the street at Jack’s suicide Participants at ball
Dagmar Olsson Karl-Erik Flens Siv Thulin Monica Schildt Anna-Lisa Baude, Hariette Garellick John Erik Liebel Sture Ericson Wiktor ‘Kulörten’ Andersson Gus Dahlström John Melin Holger Höglund Ulf Johanson Margit Andelius Carin Cederström Mona Geijer-Falkner Singoalla Lundbäck Nils Hultgren, Per H. Jacobsson, Rune Ottoson, Britta Billsten, Ullastina Rettig, Gustaf Hedström, Gösta Qvist, Maud Hyttenberg, Otto Adelby, Hanna Adelby, et al.
Filmed on location at Hedemora in central Sweden, Stockholm (Djurgården) and at Råsunda Studios, beginning 4 July 1945, and completed 31 August 1945. Distribution Running Time Released Premiere
Svensk Filmindustri 93 minutes 12 February 1946 25 February 1946, Spegeln (Stockholm)
Commentary Leck Fischer’s play was produced at the Helsingborg City Theatre during Bergman’s first season there as head of the theatre. Directed by Ingrid Luterkort, it opened on 6 October 1944. The foster mother in the Helsingborg production was played by stage actress Dagny Lind, who appears in the same role in Bergman’s film version. Bergman’s screenplay shows some changes from Leck Fischer’s play, such as a shift of focus from the struggle between mother and foster mother to a love story between Nelly and Jack. Jack is Bergman’s own invention, and the most dramatic figure in the film. For Bergman’s account of the genesis of the Jack character, see Chapter II (Ø 41). In a 1973 retrospective at SFI, Bergman commented on his debut as a film director in a special series of program notes (see Ø 154): ‘If someone had asked me to film the telephone book I would have done so. The result might have been better. I knew nothing, could do nothing and felt like a crazy cat in a ball of yarn’. [Om någon hade bett mig filma telefonkatalogen hade jag gjort det. Resultatet hade möjligen blivit bättre. Jag visste ingenting, kunde ingenting och kände mig som en galen katt i en garnhärva.] See also comments on his novice status in the film world in Laterna magica, pp. 81-88 (English edition, pp. 67-73), and remarks about the shooting of Kris in Bilder/Images. My Life in Film, 1990, pp. 122-130.
Reception Most reviews of Kris were critical; the film was termed unbalanced in style and juvenile in mood and character depiction. But individual sequences, especially from the beauty parlor, were singled out as showing great promise. Danish reviews, comparing the film to the original
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Danish play, were mostly negative. This is in line with most adaptation discussions at the time, which tended to favor faithfulness to the literary original above cinematic criteria. Kris got better reviews outside Stockholm. See positive write-up by Gerd Osten in GHT, 9 March 1946, sec. B, p. 2, and by Thorsten Eklann in UNT 5 March 1946, p. 7, including his commentary in the same paper on 16 March, p. 9. A discussion of Kris between critics Bengt Chambert, Gerd Osten (Pavane), and Gösta Werner appeared in Biografbladet 27, no. 2 (Summer 1946): 114-120. Such attention suggests that Bergman was not treated as an ignorant novice among the film critics.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 26 February 1946; BLM 15, no. 3 (March 1946): 246-47; Vecko-Journalen 39, no. 10 (1946): 27; Vi, no. 10 (9 March), p. 6.
Foreign Reviews Cahiers du cinéma, no. 85 (July 1958), p. 6; Variety 8 May 1946, p. 8.
See also Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 22-23; Biografbladet 30, no. 4 (Winter 1949-50): 226-27; Cahiers du cinéma no. 486 (December 1994), p. 9; Danish Film Museum program, 7-11 November 1960, 4 pp; Der frühe Bergman (Ø 1326), pp. 71-78; Expr., 11 September 1973, p. 8; Filmnyheter 3, no. 19 (1948):7-9; Perspektiv 2, no. 8 (October 1951): 498-505; SF program to Kris, 11 pp; Svensk filmografi 1940-1949 (Ø 1314), pp. 512-14; SDS (Malmö), 9 September 1945, p. 21.
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DET REGNAR PÅ VÅR KÄRLEK, 1946 [It Rains on Our Love], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman & Herbert Grevenius.
Synopsis The film opens with a Hitchcock-inspired shot (Foreign Correspondent) showing a crowd of people under umbrellas waiting in the rain for a bus. An older man turns to the camera and introduces himself as the Man with the Umbrella. He is the narrator of the story and also acts as a providential character. A young couple, Maggie and David, meet at Stockholm’s Central Station. David has recently been released from prison. Maggie, who once had ambitions to become an actress, has made a living as a prostitute. Now she is pregnant with a child whose father is unknown. David, as yet ignorant of Maggie’s pregnancy, joins her, and the two leave the city. To find shelter, they break into an empty pea patch cottage. The next day the owner, Håkansson, a nasty old man who lives alone with a hoard of cats, appears and threatens to report them for trespassing. Later he changes his mind and offers to sell them the cottage. David has found employment at a garden nursery run by Mr. Andersson and his shrewish wife. Two well-meaning Robin Hood-like characters keep leaving household utensils at David’s
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Chapter IV Filmography and Maggie’s front steps. They have stolen the items from the Andersson couple who accuse David of the theft. Maggie tells David of her pregnancy, which causes him to run off on a drunken spree. Later, however, he offers to marry her. The two go to the local pastor to register and to ask him to read the marriage banns in church. The pastor turns out to be a pedantic bureaucrat who obviously takes unctious delight in stalling their plans. Arriving back home, Maggie and David find yet another bureaucrat waiting in front of their cottage. He is a civil servant, Herr Purman, who tells them to leave immediately. The cottage had been expropriated by the town council before Maggie and David moved in and is now going to be torn down for a new development. In a fit of anger, David hits Herr Purman, who reports the incident to the police. Maggie, in shock, miscarries. The last fourth of the film is set in a courtroom. The Man with the Umbrella appears, acting as Maggie’s and David’s defense attorney. He gets David acquitted of Purman’s assault charge. The film ends as the young couple take leave of the Man with the Umbrella at a crossroad. A sign appears with arrows pointing in opposite directions, labeled City and Country. David and Maggie choose the road to the City.
Credits Production Company Executive Producer Production Manager Director Screenplay
Cinematography Architect Music Sound Editor Continuity
Sveriges Folkbiografer Lorens Marmstedt Lorens Marmstedt Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman and Herbert Grevenius adapted Norwegian playwright Oskar Braathen’s play Bra Mennesker [Decent people], first produced at the Oslo National Theatre on 9 September 1930 Göran Strindberg, Hilding Bladh P. A. Lundgren Erland von Koch Lars Nordberg Tage Holmberg Gun Holmgren
Cast Maggi David Lindell Man with the Umbrella Per Håkansson, cottage owner Anderson, proprietor of nursery Mrs. Anderson Hanna Ledin, a friendly neighbor Mr. Purman Bicycle Mechanic, friend of David His Wife The Pastor The Prosecutor The Judge Assistant to Judge Kängsnöret [Shoestring], bum Stålvispen [Eggbeater], bum
Barbro Kollberg Birger Malmsten Gösta Cederlund Ludde Gentzel Douglas Håge Hjördis Pettersson Julia Cæsar Gunnar Björnstrand Magnus Kesster Sif Ruud Åke Fridell Benkt-Åke Benktsson Erik Rosén Albert Johansson Sture Ericson Ulf Johanson
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Clerk Policemen Attendant at station Ticket salesman at station Men at Café Women in Courtroom
Erland Josephson Bertil Anderberg, Edvard Danielsson Carl (Johansson) Harald Nils Hultberg John W. Björling, Einar Hylander Karin Windahl, Britta Billsten, Margot Lindén
Filmed on location at pea patches near Hellasgården in South Stockholm and at Drevviken and Sandrews’ Novilla Studios in the Stockholm nature park Djurgården in August 1946 (completed on August 22nd). Distribution Running time Released Premiere
Svenska AB Nordisk Tonefilm 95 minutes 31 October 1946 9 November 1946, Astoria (Stockholm)
Commentary The Man with the Umbrella and other allegorical overtones in the film exist already in Braathen’s play. Bergman’s work on the script confines itself to the trial, i.e., to the most realistic part of the film. Hilding Bladh started shooting Det regnar på vår kärlek but had to turn over the job to Göran Strindberg because of a time conflict. Each one is responsible for about 50% of the footage. Strindberg remembers shooting outdoor scenes and interior scenes from pea patch cottage. Strindberg’s footage in the city scenes is typical of his film noir style. Cf. his footage in Fängelse/ Prison. A Norwegian film based on Braathen’s play was made in 1937 with the title Bra mennesker [Decent people], directed by Leif Sinding.
Reception Reviews were mixed, but on the whole Bergman was praised for his playful and lyrical approach. Many pointed to the influences from French cinema of René Clair, Julien Duvivier, and Marcel Carné. A longer analysis of Bergman’s film was published by Bengt Chambert in Biografbladet 27, no. 4 (Winter 1946-47): 235-239, comparing it to Marcel Carné’s film noir and noting Méliès’ influence on Bergman. In early 1947 Det regnar på vår kärlek began a very successful round in the Swedish provinces. Signature Björn in Hudiksvallsposten, 26 February 1947 p. 7, concluded: ‘We have to go back to the era of Victor Sjöström to find anything comparable on the Swedish screen’ [Vi måste gå tillbaka till Victor Sjöströms epok för att hitta något jämförbart på den svenska duken].
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 10 November 1946; BLM 15, no. 10 (December 1946): 906-907; Vecko-Journalen 37, no. 47 (1946): pp. 14-15, 45; Vi no. 47 (1946), p. 28.
Foreign Reviews Cahiers du cinéma no. 85 (July 1958): 6.
See also Bergman, Ingmar. Bilder/Images. My Life on Film, pp. 132-33; Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 27-29; Cahiers du cinéma no. 74 (August–September 1957);
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Chapter IV Filmography Danish Film museum program, 14-17 May 1962, 4 pp.; Der frühe Bergman (Ø 1326), pp. 79-85; Expr., 29 August 1974, p. 30; Image et son, 1967 (Ø 1233), pp. 6-7; Robin Hood, ST, 2 October 1964, p. 24; SDS, 10 November 1946 p. 18; Svensk filmografi, 1940-1949 (Ø 1314), pp. 542-544; H. Wortzelius, Biografbladet 30, no. 4 (Winter 1949-50): 217-236.
Awards 1946: 1947:
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Ingmar Bergman won a Charlie (Swedish Oscar) for the film. Film was ranked best Swedish film for 1946-47 by Swedish Film Journalists Club and the film magazine Biografbladet.
KVINNA UTAN ANSIKTE, 1947 [Woman without a face], B/W Director Screenplay
Gustaf Molander Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis Ragnar Ekberg, an author, sits at a hotel bar while his off-screen voice introduces him as the narrator of a story whose main characters are Martin Grandé and his mistress Rut Köhler. Seeing Rut leave the hotel alone, Ragnar checks on Martin and finds him dying after a suicide attempt. Later at the hospital Ragnar meets Rut and follows her home. She shows him a portrait she has painted representing the devil and tells him a fairytale called ‘The Three Chimney Sweeps and the Changing of Guards’ [De tre sotarna och Vaktparaden]. In a flashback we see Rut in her mother’s apartment as a caller arrives; it is Sam Svensson, a chimney sweep and trumpeteer who offers Rut free tickets to a concert. Rut serves him beer, and later they climb up on the roof to make love. Ragnar’s voice interrupts Rut’s story while the camera introduces us to Martin, his wife Frida, and their small son Pil. The family is gathered for dinner at Martin’s parents. A quarrel starts over the way the grandparents spoil their grandson. Martin insults Frida. Later, feeling guilty, he takes Pil with him in the car to buy flowers for Frida. At the florist he sees Rut for the first time. She deliberately breaks off the heel on one of her shoes and accepts Martin’s offer to drive her home. Some time later she waits for him outside the university where he is a student. They begin an affair, with Ragnar providing an alibi for them. But Ragnar and Martin are drafted. Worried that Rut will not be faithful, Martin deserts from the army and returns to Stockholm. Rut takes him to Sam Svensson’s concert and persuades Sam to rent them a room. Martin’s and Rut’s liaison is short-lived. Martin finds himself a cold shack, while Rut returns to her mother, whose lover Victor is the model for Rut’s portrait of the devil. Rut tells her mother how Victor tried to seduce her when she was only 12, and extracts 700 kronor from Victor as compensation. She returns to Martin who flies into a jealous rage at the sight of the large sum of money. He goes back to his family and avoids charges of desertion by claiming a nervous collapse. Rut pursues Martin who accompanies her to the hotel where the film started. In the hospital, Martin’s parents suggest that he go to the United States. The film ends at the train station with Frida saying goodbye to Martin who is leaving to board a ship for the US. They talk about their future together. Rut is also at the station, but Martin does not see her. After he is gone, Frida, expressing her pity, talks briefly to Rut.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Credits Production company Director Screenplay Photography Architects Sound Music Editor Continuity
Svensk Filmindustri Gustaf Molander Ingmar Bergman Åke Dahlqvist Arne Åkermark, Nils Svenwall Sven Hansen Erik Nordgren Oscar Rosander Lucie Kjellberg
Cast Martin Grandé Rut Köhler Frida Grandé Ragnar Ekberg Martin’s father Martin’s mother Rut’s mother Victor Sam Svensson
Alf Kjellin Gunn Wållgren Anita Björk Stig Olin Olof Winnerstrand Linnea Hillberg Marianne Löfgren Georg Funkquist Åke Grönberg
Filmed at Råsunda Studios and at Märsta station, beginning 3 February 1947 and completed in Spring 1947. Distribution Running time Released Premiere
Svensk Filmindustri 100 minutes 9 July 1947 16 September 1947
Commentary For genesis of script, see (Ø 42). According to an article in Filmnyheter 2, no. 4 (1947): 21-22, Bergman followed part of the shooting of film. Director Gustaf Molander was one of SF’s grand old men, known for his sober and elegant upper class comedies and melodramas.
Reception Bergman’s script caught the limelight, just as had been the case with Hets. The leading film critic Carl Björkman noticed Bergman’s dramatic and lyrical talents: ‘Ingmar Bergman’s “Kvinna utan ansikte” is the work of a poet. A bit uneven and jerky at times, charmingly immature at times, often leaving question marks. But always inspired, with the brilliance of a very youthful genius who has all the deviltry of film and theatre in his blood’. [Ingmar Bergmans ‘Kvinna utan ansikte’ är en diktares verk. Lite ojämt och ryckigt någon gång, förtjusande omoget ibland, ofta med frågetecken. Men nästan hela tiden inspirerat, gnistrande av ett mycket ungdomligt geni som fått både teaterns och filmens alla djävlar i blodet.] Björkman’s appreciative review might be juxtaposed to Artur Lundkvist’s negative reaction: ‘When faced with Ingmar Bergman’s fiery excitement, his convulsive furor, one easily gets a feeling of being offered dramatic drugs, a violent storm in a teapot, a theatrical “much ado about nothing”. In the midst of all the noise and all the rebellious gestures, one suddenly begins to wonder if he actually has anything to say’ [Inför Ingmar Bergman med hans hetsiga upprördhet, hans konvulsiviska furia får man lätt en känsla av att bli bjuden dramatisk narkotika, ett våldsamt stormande i ett vattenglas, ett teateraktigt ‘mycket väsen för ingenting’. Mitt i allt
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Chapter IV Filmography bullret och alla de upproriska åthävorna kan man plötsligt börja undra om han egentligen har något att säga.]
Reviews Björkman, Carl. ‘Kvinna utan ansikte’. DN, 17 September 1947. Lundkvist, Artur. ‘Film’. BLM XVI, no. 8 (October) 1947: 683.
Awards 1948:
206.
Stockholm film critics (and Uppsala critic Pir Ramek) voted Kvinna utan ansikte best Swedish film of the year, followed by his Musik i mörker/Music in Darkness and Skepp till India land/A Ship to India. See Biografbladet, Summer 1948.
SKEPP TILL INDIA LAND, 1947 [A Ship to India], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman after a play by Martin Söderhjelm
The original Swedish title is a direct reference to a poem by Gustaf Fröding (1860-1911), which begins: ‘Jag ville jag vore i Indialand/och India vore sig själv’ (I wish I were in Indialand/and India were itself). The Swedish name for India is Indien; by renaming it Indialand, the poet converts a distant geographic spot to a melodious land of fantasy, a never-never land: ‘Jag ville jag vore en drömlands son/en infödd av Indialand’ (I wish I were a dreamland’s son/a native of Indialand). Early American and British titles, ‘Frustration’ and ‘Land of Desire’, place emphasis on psychological mood while ignoring the irony of the setting: a tug boat serving as a launch pad for escapes to exotic lands. Final distribution title Ship to India places skipper Blom’s unreachable destination firmly on the map. ‘Ship to Indialand’ or ‘Ship to Never-Never Land’ would come closer to the original meaning. Danish title – ‘Sømandstøsen’ or ‘The Sailor’s Gal’ – changes the conflict (as does one of the French titles, ‘Le port des filles perdues’) to the story of a promiscuous woman.
Synopsis The film opens seven years after the main action has occurred. Johannes Blom returns from long service in the merchant marine. He looks up Sally, who is living alone. She tells him she does not need his pity. Johannes goes down to the harbour where his father’s sloop used to be. In a flashback he recalls his past, beginning on the day his father Alexander brought home Sally, with whom he planned to sail for ‘Indialand’. Alexander Blom is going blind. His neglected wife Alice hopes his condition will worsen to make him dependent on her and give up Sally. Johannes falls in love with Sally. When Captain Blom discovers Sally’s interest in his son, he forces Johannes to work as a diver against his will and attempts to murder him by cutting off the air in the diving tube. Johannes is rescued at the last minute, and the father flees in panic to a room he keeps in town, decorated with model ships and exotic objects which he now proceeeds to destroy. He then makes an aborted suicide attempt, but becomes crippled and totally dependent upon his wife. The film ends as Johannes snaps out of his reveries and returns once more to Sally’s place. He succeeds in persuading her to leave with him, and they depart together, not as lovers but as mutual friends.
Credits Production company Executive producer Production manager
Sveriges Folkbiografer Lorens Marmstedt Allan Ekelund
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Director Screenplay
Photography Architect Music Sound Make-up Editor Continuity
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman after Martin Söderhjelm’s play Skepp till Indialand, first produced at the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki, 23 October 1946 Göran Strindberg P. A. Lundgren Erland von Koch Lars Nordberg, Sven Josephson Inga-Lisa Storthors, Arne Lundh Tage Holmberg Gerd Osten
Cast Captain Alexander Blom Johannes Blom, his son Sally Alice Blom Crewmen Hans, Bertil, Erik Selma Sofi Manager of music hall A foreign crewman Kiki, a dwarf Alexander Blom’s partners Street girl Girl on beach Young man on beach Woman witnessing arrest Black crew member Old men in the street
Holger Löwenadler Birger Malmsten Gertrud Fridh Anna Lindahl Lasse Krantz, Jan Molander, Erik Hell Naemi Brise Hjördis Petterson Åke Fridell Peter Lindgren Otto Moskowitz Gustaf Hiort af Ornäs, Rolf Bergström Ingrid Borthen Amy Aaröe Gunnar Nielsen Svea Holst Charles White John W. Björling, Uno Larsson
Filmed on location at Ankarsudden, Torö, in Stockholm archipelago and at Sandrews’ Novilla Studios in Stockholm’s Djurgården (Deer Park), beginning 28 May 1947, and completed 16 July 1947. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Premiere U.S. Opening
Nordisk Tonefilm Film Classics, Janus Films, Inc. 102 min 22 September 1947, Royal (Stockholm) 29 August 1949, Rialto, NYC
Commentary Bergman’s screenplay intensifies the father-son relationship in the original play by Söderhjelm and adds a variety-show sequence, in which Ingmar Bergman can be seen as a man in beret (his ‘trademark’ for many years) watching a Punch-and-Judy show. Bergman writes about the making of Skepp till India land in Bilder/Images. My Life in Film, 1990, pp. 136-139. In a reportage from the shooting of the film in Expr., 7 June 1949, p. 11, Bergman stresses both the escapist motif and the theme of youthful rebellion.
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Chapter IV Filmography Reception In Bilder/Images (p. 139) Bergman calls the reception of Skepp till India land ‘a massive adversity’ [en massiv motgång], but actually the film received mixed reviews. Arne Sellermark in Filmjournalen 29, no. 40 (1947): 7, referred to it as ‘a horror ship of fyrtiotalism’ [ett fyrtitalistiskt skräckskepp], i.e., full of the malaise of Sweden’s literary Forties (see Ø 952), but was in general positive about the film. Nils Beyer in Stockholm MT, 23 September 1947, p. 11, criticized Bergman for using a trendy literary cliché in his portrait of Sally, the good prostitute. The only longer study of Skepp till India land was published by Hugo Wortzelius: ‘Ensamhet och gemenskap. Reflexioner kring Ingmar Bergmans “Skepp till Indialand”.’ Biografbladet 28, no. 4 (Winter 1947-48): 229-235. He sees family conflict in the film as a desperate human search for contact rather than a generation battle. He also compares the film’s strong element of escapism to so-called utbrytningsdröm [dream of breaking away], a common motif in Swedish cinema at the time. Variety, 22 October 1947, p. 13, carried a brief note about Ship to India, recommending the film for the U.S. market. But Variety, 31 August 1949, p. 8, dismissed it as a ‘a slow murky film with no appeal for the US market’. In France, the film became a modest success during the Bergman vogue of 1958. See Cahiers du cinéma no. 86 (August 1958): 42-43.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 23 September 1947; BLM 16, no. 8 (October 1947): 683; Vecko-Journalen 38, no. 40 (1947): 39; Vi no. 40 (1947), pp. 11, 22.
Foreign Reviews Il giornale d’Italia (Rome), 3 October 1968, n.p. (SFI clipping); New York Herald Tribune, 27 August 1949, p. 4; New York Times, same date, p. 7:3; NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, pp. 2355-56; Variety, 31 August 1949, p. 8.
See also Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 30-31; Danish Film museum program, 1964, 4 pp.; Der frühe Bergman (Ø 1326), pp. 86-90; Filmjournalen 29, no. 30 (1947): 10-11; Filmorientering (Norwegian Film Institute), no. 79 (November 1964), 4 pp.; Image et son (Ø 1233), pp. 7-9; Scen och Salong no. 7 (1947): 8-10; Svensk filmografi, 1940-1949 (Ø 1314), pp. 610-612.
Awards 1947:
207.
Honorable mention at Cannes Film Festival.
MUSIK I MÖRKER, 1948 [Music in darkness], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Dagmar Edqvist and Ingmar Bergman
The Swedish title has alliteration and cadence, lost in literal English translation. Early American title ‘Night is my Future’ focusses on main character’s blindness and ignores importance that music plays in the film.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Synopsis The film opens with an expressionistic dream sequence: young Bengt Vyldeke is blinded when trying to save a puppy during a rifle drill in the army. Returning to his family residence in the country, Bengt tries to adjust to a world of darkness and begins to play the organ in a country church. One day when playing at a funeral, he meets a lower class girl, Ingrid, whose father is being buried. Ingrid needs a job and becomes a servant in Bengt’s home. The two fall in love, and Ingrid encourages Bengt to pursue his musical studies. He applies to the Academy of Music in Stockholm but fails his entrance exam. Subsequently, he begins to play in a pub whose owner exploits all the employees. One day Bengt is falsely accused of theft and loses his job. In the meantime Ingrid has been admitted to a teacher’s college where she meets Ebbe. A chance encounter brings Ingrid and Ebbe together with Bengt. The two men are jealous of each other. In a contest of bending arms, Ebbe wins. Later he hits Bengt when discovering that Ingrid is in love with him. Bengt is grateful, for he feels that Ebbe has treated him as an equal and not as a handicapped person. The pastor in the church where Bengt used to play the organ is Ingrid’s guardian after her father’s death. He refuses to give his blessing to a marriage between Ingrid and Bengt, partly because of their social differences and partly because of Bengt’s blindness. Bengt, however, decides to pursue a career as a church organist and is accepted into such a program. Ingrid will teach grade school. The pastor finally gives them permission to marry. The films ends as they leave by train for their new life together.
Credits Production company Executive producer Production manager Director Screenplay Photography Architect Props manager Music Sound Make-up Editor Continuity
Terrafilm Lorens Marmstedt Allan Ekelund Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman and Dagmar Edqvist, after her 1946 novel of the same name Göran Strindberg P. A. Lundgren Gösta Pettersson Erland von Koch Olle Jakobsson Inga Lindeström Lennart Wallén Ulla Kihlberg
Cast Bengt Vyldeke Ingrid Olofsson Ebbe Larsson Kernman, pastor Kruge, pub owner Klasson, musician at pub Mrs. Beatrice Schröder Augustin Schröder Agneta, Bengt’s sister Lovisa, housekeeper at Schröder’s Otto Klemens, blind worker Hedström, music director
Birger Malmsten Mai Zetterling Bengt Eklund Olof Winnerstrand Douglas Håge Gunnar Björnstrand Naima Wifstrand Åke Claesson Bibi Lindqvist-Skoglund Hilda Borgström John Elfström Sven Lindberg
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Chapter IV Filmography Einar Blom Blanche Sylvia Evert, boy in pub Hjördis, his mother Anton Nord Post office clerk Jönsson, waiter Blind pianist Woman throwing out garbage Chief cook Train engineer Man at train station Mrs. Else Klemens Hotel guest
Bengt Logardt Marianne Gyllenhammar Ulla Andreasson Rune Andreasson Barbro Flodquist Segol Mann Svea Holst Georg Skarstedt Reinhold Svensson Mona Geijer-Falkner Arne Lindblad Stig Johanson Ulf Johanson Britta Brunius Otto Adelby
Filmed at Sandrews Studios at Lästmakargatan, Stockholm, beginning 1 November 1947 and completed 30 December 1947. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. Opening
Terrafilm/Stjärnfilm Embassy Pictures/Janus Films, Inc. 85 minutes 15 January 1948 17 January 1948 8 January 1963, Eight Street Playhouse, NYC
Bergman can be seen as a train passenger in the final scene.
Commentary Bergman switched the focus of Edqvist’s novel from a love story across class barriers to a psychological study of a traumatized young man. He talks briefly about the making of Musik i mörker in his book Bilder/Images. My Life in Film, pp. 139-40. In a shooting reportage in Expr. (11 December 1947, p. 16), he is described as a man who ‘aggravates, hates and acts in fear, agony and anguish’ and only sees ‘the dark aspects of life’ [en man som hetsar och hatar och handlar i skräck, vånda och ångest (och bara ser) livets mörka sidor]. Musik i mörker was said to be an answer to his critics that he could also make ‘happier’ films.
Reception Reviewers approved of Bergman’s adaptation of the original story but were somewhat divided about the filmic result. Robin Hood claimed that the expressionistic opening was an obvious imitation of Eisenstein (ST 17 February 1948, p. 6). Carl Björkman (DN, 18 January 1948), though acknowledging Bergman’s obvious artistic ambitions, termed Musik i mörker no more than ‘an altogether presentable film, it is proper in its smallest detail, as slick as drawing paper [...] but narrated in a monotone, without joy and spontaneity. [en alltigenom snygg film, den är proper in i minsta detalj, glättad som illustrationspapper [...]men entonigt berättad, utan glädje och spontanitet]. Björkman suggested that Bergman look at the current Italian cinema for a treatment of tragic subjects with warmth, humor and emotional involvement rather than ‘narrow anguish’ [snäv ångest]. Bergman’s next film venture, Hamnstad/Port of Call, was conceived as an ‘Italian’ neo-realist film. The film was a modest public success in Sweden, and, in fact, the first Bergman film to make money. It has had limited distribution outside of Sweden but was not released in U.S. until 1963.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Variety reviewed it on 29 July 1959 (p. 6), referring to it as an old picture showing some talent. Time, 25 January 1963, p. 42 (Am.Ed. p. 59), compared its ‘silly plot’ favorably to Jane Eyre. NYT, 9 January 1963, p. 5:-6, dismissed it as ‘cinematic juvenilia of a painful sort’.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 18 January 1948; BLM, February 1948, p. 153-154; Vecko-Journalen 39, no. 5 (1948): 24; Vi no. 5 (1948), p. 14.
Foreign Reviews Filmfacts, 7 February 1963; Films and Filming, 8 no. 7 (April 1962) p. 33; Monthly Film Bulletin, March 1961, p. 32; NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, p. 3371; Time, 25 January 1963, p. 42 (Am.ed. p. 59); Variety, 29 July 1959, p. 6.
See also Bergman on Bergman (Ø 790), pp. 30-31; Biografbladet 30, no. 4 (Winter 1949-50): 217-236; Der frühe Bergman (Ø 1382), pp. 99-102; Image et son, 226 (March) 1969: 9-10; New York Herald Tribune, 31 December 1962, p. 15; Svensk filmografi, 1940-1949 (Ø 1370), pp. 645-647. Musik i mörker was an entry at the 1948 Venice Film Festival but won no prize.
208.
HAMNSTAD, 1948 [Port of Call], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman after Olle Länsberg’s novel Guldet och murarna [The gold and the walls]
Synopsis A docu-style camera depicts the bustling port of Göteborg; the tenement housing where Berit, the main character, lives and the factory where she works. The story begins as Gösta, a 29-yearold sailor who has just returned home after eight years at sea, passes the spot where Berit has just tried to commit suicide by jumping into the water. Later Gösta, a serious man who reads contemporary Swedish poetry, meets Berit in a dance hall. He follows her home and spends the night with her. It is a casual relationship, and no bonds are formed between the two. In a flashback we learn that Berit is the product of a broken home. One scene depicts her parents quarreling; another shows her strict mother moving about in the home, imposing her meticulous sense of order and fundamentalist religion on Berit. Still another flashback tells how Berit, who then attended a milliner’s school, is locked out by her mother when she returns home late one night. On this occasion Berit has met a young man reminiscent of Jack in Kris. She moves in with him, but her mother has her admitted to a juvenile institution. Berit escapes but is caught and and sent back. When Gösta meets her, she has been released on probation and is working in a ball-bearing factory. Berit’s mother reports her daughter’s encounter with Gösta to the probation officer, Mr. Vilander.
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Chapter IV Filmography Gösta is uncertain about his feelings for Berit. He comes late to a second meeting. After they have had a good time together at an amusement park, Berit tells him of her past. Gösta is upset, runs away and gets drunk with a prostitute. New complications arise. Gertrud, a pregnant friend of Berit’s, has arranged for an abortion which fails. Berit takes the critically ill Gertrud to Gösta who helps her to the hospital. Berit is now apprehended. In a plea-bargaining for her freedom, she divulges the address of the abortionist. She and Gösta make plans to stow away on a ship, but just before boarding, they change their minds and decide to stay in the harbour city.
Credits Production company Executive producer Production manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architect Propman (Studio manager) Music Sound Editor Continuity
Svensk Filmindusti Harald Molander Lars-Eric Kjellgren Ingmar Bergman Stig Ossian Ericson Ingmar Bergman, from Olle Länsberg’s Guldet och murarna [The gold and the walls] Gunnar Fischer Nils Svenwall Gösta Ström Erland von Koch Sven Hansen Oscar Rosander Ingegerd Ericsson
Cast Berit Holm Gösta Andersson Berit’s mother Berit’s father Berit as a child Gertrud Ljungberg, hotel maid Gertrud’s father Agneta Vilander, social worker Mr. Vilander, probation officer Man from Skåne Gustav ‘Eken’, Stockholm kid Mrs. Krona, abortionist Police superintendent ‘Tuppen’ [the Rooster], foreman Tuppen’s buddies Gunnar Johan, his father His mother Thomas A prostitute Girls from reform school Joe, a Negro Salvation Army soldiers
Nine-Christine Jönsson Bengt Eklund Berta Hall Erik Hell Kate Elffors Mimi Nelson Sture Ericson Birgitta Valberg Hans Strååt Harry Ahlin Nils Hallberg Sven-Eric Gamble Sif Ruud Nils Dahlgren Yngve Nordwall Torsten Lilliecrona, Hans Sundberg Bengt Blomgren Helge Karlsson Hanny Schedin Stig Olin Brita Billsten Ernma Groth, Else-Merete Heiberg Bill Houston Britta Nordin, Estrid Hesse
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Captain on Dutch ship Girl in dance-hall Swing kid at the dance-hall Man at card game A screaming girl Police sister Voice reading court verdict
Herman Greid Vanja Rodefeldt Rune Andreasson John W. Björling Harriet Andersson Inga-Lill Åhström Stig Ossian Ericson
Filmed on location in Göteborg and Hindås, and on the Södertälje-Stockholm train, beginning 27 May 1948, and completed 17 July 1948. Distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri 99 minutes 4 October 1948 11 October 1948, Cosmorama, Kaparen (Göteborg) 18 October, Skandia (Stockholm) as Port of Call, November 1959
Commentary In late winter and early spring 1948, a labor conflict jeopardized shooting schedules. When SF studios opened again on 27 May, two productions got under way: Eva, written by Bergman but directed by Gustaf Molander, and Hamnstad, directed by Ingmar Bergman but not based on his script. Why Molander got to direct the very personal script of Eva and why Bergman took care of the social-realistic Hamnstad is not clear, except that the latter film was set in Göteborg, where Bergman resided at the time. Ingmar Bergman added one scene to the original script, the episode where Gösta gets drunk with a prostitute. Swedish censorship board cut about 30 seconds from a scene of violent abuse (in ‘act 3’).
Reception Swedish reviews of Hamnstad were mixed. Mikael Katz (Expr., 19 October 1948, p. 9), usually critical of Bergman, approved of a ‘new’ Bergman who subordinated himself to the docu-style of the script. But Bergman’s supporter in ST (Robin Hood, same date, p. 12) was very negative: ‘One is tired of abortions, women’s penitentiaries, social workers, cheap seductions and equally cheap dance halls’ [Man är led vid aborter, ‘kvinnofängelser’, socialkuratorer, billiga förförelser och lika billiga danshak]. Those who saw Hamnstad as an example of postwar neorealism favored it; those who compared it to Swedish street-and-problem films of the Forties were negative. Abroad, the film was shown too late to ride on the neorealistic wave of the Forties. It got respectful though lukewarm reception during auteur-oriented Ingmar Bergman retrospectives in France (1958), Britain, and the U.S. (1959).
Swedish Reviews Göteborg press, 12 October, and Stockholm press, 19 October 1948; BLM 17, no. 9. (November 1948): pp. 707-708 (review by Artur Lundkvist); Vecko-Journalen no. 45 (1948), pp. 24, 4; Vi no. 44 (1948), p. 20.
Foreign Reviews Cahiers du cinéma no. 85 (July 1958): p. 6-7; Films and Filming, October 1959, p. 25; Monthly Film Bulletin, November 1959, p. 147.
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Chapter IV Filmography See also Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 32-33; Der frühe Bergman (Ø 1326), pp. 103-107; Danish Film Museum program, May 1960; Filmnyheter 3, no. 15 (1948): 16-18; Vi 39, no. 47 (1952): 3-4; L. Ernesto, Bianco e nero, nos. 8-9 (1964), pp. 58-72; Image et son, no. 226 (March) 1969: 10-11; Svensk filmografi, 1940-1949 (Ø 1314), pp. 678-680 and 716-720 (H. Wortzelius).
209.
EVA, 1948, B/W Director Screenplay
Gustaf Molander Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis Bo Fredriksson, a trumpeteer in the navy, returns home on leave. On the train he remembers how he ran away at age 12 after quarreling with his father and joined an ambulatory theatre company whose director had a 10-year-old blind daughter, Marthe. Returning to the present, Bo receives a warm welcome from his parents. In the evening he visits a neigbouring family, the Berglunds, whose niece Eva is working on the farm. Later Bo makes love to Eva. At the same time old Berglund dies, cared for by his wife. This triggers a second flashback in Bo who remembers bringing blind Marthe on board a locomotive and setting it in motion. Their joy ride ends in disaster as the locomotive derails and Marthe is killed. Ever since, Bo has felt that death follows him everywhere. After his visit to his parents, Bo returns to Stockholm where he shares an apartment with a musician, Göran, and his wife Susanne, who makes passes at Bo. After a night of heavy drinking Bo has a nightmare in which, encouraged by Susanne, he kills Göran. The next morning Eva comes to Stockholm to surprise Bo. The two decide to leave town and move out to the skerries. Eva is pregnant, and Bo is a happy expectant father. But one day when the baby is almost due, Bo and an old fisherman, Johansson, find the corpse of a German soldier who has washed ashore on the Swedish coast. Eva watches the two men carry the soldier into a nearby storage shack and goes to check on them. The shock of seeing the dead soldier precipitates the birth of the child. Johansson helps Eva to a midwife who delivers her of a healthy boy. In the birth of their son, Bo feels that death has ceased to be a threat. He now accepts death as an inevitable part of life.
Credits Production company Director Screenplay Photography Architect Music Sound Make-up Editor
Svensk Filmindustri Gustaf Molander Ingmar Bergman and Gustaf Molander, from a synopsis by Ingmar Bergman Åke Dahlqvist Nils Svenwall Eric Nordgren Lennart Unnerstad Carl M. Lundh, Inc. Oscar Rosander
Cast Bo Fredriksson Eva
Birger Malmsten Eva Stiberg
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Susanne Bolin Göran Bolin Erik Fredriksson Mrs. Anna Fredriksson Frida, Bo’s sister Frida at 7 Lena, Bo’s sister Aron Berglund Mrs. Maria Berglund Mikael Johansson, fisherman Bo at 12 Marthe, the blind girl Josef Friedel, Marthe’s father Josef ’s brothers Karl and Fritz Man in the train Midwife Train engineer in flashback Waitress Station Master Station Master in flashback Railroad Worker
Eva Dahlbeck Stig Olin Åke Claesson Wanda Rothgardt Inga Landgré Monica Weinzierl Yvonne Eriksson Olof Sandborg Hilda Borgström Carl Ström Lasse Sarri Anne Karlsson Sture Ericson Erland Josephson and John Harryson Hans Dahlin Hanny Schedin Lennart Blomkvist Barbro Flodqvist Göthe Grefbo David Erikson Birger Åsander
Filmed on location in Tylösand, Nynäshamn, Hudiksvall, Tvetaberg, Handen, Tumba, Bogesund, and Norrköping, and at Råsunda Studios, beginning 27 May 1948 and completed 28 June 1948. Distribution Running time Released Premiere
Svensk Filmindustri 97 minutes 6 December 1948 26 December 1948, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm), Cosmorama (Göteborg), Scania (Malmö), et al.
Commentary Swedish censorship board cut about 1 minute from the seduction scenes, acts 3 and 4. See (Ø 57) for Bergman essay on genesis of Eva. Bergman’s original working title was ‘Starkare än döden’ [Stronger than death] while original title of script was ‘Trumpetaren och vår herre’ [The Trumpeteer and our Lord]. See also (Ø 58-59) for published prose excerpt called ‘Den lille trumpetaren och vår herre’ [The little Trumpeteer and our Lord]. In an article titled ‘Eva – en ingmar bergmansk vändpunkt?’ [Eva – a turning point for Ingmar Bergman], Biografbladet vol. 30, no. 2 (Summer) 1949: 101-06, Hugo Wortzelius provided a rereading of the film, written in the aftermath of the release of Bergman’s Fängelse/ Prison in 1949. Together with Bergman’s Gycklarnas afton (The Naked Night), Eva was chosen to represent Swedish filmmaking in an arts festival celebrating the 500th anniversary of Saõ Paolo, Brazil, in 1954.
Reviews Stockholm, Malmö and Göteborg press, 27 December 1948; UNT, 18 January 1948; BLM, January 1949, pp. 52-53 (Artur Lundkvist); Biografbladet, no. 2, 1949, p. 101-06;
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Chapter IV Filmography Obs!, no. 1, 1949, p. 52; Vi, no. 3, 1949, p. 19 (Gerd Osten/Pavane).
210.
FÄNGELSE, 1949 [Prison], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
The original title is symbolic, Bergman’s version of Sartre’s Huis clos [No Exit], i.e., a depiction of human existence where hell is other people. The early American distribution title, ‘The Devil’s Wanton’, while picking up on Bergman’s reference to the film as a morality play for the screen, is too suggestive of promiscuous living and ignores the main character’s trapped life condition and tragedy.
Synopsis An old mathematics teacher tells the director, his former pupil, of an idea for a screenplay. The film is to open with a proclamation by the Devil that human life is an inferno. The suggestion is dismissed with laughter. Later, at the home of Tomas, a young author whose marriage has brought him to the verge of suicide, the story turns to a prostitute, Birgitta-Carolina. Tomas’ account is visualized; the ‘real’ film begins, focusing on the young girl and demonstrating the schoolteacher’s thesis. Mixing naturalistic details with expressionistic dream sequences, Bergman tells of a rendezvous between Tomas and Birgitta-Carolina in an old attic, where the couple project an old silent farce they find in a movie projector. In the attic, Birgitta-Carolina falls asleep and has a nightmare. In a bathtub she sees a doll bobbing in the water; a hand lifts up the doll, but it changes into a fish that is squashed. In her nightmare Birgitta-Carolina reenacts an earlier episode in her life when she had to surrender her newborn baby to the sister of a pimp who drowned it. Next the camera follows Tomas to the harbor. He sees a dead bird and kicks it into the water. This anticipates Birgitta-Carolina’s suicide after she has been tortured with cigarette butts by a former lover. Tomas returns home to his wife. Birgitta-Carolina has been his vicarious sufferer. The film ends in the film studio. The teacher comes back to ask the director about his opinion of the original plot idea. The answer is that it would never work.
Credits Production Company Executive producer Production manager Director Screenplay Photography Architect Property Music Sound Make-up Editor Continuity
Terrafilm Lorens Marmstedt Gösta Pettersson Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Göran Strindberg P.A. Lundgren Sven Björling Erland von Koch Olle Jakobsson Inga Lindeström Lennart Wallén Chris Poijes
Cast Birgitta-Carolina Söderberg Tomas
Doris Svedlund Birger Malmsten
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Sofi, Tomas’ wife Martin Grandé, director/narrator Peter, Birgitta-Carolina’s pimp Linnéa, Peter’s sister Paul, mathematics teacher Mrs. Signe Bohlin, landlady Arne, actor in film studio Greta, actress Alf, Peter’s friend Magnus, opera singer Anna, landlady’s young relative Anna’s fiance, postman Lasse, young boy Lasse’s mother Cinematographer Lighting crew Police superintendent Plainclothes policemen Man in Birgitta-Carolina’s dream Voice of B-C’s mother in nightmare Man in Birgitta-Carolina’s nightmare Dark woman Guest at boarding house Workers in film studio Make-up artist in film studio Scriptgirl in film studio Minister Performers in film projector farce
Eva Henning Hasse Ekman Stig Olin Irma Christenson Anders Henrikson Marianne Löfgren Carl-Henrik ‘Kenne’ Fant Inger Juel Curt Masreliez Åke Fridell Anita Blom Arne Ragneborn Lasse Sarri Britta Brunius Torsten Lilliecrona Segol Mann Börje Mellvig Åke Engfeldt, Gösta Ericsson Ulf Palme Britta Holmberg John W. Björling Gunilla Klosterborg, Birgit ‘Bibi’ Lindkvist Sven Björling, Kalle Öhman, Harry Karlsson Inga Lindeström Chris Poijes Rune Lindström [cut] The Brothers Bragazzi
Filmed on location in Stockholm’s Old Town and at Sandrews’ Studios at Lästmakargatan/ Gärdet, Stockholm, beginning 16 November 1948 and completed 4 March 1949. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Terrafilm Embassy Pictures, Janus Films, Inc. 80 minutes 18 March 1949 19 March 1949, Astoria (Stockholm) 4 July 1962, 55th St. Playhouse, NYC
Commentary Structurally, Fängelse was Bergman’s most complex film to date, with a metafilmic frame showing scenes from a film studio, and a plot narrative constructed as a series of flashbacks. Original title of film was ‘Fängelset’ (The Prison). The script was based on an unpublished novella by Bergman called ‘Sann berättelse’ [True story]. An episode using a wallpaper motif was not included in the film but was used many years later in Såsom i en spegel/Through a Glass Darkly (1961). One copy of the script in SFI Archives has an added ending with Kenne Fant’s name on it, 4 pp. It suggests a dissolve on Tomas, then a ‘postludium’ that takes place in the film studio, showing the arrival of the old teacher. This is closer to the finished film than Bergman’s original script, in which the tone in the studio is more serious, with Greta, the actress, saying to Arne
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Chapter IV Filmography (her co-actor) and Martin (the director): ‘In spite of everything one must seek God. That’s the last chance’. [Trots allt måste man söka Gud. Det är sista chansen.] There are some ironies in the film that are probably lost on a non-Swedish audience: The song heard on the radio when Alf, a pimp, burns Birgitta-Carolina with a cigarette is ‘När lillan kom till jorden’ [When baby arrived on earth], a nursery rhyme by Alice Tegnér known to all Swedes of Bergman’s generation. On the eve of the opening of Fängelse, Bergman published a brief newspaper essay, ‘Filmen om Birgitta-Carolina’ (see Ø 60), reprinted in part in Röster i Radio/TV, no. 23 (1962), pp. 27-28. In it he mentions trimming the budget for Fängelse by cutting down the number of studio days, limiting the sets and supplies for the outdoor shooting, using no extras and little music, avoiding overtime, doing rehearsals outside of scheduled shooting time, starting work earlier in the morning and trimming the manuscript minutely. He also reveals a decision to follow Hitchcock with long takes and few cuts or by using cuts-in-the-camera. Prior to a 1962 TV showing, Bergman was interviewed about the film, SVT, 14 June 1962. He now responded to a question about his Hitchcock technique: ‘My present technique is not the same. Hitchcock’s technique was originally a fascinating thought, but it no doubt implies a few weird consequences when carried to the extreme’ [Min nuvarande teknik ser inte ut på samma sätt. Hitchcocks teknik var urprungligen en fascinerande tanke, men den för onekligen med sig en del besynnerligheter när man följer den in absurdum]. Bergman discusses the same material in Bilder/Images, pp. 145-53. Bergman made Fängelse without any pay; instead, he was supposed to receive 10% of the profits, but the film was an economic flop. Swedish censors cut ten meters from Birgitta-Carolina’s suicide scene.
Reception Fängelse caused a lively debate in Swedish press. See editorial in Filmnyheter, no. 8 (1949), pp. 13, and Expr., 1 April 1949, pp. 1, 9, for discussion of the lawsuit threatened by the Turitz Corporation over the fact that the film’s prostitute is said to work in one of its chain stores (EPA). For Ingmar Bergman’s response, see a newspaper ad signed by Bergman in DN, 5 April 1949, p. 11 (reprinted in Filmnyheter 4, no. 8 (1949):3). Film was shown to the employees at EPA. Though still dissatisfied, EPA decided not to take any action (see DN, 2 April 1949, p 7). Humorist Erik Zetterström (Kar de Mumma) wrote a column about the incident in SvD, 6 April 1949, p. 8, calling Ingmar Bergman ‘one of the leading men in the Swedish Angst Union’ [en av de ledande männen i Svensk Ångestunion U.P.A.] and telling EPA to relax, knowing that ‘in Ingmar Bergman’s films all the main characters are usually prostitutes, pimps, child murderers, alcoholics, demented people, etc’. [i Ingmar Bergmans filmer är samtliga huvudpersoner i regel gatflickor, sutenörer, barnamördare, alkoholister, sinnesrubbade o.s.v.]. Most Swedish critics rejected Ingmar Bergman’s bleak view of life in Prison, and many saw it as flirting with the metaphysical spleen of Sweden’s literary Forties. Thorsten Eklann in an article titled ‘40-talistisk filmmoralitet’, Biografbladet 30, no. 1 (Spring 1949): 15-23, argued that Bergman’s film represented a stylistic analogy to Swedish modernist poetry by breaking with traditional linear cinema and using an associative technique built on an intricate flashback structure. See also Robin Hood’s defense of film in ST, 7 April 1949, p. 9. For ‘fyrtiotalism’ issue, see (Ø 952). Prison received a favorable review in Variety, 6 April 1949, p. 6, written by its Stockholm correspondent. But after its release in France on 17 March 1959, the European correspondent in Variety (25 March 1959, p. 22) called it ‘loaded with private symbolism and expressionistic bric-a brac’. The most extended foreign analysis of Fängelse is by Marsha Kinder (Ø 1373) and a review article in Télé-Ciné no. 83 (July 1959), F. 351 (12 pp).
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 20 March 1949; BLM 18, no. 4 (April 1949): 315-317; Vi, no. 14 (2 April) 1949, p. 20.
Foreign Reviews Arts (French), 18 March 1959, n.p. [SFI clipping]; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 61 (July 1956), p. 53; no. 85 (July 1958), pp. 7-8; and no. 95; (May 1959), pp. 51-53; Cinéma 59, no. 35 (April 1959): 100-102; Films and Filming, no. 7 (April 1962): 33; Films in Review 13, no. 6 (June/July 1962): 360-361; Filmfacts 3 August 1962, pp. 161-162; Filmkritik, no. 1 (1962): 22-25; Image et son, no. 122-123 (May-June 1959): 34; Kosmorama, no. 77 (December 1966); pp. 78-79; Monthly Film Bulletin, April 1961, p. 43; Motion Picture Herald, 11 July 1962, n.p. (American Motion Picture clipping); New York Herald Tribune, 5 July 1962, p. 12; New York Times, same date, p. 21-2; NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, p. 3333; Positif, no. 31 (November 1959), pp. 58-59; Variety, 6 April 1949, p. 6, and 25 March 1959, p. 22.
See also Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 38-44; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 61 (July 1956), p. 53; Der frühe Bergman (Ø 1314), pp. 113-129; Die kleine Filmkunstreihe Hefte, no. 22 (1961), 13 pp. Filmjournalen 31, no. 14 (1949): 7 and no. 16 (1949): 31 (portrait of Doris Svedlund); Films in Review 4, no. 9 (November 1953): 461-464; Filmorientering (NFI), no. 23 (1961), 3 pp; Image et son, 226 (March) 1969: 11-14; Isstkustvo Kino, no. 10 (October 1989): 92-94; Kosmorama, no. 39 (November 1958): 70, and Kosmorama (394), pp. 34-36; New York Herald Tribune 31 December 1962, p. 15; Neue Filmkunst, 1962, 3 pp. (German program to ‘Gefängnis’); G. Osten, Värld utan nåd (Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand), 1951: 28-37; A.Plebe, Filmcritica, no. 133 (May 1963): 255-262; Röster i Radio-TV, no. 23 (10-18 June) 1962, pp. 26-28, and no. 46 (8-15 November) 1970, pp. 2122; Svensk filmografi, 1940-1949 (Ø 1314), pp. 713-720.
211.
TÖRST, 1949 [Thirst], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Herbert Grevenius, Birgit Tengroth
Synopsis Törst begins in a hotel room in Basel, Switzerland, in 1946. A couple, no longer young but not yet middle-aged, are about to return home to Sweden after a trip abroad. The husband, Bertil, is
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Chapter IV Filmography an art historian and coin collector; his wife Rut is a former ballet dancer who is now too old to perform. As Rut and Bertil travel through bomb-devastated Germany, their private war escalates. Rut displays her frustration and messiness. Bertil shows his pedantry and stinginess. The focus is on Rut, whose past is revealed in flashbacks, the first one depicting her love affair many years earlier with Raoul, an army captain. At a summer outing in the archipelago, he tells her of his intention to return to his wife and children. But the affair continues, and one day Rut tells the captain that she is pregnant. He denies his paternity and forces her to have an abortion. As a result, Rut has become sterile. A second flashback depicts Rut’s life as a student in ballet school. She is completely absorbed in her work and has no time for love. Her best friend is Valborg, who is lesbian. The film shifts to Viola, Bertil’s former wife, whose story runs parallel to Bertil’s and Rut’s. Lonely and unhappy, she seeks the help of a psychiatrist who tries to seduce her. As she flees from his office, she meets Valborg who follows her home and tries to approach her sexually. Horrified, Viola escapes and begins to drift through the city. She walks past groups of dancing couples, celebrating Midsummer, and continues down to the waterfront where she commits suicide. The two plots now coalesce. Viola’s death is juxtaposed to Rut’s and Bertil’s quarrels, which climax in a nightmarish sequence with Bertil dreaming that he has murdered Rut. Waking up in a cold sweat, he finds her alive and realizes that in spite of their incessant arguments, he does not want to lose her. The film ends on a note of resigned reconciliation.
Credits Production company Production manager Studio manager Director Screenplay Photography Architect Sound Music Orchestration Choreography Costumes Props Make-up Editor Continuity
Svensk Filmindustri Helge Hagerman Hugo Bolander Ingmar Bergman Herbert Grevenius, from Birgit Tengroth’s short story ‘Resa med Arethusa’ (1948) Gunnar Fischer Nils Svenwall Lennart Unnerstad Erik Nordgren Eskil Eckert-Lundin Ellen Bergman Gösta Ström Hilmer Peters Carl M. Lundh, Inc. Oscar Rosander Ingegerd Ericsson
Cast Rut Bertil Viola Dr. Rosengren, psychiatrist Valborg Raoul, captain, Rut’s former lover Astrid, his wife Dance teacher
Eva Henning Birger Malmsten Birgit Tengroth Hasse Ekman Mimi Nelson Bengt Eklund Gaby Stenberg Naima Wifstrand
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Workman Male nurse Nurse Patient Swedish pastor on train Danish pastor on train Woman on train Her little girl German train conductor Train passengers German policeman Hotel guest Porter in Basel Widow in cemetery Piano teacher Ballerinas
Sven-Erik Gamble Gunnar Nielsen Britta Brunius Estrid Hesse Helge Hagerman Calle Flygare Else-Merete Heiberg Monica Weinzierl Verner Arpe Erik Arrhenius, Carl Andersson Peter Winner Oscar Rosander Hermann Greid Sif Ruud Inga-Lill Åhström Inga Norin, Ingeborg Bergius, Laila Jokimo, Öllegård Wellton
Filmed on location in Stockholm, on Ornö in the Stockholm archipelago, and at Råsunda Studios in Stockholm, beginning 15 March 1949 and completed 5 July 1949. Many of the foreign exteriors were shot using back projections. The film’s depiction of a lesbian relationship involving Valborg was cut by the censors. Distribution U.S. Distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. Opening
Svensk Filmindustri Janus Films, Inc. 88 min 24 September 1949 17 October 1949, Spegeln (Stockholm) 11 July 1961
Commentary Törst was the collective title of a volume of three short stories published by author/actress Birgit Tengroth in 1948. Herbert Grevenius chose one of them, ‘Resa med Arethusa’ (Journey with Arethusa), as the narrative basis of his film script but retained the book title, probably for PR reasons, for Tengroth’s work had caused quite a stir in Sweden, and several film production companies were bidding for it. According to Rune Waldekranz, Tengroth had a verbal agreement with Sandrews to film her book, provided Ingmar Bergman got to direct it. Sandrews entered into negotiations, but SF retained Bergman and signed a contract with Tengroth behind Sandrews’s back. Herbert Grevenius discussed his and Bergman’s adaptation of Birgit Tengroth’s Törst in Filmnyheter, no. 9-10 (1949), pp. 4-7 (also in German program note issued by Superfilm). Grevenius wrote the script in Göteborg while Ingmar Bergman was rehearsing a play there. Together they discussed the script in the evenings. In the film, Tengroth’s uncompromising, often erotic thirst for life is replaced by repressed hate, despair and resignation. Birgit Tengroth played Viola in the film. Bergman discusses their collaboration in Bilder, pp. 154-57. She introduced him to the close-up of the lighted match against the human face, which was to be used again in Vargtimmen/Hour of the Wolf. Ingmar Bergman appears for a split second in a train scene depicting a Swedish and a Danish pastor conversing about trivia while ruins from World War II pass by before their eyes. An article about shooting the studio-built train compartment scenes appeared in AB, 10 April 1949,
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Chapter IV Filmography p. 9, describing Bergman’s use of long takes (like Hitchcock and the earlier Bergman film Fängelse/Prison) and the difficulties he had in varying the scenography in such a limited space. Filmnyheter, no. 14 (1949), pp. 4-6, carried a reportage about Thirst, in which Bergman was presented as a real connoisseur of women. Script to Törst was published as a novella in Filmjournalen 31, no. 51-52 (1949) through 32, no. 13 (1950).
Reception Swedish reviewers spoke of Ingmar Bergman’s controlled intensity and Grevenius’ sober handling of sensationalist material. An exception was Mikael Katz in Expr., 18 October 1949, p. 9, who referred to the film as ‘meaningless digging in angst’ [meningslöst rotande i ångest]. Robin Hood in ST, 23 October 1949, p. 9, replied: ‘To call “Törst” meaningless is [...] to rule out Goya who poked around among Spanish idiots, and Dostoyevski who focussed on prostitutes in St. Petersburg’. [att kalla ‘Törst’ meningslös [...] är att utdöma också Goya, som rotade i spanska dårar, och Dostojevskij som rotade i gatflickor i S:t Petersburg.] Mikael Katz replied in Expr., 25 October 1949, p. 9, and Robin Hood retorted in ST, 1 November 1949, p. 9. Törst had limited circulation abroad. Released in France in 1961, it was considered of interest only to Bergman cinephiles. It ran into trouble in West Germany when the film industry’s selfcensorship (Filmbewertungstelle in Wiesbaden) first refused to pass it because of its lesbian motif. Bergman was interviewed briefly by the Düsseldorf paper Der Mittag, 20 October 1953, in which he responded: ‘No one can claim that my film makes such matters desirable. On the contrary! My only task is to see to it that people who watch my films do not remain indifferent.’ After an appeal from the West German distributor and further negotiations, the Filmbewertungstelle changed their decision on the ground that the ‘destructive moments’ in the film could be seen as a deterrent (see report in Dagens Nyheter, 23 February 1953, p. 7). The most extensive discussion of Törst can be found in the Danish Film Museum program by F. Jüngersen, Jr., 6 May 1963, 4 pp.
Reviews Stockholm press, 18 October 1949; BLM 18, no. 9 (November 1949): 731-732; Vi, no. 44, 1949, p. 22; Arts (French) 3 May 1961, n.p. Cinéma 61, no. 57 (June 1961): 105-106; Cahiers du cinéma no. 85 (July 1958), pp. 8-9 and no. 120 (June 1961), pp. 52-53; Image et son no. 142 (June 1961), p. 38; Télé-Ciné no. 97 (July 1961), p. 47; Variety 15 March 1950, p. 12.
See also Bianco e nero 25, no. 8-9 (August–September 1964): 58-72; Der frühe Bergman (Ø 1326), pp. 131-38; Image et son 226 (March) 1969: 14-15; Svensk filmografi, 1940-1949 (Ø 1314), pp. 740-42.
212.
TILL GLÄDJE, 1950 [To Joy], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Synopsis During rehearsals of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony – ‘Ode to Joy’ – the young violinist Stig Ericsson gets a telephone message that his wife Marta has been killed in a kerosene explosion at their summer cottage. Returning home to an empty apartment, Stig spots a doll he once gave his wife and begins to remember their life together. The rest of the film is a single flashback, starting seven years earlier when Stig and Marta were novices in the orchestra. Marta saves Stig from the clutches of an evil couple, Mikael and Nelly Bro. Eventually, Stig and Marta get married and have children. Marta soon discovers that Stig is an ambitious egotist, a view confirmed by their music conductor, Sönderby. When Stig fails as a soloist, he blames Marta and deserts her. Gradually, Stig accepts his artistic limitations and is reconciled with his wife. He remembers their quiet moments of happiness. It is shortly thereafter that Marta is killed. The final sequence brings us back to the present. As Stig returns to the orchestra for a rehearsal, Sönderby talks about the joy that Beethoven wanted to express in his music, a joy beyond pain and despair. In the last scene, Stig’s small son enters the concert hall. He sits down to listen to the orchestra as it bursts into ‘Ode to Joy’.
Credits: Production company Production manager Director Screenplay Photography Architect Sound Music Orchestration Props Make-up Editor Continuity
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Fischer Nils Svenwall Sven Hansen From Mozart, Mendelssohn, Smetana, Beethoven (Egmont Overture, First and Ninth Symphonies) Eskil Eckert-Lundin Tor Borong Carl M. Lundh, Inc. Oscar Rosander Ingegerd Ericsson
Cast Stig Eriksson Stig Olin Marta Olsson Maj-Britt Nilsson Lisa, their daughter Berit Holmström Lasse, their son Björn Montin Sönderby Victor Sjöström Mikael Bro John Ekman Nelly Bro Margit Carlquist Marcel, cello player Birger Malmsten Stina Sif Ruud Persson Rune Stylander Bertil, actor Erland Josephson Anker Georg Skarstedt Man performing marriage ceremony Allan Ekelund Two housewives Carin Swensson, Svea Holm Nurses Svea Holst, Agda Helin Salesgirl Maud Hyttenberg
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Chapter IV Filmography Doorman Lisa, at 3 Lasse, at 3 Man waiting in maternity ward Guests at Marta’s birthday party Grandmother
Ernst Brunman Eva-Fritz Nilsson Staffan Axelsson Tor Borong Astrid Bodin, Marianne Schüler, Marrit Ohlsson Dagny Lind [cut]
Filmed on location in Hälsingborg and Arild, southern Sweden, and at Råsunda Studios in Stockholm, beginning 11 July 1949 and completed 2 September 1949. Distribution Running time Released Premiere Foreign Opening
Svensk Filmindustri 98 minutes 17 February 1950 20 February at Spegeln (Stockholm) Paris, 30 April 1971 To Joy has only been released in U.S. on video.
Commentary Bergman appears briefly as an expectant father in the maternity ward. Filmjournalen 32, nos. 12 through 20 (1950), published Bergman’s script as a novella. SF’s Filmnyheter, IV, no. 18, 1949, pp. 4-5, published a reportage from the shooting. Bergman discusses the film in Bilder (pp. 277-82) where he calls it ‘an impossible melodrama’ [en omöjlig melodram].
Reception Swedish reviews were mixed and somewhat contradictory. AT, 21 February, p.12, advised Bergman to stop trying to be a writer, while SvD (same date) thought Bergman wrote the best dramatic dialogue since Strindberg. Summation of Swedish reception of Till glädje can be found in Filmjournalen 32, no. 11 (1950): 7, 27. Film had a limited circulation abroad. See review section below.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 21 February 1950; BLM 19, no. 3 (March 1950): 232-233; Teatern, no. 3 (1950), p. 15; Vi, no. 9 (1950), p. 21.
Foreign Reviews Cahiers du cinéma, no. 85 (July 1958), pp. 9-10; Cinéma 74 no. 187 (May 1974), pp. 124-126; Filmblätter (East Berlin), 1 August 1950, n.p. (SFI clipping); Filmforum (Emsdetten) July 1954, p. 8; Image et son, no. 299 (October 1975), pp 15-16; Radio-Cinéma-Télévision, 27 July 1958, n.p; Télé-Ciné, no. 189 (June 1974), p. 26; Variety, 6 October 1971, p.22.
See also Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 45-47; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 74 (August–September 1957), p. 21; Der frühe Bergman (Ø 1326), pp. 139-145;
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Image et son, no. 272, pp. 15-16, and no. 299 (October) 1975: 391; Svensk filmografi, 1950-1959 (Ø 1314), pp. 64-67.
213.
MEDAN STADEN SOVER, 1950 [While the city sleeps], B/W Director Screenplay
Lars-Eric Kjellgren L.-E. Kjellgren/Per Anders Fogelström. Synopsis by Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis A gang of young boys brought to court on charches of car theft and rabble-rousing are given suspended sentences. They decide to break with their criminal past and continue without their leader Jompa. Jompa’s girlfriend Iris hopes she can change his antisocial lifestyle. When she becomes pregnant, her father forces Jompa to marry her. On her wedding night, Iris finds a large sum of money in Jompa’s wallet, but does not know that he has stolen it from her father’s boss, a decent man who has found Jompa a job as a car mechanic. Jompa quits his job afterwards and goes downhill rapidly. He drags other members of the old gang with him and sabotages their attempt at social rehabilitation. During a break-in in a pawn shop, Jompa and his companions are surprised by the owner. In panic Jompa kills the man and flees with Iris to a hideaway cabin. But the police track them down, and after a wild chase, Jompa is caught.
Credits Production company Director Screenplay
Photography Architect Location manager Sound Music Editor
Svensk Filmindustri Lars-Eric Kjellgren L-E. Kjellgren/Per Anders Fogelström from the latter’s novel Ligister [Hoodlums], 1949. Synopsis by Ingmar Bergman Martin Bodin Nils Svenwall Gustav Roger Sven Hansen Erik Nordgren Oscar Rosander
Cast Jompa Iris Her father Her mother Jompa’s father Rut Doorman Kalle Lund A Cad
Sven-Erik Gamble Inga Landgré Adolf Jahr Märta Dorff John Elfström Barbro Hiort af Ornäs Carl Ström Ulf Palme Hilding Gavle
Distribution Running time Released Premiere
Svensk Filmindustri 101 minutes 29 August 1950 8 September 1950
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Chapter IV Filmography 214.
SÅNT HÄNDER INTE HÄR, 1950 [High Tension], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Herbert Grevenius
Spy thriller, based on the idea that dangerous political spies can operate also in idyllic and neutral Sweden. British title High Tension seems like a witty reference to the villain’s final fate: suicide in a fall over high tension wires. West German title Menschenjagd suggests the politicized man hunt from East to West Germany that took place during the Cold War.
Synopsis A voice-over announces the location of a small, sheltered country. Atkä Natas, an engineer from the country of Liquidatzia, arrives by plane on a diplomatic passport. From his hotel he calls the American Embassy. The police, investigating the attemted suicide by an old Baltic woman, find a note adressed to Baltic refugees, warning them about a third world war and urging them to return to their homeland. Björn Almqvist, one of the policemen, looks up one of the woman’s relatives. A Baltic wedding is under way. One of the guests is Vera, a lab technician and refugee, wife of Natas. She has adjusted to her new country. She knows Björn from before. Vera asks Natas about the fate of her parents but receives evasive answers. During the night, she tries to murder Natas with an injection. She discovers and copies an important paper in Natas’s briefcase, then calls a doctor who pronounces Natas dead. But before the ambulance arrives, Natas’s body is stolen. He has been picked up by an agent from his own country. Recovering consciousness, he is tortured and confesses his plans to defect to the United States. Björn Almqvist discusses Natas’s ‘death’ with Vera. He suspects her of foul play and orders her followed. She meets with a group of Baltic refugees in a small movie theater. The groom from the wedding is there and accuses Vera of working for the authorities back home. He is revealed to be an agent spying on the refugees. Almqvist visits Vera at her lab. They are surprised by Natas, now working for his torturers. To protect Vera, Almqvist arrests her for attempted murder. But the phone has been cut, and the house is surrounded by Natas’s people. Natas knocks Almqvist unconcious and disappears with Vera. Recovering, Almqvist takes up the chase in a black Chrysler parked outside. The police find Vera drugged and hidden in a lifeboat on board an East European steamer, Mrofnimok Dagyn. In the meantime, Natas tries to escape but is cornered on top of an outdoor elevator and jumps to his death.
Credits Production company Production manager Director Assistant director Screenplay
Photography Architect Props Sound Music Orchestrations Make-up Editor
Svensk Filmindustri Helge Hagerman Ingmar Bergman Hugo Bolander Herbert Grevenius, after a novel by Waldemar Brøgger [pseud. Peter Valentin], I løpet av 12 timer [Within 12 hours], published in 1944 Gunnar Fischer Nils Svenwall Tor Borong Sven Hansen Erik Nordgren Eskil Eckert-Lundin Carl M. Lundh, Inc. Lennart Wallén
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Continuity Speaker
Sol-Britt Norlander Stig Olin
Cast Vera Irmelin Björn Almkvist Atkä Natas A doctor Policeman Refugee pastor Vanja, refugee Speaker at meeting Leino, alias Sander, informer Refugee, woman at wedding The ‘Shadow’ Agents for Liquidatzia Hotel manager Young neighbour Filip Rundblom Mrs. Rundblom The house owner Captain on Mrofnimok Gadyn Disturbed woman Switchboard operator Woman in rental flat Caretaker Old, shocked woman Worker with hang-over Stage manager/laboratory attendant Student at Charles XII statue Young girl First mate on ship Engineer on ship His assistant Policeman Projectionist Estonians
Signe Hasso Alf Kjellin Ulf Palme Gösta Cederlund Yngve Nordwall Hannu Kompus Sylvia Tael Els Vaarman Edmar Kuus Helena Kuus Rudolf Lipp Segol Mann, Willy Koblanck, Gregor Dahlman, Gösta Holmström, Ivan Bousé Hugo Bolander Stig Olin Ragnar Klange Lillie Wästfeldt Magnus Kesster Alexander von Baumgarten Hanny Schedin Gunwor Bergqvist Mona Geijer-Falkner Erik Forslund Helga Brofeldt Georg Skarstedt Tor Borong Maud Hyttenberg Mona Åstrand Fritjof Hellberg Eddy Andersson Harald Björling Ingemar Jacobsson Wiktor ‘Kulörten’ Andersson Agnes Lepp-Kosik, Helmi Nerep, Hilma Nerep, Marja Parkas, Riina Reinik, Priit Hallap, Haari Kaasik, Teet Koppel, Hans Laks, Gustav Laupman, Elmar Nerep, Karl Sööder
Filmed on location in Stadsgården and Ängby, Stockholm, and at Råsunda Studios, beginning 6 July 1950 and completed 19 August 1950. Distribution Running time Released Premiere
Svensk Filmindustri 84 minutes 18 October 1950 23 October 1950, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm)
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Chapter IV Filmography Commentary Read backwards, Atkä Natas becomes Äkta satan [Real Devil], while the name of the ship, Mrofnimok Gadyn, becomes Kominform Nydag (Ny Dag [New Day], title of Swedish Communist daily). Sånt händer inte här was a commissioned work, using returning Hollywood actress Signe Hasso as a major drawing card. Bergman is said to have had his doubts about her participation in the film from the moment he met her at Stockholm airport (she was ill with a thyroid infection; see Bergman om Bergman, p. 54/ Bergman on Bergman, p. 48), but in Bilder (1990, pp. 285-90) he attributes his difficulties in making the film to his own illness (sinusitis) and his encounter with the Baltic refugees that appear in the film, whose real life stories made Sånt händer inte här appear ‘almost obscene’ [nästan obscen]. Sånt händer inte här has been withdrawn from circulation by Bergman. It was shown briefly in England under the title High Tension.
Reception Swedish reviews were unanimous in their view that this type of secret-agent film was not Bergman’s forte. Twelve years after the original release, the German film journal Filmkritik (no. 7, 1962, p. 325) reviewed the film and found it interesting as a marriage drama pointing forward to later Bergman films. In 1972, Robert Stiernevall wrote an undergraduate paper on the film, titled ‘Sånt händer inte här: Detaljer och synpunkter kring en thrillerfilm av Ingmar Bergman’ [This doesn’t happen here: Details and views about a thriller film by Bergman]. Stockholm Univ. Film/Theatre Dept., Autumn 1972, ca. 25 pp. (SFI library).
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 24 October 1950; BLM no. 10 (1950): 799-800; Perspektiv 4 no. 3 (March 1953): 132-133.
Foreign Reviews Filmkritik, no. 7 (1962), p. 325; Monthly Film Bulletin, January 1953, p. 9; Der Neue Film, 20 June 1959, n.p. (SFI clipping).
See also Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 47-50; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 74 (August 1957), p. 20; Der frühe Bergman (Ø 1326), pp. 147-55; Filmjournalen 32, no. 32 (1950): 10-11; Furhammar, Leif & Folke Isaksson: Politik och film. Stockholm: PAN Norstedt, 1968, pp. 182-186, tr. as Politics and Film. London: Studio Vista, 1971, pp. 133-135; Image et son 226 (March) 1969: 19; Svensk filmografi, 1950-1959 (Ø 1314), pp. 87-90.
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BRIS-FILMERNA, 1951-53 [Breeze soap commercials], B/W Director Screenplays
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
In 1951, in protest over the high entertainment tax on box office receipts, Swedish film producers closed their studios and began a year-long lockout of their film crews. To have an income
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Ingmar Bergman signed a contract with the Sunlight & Gibbs Corporation to make nine commercials for one of its products, Bris soap. The films were made in 1951, 1952, and 1953. According to Bergman om Bergman (p. 57), each commercial had to contain one of two slogans: ‘Perspiration alone does not smell; it is the skin bacteria that cause the smell when they come in contact with perspiration’ [Svett i sig själv luktar inte, det är bakterier, som gör att när de kommer i kontakt med svetten blir det lukt] or ‘Bris kills the bacteria – no bacteria – no smell’. [Bris dödar bakterierna, inga bakterier, ingen lukt]. Ingmar Bergman had fun making the commercials, though he had some difficulty fitting the Bris text into the films. In fact, though commissioned, these commercials reflect on a small scale Bergman’s filmmaking at the time by pinpointing two of his favorite themes: the magic of the film medium and the deceptive nature of filmmaking. 1.
2.
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5. 6. 7.
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‘Gustavianskt’/‘Gustav III’ [‘King Gustavus III’]. A historical setting, only seemingly splendid, for in the 18th-century Bris soap was not yet invented, and the stench, even in the royal court, was quite unbearable. ‘Tennisflickan’/‘Magisk teater’ [‘The Tennis Girl’/‘The Magic Theater’]. Evil monsters – the skin bacteria – fight harmless creatures – the perspiration drops – and the contact produces a nasty smell that only Bris soap can eliminate. ‘Tvålen Bris’/‘Bris tvål’ [‘Bris Soap’]. In the most conventional of the nine commercials, Bergman introduces an old man, played by veteran comedian John Botwid, whose task it is to misunderstand the name of the soap, which has to be repeated over and over again. ‘Operation’/‘Filminspelning’ [‘Operation’/‘Film Shooting’]. Three of the commercials utilize the film medium self-consciously. In this one, Bergman shows the viewer how a commercial film is made. ‘Uppfinnaren’ [‘The Inventor’]. A man dreams that he has invented a marvellous soap that can work miracles. The film is conceived as a Méliès farce. ‘Trolleriet’/‘Trolleriföreställningen’ [‘The Magic Show’]. Miniature people in a puppet show are engaged in a struggle between good and evil forces. Again Bris soap comes to the rescue. ‘Rebusen’ [‘The Rebus’]. The first half of the commercial shows images without any text, so that the viewer is challenged to interpret them. A voice asks if the film was difficult to follow, whereupon it is shown a second time, now with the Bris slogan as text. ‘Prinsessan och svinaherden’ [‘The Princess and the Swineherd’]. A variation on the Hans Christian Andersen tale of the princess who promised the swineherd one hundred kisses in exchange for a music box. Bergman’s swineherd possesses a remarkable soap, which neither the princess nor the king can resist. ‘Tredimensionellt’/‘Filmföreställningen’ [‘Three-dimensional’/‘The Film Showing’]. In this metafilm we witness the projection of a commercial in a movie theater. It is intended as a spoof on the three-dimensional film, much discussed at the time, for which the viewers needed special glasses. The starlet who presents Bris steps out of the screen-within-thescreen and falls on a spectator.
Credits Production company Producer Director Screenplays Photographer Production year Distributor
Svensk Filmindustri for AB Sunlight Ragnar M. Lindberg Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Fischer 1951 (no. 1-3), 1952 (no. 4-6), 1953 (no. 7-9) AB Filmkontakt
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Chapter IV Filmography Cast Introducer King Gustav III The valet Negro valet
Doris Svedlund Åke Jensen Börje Lundh Charles White
2. Introducer Girl in the shower
Ulf Johanson Barbro Larsson
3. Introducer A girl The old man Man in white coat
Erna Groth Barbro Larsson John Botwid Gösta Prüzelius
4. The actress The husband Botte, stage manager Grips
Barbro Larsson Lennart Lindberg John Botwid Gösta Prüzelius, Torsten Lilliecrona
5. Teodor His wife
Georg Adelly Emy Hagman
6. The man The woman The magician
Lennart Lindberg Berit Gustafsson Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt
7. The introducer
Barbro Larsson
8. The king The princess The valet
John Botwid Bibi Andersson Curt ‘Minimal’ Åström
9. The spectator Woman in shower Narrator
John Botwid Marion Sundh Gösta Prüzelius
1.
Bergman’s Bris films have only rarely been shown. This, plus the fact that they represent a film artist’s concession to make commercials, has made them somewhat of a cult phenomenon among Bergman commentators. Sight and Sound, XIII, no. 1 (January 2003), p. 8, mentions the making of a documentary about the Breeze films, but this has not been confirmed elsewhere. Other material on the same matter include the following: Bergman’s Fårö papers, deposited at SFI, contain stenciled manuscripts to three of the Bris commercials, titled ‘Operation’, ‘Uppfinnaren’ (The inventor) and ‘Trolleriet’ (Magic act), each 2 pp. Maaret Koskinen analyzes the commercials in ‘Tvålopera à la Bergman’ [Soap-opera à la B.]. Chaplin no. 215-216 (1988) pp. 84-88. Translated in English in Chaplin special issue titled ‘Ingmar Bergman at 70 – a Tribute’, pp. 30-34; also published in Il giovane Bergman, 1992 (Ø 1521) pp. 21-28.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Susan Vahabzadeh writes about the Bergman commercials in ‘Kleine, schäumende Autorenfilme’, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 7 June 1996. Gertrud Wennström’s article ‘Ingmar Bergman gjorde reklam för tvålen Bris’ [Bergman made commercials for Bris soap] appeared in Unisont. Tidning för Unilever-anställda i Sverige, no. 6 (December) 1978: 10-11.
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SOMMARLEK, 1951 [Summer Interlude], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
The second half of the title (lek) means play as in children’s play. But the coined word sommarlek suggests the Swedish word for love, kärlek (lit. dear-play). Early American title, Illicit Interlude, is a misnomer for a film that according to Ingmar Bergman depicts the best there is, namely summer, young love and the Swedish archipelago. Cf. Bosley Crowther in NYT, 27 October 1954, p. 32:6: ‘The film no more merits the pornographic word ‘illicit’ than it deserves to be labelled smut.’
Synopsis This structurally intricate film begins and ends at the Opera in Stockholm where the main character, Marie, is a ballerina. During a dress rehearsal of Swan Lake, a diary is delivered to Marie written on an island in the Stockholm archipelago many summers ago when she had a love affair with a young student, Henrik. The diary is being returned to her by her Uncle Erland, an embittered old man who has been in love with her for a long time. As Marie opens her diary, the face of young Henrik appears as if in a mirror, next to hers. She imagines his return, but instead is surprised by her ballet master, dressed in his role as magician in Coppelia. He appears twice in the film, both times to remind Marie of her commitment to dancing, but also to warn her of the ephemeral nature of her work. After ballet practice Marie quarrels with her present boyfriend David, a journalist. On the impulse of the moment, she leaves on a small steamer headed for the island where she and Henrik were once lovers. The rest of the film consists of three flashbacks and a final sequence in the present. The first recollection occurs on the steamer and is seen partly from Henrik’s perspective. The seond flashback takes place when Marie returns to the small shack where she stayed that summer. The camera recaptures the lyrical beauty of the summer landscape and the sequence ends as Marie takes Henrik to her secret wild strawberry patch. The third flashback is triggered by Marie’s meeting with Uncle Erland on the island. In her memory she is back in his villa, rehearsing while young Henrik sits on the floor, passive and waiting. Annoyed, he runs away. When Marie goes to look for him, she meets an old black-clad woman, Mrs. Calwagen, who is dying of cancer. She is playing chess with a clergyman. This flashback is filled with tension and pain, and ends as Marie relives Henrik’s fateful leap into the sea. Hitting his head on an underwater rock, he breaks his neck. He struggles ashore and dies in Marie’s arms. The plot returns to the present. David comes to Marie’s dressing room, and she gives him the diary to read. In the final scenes Marie stars as the lead ballerina at the opening night of Swan Lake. She dances off the stage, and comes upon David in the wings. The two embrace.
Credits Production company Production manager Director
Svensk Filmindustri Helge Hagerman Ingmar Bergman
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Chapter IV Filmography Screenplay Photography Architect Props Music Orchestration Make-up Editor Continuity Working titles
Ingmar Bergman and Herbert Grevenius from an unpublished story by Bergman, ‘Marie’ Gunnar Fischer Nils Svenwall Gösta Ström Erik Nordgren Eskil Eckert-Lundin Carl M. Lundh, Inc. Oscar Rosander Ingegerd Ericsson, Sol-Britt Norlander Sentimental Journey, Sommarleken [The summer play]
Cast Marie Henrik Marie’s boyfriend David Nyström Uncle Erland Aunt Elisabeth Mrs. Calwagen, black-clad woman Kaj, ballerina Ballet master Clergyman Nisse, doorkeper at the theater Karl, workman at the opera Maja, dresser Sandell Lighting man Kerstin, ballet dancer Captain on steamer A doctor A nurse Uncle Erland’s housekeeper Delivery boys Carlsson, stage manager at opera Marie as ballerina Ballet dancers
Maj-Britt Nilsson Birger Malmsten Alf Kjellin Georg Funkquist Renée Björling Mimi Pollak Annalisa Ericson Stig Olin Gunnar Olsson Douglas Håge John Botwid Julia Caesar Carl Ström Torsten Lilliecrona Marianne Schüler Ernst Brunman Olav Riégo Fylgia Zadig Emmy Albiin Sten Mattsson, Carl-Axel Elfving Gösta Ström Gun Skoogberg Monique Roeger, Gerd Andersson, Göte Stergel with the ballet at the Royal Opera in Stockholm.
Filmed in the Stockholm archipelago (Dalarö-Rosenön, Saltsjöbaden, Sandemar) and at Råsunda Studios, beginning 3 April 1950 and completed 18 June 1950. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Gaston Hakim Productions, Inc. 96 minutes 2 April 1951 1 October 1951, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 26 October 1954, Plaza, NYC
Commentary The film was withdrawn from the Venice Film Festival in 1951 because SF wanted to test it out in Sweden first. Resubmitted in the following year, it won no prize.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record SF issued an undated program to Sommarlek with notes, excerpts from reviews, and short essay by Ingmar Bergman (see Ø 76), which also appeared in the Danish program issued by Nordisk Film Kompagnie. Filmjournalen 32, no. 9 (1950): 25, 29, contains interview/article with Ingmar Bergman where he reports that the earliest draft for the film was written in a Latin notebook at age 18. Bergman writes briefly about Sommarlek in Bilder/Images, 1990, pp. 283-85, where he mentions a teenage love story as the background of the film. The script to Sommarlek was serialized as a film novella in Allers Familjejournal, nos. 26-30, 1960, illustrated with photographs from the film. The screenplay has been published in French in Oeuvres (see Ø 122), pp. 5-100.
Reception Sommarlek was Ingmar Bergman’s first real critical success in Sweden, a film in which he helped solidify and give depth to the native ‘summer film’ genre. Stig Almqvist in Filmjournalen 33, no. 41 (1951): 18-19, 29, praised Bergman’s filmmaking: ‘Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking method is miraculous. [...] He belongs to a handful here and there in the world who are now discovering the future articulation of film, and the result can be revolutionary’ [Ingmar Bergmans metod att göra film är mirakulös. [...] Han hör till dem – en handfull benådade här och där i världen – som nu upptäcker filmens framtida artikulation, och resultatet kan bli en revolution]. Harry Schein in BLM 20, no. 9 (November 1951): 713-714, suggested the emergence of a new Ingmar Bergman, freed from his earlier metaphysical brooding. This view was reported in Variety, 28 November 1951, p. 6. Sommarlek was not released in the U.S. until 1954. The earliest American version is rumored to have had inserts of silhouetted nude bathing scenes filmed on Long Island Sound but removed in later distribution copies. This has not been verified. In France, Télé-Ciné published a special issue on Jeu d’été in no. 78 (fiche no. 339, October 1958), 12 pp., containing credits, character analysis, plot synopsis, and critical comments. In Italy, newspapers carried analyses and comments about the film on 3 October 1968, in connection with Italian TV broadcast. Film a Sogetto, Centro S. Dedelle dello Spettacolo, Milan, 28 December 1964, 8 pp., is an Italian fact sheet on Un’ estate d’amore, listing openings worldwide, credits, review excerpts, plot synopsis, and a bibliography.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 2 October 1951; Teatern no. 5 (1951), p. 2; Vecko-Journalen no. 43 (1951), p. 44.
Foreign Reviews Arts, 7-15 May 1958 (C. Givray); Cahiers du cinéma, no. 84 (June 1959), pp. 45-47; Cinéma 58 no. 28 (June 1958), pp. 116-17; Filmkritik no. 6 (June) 1964, pp. 311-312; Films and Filming 6, no. 3 (December 1959): 25; Monthly Film Bulletin, December 1959, p. 156; New York Herald Tribune, 27 October 1954, p. 21; New York Times, same date, p. 32-6; NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, p. 2820; Positif no. 18 (November 1956), pp. 26-28; Variety, 28 November 1951, p. 6.
Longer Review Articles C. Bretteville, Filmorientering (Norwegian Film Institute), no. 108 (November 1966), 4 pp.;
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Chapter IV Filmography E. Comuzio. ‘Un estate d’amore’. Cineforum no. 294 (May) 1990: 47-50; J. Donohoe. ‘Cultivating Bergman’s Strawberry Patch: The Emergence of a Cinematic Idea’. Wide Angle 2, no. 2, 1978: 26-30; G. D’Orazio in 1975 dissertation (Ø 1265); B. Gråsten, Danish Film Museum program, April 1963, 4 pp.; J. Rivette. ‘Die Seele im Bauch’. Cicim. Revue pour le cinéma français, January 1989, pp. 133-137.
See also Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 51-54, 63-67; Sw.ed., 65, 68-71; Biografbladet 32, no. 2 (Summer 1951): 55-59; Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 16 (October 1952): 7; Cine Club del Uruguay, program 114, 25 August 1952, n.p.; Der frühe Bergman (Ø 1326), pp. 162-67; Etudes cinématographiques no. 10-11 Autumn 1961, pp. 207-216; Filmnyheter 5, no. 9-10 (1950): 23-35, and 6, no. 12 (1951): 2, 8-10, 24; Image et son, no. 214 (March) 1968: 173-178; Kosmorama 137, 1978, pp. 48-51; Museo de arte cinematografica (Brazil), program no. 21 (12 October 1956) n.p.; Perspektiv 2, no. 10 (December 1951): 625-633; Röster i Radio-TV, no. 8 (1978), pp. 20-21; Svensk filmografi, 1950-1959 (Ø 1314), pp. 160-163. Wide Angle 2, no. 2 (1978): 26-30.
Awards 1952:
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Honorary mention for script and direction by Svenska Filmsamfundet (Swedish Film Society).
FRÅNSKILD, 1951 [Divorced], B/W Director Screenplay
Gustaf Molander Ingmar Bergman & Herbert Grevenius
Synopsis Gertud Holmgren, a middle-aged woman, has been married to Tore Holmgren, an engineer, for 20 years. Of their two children, a son died at an early age and a daughter is living in a modern student marriage. Gertrud considers herself happily married, but one day Tore asks for a divorce. He wants to marry a colleague with whom he can share his professional interests. Gertrud is surprised to find that her rival is neither younger nor prettier than she is. Gertrud moves into a rented room. Her landlady’s son, Bertil Nordelius, takes an interest in her. He is a young doctor engaged to Marianne Berg, a socialite. On Christmas Eve, Gertrud’s daughter and her husband come to visit but soon leave to spend the holidays with Tore and his new wife. Gertrud is invited to share Christmas with the Nordelius’s. Bertil and Marianne quarrel. Later Bertil seeks Gertrud’s company. She rebuffs him, and soon afterwards he leaves for work at a regional hospital. On Midsummer Eve, Gertrud visits friends in the country, but leaves when Tore and his wife arrive. Returning to her room, she finds Bertil waiting. They make love. The next day Gertrud decides to leave while Bertil is at work. Marianne arrives and accuses Gertrud of stealing Bertil from her. Gertrud gives some advice and departs. On the train, a man her own age shows an interest in her. She discovers that she is loooking forward to her first vacation in 23 years, paid with her own money.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Credits Production company Director Screenplay Photography Architect Music Editor
Svensk Filmindustri Gustaf Molander Ingmar Bergman and Herbert Grevenius, from a synopsis by Bergman Åke Dahlqvist Nils Svenwall Erik Nordgren Oscar Rosander
Cast Gertrud Holmgren Tore Holmgren Dr. Bertil Nordelius Tore’s new wife Marianne Berg Mrs. Nordelius Ingeborg Hans Man on the train
Inga Tidblad Holger Löwenadler Alf Kjellin Irma Christenson Doris Svedlund Hjördis Petterson Marianne Löfgren Stig Olin Håkan Westergren
Filmed on location in Stockholm and Uppsala, and at Råsunda Studios, beginning 15 November 1950 and completed 30 December 1950. Distribution Running time Released Premiere
Svensk Filmindustri 103 minutes 25 September 1951 26 December 1951, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm)
Note Frånskild was an entry in the Berlin Film Festival, 1952. It has had limited circulation abroad.
218.
KVINNORS VÄNTAN, 1952 [Waiting Women/Secrets ofWomen], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
American title Secrets of Women has an unfortunate, titillating suggestion of female freemasonry.
Synopsis Kvinnors väntan is made up of three separate stories told by a group of women who live with their families in a summer compound in the Stockholm archipelago. Four of the women are married; the fifth is the teenage sister of one of them. To pass the time, each of the married women agrees to tell the others a crucial episode from her marriage. Annette, the oldest of the women, claims that their marriages will not stand up to the close scrutiny of a long summer together. Her own story never gets told, but her somewhat bitter view is that married women’s consolation lies ‘in Jesus or the grandchildren.’ The first episode is related by Rakel whose marriage to Eugen is childless. She tells of an affair she had with a former lover, Kaj, who had come to the summer house on a visit. When Eugen finds out, he gets desperate and, hiding in a woodshed, threatens to shoot himself. He tells
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Chapter IV Filmography Rakel that it is his sense of shame and loneliness rather than her unfaithfulness that plagues him. Rakel calms him, and they continue their marriage. The second episode concerns a young woman, Marta, and her husband Martin. The setting is Paris. When Martin, a painter and the family’s black sheep, meets Marta in a nightclub, she leaves her Amercan fiancé. Marta and Martin become a couple, and soon she is pregnant. In a flashback within a flashback, Marta’s lonely delivery is depicted in nightmarish vignettes from her life with the immature Martin who abandons her. Later Martin returns to her, and they get married. Like Rakel, Marta looks upon her husband as a big child. The third story, comical in tone, is a visual tour de force set in an elevator. Karin Lobelius and her husband Fredrik, a successful and preoccupied businessman, return home from a party. When the elevator gets stuck, husband and wife tease each other with their infidelities, and then make love for the first time in many years. They decide to go on a second honeymoon, but when the elevator is repaired in the morning, Fredrik discovers that he is late for a business meeting and rushes off to work, forgetting the entire incident. Karin muses over the fate of women. The film ends as the younger sister of Marta, having learned nothing from the older women’s accounts, decides to elope with her boyfriend. They set out in in a small boat just as the husbands arrive from the city. Nothing is done to try to intercept the young couple.
Credits Production company Production manager Studio manager Director Screenplay Photography Architect Sound Music Orchestration Make-up Props Editor Continutity
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Gustav Roger Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Fischer Nils Svenwall Sven Hansen Erik Nordgren Eskil Eckert-Lundin Carl M. Lundh, Inc. Walter Sarmell Oscar Rosander Bente Munk
Cast Rakel Kaj, her lover Eugen Lobelius, her husband Marta Berg Martin Lobelius, her husband Karin Lobelius Fredrik Lobelius, her husband Maj, Marta’s younger sister Henrik Lobelius, her boyfriend Annette Paul Lobelius, her husband Anesthesiologist Rut, nurse Bob, American pilot
Anita Björk Jarl Kulle Karl-Arne Holmsten Maj-Britt Nilsson Birger Malmsten Eva Dahlbeck Gunnar Björnstrand Gerd Andersson Björn Bjelfvenstam Aino Taube Håkan Westergren Carl Ström Märta Arbin Kjell Nordenskiöld
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Nurse Nightclub waiter Old Mrs. Lobelius Doorman Newspaper distributor Garbage man Stranger outside Marta’s door Åke, Marta’s boy Karin’s boys Nurse Young man by the elevator Man outside nightclub Dancers at night club Trumpet players at night club
Lena Brogren Torsten Lilliecrona Naima Wifstrand Douglas Håge Mona Geijer-Falkner Wiktor ‘Kulörten’ Andersson Sten Hedlund Leif-Åke Kusbom Jens and Peter Fischer Rut Karlsson Sten Mattsson Gustav Roger Inga Berggren, Carl-Gustaf af Verchou Rolf Ericson, Bengt-Arne Wallin
Filmed on location on Siarö in the Stockholm archipelago, in Paris, and at Råsunda Studios, beginning 3 April 1952 and completed 20 June 1952. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Janus Films, Inc. 107 minutes 22 October 1952 3 November 1952, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 11 July 1961, Fifth Ave. Cinema, NYC
Commentary Bergman appears briefly as a man on the stairway outside a gynecologist’s office. Bergman had been scheduled to direct Hon dansade en sommar (One Summer of Happiness) but was replaced by Arne Mattsson. Instead he was given the go-ahead with Kvinnors väntan, a script inspired by his third wife (Gun Grut) who had experienced a similar situation in a summer family compound. Bergman discusses the genesis of the film in Bilder, (1990), pp. 290-291. In a brief interview in Vecko-Journalen no. 46, 1952, Bergman talks in private terms about his motivation to make Kvinnors väntan: He had long planned to make a film about women and to try his hand at a comedy. In an unsigned article from the shooting of the film in ST 22 June 1952, p. 7, Kvinnors väntan was said to be Bergman’s brightest and most optimistic work so far. In magazine Se, no. 48 (1952), pp. 22-25, G. Olsson provided an insider reportage: ‘Det får publiken aldrig se’ [What the audience will never get to see], with reprinted pages from script. The script of Kvinnors väntan was serialized as a novella in Swedish magazine Allers Familjejournal, nos. 49-52/1959 and no. 1/1960, illustrated with photographs from the film. The film was shown at the Venice Film Festival in 1953; it created little attention. F. Koval discussed it briefly in a report from the festival in Films in Review, October 1953, pp. 390-391.
Reception Kvinnors väntan received glowing reviews in the Swedish press and established Ingmar Bergman’s reputation as a filmmaker with a unique understanding of women and their emotional crises. Surrealistic Paris flashback and elevator episodes were singled out as visually outstanding. It was ranked Best Swedish Film in 1952/53 by Swedish film critics in a poll taken by magazine Filmnyheter. Like most Bergman films of the early Fifties, Kvinnors väntan made its first international round in Latin America (1956 in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay). It opened in France in 1959, riding on
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Chapter IV Filmography Cahiers’ Bergman wave in 1958-59; and in the U.S. in 1961 where it was treated as a museum piece. Appearing in West Germany in 1962, it received quality rating by the West German Classification Board. It opened in East Germany in 1972. A review in Filmblätter (East Berlin), no. 108 (1972), predictably called it ‘a sad film... revealing the limitations of bourgeois society’. Institut des hautes études cinématographiques issued a fiche (no. 157) on Kvinnors väntan.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 23 October 1952; BLM 21, no. 10 (December 1952): 796-797; Hörde ni?, January 1953, pp. 41-43; Perspektiv 3, no. 10 (December 1952): 475-476; Vecko-Journalen no. 46 (1952), p. 42.
Foreign Reviews Arts, 3-10 December 1958 (C. Gauteur); Bianco e nero, no. 2-3 (February 1961), pp. 121-22; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 85 (July 1958), pp. 10-11 and no. 92 (February 1959), pp. 46-48; Cinéma 59, no. 33 (February 1959), pp. 119-122; La cinématographie française, 20 December 1959, n.p; Critisch Film Bulletin 12, no. 6 (1959):44; Filmfacts, 6 October 1961, pp. 221-222; Film Quarterly, no. 1 (Fall 1961), pp. 45-47; Filmkritik no. 6 (June) 1962, pp. 266-268; Films and Filming 6, no. 3 (December 1959): 24; Image et son no. 118 (January 1959), p. 15, and no. 214 (March 1968), pp. 173-178. Monthly Film Bulletin, March 1960, p. 33 National Review, 4 November 1961, pp. 311-313; New York Times, 12 July 1961, p. 36:1; NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, p. 3266; New York Herald Tribune, same date, p. 15; Télé-Ciné no. 80 (January–February 1959), p. 11, 15 Time, 14 July 1961, p. 92 (A.E. p. 70); S. Kauffmann, A World on Film (112), pp. 279-280; Variety, 24 December 1958, p. 6.;
See also SF program, 1952, 11 pp.; Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), p. 55, 67 et passim; Camera, January–March 1968, pp. 7-8; Der frühe Bergman (Ø 1326), pp. 176-186; Filmnyheter 7, no. 9-10,1952: 12-14 (reportage from shooting); Image et son, 226 (March) 1969: 19-21: Museo de arte cinematografica (Rio De Janeiro), program no. 19, 5 October 1956; Svensk filmografi, 1950-1959 (Ø 1314), pp. 234-237.
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SOMMAREN MED MONIKA, 1953 [Summer with Monica], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Per Anders Fogelström & Ingmar Bergman
For early foreign distribution titles, see section on ‘Foreign Reception’ below.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Synopsis The film is set in the working-class section of South Stockholm and in the archipelago. Two young people, Monica and Harry, meet in a café. She is working for a wholesale fruit and vegetable dealer, and he in a store selling glass and china. They don’t like their jobs. At the movies on a date, Harry and Monica have divergent visions of the future. Harry wants to study and improve his social status; Monica dreams of film stars. Monica lives at home in narrow quarters. Her father drinks, her mother is worn out. She herself finds escape in sleep and in romance magazines. One day after a quarrel she gives up her job and leaves home. She looks up Harry, and they spend the night in his father’s small motor boat. The next morning Harry arrives late for work and is fired. He and Monica leave the city in the boat and spend a leisurely summer in the archipelago. Lelle, Monica’s former boyfriend arrives and sets the motorboat on fire. With Monica’s help, Harry beats up Lelle. Monica becomes pregnant and grows increasingly desperate about it. When food gets scarce, she steals from a summer resident but is caught in the act. The upper-class owner is full of contempt for Monica and calls the police. But Monica escapes, and she and Harry return to Stockholm. They get married. Harry goes to night school and gets a new job in the contruction business. Monica, however, has difficulty adjusting to her role as wife and mother. She neglects the baby and the housework, and takes up with former boyfriends. One morning after returning home from a trip with the construction team, Harry finds Monica in bed with another man. They quarrel, and Harry hits Monica. She decides to leave him. The film ends with shots of Harry walking past a display window, carrying his baby daughter in his arms. He lifts her up and the reflection of both of them is seen in the window.
Credits Production company Production manager Director Screenplay Photography Architect Props Sound Music Orchestration Make-up Editors Continuity
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman and Per Anders Fogelström, from a novel by the same name by Fogelström, 1951. Gunnar Fischer P.A. Lundgren and Nils Svenwall Tor Borong Sven Hansen Erik Nordgren. Waltz ‘Kärlekens hamn’ [Haven of love], composed by Filip Olsson, Ornö Eskil Eckert-Lundin Carl M. Lund, Inc. Tage Holmberg and Gösta Lewin Birgit Norlindh
Cast Monika Eriksson Harry Lund Mrs. Lindström, Harry’s aunt Lelle, former boyfriend Harry’s father Forsberg, Harry’s boss in store Forsberg’s accountant Johan
Harriet Andersson Lars Ekborg Dagmar Ebbesen John Harryson Georg Skarstedt Gösta Ericsson Gösta Gustafsson Sigge Fürst
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Chapter IV Filmography Salesman in glass shop Ludvig, Monika’s father Monika’s mother Monica’s boss Driver Monicas’s male colleagues at work Messenger boy at Monika’s work Owner of summer home His wife Their daughter Hasse, Monika’s young brother Mrs. Boman, café owner Movie star Movie star Lindevall, parson Tobacconist Harry’s buddy Harry’s construction boss Harry’s workmates Bums Monica’s boyfriends Monika’s date at café Scrap dealers Ladies in backyard window Nurse at maternity ward House owner His daughter A girl
Gösta Prüzelius Åke Fridell Naemi Briese Arthur Fischer Torsten Lilliecrona Bengt Eklund, Gustaf Färingborg Hans Ellis Ivar Wahlgren Renée Björling Catrin Westerlund Carl-Uno Larsson Hanny Schedin Kjell Nordenskiöld Margaret Young Nils Hultgren Ernst Brunman Sten Mattsson Åke Grönberg Magnus Kesster, Carl-Axel Elfving Wiktor ‘Kulörten’ Andersson, Birger Sahlberg Anders Andelius, Gordon Löwenadler Bengt Brunskog Nils Whiten, Tor Borong Mona Geijer-Falkner, Astrid Bodin Gun Östring Harry Ahlin Jessie Flaws Mona Åstrand
Filmed on location at Sadelöga, near the island of Ornö in the Stockholm archipelago, and at Råsunda Studios, beginning 22 July and completed 6 October 1952. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening Working title
Svensk Filmindustri Janus Films, Inc./Gaston Hakim Prod. 96 min 6 February 1953 9 February 1953, Spegeln (Stockholm) 3 February 1956, The Orpheum Theater, Los Angeles En sommar med Monika [One summer with Monica]
Commentary In a first synopsis (SFI Archives), Fogelström presents Harry as a 17-year-old daydreamer and schoolboy who lives with his father, an artist. He meets Britt (later named Monica) in a café; she comes from a dysfunctional family. The two live part of the time in a boat that belongs to Harry’s father. There are several confrontations between father and son. When Britt becomes pregnant, Harry’s aunt insists they get married. Soon they are part of the social system and feel a loss of freedom. Britt leaves Harry and child. Harry’s father calls him a good-for-nothing, and his aunt takes care of the child. Harry is told he has only himself to blame. In Ingmar Bergman’s screen adaptation of Fogelström’s novel, the emphasis shifts from Harry to Monica. Fogelström
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record accepted this; see FIB, no. 1 (2-8 January) 1953, pp. 10-11, 38, for his response to the film. Swedish censors cut a love-making scene between Monika and Harry after their fight with Lelle. Bergman talks briefly about the shooting of Sommaren med Monika in Bilder/Images (1990), pp. 295-96. Most of the film was shot on location during a summer that Ingmar Bergman and his crew recall with nostalgia. To save the transportation costs from the archipelago to the photo lab in Stockholm, Bergman let the daily rushes pile up over a three-week period. But once the film was developed, it showed a bad scratch on the negative, necessating 75% retakes. See (Ø 84) for Bergman vignette from the shooting. Filmnyheter 7, no. 13 (1952): 8-10, 24; Filmnyheter 7, no. 17, pp. 8-10, 23; Filmnyheter 7, no, 1920 (1952), pp. 32-35; and Filmnyheter 8, no. 1 (1953): 20-23, contain interviews with Harriet Andersson and Lars Ekborg and a series of articles titled ‘Männen kring Monika’ [The Men around Monica].
Swedish Reception Swedish reception of Sommaren med Monika was rather lukewarm. Though critics praised its realism, they found the film uneven, the editing poor, the tempo dull, and the typecasting unfortunate. The summer landscape was termed trite and overused. The film became known mostly for Harriet Andersson’s pouting portrayal of Monika; the sexy image of the actress in a décolleté sweater launched the film both in Sweden and abroad. After Sommaren med Monika was rediscovered in 1958 by Jean-Luc Godard in France (see below), the film became recognized by the Swedish social-conscious generation of the Sixties. A television showing of Monika in Sweden in 1977 led to a feminist reader exchange in GP, 28 January 1977, p. 3, and 7 February 1977, p. 2. One viewer saw Monika as defiant of a male chauvinist society, while another argued that Monika’s escape from marriage was a flight into a tough male world that would destroy her.
Foreign Reception In a review in Variety, 7 July 1954, p. 22, Mosk[owitz] suggested cutting the nude bathing scene, an ironic piece of advice in view of the film’s later fate in the U.S. On 5 February 1956, AB (pp. 1, 5) carried a front page news report from Los Angeles about the arrest of Morton Lippe, manager of the Orpheum Theatre in L.A., during a showing of Summer with Monica or The Story of a Bad Girl, which was the first American distribution title. Lippe was booked on misdemeanor charges; the film was confiscated by local police. Apparently, the American distributor had added scenes of nudist bathing to Bergman’s original version. Los Angeles Times, 7 February 1956, n.p. (American Motion Picture Academy clipping) reported further confiscations in the Los Angeles area. On 26 April 1956, Variety, Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Herald Tribune all reported that L.A. film distributor Jack Thomas was fined $750 and sentenced to 90 days in jail. The Los Angeles Examiner quoted from Judge Byron J. Walter’s summation of the case: ‘Monica appeals to potential sex murderers. [...] Crime is on the increase and people wonder why. This is one of the reasons.’ The distributor, however, was acquitted from the charge one year later in higher court. In AT, 6 February 1956, p. 6, SF head Carl Anders Dymling denied rumors that SF had made a special export version of the film with added nude shots. However, pirated copies of the film circulated at drive-in theaters in the American midwest as early as 1954. For details, see Jack Stevenson in Chaplin 258, no. 3 (Summer) 1995: 18-22 (Ø 1596). Sommaren med Monika was released again in the U.S. in 1960, under the original Swedish title, but its old reputation as pornography lingered. Films in Review, March 1960, pp. 173-174, called it ‘a clumsily, carelessly directed sexploiter about a stupid teenager’.
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Chapter IV Filmography In 1989, American Film, vol. 14, no. 7, p. 68, gave Monica an A rating in a review of a released video recording by Connaisseur Video Collection. Review concluded: ‘This is one of the director’s rare movies of which it can truly be said: hubba, hubba.’ In France the release of Sommaren med Monika in 1954 as ‘Le sac du douchage’ or ‘Monique ou le désir’ led to a lively press debate after Cahiers du cinéma, no. 36 (1954), p. 45, had termed it ‘the most erotic film since Gustav Machaty’s L’Extase’. Four years later Monika was shown on a commercial rerun in Paris and received overwhelming support by Jean-Luc Godard (Arts, 30 July-5 August 1958, p. 6), who termed it the cinematic event of the year: ‘You must dash to the Cinéma Panthéon as you dashed to the van Gogh exhibit. Monica is the most original picture by the most original of filmmakers.’ In an extensive analysis of Monika in Image et son, no. 205, 1967, pp. 113-120, Hubert Arnault suggests that the tremendous critical success of the film on its second round in France depended on its combination of two features dear to French cineastes at the time: the exoticism of the Nordic summer and the handheld cinéma-verité camera, which anticipated the nouvelle vague by several years. François Truffaut includes a poster reference to Monika in his film Les 400 coups (The 400 Blows). In England, the realism of Monika resulted in a glowing response from I. Quigly, usually a severe Bergman critic. See Spectator, 19 December 1957, pp. 88-89. In (West) Germany, the Film und Mode Revue, no. 19, 1953, called many scenes in the film too constructed and excessive but saw in Bergman’s filmmaking the work of ‘a personality with whom every film fan should get acquainted.’
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 10 February 1953; BLM no. 3 (March 1953): 233-34; Perspektiv IV, no. 3 (March 1953): 129-30; Teatern, no. 2 (February 1953): 6.
Foreign Reviews Arts, 30 July – 5 August 1958, p. 6; Godard review appeared in English in Godard on Godard (ed. J. Narboni, T. Milne). London: Secker & Warburg, 1972, pp. 84-85; Bianco e nero, no. 11-12 (November-December 1961): 82-85; Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 36 (1954): 50; and no. 85 (July 1958): 11; Critisch Film Bulletin 12, no. 10 (1959): 78; Film und Mode Revue, no. 19, 1953; Films and Filming 5, no. 5 (February 1959): 25; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 24 February 1956; Monthly Film Bulletin, February 1959, p. 16.
See also G. Allombert, Image et son, no. 122-123 (May-June 1959), pp. 19-20 (in special issue on the portrayal of adolescence in the cinema); Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 72-79; Sw.ed. 76-80; Cahiers du cinéma 14, no. 84 (June 1958): 11; Der frühe Bergman (Ø 1326), pp. 187-195; Image et son, 1967 (Ø 1233), pp 21-24; ‘Mabuse’ (Stockholm Film Festival program), August 1992, p. 5 (interview with Harriet Andersson); SF program, 1953, 11 pp.; Svensk filmografi, 1950-1959 (Ø 1314), pp. 267-270;
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record SVT, channel 1, 17 November 1990 (five minute introduction to TV showing of film by Ulrika Knutsson and Maaret Koskinen).
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GYCKLARNAS AFTON, 1953 [The Naked Night/Sawdust and Tinsel], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
The Swedish word gycklare is often used by Ingmar Bergman in its original medieval sense of an itinerant performer. Gycklare were people who used to entertain the public with gyckelspel at fairs and in market places. It is likely that Bergman intended the title of his film to refer to circus performers as a collective group. John Simon’s English translation ‘The Clown’s Evening’ in his book Ingmar Bergman Directs (pp. 50-105) seems to point to the single character of Frost. American distribution title The Naked Night has a certain relevance probably not intended by its original distributor: Film depicts a night of unmasking when circus owner Albert Johansson is deprived of professional dignity and faces personal despair. Visually, this is a night film, with dawn, twilight and darkness enveloping its main characters from the opening shot to the final vignette. British title, Sawdust and Tinsel, is a more direct reference to the film’s circus milieu. Most misleading foreign title is the Italian one: Una vampata d’amore.
Synopsis Gycklarnas afton opens with a bleak shot of Circus Alberti arriving in a small Swedish town at the turn of the last century. The owner, Albert Johansson, wakes up in his cramped wagon, walks outside and climbs up next to the coachman, Jens. The film’s only flashback follows as Jens tells the story of Frost the Clown and his wife Alma. One summer seven years earlier, Alma went swimming in the nude before a group of soldiers on artillery practice. When notified, Frost sheds his clown suit and carries Alma out of the water and back to the circus. The flashback sequence is an overexposed white-out, and the diegetic sound effects – the jeering laughter of the soldiers and the firing of the cannons – have a surreal quality. The sequence has no dialogue but is accompanied by Karl Birger Blomdahl’s modernistic music. The humiliation of Frost and Alma is soon to be felt by Albert and his mistress, Anne. Setting out in their Sunday best to borrow costumes for their dilapidated circus from the repertory theatre in town, they face the ridicule of Mr. Sjuberg, the theatre’s manager. Later Albert leaves the circus to visit his wife, who operates a small store in town with the help of their two young boys. Albert pleads with her to take him back but is rebuffed and pitied. As he leaves his wife, he sees Anne exit from a pawn shop. She has been visiting Frans, an actor in the repertory theatre, who has made love to her in his dressing-room and given her a worthless trinket in return. Back in the circus wagon, Albert vents his frustration on Anne, but is interrupted by Frost who arrives with a bottle. Both men get drunk. Albert takes out his pistol and threatens Frost, who tells him to shoot Alma’s sick bear instead. Suddenly, Albert tumbles ouside; his mood changes. He orders the circus tent raised. He and Frost sing a popular broadsheet song. The theatre company has been invited to the circus performance. Frans and the audience taunt Anne during her performance as a Spanish equestrienne until she falls off her horse. With his long riding whip Albert flips off Frans’s hat. In an ensuing fight, Frans kicks sawdust in Albert’s eyes until he is like an enraged, blinded animal. Anne intervenes, and Albert is carried out. Back in his trailer, he takes out his pistol and shoots his own image in the mirror. Then he walks outside to the cage that houses Alma’s bear. Despite her protestations, he kills the animal. Afterwards he goes to the stables to seek the company of the horses.
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Chapter IV Filmography The next day the circus is on the road again at early dawn. Albert walks beside Frost who relates a dream he has had: he became smaller and smaller until he was only a seed in Alma’s womb and then he disappeared altogether. Frost goes into his wagon to join Alma. Albert and Anne come together alongside the circus wagon. Without a word they walk off towards another day.
Credits Production company Executive producer Production manager Director Screenplay Photography Architect Sound Music Costumes Make-up Editor Continuity
Sandrews Rune Waldekranz Lars-Owe Carlberg Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Hilding Bladh, Göran Strindberg and Sven Nykvist Bibi Lindström Olle Jakobsson Karl-Birger Blomdahl Mago (Max Goldstein) Nils Nittel, Sture Höglund wig shop Carl-Olov Skeppstedt Marianne Axelsson
Cast Anne Albert Johansson Frans Teodor Frost Alma, his wife Agda, Albert’s wife Mr. Sjuberg, theatre director Jens, the coachman Dwarf Officer Blom, stage manager Mrs. Ekberg, circus musician Mrs. Ekberg’s son Aunt Asta, circus performer Albert and Agda’s oldest son Little Albert, their youngest son Policeman ‘Beautiful Anton’, circus performer Tightrope dancer Fager, circus performer Mrs. Fager, circus performer Mrs. Meijer, circus performer Theatre actors Meijer, circus performer Uncle Greve, circus performer Mrs. Tanti, circus performer Policeman
Harriet Andersson Åke Grönberg Hasse Ekman Anders Ek Gudrun Brost Annika Tretow Gunnar Björnstrand Erik Strandmark Kiki (Otto Moskowitz) Åke Fridell Curt Löwgren Majken Torkeli Vanje Hedberg Hanny Schedin Göran Lundquist Mats Hådell Eric Gustafson Michael Fant Julie Bernby Conrad Gyllenhammar Mona Sylwan Naemi Briese Lissi Alandh, Karl-Axel Forsberg, Olav Riégo, John Starck, Erna Groth, Agda Helin Sigvard Törnqvist John W. Björling Gunborg Larsson Gunnar Lindberg
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Filmed on location in Arild, southern Sweden, at Kullaberg and Ystad, in the Gävle City Theatre, and at Sandrews’s Studios, Gärdet, Stockholm, beginning spring 1953 and completed in early summer 1953. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Sandrew-Baumanfilm Times Film Corporation/Janus Films 92 minutes 11 September 1953 14 September 1953, Grand (Stockholm) 9 April 1956, Little Carnegie, NYC
Commentary Bergman writes about the genesis of the film in Bilder (1990), pp. 184-88. The script of Gycklarnas afton was serialized as a novella in Swedish magazine Allers Familjejournal, nos. 40-44, 1960, illustrated with photographs from the film. Producer Rune Waldekranz has given an account of the origin of the film in an article titled ‘Birgit Tengroth svek men plötsligt stod Ingmar Bergman där med sina gycklare’ [Birgit T. failed but suddenly Bergman was there with his jesters], Kulturens värld no. 4 (November 1995): 50-57. Waldekranz had tried earlier to engage Bergman for a film project with Sandrews but had lost out to SF (see Commentary to Törst, Ø 211). Bergman still felt obliged to make a film for Sandrews, and a few years later he proposed his script, Gycklarnas afton. Though he expected no immediate box office success, Waldekranz persuaded his boss, Anders Sandrew, to produce the film. The film is shot by three different cinematographers. During the shooting, Göran Strindberg had to make a study trip to Hollywood to learn the new cinemascope technique. Sven Nykvist was proposed as his substitute. Nykvist passed Bergman’s test and eventually won his approval. Cinematographer Hilding Bladh shot the flashback sequence; Göran Strindberg shot the outdoor scenes and most indoor scenes; Nykvist shot scenes in the circus tent. This film marks the first time that Mago (Max Goldstein) worked as Bergman’s costumier.
Reception The Schreiber Circus in Örebro, Sweden, accused Ingmar Bergman of giving circuses a bad reputation by showing ‘pornographic trash in which the female circus artists are depicted as prostitutes’[en pornografisk smörja i vilken kvinnliga cirkusartister porträtteras som prostituerade]. See Örebro Dagblad, 29 September 1953, p. 1. Robin Hood in ‘Filmskott’, ST, 20 September, p. 4, discussed the mixed response to Gycklarnas afton. Critical reactions oscillated from enthusiasm to abusive remarks. The most notorious review was by Filmson [Sven Jan Hanson] in AB, 15 September 1953, p. 11: ‘I am of the opinion that one should not defecate in public even if one has a lot to get rid of – unless one can sublimate one’s miseries like August Strindberg’. [Jag anser att man helst bör undvika att orena offentligt även om man har mycket att bli av med, såvida man inte som en August Strindberg kan sublimera sitt elände.] Other negative assessments were made by Viveca Heyman in Beklädnadsfolket, no. 7, 1956, p. 12, and by I. Olsson in Lantarbetaren, no. 5, 1956, p. 17. By contrast, Nils Beyer, MT (Stockholm), same date, p. 7, called Gycklarnas afton Ingmar Bergman’s best film. Generally, the film got better reviews in the press outside Stockholm. Sandrews issued a program to Gycklarnas afton (no. 106, n.d., 8 pp.), with credits, excerpts from Swedish reviews, and presentation of leading actor Åke Grönberg. An English version is available at SFI archives, but contains only credits and plot synopsis.
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Chapter IV Filmography Foreign Response Bergman visited Oslo and Bergen in connection with the Norwegian opening of the film. He became upset over Norwegian cuts. See Bergen Morgenavis, 18 March 1954, p. 1. Norwegian censor Bernt A. Nissen claimed that only two meters had been cut beyond the 25 meters already omitted by Swedish censors. In both cases, the cuts were from the fight in the circus arena and from Albert’s suicide attempt. Variety, 8 February 1956, p. 6, presented The Naked Night as ‘a controversial Swedish import with stress on sex and morbidity’. This view was echoed in Newsweek, 23 April 1956, p. 53, and New York Herald Tribune, 10 April 1956, p. 20, where W. Zinsser wrote: ‘The Naked Night... is a rueful tale. The climate is cold and drizzly, everybody is seething with passion and remorse.’ The review in NYT, 10 April 1956, p. 27: 5, was devastating, calling the film an offensive imitation of the worst aspects of cinematic expressionism, referring in particular to the flashback sequence of Frost and Alma in the beginning of film. In retrospect, Gycklarnas afton, which at first was only appreciated in cineast circles in Latin America, has become an Ingmar Bergman classic, winning several awards (see below, Awards). Cahiers du cinéma, no. 77 (December 1957), pp. 48-50, dubbed La nuit des forains a remarkable auteur film, and in 1958, Télé-Ciné published a special issue on the film (no. 73, fiche 324, pp. 112), including a discussion of Bergman’s use of the circus as an emblem of life. In November 1961, Danish Film Museum issued a five-page program on Gycklarnas afton, comparing it to Dupont’s Variété. Film a soggetto, Centro S. Fedelle dello Spettaculo, Milan, 4 February 1965, 10 pp., is an Italian fact sheet on Vampata d’amore, listing openings worldwide, credits, review excerpts, plot synopsis, and a bibliography.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 12 September 1953; BLM 22, no. 8 (October 1953): 638-639; Perspektiv 5, no. 8 (October 1953): 380-381; Teatern 20, no. 4 (1953): 13-14.
Foreign Reviews Arts, 15-22 October 1957 (Eric Rohmer); Bianco e nero, February-March 1961, pp. 121-127; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 77 (December 1957) and no. 85 (July 1958), pp. 11-12; Cinema Nuovo, no. 144 (March-April 1962), pp. 154-155; Films and Filming 1, no. 11 (August 1955): 18; Filmkritik, no. 1 (January) 1959, pp. 10-14; Filmkritik Jahrbuch 2 (1960): 3-5; Le Monde, 31 October 1957; Monthly Film Bulletin, June 1955, p. 83; NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, p. 2919; Positif, no. 27 (February 1958), pp. 38-41; Revista de cinema, no. 22 (April-May 1956), pp. 10-13.
Longer articles/discussions Doorman, Joseph. ‘The Naked Night’. Film Notes (Wisconsin Film Society), 1960, pp. 102-105; Holmer, Per. ‘Förnedringsmotiv i femtiotalsfilmen’ [Humiliation motifs in Fifties film]. Svensk filmografi, 1950-1959, pp. 302-308; Ramseger, Georg. ‘Ein Film der uns den Atem verschlägt’. Die Welt, 6 December 1958;
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Schildt, Jurgen. ‘Den allvarsamma leken’ [The serious game]. Perspektiv IV, no. 8, 1953: 380-382. Schildt’s review article recognizes Bergman’s visual talent, but the script is said to be full of trite statements about art and life. This view of Bergman as a gifted image maker but a poor writer represents a very common view of him among Swedish commentators in the 1940s and 1950s; Simon, John. Offers the most extensive (and also the finest) analysis of the film in his book Ingmar Bergman Directs, pp. 50-105, and in his collection of reviews Private Screenings, pp. 17-18; Wolf, S. ‘Abend der Gaukler’. Praktische Hinweise für die Jugenfilmarbeit: Filmbesprechungen, n.d., 12 p. With credits and a presentation of film as one of several Bergman movies selected for young people.
See also Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 81-96; Etudes cinématographiques 1, no. 1-2 (1960): 109-114; Film Culture no. 29 (Summer 1963): 23-24; Filmorientering (Norw. Film Inst.) no. 2 (December 1960); Der frühe Bergman (Ø 1326), pp. 197-213; German program to Abend der Gaukler (Göttingen: Walter Kircher Filmkunst) 1959, 12 pp.; Image et son no. 125 (November) 1959: i-xi (special supplement 17), and no. 226 (March) 1969: 24-28; Kosmorama no. 137, 1978, pp. 51-54; Svensk Filmografi (Ø 1314), 1950-59, pp. 302-05.
Awards 1954: 1957: 1958: 1959: 1999:
221.
First prize in Montevideo Film Festival, 1954; L’Etoile du Cristal de L’Académie du Cinéma, Paris; Gold Plaque in Buenos Aires Film Festival; Highest quality rating by the West German Classification Board; German Film Critics Award for Best Direction, Frankfurt am Main. Second Prize by Polish Film Critics’ Society; Listed in Swedish Filmrutan survey as one of the ten best Swedish films of the century.
EN LEKTION I KÄRLEK, 1954 [A Lesson in Love], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis As the credits roll across the screen, an ironic voice announces: ‘This is a comedy that could have been a tragedy.’ The plot of En lektion i kärlek begins with a bet made by two men about a woman with whom they share a train compartment. One of the men is David Erneman, a gynecologist; the woman, unknown to the viewer, is his wife Marianne. David and Marianne have been married for 16 years. David is having an affair with his former patient, Suzanne. In a series of flashbacks we see the development of their relationship, from their first romantic summer together to a farcical episode when Marianne surprises them in bed at a tourist inn. David has now broken off his affair and tries to regain Marianne’s love. He pursues her on the train to Copenhagen where she is scheduled to meet her lover Carl-Adam, to whom she was once engaged. It is at this point in the film that the bet occurs.
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Chapter IV Filmography Another flashback gives us a glimpse of the first encounter between David and Marianne, which ocurred in Copenhagen. David was sent by Carl-Adam to fetch Marianne, who was a tardy bride-to-be. David and Marianne fell in love. In a farcical scene, a powerless pastor has to witness how all the ceremonious preparations for the wedding are smashed to pieces. Two flashbacks on the train focus on David’s family. In the first, he is walking on the beach with his 15-year-old daughter Nix, who reveals her disgust with the erotic interests of her friends and with her parent’s extramarital affairs. David responds by telling Nix of his boredom. The next flashback takes place a year before the present events on the train. It is an early summer morning in the country home of David’s parents, Henrik and Svea Erneman. It is Henrik’s seventy-third birthday; his children and grandchildren serve him morning coffee in bed. Later in the day they all go on a traditional automobile excursion. Nix talks to her grandfather about her fear of death. In the evening there is a dance at which the mutual trust of the older Erneman couple becomes a lesson to David and Marianne. The film ends in Copenhagen. Marianne decides not to pursue her relationships with CarlAdam. She and David check into a hotel room where Cupid himself hangs a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door. A cherub comes through the hotel corridor, turns the sign, and opens the door. David and Marianne are seen sitting on the bed, toasting in champagne. When the door is closed, the text on the turned sign reads: ‘Silence! A Lesson in Love’.
Credits Production company Production manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architect Props Sound Music Orchestration Make-up Editor Continuity
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Ingmar Bergman Rolf Carlsten Ingmar Bergman Martin Bodin P.A. Lundgren Gustaf Roger Sven Hansen Dag Wirén Eskil Eckert-Lundin Carl M. Lundh, Inc. Oscar Rosander Birgit Norlindh, Bente Munk
Cast Marianne Erneman Eva Dahlbeck David Erneman Gunnar Björnstrand Suzanne Verin, his ‘affair’ Yvonne Lombard Nix, Erneman’s daughter Harriet Andersson Carl-Adam, Marianne’s former fiance Åke Grönberg Henrik Erneman, grandfather Olof Winnerstrand Svea Erneman, grandmother Renée Björling Lise, maid Birgitte Reimer Sam, chauffeur John Elfström Lisa, nurse Dagmar Ebbesen Traveling salesman Helge Hagerman Pastor Sigge Fürst Train conductor Gösta Prüzelius Uncle Axel, potter Carl Ström
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Hotel manager Jönsson, hotel clerk Bartender Wedding guests
Dancer at cabaret in Copenhagen Pelle, Marianne and David’s son Hotel maid Clarinet player at cabaret Man looking for his wife at cabaret Young men at cabaret Taxi driver in Copenhagen Piano player at cabaret Bellboy
Arne Lindblad Torsten Lilliecrona Georg Adelly Julie Bernby, Wera Lindby, Henning Blanck, Olof Ekbladh, Gustaf Färingborg, Kaj Hjelm, Vincent Jonasson, Georg Skarstedt, Bengt Thörnhammar Yvonne Brosset Göran Lundquist Margareta Öhman Torbjörn ‘Tompa’ Jahn John Starck Kjell Nordenskiöld, Tor Åhman Tor Borong Mats Olsson Björn Näslund
Filmed at Filmstaden (Råsunda), in Copenhagen (Nyhavn), on the Malmö-Copenhagen ferry, in Hälsingborg, Arild, Ramlösa, Pålsjöskog, the Mjölby train station, Beatelund, and Saltsjöbaden, beginning 30 July 1953 and completed 16 September 1953. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Swedish premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Janus 94 minutes 23 August 1954 4 October 1954, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 14 March 1960, Murry Hill Theatre, NYC
Commentary Ingmar Bergman appears briefly in the train sequence, reading a newspaper. Bergman writes about the film in Bilder/Images, 1990, p. 342. The script of En lektion i kärlek was serialized as a novella in Swedish magazine Allers Familjejournal, nos. 6-10/1960, illustrated with photographs from the film.
Reception En lektion i kärlek was Ingmar Bergman’s first popular success in Sweden. AB called the film ‘capricious and entertaining’; DN termed it an ‘unpretentious’ film combining joie de vivre and esprit; ST referred to it as a spontaneous and visually conceived comedy bubbling over with fresh ideas and dialogue. But SvD termed the film a disappointment after the more subtle ‘woman’s film’ Kvinnors väntan. Several months later Hanserik Hjertén in Arbetaren (4 January 1955, p. 4) questioned an earlier statement by film critic Marianne Höök in Vecko-Journalen (no. 44, 1954) that Ingmar Bergman was a genius in depicting women. The film was not distributed in U.S. until 1960, in the aftermath of such major Bergman successes as Sjunde inseglet/The Seventh Seal, Smultronsstället/Wild Strawberries, and Ansiktet/ The Magician/The Face. Perhaps inevitably, this made it seem a minor work. Films in Review, February 1960, p. 103, called it ‘pointless adolescent tom-foolery’ and Film Quarterly, no. 4 (Summer 1960), pp. 52-53, did not find ‘Bergman doing a turn of Ernst Lubitsch [...] very funny’. New York Herald Tribune, 15 March 1960, p. 15, voiced a rare appreciation: ‘[It is] like Schopenhauer giggling. It is enough to make one want to learn the language.’ Télé-Ciné, no. 95 (April 1961) published a fiche on the film (no. 380), 11 pp. Image et son, no. 214 (March 1968), pp. 173-178 contains a longer analysis of film.
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Chapter IV Filmography Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 5 October 1954; BLM 23, no. 9 (November 1954): 762; FIB no. 43 (1954), p. 47; Perspektiv no. 2 (1955), p. 78; Vecko-Journalen no. 44 (1954), p. 16.
Foreign Reviews Cahiers du cinéma no. 85 (July 1958), p. 12 and no. 103, pp. 58-60; Cinéma 60, no. 43 (February 1960): 121-123; Filmfacts 1 April 1960, pp. 53-54; Filmkritik no. 2 (1963), p. 95 and no. 3 (1963), pp. 133-4; Image et son no. 126 (October 1959), pp. 18-9; Monthly Film Bulletin June 1959, p. 68; New Republic, 25 April 1960, p. 20; New York Times, 15 March 1960, p. 46; NYT Film Reviews 1913-1968, p. 3178; Positif, no. 17 (June-July 1956): 51-53; (part of a presentation of Scandinavian film in Paris); Variety, 4 Nov 1959, p. 7.
See also Arts, 16-23 December 1959, p. 7; Atlas Filmheft, no. 14 (1960); Cahiers du cinéma, no. 74 (August-September 1957), p. 26; Image et son, no. 226 (March) 1969: 28-29; Kosmorama, no. 137, 1978, pp. 34-35; SF program in Swedish and English, 1954, 5 pp.; Svensk filmografi, 1950-1959 (Ø 1314) pp. 384-87.
Awards 1955: 1963:
222.
Punta del Este Festival Award; Unspecified award at Film Comedy Festival in Vienna.
KVINNODRÖM, 1955 [Dreams/Journey into Autumn], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
The American title, Dreams, ignores that this is a film about women. The British title, Journey into Autumn, is hardly applicable to one of the main charachters, Doris, a teenage model. Neither title, however, is as offensive as the Argentine one: Confeción des pecadores.
Synopsis Kvinnodröm begins and ends in a fashion photographer’s studio in Stockholm; the rest of the film takes place in Göteborg, where the main characters, fashion designer Susanne and her model Doris, travel on business. Opening sequence is silent and tense. Doris is getting ready for the photographer. Only the drumming fingers of Magnus, an obese businessman and fashion director, can be heard. Susanne’s tension continues on the train trip to Göteborg. In a wordless sequence (the only sound being that of the train’s wheels) Susanne fights an impulse to commit suicide. Her struggle is reflected in quick images of her face against a rain-swept train window.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Arriving in Göteborg, Susanne and Doris go their separate ways. The plot follows two tracks, one involving Susanne and her attempt to get her lover Henrik Lobelius, a businessman, to make a commitment to her; the other depicting Doris and her brief encounter with a much older man, Consul Sönderby. The dreams of the two women are thus revealed: Susanne wants to get married and have children; Doris wants to be rich and live the life of a movie star. Henrik Lobelius arrives at Susanne’s hotel room. Preoccupied with his faltering business, he admits his economic dependence upon his wife. When Mrs. Lobelius arrives unexpectedly, Susanne realizes that Henrik will never seek a divorce. In a parallel episode, we follow Doris’s excursions in the city. Consul Sönderby buys her clothes and jewellery. They go to an amusement park where a roller coaster ride brings out the age difference between them. Returning to the Consul’s villa, Doris gets tipsy on champagne and reveals her completely materialistic dreams. Sönderby’s motives are also self-centered: he wishes to rejuvenate himself through Doris, who reminds him of his dead wife. Their fantasies are interrupted by Sönderby’s cold and offensive daughter. Doris decides to leave without the gifts bestowed upon her by the Consul. Back in Stockholm, Susanne receives a letter from Henrik Lobelius, suggesting that they continue their clandestine affair. Susanne tears up the letter. Doris returns to her former boyfriend, Palle, a young student. Both women seek solace from their ruptured dreams through hard work.
Credits Production company Executive producer Production manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architect Props Sound Make-up Editor Continuity
Sandrews Rune Waldekranz Lars-Owe Carlberg Ingmar Bergman Hans Abramson Ingmar Bergman Hilding Bladh Gittan Gustafsson Sven Björling Olle Jakobsson Sture Höglund Carl-Olov Skeppstedt Katherina Faragó
Cast Susanne Frank Doris Consul Otto Sönderby Henrik Lobelius Marta, his wife Palle Palt Magnus, fashion director Marianne, Sönderby’s daughter Mrs. Arén Mrs. Berger Women aides in fashion studio Ferdinand Sundström, photographer in Göteborg Sundström’s aides
Eva Dahlbeck Harriet Andersson Gunnar Björnstrand Ulf Palme Inga Landgré Sven Lindberg Benkt-Åke Benktsson Kerstin Hedeby-Pawlo Naima Wifstrand Renée Björling Git Gay, Gunhild Kjellqvist Ludde Gentzel Maud Hyttenberg, Folke Åström
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Chapter IV Filmography Sundström’s assistant photographer Make-up girl Fanny Katja Fashion photographer Photographer in Stockholm Model Mr. Barse, jeweler Hotel clerk Man at Liseberg Shop assistant at café Taxi driver Ladies in a café
Curt Kärrby Jessie Flaws Marianne Nielsen Siv Ericks Bengt Schött Axel Düberg Viola Sundberg Tord Stål Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt Richard Mattson Inga Gill Per-Erik Åström Ninni Arpe, Margareta Bergström, Elsa Hofgren, Millan Lyxell, Inga Rosqvist, Greta Stave, Ella Welander, Gerd Widestedt
Filmed at Sandrews Studios, Stockholm, beginning 15 June 1954 and completed 4 August 1954 (additional takes in February 1955). Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Sandrew-Bauman Film Janus Films, Inc. 86 minutes 28 May 1955 22 August, Grand (Stockholm) 31 May 1960, Fith Ave. Cinema, NYC
Bergman appears briefly in train corridor during Susanne’s and Doris’s journey to Göteborg.
Commentary The role of the Consul (Sönderby) was written by Bergman for the actor Anders Henrikson, who, however, refused to work with Bergman. Instead, the part went to Gunnar Björnstrand. Reportage from filming Kvinnodröm by Arne Sellermark appeared in Allers, no. 35 (1954), pp. 6-7, 37-38, with statements by Ingmar Bergman about his views on women and how to depict them on the screen.
Reception Bergman’s Kvinnodröm had been rumored to be a continuation of his rose-colored period. It was a term used by reviewers for such films as Kvinnors väntan and En lektion i kärlek, with reference to French playwright Jean Anouilh’s division of his own plays into pièces noires and pièces roses. But Marianne Höök (Vecko-Journalen, no. 36, 1955, p. 14) found Kvinnordröm to be a dark and brooding film. To her, it confirmed Bergman’s strength in depicting women. However, B. Ehrén in Ny Dag, 23 August 1955, p. 3, objected to Bergman’s female portraits, calling them ‘a sexist presentation’. This typifies a divided critical view that was to surface many times during Bergman’s career, up to and including Herbstsonate (1978, Autumn Sonata). See group entry (Ø 975). In France Kvinnodröm/Rêve des femmes was shown in early fall of 1958 during the peak of the Ingmar Bergman vogue. It was reviewed by Eric Rohmer in both Cahiers du cinéma, no. 89 (November), pp. 46-49, and Arts, 15-22 October, n.p. Rohmer called Bergman a truly international filmmaker. Télé-Ciné no. 80 (January-February 1959) published a fiche (no. 342), 11 pp., on the film.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Kvinnodröm was discussed extensively in the Argentinian press during the summer of 1959, but was considered a minor film. See Buenos Aires El Pueblo, 17 June 1959 (SFI clipping). U.S. reception of Dreams, released out of sequence in the 1960s, echoed the Latin American evaluation.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 23 August 1955; BLM no. 7 (1955), p. 567; FIB no. 38 (1955), p. 42; Perspektiv no. 10 (1955), pp. 465-466; Teatern no. 3 (1955), p. 6; Vecko-Journalen no. 36 (1955), p. 14; Vi no. 35 (1955), p. 23.
Foreign Reviews Bianco e nero, February-March 1961, pp. 120-127; Cahiers du cinéma no. 85 (July 1958), pp. 12-13, and no. 89 (November 1958): 46-49; Cinéma 58, no. 32 (January 1958), p. 114; Films and Filming 5, no. 12 (September 1959): 22-23; Filmfacts 15 July 1960, pp. 143-144; Filmkritik no. 9 (1963), pp. 426-428; Image et son no. 118 (January 1959), p. 17; Monthly Film Bulletin, August 1959, pp. 100-101; New York Times, 1 June 1960, p. 42: 1; NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, pp. 3192-3193; New York Herald Tribune, same date, p. 20; Positif no. 30, (July 1959); Time 13 June 1960, p. 67; Variety, 19 November 1958, p. 6.
See also Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 44-45; Sw.ed., 102-104; Dansk Film Museum program, January 1965, 4 pp; Filmorientering (NFI), no. 34 (April 1962), 4 pp; Image et son, no. 226 (March) 1969: 29-31; Kauffmann, A World of Film (Ø 1011), pp. 279-280; Musikern, no. 9 (1954), p. 5; Sandrews’ program no. 134, 22 August 1955 (also in English); Svensk filmografi, 1950-1959 (Ø 1314), pp. 456-459.
223.
SOMMARNATTENS LEENDE, 1955 [Smiles of the Summer Night], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis Sommarnattens leende is an erotic masque set in southern Sweden in 1901. The action takes place in the Egerman household; in the local theatre and the lodgings of Desirée Armfeldt, an actress; and at the Ryarp manor house owned by her mother. The various tours of love matching create an intricate plot pattern and represent the three smiles of the summer night.
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Chapter IV Filmography Anne Egerman, virgin wife of middle-aged lawyer Fredrik Egerman, rebuffs her husband’s physical advances. Fredrik goes to visit his former mistress Desirée Armfeldt, falls in a puddle of water and borrows a nightshirt and cap belonging to Desirée’s current lover, Count Malcolm. A young child appears, and the astounded Fredrik learns that he is the father. Soon afterwards, Count Malcolm makes a stormy entrance. Jealous charges and countercharges follow. Early the next morning Desirée persuades her aged mother to arrange a party on her estate. The Malcolms and the Egermans, including Fredrik’s adult son Henrik, a student of theology, are to be invited. In the meantime, Count Malcolm has hinted to his wife Charlotte that Fredrik Egerman is an intimate friend of Desirée Armfeldt. Charlotte conveys this information to Anne Egerman during a visit, but Anne proudly declares that she is already aware of her husband’s liaison. Henrik Egerman is approached by Petra, the maid, but wards off her advances while quoting the Scriptures. Anne and Henrik are attracted to each other. At the gathering at Ryarp, old Mrs. Armfeldt serves a love potion at dinner. Fredrik Egerman notices Anne’s tender feelings for Henrik. Charlotte Malcolm, having made a bet with her husband, tries to seduce Henrik. Henrik is upset over the cynical conversation at the dinner table and leaves. Later he tries to commit suicide, but his attempt ends in a surprise. Planning to hang himself from a damper, he accidentally touches off a mechanism on the wall. Bells begin to chime and the bed in an adjoining room comes rolling into Henrik’s room. In the bed lies Anne, asleep. Later that night the two elope with the willing assistance of Petra, while Fredrik Egerman, without their knowledge, watches from a distance. To defend his honor, Count Malcolm has challenged Fredrik Egerman to a game of Russian roulette in a pavillion on the estate’s park grounds. The lawyer is the unlucky player who ends up shooting himself. Outside, Charlotte and Desirée are waiting. Suddenly, Fredrik Egerman stumbles out, black in the face; the pistol was loaded with soot. Charlotte is reconciled with her husband, and Fredrik Egerman, sad and lonely, returns to Desirée, which was the scheme set up by the actress and her mother. The film ends with the sun rising over the summer night. Petra, the maid, and Frid, the groom, are seen romping in the hay.
Credits Production company Production manager Location manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architect Props Sound Music arrangement Orchestration Music
Costumes Make-up
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Gustav Roger Ingmar Bergman Lennart Olsson Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Fischer P.A. Lundgren Ove Kant P.O. Pettersson Erik Nordgren Eskil Eckert-Lundin Robert Schumann, ‘Aufschwung Opus 12’ Frédéric Chopin, ‘Fantasie-Impromptu Opus 66’ Franz Liszt, ‘Liebestraum Opus 62, no. 3’ ‘Bort med sorg och bitterhet’ (Text: Ingmar Bergman) ‘Freut euch des Lebens’ (sung by Eva Dahlbeck) Mago (Max Goldstein) Carl M. Lundh, Inc.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Editor Continuity
Oscar Rosander Katarina (Katherina) Faragó
Cast Desirée Armfeldt Fredrik Egerman Anne Egerman Henrik Egerman Old Mrs. Armfeldt Petra Count Malcolm Charlotte Malcolm Frid Beata, the cook Malla, Desirée’s maid Actresses Desirée’s son Niklas, Malcolm’s aide Butler Dresser Adolf Almgren, photograper Mrs. Almgren Policeman Maids to old Mrs. Armfeldt Dinner guest Notary Tobacconist Actor Curtain puller Servants Mrs. Armfeldt’s butler Aide at lawyer’s office Clerks at lawyer’s office
Eva Dahlbeck Gunnar Björnstrand Ulla Jacobsson Björn Bjelfvenstam Naima Wifstrand Harriet Andersson Jarl Kulle Margit Carlqvist Åke Fridell Jullan Kindahl Gull Natorp Birgitta Valberg, Bibi Andersson Anders Wulff Gunnar Nielsen Gösta Prüzelius Svea Holst Hans Strååt Lisa Lundholm Sigge Fürst Lena Söderholm, Mona Malm Josef Norman Börje Mellvig David Erikson Arne Lindblad Einar Söderbäck Sten Gester, Mille Schmidt John Melin Ulf Johanson Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt, Georg Adelly [cut]
Filmed on location at Jordberga estate in Skåne (southern Sweden) and at Råsunda Studios, Stockholm, beginning 28 June 1955 and completed 29 August 1955, plus two days in November 1955. Distribution U.S. Distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Bank Film Distributors of America 108 min, British version 104 min 14 December 1955 26 December 1955, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 23 December 1957, Sutton, NYC
Ingmar Bergman appears briefly as a bookkeeper at Egerman’s legal office in a scene that was cut from the final version of the film.
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Chapter IV Filmography Commentary The script of Sommarnattens leende was serialized as a novella in Swedish magazine Allers Familjejournal, nos. 16-20/1960, illustrated with photographs from the film. The script is included in an English translation in Four Screenplays by Ingmar Bergman (Ø 110). Reportage from filming Sommarnattens leende appeared in ST 31 July 1955, p. 9. Bergman writes briefly about it in Bilder/Images (1990), pp. 345-46. Assistant director Lennart Olsson kept a two-volume diary during the shooting of Sommarnattens leende (deposited in SFI Library). See also KvP 27 January 1974, Sec. 2, p. 16, for Olsson’s account of filming: ‘Bergman was like a thundering cloud’ [Bergman var som ett åskmoln]. Olsson’s diary is a detailed, rather dull day-to-day recording of Bergman’s production, and lacks the element of personal involvement evident in Vilgot Sjöman’s record of the shooting of Nattvardsgästerna/Winter Light, some years later (see Ø 1100). Arne Sellermark interviewed Bergman during the shooting of Sommarnattens leende: ‘Tre nattliga leenden’ [Three nightly smiles]. Filmnyheter 10, no. 19-20, 1955: 4-7, 10. Bergman states his satisfaction with having found an expressive comedy form. In yet another Sellermark interview article, titled ‘Är han tyrannregissör?’ [Is he a tyrant director?], Vecko-Journalen, no. 41 (15 October) 1955, pp. 26-29, Bergman reveals that he got the idea for Sommarnattens leende from his Malmö staging of Lehar’s operetta The Merry Widow. He also states that the film could have been a tragedy but that he chose the comedy form as better suited for a costume film. In February 1973, a musical by Steven Sondheim titled A Little Night Music based on Bergman’s Sommarnattens leende opened in New York. Swedish premiere took place in Göteborg’s Stora Teatern on 11 January 1974. A Little Night Music was in turn made into a movie, directed by Harold Prince and starring, among others, Elizabeth Taylor.
Reception Reception of Sommarnattens leende was very favorable. Bergman supporter Nils Beyer considered it one of the best Swedish films ever. His review is important since it recognized Bergman as an auteur before the term became fashionable. Nevertheless, Sommarnattens leende elicited a rather intense negative press debate after the jury in FIB (Folket i Bild) gave the film several awards (Best direction, Best script, Best film, Best actor, and Best supporting actor). Hanserik Hjertén wrote an open letter to Ingmar Bergman in Expr., 3 February 1956, p. 4, charging him with pornography. Bergman was asked to respond, and did so with a limerick (same date): Det var en gång en sköka uti Mykene Skicklig och vacker, nota bene Som hade som sin gäst Stadens överstepräst Men allt är ju rent för de rene.
[There once was a broad in Mykene Clever and beautiful, nota bene Who had as her guest The City’s high priest But then, all is pure to the pure]
Hjertén persisted; in an article titled ‘Bergmanfallet eller sommarnattens falska leende’ [The Bergman Case or the False Smile of the Summer Night], Filmfront 4, no. 1 (1956), pp. 4-5, he accused Bergman of making egocentric and hysterial films. In the meantime Olof Lagercrantz, influential editor of Stockholm paper DN had jumped on the bandwagon with an editorial protest (‘Ett filmpris’, 10 March 1956, p. 4), in which he referred to Bergman’s film as ‘the bad fantasy by a young man with acne, the obscene dreams of an immature heart, a boundless contempt for artistic and human truth’ [en finnig ynglings dåliga fantasi, ett omoget hjärtas fräcka drömmar, ett gränslöst förakt för konstnärlig och mänsklig sanning]. To Lagercrantz, Bergman did not have ‘enough wit to fill a doll’s thimble’ [nog av ande att fylla en dockas fingerborg]. Anti-Bergman critic Viveca Heyman supported Hjertén (and Lagercrantz) in
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Arbetaren, 14 March 1956, p. 4. Lasse Bergström, member of the FIB jury, responded on FIB’s behalf in Arbetaren, 16 March 1956; this was followed with repartees by Heyman and L. Matthias, Arbetaren, 16 March 1956, p. 4, and again in same paper, 22 March 1956, p. 4. This in turn elicited responses from film critics Mauritz Edström and Gunnar Oldin, and finally Heyman again, same paper, 26 March 1956, p. 4. Comments were also made by Nils Beyer in MT, 11 March, p. 3; C.J. Björklund in Scen och Salong no. 4 (1956), p. 27; and by Thorsten Eklann in UNT 22 March 1956, p. 5 (see also Eklann’s positive comment, same paper, 16 January 1956, p. 7). In an editorial in Vecko-Journalen no. 17 (1956), p. 15, film critic Stig Ahlgren called Sommarnattens leende ‘A Swedish pilsner film in a champagne bottle’ [en svensk pilsnerfilm på champagnebutelj]. Swedish comedian, filmmaker, and vaudeville artist Povel Ramel made a parody of the dinner sequence at Mrs Armfeldt’s estate in his film Ratataa eller The Staffan Stolle Story (1956). However, Sommarnattens leende led to Ingmar Bergman’s international breakthrough as a maker of sophisticated film comedy. Isabel Quigly in The Spectator described Bergman’s film as ‘a series of dazzling stills, lit by a silvery Scandinavian light’. The film was awarded the Special Jury Prize for its ‘poetic humor’ at Cannes Film Festival in spring 1956. Released in the U.S. in late 1957, Smiles... was viewed as a risqué comedy, Swedish style. A review by J. O’Neill, Jr., in Washington Daily News (22 February 1958, p. 12) was used in its entirety as an advertisement for U.S. distributors. Sample quote: ‘Smiles of a Summer Night, a Swedish smorgasbord of sex, sin and psychiatry, is available – for the grown-ups please – at...’. The Legion of Decency labelled the film ‘immoral’ (class C). Contributing to the reaction was probably the fact that English subtitles in the British and American distribution copies of Smiles... were inaccurate and sparse. Harmless pieces of dialogue, such as a giggling exchange in a bedroom scene between Anne and Petra, were left untranslated, suggesting frivolities that supposedly had been silenced by the censor.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm/Göteborg press, 27 December 1955; BLM no. 1 (1956), pp. 83-84; FIB no. 3 (1956), p. 42; Perspektiv no. 6 (1956), p. 273; Teatern 22, no. 1 (1956): 13, 16; Vi no. 3 (1956), pp. 4-5; Vecko-Journalen no. 2 (1954), p. 4.
Foreign Reviews Arts 1956: 573; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 61 (July 1956), pp. 40-42; Cinéma 73, no. 181 (November 1973): 44-45; Critisch Film Bulletin 12, no. 4 (April 1959): 28-29; Films and Filming 3, no. 2 (November 1956): 26; Filmkritik no. 3 (1958), pp. 49-51; Filmforum, November 1958, p. 6; Image et son, no. 109 (February 1958), p. 10; Kael, Pauline. I Lost It at the Movies (Boston: Little, Brown & co., 1965), pp. 105-108; Kosmorama no. 20 (October 1956), p. 45; Monthly Film Bulletin November 1956, pp. 138-139; Motion Picture Herald, 2 January 1958, p. 698; New York Herald Tribune, 24 December 1957, p. 6; New York Times, same date, p. 11:3; New York Times Film Reviews, 1913-1968, p. 3030;
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Chapter IV Filmography Positif, no. 18 (November 1956), pp. 26-28; Sight and Sound 26, no. 2 (Autumn 1956): 98; Spectator, 28 September 1956, p. 418; Time, 27 January 1958, pp. 90-91.
Longer Studies and Special Issues include the following Baron, James. ‘The Phaedra-Hippolytus Myth in Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night’. Scandinavian Studes 48, no. 2 (Spring 1976): 169-180; Brown, Anita. ‘Undermining the Gaze: Voyeurism in Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night’. Unpublished paper, Ohio State University Germanics Dept., Spring 1992; Grabowski, Simon. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 29, no. 2 (Winter) 1970: 203-207. (argues that Bergman’s use of still photographs of Anne Egerman can provide a key to the film’s stylization); Lefèvre, R. ‘Sourires d’une nuit d’été’. Image et son no. 233 (November) 1969: 179-91; Livingston, Paisley. Ingmar Bergman and the Rituals of Art, 1982, (Ø 1384), pp. 110-142; Simon, John. Includes perceptive discussion of Smiles of a Summer Night in his book Ingmar Bergman Directs, 1972, (Ø 1218), pp. 108-143.
Fact Sheets L’Avant-scène du cinéma 454 (July 1996) is a special 102 pp. issue on Sommarnattens leende including French text of the film, sequence and dialogue outlines, a compilation of press clippings from original release of film in 1956 and from later retrospective showings in France (pp. 72-76). Issue also includes an article by David Alman, ‘Les jeux de l’humor’, pp. 1-6; De Filmkrant 207, January 2000, p. 6. Credits and brief critique of Glimlach van een zomernacht; Film a sogetto. Centro S. Fedele della Spettacolo, Milan (10 January 1965), 10 pp. An Italian fact sheet on Sorrisi di una notta, listing openings worldwide, credits, review excerpts, plot synopsis, and a bibliography; Svensk Filmografi, 1950-1959, pp. 501-05; Télé-Ciné no. 62 (December 1956), F. 289 (10 pp) is a fact sheet in French, ed. by J. d’Yvoire;
See also Annotations on Film (Melbourne), Term 1 (1964), p. 5; Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 99-112; Cinema (Bucharest) 10, no. 2 (February 1972): 11; Le cinéma moderne (Lyon: Serdoc, 1964), pp. 146-50; Filmorientering (Norw. Film Inst., C. Jacob A Rawlings) no. 99 (March 1966); Films and Filming 8. no. 7 (April 1962): 38; Image et son 226 (March) 1969: 31-36; Kael, Pauline. In Movie Comedy, ed. S. Brown and E. Weiss (New York: Grossman, 1972), pp. 281-283; Mast, Gerald. In his The Comic Mind (Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill, 1973), pp. 313-316; Svensk Filmografi, 1950-1959, pp. 501-05; Variety, 16 May 1956, p. 6, 24 July 1957, p. 6.
Awards 1956
1962
Sommarnattens leende received FIB’s film trophy (FIB = Folket i Bild, Swedish cultural magazine) in March. For reaction in DN, see above commentary. Special Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival for ‘its poetic humor’. See Cahiers du cinéma, no. 60 (June 1956), pp. 13-14. Cinéma 62, no. 66 (May 1962): 108, chose Sommarnattens leende/Sourires d’une nuit d’été to represent year 1955 in an annual selection of best films.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record 224.
SISTA PARET UT, 1956 [Last couple out], B/W Director Screenplay
Alf Sjöberg Ingmar Bergman & Alf Sjöberg from a story by Bergman
Synopsis The film opens on a Saturday in May in a Stockholm senior high school. The last class is dismissed, and Bo Dalin, an 18-year-old student, walks home with his girlfriend Kerstin. But they cannot agree on how to spend the evening; Kerstin wants to go to a party that her friend Anita is giving, and Bo wants to attend the opera. Returning home, Bo eavesdrops on his parents who are having a violent argument and learns that his mother has a lover, Dr. Fårell. Bo takes his younger brother Sven with him to visit his grandmother, who lives in the same apartment complex as Dr. Fårell. He gets the keys to the apartment where his mother and her lover usually meet. Arriving there, he finds his mother waiting. He persuades her to return home with him, but in the evening she departs together with Dr. Fårell. Depressed, Bo goes to the opera, but is too unhappy to stay very long. He drifts over to Anita’s party where he meets Kerstin. The party is getting rowdy, and Kerstin and Bo decide to leave. Bo accompanies Kerstin home. He has no intention of staying but when Kerstin’s mother arrives suddenly, she misunderstands the situation and accuses Bo of seducing her daughter. The two argue, and Bo leaves deeply hurt. He goes back to Anita, a girl without a family. But scared of her rootlessness, Bo returns home. Contrary to his earlier decision, he goes back to school on Monday morning. His father provides some paternal support.
Credits Production company Director Screenplay Photography
Svensk Filmindustri Alf Sjöberg Ingmar Bergman, Alf Sjöberg from a story by Bergman Martin Bodin
Cast Bo Bo’s grandmother Kerstin Kerstin’s mother Anita Bo’s father Bo’s mother Dr. Fårell Teacher
Björn Bjelfvenstam Märta Arbin Bibi Andersson Aino Taube Harriet Andersson Olof Widgren Eva Dahlbeck Jarl Kulle Hugo Björne
Distribution Running time Released Premiere
Svensk Filmindustri 98 minutes 8 November 1956 12 November 1956, Fontänen, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm)
Commentary As in Hets from 1944, also directed by Sjöberg, this film has an unmistakable adolescent Bergman quality to it, with a young man torn between idealism and resentment, and depicting a parental crisis where the wife has a lover. The script dates back to Bergman’s earliest writing efforts; see (Ø 73 and 97) in Chapter II.
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Chapter IV Filmography 225.
DET SJUNDE INSEGLET, 1956 [The Seventh Seal], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman from his play Trämålning [Wood Painting], 1955
Synopsis The setting of Det sjunde inseglet is 14th-century Sweden, a country ravaged by the Black Plague. The Knight Antonius Block and his squire Jöns are returning home after ten years in the Crusades. The film opens with oratorio music and a shot of the grey sky, against which can be seen a lonely bird. A voice reads from the Book of Revelations, putting the title of the film in its biblical context. The Knight is seen kneeling on the shore. The Squire is asleep. Suddenly, the black-robed figure of Death appears. He has come to claim the Knight who asks for a respite by challenging Death to a game of chess. The Knight and the Squire ride past a covered wagon in which Jof the juggler, his wife Mia, their small son Mikael, and their companion Skat are all asleep. Jof is a visionary. In the early morning he sees the Virgin Mary walking in a rose garden. The Knight and the Squire arrive at a church. While Block goes to pray, Jöns, a non-believer, strikes up a conversation with a church painter, whose murals depict the dance of death and penitents flogging themselves. Unaware that Death has taken the confessor’s place, the Knight is tricked into revealing his chess game strategy. He also expresses his frustration in his search for a God that does not speak to him. Outside the church, a young girl is tied to the stocks. She is thought to be a witch and will later be burned at the stake. Next, the Knight and Jöns come to a farm where Jöns rescues a young woman from a former priest, Raval, now turned thief. The woman, who remains silent until the very end of the film, joins the Knight and the Squire for the rest of the journey. The next stop is outside a tavern where Jof, Mia, and Skat are performing. They are interrupted by a train of flagellants whose somber singing of Dies Irae ends the sequence. In the meantime Skat has taken off with Lisa, wife of a smith, Plog. After a palaver, Lisa returns to Plog, and Skat performs a mock suicide. Moments later, his life ends for real as Death saws down the tree in which Skat has taken refuge for the night. Having enterered the tavern, Jof is approached and tormented by Raval to the cheers of other tavern guests. Jöns appears amd marks Raval’s face with a knife. Jof escapes and returns to Mia, who has been befriended by the Knight on a sunny hillside. They are later joined by Jöns and the silent woman he rescued earlier. Mia offers them a bowl of milk and wild strawberries. The Knight vows to remember the moment, then leaves to resume his game of chess with Death. Later, the Knight and his companions, now including Jof, Mia, and their child as well as Plog and his wife, encounter Raval who is dying from the plague. They witness the burning of the witch, whom the Knight asks for objective proof of the devil’s existence. The Knight gives her a sedative to soothe her fear and pain. The Knight has one more encounter with Death at the chess board. Jof spots them and escapes with his family while the Knight overthrows the chess pieces to distract Death’s attention. Death announces that the Knight will be checkmated at their next meeting. Later that night, Antonius Block and his companions arrive at the Knight’s castle and are greeted by his wife, who prepares supper and reads to them from the Book of Revelations. A knock on the door announces Death. While the Knight prays, the others stand up to face ‘the stern master’. In the meantime, Jof and Mia have sensed ‘the Angel of Death’ sweeping by their wagon. At dawn, Jof sees the Knight and his companions in a silhouetted Dance of Death across the horizon. Film ends as Jof, Mia, and their child walk off towards a new day.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Credits Production company Production manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architect Props (Studio manager) Sound Special sound effects Music Orchestration Choreography Costumes Make-up Editor Continuity
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Ingmar Bergman Lennart Olsson Ingmar Bergman from his play Trämålning [Wood Painting], 1955 Gunnar Fischer P.A. Lundgren Carl-Henry Cagarp Aaby Wedin Evald Andersson Erik Nordgren Sixten Ehrling Else Fisher Manne Lindholm Nils Nittel (Carl M. Lundh, Inc.) Lennart Wallén Katarina (Katherina) Faragó
Cast Antonius Block, the Crusader Jöns, the Squire Death Jof Mia Jonas Skat Plog, the smith Plog’s wife, Lisa Tyan, the accused witch Karin, Knight’s wife Mute girl Raval Doomsday monk Church painter Monk outside church Merchant in tavern Tavern hostess Peasant in tavern Merchant in tavern Old man at tavern Soldiers involved in witch burning Cripple Mikael, Jof and Mia’s son Flagellants
Pregnant young woman
Max von Sydow Gunnar Björnstrand Bengt Ekerot Nils Poppe Bibi Andersson Erik Strandmark Åke Fridell Inga Gill Maud Hansson Inga Landgré Gunnel Lindblom Bertil Anderberg Anders Ek Gunnar Olsson Lars Lind Benkt-Åke Benktsson Gudrun Brost Tor Borong Harry Asklund Josef Norman Ulf Johanson, Sten Ardenstam, Gordon Löwenadler Karl Widh Tommy Karlsson Siv Aleros, Bengt Gillberg, Lars Granberg, Gunlög Hagberg, Gun Hammargren, Uno Larsson, Lennart Lilja, Monica Lidman, Helge Sjökvist, Georg Skarstedt, Ragnar Sörman, Lennart Tollén, Caya Wickström Mona Malm
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Chapter IV Filmography Dark-haired woman Old man watching procession Other men in crowd scenes
Catherine Berg Nils Whiten Tor Isedal, Gösta Prüzelius, Fritjof Tall
Filmed on location at Östanå, Viby, Skevik, Gustafsberg, and Skytteholm outside of Stockholm; at Hovs hallar in southwestern Sweden; and at Råsunda Film Studios, Stockholm, beginning 2 July 1956 and completed 24 August 1956. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Janus Films, Inc. 95 minutes 12 December 1956 16 February 1957, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 13 October 1958, Paris, NYC
Commentary Original film title was Riddaren och döden [The Knight and Death]. Bergman’s first mention of a project to make a film set in the Middle Ages is in an interview in AB, 26 July 1954, p. 8. On this occasion he also refers to his one-act play Trämålning, on which Det sjunde inseglet was to be based. An article in Expr., 3 February 1957, p. 15, compares the play and the film. Trämålning (Wood Painting) has been published both in Swedish and English (see Ø 90). It has also been produced on stage (see Ø 424, 425) and on the radio (Ø 283). In radio program ‘Tidsspegeln’, produced by Erik Goland and transmitted 26 February 1957, Bergman is interviewed about the film. Later Bergman writes about the shooting in Bilder/ Images. My Life in Film (1990), pp. 233-38, and talks about it in Bergman om Bergman/Bergman on Bergman (1971, pp. 121-22/114-15). A reportage from the shooting of the film appeared in ST, 5 July 1956, p. 4. Max von Sydow discusses his role as the Knight in E. Sörenson’s biography Loppcirkus. Max von Sydow berättar, pp. 90-94. The screenplay has never been published in Swedish but is included in Four Screenplays by Ingmar Bergman (Ø 110); see list of foreign translations in Chapter II (Ø 98). The script to Det sjunde inseglet was serialized as a novella in Swedish magazine Allers Familjejournal, nos. 14-18, 1961, illustrated with photographs from the film. Bergman introduced the script with a short ‘message’ to the magazine’s readers. An excerpt from the script appeared in FIB no. 51 (1956): 20-21, 53. L’Avant scène du cinéma no. 410, March 1992, contains the manuscript in French. A 15-minute American film parody of The Seventh Seal (and Wild Strawberries) entitled Da Duwe [The dove] was made in 1972 by Sidney Davis, George Coe, and Anthony Lover (CoeDavis Ltd. Productions; Pyramid Distributors). Humorous references to the film appear in Woody Allen’s Love and Death (1980).
Reception Det sjunde inseglet opened in Stockholm with pomp and circumstance. All major reviews recognized the film as an ambitious undertaking, but reaction ranged from Robin Hood’s panegyrics in ST, 17 February 1957, p. 13, to Hanserik Hjertén’s advice in Arbetaren, 19 February, p. 4, that Ingmar Bergman should stop filming for a while. On the whole, Bergman the image maker was praised, and Bergman the scriptwriter lambasted. See Ivar Harrie, Expr., (2 March 1957, p. 4) and responses in GHT (1 March 1957, p. 7) by actor Keve Hjelm and author Bengt Anderberg; Bergman’s writing style was also critiqued by Harry Schein, BLM 26, no. 4 (April 1958): 350-353. Det sjunde inseglet elicited a media debate about Ingmar Bergman’s originality as an artist. John Landquist (AB, 25 February 1957, p. 3) charged Bergman with plagiarizing Strindberg’s
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Folkungasagan/The Saga of the Folkungs. Landquist aired his views again on Swedish radio in a discussion with filmmaker Vilgot Sjöman (26 February 1957; typescript in SR Archives, Stockholm). Bergman declined to comment. See also comment by Marianne Höök in SvD, 28 February 1957, p. 5. The Strindberg-Bergman connection was also discussed by L.-O. Franzén in Ghöteborgske spionen, no. 1 (1957), pp. 13-14, and by Paul Patera in Arbetaren, 19 March, pp. 4-5. Religious and philosophical implications of Det sjunde inseglet aroused little interest in Sweden. Influential reviewer Carl Björkman (DN, 17 February 1957, p. 20) declared that he found Bergman’s metaphysical worries monotonous. A. Svantesson in Svensk Kyrkotidning, no. 11 (1957), pp. 163-164, attacked the film for conveying ‘the emptiness ecstasy of the Fifties’ [femtiotalets tomhetsextas], a nihilistic state of angina temporis. A television production of Trämålning, planned to air on Easter Sunday 1963, was stopped by Henrik Dyfverman, head of TV Drama Department at SR/TV and was moved to a later date (22 April 1963). See AB, ‘Dödsdans och pest stötande’ [Dance of death and plague are offensive], 20 March 1963. In 1999, a poll in Swedish magazine Filmrutan (no. 4, 1999) asked Swedish film critics to list the best feature films of the century. None of Ingmar Bergman’s films scored any top place. Best among his works was Det sjunde inseglet as number 26 (after such films as Singing in the Rain, The Wild Bunch, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus, Taxi Driver, Barry Lyndon). However, in yet another poll confined to listing the ten best Swedish filmmakers and films of the century, Bergman topped the list, but now Gycklarnas afton, Smultronstället, and Persona got more votes than Det sjunde inseglet. The Seventh Seal established Bergman as an international filmmaker and auteur of rank. The film was referred to as ‘Bergman’s Faust’ by Eric Rohmer (Arts, 23-29 April 1957, p. 4), who became one of Bergman’s most ardent admirers (see Ø 982, French Reception). The film was called ‘the first truly existential film in the history of the cinema’ by Andrew Sarris in Film Culture, no. 19 (April) 1959: 51-61. In the UK Films and Filming (April 1958, pp. 18-19) chose The Seventh Seal as ‘the film of the month’, and in same journal’s February 1963 issue (pp. 37-38) Peter Cowie termed The Seventh Seal one of ‘the great films of the century’, listing as its special qualities: historical authenticity, universal theme, and original imagery. Several monographs and longer articles have been published on the film (see below).
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 17 February 1957; FIB no. 21 (1957), p. 21; Teatern no. 2 (1957), p. 12; Vi no. 9 (1957), p. 4; Vecko-Journalen no. 9, pp. 40-41.
Foreign Reviews Arts, 23 April 1958; Bianco e nero, February–March 1961, pp. 121-127; Cahiers du cinéma no. 72 (July 1957) and no. 83 (May 1958), pp. 43-46; Cinéma 58 no. 28, pp. 115-16; Cinema Nuovo, no. 143 (January-February 1960), pp. 45-46; Daily Telegraph (London), 8 March 1958, p. 11; Film Ideal, no. 68 (1964), p. 26; Film Quarterly, no. 3 (Spring 1959), pp. 42-44; Films and Filming 5, no. 7 (April 1958), pp. 22-23; Films in Review 9, no. 9 (November 1958), pp. 515-517; Filmfacts no. 42 (19 November 1958), pp. 194-195; Filmkritik no. 2 (1962), pp. 70-74;
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Chapter IV Filmography Image et son no. 112 (May 1958), p. 16; Kosmorama no. 48 (February 1960), pp. 12-13; Monthly Film Bulletin, May 1958, pp. 59-60; New York Herald Tribune, 14 October, sec. 2, p. 5; New York Times, same date, p. 44:1; New York Times Film Reviews, 1913-1968, pp. 3088-3089; New Statesman, 8 March 1958, p. 303; Positif, no. 25-26, 1957; Saturday Review, 18 October 1958, p. 58; Sight and Sound 28, no. 4 (Spring 1958), pp. 199-200; La stampa (Turin), 10 October 1968. n.p.; Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich), 16 April 1962, n.p. (Roos).
Longer Studies and Special Issues Anderson, John Drew. ‘Individualism, Communion, and Significance in The Seventh Seal’, MA thesis: Pacific Lutheran University, 1972. 54 typed pp.; Bragg, Melvyn. The Seventh Seal. BFI Film Classics, 1993, 72 pp. Monograph on the film. Reviews: Film Quarterly, no. 1 (Fall) 1994: 38-39; Positif, no. 408, 1994: 75-77; and Skrien, (August–September) 1994: 79; Cebollado, Pascual. Ingmar Bergman y El septimo sello. (Madrid: ABC del Cine, 1960). 104 p. Monograph on the film; Douchet, Jean. ‘Le septieme sceau: une analyse’. Videocassette issued by Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, 1991. VHS; Ericsson, Arne. ‘Film är inte litteratur’ [Film is not literature], SDS, 8 March 1957, p. 4 Approach to The Seventh Seal as a musical piece of four symphonic movements and a coda; Gessner, Robert. ‘The Obligatory Scene’, in The Moving Image (New York: E.P. Dutton, pp. 20311); reprinted in Focus on The Seventh Seal (Ø 1220), pp. 127-132; Grandgeorge, Edmond. Le septième sceau, Ingmar Bergman. (Paris: Nathan, 1992). 127 p; Holland, Norman. ‘Iconography in The Seventh Seal’. Hudson Review 12, no. 2 (Summer 1959): 266-270; reprinted in part in Journal of Social Issues 20, no. 1 (January 1964): 71-96; and in Renaissance of the Film, ed. by Julius Bell. New York, 1970, pp. 239-243; Liggera, Joseph and Lanayre. ‘Going Roundabout: Similar Images of Pilgrimage in Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and Bergman’s The Seventh Seal’. West Virginia University Philological Papers 35, 1989, pp. 21-27; Malmnäs, Eva Sundler. ‘Art as Inspiration’. In Ingmar Bergman and the Arts. Nordic Theatre Studies, Vol 11, 1998: 34-45. (Traces Dance of Death motif in The Seventh Seal to its medieval representations in mural art and engraving); Merjui, Darius. ‘The Shock of Revelation’. Sight and Sound 7, no. 6 (June) 1997: 69. (Iranian filmmaker writes about the impact of Bergman’s film on his own conception of cinema as art); Osterman, Bernt. ‘De stora frågornas sorti och Antonious Block’ [Exit the big questions and AB]. Finsk Tidskrift, 3/1989: 177-86. (Analysis of film using Wittgenstein’s philosophy); Pressler, Pressler. ‘The Ideal Fused in the Fact: Bergman and The Seventh Seal’. Literature/Film Quarterly 13, no. 2 (1985), pp. 95-101; Slayton, Ralph E. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal’. Diss., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1972, 220 pp. (Analyzes film and play/script as allegory for stage and screen). Univ. Microfilm International 1980, no. 7331294; Sonnenschein, Richard. ‘The Problem of Evil in Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal’. West Virginia Philological Papers 27, 1981, pp. 137-143;
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Steene, Birgitta. ‘The Milk and Strawberry Sequence in The Seventh Seal’. Film Heritage 8, no. 4 (Summer 1973); pp. 10-18; —. ‘Det sjunde inseglet: Filmen som ångestens och nådens metafor [The Seventh Seal: Film as metaphor of angst and grace]. Svensk filmografi, 1950-1959, pp. 592-595; —. ‘Från subjektiv vision till tidsdokument och arketyp: Ingmar Bergmans Det sjunde inseglet i mentalitetshistorisk belysning’ [From Subjective Vision to Time Document and Archetype: Bergman’s The Seventh Seal in the Light of Mentality History’. In Nordisk litteratur och mentalitet, ed. by Malan Marnersdottir and Jens Cramer. Annales Societatis Scientiarum Færoensis XXV, Torshavn: 2000, pp. 493-99.
Special Issues and Study Guides on The Seventh Seal L’Avant-Scène du Cinéma, no. 410 (March 1992), pp. 1-94. Special issue on Le septième sceau. With credits, filmography and bibliography; Burvenich, J. ‘Het zevende zegel’. Media C 50, n.d., pp. 1-13. Fact sheet analysis of sequences dealing with natural sounds/music, characters, excerpted dialogue; Film a sogetto, Centro Fedelle Spettacolo, Milan (25 March 1958), 5 pp. An Italian fact sheet on Il settimo sigillo, listing openings worldwide, credits, review excerpts, plot synopsis, and a bibliography; Films and Filming 9, no. 4 (January 1963): 25-29. Special section on The Seventh Seal; Folkuniversitets Filmbyrå, Uppsala, 1969. Study guide (in Swedish) with teacher and student manuals. 11 & 15 pp respectively; Image et son no. 331bis (numéro hors series), 1978, pp. 229-34. Contains study material and excerpts from French reviews of the film; Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Det sjunde inseglet: en filmhandledning’. Zoom 1/1998, pp. 37-9. Brief study guide (in Swedish) for high school students; Lumière du cinéma, November 1977 and L’Avant scène du cinéma, March 1992 are special issues on Le septième sceau; Steene, Birgitta, ed. Focus on the Seventh Seal, 1972, ( Ø 1220). Extensive source book on the film in English; Télé-Ciné, no. 77 (August-September) 1958, fiche 333, 13 pp. A special issue on the film, including biographical note, synopsis of script, and an analysis of its dramatic structure and religious implications. Many religious discussions of Bergman’s work in the cinema include analyses of The Seventh Seal. See special group item, Ø 997. Film Classics (Rockleigh, N.J.) brought out a video cassette of The Seventh Seal in its Great Directors Series. 1992, 1995. Paired with Night is My Future (Musik i mörker).
See also Filmnyheter 11, no. 17 (1956): 4-6, and no. 18 (1956): 1-3; Sight and Sound 26, no. 4 (Spring 1957): 173; Cinéma 57 no. 18 (May 1957), pp. 30-33; Positif no. 25-26 (1957), pp. 24-25; Variety, 29 May 1957, p. 22, and 22 October 1958, p. 6; Image et son, no. 119 (February 1959), ii–vii; Etudes cinématographiques, no. 10-11, Autumn 1961, pp. 207-216; Cine cubano 4, no. 22 (1964), pp. 55-60; T. Wiseman, Cinema (London: Cassel, 1964), pp. 146-147; Filmorientering (NFI), no. 107 (November 1966); Image et son, no. 226 (March) 1969: 36-39;
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Chapter IV Filmography B. Crowther, The Great Films: Fifty Golden Years of Motion Pictures (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1967), pp. 218-222; Röster i Radio-TV no. 13 (1981), pp. 88-89; J.C. Stubbs, Journal of Aesthetic Education 9, no. 2 (1975): 62-76 (script excerpt and study questions); E. Törnqvist. Filmdiktaren Ingmar Bergman, 1995, pp. 22-42; Robin Wood, Ingmar Bergman, 1969, pp. 82-95; Bergman on Bergman, (Ø 788), pp. 112-119; Svensk filmografi, 1950-1959, (Ø 1314), pp. 589-592.
Awards 1957
226.
Cannes Film Festival; Jury’s Special Prize (shared with Andrzej Wajda’s Kanal). For more prizes, see film title in varia, segment C.
SMULTRONSTÄLLET, 1957 [Wild Strawberries], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
The Swedish title is difficult to convey in English. Literal translation would point to a spot where smultron or wild strawberries grow. Since these berries are rare in Sweden, places where they grow are often kept a secret in the family. But the word smultronstället also carries symbolic meaning and refers to a person’s ‘jewel of place’, a favorite or special retreat. Bergman’s beloved Fårö could be his ‘smultronställe’ in life. A ‘smultronställe’ is often a place associated with a sense of roots and self-identity. Bergman’s title carries this meaning for Isak Borg, the film’s main character.
Synopsis Set in present-day Sweden, Smultronstället depicts one day in the life of a medical professor in his seventies (Isak Borg), who is about to receive a jubilee degree at the University of Lund for his long service to medical science. A set of daydream reminiscences and nightmare sequences interrupt the account. The first of these occurs early, after Borg has introduced himself as an old pedantic widower. Finding himself wandering alone in a surreal landscape, Borg encounters a hearse. A coffin slides off, its lid opens and a corpse bearing his likeness tries to pull him in. Driving to Lund with Marianne, his daughter-in-law, Borg stops at a big country house where he and his large family used to spend their summers when he was a child. In a reverie, Isak, still an old man, witnesses a breakfast gathering from his youth. He sees his sweatheart Sara picking wild strawberries while being courted by Isak’s brother, Sigfrid. A young girl wakes him up. Her name is also Sara, and she is the look-alike of Isak’s sweetheart. Sara is hitchhiking with two boyfriends, Anders and Victor. All three join Isak and Marianne in the drive south. Stopping for gas, Isak meets the Åkerman couple whom he knows from the time he was a country doctor in the area. They praise him for the work he did, and Isak wonders to himself if he should not have stayed there. At an outdoor luncheon Isak recites a poem by 19th-century Swedish poet and bishop Johan Wallin, a recitation Marianne helps him to finish. Anders and Victor have an argument about God. Afterwards Borg and Marianne leave to visit his old mother who is 95. The visit is a chilling experience, especially for Marianne, who believes she sees the same emotional atrophy in old Mrs. Borg as in her own husband Evald, who does not want to have children. Back on the road Isak’s car narrowly escapes colliding with a VW, driven by an engineer Alman and his wife Berit, an actress. The two join the group for a short while but carry on an argument until Marianne asks them to leave the car.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Marianne has taken over the driving, and Isak falls asleep. In a nightmare he is examined by Mr. Alman. He fails the test and is found ‘guilty of guilt’. Alman brings him to witness how his wife, dead since many years, is seduced by her lover. Awake again, Isak finds himself alone with Marianne in the car, now parked by the roadside. She tells him of her marital problems: she is pregnant and does not want to abort the child. In a flashback we witness her discussion with Evald on this matter. This sequence is followed by a return to the present, with Sara and her boyfriends presenting a bouquet of wild flowers to Isak. Arriving in Lund, Isak and his travel companions are greeted by Agda, Isak’s housekeeper, who has flown there, as was also the original plan for Isak. Evald and Marianne are reconciled. The academic ceremony at which Isak Borg becomes a jubilee doctor is stately and solemn. But Isak’s thoughts wander; he decides to write down the strange events of the day. At night, Isak is serenaded by Sara and her friends before they continue to Italy. As he is about to fall asleep, he has a comforting vision: young Sara, his sweetheart of long ago, takes him by the hand and leads him to a lake where he sees his parents on an outing in an idyllic countryside. They wave at him. The film ends as Isak Borg falls asleep.
Credits Production Company Production manager Location manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architect Props Sound Music Arrangement Music
Costumes Make-up Mixing Editor Continuity
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Sven Sjönell Ingmar Bergman Gösta Ekman Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Fischer Gittan Gustafsson K.A. Bergman Aaby Wedin Eric Nordgren Johann Sebastian Bach, ‘Fugue in Ess Minor’ ‘Royal Södermanland Regiment March’ (Carl-Axel Lundwall) ‘Marcia Carolus Rex’ (W. Harteveld) ‘Parademarsch der 18:er Husaren’ (Alwin Müller) ‘Under rönn och syren’ (Z. Topelius/Herman Palm) Millie Ström Nils Nittel, Carl M. Lund, Inc. Sven Rudestedt Oscar Rosander Katherina Faragó
Cast Isak Borg Sara Marianne Evald Borg Anders Viktor Isak’s mother Agda, Isak’s housekeeper Sten Alman
Victor Sjöström Bibi Andersson Ingrid Thulin Gunnar Björnstrand Folke Sundquist Björn Bjelfvenstam Naima Wifstrand Jullan Kindahl Gunnar Sjöberg
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Chapter IV Filmography Berit, his wife Karin, Isak’s wife Her lover Henrik Åkerman, gas station owner Eva, his wife Aunt Olga in breakfast sequence Uncle Aron Sigfrid Sigbritt Charlotta Angelica Anna Kristina and Birgitta, the twins Hagbart Benjamin Elisabet, Isak’s mother’s nurse Chancellor, University of Lund Isak’s father Bishop Jakob Hovelius Professor Carl-Adam Tiger
Gunnel Broström Gertrud Fridh Åke Fridell Max von Sydow Anne-Marie Wiman Sif Ruud Yngve Nordwall Per Sjöstrand Gio Petré Gunnel Lindblom Maud Hansson Eva Norée Lena Bergman, Monica Ehrling Per Skogsberg Göran Lundquist Vendela Rudbäck Professor Helge Wulff Ulf Johanson Gunnar Olsson [cut] Josef Norman [cut]
Filmed on location at Vida Vättern and the Gyllene Uttern Inn (at Lake Vättern), at the university town of Lund, and at Dalarö and Ägnö in Stockholm; indoor shooting at Råsunda Film Studios, Stockholm, beginning 2 July 1957 and completed 27 August 1957. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Janus Films, Inc. 90 minutes 6 December 1957 26 December 1957, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 22 June 1959, Beekman Theater NYC
Commentary In Bilder/Images (1990), pp. 11-24, Bergman outlines the personal background of Smultronstället. In Bergman om Bergman, pp. 159-160 (Eng. ed. pp. 131-33) he relates the genesis of Smultronstället to an early morning visit to his grandmother’s living quarters in Uppsala many years after she died. (See Chapter I.) In Bilder he claims the story was made up. The screenplay was serialized in Swedish in FIB 25, no. 7 through no. 16, 1958, and also appeared as a novella in Swedish magazine Allers Familjejournal, nos. 16-20/1962, illustrated with photographs from the film. Its first publication as a script was in Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman (see Ø 110). It has never been published in book form in Swedish. For articles during the shooting of the film, see DN 5 July 1957, p. 12; ST, 1 August, p. 9; SvD, 16 July, p. 14; KvP, 16 August, pp. 10-11; Filmnyheter 12, no. 18-20 (1957): 16-19. At the release of the film, Svensk Filmindustri (SF) published a program in Swedish, English, and German, 14 pp., available in SFI library. It contains a Bergman interview with himself titled ‘Dialog’, a presentation of Bergman, Sjöström, and Gunnar Fischer, and a plot synopsis. For an assessment of the Sjöström-Bergman relation, see Bergman om Bergman, pp. 144-45/ Bergman on Bergman, pp. 131-133 (Ø 788) and Bilder (Ø 198); Ingrid Thulin in Cinéma 60, no. 45 (April 1960), pp. 38-39; and Bengt Forslund in Filmrutan 25, no. 3 (Autumn) 1982: 2-7. In an article in Sight and Sound (Spring 1960), Bergman honors Sjöström. He also comments on his
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record talent in Gösta Werner’s film Victor Sjöström (SFI, 1981). L’Avant-scène du cinéma, no. 331-332 (1984), 98 pp., is a special Sjöström issue, with a discussion that includes his role as Isak Borg. At a revival of the film in 1981, Expr. (7 December 1981, pp. 24-25) and again in 1988 (16 July 1988, pp. 16-17) carried interviews with actors Bibi Andersson and Gunnar Björnstrand reminiscing about the shooting of Smultronstället. See also comments by assistant director Gösta Ekman in Interviews, 1993 (Ø 927) and a presentation in Röster i Radio-TV, no. 50, 1981, p. 62 ff.
Reception Smultronstället received very fine reviews in Sweden. Critics praised the script, acting, and photography, and saw the film as the meeting of two generations in Swedish filmmaking. Earliest foreign reception of film focussed on Victor Sjöström’s performance. See for instance New Yorker, 25 July 1959, p. 44, and Films and Filming 5, no. 3 (December 1958): 24. A number of American reviews expressed puzzlement at the story and found the film mystifying. See Films in Review 10, no. 4 (April 1959): 231-232, and NYT, 23 June 1959, p. 37:1. In retrospect, Smultronstället has elicited a great many longer articles and has been regarded, beyond doubt, as one of Bergman’s major films. The analyses have concerned both the narrative structure and the psychological content of the film.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 27 December 1957; Beklädnadsfolket no. 3, 1958, p. 22, 31; FIB no. 4 (1958), p. 50; Ord och Bild. ‘Ny film’, no. 2, 1958: 150; Teatern, no. 1, 1958, pp. 14-15; Vi, no. 3 (1958), p. 50; Vecko-Journalen no. 2 (1958), p. 36.
Foreign Reviews Arts, 22 April 1959, n.p.; Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 95 (May 1959); Cinéma 58, no. 27 (May) 1958: 79-83; Film News 31 (February-March 1974): 23; Films and Filming 5, no. 3 (December) 1958: 24; Filmfacts 2, no. 28 (12 August 1959): 157-159; Filmkritik no. 7 (1961), pp. 355-359; Filmkritik Jahrbuch 3 (1962): 30-32; Monthly Film Bulletin, December 1958, pp. 151-152; New York Herald Tribune, 23 June 1959, p. 15; New York Times, same date, p. 37:1; New York Times Film Reviews, 1913-1968, p. 3133; Positif no. 31 (November) 1959): 59-60; Reporter, 9 July, pp. 37-38; Sight and Sound 28, no. 3 (Winter 1958/59): 35; Village Voice, 1 July 1959, pp. 6, 11; Télé-Ciné no. 82 (April-May) 1959: 9.
Monographs Diane Borden and L. Letter, Wild Strawberries: A Critical Commentary (New York: Syllabus Press, 1975) (a basic close reading of the film); Pierre and Kersti French. Wild Strawberries. London: BFI, 1975. 78 pp. (the most concise monograph study of the film);
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Chapter IV Filmography Margareta Wirmark, Smultronstället och Dödens ekipage (Stockholm: Carlsson, 1998).
Articles Albano, L. ‘Il visible e il non visible’. Filmcritica (June-July) 1986: 272-282; Andersson, Lars Gustaf. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Smultronstället och Homo Viator motivet’ [Bergman’s Wild Strawberries and the Homo viator motif]. Filmhäftet no. 63 (1988), pp. 26- 39; Archer, Eugene. ‘Rack of Life’. Film Quarterly 13, no. 1 (Fall 1959), pp. 44-47; (notes the Proustian flashback structure of the film); Béranger, Jean. Cinéma 58, no. 27 (May 1958), pp. 79-83 (on Smultronstället and the journey motif); Blake, Richard A, SJ. ‘Salvation without God’. Encounter 28, no. 4 (Autumn 1967): 313-26 (discusses Lutheran concept of salvation in Wild Strawberries); Bolin, Asta. ‘Bakvänd predikan’ [Sermon in reverse]. Vår lösen, no. 2, 1958, pp 69-71; Denitto, Dennis. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries: A Jungian Analysis’. In CUNY English Forum, ed. by Saul Brody and Harold Schechter. Vol. 1, 1985, pp. 45-70; Eberwein, R. ‘The Filmic Dream and Point of View’. Literature/Film Quarterly 8, no. 3, 1980: 197203; Erikson Erik H., ‘A Life History. Isak Borg in Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries’. In Vital Involvement in Old Age by Erik Erikson et al. New York: Norton, 1986, pp. 239-292. Reprinted from Dædalus 105:2 (Spring) 1976: 1-28 see item Ø 1281; Greenberg, Harvey. ‘The Rags of Time’. American Imago 27, no. 1 (Spring) 1970: 66-82. Reprinted in Kaminsky (Ø 1266), pp. 179-194. With a response by Seldon Bach, pp. 194-200. (A close psychoanalytical reading of Wild Strawberries); Holland, Norman. ‘A Brace of Bergman’s’. Hudson Review 12, no. 4 (Winter 1959/60): 570-577 (on Wild Strawberries and parenthood); Hoveyda, F. in Cahiers du cinéma, no. 95 (May 1959), pp. 40-47. (Focus on dream sequences); Koskinen, Maaret. ‘En odyssé i minnets landskap’ [An odyssey in the landscape of memory]. DN, 18 August 1990, p. B2; (On Smultronstället as a road movie; cf. Béranger and Andersson above); —. ‘Minnets spelplatser. Ingmar Bergman och det självbiografiska vittnet’ [Locations of memory. Bergman and the autobiographical witness]. Aura IV, no. 4, 1998: 15-33; Malmberg, Carl-Johan. ‘Åldrad och återfödd’ [Old and reborn]. Chaplin 234, 1991, p. 15; McCann, Eleanor. ‘The Rhetoric of Wild Strawberries’. Sight and Sound 30, no. 34 (Winter 196061): 44-46; (charging Bergman with using a set of clichéd oxymora in Wild Strawberries); Rhodin, Mats. ‘Väl börjat, hälften vunnet: Tankar kring prologen i Smultronstället’ [Well begun, half won: Thoughts about the prologue in Wild Strawberries]. Aura IV, no. 4, 1998, pp. 4-14; Scheynius, I. ‘I det undermedvetnas labyrint’. [In the labyrinth of the subconcious]. Filmrutan XXVIII, no. 4, 1985: 6-8. (on Isak Borg’s psychological quest; cf. Archer above); Solomon, S. in The Film Idea (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1972), pp. 344-347; (discussion of the dialogue and visual context of Borg’s and Mariannne’s first conversation in the car); Steene, Birgitta. ‘Archetypal Patterns in Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman’. Scandinavian Studies 37, no. 1 (February) 1965: 58-76; Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Long day’s journey into night: Bergman’s TV version of Oväder compared to Smultronstället’. In Kela Kvam, ed. Strindberg’s Post-Inferno Plays. Lectures given at the 11th International Strindberg Conference (Copenhagen: Munksgaard/Rosinante, 1994), pp. 186195. Törnqvist discusses the same subject in his book Between Stage and Screen, 1995, pp 128136; Tulloch, J. ‘Images of Dying’. Australian Journal of Screen Theory, no. 2 (1978): 33-61;
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Winston, D. in his The Screenplay as Literature (London: The Tantivy Press, 1973), pp. 96-115.
Special Issues and Fact Sheets L’Avant-scène du cinéma no. 331-332 is a special issue on Smultronstället; Film a sogetto. Centro Fedelle dello Spettacolo, Milan (10 July 1962), 14 pp., is an Italian fact sheet on Smultronstället, listing openings worldwide, credits, review excerpts, plot synopsis, and a bibliography; Image et son, no. 314 bis, 1979, is a fiche on Les fraises sauvages; Kastalia (Dutch). ‘Smultronstället’. (Amsterdam: Kastalia, 2001). 50 pp. Presentation in connection with film festival: Schrijvers Kiezen Film; Télé-Ciné published a fiche on Les fraises sauvages: no. 85 (October 1959), F. 356 (12 pp).
See also Filmnyheter 12, no. 18-20 (1957): 1-3; Films and Filming 4, no. 9 (June 1958): 31-32; Cinema Nuovo, no. 144 (March–April 1960), pp. 169-178 (excerpted dialogue and commentary) and no. 151 (MayJune 1960), pp. 210-224; P. Tyler, Classics of the Foreign Film (New York: Citadel Press, 1962), pp. 232-235; Kauffmann, A World of Film (Ø 1011), pp. 270-273; Cairo Cineclub Bulletin, 23 March 1967, n.p.; Image et son, no. 226 (March) 1969: 42-45; Kosmorama 24, no. 137 (Spring) 1978: 58-59; Filmrutan, 13, no. 1 (January) 1970: 37-40 (about music in the film); Filmorientering (NFI) no. 100 (March 1966); Svensk filmografi, 1950-1959, pp. 654-657. See also Peter Cowie, Ingmar Bergman. A Critical Biography, 1982, pp. 156-166; J. Donohoe (Ø 1321); F. Gado, The Passion of Ingmar Bergman, 1986, pp. 211-227; Lundell and Mulac (Ø 1374); E. Törnqvist, Filmdiktaren Ingmar Bergman, 1993, pp. 43-61; E. Murray includes Wild Strawberries in his selection of Ten Film Classics (New York: Frederick Ungar, pp. 102-120; James Limbacher brought out a video recording based on reviews of Wild Strawberries; see Journal of Popular Film and Television, XX, no. 3 (Fall 1992): 86.
Awards Smultronstället remains to date Ingmar Bergman’s most decorated film. It was nominated for an Oscar in category ‘Best Story or Screenplay written directly for the screen’. (Prize went to Pillow Talk). See list in Varia, C.
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NÄRA LIVET, 1958 [Brink of Life/Close to life], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman and Ulla Isaksson, based on her short story ‘Det vänliga, det värdiga’ [Kindness, dignity] in her 1954 book Dödens faster [The aunt of death].
Nära livet takes place in the maternity ward of a modern Swedish hospital, where three women share the same room. Cecilia Ellius is a professional woman who suffers a miscarriage in the third month of her pregnancy; Stina Andersson is a 25-year-old wife of a workman, whose baby is overdue; and Hjördis Pettersson is a 19-year-old pregnant unmarried girl who wants to have an abortion.
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Chapter IV Filmography The attitudes of the three prospective fathers are reflected in the women’s different feelings about childbirth. Anders Ellius sees little point in bringing children into the world and finds Cecilia’s fear of losing the child hysterical; she blames herself for her miscarriage. Stina’s husband is all excited about the baby, and Stina is happy and impatient about the arrival of the child. Hjördis’ boyfriend never comes to visit her, and she does not want to bear his child. The film opens with Cecilia’s arrival in the hospital. She is left alone in the examination room, where she miscarries. For the rest of the film she is in bed. Hjördis wanders listlessly in the hospital corridors. She meets with a social worker who tries to persuade her not to have an abortion. After a long wait Stina is ready to give birth. Her delivery is long and painful. The midwife calls for the doctor, but his intervention is fruitless: the baby is stillborn. Back in the ward, Hjördis tries to befriend Stina but receives a slap in the face. Stina is depressed and embittered. When the doctors make their round, she asks for an explanation for the stillbirth but receives no answer. Medical expertise finds the tragedy a mystery. Hjördis is persuaded to call her mother who invites her home to have the child. She accepts and decides against having an abortion. Cecilia in the meantime has become fond of both Stina and Hjördis, and no longer cowers in self-accusation before her husband.
Credits Production company Production manager Director Screenplay Photography Architect Props (Studio manager) Sound Make-up Editor Continuity Medical adviser
Nordisk Tonefilm Gösta Hammarbäck Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman and Ulla Isaksson Max Wilén Bibi Lindström Gunnar Lundin Lennart Svensson Nils Nittel Carl-Olov Skeppstedt Ingrid Wallin Dr. Lars Engström
Cast Cecilia Ellius Stina Andersson Hjördis Pettersson Anders, Cecilia’s husband Greta Ellius Harry, Stina’s husband Sister Britta Dr. Nordlander Gran, social worker Sister Mari Dr. Larsson Dr. Thylenius Night nurse Hjördis’s friend Maud, assistant nurse A nurse A doctor Woman with newborn baby
Ingrid Thulin Eva Dahlbeck Bibi Andersson Erland Josephson Inga Landgré Max von Sydow Barbro Hiort af Ornäs Gunnar Sjöberg Anne-Marie Gyllenspetz Sissi Kaiser Margaretha Krook Lars Lind Gun Jönsson Monica Ekberg Maud Elfsiö Kristina Adolphson Gunnar Nielsen Inga Gill
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Father with injured child
Bengt Blomgren
Filmed on location at South Hospital, Stockholm, and at Nordisk Tonefilm Studios, Stockholm, in 1957. Exact dates not available. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Nordisk Tonefilm Ajay Film Co./Janus Films, Inc. 84 minutes 19 March 1958 31 March 1958, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 8 November 1959, Little Carnegie, NYC
Commentary The script was published by Ulla Isaksson in FIB (Folket i Bild), beginning in no. 19 (2 May 1958), pp. 10-11, 48, and continuing through no. 25. The script was also serialized as a novella in Swedish magazine Allers Familjejournal, nos. 37-41/1961, illustrated with photographs from the film. Vi, no. 12 (1958), pp. 20-21, 44, contains an interview with Bergman and Ulla Isaksson on their collaboration. Bergman added the character of Hjördis Pettersson (young girl who wants an abortion) to Isaksson’s original story. Bergman researched the film in the Söder (South) Hospital in Stockholm and also consulted a medical adviser. He writes about the shooting of the film in Bilder/Images. My Life in Film, 1990, pp. 311-314.
Reception All Stockholm critics praised the film, some in superlative language. Many felt that Bergman’s collaboration with novelist Ulla Isaksson meant an improvement: ‘Bergman’s pretentious language has been replaced by a poet’s’ [Bergmans pretentiösa sprsåk har ersatts av en diktares], Arbetaren, no. 14 (5-11 April 1958), p. 9. Also approving was the usually critical Bergman reviewer Viveka Heyman in Beklädnadsfolket no. 7 (1958), p. 18. Many welcomed Nära livet’s realistic style and subject matter. A number of brief press interviews were made with doctors, social workers and nurses, who were asked to comment on the film. See Arbetet, 17 April 1958, p. 7. See also Perspektiv, no. 5 (May 1958): 224 and Films in Review 10, no. 10 (December 1959): 624-25. After a showing on Swedish TV, Nils Petter Sundgren argued in Röster i Radio/TV, no. 12 (1968), pp. 10-11, 48, that Nära livet shares its ascetic style with Bergman’s later films but that the realistic setting links it with his earliest production. Foreign reception of Nära livet was respectful. Most critics treated it as a semi-documentary about childbirth or as an auteur movie (especially in France). See E. Rohmer, Arts, 11 March 1959, p. 8, and Image et son, no. 189, 1959, pp. 101-105. A curiously sexist assessment appeared in Sight and Sound 30, no. 4 (Spring 1961): 90-91, by John Russell Taylor, never much of an Ingmar Bergman supporter: ‘Close to Life is a superior woman’s picture, i.e., a film calling for some intelligence but not too much.’
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 1 April 1958; FIB no. 17 (1958), p. 28; Vi no. 15 (1958), p. 7.
Foreign Reviews Cahiers du cinéma, no. 85 (July 1958), pp. 13-14, and no. 94. (April 1959), pp. 48-51; Cinéma 58 no. 28 (June 1958), pp. 10-12 and no. 29 (1958), pp. 33-35; Cinéma 59, no. 59 (May 1959), pp. 100-2; Cinema Nuovo, no. 144 (March-April 1960), p. 155;
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Chapter IV Filmography Critisch Film Bulletin, April 1959, pp. 255-56; Film Quarterly 13, no. 3 (Spring 1960): 49-50; Films and Filming 7, no. 7 (April 1961): 25; Filmfacts, 9 December 1959, pp. 271-72; Image et son no. 122-123 (May-June) 1959: 32; Monthly Film Bulletin, April 1961, p. 45; Newsweek, 23 November 1959, p. 116; New York Herald Tribune, 9 November 1959, p. 13; New York Times, same date, p. 36: 2; NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, p. 3155; New Yorker, 21 November 1959, pp. 172-73; Positif, no. 30 (July 1959); Télé-Ciné, no. 78 (October 1958).
See also Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 18-19; Filmnyheter, no. 7 (14 April) 1958, pp. 1-3; FIB, 4 April 1958, pp. 10-11, 60; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 84 (June 1958), pp. 26-27; Films and Filming (July 1958), p. 11; Variety, 21 May 1958, p. 16; Film Journal, no. 22 (October 1963). pp. 14-18; Image et son no. 189 (December) 1965: 101-105; Motion, no. 1 (Summer 1961), pp. 18-20; Svensk filmografi, 1950-1959 (Ø 1314), pp. 683-686; R. Wood. Ingmar Bergman, 1969, pp. 124-133;
Awards 1958: 1958:
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Best Director and Best Actress (jointly to Ingrid Thulin, Eva Dahlbeck, Bibi Andersson and Barbro Hjort af Ornäs) Cannes Film Festival. Venice: Film Critics Award (out of competition).
ANSIKTET, 1958 [The Magician/The Face], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
In view of the original film title, ‘The Face’, and Bergman’s great emphasis on face vs. mask, nakedness vs. camouflage, the American title ‘The Magician’ might seem unfortunate in its suggestion of hocus pocus. However, when juxtaposing this title and Bergman’s discussion of himself as an illusionist using a modern variation of the old magic lantern, ‘The Magician’ becomes an appropriate name for the film, referring not only to the main character’s deceptive tricks, but also to the magic potential of his art.
Synopsis Ansiktet is set in Sweden in July 1846. Albert Emanuel Vogler arrives with his ‘health theatre’ at the middle-class home of Consul Egerman. With him are his disciple Aman-Manda, his manager Tubal, an herb-collecting old woman called Granny, the coachman Simson, and the actor Spegel, whom the troupe has found en route in a state of delirium tremens. Spegel has collapsed and is presumed dead.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record At the Egerman house, Vogler, who is said to be mute, is examined by Dr. Vergerus, the town’s medical counsel. Vergerus dismisses Vogler’s muteness as a hoax. Humiliated, Vogler joins the rest of the troupe in the kitchen, where Tubal and Granny sell love potions to Sofia Garp, the cook, and to Sara and Sanna, two maids. Later Sanna, frightened by the troupe, is consoled by Granny, who sings her an old ballad. Sofia is attracted to Tubal, and Sara flirts with Simson. Suddenly the ‘dead’ Spegel comes sweeping into the kitchen and grabs a bottle of liquor. In Vogler’s bedroom, Aman-Manda, now unmasked as Mrs. Vogler, is visited by Dr. Vergerus. Vogler appears in the room and becomes enraged at seeing Vergerus there. When alone with Aman-Manda, Vogler removes his wig and false beard, and confesses to his wife that he fears the public whose scrutinizing eyes make him feel powerless. The next day a performance takes place in the Egerman living room. It consists of two numbers: Mrs. Starbäck, wife of the town’s chief of police, is put in a trance and reveals her husband’s gauche manners; and Egerman’s coachman, Antonsson, is tied with the invisible chain. Powerless and fettered, Antonsson tries to strangle Vogler and apparentely succeeds. Antonsson dashes out and is later found dead, having hanged himself. Dr. Vergerus decides to perform an autopsy on Vogler, who – having feigned death – has substituted the body of Spegel, now really dead, for his own. The autopsy takes place in the attic where Vogler proceeds to play a number of frightening tricks on Vergerus until the medical doctor screams in fright and stumbles down the stairs. Later, as he meets the unmasked Vogler in the hallway, he denies having been affected by the ‘seance’ in the attic and continues to ridicule the troupe. But the tables are turned once more as Vogler and his companions are suddenly called to the Royal Palace. Granny and Tubal decide to stay behind, but young Sara joins the troupe. The film ends as Vogler’s Health Theatre departs in triumph to gallant music suggesting royal pomp and circumstance.
Credits Production company Production manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architect Studio manager Props Sound Music Orchestration Costumes Make-up Editor Continuity
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Ingmar Bergman Gösta Ekman Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Fischer P.A. Lundgren Carl Henry Cagarp K.A. Bergman Aaby Wedin Erik Nordgren Eskil Eckert-Lundin Manne Lindholm, Greta Johansson Carl M. Lundh, Inc. Oscar Rosander Katherina Faragó
Cast Albert Emanuel Vogler Aman/Manda, his wife and assistant Tubal Granny Dr. Anders Vergerus
Max von Sydow Ingrid Thulin Åke Fridell Naima Wifstrand Gunnar Björnstrand
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Chapter IV Filmography Spegel Sara Sanna Consul Abraham Egerman Mrs. Ottilia Egerman Police Chief Frans Starbäck Mrs. Henrietta Starbäck Simson Antonsson Rustan Sofia Garp Customs officials
Bengt Ekerot Bibi Andersson Birgitta Pettersson Erland Josephson Gertrud Fridh Toivo Pawlo Ulla Sjöblom Lars Ekborg Oscar Ljung Axel Düberg Sif Ruud Frithiof Bjärne, Arne Mårtensson, Tor Borong, Harry Schein
Filmed at Råsunda Film Studios, Stockholm, beginning 30 June 1958 and completed 27 August 1958. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Janus Films, Inc. 100 minutes 13 December 1958 26 December 1958, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 27 August 1959, Fifth Ave. Theater, NYC
Commentary On the frontpage of Bergman’s shooting Script II to Ansiktet there is a crossed-over quote from the ‘Sound and Fury’ monologue in Act V in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It is the same passage that Bergman refers to in the original title of his TV film Larmar och gör sig till (In the Presence of a Clown). Filmnyheter 13, nos. 16-18 (1958), published a series of interviews with the actors in Ansiktet. See also interview with Bergman during making of film in L.-O. Löthwall: ‘Ett nytt ansikte’ [A new face]. Svenska Morgonbladet 28 August 1958, pp. 1, 4. In Cahiers du cinéma, no. 88 (October 1958), pp. 12-20. Jean Béranger reports on a meeting with Bergman during shooting of the film; reprinted in English in Focus on The Seventh Seal (Ø 1220). Bergman was also interviewed on Swedish public radio about the film; see ‘Biodags’, SR, 23 September 1958. In ‘Biodags’, SR, 20 January 1959, Torsten Jungstedt and Marianne Höök discuss the film. Max von Sydow talks in retrospect about the film in Elisabeth Sörenson’s biography Loppcirkus, 1989, pp. 96-100 (Ø 1493). SF published a 14-page program in English on Ansiktet (SF: Stockholm 1959). Bergman writes about Ansiktet in Bilder/Images, 1990, pp. 161-172.
Reception In Sweden Ansiktet elicited a lively press debate. In a learned article in SvD, 4 January 1959, p. 4 (reprinted in Kosmorama no. 43 (March 1959), pp. 151-153), Stig Wikander compared Bergman’s film to the gnostic legend of Simon Magus. See Birgitta Steene, Ingmar Bergman, 1968, p. 85 for resumé in English. Carl-Eric Nordberg in Vi (no. 3 1959, p. 14) interpreted Vogler as a Christ figure, and H. Lindström in UNT (15 January 1959, p. 4) contrasted Bergman’s illusionist to the 19th-century hypnotist Mesmer, as did Gunnar Eddegren in Gaudeamus, no. 1, 1959, p. 4. Åke Runnquist in BLM 28, no. 9 (November 1959): 784-787, saw Vogler as Bergman’s persona in his role as public artist. Cf. Bergman’s statement in Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), p. 127. Jurgen Schildt wrote an open letter to Bergman, titled ‘Brev till Ingmar Bergman’, asking him about his face and mask. See Vecko-Journalen 49, no. 15 (April) 1958: 22, 44.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record In Filmrutan 2, no. 2 (1959): 5-7, Bengt Forslund summarized the Swedish discussion of Bergman’s film. Bergman responded in a reported telephone interview (SvD, 13 January, p. 16): ‘My reply is my film. What the viewer gets out of it is his personal business’ [Mitt svar är min film. Vad åskådaren får ut av den är hans personliga ensak]. In U.S., Variety (14 January 1959, p. 16) considered The Magician a rather exclusive product, and Time (7 September 1959, p. 78 [Am. Ed., p. 60]) termed it Bergman’s least successful film to date: ‘’Just what this Gothic hoedown signifies is anybody’s guess.’ Henry Hart in Films in Review 10, no. 8 (October 1959): 486-89, saw the film as ‘the impetuous outpouring of a demonic poet’. Most extensive American critiques of The Magican are: Norman Holland, ‘A Brace of Bergmans’, Hudson Review 12, no. 4 (Winter 1959/60): 573-577; Vernon Young’s review in Film Quarterly 13, no. 1 (Fall 1959): 47-50, slightly abridged in Cinema Borealis: Ingmar Bergman and the Swedish Ethos (306), pp. 174-87, and reprinted in Kaminsky (Ø 1266), pp. 201-214.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö press, 27 December 1958; FIB no. 4 (1959), p. 38; Ord & Bild no. 1 (1959), pp. 71-73; Teatern no. 1 (1959), pp. 11-12; Vi no. 3 (1959), p. 14, Vecko-Journalen no. 2 (1959), pp. 4-5.
Foreign Reviews Cahiers du cinéma no. 101 (November 1959), pp. 45-46; Cinéma 59, no. 40 (October 1959), and no. 41 (November-December 1959), pp. 130-132; Cinema Nuovo, no. 141 (September-October 1959), pp. 430-431; Filmfacts, 30 September 1959, pp. 203-205; Filmkritik, no. 11 (1960), pp. 323-325; Films and Filming 6, no. 2 (November 1959): 20-21; Films in Review 10, no. 8 (October 1959): 486-489; Image et son no. 126 (December 1959), p. 19; Monthly Film Bulletin, November 1959, p. 146; Nation, 26 September 1959, p. 180; New Statesman, 17 February 1961, p. 272; New York Herald Tribune, 28 August 1959, p. 9; New York Times, same date, p. 27:1; NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1969, pp. 3145-3146; New Yorker, 5 September 1959, pp. 76-77; Positif, no. 31 (November 1959); Sight and Sound, 28, no. 3-4 (Autumn-Winter 1959): 167-68.
Fact Sheets Film a sogetto, Centro S. Fedelle dello Spettacolo, Milan (11 July 1962), 88 pp., Italian fact sheet on Il volto, listing openings worldwide, credits, review excerpts, plot synopsis, and a bibliography. Télé-Ciné no. 86 (Nov-Dec 1959). F. 354 (16 pp), special issue on Le visage.
See also Cowie, Peter. Ingmar Bergman. A Critical Biography, 1982, pp. 173-178; Etudes cinématographiques, no. 10-11 (Autumn 1961), pp. 207-216; Film Ideal, 15 December 1961, pp. 5-9;
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Chapter IV Filmography Image et son, no. 226 (March) 1969: 46-48. International Film Annual 1959, pp. 91-102; Kauffmann, A World of Film (Ø 1011), pp. 273-275; Kosmorama, 24, no. 137 (Spring) 1978: pp. 51-54; National Review, 22 April 1961, pp. 257-258; Svensk filmografi, 1950-1959 (Ø 1314), pp. 727-730. Tulane Drama Review 5, no. 2 (December 1960): 94-101; Variety, 20 January, 16 March, 6 July, pp. 11, 15, and 26, respectively. Educational Dimensions Corporation (Great Neck, N.Y.) issued a cassette analysis of The Magician in agreement with Janus Films Inc, in 1973. Several book-length studies of Bergman’s filmmaking pay particular attention to Ansiktet as a film portraying Bergman’s view of the artist. See: Paisley Livingston, Ingmar Bergman and the Ritual of Art, 1982, pp. 66-109, and Birgitta Steene, Måndagar med Bergman, 1996, pp. 33-37.
Awards 1959:
229.
Venice Film Festival: Special Jury Prize; Pasinetti Award, (Best Foreign Film); Cinema Nuovo Award; Acapulco Film Festival: Unspecified Award.
JUNGFRUKÄLLAN, 1960 [The Virgin Spring], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ulla Isaksson
Synopsis Jungfrukällan is based on a 13th-century Swedish ballad called ‘Töre’s Daughter in Vänge’, which relates the rape and murder of a young maiden, Karin, and the miracle – the welling forth of a fresh spring – that occurs on the spot of her death. The ballad ends by telling of the subsequent violent revenge by Karin’s father, Töre. The film opens as Ingeri, Karin’s dark-haired foster sister who is big with child, prepares the morning meal. Blond Karin wakes up and gets ready to ride to church with candles for the Virgin Mary. Ingeri accompanies Karin on her ride to church. But in the forest she stays behind to consult with an old sorcerer who practices pagan charms. Karin rides on alone through the pastoral landscape. She meets three shepherds, and innocent of their motives, she offers to share her lunch with them. The meal was prepared by Ingeri, who in a fit of envy has put a toad between two loaves of bread. As Karin begins to cut the bread, the toad jumps out. This becomes the incitement for the shepherds to violate Karin. She is raped by two of them and afterwards killed with a blow to her head. The youngest shepherd, who did not rape her, gets sick and vomits. Ingeri has watched the violent deed from a distance. The shepherds collect Karin’s expensive clothing and ride on. Unwittingly, they arrive at the house of Karin’s parents. They are received hospitably and invited for supper. During the meal the youngest shepherd gets sick again. After supper the two older shepherds try to sell Karin’s clothing to her mother, who recognizes her daughter’s robe but says nothing. Instead, she notifies Töre, who begins to prepare for revenge. Going outside he fells a birch tree with his bare hands and beats his body with the twigs. Ready to kill, Töre wakes up the shepherds. He overcomes the two oldest ones while the young boy rushes to Karin’s mother for protection. She is willing to save him, but Töre dashes him against the wall. After the killings, Töre sets out with his household to find the body of young Karin. When they come upon it in the forest, Töre kneels and promises God to build a church on the site. As
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record he prays, a spring wells forth at the spot where Karin’s smashed head has been resting on the ground.
Credits Production Company Production manager Location manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architect Props Sound Music
Costumes Make-up Editor Continuity
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Carl-Henry Cagarp Ingmar Bergman Lenn Hjortzberg Ulla Isaksson Sven Nykvist P.A. Lundgren Tor Borong Aaby Wedin Erik Nordgren & Alexander Surkevitz ‘I himmelen, i himmelen’ (rev. text: Ingmar Bergman) ‘Tiggarens visa’ (text/music: Ingmar Bergman/Erik Nordgren) Marik Vos Börje Lundh Oscar Rosander Ulla Furås
Cast Karin Ingeri Töre Märeta, Töre’s wife Shepherd/rapist Mute shepherd Shepherd boy Bridge keeper Frida, housekeeper Simon of Snollsta Farmhands Stand-in for Birgitta Vallberg & Gunnel Lindblom
Birgitta Pettersson Gunnel Lindblom Max von Sydow Birgitta Vallberg Axel Düberg Tor Isedal Ove Porath Axel Slangus Gudrun Brost Oscar Ljung Tor Borong, Leif Forstenberg Ann Lundgren
Filmed on location at Styggeforsen and Skattungsbyn, Dalarna and at Råsunda Studios, beginning 14 May 1959 and completed in late August 1959. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Janus Films, Inc. 88 minutes 19 January 1960 8 February 1960, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 14 November 1960, Beekman Theater, NYC
Commentary Ingmar Bergman first toyed with the idea of writing his own screenplay based on the medieval ballad, ‘Töres dotter i Vänge’ [Töre’s daughter in Vänge], which he had read as a student. He
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Chapter IV Filmography later turned to Ulla Isaksson as a collaborator. She conceived of the story as a novel and changed the order of events by placing the miracle at the very end, after Töre’s revenge, and explains the change in the American preface to her novel The Virgin Spring (New York: Ballantine Books, 1960, p. vi): ‘It is of great importance that the spring wells forth when all need it. In that sense the film is very Lutheran. That this possibility exists is the very meaning of the film.’ The English preface to Isaksson’s book was actually an 8-page program issued by Svensk Filmindustri (SF) in English and French (available in SFI archives). French version, titled ‘La Ballade de la fille de Töre à Vänge’ was published in a special issue on the film in Cinéma 60, no. 51 (November-December 1960), pp. 33-43. This issue also contains a brief note from Bergman’s diary during the shooting of the film. L’Avant-Scène du cinéma 444 (July) 1995 includes the full manuscript in French (La source). A long segment of the script in English, with a concluding synopsis, appeared in Continental Film Review, December 1959, pp. 14-15. Ulla Isaksson talks about her novel in ‘Boken jag minns’ [The book I remember], Expr. 3 December 1972, (läsbilagan/reading supplement), and discusses her collaboration with Bergman in NYT, 13 November 1960, sec. 2, p. 9 (‘Source of a Spiritual Spring’). The same statement appears in French in the above-mentioned special issue of Cinéma 60. Reportages from shooting of Jungfrukällan appeared in DN, 22 May 1959, p. 14; in Hemmets Journal no. 44 (1959), pp. 6-7, 50-51 (by Arne Sellermark), and in Expr., 22 May 1959, p. 22. An interview with the actors appeared in DN, 10 February 1960, p. 12. Gunnar Oldin interviewed Ingmar Bergman about Jungfrukällan on Swedish TV (SVT) on 14 February 1960. An interview with Jean Béranger, published in Danish translation, appeared in Kosmorama, no. 49 (October 1959), pp. 14-17. In the American release of the film, less than ten seconds of the rape scene was cut.
Reception Next to Tystnaden/The Silence (1963), Jungfrukällan became Bergman’s most controversial film in Sweden. In an editorial on 10 February 1960, two days after the Stockholm opening, SvD (p. 9) reported the decision by the Swedish Film Censorship board not to cut anything in the submitted version of the film. Agreement was unanimous; the board denied rumors that Ingmar Bergman had threatened to withdraw his film if any cuts were made. A public request that the Swedish attorney general examine the rape sequence was denied. On 12 February 1960, an editorial comment by Olof Lagercrantz in DN (p. 5) started a month-long debate on Jungfrukällan. To Lagercrantz, Ingmar Bergman was a master of histrionics and not an authentic artist. Lagercrantz charged Swedish reviewers, who praised the film, with a loss of critical acumen. Among the many responses to Lagercrantz’s editorial, see AB, 26 February (p. 3), and 4 March 1960, (p. 3); DN, 13 February (p. 4), 16 February (p. 5), and 2 March 1960 (p. 5); ST, 15 February 1960 (p. 4); and SDS, 7 March 1960 (p. 4). An editorial comment in Arbetet, 13 March 1960, p. 2, concluded that Bergman lacked artistic integrity when he chose to ‘arrange brutally murdered people in such exquisitely aesthetic settings’ [att arrangera brutalt mördade människor i så raffinerat estetiska positioner]. SvD, 21 February 1960, p. 14, published a public poll on audience response to the film. Two issues crystallized during the Swedish discussion of Jungfrukällan. One concerned Bergman’s standing as a film artist: was he an authentic artist or a sensationalist? The other matter focussed on violence and censorship, but dwelt more on the rape scene than on Töre’s savage vengeance. For discussions of the rape sequence, see AB, 9 February 1960, p. 2 (review), and Vecko-Revyn, 11 March 1960, p. 15. Kristianstadsbladet, 17 January 1961, claimed that the real rape was the artistic violation of the ballad source. Stig Ahlgren in Vecko-Journalen, no. 8 (19 February 1960), p. 15, did not object to the muchpublicized rape scene but questioned the use of a toad in the bread prepared by Ingeri, arguing
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record that what we witness is not rape but a caricatured cult act, toads being the devil in disguise. Ahlgren claimed to have seen ecstacy in Karin’s eyes as she is raped by the shepherd who wears a Mephistopheles mask. Ahlgren’s folklore reference was elaborated on in a newspaper essay by historian Sven Ulric Palme (ST, 8 October 1960) in which he discusses the medieval use of toads as host in witch sabbaths. In Scandinavian folklore, troll women who had sex with the devil gave birth to toads. Toads and frogs were represented in medieval drawings as a metamorphosed uterus and were thought to have special sexual power. The Swedish debate of Jungfrukällan/The Virgin Spring was summarized in Sight and Sound, Spring 1960: 66-67. Other issues raised about Jungfrukällan concerned its literary and philosophical parallels. Jörn Donner in BLM 19, no. 3 (March 1960): 254-59, related its artistic vision to that of Strindberg, Hjalmar Bergman, Pär Lagerkvist, and Swedish poets of the Forties. B. Andresen in Arbetaren, 17 March, p. 11, saw the film as Bergman’s (rather than Ulla Isaksson’s) expression of a religious and moral vision. Birgitta Steene in Ingmar Bergman, 1968, pp. 94-97, discusses The Virgin Spring as a Kierkegaardian credo quia absurdum est. [Excerpted in Kaminsky, 1975 (Ø 1266), pp. 215-221]. Cf. this to Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic, 5 December 1960, pp. 21-22, pp. 179-82, who refers to Bergman in a derogatory way as ‘a cinema Kierkegaard’; and Brendan Gill, New Yorker, 19 November, pp. 152-54, who calls the film ‘supernatural mumbo-jumbo’. U.S. reviews were mixed. New York Herald Tribune, 15 November 1960, p. 17, thought The Virgin Spring was ‘Bergman’s most lucid film’, while NYT, same date, p. 46:1, felt that the film was more ‘brutal and less sophisticated than earlier Bergman’. Educational Dimensions Corp. (Great Neck, N.Y.) issued a cassette analysis of The Virgin Spring (and The Magician) in agreement with Janus Films, Inc., 1973. Title on the container is ‘Two Films by Ingmar Bergman’. The journal Granta, LXIV, no. 1204 (26 November 1960) contains a special write-up on The Virgin Spring (BFI info). In France, the film marked the beginning of the Cahiers group’s disenchantment with Bergman. (See Ø 982.) See also Agence France-Press, no. 12 (17 May 1960) for a compilation of international reviews of Jungfrukällan/La source in connection with its showing at the Cannes Film Festival. Cuadernas de Cine Club Mercedes no. 1 (May 1963), 50 pp., contains sample reviews in Spanish. L’Avant Scène du Cinéma no. 444 (July 1995), is an issue devoted to La source in connection with a Bergman revival in Paris.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm/Uppsala press, 9 February 1960; Teatern no. 2 (1960), pp. 1-2, 16; Vi no. 8 (1960), p. 22.
Foreign Reviews Arts, 14-21 December 1960, n.p; Cahiers du cinéma no. 116 (February 1961), pp. 51-53; Chaplin, no. 9 (March 1960), pp. 62-63; Cinéma 61, no. 53 (February 1961), pp. 98-100; Definition no. 3 (1961), pp. 26-31; Filmkritik no. 7 (1960), p. 1955, and no. 10 (1960), pp. 292-295; Film Ideal, 1 December 1961, pp. 22-26; Films and Filming 8, no. 10 (July 1961): 26-27 Filmfacts 9 December 1960, pp. 277-279; Films in Review 11, no. 9 (November 1960): 556-557;
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Chapter IV Filmography Film Quarterly 13, no. 4 (Summer 1960): 43-47; Kosmorama no. 49 (April 1960), pp. 154-155: New Republic, 5 December 1960, pp. 21-22; New York Herald Tribune, 15 November 1960, p. 17; New York Times, same date, p. 46; NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, p. 3223; New Yorker, 19 November 1960, pp. 152-154; Positif, no. 38 (March 1961), p. 78; Spectator, 9 June 1961, p. 839; Télé-Ciné no. 91 (September-October 1960), pp. 39-40; Time, 5 December 1960, p. 63 (A.E. p. 40); Variety, 24 February 1960, p. 6.
Longer Articles and Special Issues Ambjörnsson, Ronny & Anna-Karin Blomstrand. ‘Jungfrukällan. Saknar innhållet intresse?’ [The Virgin Spring. Does the content lack interest?]. Götheborgske Spionen, no. 4, 1960, pp. 18-19; Madden, David. ‘The Virgin Spring: Anatomy of a Mythic Image’, Film Heritage 2, no. 2 (Winter 1967): 2-20; Palme, Sven Ulric. ‘Fotnot till Jungfrukällan’ [Footnote to the Virgin Spring], ST, 8 October 1960, p. 4; Pechter, William. ‘The Ballad and the Source’, Kenyon Review, Spring 1961, pp. 332-335; also in Filmkultura, no. 4, 1983: 37-41; Stolpe Sven. ‘En vårnatt i Dalarne’ [A spring night in Dalecarlia], Vecko-Journalen no. 7 (12 February) 1960, pp. 26-27); Young, Vernon. ‘UCLA Art Films’, Los Angeles 1961. 4-page program analysis of film.
See also Cine cubano, no. 21 (1964), pp. 57-59; Cinéma 59, no. 40 (October 1959): 93-100; Cinéma 60, no. 46 (May 1960): 85-88; Etudes cinématographiques, no. 10-11 (Autumn 1961), pp. 207-216; Film Ideal, no. 85 (1 December 1961), pp. 22-26; Filmnyheter, no. 1 (January 1960), pp. 4-7; Films and Filming, April 1962, pp. 13-15; Image et son, no. 226 (March) 1969, pp. 48-51; Motion, no. 1 (Summer 1961), pp. 18-29; N. Silverstein, ‘Ingmar Bergman and the Religious Film’, Salmagundi II, no. 3 (Spring-Summer 1968): 53-66; Svensk filmografi, 1960-1969 (Ø 1314), pp. 65-66; Temas de cine, no. 26 (January-February 1963), pp. 29-33; Variety, 13 February 1960, p. 4.
Awards Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. After Jungfrukällan received an Oscar, SR (Sveriges Radio) interviewed Bergman in ‘Dagens eko’, 18 April 1961. Golden Globe Award by Hollywood Foreign Press Association. For more awards, see Varia, C.
1961:
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record 230.
DJÄVULENS ÖGA. 1960 [The devil’s eye], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis The theme of the film is an ‘Irish’ motto invented by Bergman: ‘A young woman’s chastity is a stye in the Devil’s eye.’ Designed in four acts like a stage play, the film is introduced in a theatre by a speaker dressed in formal attire, who provides a Brechtian commentary during three ‘intermissions’. The main action is set in Hell and in a vicarage in the Swedish countryside. The actual plot concerns the legendary Don Juan who has spent 300 years in Hell. One day, the head of ‘this inverted parish’ gets a stye in his eye. The reason is that a young girl of 20, BrittMarie, remains a virgin though she is engaged to be married. Don Juan, whose punishment in Hell is to remain forever aroused and never sexually fulfilled, is ordered by Satan to return to Earth, accompanied by his jovial servant Pablo. The two men emerge from the underground into an earthly paradise. The pastoral beauty intensifies their agony, for they realize the temporal nature of their visit and become aware once more of what they have forfeited in an earlier life through their lecherous living. Arriving at the vicarage they meet Britt-Marie. She is the daughter of the parson, a totally naive and innocent man, and his frustrated wife, Renata. During a stormy night, Don Juan seduces Britt-Marie while Pablo devotes himself to her mother. His mission accomplished, Don Juan must return to Hell. But this time – unlike his earlier erotic escapades – Don Juan has actually fallen in love with the object of his seduction, which in turn causes consternation among the Devil and his advisors, since it spells defeat for the infernal principles that rule the underworld. Still another defeat occurs for Satan when the parson, contrary to all infernal calculations, forgives his wife for her infidelity. However, in a final flashback to the vicarage on the occasion of Britt-Marie’s wedding, Satan learns that the young girl lies to her husband during their wedding night. This is a minor victory for the forces of Hell, and the stye disappears from the Devil’s eye.
Credits Production company Production manager Studio manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architect Props Sound Music Costumes Make-up Mixing Editor Continuity
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Lars-Owe Carlberg Ingmar Bergman Lenn Hjortzberg Ingmar Bergman, from a Danish radio play by Oluf Bang, Don Juan vender tilbage [Don Juan Returns], 1940 Gunnar Fischer P.A. Lundgren Karl-Arne Bergman Stig Flodin Erik Nordgren, selections from sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, played by Käbi Laretei Mago (Max Goldstein) Börje Lundh Olle Jakobsson Oscar Rosander Ulla Furås
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Chapter IV Filmography Cast Don Juan Britt-Marie The Parson Pablo Speaker Renata Satan Count Armand de Rouchefoucauld Marquis Guiseppe de Maccopazza An old man Jonas, Britt-Marie’s fiancé A demon Woman with veil Demon keeping watch The hairdresser Doctor giving enema Cosmetics doctor Assistant to tailor Maid Tailor The Metamorphosis Expert Negro masseur
Jarl Kulle Bibi Andersson Nils Poppe Sture Lagerwall Gunnar Björnstrand Gertrud Fridh Stig Järrel Georg Funkquist Gunnar Sjöberg Torsten Winge Axel Düberg Allan Edwall Kristina Adolphson Ragnar Arvedson Börje Lundh Lenn Hjortzberg John Melin Arne Lindblad Inga Gill Sten-Thorsten Thuul Svend Bunch Tom Olsson
Filmed at Råsunda studios, Stockholm, beginning 19 October 1959 and completed 1 January 1960. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Janus Films, Inc. 86 minutes 8 October 1960 17 October 1960, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 30 October 1961, Beekman Theater, NYC
Commentary The script of Djävulens öga was serialized as a novella in Swedish magazine Allers Familjejournal, nos. 50-52/1960 and nos. 1-2/1961, illustrated with photographs from the film. Life, 15 and 22 February 1960, published a pictorial reportage by Lennart Nilsson from shooting of The Devil’s Eye. Similar reportage appeared in Swedish in Vecko-Journalen, no. 10, 1960, pp. 16-24. Text-based reportages also appeared in Röster i Radio/TV, no. 52 (1959), pp. 10-13 (Matts Rying); and in ST 6 December 1959, p. 21.
Reception Djävulens öga was well received by Swedish critics who regarded the film as an entertaining intermezzo in Bergman’s production. Carl Björkman (DN, 18 October, p. 18) called it ‘a placebo in a Swedish vicarage park’ [ett lusthus i en svensk prästgårdspark]. Foreign opinion also tended to view the film as an interlude in Bergman’s career, though Cinéma 62, no. 63 (February 1962), pp. 102-3, published a review that denounced not only the film, but Ingmar Bergman as a filmmaker.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 18 October 1960; FIB no. 47 (1960), p. 19; Vi no. 44 (1960), p. 4; Vecko-Journalen, no. 43 (1960), p. 9.
Foreign Reviews Bianco e nero, no. 11-12 (November-December 1961), pp. 82-85; Cinéma 62, no. 63 (February 1963); Film (Hannover), no. 4 (April 1966), p. 35; Filmfacts, 8 December 1961, pp. 283-284; Filmkritik no. 4 (1966), pp. 204-205; Films and Filming 10, no. 5 (February 1963): 37-38; Films in Review 12, no. 12 (December 1961): 620-621; Image et son no. 148 (February 1962), p. 36; Kosmorama no. 51 (December 1960), pp. 74-75, and no. 53 (April 1961), pp. 151-152; Monthly Film Bulletin, no. 2 (February 1963), p. 16; New York Times, 31 October 1961, p. 27:4 and NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, p. 3286; New Yorker, 4 November 1961, pp. 207-208; Positif no. 45 (May 1962), p. 72; Spectator, 11 January 1963, p. 45; Time, 22 September 1961, p. 116; Variety, 9 November 1960, p. 19.
Longer Articles Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Ingmar Bergman and Don Juan’. In Sormova, Eva (ed). Don Juan and Faust in the XXth Century. Prague: Department of Czech Theatre Studies, 1993, pp. 244-49. Proceedings from Theatre Conference, 27 September – 1 October 1991. (Article deals primarily with the Don Juan motif in Bergman’s film but with some references to same motif in his theatre productions of Molière’s Don Juan.)
See also Kauffmann, A World of Film (Ø 1011), pp. 280-282; P. Gilliatt. Unholy Fools (New York: Viking Press), 19 pp. 244-245; Cinéma 60, no. 46 (May 1960), pp. 85-88; Ord & Bild 69, no. 10 (December 1960): 521-527; Image et son, no. 226 (March) 1969, pp. 51-52; Svensk filmografi, 1960-1969 (Ø 1314), pp. 78-79.
231.
SÅSOM I EN SPEGEL, 1961 [Through a Glass Darkly], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
The film title is a direct quote from the Bible (Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians, 13:12). English translation uses King James’ version.
Synopsis The film occurs during a 24-hour period on an island in the Baltic. It concerns a family of four: Karin, a young woman who suffers from schizophrenia; her husband Martin, a medical doctor; her younger brother Minus; and their father David, a novelist and widower.
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Chapter IV Filmography The film opens as these four characters emerge from a swim. Minus and Karin go to fetch milk at a nearby farm. Minus reveals his uneasy feelings about sexuality. Karin tells him of voices that speak to her. The scene changes to a rowboat in which Martin and David discuss Karin’s illness. David reveals having made a suicide attempt during a recent stay in Switzerland and claims it filled him with a new sense of love. David’s homecoming is celebrated with an outdoor dinner during which David presents gifts, obviously bought at the last moment. He also reveals his intent to leave soon, this time as a tour guide in Yugoslavia. His children are unhappy about this announcement. David leaves the table and goes inside, where he breaks down crying. After dinner Karin and Minus put on a play for David: a poet promises to follow the Princess of Castille into the realm of death. But he regrets his promise, and the princess departs alone. David is visibly shaken by the play. Karin and Martin retire to bed. Early the next morning Karin wakes up to the shrieks of seagulls. Worried, she goes to the attic where she communicates with her voices. Her posture suggests sexual rapture. Later, she falls asleep in her father’s study after David has tucked her in. Martin appears at the window and asks his father to go fishing. After they have left, Karin wakes up. Rummaging around in David’s desk, she comes upon his diary, in which he has written about his fascination with her illness. Later in the day, Martin and David leave in the motorboat to go to the city. Karin helps Minus with his Latin lesson, then takes him to the attic. Suddenly she asks him to leave her alone. Waiting outside the room, Minus hears Karin talk to imaginary voices. A scene from within the attic shows Karin standing against its papered wall. When the sun’s rays hit the wallpaper pattern, it seems to move and come alive. Karin recovers her sense of reality briefly, but soon voices call on her again, and she withdraws to the hull of an old, stranded ship. There Minus finds her and comforts her. There is a suggestion of incest. Later when David and Martin return from the city, Martin makes arrangements to have Karin moved to a hospital. The final sequence begins with David, Martin and Minus discovering Karin in the attic again. She asks Martin to kneel beside her. A helicopter arrives to pick her up and is seen descending outside the window. The air vibrations from its rotating wings force a closet door to open in the attic. The sound from the helicopter is deafening, and Karin cowers in a corner of the room, screaming hysterically. David and Martin overpower her, and she receives a tranquillizing injection. Quieted she reveals her vision to them: God emerged from the closet in the shape of a huge spider and tried to penetrate her. The film ends with Karin’s departure. Minus listens to David talking about the human love that surrounds Karin. The positive implication of this is shown in Minus who seems overwhelmed that his father has confided in him: ‘Father spoke to me’.
Credits Production company Production manager Studio manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architect Props Sound
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Lars-Owe Carlberg Ingmar Bergman Lenn Hjortzberg Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist P.A. Lundgren Karl-Arne Bergman Stig Flodin
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Sound effects Music Costumes Editor Continuity
Evald Andersson Erik Nordgren; J.S. Bach, Suite no. 2, D minor for cello, played by Erling Blöndal Bengtsson Mago (Max Goldstein) Ulla Ryghe Ulla Furås
Cast Karin Martin David Fredrik, called Minus
Harriet Andersson Max von Sydow Gunnar Björnstrand Lars Passgård
Filmed on location on the island of Fårö and at Råsunda Studios, beginning 12 July 1960 and completed 16 September 1960. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Janus Films, Inc. 89 minutes 4 October 1961 16 October 1961, Fontänen and Spegeln (Stockholm) 13 March 1962, Beekman Theater, NYC
Commentary Bergman discusses the film in Bilder/Images, 1990, pp. 243-256. Såsom i en spegel was the first Bergman script to be published in book form in Sweden. See (Ø 124), Chapter II. Bergman held a press conference on 13 July 1960, announcing his intention to shoot his next film on Fårö. The working title was Tapeten [The Wallpaper], based on an idea that had been omitted in Bergman’s film Prison: a mad painter thought the wallpaper in his room moved. Cf. Holden below. As this motif remained in Bergman’s mind, he searched for a new name for his film and almost opted for Bekänna färg [Show your hand] but remembered that this title had already been used by Swedish novelist Olle Hedberg. At the time of the press conference Bergman viewed Såsom i en spegel as the last film in a trilogy, the first two being Smultronstället and Jungfrukällan. All three works dealt, step by step, with the idea of atonement (försoningstanken): ‘The God problem has always been my concern and is perpetually present to me. Here in [Through a Glass Darkly] I have found a solution’ [Gudsproblemet har alltid varit angeläget och ständigt närvarande för mig. [...] Här har jag kommit till en lösning]. See SvD, 14 July 1960, p. 11, and ST, same date, p. 9. The press conference was also covered by Philip Scheuer in Los Angeles Times (1 August, sec. 4, p. 13) who reports on reasons for Bergman to abandon earlier plans to shoot the film in color. In a Swedish newspaper write-up a few weeks before the press conference, it was reported that the so-called Color Film Club (consisting of Bergman and his collaborators), which had experimented with color for some months, had decided with eight votes against two to shoot Bergman’s next film in black and white (see ‘Ingmar Bergmans färgfilmklubb röstade svartvitt för “Tapeten”.’[Bergman color film club voted black and white for ‘The Wallpaper’], DN, 16 June 1960, p. 14). Report also states that during the shooting, footage in color would be done as an experiment, and that Bergman would begin to give color a dramatic role in his filmmaking as soon as he ‘felt comfortable with the new medium’ [kände sig hemmastadd med det nya
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Chapter IV Filmography mediet]. For a report of the shooting of Såsom i en spegel, see Jean Béranger, Cinéma 62, no. 69 (September-October 1962), pp. 41-45. There were other specific challenges in photographing the film. See Sven Nykvist, ‘A Passion for Light’ in American Cinematographer, April 1972. Nykvist had taken over as Bergman’s main cinematographer with Jungfrukällan. In Såsom i en spegel he (and Bergman) began to develop a new ‘chamber film’ style. For an explanation of the term, see the following: Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), p. 168; Spectator, 16 November 1962, p. 761; and Birgitta Steene, Ingmar Bergman, 1968, p. 96. Cf. Chapter III, pp. 22-23. In an interview in DN, 19 January 1962, p. 24, Bergman talks about the importance of the new intimate format of Såsom i en spegel and how it changed his approach to his characters: ‘Earlier I played the guardian. [...] My fictional people were not left alone; I interfered with their actions and their destinies. Since Through a Glass Darkly I can let them live their own lives’ [Förr spelade jag förmyndare. [...] De människor jag diktat upp fick inte vara i fred, jag lade mig i deras handlande och deras öden. Sedan ‘Såsom i en spegel’ låter jag dem leva sitt eget liv].
Reception Swedish critical reception of Såsom i en spegel was enthusiastic. Reviewers stressed Bergman’s masterly control of the medium and labeled the film his most essential work to date. But questions were raised about whether the film was not too exclusive, both in its preoccupation with the role of the artist and its examination of religious issues. See Sven E. Olsson in ‘Bergman som Guds spegel’, Götheborgske Spionen, no. 9-10, 1961, pp. 46-47. Reaction to the film in the U.S. was mixed. Time (23 March 1962, p. 67) called it Bergman’s most mature creation to date, and Arthur Knight in Saturday Review (17 March 1962, p. 34) felt it surpassed Bergman’s previous work in its clarity and directness. But Stanley Kaufmann (New Republic, 16 March 1962, pp. 26-27, reprinted in A World on Film, pp. 282-284) found the film confusing, its themes undefined, and its resolution unconnected to the plot. Vernon Young in Film Quarterly 15, no. 4 (Summer 1962): 52-3, regretted that Bergman had relinquished his visual talent and created a movie that was basically uncinematic. Over the years Bergman critics have frequently singled out Through A Glass Darkly, especially its ‘forced’ ending, as a target. See Ø 1680.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 17 October 1961; BLM 39, no. 9 (November 1961): 760-762; Chaplin, no. 23 (November 1961), pp. 210-211; FiB, no. 44 (1961), pp. 28-29; Vi, no. 43 (1961), p. 16; Expr., 5 November 1961, p. 4.
Foreign Reviews Arts, 5 September 1962; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 137 (November 1962), pp. 48-50; Christian Century, 3 October 1962, p. 1198; Cinéma 62, no. 69 (September-October 1962), and no. 70 (November 1962): 106-108; Le Figaro, 19 September 1962, p. 6; F-Dienst 30, no. 7 (March 1977), p. 12 a-d; Film Quarterly 15, no. 4 (Summer 1962): 52-53; Filmfacts, 13 April 1962, pp. 59-61; Films and Filming 10, no. 4 (January 1963): 47-48; Films in Review April 1962, pp. 230-31;
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Filmkritik no. 8 (1962), pp. 375-78; Jeune Cinéma, no. 8 (June-July) 1965; Le monde, 19 September 1962, p. 4; Monthly Film Bulletin, January 1963, p. 5; Movie, no. 6 (January 1963), pp. 30-31; New Republic, 26 March 1962, pp. 26-27; New York Herald Tribune, 14 March 1962, p. 21; New York Times, same date, p. 45:1 and NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, pp. 3311-3312; New Yorker, 17 March 1962, p. 123; Saturday Review 17 March 1962, p. 34, and 18 May 1963, p. 37; Sight and Sound 32, no. 3 (Winter 1962/63): 38-39; Temps Modernes, no. 198 (November 1962); Time, 23 March 1962, p. 67; Variety 3 January 1962, p. 3.
Longer Discussions Most longer discussions of Såsom i en spegel are parts of essays on what became known as The Trilogy (Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, and The Silence). See the following: Buzzonetti, R. Revista del cinematografo 36, no. 6 (July 1964): 255-58 (analysis of philosophical progression of the Trilogy); Cohen, Hubert L. Ingmar Bergman. The Art of Confession, 1993, (Ø 1546), pp. 171-82; Cowie, Peter. Ingmar Bergman. A Critical Biography, 1982, (Ø 1381), pp. 196-202; Gado, Frank, The Passion of Ingmar Bergman, 1986, (Ø 1432), pp. 267-80; Gervais, Marc. Ingmar Bergman. Magician and Prophet, 1999, (Ø 1657), pp. 72-77; Gibson, Arthur. The Silence of God, 1969, pp. 77-133; Persson, Göran. Chaplin, no. 40 (October 1963), pp. 239-241; Schlappner, Martin. ‘Die Trilogie der Anfechtung’ in author’s Filme und ihre Regisseure. (Bern: H. Huber, 1963, 1967), pp. 63-78. Also issued in 1966 under title Bilder des Dichterischen Themen und Gestalten des Films; Sjöman, Vilgot. L-136: Dagbok, 1963, (Ø 1100), passim; Steene, Birgitta. ‘Archetypal Patterns...’, 1965 (Ø 1129), pp. 96-113; Wood, Robin. Ingmar Bergman, 1969, (Ø 1185), pp. 106-139;
Special Studies French, Tony. ‘Suffering into Ideology: Bergman’s Såsom i en spegel (Through a Glass Darkly)’. CineAction, no. 34 (June 1994): 68-72. (Ideology referred to in title is ‘a suspect ideology of Love out of someone else’s anguish’); Holden, D. F. ‘Three Literary Sources for Through a Glass Darkly’. Literature/Film Quarterly II, no. 1 (Winter 1974): 22-29 see Ø 1252 Lundell, Torborg and A. Mulac. ‘Husband and Wives in Bergman’s Films’. Journal of the University Film Association 1(Winter) 1981: 23-37. (Analysis of student response to Bergman’s film); Steene, Birgitta in ‘Bergman’s Movement towards Nihilism’. In The Hero in Scandinavian Literature, ed. by Robert Rovinsky and John Weinstock. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1975, pp. 87-105.
Fact Sheets and Special Journal Issues Cineforum, no. 14 (April 1962), a special issue on Como in uno specchio, contains a review of the film by Stig Björkman; bio-presentation of Bergman; and excerpts from the script. Part of the same material appears in Cinema Nuovo, no. 159 (September–October 1962), which also
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Chapter IV Filmography has an article entitled ‘L’aut-aut di David nell’opera di Bergman’ by G.A. (Guido Aristarco) on Kierkegaardian aspects of the film; Film a Sogetto, Centro S. Fedelle dello Spettacolo, Milan (22 April 1965), 16 pp., is an Italian fact sheet on Come in uno specchio, listing openings worldwide, credits, review excerpts, plot synopsis, and a bibliography. Media C, 105, no date, pp. 1-7, is a dossier with credits and other information on the film. Brussels: Cedoc-Film and Amsterdam: Centraal Filmberaad, n.d.; Télé-Ciné, no. 120 (March 1965), pp. 1-11, is devoted to A travèrs le miroir; W. Zurbuch edited a special program for West German release of the film, issued by Nora Filmverleih, July 1962, 11 pp.
See also Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 160-72; Sw.ed., pp. 174-186; La Biennale 7, no, 48 (1963): 29-44; Etudes cinématographiques, no. 46-47 (1966), pp. 3-13 and 42-56; Image et son, no. 226 (March) 1969, pp. 52-56; Kosmorama, no. 56 (February 1962), pp. 91-97, and Kosmorama, 24, no. 137 (Spring) 1978:59-61; Röster i Radio-TV no. 42 (1970), pp. 22-23; Svensk filmografi, 1960-1969 (Ø 1314), pp. 102-105, including retrospective evaluation by Jörn Donner; Western Humanities Review, no. 1 (Winter 1964), pp. 65-66. After Såsom i en spegel received an Oscar as Best Foreign Film, SR (Swedish Public Radio) discussed the matter briefly in ‘Dagens eko’, 10 April 1962.
Awards 1962:
232.
American Motion Picture Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Foreign Film For additional awards, see Varia, C.
LUSTGÅRDEN, 1961 [The Garden of Eden], Eastmancolor Director Screenplay
Alf Kjellin Buntel Ericsson (joint pseudonym for Ingmar Bergman and Erland Josephson)
Synopsis For several years Samuel Franzén, a high school teacher in a small Swedish town around the turn of the last century, has had an affair with Miss Fanny, a waitress at the local hotel. His colleague Mr. Lundberg has a mistress, Miss Astrid who manages the town bookstore. Both men are anxious not to reveal their liaisons, though the whole town knows about them. When the bookstore receives a few copies of a romantic collection of poetry, ‘Secrets of the Heart’, Mr. Lundberg spreads the rumor that Mr. Franzén is the author. The book sells out in no time. At first Franzén denies having anything to do with the book, but encouraged by Miss Astrid, he reveals his poetic ambitions and his affair with Miss Fanny. He sends for Miss Fanny’s 20-year-old daughter, who has been living with her grandmother, and proudly introduces Fanny to the townspeople. But they frown upon the whole matter, and Franzén begins to regret his action. Hurt and disillusioned by her lover’s ambivalent attitude, Miss Fanny decides to leave town. Miss Astrid and Mr. Lundberg have an argument and break off their liaison. In the meantime Fanny’s daughter falls in love with the local pastor and becomes secretly engaged.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Mr. Franzén soon discovers he needs Miss Fanny and asks her to marry him. Mr. Lundberg approaches Miss Astrid, and they are reconciled. But Miss Fanny refuses to marry Mr. Franzén. She prefers that they go back to their old arrangement.
Credits Production company Production manager Director Artistic advisor Screenplay Photography Architect Music Sound Editor
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Alf Kjellin Ingmar Bergman Buntel Ericsson (joint pseudonym for Ingmar Bergman and Erland Josephson) Gunnar Fischer P.A. Lundgren Erik Nordgren Lars Lalin Ulla Ryghe
Cast David Franzén Fanny Anna, her daughter Lundberg Ellen Astrid Emil, young Pastor Liljedahl Wibom Innkeeper Berta Ossian The volunteer Bishop Mayor Principal Principal’s wife Postmaster Dr. Brusén Policeman
Gunnar Björnstrand Sickan Carlsson Bibi Andersson Stig Järrel Hjördis Petterson Kristina Adolphson Per Myrberg Gösta Cederlund Torsten Winge Lasse Krantz Fillie Lyckow Jan Tiselius Stefan Hübinette Sven Nilsson Rolf Nystedt Sten Hedlund Stina Ståhle Lars Westlund Ivar Uhlin Birger Sahlberg
Filmed on location at Vadstena, Arboga, Skänninge, and at Råsunda Studios in Stockholm, beginning early summer 1961 and completed late summer 1961. Distribution Running time Released Premiere
Svensk Filmindustri 93 minutes 5 December 1961 26 December 1961, Fanfaren and Röda Kvarn (Stockholm)
Commentary The script of Lustgården was serialized as a novella in Swedish magazine Allers Familjejournal, nos. 3-7/1962, illustrated with photographs from the film.
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Chapter IV Filmography Though Lustgården was not directed by Ingmar Bergman but by Hollywood emigré Alf Kjellin during a return visit to his native Sweden, Bergman was engaged in the project and particulary sensitive about it, this being his first attempt to use color film. He insisted that SF buy new projectors for the opening of the film at Röda Kvarn to avoid ‘piss yellow and cadaver blue shades’ [pissgult och likblått ljus]. The press showing, however, took place on the Råsunda Film-Teknik premises and was apparently a disaster. In an interview in connection with a 1970 TV showing of the film, Bergman commented on the event: ‘It was a terrible day: snow storm and slush. A bitter northerly wind, grey and dark, a weather for catching colds. Walking across the backyard at Film Teknik I saw the critics streaming out. [...] It was an extraordinary gathering of black ravens who had watched our little summer comedy. And I said to myself: This film is dead!’ [Det var en ohygglig dag, storm och snöglopp. En hård nordostan, förkylningsväder och gråmörkt. Jag kom över gården utanför Film-Teknik när kritikerskaran strömmade ut. [...] Det var en enastående samling svarta korpar som hade sett vår sommarlätta lilla komedi. Och jag sa till mig själv: ‘Den filmen är död’!]. Bergman was right but claims he has retained a certain faiblesse for the film, referring to it in the same interview as ‘an almost white sin, the easiest one to forgive’ [en nästan vit synd, den lättaste att förlåta] (Röster i RadioTV, no. 13, 1970, p. 17). Erland Josephson comments briefly on the origin of the pseudonym Buntel Ericsson in the memoir collection Rollen, Sanningslekar, Föreställningar, 1990, p. 368 (from Sanningslekar). (See Ø 1498.) The film has never been released internationally.
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NATTVARDSGÄSTERNA, 1963 [Winter Light/The Communicants], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
The American title, Winter Light, is well chosen in terms of the landscape and mood of the film, which is shot in a bleak, wintry light. The British title, The Communicants, is the dictionary meaning of the Swedish title, but seems very abstract in comparison to the poetic Swedish word, a compound noun meaning ‘guests at the last supper’.
Synopsis The film, set in the present, opens with a service in Mittsunda church where Tomas Eriksson, a middle-aged widower, is officiant. Only a few parishoners are present, among them the local schoolteacher Märta Lundberg, who is in love with Tomas; fisherman Jonas Persson and his wife; Fredrik Blom, the church organist; Algot Frövik, the church warden; and the sexton Mr. Aronsson. After the communion, fisherman Persson and his wife come to see the pastor. Persson is depressed, and his wife suggests that he come back to church alone later. Märta Lundberg arrives with hot coffee and sandwiches. Tomas shows only irritation. Märta leaves. Tomas ponders the photographs of his dead wife, then opens a letter that Märta has sent him earlier. The camera shifts to a long close-up of Märta’s face as she recites the letter, in which she reveals her agony over her unrequited love for Tomas. She gives an account of how she, a nonbeliever, began to pray for a cure of her eczema after Tomas had failed to do so. She ends by asking Tomas to use her. Though visibly upset over the letter, Tomas who has a bad cold dozes off, his head and arms resting on the table. Jonas Persson suddenly appears. He reveals his angst, but Tomas can only respond by talking about his own anguish, his feeling that God has abandoned him.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Jonas Persson leaves, and Märta returns. Tomas breaks down coughing and crying in Märta’s arms before the altar. An old woman enters and informs them that Jonas Persson has shot himself down by the rapids. Tomas leaves in the car to help take care of Jonas’s body. Märta later joins him; together they head back to the schoolhouse where Märta lives in an upstairs apartment. While Märta goes to fetch some medicine, Tomas stays below in the classroom. A boy comes in to get a book; he has a brief and stilted conversation with Tomas. When Märta returns, Tomas again shows his irritation over her concern for him. Märta cries but later (upon Tomas’s request) accompanies him to the church at Frostnäs for the afternoon service. On the way there, Tomas pays a visit to Mrs. Persson and informs her of her husband’s death. Back in the car, Tomas begins to tell Märta of his past, but the noise from a passing freight train drowns his voice. The last part of the film takes place inside the church at Frostnäs. The rheumatic Algot Frövik comes to talk with Tomas. Frövik has read the Gospels and has come to the conclusion that his own prolonged physical suffering is probably comparable to the physical pain endured by Christ on the cross. Christ’s real suffering, says Frövik, was his sense of being abandoned by all those he loved, including God himself. While Frövik talks to Tomas, Märta listens to the organist Blom, who advises her to leave and seek employment elsewhere. The church bells, calling the congregation to service, stop ringing, but no one has come to church. Under such circumstances Tomas could cancel the service but decides to conduct it. His decision comes at the same time as Märta, kneeling in a pew, asks for peace of mind for both of them. The film ends as Tomas pronounces the words of the church ritual: Holy, holy, holy, Thy Name be Honored, in Heaven as on Earth.
Credits Production company Production manager Studio manager Director Assistant directors Screenplay Photography Architect Sound Sound effects Music Costumes Make-up Props Editor Continuity
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Lars-Owe Carlberg Ingmar Bergman Lenn Hjortzberg, Vilgot Sjöman Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist P.A. Lundgren Stig Flodin Evald Andersson Nos. 508, 14, 520, 400 in Swedish hymn book from 1937; Postludium (Johan Morén) Mago (Max Goldstein) Börje Lundh Karl-Arne Bergman Ulla Ryghe Katherina Faragó
Cast Pastor Tomas Ericsson Märta Lundberg Jonas Persson Karin Persson Algot Frövik Fredrik Blom, organist Knut Aronsson, sexton
Gunnar Björnstrand Ingrid Thulin Max von Sydow Gunnel Lindblom Allan Edwall Olof Thunberg Kolbjörn Knudsen
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Chapter IV Filmography Old woman in church Johan Åkerblom, farmer Hanna Appelblad, baker Doris, her five-year-old daughter Johan Strand, schoolboy Stefan Larsson, policeman Persson’s daughter Persson’s son A man Two boys
Elsa Ebbesen-Thornblad Tor Borong Bertha Sånnell Helena Palmgren Eddie Axberg Lars-Owe Carlberg Ingmari Hjort Stefan Larsson Johan Olafs Lars-Olof Andersson, Christer Öhman
Filmed on location in Dalarna, Skattunge Church in Orsa, and at Råsunda Studios, beginning 4 October 1961 and completed 14 January 1962. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Janus Films, Inc. 80 minutes 19 November 1962 11 February 1963, Fontänen and Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 13 May 1963, Beekman Theater, NYC
Commentary The script to Nattvardsgästerna was serialized as a novella in Swedish magazine Allers Familjejournal, nos. 6-10/1963, illustrated with photographs from the film. The script was published in book form in En filmtrilogi (1963), later issued in paperback as Filmberättelser 1 (1973). Bergman writes about the film in Bilder/Images (1990), pp. 256-274. He describes Nattvardsgästerna, filmed only in fog and cloudy weather, in a way that confirms a common (nonSwedish) view of his filmmaking as a whole: ‘Det är den svenska mänskan vid den svenska verklighetens slut och den svenska väderlekens lågpunkt’ [It is the Swede at the end of Swedish reality and at the low point of Swedish weather]. Reportage from filming of Nattvardsgästerna appeared in DN, 19 January 1962, p. 14. Filmmaker Vilgot Sjöman who followed the entire shooting of the film later published his extensive notes as L-136: Dagbok; see (Ø 1100). In a series of TV programs called ‘Återsken’ (Reflections) by Lennart Ehrenborg, an excerpt from the shooting of Nattvardsgästerna was shown in segment 14 (SVT, 18 October 1979). SR (Swedish Public Radio) reported on the same subject in ‘Dagens eko’, 3 October 1961 (Bergman interviewed by Lennart Swahn). The shooting of Nattvardsgästerna seems to have been troublesome for actor Gunnar Björnstrand, a Catholic convert cast as a doubting Protestant minister. See Lillie Björnstrand, Inte bara applåder, 1975 (Ø 1263); same matter also discussed in Expr., 25 October 1975, p. 18, and by Bergman in Bilder/ Images (1990), p. 264. Björnstrand’s daughter Gabriella touched on the subject in Expr., 2 December 2003, p. 4. (See Ø 1685.)
Reception Nattvardsgästerna has remained a film with a rather narrow but special appeal. Variety, 20 March 1963, p. 6, summed it up: ‘An extremely moving and fascinating film for the religiously aware, and a somewhat boring one for the religiously indifferent.’ In his review of the film in DN (12 February 1963, p. 14), Mauritz Edström – though praising the film’s artistry – referred to Bergman as a ‘religiously infected’ person, oscillating between faith and doubt whose world view had few contemporary followers. For a similar mixed response to film, see Chaplin, no. 35 (February 1963), pp. 55-58, which contains two reviews of the film, one by Lutheran pastor
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Ludvig Jönsson, the other by agnostic author Margaretha Ekström. See also review by Robin Hood, titled ‘Bergman, vad rör oss prästerna?’ [B., what concern to us are the priests?], ST, 12 February 1963, p. 32, followed by interview comments by four ministers of the Swedish Lutheran State Church (a fifth minister, Bergman’s own father, declined to answer). Bergman responded on Swedish Radio, 25 February 1963; see comment entitled ‘Ingmar Bergman och kritiken’ by Robin Hood in ST, 26 February 1963, p. 22. See also discussion by theologians M. Lönnebo and P.O. Lundberg in UNT, 27 February 1963, p. 2; and between Leif Furhammar and T. Henriksson in Ergo (Uppsala University student publication), no. 5 (1963) pp. 6-7. In an interview, Göteborg bishop Bo Giertz commented on Nattvardsgästerna as a deeply degrading document on the church (GP, 13 February 1963, p. 14). Articles appeared in church publications Vår kyrka, no. 9, 1963: 9, 24; and Evangeliskt drama, nos. 1 & 4, 1963. A debate on religious implications of the film was published in the Lutheran state church magazine Svensk Pastoral Tidskrift, nos. 10, 13 and 15, 1963. In SvD, 21 April 1963, p. 4, theologian Hans Nystedt interpreted Nattvardsgästerna as a religious parable with Märta Lundberg, the schoolteacher, portrayed as a Christ figure. To Sven E. Olsson in Scen och salong 48, no. 4 (1963): 22-23, the pastor’s role depicted a psychological transference of the concept of God from father-fixation to mother-dependence. Bengt Landgren published an article in DN, 6 July 1973 (p. 3) comparing Bergman’s Nattvardsgästerna and the modernist work of Swedish poets Gunnar Ekelöf and Erik Lindegren. J. Jönsson, B. Lidström and L. Lönnroth wrote a joint reception study of Swedish public response to Nattvardsgästerna: ‘Ingmar Bergmans film Nattvardsgästerna’ (with summary in English). Available at Department of Literature, Lund University, 1969, 110 typed pp. The most thorough discussion of Nattvardsgästerna outside of Sweden took place in Italy and the U.S. In Bianco e nero 24, no. 5 (May 1963): 51-55, Mario Verdone analyzes the film as an extension of literary works by Scandinavian writers Ibsen, Kaj Munk, and Strindberg. Renzo Renzi in Cinema Nuovo, no. 163 (May-June 1963), pp. 166-168, saw Luci d’inverno as a paradoxical film about atheism played out in a religious setting. In Cinema Nuovo, no. 166 (November-December 1963), pp. 443-445, Guido Oldrini discussed Tomas Ericsson’s crisis in terms of the Protestant emphasis on individual salvation rather than on symbolic congregational rites. See also group item ‘Religious Approaches to Bergman’s Filmmaking’ (Ø 997). Film a Sogetto, Centro S. Fedelle dello Spettacolo, Milan (23 April 1965), 16 pp, is an Italian fact sheet on Luci d’inverno, listing openings worldwide, credits, review excerpts, plot synopsis, and a bibliography. With the exception of Henry Hart in Films in Review 14, no. 5 (May 1963): 299-301, for whom Winter Light redeemed all previous Bergman films, American press reception of the film was rather negative. Time, 24 May 1963, p. 98 (A.E. p. 40), referred to Bergman as ‘Sweden’s cinematic poltergeist haunting the dark and chilly corridors where Man loses God’; and Judith Crist in the New York Herald Tribune, 14 May 1963, p. 13, called Winter Light ‘bleak and cold in its abstract ideas’, while Brendan Gill in the New Yorker, 18 May 1963, pp. 169-73, dismissed the film as ‘the latest installment of Ingmar Bergman’s running debate with God’. A Dutch reassessment of the film was published in 1988 by Willem Jan Otten, ‘Fantomen op kousevoeten’ in N.R.C. Handelsblad, 7 October 1988.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 12 February 1963 (AB, 11 February); BLM 32, no. 2 (February 1963): 158-61; Vi no. 7 (1963), p. 11.
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Chapter IV Filmography Foreign Reviews Cahiers du cinéma, no. 168 (July 1965), pp. 88-89; Cineforum, no. 17 (July 1962): 681; Cinéma 65, no. 97, pp. 112-14;. Cinema Nuovo, no. 166 (November-December 1963), pp. 443-45; F-Dienst XXX/11, May 1977, p. 10 a-d; Filmfacts, 23 May 1963, pp. 85-87; Filmkritik no. 3 (1963), pp. 135-38; Films and Filming 9, no. 9 (June 1963): 27-28; Films in Review 14, no. 5 (May 1963): 299-301; Jeune cinéma, no. 8 (June-July 1963), pp. 21-23; Kosmorama no. 67 (October 1964), pp. 35-36; Monthly Film Bulletin, June 1963, p. 79; New Republic, 11 May 1963, pp. 26-27; New York Times, 14 May 1963, p. 32:1 and NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, pp. 3386-87; Newsweek, 27 May 1963, p. 103-4; Saturday Review, 18 May 1963, p. 37; Sight and Sound, Summer 1963, p. 146; Times (London), 1 May 1963, p. 5.
Longer discussions Lacy, Allen. ‘The Unbelieving Priest: Unamuno’s Saint Emmanuel the Good, Martyr and Bergman’s Winter Light’. Literature/Film Quarterly 10, no. 1 (1982): 53-61; Schreckenberg, E. ‘Wenn Filme Texte sind’. Filmbulletin no 196, 1994: 44-51; Simon, John. Extensive analysis in Ingmar Bergman Directs 1972, (Ø 1218), pp. 145-206; Törnqvist, Eqil. ‘Från manus till film. – Ingmar Bergmans Nattvardsgästerna’, 2003 (Ø 1690). Young, Vernon. ‘Films to Confirm Poets’. Hudson Review 16, no. 2 (Summer 1963): 262-264 (reprinted in On Film: Unpopular Essays on a Popular Art (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1972), pp. 214-16).
See also Chaplin, no. 35 (1963), pp. 52-55, and no. 37 (1963), pp. 224-38; Hubert Cohen. Ingmar Bergman. The Art of Confession, 1993, pp. 182-94; J.-L. Comolli, Cahiers du cinéma, no. 156 (June 1964), pp. 30-39; Jörn Donner in Svensk filmografi, 1960-1969, pp. 138-40; M. Estève, Etudes cinématographiques, no. 47-47 (1966), pp. 56-75; Frank Gado, The Passion of Ingmar Bergman, 1986, pp. 280-94; Marianne Höök, SvD, 4 October 1961, p. 5; Britt Hamdi, Vecko-Revyn, no. 10 (1962), pp. 19-23; Image et son, no. 192 (March 1966), pp. 99-102, and no. 226 (March) 1969, pp. 56-58; Torsten Jungstedt, ‘Biodags’, Sveriges Radio (SR), February, 1962; Kosmorama, no. 56 (February 1962), pp. 97-99; Birgitta Steene, Ingmar Bergman, 1968, pp. 102-108; Télé-Ciné, no. 124 (October 1965), pp. 21-29; Ingrid Thulin, American Film, no. 3 (1972), pp. 15-27 (interview); Leif Zern, Se Bergman, 1995, pp. 130-36.
Awards 1964:
David O. Selznick Silver Laurel. For additional awards, see Varia, C.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record 234.
TYSTNADEN, 1963 [The Silence], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis The setting of Tystnaden is an imaginary foreign country. Two sisters, Anna and Ester, are on their way home to Sweden with Anna’s young son Johan, when Ester’s illness forces them to interrupt their journey and check into a hotel in a city named Timoka. Except for the opening on the train and a sequence in a cabaret hall and bar, the film takes place in the hotel. Soon after arriving there, Anna and Johan take an afternoon nap, while Ester, in an adjacent room, starts drinking. She learns a few words in the foreign language, such as kasi, hand, and naigo, face, from an old waiter who brings her another bottle of liquor. The radio is on, playing Bach. Ester goes to see Anna and Johan, caressing them in their sleep. Returning to her room, she falls down on her bed and begins to masturbate. Johan wakes up at the sound of air raid sirens. He dresses, puts a toy pistol in his belt, and goes exploring in the hotel corridors. A painting depicting a satyr seducing a woman catches his attention. Later, he pretends to shoot down an electrician who is repairing a light fixture in the ceiling. He spies on the old waiter but is discovered and invited to share a piece of chocolate with him. The waiter gives him a set of photographs showing a woman, presumably his wife, on a bier. When alone, Johan hides the pictures under the hotel carpet. Johan discovers a room occupied by a group of dwarfs. He joins them in their funmaking and is dressed up in a girl’s frock. The game is interrupted by the arrival of the leader of the troupe, who sends Johan out of the room. In the meantime, Anna has gone to a cabaret hall where the dwarfs are performing. Across the aisle from her, a couple is copulating. She leaves and goes into a bar, where she attracts the attention of a waiter. When she returns home, she is questioned by Ester about her whereabouts. Angered, Anna tells her a story about making love in a church. Soon afterwards, Anna is ready to leave again. She quarrels with Ester; Johan is sent out of the room. Left alone, Ester has a severe attack of suffocation. Drinking and smoking, she finally collapses on the floor. The old waiter brings her fresh bedding and food. Johan comes to her bed and shares her meal. He draws a picture of a sad face, then performs a pantomime with two hand puppets, a man and woman fighting. Johan is in bed reading Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time. Ester, coming in to check on him, learns of Anna’s meeting in the hotel with the café waiter. Upset, Ester goes in search of her sister. A bitter scene ensues. Anna is enraged and hysterical. Ester leaves but collapses outside the room. The dwarfs pass her, now dressed up in strange costumes, including a bride, a groom, and the figure of Death. The last sequence in the hotel depicts Ester resting in bed, with Anna and Johan visible in the adjacent room. Bach is heard on the radio. Johan comes to borrow cigarettes from Ester for his mother. Soon afterwards Anna announces that she and Johan are leaving to go home. Ester will stay behind. Johan says goodbye to his aunt and embraces her. She gives him a list of words in the foreign language. The film ends as Johan is seen lip reading the list silently on the train, while his mother opens the window to let the rain wash over her face. The last shot is a close-up of Johan, his lips barely moving.
Credits Production company Production manager Studio manager
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Lars-Owe Carlberg
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Chapter IV Filmography Director Assistant directors Screenplay Photography Architect Sound Sound effects Music
Costumes Make-up Props Editor Continuity
Ingmar Bergman Lars-Erik Liedholm, Lenn Hjortzberg Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist P.A. Lundgren Stig Flodin Ivan Renliden Excerpts from J.S Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations’; R. Mersey’s ‘Mayfair Waltz’, ‘Club Cool’, ‘Coffee Bean Calypso’, ‘Jazz Club’, and ‘Rock in the Rough’. ‘Sing, Baby, Sing’ (text/music: Yellen/Pollack) Marik Vos Lundh Gullan Westfeldt Karl-Arne Bergman Ulla Ryghe Katherina Faragó
Cast Ester Anna Double for Lindblom Johan Old waiter Anna’s lover Electrician in corridor Woman in cabaret Her lover Usher Cabaret doorman Bar owner Newspaper salesman Dwarfs Their manager
Ingrid Thulin Gunnel Lindblom Kristina Olavsson Jörgen Lindström Håkan Jahnberg Birger Malmsten Olof Widgren Lissi Alandh Leif Forstenberg Birger Lensander Nils Waldt Eskil Kalling Karl-Arne Bergman The Eduardini Eduardo Gutierrez
Filmed at Råsunda Studios, Stockholm, beginning 9 July 1962 and completed 19 September 1962. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Janus Films, Inc. 96 minutes 4 July 1963 23 September 1963 Fontänen and Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 3 February 1964, Rialto and Translux East, NYC
Commentary The script’s working title was ‘Tiimoka’, an Estonian word meaning ‘Belonging to the Executioner’. Bergman discusses the genesis of the film in Bilder/Images, 1990, pp. 104-112. He talks briefly about the film in a radio interview in program ‘Filmkrönika’ [Film Chronicle]. Swedish Public Radio, 20 September 1963.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record The script of Tystnaden was published in book form in En filmtrilogi (1963), later issued in paperback as Filmberättelser 1 (1973). The script was also serialized as a novella in Swedish magazine Allers Familjejournal, nos. 4-8/1967, illustrated with photographs from the film. Variety ran several notices on the actual running time of The Silence, the first one on 6 October 1963, p. 6, listing the length as 105 minutes. This was corrected to 96 minutes in the issue of 19 February 1964, p. 17. American distributor of The Silence, Janus Films Inc., lists length at 95 minutes, but only a few frames were cut. Rumor that ten minutes of the original film were cut in U.S. is apparently false. The February 19, 1964 issue of Variety also reports that Bergman edited a special ‘international’ version of the film, which Janus Films, Inc. refused to accept. The same commentary appears in Svensk Filmografi 6 (Ø 1314), p. 154.
Reception Tystnaden caused more discussion, both in Sweden and abroad, than any previous Bergman film. Becoming a test case for the Swedish Censorship Board, it passed uncut; from then on ‘pornography of violence’ rather than ‘explicit eroticism’ was the key criterion in censoring films to be released in Sweden. But the head of the Censorship Board later revealed that he would have censured the film, if he alone had been in charge of the decision. (See SvD 3 November 1963, p. 12.) The Swedish Ombudsman of Justice received several complaints on the issue (See ST, 29 October 1963, pp. 1, 24, and DN, same date, p. 16). It also caused a debate in the Swedish Riksdag, 30 October and 3 December 1963 (printed protocols A4, no. 35, pp. 33-39, and B5, no. 31, pp. 32-34). An editorial in Expr., 3 November 1963, p 2., claimed that Tystnaden had made the Censorship Board an impossible institution. The public debate followed three directions: (1) a moral approach, which either condoned or condemned the film; (2) an assessment of Bergman as a ‘film dictator’ whom no one dared oppose; and (3) a gender approach charging Bergman with sexism and hostility towards women’s liberation. See the following press sources: Dagen, 27 September 1963, pp. 1, 12; 28 September, pp. 1, 10; and 4 October 1963, pp. 1, 12; ST, 2 October 1963, p. 7; same paper, 7 October 1963, p. 7; 9 November 1963, p. 7, and 13 November 1963, p. 7; Expr., 16 October and 25 November 1963, p. 4. Norwegian paper Morgenbladet (Oslo) carried on a debate about Tystnaden during the same period of time, in which, among others, the Swedish author Sven Stolpe participated, claiming that Bergman’s film might serve as a warning and a deterrent against decadence. See Kurt Almkvist’s article ‘“Tystnaden” och Hermesstaven’ [The Silence and the Hermes staff] in Horisont XI, no. 1, 1964: 10-12. Two influential editorial voices – Bo Strömstedt (Expr., 3 November 1963) and Olof Lagercrantz (DN, 29 October 1963) – defended the film; for the latter this represented a shift in attitude towards Bergman’s filmmaking, the reason being that ‘Bergman did not try to force a pattern of salvation on the viewer’. Lagercrantz’ assessment of Tystnaden as a non-religious work of art was attacked in an article by Torsten Strömner (‘Ingmar Bergmans nihilism’) in the journal Origo 4, no. 1, 1964, p. 24. On 17 November 1963 (p. 18), AB tried to summarize the vast number of articles and letters to the editor that the film had elicited. On 14 January 1964, (p. 20), the same paper reported that the film had been seen in Sweden by 1.4 million people and had been sold to 19 countries. Swedish public reaction to Tystnaden is the subject of a sociological paper by Jan Ekecrantz, ‘Tystnaden och publiken: En sociologisk studie’, University of Uppsala Department of Sociology, 1964, typescript, 50 pp. Swedish magazine Året runt, no. 17 (1964), pp. 10-11, 66, 68, 70, published an interview with Bergman about the film and its reception. Swedish media discussion was reported in Films and Filming, December 1963, pp. 53-55; Time, 15 November 1963, p. 72 (A.E. p. 60) (very glib); NYT, 1 December 1963, sec. 2, p. 5; and by Martin Ripkens in ‘Kein Licht im Winter’. Filmkritik, no. 1, 1964, pp. 43-45.
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Chapter IV Filmography Bergman reports on receiving hate mail and threatening phone calls about Tystnaden. See Bergman on Bergman, p. 179. He discusses the film in Bilder/Images, 1990, pp. 104-112. Tystnaden caused a controversy in a number of countries after its foreign release in 1964, especially in West Germany, where it was discussed in the Bundestag and became a test case for West German Censorship Board. See Film (München) 2, no. 6 (1964): 13-20, no. 7 (1964): 4-5, and Filmkritik no. 2 (1965), pp. 99-102. Die Information: Nachrichten für die Film Wirtschaft, 31 March 1964, 10 pp, contains a report of the Bundestag discussion on the film. Atlas Filmhefte, no. 32 (1964) is a special issue on Das Schweigen, which contains the West German censorship statement, releasing the film uncut; also a synopsis of the plot; two unsigned articles on the film and one signed by I. Flatow; and excerpted West German reviews. There were several German interviews with Bergman on the same subject: ‘Ingmar Bergman bricht Schweigen’. Weltwoche, 20 March 1964; Michael Salzer, ‘Das Schweigen soll für sich sprechen’. Welt am Sonntag, 29 March 1964; and Dieter Strunz, ‘Ballade der Einsamkeit’. Berliner Morgenpost, 25 March 1964. Variety, 25 March 1964 (p. 19), 27 May (p. 15), and 30 June (p. 21), also reports on West German debate and success of film. Gert H. Theunissen published a book-length study of West German public response to Tystnaden, titled Das Schweigen und sein Publikum (Cologne: M du Mont Schauberg, 1965), 187 pp. For the response to Tystnaden in Israel, the first foreign country to purchase the film, see Variety, 1 January 1964, pp. 2, 52. For reports on the film’s reception in the U.S., see AB, 21 March 1964, p. 18 (mostly on its economic success); NYT, 2 February 1964, p. 48; Variety, 8 July 1964, p. 11 (reporting on attempt by police chief in Braintree, Mass., to stop showing of the film). Critical response to The Silence in the U.S. ranged from Henry Hart’s dismissal of the film as ‘one of Ingmar Bergman’s sexploiters’ (Films in Review 15, no. 3 (March 1964): 176-78) to Stanley Kauffmann’s cautious assessment in New Republic, 22 February 1964, pp. 24-26, reprinted in his A World on Film, 1966, pp. 286-89: ‘Bergman is a director who knows more and more about less and less.’ The Argentinian distributor of Tystnaden received a one-year prison sentence (on probation) according to Expr., 4 December 1964, p. 5.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 24 September 1963 (reviews by Robin Hood in ST and Mauritz Edström in DN were translated by H. Lundberg in Atlas, no. 2 [1964], pp. 119-21); BLM no. 8 (October 1963), pp. 684-87; Chaplin, no. 40 (October 1963), pp. 239-41 (preceded by article by psychiatrist Göran Persson on the Trilogy, pp. 224-38); Perspektiv no. 10 (1963), pp. 460-61; Vi no. 40 (1963), pp. 18, 37.
Foreign Reviews Cahiers du cinéma, no. 153 (March 1964), pp. 42-44, no. 154 (April 164), p. 48 and no. 168 (July 1965), p. 88; Cineforum, no. 32 (February 1964), pp. 122-30; Cinéma 64, no. 86 (May 1964), pp. 115-17; Cinema Nuovo, no. 168 (March-April 1964), pp. 117-22; Film Comment, 2 no. 3 (Summer 1964), pp. 56-58; Filmfacts, 12 March 1964, pp. 21-23; Filmkritik no. 3 (1964), pp. 133-35; Film Kritik Jahrbuch 65 (Emsderfen: Verlag Lechtl, 1965), n.p; Films and Filming 10, no. 9 (June 1964): 22; Kosmorama no. 66 (April 1964), pp. 166-69;
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Le monde, 18 March 1964, p. 10; Monthly Film Bulletin, June 1964, p. 91; Movie, no. 12 (Spring 1965), p. 38; New York Herald Tribune, 4 February 1964, p. 10; New York Times, 4 February 1964, p. 28:1 and NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, p. 3444; New Yorker, 8 February 1964, pp. 106-8; Saturday Review, 8 February 1964, p. 23; Sight and Sound 33, no. 3 (Summer 1964): 142-43; Télé-Ciné no. 115 (February-April 1964), p. 45; Time, 14 February 1964, p. 70; Times (London), 23 April 1964, p. 5; Variety, 2 October 1963 (sign. Denk).
Longer Review Articles and Special Journal issues Abenius, Margit. ‘Tystnaden’. BLM 33, no. 10 (December) 1963: 820-822 (pursues religious symbolism in film and sees waiter as an obsolete and powerless God figure); Adams, Sidney P. ‘The Silence’. Film Culture 76 (June) 1992, pp. 35-38; Amis de la télévison, no. 237 (February 1976), pp. 46-47 (reassessment of film); L’Avant-scène du Cinéma, no. 37 (15 May 1964), pp. 1-50 (special issue with dialogue sequences); Blackwell, Marilyn Johns. ‘The Silence: Disruption and Disavowal in the Movement beyond Gender’. Scandinavica 35, no. 2 (November) 1996: 233-68; Brightman, Carol. ‘The Word, the Image and The Silence’. Film Quarterly 17, no. 4 (Summer 1964), pp. 3-11; reprinted in Kaminsky, 1975 (Ø 1266), pp. 239-52; Business Week, 22 February 1964, pp. 128-30 (on financial success of film); Buzzonetti, R. Revista del cinematografo 36, no. 6 (July 1964): 255-58 (analysis of philosophical progression of the Trilogy); Cineforum 4, no. 32 (February 1964): 120-73 (special issue on Il silenzio with excerpts from scenario; a review article by J. Burvenich; and discussion of music, sound, and silence in the film by E. Comuzio); Cinema Nuovo no. 186 (March-April 1967), pp. 104-7 (Guido Aristarco analyzes the film as a Borghesian form of atheism, producing no liberation from Christian dogma, but a deep sense of abandoment); Hamilton, J.W. ‘Some Comments About Ingmar Bergman’s The Silence and its Sociocultural Implications.’ Journal of Academy of Child Psychology, 1969, pp. 367-73; Hiroshi, K. ‘Symbolical Understanding of Ingmar Bergman’s Tystnaden’, Japan, 21 July 1966 (English transl., 4 pp., in SFI library); Kieslowski. ‘Kan Kieslowski lösa Tystnadens gåta’ [Can K solve the riddle of The Silence?] Chaplin, no. 254, 1994: 26-30. Also in Kinoerzählungen, ed. by Vernea Lueken. Munich: Hanser, 1995; Labraaten, B. ‘Meningen med ‘Tystnaden’’ [The meaning of ‘The Silence’]. Filmrutan 6, no. 4 (1963), pp. 123-25 (sees Johan as a contemporary Everyman figure and the old waiter as a naive representation of God; cf. Abenius above); Lee, Gordon. ‘Perceiving Ingmar Bergman’s The Silence through I Ching’. M.A. thesis, San Jose State University, 1995, 150 leaves; Lehman, B. ‘Analyse structurale: Le silence’. Institut national supériur des arts du spectacle et technique de diffusion, Brussels, June-August 1966, 32 pp. (structuralist study of Johan’s ‘conversion’ from innocence to insight);
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Some stills from Ingmar Bergman’s films can serve as emblematic samples of his filmmaking: the shot of the knight playing chess with Death in the Seventh Seal, the split face of the two women, Elisabeth and Alma, in Persona; and the pietà scene in Cries and Whispers when the maid Anna takes the dying Agnes in her lap. Photo shows Kari Sylwan as Anna and Harriet Andersson as Agnes. (Courtesy: SFI) Sammern-Frankenegg, F. ‘Learning “A Few Words in a Foreign Language”: Ingmar Bergman’s “Secret Message” in the Imagery of Hand and Face’. Scandinavian Studies 45, no. 3 (Summer 1977): 301-10; Sjögren, Olle ‘Kammarspels- och trilogibegreppen i Ingmar Bergmans filmtrilogi’ [Chamber play and trilogy concepts in Bergman’s film trilogy], Institute of Literary Science, University of Uppsala, 45 pp., available in stencil, SFI library; Steene, Birgitta. ‘Bergman’s Movement towards Nihilism’, in The Hero in Scandinvian Literature, 1975 (Ø 1269).
Fact Sheets Film a Sogetto, Centro S. Fedelle Spettacolo, Milan (30 July 1965), 20 pp. Italian fact sheet on Il silenzio, listing openings worldwide, credits, review excerpts, plot synopsis, and a bibliography;
See also Abraham, H., Commonweal, 29 May 1964, pp. 209-12; Cinema (Zurich), no. 39 (1964), pp. 496-517; Cinéma 64, no. 85 (April 1964), pp. 83-88; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 155 (May 1964), p. 34, and no. 156 (June 1964), pp. 30-39;
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Gado, Frank. The Passion of Ingmar Bergman, 1986, pp. 295-307; Gervais, Marc. Ingmar Bergman. Prophet and Magician, 1999, pp. 80-86; Hamilton, W., Motive, no. 2 (November 1966), pp. 36-44; Hartman, O. in Jordbävningen i Lissabon [Earthquake in Lisbon] (Stockholm: Raben & Sjögren, 1968), pp. 158-67; Image et son, no. 226 (March) 1969: 58-59; Koskinen, M., Spel och speglingar, 1993, (Ø 1552), pp. 104-117 & passim; Kosmorama 24, no. 137 (Spring) 1978: 59-61; Ladiges, P.M., Film (München), no. 6 (February-March 1964), pp. 43-44; Motbilder, 1978 (Ø 1317), pp. 239-45; Penlington, N., University College Quarterly (East Lansing), no. 3 (1966), pp. 30-33; Playboy, June 1964, pp. 61-68; Positif no. 61-63 (June-August 1964), pp. 133-34; Schlappner, M. in Filme und ihre Regisseure (Bern: Hans Huber, 1967), pp. 63-78; Steene, B. Ingmar Bergman, 1968, pp. 87-105; Svensk filmografi, 1960-1969 (Ø 1314), pp. 152-54; Variety, 1 January 1964 (pp. 2, 52), and additional notices on 26 February (p. 18), 25 March (p. 19), 3 June (p. 21), 8 July (p. 11).
235.
FÖR ATT INTE TALA OM ALLA DESSA KVINNOR, 1964 [Not to speak about all these women/All These Women], Eastman Color Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman, Erland Josephson
Synopsis The plot catalyst is the death of Felix, a famous musician. Passing by his lit de parade are all the women of importance in his life and his manager Jillker. His biographer, Cornelius, places a manuscript on Felix’s body. In a flashback, Cornelius is seen arriving at Felix’s house to collect material for his biography. He meets Cecilia, the musician’s young cousin, and Adelaide, Felix’s wife, as well as Bumblebee who shows him the master bedroom. This results in an amorous affair, which is depicted as a dance to tango music to appease the censors. The next morning Cornelius wakes up in Bumblebee’s bed and discovers a woman dressed in black who is about to murder him, mistaking him for Felix. Cornelius escapes to warn Felix, but is refused access to the music room by Isolde, the chambermaid. As a last resort, Cornelius jumps out a window, only to encounter Adelaide firing shots at busts that resemble Felix. In the evening, he looks up Bumblebee but gets lost and ends up kissing Beatrice, Felix’s accompanist. The scene is photographed by Jillker. Apprehensive, Cornelius flees again, dropping his cigar, which touches off a spectacular fireworks display. The next day, Jillker persuades Cornelius to dress up as a woman in order to get close to Felix. He succeeds, though the viewers never see Felix. Cornelius learns that Felix will play his composition, ‘The Song of the Fish, or Abstraction No. 14’. Jillker now threatens to resign, but before he can put his threat into action, Felix dies. After Felix’s death, Cornelius examines his manuscript and is forced to admit that he has not captured Felix’s personality. He is accosted by Felix’s ‘widows’, and part of his manuscript disappears. A young man enters the scene. The women flock around him. Felix is already forgotten, and so is his biographer.
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Chapter IV Filmography Credits Production Company Production manager Studio manager Director Assistant directors Screenplay Photography Architect Propman Sound Sound effects Music
Orchestration Costumes Make-up Editor Continuity
Svensk Filmindustri Allan Ekelund Lars-Owe Carlberg Ingmar Bergman Lenn Hjortzberg, Lars-Erik Liedholm Ingmar Bergman, Erland Josephson Sven Nykvist P.A. Lundgren Karl-Arne Bergman P.O. Pettersson Evald Andersson Erik Nordgren; selections from J.S. Bach, ‘Suite no. 3 in C major’ and ‘Suite no. 3 in D minor’; Beethoven’s ‘Adelaide’, Offenbach’s ‘La belle Hélène’; Massenet’s ‘Thaïs’, Frank Silver (music)-Irving Cohen (text): ‘Yes! We have no bananas’ Charles Redland Mago (Max Goldstein) Börje Lundh, Britt Falkemo, Cecilia Drott Ulla Ryghe Katherina Faragó
Cast Cornelius Bumblebee Isolde Adelaide Madame Tussaud Traviata Cecilia Beatrice Jillker Tristan A Young Man English radio reporter French radio reporter German radio reporter Swedish radio reporter Men in black Chauffeur Waitresses:
Jarl Kulle Bibi Andersson Harriet Andersson Eva Dahlbeck Karin Kavli Gertrud Fridh Mona Malm Barbro Hiort af Ornäs Allan Edwall Georg Funkquist Carl Billquist Jan Blomberg Göran Graffman Jan-Olof Strandberg Gösta Prüzelius Ulf Johanson, Axel Düberg, Lars-Erik Liedholm Lars-Owe Carlberg Doris Funcke, Yvonne Igell
Filmed on location at Norrviken’s Gardens, Båstad, southern Sweden, and at Råsunda Studios, beginning 21 May 1963 and completed 24 July 1963. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released
Svensk Filmindustri Janus Films, Inc. 80 minutes 28 May 1964
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Premiere U.S. opening
15 June 1964, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 5 October 1964, Cinema Village, NYC
Commentary The script was serialized as a novella in Swedish magazine Allers Familjejournal, nos. 25-29/1964, illustrated with photographs from the film. För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor, the first color film directed by Ingmar Bergman, was a costly enterprise, with his highest budget so far (1.7 million Swedish crowns). It was also a kind of ‘test case’ for his lab experimentation with color (ST 13 July 1963, p. 9; cf. Commentary to entry Ø 227, Såsom i en spegel). Bergman held a press conference about the film on 11 July 1963. On same occasion he was interviewed by news program ‘Dagens eko’, SR (Swedish Public Radio), 12 July 1963, 4 min.
Reception För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor did not fare well among Swedish press critics, who found it artificial, spiteful, and boring. Ingmar Bergman was interviewed about this in Se no. 26 (1964), pp. 32-33 (‘Jag gjorde filmen i hat och förakt’ [I made the film in hatred and disdain]). He claimed he had wanted to attack not just the critics but also a type of ‘puffed up’ [uppblåst] artist. Chaplin, no. 48 (1964), pp. 254-58, asked three critics (L. Krantz, T. Manns, and S. Björkman) to review the film; they were more generous than the daily press and called the film elegant, humorous, and seductive. See also DN, 19 June, p. 4. Film received SFI Quality Subsidy of Skr 153,535 in 1964. För at inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor was shown at the Venice Film Festival in 1964, but was no international success. See F. Kovac’s report in Films in Review, October 1964, p. 458. Only the French seem to have liked it, though Cinéma 64, no. 90 (November 1964), pp. 117-18, claimed that the film confirmed Bergman’s total lack of humor. In response to this, see Cinéma 65, no. 93 (February 1965), pp. 109-10. Mario Verdone gave it an extensive review in an article titled ‘Bergman ad Antonioni’. Bianco e nero, no. 8 (August-September) 1964, pp. 7-29. (För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor is discussed on pp. 7-10.) English and American critics were mostly negative, thus confirming Variety’s prediction (1 July 1964, p. 22) that All These Women ‘might sell because of Bergman’s name’ but that ‘there was not much chance of success’. Judith Crists’s review in the New York Herald Tribune, 6 October 1964, p. 19, is indicative of the U.S. response to the film: ‘If Homer nods, why not Ingmar Bergman? But the trouble is the Swedish master has not only nodded – he has fallen fast asleep.’ For a rare positive review of All These Women, see Tom Milne, Sight and Sound 34, no. 1 (Summer 1965): 146-47, who regarded the film as a complex statement on the function of art and the artist as a genius. Film a sogetto, Centro S. Fedelle dello Spettacolo, Milan (7 November 1965), 8 pp., is an Italian fact sheet on Per non parlare di tutte questa donne, listing openings worldwide, credits, review excerpts, plot synopsis, and a bibliography.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 16 June 1964
Foreign Reviews Bianco e nero, August-September 1964, pp. 7-10; Filmkritik, no. 10 (1964), pp. 527-28; Films in Review 15, no. 10 (December 1964): 637; New York Times, 6 October 1964, p. 35:1 and NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, p. 3497; Time, 9 October 1964, pp. 109-10;
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Chapter IV Filmography Variety, 1 July 1964, p. 22; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 161-62 (January 1965), pp. 144-45; Positif, no. 66 (January 1965), pp. 91, 145-46; Télé-Ciné no. 119 (January-February 1965), pp. 44-45; Filmfacts, 1 January 1965, pp. 337-38; Films and Filming 12, no. 9 (June 1965): 28; Monthly Film Bulletin, May 1965, pp. 68-69; Times (London), 1 April 1965, p. 5.
See also Cahiers du cinéma, no. 159 (October 1964), pp. 12, 16-18; Image et son, no. 176-177 (September-October 1964), pp. 174-76, and no. 226 (March 1969), pp. 59-60); Movie no. 13 (Summer 1965): 6-9; P. Cowie, Ingmar Bergman. A Critical Biography, 1982, pp. 220-23; M. Doneux, APEC – Revue belge du cinéma, no. 4 (1975), no. 4 (1975), pp. 11-19; S. Kauffmann in A World on Film, pp. 289-90; J. Leirens, Amis du film et de la télévision, no. 228-29 (May-June 1975): 37; Svensk filmografi, 1960-1969 (Ø 1314), pp. 178-80.
236.
PERSONA, 1966, B/W Screenplay Director
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis Persona opens with a precredit segment of projector noise and an image of an old projector coal lamp, followed by seemingly disconnected shots in rapid sequence: a shorn lamb, a crawling spider, an animated drawing of a girl rowing upside down, a nail driven into a hand, spikes on a railing, a snowy parklike setting. Next are interior shots of a morgue; there are distant sounds of hospital utensils and of dripping water. A boy and an older woman, both seemingly dead, lie on beds covered with sheets. A phone rings sharply; the boy wakes up and tries in vain to go back to sleep. Moments later, he gets up and begins to wipe the transluscent glass on a door; a woman’s face emerges slowly. The credits are displayed, interspersed with rapid shots from the precredit sequence and recurring flashes of the face of the boy. The film now shifts to a hospital. Alma, a young nurse, is being briefed by a doctor about the case of Elisabet Vogler, an actress who has withdrawn from her profession and her family, and has become mute. After having expressed doubts about her suitability as Mrs. Vogler’s nurse, Alma introduces herself to her patient, who does not respond. She turns on the radio to Bach music, Elisabet covers her face with her hand while the camera gradually darkens and obliterates her features. At home in bed, Alma gives herself a pep talk about her own life: she is engaged to be married, and she has a job she likes. Next Alma reads a letter to Elisabet from her husband. Mrs. Vogler tears to pieces an enclosed picture of her son. Later, alone in the room, she turns on the TV set. A newscast shows a monk in Vietnam burning himself to death. Horrified, Elisabet retreats into a corner of the room. The doctor talks to Elisabet about her condition, suggesting that her silence is just another role she has assumed, which she will soon discard. Upon the doctor’s advice, Alma and Elisabet move to the doctor’s summer place on an island. Bergman’s voice-over describes their life as harmonious. While Elisabet remains mute, Alma becomes more and more talkative. After an evening of drinking, she tells of a sexual orgy in which she took part. Later the same day she
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record made love to her fiancé, became pregnant, but had an abortion. At this point in her story, Alma breaks down crying, embraced by Elisabet. Sitting at the kitchen table, Alma tells Elisabet that they are look-alikes. Drowsy with wine, Alma hears Elisabet’s voice urging her to go to bed. That night, Elisabet visits Alma in her bedroom. But when Alma asks her about it the following day, Elisabet denies it. Driving to post some mail, Alma reads a letter from Elisabet to her doctor, which she has forgotten to seal. In it Elisabet talks about her recovery and about Alma’s devotion to her. The scene ends with a shot of Alma in a slick raincoat, her figure reflected in a pond. Back at the house, Alma deliberately neglects to pick up some broken glass on the patio. Observed by Alma, Elisabet steps on a piece and cuts herself. At this point of crisis, the film strip breaks; when the film starts again, it is in slow motion and out of focus. Once adjusted, it shows the two women, both dressed in black, reading on the beach. Alma is restless, Elisabet seems at peace. Entreating Elisabet to talk to her, Alma becomes hysterical, yet also realizes her own histrionic behavior. Indoors, in the kitchen, she threatens Elisabet with a pot of boiling water and is triumphant when she elicits a frightened response. Next, Elisabet is seen walking fast on the beach, pursued by the stumbling Alma who asks for her forgiveness. Elisabet ignores her, and the scene ends with Alma crouching alone among the rocks. The same night, Mr. Vogler visits the two women. Alma takes Elisabet’s place in bed. The second half of the film consists of scenes within an obscure narrative context. Alma and Elisabet are seen, seated at a table. Alma slits her arm, and Elisabet sucks her blood. In the next scene, Alma comes into the room dressed in a nurse’s uniform. On the table in front of Elisabet is the torn picture of her son. Sitting opposite her, Alma begins to speak about Elisabet’s feelings for her child. Next, the camera projects the same scene from Elisabet’s angle, now focusing on Alma’s face. At this point, Alma’s composure breaks down as she begins to deny her likeness to Elisabet. The scene ends with the merging of the two faces into one. The next scene takes place in the hospital room. Alma asks Elisabet to speak the word nothing. Mrs. Vogler’s silence is broken. The scene then shifts back to the summer house where Alma is carrying in garden furniture and locking up the house. Later, she departs alone by bus. The film screen flickers. A brief shot shows Elisabet in a film studio. The projector lamp dies, the arc lamp is extinguished, the amplifier switched off. The film has ended.
Credits Production company Production manager Studio manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architect Props Sound Sound effects Mixing Music Costumes Make-up Editor
Svensk Filmindustri Lars-Owe Carlberg Bo A. Vibenius Ingmar Bergman Lenn Hjortzberg Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist Bibi Lindström Karl-Arne Bergman P.O. Pettersson Evald Andersson Olle Jakobsson Lars Johan Werle. Excerpts from J.S. Bach, ‘Violin Concerto in E major’ Mago (Max Goldstein) Börje Lund, Tina Johansson Ulla Ryghe
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Chapter IV Filmography Continuity
Kerstin Berg
Cast Elisabet Vogler Alma The doctor The husband The boy
Liv Ullmann Bibi Andersson Margaretha Krook Gunnar Björnstrand Jörgen Lindström
Filmed on location on the island of Fårö and at Råsunda Studios, Stockholm, beginning 19 July 1965 and completed 15 September 1965. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Lopert Pictures 84 minutes 31 August 1966 18 October 1966, Spegeln (Stockholm) 6 March 1967
Commentary Persona had several working titles: ‘Sonat för två kvinnor’ [Sonata for two women]; ‘Ett stycke kinematografi’ [A piece of cinematography]; ‘Opus 27’; ‘Kinematografi’. Bergman was interviewed on Swedish Public Radio, 15 July 1964 (‘Dagens Eko’) about his early plans for the film. He discusses the genesis of the film in Bergman om Bergman/B on B (Ø 788), pp. 212-21/195-98, and writes about Persona in Bilder (Images. My Life in Film), 1990, pp. 44-65. On 21 April 1965, Variety (p. 25) reported on Ingmar Bergman’s delay in shooting Persona because of prolonged illness. The same news was published by Gerhard Meissel, ‘Um Ingmar Bergman wird es still.’ Tagesspiegel, 23 May 1965. At a press conference on Persona on 15 July 1965, Bergman introduced ‘the gals’, i.e., Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson (see Stockholm press, 16 July 1965). For the Ullmann-Bergman relationship during shooting of Persona, see Peter Cowie, Ingmar Bergman. A Critical Biography, 1982, pp. 228-31. In connection with the opening of Persona, Bergman was interviewed on Swedish TV by Gunnar Oldin, 26 October 1966 (transcript available, SFI). Almost forty years later he comments on the film in a TV interview by Marie Nyreröd, SVT, April 8 2004, stating that he favors Persona, together with Viskningar och rop/Cries and Whispers, as his most successful challenge of the film medium. The script to Persona was published in book form in 1966, later issued in paperback in Filmberättelser 2 (1973). See (Ø 153), Chapter II. A television spoof on Persona reportedly appeared in the late 1970s on Canadian SCTV. Search for details has been unsuccessful, but SCTV apparently ran a whole series of Bergman parodies.
Reception Reviews of Persona in Stockholm press were respectful, labeling the film a new artistic victory for Bergman, though hard to analyze. For a resume in English of the Swedish response, see W. Wiskari, ‘Ingmar Bergman Tries New Theme’, NYT, 20 October 1966, p. 52. Film in Sweden, no. 3 (1966-67), pp. 1-13, contains excerpted reviews from the Swedish press and a presentation of the film in English, French and German. On 23 October 1966, Olof Lagercrantz commented in DN (Sunday Sect., p. 2, not signed) on what he called the ‘Person(a)kult’ among Swedish film critics. Two months later, Chaplin, no. 68 (1966), p. 366, used the same coined word in a
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record headline reporting the foreign reception of Persona. The critical implication was that Bergman’s reception had reached the stage of idolatry. Swedish press discussion of Persona lasted into December 1966 and focussed on two issues: (1) the symbolic meaning of the film and (2) the legitimacy of its subjective premises. In SvD (28 October 1966, p. 5) theology professor Stig Wikander analyzed Persona as ‘a gnostic quest for divine nothingness’, contrasting it to Ansiktet, where God descended on earth in Albert Vogler’s person. On 19 November 1966, theologian Hans Nystedt responded (‘Ingmar Bergman, religionen och rollerna’, SvD, p. 4), suggesting that Bergman might be influenced by Hjalmar Sundén’s book Religionen och rollerna [Religion and role-playing, Stockholm: Diakonistyrelsen, 1959] according to which our early religious impressions, coded in our brain, dictate our perception of the divine. To Nystedt, Ingmar Bergman’s religious background was coded in Persona, with Elisabet Vogler representing God or Christ and Alma being our human consciousness. The film reveals God as an illusion; Elisabet disappears from Alma’s reality, and Alma (Bergman’s persona) can return to work. For related discussion, see theologian Olof Hartman in Vår lösen 58, no. 1 (1967): 56-60. Swedish Persona debate among film critics coincided with the political consciousness-raising of the 1960s, during which Bergman’s filmmaking was to become a frequent target. See Torsten Manns in Chaplin no. 67 (1966), p. 301, and C.-E. Nordberg in Vi, no. 40 (22 October) 1966, p. 10. Nordberg, making a comparison to engagé writer Sara Lidman, wrote that unlike Bergman, Lidman ‘calls out, protests, forces us to listen. Silence [such as the muteness of Mrs. Vogler] is the language of defeat’ [ropar, protesterar, tvingar oss att lyssna. Tystnaden är nederlagets språk]. Demand for social commitment and realism in art also dictated a critical exchange on Persona in literary magazine BLM 36, no. 10 (December 1966): 788-91, between filmmaker Jonas Cornell and critic Leif Zern. Both rejected Persona and other Bergman films as being too hermetic and incapable of exploring the contextual origin of the traumas affecting the characters. Zern revaluated Persona in his 1993 book Se Bergman. Persona was also the subject of a ‘revaluation’ by Lars-Olof Franzén in DN, 10 July 1973. Franzén, part of the 1960s critique of Bergman, now focussed on Elisabet Vogler as an irresponsible artist and vampire and on Alma as an audience representative who learns to revaluate and free herself from a Romantic view of the artist. In France, Persona redeemed Ingmar Bergman to the critics. Cahiers du cinéma, no. 188 (March 1967), p. 20 (transl. Cahiers du cinéma in English no. 11 [September 1967], pp. 30-33), termed it Bergman’s ‘most beautiful film’ and Nouvel observateur’s M. Cournot (5 July 1967, n. p., SFI clipping) suggested that in Persona the cinema might, after 60 years of errors, have found a promising form. In marked contrast to the Swedish debate, Marcel Martin in Cinéma 67, no. 119 (September-October 1967): 73-81, argued that Persona was an example of l’art engagé reflecting the anguish of our contemporary world. Martin saw Persona as a study of the double, expressing itself either as a divided self (the schizophrenic motif) or as a multiple self (the maternity motif). In US, Persona’s pre-credit sequence was shown with cuts (image of erect penis), and Bibi Andersson’s monologue about a sexual encounter was edited in the English translation. A restored copy of the film was released in 2001 with 30% more text; see Variety, 16 April 2001, p. 6. Though some American reviewers of Persona were puzzled by the film and dismissed it as a work about ‘lesbians and lesbianism’ (Films in Review 18, no. 4 (April 1967): 244-246) or as another example of Bergman’s total lack of affinity for the medium (A. Sarris, Village Voice, 23 March 1967, p. 25, reprinted in Confessions of a Cultist. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1971, pp. 289-92), most critics were impressed. Time, 17 March 1967, p. 104 (Am. Ed., p. 63), viewed Persona as a study in accidie, or what medieval theologians termed total indifference to life.
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Chapter IV Filmography Most American discussions focussed on the psychological rather than metaphysical implications of the film. For sample reviews, see M. Harris in Take One 1, no. 8 (December-January 1968), pp. 24-26, and J. Hofsess in Take One 1, no. 12 (July-August 1968), pp. 26-28. In his article ‘Landmarks in Film History; Bergman’s Persona’ (Horizon 16, no. 3, Summer 1974: 88-95), Stanley Kauffmann proposed three different approaches to Persona: (1) deciphering or mapping out the story; (2) studying narrative technique and thematic development; and (3) discussing the film as a tragedy of consciousness. In his book Sex, Psyche etecetera in the Film (New York: Horizon, 1968), pp. 114-31, Parker Tyler uses Persona to challenge both Kracauer’s and Susan Langer’s theories of film as either a specific physical mode or a dream mode; in Persona Bergman uses a dream mode not to make a surrealistic picture ‘but to inflect the meaning of the ordinary physical world.’
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 19 October 1966; Torsten Manns, ‘Persona’. Chaplin 8 (no. 67), November 1966, p. 301; Carl-Eric Nordberg, ‘Ingmar Bergman och det gåtfulla leendet’ [Bergman and the enigmatic smile]. Vi 49, 1966, p. 10.
Foreign Reviews Bianco e nero, February 1967, pp. 77-80; J. Crist in The Private Eye, the Cowboy and the Very Naked Girl (New York Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1968), pp. 234-36; Film (Hannover), no. 9 (1967), pp. 32-33; Film Comment, 4, no. 2-3 (Fall-Winter 1967), pp. 63-65; Film Heritage 3, no. 3 (Spring 1967), pp. 28-32; Film Quarterly 20, no. 4 (Summer 1967): 52-54; Films and Filming, no. 3 (December 1967), pp. 20-21; Filmfacts, 15 April 1967, pp. 59-61; Filmkritik 11, no. 9 (1967): 507-8; Image et son, no. 210 (November 1967), pp. 134-36; Jeune Cinéma no. 25 (October 1967), pp. 38-39; Monthly Film Bulletin, November 1967, pp. 169-70; Movie, no. 15 (Spring 1968), pp. 22-24; New Leader, 8 May 1967, pp. 30-31; New Republic, 6 May 1967, pp. 32-33 (Pauline Kael, review also in Film 67/68 and in author’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, pp. 171-172); New York Times, 7 March 1967, p. 46:2; NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, pp. 3665-3666; New Yorker, 11 March 1967, pp. 180-181; Newsweek 20 March 1967, p. 63; Positif, no. 88 (October 1967), pp. 45-47; Saturday Review, 18 March 1967, p. 40; Télé-Ciné, no. 135 (November 1967), pp. 40-41; Times (London), 21 September 1967, p. 8; Variety, 30 November 1966, p. 6. In general, one can discern in both the Swedish and foreign reception of Persona three main areas of interest: (1) the psychological implications of the film; (2) the self-reflexive nature of Persona, and (3) comparative studies.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Psychological Motifs Barr, A.P. ‘The Unraveling Character in Bergman’s Persona’, Literature/Film Quarterly 15, no. 2 (1987), pp. 123-36; Baudry, J-L. Person. ‘Personne, Persona’, Filmkritik 11, no. 1 (November 1967): 607-10; also published in French under the title ‘Masque, surface et profondeur’, Les lettres françaises, 19 July 1967, p. 11; Casebier, A. and J. Manley. ‘Reductionism without Discontent: The Case of Wild Strawberries and Persona’, Film/Psychology Review 4, no. 1 (Winter-Spring 1980): 15-25; Fredericksen, Don. “Notes on Bergman’s Persona. Jung and the Classical Notion of Personare.” Images: The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication, I: 1-2 (Poland), 2003; and “The Use of Two Images from Popular Consciousness in Bergman’s Persona”. Images: The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts, and Audiovisual Communication, I: 4, 2005. See also same author’s monograph Bergman’s Persona. Poznan: Adam Mickiewicz University Classics of Cinema series, 2005, 130 pp. Author is film scholar and practicing Jungian psychologist. Houston, Beverly and Marsha Kinder. ‘Self-Exploration and Survival in Persona and The Ritual: The Way In’, in Self & Cinema: A Transformalist Perspective (Pleasantville: Redgrave, 1980), pp. 1-40; Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Vid spegeln: Lacan och Persona’. Filmhäftet 57, 1987, pp. 13-21; Michaels, Lloyd. ‘The Imaginary Signifier in Bergman’s Persona’. Film Criticism 2, no. 2-3 (Winter- Spring 1978): 72-86, reprinted in same 11, no. 1-2 (Fall-Winter 1986-87), pp. 127-32; Manley, J. ‘Artist and Audience, Vampire and Victim: The Oral Matrix of Imagery in Bergman’s Persona’. Psycho-Cultural Review 3, no. 2 (Spring 1979): 117-39; Sontag, Susan. Review article on Persona, first published in Sight and Sound 36, no. 4 (Autumn 1967): 186-91, and reprinted in Styles of Radical Will (New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giraux, 1969), pp. 123-45; in S. Kaminsky (ed) (Ø 1266), pp. 253-69, and Lloyd Michaels (ed) (Ø 1660), pp. 62-85. This is the most referenced article on Persona.
Meta-filmic Aspects Boyd, D. ‘Persona and the Cinema of Interpretation’. Film Quarterly 37, no. 2 (Winter 1983-84), pp. 10-19; Campbell, Paul N. ‘The Reflexive Function of Bergman’s Persona’. Cinema Journal 19, no. 1 (Winter 1979): 71-85; Fredericksen, Don. ‘Modes of Reflexive Film’. Quarterly Review of Film Studies 4, no. 3 (Summer 1979): 299-320; Jones, C. J. ‘Bergman’s Persona and the Artistic Dilemma of the Modern Narrative’. Literature/ Film Quarterly 5, no. 1 (Winter 1977): 75-88; Jordan, Paul T. ‘Persona: Bergman’s Metaphor for the Artistic Experience’. M.S. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1979, typescript, 104 pp.; Kawin, Bruce in Mindscreen, 1978, pp. 102-32; Livingston, Paisley in Ingmar Bergman and the Rituals of Art, 1982, pp. 180-220; Michaels, Lloyd. ‘Reflexivity and Character in Persona’. In The Phantom of the Cinema: Character and Modern Film (Albany: State University of New York, 1998): 33-46; Vierling, David L. ‘Bergman’s Persona: The Metaphysics of Meta-Cinema’. Diacritics 4 (1974): 4851.
Comparative Studies Boyers, Robert. ‘Bergman’s Persona: An Essay in Tragedy’. Salmagundi 2, no. 4 (Fall 1968): 3-31, reprinted in Excursions: Selected Literary Essays (Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat, 1977), pp.
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Chapter IV Filmography 47-70. Boyers compares Alma in Persona to the tragic protagonist in Electra, King Oedipus, King Lear, and Hamlet; Johns, Marilyn. Unpublished dissertation ‘Strindberg’s Influence on Bergman’s Det sjunde inseglet, Smultronstället and Persona’. (University of Washington, 1977), pp. 199-225; Murphy, Katheleen. ‘Children of the Paradise’. Film Comment 26, no. 6 (November-December 1990), pp. 38-39, 42. Compares Persona with Angeloupolos’s film Landscape in the Mist; Orr, John. ‘The Screen as Split Subject 1: Persona’s Legacy’. In author’s The Contemporary Cinema. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1998, pp. 70-90; Patera, Paul. ‘Persona-grata? nongrata!’, Tidspegel no. 5-6 (1966), pp. 30-36, 45. Compares the film to Strindberg’s play Den starkare (The Stronger); Scholar, Nancy. ‘Anaïs Nin’s House of Incest and Ingmar Bergman’s Persona: Two Variations of a Theme’. Literature/Film Quarterly 7, no. 1 (Winter 1979): 47-59; Steene, Birgitta. ‘Bergman’s Persona through a Native Mindscape’ in Michaels, 1999 (Ø 1660), pp. 24-43. Compares film to Strindberg’s dramaturgy; Törnqvist, Egil. Between Stage and Screen. Ingmar Bergman Directs (Amsterdam UP, 1995), pp. 137-48, and Filmdiktaren Ingmar Bergman, 1993, pp. 62-74. Comparative reference to Göran Sonnevi’s poem ‘Om kriget i Vietnam’; Wheeler, Winston Dixon. ‘Persona and the 1960s Art Cinema’, in Michaels, 1999 (Ø 1660), pp. 44-61.
Monographs on Persona Blackwell, Marilyn Johns. Persona. The Transcendent Image (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986); Michaels, Lloyd, ed. Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (Cambridge UP, 1999) (Ø 1660)
Special Journal Issues on Persona L’Avant-scène du cinéma, no. 85 (October 1968), 58 pp. Contains script and French reviews; Cineforum, no. 61 (January 1967), pp. 23-70. Script, credits, review by J. Paillard and two articles by E. Comuzio, one a survey of Bergman’s production, the other a study of the use of sound in Persona. Film a sogetto, Centro S. Fedelle dello Spettocolo, Roma (20 April 1968) 22 p., is an Italian fact sheet on Persona, listing openings worldwide, credits, review excerpts, and plot synopsis.
Additional Studies on Persona Burdock, Dolores. ‘Persona: Facing the Mirror Together’. In Close Viewings: An Anthology of New film Criticism, ed. by Lehman-Peter. (Tallahassee: Florida UP, 1990), pp. 23-38; Fischer, Lucy. ‘The Actress as Signifier’. In Shot/Countershot. Film tradition and Women’s Cinema. (Princeton UP, 1989): 70-80; Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey. ‘Feminist Theory and the Performance of Lesbian Desire’. In Michaels, 1999 (Ø 1660); Habernoll, Kurt. ‘Alma und Elisabeth/Persona’. Abend, 29 December 1966; Holmberg, Jan. ‘En stillbild ur Ingmar Bergmans ‘Persona’. Chaplin, xxxix, no. 2 (269), 1997: 41; Kauffmann, Stanley. Figures of Light. New York: Harper & Row, 1971, pp. 13-18; Leiser, Erwin. ‘Das Schweigen des Künstlers’. Die Weltwoche, 9 December 1966; Orr, Christopher. ‘Scenes from the Class Struggle in Sweden. Persona as Brechtian Melodrama’. In Michaels, 1999 (Ø 1660), pp. 86-109; Persson, Göran. ‘Bergman’s Persona: Rites of Spring as a Chamber Play’. CineAction 40 (May 1996): 22-3; Simon, John. Ingmar Bergman Directs, 1972: 208-310;
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Törnqvist, Egil. ‘En bilddikt – Persona’. In Filmdiktaren Ingmar Bergman. (Stockholm: Bokförlaget Arena, 1993): 62-74; Vineberg, Steve. ‘Persona and the Seduction of Performance’. In Michaels, 1999 (Ø 1660): pp. 110-129; Wood, Robin. ‘Persona Revisited’. CineAction 34 (June 1994): 59-67. All post-1966 book-length studies of Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking treat Persona as an important film in the Bergman canon. In fact, the film has elicited more analyses than any other Bergman work. See for instance: Cohen, Hubert. Ingmar Bergman. Art as Confession, 1993, pp. 227-249; Gado, Frank. The Passion of Ingmar Bergman, 1986, pp. 320-344; Grafe, Frieda. ‘Der Spiegel ist zerschlagen’. Filmkritik 12, no. 11 (November) 1968: 760-772; Koskinen, Maaret. Spel och speglingar, 1993, pp. 225-232; Steene, Birgitta. Ingmar Bergman, 1968, pp. 114-122; Teghrarian, S. ‘The Cracked Lens: The Crisis of the Artist in Bergman’s Films of the Sixties’. Diss, 1976 (Ø 1298).
See also Cahiers du cinéma no. 189 (April 1967), p. 51; Chaplin 215-216, 1988 (Ø 1452), essays by Björkman (pp. 81-83) and Dickstein (pp. 112-15, 157); Cinéma 66, no. 111 (December 1966), pp. 31-45; Cinema Nuovo 16, no. 185 (January-February 1967): 33-45; Etudes cinématographiques, no. 327 (1967), pp. 672-74; Film Culture 48-49 (Winter-Spring 1970), pp. 56-60; Filmrutan 9, no. 4 (1966): 228-29; Image et son, no. 226 (March) 1969: 60-63; Kosmorama 13, no. 80 (July 1967): 222-23 and 24, no. 137 (Spring 1978), p. 62; Svensk filmografi, 1960-1969 (1314), pp. 290-98, including a close reading of the film by Maria Bergom-Larsson.
Awards National Film Society prize for Best Film, Best Script (2nd prize), Best Direction, Best Photo (3rd prize), Best Actress (Bibi Andersson). For additional awards, see Varia, C. Persona also placed high on numerous ‘Best film of the year’ polls throughout the world. 1967:
237.
STIMULANTIA, 1967 (Segment entitled Daniel), B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Credits Production company Production manager Director Screenplay Photography Speaker Music Editor
Svensk Filmindustri Olle Nordemar Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Käbi Laretei plays W.A. Mozart, ‘Ah, vous dis-je, Madame’ Ulla Ryghe
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Chapter IV Filmography Filmed in and around Bergman’s home (at the time) in Djursholm, Sweden, 1963-65. Distribution Running time Released Premiere
Svensk Filmindustri 15 minutes 22 March 1967 28 March 1967, Spegeln (Stockholm)
Never released abroad.
Commentary The concept behind Stimulantia – eight short films on a common theme, directed by eight different Swedish filmmakers – was Ingmar Bergman’s. The final product, however, does not have much thematic cohesiveness but ranges from a filmatization of Guy de Maupassant’s short story ‘The Necklace’ to a documentary film about Chaplin’s childhood in London. Bergman’s own contribution, entitled Daniel, is a 16mm film about his and Käbi Laretei’s son Daniel Sebastian Bergman, photographed from birth to age 2. Bergman juxtaposes a suite of soft, pastoral family pictures, including wife, son, and mother-in-law Alma Laretei, and references to a film that was never made but which was to deal with human warmth and closeness vs. a judgmental view of life based on a concept of God as a punitive deity. Bergman narrates the film.
Reviews Swedish press, 29 March 1967. See also: Svensk filmografi, 1960-1969 (Ø 1314), pp. 318-20.
238.
VARGTIMMEN, 1967 [Hour of the Wolf], B/W Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Title refers to the hours between 3 and 5 a.m. when, according to Swedish folklore, most people die, and most babies are born.
Synopsis After an opening ‘into-the-camera’ monologue by Alma, pregnant wife of the painter Johan Borg, the greater part of the film is a flashback, beginning with Alma and Johan arriving on an isolated island. Johan is possessed by images of haunting demons, which he draws in his sketchbook. He is tense and sleepless; Alma stays awake with him until dawn, past the hour of the wolf. In the morning, Alma sees an old woman, who may be real or a vision. The woman tells her about Johan’s diary, which Alma begins to read; the film depicts Johan’s encounters with Baron von Merkens, owner of an estate on the island, and with Johan’s former mistress, Veronica Vogler, who disappears as quickly as she materialized. Johan is then pursued by a curator, Heerbrand. A short household scene with Alma going through the budget is followed by a long and central dinner party sequence at the Baron’s estate. In rapidly shifting shots around the table, the camera captures the artificiality of the guests; Alma and Johan are ill at ease. Later, Lindhorst, an archivist, puts on a puppet performance of a scene from Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which leads to a brief exchange about the role of art and the artist. After a walk in the park, Johan and Alma are invited by Mrs. von Merkens to view Johan’s portrait of Veronica Vogler. On their way home, Alma reveals to Johan that she has read his diary and is worried about his health. Johan rejects her, and Alma runs away crying. Later at home, Johan tells her about a childhood trauma: he was locked in a dark closet. This episode is followed by a visualized
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record account of Johan fishing from a rock, an overexposed surreal sequence. Johan is attacked by a young boy, fights him off and kills him. The boy’s head bobs up and down in the water. Heerbrand comes to visit Johan and Alma. Inviting them to a party, he leaves them a small gun. Alma is anxious, Johan urges her to leave. He aims the gun at her and shoots. In the next sequence, Johan returns to von Merkens. Old Mrs. von Merkens directs him to Veronica’s room. Baron von Merkens tells him of his jealousy, then climbs the wall upside down, like a fly. In another surreal scene, an old lady pulls off a rubber mask and drops her eyeball in a cocktail glass, like an olive. Heavily made up and dressed in a silk robe, Johan finds Veronica nude on a bier. Seemingly dead, she comes to life under his caresses while all the grotesque faces of von Merkens’ household are present, laughing in ridicule at Johan. Alma’s narrative resumes. After shooting her, Johan ran away from the house. He later returned and wrote for hours in his diary. Then he packed his knapsack and left. Alma has not seen him since. She now goes in search of him and encounters the demons that have been plaguing her husband. She sees him, briefly, deep in the forest, attacked by birds. But the next moment, the place is empty, and Johan is gone. The film ends with Alma talking to an invisible listener. She asks if a woman who lives for a long time with a man she loves might not become like him? Or has she lost Johan because she did not love him enough? Her monologue ends in mid-sentence.
Credits Production company Production manager Studio manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architect Sound Sound effects Mixing Music
Costumes Make-up Editor and Continuity
Svensk Filmindustri Lars-Owe Carlberg Bo A. Vibenius Ingmar Bergman Lenn Hjortzberg Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist Marik Vos-Lundh P.O. Pettersson Evald Andersson Olle Jakobsson Lars Johan Werle. Also: excerpts from J.S. Bach’s Saraband in Partita no. 3 in A minor and W.A. Mozart’s The Magic Flute Mago (Max Goldstein), Eivor Kullberg Börje Lundh, Kjell Gustavsson, Tina Johansson Ulla Ryghe
Cast Alma Borg Johan Borg Baron von Merkens Corinne, his wife Old Mrs. von Merkens Ernst von Merkens Lindhorst Heerbrand Old lady in Alma’s ‘vision’/ Old woman with rubber face Boy in fishing sequence
Liv Ullmann Max von Sydow Erland Josephson Gertrud Fridh Gudrun Brost Bertil Anderberg Georg Rydeberg Ulf Johanson Naima Wifstrand Mikael Rundquist
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Chapter IV Filmography Kreisler Veronica Vogler Maid Tamino Corpse in the morgue
Lenn Hjortzberg Ingrid Thulin Agda Helin Folke Sundquist Mona Seilitz
Filmed on location at Hovs hallar in southwestern Sweden and Råsunda Studios, beginning 23 May 1966 and completed 23 November 1966. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening Original title
Svensk Filmindustri Lopert Pictures Corp. 89 minutes 27 September 1967 19 February 1968, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 9 April 1968, 34th Street East Theater, NYC Människoätarna [The Cannibals].
Commentary The script to Vargtimmen was published in paperback in Filmberättelser 2 (1973). Ingmar Bergman writes about the genesis of the film in Bilder/Images, 1990, pp. 25-38. He began to write the script in 1964 and planned for a production in 1965, at which time its name was Människoätarna [The Cannibals] (see SvD, 29 August 1964, p. 10). But because of Bergman’s illness in the spring of 1965, the production was postponed until after the completion of Persona. See report in SvD, 23 April 1965, p. 14. In a later TV interview on 18 February 1968, the day before the opening of Vargtimmen, Bergman revealed that part of his difficulty in completing the script and starting the shooting of the film had to do with the very personal anchoring of the story. For texts related to this interview, see Cineforum 9, no. 77 (September 1968): 449-52; Cahiers du Cinéma no. 203 (August 1968): 48-58; and Nuevo film (Montevideo), Autumn-Winter 1969, pp. 29-34. Bergman held a press conference in Rome about Vargtimmen on 26 February 1968, which was reported on the Swedish Radio (Kvällseko/Evening news). At its release on 27 September 1967 Vargtimmen was 2,455 meters long. On 9 February 1968, the film was cut to 2,395 meters (a cut of approx. 2 minutes). This cut was not done by the Censorship Board and corresponds roughly to the length of a prologue, last shown in public in a new print of the film at the New York Bergman Festival in May-June 1995. In it Bergman explains to Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann about the background of the film: he had received a diary from the widow of an artist on the Frisian Islands. This story is most likely a piece of fiction. Cf. Koskinen, Ingmar Bergman. Allting föreställer, Ingenting är, 2001, p. 207, note 30.
Reception Swedish press reacted to Vargtimmen as to a cinematic déjà vu. Though recognizing Bergman’s virtuosity as a filmmaker, the critics had reservations about the portrait of the self-absorbed artist Johan Borg. Göran O. Eriksson in BLM 38, no. 3 (March 1968): 212-14, found that Bergman overestimated the importance of the artistic self, which was considered an obsolete theme in today’s world. See also Gunnar E. Sandgren ‘Bergman behöver en manusförfattare’ [Bergman needs a scriptwriter]. KvP, 29 April 1968, p. 4. P.O. Enquist in Chaplin, no. 80 (1968), p. 108, likened Bergman to a dangerous mamba in a bourgeois living-room who did not bite the real enemy (the bourgeoisie), but merely crawled into a corner, wailing in self-pity because someone stepped on its tail as a child. Mauritz Edström in DN (20 February, p. 12) and C.H. Svenstedt in SvD (same date, p. 10) voiced views also found frequently in American and British responses. To Edström, an identification with the film was possible only if the viewer let himself be manipulated by Ingmar Bergman’s vision, while Svenstedt resented Bergman’s pontification of his
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record message, which allowed for no intellectual response. See also Stig Ahlgren: ‘Vem är rädd för vargtimmen’[Who is afraid of the hour of the wolf?], DN, 10 March, p. 4. The somewhat unengaged Swedish newspaper response to Vargtimmen might be juxtaposed to several longer analyses of the film. Theologian Hans Nystedt continued his examination of religious symbolism in Ingmar Bergman’s work with an article on Vargtimmen in SvD, 31 March 1968, p. 4. In Vecko-Journalen, no. 16 (1968), p. 45, Stig Ahlgren related the film to Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute. Asta Bolin in Teater och moral (Stockholm: Proprius, 1968), pp. 94-104, discusses the film with Max von Sydow, who sees Borg’s situation as both a personal and an existential crisis. American reviews of Hour of the Wolf were mostly negative. Variety, 28 February 1968, p. 22, referred to the film as ‘the selected works of Ingmar Bergman’ and added: ‘Anthologies are almost always disappointments.’ Henry Hart in Films in Review 19, no.5 (May 1968): 306-8, called the film degenerate. Stanley Kauffmann in New Republic, 20 April 1968, p. 30 (reprinted in Figures of Light, pp. 62-65), was rebuffed by its coldness: ‘The most we can feel is a hospital visitor’s pity.’ Andrew Sarris in Village Voice, 30 May 1968, pp. 45-46, claimed that ‘von Sydow the actor seems to bring out the worst in Bergman the thinker [...] a yearning, yawning mysticism’. John Simon in New Leader, 22 April 1968, pp. 30-31 (reprinted in Movies into Film, New York: Dell, 1972, pp. 230-33), regarded the film as a failure in its attempts to merge the real and surreal. Later, however, Hour of the Wolf became a favorite film among psychoanalytical film scholars in the US (see references below). In Europe the subjectivity of the film dominated the critical commentaries and echoed the Swedish discussion of Ingmar Bergman as a narcissistic Romantic artist. Anders Troelsen in Kosmorama saw the film as ‘the extreme expression of an isolated artistic position where the artist does not let himself be distracted by any audience considerations’. Jean-Louis Comolli in Cahiers du cinéma was more intrigued by the film’s structure as subjective dream than by Bergman’s position as an artist. Ecran found a superior masochistic temperament nourishing the film but also a Scandinavian filmmaking tradition focusing on the ‘fantastique’. René Prédal in Jeune Cinéma viewed L’heure du loup as one more excursion into Bergman’s subjective universe, at the same time a resume and a deepening of his developed themes of angst and fear, but pointed out Bergman’s handling of Johan’s hallucinations as a macabre farce suggesting the labyrinthian (though less precisely designed) world of Robbe-Grillet’s Last Year at Marienbad but also an incarnation of Bela Lugosi’s Dracula. Bernard Cohn in Positif felt that with this film Bergman opposed ‘the contradictions of a creator who fights against himself ’. With the exception of Comolli, French attention was either film-historically comparative or focussed on Bergman’s creative persona, whereas relatively little attention was paid to his use of a subjective camera with its optically disfigured faces, unrealistic lighting, bleached flashbacks and dizzily revolving movements. The British called Hour of the Wolf a return to the old Bergman of chiaroscuro and angst. Never before, wrote Monthly Film Bulletin, ‘has he so displayed [...]his taste for the flamboyant techniques of expressionism, surrealism and Gothic horror’. Philip Strick in Sight and Sound emphasized the exaggerated theatricality of the film and pointed to its structure as ‘a succession of deceptive curtain-raisings, each leading us into deeper darkness... until we can conjure demons out of nothing.’ Strick concluded that ‘in the hour of dawn, Bergman’s imagination remains the finest, and the most disturbing, of all the cinema’s modern visionaries’. In the largely very positive British reception of Hour of the Wolf, Films and Filming summed up: ‘Rich and orderly, superbly cinematic, this is among the most important films of Bergman; more than compulsive viewing: imperative.’ A very different response indeed to the Swedish and American reviews.
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Chapter IV Filmography Swedish Reviews BLM 38, no. 3 (March 1968): 212-14; Chaplin 10, no. 80 (March 1968): 108-9; Kvällsposten, 29 April 1968, p. 4; Stockholm press, 20 February 1968; Vi, no. 9 (1968), p. 10.
Foreign Reviews Cahiers du cinéma, no. 203 (August 1968): 58-59; Cinema (Beverly Hills) 4, no. 3 (Fall 1968): 40-41; Cineforum 8 (1968): 417-25; Ecran, no. 17 (July-August 1973), p. 22; Filmfacts, 15 May 1968, pp. 122-24; Filmkritik 12, no. 4 (April 1968): 277-79; Films and Filming 14, no. 12 (September 1968), pp. 32-33; Jeune cinéma, no. 32 (September 1968), pp. 33-35; Kosmorama, no. 137 (1978), pp. 63-65; The Listener, 18 July 1968, pp. 92-93; Monthly Film Bulletin, August 1968, pp. 115-16; Movie, no. 16 (Winter 1968-69), pp. 9-12; New York Times, 10 April 1968, p. 50:2, and NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, p. 3749; New Yorker, 20 April 1968, pp. 163-65; Positif, no. 98 (October 1968), pp. 53-55; Saturday Review, 13 April 1968, p. 50; Sight and Sound 37, no. 4 (Autumn 1968): 203-4; Times (London), 11 July 1948, p. 11.
Comparative Studies Rosen, Robert. ‘Enslaved by the Queen of the Night: The relationship of Ingmar Bergman to E. T.A. Hoffmann’. Film Comment 6, no. 1 (Spring 1970): 26-31; Gantz, Jeffrey. ‘Mozart, Hoffmann and Ingmar Bergman’s Vargtimmen’, Literature/Film Quarterly 8, no. 2 (Spring 1980): 104-15. Both Rosen and Gantz discuss Hoffmann’s stories ‘Der Sandman’ and ‘Der goldene Topf ’; Blokker, Jan in Vrij Nederland, 29 June 1968, n.p. Compares the film to Strindberg’s Inferno; Gyllström, Katy in Nya Argus 61 (1968), pp. 170-72. Compares Johan Borg in Vargtimmen to Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
Psychological Studies Buntzen, Linda and C. Craig. ‘Hour of the Wolf’. Film Quarterly 30, no. 2 (Winter 1976): 23-34; Corliss, Richard and Jonathan Hoops. ‘Hour of the Wolf: The Case of Ingmar Bergman’. Film Quarterly 21, no. 4 (Summer 1968): 33-40; Houston, Beverley and Marsha Kinder in Close-up: A Critical Perspective on Film (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1972): 273-79.
Vargtimmen as part of a Second Trilogy For discussions of Vargtimmen as part of a second Bergman trilogy, see: G. Braucourt’s analysis in Cinéma 68 no. 128 (August-September 1968), pp. 89-91, suggesting that Toutes ses femmes, Persona and L’heure du loup form a thematic threesome about the power of art (music, theater, painting); Sergio Areceo’s view in Filmcritica, no. 190 (August 1968), pp. 570-76, that L’ore del lupo forms a trilogy of Nostalgia together with Persona and Daniel.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record See also Cahiers du cinéma, vol 2. 1960-1968 (ed J. Hillier), London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986, pp. 313-16 (transl. of Cahiers’s review in no. 203); Cinema (Kansas City) 6, no. 2 (March-April 1968): 17-18; Film Culture, no. 48-49 (1970), pp. 58-60; Film 68/69 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1969), pp. 130-36. Contains John Simon’s New Leader review and Richard Schickel’s in Life; Schickel’s review also in his Second Sight (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972), pp. 175-79; Klas Viklund in Filmhäftet, no. 62 (May) 1988, pp. 40-42; Kosmorama (debate) 126, Summer 1975, p. 174; Image et son, no. 226 (March) 1969: 63-66; Passek, J.L. ‘L’heure du loup’. Dossiers du cinéma: films I, 1971, pp. 117-120 (synopsis/credits, review); Svensk filmografi, 1960-1969 (Ø 1314), pp. 366-68.
Awards See Varia C.
239.
SKAMMEN, 1968 [Shame], B/W Screenplay Director
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis Skammen takes place on an island threatened by invasion. Jan and Eva Rosenberg, two musicians, have left the mainland after their orchestra was disbanded because of a civil war. They now live in a farmhouse and try to make a living by selling berries and vegetables. The film opens with soundtrack transmissions of foreign language voices, wartime noises, and studio directives. The first sequence depicts Jan and Eva facing another day. Jan is preoccupied with a dream he has had and with a bothersome wisdom tooth. Eva goes over the household budget, somewhat impatient with Jan’s self-absorption. En route to town with a delivery of lingonberries, Jan and Eva argue about his failure to repair the radio, their only contact with the outside world. They stop at a stream, where Eva buys fish from Filip, a friend, who reports rumors of an invasion. On the ferry, they meet Mayor Jacobi and wife, and agree to get together soon for a musical evening. Having delivered the berries in town, the Rosenbergs visit an antique dealer, who has just been drafted. While he goes to fetch a bottle of rare vintage wine, Jan and Eva listen to the delicate music of Bach on a music box made of Meissen china. Back home they share a meal of fish and wine. Eva brings up the topic of children and pleads that Jan go and see a doctor. The pastoral scene is suddenly interrupted by shrill sounds of aircraft. A parachuter falls from the sky and lands in a tree. Eva wants to run to his rescue, but Jan grabs a gun to defend himself. Suddenly, their house is surrounded by soldiers, and they are being interrogated in a televised interview. When it is over, Eva confesses she is glad they have no children. Next, the house is rocked by bombardments. Afterwards, Jan and Eva collect their few belongings and pack the car. In a ludicrous scene, Jan tries to shoot their chickens. En route across the island they see fires and dead people, including the corpse of a small child. The road is blocked; they return home, surrounded by the noise of fighting. Jan takes out his violin and tells the story of its maker, Papini, a contemporary of Beethoven.
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Chapter IV Filmography Travelling to the country store, Jan and Eva are arrested with other customers and taken to a schoolhouse for interrogation. The televised interview is shown, with Eva’s voice replaced by that of a woman propagandist. They are pushed into a room where some people have been tortured. Later, they are picked out from a crowd by Jacobi. He has joined the invaders and releases them with an apology. After this event, Jan’s and Eva’s relationship deteriorates. A sequence depicting them digging potatoes reveals their tension, which escalates from abusive language to physical fighting. Jacobi visits them, bringing them gifts, and talks to them about ‘the holy freedom of art, the holy gutlessness of art’. Jan gets drunk and falls asleep; Jacobi gives Eva a large sum of money and talks about his mother. While they are in the greenhouse making love, Jan wakes up, stumbles into the bedroom, and finds Jacobi’s money on the bed and pockets. The house is surrounded by Filip, head of a resistance unit. Jacobi wants to buy himself free, but Jan denies having seen the money. The house is searched and destroyed. Filip gives Jan a pistol to execute Jacobi. Jan is obliging, but fumbles in his aim. The soldiers have to finish the killing for him. A long take depicts Jan and Eva standing outside the ruins of their home with expressionless faces. They continue to live in the greenhouse. One day they find a young deserter there, who is given food and drink by Eva, while Jan interrogates him. The boy is later killed by Jan after having revealed the departure of a boat of refugees. Jan and Eva are on their way to the sea. Jan is pulling a small cart with their belongings, Eva stumbling behind. On the seashore they meet Filip; Jan buys two seats in the open boat. The next sequence shows the boat drifting amidst a sea of dead bodies from a torpedoed warship. Food and drink are running out. (The printed screenplay suggests a nuclear fallout. The survivors in the boat are quenching their thirst ‘with contaminated water’.) During the night, Filip commits suicide by slipping silently over the railing. Jan is awake but does not intervene. The film ends as Eva tells Jan of a dream she has had, seeing herself walking down a street with houses on one side and a lovely park on the other. A high wall of roses is suddenly set on fire by a roaring aircraft. Eva feels she should remember something important that has been said, but fails to do so.
Credits Production company Production manager Studio manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architect Sound Sound effects Mixing Music Costumes Make-up Editor Continuity Military advisors Pyrotechnical advisor
Svensk Filmindustri Lars-Owe Carlberg Brian Wikström Ingmar Bergman Raymond Lundberg Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist P.A. Lundgren Lennart Engholm Evald Andersson Olle Jakobsson Excerpts: J.S. Bach’s ‘Brandenburg concerto no. 4’ Mago (Max Goldstein), Eivor Kullberg Börje Lundh, Cecilia Drott Ulla Ryghe Katherina Faragó Lennart Bergqvist, Stig Lindberg Rustan Åberg
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Cast Eva Rosenberg Jan Rosenberg Jacobi Mrs. Jacobi Filip Olsson Fredrik Lobelius, antique dealer Oswald, victim in schoolhouse Interrogation officer Doctor Peters, clerk Man with dislocated shoulder Aide at interrogation Officers Man condemned to death TV interviewer Soldiers Secretary Woman bringing food in schoolhouse Johan, young deserter People in the boat
Liv Ullmann Max von Sydow Gunnar Björnstrand Birgitta Valberg Sigge Fürst Hans Alfredson Ingvar Kjellson Frank Sundström Ulf Johanson Bengt Eklund Gösta Prüzelius Frej Lindqvist Lars Amble, Willy Peters Åke Jörnfalk Vilgot Sjöman Per Berglund, Nils Fogeby Karl-Axel Forssberg Brita Öberg Björn Thambert Georg Skarstedt, Barbro Hiort af Ornäs, Lilian Carlsson, Börje Lundh, Eivor Kullberg, Karl-Arne Bergman
Filmed on location on the island of Fårö and in town of Visby (Gotland), beginning 12 September 1967 and completed 23 November 1967. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening Original titles
Svensk Filmindustri Lopert Pictures 102 minutes 26 June 1968 29 September 1968, Spegeln (Stockholm), 23 December 1968, Fine Arts, NYC Kriget [The war], Skammens drömmar [Dreams of Shame]
Commentary In 1961 author Pär Rådström wrote in a review of Såsom i en spegel (BLM 30, no. 9, p. 760) that Ingmar Bergman ‘is obviously ashamed of being an artist and his god is the Bergmanian God of Shame’ [Ingmar Bergman skäms tydligen över sitt konstnärsskap och hans gud är den bergmanska Skammens Gud]. Refractions of this statement may have filtered down to Bergman’s 1968 film Skammen with its portrait of the demoralization of an artist (Jan Rosenberg). For Bergman’s comments on the genesis of Skammen, see Film World, no. 3 (1968), pp. 25-26. The script of Skammen was published as a paperback in Filmberättelser 2 (1973). In Bilder/ Images, 1990, pp. 298-301, Bergman discusses his reaction to the reception of the film and his own critical view of it 20 years later. On 9 September 1967, Ingmar Bergman held a press conference about Skammen on Fårö for a team of journalists arriving in a chartered plane. On the same day he was interviewed about the shooting on Swedish Public Radio (Dagens Eko, 9 September 1967). For a report on the press conference, see E. Sörenson, SvD, 10 September, pp. 1, 14; L.-O. Löthwall, Film och Bio, no. 2 (1967), pp. 27-30; and rest of Stockholm press, 10 September 1967. An interview billed as an
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Chapter IV Filmography exclusive one by André Prevost in the Canyon Cryer, 21 March 1968, seems to be largely based on the Skammen press conference. It may be compared to an interview in Les lettres françaises, 13 March 1968, pp. 19, 21. Report from the shooting of Skammen was published by L.-O. Löthwall in Allers, no. 35 (1968), pp. 24-25, 60, 62, 64, 66, and no. 36, pp. 26-27, 82-84. On 2 June 1968, DN, Sunday section pp. 1, 7, published the first pictures and an excerpt from the film, which had its world premiere at Sorrento Film and Theatre Festival in Italy in June 1968.
Reception Skammen was shown to the Swedish press on 21 August 1968, the same day the Russians marched into Czechoslovakia. This may have intensified the political debate about the film. In retrospect, Bergman was to claim that had events in Czechoslovakia preceded his making of the film, it might have changed his focus. See Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), p. 229. Bergman discussed his role as a filmmaker in tune with the times in a Swedish TV interview, 29 September 1968; see N.-P. Sundgren, ‘Ingmar Bergman om Skammen’, Röster i Radio-TV 46 (1968), pp. 56-57. He insisted that his examination of the artist had broader psychological implications. But critics saw Skammen as one more portrait of a maladjusted artist. Lars Forssell in BLM 38, no. 8 (October 1968): 605-6, charged Ingmar Bergman with ‘some sort of constitutional blindness, a reflection of a 19th-century individualistic view of the artist that began with Werther and ended with Oscar Wilde’ [någon slags konstitutionell blindhet, en återspegling av en individualistisk 1800-talssyn på konstnären som började med Werther and slutade med Oscar Wilde]. Cf. C.-E. Nordberg in Vi, no. 40 (1968), p. 10; M. Edström in DN, 30 September 1968, p. 6; J. Schildt in AB, same date, p. 12; N. Beyer in Arbetet, 30 September 1968, p. 12, and E. Leiser in Expr., 8 October 1968, p. 4. All these critics expressed concern about a film they regarded as obsolete in its theme about the collapse of the artist, and too abstract and imprecise in its depiction of the reality of war. Ingmar Bergman added further fuel to the debate by publishing a brief interview with himself under the old pseudonym of Ernest Riffe in Expr., 25 September 1968, p. 12, and in Chaplin, no. 84 (October 1968), p. 274. He declared himself a non-political person who only belonged ‘to the Party of Scared People’ [de räddas parti] (see Ø 136). This echoes Sundgren TV interview (29 September 1968), referred to above. The Swedish debate about Skammen was ideologically inflamed and culminated with a condemnation of the film by author Sara Lidman, spokesperson for NLF (National Liberation Front) supporters in Sweden during the Vietnam War. According to Lidman, by failing to take political sides Skammen gave latent support to those pro-American forces who wished to prolong the war and who refused to see it as a Vietnamese war of liberation. See AB, 6, 13, and 19 October 1968 (pp. 1, 5, 4 respectively). The response to Lidman’s article was lively (same paper, 10 October (p.4), 12 October (p.4), and 16 October (p.5), and included brief interviews with Bergman who called the attack on his film irrational and brutal. See AB, 8 October 1968, p. 48. In the Sara Lidman debate, Skammen served as a catalyst for the politically divisive situation among Swedish intellectuals at the time. To gain an idea of the range of opinion expressed, one might compare Bo Strömstedt in Expr., 2 November 1968, p. 4; Gunnar Tannefors in Se, no. 39 (1968), pp. 66-7; and Ulla Thorpe in AB, 29 October 1968, p. 5. Strömstedt defended Bergman’s integrity as an artist; Tannefors spoke up for Bergman’s right to be politically indifferent; Thorpe called Skammen ‘a dangerous, reactionary film’ [en farlig, reaktionär film]. See also opinions expressed by some leading Swedish filmmakers and intellectuals in AB, 20 October 1968, sec. 2, pp. 1-3, who voiced critique of Bergman’s film for avoiding a real political situation
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record (Vietnam War). AB debate was commented on in UNT 26 October 1968, p. 11. Bergman responded to this debate and the leftist political climate among younger filmmakers and intellectuals in an interview conducted by Jan Aghed and published in French Positif no. 121 (November 1971): 41-46. See (Ø 794), Interview chapter. One of the most thoughtful Swedish essays on Skammen was published by Torsten Bergmark in DN, 6 October 1968, p. 4. Entitled ‘Ingmar Bergman och den kristna baksmällan’ [Bergman and the Christian hangover], the article claims that Skammen unveiled a new trend in Bergman’s work. While earlier films revealed the vacuum left by a dying religious faith, Jan in Skammen, though victim of the same kind of Christian hangover, is a faithless person drawn with a great deal of self-criticism. Eva, Jan’s wife, on the other hand, shows Bergman’s ‘new solidarity’. This article was reprinted in Motbilder (Ø 1317), pp. 246-50, and Film og Kino, no. 9 (December 1968), pp. 276-77, 297. Much of the foreign discussion of Skammen revolved around a genre question: Could Bergman’s film be classified as a war film, or was the war it depicted simply a metaphor for the filmmaker’s own brand of existential anguish? L. Seguin in ‘Le cinéma dans la politique’, Positif, no. 113 (February 1968), pp. 3-27, discussed La honte as a nonpolitical film, comparing it to Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Cf. this view to J. Belmans in Cinéma 72, no. 162 (January 1972), pp. 65-85, who claims that La honte is an apolitical, existential movie, like Le septième sceau. U.S. reaction to Shame varied from Pauline Kael’s glowing review in The New Yorker, 28 December 1968, pp. 56-59 (reprinted in Going Steady, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1970, pp. 214-21), seing the film as a new, more socially oriented departure for Bergman, to Andrew Sarris’s acerbic dismissal of Shame as ‘boom-boom theatrics’ (Village Voice, 2 January 1969, p. 39). Hollis Alpert in Saturday Review, 25 January 1969, p. 22, contended that Shame’s source was a Swedish neutrality complex, i.e., a pervasive national guilt for having stayed out of World War II. Several reviewers compared Bergman’s film to Godard’s Weekend: See Los Angeles Times, 6 February 1969, p. 12; Time, 10 January 1969, p. 60 (Am. ed., pp. 58-9); and Cinema (Beverly Hills) 6, no. 2 (Fall 1970): 32-39. The comparison is developed at some length in Robin Wood, Ingmar Bergman, 1969, pp. 143-183. Wood’s discussion of Shame is the most extensive one in English, together with P. Livingston, Ingmar Bergman and the Ritual of Art, 1982, pp. 221-31, and James Maxfield: ‘Bergman’s Shame: A Dream of Punishment’, Literature/Film Quarterly, January 1984, pp. 34-41.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 30 September 1968 (Expr. 29 Sept.); Chaplin, see under Roth-Lindberg, longer articles below; Vi, no. 40 (1968), p. 10; Vecko-Journalen, no. 40 (1968), p. 38.
Foreign Reviews Artforum, no. 4 (1969), n.p., reprinted in M. Farber’s Negative Space (London: Studio Vista, 1971), pp. 222-24; The Brighton Film Review, no. 14 (November 1969), pp. 3-4; Cinéma 69, no. 136 (May 1969), pp. 135-36; Cinema Nuovo, no. 199 (May-June 1969), pp. 211-13; Esquire, March 1969, p. 32; Film (Hannover), no. 3 (1969), p. 30; Film Heritage 5, no. 3 (Spring 1969): 1-5, 22; Film Quarterly 23, no. 1 (Fall 1969): 32-34; Filmfacts, 15 January 1969, pp. 427-28;
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Chapter IV Filmography Filmkritik 13, no. 4 (April 1969): 237-43; Films and Filming 14, no. 7 (April 1969): 38; Films in Review, January 1969, pp. 51-52; Hudson Review 22, no. 2 (Summer 1969): 295-306; Image et son, no. 229 (June-July 1969): 109-13; Jeune Cinéma, no. 40 (June-July 1969), pp. 33-36; Kosmorama, no. 88 (December 1968), pp. 60-61; Les lettres françaises, 23 April, pp. 18-19; The Listener, 27 February 1969, pp. 288-89; Monthly Film Bulletin, no. 4 (April 1969), p. 76; Movie, no. 17 (Winter 1969-70), pp. 32-34; New Leader, 20 January 1969, pp. 27-29; New Republic, 4 January 1969, pp. 24, 34; New York Times, 24 December 1968, p. 14.1; NYT Film Reviews, 1913-1968, p. 3812; Positif, no. 108 (September 1969), pp. 49-51; Sight and Sound 38, no. 2 (Spring 1969): 89-92; Variety, 16 October 1968, p. 26.
Review Articles and Special Issues on Shame Cineforum 9, no. 83 (March 1969): 110-296. Contains an analysis of the film (pp. 177-83) by Örjan Roth-Lindberg, also printed in Swedish in Chaplin, no. 84 (October 1968), pp. 275-77. Issue also includes a survey of Bergman’s work by E. Comuzio, and a complete scenario of La vergogna; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 215 (September 1969), pp. 49-58, has several items on Bergman in connection with the presentation of La honte, among them an interview article by L.-O. Löthwall, also printed in Film och bio, no. 1 (1968), pp. 10-18; in Take One 2, no. 1 (September-October 1968), pp. 16-18; and in Films and Filming 15, no. 5 (February 1969): 4-6; Film a sogetto, Centro S. Fedelle dello Spettacolo (Roma), 8 pp., is an Italian fact sheet on La vergogna, listing openings worldwide, credits, review excerpts, and a plot synopsis; Kosmorama no. 137 (Spring) 1978: 65-66. Article by Kaare Schmidt who emphasizes the private nature of the film and sees it as an explicit depiction of Bergman’s universe with its dichotomy between life’s meaning (‘faith, art and love’) and life’s conditions (undermining of this trinity through institutionalized conventions); Sight and Sound 38, no. 2 (Spring 1969), pp. 89-92 has a review article by Jan Dawson.
See also Film 68/69 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1969), pp. 23-32, containing reviews by J. Simon in New Leader, H. Alpert in Saturday Review, and W. Shed in Esquire; Film in Sweden, no. 3 (1968), pp. 3-7; S. Kauffmann in Figures of Light, pp. 125-28; Bruce Kawin in Mindscreen..., 1981, pp. 133-42 (Ø 1372); Kosmorama, no. 110 (September 1972), pp. 259-61; Positif, no. 121 (November 1970), pp. 34-40; Svensk filmografi, 1960-1969 (Ø 1314), pp. 401-6; Variety, 5 April 1967, p. 15.
Awards 1968:
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film, Best Direction, Best Script (2nd place), Best Photo (2nd place), Best Actress (Liv Ullmann). See also Varia, C.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record 240.
RITEN, 1969 [The Ritual], B/W Screenplay Director
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
See also Riten as TV film in Media chapter V (Ø 329)
Synopsis Riten, made for Swedish television but also released abroad in the same version as a feature film, depicts an encounter between three traveling artists and a 60-year-old judge, Ernst Abrahamsson, whose task it is to interrogate them about an alleged act of obscenity in their vaudeville show. The artistic trio, ‘Les riens’, consists of 56-year-old Hans Winkelmann, the troupe’s manager; 24-year-old Thea Winkelmann, his wife; and 35-year-old Sebastian Fisher, Thea’s lover. The film is divided into nine scenes, five of which take place in Judge Abrahamsson’s office, while the rest are set in a hotel room, a church, and a cabaret theater. Judge Abrahamsson meets with each artist in turn. In rejecting a bribe from Hans Winkelmann to keep Thea from being interrogated, the Judge gains the upper hand but loses control of the situation in meeting Sebastian and Thea. Sebastian accuses him of being dirty and smelling bad from excessive perspiration. Taking off his jacket and tie, Abrahamsson makes a series of desperate confessions. Asking Sebastian about his religious faith, he receives the reply that an artist is his own god and keeps his own demons and angels. Sebastian tells the judge of a performance number that he and Hans Winkelmann do together, about a man who is seized by an insatiable appetite, eats his family and servants, then cuts out a piece of an old man who is God himself. Thea’s interrogation opens on a polite note. She relates a religious game she plays. Abrahamsson tries to get to the point, i.e., the vaudeville number on which he is to rule. Thea breaks down, rolls on the floor, begins to undress, and pulls down the judge, who is both angry and consoling. Suddenly conscious of his situation, he calls on Hans Winkelmann, who arrives and quiets Thea. The crucial episode is a re-enactment of the number on which the obscenity charge rests. Hans calls it a ritual game and a magic formula. He wears an enormous phallus, while Sebastian has put on big breasts, and Thea is dressed in a transparent frock and a stylized wig. She holds a drum in her lap. Sebastian puts a long knife at her feet. Before they begin their performance, the judge makes a confession: He really wanted to become a musician, but under parental pressure he studied law instead. Expressing admiration and envy of the troupe, and telling them he is a willing spectator to their act, the judge receives such a hard blow from Sebastian that he begins to nosebleed. Hit a second time, he seems to have a seizure. Hans Winkelmann explains the ritual act, and the trio performs it while the judge makes weak statements to the effect that he understans the ritual. He is dying.
Credits Production company Production manager Studio manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Sound Special effects Mixing
Cinematograph AB Lars-Owe Carlberg Lennart Blomqvist Ingmar Bergman Christer Dahl Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist Lennart Engholm, Berndt Frithiof Nils Skeppstedt Olle Jakobsson
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Chapter IV Filmography Architect/Costumes Props Make-up Editor Continuity
Mago (Max Goldstein) Karl-Arne Bergman Börje Lundh, Cecilia Drott Siv Kanälv Birgitta Särnö
Cast Thea Winkelmann Hans Winkelmann Sebastian Fisher Judge Abrahamsson A priest
Ingrid Thulin Gunnar Björnstrand Anders Ek Erik Hell Ingmar Bergman
Though conceived for television Riten was shot in the studios at Filmstaden, Stockholm, beginning 13 May 1967 and completed 20 June 1967. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Premiere U.S. opening
Cinematograph AB/Sveriges Television Janus Films, Inc. 72 minutes 25 March 1969 (Swedish TV) 18 September 1969, New York Film Festival, Tully Hall, Lincoln Center. Available at NYC Museum of Television and Radio, no. T:37471.
Commentary The script of Riten was published in paperback form in Filmberättelser 3 (1973). Bergman writes about its genesis, based on his drafts, in Bilder/Images (1990), pp. 173-183.
Foreign Reception (film version) In the U.S., Variety, (21 May 1969, p. 18) expressed doubt that ‘Ritorna’ (sic!) would be shown on either American television or in movie houses on account of its explicit language. The screen version was submitted to the New York Film Festival in 1969 and had a limited commercial run in the U.S. The following English-language discussions of the film deserve attention: P. Cowie in Focus on Film 5 (Nov-Dec 1970): 7-13; Jan Dawson in Monthly Film Bulletin, June 1971, pp. 124-25; Judith Gollub in Cinema Journal 10, no. 1 (Fall 1970): 48-50; B. Houston and M. Kinder in Self & Cinema: A Transformalist Perspective (Plesantville: Redgrave, 1980), pp. 1-70; and, in particular, P. Livingston, Ingmar Bergman and the Ritual of Art, 1982, pp. 143-67.
Foreign Reviews Bianco e nero, January-February (1971), pp. 56-58; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 215 (November 1969), p. 44; Cinéma 72, no. 170 (November 1972), pp. 127-8; Ecran 72, no. 8 (September-October 1969), pp. 48-9; Etudes cinématographiques, no. 337 (1972), pp. 244-46; Film (Hannover), no. 7 (July 1971), p. 26; Filmkritik, no. 1 (1970), pp. 35-36; Films and Filming 17, no. 10 (July 1971): 55-56; Le nouvel observateur, 10 July 1972, p. 51; Monogram, no. 2 (Summer 1971), pp. 21-22; Monthly Film Bulletin, June 1971, pp. 124-25; New York Times, 19 September 1969, p. 55:1, and NYT Film Reviews, 1969-1970, p. 74;
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Positif, no. 110 (November 1969), p. 57, and no. 254-55 (May 1982), p. 82; Sight and Sound 41, no. 3 (Summer 1971): 162-63; Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich), 17 May 1969, p. 16; Télé-Ciné, no. 180 (July-August 1973), pp. 33-5; Time, 26 September 1969, pp. 94, 96; Times (London), 30 April 1971, p. 10; Variety, 21 May 1969, p. 18.
See also APEC – Revue belge du cinéma 12, no. 4 (1975): 5-16; Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), pp. 237-43; Cinéma 69, no. 139 (September-October 1969): 142; Skoop, no. 3 (December-January 1970), pp. 28-29.
Awards Riten was an entry at the 1970 Mar del Plata Film Festival.
241.
EN PASSION, 1969 [A Passion/The Passion of Anna], Eastmancolor Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Bergman uses the word ‘passion’ in both a secular and a religious sense, implying earthly love as well as the passion of Christ. Hence the literal British title, A Passion, is preferable to the American title, The Passion of Anna.
Synopsis En passion opens with its production nummer, L-138. The first shot is of a herd of sheep grazing peacefully on the island where Andreas Winkelman, introduced by Bergman’s voice-over, is working on the roof of his house. Anna Fromm (lit. Anne Pious) stops by to use the telephone. Here Bergman interrupts the action and, in the first of a series of interviews with the actors, he asks Max von Sydow to interpret his role as Andreas Winkelman. Anna Fromm leaves her handbag behind; in it Andreas finds a letter written by Anna’s husband, whose name is also Andreas, who speaks of the inevitable dissolution of their marriage. Next, Andreas finds a puppy hanging in a tree, the first of a series of similar sadistic acts on the island. The culprit is never found, but a poor old bachelor, Johan Andersson, is made a scapegoat by the islanders. Anna Fromm is staying with Elis and Eva Vergérus. During an overnight visit, Andreas gets to know his neighbours. Elis is an architect whose hobby is portrait photography. He collects shots of people taken off guard, which he files under different categories. Elis incorporates Andreas W. in his collection and makes him reveal his past, which includes check forgery, drunken driving, and police assault. At a Vergérus dinner, Anna talks about her happy marriage, but no one believes her. At night, she is plagued by nightmares. Interviewed by Bergman, Liv Ulmann describes Anna as a fanatic truthseeker, but also as a person who falsifies reality when people around her do not respond to her. During one of her husband’s business trips, Eva stays with Andreas and tells him about Anna’s past: her husband and son were killed, and Anna was hurt in an auto accident. In her analysis of Anna, Bibi Andersson sees her as suicidal but believes she will survive the present crisis with a new sense of self. Anna Fromm and Andreas Winkelman move in together. Violence creeps into their everyday life. A bird flies against the window pane and is killed. They watch the execution of a soldier in
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Chapter IV Filmography Vietnam on TV. On the island, there are more reports of killed animals; the hunt for Johan Andersson accelerates. Anna’s and Andreas’s relationship deteriorates until Andreas loses selfcontrol and attacks Anna physically. Someone has set fire to a barn on the island, and a horse has burned to death. Anna picks up Andreas at the barn. In the car, on the way back, Andreas asks to be free and accuses Anna of telling lies, at the same time revealing that he has read the letter in her purse. Anna seems to lose control of the car, and Andreas grabs the wheel, accusing her of attempting to kill him as she killed her former husband. Anna replies that she has come to ask for forgiveness. Full of ambivalence, Andreas, now outside the car, does not know which way to turn. He sinks down on the road while the camera pulls back until Andreas is no more than a speck in the empty landscape. Bergman’s voice declares: ‘This time his name was Andreas Winkelman.’
Credits Production company Production manager Location manager Director Screenplay Photography Architect Props Sound Sound effects Mixing Music Costumes Make-up Editor Continuity Speaker
Svensk Filmindustri/Cinematograph Lars-Owe Carlberg Brian Wikström Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist P. A. Lundgren Karl-Arne Bergman, Jan Söderkvist Lennart Engholm Ulf Nordholm Olle Jakobsson Excerpts from J.S. Bach, ‘Partita no. 3 in A minor’ and from Allan Gray’s ‘Always Romantic’ Mago (Max Goldstein) Börje Lundh, Cecilia Drott Siv Kanälv Katherina Faragó Ingmar Bergman
Cast Andreas Winkelman Anna Fromm Eva Vergérus Elis Vergérus Johan Andersson Verner His wife Katarina, girl in daydream Johan’s sister Policemen Women in nightmare
Max von Sydow Liv Ullmann Bibi Andersson Erland Josephson Erik Hell Sigge Fürst Svea Holst-Widén Annicka Kronberg Hjördis Petterson Lars-Owe Carlberg, Brian Wikström Barbro Hiort af Ornäs, Malin Ek, Britta Brunius, Brita Öberg, Marianne Karlbeck
Filmed on Fårö, beginning September 1968 and completed at end of December 1968. Original titles Distribution U.S. distribution
L-182; Annandreas. Svensk Filmindustri United Artists
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
101 minutes 10 October 1969 10 November 1969, Spegeln (Stockholm), 6 June 1970
Commentary The script of En passion was published as a paperback in Filmberättelser 2 (1973). See (Ø 153), Chapter II. Bergman discusses the genesis of En passion in Bilder/Images (1990), pp. 304-310. It was a complicated production with some politicized activity by a member of the film team and rare tension between Bergman and cinematographer Sven Nykvist.
Reception In marked contrast to their response to Skammen a year earlier, Swedish reviewers of En passion defended Bergman’s right to produce films according to his own professionally defined premises. AB (11 November 1969, p. 25) wrote that ‘within the narrow framework of the psychological chamber play, Bergman demonstrates the only mastery that the Swedish cinema possesses’ [inom det psykologiska kammarspelets smala ram demonstrerar Bergman det enda mästerskap som den svenska filmen äger]. Expr. (same date, p. 32) argued that Bergman’s island landscape could not be dismissed as uninteresting ‘except possibly by Mao’ [utom möjligen av Mao]. Not many critics cared for the Brechtian interviews with the actors, but they were unanimous in praising En passion for its depiction of human suffering. In SvD, 1 December 1969, p. 4, Hans Nystedt continued his previous discussion (see commentaries in Ø 233 and 236) of the religious implications in Bergman’s films, interpreting Anna Fromm as a negative Christ figure whom Andreas Winkelman must fight off, just as Alma did with Elisabet Vogler in Persona. Most foreign reviewers of En passion preferred it to Skammen, or in the words of P. Houston (Spectator, 23 May 1970, p. 687): ‘Rather a Vietnam in the Bergmanian soul than in allegorical Sweden.’ Others, like Andrew Sarris in Village Voice, 4 June 1970, pp. 55, 61, continued to denounce Bergman: ‘Never before has Bergman seemed to spew forth so much undigested clinical material to so little artistic purpose.’ In America two groups of Bergman critics could now be discerned: (1) those who preferred his more traditional Fifties films and (2) those who liked his more modernist Sixties pictures. Peter Harcourt in Cinema (Beverly Hills) 6, no. 2 (Fall 1970): 32-39, spoke for the first group, deploring Bergman’s renunciation of classical narrative form for the fragmented structure of A Passion. For a representative of the second group, see Richard Schickel in Life, 24 July 1970, p. 8 (reprinted in Second Sight: Notes on Some Movies, 1965-70 [New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972], pp. 314-16). Schickel praised A Passion for being ‘austere, enigmatic and free from the baroque symbolism of Bergman’s earlier work’. The most exhaustive discussions of A Passion in English are Hubert Cohen, Ingmar Bergman. The Art of Confession, 1993, pp. 298-316; Peter Cowie in Petric, Film and Dreams, 1981 (Ø 1378), pp. 147-53; Frank Gado. The Passion of Ingmar Bergman, 1986, pp. 376-390; Paisley Livingston, Ingmar Bergman and the Ritual of Art, 1982, pp. 167-79; and Vernon Young, Cinema Borealis, 1972, pp. 256-83. (A Passion was one of the few Bergman films approved of by Young.)
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press. 11 November 1969; Chaplin, no. 94 (October 1969), pp. 321-22, and no. 97 (January 1970), pp. 16-17; Filmrutan, no. 1 (1970), pp. 36-37; Vi, no. 47 (1969), p. 14.
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Chapter IV Filmography Foreign Reviews Cinéma 70, no. 150 (November 1970), pp. 130-32; Films and Filming 16, no. 1 (October 1970): 41-42; Films in Review, no. 7 (August-September 1970), p. 443; Image et son, no. 243 (November 1970), pp. 138-9; Jeune cinéma, no. 48 (June-July 1970), pp. 45-6; Kosmorama, no. 98 (September 1970), pp. 228-9; Listener, 6 August 1970, p. 191; Monthly Film Bulletin, September 1970, p. 181; New York Times, 7 June 1970, p. 11:1; NYT Film Reviews, 1969-1970, pp. 171-72; New Yorker, 13 June 1970, pp. 103-8; Positif, no. 121 (November 1970), pp. 34-40; Sight and Sound 40, no. 4 (Autumn 1970): 216-17; Skoop 6, no. 7 (May 1970): 36-39; Télé-Ciné, no. 166 (October-November 1970), p. 32; Time, 8 June 1970, p. 74 (A.E. p. 62); Times (London), 31 July 1970, p. 13; Variety 6 May 1970, p. 22.
Special Journal Issues and Fact Sheets on En Passion L’Avant-scène du cinéma, no. 109 (December 1970), 37 pp. With excerpted reviews, complete script, and filmography; Film in Sweden, no. 3 (1969), pp. 1-7, contains a presentation of En passion in English, French, and German; Filmfacts XIV/20 (15 May) 1972, pp. 507-510 contains synopsis and credits of film; United Artists issued a 22-page program with excerpted translations of Swedish reviews in connection with the American opening of The Passion of Anna.
See also American Scholar, no. 4 (Autumn 1970), pp. 678-91; APEC – Revue belge du cinéma 12, no. 4 (1975): 11-19; Film 70/71 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1971), pp. 163-72 (with P. Gilliatt’s New Yorker review and R. Schickel’s in Life); Film og Kino, no. 7-8 (1970), pp. 150-53; Filmcritica, no. 212 (January 1970), pp. 48-54; S. Kauffmann: Figures of Light, pp. 267-71 (his New Republic review); Kosmorama 24, no. 137 (Spring) 1978: 66-67; New York Times Magazine, 9 May 1970, p. 13:2; Positif, no. 118 (June 1970), p. 13; Sight and Sound, Summer 1970, p. 122; J. Simon: Movies into film (New York: Dell, 1972), pp. 239-46; Skoop 7, no. 4 (1971): 36-40; Svensk filmografi, 1960-1969 (Ø 1314), pp. 491-96.
Awards See Varia, C.
242.
FÅRÖ-DOKUMENT, 1969/70, B/W and Eastmancolor See Media chapter (Ø 370).
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record 243.
RESERVATET, 1970 [The Sanctuary], Color See media chapter (television section) (Ø 331, 332, 333).
244.
BERÖRINGEN, 1971 [The Touch], Eastmancolor Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis Beröringen opens in a Swedish hospital. Karin Vergerus, a married woman in her late thirties, arrives for a viewing of her dead mother. On her way out, she begins to cry. A man asks her, in English, if he can help, but she declines. Karin is married to Andreas, a surgeon. They live with their two children in a tastefully furnished villa that Andreas has inherited from his parents. David Kovac, the foreigner who spoke to Karin at the hospital, has received medical attention from Andreas and is invited to the Vergerus home for dinner. Karin and David, an archeologist, begin to see each other, meeting in David’s almost empty apartment in town. One day David tells Karin of his past: his parents were Jewish, and the family lived in Berlin until David was 14, when they moved to Switzerland. All his relatives are dead, except for a sister, six years younger. When Karin arrives late for a meeting, David loses control and strikes her while abusing her verbally, telling her to go back to her smug middle-class life. Karin leaves, but David pursues her; they continue their tense relationship. One day several months later, Andreas comes to talk to David about rumors that have reached him through anonymous letters. David is aloof and tells Andreas to exploit Karin’s sense of loyalty to her marriage. Andreas is embarrassed and expresses his sympathy for David, which he has felt ever since he met David for the first time, after a suicide attempt. Irritated, David denies that his injury was self-inflicted. The night after Andreas’s visit, Karin stays at David’s apartment. But she cannot fall asleep and returns home. Some time later, Karin is out shopping with her 14-year-old daughter when David intercepts them. Karin agrees to meet him by the church where David is doing archeological excavation. Their meeting focusses on a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary that has been found. David tells Karin that long before the statue was walled into place in the church, an unknown insect had begun eating at it. Its larvae have been dormant in it for 500 years. Now when the statue has been brought into the light, the larvae have awakened and are destroying the statue from within. Karin explains to David that he is like a child to her – and a threat. Though she might be able to live both a married life and that of a mistress, she cannot cope with David’s self-hatred. Soon thereafter, David leaves without saying goodbye. Karin pursues him to London and finds out that he lives with his sister, who claims that the two of them are inseparable. Karin leaves. Several months later, David shows up again. He has received an appointment to a Danish university and suggests to Karin that they move there together. But Karin feels an obligation to her family. David calls her a coward. The film ends with their parting.
Credits Production company Production manager Location manager Director Screenplay Photography Sound
Cinematograph/ABC Pictures Lars-Owe Carlberg Lotti Ekberg Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist Lennart Engholm
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Chapter IV Filmography Music
Architect Props Costumes Make-up Hairdressing Editor Continuity
Jan Johansson (arrangement) C. M. Bellman’s ‘Liksom en herdinna’ (Like a Sheperdess) is the theme music of the film; Also: ‘Allelucia Ave Maria’ (Wm. Byrd); ‘Miss Hopkins’ (Peter Covent); ‘Victimae Paschali laudes’ (Latin hymn) P.A. Lundgren Stefan Bäckström Mago (Max Goldstein) Cecilia Drott, Bengt Ottekil Börje Lundh Siv Kanälv-Lundgren Katherina Faragó
Cast Karin Vergerus Dr. Andreas Vergerus Anders Vergerus, son Maria Vergerus, daughter David Kovac Karin’s dead mother Holm, a doctor A nurse Matron at hospital Sara, David’s sister Stewardess Neighbors of Vergerus Pass-control official Dr. Vergerus’s secretary Archaeologist Museum curator Beggar Woman on the stairs Museum clerk Bellboy in London Speech maker at dinner Guests at dinner party
Bibi Andersson Max von Sydow Staffan Hallerstam Maria Nolgård Elliot Gould Barbro Hiort af Ornäs Åke Lindström Mimmo Wåhlander Elsa Ebbesen-Thornblad Sheila Reid Fylgia Zadig Karin Nilsson, Anna von Rosen Dennis Gotobed Margaretha Byström Erik Nyhlén Alan Simon Per Sjöstrand Aino Taube Ann-Christin Lobråten Bengt Ottekil Harry Schein Alf Montán, Sture Helander, Torsten Ryde, Lars-Owe Carlberg, Börje Lundh, Jan-Carl von Rosen, Kenne Fant
Filmed on location on island of Gotland, in London, and at Film-Teknik Studios, Stockholm, beginning 14 September 1970 and completed 13 November 1970. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Swedish Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri ABC/Cinerama Releasing 114 minutes 18 August 1971 30 August 1971, Spegeln (Stockholm) 14 July 1971, The Baronet, NYC
Commentary The script of Beröringen was published in paperback in Filmberättelser 3 (1973). See (Ø 153), Chapter II.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record On 23 August 1970, p. 19, AB reported that Dustin Hoffman had been approached for the part of David Kovac. But on 5 September 1970, Bergman introduced Elliot Gould as the U.S. actor who would play the role. See SvD, 6 September 1970, p. 14. An article in Expr., 28 September 1970, p. 44, reports that ABC, the American producer of the film, had staked 2 million dollars on The Touch, enough money to make ten Swedish feature films. Peter Cowie, Ingmar Bergman. A Critical Biography, 1982, p. 271, reports a figure of one million dollars. During the shooting of Beröringen, Bergman allowed fairly extensive press coverage: See ‘Morgoneko’ [Morning news], Swedish Public Radio, 7 August 1970, and Stig Björkman’s documentary film on the making of The Touch (Ø 796), as well as Björkman’s article in Film in Sweden, no. 2 (1971), pp. 7-8. For interviews with Bergman at this time, see Expr., 10 October 1970, Sunday Section pp. 6-7, and 14 March 1971, p. 6; Daily Telegraph Magazine, 12 March, pp. 7-8; Los Angeles Times, 10 January, Calendar sec., pp. 1, 22-23, and New York Herald Tribune, 10 January 1971, p.1; Skoop, no. 9-10 (1971), pp. 22-25. Life, 15 October 1971, pp. 60-74, carried pictoral reportage from shooting of The Touch. The film was shown at the Berlin Film Festival in July 1971 to mixed reviews. In an interview in Expr., 29 September 1971, p. 4, Bergman criticized Swedish press reports from the Berlin festival. See also interview with Bergman in AB, 28 June 1971, p. 9, and Bibi Andersson’s defense of the film in DN, 4 July 1971, p. 12. Andersson objected to critics who called the film banal and argued that banality of subject was not identical with artistic superficiality. Hanserik Hjertén responded in DN, 9 July 1971, p. 9. See also Expr., 6 July, p. 24 (J. Sima), and Arbetet 15 July, p. 9 (S.E. Olsson). A majority of reviewers, both in Sweden and abroad, were in fact puzzled by Bergman’s use of a middle-class soap opera plot. To Brenda Davis in Films and Filming, no. 5 (February 1972), pp. 54-55, Bergman had sold out to an international audience in choosing a ‘trivial’ plot for The Touch. In a review in Chaplin, no. 113 (February 1972), p. 66, B. Widegren suggested that Bergman might be burnt out as an artist and that he was only successful in depicting religious anxieties and not the ordinary problems of a middle-class housewife. K. Klynne in Chaplin, no. 112 (January 1972), pp. 28-29, charged Bergman with an obsolete view of women. Among those who wrote positively about Bergman’s portrayal of Karin Vergerus are the reviewers in AB, 19 September 1971, p. 5, and Expr., 17 October 1971, p. 4. There was a considerable range of opinion in the English and American reviews of The Touch. Jan Dawson in Monthly Film Bulletin, October 1971, pp. 205-6, referred to the film as ‘probably the most memorable and the most moving portrait of a lady that Bergman has given us’. Molly Haskell in Village Voice, 29 July 1971, p. 47, agreed, while Stanley Kauffmann in New Republic, 21 August 1971, p. 35, described the film as a story about ‘a lady with a bad taste in lovers’. In many of the negative reviews of the film, there was a feeling that Elliot Gould was a wrong choice for the role as David Kovac, and that American backing as well as the film’s bilingualism (Swedish and English) was responsible for its failure. See New York Times, 18 July 1971, p. 11:1; New Yorker, 24 July 1971, pp. 57-59; Sight and Sound 41, no. 4 (Autumn 1971): 224. While Beröringen was criticized for its trite plot it was also questioned for breaking out of the soap opera genre by introducing visually significant symbolism, most specifically the wormeaten Madonna statue. Both Teodor Kallifatides in Chaplin (no. 109) and Poul Einer Hansen in Kosmorama (no. 107) rejected the statue as an overexplicit sign, while Erik Jan Kwakernaak in Kosmorama (no. 110, p. 261) saw it as emblematic of Karin as the maternal woman who breaks out of the bourgeois family to give her love to a rootless and motherless man. Several later articles have explored the religious implications of the film: See Gay, Olsson, and Scherer under ‘Longer Articles’ below. With time The Touch has been redeemed by critics but only by incorporating it into the religious-existential sphere of Bergman’s other filmmaking.
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Chapter IV Filmography Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 31 August 1971 (Expr. 27 June); Chaplin, no. 109 (1971), p. 239; Vi, no. 37 (1971), p. 39; Vecko-Journalen, no. 37 (1971), p. 27.
Foreign Reviews Cinéma 71, no. 160 (November 1971), pp. 130-33; Filmfacts 14, no. 20 (1971): 507-10; Film Quarterly 25, no. 2 (Winter 1971/72): 58-59; Films and Filming, no. 209 (February 1972), pp. 54-55; Focus, no. 9 (Spring-Summer 1973), pp. 10-13; Jeune cinéma, no. 58 (November 1971), pp. 32-34; Kosmorama, no. 107 (February 1972), pp. 124-26; Monthly Film Bulletin, October 1971, pp. 205-6; New Leader, 9 August 1971, p. 25; New Republic, 21 August 1971, p. 35; New York Times, 15 July 1971, p. 22:1; NYT Film Reviews, 1971-1972, p. 98-9; New Yorker, 24 July 1971, pp. 57-59; Sight and Sound, no. 4 (Autumn 1971), p. 224; Times (London), 7 October 1971, p. 11; Variety, 7 July 1971, p. 6; Village Voice, 29 July 1971, p. 47.
Longer Studies and Special Journal Issues Gay, James. ‘Cursed be My Tribe: A Second Look at The Touch’. Sight and Sound 42, no. 1 (Winter 1971-72): 42-43. (Gay argues that The Touch is a religious film dealing explicitly with a conflict between Judaism and Christianity); Olsson, Lars. ‘Beröringen’. Filmrutan, no. 3 (1971), pp. 110-12. (Olsson sees David Kovac’s role as that of a divine lover, a Christ figure); Scherer, Paul. ‘The Garden of Eden Theme in Bergman’s The Touch’. Scandinavian Studies 57, no. 1 (Winter 1985): 45-58. (Emphasizes the religious context of the film); Wood, Robin. ‘Ingmar Bergman et Le lien.’ Positif 137 (April) 1972: 27-34 (Relates The Touch to Bergman’s earlier filmmaking); Wexman, Virginia. ‘Character, Action and Symbol in Ingmar Bergman’s The Touch’. Focus: Chicago’s Film Journal 9 (Spring 1973): 11, 48; L’Avant-Scène du Cinéma, no. 121 (January) 1971: 67-71, is a supplement focussed on Le lien (The Touch), containing a statement by Bergman about the film (‘It’s a love story between adults, written by an adult. We’ve been offered enough love stories about young people recently’.). Issue also includes excerpted reprint from Bergman’s interview article (under pseudonym of Ernest Riffe) in l’Express, 5 March 1964; statements by cinematographer Sven Nykvist; by actress Bibi Andersson, first printed in France-Soir, 17 November 1971; and by Julien Seymour, first published in Lui, September 1971; plus excerpted reviews from leading French press.
See also Cowie, Peter. Ingmar Bergman. A Critical Biography, 1980, pp. 270-75; Fabricius, J. and E. Kwakernaak, Kosmorama, no. 110 (September 1972), pp. 259-61 and 261-63; Solomon, S. in The Film Ideal, 1972, pp. 228-36 (Ø 1219);
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record van der Verg in Skrien, no. 29-30 (Spring 1972), pp. 34-35; Variety, 1 November 1972, p. 26; Svensk filmografi, 1970-1979 (Ø 1314), pp. 129-32.
Awards 1972:
245.
Bibi Andersson won Best Actress Award for her role in The Touch in 1972 Belgrade Film Festival.
VISKNINGAR OCH ROP, 1972 [Cries and Whispers], Eastmancolor Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Bergman got the idea for the film’s title from a Swedish music critic who referred to Mozart’s music as ‘whispers and cries’.
Synopsis The setting of Viskningar och rop is an old manor house in central Sweden around the early 1900s. All the main characters are women: three sisters and a maid. Two of the sisters, Karin and Maria, have come to visit Agnes, the third sister, who is dying of cancer at age 37. She is tended to by her servant Anna, with whom she has lived alone for many years. The opening sequence depicts the manor house at early dawn. Inside the house, clocks are ticking, and voices are heard whispering. All the rooms are painted red. Maria, fully dressed in white, has fallen asleep in a chair. In the next room, Agnes is waking up to a new day of pain. The film is composed of scenes depicting the death of Agnes and its aftermath. Between these scenes are flashbacks revealing the reveries or actual memories of the four women. Each flashback is signalled by a dissolve to red. In one, Maria comes upon her husband after he has tried to stab himself; she makes little attempt to help him. This scene follows shortly after Maria has had a brief tête-à-tête with the doctor who attends Agnes. The second flashback depicts Karin and her husband at the dinner table. During the meal, eaten in near silence, Karin fumbles with a wineglass and breaks it. Later in the bedroom, she will use the splinter of glass to mutilate herself by cutting her vagina. When her husband enters the room, Karin smears her face with blood. Other flashbacks reveal Agnes’s frustrated love for her mother and Anna’s memories of her dead daughter. Agnes’s death is slow and painful. When she is conscious and reasonably at ease, her two sisters help comb her hair and read to her. But when she is ravaged by pain and dying, both Karin and Maria shun her. It is Anna who comforts her. Agnes is laid to rest by two old women. Her minister prays at her bedside to a hypothetical God and begs her to be a messenger for the living by asking for God’s grace and a meaning to life. After Agnes’s death, Karin tries to focus on practical matters. Maria seeks her out. For a brief moment, which is silent except for a few bars on a cello, the two sisters caress and touch each other. Later Karin tries to resume the rapport she has had with her younger sister, but Maria now excuses herself, saying that her husband is waiting. During the night following Agnes’s death, Anna hears faint sounds after she has gone to bed. They come from Agnes’s room. When Anna goes there, she discovers that the dead woman has been crying. She summons first Karin and then Maria to the bedside, but both turn away in disgust and fear. Finally, Anna climbs into Agnes’s bed and takes her body in her arms. The two women form a pietà picture. Agnes’s fear subsides, and she goes to rest.
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Chapter IV Filmography After the funeral, the sisters and their husbands are ready to leave. They discuss what to do with Anna and decide to let her pick a memento from Agnes’s belongings. Anna wants nothing. Maria presses some money into her hands. Anna curtsies silently. The film ends with a flashback. Anna reads from Agnes’s diary; the passage is visualized, and Agnes’ voice takes over. All four women are strolling together in the park, parasols in hand. This is the only time we see the women outdoors. The three sisters sit down in a rocker, and Anna swings them gently back and forth. It is a moment of epiphany. Agnes declares she is grateful that life has given her so much.
Credits Production company Production manager Location manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architect Sound Mixing Music
Costumes Make-up Props Editor Continuity
Cinematograph/Svenska Filminstitutet Lars-Owe Carlberg Hans Rehnberg Ingmar Bergman Arne Carlsson Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist Marik Vos Owe Svensson Sven Fahlén, Owe Svensson F. Chopin, Mazurka in A-minor, no. 4, opus 17, played by Käbi Laretei; J.S. Bach, Sarabande no. 5 in D minor, played by Pierre Fournier Greta Johansson Börje Lundh, Cecilia Drott, Britt Falkemo Gunilla Hagberg Siv Lundgren Katherina Faragó
Cast Agnes Anna Karin Maria and the mother Maria’s daughter Maria’s husband The doctor Karin’s husband Isak, the pastor Storyteller in Agnes’ flashback Agnes as child Karin as child Maria as child Anna’s daughter Women tending to Agnes’s dead body Spectators at laterna magica showing
Harriet Andersson Kari Sylwan Ingrid Thulin Liv Ullmann Linn Ullmann Henning Moritzen Erland Josephson Georg Årlin Anders Ek Inga Gill Rosanna Mariano Monika Priede Lena Bergman Malin Gjörup Karin Johansson, Greta Johansson, Ingrid von Rosen, Ann-Christin Lobråten, Börje Lundh, Lars-Owe Carlberg
Filmed on location at Taxinge-Näsby estate, Mariefred, Sweden, beginning 7 September 1971 and completed 29 October 1971.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released World premiere Swedish opening
Svensk Filmindustri New World Films 90 minutes 5 August 1972 21 December 1972, Cinema I Theater, NYC 5 March 1973, Spegeln (Göteborg, Uppsala, Stockholm), Camera (Malmö)
Commentary The script of Viskningar och rop was published in paperback in Filmberättelser 3 (1973). See (Ø 153), Chapter II. Bergman writes about the genesis of Viskningar och rop in Bilder/Images, 1990, pp. 83-103. Several interviews took place with Bergman during shooting of the film. See AB, 12 December 1971, pp. 8-9 (J. Andersson); Bohusläningen, 15 January 1972, p. 4 (B. Steene), SvD, 14 September 1971, p. 3 (E. Sörenson); Femina, 9 July 1972, pp. 18-20, 65 (A. Sellermark), VeckoJournalen no. 43 (1971), pp. 4, 38-39 (M. Zetterström). For interviews prior to opening, see ‘Eko’ [Echo]. Swedish Public Radio (SR), 6 September 1972, and same news program after presentation of the film at Cannes (SR, 19 May 1973), and in ‘Kulturbilagan’, SR, 6 March 1973 (10 minute commentary and interview with Bergman). L-O. Löthwall, Bergman’s press agent for Viskningar och rop published ‘Excerpts from a Diary about Ingmar Bergman’s Viskningar och rop outside Stockholm 1971’, in Film in Sweden, no. 2 (1972), pp. 3-13 (English and French versions). This article originally appeared in Chaplin, no. 114 (March 1972), pp. 88-89. Related material was printed in AB, 12 December 1972, Sunday section, pp. 1, 8-9. See also Joyce Haber, Los Angeles Times, 27 October 1971, sec. 4, p. 14 for reportage from Cries and Whispers (contains some errors); Ernie Anderson, Philadelphia Sunday Bulletin, 11 February 1973, p. 3, for good account of mood and work routine of a Bergman production; and Cinéma Québec III, no. 1 (September 1973): 13-15, for reportage based on interview with Bergman, including his comments on the film. In May 1973 Ingmar Bergman made a rare appearance at Cannes film festival, where Viskningar och rop was shown out of competition. For résumés of the Cannes press conference, see AB, 20 May, p. 1; Cinéma Quebec 3, no. 1 (September 1973), pp. 13-15; Cue, 2 July 1973, p. 2 (with glowing assessment of Bergman at age 55); Filmmakers Newsletter 6, no. 12 (October 1973), pp. 14-18; Image et Son, no. 278 (November 1973): 102-104; SDS (Malmö), 20 May 1973, p. 10; Village Voice, 7 June 1973, pp. 79-80 (A. Sarris objecting to showing of Cries and Whispers at Cannes); Variety, 9 May 1973, p. 197 and 30 May 1973, pp. 2, 71. Viskningar och rop was also shown at Bergen Arts Festival, 4 June 1973.
Reception In Sweden, where Viskningar och rop premiered on 5 March 1973 (half a year after its American opening), Bergman’s film led to an unusually long press debate. Actually, the film had been a bone of contention even in its pre-production stage because of the way it was financed. Bergman did not want a private producer – in an interview in AB, 3 December 1971, p. 28, he advocates socializing the film industry – but tapped three sources: his own personal funds, actors’ investment of their salaries in the film, and half a million Swedish kronor from the SFI. (See report from press conference, Expr., 7 September 1971, p. 12.) It was the SFI support that created controversy. Many felt that Bergman was big enough a name to be able to find financing elsewhere – if necessary outside Sweden – and should not sap the SFI production funds, which should go to lesser known filmmakers. See N.-P. Sundgren, ‘Bergmans pengar’ [Bergman’s money], Expr., 17 October 1971, p. 4, and Harry Schein, the same title, Expr., 20 October 1971, p. 4. See also DN, 15 (p. 18), 21 (p. 19), and 22 October (p. 20). For a postscript to the
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Chapter IV Filmography discussion, see Björn Vinberg, ‘Alla tjänar en hacka på Bergmans succéfilm’ [Everyone earns a penny on B’s successful film], Expr., 14 March 1973, p. 32. After every major American studio had turned down U.S. distribution rights to Cries and Whispers – even though Bergman reportedly asked for only $75,000 in down payment – Roger Corman’s recently formed independent company New World Films acquired the film and released it towards the end of 1972 to a glowing set of reviews. On 21 October 1972, the New Yorker printed the script (pp. 38-51). See NYT, 17 February 1973, p. 11:1 for report that Cries and Whispers was the only foreign film in the U.S. in the previous 14 months to gross a substantial profit. Los Angeles Times ran a report by Wayne Warga on Roger Corman and Cries and Whispers, 25 February 1973, Calendar, p. 1, 23. Swedish debate about Bergman’s film focussed once more on his role as an artist. Though some reviewers (see Hanserik Hjertén, DN, 6 March 1973, p. 12, and Åke Janzon in SvD, 6 March 1973, p. 10) accepted Bergman as ‘a psychological visionary’ and a bourgeois film poet who depicted ‘a kind of reserve [...] the closed milieu [...] the holy autonomy of the soul’ [ett slags reservat [...] den slutna miljön [...] själens heliga autonomi], others issued a call for an ideological rather than an aesthetic approach to Bergman’s filmmaking. See I.M. Eriksson and S. Skagen in DN, 6 April 1973, p. 4. The article was reprinted in Motbilder, 1978, pp. 251-55 (Ø 1317). Excerpts also appeared in the special Hvisken og rop issue of the Norwegian journal Fant, no. 26 (Summer 1973), p. 44, together with a review (p. 45) and an analysis by O. Foss, ‘Viskningar och rop: film og samfunn’ [Cries and Whispers: Film and society], pp. 46-53. Foss refers to the film as ‘a rhapsody of petrified Bergman themes’. Sölve Skagen commented again on the film a year later in Fant, no. 27 (Spring 1974), pp. 26-34. See MacGuffin no. 9, pp. 42-47 for comments on Eriksson and Skagen article. Other critical voices spoke up in Filmrutan 16, no. 1 (1973): 26-30 (L. Lundgren and A. Munkesjö); in DN, 17 April, p. 6 (I. Sjöstrand); DN, 21 April, p. 4 (A-M Narti); DN, 26 April, p. 4 (G. Bodegård), and Expr., 19 April, p. 4 and 27 April 1973, p. 4. Overall, it was the psychological implications of Viskningar och rop that came to dominate the discussion, a fact deplored by Eriksson and Skagen in a closing statement, DN, 12 May 1973, p. 5. Bo Landberg published a Swedish essay on Bergman’s film in 1981, ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Viskningar och rop: Ett drama om ensamhet-gemenskap-trygghet’ [Bergman’s Cries...: A drama of loneliness-togetherness-security] (Göteborg: St. Lukasstiftelsen, 1981), 38 pp. Cries and Whispers became a focal film in a critique of Bergman’s portrayal of women, most notably in Joan Mellen’s feminist attack in Film Quarterly XXVI, no. 5 (Fall 1973): 2-11. See (Ø 975) for listing and response. In London, Cries and Whispers opened in February 1973 to mostly lukewarm reviews. Wrote C. Hudson in Spectator, 10 February 1973, p. 176: ‘[Cries] mooches and slouches through the well-trodden range of obsessions we have come to regard as evocative of Nordic gloom’. But Philip Strick in Sight and Sound thought the film was Bergman’s and Nykvist’s greatest collaboration, though he too (somewhat more tolerantly) recognized the familiar Bergman themes and landscape. Canadian Séquences (no. 74, October 1973: 31-34) printed a glowing review of the film, calling it Bergman’s best script and a film that would make film history.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 6 March 1973 (Expr., 5 March); Chaplin, no. 122 (1973), pp. 84-85.
Foreign Reviews Amis du film et de télévision, no. 209 (October 1973), pp. 8-9; Catholic Film Newsletter, 15 January 1973;
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Cinéma 181 (November 1973), pp. 35-38; Commentary, no. 55 (May 1973), pp. 81-84; De Telegraaf, 18 May 1973; Ecran, no. 15 (May 1973), pp. 9-12; F-Dienst XXVII/2, 22 January 1974, pp. 16-17, and XXX/16, August 1977, p. 10; Filmfacts 15, no. 241 (1972): 601-06; Image et son, no. 279 (December 1973), pp. 98-106; Japanese Film Journal 19, no. 4 (1975): 243-45; Kosmorama 20, no. 117 (December 1973), pp. 56-57; Listener, 15 February 1973, p. 223; Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 17 January 1973, p. B-1; Monthly Film Bulletin, XL/470 (March) 1973, pp. 61-62; Nation, no. 3 (January 1973), pp. 93-94; New Leader, 22 January 1973, pp. 22-24, 35; New Republic, 3 February, pp. 24, 35; New York, 1 January 1973, pp. 64-65; New York Review of Books, no. 20 (8 March 1973), pp. 3-4; New York Times, 22 December 1972, p. 16:1; New York Times Film Reviews, 1971-72, pp. 350-51; New Yorker, 6 January 1973, pp. 50-54; Sight and Sound, 1973, p. 110; Sketch (Beiruth), 29 March 1974, pp. 56-7; Der Spiegel, no. 10 (4 March) 1974, p. 115; Time, 8 January 1973, p. 53 (A.E. p. 33); Times (London), 9 February 1973, p. 13; Village Voice, 28 December 1972, pp. 49, 56; Women & Film, no. 3-4 (1973), pp. 55-6; Variety, 20 December 1972, p. 18.
Longer Articles Adams, Sitney P. ‘Color and Myth in Cries and Whispers’. Film Criticism XIII, no. 3 (Spring) 1989: 37-41; also in Swedish as ‘Liksom en saga av Bröderna Grimm’. Chaplin, XXXI, no. 3 (222), 1989: 124-125, 164-166; le Fanu, Mark. ‘Bergman: the politics of melodrama’. Monogram (G.B.), formerly The Brighton Film Review, no. 5 (1974), pp. 10-13; Mellen, Joan. ‘Bergman and Women: Cries and Whispers’. Film Quarterly, XXVI, no. 5 (Fall 1973): 2-11; Rice, Julian. ‘Cries and Whispers: The Complete Bergman’. Massachusetts Review 16, no. 1 (Winter 1975): 147-58.
Fact Sheets and Journal Issues L’Avant-Scène du Cinéma, no. 142 (December 1973), pp. 3-55. Special issue of Cris et chuchottements, including script, credits, review excerpts, and illustrations. Boesten, D. J. ‘Cries and Whispers’. Media C 174, 1975, pp. 4-30. Dossier includes credits and listing of takes; a brief Bergman biography and filmography; script presentation of characters, and analysis calling film ‘a Christus film’ with explanation of names, color symbolism, clocks and mirrors, as well as its political implication (class structure). Concludes with excerpted press voices; Cinéma Québec XXXIX, no. 4-5/326-327 (July-October 1990). Contains review article by André Leroux, ‘Cris et chuchottements de Bergman. Au bout de l’éblouissement’, pp. 15-16 and an
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Chapter IV Filmography interview based on Cannes press conference by Jean-Pierre Tadros, ‘Un film pour vous divertir’, pp. 13-15; Parmentier, E. ‘Cries and Whispers’. Filmfacts XV/24, (15 January), 1974: 601-06. Synopsis and extracts from reviews.
See also Lee Bobker. Elements of Film (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1975), passim; P. Cowie. Ingmar Bergman. A Critical Biography, 1980, pp. 275-82; Dreamworks 1, no. 1 (Spring 1980): 54-67; L’Express, 8-14 October 1973, pp. 79-86; Film 72/73, (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1973), pp. 42-51. Contains Hollis Alpert review in World Magazine; Paul D. Zimmerman’s in Newsweek, and Pauline Kael’s in New Yorker); Film a doba, no. 8 (August 1973), pp. 432-34; Japanese Fantasy Film Journal, no. 4 (1975), pp. 243-45; Kosmorama, no. 137 (178), pp. 66-67; New York Times, 27 May 1973, sec. 2, p. D11 (second review); Svensk filmografi, 1970-1979 (Ø 1314), pp. 189-92; Télé-Ciné. no. 214 (January 1977), p. 13; Chr. Braad Thomsen. ‘Bergman har lavet sit livs mesterværk’ [B has made his life’s masterpiece]. Aktuelt (Danish), 31 March 1973, p. 37; Village Voice, 11 January 1973, pp. 65, 70.
Awards National Society of Film Critics for Best Script and Best Photography; New York Critics’ Award for Best Film, Best Script, Best Director and Best Actress (Liv Ullmann); Oscar for Best Photography; For additional awards, see under film title in Varia, C. 1972:
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SCENER UR ETT ÄKTENSKAP, 1974 [Scenes from a Marriage], Eastmancolor (16 mm) Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Scener ur ett äktenskap was originally conceived as six 50-minute scenes for television, shot in 16 mm. A four-hour commercial film version, i.e., a 16 mm blown-up version of the original six TV scenes, had a limited showing abroad. A Swedish film version, 170 minutes, had a brief circulation in Sweden. The version with which most filmgoers are familiar is a two and a halfhour (155 minute) screen version, edited for foreign consumption. The release date of the two film versions was 1974. The TV version was first aired in 1973. For the original TV version, see Media chapter V (Ø 334) which includes more commentaries and a record of the reception of original TV transmission.
Synopsis First scene, ‘Innocence and Panic’, opens with an at-home interview where Johan and Marianne pose as the ideal couple for a ladies journal. The scene shifts to a dinner they give for their friends, Peter and Katarina. The gathering breaks up when the guests begin to insult each other. Afterwards, Johan and Marianne congratulate themselves on their own marriage. (The TV version also includes an episode where Marianne, who is pregnant, seeks an abortion. In the commercial film version, Marianne’s pregnancy is omitted.)
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record The second ‘scene’, titled ‘The Art of Sweeping under the Carpet’, begins with a mild but unsuccessful revolt by Marianne: she decides to cancel the weekly Sunday dinner with her parents. Later, in her office, she sees Mrs. Jacobi, who has wanted to divorce her husband for 15 years on the grounds that her marriage is loveless. In the meantime, Johan receives a call from his mother in his lab. His collegaue, Eva, comes in and partakes in an experiment: a TV monitor records her efforts to hit a point of light on a screen in a darkened room. She fails, somewhat irritated. Later she criticizes a collection of poems that Johan has given her to read. Marianne and Johan have lunch together. They begin a discussion about outspokenness and eroticism in marriage, which they continue in the evening after a theatre performance of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Marianne suggests that their lack of sexual desire for each other might be the result of too much talk about it. The third scene, ‘Paula’, takes place in Johan’s and Marianne’s summer house where Johan reveals having an affair with another woman, Paula, with whom he is leaving for Paris the next day. Marianne pleads with him to stay, but Johan wants to break away from a life filled with middle-class commitments. They make love but in the morning Johan packs and leaves. Distraught, Marianne calls a couple they know, only to find out that Johan’s affair has been known among their friends for some time. The fourth scene, ‘The Valley of Tears’, occurs a year later. Johan comes to Marianne’s home for dinner. He mentions an offer he has had from an American university and reveals that Paula is not going to accompany him. He wants to make love to Marianne, but she refuses. Instead, she reads him a passage from her diary, but Johan falls asleep. Later, she shows him a letter that Paula has written to her, predicting that Johan will go back to his family. Johan leaves, saying that Paula’s epistle is an act of histrionics. The next to the last scene, ‘The Illiterates’, takes place in Johan’s office. Marianne comes to present and sign the divorce papers. They start drinking. Johan has a cold, Marianne is in a good mood and seduces him. While Johan talks about his professional difficulties, Marianne appears indifferent and tells about her new sense of freedom. Soon they begin to argue and accuse each other of the flaws in their marriage. The verbal insults change into a violent physical attack by Johan. Afterwards, they sign the divorce papers, and Marianne leaves. Several years have gone by when the final scene takes place, titled ‘In the middle of the Night, in a dark House somewhere in the World’. Both Johan and Marianne have remarried, but meet on the twentieth anniversary of their own marriage. They drive to a friend’s cabin and talk about their lives. Johan is upset because his life seems meaningless; Marianne claims that she is finally free, if not happy. During the night, Marianne wakes up after a nightmare. The foghorn sounds ouside. She talks to Johan about her sense of confusion and of not being loved. Johan tells her he loves her in his own unimaginative way. They go back to sleep, holding hands.
Credits Production company Production manager Director Screenplay Photography Architect Sound Mixing Costumes
Cinematograph AB Lars-Owe Carlberg Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist (Eastmancolor) Björn Thulin Owe Svensson, Arne Carlsson Owe Svensson Inger Pehrsson
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Chapter IV Filmography Make-up Editor Continuity
Cecilia Drott Siv Lundgren Ulla Stattin
Cast Marianne Johan Mrs. Palm, journalist Peter Katarina Eva Gunnel Lindblom Mrs. Jacobi Arne, Johan’s colleauge Marianne’s mother Eva, 12 years old Her sister Voice-over as a press photographer
Liv Ullmann Erland Josephson Anita Wall Jan Malmsjö Bibi Andersson Barbro Hiort af Ornäs Bertil Norström Wenche Foss Rosanna Mariano Lena Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Filmed on location in Stockholm and at Fårö, beginning 24 July 1972 and completed 3 October 1972. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Swedish film opening U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri (film version) Donald Rugoff TV version: 282 minutes; Swedish film version: 170 minutes; American film version: 155 minutes 28 October 1974, Camera (Västerås) 21 September 1974, Cinema 1, NYC
Commentary In a reportage in DN (30 August 1972), taped by Thorleif Hellbom at Bergman’s Dämba studio on Fårö, Bergman talks about a productive 3-month period [April-June 1972], during which he wrote the script to Scener ur ett äktenskap. Same material appeared in Röster i Radio TV, no. 15, 1973, under the title ‘Det var bara roligt’ [It was nothing but fun]. Material also appeared in Danish Politiken, 13 May 1973, p. 42, under the headline ‘Et par måneders arbejde men et livs erfaring’ [A couple of months work but the experience of a lifetime]. In an interview article by Elisabet Sörenson in SvD, 6 April 1973, p. 8, Bergman talked about the genesis of his characters as ‘a kind of spring cleaning in a closet in which I had stored other people’s and my own experiences’ [en slags vårstädning i en garderob där jag hade lagrat andra människors och mina egna erfarenheter], adding, however, that he did not speak through Johan and Marianne: ‘It surprised me a lot when I wrote about them that they could say things all on their own. The most amazing things’ [Det förvånade mig mycket när jag skrev om dem att de kunde säga saker av sig själva. De mest överraskande saker]. In a later interview article by Aino and Arne Sellermark, Bergman said about the genesis of the entire series that ‘It started on my old couch’ [Det började på min gamla soffa], Allers, no. 39 (1974), pp. 47-8. See also Expr., 17 May 1973, p. 25. In an interview by Göran Sellgren titled ‘Första TV-serien för Bergman’ (DN, 4 May 1972) Bergman revealed that Scenes... was a continuation of his ‘bourgeois tragi-comedies’ The Touch and Reservatet. The main theme in all three works was ‘the certainty with which bourgeois ideology corrupts people’s emotional life’ (den visshet med vilken den borgerliga ideologin korrumperar människors känsloliv). See also Bergman’s remarks about the TV series, listed in Chapter II (Ø 152).
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record On 27 August 1974, Expr. (p. 24) reported that Bergman had sold a cut-down version of Scener ur ett äktenskap for commercial distribution in the U.S. Bergman said: ‘It hasn’t lost anything in the operation. I’ve always been unsentimental about my films, have never seem them as untouchable’ [Den har inte förlorat något på operationen. Jag har alltid varit osentimental om mina filmer, har aldrig sett dem som oantastliga]. Apart from the cut of the abortion segment, the most drastic difference between the TV and film versions is the omission of an entire episode depicting Marianne’s visit to her mother. Swedish film version (170 minutes) of Scener ur ett äktenskap had a selective showing in Sweden on a try-out basis, but got only a limited response (see Expr., 23 October 1974, p. 34).
Foreign Reception American evaluations of the shorter (155 minute) film version of Scenes from a Marriage echoed the mixed US response to The Touch a few years earlier. While John Simon in Esquire, no. 1 (January 1975), pp. 12, 16, compared Scenes ‘to the great literary tracts on love by writers like Stendhal, Kierkegaard, Ortega y Gasset’, Marcia Cavell in New Leader, 28 October 1974, pp. 2324, referred to Bergman’s film as ‘a high-class soap opera missing both the mundane and the metaphysical’. Molly Haskell interviewed Liv Ullmann for Village Voice, 21 November 1974, pp. 137-47, reprinted in Women and the Cinema, ed. K. Kay and G. Peary (E.P. Dutton, 1977), pp. 117-33. In France reviewers noted Bergman’s development from the symbolic and metaphysical films of the Fifties and Sixties to the realism of Scenes. They remarked in particular on two things: that Bergman had a talent for simplicity and richness of dialogue and for narrative density; and that Scenes marked a peak in his ability to present an ‘invisible mise-en-scène’ (See Jeune Cinéma, Positif, Cinéma 75 listed below).
Foreign Reviews America, 10 August and 12 October 1974, p. 56 and p. 195, respectively; Amis du film et de la télévision, no. 234 (November 1975), p. 17; L’Avant-scène du cinéma, no. 162 (October 1975), pp. 41-46; Cinéma 75, no. 196 (March 1975), pp. 115-18; Cineforum, no. 144 (May 1975), pp. 363-77; Ecran, no. 34 (March 1975), pp. 60-62; F-Dienst XXVIII/6, 18 March 1975, pp. 10-11, and XXX, 22, 25 October 1977, pp. 12 a-d; Film Heritage 10, no. 2 (Winter 1975): 43-44; Film Quarterly 28, no. 2 (Winter 1974-75): 48-53. New Republic, 12 October 1974, pp. 22, 33 (repr. in Before my Eyes, pp. 66-69); Films and Filming 21, no. 5 (February 1975): 39-40; Films in Review, October 1974, p. 501; Japanese Fantasy Journal 19, no. 1 (1975), pp. 404-5; Jeune cinéma, no. 85 (March 1975), pp. 29-32; Jump Cut, no. 5 (January-February 1975), pp. 1-2; Kosmorama, no. 115-116 (August 1973), pp. 228-30, and no. 117 (November 1973), pp. 62-63; Los Angeles Times, 18 November 1974, p. 1; Ms. 3, no. 2 (August 1974): 60-61, 82; Monthly Film Bulletin, January 1975, pp. 16-17; New Republic, 12 October 1974, pp. 22, 33 (repr. in Kauffmann’s Before my Eyes, pp. 66-69); New York, no. 7 (September 1974), pp. 68-69; New York Times, 22 September 1974, sec. 2, pp. 1, 15; New Yorker, 23 September 1974, pp. 96-98; Partisan Review, no. 4 (1974), pp. 581-85;
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Chapter IV Filmography Positif, no. 167 (March 1975), pp. 64-66; Product D II/9, 2 October 1974, p. 34; Sight and Sound 45, no. 1 (Winter 1974-75): 57-58; Télé-Ciné, no. 197 (March 1975), p. 28; Times (London), 29 November 1974, p. 17; Village Voice, 26 September 1974, p. 84, and 13 January 1975, p. 69.
Longer Studies and Review Articles (film version) Buxton, Paul. ‘Scenes from a Marriage. A Special Project in Directing’. MA thesis. Rhode Island College, 1990. 45 typewritten pp; Keyser, Lester. ‘Bergman and the Popular Audience’ in Kaminsky, 1975 (Ø 1266), pp. 313-23; Librach, Ronald S. ‘Marriage as Metaphor: The Idea of Consciousness in Scener ur ett äktenskap’. Scandinavian Studies 49, no. 3 (Summer 1977), pp. 283-300; Steene, Birgitta. ‘Scenes from a Marriage’. Movietone News, no. 40 (April 1975), pp. 19-21 and no. 41 (May 1975), pp. 15-18; Westerbeck, C. Jr. ‘Pillow Talk’ Commonweal, 20 December 1974, pp. 264-70, and ‘Divorce Swedish Style’, 3 January 1975, pp. 300-301.
Awards 1974: 1975: 1976:
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Hollywood Foreign Press Association Golden Globe; National Society of Filmcritics awards for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Screenplay; Film Journalists’ Association Film Festival (Brussels); David di Donatello Award, Taormina, to Liv Ullmann; Bild und Funk Bambi Award for Best Foreign Actress.
TROLLFLÖJTEN, 1975 [The Magic Flute], Eastmancolor Director Text
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman, after a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder
For the reception of the original TV transmission (including controversy over production support), see media chapter V (Ø 335).
Synopsis The story focusses on Prince Tamino and Princess Pamina, daughter of the evil Queen of Night and Sarastro, by some considered a wizard, by others a good and wise man. The film opens as Tamino is attacked during a hunt by a bestial dragon and saved at the last moment by three women who are in the Queen of Night’s service. They return to tell their mistress of the incident. She sends Tamino a medallion of her daughter. As planned, the prince falls in love with Pamina. During a visit the Queen of Night promises Tamino her daughter in marriage if he returns Pamina from her father, who has kidnapped her. The Queen gives Tamino a magic flute and a companion, Papageno. Soon Tamino and Papageno lose each other, and while the latter finds Pamina and flees with her from her guardian, Monostatos, Tamino arrives at Sarastro’s palace. Pamina’s and Papageno’s flight is thwarted by Sarastro as he returns from a hunt. He is aware of Pamina’s and Tamino’s love for each other – Papageno has given Pamina a picture of Tamino and her love for him is instant – and sets a scheme in motion. He captures Tamino and sends him away with Papageno. During a meeting with his council of priests, Sarastro reveals his intention to give his daughter to Tamino. First, however, the prince and his companion must endure three trials.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Taken to the Temple of Trials, Tamino forfeits a chance to turn back. He persuades Papageno to stay by promising him a beautiful wife. In the Temple of Trials, Tamino and Papageno are forbidden to talk. Papageno forgets himself and loses his prospective fiancée, Papagena, who has appeared as an old woman. Pamina, who has been sent by her mother to kill Sarastro, approaches Tamino but doubts his love for her when he does not answer her. She attempts suicide but is saved by three boys who return her in a balloon to Tamino. Tamino is now ready for his last trial: to wander through fire and water. Together, and with the help of the magic flute, Tamino and Pamina endure the elements and reach their goal. They are greeted by Sarastro and his people, who have chased away the Queen of Night. Because of his hatred for his wife, Sarastro does not consider himself worthy to reign and gives the rulership insignia to Tamino and Pamina. The film ends as Papageno and Papagena (with an instant hoard of offspring) join Tamino and Pamina in celebration of happiness and love.
Credits Production company Production manager Location manager Director Assistant director Photography Architect Music Sound Mixing Orchestration Choreography Costumes Make-up Editor Continuity
Cinematograph/SverigesTelevision (SVT, channel 2) Måns Reuterswärd Ann-Marie Jartelius Ingmar Bergman Kerstin Forsmark Sven Nykvist Henny Noremark W.A. Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte Helmut Mühle (music), Peter Hennix (dialog) Bengt Törnkrantz Eric Ericson and SR/Symphony Choir Donya Feuer Karin Erskine, Henny Noremark Bengt Ottekil, Britt Falkemo, Cecilia Drott Siv Lundgren Katinka (Katherina) Faragó
Cast Tamino Pamina Papageno Papagena First lady Second lady Third lady Sarastro Queen of Night Monostatos The speaker First priest Second priest Two guards Three boys in the balloon Seven girls
Josef Köstlinger Irma Urrila Håkan Hagegård Elisabeth Erikson Britt-Marie Aruhn Kirsten Vaupel Birgitta Smiding Ulrik Cold Birgit Nordin, assisted by song pedagoque Ulla Blom Ragnar Ulfung Erik Sædén Gösta Prüzelius Ulf Johanson Hans Johansson, Jerker Arvidson Urban Malmberg, Ansgar Krook, Erland von Heijne Lisbeth Zachrisson, Nina Harte, Helena Högberg, Elina Lehto, Lena Wennergren, Jane Darling, Sonja Karlsson
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Chapter IV Filmography Nine priests
Girl in the audience Listeners in the audience
Einar Larson, Siegfried Svensson, Sixten Fark, SvenErik Jacobsson, Folke Jonsson, Gösta Backelin, Arne Hendriksen, Hans Kyhle, Carl Henric Qvarfordt Helene Friberg Daniel Bergman, Ingmar Bergman, Erland Josephson, Sven Nykvist, Ingrid Bergman, Lisbeth Zachrisson, Janós Herskó, Magnus Blomkvist, Donya Feuer, LarsOwe Carlberg
Bergman’s filmed TV version of Mozart’s opera Die Zauberflöte was shot on a replica of an 18thcentury stage. Sets and machinery were a faithful, though diminished reconstruction of the 18th-century Drottningholm Court Theatre outside Stockholm, where Bergman had first planned to shoot the film. This theatre, the only intact stage of its kind in Europe, is similar in structure to Theater auf der Weiden outside Vienna, where Mozart’s opera opened on 30 September 1791. Bergman’s Trollflöjten was recorded at the Circus Theatre in Stockholm, beginning 6 April 1974, and filmed at Filmhuset, Stockholm (Studio 1), beginning 16 April 1974 (not counting extensive preparations over a 3-year period) and completed in July 1974. Distribution US. distribution Running time Released Television premiere Cinema premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri Surrogate Co./Carmen F. Zollo 135 minutes 26 September 1975 1 January 1975 4 October 1975, Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) 11 November 1975, Coronet, NYC
A documentary about the production of Trollflöjten was produced by Katinka Faragó and Måns Reuterswärd. See Varia, A.
Commentary In interviews, Bergman mentions his lifelong love of Mozart’s opera and refers to it as ‘the world’s best musical’ [världens bästa musikal]. At age 12 he tried using it for his puppet theater but could not afford to buy the records. Singling out the 12 beats he used in the puppeteer sequence in Vargtimmen (Tamino’s search for Pamina) as ‘one of civilization’s greatest moments’, Bergman added in an interview in Vecko-Journalen, no. 47 (20 November 1974), pp. 9-10, 47: ‘Mozart got those notes from God of course. Or if you want to translate that into comprehensible language, you can say that he got it from his genius or from a collective human experience or from a sublimated fear of death’. [M. fick det från Gud naturligtvis. Eller om du vill översätta detta begripligt, så kan man säga att han hämtat dem ur sin genialitet eller ur en samlad djupt mänsklig erfarenhet eller ur en sublimerad dödsfruktan.]. In Bilder/Images, 1990, pp. 350-359, Bergman writes about the genesis of his filmatization of Mozart’s opera and about episodes in the making of the film. For Bergman’s views on Mozart, see also interviews in AB, 2 January 1975, p.18; Film und Ton 22 (December 1975): 64; Röster i Radio-TV, no. 1-2 (1974/75), pp. 4-5, 67; two-page program issued at the Cannes Film Festival, 9-23 May 1975, where Magic Flute was shown out of competition; and an article by Jan Aghed and Carlhåkan Larsén in SDS, 31 December 1974, p. 10 (same material appears in authors’ interview article in Positif, no. 177 (January 1976), pp. 59), in which Bergman compares Mozart’s opera to Winnie the Pooh (i.e., story and wisdom combined, written for a 10-year-old by an adult). Bergman defines ‘morality of love’ as opera’s main theme and justifies changes he made in the libretto as an attempt to make this theme
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record more explicit. He also defends his choice of singers: ‘The most important thing for me was that the singers had natural-born voices, not artificial ones. [...] There are synthetic voices that sound wonderful, but you can’t see in the faces that anybody is singing’ [Det viktigaste för mig var att sångarna hade naturliga röster, inte konstlade. [...] Det finns syntetiska röster som låter underbara men man kan inte se i ansiktena att någon sjunger]. Costumier Henny Noremark spent eleven months preparing the costumes. In 1976 she was nominated for an Academy Award, but the film was not submitted for competition. Helene Friberg, the young girl in the audience, whose face and reactions to the performance form a visual leitmotif in the film, is not Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann’s daughter, as was often stated erroneously in British and American reviews.
Foreign Reception The Magic Flute opened as a commercial film in the U.S in early November 1975. American critics were soon outdoing each other in laudatory assessments. See New Republic, 29 November 1975, p. 22, reprinted in Kauffmann: Before my Eyes, pp. 69-72 (‘On the Day of Judgement of Nations, a lot will be forgiven Sweden for having wanted and produced such a celebration’); Newsweek, 24 November 1975, pp. 113-14 (‘a sugar plum for anyone’); Time, 24 November 1975, pp. 82-84 (‘This is an occasion. Genius is served, [...] Mozart is enhanced, Bergman is triumphant’); Village Voice, 17 November 1975, p. 102 (‘ A model of a musical ensemble as well as theatrical inspiration’). Bergman’s choice of singers became a bone of contention among reviewers. John Simon in New York, 24 November 1975, pp. 81-82 was critical, and Robert Craft in New York Review of Books, 27 November 1975, pp. 16, 18 argued that Bergman fell between two chairs by picking good-looking singers who were neither professional actors nor first-rate opera performers. Peter Cowie in High Fidelity Magazine 25, no. 6 (June 1976): 66-70, discussed this and other musical problems in Magic Flute. In this context, the interview with music director Eric Ericson in SvD, 4 January 1975, p. 9, is also of interest. Ericson, who was asked by many before the filming ‘to defend Mozart’, felt that there was never any need to do so: ‘Working with Bergman was a new and fine experience for me and the orchestra’ [Att arbeta med Bergman var en ny och fin erfarenhet för mig och orkestern]. See also an interview with Sven Nykvist discussing the filming of Magic Flute in American Cinematograper 56, no. 8 (August 1975): 894-99.
Foreign Reviews America, 24 January 1976, pp. 55-56; Amis du film et de la télévision, no. 234 (November 1975), p. 17; Bianco e nero, January-February 1977, pp. 108-10; Cinema nuovo, May-June 1977, pp. 210-11; Dissent 23, no. 2, (1976): 213-15; Ecran, no. 42 (December 1975), pp. 48-50; Film Quarterly 30, no. 1 (Fall 1976): 45-49; Films and Filming 22, no. 6 (March 1976); Filmkritika 28 (March 1975), pp. 108-11; High Fidelity and Musical America, no. 2 (February 1976), pp. 16-18; Jeune cinéma, no. 88 (July-August), pp. 33-34; Kosmorama, no. 125 (1975), pp. 61-62; Monthly Film Bulletin, February 1976, p. 35; National Review, 5 March 1976, pp. 217-18; New York Magazine, 24 November 1975, pp. 81-82; New York Times, 9 November 1975, pp. 2:1, D17, 12 November 1975, p. 50:1, and 16 November, p. 2: D15;
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Chapter IV Filmography New Yorker, 17 November 1975, pp. 169-74; Positif, no. 177, January 1976, pp. 3-5; Sight and Sound, no. 3 (Summer 1975), p. 159; Stuttgarter Zeitung, 10 January 1975; Variety, 15 January 1975, p. 45.
Longer Studies Carcassonne, P. ‘Tombeaux de Mozart’. Cinématographe, no 52 (November 1979), pp. 11-15 (comparison with Losey’s Don Giovanni); Donneux, M. ‘Bergman – Mozart. La flute enchantée (ou “La caméra enchanteresse”)’. APEC – Revue Belge du Cinéma, XIII, no. 4 (January 1976): 29-35; Hunter, R. ‘A meditation on theatre and love’, Australian Journal of Screen 7, no. 7 (1980), pp. 124-37 (on the theatrical style and the theme of power and love in The Magic Flute); Kauffmann, Stanley. ‘The Abduction from Theater. Mozart Opera on Film’, The Yale Review 81, no. 1 (January 1993), pp. 92-104 (comparison with Losey’s Don Giovanni and Sellars’s The Marriage of Figaro); Plus, Eric. ‘Die Zauberflöte verfilmd door Ingmar Bergman’. Unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Amsterdam; Schupp, Patrick. ‘La flute enchantée’. Séquences, no. 84 (April 1976): 28-31 (refers to film as a Bergman-Mozart masterpiece); Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Transcending Bounderies: Bergman’s Magic Flute’. In Fridén, Ann Carpenter, ed. Ingmar Bergman and the Arts. Nordic Theatre Studies 11, 1998, pp. 84-97. Also in author’s Bergman’s Muses, 2003, pp. 65-79. (Argues that Bergman’s Flute, shot for the TV screen, is a television opera rather than an opera film and transforms, through an intricate viewer perspective, an old aristocratic opera genre with its upper-class theatre context into a democratic theatrum mundi).
Fact Sheets and Special Journal Issues Avant-Scène du Cinéma, no. 162 (October 1975), pp. 47-50. Dossier on La flute enchantée with credits and illustrations.
See also Donneux, M. Apec Cinéma, no. 4 (January 1975-76), pp. 29-35; Sarris, Andrew. Village Voice, 1 December 1975, pp. 121-23 (claims Bergman’s competition is not the opera, but a hifi record player); Kael, Pauline, in her collection of reviews When the Lights Go Down, pp. 72-75.
Awards French Film Critics Association Special Award Golden Globe Award as Best Film of the Year. For additional awards, see under film title, Varia, C. 1975:
248.
ANSIKTE MOT ANSIKTE, 1976 [Face to Face], Eastmancolor Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
See also Media Chapter (Ø 336) for presentation of Ansikte mot ansikte as TV series, its genesis and Swedish response.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Synopsis Originally conceived for Swedish television, Ansikte mot ansikte/Face to Face depicts the nervous breakdown and recovery of Jenny Isaksson, a psychiatrist in her late Thirties. The film is set in the old-fashioned apartment of Jenny’s grandparents in Stockholm, with some additional scenes taking place in a hospital, in an empty house, and at a party. Jenny has gone to live with her grandparents for the summer while a new house is being finished for her family. Her scientist husband is in the U.S. and her teenage daughter at summer camp. Jenny is substituting for the head of the psychiatric clinic at the hospital where she works. One of Jenny’s patients, Maria, confronts her, drooling and caressing her breast. Jenny dismisses the behavior as playacting. Later she gets an anonymous phone call; going to a house that she and her family have recently vacated, she finds Maria drugged on the floor. Two men accost Jenny, and one of them tries to rape her. At a party that the head psychiatrist’s wife is giving for her homosexual friends, Jenny meets Tomas, a gynecologist. They have dinner together and go to his place. When she returns to her grandparent’s apartment, Jenny sees a specter, an old woman dressed in black, with cold staring eyes. The woman appears without warning and continues to haunt Jenny until she is driven to a suicide attempt. Tomas discovers her, unconscious, and takes her to the hospital. As she is being brought back to life, Jenny hallucinates and imagines herself dressed in a long red robe and red cap, wandering through the psychic landscape of her childhood. She is seen searching for her parents, who were killed in an automobile accident. She relives her fears of a dark closet where she was locked up as a punishment. In yet another hallucinatory fragment Jenny is confronted by her patients; finds her grandfather crouched in a closet; pulls a rubber mask off a woman’s face, revealing open bleeding sores; and recommends aspirin and tranquillizers to her patients but feels uncomfortable with their attempts to touch her. In still another nightmare, Jenny is watching her own dead self in a nailed white coffin. The corpse is revived; Jenny sets the coffin afire while the body inside cries desperately. In a last hallucinatory scene Jenny assumes the voice of a reprimanding old woman who lectures her about her duties, and threatens to lock her up in the closet. As she begins to recover, Jenny’s husband comes to visit. He has rushed home from America but seems preoccupied with his work. Later their daughter Anna drops in, listens silently to Jenny’s explanations, and leaves. Tomas, who has attended to Jenny during her recovery, tells her he is leaving for Jamaica. Jenny returns to her grandparents. Her grandfather has had a stroke and is decrepit and senile, totally dependent upon the care of Jenny’s grandmother. Jenny is seen standing behind a curtain watching the two old people communicating silently. She comes to the conclusion that love emcompasses all, even death. The film ends as Jenny makes a phone call to the hospital, informing the receptionist that she will return to work shortly. There is also the prospect for her of a trip to the U.S.
Credits Production company Production manager Location manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography
Cinematograph Lars-Owe Carlberg Katinka (Katherina) Faragó Ingmar Bergman Peder Langenskiöld Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist
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Chapter IV Filmography Architects Sound/Mixing Music Costumes Props Make-up Editor Continuity
Anne Terselius-Hagegård, Peter Krópenin Owe Svensson W.A. Mozart’s Fantasy in C minor, K 475, played by Käbi Laretei Maggie Strindberg Anna Asp Cecilia Drott Siv Lundgren Kerstin Eriksdotter
Cast Dr. Jenny Isaksson Dr. Tomas Jacobi Grandpa Grandma Maria Elisabeth Wankel, psychiatrist’s wife Erik, Jenny’s husband Anna Woman specter Dr. Helmut Wankel Veronica, nurse Mikael Strömberg, actor Jenny’s mother Jenny’s father Rapists Boutique girls Piano player Ludde
Liv Ullmann Erland Josephson Gunnar Björnstrand Aino Taube Kari Sylwan Sif Ruud Sven Lindberg Helene Friberg Tore Segelcke Ulf Johanson Kristina Adolphson Gösta Ekman Marianne Aminoff Jan-Eric Lindqvist Birger Malmsten, Göran Stangertz Rebecka Pawlo, Lena Olin Käbi Laretei Bengt Eklund
Filmed at SFI studios, Filmhuset, beginning in April 1975 and completed 30 June 1975. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time U.S. premiere
Cinematograph Dino de Laurentiis, Paramount TV-version: 175 min.; Film version: 135 minutes 5 April 1976 (charity premiere)
Commentary Bergman made two versions of Ansikte mot ansikte/Face to Face: the TV-version and a shorter international film version. See interview in SvD, 28 January 1976, p. 9. (Ø 842). A reportage from the shooting of Ansikte mot ansikte appeared in Los Angeles Times Calendar, 15 June 1975, p. 51. Bergman talks to Charles Champlin of LA Times about the importance of tradition, continuity, and friendship in his filmmaking. Same subject appears in Continental Film Review XIV, no. 2 (December 1976): 34-35. At the time of his conception of Ansikte mot ansikte, Bergman had become intrigued by Arthur Janov’s psychological theories about ‘the primal scream’. He had met Janov during a brief visit to Los Angeles and mentions his relevance to the film in Bilder/Images, 1990, pp. 66-82. The international film version was originally scheduled to be distributed by ABC Pictures, the same company that backed The Touch. But ABC wanted Bergman to cut further the copy he had submitted, which he refused to do, though he later re-edited it to run for 135 minutes. This shorter version of Ansikte mot ansikte has never been shown in Sweden. It was released in the U.S.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record prior to the airing of the TV version in Sweden; this was arranged in order to make the film qualify as an Academy Award entry. Paramount, the final American distributor, printed an elaborate 44-page program, before releasing the film in the US. It included ‘a rare and private look at a day in Ingmar Bergman’s working world’. A glossier 292-page folder presenting the film with credits, biographies of crew and actors, and excerpts from the script was published by Beverly Hills Lion Films Co. A production handbook from the making of Ansikte mot ansikte was published in German: Produktionshandbuch zu Ingmar Bergmans ‘Von Angesicht zo Angesicht’, ed. by Ernie Anderson. (Hamburg: Hoffman und Campe, 1976), 125 pp. On 24 March 1976, SR/TV issued a five-page program including plot synopsis, film credits, and Bergman’s letter to the crew. The letter was also published in New York Times, 24 September 1975, p. 45, and became the preface to Swedish and American printed versions of the script, which is based on the TV manuscript.
Foreign Reception and Reviews V. Canby in NYT, 18 April 1976, sec. 2, p. 1, saw the film as a metaphor for Sweden – perfection on the surface, crisis underneath. Several American reviews of Face to Face, and a year later The Serpent’s Egg – i.e., films conceived before the Bergman tax debacle – attributed their content to the tax case and Bergman’s reaction to it. See B. Brody, Psychology Today 10, no. 4 (September 1976): 15, and J. Cocks, Time 12 April 1976, p. 97. A number of American reviewers stated that the powerful hallucinatory quality of the Bergman/Ullmann collaboration seduced the audience. Several argued, however, that Bergman was less successful when relying on an actor’s aura than when he made visual use of iconography and ritual enactment to capture audience attention, as in his medieval films. See the following commentators: J. Breslin, America, 7 August 1976, pp. 55-56; R. Hatch, Nation, 17 April 1976, pp. 475-76; D. Jacobs, Take One 5, no. 4 (October 1976), pp. 40-41; Samuel Raphaelson, Film Comment 12, no. 3 (May-June 1976): 46-49, 65; Andrew Sarris, Village Voice, 5 April 1976, pp. 133-34; Patrick Schupp, Séquences, no. 86 (October 1976): 48-49 (questioned cuts from script); C. L Westerbeck, Commonweal, 21 May 1976, pp. 333-34. American reviews of Face to Face were excerpted in SDS, 7 April 1976, p. 10. For additional foreign reactions, see: Cineforum 17, no. 161 (January 1977): 54-61; Ecran no. 50 (September 1976): 49-51; F-Dienst XXIV/12, 8 June 1976, pp. 14-15; Film und Ton 22 (December 1976): 64-65; Filmcritica 28 (March 1977): 123-24; Films and Filming 22, no. 3 (December 1976): 31; Films in Review 27, no. 5 (May 1876): 314-15; Monthly Film Bulletin, December 1976, p. 247; New Republic, 17 April 1976, pp. 22; New Statesman, 22 October 1976, p. 570; New York Times, 6 April 1976, p. 28:1, and 18 April 1976, p. 2:1; New Yorker, 5 April 1976, pp. 121-23; Positif, no. 183-184 (July-August), 1976: 82-83;
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Chapter IV Filmography Sight and Sound 46, no. 1 (Winter 1976-77): 55.
See also Finetti, U. ‘Uno psicologo d’inanzi all’imagine sullo specchio’, Cinema Nuovo, March-April 1977, pp. 115-17 (interview with Italian psychoanalyst Cesare Musatti about Face to Face); Kauffmann, Stanley. Before my Eyes, pp. 73-76 (New Republic review); Lauder, Robert. Christian Century 93, no. 39 (1976): 936-38; Michener, C. Film Comment 12, no. 3 (May-June 1976): 44-45; Variety, 14 April 1976, p. 32.
Awards 1977:
249.
Golden Globe as Best Foreign Film of the Year.
ORMENS ÄGG /DAS SCHLANGENEI/THE SERPENT’S EGG, 1977 Eastmancolor Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis The Serpent’s Egg takes place in Berlin in November 1923 during Hitler’s first, unsuccessful attempt to seize political power. The main characters are the former circus artists Abel and Manuela Rosenberg. Manuela used to be married to Abel’s brother Max. The two brothers are Canadian citizens born of Danish Jews. Abel returns to his shabby hotel room in Berlin to find his brother dead, an apparent suicide. When questioned by a fat cigar-smoking policeman, Commissary Bauer, Abel can provide no clue. He looks up Manuela, who works in the cabaret ‘Zum blauen Esel’, and gives her a letter that Max has left behind; the handwriting is illegible, except for one phrase: ‘The poisoning goes on all the time.’ Outside the cabaret hall, Abel runs into Hans Vergerus, a scientist who claims to recognize him from a summer vacation 26 years ago. Abel denies the acquintance. Abel witnesses the beating up of an old Jewish couple by young German soldiers. Later he turns up drunk at Manuela’s rooming house. After Manuela goes to her daytime work (as a prostitute), Abel searches her room and finds a small bundle of dollar bills. He meets the landlady, Frau Holle. Returning to his former hotel room, Abel finds the police waiting. Bauer asks him to come along to the morgue to indentify a young woman who has been found drowned. The badly beaten corpse is that of Grethe Hofer, Max’s fiancée. Abel recognizes other bodies shown to him but cannot name them. One has been murdered with painful injections; the other is a suicide. Abel is taken to the police station for interrogation; he reveals that he is an alcoholic and not interested in unexplained deaths or the current political chaos. Trying to escape, he is beaten and thrown into prison, where Manuela comes to visit. Bauer releases Abel, writing off his behavior as excessively neurotic. Abel follows Manuela to work and sees her enter a church. She prays with a minister; they ask for mutual forgiveness; God is no longer present to offer absolution. The police stage a razzia at the cabaret hall where Manuela worked and beat the proprietor unconscious. Manuela and Abel move to St. Anna’s Clinic, where Hans Vergerus has given Abel access to an apartment. Abel works in the archives and Manuela in the laundry room. Two doctors, Solterman and Fuchs, escort Abel to his job and leave him alone. Fuchs reveals that horrible experiments take place in the clinic under the surveillance of Hans Vergerus. After an argument with Manuela, Abel leaves the apartment. He is involved in a fracas with a Jewish couple. Later a prostitute picks him up. In her apartment, another girl and a black man are arguing about his impotence. Abel baits them with money. The man fails to make love to
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record the girl, who collects the money. Returning to the apartment, Abel discovers Manuela dead. Later he finds a movie camera is hidden in the wall. Pushing a door open, he enters an empty room and takes an elevator to the top floor. A shadow follows him. He is attacked and barely survives. Back at work, Abel asks Dr. Solterman to accompany him to the archives, where he beats him unconscious and steals his keys. He finds a projection booth and turns on the machinery: a picture of a woman sitting against a white wall appears. Hans Vergerus comes into the booth and explains the film. It is a study of a woman taking care of a brain-damaged child who cries night and day. This is followed by other sequences of people under extreme duress and torture, mostly involving injections with experimental drugs. Vergerus predicts than in ten years time, science will be ready to carry on his work. Knowing, however, that the police are about to discover his deeds, he commits suicide by swallowing cyanide. The police arrive, Vergerus is dying, and Abel is knocked unconscious. He wakes up in the prison hospital. Bauer tells him that arrangements have been made for his departure to Switzerland. Abel gets up and acts completely disoriented, behaving like one of the victims in Vergerus’s filmed experiments. Escorted to the railroad station he escapes and disappears in the crowd.
Credits Production company Executive producer Producer Director Screenplay Photography Architect Music Sound Costumes Choreography Editor Continuity
Rialto Film (Berlin)/Dino de Laurentiis Corp. (L.A.) Horst Wendlandt Dino de Laurentiis Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist Rolf Zehetbauer Rolf Wilhelm Karsten Ullrich, Charlotte Flemming Heino Hallhuber Petra von Oelffen Kerstin Eriksdotter
Cast Manuela Rosenberg Abel Rosenberg Commisary Bauer Hans Vergerus Parson Monroe Hollinger Frau Holle Frau Dorst Dr. Soltermann Dr. Silbermann A civil servant Frau Hemse Solomon Mikaela Stella
Liv Ullmann David Carradine Gert Fröbe Heintz Bennent James Whitmore Glynn Turman Georg Hartmann Edith Heerdegen Kyra Mladeck Fritz Strassner Hans Quest Wolfgang Weiser Paula Braend Walter Schmidinger Lis Mangold Grischa Huber
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Chapter IV Filmography Cabaret comedian Girls in uniform Mr. Rosenberg Mrs. Rosenberg Max Paramedic Woman with baby Student Experimental person Doctor Prisoner Wife Husband Comforter Woman in street Hostess Prostitutes Police officer Greedy man ‘Bride’ ‘Groom’
Paul Bürks Isolde Barth, Rosemarie Heinikel, Andrea L’Arronge, Beverly McNeely Toni Berger Erna Brunnell Hans Eichler Harry Kalenberg Gaby Dohm Christian Berkel Paul Burian Charles Regnier Günter Meisner Heide Picha Günter Malzacher Hubert Mittendorf Hertha von Walther Ellen Umlauf Renate Grosser, Hildegard Busse Richard Bohne Emil Feist Heino Hallhuber Irene Steinbeiser
Filmed in Bavaria Studios, Munich, beginning October 1976 and completed December 1976. Distribution Running time Swedish premiere German premiere U.S. opening
Dino de Laurentiis 119 minutes 28 October 1977, Grand (Stockholm), Victoria (Göteborg), Camera (Malmö) 28 October 1977 February 1978
Commentary Das Schlangenei/The Serpent’s Egg was Bergman’s first film made outside of Sweden and the first film made after his taking up residence in Munich, West Germany. The film was co-produced by German and American financiers (see Credits above). It was shot in the Bavaria Studios but released as an English-speaking film. The cinematographer was Sven Nykvist but a number of other crew members were German. Bergman writes about the genesis and progression of the film in Bilder/Images (Ø 188), pp. 190-208; it was a complicated undertaking both in terms of the setting (‘a Berlin that nobody knew any more’) and cast (finding a male main actor). In some reports, Bergman is quoted as saying that The Serpent’s Egg was written as a strange premonition of his own arrest in early 1976. However, in a French interview by M. Delain, ‘Bergman et le nazisme’, L’Express, 28 November 1977, pp. 18-23, Bergman dates his personal connection to the film story back to age 17, when he spent a summer with a pro-Nazi German family. There were a great many reportages from the shooting of The Serpent’s Egg. See: Blume, Mary. ‘The Bergman Mystique at Work’. Los Angeles Times Calendar, 20 March, pp. 1, 34; Janos, L. ‘A Day on the Bergmanstrasse’. Time, 14 February 1977, pp. 78-9 (Am. ed. pp. 42-3) (better researched than Blume’s);
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Jungstedt, Torsten. ‘Ormens ägg’. Swedish Public Radio (SR), 12 December 1976, 30 minute reportage from Bavaria Studio. With interviews with Sven Nykvist and Liv Ullmann; ‘Der Magiker und das Schlangenei’, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 5 February 1977, Bild und Zeit section, p. 2; Sundgren, Nils Petter ‘Filmkrönika’. SVT, channel 2, 12 November 1976. (Televised interview with Bergman about the background of Ormens ägg. This interview was published in French under title ‘Rencontre avec Bergman’, Positif 204 (March) 1978, pp. 21-22). Jörn Donner’s film, The Bergman File, includes a live excerpt from Bergman’s press conference in Berlin on 19 November 1976. See also Finland Filmland, no. 1, 1978: 64-66; Stockholm press, 20 November 1976; Röster i Radio-TV, no. 51 (10 December) 1976, pp. 10, 60; and Variety, 1 December, p. 43. Interviews with Bergman during the production appeared in Vecko-Journalen, no. 49 (1976), pp. 6-7, and Expr., 20 February 1977, pp. 28-9. A program on Ormens ägg was issued by Fox-Stockholm Film (Swedish distributor), 28 October 1977. It contains an unsigned article on the historical background of the film, synopsis of the script, notices about Bergman’s shooting of the film, and information about his crew and leading actors. Another program, edited by J. Dawson and B. Frundt, was issued for the showing of The Serpent’s Egg at Berlin Film Festival in summer 1978. Positif, no. 204 (March 1978), pp. 18-27, contains a three-part presentation of L’oeuf du serpent by M. Sineux, N.-P. Sundgren and J. Jacobs, consisting of a review; a transcript of the Sundgren interview listed above; and a transcript of a documentary based on the shooting of the film, made by a West German TV team. Dino de Laurentiis also produced a documentary called ‘Secrets of a Genius’, first shown on Argentine television, 28 December 1977.
Reception The Serpent’s Egg received a great deal of critical attention. Reviews reveal both curious anticipation of the first film made by Bergman in exile and apprehension about his working in a foreign environment. On 29 October 1977 (p. 14), Lasse Bergström published a full-page glowing review of Ormens ägg in Expr., maintaining that Bergman had succeeded in absorbing resources of international filmmaking into his most recent work while guarding his own artistic integrity. Swedish reviews of Bergman’s films made in exile have been much more respectful and positive than elsewhere. See Åke Hedlund, ‘Svensk press och Ormens ägg’ [Swedish Press and The Serpent’s Egg], University of Stockholm undergraduate thesis, Spring Quarter 1978, ca. 30 pp. (typescript). The film was, however, a commercial flop in Sweden, and the Swedish distributor allegedly lost one million crowns on the project. The German response to Das Schlangenei was mixed but more critical than reviews in Sweden. See Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 26 October 1978, and Die Zeit, no. 45 (28 October), pp. 41-2; reprinted in Kinozeit (Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1980, pp. 104-09). For a sample of the Dutch response, see Harry Hosman, ‘Bergmans angst en beklemming’. De Tijd, 10 February 1978. In France, L’Oeuf du serpent also had a mixed reception. But in a longer article on the film, ‘La métaphore éclatée. Notes sur l’utilization de l’éstétique et des thèmes expressionistes dans L’Oeuf du serpent’, Michel Serceau argued that form and thematic content were given a cohesive and original shape by Bergman. Serceau’s article appeared in a collection titled Ingmar Bergman: La mort, le masque et l’etre, ed. by Michel Estève (Paris: Lettres modernes Minard, 1983), pp. 83-94. In Canadian film journal Séquences (listed below), Maurice Elia claimed that Bergman should not be blamed for wanting to do something different. In the U.S., The Serpent’s Egg was termed ‘a major disaster’ (Molly Haskell, New York, 6 February 1978, pp. 73-74); a manipulative film lacking human warmth and depth (R. Hatch, Nation, 11 February 1978, pp. 155-56); ‘a baffling film... so obviously wrong-headed’ (Vincent
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Chapter IV Filmography Canby, NYT, 29 January 1978, p. 17); and a brutally offensive work (P. Kael, New Yorker, 30 January 1978, pp. 92-94). S. Kauffmann, New Republic, 4 February, pp. 26-7 (reprinted in Before my Eyes, New York: Harper & Row, 1980, pp. 76-79) listed three basic mistakes made by Bergman: (1) making the film in English, which he did not master; (2) using Liv Ullmann, for whom English is also a foreign language; (3) selecting David Carradine for the lead male part and subordinating Ullmann’s role to his. Many American reviews compared Bergman’s film unfavorably to Bob Fosse’s Cabaret.
Reviews Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö press, 29 October 1977; America, 11 February 1978, p. 103; Amis de la cinéma, February 1978: 7-9; Atlantic Monthly no. 2 (February 1978), pp. 90-91; Bianco e nero, May-June 1979, pp. 138-40; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 285 (February 1978), p. 45; Cine Cubano, no. 106 (1983): 87-88; Cinéma 78, no. 229 (January 1978), pp. 95-97; Cinéaste 8, no. 3 (Winter 1977/78), pp. 42-43; Cinemaction, July 1990, p. 88; Cinematograph, December 1977, pp. 29-30; Cinema Nuovo, March-April 1978, pp. 130-33; Ecran, no. 65 (January 1978), pp. 58-60; F-Dienst XXX/23, 8 November 1977, pp. 8-9; Film og Kino, February 1979; p. 19; Film Kultura, May-June 1980, pp. 49-52; Film et Télévisie, February 1978, pp. 34-36; Filmbulletin, January-February 1978, p. 34; Films and Filming, October 1978, pp. 34-5; Films in Review 29, no. 1 (January 1978): 51; Illustrated, October 1978, p. 65; Jeune Cinéma, no. 108 (February 1978), pp. 33-5; Lumière du Cinéma, no. 11 (January-February 1978), pp. 38-41; Monthly Film Bulletin, July 1978, p. 141; (subtitled ‘A real horror story’, review deals as much with Bergman’s tax problems as with film); National Review, 3 March 1978, pp. 289-90; New Leader, 7 February 1978, pp. 27-28; New Statesman, 27 October 1978, pp. 55-56; New York Times, 6 March 1978, pp. 70-71; Newsweek, 30 January 1978, p. 55; Positif 204 (March) 1978: 18-20; Saturday Review, 4 February 1978, p. 47; Séquences, no. 92 (April 1978), pp. 28-9; Sight and Sound, Summer 1978, p. 190; Skoop 14, no. 1 (February 1978), pp. 5-8; Skrien, no. 73 (March 1978), p. 35; Time, 30 January 1978, pp. 59-60; Village Voice 6 February,1978, p. 39; Variety, no. 13 (2 November) 1977, p. 17.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Longer Reviews and Studies/Fact sheets Cumozio, Emilio. ‘Ingmar Bergman. L’uovo del serpente’. Cineforum, September 1978, pp. 52235; Gehler, Fred. ‘Abel und der Kommissar’. Film und Fernsehen, no. 3, 1980, pp. 44-49 (Dossier on film); Larson, Janet K. ‘The Birth of Evil: Genesis According to Bergman’. Christian Century, 7-14 June 1978, pp. 615-19. (Larson sees The Serpent’s Egg as ‘an omnius-gatherum of detective thriller, documentary, Gothic fiction, political tract and psychiatric case study’ presented as a modern version of the Fall and Flood myths); Librach, Ronald S. ‘Through the Looking-Glass Darkly: The Serpent’s Egg’. Literature/Film Quarterly 8, no. 2 (Spring 1980), pp. 92-103. (Librach discusses Bergman’s use of dream structure – ‘The oneiric premise’ – and sees male sexual self-knowledge as the film’s principal theme); Malmberg, Carl-Johan. ‘Bergman ansikte mot ansikte med historien’ [B. face to face with history]. Filmhäftet, no. 15-18 (May 1978), pp. 106-16. (On Bergman’s roots in modernism affecting his view of history and his film style in Ormens ägg).
See also Chaplin no. 153 (1977), pp. 253-55; Cinematograph, no. 33 (December 1977), pp. 29-30; Filmfaust, no. 6 (December 1977), pp. 106-8; Image et son, no. 324 (January 1978), pp. 112-14, and no. 327 (April 1978), pp. 42-6; Cinématographie, no. 34 (January 1978), pp. 23-4; Kosmorama, no. 137 (Spring 1978), pp. 25-30; Intellect, no. 106 (June 1978), p. 489; Screen International, 18 March 1978, p. 10.
250.
HERBSTSONATE/HÖSTSONATEN, 1978 [Autumn Sonata], Eastmancolor Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis The first Bergman film to feature Ingrid Bergman, Höstsonaten depicts the encounter between a successful concert pianist, Charlotte, and her plain-looking daughter, Eva who is married to a parson and lives in rural Norway. Eva’s husband opens the film with a narration about his wife, who used to be a journalist but gave up her career. After several years of marriage, the couple had a son, Erik, who drowned at age 4. Charlotte’s longtime friend Leonardo has just died, and Eva invites her mother to the parsonage for a visit. It is the first time in seven years that mother and daughter have seen each other. Shortly after arriving, Charlotte is told that her spastic daughter Helena now lives in the house and is cared for by Eva. Charlotte, visibly upset, talks about Leonardo’s death. Later she visits Helena’s room. During dinner, where she appears in elegant red, Charlotte gets a concert offer from her agent on the phone. Always conscious of money, she cannot resist. After the meal, she persuades her daughter to play Chopin on the piano, then proceeds to play the same piece while discussing how it should be interpreted. Eva stares in absolute misery at her mother. Later, while Eva is out of the room (but eavesdropping), her husband talks confidentially about her. After doing her accounts in bed, Charlotte goes to sleep but wakes up screaming from a nightmare in which Helena touched her. She spends the rest of the night in the living room
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Chapter IV Filmography with Eva, who proceeds to accuse her mother of neglecting her family and egotistically pursuing her career. In flashbacks, we see Eva as a child, longing and waiting for her mother’s return. One of her memories focusses on Helena during an Easter visit to the island of Bornholm when Leonardo and Charlotte had come to join them. A rapport forms between Leonardo and Helena, who seems to be recovering. A scene showing Leonardo playing his cello, surrounded by all the family members, is bathed in soft warm light, and is the one moment of peacefulness in the film. But the following day Charlotte decides to leave early. Leonardo stays behind, but grows restless and soon follows Charlotte to Vienna. Helena has a relapse. Charlotte defends herself and refers to a summer when she gave up her music practice to spend time with her family. Eva now reveals her unhappiness that summer; she was 14 years old and unable to cope with her mother’s vitality and willpower. This part is told in the present and leads to Eva’s breakdown. Charlotte leaves the parsonage. Shots of her on a train with her agent Paul alternate with glimpses of Eva walking to the cemetery to visit Erik’s grave. She feels her son’s presence very strongly. The film ends with Eva writing a letter to her mother, asking her to forgive her. She shows the letter to her husband, stating that she doubts her mother will ever read it. As her husband peruses the letter, the camera shows Eva’s and Charlotte’s faces in turn on the screen. The film ends as Eva’s husband puts the letter back in the envelope to take to the post office.
Credits Production company Production manager Director Location manager Photography Architect Sound and mixing Music
Costumes Makeup Editor Continuity
Personafilm Katinka (Katherina) Faragó Ingmar Bergman Lena Hansson Sven Nykvist Anna Asp Owe Svensson Excerpts from F. Chopin’s Preludium no. 2 in A minor played by Käbi Laretei; J.S. Bach’s Suite no. 4 in E flat major performed by Claude Genetay; and G.F. Händel’s Sonata in F major, Opus 1, performed by Frans Bruggen, Gustav Leonhardt, Anne Bylsmå Inger Pehrsson Cecilia Drott Sylvia Ingemarsson Kerstin Eriksdotter
Cast Charlotte, concert pianist Eva, her daughter Helena, her daughter Eva’s husband Leonardo Eva as a child Josef Paul, Charlotte’s agent Charlotte’s secretary Piano teacher Uncle Otto
Ingrid Bergman Liv Ullmann Lena Nyman Halvar Björk Georg Lökkeberg Linn Ullmann Erland Josephson Gunnar Björnstrand Marianne Aminoff Mimi Pollak Arne Bang-Hansen
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Filmed on location at Molde, Norway, and at Norsk Film Studios, Oslo, beginning 20 September 1977 and completed 30 October 1977. Produced by Bergman’s own company Personafilm. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Released Premiere U.S. opening
Svensk Filmindustri New World Films 93 minutes 8 August 1978 8 October 1978, (Spegeln) Stockholm 8 October 1978, The Baronet, NYC
Commentary A documentary from the shooting of Herbstsonate/Höstsonaten is on file at SFI. The Swedish Film Institute (SFI) decided first not to nominate Höstsonaten to the American Motion Picture Academy for an Academy Award as ‘Best Foreign Film’, arguing that the film was de facto a German production. But the new head of the SFI, Per Ahlmark, tried to change the decision and find a loophole in the Academy rules. See Variety, 14 February 1979, p. 33, but note Variety error in claiming that the Swedish government was behind the first decision not to nominate the film. SFI is a Foundation, not a Swedish government agency. On 19 September 1977, Bergman held a press conference on Höstsonaten in Oslo, also covered by Swedish SR/TV under the program title ‘Stjärnor mot stjärnor’ (Stars against stars). Bergman explained his choice of a mother/daughter rather than a father/son relationship; in traditional sex role patterns women’s relations tend to mask aggression, which surfaces only in moments of extreme tension; this Bergman wanted to explore on the screen. At the same press meeting, Ingrid Bergman revealed that her role was a fulfillment of an old promise: In 1965 she and Bergman had discussed filming Swedish author Hjalmar Bergman’s novel Chefen fru Ingeborg (Head of the Firm). In 1975 at the Cannes Film Festival, Ingrid Bergman reminded Bergman of this; two years later he had written the part of Charlotte in Höstsonaten for her. The Hjalmar Bergman project was rejected because its portrait of women seemed too obsolete. For good coverages of the press conference, see ‘To ganger Bergman-Ullmann i høstlig sonate’ [Two times B-U in autumnal sonata]. Arbeiderbladet (Oslo), 20 September 1977, p. 9; B. Wilson, ‘Man måste glömma för att rädda sin själ’ [One must forget in order to save one’s soul]. DN, 20 September 1977, p. 16; and GP, same date, p. 17. For interview with Ingrid Bergman and her impressions of working with Bergman during shooting of Autumn Sonata, see Emma Andrews, ‘The Bergman Principle’, Films Illustrated 7 (May 1978): 332-33. This interview was reprinted in Russian translation as ‘Kak sozdavalas. Osennjaja sonata’ in Iskusstvo Kino 10 (October) 1988: 141-147. In Kino (Sofia) 3, (July) 1993: 44-80 (a special Bergman issue), Bulgarian theatre director Stavri Karamfilov discusses his stage production of Höstsonaten.
Reception A few days after the Stockholm opening of Höstsonaten, a feminist debate began in the Swedish and Norwegian press. See the following: Bergom-Larsson, Maria. ‘Öppet brev till Ingmar Bergman’, [Open Letter to Ingmar Bergman], DN, 14 October 1978, p. 4; (objection to portrayal of Charlotte and urging Bergman to make a film about a father’s commitments). Asta Bolin responded in DN, 19 October, p. 6, with a reply by M. Bergom-Larsson in same paper, 26 October, p. 4; Tunbäck-Hansson, Monika, continued the debate in GP, 17 October, p. 2, and Kerstin Anér in same paper, 5 November, p. 2; Boström, Åsa, defended Bergman’s portrayal of motherhood in ‘Bergmans mödrar’ [Bergman’s mothers]. Filmrutan XXII, no. 1, 1979: 8-9.
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Chapter IV Filmography For Norwegian sample of debate, see C. Wiggen, ‘Nå er virkeligheten blitt reaksjonær!’ [Now reality has become reactionary]. Film og Kino XLVII, no. 1 (February) 1979: 48. For two particularly noteworthy reviews, see Hugo Wortzelius in UNT (20 October 1978, p. 13), and Artur Lundkvist in SvD, 7 November 1978, p. 10. Wortzelius felt that Bergman camouflaged himself in the mother’s role, while Lundkvist focussed on the film as a portrait of an artist’s lack of self-confidence in a mass society where (s)he is an outsider. Outside of Sweden, Höstsonaten got a varied response. Cahiers du cinéma, December 1978, pp. 48-49, called Sonate s’autonne ‘stupid and obsolete’ while Newsweek, 16 October 1978, p. 76, felt that Bergman had joined company with Ibsen, Strindberg, and Edvard Munch in turning an ordinary room into an arena of tragedy. S. Kauffmann in New Republic, 7 October 1978, pp. 2426 (reprinted in Before my Eyes, pp. 79-86), referred to the film as ‘a master working’, while Pauline Kael, New Yorker, 6 November 1978, pp. 165-71, called Autumn Sonata ‘a folie à deux by Ullmann and Bergman’. Canadian film journal Séquences (see below) thought the film was the work of ‘an artist who pulls us deeper and deeper into the interior of his hallucinating nightmares’. Raymond Lefèvre in Cinéma 78 felt the film bore a strong resemblance to Såsom i en spegel/Comme dans un miroir: four family members in a no exit situation, two children with an unresponsive parent.
Reviews Swedish Press, 9 October 1978 America, 28 October 1978, p. 288; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 295 (December) 1978: 48-9; Chaplin, no. 158 (May) 1978: 184-187; Cinéaste 9, no. 3 (March) 1979: 43-45; Cinéma 78, November 1978; Cinema Nuovo, November-December 1978, pp. 57-59; Cinematograph, no. 41 (November) 1978: 72-73; Commentary, no. 1 (January) 1979: 60-64; Ecran, no. 74 (November) 1978: 57-8; F-Dienst XXXI/24, 22 October 1978, pp. 16-17; Film et Televisie, December 1978, pp. 8-10; Film og Kino, (February) 1979: 20-2, 40; Film und Fernsehen, no. 7 (197), 1978, pp. 130-37; Filmbulletin, October-November 1978: R-F; Filmfaust 2, no. 11 (December) 1978: 64-65; Filmhäftet, no. 21-22 (December) 1978: 76-79; Filmrutan, no. 1, 1979: 8-9; Films and Filming, (April) 1979: 39; Films in Review 33, no. 9 (November) 1978: 569; Image et son, no. 333 (November) 1978: 139-40; Jeune Cinéma, no. 115 (December- January) 1978: 46-48; Monthly Film Bulletin XLVI, no. 540 (January) 1979: 7-8; Nation, 2 December 1978: 619-20; National Review, 24 November 1978: 1490-91; New Statesman, 23 March 1979: 419; New York, 9 October 1978: 113-14; Sight and Sound 48, no. 1 (Winter) 1978-79: 56; Skoop 14, no. 9, (December) 1978, pp. 51-54; The Listener, no. 2925 (5 September) 1985: 31;
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Time, 16 October 1978: 112-13 (A.E. pp. 60, 62); Variety, no. 6 (13 September) 1978: 21; Vecko-Journalen, no. 41, 1978: 46; Village Voice, 16 October 1978: 71.
Longer Reviews and Studies Benayoun, Robert. ‘Fugue sur la futilité somptueuse de l’ art’. Positif 213 (December) 1978: 51-54; Bird, Michael. ‘Heuresis: The Mother-Daughter Theme in ‘A Jest of God’ and ‘Autumn Sonata’’. New Quarterly: New Directions in Canadian Writing 7, no. 1-2 (Spring-Summer) 1987: 267-273; Björkman Stig. ‘En värld av befriade känslor’ [A world of liberated feelings]. Chaplin XX, no. 5 (158) 1978: 184-187. Boorsma, Anne-Marie. ‘Herftsonate van Ingmar Bergman: een moeder dochter relatie verfilmd’. Diss. Leiden: Rijksuniversitet Leiden, 1988, 102 pp. Farago, France. ‘La mort comme propédeutique à la vie’. In Ingmar Bergman: La mort, le masque et l’etre, ed. by Michel Estève (Paris: Lettres modernes Minard, 1983), pp. 19-51; Gertner, R. ‘Autumn Sonata’. Motion Picture Product D, VI/9, 4 October 1978, pp. 33-34; Jensen, Nils. ‘Høstsonaten og rene linier’ [Autumn Sonata and pure lines]. Kosmorama XXV, no. 141 (Spring) 1979: 9-11; Leroux, André. ‘Sonate d’automne’. Séquences XXIV, no. 95 (January) 1979: 33-36; Simmons, Keith L. ‘Pain and Forgiveness: Structural Transformations in Wild Strawberries and Autumn Sonata’. New Orleans Review 10, no. 4 (Winter) 1983: 5-15; Törnqvist, Egil. Between Stage and Screen. Ingmar Bergman Directs, (Amsterdam: AUP, 1995) pp. 160-173.
See also Los Angeles Times, 15 October 1978, pp. 1, 34; R. Lauder, NYT, 3 December 1978, pp. 1, 13; Bernd Lubowski. Berliner Morgenpost, 9 December 1977; E. Kwakernaak, McGuffin 7, no. 29 (March 1979): 4-13; G. Millar, Listener, 5 April 1979, pp. 492-93; Peter Cowie. Ingmar Bergman. A Critical Biography, 1982, pp. 319-28.
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FÅRÖDOKUMENT 1979 [Fårö-document 79] 1979, Color (16 mm) See listing in media chapter, (Ø 338).
252.
UR MARIONETTERNAS LIV/AUS DEM LEBEN DER MARIONETTEN, 1980 [From the Life of the Marionettes] B/W & color Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis: Ingmar Bergman’s third film during his exile begins like a TV whodunnit with a murder sequence shot in flaming red. The victim is a prostitute, Katarina. The murderer is an upper middle-class German businessman, Peter Egerman. The rest of the film is a flashback examination of his life, a ‘protocol’ in black and white. In the final part of the film, the murder sequence is repeated, again shot in color, as Peter’s life comes full circle. Apart from the murder, the film has very little action. It is constructed as a series of conversations, tracing Peter Egerman’s attempt to come to terms with his marriage and with his sense of emptiness and alienation. The scenes are short and often interrupted; they are like
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Chapter IV Filmography fragments in an incomplete puzzle. No single character can provide the answer to Peter Egerman’s psychological short-circuit, which caused him to become a murderer. One by one, the people with whom Peter has been associated step before the camera to have their portraits rather than their stories unveiled. The film is virtually all close up, with a minimum of mise-en-scène and hardly any social frame of reference. We meet in turn Peter’s friend, a psychiatrist; his wife, who has the same name as the murdered prostitute; his mother; and his wife’s homosexual colleague, Tim (Thomas Isidor Mandelbaum). All of them are indirectly related to Peter’s catastrophe, or rather, each one implies a possible reason for his collapse and act of violence. The psychiatrist has betrayed his confidence and has had an affair with his wife. Katarina has exposed him to humiliation and taunting love-hatred. His mother reveals herself to be of a possessive nature. Tim, in disclosing his own despair and lonelineness, suggests Peter’s own latent homosexuality. There are also indications of childhood traumas still bruising the sensitive Peter. The final vignette shows him in his cell cuddling his childhood teddy bear.
Credits Production company Producers Production managers Location manager Director Assistant directors Screeenplay Photography Sound Architect Music Costumes Props Make-up Editor Continuity
Personafilm Horst Wendtlandt, Ingrid Bergman Paulette Hufnagel, Irmgaard Kelpinski Michael Juncker, Franz Achter Ingmar Bergman T. von Trotha, Johannes Kaetzler Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist Peter Beil Rolf Zehetbauer Rolf Wilhelm Charlotte Flemming Harry Freude, Barbara Freude-Schnaase Mathilde Basedow Petra von Oelffen Helma Flachsmeire
Cast Peter Egerman Katarina Egerman Mogens Jensen Katarina Cordelia Egerman, Peter’s mother Tim Mandelbaum Arthur Brenner, psychiatrist Nurse Secretary Interrogator Guard
Robert Atzorn Christine Buchegger Martin Benrath Rita Russek Lola Müthel Walter Schmidinger Heintz Bennent Ruth Olafs Gaby Dohm Karl Heintz Pelser Toni Berger
Filmed in Tobis Film Studios, Munich, using actors from Bayerische Staatsschauspiel; shooting beginning in October 1979. Completion date unavailable. Distribution U.S distribution
Tobis Film Swank Motion Pictures
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Running time First public screening TV screening German opening U.S. opening Swedish opening
104 minutes July 1980 at a small film festival in Oxford. 8 October 1980 in Paris. Film was shown on West German TV (ZDF/Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen), 3 November 1980. 6 November 1980. 7 November 1980, Mann’s Fine Arts, Los Angeles. 24 January 1981, Grand (Stockholm), Sandrew (Göteborg, Malmö, and Uppsala).
Commentary Bergman writes about the film in Bilder/Images, 1990, pp. 208-220. Aus dem Leben der Marionetten was originally made for German television; Bergman calls it his only German film since it was conceived, financed, and shot in Germany. Bergman regrets that it was distributed elsewhere as a commercial feature film. In Assayas-Björkman interview book Tre dagar med Bergman (Ø 919), he calls the film one of his favorites. In an interview published in Cahiers du Cinéma no. 436 (October 1990), Ingmar Bergman explains the reason why Aus dem Leben..., which was originally planned in black and white, begins in color: West German TV channel ZDF which had bought transmission rights to the film worried that their viewers might switch TV channels if the film opened in black and white, thinking that their TV sets had malfunctioned.
Reception Swedish reviews were respectful but not enthusiastic. See Expr., 28 January 1981, p. 34, for speculation as to why the public failed the film. Torsten Manns in Filmrutan (no. 1, 1981, p. 31) suggested that audiences recognized (and were tired of) Bergman as a tamer of his own demons. Swedish poet/critic Artur Lundkvist discussed Marionetten... in SvD, 20 February 1981, p. 12, focusing on the film’s thematic ambiguity, i.e., Peter’s spleen and latent homosexuality. Neither in the U.S. nor in Europe was the film a box-office success. Some French reviewers even spoke of a fiasco. However, François Ramasse in a substantial essay on Marionettes... saw the film as the quintessence of Bergman’s work in the cinema and was fascinated by its ‘deconstructive narrative’. See ‘De la vie des marionettes’ in Ingmar Bergman: La mort, le masque et l’être, ed. by Michel Estève (Paris: Lettres modernes Minard, 1983), pp. 95-141. Michel Pérez in Le Matin called Marionettes... an admirable film from beginning to end, praising its cinematic economy and its resistance to easy solutions, social as well as psychoanalytical. For a sample of the (West) German reaction, see Anne Rose Katz, ‘Kostumierter Geschlechterkampf ’. Stuttgarter Zeitung, 2 October 1980. Mentions brilliant imagery but also lack of compassion. In the U.S., Variety (23 July 1980, p. 6) wrote an appreciative review, calling Bergman ‘the world’s best known minority-appeal filmmaker’ and praising Sven Nykvist’s cinemaphotography and Bergman’s ability to make ‘a contrived plot acceptable to viewer’. Time (17 November 1980, p. 109) thought Marionettes... was more interesting to analyze than to watch, while Newsweek (24 November, p. 58) was ready to nominate Bergman for the Nobel Prize.
Reviews Swedish press, 25 January 1981; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 318 (December 1980), pp. 45-47; Celuloide no. 328-329, November 1981: 14-15; Chaplin, no. 172 (1981, no. 1), p. 33; Cinéma, no. 262 (October 1980), p. 83;
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Chapter IV Filmography Cineforum, no. 203 (April 1981), pp. 55-60; Cinématographe, no. 62 (November) 1980: 57-58; L’Express, 27 September 1980, n.p.; Film Comment 17, no. 2 (March–April) Film og Kino, no. 5-6 (1981), pp. 190-191; Films, February 1982: 82; Film und Ton I, no. 4 (March 1981), pp. 30-40; Filmrutan XXIV, no. 1 (1981), p. 31; Hollywood Reporter, 7 November 1980, pp. 3-4; Image et son, no. 355 (November) 1980: 26-28; Jeune cinéma, no. 130 (November) 1980): 38-39; Le Matin, 8 October 1980; Le Nouvel Obervateur, 6 October 1981, p. 57; Levende billeder, March 1981: 40-41; Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 7 November, sec. D, p. 6; Monthly Film Bulletin XLVIII, no. 568 (May) 1981: 88; Nation, 29 November 1980: 57-58; New York, 17 November 1980: 80-82; New York Times, 9 November, sec. 2, p. 19; Positif, no. 236 (November 1980), pp. 63-5; Revue de cinéma hors series, no. 25, 1981: 100-101; Saturday Review, 5 January 1981: 84-85; Séquences, no. 108, (April) 1982: 29-30; Sight and Sound, Spring 1981, pp. 133-134; Skoop, November 1980: 218-219, 228; Variety, no. 12 (23 July) 1980: 18, 20; Vi, no. 5 (1981), p. 23; Village Voice, 12 November 1980, p. 51.
Longer Reviews and Studies Classon, Anders. ‘Den omöjliga friheten: En tolkning av Ingmar Bergmans film Ur Marionetternas liv’ [Impossible freedom: An interpretation of Bergman’s film From the Life of the Marionettes]. Department of Cinema Theatre Studies, University of Stockholm, Autumn 1981, ca. 210 pp. Undergraduate thesis exploring the theme of freedom in Marionetterna...; Kinder, Marsha. ‘The murderer motif in Bergman’s filmmaking from The Devil’s Wanton to Life of the Marionettes’. Film Quarterly 34, no. 3 (Spring) 1981: 26-37; Koskinen, Maaret. Ingmar Bergman: ‘Allting föreställer, ingenting är’, 2000, pp. 73-77; Pym, John. ‘All Ways Out Are Closed. From the Life of the Marionettes’. Sight and Sound L, no. 2 (Spring) 1981: 133-134; Skoop (XVI, no. 9 (November) 1980) has two reviews of the film, one by Charles Boost (pp. 1819), the other by Wim Verstappen (p. 28); Tobin, Yann. ‘Si ce meurtre sert mon film’. Positif 236 (November) 1980: 63- 65. A good French presentation, in addition to François Ramasse’s essay mentioned above; Troyan, D. ‘Plotting Transference and the Drive in “From the Life of the Marionettes”’, Spectator, no. 2 (1993): pp. 70-81. See also: AB, 25 November 1979, p. 35, and SvD, 14 October 1979, Sunday Sec, pp. 1, 4 (interviews with Christine Buchegger); S. Kauffmann, Field of View, pp. 66-68 (reprint of New Republic review).
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Awards 1980
253.
Tribute at Chicago Film Festival in connection with showing of Marionettes...
FANNY OCH ALEXANDER, 1982-83 [Fanny and Alexander], Eastmancolor Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Bergman edited a special commercial film version of Fanny and Alexander, which follows sequentially the longer five-hour television version but cuts or shortens several scenes: (1) In the Christmas sequence, Carl’s and his German-born wife’s nighttime confrontation is shorter and less violent; (2) the Christmas pageant performed by the Ekdahl ensemble at the theatre is shortened; the actors’ Christmas celebration on stage is omitted; (3) the Hamlet rehearsal when Oscar Ekdahl collapses is shortened; (4) the attempt by Carl and Gustaf Adolf Ekdahl to bargain with the bishop about the future of Emilie and the children is shortened; (5) the visualized desert walk when Isak reads from a Hebrew bible to the children after their rescue is omitted (actually Bergman made up the passage; it contains several references to earlier Bergman films, such as the flagellant sequence in The Seventh Seal. Justine, maid at the Vergerus, appears with stigmata on her hands. Alexander joins the procession). See also Media chapter (Ø 340) for additional reviews of TV version. Note, however, that most response material is included in this entry.
Synopsis Fanny and Alexander, pre-teen siblings, live in the university town of Uppsala. The time is 1907. Their parents, Oscar Ekdahl, head of the local resident theater, and Emilie, a leading actress in the company occupy one-half of a huge town house. Oscar’s mother, Helena Ekdahl, née Mandelbaum, a widow, lives in the other half. A connecting door, camouflaged by wallpaper, connects the two apartments. The script is divided into the following segments: (1) Prologue, (2) Christmas, (3) Death and Funeral, (4) Breaking up, (5) The Events of a Summer, (6) The Demons, and (7) Epilogue. The prologue describes the town and its inhabitants. The film, however, begins with 12-year-old Alexander exploring his grandmother’s apartment. Seated under his grandmother’s diningroom table, Alexander surveys the room, registers its ticking clocks, knick-knacks, and a statue that seems to beckon to him. The Christmas segment opens with a performance in the theatre of ‘The Play about Christ’s Joyful Birth’, followed by a Christmas dinner at Helena Ekdahl’s. Servants mingle with the family members; the atmosphere is joyous and warm. The evening ends for the Ekdahl children with a pillow fight with Maj, a servant girl. When all is quiet, Alexander gets up to play with his laterna magica, a Christmas present. He is joined by Fanny. In the meantime, Helena Ekdahl and Isak Jacobi, an old Jewish friend, talk through the Christmas night, while Gustaf Adolf Ekdahl, Oscar’s philandering brother, visits Maj. A third brother, Professor Carl Ekdahl, argues with his German-born wife. In the early morning hours, the whole extended Ekdahl family meet for coffee at Helena Ekdahl’s, then travel to church in sleds lit up by torches, an invocation of a traditional Swedish Christmas rite of the past. The ‘Death and Funeral’ segment begins with a rehearsal of Hamlet’s first meeting with his father’s ghost. Oscar Ekdahl collapses and is taken home, where he dies after a family leavetaking. During the ensuing funeral, Alexander protests his father’s death by mumbling obscene words. Officiating at the funeral is Bishop Edvard Vergerus. A little over a year after Oscar’s death, his widow Emilie marries Vergerus and moves into his home with the two children. The house, which they share with the bishop’s mother, sister, and bedridden aunt, is a stark contrast
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Chapter IV Filmography to the cluttered and boisterous Ekdahl home. The children hate their stepfather, especially Alexander, who is taken to task for telling lies at school. Next the story moves to Helena Ekdahl’s summer place. Maj visits her and expresses her worry about Fanny and Alexander. The children are confined to their barren-looking nursery. Alexander informs Justina, one of Vergerus’s servants, of the death of the bishop’s children from a former marriage, and claims that Vergerus is responsible for their drowning. Justina reports the tale to the bishop who punishes Alexander with the rod and locks him in the attic. Helena Ekdahl experiences the presence of her dead son, Oscar, and has a long talk with him about the family. Her fantasy is interrupted by the arrival of Maj, and later by the pregnant Emilie who tells her that the bishop has refused to grant her a divorce. Isak Jacobi rescues Fanny and Alexander by hiding them in a big chest he buys from Vergerus. At his home, he introduces them to Aron, who has a puppet theater, and Ismael, Aron’s brother, who is locked up because he can be mad and violent. At night, Alexander gets lost in the cluttered apartment, is scared by Aron acting as God, and ends up visiting Ismael. Emilie puts bromides in the bishop’s broth, then leaves him when he is almost unconscious. Ismael articulates Alexander’s wish to kill the bishop. Intercut are shots of Vergerus’s obese aunt catching fire from an overturned kerosene lamp. The fire spreads to the bishop’s bedroom. In the morning Emilie is informed by the police of her husband’s death. The following winter both Emilie and Maj give birth to baby daughters. At a family celebration, Gustaf Adolf Ekdahl delivers an homage to the ‘little world’ of family and friends. The film ends with Helena Ekdahl reading to Emilie from the preface to Strindberg’s A Dreamplay.
Credits Production company Executive producer Production manager Location managers Director Asisstant director Screenplay Photography Sound Music
Architect Props Costumes Make-up Special effects Editor Continuity
Cinematograph/Svenska Filminstitutet/Sveriges Television 1/Sandrews/Gaumont/Personafilm/Tobis Film Jörn Donner Katinka (Katherine) Faragó Brita Werkmäster, Eva Ivarsson Ingmar Bergman Peter Schildt Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist; Tony Forsberg (2nd-unit) Owe Svensson Robert Schumann, Piano quintet E major op. 45 (2nd movement) and, ‘Du Ring an meinem Finger’ from ‘Frauen, Liebe und Leben’ (sung by Christina Schollin); Benjamin Britten, Suites for cello op. 72, 80, and 87; Sw. hymns 51, 424; Finnish Cavalry March; March from ‘Aida’; Christmas songs Anna Asp Jan Andersson, Gunilla Allard, Christer Ekelund, Johan Husberg Kristina Makroff; Marik Vos (designer) Leif Qviström, Anna-Lena Melin, Barbro HolmgrenHaugen Bengt Lundgren Sylvia Ingemarsson Kerstin Eriksdotter
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Cast Ekdahl household Helena Ekdahl Oscar Ekdahl Emilie Ekdahl Alexander Ekdahl Fanny Ekdahl Carl Ekdahl Lydia, his wife Gustaf Adolf Ekdahl Alma, his wife Maj Kling Petra, Gustaf Adolf ’s elder daughter Jenny Putte Eva Miss Vega, cook Miss Ester, housekeeper Elida Lisen Siri Berta Mrs. Hanna Schwartz Aunt Emma Aunt Anna
Gunn Wållgren Allan Edwall Ewa Fröling Bertil Guve Pernilla Allwin Börje Ahlstedt Christina Schollin Jarl Kulle Mona Malm Pernilla Wallgren (August): Maria Granlund Emilie Werkö Kristian Almgren Angelica Wallgren Majlis Granlund Svea Holst-Widén Siv Ericks Inga Ålenius Kristina Adolphson Eva von Hanno Anna Bergman Sonya Hedenbratt Käbi Laretei
Jacobi household Isak Jacobi Aron Ismael
Erland Josephson Mats Bergman Stina Ekblad
Vergerus household Bishop Vergerus Blenda Vergerus Henrietta Vergerus Elsa Bergius, aunt Selma, maid Justina, maid Malla Tander, cook
Jan Malmsjö Marianne Aminoff Kerstin Tidelius Hans Erik Lerfeldt Marianne Nielsen Harriet Andersson Marrit Ohlsson
Theatre staff Karna Philip Landahl Hanna Schwartz Mikael Bergman Mr. Morsin Thomas Graal Grete Holm Johan Armfeldt Mr. Saleius
Mona Andersson Gunnar Björnstrand Anna Bergman Per Mattsson Nils Brandt Heinz Hopf Lickå Sjöman Åke Lagergren Sune Mangs
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Chapter IV Filmography Mrs. Sinclair Prompter Mrs. Palmgren Stage manager Theatre Orchestra
Maud Hyttenberg-Bartolotti Kerstin Karte Marianne Karlbeck Gus Dahlström Daniel Bell, Gunnar Djerf, Ebbe Eng, Folke Eng, Evert Hallmarker, Nils Kyndel, Ulf Lagerwall, Karl Nilheim
Others Young men helping Jacobi with chest: Krister Hell, Peter Stormare Priest at christening ceremony Olle Hilding Pauline Linda Krüger Esmeralda, ghost Pernilla Wahlgren Pastor at marriage ceremony Hans Strååt Police superintendent Carl Billquist The witness Axel Düberg Office manager Tore Karte Dr. Fürstenberg Gösta Prüzelius A student Patricia Gelin Rosa, the new maid Lena Olin Carl’s singing partners Lars-Owe Carlberg, Hugo Hasslo, Sven Erik Jacobsson Japanese women Viola Aberlé, Gerd Andersson, Ann Louise Bergström Filmed on location in Uppsala, Stockholm, (Södra Teatern), Värmdö-Tynningö and at SFI Studios, Stockholm, beginning 7 September 1981 and completed 22 March 1982. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time U.S. opening (film version) Swedish opening (film version)
Sandrews Embassy Pictures 188 minutes (TV version: 300 minutes at 25 fr/sec) 17 June 1983, Cinema 1 and Cinema 2, NYC 17 December 1982 at Grand, Stockholm
Commentary In the very extensive publicity around Fanny and Alexander, one might distinguish the following three subject areas:
1. Preliminary discussions, including finance: The first mention of the project appeared in SvD, 15 June 1979, p. 8, and Variety, 27 June 1979, p. 43. A note about the film in SvD, 2 January 1980, still talks about a preliminary plan for a 4-hour film; Expr., 14 March 1980, p. 32, mentions only a planned TV series. More articles appeared in October 1980 where the cost of the film was mentioned (most expensive Swedish film to date, finally about 40 million SEK). First production talks were held in late 1980. Two versions were still discussed, one for TV and one for the cinema. However, talks with Lord Lew Grade in England fell through when Grade insisted on a much shorter, 135 minute movie house version. See GP, 15 November 1980, pp. 1, 23, and Variety, 12 November 1980, p. 6, 30. In the end Bergman edited a 188 min commercial film version. In October 1980 Max von Sydow was contacted for the role as Bishop Vergerus. See Stockholm Expr., 23 October 1980, p. 48, and DN, 15 November 1980, pp. 1, 20. The latter article, titled ‘Allt groll är glömt’ [All rancunes are forgotten] suggests an old impasse between Bergman and Sydow. The DN article mentions that Liv Ullmann had been approached for the role as Emilie Ekdahl but had declined because of previous commitments. On 6 August 1981 the cast list was published. See Expr., same date, p. 20, for the most extensive Swedish presentation.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record In September 1981, Jörn Donner, as involved producer discussed the financial risk of F and A in an interview with Stefan Sjöström: ‘Vad har du i fickan Jörn?’ [‘What’s up your sleeve, Jörn?’], Expr., 29 September 1981, pp. 20-21. Donner reported on the financing of Bergman’s film in SvD, 15 December 1982, p. 17, and in an interview in Variety, 12 May 1982, p. 379. See also Jörn Donner, ‘Ingmar Bergman and the World’, Swedish Films (Stockholm: SFI, 1982), pp. 5-11 (also in French, pp. 11-17). Donner mentions the reservations expressed by the SFI board and the risk he took in pushing for SFI support of the film. SVT’s Channel 1 and Sandrews were involved early as co-producers, whereas French Gaumont delayed its decision.
2. Reports on genesis and shooting of Fanny and Alexander: Bergman writes about the making of the film (including its genesis and the shaping of the manuscript) in Bilder, (1990), pp 374-381. Shooting started in early September 1981. Throughout the entire filming until March 1982, there was frequent press coverage. See the following:
Swedish: DN, 9 October 1981, p. 6 SvD, 6 October 1981, pp. 1, 15; Expr., 17 September 1981, p. 12; and 31 October 1981, Sec. 2, pp. 1, 20-25; the last of these coverages, titled ‘Bergmans största filmäventyr’ [Bergman’s greatest film adventure], presents technical personnel, editor, and costumier; Upsala Nya Tidning, 18 September 1981, sec. 2, p. 1, reports on filming in Uppsala; DN’s På stan, 3-9 October 1981, p. 22, covers filming at Södra Teatern, Stockholm; L.-O. Löthwall reported on a 9-day visit to the set in Filmrutan 25, no. 4 (Winter) 1982: 2-15; Elisabeth Sörenson discussed the ordeal of shooting and editing the film in ‘Sju månaders slit – 16 timmar film’ [Seven months of hard work – 16 hours of film], SvD, 28 March 1982, Sunday section, p. 1; and ‘Blåste liv i film-Sverige’ [Blew life into film-Sweden], SvD, 17 December 1982, p. 17; Cecilia Hagen, Expr., 15 January 1982, pp.26-27, discusses the role of asssistant director Peter Schildt, as did Agneta Söderberg in an interview article in Expr., 12 April 1982, pp. 26-27, which also contains a report on Kerstin Eriksdotter’s part as scriptgirl, plus a resumé of props used for Fanny and Alexander; Agneta Söderberg and Jacob Forssell followed the shooting of the film for 7 months. Summaries of their impressions were published with long intervals in Expr., 20 December, 1982, pp. 4648; 28 December 1984, pp. 32-33; and 3 January 1985, pp. 26-27. Similar material is covered by Ingalill Eriksson under a Bergman title quote: ‘Jag har strävat som en kärlekens ardenner’ [I have striven like a foal of love], AB, 9 January 1982, p. 16; Ulf Sörenson’s ‘Avskedsspektakel med barndomsminnen’ [Farewell party with childhood memories], SvD 7 dagar, no. 50, 17 December 1982, pp. 24-27 (discusses the autobiographical background of the film); Nils Petter Sundgren interviewed Bergman on SVT, channel 2, on 14 May 1983 in a program titled ‘Ingmar Bergman tar farväl av filmen’ [Bergman bids farewell to filmmaking]. Swedish Public Radio’s Eko program on 17 and 18 December 1982 includes a 4-minute telephone interview with Bergman about world release of Fanny and Alexander. On December 18 the Eko program also included a brief studio talk with producer Jörn Donner and actress Ewa Fröling. SFI published several accounts from the set: 6 October 1981 (fact sheet release no. 31, 1981); 21 December 1981 (sheet no. 32); 9 December 1982 (sheet no. 38), and 16 December, 1982 (sheet no. 39).
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Chapter IV Filmography English: Ann-Sofi Lejefors. ‘Bergman in Close-Up’. Sweden Now, January 1983, pp. 36-40; Frederick and Lise Lone Marker. ‘God, Sex and Ingmar Bergman’, in Films and Filming, February 1983, pp. 4-9; reprinted in Skoop XXI, no. 4 (June-July) 1985: 21-23; Peter Cowie. ‘Bergman at Home’. Sight and Sound LI, no. 3 (Summer 1982): 178- 181, which gives a good summary of the difficult financing of the film and its unusually high cost, including expenses for close to one thousand costumes; also in NYT (‘Ingmar Bergman Bids Farewell to Movies’), 10 October 1982: 1; Ted Folke. ‘Return of the Master’, Now, no. 1 (1982), p. 27. Bruce A. Block talks with Sven Nykvist about the Academy Awards and the collaboration between him and Bergman in two interviews titled ‘Academy Award Nominees: Sven Nykvist, ASC’, and ‘Fanny and Alexander’. American Cinematographer LXV, no. 4 (April) 1984: 50-52, 54, 56, 58. On 16 September 1984, Arne Carlsson’s 110-minute-long documentary from the shooting, Dokument Fanny och Alexander, was shown at the Swedish Film Institute with comments by Bergman. See Elisabeth Sörenson, ‘I trollkarlens verkstad’ [In the magician’s workshop], SvD, 22 September 1984, p. 15, for a good resumé of the event. This documentary film was televised (SR/ TV) in connection with a re-run of Fanny and Alexander on Swedish television, August 18 1986, and has also had limited circulation abroad. It was reviewed in Variety, 26 February 1986, p. 7. The documentary is available on video from the Swedish Film Institute. American Film 14, no. 7 (May) 1989: 66, reviewed a video recording of Fanny and Alexander, distributed in the US by Nelson Orion House, 197 min.
3. Foreign Sales: Two weeks before the Swedish release of Fanny and Alexander, SFI advertised for foreign sales in Variety. Response was overwhelming; most European and Latin American countries bought the film unseen; the U.S. did so on an ‘option agreement’. The film was sold to roughly 30 countries, including India, Japan, and Taiwan. See AB, 10 December 1982, p. 41. About the economic success in Sweden and facts about the export of film, see Veckans Affärer, no. 1, 1983, p. 7, and comment by Jörn Donner, same paper, no. 5, p. 23.
Swedish Reception Reception of Fanny and Alexander (film and TV versions) was enthusiastic in Sweden, partly because of the rollicking mood of the film and partly because it was seen as Bergman’s farewell to filmmaking and the summation of his career and vision. Bergman’s rendering of Sweden in the early 1900s received much praise; Expr.’s Lasse Bergström (18 December 1982, p. 34) noted that the film brought out ‘the magic of this Oscarian world that knew little about equality but all the more about togetherness’ [denna oskariska värld av magi som visste så lite om jämlikhet men desto mer om samvaro], while AB’s Jurgen Schildt (same date, p. 39) viewed the film as ‘a bourgeois inferno with a touch of panopticon’ [ett borgerligt inferno med drag av panoptikon]. The old qualms about Bergman’s lack of social consciousness cropped up in both Jan Aghed’s SDS review (18 December 1982, p. 5) and in Stig Larsson’s critique of the film in ST (20 December 1982, pp. 44-5). Aghed noted the tone of reconciliation with life in the film, but also felt that Bergman’s idyllic and burlesque story ignored the social consequences of the patriarchal and sexist world portrayed in the film. Stig Larsson saw Bergman’s film as ‘a mature master’s ironic pastiche of his own oeuvre’ [en mogen mästares ironiska pastisch av sitt eget verk]; only as such could one accept the film’s exposure of Bergman’s antiquated themes. CarlEric Nordberg in Vi, no. 51/52 (1982, p. 47), on the other hand, felt that the melodramatic
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record aspects of the film were meant to be taken seriously and called F and A a showpiece and ‘a ghost parade of earlier Ingmar Bergman motifs’ [en spökparad av tidigare bergmanmotiv]. The discussion of the social relevance of Bergman’s film appeared also in the Swedish provincial press. In response to a positive review in Jönköpings-Posten on 7 February 1983, p. 5, Gunlög Järhult, same paper, 21 February, p. 6, questioned Bergman’s so-called ‘hymn to life’ and referred to Fanny and Alexander as ‘the cynical magician’s attempted flight into pseudo-joy, away from life’s seriousness and anguish and demands on social consciousness and responsibility’ [den cyniska och fullkomligt desillusionerade trollkarlens flyktförsök in i en skenglädje, bort från livets allvar och ångest och krav på all social medvetenhet, allt allvar]. See also same paper, 23 February 1983, p. 7, for reader response supporting this view. Borlänge Tidning, 23 April 1983, p. 12, printed an article by Gertrud Nordahl objecting to Bergman’s ‘sensationalism’ and ‘the transcendental murder of the bishop in real voodoo style’. [biskopens transcendentala mord i verklig voodoo-stil]. Nordahl questioned the ‘reverential attitude’ among Swedish critics reviewing Fanny and Alexander, an issue that was renewed after the television showing of the five-hour version of the film, beginning on 25 December 1984. See Kerstin Hallert and Hemming Sten, SvD, 29 December 1984, p. 18 and 3 January 1985, p. 18. Both referred to what they termed the ‘Dallas’ qualities of Fanny and Alexander and also questioned TV’s advertisement of the film as ‘family entertainment’ [familjeunderhållning]. But despite such critical reservations, Fanny and Alexander has remained a favorite Bergman film among Swedish audiences. See Steene, Måndagar med Bergman (Ø 1611), p. 143 ff. Several comparative comments and literaly references about Fanny and Alexander were published in the Swedish press. Stephan Linnér in KvP (1 February 1983, p. 14) juxtaposed the film to Lagerlöf ’s novel Gösta Berling’s Saga. Björn Nilsson in Expr., 13 January 1983, p. 4, compared Fanny and Alexander to Strindberg’s The Ghost Sonata. See also Törnqvist under Longer Essays below.
Foreign reception Some critics abroad enjoyed the ‘rolicking opulence of mood, with miseries of Puritanism owing more to Dreyerian formalism than to Bergman angst’, to quote Monthly Film Bulletin, April 1983, pp. 83-4. SvD magazine 7 dagar (no. 3, 21 January 1983, p. 46) published the negative critique of London Observer correspondent Chris Mosey, who referred to Fanny and Alexander as a manifestation of Bergman’s usual ‘intellectual clichés’ and lack of narrative skill. Mosey saw Bergman as suffering from ‘a typical Swedish ailment, divorced from the rest of the world and traversing the same psychological landscape again and again, unable to change course’. For a response, see Kaj Wickbom, Smålandsposten, 8 February 1983, p. 2. U.S. response to the film was largely favorable. Variety gave the film version an A-rating, September 28, 1983, p. 148, but claimed that the TV version, reviewed earlier on December 22, 1982, was inferior. Critics noted that Bergman’s obsessions had been turned into a theatrical story. New Yorker called the film ‘a learning to live with your craziness movie’ and pointed out that in Ingmar Bergman, ‘banality is bound to seem deeply satisfying – wholesome’. In the Paris press all reviewers except Claire Gallois in Le Figaro (9 March 1983, n.p.) praised Fanny and Alexander as a masterpiece. Claude Baignères in Le Figaro, 12 March 1983, summed up Bergman’s position as an artist: ‘He is no longer of the cinema, but is a religion.’ Positif, no. 267 (May) 1983: 20-28, contains two reviews of the film and a survey essay by Jean-Paul Jeancolas, Robert Benayoun, and François Ramasse, titled ‘Ingmar apaisé. La somme d’une nuit’.
Reviews Stockholm press, 18 December 1982;
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Chapter IV Filmography For longer TV version, Stockholm press, 18 December 1983 (Expr., 20 December); Bianco e nero, January-March 1984: 131-138; Cahiers du cinéma 346 (April) 1983: 4-11; Cinéma 292 (April) 1983: 46; Cinematograph 88 (April) 1983: 33-35; Cineforum 231 (January-February) 1984: 37-46; Cinérevue, 10 March 1983: 48; Commentary 76, no. 3 (September 1983): 64-67; Corriera della Sera, 10 September 1983: 23, and La stampa (Rome), same date, n.p. (SFI clipping); Christian Century, 20-27 July 1983: 690; De Filmkrant, 22 March 1983, p. 5; Film a Doba, June 1986: 346-348; Film et Télévisie 312-313 (May-June) 1983: 11-13; Film og kino, no. 1 (1983): 24-26; Film & Fernsehen, February 1985: 33; Film Quarterly 37, no. 1 (Fall 1983), pp. 22-27; Filmcritica 341 (January-February) 1984: 14-22; Filmkritik, 28, no. 1-2 (1984), pp. 43-45; Filmkultura, October 1985: 70-74; Filmrutan, no. 1 (Spring 1983), pp. 20-21; Films and Filming, May 1983: 36-38; Films in Review 35, no. 7 (August-September 1983): 439-40; Hudson Review, no. 4 (1983): 706-09; Inquiry 6, no. 10 (September 1983): 45-47; Iskusstvo Kino, October 1988: 138-40; Jeune cinéma 151 (June) 1983: 42-44; Kino (September) 1983: 47-48; Kosmorama 163 (March) 1983: 4-9, 51; Le monde, 10 March 1983, p. 17; Levende billder, 15 February 1983: 4-8; MS, (September) 1983: 39-40; Monthly Film Bulletin, no. 591 (April) 1983: 83-84; Nation, 2 July 1983: 27-28; New Leader, 8-22 August 1983: 20-21; New Republic, 27 June 1983: 22-24; New Statesman, 22 April 1983: 28-29; New York Times, 17 June 1983, p. C8; 3 July, Sec.2, p. 1, and 31 July, Sec. 2, pp. 15-16; New Yorker, 13 June 1983: 117-21; Newsweek, 20 June 1983, p. 84; Revue du Cinéma 382 (April) 1983: 19-22; Rolling Stone, 18 August 1983: 32; Saturday Review, May-June 1983: 41-42; Séquences 114 (October) 1983: 38-42; Sight and Sound LII, no. 2 (Spring) 1983: 141; Skoop XIX, no. 2 (April) 1983: 29-30; Skrien 128 (Summer) 1983: 12-13; Der Spiegel, no. 44 (1983), pp. 266-68; Sunday Times (London), 24 April 1983, p. 43; Time, 20 June 1983: 75;
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Variety, 18 May 1982, p. 4; 8 December 1982, pp. 14-15, and 22 December 1982, pp. 14-15; Village Voice, 21 June 1983: 49; Z (Norwegian), no. 22, 1983: 38-39.
Longer Essays and Studies Aghed, Jan. ‘Sourires d’un cinéma d’hivers sur Fanny et Alexandre’. Positif 289 (March) 1985: 2225; Björklund, Per Åke & Monica Engebladh. ‘Haley contra Whitaker: Familjeteoristudier med hypotesanalys av Fanny och Alexander’ [H vs W: Family theory studies with hypothetical analysis of F & A]. Department of Applied Psychology, Lund University, 1986. 113 pp. Cf. Hafsteinsson below; Bundtzen, L.K. ‘Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander: Family Romance and Artistic Allegory’. Criticism, no. 1 (1987): 89-117; Jordan Daasnes, Camilla and Carlos Wiggen. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Fanny og Alexander: To kommentarer’. Vinduet (Oslo) 37, no. 1, 1983, pp. 43-46. (Two comments on Bergman’s film, one focussing on its use of music; the other on the patriarchal structure of Alexander’s world and the role of dream and fantasy); Estève, Michel. ‘Ingmar Bergman: La mort, le masque et l’etre’. Etudes cinématogragiques 131/34 (1983): 143-50. Together with Michel Sineux’s ‘Fanny et Alexandre: ‘Le petit théâtre d’Ingmar Bergman’ in same issue, Estève’s essay forms a comprehensive review article of Fanny and Alexander, discussing both theatrical and metaphysical aspects of the film; Hafsteinsson, Saemundur. ‘En familjeterapeutisk studie av Fanny och Alexander’ [A family therapeutic study of F & A]. Department of Applied Psychology, Lund University, 1987. 67 pp; Haverty, Linda. ‘Strindbergman: The Problem of Filming Autobiography in Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander’. Literature/Film Quarterly 16, no. 3 (1988): 174-180. (Autobiographical references in Fanny and Alexander include not only Alexander, Bergman’s alter ego as a child, but also Bergman’s identification with Strindberg via the Alexander-Ishmael connection and via a number of visual metaphors and verbal allusions); Hayes, Jarrod. ‘The Seduction of Alexander. Baudrillard, Literature/Film Quarterly 25, no. 1, 1987, pp. 40-48. (Argues that in its problematization of time and space, Fanny and Alexander intersects with the Kabbalah or Jewish mysticism, with its emphasis on transcending physical reality); Jensen, Nils. ‘Fanny og Alexander og alle de andre i Bergmans univers’ [F & A and all the others in B’s universe]. Kosmorama XXIX, no. 163 (March) 1983: 4-9, 51. (Discussion of artistic and thematic aspect of Bergman’s created world as reflected in F & A); Jostad, Morten. ‘“I den lilla världen”: Ekdahlerne og teatret. Noen aspekter ved Ingmar Bergmans Fanny og Alexander’ [In the little world: the Ekdahls and the theatre. Some aspects of Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander]. Samtiden (Oslo) 6 (1985): 40-46; Milberg-Kaye, Ruth. ‘Fanny and Alexander: A Kleinian Reading’. In Psychoanalytic Approaches to Literature and Film, ed. by Maurice Charney and Joseph Reppen. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 1987, pp. 180-191; Segal, A. ‘Knocking on Heaven’s Door’. American Film VIII, no. 8 (June) 1983: 55-61. (Discusses Fanny and Alexander in view of Bergman’s life and earlier production); Timm, Mikael. ‘Trollkarlen’ [The magician], Chaplin, no. 184 (1983), pp. 4-8. (Discusses Fanny and Alexander as a narrative film, in contrast to Bergman’s earlier style-oriented films); Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Teatern som metafor’ [The theater as metaphor], Chaplin, no. 189 (1983), pp. 260-63. (Contrasts ‘theatrical’ and ‘ filmic’ space in the film);
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Chapter IV Filmography Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Den lilla världen och den stora. Kring Ingmar Bergmans Fanny och Alexander.’ Chaplin special 25th anniversary issue, 1983, pp. 253-259 (Ø 1415). Also in English as ‘The Little World and the Big: Concerning Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander’. Chaplin, 25th Anniversary Issue, 1984, pp. 12-20; in Dutch as ‘De kleine wereld en de grote: Ingmar Bergmans Fanny en Alexander’. De Gids CIIL, no. 1 (March 1985): 75-80; and in German as ‘Die grosse und die kleine Welt’. In Gaukler im Grenzland: Ingmar Bergman, 1993 (Ø 1562). (Traces Shakespearean and Strindbergian elements in Fanny and Alexander). See also same author’s Between Stage and Screen. Ingmar Bergman Directs, 1995, pp. 174-187; Vos, Marek. Dräkterna i dramat: Mitt år med Fanny och Alexander [The costumes in the drama: My year with Fanny and Alexander]. Stockholm: Norstedt, 1984. 155 pp.; Wortzelius, Hugo. Reviews of Fanny and Alexander in Filmrutan XXVI, no. 1 (1983): 20-21. Same author also compares the long and short version of the film in Filmrutan XXVII, no. 2 (1984): 20-21.
See also Extensive microfiche file on Fanny and Alexander, SFI library; SFI fact sheet 282/82; S. Kauffmann: Field of View, pp. 68-71 (reprint of New Republic review); Svensk filmografi 1980-89, pp. 222-28. Hanif Kureishi in New Statesman & Society, July 7, 1989. Review of the book version of Fanny and Alexander, concluding that the printed version was ‘Bergman minus the magic’.
Awards 1983 Best Foreign Film 1983, New York Film Critics (awarded in 1984) For additional awards, see film title, Varia, C.
254.
EFTER REPETITIONEN, 1984 (After the Rehearsal), color Script Director
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
See also listing in Media chapter, (Ø 341), including Swedish reception of TV showing.
Synopsis Efter repetition has a single setting: an old theatre stage after an afternoon rehearsal when the actors have left and the aging director, Henrik Vogler, sits alone surrounded by old props with references to productions of Ibsen and Strindberg. A young actress, Anna Egerman, cast as Agnes in Vogler’s current staging of Strindberg’s Ett drömspel/A Dreamplay, surprises him. It is Vogler’s fourth staging of the play. Anna’s mother Rakel was an attractive actress who left the stage to raise a family. Rakel and Vogler were occasional lovers. When Anna’s and Vogler’s meeting takes place, the mother has been dead for five years. Also the father is gone. Most of the dialogue in the first half of the film is spoken by Vogler who expresses his views on actors, artistic morality, scenography, etc. Vogler’s thoughts on the theatre are echoes of Bergman’s own statements in interviews over the years. Vogler also talks about the fleeting borders between dream and reality, past and present. Suddenly, Rakel enters in search of her shoes. She is 46, drunk and seductive. The time goes back to when Anna was 12. Vogler has asked Rakel to play a small part in a new production. But alcoholic Rakel is in and out of institutions. Their conversation is bitter, ironic and tense. Rakel leaves as Vogler promises to visit her. The scene returns to Anna and Vogler. Anna tells Vogler that she is pregnant, later that she has had an abortion and will divorce her husband, Peter. Vogler ‘depicts’ in words his and Anna’s love affair, and Anna falls into her role. The make-believe affair ends with their parting
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record as friends. Vogler stays behind, alone. The church bells, which had been chiming, are now silent. Or the aging Vogler can no longer hear them.
Credits Production company Executive producer Unit manager Director Screenplay Photography Set Design Editor
Cinematograph for Personafilm Gmbh (Munich) Jörn Donner Eva Bergman Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist Anna Asp Syliva Ingemarsson
Cast Henrik Vogler Anna Egerman Rakel Anna as 12-year-old Henrik as 12-year-old
Erland Josephson Lena Olin Ingrid Thulin Nadja Palmstierna-Weiss Bertil Guve
Distribution Running time Premiere US opening Released by
Cinematograph/SVT/SF 72 minutes 9 April 1984 (Swedish TV, Channel 1) 21 June 1984, Lincoln Plaza Cinema, New York Triumph Films (Columbia Pictures)
Commentary Bergman writes about Efter repetitionen in Bilder (1990), pp. 221-27, describing it as a troublesome shooting that had been intended as ‘a pleasant episode on my way towards death’ [en trevlig episod i min väg mot döden]. Instead, it was made with a certain frustration, and when it was finished, he wrote in his diary: ‘I don’t ever want to make films again’ [Jag vill aldrig mer göra film]. Jörn Donner, the producer of Efter repetitionen, published a foreword to the film prior to its showing on Swedish television. Referring back indirectly to the Swedish critique in the 1960s of Bergman’s preoccupation with the role of the artist, Donner stated: ‘I have compared the manuscript with the final result, noticing that something of the private aspect has disappeared in the end product. It is Ingmar Bergman’s secret to be able to pick out, from simple contrasts, what is universal and graspable for many people, not just for artists’. [Jag har jämfört manus med slutresultatet, och märker att något av det privata försvunnit ur slutprodukten. Det är Ingmar Bergmans hemlighet, att ur enkla kontraster plocka fram det som är allmängiltigt och fattbart för många människor, inte bara för konstnärer.] See AB, 5 April 1984 (‘Nytt mästerverk av Ingmar Bergman’) and Röster i Radio-TV, no. 14, 1984: 5-6. Efter repetitionen was never intended as a commercial feature film and was never shown as such in Sweden. It was sold as a TV film to BBC and to television companies in Germany, Canada et al. But the producer, Jörn Donner, also signed a movie contract with American Triumph Films, which Bergman tried to have cancelled. See report headlined ‘Bergman rasande. Donner sålde TV-film till biograferna’ [Bergman furious. Donner sold TV film for motion picture distribution], Expr., 4 April 1984. Shortly thereafter, the TV film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival to enthusiastic audiences. It was also shown at the San Francisco Film Festival in the same year before opening in New York in June 1984.
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Chapter IV Filmography In August 1997 Efter repetitionen was performed as a stage play at Södra Teatern in Stockholm by a visiting Russian company during the Strindberg Festival (see Ø 481 in theatre chapter).
Foreign Reception A year after its opening in New York, After the Rehearsal was also shown during Bergman’s visit to Paris in March 1985 to receive the Legion of Honor, which coincided with Dramaten’s guest performance of his 1984 production of King Lear. French reviewers were by and large respectful and some in awe at Bergman’s ‘come-back’ as a filmmaker after Fanny and Alexander. They were particularly intrigued by Bergman’s discussion (through his alter ego, Henrik Vogler) of the relationship between directing and acting, life and art, reality and illusion. See the following reviews: Télérama, March 1985: pp. 13-14; Lire, Ecoute, Voir, 18 March 1985; Libération, 7 March 1985, p. 26. There was a clear difference between the French and the American response to After the Rehearsal. Where the French were very positive to its thought content, American critics found the film talky and pretentious. The most vitriolic response came from John Simon, usually one of Bergman’s staunchest supporters, who gave After the Rehearsal a devastating F rating, referring to the film as ‘a pitiful self-parody’ based on a ‘trite script’, as unsuited to TV as to the cinema (National Review, 24 August 1984: pp. 56-59). Richard Corliss in Time, 9 July 1984, p. 82, was, however, intrigued by Bergman’s ability to work equally successfully in film, theatre, and television.
Foreign Reviews Box Office, September 1984, p. R 116; Cahiers du cinéma, no. 360-361, 1984: 42-43; no. 369, 1984: 12-14; and no. 370, 1984: Journal VIII; Christian Century, 29 August-5 September 1984: 812; Cinéma, no. 306, 1984, p. 23; and no. 315, 1984: 32-33; Cinéaste, no. 4, 1984: 60; Cineforum, no. 235 (June-July) 1984: 17-18; and no. 256 (August) 1986: 69-71; Cinématographe, April 1985: 65-67; Cinema Nuovo, 300, no. 2 (March/April) 1986: 49-50; and no. 3 (May-June) 1986: 34-38; De Filmkrant 38, September 1984, p. 15; Film et Televisie, November 1984: 14-15; Film og Kino, no. 5 (1984): 160. Films in Review, August-September 1984: 431; Iskusstvo Kino, no. 12, 1986: 153-55; National Review, 24 August 1984: 56-59; New Leader, 3 September 1984: 21-22; New Republic, 25 June 1984: 24-26. Also in S. Kauffmann’s Field of View, pp. 71-75. New York, 16 July 1984, pp. 46-48; New York Times, 21 June 1984: C14; and 1 July 1984, sec. 2: 13; Penthouse, September 1984: 54; Positif, no. 281-82, 1984: 89; and 289, 1984: 20-21. Revue de cinéma, no. 396, (July/August) 1984: 27-28; and Revue de cinéma, Hors series 31: 19-20; Segno di cinema, September 1984: 64; and September 1986: 109; Séquences, no. 117, 1984: 17; Skoop, November 1984: 28; and February 1986: 26-27; Skrien, no. 138, 1984: 16; Time, 9 July 1984: 82; 24 Images, Summer 1984: 32-33.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Press Articles and Longer Essays Aghed, Jan. ‘Intense miniature sur Après la répétition’. Positif 289 (March) 1985: 20-21; Baignères, Claude. ‘Paradoxe du metteur en scene’. Le Figaro, 7 March 1985, p. 36; Biette, Jean-Claude. ‘La verité des planches’. Cahiers du cinéma, no. 370, Journal VIII. (Uses After the Rehearsal to argue that it possesses three features necessary to make it a good film: Forceful rapport with chosen subject; honesty towards the audience, treating it as an equal; and demonstrated independence in film écriture); Dannowski, Hans Werner. ‘Das Schweigen der Kirchenglocken. Gedanken zu den späten Filmen von Ingmar Bergman’. EDP Film III, no. 4 (April) 1986: 14-18. (A survey of Bergman’s late films. Title refers to ending of Efter repetitionen); Friedman, R.M.. ‘Die unmögliche Spiegelung – oder drei Reflexe von Schau-Spielerinnen im ‘kritischen’ Alter’. Frauen und Film 50-51, (June) 1991: 17-30. (Discussion includes Rakel’s role in Efter repetitionen). Grelier. Robert. ‘Après la répétition’. Revue du Cinéma 396 (July-August) 1984: 27-28; Lierop, Pieter van. ‘Na de repetitie’. Skoop XXII, no. 1 (February) 1986: 26-27. Reprinted from Utrecht Nieuwsblad, 23 August 1984. (Review article); Mango. Lorenzo. ‘La sospensione del tempo’. Filmcritica XXXVII, 363 (March-April) 1986: 169174. (Review article); Selvaggi, Catarina. ‘La poetica del nulla in “Dopo le prove”’. Cinema Nuovo 313, no. 3 (May/ June) 1988: 35-38, and 314/15, no. 4-5 (July-October) 1988: 53-56. (Two-part article on the ‘poetics of nothingness’ in Bergman’s filmmaking and on Efter repetitionen/After the Rehearsal as a study of characters who dream a dream that is the dream of the other); Törnqvist, Egil. ‘A Life in the Theater. Intertextuality in Ingmar Bergman’s Efter repetitionen’. Scandinavian Studies, Vol. 73, no. 1, (Spring) 2001, pp. 25-42. (Discusses film as a tele-play).
Fact Sheets L’Avant Scène du Cinéma 394 (July 1990): 1-75, is a special issue on Efter repetitionen, containing credits, excerpted reviews, and original text in French translation.
See also Alain Philippon’s interview with Erland Josephson, titled ‘Des histoires d’amour avec la caméra. Entretien avec Erland Josephson’. Télérama, March 1985, p. 15.
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KARINS ANSIKTE, 1985 [Karin’s Face], color, B/W and sepia Director Text
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis Produced in 1983 but not released until 1985 (though shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1984), the film was shot in color but is largely based on black and white stills from the family photo album. The subject is Ingmar Bergman’s mother Karin, maiden name Åkerblom.
Credits Production Director Screenplay Photography Sound Music Editor
Cinematograph Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Arne Carlsson Owe Svensson Performed by Käbi Laretei Sylvia Ingemarsson
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Chapter IV Filmography Distribution Running time Premiere
Svenska Filminstitutet 14 minutes Swedish TV premiere on 29 September 1986. Crosslisted in media chapter (Ø 342)
Reviews Monthly Film Bulletin LV, 653 (June) 1988: 186 (Tom Milne).
256.
DEN GODA VILJAN, 1992 [Best Intentions] color. Released as TV film in 1991. Director Screenplay
Bille August Ingmar Bergman
For original Swedish response, see Media chapter (Ø 344). The shorter 181 minute feature film version opened in the U.S. on 9 July 1992.
Synopsis The narrative begins in 1909 and covers a ten-year period in the life of Lutheran minister Henrik Bergman, and his wife Anna Åkerblom. The story begins as Henrik Bergman, a theology student at Uppsala, is asked to visit his ailing grandmother with whom he has had a falling-out. In return his studies will be paid for. Henrik sees the offer as psychological blackmail and leaves in anger. His hot temperament is a central dramatic force throughout the narrative. After failing an oral exam, Henrik is consoled by his girlfriend Frida. The scene then shifts to the Åkerblom family. Henrik is invited to dinner by the Åkerblom son Ernst. It is his first encounter with Ernst’s sister Anna. Henrik returns home at the end of the academic year. His mother Alma decides to seek financial support from Ebba, Beda and Blenda Bergman, three unmarried sisters of Henrik’s grandfather. The request is granted after Henrik has told a white lie about his studies. Soon after Anna’s aging father dies, she and Henrik become engaged and visit the rural community of Forsboda, which will become their first home. The narrator’s voice enters the story to recollect and reconstruct the first severe argument between Henrik and Anna. Anna wants a big wedding in Uppsala cathedral, Henrik a small ceremony in the chapel at Forsboda. It is a tug-of-war between the Åkerblom and the Bergman wills. Anna’s wish wins, but the planned honeymoon in Italy is cancelled and the newly-weds go directly to Forsboda. The tension between Henrik and Anna’s mother Karin increases when Anna delivers their first son at Uppsala Academic Hospital instead of at Forsboda. A 7-year-old foster child, Petrus, comes to live with Anna and Henrik. At the same time there is social unrest at the local mill, whose owner Nordenson and Henrik have a falling-out. Nordenson’s two daughters follow Henrik’s confirmation instruction but are removed by their father in an open confrontation in the chapel. Henrik is invited to become pastor at the private Sophia Hospital in Stockholm, whose most prominent patient is the Queen. He hesitates and is given a respite. Back at Forsboda, Henrik’s sick mother comes to visit and dies there. Anna is expecting her second child. At the same time members in the local community stop coming to Henrik’s and Anna’s reading and sewing circles after learning that Nordenson keeps a blacklist of the participants, most of whom depend upon the mill for their livelihood. There is also nasty gossip about Mrs. Nordenson and Pastor Bergman. In December 1917, the mill is declared bankrupt, and Nordenson commits suicide. Cold, food rationing, illness and marital tension lead Anna to decide to move to her mother; Henrik loses control and hits her twice. Anna stays in Uppsala over Christmas, Henrik dis-
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record misses the two maids and lives alone. In an epilogue, Henrik comes unannounced to Uppsala in June 1918 and informs Anna of his decision to accept the Stockholm offer. In July their second son, Ingmar, will be born.
Credits Production company Producer Executive producer Production manager Unit manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Sound Music Architect Props Costumes Make-up Editor Continuity
Sveriges Television (SVT) Ingrid Dahlberg Lars Bjälkeskog Elisabeth Liljeqvist Johann Zollitsch Bille August Stefan Baron Ingmar Bergman Jörgen Persson Lennart Gentzel, Johnny Ljungberg Stefan Nilsson; Performed by Sveriges Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Esa Pekka Salonen Anna Asp Lars Söderberg, Kenneth Karlberg, Maria Hård Ann-Maria Anttila Kjell Gustavsson Janus Billeskov Jensen Titti Mörk
Cast Henrik Bergman Anna Åkerblom Johan Åkerblom Karin Åkerblom Ernst Åkerblom Alma Bergman Carl Åkerblom Frida Strandberg Nordenson, factory owner Fredrik Bergman Freddy Paulin Elin Nordenson Oscar Åkerblom Svea Åkerblom Gustav Åkerblom Martha Åkerblom The twins Blenda Bergman Beda Bergman Ebba Bergman Gransjö, parson Magda Säll, his housekeeper Petrus Farg Justus Bark Baltzar Kugelman
Samuel Fröler Pernilla Östergren-August Max von Sydow Ghita Nørby Björn Kjellman Mona Malm Börje Ahlstedt Lena Endre Lennart Hjulström Keve Hjelm Ernst Günther Marie Göranzon Björn Granath Gunilla Nyroos Michael Segerström Eva Gröndahl Sara Sommerfeld, Maja Sommerfeld Margaretha Krook Sif Ruud Irma Christenson Hans Alfredson Lena T. Hansson Elias Ringquist Dan Johansson Niklas Hald
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Chapter IV Filmography Sundelius, professor of theology Torsten Bohlin Young Count Robert Svante, his father Philosophy lecturer Coachman Mrs. Johansson Magna Flink Tekla Kronström Gertrud Tallrot Märta Werkelin, teacher Alva Nykvist Nagel, administrator Miss Lisen Jesper Jakobsson Jansson Måns Lagergren Mejan County police commissioner Arvid Fredin Mrs. Fredin Anders Ed Mr. Johansson Mia Queen Victoria Segerswärd Parson at Court Levander The Queen’s servant Dag Bergman Susanna Nordenson Helena Nordenson
Ernst-Hugo Järegård Gustaf Hammarsten Max Winerdal Sten Ljunggren Örjan Roth-Lindberg Tord Peterson Sara Arnia Inga Landgré Emy Storm Barbro Kollberg Marie Richardson Inga Ålenius Roland Hedlund Lena Brogren Björn Gustafson Tomas Bolme Kåre Santesson Ingalill Ellung Gösta Prüzelius Mikael Bengtsson Pia Bergendahl Mats Pontén Leif Forstenberg Boel Larsson Anita Björk Åke Lagerggren Bertil Norström Puck Ahlsell Sigge Nilsson Marcus Ohlsson Kerstin Andersson Erika Ullenius
Filmed on location in Uppsala, Strömsberg (Uppland), Ransjö (Härjedalen), Tureholm Castle, Dillnäs (Södermanland). Produced in cooperation with ZDF (Germany), Channel Four (UK), RAI Due (Italy), DR (Denmark), NRK (Norway), RUK (Iceland), YLE 2 (Finland). Distribution Foreign Distribution Running time Premiere
Cinema opening date
US Opening
Svensk Filmindustri (shorter version) Film Four International, London 325 minutes (TV version), 181 minutes (shorter film version) 25 December 1991, SVT, channel 1 (4 segments); the other segments were transmitted on 26, 29, 30 December 1991, with repeat showings on 31 December 1991, 1, 5, & 6 January 1992; and on 25, 29 December 1994, and 1, 5 January 1995. 181 minute film version opened 2 October 1992 at Riviera (Stockholm), Filmstaden (Uppsala). This shorter version was also the version distributed abroad. 9 July 1992
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Commentary Bergman held a press conference on 3 September 1989, in which he announced the upcoming shooting of a six-hour, two-part film entitled Den goda viljan/Best Intentions, based on his script but to be directed by Bille August. Curiosity was great about the collaboration between the 40year-old director Bille August and 71-year old filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. Bergman explained that his script (or novel as he chose to call it) might be viewed as a continuation of his fictionalized autobiography Fanny and Alexander and his 1987 memoirs Laterna magica. The film was budgeted at roughly 9 million dollars and projected as both a TV mini-series and as a two-part film. At the time of the press conference, Britain, West Germany, France and Italy had already lined up for the movie house release. See Steve Lohr, ‘For Bergman. A New Twist on an Old Love’. New York Times, 6 September 1989, p. C15.
Reception Because of the personal story, Den goda viljan/Best Intentions tended to be seen, both in Sweden and abroad, as Bergman’s work, and Bille August as his instrument rather than an independent interpretor. In her review of the film (Chaplin 238, 1992, pp. 65-66), Maaret Koskinen talked about the viewer’s ‘Bergman baggage’ and juxtaposed the sometimes raucous narrative and director August’s more sober and restrained style of filmmaking. The critical consensus both in Sweden and abroad was that August’s work was a competent and loyal attempt to realize Bergman’s script but that the result lacked Bergman’s fearless vision. ‘Mr. August’s direction tends to be more decorous and less bold’, wrote Janet Maslin in NYT. Leif Zern (Expr.) compared Bergman and August to a volcano and a yogurt, and saw August as Bergman’s twin soul only in his perfectionist ambition. Zern concluded: ‘For me Bergman’s novel is great literature, and August’s TV version finds itself just next to the borderline where it could live its own life. But it never exposes itself to the risk. It rests in its professionalism and hides behind its touristy estheticism. [...] What good is it that the mirror is polished when you can’t see anyone reflecting in it?’ [För mig är Bergmans roman stor litteratur, och Augusts TV-version befinner sig alldeles intill den gräns där den skulle kunna leva sitt eget liv. Men den utsätter sig aldrig för risken. Den vilar i sin professionalism och gömmer sig bakom sin turistestetik. [...] Vad hjälper det att spegeln är putsad när man inte ser någon spegla sig?]. In the US, Stanley Kauffmann called Bergman ‘a superb screenwriter. His films are uniquely conceived and subtly written. Scene by scene Best Intentions is beautifully crafted; the dialogue has the novelty that comes from perception, not from cleverness.’ (New Republic, 10 August 1992, pp. 26-27). But Bergman’s handling of the autobiographical background raised questions. Philip Strick (Sight and Sound, July 1992, pp. 46-47) felt that Best Intentions was not quite documentary, not quite costume drama but rather ‘a compulsively manipulated history’ with names and events reshuffled for the sake of dramatic expediency. John Simon (National Review, 17 August 1992, p. 46) thought the film ‘was saddled with the constraints of biography’.
Foreign reviews Cinema Nuovo, 338-339 (July-August 1992): 62-64; Cinema Papers, April 1993, pp. 47-48; Commonweal, 25 September 1992, pp. 20-1; EPD Film, November 1992, p. 40; Filmdienst, 27 October 1992, pp. 30-31; Frankfurter Rundschau, 4 October 1990 and 13 May 1998; Kosmorama, 199 (Spring) 1992, pp. 34-35. (Comparison of Best Intentions with Regarding Henry and Terminator 2); Macleans, 24 August 1992, p. 61; Mensuel du cinéma, (November-December 1992): 40-41;
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Chapter IV Filmography National Review, 17 August 1992: p. 46; Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 20 September 1990; New York Times, 10 July 1992, p. C 10; Positif, 382 (December) 1993, pp. 21-30; Séquences, November 1992, pp. 60-61; Segnocinema, no. 56 (July-August 1992): 34-35; Sight and Sound, July 1992, pp. 46-47; Time Out, 1 July 1992, p. 16; Variety, 18 May 1992, p. 46; Die Welt, 15 January 1992.
Longer Articles Björkman, Stig. ‘Bille August. Sansad passagerare på triumfvagnen’ [BA. Cool Passenger on the char of triumph]. Chaplin 237, no. 6, 1991, pp. 50-57; Vinge, Louise. ‘The Director as Writer: Some Observations on Ingmar Bergman’s Den goda viljan.’ In A Century of Swedish Swedish Narrative. Essays in Honour of Karin Petherick, ed. by Sara Death and Helena Forsås Scott. (Norwich: Norvik Press, 1994), pp. 281-293; Wright, Rochelle. ‘The Imagined Past in Ingmar Bergman’s Best Intentions’. In Ingmar Bergman. An Artist’s Journey, ed. by Richard Oliver. (New York: Arcade Publishing, 1995), pp. 116-25.
See also Brief reviews in: Cahiers du Cinéma 457 (June) 1992, p. 48; Jeune Cinéma 216 (July) 1992, pp. 26-27; Positif, 378 (July-August) 1992, pp. 82.
Awards 1992:
257.
Golden Palm (Palme d’or) at Cannes Film Festival For additional awards, see film title, Varia, C.
SÖNDAGSBARN, 1992 [Sunday’s Child], color Director Screenplay
Daniel Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis Söndagsbarn/Sunday’s Child is the second in a series of narratives about Ingmar Bergman’s childhood and his family. The setting is a summer house that the Bergmans rent in Dufnäs, in the province of Dalecarlia, not very far from Våroms, the summer place of Bergman’s maternal grandmother. The time is the summer of 1926, and the main character, an 8-year-old boy nicknamed Pu, is waiting at the train station for his father to arrive from Stockholm. The narrator introduces us to ‘the Conflict’, the tension between pastor Erik Bergman and his mother-in-law Anna Åkerblom, whose real-life first names are retained in the story (unlike those of Henrik and Anna in Den goda viljan). Pu’s everyday life revolves around playing with neigbouring children, watching farm events like the slaughtering of calves, listening to the maid’s stories about a watchmaker’s strange suicide. He also witnesses a bedroom argument between his parents when Karin Bergman informs her husband that she has made plans to leave him, move to Uppsala with the children and resume her nursing profession. Erik goes outside, and Pu follows him. He is asked to come
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record along to a neighbouring church the next day; they are to take the freight train first and then bike the rest of the way. Pu hesitates; he has other plans. At this point the author inserts a flash-forward to 1968, when his father is a crippled 82-yearold widower, a lonely man afraid of death. Such flash-forwards are inserted in the narrative twice, the second one taking place in 1970, when Erik Bergman is dying. Ingmar, the son, experiences him as a stranger. The narrative continues with Pu’s bike trip with his father who is going to preach at Grånäs. In the church Pu sees murals reminiscent of the motifs in Bergman’s film Det sjunde inseglet. On the way home, Pu and his father go swimming but are surprised by a thunderstorm and have a minor accident with the bike. The story ends as they walk and push the bike towards the station.
Credits Production company
Producer Unit manager Director Screenplay Photography Sound Music Architect Props Costumes Make-up Editor Continuity
Sandrew Film & Teater, SVT Drama, Metronome Productions A/S (Denmark), Finland Film Foundation, Iceland Filmfond. Norsk Film A/S, Sweetland Films Katinka Faragó Steve St Peter Daniel Bergman Ingmar Bergman Tony Forsberg Klas Engström, Patrik Grede J.S. Bach, Rune Gustafsson, Zoltan Kódaly Sven Wichman Torben Beckmark-Pedersen Mona Theresia Forsén Clary Westerstrand Darek Hodor Carolina Häggström
Cast Father Mother Pu Dag Märta Marianne Aunt E. Grandma Uncle Carl Maj Voice of Lalla The watchmaker Nurse Edit A girl Girl at watchmaker Ericsson, Station Master Mrs. Berglund Sexton Parson
Thommy Berggren Lena Endre Henrik Linnros Jakob Leygraf Malin Ek Marie Richardson Irma Christenson Birgitta Valberg Börje Ahlstedt Majlis Granlund Birgitta Ulfson Carl Magnus Dellow Helena Brodin Lena Carlsson-Arrhed Melinda Kinnaman Halvar Björk Gunnel Gustavsson Kurt Sävström Bertil Norström
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Chapter IV Filmography Parson’s wife Konrad, their son Helga Smed Blacksmith Young woman Wedding guest
Lis Nilheim Hans Strömblad Suzanne Ernrup Lars Rockström Josefin Andersson Carl-Lennart Fröbergh
Distribution Running time Premiere U.S. premiere
Sandrews 121 minutes 28 August 1992 4 April 1993, Lincoln Center Festival (New Directors/ New Films Festival)
Commentary and Reception The 75-year-old Ingmar Bergman wrote a manuscript about a childhood event that occurred when he was eight, and handed it over to his 30-year-old son Daniel to make his debut as a feature film director (prior to this, Daniel Bergman had made some short children’s movies). Inevitably reviewers approached Söndagsbarn/Sunday’s Child as a professional family saga and an incestuous piece of filmmaking. Though described as polished and technically well made, but much too long, the film was termed ‘predictable’, with Daniel Bergman emerging as his father’s instrument. (See DN, SvD, UNT). Söndagsbarn received little independent evaluation (an exception was the reviewer in GP); instead, critics were almost unanimous in relegating the film to a piece of Ingmar memorabilia, of interest only to those who, in the words of reviewer Hans Schiller, ‘could not get enough of Ingmar Bergman in costume’ [inte kunde få nog av Ingmar Bergman i kostym].
Swedish Reviews Aghed, Jan. ‘Stark debut av Bergman’. SDS, 28 August 1992, p. A18; Bengtsson, Bengt. ‘Skickligt men för polerat’ [Skilfull but too polished]. UNT, 29 August 1992, p. 49; Croneman, Johan. ‘Söndagsbarn’. Nöjesguiden, September 1992; Eklund, Bengt. ‘Pappa Bergman hamnar i skuggan’ [Papa Bergman ends up in the shade]. Expr., 28 August 1992, p. 12 (Nöjesbilaga); Hansson, Anders. ‘Färgstark långfilmsdebut’ [Colorful feature film debut]. GP, 28 August 1992, p. 34; Hjertén, Hanserik. ‘Förutsägbar debutfilm av Bergman’ [Predictable debut film by Bergman]. DN, 28 August 1992, p. 22; Nordberg, Carl Eric. ‘Triumf för ny Bergman’. Vi, no. 36 (3 September) 1992, p. 93. Olsson, Sven E. ‘Ingmar och pappa på nytt’ [Ingmar and Dad once more]. Arbetet, 28 August 1992, p. 4; Peterson, Jens. ‘En bra bit i helheten’ [A good piece on the whole]. AB, 28 August 1992, p. 10; Schiller, Hans. ‘Svenskt, prydligt men oförlöst’ [It is Swedish, proper but unredeemed]. SvD, 28 August 1992, p. 21.
Foreign Reviews Aghed, Jan. ‘Les enfants de dimanche’. Positif 378 (July-August 1992): p. 82; ‘Les enfants du dimanche’. Séquences, November 1992, pp. 18-19; Marsolais, G. ‘Les enfants du dimanche de Daniel Bergman’. 24 Images, Dec-Jan 1992/93, p. 44; Rehlin, Gunnar. ‘Söndagsbarn (Sunday’s Children)’. Variety, 31 August 1992, p. 61.
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Special Studies Ingrid Hagman, ‘Den frånvarande fadern’ [The absentee father]. Chaplin 241, pp. 14-19. (A discussion of the title theme in a number of recent Swedish films, among them Söndagsbarn/Sunday’s Child.) Söndagsbarn was shown at Montreal, Rio de Janeiro and Venice Film Festivals, 1993, and was distributed on video in the US in 1995. See brief review in NYT, 3 September 1995.
258.
ENSKILDA SAMTAL, 1996 [Private Confessions/Conversations], color See also Media chapter V (Ø 349), for response to original television version. Director Screenplay
Liv Ullmann Ingmar Bergman
Originally a 2-part 16 mm TV series in five segments or ‘conversations’ based on Bergman’s 1993 novel, Enskilda samtal was blown up to a 35 mm motion picture designed for the foreign market.
Synopsis Enskilda samtal tells the story of the narrator’s mother Anna Bergman, a clergyman’s wife. In a series of five conversations she meets with her pastor ‘Uncle Jacob’, a family friend. The conversations take place between 1925 and 1934, with a flashback to her youth in 1907. Anna’s focus is on her problems in her marriage and her love affair with a young theology student. When Anna reveals her affair to Uncle Jacob, he advises her to tell her husband Henrik. The second conversation occurs a few weeks later between Anna and her husband Henrik and ends in an emotional debacle. The third conversation is between Anna and her mother, a dominant person, and the fourth between Anna and her friend Märta during Anna’s elopement with her lover to Molde in Norway. The last conversation almost ten years later takes place in Uppsala between Anna, now 45 years old, and her friend Maria, wife of Uncle Jacob, who is dying. Anna’s affair ended after the Norwegian incident. She is still married to Henrik but emotionally tied to her lover, something she realizes when she catches a glimpse of him in the street a long time after they have broken off. Enskilda samtal ends with an epilogue that takes us back to the year 1907 when Anna Åkerblom was 17. She talks with Uncle Jacob about going to communion but hesitates and makes no decision.
Credits Production company
Producer Executive producer Production manager Unit manager Director Screenplay Photography Sound Music
SverigesTelevision (SVT), Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK), Danmarks radio (DR), YLE TV 2, Helsinki, RUV Reykjavik, Nordiska TV-Samarbetsfonden Maria Curman Kaj Larsen Elisabeth Liljeqvist Göran Walfridsson Liv Ullmann Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist Bert Wallman, Gunnar Landström Johann Sebastian Bach (Cantata BWV 147; Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, F major, 2nd movement); Dmitri Shostakovic (Piano Quintet, Opus 57, G minor,
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Chapter IV Filmography
Mixing Architect Props Costumes Makeup Editor
2nd movement; Quartet no. 15, opus 144, E minor, 2nd and 5th movement) Owe Svensson Mette Möller Jan Erik Savela Inger Pehrsson Cecilia Drott-Norlén Michal Leszcylowski
Cast Anna Bergman ‘Uncle’ Jacob Maria, Jacob’s wife Märta Gärdsjö Henrik Bergman Bishop Agrell Tomas Egerman Miss Nylander Karin Åkerblom Stille, caretaker
Pernilla August Max von Sydow Kristina Adolphson Gunnel Fred Samuel Fröler Hans Alfredson Thomas Hanzon Vibeke Falk Anita Björk Bengt Schött
Distribution Running time Premiere
Sveriges Television 194 minutes 25 December 1996, Swedish Television, SVT, first part; second part on 26 December) 5 January 1999, film version
U.S. Opening
Commentary and Reception The title of the film refers to Martin Luther’s term for the sacrament of penance. It replaces Catholic confession and absolution. Enskilda samtal is the last in a trilogy of narratives about Bergman’s childhood and about his parents. All three films were filmed or televised by other directors. See Ø 256, 256.
Foreign Reviews (of film version) Bellmann, Günther. ‘Eine Frau wird gebändigt’. Berliner Morgenpost, 7 March 1999; Bolzano, F., ‘Il silenzio divino’. Revista Cinematografico, July-August 1998: 62-64; Cammarano, Tommaso. ‘Conversazione private’. Film (Italian), no. 37 (1998): 29-31; Chapot, Luc. ‘Private Confessions’. Séquences, no. 205 (November-December 1999): 42; Comazio, Ermano. ‘Il tormento di vivere come materia di rapapprentazione’. Cineforum no. 376 (July-August 1998): 34-35; Corliss, Richard. ‘Cries and Whispers: “Private Confessions” Reveals an Old Master in Top Form...’ Time, January 25, 1999, p. 75; Grack, Günther. ‘Eine lässliche Todsünde’. Tagesspiegel, 7 March 1999; K.D. ‘Liebe als Waffe’. Frankfurter Rundschau, 10 March 1999; Kellerher, Ed. ‘Private Confessions’. Film Journal International, no. 102 (February 1999): 68-69; Maslin, Janet. ‘Scenes from a Marriage. This Time Mom and Dad’s’. NYT, 6 January 1999, Sec. E, p. 1. (Favorable review, claiming that Bergman ‘is back in the haunted house he built for himself ’); Quart, Leonard. ‘Private Confessions’. Cineaste, nos. 2-3, 1999: 96; Sartor, Freddy. ‘Private Confessions’. Film en Télévisie, February 1999, p. 16;
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Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Schumacher, Ernst. ‘Lebenswahrheit bedingt Lebenslüge’. Berliner Zeitung, 8 March 1999; Stratton, David. ‘Private Confessions’. Variety, 26 May 1997, p. 67 Tassi, Fabrizio. ‘La memoria di Bergman nello squardo di Liv’. Cineforum 376 (July-August 1998): 31-34; Taubin, Amy. ‘Tests of Faith’. Village Voice, 12 January 1999, n.p.
259.
TROLÖSA, 2000 [Faithless], color Director Screenplay
Liv Ullmann Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis An older man named Ingmar Bergman sits at his desk. His imagination conjures forth a young woman, Marianne Vogler, who appears behind him, half hidden by a door. The film becomes her story, extracted from her (or invented) by the old man. It tells of her unfaithfulness to her husband Markus, a famous conductor, and to her 9-year-old daughter Isabelle, as she drifts into a love affair with David, a close friend of the family and a director planning a production of Strindberg’s Ett drömspel. In narrative and visual flashbacks, the relationship between Marianne and David unfolds, beginning casually in Paris and developing into a passion with disastrous consequences. David reveals his irrational and violent jealousy. In a tragi-comic scene Markus discovers the two lovers in bed. A legal battle over the custody of Isabelle ensues. Marianne is expecting a child with David. One evening Markus calls Marianne; he wants to talk. When they meet, he suggests to Marianne that she can get custody over Isabelle if she lets him make love to her. Returning to David, Marianne is forced to tell what happened. David (Bergman’s younger alter ego) now takes over the story and confesses his guilt at not having supported Marianne when she needed it. Marianne is gone; she apparently drowned. Markus fails in an attempt to stage a suicide pact with Isabelle but kills himself and is found by Mrs. Danelius who has had an affair with Markus during his entire marriage. The film ends as Marianne bids farewell of Old Bergman who picks up a music box that Marianne once gave David. It plays an excerpt from ‘The Magic Flute’.
Credits Production companies
Production manager Director Cinematography Architect Costumes Make-up Editor
SVT, SF (Sweden), SF Norge A/S (Norway), YLE (Finland), RAI (Rome) ZDF (Zweites Deutches Fernsehen, Mainz), SFI, Nordisk Film & TV Fond Kaj Larsen Liv Ullmann Jörgen Persson Göran Wassberg Inger Pehrsson Cecilia Drott-Norlén Sylvia Ingemarsson
Cast Ingmar Bergman Marianne Vogler Markus David Isabelle, 9 years old Margareta
Erland Josephson Lena Endre Thomas Hanzon Krister Henriksson Michelle Gylemo Juni Dahr
349
Chapter IV Filmography Martin Goldman Petra Holst Anna Berg Eva Johan Axel Gustav Martha
Philip Zandén Thérèse Brunnander Marie Richardson Stina Ekblad Johan Rabæus Jan Olof Strandberg Björn Granath Gertrud Stenung
Distribution During time Opening
SF, Stockholm 154 minutes, shot in 35 mm 15 September, 2000, Filmstaden (Göteborg), Röda Kvarn (Stockholm) and 17 other places in Sweden 26 January 2001
U.S. opening
Commentary At a press conference on 9 May 1998, Bergman told the story of a circus acrobat he once knew, a juggler possessed with the idea of making one of his balls stand still in the air for a fraction of a second. [Cf. Jof in Sjunde inseglet.] The juggler ended up in an asylum, but the doctor let him continue to practise. He never succeeded in making the ball stand still, i.e., achieve the impossible, but he was allowed to try. In an analogy to himself, Bergman said he had been possessed with the idea of making a film consisting of one continuous close-up, with an actor speaking to the public for two hours. Such a film would allow the camera to reveal human emotions we cannot register with the naked eye. This statement appears in the printed manuscript to Trolösa but not in the film version. The text is written as a monologue spoken by the main character, Marianne Vogler, interrupted by questions and proddings by the writer Bergman, seated at his desk. At the press conference Bergman announced that without actress Lena Endre’s approval of his script and of the role as Marianne, there would have been no film. He had directed Endre in his staging of Botho Strauss’s play Das Zimmer und die Zeit and saw her face before him as he wrote Trolösa. Bergman described Trolösa as a passion drama ‘that I have experienced at close hand. I am a participant in the real story behind the film’ [som jag har upplevt på nära håll. Jag är medverkande i den verkliga historien bakom filmen]. The personal reference is touched on in Bergman’s memoir Laterna magica, where he talks about his affair and brief marriage to Gun Grut, who had to go through a painful divorce and child custody case on his account. See Expr., 10 May 1998, pp. 14-16; AB, same date, pp. 48-49; SvD, same date, p. 14. Bergman also revealed that he couldn’t stop working and creating: ‘I am like Anders de Wahl [classical Swedish actor], I give at least 50 farewell performances’ [Jag är som Anders de Wahl, jag gör åtminstone femtio avskedsföreställningar]. For a German write-up on the same material, see Hannes Gamillscheg, ‘Sich selbst darf Bergman nicht spielen’. Stuttgarter Zeitung, 28 May 1998. Also in Frankfurter Rundschau, 13 May 1998. Bergman asked Liv Ullmann to direct Trolösa. She suggested doing the studio work and leaving the rest to Bergman, since she felt the film story was so personal. But Bergman left the entire production to her, including the editing (despite some rumors to the contrary). Ullmann’s major change from the script was to make the child Isabelle physically present in the film, something that won Bergman’s approval. See Sörenson interview listed below in See also section.
350
Synopses, Credits, Commentaries and Reception Record Reception The Swedish reception of Trolösa varied a great deal. The script by an aging Bergman was treated respectfully, but Liv Ullmann’s direction had a mixed response. Some felt that Bergman’s text was too perfect in itself to give the director much of a chance to add anything: ‘Bergman’s text is in sharp relief, full of marrow, saturated with meaning as if his entire visual power had been transposed to the written medium. It does not make the task of the director particularly easy; in some way every image seems redundant beforehand when faced with this verbal volcanic power.’[Bergmans text är skarpt utmejslad, märgfull, mättad med mening, som hade hela hans bildskapande kraft flyttats över i skriftens medium. Det gör nu inte regissörens uppgift särskilt lätt; på något sätt tycks varje bild redan på förhand bli redundant inför denna verbala vulkaniska kraft.] (Söderberg Widding). Another reviewer phrased the juxtaposition of superior script and directorial dilemma in more critical terms: ‘It is quite clear that this extremely demanding film story misses him [Bergman] and his ability to charge every moment and the glance of every eye. With all due respect to Liv Ullman (sic!), she is not a great director. And here she has had to tackle a script that lies considerably above her threshold of competence’. [Det är helt klart att denna extremt krävande filmberättelse saknar honom och hans förmåga att ladda varje ögonblick och varje ögas blick. Liv Ullman i alla ära men någon stor regissör är hon inte. Och här har hon fått tackla ett manus som ligger en bra bit över hennes kompetenströskel.] (Palmqvist). Yet some critics concluded that Ullmann might be on par or even surpass Bergman as a director of actors (Gustafsson, Tunbäck-Hansson), while still others were disappointed both in the script and the director (Fred, Stenberg). In the U.S. Trolösa premiered at the New York Film Festival in the fall of 2000. It was an entry in the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, but received no prize. At Cannes it competed unsuccessfully against Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark. American reviews pointed to the personal roots of Bergman’s script, many finding it too much of a reincarnation of his earlier films; Stanley Kaufmann called Faithless ‘a revenant’, i.e., a dead coming back: ‘This new film adds little to what he has given us already.’ Gene Santoro in The Nation thought that Bergman’s script read ‘more like solipsism than real emotional connection, meanders around self-examination without striking self-awareness. A soap opera for highbrows’. However, another reviewer (Blake) regarded Bergman’s narrative approach as ‘a daring conceit’ in allowing the protagonist’s story to be reconstructed from a woman’s perspective, a feminized version of a man’s life delicately handled by Liv Ullmann. Even a critical voice like Kaufmann conceded that ‘a great writer-director may be waning, but an artist whom he fostered is a keeper of the flame’. All in all, Ullmann’s earlier role in Bergman’s filmmaking was considered to be both a blessing and a burden: ‘How can her directing possibly be judged on its own apart from Bergman?’ asked Kauffmann while Santoro felt that Ullmann ‘has clearly internalized her erstwhile friend and lover’s deliberate, at times ponderous pacing and pared-back camera work. Ullmann directs in Bergman’s cinematic language in much the same way Marianne, his ‘muse’, speaks his own thoughts’. But several other critics argued that in the making of Trolösa, Bergman’s and Ullmann’s objectives diverged in such a way that they were to be considered as two separate achievements. Several reviews noted the discrepancy between script and film in terms of the space allotted the child, Isabelle. The importance of the child was reinforced by Ullmann herself in several interviews (see below). ‘The film combines the works of two great artists’, wrote Richard Blake who compared Trolösa’s Marianne to her namesake in Wild Strawberries, with Ingmar Bergman assuming the role of the aging Isak Borg in the 1957 film. Richard Schickel, who viewed Trolösa as Bergman’s Ghost Sonata, the voice of ‘an old man’s wintry, unspoken quest for grace’, still found it very much to be Ullmann’s film: ‘Her style is warm,
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Chapter IV Filmography almost glowing, and it makes an ironic comment on a harrowing narrative.’ See NYT, ‘Scenes from a Collaboration’, 26 January, 2001, p. B29, E29.
Swedish Reviews Andersson, Jan-Olov. ‘Lena Endre gör stark roll’ [Lena Endre does a strong part]. AB, 15 September 2000; Eklund, Bernt. ‘Passion på liv och död’ [Passion on life and death]. Expr., 15 September 2000; Fred, Lotti. ‘Oengagerande om otrohet’ [Unengaging about faithlessness]. Ergo (Uppsala student paper), no. 10, 2000; Gustafsson, Annjika. ‘Moget om människor fångna i passion’ [Mature about people caught in passion]. Sydsvenskan, 15 September 2000, p. A27; Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Ur leken växer mörkret fram’ [Out of the game, darkness grows forth]. DN, 15 September 2000; Palmqvist, Bertil. ‘Trolöshet som övergår allt’ [Faithlessness that exceeds everything]. Arbetet, 15 September 2000, p. 8; Stenberg, Björn G., ‘Mindre lyckad kombination’ [Less successful combination]. UNT, 15 September 2000; Söderberg Widding, Astrid. ‘Trolösa lever och drunknar med Bergmans exakta text’ [Faithless lives and drowns with B’s exact text]. SvD, 15 September 2000, p. 12; Tunbäck-Hansson, Monica. ‘Skicklig personregi av Ullman’ [Skilful direction of actors by Ullman]. GP, 15 September 2000.
Foreign Reviews Björkman, Stig & Marie-Anne Guerin. ‘Autopsy d’un divorce’. Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 551 (November 2000): 72-76; Blake, Richard A. ‘Memory and Regret’. America, vol. 184, no. 12 (9 April) 2001, p. 32; Garbarz, Franck. ‘Infidèle. Moderne tragédie’. Positif no. 477 (November 2000), pp. 6-7; Gee, Maggie. ‘Faithless’. Times Literary Supplement, 2 March 2001, p. 19; Haskell, Molly. ‘Bared: The Heartbreaking Geometry of the Triangle’. NYT, 21 January 2001, p. AR 15; Holden, Stephen. ‘Scenes from a not so great marriage: Liv Ullmann offers an Epilogue of sorts to Bergman’s film’. NYT, 26 January 2001, p. B 21, E 16; Kaufmann, Stanley. ‘On Films – Within the Past Within’. The New Republic, 12 February, 2001, p. 30. Review relates Bergman’s After the Rehearsal – ‘as much a drama as a meditation’ – to Faithless, a script summoning back the past and following a philosophical remark from the earlier film: ‘The dead are not dead, the living seem like ghosts’; Lane, Anthony. ‘Faithless’. The New Yorker, vol. 76, no. 44, (29 January) 2001, pp. 94-95; Macnab, Geoffrey. ‘Crimes and Misdemeanors’. Sight and Sound, X, no. 12 (December 1990): 3033 (review focusses on the child); Santoro, Gene. ‘Scarlet Letter’s Last Blush’. The Nation, vol. 272, no. 19 (5 March) 2001, p. 32; Schickel, Richard. ‘Acts of Love and Contrition: Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman unite again, and the result is sublime’. Time, vol. 157, no. 5 (5 February) 2001, p. 76; Simon, John. ‘Ominous Appetites’. National Review, Vol. 53, no. 4 (5 March), 2001, p.NA; Stratton, David. ‘Faithless’. Variety, vol. 379, no. 1 (22 May) 2000, p. 19. ‘Though overextended and a tad indulgent, Bergman’s screenplay is an often powerful and moving one that explores degrees of infidelity with almost surgical precision’.
Interviews and Biographical Sketches Björkman, Stig. ‘The One Bergman Show’. Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 526 (July-August 1998): 8-9; (On the making of Trolösa/Perfidies); Ciment, Michel. ‘Entretien. Liv Ullmann’. Positif no. 477 (November 2000), pp. 8-11;
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Foreign Titles of Ingmar Bergman Films ‘Dygnet runt’ section, SDS, 15 September 2000 (Interview with Lena Endre); Haskell, Molly. ‘Bared: the Heartbreaking Geometry of the Triangle’. The New York Times, 21 January 2001, p. 2; Kehr, Dave. ‘Faithless’. The New York Times, 26 January 2001, p. B29, E29. (On the making of Faithless); Macnab, Geoffrey. ‘Crimes and Misdemeaners’. Sight and Sound, vol X, no. 12 (December) 2000, pp. 30-3 (Review and interview with Liv Ullmann); Merkin, Daphne. ‘An Independent Woman’. New York Times Magazine, 21 January 2001, p. 34, col. 1; Sains, Ariane. ‘The Bergman Legacy’. Europe, no. 379, September 1998, p. 41. (Early presentation of Trolösa, with a biographical sketch of Bergman); Sörenson, Elisabeth. ‘En man hade gjort det annorlunda’ [A man would have done it differently]. SvD, 15 September 2000, p. 11. (Interview with Liv Ullmann).
259a. Saraband (2003) TV film, also released as commercial feature film. See Media Chapter, Ø 343.
Foreign Titles of Ingmar Bergman Films This listing comprises a sampling of foreign language titles for all films scripted and/ or directed by Bergman, both in the cinema and for television. Included are titles in English (American/British), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish (the last two may refer to both European and Latin American distribution titles). Other foreign language titles are listed more sporadically. If a foreign title appears in parentheses, it means that the film has not been distributed in that language but that the title appears in studies of the film.
Hets (1944) American British Czech Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Japanese Norwegian Polish Portuguese Spanish Spanish – Argentina Spanish – Uruguay
Torment Frenzy Stvaniçe Forfulgt Klopjacht Kiihko Tormente/Tourments Hetze/Die Hörige Spasimo Modae Hets Skandal Tortura Tortura Suplico El sadico
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Chapter IV Filmography Kris (1946) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Portuguese – Brazil Spanish
(Crisis) Moderhjertet Crisis Kriisi Crise Krise Cris Mitt barn er mitt/Krise Crisis Crisis
Det regnar på vår kärlek (1946) British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Portuguese Spanish
It Rains on Our Love/Man with an Umbrella Det regner paa vor kaerlighed Het regent op onze liefde Elämän sateessa Il pleut sur notre amour Es regnet auf unserer Liebe Plove sul nostro amore Ungt blod Chove sobre o nosso amor Llueve sobre nuestro amor
Kvinna utan ansikte (1947) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian
(Woman without a Face) Kvinden uden ansigt De Vrouw zonder gezicht Nainen ilman kasvoja (La femme sans visage) Frau ohne Gesicht Furia del peccato Kvinnen uten ansikt
Skepp till India land (1947) American British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese
Frustration/Ship to India The Land of Desire/Ship to India/A Ship Bound for India Sømandstøsen Schip naar Indialand Laiva Intiaan Eternel mirage/Bateau pour les Indes/Le port des filles perdues Schiff nach Indialand Nave per l’India/La Terra del Desidario Skepp til Indialand Okręt do Indii Viagem para a India/Um Barco para a India
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Foreign Titles of Ingmar Bergman Films Musik i mörker (1948) American British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Portuguese Spanish
Night is my Future/Music in Darkness Night is my Future Musik i mørke Muziek in de Duisternis/Muziek in het Donker Musiikkia pimässä; Sielujen sävel Musique dans les ténèbres/Musique dans obscurité Musik im Dunkeln Musica nel buio Musikk i mørket Uma luz nas trevas Musica en la noche/Musica en la oscuridad/Noche eterna
Hamnstad (1948) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Japanese Norwegian Portuguese Spanish Spanish – Argentina
Port of Call Piger uden moral/Havnebyens fristelser Havenstad Satamakaupunki Ville portuaire Hafenstadt Città portuale Aiyoku no minato Havnebyen Cidade portuaria Una mujer libre Puerto
Eva (1948) Argentine/Brazilian/Danish/Dutch/ German/Norwegian Finnish French
Eva Eeva Sensualité
Fängelse (1949) American/British Czech Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Russian Spanish Spanish/Argentina/Uruguay
The Devil’s Wanton/Prison Vezení Fængsel Gevangenis Vankila La Prison/Prison Gefängnis Prigione Fängelse/Livets fengsel Więzienie A prisao Тюрьма Prision El demonio nos gobierno
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Chapter IV Filmography Törst (1949) American British Danish/Norwegian Dutch Finnish French German Italian Portuguese Spanish
Three Strange Loves Thirst Tørst Dorst Jano La Soif/La Fontaine d’Arethuse Durst Sete A sede La Sed (Argentina)
Till glädje (1949) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Portuguese
To Joy To mennesker Aan de Vrengde Iloksi; Onnku kohti Vers la Joie/Vers la Félicité An die Freude Verso la citta Til glede Rumo a felicidade
Medan staden sover (1950) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish Italian
(While the City Sleeps) Når Stockholm sover Terwijl de Stad slaapt Kun kaupunki nukkuu Mentre la citta dorme/La Banda della citta vecchia
Sånt händer inte här (1951) American British Danish Dutch Finnish French (West) German Italian Norwegian
(This Doesn’t Happen Here) High Tension Sådant noget sker ikke her Zoiets gebeurt hier niet Sellaista ei tapahdu täälä Cela ne se produirait pas ici/Une telle chose ne se produirait pas ici Menschenjagd Cio non accadrebbe qui Sånt hender ikke her
Sommarlek (1951) American British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian
Illicit Interlude Summer Interlude Sommerleg Zomerspel/Een zomeridylle Kesäinen leikki Jeux d’été Einen Sommer lang Un’ estate d’amore
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Foreign Titles of Ingmar Bergman Films Norwegian Polish Portuguese Spanish Spanish – Argentina Spanish – Uruguay
Sommarlek Letni sen Um veraõ de amor Juegos de verano Juventud Divino tesoro
Frånskild (1951) American/British Dutch Finnish German Norwegian
(Divorced) Gescheiden Eronnut Geschieden Fraskilt
Kvinnors väntan (1952) American British Czech Danish Dutch Finnish French, Belgian German Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Spanish
Secrets of Women Waiting Women Cekani zen Mens kvinder venter Het wachten van Vrouven Odottavia naisia L’attente des femmes Sehnsucht der Frauen Donne in attesa Kvinnors vänten Kobiety czekają Quando as mulheres esperam/Segredos de mulheres Tres mujeres
Sommaren med Monika (1953) American British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Japanese Norwegian Polish Portuguese Spanish
Monica: The Story of a Bad Girl/Monica/Summer with Monica Summer with Monica Sommeren med Monika Mijn zomer met Monika Kesä Monikan kanssa Monique et le désir/Monika/Un été avec Monika Die Zeit mit Monika Monica e il desiderio Funyo shojo Monika Sommeren med Monika Wakacje z Moniką Monica e o desejo Un verano con Monica
Gycklarnas afton (1953) American British Czech Danish Dutch
The Naked Night Sawdust and Tinsel Vecer kejklíru Gøglernes aften De Spullenbaas
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Chapter IV Filmography Finnish French (West) German Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Russian Spanish
Viettelysten ilta/Gycklarnas afton La nuit des forains Abend der Gaukler Una vampata d’amore Gjøglernes aften Wieczór kuglarzy Noite de circo Vecher shutnikov Noche de Circo
En lektion i kärlek (1954) American/British Czech Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Polish Portuguese Spanish
A Lesson in Love Lekce v lásce En lektion i kærlighed Een les in Liefde Rakkauden oppitunti Une leçon d’amour Lektion in Liebe Lezione d’amore Lekcja mitości Uma liçao de amor Una leccion de amor
Kvinnodröm (1955) American British Czech Danish Dutch Finnish French (West) German Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Russian Spanish Spanish – Argentina Spanish – Uruguay
Dreams Journey into Autumn Sny zen Kvindedrømme Vrouwendroom Naisten unelmia Rêves de femmes Frauenträume Sogni di donna Kvinnodrøm Marzenia kobiet Sonhos de mulheres Zjenskie grezy Sueños Confesión de pecadores Sueños de mujer
Sommarnattens leende (1955) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian
Smiles of a Summer Night Sommernattens smil De Glimlach van een Zomernacht Kesäyön hymyilyö Sourires d’une nuit d’été Das Lächeln einer Sommernacht Sorrisi di una notta Sommernattens smil
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Foreign Titles of Ingmar Bergman Films Polish Portuguese Spanish
Uśmiech nocy Sorrisos de uma noite de verao Sorrisas de una nocha de verano
Sista paret ut (1956) American British Finnish German Norwegian Polish
(The Last Couple Out) Last Pair Out/Tempest of Young Hearts Viimeinen pari ulos Junge Herzen im Sturm Siste par ut Ostatna para wychodzi
Det sjunde inseglet (1956/57) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Spanish
The Seventh Seal Det syvende segl Het zevende Zegel Seitsämäs sinetti Le septième sceau Das siebente Siegel Il settimo sigillo Det syvende seglet Siidna pieccziça O sétimo selo El séptimo sello
Smultronstället (1957) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Spanish Spanish/Latin America
Wild Strawberries Ved vejs ende Wilde Aardbeien Mansikkapaikka Les fraises sauvages/La fin du voyage Wilde Erdbeeren Il posto della fragole Jordbærstedet Tam, gdzie rosną poziomli Os morangos silvestres Fresas salvajes Las fresas silvestres
Nära livet (1958) American British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Polish
Brink of Life So Close to Life Livets under Op de Drempel van het Leven Elämän kynnyksellä Au seuil de la vie Dem Leben nahe, An der Schwelle des Lebens Alle soglie della vita Nära livet U progu życia
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Chapter IV Filmography Portuguese Spanish
No limiar da vida; Direiro a Vida En el Umbral de la Vida
Ansiktet (1958) American British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Spanish
The Magician The Face Ansigtet Het Gelaat Kasvot Le visage Das Gesicht Il volto Ansiktet Twarz O rostro El rostro/Tvar
Jungfrukällan (1960) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Polish Portuguese Spanish
The Virgin Spring Jomfrukilden De Maagdebron Neidonlähde La source/La fontaine de la jeune fille Die Jungfrauenkelle Fontana delle vergine Źródło A fonte da virgem La fuente de la doncella/El mantial de la doncella
Djävulens öga (1960) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Polish Portuguese Spanish
The Devil’s Eye Djævelens øje Het Oog van de Duivel Paholaisen silmä L’oeuil du diable Die Jungfrauenbrücke/Das Teufelsauge L’occhio del diavolo Oko diabła O olho do diabo El ojo del diablo
Såsom i en spegel (1961) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Polish
Through a Glass Darkly Som i et spejl Als in een donkere Spiegel Kuin Kuvastimessa A travers le miroir/Comme en un miroir Wie in einem Spiegel Come in uno specchio/ L’immagine allo specchio Jak w zwierciadle
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Foreign Titles of Ingmar Bergman Films Portuguese Spanish
Em busca da verdade Come en un espejo; Detras de un vidrio oscura
Lustgården (1961) Dutch English German
De Lusthof (The Pleasure Garden/Garden of Eden) Garten der Lüste
Nattvardsgästerna (1962) American British Czech Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Polish Portuguese Russian Spanish
Winter Light The Communicants Hasté vecere pane Lys i mørket De Avondmaalsgasten Talven valoa Les communiants/Lumière d’hiver Licht im Winter Luci d’inverno Goście wieczerzy pańskiej Luz de inverno Pricastie Los comulgantes/Luz de invierno (Uruguay)
Tystnaden (1963) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Polish Portuguese Russian Spanish
The Silence Stilheden De grote Stilte Hiljaisuus Le silence Das Schweigen Il silenzio Milczenie O silenzio Moltjanie El silencio
För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor (1964) American British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Polish Portuguese Spanish/Uruguayan
All These Women Now About These Women Syv glade enker Om over al die Vrouwen maar niet te spreken Puhumattakaan naisista Toutes ses femmes Ach, diese Frauen Per non parlare di tutte questa donne/A proposito di tutte queste signore O tych paniach A forca da sexo fraco Ni hablar de las mujeres/Esas mujeres
361
Chapter IV Filmography Persona (1966) Most foreign distributions retained the Swedish title except the following: Danish Dutch Finnish German Portuguese
Persona – Sonate for to Maskers Naisen naamio Persona – Geschichte zweier Frauen A mascara
Vargtimmen (1967) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese
Hour of the Wolf Ulvetimen Het Uur van de Wolf Sudenhetki L’heure du loup Die Stunde des Wolfes L’ore del lupo Ulvetimen Godzina wilków A hora do lobo
Skammen (1968) Many non-Swedish critics discussing the film have opted for retaining the original Swedish title, Skammen. American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Spanish
Shame/The Shame Skammen De Schaamte Häpeä La honte Die Schande/Die Scham La vergogna Skammen Hańba O vergonha La verguenza
Riten (1969), TV film American British Danish Dutch French German Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Spanish
The Ritual The Rite Ritualerne Het Ritueel Le rite Der Ritus, Il Rito Riten Rytual Ritual El Rito
362
Foreign Titles of Ingmar Bergman Films En passion (1969) American British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Spanish
The Passion of Anna A Passion Passion Een Passie Intohimo Une passion Passion/Eine Leidenschaft Passione En pasjon Namiętność A Paixao Pasion
Fårödokument (1969), TV film Film has had limited circulation outside of Sweden. Dutch Faro-document English Faro Document French Mon Île, Fårö German Bericht über Fårö/Über die Schafe
Reservatet (1970), TV film American British Dutch German Polish Portuguese
The Sanctuary The Lie Het Reservaat Das Reservat Rezerwat Santuario
Beröringen (1971) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Hungarian Italian Norwegian Portuguese Spanish Spanish – Argentina
The Touch Berøringen De Aanraking Kosketus Le lien Die Berührung/The Touch/ Berührungen Érintes L’Adultera Touch O amante La carcoma El toque
Viskningar och rop (1972/73) American/British Czech Danish Dutch Finnish French German
Cries and Whispers Seoty a vykriky Hvisken og råb Schreeuw zonder Antwoord/Fluisteringen en Kreten Kuiskauksia ja huutoja Cris et chuchotements Schreie und Flüstern
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Chapter IV Filmography Hungarian Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Portuguese – Brazil Spanish
Suttogásokm sikolyok Sussuri e grida Hvisken og rop Szepty i krzyki Lagrimas e Suspiros Gritos e Sussuros Gritos y Murmullos; Gritos y Susurros
Scener ur ett äktenskap (1973/TV; 1974) American/British Czech Danish Dutch Estonian French Georgian German Hungarian Italian Japanese Norwegian Polish Portuguese – Brazil Portuguese – Europe Russian Spanish
Scenes from a Marriage Scény z manzelského zivota; Scener fra et aegteskab; Scenes uit een huwelijk; Tseenid hest abielust; Scènes de la vie conjugale; Scvenebi cvolkumrul cvxovrebidpn; Szenen einer Ehe; Jelenetek egy hça zassfagbil; Scene di vita coniguale; Aru kekkon no feukei; Scener fra et ekteskap; Sceny z życia małżeńskiego; Cenas da vida conjugal; Cenas de um casamento sueco; Sceny iz supruzjeskoj zjizni; Escenas de un matrimonio/Secretes de un matrimonio.
Trollflöjten (1975) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish German French Italian Norwegian Portuguese Spanish
The Magic Flute Tryllefløjten Die Zauberflöte Taikahuilu Die Zauberflöte La flûte enchantée Il Flauto Magico Tryllefløyten A flauta magica La flauta magica
Ansikte mot ansikte (1976) American/British Bulgarian Danish Dutch French German Italian Norwegian Polish
Face to Face Lice sieíy’l lice Ansigt til ansigt Gelaat tegen Gelaat/Van aangezicht tot aangezicht Face à face Von Angesicht zu Angesicht Immagine allo specchio Ansikt mot ansikt Twarzą w twarz
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Foreign Titles of Ingmar Bergman Films Portuguese Spanish
Face a face Cara a cara
Das Schlangenei (1977) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Polish Portugese Spanish Swedish
The Serpent’s Egg Slangens æg Het Slangenei Käärmeenmuna L’Øeuf du serpent Das Schlangenei (original title) L’uovo del serpente; Slangens æg Jajo węża O ovo da serpente El huevo de la serpiente Ormens ägg
Herbstsonate/Höstsonaten (1978) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Russian Spanish
Autumn Sonata Høstsonat Herfstsonate Syyssonaatti Sonate d’autonne Herbstsonate Sinfonia d’autunno Høstsonaten Jesienna sonata Sonata do outono Osennjaja sonata Sonata de otoño; Sonata otonal (Argentina)
Fårödokument 1979 Film has had limited circulation abroad American British French German Italian Spanish
Fårö 1979 Fårö-Document Mon île, Fårö Fårödokument 1979 Documentario su Faro Decumento sobre Farö
Aus dem Leben der Marionetten (1980) American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French Italian Norwegian Polish
From the Life of Marionettes Fra marionetternes liv Uit het Leven va de Marionetten/Dans van de marionetten Marionettien elämästä De la vie des marionnettes Mondo di marionette Fra marionettenes liv Z życia marionetek
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Chapter IV Filmography Portuguese Spanish Swedish
Da vida das marionetes De la vida de las marionetas Ur marionetternas liv
Fanny och Alexander (1982) All foreign distribution titles retain the two names in the original
Karins ansikte (1983) Film has had limited circulation Danish Dutch English Polish
Karins ansigt Karins Gezicht Karin’s Face Twarz Karin
Efter repetitionen (1984), TV film American/British Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Polish Portuguese Spanish
After the Rehearsal Efter prøven Na de Repetitie Harjoitusten jälkeen Après la répétition Nach der Probe Dopo el prove/Dope la prova Po próbie Depois de ensaio Despues del ensayo
De två saliga (1986), TV film Danish Dutch English Finnish French German Italian Polish Portuguese Spanish
De to salige De Twee Zaligen The Blessed Ones/The Sign Autuaat Les deux bienheureux Die Gesegneten Il segno Dwoje błogosławionych Os Dois Abencoados Los Escogidos
Den goda viljan (1991) American/British Czech Danish Dutch Finnish French German Greek Hungarian Italian Japanese Korean
Best Intentions Dobrca veáule Den gode vilje Goede bedoelingen Hyvä tahto Les meilleures intentions Die besten Absichten Hoi kalyteres protheseis A legjobb szçandekok Con le migliori intenzioni Ai no feukei Choeseon-eui-e kido
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Foreign Titles of Ingmar Bergman Films Norwegian Polish Russian Slovakian Spanish Spanish (Argentina)
Den gode viljen Dobre chęchi Blagie namerenija Dobrca vueëla Las mejores intenciones Con las mejores intenciones
Söndagsbarn (1992) American/British Czech Danish Dutch Estonian Finnish French German Hungarian Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Slovakian Spanish
Sunday’s Child/Sunday’s Children Nedelnaatka Søndagsbarn Zondagskinderen Hapäevalapsed Sunnuntailapsi Enfants du dimanche Die Sonntagskinder/Sonntagskinder Vascarnapi gyerekek Nati di domenica Søndagsbarn Niedzielne dziecko Filhos de domingo Nedeliatko Niños del domingo
Sista skriket (1995, TV) American/British Polish
The Last Gasp/The Last Shriek Ostatni krzyk
Enskilda samtal (1996/97, TV) American/British Danish Finnish French German Hungarian Italian Norwegian Polish Spanish
Private Conversations/Private Confessions Personlige samtaler Yksitysiä keskusteljuja Entretiens privés Einzelgespräche Öt vallompas Conversazioni private Fortrolige samtaler Rozmowy poufne Confesiones privadas
Larmar och gör sig till (1998) American/British French German Italian Polish Portuguese Spanish
In the Presence of a Clown En présence d’un clown Dabei: Ein Clown/Im Gegenwart eines Clowns Vanita e Affani Puszy się i miota Na Presença do Palhaco En presencia del payaso (Argentina)
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Chapter IV Filmography Trolösa (2000) American/British Danish Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Polish Spanish Spanish – Columbia
Faithless Troløs Uskoton Infidèle/Perfidies Treulos Infidele Troløse Wiarołomni Infiel Infiledidad
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Ingmar Bergman As Film Producer
Ingmar Bergman As Film Producer Listed here are only motion pictures and TV films made by other directors that were produced or co-produced by Ingmar Bergman and/or his company Cinematograph AB.
1976 De födömda kvinnornas dans [The dance of the damned women]. Original Title: Il ballo delle ingrate, SVT 2, date. Producers: Måns Reuterswärd and Ingmar Bergman. Text by Ingmar Bergman after an idea by Donya Feuer. (See Ø 328). En dåres försvarstal (A Madman’s Defense). Swedish television series based on August Strindberg’s novel. Series was directed by Kjell Grede. SVT 2, November 17 and 24, December 1 and 8.
1977 Paradistorg [Summer Paradise]. Swedish feature film based on a novel by Ulla Isaksson. Directed by Gunnel Lindblom.
1979
‘Rätt ut i luften. Ett TV-spel om spel i TV’ [Straight into the air. A TV play about TV games]. Swedish TV film. A co-production with Erland Josephson and Sven Nykvist. Written and directed by Erland Josephson. SVT, channel 1, 4 December 1978.
1980 Min älskade [My Beloved]. Swedish feature film, written and directed by Kjell Grede. Kärleken [Love]. Swedish feature film, written and directed by Theodor Kallifatides. A coproduction with Swedish Film Institute and Europafilm.
1981 Sally och kärleken [Sally and love]. Swedish feature film, written by Maria Garpe and directed by Gunnel Lindblom.
1983 Avskedet [The farewell]. Swedish feature film, written and directed by Tuula-Maja Niskanen.
1987 Gotska Sandön [The Gotland Sand Isle]. STV, channel 1987. Also shown as a motion picture. A film by Arne Karlsson, Gotland native, who assisted Bergman in the two Fårö Document films, 1969-70 and 1979.
369
Bergman directing Pär Lagerkvist’s one-act play The Tunnel (1918, Tunneln) as a radio play in 1956. To create the right mood for the two actors – Toivo Pawlo (left) and Åke Fridell (right) – only light from a single light bulb was used and placed above the transmission table. (Courtesy: SR Malmö/SVT Bild)
Chapter V Ingmar Bergman and the Media: Radio and Television Work In this chapter are listed works written and/or directed by Ingmar Bergman for radio or television. Some items originally produced for the cinema or the theatre and later adapted to the media are cross-listed more fully in either the Filmography Chapter (IV) or in the Theatre chapter (VI). Most listed productions are available for listening and viewing at SALB (Statens arkiv för ljud och bild); see Varia, Archival sources.
Radio Productions The radio play was an established genre in Swedish broadcasting and not without a certain cultural prestige when Ingmar Bergman made his debut there in 1946. Many wellknown Swedish writers had contributed to the field. In Bergman’s case it was no doubt his acoustic sensitivity that attracted him to the ‘listening’ play (hörspel). The majority of his more than 40 radio productions were presented before the arrival of television. Many of his choices were one-act plays suitable for the time span usually allotted to such broadcasts. His list of productions is eclectic, ranging from the medieval morality play Everyman to one-acters by Pär Lagerkvist (Tunneln), Jean Cocteau (Vox humana), and Herman Melville (A Table of Apple Wood). Over the years (1946-2003), Bergman’s most frequently broadcasted playwright became August Strindberg, with some ten productions. Bergman’s first contacts with the theatre department at the Swedish Radio were not positive. In 1942 he submitted an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale ‘Reskamraten’ [The Travel Companion], which was rejected. So were by his own plays ‘Rakel och biografvaktmästaren’ [Rachel and the Cinema Doorman] and ‘Jack hos skådespelarna’ [Jack Among the Actors], both submitted in 1946, and ‘Mig till skräck’ [Unto my Fear] in the following year. The last two plays in particular received very harsh comments by the reader, who called Bergman’s products crude and vulgar. Eventually, however, Bergman would have five of his own works presented on the
371
Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work radio, but most of them directed by others. These plays are (in chronological order): ‘Kamma noll’ [1949, Come up Empty], Staden [1951, The City], ‘Dagen slutar tidigt’ [1952, Early Ends the Day], ‘Mig till skräck’ [1953, Unto my Fear], Trämålning [1954, Wood Painting], and En själslig angelägenhet [1990, A Matter of the Soul]. Bergman’s only work written specifically for the radio is Staden, which was directed by Olof Molander. Bergman’s radio productions have resulted in relatively few reviews, the reason being that most of them came early in his career before he had established himself as a renowned director; furthermore, compared to live theatre productions, radio plays were seldom commented on at great length in the press. What becomes evident, however, is that reviewers were almost immediately struck by Bergman’s sensitivity to the acoustic aspects of the medium and to his ability to transform theatre space into an invisible listening space. Some of his radio productions caused a minor stir, mostly because of his choice of material; see for instance the reaction to his broadcast of Björn-Erik Höijer’s play Sommar (1946, 1951). The majority of Bergman’s radio productions took place between 1946 and 1961. After a long hiatus (1961 to 1984), during which time there were no new radio stagings by him but only a few transmissions of works he set up on stage, Bergman returned to producing plays directly for the radio. This coincides with his return from exile and his farewell to commercial filmmaking. Today, when he has also exited (supposedly) from the theatre stage and possibly also from the TV stage, it looks as if the radio will be his last directorial outlet. The best source of information about Bergman’s contributions to the broadcast medium is the Swedish radio magazine Röster i Radio, though its focus is usually on production publicity and interviews. The following items deal with Bergman’s own plays produced on the radio: Hallingberg, Gunnar. Radioteater i 40 år. Den svenska repertoaren belyst (Stockholm: Sveriges Radio), 1965, pp. 242-44. (Discusses Trämålning and Staden). Koskinen, Maaret. I begynnelsen var ordet. Ingmar Bergman och hans tidiga författarskap (Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand, 2002), pp. 212-266, and passim. (Discussion of the biographical background and genesis of Staden). Læstadius, Lars Levi. ‘Kamma noll’. Röster i Radio, no. 28 (10-16 July) 1949, p. 6. (Presents radio version of Bergman’s play). Nordmark, Dag. Finrummet och lekstugan. Stockholm: Prisma, 2002. (Contains several references to Bergman’s radio work). Ring, Lars. ‘Tidiga pjäser låter oss kika in i Bergmans verkstad’ [Early plays permit us to look into B’s workshop]. SvD, 13 February 1998, pp. 14-15. Also presented as a radio talk on 14 July 1998, titled ‘Ingmar Bergmans radiodramatik’ [Bergman’s radio dramas]. Steene, Birgitta. Ingmar Bergman, Boston: Twayne, 1968, pp. 25-37 (A discussion of the radio play Staden). Törnqvist, Egil. Between Stage and Screen. Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP, 1995, pp. 191-198. (Discussion of Bergman’s radio productions of Strindberg’s Påsk/Easter (1952) and his own work En själslig angelägenhet/A Matter of the Soul (1990). —. Det talade ordet. Om Strindbergs dramadialog. Stockholm: Carlssons, 2001, pp. 216-226. (Discussion includes reference to Bergman’s radio version of Strindberg’s Oväder/Storm/ Thunder in the Air).
372
Radio Productions —. Bergman’s Muses: Aesthetic Versatility in Film, Theatre, Television and Radio. Jefferson, N.C. & London: McFarland & Co, 2003. Chapter 2 titled ‘From Drama Text to Radio Play: Aural Strindberg’, pp. 36-45, (discusses three radio productions by Bergman: Strindberg’s Första varningen/First Warning; Leka med elden/Playing with Fire; and Oväder/Storm/Thunder in the Air). Note: In early radio and TV productions, press critics often signed their reviews with initials or pseudonyms. Not all of them are identifiable. Where identified, the full name of the critic is listed in parentheses after the signature. Sverige Radio (SR) was called Radiotjänst prior to 1955.
1946 260.
REKVIEM
Credits Production Playwright Director Music Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst Björn-Erik Höijer Ingmar Bergman Gösta Nystroem’s Overture Symphonique 1945 5 March 1946
Cast Dr. Berg Parson From (Pious) Mark, gravedigger/organist Mrs. Mark Elon Mark, their son Genoveva, Widow Mother Karina Sister Birgitta Trash collector Krantzén, attorney Lennerström, businessman
Sture Ericson Åke Fridell Otto Landahl Annika Tretow Birger Malmsten Carin Cederström Dagny Lind Marianne Nielsen Bertil Sjödin Gunnar Nielsen Ulf Johansson
Commentary This production for the radio was an adaptation of Bergman’s 1945 staging of Bengt-Erik Höijer’s play at the Hälsingborg City Theatre (see Ø 394). Höijer seems to have been of special interest to him, perhaps because his work represented a form of stark realism, coupled with a kind of primitive mysticism – not too far from Bergman’s own dramatic vision in a play like ‘Mordet i Barjärna’ (1954).
Reviews A.G. S-e (Anna Greta Ståhle). ‘Radiospalten’. DN, 16 March 1946, p. 10. Elle. ‘Radio. Rekviem’. SvD, 16 March 1946, p. 22. E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Hört i radio’. ST, 16 March 1946, p. 16. T.N. (Teddy Nyblom?)). ‘Rekviem från 1945’. AB, 17 March 1946, p. 11.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work 261.
RABIES
Credits Production Play Text Director Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst Ingmar Bergman’s adaptation of Olle Hedberg’s 1944 novel Slå dank [Loafing] Ingmar Bergman 19 May 1946
Cast Dr. Bo Stensson Svenningsson Jenny Knut Mosterson Sven Erik Rolf, a schoolboy Cronsvärd The Aunt Mrs. Svensson Eivor Sixten Garberg Wholesaler
Sture Ericson Carin Cederström Gunnar Nielsen Erland Josephson Birger Malmsten Curt Edgard Nils Hultgren Dagny Lind Maud Hyttenberg Annika Tretow Åke Fridell Ulf Johanson
Commentary This was a radio adaptation by Bergman of his Hälsingborg stage production of Olle Hedberg’s novel (see Ø 391). The brief reviews of the broadcast were mixed; one critic (G. V-n. in ST) called it one of the best broadcast productions in a long time, while Karin Schultz, a notorious negative critic in DN, wondered why the radio adaptation made such a deep impression when the performance was so weak.
Reviews Schultz, Karin. ‘Radiospalten’. DN, 20 May 1946, p. 11. Stenström, Urban. ‘Radio. Alla äter alla’ [Radio. All eat all]. SvD, 20 May 1946, p 11. V-n, G. ‘Hört i radio’ [Heard on the radio]. ST, 20 May 1946, p. 11.
262.
SOMMAR [Summer]
Credits Production Playwright Director Music Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst Björn Erik Höijer Ingmar Bergman Erland von Koch 12 December 1946
Cast The Grandmother Old Man Hansson Gunhild Jonas, her Son
Maria Schildtknecht Sven Miliander Kerstin Rabe Anders Ek
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Radio Productions Commentary Höijer’s radio drama won second prize in a contest for the best radio play of the year, but was much criticized when broadcast by Bergman with actors from the Göteborg City Theatre. Reviewers termed the play perverse in its glorification of a wife’s murder of her husband. Karin Schultz (DN) experienced a feeling of nausea while watching it, while another reviewer (T.N. in AB) turned off the radio in protest and called for censorship of such radio programs. Höijer declared in an interview prior to the broadcast that the murderous deed was to be seen as an act of liberation. Ingmar Bergman responded to questions asked by the Expr. newspaper by stating: ‘There are immense leaps in the play between the deepest horror and sweetest sublime poetry. I was aware that the piece would offend many [...]. In the beginning both the actors and myself felt that we might not be able to handle the whole thing. But gradually [...] we came to love the piece. There is no doubt whatsoever that this is great and ingenious poetry [...]. Personally, I am immensely moved by it’. [Det är oerhörda språng i pjäsen mellan den djupaste ruskighet och den ljuvaste sublima poesi. Jag var på det klara med att stycket skulle stöta många för huvudet. [...] I början kändes det både för skådespelarna och mig själv som om vi inte skulle gå iland med det hela. Men efterhand [...] kom vi att älska stycket. Det är inte någon som helst tvekan om att det är stor genial dikt. [...] jag är personligen oerhört gripen av det.] See ‘Det bästa i radio hittils eller upprörande dravel?’ [The best on radio so far or upsetting drivel?]. Expr., 14 December 1946, p.19. Ingmar Bergman portrayed Höijer in Röster i Radio, no. 50 (8-14 December) 1946, p. 14. Titled ‘Antagligen ett geni’ [probably a genius], the presentation is a subjective exposé in which Bergman explains his own visual fascination with Höijer’s work: ‘Björn-Erik Höijer’s short stories, novels and dramas make [...] me see images and hear people talk as from a stage or a film screen’. [B-E Hs noveller, romaner och dramer får [...] mig att se bilder och höra människor prata som från en scen eller en filmduk.]
Reviews L. D. ‘Hört i radio’ [Heard on the radio]. ST, 13 December 1946, p. 20. M.L. ‘Radio’. SvD, 13 December 1946, p. 19. T.N. (Teddy Nyblom?). ‘Radio rapsodi’. AB, 14 December 1946, p. 13. K. S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Radiospalten’. DN, 13 December 1946, p. 16. A new production of Höijer’s Sommar was broadcast in May 1951, (see Ø 272).
1947 263.
HOLLÄNDARN [The Dutchman]
Credits Production Playwright Radio Adaptation Director Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst August Strindberg Herbert Grevenius Ingmar Bergman 31 January 1947
Cast The Dutchman The Mother Lilith Ukko
Uno Henning Gerda Lundequist Gunnel Broström Toivo Pawlo
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Commentary Bergman’s radio production – a pan-Scandinavian broadcast – was the world premiere of Strindberg’s dramatic fragment from 1902. Most reviews focussed on Strindberg but Bergman received positive mention for his juxtaposition of dream and reality. Cf. Second production of Holländarn (Ø 282).
Reviews G. H. ‘Radiospalten’ [The radio column]. DN, 1 February 1947, p. 11. Nan (Nan Östman). ‘Radio. Strindbergspremiär’. SvD, 1 February 1947, p. 11. E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Radioteatern: Holländarn’. ST, 1 February 1947, p. 7.
264.
VÅGORNA [The Waves]
Credits Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst Gustav Sandgren Ingmar Bergman 10 September 1947
Cast Gösta Anna Erland
Sven Lindberg Bibi Skoglund Karl Arne Holmsten
Commentary Vågorna was a new play by Swedish novelist Gustav Sandgren about a woman hesitating between two men who represent different lifestyles: one embracing the imagination, the other a more down-to-earth view of reality. Bergman’s production received positive comments for its clarity and quiet tone, and for avoiding the director’s ‘usual frenzy’ [vanliga hetsighet] (DN). Grevenius (ST) felt that the presentation was like listening to chamber music.
Reviews A-d B-r. ‘Radiospalten’. DN, 11 September 1947, p. 11. Elle. ‘Vågorna’. SvD, 11 September 1947, p. 21. Gvs (Herbert Grevenius). ‘Radioteatern: Vågorna’. ST, 11 September 1947, p. 11.
265.
LEKA MED ELDEN [Playing with Fire]
Credits Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman 23 November 1947
Cast The Father The Mother Knut, their son Kerstin, daughter-in-law Axel Cousin Adèle
Olof Winnerstrand Gull Natorp Karl Arne Holmsten Gunn Wållgren Ulf Palme Anita Björk
376
Radio Productions Commentary Bergman’s image as a gloom-and-doom exponent of modern culture began to establish itself at this time, which may explain why reviewers did not feel that a Strindberg comedy was his right genre. Karin Schultz thought Bergman’s temperament was not suited to the task. Urban Stenström felt that Bergman was guided more by loyalty to Strindberg’s somewhat old-fashioned text than by his own creative inclination. Ella Taube in ST, however, praised Bergman’s maintenance of the comic tone of Strindberg’s play and his ability to create a vital sense of closeness to the characters.
Reviews E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Hört i radio’ [Heard on the radio]. ST, 24 November 1947, p. 4. Fale Bure.(Henning Olsson) ‘Strindberg byter ansikte’ [S. changes face]. GHT, 24 November 1947, p. K. S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Radiospalten’. DN, 24 November 1947, p 11. U. S-m (Urban Stenström). ‘Radio. August Strindberg’. SvD, 24 November, 1947, p. 5.
1948 266.
LODOLEZZI SJUNGER [Lodolezzi is singing]
Credits Production Playwright Radio Adaptation Director Music Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst Hjalmar Bergman Herbert Grevenius Ingmar Bergman Wilhelm Stenhammar 9 September 1948
Cast Renée Lodolezzi, Countess Bennichten Count Bennichten Their Son The Orderly The Unknown Dr. Claus Dr. Isak, Opera Director The Baroness His Royal Highness Lassen, Maitre d’hotel
Märta Ekström Stig Järrel Lasse Sarri Ivar Wahlgren Sture Ericson Einar Axelsson Toivo Pawlo Gull Natorp Gunnar Sjöberg Åke Engfeldt
Commentary Ingmar Bergman revived a 30-year-old play by his namesake Hjalmar Bergman and brought back old-time actress Märta Ekström in the title role. The production received mixed reviews both in terms of the play and the performance, but Ingmar Bergman’s direction was noted for its musicality.
Reviews C-a. ‘Konstnärskapets kval och lycka’ [The wiles and woes of being artist]. SvD, 10 September 1948, p. 18. K. S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Radiospalten. Gycklarnas skrå’ [The radio column. The guild of jesters]. DN, 10 September 1948, pp. 10-11. G. V-n. ‘Radioteatern: Lodolezzi sjunger’. ST, 10 September 1948, p. 10.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work 267.
MODERSKÄRLEK [Mother Love]
Credits Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman 4 November 1948
Cast The Mother, former prostitute The Daughter, actress Lisen, her girlfriend Theatre Costumier
Marianne Löfgren Anita Björk Eleonora Lindkvist Anna Lisa Baude
Commentary Two of Strindberg’s one-act plays – Moderskärlek and Första varningen [The First Warning] – were broadcast on the same evening, with a 10-minute Beethoven intermission. The first play was directed by Ingmar Bergman and the second one by veteran director Rune Carlsten. The reviews focussed mostly on the Carlsten production.
Reviews E. Rs. (Ellen Rydelius). ‘Radiospalten. Modersegoism och svartsjuka’ [The radio column. Maternal egoism and jealousy]. DN, 5 November 1948, p. 12. U. S-m (Urban Stenström). ‘Radio. Som en galning’ [Radio. Like a madman]. SvD, 5 November 1948, p. 14. E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Radioteatern: Två enaktare’. ST, 5 November 1948, p. 7.
1949 268.
KAMMA NOLL [Come Up Empty/To Draw Zero] Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman 14 July 1949
Cast Jan Karlberg, music professor Ingeborg, his wife Susanne, their daughter Martin, her boyfriend Gertrud, Karlberg’s mistress
Sture Ericson Margit Manstad Doris Svedlund Birger Malmsten Gerd Hagman
For synopsis, see Ø 403.
Commentary This was the first play authored by Bergman to be produced for the radio. Claes Hoogland (ST), who had encouraged Bergman’s work in the Stockholm Student Theatre in the early 1940s, remarked: ‘It has taken a long time for the radio to let forth the playwright Ingmar Bergman. Yesterday’s debut ought to have convinced how well suited his cues are for the microphone’. [Det har tagit lång tid för radion att släppa fram dramatikern Ingmar Bergman. Gårdagens debut bör ha övertygat om hur väl hans replik ligger till för mikrofonen.] But Karin Schultz in
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Radio Productions DN was critical both of Bergman’s plot and dialogue: ‘He has a searching mind that grasps the listeners. But the piece has evidently been written without reflection. The whole dialogue is stilted, which is surprising in such a trained theatre man and shows he has not tried very hard’. [Det finns ett sökande hos honom som tar ett grepp om åhörarna. Men stycket har tydligen kommit till utan eftertanke. Hela dialogen är skrivbordsmässig, vilket förvånar hos en så tränad teaterman och visar att han inte ansträngt sig.]
Reviews Hoogl. (Claes Hoogland) ‘Radioteatern: Kamma noll’. ST, 15 July 1949, p. 6. K. S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Radiospalten. Djävulens hårfrisörska’ [The radio column. The Devil’s hairdresser]. DN, 15 July 1949, p. 7.
See also Lars-Levi Læstadius. ‘Kamma noll’. Röster i Radio, no. 28 (10-16 July), 1949, p. 6. (Læstadius, who staged Kamma noll at the Hälsingborg City Theatre in 1948, predicts that Bergman will become an important playwright).
1950 269.
TOLVSKILLINGSOPERAN [The Three Penny Opera] Production Producer Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst Lorens Marmstedt Bertolt Brecht Ingmar Bergman 21 October 1950.
Excerpts from Intima Theatre stage production of Bergman’s Brecht production, entry (Ø 408).
1951 270.
MEDEA Production Producer Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst Lorens Marmstedt Jean Anouilh Ingmar Bergman 12 February 1951
Production was based on Bergman’s presentation of Anouilh’s play at the Intima Theatre in Stockholm in 1950 (21 October). See (Ø 409).
Cast Medea Jason Kreon Wetnurse A boy A guard
Gertrud Fridh Anders Ek Ulf Johanson Märta Arbin Birger Malmsten Gösta Prüzelius
379
Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Commentary Brief reviews focussed on the acting of Fridh (Medea) and Ek (Jason), with no mention of the director.
Reviews G. T-mer. (Gösta Tranströmer). ‘Medea och G. Vasa’. Expr., 13 February 1951, p. 4. Sg. (?). ‘Radiospalten. En annan Medea’ [The radio column. Another Medea]. DN, 13 February 1951, p. 8. E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Radioteatern: Medea’. ST, 13 February 1951, p. 9. P.E.W. (Per Erik Wahlund). ‘Radio. Anouilhs Medea’. SvD, 13 February 1951, p. 9.
271.
STADEN [The City] Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date Retransmitted
Radiotjänst Ingmar Bergman Olof Molander 9 May 1951 20 February 1966, and 22, 24 February and 2 March 2003 (P 1)
Synopsis The main character, Joakim Naken (Naked), returns to the city of his childhood, now in ruins. He is presented as a dream consciousness whose mind oscillates between past and present nightmares, culminating in his meeting with Death (Oliver Mortis); and with his imprisoned wife (Anne), condemned to death and his grandmother who gives him hope and encouragement.
Cast Joakim Waiter Pastor A Worker Marie Oliver Mortis Baloo Anne Schalter The Pump Poet Grandma
Olof Widgren Karl-Erik Flens Artur Cederborgh Nils Hulgren Eva Dahlbeck Jan-Olof Strandberg Ingvar Kjellson Anna Lindahl Anders Henrikson Lars Ekborg Sif Ruud
Commentary Ingmar Bergman presented his play in the radio magazine Röster i radio, no. 19, 1951, p. 7. He describes the setting as both an inner landscape, full of sounds and images, and an outer setting, a big and sooty French industrial city. When this production was rebroadcast on 20 February 1966, Ingmar Bergman discussed the play on the Swedish radio. (See Ollén, Ø 542, Chapter VII). In connection with a re-transmission of Staden in 2003, Maaret Koskinen was interviewed briefly on Swedish Public Radio about the background of the play (SR, P1, 22 February 2003). The director Olof Molander presented Staden as a Strindbergian dreamplay in which all the secondary characters were emanations of Joakim Naked’s mind. Reviews of the transmission reflect some uncertainty about Bergman’s status and development as a playwright. Was the play an ironic pastiche or a self-flagellating drama? That Staden depicted a life crisis was stressed in
380
Radio Productions all the reviews, but so was the play’s lack of inner resolution, as Joakim talks with a Christian vocabulary while denying the existence of God, heaven and hell. The piece was deemed convincing through its emotional intensity, yet seemed too full of modernist echoes (DN). G. Tranströmer in Expr. termed the play more or less incomprehensible to the general public. There was no denial of Bergman’s dramatic temper, but questions were raised about his literary talent: ‘Ingmar Bergman has the courage and the intensity but not an artisan’s mastery. Therefore he is still an immature poet’. [Ingmar Bergman har modet och hettan men inte konstsmedens förfarenhet. Därför är han alltjämt en halvgången diktare.] (ST).
Reviews G. H-n. ‘Radioteatern: Ingmar Bergmans Staden’. ST, 10 May 1951, p. 13. Lill. (Ellen Liliehök). ‘Radio. Staden’. SvD, 10 May 1951, p. 13. S-g. ‘Radiospalten. Ett drömspel’ [The radio column. A dreamplay]. DN, 10 May 1951, p. 12. G. T-mer (Gösta Tranströmer). ‘Radio. Ingmar Bergman’. Expr., 10 May 1951, p. 4.
272.
SOMMAR [Summer]
Credits Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst Björn-Erik Höijer Ingmar Bergman 16 August 1951
Cast Narrator Kristina Old Man Hansson Jonas, Kristina’s son Gunhild, his wife Solo Singer
Björn-Erik Höijer Tora Teje Sven Miliander Anders Ek Kerstin Rabe Maria Ribbing
Commentary Bergman’s production of Höijer’s play was based on a new version of the drama of the same name, broadcast five years earlier (see Ø 262). But Sommar was still referred to as an expressionistic Sturm und Drang piece, and the same questions were raised about the play’s moral stand: a mother condoning the murder of her son as an act of liberation. Reviewers were, however, less prone to criticize the moral theme and agreed that Sommar was very suited for the radio medium. They also praised Bergman for curbing the excessive tone of his earlier broadcast of the play, calling this production one of the high points in a bleak summer radio program (Wahlund, SvD). Exceptions were Karin Schultz who deplored the production of ‘det avskyvärda stycket’ [the abominable piece], and Sven Stolpe, who rejected the dramatic theme as shallow and melodramatic. Stolpe praised Bergman’s direction, however, which succeeded in covering up Höijer’s literary cliches. G. Tranströmer (Expr.) still found the play incomprehensible.
Reviews K. S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Radiospalten’. DN, 17 August 1951, p. 5. Stolpe, Sven. ‘Radioglimtar’ [Radio glimpses]. AB, 18 August 1951, p. 9. E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Radioteatern: Sommar’. ST, 17 August 1951, p. 8. G. T-mer (Gösta Tranströmer). ‘Radiokrönikan. Härlig är jorden’ [Radio chronicle. Lovely is the earth]. Expr., 20 August 1951, p. 4. P.E.W. (Per Erik Wahlund). ‘Radio. Sommar’. SvD, 17 August 1951, p. 16.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work 273.
VÄRMLÄNNINGARNA [The People of Värmland]
Credits Production Playwright Radio adaptation Director Dialect instructor Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst F. A. Dahlgren Vilhelm Moberg and Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Einar Fröding 25 December 1951
Cast Owner of large estate Annika, his wife The Parson Per His Wife Erik Britta Anna Bengt Jan Hansson Nils Runner Anders, farmhand Sven Ersson Stina
Lars Egge Märta Arbin Erik Rosén Ulf Johanson Sif Ruud Sven Lindberg Yvonne Lombard Eva Dahlbeck Anders Andelius Carl Ström Gunnar Olsson Björn Berglund Torsten Hillberg Meta Velander
Commentary F.A. Dahlgren’s 19th-century ‘musical’ (sångspel) was a traditional Christmas offering on Swedish radio. In 1951, Ingmar Bergman directed the piece in a version he adapted for the radio with Vilhelm Moberg. Six years later Bergman would conclude his Malmö contract with a much acclaimed stage production of Värmlänningarna. The reception of the 1951 broadcast of the play was mixed. Bergman had used a dialect expert to train the actors [the play is set in the western province of Värmland]; some reviewers found it to be an artificial approach, while others praised the local dialogue. Bergman, referred to as ‘an iconoclast and experimenter’ [en bildstormare och experimentator], was given credit for a production well adapted to the radio. Sven Stolpe (AB) found it ‘quick, insistent and clever’ [rapp, pådrivande och skicklig], with scenes edited in a filmic way.
Reviews E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Musik. Radioteatern: Värmlänningarna’. ST, 27 December 1951, p. 8. G. T-mer (Gösta Tranströmer). ‘Radio. Traditionen’. Expr., 27 December 1951, p. 4. Stolpe, Sven. ‘Radioteatern, Värmlänningarna’. AB, 27 December 1951, p. 13. U. S-m (Urban Stenström). ‘Julens radioteater’ [Christmas radio theatre]. SvD, 27 December 1951, p. 9.
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Radio Productions
1952 274.
NATTENS SKULDBÖRDA [The Night’s Burden of Guilt]
Credits Original Title Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Unknown Radiotjänst Alberto Perrini Ingmar Bergman 8 January 1952
Cast Giovanni His Companion/Shadow Rosina, seduced servant girl Guilia, a young girl The Judge/Constable Diego Piero
Stig Järrel Ulf Johanson Barbro Hiort af Ornäs Siv Thulin Erik Rosén Birger Malmsten Henrik Schildt
Commentary This radio play, written by the 33-year-old head of the Pope’s broadcasting office, was part of a Swedish Public Radio series of experimental radio dramas. Perrini was at the time considered a renewer of the radio play. Ingmar Bergman’s direction received favorable mention, while reviewers found the play more banal than experimental. Its subject matter and morality play form must have appealed to Ingmar Bergman. The plot revolves around a debauched man who seduces a young girl and is haunted by guilt and crushed by remorse. He recovers and is determined to start a new life. Sven Stolpe, a Catholic, was most positive in his assessment and called the presentation an example of ‘a theatre for the people, a Biblia pauperum of sound’ [en folkets teater, en ljudets Biblia pauperum].
Reviews E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Experimentteatern’. ST, 9 January 1952, p. 9. K. S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Radiospalten’. DN, 9 January 1952, p. 5. U. S-m (Urban Stenström). ‘Nattens skuldbörda’. SvD, 9 January 1952, p. 7. Stolpe, Sven. ‘Radioteatern. Nattens skuldbörda’. AB, 9 January 1952, p. 9.
275.
BROTT OCH BROTT [Crimes and Crimes]
Credits Production Playwright Radio adaptation Director Broadcast Date Retransmitted
Radiotjänst August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman 22 January 1952 15, 17, 23 February 2003
Cast Maurice, author Henriette Jeanne
Anders Ek Gertrud Fridh Doris Svedlund
383
Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Madame Cathrine Marion, their daughter The Abbé The Constable The Park Warden Adolphe, painter The Detective
Märta Arbin Margareta Nisborn Åke Claesson Henrik Schildt Erik Strandell Ulf Johanson Gösta Prüzelius
Commentary Reviews were mixed about the lasting quality of Strindberg’s play but unanimous about Bergman’s ability to transform it into an impressive radio performance, whose tempo and dramatic escalation made up for Strindberg’s psychologically unmotivated happy end. The reviewer in SvD, thought Bergman’s vision redeemed the play: ‘Through his solution (of the problematic ending), he confirmed once more that he is a theatre director who has reached mature mastership’. [Genom sin lösning (av det problematiska slutet) bekräftade han ännu en gång att han är en teaterregissör som har nått moget mästerskap.] When re-transmitted in February 2003, Ingmar Bergman spoke briefly about the structure of Strindberg’s play and, especially, its forced denouement.
Reviews E.T. (Ella Taube) ‘Radioteatern: Brott och brott’ [Radio theatre: Crimes and Crimes]. ST, 23 January 1952, p. 9. G. T-mer (Gösta Tranströmer). ‘Radio. Strindberg’. Expr., 23 January 1952, p. 4. Lgr. (?).’Radiospalten. Till Strindbergs minne’ [Strindberg in memoriam] DN, 23 January 1952, p. 7. Stolpe, Sven. ‘Radioteatern’. AB, 23 January 1952, p. 9. U. S-m. (Urban Stenström). ‘Radio. Spara på bränslet’ [Radio. Save on the fuel]. SvD, 23 April 1952, p. 16.
276.
BLODSBRÖLLOP [Blood Wedding]
Credits Production Playwright Director Music Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst Garcia Lorca Ingmar Bergman Hilding Rosenberg 6 March 1952
Cast Mother of the Bridegroom Leonardi His Wife Neighbor’s Wife The Bride Bride’s Father The Bridegroom Cutter Beggar Death Luna The Maid
Tora Teje Anders Ek Barbro Hjort af Ornäs Märta Arbin Maj-Britt Nilsson Åke Claesson Björn Berglund Lars Ekborg Henrik Schildt Olof Widgren Liskulla Jobs
384
Radio Productions Commentary and Reception Bergman’s radio version of Lorca’s play made it more of a peasant drama than a tragic passion play. It was well received, except by Karin Schultz in DN who claimed the production was ‘another example of the low artistic quality of broadcast theatre’ [ett nytt exempel på radioteaterns låga konstnärliga nivå], with a director who lacked a sense for the demands of the broadcast stage. This negative assessment might be contrasted to Urban Stenström’s view that with his sure dramaturgical instinct, Bergman ‘made the play stand out in a simple, clear and great way’ [fick pjäsen att resa sig framför en enkelt, klart och stort]. It is clear that by this time the critical view of Bergman’s work as a (radio) director was divided. Since the number of critics commenting on his radio work was relatively small, one could dismiss their voices as not representative enough. However, they wrote their columns in the capital’s leading papers and probably had a following among their readership. Beyond the question of their representational status looms another one: what caused the variation in the critical assessment of Bergman’s work? One likely answer is that in all his creative activity, Bergman challenged his audience to respond emotionally. Some critics accepted the challenge, others resented it. Those who accepted it moved on to evaluate his artistic talent; those who resented it tended to dismiss his work as high-strung and excessive.
Reviews K. S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Radiospalten. Sol och lidelse’ [The radio column. Sun and passion]. DN, 7 March 1952, p. 9. E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Radioteatern: Blodsbröllop’. ST, 7 March 1952, p. 9. G. T-mer (Gösta Tranströmer). ‘Radio. Gripenhet’ [Radio. Moving engagement]. Expr., 7 March 1952, p. 4. U. S-m (Urban Stenström). ‘Radio. Blodsbröllop’. SvD, 7 March 1952, p. 9.
277.
PÅSK [Easter]
Credits Production Playwright Radio adaptation Director Broadcast Date Retransmitted
Radiotjänst August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman 13 & 18 April 1952 21 March 1989
Cast Elis Anders Ek Kristina Eleonora Benjamin Mrs. Heyst Lindqvist
Barbro Hjort af Ornäs Maj-Britt Nilsson Birger Malmsten Tora Teje Gunnar Olsson
Commentary Bergman cut almost one-fourth of Strindberg’s play for his radio production and limited the sound effects to the ringing of church bells and the use of Haydn’s music. According to Stenström, ‘Haydn and Strindberg emerged as equals, so that one hardly knew who was accompanying whom’. [Haydn och Strindberg framstod nästan som likaberättigade, och man visste knappt vem som ackompanjerade vem].
385
Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Reviews: Hessler, Ole. ‘Allting hörs i ‘Påsk’’ [All is heard in ‘Easter’], DN, 22 March 1989. Stenström, Urban. ‘Påsk’, SvD, 15 April 1952.
See also Egil Törnqvist discusses Bergman’s radio production briefly in his book From Stage to Screen, 1995, pp. 191-194.
278.
DAGEN SLUTAR TIDIGT [The Day Ends Early]
Credits Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst Ingmar Bergman Bengt Ekerot 26 June 1952
Cast Ole Valborg Jenny Dr. Wärn Robert van Hijn, Jenny’s first husband Peter, actor Finger-Pella, beautician Pastor Broms Miss Wortzelius Fia Charlotta Jonsson, Student The Model Wholesaler Fredell
Jarl Kulle Elsa Prawitz Jullan Kindahl Willy Peters Anders Henrikson Jan Erik Lindqvist Toivo Pawlo Hugo Björne Margit Andelius Mona Geijer-Falkner Björn Bjelvenstam Inga Gill Douglas Håge
Synopsis See (Ø 397) in Chapter VI.
Commentary This radio production of Bergman’s play, directed by Bergt Ekerot, received positive comments for toning down the histrionic voice of the original. But all reviewers objected to Bergman’s use of the term ‘morality play’, since his drama lacked the theme of salvation characteristic of its medieval prototype. Instead, Dagen slutar tidigt was referred to as a psychological study of fear, ‘a thriller with an unusually large number of deaths and unusually little wit’ [en thriller med ett ovanligt stort antal dödsfall och ovanligt lite skarpsinne] (Schultz, DN). Bergman’s ability to create a strong emotional drama was noted favorably, but reviewers were critical of his dialogue and lack of character development.
Reviews K. S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Radiospalten. Spela en annan pjäs’ [The radio column. Play another piece]. DN, 27 June 1952, p. 11. HSjr. (Hemming Sten Jr.). ‘Dödens udd’ [Stab of Death]. ST, 27 June 1952, p. 9. P.E.W. (Per Erik Wahlund). ‘Radio. Dagen slutar tidigt’. SvD, 27 June 1952, p. 18.
386
Radio Productions See also Herbert Grevenius. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Röster i radio no. 26 (22-28 June) 1952, p. 13. A presentation of Bergman in connection with the broadcast of Dagen slutar tidigt, which was included in a radio series called ‘Ung svensk scendiktning’ [Young Swedish stage writing].
279.
EN VILDFÅGEL [La sauvage]
Credits Production Playwright Radio Adaptation Director Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst Jean Anouilh Stig Torsslow Ingmar Bergman 4 December 1952
Cast Thérèse Tarde Hartman Florent Jeanette Mme Tarde Dresser M. Tarde Maid Gösta, pianist M. Lebonze
Gertrud Fridh Georg Årlin Rune Thuresson Nine Christine Jönsson Naima Wifstrand Dagmar Bentzen Åke Fridell Gun Arvidsson Oscar Ljung Nils Fritz
Commentary Anouilh’s ‘piece noire’ La Sauvage had been produced on all major Swedish stages prior to this broadcast. Ingmar Bergman had directed it at the Göteborg City Theatre in 1949, using the same actress (Gertrud Fridh) in the lead role. Fridh received mostly glowing reviews for her radio performance, but Bergman’s direction had a mixed reception. Karin Schultz called it embarassingly theatrical. Urban Stenström termed it strong but uneven. Ella Taube found it ‘rather uninteresting’ [rätt ointressant].
Reviews Borglund, Tore. ‘Anouilh smalspårig?’ [A. on a narrow track?]. Expr., 5 December 1952, p. 23. K. S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Radiospalten. Det inhägnade paradiset’ [The radio column. The fencedin paradise]. DN, 5 December 1952, p. 12. U. S-m. (Urban Stenström). ‘Radio. En vildfågel’. 5 December 1952, p. 13 E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Radioteatern: En vildfågel’. SvD, 5 December 1952, p. 17.
1953 280.
MIG TILL SKRÄCK [Unto My Fear]
Credits Production Playwright Director
Radiotjänst Ingmar Bergman/Åke Falck (arr. for radio) Åke Falck
387
Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Broadcast Date Retransmitted
12 March 1953 7 July 1960
Cast Paul Erneman, book publisher Kersti Irene Mean Anders Isak, the Jew Carl Tobias
Sven Lindberg Georg Funkquist Maj-Britt Nilsson Gunnel Broström Sif Ruud Hans Lindgren Olof Sandborg: Olle Hilding Lars Ekborg
Synopsis See (Ø 399) in Chapter VI: Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre.
Commentary In Röster i radio 10, 1953 (8-14 March) 1953, pp 8-9, Bergman published a comment about the setting of his play, based on his maternal grandmother’s apartment in Uppsala, the same location where Fanny and Alexander takes place. This comment originally appeared in the program to the 1947 Göteborg production of Mig till skräck. The 1953 radio transmission of Mig till skräck confirmed the critical assessment of Bergman as talented, intense and immature. In the words of Hemming Sten Jr. (ST), the piece exposed both Bergman’s strength and flaws as a playwright; almost like a mantra the reviewers juxtaposed Bergman’s imaginative feeling for the theatre to his ‘ambition to make everything immensely exaggerated’ [strävan att göra allting så oerhört överdrivet]. This ‘imbalance’ was seen as the very essence of Bergman’s playwriting and was felt also in a production directed by someone other than Bergman himself.
Reviews Borglund, Tore. ‘Radio. Mig till skräck’. Expr., 13 March 1953, p. 19. HSjr. (Hemming Sten Jr.). ‘Hört i radio. Mig till skräck’. ST, 13 March 1953, p. 11. U. S-m. (Urban Stenström). ‘Mig till skräck’. SvD, 13 March 1953, p. 11.
281.
EN LUSTELD ELLER UNGA PRÄSTER PREDIKA BÄST [A Passion or Young Priests Preach the Best]
Credits Original title Production Playwright Translator Director Broadcast Date Retransmitted
Une passion Radiotjänst Alfred de Musset Hjalmar Gullberg Ingmar Bergman 16 April 1953 1961, under the title ‘En nyck’
Cast Count de Chavigny Mathilde, his wife Madame de Léry A servant
Gunnar Björnstrand Maj-Britt Nilsson Inga Tidblad Sten Hedlund
388
Radio Productions Commentary The lusty tone of Musset’s play may have contributed to Bergman’s 1955 film comedy Sommarnattens leende (Smiles of a Summer Night). To the reviewers, Bergman combined frivolity and morality, the latter aimed at the libertine husband Count de Chavigny, somewhat reminiscent of Count Malcolm in Smiles....
Reviews K. S-z. (Karin Schultz). ‘Radiospalten’. DN, 17 April 1953, p. 10. U. S-m. (Urban Stenström). ‘Radio. En lusteld’. SvD, 17 April 1953, p. 11. E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Hört i radio’. ST, 17 April 1953, p. 8.
282.
HOLLÄNDARN [The Dutchman]
Credits Producer Playwright Radio Adaptation Director Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst August Strindberg Herbert Grevenius Ingmar Bergman 8 October 1953
Cast The Dutchman Amelie The Mother Lilith Gösta, druggist Ukko Goldsmith
Uno Henning Märta Arbin Tora Teje Eva Dahlbeck Gösta Gustafson Ulf Palme Axel Högel
Commentary This was Bergman’s second radio production of Strindberg’s dramatic fragment Holländarn about an artist who falls in love for the seventh time but in the end finds joy, not in love but in his creativity. The reception was rather critical. Karin Schultz wrote categorically: ‘... if there is one thing he (Bergman) cannot do, it is to direct radio drama. He is an artist of the eye’. [Om det är en sak han inte kan, så är det att regissera radiodramatik. Han är ögats konstnär]. Bergman was also criticized for bringing in naturalistic sound effects in a dreamplay like Holländarn (Urban Stenström).
Reviews Borglund, Tore. ‘Radio. Miljoner öron lyssnade’ [Radio. Millions of ears listened]. Expr., 9 October 1953, p. 27. (Title refers to a sports broadcast, not to Bergman’s play production). S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Radiospalten. Det stora namnet’ [Radio column. The big name]. DN, 9 October 1953, p. 12. U. S-m. (Urban Stenström). ‘Radio. Nålar i silkeslakan’ [Radio. Needles in silk sheets]. SvD, 9 October 1953, p. 13. E. T. (Ella Taube). ‘Radioteatern: Holländarn’. ST, 9 October 1953, p. 11.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work
1954 283.
TRÄMÅLNING [Painting on Wood]
Credits Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Radiotjänst Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman 24 September 1954
Cast The Narrator Maria The Knight Jöns, the Squire The Witch Plog, the Smith Lisa The Actor Knight’s wife
Ingmar Bergman Jane Friedmann Bengt Ekerot Gunnar Björnstrand Eva Dahlbeck Jan-Erik Lindkvist Ulla Sjöblom Gunnar Sjöberg Birgitta Hellerstedt
Commentary The radio production of Bergman’s play [for a brief comment, see Ø 424] was not well received in the few papers that reviewed it. One critic (Bengt Grafström, Expr) wrote: ‘Bergman had no real grip [on his work], one got the impression he used greater force than was called for to present rather banal thoughts’. [Bergman hade inget riktigt grepp, man fick intrycket att han använde större kraft än vad som krävdes för att presentera ganska banala tankar.] Karin Schultz thought the performance lacked direction and was too melodramatic, while Margereta Sjögren, though praising the acoustic resonance of the production, criticized Bergman for encouraging an exaggerated form of acting and for performing his own role as Narrator ‘like an untrained schoolboy’ [som en otränad skolpojk].
Reviews Grafström, Bengt. ‘Radiokrönikan. Som sista nummer’ [The radio chronicle. As the last number]. Expr., 22 September 1954, p. 23. Jolanta (Margareta Sjögren). ‘Trämålning’. SvD, 23 September 1954, p. 13. K. S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Radio. Uppbyggelsens timmar’ [Radio. Hours of edification]. DN, 22 September 1954, p. 12.
284.
ETT BORD AV APEL [A Table of Apple Wood]
Credits Production Author Radio adaptation Director Broadcast Date Retransmitted
Radiotjänst Herman Melville Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman 12 December 1954 24 April 1960
Cast Husband/Narrator
Åke Fridell
390
Radio Productions The Wife Julia Anna Professor Johnson The Maid
Gaby Stenberg Berit Gustafsson Harriet Andersson Toivo Pawlo Nine-Christine Jönsson
Commentary and Reception This was a dramatization of a short story by Melville, originally arranged for the radio by P. Lockwood. Reviewers considered Melville’s piece too novellistic and recommended a recitation instead. The criticism of Bergman’s direction was harsh, and the production was called ‘a severe disappointment’ [en svår besvikelse], a spooky performance that ‘changed Melville’s tone of frailty ... to shrieks and thunderous noise’ [förändrade M’s sköra ton till skrik och dundrande oväsen] (Borglund, Expr.]. Karin Schultz (DN) upbraided Ingmar Bergman for ‘letting loose his directorial art on the miserable actors’ [Bergman släppte lös sin regikonst på de stackars skådespelarna].
Reviews Borglund, Tore. ‘Radio. Svår besvikelse’ [Radio. Grave disappointment]. Expr., 13 December 1954, p. 31. Jolanta. (Margareta Sjögren). ‘Radio. Det spökar’ [Radio. The ghosts are out]. SvD, 13 December 1954, p. 13. K. S-z [Karin Schultz]. ‘Skakar en tom säck’ [Shaking an empty bag]. DN, 13 December 1954, p. 17. E.T. [Ella Taube]. ‘Hört i radio’ [Heard on the radio]. ST, 13 December 1954, p. 13.
1955 285.
BOLLEN [The Ball]
Credits Original Title Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date Retransmitted
La palla Sveriges Radio Carlo Fruttero Ingmar Bergman 21 May 1955 8 July 1958
Cast Filip Ludvig Key The Commissioner The Concierge Two Constables
Gunnar Björnstrand Åke Fridell Jullan Kindahl Nils Nygren, Rune Thuresson
Commentary Fruttero’s psychological radio thriller is part courtroom drama, part self-revelation by a man whose crime is murder of his social self. Reviewers considered Ingmar Bergman’s direction and the two main actors superior to the play itself. Particular mention was made of the acoustic effects: ‘The performance was remarkable. It was subdued to the point of whispers and utilized silences to the utmost to create a suggestive mood’. [Föreställningen var märklig. Den var
391
Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work dämpad näst intill viskningar och använde tystnader till det yttersta för att skapa suggestiv stämning, Borglund, Expr.]
Reviews Borglund, Tore. ‘Radio. Lördagspärla’ [Radio. Saturday pearl]. Expr., 22 May 1955, p. 35. Lgr. (?). ‘Radio. Radioteaterns repertoarnöd’ [Radio. The radio theatre’s lack of repertory]. DN, 22 May 1955, p. 17. U. S-n. (Urban Stenström). ‘Radio. Ni är misstänkt!’ [Radio. You are under suspicion!]. SvD, 22 May 1955, p. 17. E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Hört i radio’ [Heard on the radio]. ST, 22 May 1955, p. 15. This production was also broadcast on Danish Radio (DR) on 17 January 1959.
286.
MUNKEN GÅR PÅ ÄNGEN [The Monk Walks in the Meadow]
Credits Original Title Production Play Text Translator Director Broadcast Date
Munken gaar i Enge Sveriges Radio Carl Gandrup Ivo Jensen Ingmar Bergman 29 September 1955
Cast Pastor Ambrosius Elgive, his wife Karl Vitus, PhD, ‘the Monk’ Maid Male nurses
Ulf Palme Birgitta Valberg Bengt Ekerot Margareta Krook Gösta Prüzelius, Gunnar Nielsen
Commentary Gandrup’s play from the 1920s is about a runaway lunatic, who serves as a catalyst in a marital conflict between a clergyman and his wife and could have been a morality play written by Ingmar Bergman. In fact, one is reminded of Bergman’s play Mordet i Barjärna from about this time (1954). Reviewer Karin Schultz recognized Bergman’s persona in the abysmal shriek that ‘blocked the loudspeakers and put an end to Carl Gandrup’s Munken går på ängen. The shriek was so wild, long, and horrifying that everyone understood it had to be Ingmar Bergman who directed the play’ [blockerade högtalarna och satte punkt för Carl Gandrups Munken går på ängen. Tjutet var så vilt, långdraget och fasansfullt att var och en förstod att det måste vara Ingmar Bergman som regisserade pjäsen]. All the reviewers felt in fact that in this production Bergman overdid the expressionistic potential of the drama.
Reviews n.a. ‘Radiokrönikan. I underligt sällskap’ [Radio chronicle. In a strange company]. Expr., 30 September 1955, p. 29. Jolanta (Margareta Sjögren). ‘Radio. Det mefistofeliska’ [Radio. The Mefistophelean]. SvD, 30 September 1955, p. 5. I. O-e (Ingvar Orre ). ‘Hört i radio’. ST, 30 September 1955, p. 13. K. S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Radio. Ett avgrundsskrik’ [Radio. An abysmal shriek]. DN, 30 September 1955, p. 21.
392
Radio Productions
1956 287.
FARMOR OCH VÅR HERRE [Grandmother and Our Lord]
Credits Production Play Text Radio adaptation Director Broadcast Date
Sveriges Radio Hjalmar Bergman Herbert Grevenius & Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman 1 January 1956
Cast Grandmother Agnes Borck August, her son Frida, her daughter Axel, her youngest son Grandchild Nathan A Beggar Emma, housekeeper Axelsson
Tora Teje Henrik Schildt Renée Björling Håkan Westergren Gunnar Björnstrand Gösta Gustafson Sif Ruud Josua Bengtson
Commentary Hjalmar Bergman’s classical novel, dramatized and performed on a number of European stages, including Dramaten in Stockholm, was produced for the radio by Ingmar Bergman, with veteran actress Tora Teje in the lead role (Teje had also played the part in a Dramaten production some 15 years earlier). The play version of Hjalmar Bergman’s novel about the matriarchal Grandma and her grandson Nathan, which was originally termed a comedy, became more of a family tragedy in Ingmar Bergman’s version. The broadcast was a great success, and Sveriges Radio was urged to make the production part of its regular repertory. As so often in positive reviews of Bergman’s radio work, his sense of timing and the ensemble performance were considered remarkable: ‘Ingmar Bergman led the actors with mastery, the ensemble acting had a pure musical effect’. [Bergman ledde trion med mästerskap, samspelet fick en rent musikalisk effekt.] (SvD, 2 January 1956, p. 22)
Reviews Borglund, Tore. ‘Farmor Tora och farbror Sven’ [Grandma Tora and Uncle Sven]. Expr., 2 January 1956, p. 10. Jolanta (Margareta Sjögren). ‘Ett magnifikt solo’ [A magnificent solo]. SvD, 2 January 1956, p. 22. Lgr.(?). ‘Radio’. DN, 2 January 1956, p. 15. Sbg. (?). ‘Radio i går’. AB, 2 January 1956, p. 7. E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Hört i radio’. ST, 2 January 1956, p. 15.
288.
VOX HUMANA [La voix humaine]
Credits Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date Retransmitted
Sveriges Radio Jean Cocteau Ingmar Bergman 16 February 1956 9, 14, 17 February 2003
393
Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Cast The Voice
Märta Ekström
Commentary This broadcast of Cocteau’s radio monologue was produced five years earlier according to a newspaper notice but no record of an earlier transmission has been found. Its 1956 broadcast was a tribute to the veteran actress Märta Ekström who had just died. See: Tore Borglund, ‘Radio-TV’. Expr., 17 February 1956, p. 18.
289.
DET GAMLA SPELET OM ENVAR [Everyman]
Credits Production Playwright Director Music vignettes Broadcast Date Repeat transmission
Sveriges Radio Hugo von Hoffmansthal Ingmar Bergman Ingvar Wieslander 1 April 1956 14 July 2003, with brief interview with Bergman
Cast The Prologue God The Devil Death Everyman Companion Mammon Everyman’s mother The Wife Poor Neighbor The Creditor Lust Good Deeds Lean Cousin Fat Cousin
Oscar Ljung Anders Frithiof Benkt Åke Benktsson Sture Ericson Max von Sydow Åke Fridell Toivo Pawlo Naima Wifstrand Harriet Hedenmo Rune Turesson Yngve Nordwall Eva Stiberg Berit Gustafsson Nils Eklund Åke Askner
Commentary Von Hoffmansthal’s 1912 version of the English 14th-century morality play ‘Everyman’ focusses more on Man’s loneliness in the face of death than on his lifestyle, which threatens to destroy a Christian’s road to salvation. This modern eschatological version of the medieval drama was in line with Ingmar Bergman’s own play Trämålning and his film Det sjunde inseglet. When the production was re-broadcast on Bergman’s 85th birthday (upon his request), he talked briefly about the play, treating it as an original German classic rather than an adaptation of a medieval English morality play.
Reviews Borglund, Tore. ‘Radio – TV. Nojs och dödsallvar vägg i vägg’ [Radio-TV. Funmaking and deathly seriousness side by side]. Expr., 2 April 1956, p. 18. Jolanta (Margareta Sjögren). ‘Envar’[Everyman]. SvD, 3 April 1956, p. 9. P.H. (?). ‘Radioteatern: Det gamla spelet’ [Radio theatre: The old play (about Everyman)]. ST, 3 April 1956, p. 9.
394
Radio Productions 290.
TUNNELN [The Tunnel]
Credits Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date Retransmitted
Sveriges Radio Pär Lagerkvist Ingmar Bergman 23 May 1956 2 June 1960
Cast Man in Tuxedo The Hunchback
Åke Fridell Toivo Pawlo
Commentary To honor the author, Nobel Prize winner Pär Lagerkvist, on his 65th birthday, the Swedish radio staged broadcast versions of two of his plays. One of them was the one-act Tunneln, directed by Ingmar Bergman, who toned down Lagerkvist’s expressionistic drama about two men who meet in a realm between life and death. The reviews were only brief notices.
Reviews Grafström, Bengt. ‘På 65-årsdagen’ [On his 65th birthday]. Expr., 24 May 1956, p. 20. Lgr. (?). ‘Radio. Litterär minnesdag’ [Literary memorial day]. DN, 24 May 1956, p. 13. U. S-m. (Urban Stenström). ‘Tunneln’. SvD, 24 May 1956, p. 13. E.T. (Ella Taube) ‘Hört i radio. Två styva inslag’ [Heard on the radio. Two clever features]. ST, 24 May 1956, p. 11.
291.
PORTRÄTT AV EN MADONNA [Portrait of a Madonna]
Credits Production Playwright Radio adaptation Director Broadcast Date
Sveriges Radio Tennessee Williams Herbert Grevenius Ingmar Bergman 2 December 1956
Cast Lucretia Collins The Doctor The Porter Cleaning Woman Elevator Boy Mr. Abrams, landlord
Inga Tidblad Henrik Schildt John Elfström Olga Appellöf Björn Gustafsson Helge Hagerman
Commentary Tennessee Williams’ portrait of a Southern spinster was considered a trifle of a drama. The lead role was played by veteran actress Inga Tidblad; she received respectful notices, but according to the reviewers, neither she nor Bergman could rescue the play.
Reviews Borglund, Tore. ‘Advent utan ljus’ [Advent without candles]. Expr., 3 December 1956, p. 15. Lucia (Louise Gräslund). ‘Lucretia Collins’. SvD, 3 December 1956, p. 11. Nyberg, Ulf. ‘Radion i går’. AB, 3 December 1956, p. 11. O-e. (Ingvar Orre). ‘Hört i radio’. ST, 3 December 1956, p. 20.
395
Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Radio. Sjuka själars malande’ [Radio. The churning of sick souls]. DN, 3 December 1956, p. 21.
1957 292.
FÅNGEN [The Prisoner]
Credits Production Playwright Radio Adaptation Director Broadcast Date
Sveriges Radio Bridget Boland Erik Müller Ingmar Bergman 19 April 1957
Cast The Cardinal/The Prisoner The Interrogator The Guard
Uno Henning Gunnar Björnstrand Gunnar Olsson
Commentary This play about the psychological breaking-down of a Cardinal by a brainwashed Communist interrogator became, in Bergman’s direction, a morality play about guilt rather than a political drama.
Reviews Borglund, Tore. ‘Radio-TV. Sumpade chanser’ [Radio-TV. Missed chances]. Expr., 20 April 1957, p. 10. Jolanta (Margareta Sjögren). ‘Ni kan inte döma’ [You cannot judge...]. SvD, 20 April 1957, p. 11. Nyberg, Ulf. ‘Radion i går’. AB, 20 April 1957, p. 14. E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Vad blev man..’. [What did one become...]. ST, 20 April 1957, p. 9.
293.
FALSKSPELARE [Cheaters]
Credits Original Title Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Igroki Sveriges Radio Nikolai Gogol Ingmar Bergman 16 November 1957
Cast Glov Sjvochnev Glov Jr. Utesjiteljny Alexej Krugel Icharev Zamuchryskin
Benkt-Åke Benktsson Max von Sydow Toivo Pawlo Åke Fridell Nils Eklund Rune Turesson Gunnar Björnstrand Yngve Nordwall
396
Radio Productions Commentary After the death of actor Benkt-Åke Benktsson, the Swedish radio presented a broadcast version of Gogol’s play with Benktsson in one of the roles. The production had been completed shortly before Benktsson’s demise. The brief reviews praised Bergman’s Malmö ensemble but felt that the play was not suitable for the radio medium.
Reviews Hancock, Bill. ‘Falskspelare och snoddism’ [Cheaters and ‘snoddism’ (term coined after popular singer Snoddas – Gösta Nordgren)]. Expr., 17 November 1957, p. 14. S. Json. (Sten Jonsson?). ‘Radio. Urpremiär’ [Radio. First opening]. SvD, 17 November 1957, p. 14. Lgr. (?). ‘Radio. Benkt-Åke Benktsson’. DN, 17 November 1957, p. 18. Miller, Jack. ‘Radion i går’. AB, 17 November 1957, p. 13. E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Hört i radio’. ST, 17 November 1957, p. 13.
1958 294.
SAGAN [The Legend]
Credits Production Playwright Radio adaptation Director Broadcast Date
Sveriges Radio Hjalmar Bergman Claes Hoogland & Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman 18 September 1958
Cast The Saga [Legend] Astrid Rose Ehrenståhl Gerhard Mr. Sune Chamber Orderly Colonel’s Wife The Narrator
Bibi Andersson Gunnel Lindblom Ingrid Thulin Oscar Ljung Max von Sydow Folke Sundquist Toivo Pawlo Dagny Lind Ingmar Bergman
Commentary As an hommage to Hjalmar Bergman on what would have been his 75th anniversary, the Swedish radio theatre presented Ingmar Bergman’s production of the play ‘Sagan’ with the same ensemble as in his 1957 Malmö staging. Excerpts from that staging had been broadcast on 15 May 1958. Many felt that the piece was not suitable as a radio broadcast.
Reviews Borglund, Tore. ‘Radio. För fattig för sagor’ [Radio. Too poor for fairy tales]. Expr., 19 September 1958, p. 24. Lgr. (?). ‘Radio. Hjalmar Bergmans minnesdag’ [Radio. Hjalmar Bergman’s memorial day]. DN, 19 September 1958, p. 23. Miller, Jack. ‘Radion i går’. AB, 19 September 1958, p. 17.
397
Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Hört i radio. Otillräcklig ensemble i Bergmans ‘Sagan’ [Heard on the radio. Inadequate ensemble in B’s Legend]. ST, 19 September 1958, p. 11. Stenström, Urban. ‘Radio. En bitter saga’ [Radio. A bitter fairy tale]. SvD, 19 September 1958, p. 21.
295.
DEN SOM INTET HAR [He Who Has Nothing]
Credits Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Sveriges Radio Bengt Anderberg Ingmar Bergman 13 November 1958
Cast Isak Johannes Anna The Witch Narrator
Max von Sydow Oscar Ljung Marianne Stjernqvist Gudrun Brost Nils Nygren
Commentary This 20-minute modernized version of La Fontaine’s fable ‘The Wolf and the Lamb’ and H.C. Andersen’s tale ‘Big Claus and Little Claus’ is a macabre story of injustice and cruelty. Reviewers spoke of Ingmar Bergman’s direction as penetrating and sharp.
Reviews Borglund, Tore. ‘Radio. Anderbergs grimas’ [Radio. A’s grimace]. Expr., 14 November 1958, p. 24. Lgr. (?). ‘Den som intet har’. [He who has nothing] DN, 14 November 1958, p. 19. Miller, Jack. ‘Radion i går’ [Radio yesterday]. AB, 14 November 1958, p. 13. Stenström, Urban. ‘...lagom torr’ [...not too dry]. SvD, 14 November 1958, p. 15.
1960 296.
FÖRSTA VARNINGEN [The First Warning]
Credits Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Sveriges Radio August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman 11 August 1960
Cast The Gentleman His Wife Rosa The Baroness
Gunnar Björnstrand Eva Dahlbeck Mona Malm Birgitta Valberg
Commentary Strindberg’s one-act comedy, originally called ‘The First Tooth’ and accepted (but never performed) at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in 1892, was broadcast under Bergman’s direction with
398
Radio Productions Gunnar Björnstrand and Eva Dahlbeck in the lead roles. The two had established their acting rapport as a comedy couple in Bergman’s films Kvinnors väntan (1952), En lektion i kärlek (1954) and Sommarnattens leende (1955).
Reviews Borglund, Tore. ‘Rumsren Strindberg’ [S. presentable]. Expr., 12 August 1960, p. 12. Lgr. ‘Radio. Strindbergs “Första varningen”’. DN, 12 August 1960, p. 7. S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Radioteatern. Erotiskt trassel’ [Radio theatre. Erotic entanglement]. ST, 12 August 1960, p. 7. Stenström, Margaret. ‘Radio. Första varningen’. SvD, 12 August 1960, p. 9.
See also Matts Rying. ‘En lektion i skådespelarkonst’ [A lesson in acting]. Röster i Radio-TV, 32/1960 (713 August). Egil Törnqvist comments briefly on this production in his book Bergman’s Muses, 2003, pp. 3739. This production was also transmitted on Danish Radio (DR) on 10 December 1960.
297.
KALKMÅLERI (Trämålning/Wood Painting)
Credits Production Playwright Director Translator Broadcast Dates Length
Danmarks Radio (DR), P 1 Ingmar Bergman Johannes Marott Aage Henriksen 4 March 1960 and 26 September 1989 43 minutes
Cast Narrator The Actor The Girl The Smith Jens (Jöns) Maria The Knight Lisa The Witch Karin
Kjeld Jacobsen Henrik Wiehe Ebba Nørager Johannes Meyer Hans Kurt Tove Maes Palle Huld Birgitte Reimer Kirsten Rolffes Lisbeth Movin
Reviews Elmquist, Carl Johan. ‘Dødedans’ [Dance of Death]. Politiken, 5 March 1960, p. 8.
1961 298.
MÅLA PÅ KYRKJEVEGG (Trämålning/Wood Painting)
Credits Production Playwright
Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK) Ingmar Bergman
399
Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Director Translator Broadcast Date Length
Bjarne Andersen Halldis Moren Vesaas 17 January 1961 44 minutes
Cast Narrator The Girl Jøns The Knight The Witch The Smith Maria The Juggler Lisa Karin
299.
Nils Hald Elisabeth Bang Joachim Calmeyer Johan Norlund Astrid Folstad Henrik Børseth Ruth Tellefsen Alf Sommer Ingebjørg Sem Astrid Sommer
LEKA MED ELDEN [Playing with Fire]
Credits Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Sveriges Radio August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman 22 January 1961
Cast The The The The The
Father Mother Son, painter Friend Cousin
Gunnar Björnstrand Birgitta Valberg Ulf Palme Max von Sydow Bibi Andersson
Commentary According to the reviews, this radio version of Strindberg’s one-act comedy became, under Bergman’s sophisticated and by now restrained direction, not a playing with fire but with matches (Grafström) or light bulbs (Schultz). The critical reaction ranged from praising ‘a virtuosity performance’ to criticizing Bergman’s instruction of the actors who emphasized everything artificial and clumsy in the dialogue. One reviewer (Nordelius) voiced a commonly held Swedish view at the time that Ingmar Bergman was a poor writer of dialogue in his films. With this radio production of Strindberg’s Leka med elden Bergman, according to Nordelius, paid back a debt to the playwright he had tried in vain to imitate.
Reviews Grafström, Bengt. ‘Högt komedispel’ [Great comic acting]. Expr., 23 January 1961, p. 18. Lgr. ‘Radio. Leka med Strindberg’ [Radio. Playing with Strindberg]. DN, 23 January 1961, p. 15. Nordelius, Karl Olov. ‘Tack Ingmar Bergman!’ [Thank you, Bergman!]. AB, 23 January 1961, p. 9. S-z (Karin Schultz). ‘Leka med glödlampor’ [Playing with light bulbs]. ST, 23 January 1961, p. 7. Stenström, Margaret. ‘Radio. Glada brasor’ [Radio. Happy fires]. SvD, 23 January 1961, p. 11. This production was broadcast on Danish Radio on 10 October 1989. The broadcast included a brief Danish introduction.
400
Radio Productions See also Ring, Lars. ‘Tidiga pjäser låter oss kika in i Bergmans verkstad’. SvD, 13 February 1998, pp. 14-15. Törnqvist, Egil. Bergman’s Muses, 2003, pp. 39-41.
300.
EN NYCK (A caprice) Broadcast Date
3 April 1961
This was a production recorded under a different name (‘En lusteld’) in 1953 (see Ø 281).
Reviews Lgr. ‘Radio. En nyck’. DN, 4 April 1961, p. 15. M.S. ‘Kvävd lusteld’ [Suffocated passion]. SvD, 4 April 1961, p. 15. Von Rettig, Claes. ‘Fransk lektion i otrohet i nöjsamt radioföredrag’ [French lesson in unfaithfulness in amusing radio program]. AB, 4 April 1961, p. 9.
301.
RUCKLARENS VÄG [The Rake’s Progress] Live transmission broadcast from the Royal Opera in Stockholm on 7 May 1961. For credits, See (Ø 489) in Opera section, theatre chapter.
1965 302.
FÖR ALICE (Tiny Alice) Broadcast Date
9 December 1965
Radio transmission of Bergman’s Dramaten production of Albee’s play Tiny Alice. (See Ø 442.)
1966 303.
RANNSAKNINGEN [The Investigation] Broadcast Date
13 September 1966
Broadcast excerpts from Bergman’s production at Dramaten of Peter Weiss stage play. For credits, see (Ø 443) in theatre chapter (VI).
1967 304.
BYEN [Staden]
Credits Production Playwright Director Length Broadcast Date
Danmarks Radio (DR), P1 Ingmar Bergman Harry Katlev 60 minutes 10 November 1967 and 3 October 1989
401
Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Cast Joakim Naken Anne Schalter The Servant The Pump The Pastor The Poet The Worker Grandmother Marie Baloo Oliver Mortis
Erik Mørk Annegrethe Nissen Ole Monty Elith Pio Poul Müller Palle Huld Mogens Hermansen Helga Frier Rita Angela Gunnar Strømvad Poul Bundgaard
Commentary Danish production of Trämålning [Wood Painting]. No reviews have been located.
1969 305.
WOYZECK Broadcast date
25 April 1969 (Prod. no. 537). Radio adaptation of Dramaten production of Büchner’s play. For credits, see (Ø 446).
1972 306.
VILDANDEN [The Wild Duck] Broadcast Date
22 March 1972
Broadcast excerpts from Bergman’s production at Dramaten of Henrik Ibsen’s stage play. For credits, see (Ø 450).
1984 307.
EN HÖRSÄGEN [A Hearsay]
Credits Production Playwright Director Broadcast Date
Sveriges Radio, P 1 Erland Josephson Ingmar Bergman 2 and 7 September 1984
Cast Erland Isa Kallenius Ludvig
Erland Josephson Jane Friedmann Jan Olof Strandberg Peter Stormare
402
Radio Productions Commentary This was one of Swedish Radio Theatre’s two contributions to the broadcast contest Prix Italia. Bergman looked upon the production as an experiment to return to the broadcast medium. No reviews have been located, but there was a brief write-up about the production in DN, 2 September 1984 in column ‘Radio idag’ (Radio today).
1990 308.
EN SJÄLSLIG ANGELÄGENHET [A Matter of the Soul]
Credits Production Playwright Director Broadcast date Length
Sveriges Radio, P 1 Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman 10, 11, 20 and 24 January 1990 78 minutes
Cast Victoria Older Woman
Jane Friedmann Aino Taube
For brief synopsis, see (Ø 199) in Chapter II. In a postscript to the production, Stefan Johansson talked about Ingmar Bergman’s 40 years as a radio director.
Commentary Bergman had written this radio monodrama in 1972. Years later a radio production of it was scheduled for the fall of 1988, but when the head of the theatre section at SR, Per Lysander, resigned in protest over an administrative trend to popularize the repertory, Bergman, in solidarity, withdrew the production. A good account of this incident can be found in the Danish newspaper Fyens Stiftstidende (‘Skuespillerboykot af Sveriges Radio’) [Actors boycot Swedish Radio], 17 February 1988. See Theatre/media bibliography, chapter VII (Ø 621) and Interview chapter (VIII), 1988, Ø 914. The play was finally broadcast two years later, in January 1990. En själslig angelägenhet was broadcast in English as ‘A Matter of the Soul’ on BBC Radio 3 in March 1990; in German as ‘Eine Seelengelegenheit’ on NDR (Norddeutsche Rundfunk) in 1990, and on Danish Radio (DR) as ‘Et sjæleligt anliggende’ on 6 and 7 November 1990.
Reviews Borglund, Tore. ‘En kvinna i livets rävsax. Ingmar Bergmans starka radiopjäs’ [A woman in life’s trap. Bergman’s strong radio play]. Arbetet, 11 January 1990, p. 5. Nilsson, Björn. ‘En röst i drömmens allrum’ [A voice in our collective dream]. Expr., 20 January 1990, p. 4. Egil Törnqvist discusses Bergman’s radio production of the play in his book Between Stage and Screen, 1995, pp. 195-198.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work
1999 309.
OVÄDER [Storm]
Credits Production Playwright Director Music Running time Broadcast Date
Sveriges Radio, P 1 August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Käbi Laretei 64 minutes 29 August and 3, 4, 5 September 1999
Cast The Gentleman The Brother Ex-wife Gerda Louise, the maid Confectioner Starck Mrs. Starck Confectioner’s Daughter The Iceman The Lamplighter The Mailman
Erland Josephson Ingvar Kjellson Ewa Fröling Maria Bonnevie Hans Alfredsson Gertrud Mariano Nadja Weiss Göran Wistedt Tord Peterson Magnus Ehrner
Commentary Bergman’s radio production of Oväder was part of an SR series of Strindberg broadcasts. Ingmar Bergman remained rather faithful to Strindberg’s text and milieu, including the sound of horse hoofs and church bells, and of the thunder and piano music mentioned in the original text. The reviews emphasized the artistic simplicity in both direction and performance. In an indirect reference to Bergman’s earliest fiery and deeply personal approach to theatre directing, Gabriella Björnstrand suggested that he now displayed ‘the gift of old age: to understand that genius is to reduce, to abstain from the desperate posturing of the ego, both in directing and in intonation’ [ålderdomens gåva: att förstå att geni är att reducera, att avstå från det egna jagets desperata åthävor, både i regi och intonation]. All reviews pointed out Bergman’s unique gift for the medium, and his presentation of Oväder was seen as an hommage to the genre and an appeal to preserve radio theatre as a special performance arena. In their rave responses to Bergman’s production, reviewers singled out its musicality and rhythmic balance, and the director’s masterly hand – ‘invisible but absolutely present’ [osynlig och absolut närvarande] (Vinterhed). Johannes Ekman interviewed Bergman and Josephson on Swedish Radio, Program 2, on 29 August 1999. Title: ‘Ett liv kring naturkraften Strindberg’ [A life around the atavistic force of S.]. See Ø 669. Production was broadcast on Danish Radio under title ‘Tordenluft’ on 15 November 1999.
Reviews Björnstrand, Gabriella. ‘Bergman och varats lätthet’ [B. and the lightness of being]. UNT, 11 September 1999, p. 21. Ring, Lars. ‘Detaljer fogas till en solkig enhet’ [Details are joined together to a tarnished unity]. SvD, 4 September 1999, p. 15. Sörenson, Margareta. ‘Strindberg för örat’ [S. for the ear]. Expr., 30 August 1999, p. 4.
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Radio Productions Vinterhed, Kerstin. ‘Oväder har inte en död minut’ [Storm does not have one dead minute]. DN, 29 August 1999, p. 5 d. See also Törnqvist, Egil. Det talade ordet: Om Strindbergs dramadialog, 2001, pp. 216-226, and ‘From Drama Text to Radio Play: Aural Strindberg’, in author’s Bergman’s Muses, 2003, pp. 4245.
2001 310.
JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN
Credits Production Playwright Director Music Running Time Broadcast Date
Sveriges Radio, P1 Henrik Ibsen Ingmar Bergman Käbi Laretei 70 minutes 19, 20, 22, and 28 October 2001
Cast John Gabriel Borkman Gunhild Borkman Ella Rentheim Erhart Borkman Foldal Frida Foldal Mrs. Wilton Malene, maid
Erland Josephson Gunnel Lindblom Anita Björk Jonas Malmsjö Jan-Olof Strandberg Maria Bonnevie Jane Friedmann Margreth Weivers
Commentary Ingmar Bergman cut down Ibsen’s drama to a 75-minute performance. He (and Erland Josephson) toned down Borkman’s megalomania, turning the former mining industrialist into an old man who dreams of his former power rather than someone seeking personal restitution. Gunnel Lindblom’s portrayal of Mrs. Borkman stressed the wife’s angered pain over the shame that Borkman’s economic machinations, bankruptcy and prison term had brought the family. Her embittered voice stood out as the central voice in the production, accompanied by the echoing steps of the restless Borkman traipsing about upstairs in the house and of son Erhart’s comings and goings. The only non-diegetic sound used were a few bars of piano music. Magnus Florin interviewed Bergman and Josephson on the radio briefly after the transmission. Bergman comments on Ibsen and Strindberg. Reviews talked about a clear, confident presentation that revealed Bergman’s directorial know-how and his understanding of the broadcast medium, but spoke also of ‘a perfection so polished it runs the risk of being dead’ [en perfektion så polerad den löper risken att bli död] (Gerell).
Reviews Gerell, Boel. ‘Elegant och skickligt men något saknas’ [Elegant and skilful but something is missing]. SDS, 20 October, 2001, p. B4. Granath, Sara. ‘Bergman får Ibsen att lysa’ [Bergman makes Ibsen shine]. SvD, 20 October, 2001, p. 9.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Lindh-Garreau, Maria. ‘Bergman tar väl vara på ljuden’ [Bergman utilizes sound effects well]. DN, 22 October, 2001, p. 82. Schwartz, Nils. ‘Borkman.com’. Expr., 20 October, 2001, Section 2, p. 2. Westling, Barbro. ‘Ett drama på ålderns höst’ [A drama in the fall of life]. AB, 20 October, 2001, p. 5
2003 311.
PELIKANEN och DÖDENS Ö (The Pelican and Island of the Dead)
Credits Production Playwright Director Music (piano) Broadcast Date
Sveriges Radio, P 1 August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Käbi Laretei 8, 10, and 16 February 2003
Cast The Dead Man The Teacher Mother Elise Son Fredrik Daughter Gerda Margret Son-in-Law
Erland Jospehson Anita Björk Ewa Fröling Jonas Malmsjö Maria Bonnevie Gunnel Lindblom Jacob Ericksson
Commentary Pelikanen and Dödens ö were written in 1907, the latter – inspired by Böcklin’s famous painting Toteninsel – was planned as a frame for the former, but is usually not included in productions of the chamber play. Bergman did and shifted the emphasis from psychological realism in Pelikanen to dream mode in Toteninsel’s realm of death.
Reviews Björck, Amelie. ‘Borde modern straffas’ [Should the mother be punished]. GP, 8 February, 2003, p. 38. Ring, Lars. ‘Strindbergs “Pelikanen” i kongenial Bergmanregi’ [Strindberg’s ‘The Pelican’ in ingenious Bergman direction]. SvD, 8 February, 2003. Schwartz, Nils. ‘Korsreferenser på Dödens ö’ [Cross references on the island of Death]. Expr. 8 February, 2003, p. 7. In connection with the broadcast of Pelikanen, Ingmar Bergman was interviewed briefly about the play. See Ø 680.
312.
ROSMERSHOLM
Credits Production Producer Playwright Director Technician
Sveriges Radio, P 1 Jan Cruseman Henrik Ibsen Ingmar Bergman/Gunnel Lindblom Frida Englund
406
Television Works Cast Rebekka West Rosmer Mrs. Helseth Ulrik Brendel Mortensgård Kroll
Ewa Fröling Jonas Malmsjö Gunnel Lindblom Erland Josephson Ingvar Kjellson Jan Olof Strandberg
Bergman withdrew from this production, and Gunnel Lindblom took over as director.
Television works Many of Ingmar Bergman’s productions for television have also been released as films shown in movie theatres or have been based on earlier theatre productions. Such works have been extensively reviewed and discussed by film and theatre critics, and are referenced in the Filmography and Theatre chapters. In the 1950s Bergman became intrigued by television, which he was able to watch in Malmö in Danish transmissions. (Denmark was ahead of Sweden in offering a TV network.) In an interview article in Expr. (25 March 1969, p. 25), Bergman relates how he saw television for the first time through a shop window. On the screen was a trial transmission of a violinist: ‘You couldn’t hear any sound, and the head was cut off in the picture, but I stared as if mesmerized at this monster. Then I rushed in and bought the set’ [Man hörde inget ljud och huvudet var bortkapat i bilden, men jag stirrade som förhäxad på detta monstrum. Sedan störtade jag in och köpte apparaten]. A few years later, after one of his own TV productions, he confirmed his enthusiasm for the new medium in an article titled ‘Jag vill vara med i leken’ [I want to be part of the game] (Röster i RadioTV, no. 7, 1958, pp. 22, 53). Declaring his ‘readiness to rush in on the arena and do somersaults’ [beredskap att rusa in på scenen och slå kullerbyttor], he pleaded not be excluded from the TV medium in the future. Bergman’s debut in TV came in 1957 when he brought his Malmö ensemble to Stockholm, where Hjalmar Bergman’s play Herr Sleeman kommer (Mr. S. Cometh) was televised live and preserved on 16 mm film. This was labeled as an experiment of importance for the future of television theatre. See C. J-n, ‘Ingmar Bergman debuterar med Hjalmar Bergman’. Röster i Radio, no. 13, 1957, p. 20. In the following year, Bergman’s Malmö ensemble travelled again to Stockholm to present two TV productions: ‘Venetianskan’ [The Venetian Woman] by an unknown 16th-century Italian author, and a TV version of Olle Hedberg’s Rabies, adapted for the theatre in 1945 (see Ø 391). Again, the performances were staged live and preserved on 16 mm film. The transmission of ‘Venetianskan’, became noted for its use of mobile cameras, thus breaking with the static pattern of Swedish television cameras at the time.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work
Anders Ek as Sebastian Fischer performing a ritual act in Bergman’s first film for TV, Riten from 1969 (Courtesy: SVT/SFI)
Bergman’s first major breakthrough as a television director came in the 1960s with two Strindberg productions: Oväder (Storm) and Ett drömspel (A Dreamplay). Theatre productions on television were still a new and relatively rare phenomenon, and in the reception of Bergman’s version of Ett drömspel, one can sense the reviewers’ excitement over the potential of the new visual medium. What impressed the critics was Bergman’s ability to launch a major drama production that accepted the limitations of the TV screen. With its many scene changes and in using both double exposures and dissolves, Bergman’s production of Strindberg’s dreamlike vision seemed especially adapted to the fluidity of the TV camera and to the closeness of the characters on the screen. One critic (Bæckström, GHT, 3 May 1963) felt that ‘Ingmar Bergman’s TV staging of A Dreamplay gives one a feeling that it was this medium that Strindberg prophetically had in mind’ [Ingmar Bergmans TV-inscenering av Ett drömspel ger oss en känsla av att det var detta medium som Strindberg profetiskt hade i sikte]. The earliest of Bergman’s own works scripted for television were shot in the film studio: Riten (1969, The Ritual) and Fårö dokument (1970). His first TV script to be produced electronically was Reservatet (1970, The Lie, The Sanctuary), but it was not directed by Bergman since he still felt too unfamiliar with the new technique. However, the TV medium continued to intrigue him, and in 1973 he wrote and directed his first TV series, Scener ur ett äktenskap (Scenes from a Marriage). This work can be said to constitute Bergman’s real popular breakthrough in Sweden. It was an event that gained him a mass audience and changed his creative image in the minds of many
408
Television Works Swedes. The public response to his marriage series was considered remarkable by pollsters, as it occurred at a time when television viewing was on the wane. Polls taken in Sweden after the first three televised scenes, and again after the end of the series, showed an increase in the number of viewers, from 26% on 5 April to 40% six weeks later. Only soccer matches, two Swedish comedies from the 1930s and an animal program about moose received higher viewer ratings. Almost twice as many women than men watched Scener ur ett äktenskap, most aged 25 to 44. See Expr., 18 May 1973, p. 32. Statistical material is also available in SR/TV archives, Stockholm. After withdrawing from commercial filmmaking with Fanny and Alexander, Bergman continued to write and direct on television, most recently such works as Larmar och gör sig till (1997, In the Presence of a Clown) and Saraband (2003). Thus, his first contact with television in the mid-Fifties resulted in a half-century long commitment to a medium that also came to influence his filmmaking with its increasing attention to close-ups and intimate explorations of the human face. For a while at least, Ingmar Bergman was a pioneer in exploring first class drama on Swedish television, even though it does not seem to have impacted on today’s programming, catering mostly to talk-shows and docu-soaps. Ingmar Bergman’s TV productions represent a very individual authorship for the medium, one that is difficult to separate from his total artistic oeuvre. As one critic (Linde, DN, 23 January 1960) observed very early, the TV medium lay ‘at the borderline between theatre and film, and Ingmar Bergman as the virtuoso he is in both, must be especially well equipped also for the amphibious area between the two’ [TV mediet ligger på gränsen mellan teater och film, och Ingmar Bergman som den virtuos han är i båda måste ju vara ovanligt väl rustad också för amfibieområdet mellan de två].
Studies on Bergman’s TV Work Hockenjos, Vreni. ‘Ur en drömmares perspektiv: Strindbergs subjektivism i Bergmans tolkning’. Aura, IV, no. 4, 1998: 42-50. Quist, Per Olov.’Från Sleeman till livsförsoning’ [From Sleeman to reconcilation with life]. UNT, 14 July 1998, p. 10. Törnqvist Egil. Bergman’s Muses. Aesthetic Versatility in Film, Theatre, Television and Radio, Chapters 4 and 6 through 10, pp. 65-79; 91-160.
See Varia A for list of documentaries of some of Bergman’s TV productions. These documentaries are available for (research) viewing at SALB (Statens arkiv för ljud och bild). See also title entries in the Filmography or in this chapter. A retrospective of Bergman’s works for television was shown at the New York Museum of Broadcasting and Television in February 1987 and reviewed by John J. Connor in NYT, 18 February 1987, Section C, p. 22.
1957 313.
HERR SLEEMAN KOMMER [Mr. Sleeman Cometh]
Credits Production Director
Sveriges Television Ingmar Bergman
409
Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Assistant Director Playwright Decor Make-up Broadcast date Running time
Lennart Olsson Hjalmar Bergman Martin Ahlbom Carl M. Lundh, Carl Magnusson 18 April 1957 43 min
Cast Aunt Bina Aunt Mina Anne-Marie Valter, a Hunter J.O. Sleeman
Naima Wifstrand Jullan Kindahl Bibi Andersson Max von Sydow Yngve Nordwall
Commentary Stina Bergman, widow of Hjalmar Bergman, followed the various steps of this television production of her husband’s work. She was reportedly very pleased with the result. So were the reviewers who felt that Ingmar Bergman was a television find with his dual experience of directing for the stage and the screen. Producers at SVT were of the opinion that this was the best theatre production so far on Swedish television.
Reviews Axon (Arne Ericksson?). ‘TV-succes för Ingmar Bergman’. SDS, 20 April 1957, p. 12B. Viola (Marianne Zetterström). ‘TV. Hjalmar och Ingmar Bergman’. SvD, 20 April 1957, p. 11.
1958 314.
VENETIANSKAN [The Venetian Woman]
Credits Production Director Play Text Architect Broadcast Date Running time
Sveriges Television Ingmar Bergman Unknown 16th-century Italian author; play translated and revised by Giacomo Oreglia and Bertil Bodén Härje Ekman 21 February 1958 56 min
Cast Julio, a young stranger Valeria, a married woman Angela, a widow Oria, Valeria’s maid Nena, Angela’s maid Bernardo, a porter
Folke Sundquist Gunnel Lindblom Eva Stiberg Helena Reuterblad Maud Hansson Sture Lagerwall
Reception Reviews were very enthusiastic. ‘A spotless production that leaves the spectator altogether happy. What a magician he is, Ingmar Bergman!’ [En fläckfri föreställning som lämnar åskådaren alldeles lycklig. En sån trollkarl han är, Bergman!], wrote Marianne Höök (SvD), who was reminded of the tone and frivolity of Bergman’s 1955 film Sommarnattens leende. Höök was
410
Television Works seconded by signature Fale Bure (GHT) who predicted that after this production, Bergman would ‘with his miraculous visionary instinct be predestined to become Sweden’s foremost TV artist’ [med sin mirakulösa bildinstinkt (vara) predestinerad att bli vår främste TV-konstnär]. The reviewer in DN called the production the best he had seen on television and pointed out Bergman’s conscious use of the TV screen as an open window inviting the viewers to look in.
Reviews Ahr. ‘TV-titten’ [TV look]. AB, 22 February 1958, p. 8. Brunius, Clas. ‘Ett fynd’ [A find]. Expr., 22 February 1958, p. 9. Fale Bure. [Henning Olsson] ‘Rent bildmässigt..’. [From a purely visual point of view...]. GHT, 22 February 1958, p. 7. Höken (Marianne Höök). ‘TV. Betagande 1500-tal’ [TV. Charming 1500-hundreds]. SvD, 22 February 1958, p. 14. O-e (Ingvar Orre). ‘Sett i TV. Artisteri på sinnlig grund’ [Seen on TV. Artistry on sensual ground]. ST, 22 February 1958, p. 11. M E-m (Mauritz Edström). ‘TV’. DN, 22 February 1958, p. 10.
315.
RABIES – SCENER UR MÄNNISKOLIVET [Rabies – Scenes from Human Life]
Credits Production Director Play Text Broadcast Date Running time
Sveriges Television Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman, from Olle Hedberg’s novels Slå dank [Loafing], (1944) 7 November 1958 89 min
Cast Bo Stensson Sveningsson Jenny Sixten Garberg Eivor Erik The Aunt Knut Mosterson, her son Sven, a corporal Cronswärd, lawyer Wholesaler Rolf, 16-year-old boy Mrs. Svensson Young Girl
Max von Sydow Gunnel Lindblom Åke Fridell Bibi Andersson Folke Sundquist Dagny Lind Tor Isedal Axel Düberg Nils Nygren Toiwo Pawlo Åke Jörnfalk Marianne Stjernqvist Gunnel Blixt
Commentary Ingmar Bergman had staged the play in 1945 at the Hälsingborg City Theatre (see Ø 391). The TV production was performed by actors from Malmö City Theatre. The scant reviews pointed out Bergman’s faiblesse for the puppet theatre and the morality play, with the result that the characters functioned as types.
Reviews F:ius. (Björn Fabricius). ‘TV. Rabies’. SvD, 8 November 1958, p. 11; Wbg. (Bertil Widerberg). ‘Television. Olle Hedbergs...’ SDS, 8 November 1958, p. 19.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Per Olov Quist, ‘Från Sleeman till livsförsoning’ [From Sleeman to reconcilation with life]. UNT, 14 July 1998, p. 10. (A discussion of Ingmar Bergman’s early works for television) with particular attention to Bergman’s TV version of Rabies.
1960 316.
OVÄDER [Storm]
Credits Production Playwright Director Assistant director Photography Sound Architect Costumes Make-up Technical director Chief Electrician Continuity Broadcasting Date Running time
Sveriges Television (SVT) August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Gertrud Björklund Egon Blank, Sven-Eric Larson, Måns Reuterswärd, Lars Swan. (Shot on videotape) Erland Edwardsson Birgitta Morales Maj Lis Heinrichs, Sune Wall Börje Lundh Yngve Hallberg Yngve Mansvik Ally Seifert 22 January 1960 91 min
Cast The Gentleman Gerda, his ex-wife Gerda’s new husband Brother Starck, Confectioner Agnes, his daughter Louise, a relative The Iceman The Postman The Lamp Lighter A Shop Assistant
Uno Henning Gunnel Broström Curt Masreliez (no speaking part) Ingvar Kjellson John Elfström Birgitta Grönwall Mona Malm Axel Düberg Axel Högel Erik ‘Bullen’ Berglund Heinz Hopf
Commentary On the anniversary of Strindberg’s birth, Swedish television theatre presented his chamber play Oväder, directed by Bergman. The production, which was also transmitted to Denmark and Norway, received mostly rave reviews and consolidated Bergman’s standing as an outstanding television director. He was praised for his tact and sympathy in depicting old age (Schildt, AB), for his superior lighting and fine camera work (Armand, GHT) and for his understanding of the intimacy of the TV medium through his use of close-ups (Perlström, GP). Only one critic (Brunius) voiced concern that Bergman had not captured Strindberg’s juxtaposition of silent space and irritating noise, a phenomenon that defines the main character’s aging life.
412
Television Works Reviews Armand (Olle Olsson). ‘Teater TV Radio Musik. Lysande kammarspel’ [Brilliant chamber play]. GHT, 23 January 1960, p. 7. Brunius, Clas. ‘Märkliga detaljer’ [Strange details]. Expr., 23 January 1960, p. 18. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Strindbergs Oväder’. DN, 23 January 1960, p. 12. Orre, Ingvar. ‘Ny framgång för Bergman’ [New success for Bergman]. ST, 23 January 1960, p. 13. Perlström, Åke. ‘Ingmar Bergman-regi av Strindberg’ [Bergman directing Strindberg]. GP, 23 January 1960, p. 8. Schildt, Jurgen. ‘TV-titten’. AB, 23 January 1960, p. 12. Wbg. (Bertil Widerberg). ‘Television. Beethoven har skrivit..’. [Beethoven has written]. SDS, 23 January 1960, p. 15.
Articles Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Long day’s journey into night: Bergman’s TV version of Oväder compared to Smultronstället’. In Kela Kvam, ed. Strindberg’s Post-Inferno Plays. Lectures given at the 11th International Strindberg Conference (Copenhagen: Munksgaard/Rosinante, 1994), pp. 186195. Törnqvist discusses the same subject in his book Between Stage and Screen, 1995, pp. 128-136.
1963 317.
TRÄMÅLNING [Wood Painting/Painting on Wood]
Credits Production Director Playwright Architect Broadcast date
Sveriges Television Lennart Olsson Ingmar Bergman Lennart Olofsson-Leo 22 April 1963. Shot on videotape.
Cast The Girl Jöns The Knight Karin, Knight’s Wife The Witch The Blacksmith Lisa, his Wife The Actor Narrator
Marianne Wesén Olof Bergström Oscar Ljung Margareta Bergfelt Ulla Akselson Åke Lindström Marianne Hedengrahn Georg Årlin Folke Sundquist
Commentary (See Ø 283, 424.) This TV production of Bergman’s play was set in a church. Originally scheduled for transmission on Easter Sunday 1963, the production was postponed after discussions between the producer (Henrik Dyfverman) and Ingmar Bergman, who pointed out that his play was not a dramatization of Christian church murals, though he had borrowed several motifs found in medieval church paintings. By 1963 Bergman had proclaimed the demise of God in his film trilogy, and may have found it out of place to broadcast his play on a religious holiday. See also Gunnar Falk, ‘Trämålning som kyrkospel’ [Wood Painting as lithurgical play]. SvD, 23 April
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work 1963. Falk objected to setting the entire action in a church, since Trämålning was not a passion play.
318.
ETT DRÖMSPEL [A Dreamplay]
Credits Production Producer Playwright Director Photo
Sound Architect Music Costumes Make-up Chief electrician Technical director Editor Continuity Broadcast date Running time
Sveriges Television Kåre Santesson August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Bosse Larsson, Jan Wictorinus, Olle Mossberg, Per Olof Nordmark (TV); Åke Dahlqvist, Albert Rudling (film photo) Bertil Stoby Cloffe (Carl Johnsson-Cloffe) Sven Erik Bäck Maj Lis Heinrichs, Sune Wall Börje Lundh Yngve Mansvik Yngve Sjöberg Monica Barthelsson Inger Blanck 2 May 1963 114 minutes
Cast Agnes, Indra’s daughter The Glazier The Teacher Alfred, the Officer Axel, the Lawyer The Poet The Mother The Father Lina, maid servant The Concierge The Billboard Man A Pupil Doorkeeper Ballet Girl The Policeman Kristin Quarantine Master He She The Prompter The Blind Man The Retired Man Ugly Edith Edith’s Mother
Ingrid Thulin John Elfström Börje Mellvig Uno Henning Allan Edwall Olof Widgren Brita Öberg Ragnar Falck Eivor Landström Elsa Ebbesen-Thornblad Jan-Erik Lindqvist Jörgen Lindström John Norrman Britta Pettersson John Melin Märta Dorff Curt Masreliez Carl Billquist Helena Brodin Åke Lagergren Georg Årlin Olle Hilding Margaretha Krook Ingrid Borthen
414
Television Works The Newly Married Resort Guests Coal Carriers Rector Magnificus Dean of Theology Dean of Philosopy Dean of Medicine Dean of Law
Birger Malmsten, Maude Axelson Signe Enwall, Julie Bernby, Alf Östlund Lars Lind,Tor Isedal Willy Peters Sven Nilsson Einar Axelsson Manne Grünberger Ragnar Arvedson
Commentary This was the most expensive production to date by the theatre section at Sveriges Radio/TV. About 40 actors and 75 extras participated, and the total staff numbered some 200 persons. Ingmar Bergman planned the production during a two-year period. In comments made prior to the transmission, he talked about Strindberg’s search for visual means to express his dream vision, such as his suggested use of projected slides as part of the set design. With television, Strindberg’s ambitions could be realized. But Bergman warned against gorging oneself on images: ‘An image must not be noticeable by itself. [...] It is the succession of images that is the important thing, that has value’. [En bild ska inte märkas i sej själv. [...] Det är sviten av bilder som är det viktiga, har värde.] Röster i Radio-TV, no. 17, 1963, p. 14. Bergman omitted Strindberg’s prologue to the play and divided the rest of the drama into 28 scenes. In retrospect, he was to become quite critical of this TV version of Ett drömspel, but the original reviews were all very positive. Though Bergman included some vignettes of an immense cloudy sky and a stormy ocean landscape, his TV version of A Dreamplay was built on close-ups of faces and on the spoken word. Producing the play for television also meant that Bergman’s work did not have to compete with Olof Molander’s legendary stagings of the drama: ‘Ingmar Bergman’s interpretation of A Dreamplay turns more towards an international, universal rendering of the drama than Olof Molander’s productions have done with their focus on the Swedish and Strindbergian milieu. It is a swinging of the pendulum that is necessary for the continued development of the Strindberg tradition’. [Ingmar Bergmans tolkning av Ett drömspel riktar sig mera mot en internationell, allmängiltig gestaltning av dramat än Olof Molanders till den svenska och strindbergska miljön starkt knutna iscensättningar har gjort. Det är en pendelsvängning som är nödvändig för Strindbergstraditionens forsatta utveckling.] (Perlström, GP). All in all, one can sense among the reviewers a new assessment of Bergman, related to the ascetic development of his filmmaking at the time. References were made to a film like Nattvardsgästerna to suggest a new Bergman, focussing on a penetrating psychological portrayal of human beings rather than a young iconoclast eager to project his visual virtuosity. Ebbe Linde, who had followed Bergman’s entire directorial work, wrote in his review: ‘I think one can differentiate between an old and a new Ingmar Bergman: an old sensational one from the beginning of his career and a subdued, demanding one, now at his peak. That his new approach implies a deepening of his art seems clear to me, at the same time as it might limit his geographic appeal’. [Jag tror man har rätt att skilja mellan en gammal och en ny Ingmar Bergman: en gammal sensationell från början av hans bana och en sordinerad, kräsen nu på krönet av hans bana. Att det nya arbetssättet innebär en fördjupning av hans konst syns mig klart, samtidigt som det nog kan inskränka hans verksamhetsområde geografiskt.]
Reviews Bæckström, Tord. ‘Ett drömspel’. GHT, 3 May 1963, p. 10. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Är det synd om människorna?’ [Is Man to be pitied?]. AB, 3 May 1963, p. 15.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Falk, Gunnar. ‘TV-teatern: Detta är icke paradiset’ [TV theatre: This is not paradise]. SvD, 3 May 1963, p. 14. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Ingmar Bergman fann ny lösning’ [Bergman found a new solution]. Expr., 3 May 1963, p. 24. Josephson, Lennart. ‘Ett drömspel som TV-teater’ [A Dreamplay as TV theatre]. SDS, 3 May 1963, p. 11. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Tonfallens exakthet’ [The exactness of intonation]. DN, 3 May 1963, p. 19. Perlström, Åke. ‘En stor TV-föreställning’ [A great TV performance]. GP, 3 May 1963, p. 2. Tone (Tone Cederblad-Bengtsson). ‘TV-titten’ [TV glance]. UNT, 3 May 1963, p. 12. The production was televised on German television in January 1966. For reviews see: De Haas, Anneliese. ‘Ohne Hast, ohne Hysterie’. Die Welt, 13 January 1966. Film (Hannover) no. 2 (1966), p. 44.
See also n.a. ‘Det är TV:s “Drömspel” också, som äntligen kan göras!’ Röster i Radio-TV, no. 17, 1963, pp. 14-15. Elgstam, Helle. ‘Ridån går upp för TV:s största teater-satsning’ [The curtain rises for TV’s biggest theatre investment]. ST, 2 May 1963, p. 26. Hansson, Hansingvar. ‘Genialt teaterverk – ologiskt som en dröm’ [Ingenious theatre work – illogical like a dream]. ST, 2 May 1963, p. 26. Hockenjos, Vreni. ‘Ur en drömmares perspektiv. Strindbergs subjektivism i Bergmans tolkning’ [From a dreamer’s perspective. Strindberg’s subjectivism interpreted by Bergman]. Aura 4, 1998: 42-50. (Discusses Bergman’s 1963 TV production of Ett drömspel at some length). Norborg, Kaj. ‘Jättesatsning av svensk TV-teater i kväll’ [Gigantic stakes by Swedish TV theatre tonight]. Expr., 2 May 1963, p. 23.
1964 319.
RABIES Re-broadcast date: 5 October 1964 This TV version of Rabies was originally broadcast in 1958. (See Ø 315.) In connection with the 1964 telecast of ‘Rabies’, Röster i Radio-TV published an interview with Bergman where he talks about his discovery of Olle Hedberg’s novel Slå dank [Loafing], on which ‘Rabies’ is based. See ‘Vi galna hundar’ [We mad dogs]. Röster i Radio-TV, no. 41, 1964, pp. 17, 54, 57. The interview is also discussed briefly in Chapter VII, Interviews, Ø 657.
1969 320.
RITEN [The Ritual], 1969 See Filmography (Ø 240) for fuller synopsis, credits and foreign reception of Riten as a feature film.
Brief Synopsis Three artists, two men and a woman, have been arrested for obscenity and face a judge. The (TV) film explores their encounter and ends with a ritualistic reenactment of the ‘obscene’ number, during which the judge dies.
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Television Works Commentary Riten/The Ritual began to take shape in manuscript form in the summer of 1967 when Bergman was filming Shame on Fårö. His friend and colleague at Dramaten, Erland Josephson, wanted to stage the manuscript at Dramaten, but Bergman wanted to present his work in close-ups, at first as a full evening film but later as a TV film. His company Cinematograph produced the TV film, rehearsed it for two weeks and shot it in eight days at the old Filmstaden studios at Råsunda. See Matts Rying, ‘Bergmans första TV film’ [B’s first TV film]. Röster i Radio/TV, 2228 March 1969, pp. 12-14, for background information. The pan-Scandinavian TV showing of Riten on 25 March 1969, received a great deal of preview publicity. See Stockholm press, 25 March 1969 (also AB, 17 February, p. 14). A filmed interview with Bergman by TV drama producer Lars Löfgren was recorded 14 January 1969 (transcript at SFI) as an introduction to the TV transmission. Bergman warned potential audiences against watching it. This had, of course, the opposite effect, and the ensuing debate may have been dictated in part by viewer expectations of a real shocker. The most drastic reaction came from Norway, where Christian author Alfred Hauge wrote a critical article in Stavanger Aftenpost, and Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs Kjell Bondevik considered taking Bergman to court for blasphemy according to paragraph 142 in the Norwegian penal code. Bergman is said to have responded in a telephone interview: ‘I know about that minister you’re stuck with over there in Norway. He is a pain in the neck to Norwegian cultural life. It’s frightening that leading men in Norwegian society think that God’s holiness can be dictated by legal paragraphs.’ Bergman’s response is printed in Morgenposten, 25 April, pp. 1-2. See also Aftenposten (morning edition), 24 April 1969, pp. 1, 20 and Dagbladet (Oslo), 24 April 1969, p. 13, about parliamentary debate in Norwegian Storting. An editorial in Dagbladet, 25 April 1969, p. 2, criticizes Bondevik. On the whole, the Oslo press praised Bergman’s TV film enthusiastically, claiming that it surpassed the best of documentaries on TV and proved that Bergman was ‘a poetic image maker in line with Dreyer and Chaplin’ [En poetisk filmskaper i linje med Dreyer og Chaplin] (A. Rönneberg in Aftenposten, 26 March 1969).
Swedish Reception Riten was televised at the family hour with an attached program note stating that the film did not include anything ‘unsuitable for children’ [olämpligt för barn]. At least one reviewer (Nordin in Expr.) objected; to her the film contained the most sadistic sexuality ever shown on television. On the whole the Swedish reception of Riten/The Ritual was reserved and ambivalent. Its brutality – ‘Bergman raped the viewers’ [Bergman våldtog tittarna], wrote Expr. – aroused a negative press response, but its artistic quality made it difficult to dismiss it altogether. It was considered grandiose but cold (Expr.); full of skillful artistry but too personal, ‘a review course in the subject Ingmar Bergman’ [En repetitionskurs i ämnet Bergman], (DN); and a dramatically concentrated piece but with hard and brutal images that caused nausea and anguish (SvD). Several critics questioned Bergman’s portrayal of yet another set of artists. Most outspoken was Filmrutan (no. 2, 1969, p. 134), the voice of mostly younger film scholars in Sweden whose esthetics were founded in the social radicalism of the Sixties: ‘Never before has he reached such wuthering heights of senseless self-adulation’. [Aldrig förr har han nått sådana svindlande höjder av meningslös självförgudning.] See SvD, 27 March 1969, for brief resume of press response in Stockholm and Oslo. German paper Die Welt published an article on the Scandinavian reaction to Bergman’s TV film: Peter H. Schröder, ‘Das Schweigen der Hölle’. Die Welt, 7 June 1969.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 26 March 1969; Chaplin, no. 90 (1969), pp. 140-41; Credo (Stockholm), no. 50 (1969), pp. 177-79; Filmrutan, no. 2 (1969), p. 134; Vi, no. 12 (1969), pp. 22-24;
1970 321.
FÅRÖ-DOKUMENT
Synopsis A documentary film about life and people on the island of Fårö in the Baltic. Bergman discovered Fårö in the early Sixties and has lived there permanently since 1966, with the exception of the period of his voluntary exile in 1976-82 (when however he returned to the island in the summer time). The island is 18 miles long and 9 miles at its widest. Part of it is a military reserve. The entire film crew for Fårö-dokument consisted of five people who traveled around the island in a house trailer. Bergman assumed the role of reporter and advocate. The film is constructed around a series of interviews in black and white with the local population, interconnected by takes in color of the landscape that surrounds them: the sea, gigantic rocks (raukar), deserted farms, dead forest, sheep grazing on grassy slopes. Fårö is a unique and isolated part of Sweden and, as Bergman shows, deprived of many of the comforts of contemporary Sweden. Ingmar Bergman ends the film with a series of demands addressed to the Swedish government that it improve the schoolbus and postal systems, create more jobs for the young so they will not leave the island, and give more subsidies to farmers.
Credits Production company Production manager Director Photography Sound Editor
Cinematograph Lars-Owe Carlberg Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist Arne Carlsson Siv Lundgren-Kanälv
Cast Ingmar Bergman as Reporter/Narrator Local people on island of Fårö Filmed on the island of Fårö, beginning 15 March 1969 and completed 1 May 1969. Distribution Running time Premiere
Cinematograph 78 minutes 1 January 1970, SR/TV (Swedish TV)
Film has had limited circulation outside of Sweden. It is available with English subtitles at NYC Museum of Television and Radio, T:17562.
Reviews Stockholm press, 2 January 1970; Chaplin no. 96 (1970), pp. 16-7.
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Television Works Commentary In an interview titled ‘Därför älskar jag Fårö’ [That’s why I love Fårö] in Röster i Radio-TV, no. 1-2 (1-8 January) 1970, pp. 10 and 63, Bergman expresses his love of Fårö and its importance to him personally: ‘The reality of Fårö has had a stabilizing impact on me and my work. By living in a reality I understand and whose proportions I can grasp, I can gain better insight into what happens outside it’. [Fårös verklighet har haft en stabiliserande inverkan på mig och mitt arbete. Genom att jag lever i en verklighet som jag förstår, vars proportioner jag fattar, så kan jag nå bättre insikt i vad som händer utanför den.]
Reception Fårö-dokument was viewed by millions of Swedes on prime-time television, New Year’s Day 1970. It was a public and critical breakthrough for Bergman in his own country, where he suddenly emerged as a sensitive and concerned social voice speaking up for Fårö, ‘Sweden’s Uland’ (underdeveloped country). Mauritz Edström in his review in DN (‘Bergmans film om Fårö’, 2 January 1970) called it one of Bergman’s best films because of its ‘simplicity and closeness to reality’ [dess enkelhet och närhet till verkligheten]. The positive Swedish response might be contrasted to Variety’s assessment of Fårö-dokument (14 January 1970, p. 39): ‘The subject is too provincial even for persons interested in filmmaking as a whole.’ A second Fårö-dokument was made in 1979 (see Ø 329).
322.
RESERVATET
Synopsis Anna Fromm, age 34 and a lecturer in Slavic Languages, is married to Andreas, a 40-year-old architect. They introduce themselves to the TV audience as rich, happy, and uncomplicated. They are well-educated, well-mannered, and polite. Anna has had an affair with a common friend, Elis, for eight years. Their relationship is as conventional as a marriage. When Anna reveals her unfaithfulness to Andreas, their upper middle-class façade ruptures. This event occurs in the same week as Martin Luther King is murdered. The aggressiveness and hate that elicited this murder operates in subversive ways in Anna’s and Andreas’ world. Andreas loses his job through intrigues and maneuvers, while Anna experiences irrational envy from a socially less privileged colleague and betrayal by her somewhat cowardly lover. Everything culminates at a big dinner when the main characters lose their well-mannered reserve and tear each other to pieces in a violent outburst.
Credits Production Producers Director Screenplay Photography Sound Architect Costumes Props Make-up Editor Broadcast date Running time
Sveriges Television Bernt Callenbo, Hans Sackemark Jan Molander Ingmar Bergman Jan Wictorinus, Per-Olof Nordmar, Willy Thoresen. Shot on videotape (color). Alvar Piehl Bo Lindgren Henny Noremark, Arvid Johansson Lars Dahlman, Gunnar Bredevik Börje Lundh, Inga Lindeström Ronnie Årland 28 October 1970 91 minutes
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Cast Anna Fromm Karin, Anna’s colleague Andreas Fromm, architect Miss Britt Prakt, Andreas’ secretary Henrik, Fromm’s son Elis, Anna’s lover Eva, Elis’ wife Egerman, Anna’s father Albert, Anna’s brother, an author Berta George Bauer Feldt Dr. Ernst Farman Ester, Farman’s nurse Magda Farman Fredrik Sernelius Inger Sernelius Charlotte Sernelius Sten Ahlman Petra Ahlman Count Albrekt Karin Albrekt Witness to car accident Owner of hit car Toraf Tweit, a Norwegian Members of Board Meeting
Gunnel Lindblom Barbro Larsson Per Myrberg Sif Ruud Per Nilsson Erland Josephson Catherine Berg George Funkquist Toivo Pawlo Elna Gistedt Erik Hell Göran Graffman Börje Ahlstedt Olof Bergström Helena Brodin Gun Arvidsson Claes Thelander Irma Christenson Mari Molander Leif Liljeroth Gun Andersson Per Sjöstrand Margaretha Byström Ove Tjernberg Charlie Elvegård Bernt Lindeklev Per-Axel Arosenius, Segol Mann, Lars Lennartsson, Lennart Lindberg
Commentary Reservatet was commissioned by EBU (European Broadcast Union) which had conceived a plan to ask a prominent author to provide a TV manuscript that was to be offered to members of the Union. Titled ‘The Largest Theatre in the World’, the idea was to show different productions of a TV play at about the same time. A 4-minute interview with Bergman about writing a TV drama for EBU was done on Sveriges Radio (SR), 8 October 1968. BBC (England) and CBS (U.S.) made their own versions of Bergman’s play. The Swedish and BBC productions were compared by Torsten Manns in Chaplin, no. 106 (March 1971), pp. 90-91. The American production was directed in 1973 by Alex Segal who gives an account of his meeting with Ingmar Bergman and his difficulties in directing the play. (Action 3, no. 6 (November-December 1973): 13-16). For changes in the non-Swedish versions of Bergman’s TV play, see below. SVT, Channel 2, collaborated with Dramaten and Stockholm City Theatre on the production, using actors from both theatres. The director, Jan Molander, had 23 years of experience in television in the US and Sweden. An interview published by Erik Kwakernaak (‘Ingmar Bergman komt tot de mensen’. Skoop 7, no. 4, 1971: 36-40) discusses Reservatet (pp. 38-40). The focus is thematic and takes up the following motifs: compassion, violence, lies, and social elitism.
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Television Works An interview titled ‘En banalitetens tragi-komedi’ [A tragicomedy of banality], was done with the main actors in Röster i Radio-TV, no. 44, 1970, p. 17. See also DN, 28 October 1970, p. 20 for comments by Gunnel Lindblom in her role as Anna Fromm. A reportage by Elisabeth Sörenson from the Swedish TV production, titled ‘Ingmar Bergmans Reservatet’, was published in SvD, 18 February 1970, p. 17.
Reception Two major reviews might be juxtaposed, one by Bergman’s arch-enemy Bengt Jahnsson; the other by SvD’s Åke Janzon. Both comment on Bergman as a scriptwriter and, taken together, represent an on-going Swedish assessment of his authorship as either embarassing ‘flummery’ or open-ended psychological perspicacity. Jahnson concludes his rather acerbic review (DN, 29 October 1970): ‘Reservatet belongs to Bergman’s better manuscripts. That doesn’t say much since scriptwriting has always been Bergman’s weakest side. But Reservatet is without the flummery that became unbearable in for instance Riten’. [Reservatet tillhör Bergmans bättre manus. Det säger inte så mycket eftersom manusskriveriet alltid varit Bergmans svagaste sida. Men Reservatet saknar de floskler som blev outhärdliga exempelvis i Riten.] Åke Janzon’s review (SvD, 29 October 1970) gives Bergman credit for bringing ‘together the most common troubles and incidents that can befall an ordinary civil servant and his lecturer wife. [...] One of Ingmar Bergman’s inevitable merits is that he never gets caught in a definite psychological evaluation or revaluation’. [(Ingmar Bergman) har lyckats samla de vanliga besvär och incidenter som kan drabba en ordinär byråchef och hans lektorshustru. [...] Det hör till Ingmar Bergmans ofrånkomliga förtjänster att han inte fastnar i någon psykologisk värdering eller omvärdering.]
323.
THE LIE (1970)
Credits Production Producer Director Screenplay Photography Music Designer Broadcast Date
British Broadcasting Corporation Graeme McDonald Alan Bridges Ingmar Bergman (translated by Paul Britten Austin) Not listed Marc Wilkinson Richard Henry 29 October 1970 on BBC 1 (in ‘Play for Today’ series). Repeated 31 March 1971 on BBC 2, and 13 March 1972 on BBC 1.
Cast Andrew Firth Anna Firth Ellis Anderson Anna’s father Katherine Esther Albert Henry Veronica Housekeeper Eva Anderson
Frank Finlay Gemma Jones John Carson Mark Dignam Annette Crosbie Caroline Blakiston Joss Ackland Adam Tandy Lysandre de la Hay Patricia Lawrence Jennifer Daniel
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Andrew’s secretary Mr Arnold Fischer Whiteley McLeod Ministry officials Frederick St John Jane St John St John’s Daughters Jill Anderson Dr Ernest Farman Margaret Farman Stephen Calman Petra Calman Sir James Brenton Lady Emma Brenton
Gwen Cherrell John Nettleton Alan Rothwell Richard O’Sullivan Donald Douglas Richard Burrell, Alan Rowe, Robert Sansom, Tony Wright Ronald Leigh Hunt Joan Newell Caroline Weller, Susan Porter Jennifer Daniel Noel Coleman Liane Aukin Terence Bayler Donna Reading John Carlin Shirley Cain
Commentary In the British version of Bergman’s TV play the following cuts and changes were made in the plot: (1) a car trip that Andreas takes with his secretary, with whom he has a brief affair, is cut. The trip ends in a minor accident, after which there is a confrontation between Andreas and an over-zealous man of law and order who displays his class hatred by calling Andreas ‘an upper class gangster’. (2) A letter that Andreas writes to Anna in a restaurant is cut. In the letter Andreas tries to formulate what he feels is a lack of rapport between husband and wife. With the cut of this scene where Andreas seeks truth and understanding, he loses some audience sympathy. (3) The murder of Martin Luther King is replaced by a more current murder of a German diplomat in Guatemala – a change that deprives the plot of a significant dimension, since the Martin Luther King reference can function on a symbolic level because of King’s social visibility and role of martyr. The British production made the final confrontation between husband and wife even more brutal than Bergman’s script or Jan Molander’s Swedish version of the play. Said one Swedish reviewer of BBC’s The Lie: ‘The play’s meaning and the questions posed are simplified through the horror displayed. It is almost a consolation to know that we won’t have to see a German or a French version of Reservatet and be spared perhaps an even more horrifying naturalism or an icier anatomy’. [Pjäsens innebörd och pjäsens frågeställning (är) förenklad genom föreställningens ruskighet. Det är nästan en tröst att veta att vi torde få slippa se en tysk eller fransk version av ‘Reservatet’ och därigenom besparas en kanske ännu kusligare naturalism eller en ännu isigare anatomi.] Åke Janzon, ‘Engelskt ‘Reservat’’, SvD, 15 April 1971). See also Mauritz Edström, ‘Bergman på engelska brutalare och närmre’ [B in English more brutal and closer], DN, 15 April 1971. British reviews focussed on retelling the plot, sometimes in a rather ironic tone, and praising the camera work. The Guardian referred to the play as ‘a very expert and often singularly lovely exercise in trivia’ while The Times called The Lie ‘a very ordinary story’ rescued by a TVconscious production.
Reviews Banks-Smith, Nancy. ‘The Lie’. The Guardian, 30 October 1970, p. 8; Carey, John. ‘Burning Children’. The Listener, 5 November 1970, p. 639; Garrett, Gerard. ‘Crown of thorns in a love nest’. Daily Sketch, 30 October 1970;
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Television Works Reynolds, Stanley. ‘The Lie. BBC 1’. The Times, 30 October 1970, p. 18; See also unsigned reviews, same date, in The Daily Express, p. 8, and The Daily Mail, p. 8, and preview presentation in Radio Times, 22 October 1970. ‘The Lie’ won an award from the Society of Film and Television as best theatre production of 1970.
1973 324.
THE LIE
Credits Production Executive producer Director Screenplay Set design Costumes Running time Premiere
CBS-TV Lewis Freedman Alex Segal Ingmar Bergman Jan Scott Joel Schumacher 1 hr. 46 minutes (including commercials) 24 April 1973
Cast Andrew Fromm, Architect George Segal Anna Fromm, 34, Language Professor Shirley Knight Anna’s lover, Lawrence Robert Culp Bancks Victor Buono Albert William Daniels Arnold Edgarton Dean Jagger Karen Louise Lasser Esther Mary Ann Mobley Miss Pratt Elizabeth Wilson Edward Fredericks Allan Arbus Steve Olan Robert Easton Paula Olman Connie Hines Carol Banks Priscilla Morrill Mary Foreman Neva Patterson Elaine Fredericks Ann Prentiss Dr. Ernest Foreman Milton Selzor Eva Anderson Ellen Weston The Busybody Robert Emhardt Janine Maidie Norman Bauer John Ritter Fields James A. McHugh Akiro John Mamo Car Owner Jonathan Segal Army Major William H. Bassett Conference Men Jason Wingreen, Crane Jackson, Paul Bryer Henry Bobby Eilbacher Veronica Kim Dorso
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Reviews Los Angeles Times, 24 April 1973, p.1; NYT, 6 May 1973, p. 19; Newsweek, 30 April, pp. 69-70; Variety, 25 April 1973, p. 38. Reviewers considered Bergman’s script ‘dull and hollow’ and the plot a soap opera, reminiscent of his earlier film The Touch. A common American view of Bergman surfaced: that he was better at depicting life in bygone ages than in modern times. See also, Variety, 2 May 1973, for 2-page ad for the American production but note incorrect statement that The Lie is Ingmar Bergman’s first script for television. Both The Ritual (1969) and Fårö-dokument (1969) were written for television prior to Reservatet, but were not produced electronically.
325.
SCENER UR ETT ÄKTENSKAP [Scenes from a Marriage] Script Director
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
See Filmography Chapter (Ø 246) for additional comments, fuller synopsis, credits and record of foreign reception. See also introduction to television section in this chapter.
Brief Synopsis The main characters are Johan and Marianne, a married professional couple with two children. Johan is a research scientist, and Marianne is a lawyer. The action takes place in their affluent home in Stockholm, in their summer place, and in a fishing cabin borrowed from a friend. Other scenes occur in Marianne’s law office, in Johan’s laboratory, and in his office. The plot depicts the couple’s break-up and divorce, and their coming together many years later.
Brief Credits Production company Production manager Director Screenplay Photography Architect
Cinematograph AB Lars-Owe Carlberg Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist (Eastmancolor) Björn Thulin
Brief Cast List Marianne Johan Peter Katarina Eva Mrs. Jacobi
Liv Ullmann Erland Josephson Jan Malmsjö Bibi Andersson Gunnel Lindblom Barbro Hiort af Ornäs
Distribution
SR/TV 2 (TV version), Svensk Filmindustri (film version) Donald Rugoff TV version: 282 minutes 11 April 1973 (TV 2); retransmitted in 1986 and 2003. 28 October 1974, Camera (Västerås)
U.S. distribution Running time TV premiere Cinema premiere
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Television Works U.S. opening
21 September 1974, Cinema 1, NYC; 9 March 1977 (TV version), KCET, PBS. PBS ran two versions of this mini-series in March and April 1977. A dubbed version started on 9 March 1977, and ran for five consecutive Wednesdays. A subtitled version began on 12 March 1977 and ran for five consecutive Saturdays.
Filmed on location in Stockholm and at Fårö, beginning 24 July 1972 and completed 3 October 1972.
Commentary The longer TV version includes Marianne having an abortion and a longer visit to her mother. When Scener ur ett äktenskap was transmitted again in 1986, an interview done by Gun Allroth, titled ‘Inför Scener ur ett äktenskap’ [Before Scenes...], was televised on SVT, channel 2, on 7 July 1986. For another interview with Bergman about Scener..., see AB, 23 April 1973, sec. 2, pp. 2-3, where he talks about the problem of ‘people gaps’ rather than generation gaps. In his review of Scener... in Die Zeit, no. 12 (14 March 1975), pp. 17-18, Dieter Zimmer suggested that Bergman’s film about marriage was what Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Strindberg’s The Dance of Death had been for earlier generations. In April 1981, Bergman directed a triptych at Munich’s Residenztheater consisting of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, Strindberg’s Miss Julie, and his own, shortened theater version of Scenes from a Marriage.
Reception For Swedish reviews, see Stockholm press, 12, 19 and 26 April and 3, 10 and 17 May 1973; and Chaplin, no. 122 (1973), pp. 95-96. Swedish critics praised Bergman’s dialogue, the realism of his TV series and the clarity of the story. Many commented on the ‘triviality’ of the plot, which underwent a remarkable transformation through his sense of the TV medium. See especially the following write-ups: Edström, Mauritz. ‘En av Bergmans finaste människoskildringar’ [One of B’s finest human portrayals]. DN, 17 May 1973; reviews of earlier episodes on 12 April 19 April, 26 April, 3 May, and 10 May 1973. (Feels that Scener..., together with the documentary about Fårö, will remain Bergman’s best achievements). Janzon, Åke. ‘Äktenskapets lektion nr 1’ [Marriage lesson no. 1]. SvD, 12 April 1973; plus reviews of five subsequent ‘scenes’ in SvD, 19 April, 26 April, 3 May, 10 May and 17 May 1973. (Calls Scener ur ett äktenskap ‘a morality play without any moralizing’ [en moralitet utan något moraliserande] and views Bergman as an epic storyteller who takes liberties with dramatic conventions by using abrupt and unexplained time gaps and unprepared introductions of new plot elements, such as Johan’s affair with Paula. The result is not ‘a master-piece but a film story in which each single scene has vitality and psychological tension’ [inte ett mästerverk utan en filmberättelse där varje enskild scen har vitalitet och spänning]. Sandström, Carl-Ivar. SvD, 4 June 1973, p. 4. (Reveals scientific source of light experiment in Johan’s lab). According to pollsters, more women than men watched the series. (See Expr., 27 May 1973, pp. 1, 7, and SvD, 29 August 1974, p. 16.) However, Scener... was criticized by feminists. Filmmaker Maj Wechselman’s responded to Bergman’s marriage series in a special issue of the magazine Film & TV, nos. 5-6, 1973, in which she questioned the absence of children in the series and called Scener ur ett äktenskap a sorrowful kind of marriage trash for television from the mondaine world of women’s magazines, where fundamental conventions about role playing in marriage were never questioned. The same criticism was voiced in an article titled ‘Hvor er børnene og
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work livet udenfor?’ [Where are the children and life outside.] by Eva Bendix in Danish paper Politiken, 16 May 1973, p. 20. In an interview with A. Sellermark, ‘Kvinnor behagar genom att hålla käften’ [Women please by keeping their mouth shut], Femina, no. 39, 1974, pp. 28-29, 87, Bergman expressed surprise that women had not recognized Marianne’s liberation in Scenes from a Marriage and that feminists had not understood what the series was really about: women’s suppressed aggressions, their inner sabotage against themselves. Cf. this statement to feminist Maria Bergom Larsson’s essay on the film in DN, 5 October 1974 (‘Johan och Marianne bakom samhällets masker’/J and M behind society’s masks), according to which Bergman himself undermined Marianne’s socially conditioned liberation by ending her story on a metaphysical note of Angst. For a collage of excerpted critical comments on Scener..., see Röster i Radio-TV, no. 35, pp. 2430 August 1974. In Denmark where Scener... was televised at the same time as in Sweden, the series was considered a watershed in Danish television history. Rather typical was Jens Kistrups’s assessment of Scener... as a TV series of such power that the likes of it had ‘seldom or ever been seen’ [sjelden eller aldrig blitt sett], Jyllands-Posten, 13 May 1973. One critic (Lundgren) concluded: ‘I think one may feel a little blessed getting to see these marriage scenes’ [Jeg tror man må føle sig lidt velsigned over at få se disse ægteskabsscener]. The transmission of Scener från ett äktenskap coincided in time with Bergman’s Danish production of The Misanthrope at the Royal Danish Theatre (Det Kongelige) and Dramaten’s guest visit to Copenhagen’s Folketeater with Bergman’s 1972 staging of Vildanden/The Wild Duck. Thus, there was a great deal of Bergman publicity in Denmark in April-May 1973. For longer Danish articles on Scener ur ett äktenskap, see the following: Barfoed, Niels. ‘Varmen midt i den store forvirring’ [Warmth in the midst of great confusion]. Politiken (Danish), 17 May 1973. (Warns against seeing Bergman’s Scener... as a debate about marriage and ignoring the many psychological layers in the TV series); Bodelsen, Anders & Frederik Dessau, ‘Dønninger efter en Bergman-bølge: Berøringen – Hovedrengøringen’ [Swells after a Bergman wave: The Touch – the main clean-up]. Politiken, 20 May 1973. (Discusses Bergman’s TV esthetics: a return to the theatre with fewer cuts than on film but with more emphasis on close-ups; shots focusing on the listening character rather than the speaking one; clean cuts and natural sounds, no music. Refers to the style as ‘Bergman’s puritanism’); Lundgren, Henrik. ‘Den mytiske tosomhed’ [The mythical ‘two-getherness’]. Information (Danish), 3 May 1973. (Sees ‘classical simplicity’ as a key to Bergman’s impact as both filmmaker and theatre director, an approach that presents the dramatis personae as both individuals and archetypes. Suggests that Scener ur ett äktenskap can be viewed from three different perspectives: (1) as a naturalistic-psychological reckoning in the Strindberg tradition; (2) as a ‘psychoanalytical’ struggle between conscious and subconscious layers of the human psyche; (3) as a political-ideological conflict between an obsolete bourgeois way of life and an attempt to create a new form for living); Wammen, Chris. ‘Tryghed eksisterer ikke’ [Security does not exist]. Aarhus Stiftstidende, 29 April 1973, p. 37. Besides weekly reviews of the TV series, there were numerous Danish interviews with Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson (Marianne and Johan in the series). See for instance: ‘TVs Johan: Jeg har aldrig slået en kvinde’ [TVs Johan: I have never hit a woman]. Billedbladet, 17 May 1973;
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Television Works ‘Bergman-seriens Johan: TV-arbejde skammeligt tiltalende’ [TV work shamefully attractive]. Extra Bladet, 28 April 1973. The longer TV version was aired in the U.S. on PBS, early March 1977, with Liv Ullmann as commentator. See Village Voice, 4 April 1977. For American discussions of the pros and cons of the longer TV version, see: Champlin, Charles. Los Angeles Times, 18 November 1974, p. 1; Elliott, David. Film Heritage 10, no. 2 (Winter 1975): 43-44; Heilbrun, Carolyn. Ms. 3, no. 2 (August 1974): 60-61, 82; Hollywood Reporter CCXXV, no. 38 (2 April 1973): 1; Kauffmann, Stanley. New Republic, 12 October 1974, pp. 22, 33 (repr. in Before my eyes, pp. 6669); Keyser, Lester. ‘Bergman and the Popular Audience’ in Kaminsky (Ø 1266), pp. 313-23; Kinder, Marsha. Film Quarterly 28, no. 2 (Winter 1974-75): 48-53.
Book-length studies using Scenes from a Marriage as a resource Evangelische Filmarbeit Arbeitshilfe, March 1975, n.p. A German book on marriage counselling; Svart, Bent. ‘Transaktionsanalyse af et TV-spil: en personligheds- og socialpsykologisk analyse af hovedpersonerne i Ingmar Bergmans TV-spil ‘Scener fra et aegteskab’’. Thesis, Den Sociale Højskole, Århus, 1975, 140 leaves; Thymark, Nina. Äktenskap-partnerskap-samliv [Marriage-Parnership-Living together] (Lund: Studentlitteratur, 1976), 175 pp. This is a somewhat lackluster discussion of Johan’s and Marianne’s situation seen as a common phenomenon in Western culture. For a critical review, see Maria Bergom-Larsson in DN, 7 September 1977, p. 4; Wentholt, Hans. ‘Scenes uit een huwelijk: een indruk van de reakties van de kijkers’. Hilversum: N.O.S. Dienst televisie programma – Kijkersonderzoek, 1977. 28 pp. Dutch viewer reception study of Scenes from a Marriage.
Additional reviews Breivik, Thomas. ‘Tre kunstverk om ekteskapet’ [Three artistic works about marriage]. Stavanger Aftenblad (Norwegian), 13 June 1973. (Presentation (but not a comparison) of Bergman’s Scener...; Dramaten’s production of A Doll’s House with Bibi Andersson as Nora (F. Sundström, director); and Joseph Losey’s film version of Ibsen’s play with Jane Fonda. Writer finds the two main characters in Scener... too abstracted); S. Farber, Röster i Radio-TV, no. 39 (1974), pp. 10-11; E. Kwakernaak, Skoop, no. 4 (September 1973), pp. 36-40; Politiken (Copenhagen), 20 May 1973, p. 34; Sight and Sound, no. 3 (Summer 1973), pp. 147-48; Vecko-Journalen, no. 23 (1973), p. 34 (Ahlgren); Vecko-Journalen, no. 18 (1973), pp. 4, 50 (Edvardsson).
1975 326.
TROLLFLÖJTEN [The Magic Flute] See (Ø 247) in the Filmography, Chapter IV, for presentation of Trollflöjten/The Magic Flute as a feature film, including shooting preparations, synopsis, full credits, foreign response, bibliography, and awards.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Brief Credits Production company Production manager Director Photography Architect Music Orchestration Choreography Costumes
Cinematograph/SverigesTelevision (STV, Channel 2) Måns Reuterswärd Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist (Eastmancolor) Henny Noremark W.A. Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte Eric Ericson and SR/Symphony Choir Donya Feuer Karin Erskine, Henny Noremark
Brief Cast List Tamino Pamina Papageno Papagena Sarastro Queen of Night Monostatos Running time Released Television premiere
Josef Köstlinger Irma Urrila Håkan Hagegård Elisabeth Erikson Ulrik Cold Birgit Nordin Ragnar Ulfung 135 minutes 26 September 1975 1 January 1975
The transmission was preceded by a TV documentary of the rehearsals, produced by Måns Reutersvärd and Katinka Farago, titled Tagning Trollflöjten/Stand By To Shoot The Magic Flute. Stockholm: SVT.
Commentary After his staging of The Rake’s Progress at Stockholm Opera in 1961 (see interview with Bergman by Bertil Widerberg in SDS, 6 April 1961, pp. 3, 4), Bergman received many feelers about setting up operas abroad. Variety, 13 September 1967, p.1, reports that Bergman might stage a Wagner opera at Bayreuth Music festival, even though he had turned down previous offers from La Scala and the Berlin Opera. According to an article in SvD, 31 March 1965, p. 12, Bergman negotiated with Hamburg Opera about staging The Magic Flute, but plans were changed to a staging of The Rake’s Progess and finally canceled because of his illness in late spring 1965. Some seven years later the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation (SR/TV) commissioned Bergman to film Mozart’s opera for television to celebrate SR’s 50th anniversary 1974 (see SvD, 2 November 1972). Bergman discussed the production with music conductor Erik Eriksson in the news program ‘Eko’, Swedish Public Radio (SR), 2 November 1972. A press conference was held on 10 November 1973 to present the project (Stockholm press, 11 November). On 18 December 1974, SR issued a 10-page program edited by B. Löwander and A.-M. Wachtmeister, including credits and some comments by Bergman.
Swedish Reception On 3 January 1975, Olof Lagercrantz launched a critical debate of Bergman’s TV ‘extravaganza’ with an editorial in DN; ‘Efter Trollflöjten’ [After The Magic Flute], p. 2. In this debate, ideological and policy matters overshadowed artistic evaluations of Bergman’s Flute. Lagercrantz’s editorial placed the film in the mainstream of a public discussion at the time about elitist versus popular art and about the raison d’être of a state-subsidized opera, an exclusive art form that could be enjoyed by only a handful of taxpayers. That Bergman’s Magic Flute reached
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Television Works millions of TV viewers and radio listeners did not appease his ideological critics, who argued that Bergman had received a disproportionate slice of the annual TV budget for his production and forced his bourgeois taste on Swedish workers. See critical SR radio talk by Torbjörn Säfve, 23 January 1975, and commentaries by Stig Ahlgren, ‘Kontrollflöjten’ [The control flute], VeckoJournalen, 15 January 1975, p. 28 (satire on Lagercrantz’s 3 January editorial); T. Uppström, ‘Trollflöjten, ett nederlag?’ [Magic Flute, a defeat?], AB, 6 January 1975, p. 2. AB’s comment referred to Bergman’s production as ‘A centrally conducted piece of elitist culture in the mammoth category’ [Ett centralt dirigerat stycke elitkultur i mammutkategorin]. See also: I. Ygeman, Scen och Salong, no. 2 (1975), pp. 2-3 and Leif Zern, ‘Ingmar Bergman och finkulturen’ [Bergman and elitist culture], DN, 10 January 1975, p. 6 (support of TV production). A final report on the financing of the Trollflöjten production in SvD, 22 November 1976, pp. 1, 7, announced that Sveriges Radio had recovered its costs and even made a profit on the venture. Bergman’s profit was modest since he had agreed on a fixed sum beforehand and could not cash in on the international success of his Flute. After the TV transmission on January 1 1975, SR published an undated 7-page fact sheet in English titled ‘The Magic Flute: What the Press Wrote’, with favorable excerpts in English of the Nordic press reception.
Swedish Reviews Stockholm press, 2 January and 5 October 1975 (AB, 31 December 1974). Chaplin, no. 136 (January 1975), p. 14. Reportage from shooting Trollflöjten/Magic Flute, SvD, 14 April 1974, p. 11; and DN, same date, p. 20. Svensk filmografi, 1970-1979 (Ø 380), pp. 288-291.
Special Studies Törnqvist, Egil. Bergman’s Muses, 2003, Chapter 2, segment titled ‘Transcending Boundaries: Mozart’s The Magic Flute as Television Opera’, pp. 65-79. (Discussion of Bergman’s TV opera as a work in which formal, ideological and thematic boundaries are transcended). Also in Fridén, ed., Ingmar Bergman and the Arts. Nordic Theatre Studies 11, 1998, pp. 84-97.
1976 327.
ANSIKTE MOT ANSIKTE [Face to Face] See (Ø 248) in Chapter IV, Filmography, for longer synopsis, full credits (including complete cast list) and response to the shorter international film version of Face to Face.
Brief Synopsis Psychiatrist Jenny Isaksson has a nervous breakdown, and while hallucinating and reliving a childhood trauma, she becomes suicidal. She is rescued by her friend Tomas and recovers. While in the hospital she is visited by her rather self-absorbed husband and daughter. Film ends as Jenny calls her office to announce her pending return. There is also a suggestion of a trip to the US. The film is set in the old-fashioned apartment of Jenny’s grandparents in Stockholm, with some additional scenes taking place in a hospital, in an empty house, and at a party.
Brief Credits Production company
Cinematograph
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Architects Sound/Mixing Running time Transmission date
Ingmar Bergman Peder Langenskiöld Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist Anne Terselius-Hagegård, Peter Krópenin Owe Svensson 175 minutes (TV version) SVT, 28 April, 5, 12, 19 May 1996.
Brief Cast list Dr. Jenny Isaksson Dr. Tomas Jacobi Grandpa Grandma Maria
Liv Ullmann Erland Josephson Gunnar Björnstrand Aino Taube Kari Sylwan
Commentary The published script of Face to Face is based on the longer TV version. Bergman held a press conference on Ansikte mot ansikte/Face to Face, 7 January 1975, announcing his 2-million kronor TV film. See DN, 8 January, p. 10. He was interviewed about the TV series by K. Harryson on Swedish television. See Röster i Radio-TV, nos. 18 (1976), pp. 7-8, and 19, pp. 10-11, 61. On 24 March 1976, SR/TV issued a five-page program including plot synopsis, film credits, and Bergman’s letter to the crew. The letter was also published in NYT, 24 September 1975, p. 45, and became the preface to Swedish and American printed versions of the script.
Swedish Reception Several psychiatric professionals commented on the series. See H. Lohmann (interview) in Röster i Radio-TV, no. 21 (1976), pp. 14-15; D. Notini in Expr., 9 May 1976, p. 16, about the risk of ‘mimetic effects’, i.e., from Jenny’s suicide attempt. A special TV-program ‘Kris’ [Crisis], was also aired in connection with Bergman series, SVT, 24 May 1976. Practically all reviews of the TV series Ansikte mot ansikte praised Liv Ullmann’s performance, but many regarded it as a directorial tour de force, covering up flaws in Bergman’s conception of the character of Jenny Isaksson. On 5 and 21 May 1976, Information (Copenhagen) carried a public response to ‘Bergman’s total rape of women’. On 20 May 1976, Madeleine Katz in Expr. (p. 5) attacked Bergman for failing Jenny: ‘She gives him an orgasm, then he dismisses her, packs her off to the U.S’ [hon ger honom en orgasm, sedan skickar han bort henne, packar iväg henne till USA]. For similiar views, see Britt-Marie Svedberg, DN, 24 May 1976, p. 18. See also reviews in Stockholm press, 29 April, 6 May, 13 May, and 20 May 1976 (Expr. also 11 April); and Chaplin no. 144 (1976), pp. 95-95.
328.
DE FÖRDÖMDA KVINNORNAS DANS [The dance of the damned women]
Credits Original Title Production Producers Text Music Choreography Photography
Il ballo delle ingrate Swedish Television, Channel 2 Måns Reuterswärd and Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman after an idea by Donya Feuer Monteverdi Donya Feuer Sven Nykvist
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Television Works Dancers Song Broadcast Date
Helene Friberg, Nina Harte, Lena Wennergren, Lisbeth Zachrisson Dorothy Dorrow 15 December 1976
Commentary Described as a play for dancers rather than a ballet, De fördömda kvinnornas dans focusses on four women moving in a narrow closed room. They represent ‘generational’ women, i.e., women who live by performing a role imposed upon them by other women of many generations ago. Two of the dancers are damned souls come alive. The third is Death and the fourth a child, born free but forced into the role playing pattern. Ingmar Bergman and Donya Feuer got the idea for the dance play during the shooting of Trollflöjten. De fördömda kvinnornas dans was shown out of competition at the 1976 Prix d’Italia contest. It reportedly had an enthusiastic reception. When shown on Swedish television, it was televised twice in the same program spot with a commentary between the two showings. Bergman’s idea was to let the viewers assess the dance play first without the commentary, then see it a second time in a kind of silent dialogue with the commentator. No reviews have been located.
1979 329.
FÅRÖDOKUMENT 79
Synopsis Ten years after he made his first documentary about Fårö, Ingmar Bergman set out to reexamine life on the island. He followed up on some of the interviews in his first Fårö film, finding that most of the social trends on the island continued. The older generation wanted the young to stay put and expressed fear that diminishing social services would contribute drastically to depopulating the island. But Fårö 79 is less of a social document than the earlier film and more of a hymn, a filmmaker’s declaration of love to the place where he feels rooted. The film is also to a large extent the work of the photographer Arne Carlsson, a native of Fårö.
Credits Production company Production manager Director Photographer Sound Sound rerecording Music
Editor Narrator Running time Premiere Cinema premiere U.S. opening
Cinematograph; SR/TV 2 Lars-Owe Carlberg Ingmar Bergman Arne Carlsson Thomas Samuelsson, Lars Persson Owe Svensson, Conrad Weyns Svante Pettersson, Sigvard Huldt, Dag and Lena, Ingmar Nordströms, Strix Q, Rock de Luxe, Ola and the Janglers Sylvia Ingemarsson Ingmar Bergman 103 minutes Swedish TV 2, 25 December 1979. 19 October 1981, Filmstaden (Stockholm) 30 October 1980, Coronet, NYC. Available at Museum of Television and Radio, NYC. T:09357.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Commentary Arne Carlsson was given rather free reins to film the second Fårö dokument. His version has a different (slower) rhythm than the first Fårö film and suggests a lack of Bergman editing. A third Fårö film was discussed at the time but has not materialized.
Reviews Stockholm press, 27 December 1979; Chaplin, no. 166 (1980, no. 1), p. 37; Cinéma, no. 256 (April 1980), p. 96; Cinématographie, April 1980, p. 42; Cinemateca Revista, no. 24 (June 1981): 40-41; Films and Filming, May 1982, p. 37; Image et son, no. 349 (April 1980), p. 59; Monthly Film Bulletin, XLVIII, no. 572, (September) 1981: 176; New York Times, 9 November 1980, sec. D, p. 19; Variety, no. 1, (5 November) 1980, p. 22. Yann Tobin. ‘Le décor démasqué’. Positif 231 (June) 1980: 65-66. See also: Röster i Radio-TV, no. 52 (1979), pp. 6-7, 76; Svensk filmografi 1980-89, pp. 175-167.
1983 330.
HUSTRUSKOLAN [School for Wives]
Credits Production Producer Director Assistant Director Screenplay Photo Sound Architect (TV) Costumes (TV) Props Make-up Technical director Videotape editor Continuity
Sveriges Television (SVT) Gerd Edwards Alf Sjöberg/Ingmar Bergman Lotta Gummesson Molière’s play Ecole des femmes, tr. by Lars Forssell Jan Wictorinus, Per-Olof Runa, Lennart Söderberg Alvar Piehl John Virke Ann-Marie Anttila, Tom Lange Vivian Abrahamsson, Carina Sjöö Birgitta Lundh, Yvonne Persson Hans Rydström Jan Askelöf Gunnel Blomqvist
Cast Arnolphe Agnès Alain Georgette Crysalde Oronte Enrique Lawyer Horace
Allan Edwall Lena Nyman Björn Gustafson Ulla Sjöblom Lasse Pöysti Olle Hilding Oscar Ljung Nils Eklund Stellan Skarsgård
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Television Works Transmission date Running time
25 December 1983. 108 min
Commentary Three years after director Alf Sjöberg’s death in a bicycle accident in May 1980, Ingmar Bergman transposed Sjöberg’s last production at Dramaten for television. A press conference was held at SR/TV on 22 April 1983 after the cast had rehearsed for ten days and were about to start a 12-day filming in a TV studio. According to Bergman he had wanted to follow Sjöberg’s intentions but not make a copy of Sjöberg’s Dramaten production: ‘I don’t do this as a technician but as an artist. In many cases I must seek other solutions and do a new scenography’. [Jag gör inte detta som tekniker utan som konstnär. I många fall måste jag söka andra lösningar och göra ny scenografi.] In a TV interview, ‘Inför Hustruskolan’ [At the opening of School for Wives], SR/TV, 25 December 1983, Bergman talked about a pet idea of his: that good theatre should be made available to everybody and not only to those who have access to Dramaten and the Opera: ‘Dramaten and the Royal Opera are two state institutions equally owned by Selma in Teckomatorp and Agnes in Korpilombolo – but Agnes and Selma never get to see what we are doing’. [Dramaten och Kungliga Operan är två statliga institutioner som ägs likaledes av Selma i Teckomatorp och Agnes i Korpilombolo – men Agnes och Selma får aldrig se vad vi gör.] (Teckomatorp and Korpilombolo are small communities in the far south and far north of Sweden.) See also Elisabeth Sörenson, ‘En bergmansk tanke’ [A Bergman thought]. SvD, 24 December 1983. A documentary in two parts based on interviews, ‘Ingmar Bergman och Hustruskolan’, was transmitted on Swedish Public Radio on 31 December 1983 and 1 January 1984. See Varia A.
Reviews The enthusiastic reviews pointed out Bergman’s unique ability to cross-inseminate the theatre stage and television screen. In this TV production he filmed the play from the point of view of a viewer in a theatre audience. In this way he retained Sjöberg’s theatrical conception. Critics called for a repeat transmission of a historical theatre evening. Brunius, Clas. ‘TV igår. En fullträff ’ [TV yesterday. Right on the mark]. Expr., 26 December 1983, p. 62; Malmberg, Gert. ‘TV-helg för alla’ [TV holidays for all]. GP, 27 December 1983, p. 40; Marko, Susanne. ‘Ett bländande skådespel’ [A brilliant spectacle]. DN, 27 December 1983, p. 71; Nohrborg, Kaj. ‘En avslagen knäppupp-film’ [A tepid film farce]. SDS, 27 December 1983, p. 63; Sten, Hemming. ‘TV får världen att krympa’ [TV makes the world shrink]. SvD, 27 December 1983, p. 22.
See also Halldin, Alf. ‘Bergmans hyllning till Sjöberg. Hustruskolan’ [B’s homage to S. School of Wives]. GP, 24 December 1983, Bilagan, p. 6.
1984 331.
FANNY OCH ALEXANDER [Fanny and Alexander] Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work See entry (Ø 253) in Filmography for references to feature film version, including longer synopsis, fuller credits, commentary, and foreign reception.
Brief Synopsis Fanny and Alexander Ekdahl, pre-teen siblings, live in the university town of Uppsala in early part of 20th century. After their father Oscar’s death, the mother (Emilie) remarries Bishop Vergerus. Life changes drastically for the children, from boyous family gatherings to the bishop’s stark religious home. A friend of the Ekdahl’s, the Jew Isak, rescues the children to his house where Alexander encounters the puppeteer Aron and the visionary Ismael. A sequence depicts Jacobi reading from his Holy Hebrew Book to Alexander and Fanny. Images of pilgrims wandering through a desert landscape – among them the austere servant Justina – accompany Isak’s reading. This sequence, referred to by Bergman as ‘the desert sequence’, is cut from the shorter feature film version. Emilie puts bromides in the bishop’s broth, then leaves him when he is almost unconscious. Ismael articulates Alexander’s wish to kill the bishop. Intercut are shots of Vergerus’s obese aunt catching fire from an overturned kerosene lamp. The fire spreads to the bishop’s bedroom. In the morning Emilie is informed by the police of her husband’s death. The following winter both Emilie and the servant girl Maj give birth to baby daughters. At a family celebration, Gustaf Adolf Ekdahl, father of Maj’s child, makes a speech that is an homage to life. The film ends with Helena Ekdahl reading to Emilie from the preface of Strindberg’s A Dreamplay.
Brief Credits Production company
Executive producer Production manager Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Sound Music
Architect
Cinematograph / Svenska Filminstitutet / SVT 1 / Sandrews / Gaumont / Personafilm / Tobis Film (SVT’s Channel 1 and Sandrews were involved early as co-producers, whereas French Gaumont delayed its decision). Jörn Donner Katinka (Katherine) Faragó Ingmar Bergman Peter Schildt Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist (Eastmancolor); Tony Forsberg (2nd-unit) Owe Svensson Robert Schumann, Piano quintet E major op. 45 (2nd movement) and ‘Du Ring an meinem Finger’ from ‘Frauen Liebe und Leben’; Daniel Bell; Benjamin Britten, Suites for cello op. 72, 80, and 87; Anna Asp
Brief Cast List Ekdahl household Helena Ekdahl Oscar Ekdahl Emilie Ekdahl Alexander Ekdahl Fanny Ekdahl Gustaf Adolf Ekdahl Alma, his wife Carl Ekdahl
Gunn Wållgren Allan Edwall Ewa Fröling Bertil Guve Pernilla Allwin Jarl Kulle Mona Malm Börje Ahlstedt
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Television Works Maj Kling, maid
Pernilla Wahlgren
Jacobi household Isak Jacobi Aron Ismael
Erland Josephson Mats Bergman Stina Ekblad
Vergerus household Bishop Vergerus Henrietta Vergerus, his sister Blenda Vergerus, his mother Elsa Bergius, his aunt Justina, maid
Jan Malmsjö Kerstin Tidelius Marianne Aminoff Hans Erik Lerfeldt Harriet Andersson
Theatre staff Philip Landahl
Gunnar Björnstrand
Filmed on location in Uppsala, Södra Teatern (Stockholm), Värmdö-Tynningö and at SFI Studios, Filmhuset, Stockholm, beginning 7 September 1981 and completed 22 March 1982. Distribution U.S. distribution Running time Premiere (TV version)
Sandrews Embassy Pictures TV version: 300 minutes (at 25 fr/sec) SVT, 25 December 1984 (first of four segments)
The longer (TV) version was shown at Venice Film Festival in September 1983. At that time, Bergman gave a press conference (9 September 1983), excerpted in French Positif, no. 289 (March 1985).
Commentary The television version (aired on Swedish TV in four segments) was divided into five parts of uneven lengths (92, 40, 37, 60 and 90 minutes). This version was ‘non-negotiable’ at Bergman’s insistence. Instead, he edited a commercial film version, which follows sequentially the longer five-hour television version but cuts or shortens several scenes. See Filmography, Reception, Reviews and Articles (Ø 253).
332.
EFTER REPETITIONEN [After the Rehearsal] See also Filmography, Chapter IV (Ø 254), for longer synopsis, commentary and foreign reception of Efter repetitionen as a motion picture.
Brief Synopsis Efter repetition/After the Rehearsal is a TV film set on an old theatre stage. Henrik Vogler, an aging director, sits alone when young Anna Egerman, cast as Agnes in Vogler’s current production of Strindberg’s Ett drömspel, enters. Anna’s mother Rakel and Vogler were occasional lovers. When Anna’s and Vogler’s meeting takes place, Rakel has been dead for five years. Vogler expresses his views on the theatre. Suddenly Rakel appears. She is 46, drunk, and seductive. The time goes back to when Anna was 12. After a bitter conversation Rakel leaves as Vogler promises to visit her. The scene returns to the present. Vogler ‘depicts’ in words his and Anna’s love affair. The make-believe affair ends with their parting as friends. Aging Vogler notices he can no longer hear the church bells.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Credits Production company Executive producer Unit manager Director Screenplay Photography Set Design Editor
Cinematograph for Personafilm Gmbh (Munich) Jörn Donner Eva Bergman Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist Anna Asp Syliva Ingemarsson
Cast Henrik Vogler Anna Egerman Rakel Anna as 12-year-old
Erland Josephson Lena Olin Ingrid Thulin Nadja Palmstierna-Weiss
Distribution Running time Premiere
Cinematograph/SVT/SF 72 minutes 9 April 1984 (Swedish TV, Channel 1)
Swedish Reception Reviewers pointed out the unique artistic quality of Bergman’s TV film and placed it high above the usual fare on Swedish television in terms of visual artistry and acting talent. They were also struck by the degree of humor and human acceptance in a production that could easily have become an anguished tragedy. Opinion was more divided, however, about its content. To some, Henrik Vogler’s part was a fascinating series of ruminations by an aging director, alias Ingmar Bergman. To others, the fleeting borderline between confession and theatrical commentary was problematic since it added more to Bergman’s biography than to his art and presumed a knowledge of the filmmaker’s background and earlier work to elicit real interest.
Reviews Stockholm press, 10 April 1984 (DN, 11 April).
Articles and Special Studies Aghed, Jan. ‘Intérieur miniature’. Positif 289 (March) 1985: 17-35, (Discussion of Efter repetitionen as an essay on the theatre); Lierop, Pieter van. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Na de repetitie’. Skoop XXII, no. 1 (Feburary 1986): 26-27; Narti, Ana Maria. ‘Sveriges mest beundrade sändebud’ [Sweden’s most admired envoy]. DN, 14 April 1984, p. 45; Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Intertextuality in the Theater. Ingmar Bergman’s Efter repetionen.’ Scandinavian Studies, Vol. 73, no. 1 (Spring) 2001, pp. 25-42. (Discusses the work as a tele-play).
1985 333.
KARINS ANSIKTE [Karin’s face]. Produced in 1983, the 35mm film was shot in color but is largely based on black and white stills from the family photo album. The subject is Ingmar Bergman’s mother Karin, maiden name Åkerblom (1889-1964).
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Television Works Credits Production Director Screenplay Photography Sound Music Editor
Cinematograph Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Arne Carlsson Owe Svensson Performed by Käbi Laretei Sylvia Ingemarsson
Distribution Running time Premiere
Svenska Filminstitutet 14 minutes First shown at film festivals in 1985. Swedish TV transmission, 29 September 1986.
1986 334.
DE TVÅ SALIGA [The Blessed Ones]
Synopsis A middle-aged art teacher, Viveka, meets the somewhat younger Sune Burman in the empty Uppsala Cathedral. He approaches her and asks her if she believes in God. She responds that she cannot live without God, that God takes on great meaning for a lonely person. Viveka and Sune continue their conversation during a train journey. They fall in love and view this as a miracle. After a time lapse of seven years, we meet the two again, now locked up in an apartment, closing off the outside world that makes vain attempts to reach them. Both Annika, Viveka’s sister, and a psychiatrist fail. Love has made Viveka very vulnerable and suspicious; she becomes jealous and increasingly paranoic, and leads Sune into madness. He imagines himself chased by a police car. Viveka has an eye ailment and in an attempt to establish equality between them, Sune stabs one of his eyes with a brush handle. The title, the two blessed ones, takes on more and more ironic implications. The psychological tragedy ends in a double suicide. Viveka turns on the gas and lies down on the floor next to Sune.
Credits Production company
Executive producers Director Script Photography Sound Architect Costumes Editor
Sveriges Television, TV 1/ Co-produced with Channel 4 (UK), DR (Denmark), ORF (Austria), RAI 2 (Italy), VPRO (Netherlands), ZDF (Germany) and YLE (Finland) Pia Ehrnvall, Katinka Faragó Ingmar Bergman Ulla Isaksson, after her 1962 novel of the same name Pelle Norén, Per Olof Runa, Jan Wictorinus Alvar Piehl Birgitta Brensén Inger Pehrsson Sylvia Ingemarsson
Cast Viveka Burman Sune Burman Annika
Harriet Andersson Per Myrberg Christina Schollin
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Dr. Dettow, psychiatrist Mrs. Storm Olsson, a neighbour
Lasse Pöysti Irma Christenson Björn Gustafson
Also: Majlis Granlund, Kristina Adolphson, Margreth Weivers, Bertil Norström, Johan Rabaeus, Lennart Tollén, Lars-Owe Carlberg. Shot on location in Stockholm and Uppsala. Distribution Running time Premiere
Sveriges Television 81 minutes (TV), 89 minutes 19 February 1986, Swedish television, TV 2
Commentary This TV film by Ingmar Bergman was based on a prose work by Ulla Isaksson, with whom he had collaborated on the films Nära livet (1958) and Jungfrukällan (1960). It is a dark story, a ‘folie à deux’. The film contains violent scenes of self-mutilation and blinding. Bergman’s production was termed stark and compassionate, ‘a miracle’ (Expr.), but also cold and clinical, lacking empathy – ‘a melodrama smelling of sulphur and perfume’ [en melodram som luktade svavel och parfym, DN]. NYT review (John J. Connor) called ‘The Blessed Ones’ a Bergman work at its bleakest but ‘the work of an artist who can keep us watching almost against our will’. François Ramasse in Positif considered this TV film the darkest in Bergman’s oeuvre.
Swedish Reviews Andréason, Sverker. ‘Två utsatta barn i livets storskog’ [Two exposed children in life’s big forest]. GP, 20 February 1986; Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Fördjupat virtuost samspel’ [Deepened virtuoso ensemble play]. SvD, 20 February 1986; Blom, Jörgen. ‘Var pjäsen begriplig?’ [Did the play make sense?]. AB, 20 February 1986; Ersgård, Stefan. ‘Sett i TV. Mörkret’ [Viewed on TV. The Darkness]. Arbetet, 20 February 1986; Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘Bergman i TV. Lyhörd moralitet’ [B in TV. Sensitive morality play]. SDS, 20 February 1986; Marko, Susanne. ‘En skräckromantisk fabel’ [A Gothic fable]. DN, 20 February 1986; Nilsson, Björn. ‘All kärlek är en smitta’ [All love is contagion]. Expr., 20 February 1986; Schildt, Jurgen. ‘En ruskig brygd’ [A horrible concoction]. AB, 20 February 1986, p. 41.
Foreign Reviews Connor, John J. ‘Museum Tribute to Ingmar Bergman’, NYT, 18 February 1987, Sec. C, p. 22. Lierop, Pieter van. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Na de repetitie’. Skoop XXII, no. 1 (Feburary 1986): 26-27; review of Efter repetitionen but also includes notes on ‘The Blessed Ones’. Ramasse, François. ‘Les deux bienheureux de Bergman’. Positif no. 313 (March 1987): 59.
Awards Tele-film was shown out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1987. 1986:
Prize in TV section, Venice Film Festival
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Television Works
1991 335.
DEN GODA VILJAN [Best Intentions] TV film, also released in abbreviated version as a feature film. See Filmography Chapter IV (Ø 256) for longer synopsis, credits, commentary, and reception. Script Director
Ingmar Bergman Bille August
Brief Synopsis The narrative covers the first several years in the courtship and married life of Bergman’s parents, Henrik Bergman and Anna Åkerblom. When they meet, Henrik is a poor theology student at Uppsala. Anna is a nursing student. Soon after Anna’s aging father dies, she and Henrik are engaged and visit the rural community of Forsboda, which will become their first home. The narrator’s voice enters the story to reconstruct the first severe argument between Henrik and Anna. A tension between Henrik and Anna’s mother Karin increases when Anna delivers their first son at Uppsala Academic Hospial instead of at Forsboda. A 7-year-old foster child, Petrus, comes to live with Anna and Henrik. At the same time there is social unrest at the local mill, whose owner Nordenson and Henrik have a falling-out. In December 1917, the mill is declared bankrupt, and Nordenson commits suicide. Marital tension leads Anna to decide to move to her mother’s; Henrik loses control and hits her twice. Anna stays in Uppsala over Christmas. In an epilogue, Henrik comes unannounced to Uppsala in June 1918 and informs Anna of his decision to accept an offer to become pastor at the Sophia Hospital in Stockholm. In July their second son, Ingmar, will be born.
Short Credits Production company
Producer Director Screenplay Photography Sound Music Architect Editor
Sveriges Television (SVT). Produced in cooperation with ZDF (Germany), Channel Four (UK), RAI Due (Italy), DR (Denmark), NRK (Norway), RUK (Iceland), and YLE 2 (Finland) Ingrid Dahlberg Bille August Ingmar Bergman Jörgen Persson Lennart Gentzel, Johnny Ljungberg Stefan Nilsson; Sveriges Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Esa Pekka Salonen Anna Asp Janus Billeskov Jensen
Short Cast List Henrik Bergman Anna Åkerblom Johan Åkerblom Karin Åkerblom Alma Bergman Nordenson Queen Victoria Petrus Farg
Samuel Fröler Pernilla Östergren-August Max von Sydow Ghita Nørby Mona Malm Lennart Hjulström Anita Björk Elias Ringqvist
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Distribution Foreign Distribution Running time Premiere
Svensk Filmindustri (shorter version) Film Four International, London 325 minutes (TV-version), 181 minutes (shorter version) 25 December 1991, SVT, channel 1 (4 segments); the other segments were transmitted on 26, 29, & 30 December 1991, with repeat showings on 31 December 1991, 1, 5, & 6 January 1992; and on 25 & 29 December 1994, 1 & 5 January 1995.
Swedish Reviews Aghed, Jan. ‘En fantastisk samling skådespelare’ [A fantastic group of actors]. SDS, 27 December 1991, p. A31; Hjertén, Hanserik. ‘Pulsen saknas i finstämt epos’ [The pulse is missing in finely attuned epic]. DN, 27 December 1991, p. B4; Kaplan, Tony. ‘Ljuset i mörkret’ [The light in darkness]. Arb, 27 December 1991, Sec. 2, p. 27; Ludvigsson, Bo. ‘En berättelse att sjunka in i’ [A tale to sink into]. SvD, 27 December 1991, p. 1, 3 (section 2); Schwartz, Margareta. ‘Den här gången sa det pang’ [This time – bingo]. Expr., 26 December 1991, p. 46; Thunbäck-Hanson, Monika. ‘Den goda viljans seger’ [Victory of Best Intentions]. GP, 27 December 1991, p. 4; Westling, Barbro. ‘Att vilja’ [To want to]. AB, 26 December 1991, p. 4; Zern, Leif. ‘Bergmans spegel putsad – och blank’ [Bergman’s mirror polished – and smooth]. Expr., 26 December 1991, p. 4. See also review in Filmrutan, no. 1, 1992, pp. 34-35.
1992 336.
MARKISSINNAN DE SADE [The Marquise de Sade]
Credits Original Title Production Producers Playwright Director Asst. director Architect Photography Videotape Music Choreography Sound Mixing Costumes Make-up Editor Videotape editor
Sado Koshako fujin SVT (Swedish Television) Katarina Sjöberg/Måns Reuterswärd Yukio Mishima Ingmar Bergman Richard Looft Mette Möller Pelle Norén, Bo Johansson, Raymond Wemmenlöw Ingrid Yoda Donya Feuer Curre Forsmark Gunnar Frisell Maggie Strindberg, Helvi Treffner Britt Falkemo Sylvia Ingemarsson Jan Askelöf
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Television Works Premiere Running Time
17 April 1992 104 minutes
Cast See Markissinnan (Ø 471) in Chapter VI: Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre
Commentary and Reception Shortly before the TV transmission of Markissinnan de Sade, Vilgot Sjöman interviewed Ingmar Bergman about Michima’s play (‘Ingmar Bergman om Marquise de Sade’, SVT, 12 August 1992). Reviewer O. Zachrisson posed the question whether Bergman’s presentation of six women dressed in crinolines, gliding back and forth like radio-controlled cars while exchanging thoughts on sexual perversities, would be anything to offer the action-oriented Swedish television. Reviewer found that the six actresses created an almost perfect esthetic unit ‘bedded in the most wonderful poetry’ [svept i den mest underbara poesi] and saw this as the epitome of Bergman’s stagecraft, a director who sacrificed moral and social concerns at the expense of formal and visual perfection. Zachrisson, Olof. ‘Sett i TV. Strålande teater om hjärta och smärta’ [Brilliant theatre about heart and pain]. SDS, 18 April 1992.
Special Studies Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Michima’s Madame de Sade on Stage and on Television’. In author’s book Bergman’s Muses, 1995, pp. 101-113.
1993 337.
BACKANTERNA [The Bachae] For synopsis, commentary and reviews, see also Stage and Opera productions of same work in theatre chapter, VI (Ø 481 and 492). The opera version was produced in 1991 and most production information is listed there (Ø 492).
Credits Production
Producer Director Screenplay Music Orchestra Photography Choreography Architect Props Make-up Special effects
SVT in cooperation with Royal Swedish Opera and Royal Dramatic Theatre together with DR (Denmark), NRK (Norway), Rikisutvarpid (Iceland), YLE 1 (Finland), and Bayrischer Rundfunk (Germany) Måns Reuterswärd Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman, based on Euripides’s drama ‘The Bachae’ Daniel Börtz Royal Opera Orchestra, conducted by Kjell Ingebretsen Per Norén, Raymond Wemmenlöv, Sven-Åke Visén; Wulf Meseke (videotape) Donya Feuer Mette Möller Jan-Erik Savela, Torbjörn Johansson, Kjell Björk Carin Blum, Cecilia Drott, Christina Sjöblom, Suzanne Bergmark, Nina Spjuth, Lotta Ulfung, Jan Kindahl Lars Söderberg, Artur Zonabend
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Editor Continuity Premiere Running time
Sylvia Ingemarsson; Jan Askelöf (videotape) Maj-Britt Vifell SVT, Channel 1, 9 April 1993. 131 min
Commentary This was a TV version of the staged opera from 1991, a transposition of Euripides’s classical drama written for an amphitheatre into a performance designed for the most intimate of stages, the TV screen. ‘The whole production was suffused with the total professional knowledge of a master from the first image to the last. A Greek TV drama of world class’ [Hela uppsättningen genomströmmades från första bilden till den sista av den totala yrkeskunskapen hos en mästare. Ett grekiskt TV drama av världsklass], wrote one reviewer (Kaplan). Bergman’s imagery and composer Börtz’s music reinforced each other, and their work was, according to critic Leif Aare, ‘not an opera so much as an optimal interpretation of Euripides’s drama’ [inte en opera så mycket som en optimal tolkning av E’s drama]. Another critic (Lundberg) felt, however, that Bergman’s TV version of The Bachae was closer to his own cinematography of the 1950s than to classical Greek drama. A TV documentary produced by Måns Reuterswärd on Bergman’s opera version of Backanterna was transmitted on SVT, Channel 1, on 7 November 1993. See Varia, A.
Reviews Aare, Leif. ‘Hänförande explosion i bild och ton’ [Raptuous explosion in image and tone]. DN, 10 April 1993. Kaplan, Tony. ‘Sett i TV. Strålande Sylvia – blek Macklean’ [Seen on TV. Brilliant Sylvia – pale M.]. Arbetet, 10 April 1993. Lundberg, Camilla. ‘Gudarna sjunger ut’ [The gods at high pitch]. Expr., 9 April 1993. Åhlén, Carl-Gunnar. ‘Ögonen talar starkast’ [The eyes speak the strongest]. SvD, 10 April 1993.
Special Studies Iversen, Gunilla. ‘The Terrible Encounter with a God: The Bacchae as Rite and Liturgical Drama in Ingmar Bergman’s Staging’, in Nordic Theatre Studies, 11, pp. 70-83. Rygg, Kristin. ‘The Metamorphoses of the Bachae: From Ancient Rites to TV Opera’ in Nordic Theatre Studies, 11, pp. 47-69. (Focussing on the TV version of Bergman’s The Bacchae, this article provides good background material for Euripides’s play and detailed observations about the consequences of Bergman’s changes in the original plot, as well as the impact of Daniel Börtz’s musical score). Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Euripides’s The Bachae as Opera, Television Opera, and Stage Play’. In author’s book Bergman’s Muses, 2003, pp. 91-100. (A comparative study of Bergman’s three different media versions of The Bachae: opera, stage drama, TV opera).
1995 338.
SISTA SKRIKET – EN LÄTT TINTAD MORALITET [The Last Scream – A slightly tinted morality play] See title entry in theatre chapter, VI, 1993 (Ø 474) for synopsis, commentary and theatre reviews. This short one-act stage play, first presented on stage in 1993 and later filmed for television, tells of the fictitious encounter in 1919 between Charles Magnusson, the founder of the early
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Television Works Swedish film company Svenska Bio, and talented filmmaker Georg af Klercker who used to work for Magnusson.
Credits Production Company Producer Director
SVT Måns Reuterswärd Ingmar Bergman
Cast Georg af Klercker Charles Magnusson Miss Holm, Magnusson’s secretary Narrator
Björn Granath Ingvar Kjellson Anna von Rosen Ingmar Bergman
Reviews Malmberg, Gert. ‘Historielektion med tvära kast’ [History lesson with abrupt turns]. GP, 7 January 1995. Persson, Ann. ‘Lysande Bergman om stumfilmare’ [Brilliant B about silent filmmakers]. DN, 5 January 1995, p. 5. Söderberg, Agneta. ‘Bergman frossar i förnedring’ [B. revels in humiliation]. Expr., 6 January 1995, p. 5. Wahlin, Claes. ‘Sista skriket från Bergman’ [The Last Gasp from B.]. AB, 6 January 1995, p. 4.
Foreign Reviews Mérigeau, Pascal. ‘Pour George af Klercker cinéast precurseur et oublié’. Le Monde, 7 December 1995; Variety (as The Last Gasp), CCCLXVII, no. 1, 5 May 1997: 72.
Special Studies Andersson, Lars Gustaf. ‘Sista skriket. Ingmar Bergman och Georg af Klercker och filmens villkor’. Filmrutan XXXVII, no. 1, 1994: 2-5; Björkman, Stig. ‘Une decouverte d’Ingmar Bergman’. Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 467-468; Lefèvre, R. ‘Ingmar Bergman et Georg af Klercker’. Mensuel cinéma, April 1993, pp. 6-8.
1996 339.
HARALD OCH HARALD
Synopsis Short TV play (ten mintues). The text is mainly authentic quotations from various official governmental investigations on culture. Dedicated to Åke Gustavsson, chairman of the cultural committee in the Swedish parliament.
Credits Production Producer Director Text Photography Sound
Sveriges Television with Royal Dramatic Theatre Måns Reuterswärd Ingmar Bergman Swedish government report on cultural affairs Jan Wictorinus, Per Olof Rekola, Arne Halvarsson (videotape) Ulf Janzon, Jan-Erik Piper
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Mixing Architect Make-up Editor
Sven-Erik Jansson Göran Wassberg Leif Qviström, Yvonne Persson Louise Brattberg
Cast Harald Harald
Björn Granath Johan Rabaeus Benny Haag
Broadcast date
14 January 1996
Commentary This ten-minute reading of excerpts from the Swedish Government’s Cultural Commission turned the report into a pompous satire. It was first performed to a small audience in Målarsalen at Dramaten, then televised.
Reviews Furhammar, Leif. ‘Bergmans senaste full av pärlor’ [B’s latest full of pearls]. DN, 16 January 1996.
340.
ENSKILDA SAMTAL [Private Conversations] See (Ø 258) in Filmography for fuller synopsis, credits, cast list and foreign response. Director Screenplay
Liv Ullmann Ingmar Bergman
Brief Synopsis In a series of confidential talks with her pastor between 1925 and 1934, Anna Bergman focuses on problems in her marriage and her love affair with a young theology student. The last conversation takes place in Uppsala between Anna, now 45 years old, and her friend Maria, wife of Uncle Jacob, who is dying. Enskilda samtal ends with an epilogue that takes us back to the year 1907, when Anna Åkerblom was 17. She talks with Uncle Jacob about going to communion but makes no decision.
Brief Credits Production company
Producer Director Screenplay Photography Sound Music Mixing Architect Editor
SverigesTelevision, Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK), Danmarks radio (DR), YLE TV 2, Helsinki, RUV Reykjavik, Nordiska TV-Samarbetsfonden Maria Curman Liv Ullmann Ingmar Bergman Sven Nykvist Bert Wallman, Gunnar Landström See Ø 258 Owe Svensson Mette Möller Michal Leszcylowski
Brief Cast List Anna Bergman
Pernilla August
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Television Works ‘Uncle’ Jacob Henrik Bergman Tomas Egerman Karin Åkerblom
Max von Sydow Samuel Fröler Thomas Hanzon Anita Björk
Distribution Running time Premiere
Sveriges Television (SVT) 194 minutes divided into two segments 25 December 1996, first part; second part on 26 December. 16 mm TV series in five ‘conversations’ based on Bergman’s 1993 script
Swedish Reception Favorable reception focussed on Bergman’s penetrating portrait of a woman’s life crisis; on Pernilla August’s superb portrayal as Anna Bergman; and on Liv Ullmann’s (and Sven Nykvist’s) chiselled close-ups of the players. Almost all reviewers remarked on the dark and depressing intensity of Bergman’s story, recognizing it as a revealing exposure of the mood and ethos of a (bygone) Lutheran milieu. Wrote Lisbeth Larsson (Expr.): ‘Just like Ingmar Bergman himself at one time, we’ve had enough of their (the parents) quarrel. But just like Ingmar Bergman, we have a hard time divorcing ourselves from it’. [Precis som Ingmar Bergman själv en gång börjar vi få nog av deras gräl. Men precis som Ingmar Bergman har vi också svårt att slita oss.] Leif Zern (DN) commented on the same issue: ‘In the same moment I was about to get tired of the whole thing, the most interesting chapter in the ongoing tale of Ingmar Bergman’s parents appears. [...] I don’t believe I have ever seen anything more moving in Swedish film, not even in Ingmar Bergman’s own works. Liv Ullmann releases forces that shake loose the skeleton of the defenseless viewer’. [I samma ögonblick som jag var beredd att tröttna på alltsammans kommer det [...] intressantaste kapitlet i den pågående berättelsen om Ingmar Bergmans föräldrar. [...] Jag tror inte att jag sett någonting lika gripande i svensk film, inte ens hos Bergman själv. Liv Ullmann förlöser krafter som skakar loss skelettet hos den värnlöse åskådaren.]
Swedish Reviews (of TV version) Aghed, Jan. ‘Dramatiskt, psykologiskt och stilistiskt helgjuten historia’ [Perfectly molded story, dramatically, psychologically and stylistically]. SDS, 24 December 1996, p. B 20; Gerell, Boel. ‘Lögnen i ögats innersta skrymsle’ [The lie in the innermost corner of the eye]. KvP, 25 December 1996, p. 4; Larsson, Lisbeth. ‘Tårarnas tal’ [Speech of tears]. Expr., 27 December 1996, p. 4; Malmberg, Carl-Johan. ‘Bergman låter den nakna sanningen tala’ [B lets the naked truth speak]. SvD, 27 December 1996, p. 36; Thunbäck-Hanson, Monika. ‘En historia om kärlek, tro och skuld’ [A story about love, faith and guilt]. GP, 27 December 1996, p. 61; Westling, Barbro. ‘Bergman – med alltför varsam hand’ [B – with too careful a hand]. AB, 27 December 1996, p. 5; Zern, Leif. ‘Säker regi förlöser skådespelet’ [Confident direction releases the drama]. DN, 27 December 1996, p. B4.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work
1997 341.
LARMAR OCH GÖR SIG TILL [In the Presence of a Clown] Director Screenplay
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
The original title is a quote from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act V: ‘It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.’
Synopsis Bergman’s ‘telepic’ opens to ‘The Organ Grinder’, the final song in Franz Schubert’s Winterreise song cycle. The time is 1925 at the Academic Hospital in Uppsala as Doctor Egerman checks on Carl Åkerblom. At age 54 Carl is engaged to 22-year-old Pauline Thibault. His wacky and imaginative mind is constantly teeming with new projects. After several real or imagined conversations with visitors to his bedside, he is approached by a mysterious white clown named Rigmor (rigor mortis), a fantasy figure and angel of death. Carl is prompted by another patient, 75-year-old Professor Osvald Vogler, to dream up a film project, the first living talkie, where actors behind the screen will recite the film’s dialogue in perfect sync with the projected images. The result is a black-and-white silent film entitled ‘The Joy of the Lady of the Night’, depicting Schubert’s encounter with a famous 19th-century courtesan. Carl and his fiancee take the show on the road and travel through a wintry Swedish landscape. They stop for a showing at Grånäs Temperance Hall. Carl and his assistants, the 20year-old actress Mia Falk and his fiancee, are visited by Carl’s stepmother, Anna Åkerblom, who has come to fetch her stepson and bring him home; she and Pauline exchange some confidences. Anna Åkerblom is invited to stay for the evening’s film performance but declines. Also, Carl’s half-sister, Karin Bergman, arrives, as do half a dozen local folks who have fought a bitter snowstorm. The audience seems resurrected from Bergman’s film Winter Light, among them the school teacher Märta Lundblad. All watch the projected film in awe until a sudden short circuit puts a stop to it. Instead, a stage performance is improvised, with the action taking place in Vienna in 1823 when Franz Schubert is working on the last part of his Great Symphony. A dialogue develops between the composer and his fiancee Mitzi, played by Carl Åkerblom and Pauline. The room is bathing in the soft glow from dozens of candles turning the occasion into a solemn moment of communal theatre. After the performance, everybody leaves, saluting Carl as if he were their pastor. Pauline and Carl talk. Death (the Clown) reappears quite close to Carl Åkerblom. As earlier, Rigmor’s presence is accompanied by Schubert’s Organ-Grinder motif, a figure of Death in his composition.
Credits Production company Producer Executive producer Director Assistant director (video) Screenplay Photography Sound Mixing
Sveriges Television Pia Ehrnvall Måns Reuterswärd Ingmar Bergman Antonia Pyk Ingmar Bergman Per Norén, Raymond Wemmenlöv, Sven Åke Visén (video); Tony Forsberg (film) Magnus Berglid Gabor Pasztor
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Television Works Music Architect Props Costumes Make-up Editor Special effects Continuity
Franz Schubert, performed by Käbi Laretei Göran Wassberg Jan-Erik Savela Mette Möller Cecilia Drott-Norlén, Christina Sjöblom Sylvia Ingemarsson Lars Söderberg Maj-Britt Vifell
Cast Carl Åkerblom Pauline Thibault Osvald Vogler Karin Bergman Petrus Landahl, teacher Märta Lundberg, teacher Rigmor the clown Emma Vogler Johan Egerman, doctor Nurse Stella Mia Falk, actress Alma Berglund Algot Frövik Karin Persson Fredrik Blom, cantor Hanna Apelblad Stefan Larsson Inmate at the asylum
Börje Ahlstedt Marie Richardson Erland Josephson Pernilla August Peter Stormare Anita Björk Agneta Ekmanner Gunnel Fred Johan Lindell Gerthie Kulle Anna Björk Inga Landgré Tord Peterson Harriet Nordlund Folke Asplund Birgitta Pettersson Alf Nilsson Ingmar Bergman
Filmed on location at Ulleråkers Mental Hospital (Uppsala), Stockholm (SVT Studios), October 1996-February 1997. Running time Swedish premiere Foreign film opening
118 min 1 November 1997 (Television) Cannes Film Festival, May 1998
Commentary If Fanny och Alexander was a recapitulation of the real and fictitious worlds of Bergman’s childhood, Larmar och gör sig till is an homage to the artistic universe created by Bergman and his actors over the years, a universe which, according to one reviewer (Waaranperä), ‘has come to penetrate our own lives during half of the 20th century, almost without our noticing it’. [har kommit att genomsyra våra egna liv under halva 1900-talet nästan utan att vi märkt det]. The TV film is also an encounter of many of the figures in Bergman’s earlier screen work, some enacted by the same actors as before, some with new faces: ‘And Ingmar Bergman’s magic is apparently so mighty that he succeeds in making his actors live a kind of continuous parallell life as members of the Bergman clan.’ [Och Ingmar Bergmans trollkraft är tydligen så mäktig att han lyckas få skådespelarna att leva ett slags kontinuerligt parallellt liv som medlemmar i den bergmanska klanen.] (Schwartz). Bergman himself said he made the film with death standing behind his back, as had been the case in Det sjunde inseglet/The Seventh Seal. His figure of death, the clown Rigmor, is however depicted with a great deal more grotesque levity when appearing before Carl Åkerblom in
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Larmar och gör sig till than is the black-robed Death figure who plays chess with the Knight in Det sjunde inseglet. Swedish reception was mostly very favorable. All reviews recognized Bergman’s masterful professionalism and the superb acting of his hand-picked cast; some spoke about their joy of recognition (Tunbäck-Hansson); others (Rehlin) about the film’s specific Bergman qualities: its mixture of burlesque spoofing and tragedy, despair and warm empathy. Only one reviewer (Gerell) felt a lack of involvement on Bergman’s part.
Swedish Reviews Gerell, Boel. ‘De perifera demonerna’ [The peripheral demons]. KvP, 1 November 1997. Kaplan, Tony. ‘Fascinerande Bergman’ [Fascinating B]. Arbetet, 2 November 1997. Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘En destillerad syn på konst och konstnärskap’ [A distilled view of art and artistic activity]. SDS, 2 November 1997. Ludvigsson, Bo. ‘Vackert om morbror Carl’ [Beautiful about Uncle Carl]. SvD, 31 October 1997. Rehlin, Gunnar. ‘Perfekt lördagsunderhållning’ [Perfect Saturday entertainment]. GT, 1 November 1997. Schwartz, Nils. ‘En dåres bekännelser’ [A fool’s confessions]. Expr., 2 November 1997. Tunbäck-Hanson, Monika. ‘Lysande med Bergmans magi’ [Brilliant with Bergman’s magic]. GP, 2 November 1997. Waaranperä, Ingegärd. ‘Ringlek i Bergmans universum’ [Ring dance in B’s universe]. DN, 2 November 1997, p. 3.
Foreign Reviews Levy, Emanuel. ‘In the Presence of a Clown’. Variety, vol. 371, no. 3 (25 May), 1998, pp. 61-62. Positif, no. 449/450 (July/August 1998): 112-13.
Review Articles and Special Studies Kurzwel, Edith. ‘In the Presence of a Clown’. Partisan Review, Winter 1999, pp. 153-61. Schwartz, Stan. ‘In the Presence of a Clown’. Film Comment 34, no. 4 (July-August) 1998: 67-69. (Terms the TV film among Bergman’s best works and refers to it in very positive terms as ‘a parable about life, death, madness, and art’, summing up all major themes that have occupied Bergman earlier). Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Film and Stage on Television: Bergman’s In the Presence of a Clown’. In author’s book Bergman’s Muses, 1995, pp. 129-145.
See also Ahlström, Gabriella. ‘Lirare med klockrena träffar’ [Player with pure-sounding hits]. DN, 14 October 1997, p. B1. Presentation of Erland Josephson in connection with TV showing of Larmar och gör sig till. Gustafsson, Annika. ‘Ahlstedt gör älskad figur i ny film’ [A. makes a beloved figure in new film]. SDS, 31 October 1997, p. B 13. Article based on an interview with Börje Ahlstedt. Wahlin, Claes. ‘Heliga dårar’ [Holy fools]. AB, 1 November 1997. A documentary about the shooting of Larmar och gör sig till was shown on Swedish television on 7 and 8 November 1997. It was titled ‘I sällskap med en clown’ [In the presence of a clown]. See Furhammar, Leif. ‘Larmar, smeker och kramar’ [Sounds of fury, caresses and hugs]. DN, 9 November 1997. The documentary was preceded by an interview, done by Marie Nyreröd, SVT Nike program, October 1997. Larmar och gör sig till was shown as part of ‘Un certain regard’ at 1998 Cannes Film Festival. It has also been telecast in Germany.
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Television Works
2000 342.
BILDMAKARNA [The Image Makers], Color/BW TV version, broadcast 14 November, 2000, of P.O. Enquist’s play produced by Bergman at Dramaten in 1998. See (Ø 483) in theatre chapter (VI).
Credits Production Company Producer Director Playwright
SVT Pia Ehrnvall Ingmar Bergman Per Olov Enquist
Cast Selma Lagerlöf Tora Teje Victor Sjöström Julius Jænzon
Anita Björk Elin Klinga Lennart Hjulström Carl-Magnus Dellow
Commentary P.O. Enquist’s play Bildmakarna combines two themes: alcoholism and artistic authenticity. In the stage version of the play, Bergman focussed on the second theme; in the TV version, with its extensive use of close-ups, the issue of alcoholism came to dominate as the two women, the aging Selma and the young Tora, establish a rapport. Dramaturgically, the TV adaptation of Enquist’s play departed from the stage version by the use of three rather than two clips from Sjöström’s 1920 film Körkarlen (The Phantom Carriage), which filled the TV screen, thus excluding the actors as spectators. The clips from Sjöström’s film, based on a Selma Lagerlöf ’s story, were introduced or accompanied by Schubert’s String Quartet D. 531, ‘Death and the Maiden’, played on a record player. Bergman introduced a meta or multi-media element in the TV version when he included, high up in a booth, the author of the play, P.O. Enquist, as the projectionist of the clips. There was a faster pacing (editing) in the TV version, deliberate choice of close-ups and a stronger focus on the father-daughter relationship as possibly incestuous. The Sjöström character was more desperate than in the Dramaten production and at one time played with a pistol. The last clip from Körkarlen, which ended the TV production, showed a man taking his life with a pistol. The reception was positive, pointing out the increased closeness of the drama on the television screen but also the loss of a theatrical continuum when the film clips take over the screen totally.
Reviews Björck, Amelie. ‘Magnetiskt skådespeleri i Bergmans Bildmakarna’ [Magnetic acting in B’s Image Makers]. GP, 15 November 2000, p. 53. Hallert, Kerstin. ‘Stor händelse varje gång Bergman regisserar för TV’ [Big event every time B. directs on TV]. AB, 16 November 2000. Ring, Lars. ‘I Bildmakarna blir dikten en absolut, själslig sanning’ [In the Image Makers fiction becomes an absolute spiritual truth]. SvD, 16 November 2000. Sörenson, Margareta. ‘Bildmakaren’ [The image maker]. Expr., 18 November 2000. Waaranperä, Ingegärd. ‘Bergmans ‘Bildmakarna’. Snabbare, tätare och roligare på TV än på Dramaten’ [B’s Image Makers. Faster, denser and funnier on TV than at Dramaten]. DN, 16 November 2000.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work Special Studies Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Film on Stage and on Television: Enquist’s The Image Makers’. In author’s book Bergman’s Muses, 1995, pp. 146-160. Article provides detailed comparison between play and TV versions.
2003 343.
SARABAND Director TV script
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis In Saraband, Johan and Marianne, the married couple in Scenes from a Marriage, return to the TV screen some 30 years later, but in name only, for Saraband is not conceived as a sequel to Scenes. Both Johan, in his eighties, and Marianne, 63, have remarried and have adult children. On an impulse, Marianne decides to visit Johan, who has moved back to his grandparents’ house in Orsa Finnmark in northern Dalarna. Johan’s son Henrik, 61, and Henrik’s daughter Karin, 21, have temporarily moved into a guest house on the premises. Both are cellists. Karin was trained by her father. Upon her arrival Marianne finds a chaotic situation, an incestuous family conflict that started two years earlier when Anna, Henrik’s wife for 20 years, died. Johan has nothing but contempt for Henrik and humiliates him openly, while at the same time trying to make arrangements for Karin to study under a famous music teacher in Finland. Karin decides, however, to pursue plans she has made in secret to continue her education in Hamburg and Vienna. When she leaves her father behind, he makes an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Johan’s response is one of hateful sarcasm: Henrik cannot even succeed in killing himself. Saraband, named after a Spanish dance that appears in each of Bach’s five cello suites, is a chamber film divided into a prologue, ten tableaus and an epilogue. Bach’s music forms a musical leitmotif. Marianne opens and ends the film, she is both director inviting the viewer into her story and participant in it. Each tableau is designed as an encounter between two of the four characters, like a dance or variations of a theme. What remains at the end are four lonely and shattered lives. Spiteful and cynical Johan has revealed his death angst; Henrik, left alone, may be dying; Karin has disappeared into an unknown future; Marianne, who has two daughters, visits one of them, Marta, in a mental institution. There is only a brief moment of contact between them before Marta slips back into her catatonic state. The film exudes despair and has no definite ending.
Credits Production company
Project leader Director Assistant director Screenplay Photography Asst. cameraman Steadicam
Sveriges Television/SvT Fiction, with DR (Denmark), NRK (Norway), RAI (Italy), YLEI (Finland), ZDF (Germany), Nordic TV collaborative fund, Nordic Film and TV fund. Pia Ehrnvall Ingmar Bergman Torbjörn Ehrnvall Ingmar Bergman Raymond Wemmenlöv, P.O. Lantto, Sofi Stridh, Jesper Holmström, Stefan Eriksson Sven Jarnerup Michael Tiverios
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Television Works Lighting Sound Electricians Mixing Music Cello solo Cello solo playback
Organ solo
Conductor Set design Props Costumes Make-up Editor
Per Sundin Börje Johansson Lars Ståhlberg, Per Sturk Gabor Pasztor J.S. Bach, Cello suite, no. 5 C Minor, 4th movement Sarabande Thorleif Thedéen, Opus 3 CD 8802 Åsa Forsberg-Lindgren J.S. Bach, Trio Sonata for Organ, no. 1 E Major, 1st movement, Allegro Torvald Torén, BIS CD 803/804 Anton Bruckner, Symphony no. 9, D Minor, 2nd movement, Scherzo Herbert Blomstedt Göran Wassberg Jan-Erik Savela Inger Pehrson Cecilia Drott-Norlén Sylvia Ingemarsson
Cast Marianne Johan Henrik, Johan’s son Karin, Henrik’s daughter Marta, Marianne’s daughter
Liv Ullmann Erland Josephson Börje Ahlstedt Julia Dufvenius Gunnel Fred
Filmed digitally in SVT studio, Stockholm, the first time Bergman used this electronic technique. Time Premiere
1 hour, 47 min 1 December 2003. Repeat transmission 7 December 2003.
Commentary On 8 November 2001, Ingmar Bergman held a press conference together with Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Börje Ahlstedt, and Julia Dufvenius on SVT premises in Stockholm, in which he announced a forthcoming TV play titled ‘Anna’, to be produced in September 2002. He described the process of writing ‘Anna’ as a ‘birth’, a discovery ‘that I was in a blessed state’. [att jag befann mig i ett välsignat tillstånd]. The title was later changed to ‘Saraband’. Bergman described his work as a chamber play inspired by Bach’s ‘Kunst der Fuge’. See UNT, 10 November 2001, p. 20; SvD, 9 November 2001, p. 1, Kultur 2; DN, same date, p. 1, B4. During the production planning, SF negotiated with Bergman about the film rights to Saraband. There were preliminary plans to show the film at the Venice Film Festival, but when the digital TV film was finished, Bergman was unhappy with its technical quality (both sound and image) and refused to release it as a commercial film. It will be shown in a few movie theatres in 2005 on a try-out basis. A documentary about the making of Saraband, titled ‘I Bergmans regi’ was televised on SVT, 3 December 2003. It was produced by Torbjörn Ehrnwall and photographed by Arne Carlsson. The documentary includes short interview statements by costumier Inger Pehrson, set designer Göran Wassberg, propman Rasmus Rasmusson, members of the cast and Ingmar Bergman. See Varia, A.
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Chapter V The Media: Radio and Television Work The shooting of Saraband was technically problematic. Bergman wanted to use three film cameras as he had done in previous TV productions, but the new cameras that had been bought were very noisy and Bergman confined himself to one camera only. Saraband was also shot with digital equipment; however, Bergman was dissatisfied with the loss of clarity in the image. After the original showing on Swedish Television, he would not release the film in its digital version. Later he has agreed to showing the film version in limited movie theatres. Saraband was shown at the New York Film Festival in 2004 and also in commercial theatres in the States.
Reception Bergman had stated that Saraband was to be his exit from television, the last of several farewells to filmmaking. Critics contrasted this austere chamber film to the exuberant Fanny and Alexander, Bergman’s exit from commercial film production some 20 years earlier. The reviews were respectful and talked about Bergman’s irrepressible artistic approach that remained absolutely faithful to his personal vision and refused to adapt to the lighter fare of the TV medium. Saraband was seen as one more testimony to Bergman’s special forte: a strictly choreographed portrayal of the private life of the bourgeoisie, with no attempt to bring in broader social or political issues into a family conflict. All the reviews treated Saraband as a work carrying the master’s signum and projecting once more the superb virtuoso performance of four Bergman actors, three of them oldtimers, one (Dufvenius) a new arrival. As part of the accolades one can include long review articles by three former critics of Bergman, all stemming from the politicized 1960s, and all now eager to do penance. In SvD (1 December 2003, pp. 4-5), Carl Johan Malmberg presented a personal survey of Bergman’s filmmaking, focusing on its intimacy and the director’s methodical molding of word and image. In SDS (2 December 2003, pp. B6-7), Jan Aghed spoke about Bergman’s extraordinary talent for pictorial compositions and his artistic use of the camera as an X-ray machine penetrating and revealing a character’s innermost thoughts and feeling. In AB (1 December 2003, p. 8), in a survey of his entire film oeuvre, Maria Bergom-Larsson focussed on the thematic consistency of Bergman’s filmmaking. While virtually every review of Saraband praised Bergman the image-maker and instructor of actors, commentators also pointed out the finality of the work. If Fanny and Alexander had been Bergman’s joyous concluding tribute to life and filmmaking, Saraband was an old artist’s summing-up of guilt, angst, and need of reconciliation. Many also dwelt on the déjà-vu features of Saraband with its many meta-references to earlier Bergman films such as Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light), Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries), Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf), and of course Scener ur ett äktenskap (Scenes from a Marriage). A few reviewers felt that the aging Bergman revealed himself in a dialogue that was old-fashioned and at times a parody of itself, a feature especially noticeable in the longer repartees given to the youngest character, Karin.
Reviews Aghed, Jan. ‘Bergmans sorti griper tag’. [Bergman’s exit takes a grip on you]. SDS, 2 December 2003, pp. B 6-7; Bergom-Larsson, Maria. ‘Vart tog livet vägen? Ingmar Bergmans svarta, storslagna farväl’ [Where did life go? Ingmar Bergman’s black, grand farewell]. AB, December 1 2003, pp. 4-5. Lindblad, Helena. ‘Bergmans sista pusselbit’ [Bergman’s last piece of the puzzle]. DN, 1 December 2003, p. 1 (Kultur); Lokko, Andres. ‘Livssaldot’ [Life’s balance]. Expr., 1 December 2003, p. 6; Malmberg, Carl-Johan. ‘Själens blixtsnabba skiftningar’ [The soul’s nuances, swift as lightnings]. SvD, 1 December 2003, pp. 4-5;
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Television Works Söderbergh-Widding, Astrid. ‘Ett obönhörligt fullbordande’ [An absolute completion]. SvD, 2 December 2003, p. 8; Torell, Kristina. ‘Lysande kammardrama’ [Brilliant chamber drama]. GP, 1 December 2003, p. 64.
See also Eklund, Bernt. ‘Ingmar Bergmans skoningslösa final’ [IB’s relentless finale]. Expr., 1 December 2003, p. 38 (brief presentation of Saraband); Hallert, Kerstin. ‘SVT borde tacka Ingmar Bergman’ [SVT ought to thank IB]. AB, 2 December 2003, p. 46 (points out SVT’s failure to present Bergman as a maker of TV films for a young generation of viewers).
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Bergman on stage and screen. There is often a close visual correlation between Bergman’s work for the theatre and his filmmaking ventures. This picture shows the ‘dance of death motif’ on stage in a 1955 production of Bergman’s play Wood Painting (1954, Trämålning) and the final vignette in his film The Seventh Seal (1956, Sjunde inseglet), based on the play (Courtesy: Malmö City Theatre Archive) and Svensk Filmindustri (SF)
Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre This chapter consists of two parts: The first is an overview of Bergman’s lifelong career in the theatre. The second is a listing of his entire record on stage, including his opera work and productions of his own plays, whether directed by him or by others. For specific examples of Bergman’s stagecraft, the overview may be juxtaposted to the Commentaries to the individual entries in part (2). For a fuller account of reviewer response to Bergman’s theatre work, see Henrik Sjögren’s two books Ingmar Bergman på teatern (1968, Ø 548) and Lek och raseri. Ingmar Bergmans teater 1938-2002 (2002, Ø 667). Among other studies of Bergman’s work in the theatre are: Marker, Frederick and Lise-Lone. Ingmar Bergman in the Theater, 1982, 1992. (Ø 594). Koskinen, Maaret. Ingmar Bergman. Allting föreställer, ingenting är, 2001. (Ø 672). Reilly, Willem Thomas. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Theatre Direction, 1952-1974’. Diss. (Ø 590). Sjögren, Henrik. Regi. Dagbok från Dramaten, 1973. (Ø 554). Steene, Birgitta. ‘I have never pursued a particular program policy. Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre’. Contemporary Theatre Review, Vol. 14(2), 2004: 41-56. (Ø 683). Törnqvist, Egil. Between Stage and Screen, 1995. (Ø 649) —. Bergman’s Muses, Aesthetic Versatility in Film, Theatre, Television and Radio, 2003. (Ø 682)
For a complete listing of Bergman’s own plays, published or unpublished, see Chapter II: Ingmar Bergman, the Writer. For a year-by-year bibliography of articles and books (including the above items) dealing with Ingmar Bergman’s contribution to the theatre, see Chapter VII: Theatre/Media Bibliography – except for items addressing a single specific production, which are cross-listed under the appropriate production entry in this chapter, Reception and Review sections, Part II.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre
Part I: An Overview Debut as Stage Director: Mäster Olofsgården (1938-1940) While still in high school, Ingmar Bergman sometimes discussed Strindberg’s plays with Sven Hansson, a clerk in Sandberg’s legendary bookstore in the centre of Stockholm. Hansson, who was some ten years older than Bergman, was affiliated with Mäster Olofsgården, a settlement house in the old and, at that time, poor section of town. Having studied amateur theatre among religious groups in London’s East End Hansson had tried, in the early 1930s, to transplant the idea to Mäster Olofsgården. In 1938, after some five years of such activity, he suggested to the board that Ingmar Bergman be asked to join as a director in Mäster Olofsgården’s amateur theatre section. Now began an intense two-year apprentice period for Ingmar Bergman who was only 20 years old at the time and had no formal schooling in the field. To instil respect in his young cast he bought himself a pair of broad-rimmed eyeglasses that made him look older; but more importantly, he compensated for his insecurity by maintaining a rigid and intense regimen, combined with great and contagious enthusiasm for his task. This was needed, for his productions were performed on makeshift stages that often demanded considerable ingenuity in setting up the mise-en-scene. For his first presentation – Sutton Vane’s Outward Bound (Sw. ‘Till främmande hamn’) – his group of young amateurs was assigned an assembly hall ordinarily used for religious services. Before long, Bergman had transformed its pulpit into the play’s bar on board a ship, an undertaking that raised a few eyebrows. In fact, without Sven Hansson as an understanding supporter and practical mentor, young Bergman might not have lasted very long at Mäster Olofsgården, for some members of the board were becoming increasingly apprehensive about his rigorous rehearsal schedule, foul language and violent temper. Soon he was given the epithet, the ‘demon director’ which was to stick to him for many decades, and was used frequently in the Swedish press until the 1980s when the term was replaced by ‘the Master’ (Mästaren). Despite his early reputation, however, Bergman allegedly left a great gap to fill when he departed for the Student Theatre at Stockholm University after two years at MO-gården. Bergman’s choice of repertory at Mäster Olofsgården, ranging from Strindberg and Shakespeare to contemporary dramas, seems to have been dictated both by his own personal preferences and by principles already established at the settlement house, i.e., to stage plays of moral depth and high literary quality. This is reflected in his choice of Outward Bound as his debut. The play is a modern allegory depicting passengers on a ship who discover that they are headed towards the realm of death; the play not only fulfilled Mäster Olofsgården’s criteria of high seriousness but points forward to Bergman’s own morality play Dagen slutar tidigt (1948, Early Ends the Day] and to his film Sjunde inseglet (1956, The Seventh Seal). Notes to the production indicate Bergman’s personal engagement in the play’s existential content (see Ø 2, Chapter II and this chapter, entry Ø 344). But the most noteworthy feature in Bergman’s work at Mäster Olofsgården was not the repertory per se, but his insistance on high quality performances. Whereas Sven Hansson, in his own pre-Bergman productions, had argued
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An Overview that the moral message of a play was the essential thing and could be conveyed also in a mediocre amateur production, (see Hanson’s article in Mäster Olofsgården’s stenciled membership newsletter SFP, no. 937), Ingmar Bergman refused to see his work as a mere morale booster or a pastime for a Christian youth group. His insistance on professionalism was no doubt part of his growing artistic commitment to the stage, which would soon make him decide to leave his studies behind. In the early 1940s, amateur stages flourished in Sweden and often served as launching pads for future careers in the professional theatre. Not only Bergman himself but many members in his first stage ventures were later to become well-known both on stage and screen, such as actors Erland Josephson, Birger Malmsten, Sture Djerf, Barbro Hjort af Ornäs and Ulf Johanson, and stage designer Gunnar Lindblad. In keeping with these future connections with the professional theatre, the public who attended Bergman’s productions at Mäster Olofsgården included not only the usual crowd of friends and family but also a few press and professional people in Stockholm’s theatre world. Through intense PR activity by Sven Hansson, Bergman’s work began to attract some public attention; among those who attended his productions were playwright-in-exile Bertolt Brecht; Strindberg’s third wife, actress Harriet Bosse; and several actors at the Royal Dramatic Theatre. Before long, Ingmar Bergman began to develop his own communicative habit of publishing brief comments on his productions. The first of these notes appeared in the newsletter, SFP. The tone was pleading, enthusiastic and full of somewhat preachy exhortations, probably reflecting the Christian foundation of Mäster Olofsgården. In fact, once Bergman joined the Student Theatre at Stockholm University in 1941, his occasional program notes took on a more sophisticated and ironic tone.
The Student Theatre, the Civic Centre Theatre, The Dramatists Studio (1940-1944) Ingmar Bergman’s stage productions before 1944, i.e., during the time when he was engaged in amateur and semi-professional or experimental theatre, included more than 30 productions at half a dozen different theatres. Strindberg played a major role both at Mäster Olofsgården and in the Student Theatre with works like Lycko-Pers resa (Lucky Per’s Journey), Svarta handsken (The Black Glove), and Svanehvit (Swanwhite) on the former stage and Pelikanen (The Pelican) and Fadren (The Father) at the Student Theatre. Bergman also directed Spöksonaten (The Ghost Sonata) at a newly opened experimental stage at Medborgarhusteatern (Civic Theatre). This production was a modest critical success but a public and financial fiasco, and the production had to close down after less than a week. The event was however Bergman’s first encounter with actor Gunnar Björnstrand, who would appear in a great many of his films from Hets to Fanny och Alexander. For a brief period of time in the early Forties, Bergman also tried to run a children’s theatre at the newly opened Sagoteatern (Fairy Tale Stage) in Stockholm’s Civic Centre, where he collaborated with his first wife, choreographer Else Fisher. After losing the economic support provided by the city government, Bergman joined the recently founded Dramatists Studio (Dramatikerstudion). The driving force behind this stage was a colorful anti-establishment woman and playwright, Brita von Horn.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre The purpose of the Dramatists Studio was to produce plays by Swedish playwrights, including newcomers, and offer a challenge to the Royal Dramatic Theatre which, during the war years, offered a rather inoccuous and politically safe repertory. Brita von Horn’s theatre, on the other hand, chose to stage serious, sometimes politically current plays by contemporary Scandinavian playwrights. Among Bergman’s productions were Kaj Munk’s historical resistance drama Niels Ebbesen and a pre-wartime play by Swedish playwright Rudolf Värnlund, U 39 (U-Boat 39). Bergman’s major concern however was not to produce plays anchored in political ideology; to him the Dramatists Studio was primarily another opportunity to gain access to the stage. His intense activity was also beginning to bring him some critical recognition both as a director and an aspiring playwright. (See Ø 361, 362, 363 and Ø 484, 485, 486). Bergman’s early engagements in stagecraft also included a few assignments in ambulatory theatre groups. Overall, he gained a very diversified experience during his initial years in the theatre, which gave him a relatively broad repertory base to build on, once he assumed his first professional contract as head of the Hälsingborg City Theatre in 1944.
The Hälsingborg City Theatre (1944-46) During his formative years as an artist, Ingmar Bergman’s directorial ambitions were – apart from forging a spot for himself in Swedish filmmaking – to gain recognition in the professional theatre. For this Stockholm was by no means the only centre. Major municipal stages existed in cities like Malmö, Göteborg, and Hälsingborg, and soon also in Norrköping-Linköping. In addition, national ambulatory theatre projects like Riksteatern and Folkparksteatern/Fältteatern provided professional opportunities. The provincial city stages often competed for new plays by renowned dramatists and took turns in drawing attention to themselves as the country’s most advanced theatrical forum. Between 1944 and 1950, Bergman’s involvement with stages outside the Swedish capital came to constitute the best training ground he could have wished for, offering him a built-in forum and providing him with colleagues and actors who often belonged to the profession’s absolute elite. When Ingmar Bergman was offered the position as head of the Hälsingborg City Theatre in Southern Sweden in 1944, he became at age 26 the youngest leader of an established repertory theatre in Europe. However, at the time few people regarded his appointment as a crucial moment in Swedish theatre history, even though the local paper Helsingborgs Dagblad (8 April 1944, p. 5, 8) seems to have had a strange premonition of Bergman’s future course, for in reporting on the agreement between him and the city fathers, it wrote: ‘The contract was signed in the evening, at 8:07 pm to be exact, which might perhaps be worth making a note of for future theatre scholars, should it turn out that the time was a so-called historical moment’. [Kontraktet undertecknades på kvällen, klockan 8.07 för att vara exakt, vilket kanske möjligen kan vara värt att notera för framtida teaterforskare, om det skulle visa sig att tidpunkten var ett så kallat historiskt ögonblick]. As he arrived at Hälsingborg, Bergman faced a municipal institution on the brink of bankruptcy, for the City Theatre had experienced declining box office figures and had just lost its state subsidies. The focus had shifted to its neighbour, the newly built
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An Overview Malmö City Theatre. Though the spectator area was renovated before Bergman’s arrival, he and his Hälsingborg ensemble had to rehearse in delapidated quarters with the smell of dead rats oozing from under the floor and old molding rugs covering the walls to keep the draft out, while leakage dripped down from the canteen toilet above. (See Theatre/Media Bibliography, Ø 607). Rehearsals and performances were disturbed by both British and German wartime aircraft since their flight path crossed over the city. But despite these adverse conditions and the poor salaries paid, the spirits among the mostly young ensemble were high. From Bergman’s point of view, his first task was to bring the local citizens back to the theatre. Reassuring them that he did not intend to ‘kick up any revolutionary changes in the running (of the City Theatre)’ [ställa till med några revolutionära förändringar i driften], he nevertheless challenged the Helsingborg public by announcing, a year later, that their theatre was to become ‘the unruly corner of the city’ [stadens oroliga hörn]. But through a new subscription system and by presenting such a varied repertory that every ticket holder could find something to his liking, Bergman succeeded in drawing the public back to their theatre. His productions ranged from Shakespeare’s Macbeth to New Year’s cabarets, from Strindberg to first openings of several new Swedish plays. In order to stay ahead of a shifting playbill, Bergman had to cut the rehearsal time very short and maintain a rigorous work schedule. But most of his staff had followed him from Stockholm and knew his intense tempo. The majority were free from family ties and willing to commit themselves to the theatre on Bergman’s conditions. Their meager economic compensation was ameliorated, socially, by a sense of joyous cameraderie and by the local citizens’ friendly reception; often the troupe was invited into their homes and fed its major meal of the day. The situation in Hälsingborg for Bergman and his actors was in many ways a unique combination of small-town generosity and professional playground. But what was especially valuable for an up-and-coming ensemble was the visibility they gained, first among the city fathers and the local press, and, later, on a nationwide level. In their second year at Hälsingborg the Bergman ensemble was invited to well-received guest performances both in Malmö and Stockholm. Bergman himself was still referred to as an eccentric rebel, but his productions made a strong impression on the theatre critics. He had turned the tide for a ship-wrecked theatre while at the same time proving his directorial mettle. Within a year after his arrival, the Hälsingborg City Theatre got its state subsidies back.
The Göteborg Years (1946-1950) During World War II when the national stage – the Royal Dramatic Theatre, usually referred to as Dramaten – kept a neutral profile, the City Theatre in Göteborg became a more outspoken political forum. But the city had been an important theatre center in Sweden since the late 1920s. Thus, when Ingmar Bergman was invited to join the directorial staff there in 1946, he moved from a small provincial theatre to a major metropolitan stage and from a situation where he had been the controlling leader of a young ensemble to a position as a junior staff member working under some of Sweden’s foremost stage directors and scenographers with names like Torsten Hammarén and Knut and Carl-Johan Ström (father and son). For the first time in his stage
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre career Bergman had to subsume his ambitions under those of older directors and work with an ensemble that had had its routines set long before his arrival. Göteborg became a hard but instructive school for an impetuous young director. In fact, Bergman’s four years in Göteborg were a curious mix of lessons in both stagecraft and humility, coupled with ambitions to carve out a niche for himself. The latter resulted in the staging of two of his own plays, Dagen slutar tidigt (Early Ends the Day) and Mig till skräck (Unto my Fear); obviously, Bergman still hoped to be recognised as one of the country’s new playwrights. His success as a dramatist was very modest, however, and his stagings of his own plays received more media attention than high praise. He was criticised for overdoing their already strident features. Sweden’s leading theatre critic at the time, Ebbe Linde, wrote on one occasion that Bergman possessed rich expressive means that were jeopardized by his theatrical skill. (BLM XVI, no. 2, 1947, p. 18) By contrast, his productions of works by other playwrights received glowing reviews. His varied playbill included plays by Albert Camus, G.K. Chesterton, Jean Anouilh, Valle d’Inclan, and Tenessee Williams. Among the actors in his productions, several were to follow him to other stages or appear in his films, among them Anders Ek, who plays Frost in Gycklarnas afton and Gertrud Fridh who was to do a remarkable portrayal of Hedda Gabler in a later Dramaten production of Ibsen’s play. But above all, the years in Göteborg came to stand out as Bergman’s strict tutelage under Torsten Hammarén. In retrospect, Bergman was to call it his lucky star to have had his years in Hälsingborg to sow his wild oats before arriving in Göteborg under Hammarén’s stern aegis: ‘I am genuinely grateful that the order was not the other way around. If Torsten Hammarén had got in charge of me earlier, he would have crushed me’. [Jag är uppriktigt tacksam att ordningen inte var den omvända. Om Torsten Hammarén hade fått tag i mig tidigare skulle han ha krossat mig.] (DN, 16 April 1961). There were sometimes heated confrontations between Hammarén and Bergman; at one time the former dismissed Bergman as a ‘ provincial genius.’ But in an interview some fifteen years later, Bergman summed up his Göteborg years under Hammarén in positive terms: Torsten taught me the methodological rudiments of stagecraft. In a ruthless way he took me out of the notion of känsloskvalp [emotional wallowing], i.e., of feeling your way [into a production] and of talking about things. That’s the way it had often been with my productions in Hälsingborg. [...] The whole approach of working in a calm, clear and methodical way, to prepare carefully what you intend to do, that’s what Torsten taught me. He came to my rehearsals and took them away from me when they stopped at dead talk and emotional masturbation. And I hated Torsten for that, and I left the theatre many times. But at the same time I felt somewhere [...], vaguely and in my immense anger and hatred that Torsten was right. [Torsten lärde mig grunderna för inscenerandets metodik. Han tog mig hårdhänt ur de här föreställningarna om känsloskvalpet, alltså att man ska gå och känna fram och snacka fram saker. Det hade ofta varit så med föreställningarna i Hälsingborg. [...] Men hela tekniken att arbeta kallt och klart och metodiskt, att noggrant förbereda vad man avser att göra, det lärde mig Torsten. Han kom ner på mina repetitioner och tog dem ifrån mig när det helt stoppade upp i dösnack och känsloonani. Och jag hatade Torsten för det, och jag bröt upp många
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An Overview gånger från teatern där. Men jag kände samtidigt någonstans [...] dunkelt och i min ohyggliga vrede och mitt hat, att Torsten hade rätt]. (Sjögren, Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 297-98)
Bergman’s Göteborg years were tumultuous, both privately and professionally, but they also included triumphant successes, such as his staging of Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire. In many ways, this production sums up Bergman’s growing status as a theatre director and might be called his master diploma. He seemed to have reached a pinnacle in his career; his apprentice years were definitely behind him. Again, Ebbe Linde summed up Bergman’s position in Swedish stagecraft: If I were to list a handful of the foremost directors in our country, I feel more certain about his [Bergman’s] presence than about the others. [...] In terms of instruction, monumentality, ideas, and understanding of the text, it is difficult to name anyone in this country who is undisputedly superior to this former eccentric. [Om jag skulle lista en handfull av de främsta regissörerna i vårt land, så känner jag mig säkrare på hans närvaro än de andra. [...] I fråga om regiinstruktion, storslagenhet, idéer och förståelse för texten är det svårt att nämna någon i det här landet som är den odiskutabelt överlägsne denne tidigare eccentriker. (BLM XVI, no. 2 (February 1947): 183).
Almost a year would pass before Bergman presented his next stage production after Streetcar. Part of the intervening time he spent in Paris, discovering Molière at the Comédie Française, a playwright he would eventually incorporate as a mainstay in his repertory. However, upon returning to Göteborg for his final production there in February 1950, he chose a play closer to the stark vision and brutal tone of his own dramatic works: the Spanish playwright Valle-Inclan’s Divinas palabras. Towards the end of his engagement in Göteborg Bergman’s writing ambitions had begun to shift to screenplays. In 1949 he finished his first auteur-directed film, Fängelse (Prison) and from now on Bergman’s stage productions often echo or anticipate major themes in his films. Thus, the dichotomy of irrationality and reason depicted in his Göteborg production of Chesterton’s Magic may have inspired his later film Ansiktet (The Magician), while Divinas palabras, the divine words uttered by a sexton in unintelligible Latin, foreshadows the mechanical intonation of Lutheran minister Tomas in Nattvardsgästerna (1962, Winter Light). Direct visual reminiscences from Bergman’s stage productions, such as his use of silhouetted shadow projections would become somewhat of a trademark in his filmmaking, for instance in the dance of death sequence in Det sjunde inseglet or the opening of Ansiktet. The Göteborg years put Bergman’s artistic persona as both theatre man and filmmaker in sharper focus.
Stockholm Interlude (1950) In 1950, Ingmar Bergman returned to Stockholm to assume the task as director at a newly opened theatre, owned by his former film producer, Lorens Marmstedt (see Chapter 1, p. 37). The Intima Theatre at Odenplan in Stockholm was meant to become Bergman’s own playground; many in the Göteborg ensemble had been hired:
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Gertrud Fridh, Anders Ek, Ulf Johanson and Birger Malmsten. Anticipations of Bergman’s return to his home town ran high. The Intima Theatre’s inaugural production was Bertolt Brecht’s Threepenny Opera, Bergman’s only Brecht production ever. It was a pumped-up social event (see Commentary, Ø 408), followed by a double bill featuring Jean Anouilh’s version of Medea and Hjalmar Bergman’s one-act play En skugga (A Shadow). Neither production was a complete public success though the reviews were by and large more generous than posterity has painted them. At any rate, Bergman left the Intiman within less than a year, hoping that an invitation to the Royal Dramatic Theatre would result in a regular contract. Instead, after his Dramaten production of a new Swedish play by Björn Erik Höijer (Det lyster i kåken/Light in the shack), Bergman found himself without an engagement. Following a detour to the Linköping-Norrköping City Theatre where he staged Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo, Bergman headed back to the south of Sweden and would be absent from Stockholm’s theatre horizon for six years. The period as director and artistic advisor at the Malmö City Theatre and instructor at its drama school was, however, to mark the culmination of his stage career before the age of forty.
Malmö City Theatre (1952-58) The Malmö City Theatre had opened in September 1944 (one day after Bergman’s inaugural production at the neigbouring Hälsingborg City Theatre). It was based on ideas launched many decades earlier to build an institution that juxtaposed a gigantic ‘Grosspielhaus’ and a small intimate stage. To Bergman the large stage, which he was to refer to as ‘Big Boo’, proved a particular challenge. It became a space he could transform into a stylized shrunken universe, as in his version of Strindberg’s folkloristic play Kronbruden (The Crown Bride/The Bridal Crown). But it was also a space for extravaganzas. In fact, ‘Big Boo’ would eventually help change Bergman’s attitude as a theatre director. When he arrived at Malmö he still had a somewhat elitist view of himself as a unique and ingenious talent far ahead of his public. When he left Malmö six years later he said in an interview: ‘When I was young, I despised the public. My own person was the most intelligent there was. Now it’s the other way around. I have discovered for some time that my only raison d’être is to give the public the very best of what it wants’. [När jag var ung föraktade jag publiken. Min egen person var det mest intelligenta som fanns. I dag är det tvärtom. Sedan någon tid har jag upptäckt att mitt enda berättigande är att ge publiken vad den vill ha]. (See Björn Vinberg, Expr., 19 December 1958). What the public (and Big Boo) demanded was colorful spectacles on a grand scale. Bergman produced both a classical operetta, The Merry Widow, and a 19th-century national music play, Värmlänningarna (The People of Värmland). However, whether he staged The Merry Widow or Goethe’s Faust his main criterion was to maintain a high professional quality and not be condescending towards the text or the audience. If Bergman’s Hälsingborg years had focussed on persuading the local citizens to support their city theatre and Göteborg had been a testing ground before older colleagues, Malmö allowed him to consolidate a directorial and performative concept: that the basic premise for a vital theatre experience lay in an electrifying encounter
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An Overview between text, actor, and spectator. In such a triangular constellation, Bergman defined himself as representing the audience vis-à-vis the actors; he saw himself as an eye and an ear, as ‘the receiving organ against which the actors should react’. [mottagarorganet mot vilket skådespelarna skall reagera]. His implied philosophy of theatrical communication, which became so clearly based on reaching out to the audience in an act providing both stimulation and challenge, was preceded by his own personal response to a dramatic text, i.e., a moment when he was the one struck by an electrifying contact with another mind who had written the play. (See Sjögren, 1968, Ø 548, and Lise-Lone Marker. ‘The Magic Triangle: Ingmar Bergman’s Implied Philosophy of Theatrical Communication’. Modern Drama 26, no. 3 (September) 1983: 251-61). The first dramatic texts to touch Ingmar Bergman in an ‘electrifying’ manner were Strindberg’s works. ‘I recognized the melody. I sensed his emotions’. [Jag igenkände melodin. Jag erfor hans känslor.] (Björkman/Assayas, Tre dagar med Bergman, 1992, p. 14). Bergman’s six years at Malmö included productions of Kronbruden (The Crown Bride), Spöksonaten (The Ghost Sonata) and Erik XIV, but also wetted his appetite for the theatre of Molière and Ibsen. As in his filmmaking, Bergman seemed determined to write himself into a classical canon. By now his directorial versatility and skill made him the undisputed master in the Swedish theatre world. Two of his productions, Sagan (The Legend) and Ur-Faust, visited Paris and London respectively. Others, like Peer Gynt, The Misanthrope and Don Juan were to go down in the annals of modern Swedish stagecraft. What impressed the reviewers most was Bergman’s careful loyalty to the text, allowing it to speak on its own terms without any modernizing gimmicks. He was also praised continuously for his grasp of the totality of a performance – acting, scene-painting, dramatic rhythm, dance and music – and for his ability to focus on revealing details both in intimate and mass scenes. Just before Bergman left Malmö, one critic summed up this directorial approach as follows: The method has been the same in all of his latest great successes: To let the play live its own life, to present it in a ‘clean’ performance, utilizing all the resources of modern stagecraft but avoiding modernizations and revaluations of the drama itself. Bergman’s productions emerge before us fresh and vital [...] and with a list of actors the Americans would call ‘an all star cast’. [Metoden har varit densamma i alla hans senaste stora framgångar: Att låta pjäsen leva sitt eget liv, att presentera den i en ‘ren’ föreställning och använda den moderna scenkonstens alla resurser men undvika moderniseringar och omvärderingar av själva dramat. Bergmans uppsättningar träder fram för oss friska och vitala [...] och med en skådespelarlista som amerikanarna skulle kalla ‘an all star cast’]. (Brunius, Expr., 20 December 1958)
Bergman’s farewell piece at Malmö was the popular musical pastiche titled Värmlänningarna (The People of Värmland), which can be described as a national folkloristic interpretation of a Romeo and Juliet theme. The production represented the flip side of Bergman’s debut in Malmö in 1952 with his own grotesque and morbid play Mordet i Barjärna (Murder at Barjärna). Critics expressed their satisfaction with this transformation in Bergman from a sensationalist playwright to a lucid interpretor of dramatic texts authored by others. Per Erik Wahlund (SvD, 20 December 1958) paid homage to what he termed ‘the mature Bergman’:
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It’s been said earlier but it cannot be said too often: Ingmar Bergman’s development is one of the greatest sources of joy in today’s Swedish theatre. The time of belaboured experiments is gone, chaos has lifted, his theatrical deviltry has cooled down, the desire to shock has been replaced by the ability to interpret and revitalige. Nowadays Bergman has a breadth, a sense of style and a sense of a living tradition like none of our younger directors. [Det har sagts tidigare men kan inte sägas för ofta, att Ingmar Bergmans utveckling är ett av de största glädjeämnena i dagens svenska teater. De överansträngda experimentens tid är förbi; kaos har klarnat, det teatraliska diableriet har stadgat sig, lusten att chockera har ersatts av förmågan att tolka och förnya. Bergman har numera en bredd, en stilkänsla och ett sinne för levande tradition som ingen annan av våra yngre regissörer.]
Dramaten Interlude and The Royal Opera (1961) Despite all the glowing responses to his Malmö stagecraft, Bergman still had to conquer the national stage, the Royal Dramatic Theatre. But for more than two years after leaving Malmö he was preoccupied with filmmaking (Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring), Djävulens öga (The Devil’s Eye); in fact, he found himself at a life crisis that would eventually result in the so-called Trilogy [Såsom en spegel (Through a Glass Darkly), Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light) and Tystnaden (The Silence)]. The first of these three films coincides in time with his reading of Chekhov’s The Seagull in preparation for his 1961 Dramaten production of the play. The self-absorbed and mediocre writer/father David in Bergman’s Through a Glass Darkly bears the unmistakable traits of Chekhov’s parasitical Trigorin. But also the chamber film format, the subdued grey tones in the mise-en-scene, the sadness and repressed emotions of a small and confined family collective, punctuated by moments of brutal pain, unmasking and insight, are reminiscent of Bergman’s Chekhov interpretation at Dramaten. British drama critic Kenneth Tynan who reviewed Bergman’s production of The Seagull (Måsen) for the London Observer was positively surprised at the sober realism of the production, but Swedish reviewers were quite critical. The Seagull was Ingmar Bergman’s first Checkov staging ever and the expectations had been exceedingly high. Not fulfilling them, Bergman exited from Dramaten. Soon however he was to make a spectacular come-back elsewhere, as guest director in another art form, the opera. At the Royal Theatre, as the Stockholm Opera was still called, he presented, some three months after his Checkov flop, Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. That the story of Tom Rakewell’s departure from his innocent fiancée Ann Truelove to the tempting regions of the Devil Nick Shadow would fascinate the writer of morality plays, the maker of films like The Seventh Seal, and the director of Ur-Faust, Peer Gynt, and Don Juan is hardly surprising. But what impressed the critics most was Bergman’s understanding of the dramatic rhythm of Stravinsky’s musical score, something that was confirmed by the composer himself during a Stockholm visit (see Robert Craft. Dialogues and a Diary. New York: Doubleday, 1963, pp. 165-71; excerpted in Swedish in the Opera program to Bergman’s production). ‘We hope’, wrote one critic (when the production was revived in 1966) ‘that Bergman will get numerous opportunities to realize new works and renew old ones at our Opera’. [Vi hoppas att
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An Overview Bergman får talrika tillfällen att sätta upp nya arbeten och förnya gamla vid vår opera]. (See Folke Hähnel, DN, 31 October 1966). Bergman was invited to stage The Rake’s Progress at the Hamburg Opera in 1965, but had to cancel because of illness. The Stockholm Opera chose Bergman’s production of The Rake’s Progress as their guest performance at the World Exhibit in Montreal in 1967. But Bergman himself would not return to the opera stage until 1992 when he directed and wrote the libretto to Daniel Börtz’ opera The Bachae, based on Euripedes’ classical play. His opera debut in 1961, however, was a confirmation of his strong feeling that cinema and music are related art forms. The event solidified his very special use of music in his filmmaking, dating back to such films as Till glädje (To Joy) in 1950 and Gycklarnas afton (The Naked Night) in 1953, and culminating in his hymn to Mozart in his filmatization of Trollflöjten (The Magic Flute) in 1975.
Dramaten – Round 2 (1963-1976) In the spring of 1963 the Royal Dramatic Theatre announced the retirement of its head, Karl Ragnar Gierow, best known for establishing the Eugene O’Neill legacy at Dramaten, including the world premiere of his posthumous play Long Day’s Journey into Night. (Ingmar Bergman, always anxious to write himself into the annals of his predecessors, revived the play in 1988). Within a week after Gierow’s retirement, Ingmar Bergman had been approached with an offer to succeed him. He accepted without much hesitation; it was after all a very prestigious offer that represented a recognition at last by Sweden’s national stage of his talent and stature in the theatre. But above all, Dramaten was a magic arena to Bergman, the place of his first encounter as a child with live stagecraft and the professional home of such admired directors as Olof Molander and Alf Sjöberg. The invitation to take charge of the ‘Father House’ also came at an opportune time for Bergman. He had just finished his film trilogy and yearned to return to the stage. Bergman’s own repertory as head of Dramaten harks back to his earlier career. He opened with Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf, a Strindbergian marriage drama of brutal intensity and ruthless unmasking. Next, he revived, for the third time, Hjalmar Bergman’s Sagan (The Legend). This modern Swedish classic was followed by the world premiere of a new Swedish play by (future) Nobel Prize winner Harry Martinson, Tre knivar från Wei (Three Knives from Wei). Thereby, Bergman continued a trend in his staging career to encourage the presentation of recent Swedish plays, an obligation that is also written into the annals of the Royal Dramatic Theatre. The response to Bergman’s first three productions as head of Dramaten was amazingly similar. He emerged as a controlling and visually stunning stage esthetician. Key words in the reviews were ‘formal strictness, beauty, manipulation’. Some reviewers indicated that these traits might impact on audiences in the cinema, an art form that builds on mesmerizing the spectators, but that they would likely create resistance in a theatre public. Such a view must be understood in its temporal context. Bergman had assumed the leadership of Dramaten at a time of radical ideological change in Swedish culture. The 1960s were politicized years when a number of so-called ‘free theatre groups’ were formed that strove to realize a new kind of collective theatre, in which
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre the actors were not instructed by a director so much as co-active in shaping a production that had a distinct social and ideological thrust. Dramaten and other institutionalised theatres were viewed by members of the group theatre movement as elitist, undemocratic and traditionalist. For once, Bergman’s timing was not right and his tenure as head of Dramaten became brief – barely three years. The reasons he gave for his resignation were several: the government had tied his hands by refusing to increase his budget; he was overworked and fell ill; and he was bothered by his reception among members of the new cultural forefront who regarded him as a back-sliding symbol of the Establishment. When he went to speak to young drama students, he was booed. He comments on the situation in his autobiography Laterna magica (The Magic Lantern) (pp. 231-32): When I insisted that the young students must learn the technique of acting in order to reach the public with their revolutionary message, they waved their little red book and whistled. [...] The young organized quickly and cleverly, occupied the mass media and left us old and used ones in cruel isolation. [...] I despised a fanaticism I recognized from my childhood: the same emotional mud at the bottom. [...] Instead of fresh air we got deformation, secterism, intolerance, anxious fawning and misuse of power. [Då jag hävdade att de unga eleverna måste lära sig skådespelandets teknik för att nå ut med sina revolutionära budskap, viftade de med den lilla röda boken, och visslade. [...] De unga formerade sig snabbt och skickligt, intog massmedia och lämnade oss gamla och förbrukade i grym isolering. [...] Jag föraktade en fanatism som jag kände igen från min barndom: samma emotionella bottenslam. [...] I stället för frisk luft fick vi deformering, sekterism, intolerans, ängslig inställsamhet och maktmissbruk.
In his film Persona (1966) Ingmar Bergman depicts an actress, Elisabeth Vogler, who suddenly withdraws from the theatre into a hospital and who returns, presumably recovered, to a scene shot in a film studio. On a personal level, Bergman describes his own trajectory in leaving his post at Dramaten to return to filmmaking after a period of illness. But Bergman’s disenchantment with the Swedish theatre situation was to continue for several years (see Ø 537, 540, 544). At the same time, his own work was not untouched by the political and intellectual climate. In Persona he incorporates important visual allusions to both the holocaust and the Vietnam War, and in the film Skammen (Shame) from 1968 he builds the plot around a guerilla war situation. In his theatre work, he directed Peter Weiss’ play about the Nurnenberg trials, Rannsakningen (The Investigation). It is instructive to observe his reluctance to tackle this play production, which he had taken over from a sick colleague. It was only after he had convinced himself that the piece had qualities other than timely political ones that he decided to direct it. In an interview he admitted: Personally I deeply disliked the play from the beginning. I thought it was a form of pornography of violence. While working on it I revised my opinion. I understood that there was an almost insatiable will to truth in Peter Weiss and an uncompromising strength of character, a moral attitude.
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[Jag tyckte personligen från början djupt illa om pjäsen någonstans, jag tyckte att det var våldspornografi. Under arbetet reviderade jag min uppfattning. Jag förstod, att det fanns en nästan omätlig vilja till sanning hos Peter Weiss, och en obönhörlig karaktärsstyrka, en moralisk hållning.] (Sjögren, Lek och raseri, 2002, (Ø 677), p. 36)
For both private and professional reasons Bergman left Sweden for Norway in 1966-67 to set up Pirandello’s Six Characters in Oslo. He was gone from Dramaten until 1969. But from that year on he established a pattern of directing at least one play a year on the national stage. Foremost among his stagings in the next few years were his productions of Woyzeck in 1969 and his interpretation of Ibsen’s Vildanden (The Wild Duck) in 1972, a production that went on an international tour to Paris, London, Oslo, Copenhagen, Berlin, Zurich and Florence. Bergman’s presentation of Woyzeck represents a new approach for him: an attempt to invite the audience physically into the performance (for details, see Commentary, entry Ø 446). The play text itself focusses on a stronger class dichotomy than most previous plays set up by Bergman and fits into the cultural mood of the sixties with discussions of social oppression and political repression. Some felt that Woyzeck really showed a new social consciousness in Bergman’s theatre work: ‘Ingmar Bergman has been an isolated figure, a lonewolf in the Swedish theatre in the last years. Is that image of him finally about to dissolve? There are reasons for hope. (His production of Woyzeck) testifies to a new interest in social problems. It makes the picture of him less one-sided. [...] It is a production that is less private, less sophisticated than any of his earlier productions during the 1960s. It must continue’. [Ingmar Bergman har varit en isolerad gestalt, en ensamvarg i svensk teater de senaste åren. Håller den bilden av honom på att slutligen upplösas? Det finns hopp. Den (Woyzeck) vittnar om ett nytt intresse för samhällsproblem. Den gör honom mindre ensidig. [...] Det är en uppsättning som är mindre privat, mindre sofistikerad än någon annan av hans tidigare uppsättningar på 1960-talet. Det måste fortsätta.] (Leif Zern, DN, 15 March 1969)
Nevertheless it was Strindberg who now took the front seat in Bergman’s theatre activity with Ett drömspel (A Dreamplay) (1970), Spöksonaten (The Ghost Sonata) (1973), Till Damaskus (To Damascus) (1974), Dödsdansen (The Dance of Death) – the last production interrupted on January 30, 1976 with Bergman’s arrest by Swedish police, charging him with tax evasion. The 1970 Dreamplay production not only marks Bergman’s return to his house god Strindberg. It signals yet another departure in his stagecraft, a new simplicity and orientation towards an almost bare stage. In interviews from this time he emphasizes his desire to tone down aspects of the scenography that might detract from the actors’ presence. There is a parallell here to two basic features that had already occurred in Bergman’s filmmaking: his exploration of the close-up, of the presence of the human beings in the film, and his use of a stark, often empty space surrounding the actors, a kind of metaphysical void. In his production of A Dreamplay Bergman avoided not only the expressionistic, dreamlike qualities of the drama; he also parted company with his admired predecessor Olof Molander by ignoring biography. There was a down-to-earth realism and an objective distance to the material in Bergman’s Dream-
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre play production. However, it was not a development that would meet with much enthusiasm at Bergman’s next stop as a stage director.
The Munich Residenztheater (1976-1984) Less than three months after his arrest by the Swedish tax authorities in February 1976, Ingmar Bergman left Sweden and went into voluntary exile. His next theatre production took place at the Residenztheater in Munich, where he would be active for some eight years (though he returned to Sweden to make the film Fanny and Alexander in 1981-82). He inaugurated this new phase in his theatre career with a Germanspeaking production of Strindberg’s A Dreamplay (1977). Other major productions were to include Checkov’s Three Sisters (1978), Molière’s Tartuffe (1979), Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler (1979) and A Doll’s House (1981). The latter was part of a triptych called Nora and Julie consisting also of Strindberg’s Miss Julie and Bergman’s stage adaptation of his own Scener från ett äktenskap (Scenes from a Marriage). Most of his productions in Munich were ‘remakes’ of earlier stagings of the same play. There was a practical reason for selecting this repertory: In directing in a foreign language, Bergman was more at ease with a text he was already familiar with (which is not to say that his ‘remakes’ are mere replicas of earlier productions). The ‘remake’ pattern also follows a trait throughout his stage career, a work habit he compares to a music conductor’s opportunity to reinterpret the same pieces of his favorite music over a lifetime. In Munich, Bergman’s situation as a theatre director was very different from what he was accustomed to in Sweden. The Residenztheater was a more autocratic institution and its audiences more expressive, both in positive and negative terms. The rapport between director and acting staff was harder to achieve for Bergman, partly because German was not his native language; after his permanent return to Sweden, he said in a press conference (7 December, 1983): ‘Despite a very good German, learnt at school, my first years in Munich were a catastrophe. How do you explain to 45 actors what Strindberg meant with (the expression) “Man is to be pitied”. The expression does not exist in German, it belongs to an inner landscape. Language is the determining factor behind my refusal to accept, for instance, fat American film offers’. [Trots en mycket god skoltyska var mina första år i München en katastrof. Hur förklarar man för 45 tyska skådespelare vad Strindberg menade med ‘Det är synd om människorna’? Uttrycket existerar inte på tyska, det tillhör ett inre landskap. Språket är den avgörande faktorn bakom min vägran att acceptera till exempel feta amerikanska filmanbud].
In Munich, Bergman also faced a different corps of theatre critics who knew him only from his filmmaking and expected his stage productions to live up to his screen persona. (The same phenomenon is noticeable in other foreign responses to Bergman’s stagecraft when Dramaten would give guest performances of his productions abroad). Bergman acknowledged in his 7 December 1983 press conference: ‘The German critics are [...] a little nastier and meaner than the Swedish ones. [...] But [...] they know a lot and they have seen a lot and generally they write very well. And if they hang you, they will not hang you in silence. I must say I like that very much’. [De tyska kritikerna är [...] lite elakare än de svenska. [...] Men de kan en hel del och de
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An Overview har sett mycket och i allmänhet skriver de väl. Och om de hänger en, så gör de det inte i tystnad. Jag måste säga att jag tycker mycket om det]. While the Munich audiences usually paid unreserved and generous homage to Bergman after each new production, the reviewers – at times referring to him somewhat ironically as St. Ingmar – remained skeptical for quite some time. Work-wise and reception-wise, Bergman’s Munich period cannot have been an altogether happy time.
Dramaten – Round 3: The Homecoming (1984) ‘I am not the same director today as when I left Sweden eight years ago’, [Jag är inte samma regissör i dag som när jag lämnade Sverige för åtta år sedan], Bergman said at his 7 December 1983 press conference in Stockholm. Nor was the ensemble at Dramaten the same as when he left Sweden for Munich in 1976. The accidental death of Dramaten’s leading director, Alf Sjöberg, in 1980 also changed Bergman’s professional premises. Not only was he now the overshadowing presence at Dramaten, but he felt ready to stage Shakespeare again, a playwright that had been one of Alf Sjöberg’s house gods. With his Dramaten productions of King Lear, Hamlet, and The Winter’s Tale, Bergman continued to pursue classical drama. All three productions were invited to a number of theatres abroad. The Hamlet production in particular caused quite a stir as Bergman unashamedly presented his alter ego in the title role, played by a look-alike actor who wore young Bergman’s clothing insignia. In a rare desire to update a classical play, Bergman mixed costume styles from different time epochs and changed Fortrinbras’ arrival to that of a modern-day hoodlum, barging in on stage with a roaring motorcycle gang to the tune of rock music. Hamlet was the least attended of Dramaten’s productions during the 1986 season. Yet, in several ways, it represents Bergman’s most explicit statement on the function of his theatre work. Like his 1988 staging of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night and of Yukio Mishima’s The Marquise de Sade in 1989, his Hamlet production described a movement from an outer reality to an inner landscape of memories, dreams, and nightmares where the characters hovered on the brink of a mental abyss. Except for the ending, Bergman presented Hamlet’s harrowing inner journey against an understated stylized scenography that seemed to form a beautiful restrained contrast to the released passions of the dramatis personae. Two features, in fact, stand out in many of Bergman’s Dramaten productions after his homecoming: a ‘reductionary’ process where the scenography becomes more and more sparse and stylized, and an opulence in costumes, especially in productions of classics like Shakespeare and Molière. Bergman’s vitality seemed unabated after his return to Dramaten. He liked to quote Georg Tabori, that the only alternative to the stage is the morgue. He maintained his old habit of dividing his attention between new Swedish plays and productions of both older and modern classics. In addition to his Shakespeare productions he returned to Ibsen with A Doll’s House (1989) and a spectacular Peer Gynt in 1991, and to Molière with another version of The Misanthrope (1995). In 1998, he staged Per Olof Enqvist’s new play Bildmakarna (The Image Makers), which depicts an encounter between a literary person, Selma Lagerlöf, and a filmmaker, Bergman’s revered pre-
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre decessor Victor Sjöström. In February 2000, his fourth version of Strindberg’s Spöksonaten (The Ghost Sonata) opened and in December of the same year he presented Maria Stuart, his first staging ever of a Schiller play. In 2002, he returned once more to Ibsen, this time with his own translation/adaptation of Gengangere (Ghosts). With these productions, Bergman seemed to trace his own artistic trajectory in Scandinavia and in Germany. But his long (and towards the end, somewhat strained) professional relationship with Dramaten’s administrative head, Lars Löfgren, was over. The Bergman-Dramaten connection continued under Löfgren’s successor Ingrid Dahlberg but when she retired in 2002, Bergman had already announced his definitive departure. He now turned his remaining creative powers to media theatre, setting up several radio and TV productions.
Bergman’s Approach in the Theatre: More Intuition than Theory Bergman’s directorial presence over more than six decades has of course left a distinct mark in the annals of Swedish stagecraft; yet that presence has also remained so personal that Bergman has formed no school and has had few, if any, disciples. A contributing factor can be found in the afore-mentioned resistance he faced in the 1960s from a young, ideologically motivated generation of theatre people who rebuffed his overtures to participate actively in the current reorganization of theatre education in Sweden. But Bergman’s concern has usually been more focussed on building up an interest in the theatre among young audiences than in establishing a director’s circle. Like the German theatre man, Max Reinhardt, he has stressed that for him there is no single approach to stagecraft but that each play production constitutes a new challenge. By the same token he has avoided generalising about his own work and has instead emphasized his intuitive method: ‘I throw a spear into the dark to see where it lands’. [Jag kastar ett spjut in i mörkret för att se var det landar] (Sjögren, ‘Dialog’, Ø 548). However, Bergman’s intuitive feel has in no way implied a haphazard or tentative approach to a given production. Rather, his directional style became known as sensitive but controlled and planned in every detail, including a realistic assessment of his stage instruments. His early amateur productions for instance, which were praised for their combination of musical tempo and strong visual design, suggest that he could provide useful, technical and artistic support to a mostly inexperienced cast. With time, as Bergman could work with highly professional ensembles, he would increasingly come to rely on his actors to carry a production and it became more and more rare for him to let theatrical brilliance outdistance or overshadow the performers. It is a development parallell to his increasing use of the close-up of faces in his filmmaking. Bergman, wrote one reviewer, works with the actors like someone who ‘kneads and models a whole human destiny ..’. [knådar och modellerar fram ett helt människoöde]. The performances by Bergman’s actors have seldom been as stunning under other directors. One explanation lies in their often lifelong professional relationships with Bergman, allowing for a build-up of implicit understanding. At the core of this director-ensemble symbiosis also lies a recognition of a mutual need. Actors have frequently testified that they rely on Bergman’s tremendous know-how and feel comfortable with his very concrete instruction. One of his early stage designers,
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An Overview Gunnar Lindblad, remembers how Bergman’s leadership was beyond dispute: ‘We simply listened to him because we realized he knew so much more than the rest of us.’ (Interview with editor, February 1976). Bergman on the other hand knows that without his ensemble’s keen support, his productions would miss the mark. One Swedish theatre critic has said that Bergman treats his actors as if they were a kind of förbedjare (blessing givers). Some commentators have compared the rapport between director and cast to a form of hypnosis; others have spoken of a relationship analogous to eroticized magic. Actress Gertrud Fridh once stated in a personal interview with the editor that the key to Bergman’s unique ‘power’ over his cast stemmed from the selfconfidence he gave his actors by encouraging them ‘to offer freely of themselves’ [att generöst bjuda på sig]. Bergman’s directorial method rests not on abstract stagecraft theories but on the notion that a theatre performance is a juxtaposition of magic and professionalism. From an audience perspective this combination of stage mesmerism and controlled display of the instruments (actors, sets, costumes, lighting etc.) could become spellbinding but also ‘horribly enforced’ [otäckt påträngande] (Clas Brunius, Expr., 18 October 1958.) When viewers were thrown between scenes of stupendous sophistication and beauty and moments of theatrical self-consciousness, grotesque humor and rather vulgar eroticism, charges of manipulation of actors and audiences alike would surface. The attention to detail that became Bergman’s trademark coexisted with an ability to project a vision of a play’s total potential. It has often excited critics but also puzzled them, as in the following review after the opening of Bergman’s production of Ur-Faust in 1957: This is grandiose theatre – but difficult to explain. It hits you in such an overwhelming way, both emotionally and intellectually. [...] One could begin by talking about the characterization or the scenography; one could begin with the uniqueness and possibilities of the theatre in our time, or about the devil’s treason in our hearts where Mephisto and Faust have settled. But nothing of this would explain the totality which is Ingmar Bergman’s theatre. [Detta är storslagen teater – men svår att förklara. Det träffar en på ett så överväldigande sätt, både känslomässigt och intellektuellt. [...] Man kunde börja med att tala om karakteristiken eller scenografin; man kunde börja med säregenheten och möjligheterna i vår tids teater, eller om djävulens förräderi i våra hjärtan där Mefisto och Faust har slagit sig ner. Men ingenting av detta skulle förklara den helhet som är Ingmar Bergmans teater.] See Ø 433.
Bergman himself might respond that the key to ‘the totality which is Ingmar Bergman’s theatre’ lies in a recognition of the afore-mentioned triangular interconnection between dramatic text (and its interpreting director), the performers on stage and the audience in the house. In a mid-career interview (1968) he suggested that the essence of a theatre production lay in finding the magnetic point that ignites the director’s response to a play and forces him to find a similar electrifying connection between performer and viewer: Every theatrical space has its specific point of radiation in relation to stage and viewer space... This is a fundamental premise which you figure out before you start: where is the magic point? Where does the actor stand in that space in relation to the viewer? ... It is
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre towards that point you make your close-ups and distancing effects. And all the time it is the viewer’s perspective that counts. [Varje sceniskt rum har sin specifika utstrålningspunkt, i sin relation mellan scen och åskådarrum... det är en grundförutsättning som man lurar ut innan man börjar: var är själva den magiska punkten? Var står skådespelaren i detta scenrum i förhållande till åskådarrummet? ... mot den här punkten gör man närmnings- och fjärmningseffekter. Och det är hela tiden från åskådaren den räknas.] (Sjögren, Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 291292).
Bergman’s reference here to ‘closing-in and distancing effects’ is the language of a filmmaker whose camera can oscillate between close-ups and long distance shots. But Bergman maintained early that the theatre differed from film and television in that it lacked the potential of the camera’s visible all-encompassing mobility. He also claimed however that the unique strength of the theatre lay in the communication between live human beings on both sides of the ramp: ‘Theatre should be man’s meeting with man and nothing else. All else is distracting’. [Teatern ska vara människans möte med människan och ingenting annat. Allt annat är distraherande]. Theatre to Bergman has always been a physical, sensuous encounter between actors and spectators (See Sjögren, 1968, p. 310). Thus, while his film work can be said to have conveyed a personal vision expressing itself in psychological and metaphysical themes, his theatre work has revealed a unique artistic will, set on establishing a live rapport with both stage and audience. Bergman’s emphasis on an engaged spectatorship is expressed already in his earliest program notes, which frequently include brief digs at the audience and invitations to them to respond to a performance. Eventually, this ‘teasing’ of the audience – inviting them into the illusory and ritualised world of the theatre, yet revealing to them the practical reality and technical apparatus of a performance – would come to constitute the essence of Bergman’s theatre esthetics. In many of his stage presentations from the 1970s and on, Bergman displayed a meta-theatrical playfulness that took delight in breaking the dramatic illusion or aimed at creating a form of theatrical intertextuality, with professional nods to established dramatic and literary traditions, such as in The Winters Tale production from 1994 with its elaborate frame reference to the work of Swedish 19th-century writer C. J. L. Almqvist, or the presentation of Hamlet in 1986 with its rock music finale. Another illusion-breaking feature in Hamlet, which had also appeared in earlier Bergman productions such as Woyzzek (1969) and A Doll’s House (1988), was his retaining an actor on stage during the entire performance. Ophelia’s continuous presence as a voyeur was however more than a non-realistic gimmick; it was a way of using a character as both an insider and an outsider, as both participant and observer. In the latter sense, Ophelia served as an audience stand-in on stage or as a silent chorus, a moral commentator. This use of an actor as a link between the drama on stage and the audience in the house ties in with Bergman’s wish to stir the viewers to theatrical consciousness. As Bergman stopped writing his own plays for the theatre and relied instead entirely on texts by other playwrights, he also came to value more and more his role as interpretor. But though a dramatic text might be that of another artist, the voice speaking through the performers on stage is Ingmar Bergman’s. That voice stems
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman from a conviction of the theatre as a teatrum mundi and a place where the world of performance and the world of reality are irrevocably tied together. In that sense, the illusion-breaking theatrical features in Bergman’s productions – though often recurring like a form of Bergmanian stage tics – are seldom mere mundane experiments but constitute artistic expressions rooted in his vision of the theatre as both a ‘playground’ and a reflection of life.
Part II: Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Productions are listed under their year of opening. Within each calendar year, listings are arranged chronologically according to first performance date. As noted in the introduction to this chapter, Ingmar Bergman, during the early part of his career, sometimes moved back and forth between several amateur and professional theatre groups. The chronological order used as a principle in this Reference Guide is not strictly preserved in such cases. Instead, productions from a given stage, such as the Stockholm Student Theatre, are grouped together sequentially. At the end of Chapter VII there is a chronological chart listing all of Ingmar Bergman’s stage and media productions, from 1938 to 2003. The format for each individual entry in part (2) is the same as in the Filmography in Chapter IV, i.e., items appear in chronological order according to opening date. Play synopses are only provided for Bergman’s own plays. When available, information is given about director’s, assistant director’s or prompter’s production copies, and/or the published copy of the play text when revised by Ingmar Bergman. The listing of production credits, including complete cast lists, is followed by a commentary, a reception summary and a selection of reviews and articles pertaining specifically to the play entry. The reception summaries vary in length, reflecting the critical attention a production received. The focus is on the response to Bergman’s mise-en-scene and interpretation of play texts, and on any press debate that a particular staging elicited. Guest performances abroad are also annotated. Printed theatre programs to individual productions are available at the Swedish Theatre Museum in Stockholm, at the Royal Library (KB) in Stockholm, and at the stages where given performances took place. Production copies and preserved stage models are noted when available.
Mäster Olofsgården (1938-40) For brief discussions of this first phase in Bergman’s theatre career, see Billqvist, 1960 (Ø 1040), pp. 9-31, and Höök, 1962 (Ø 1074), pp. 34-37. The most extensive account to date of Bergman’s years at Mäster Olofsgården can be found in Birgitta Steene’s ‘Ingmar Bergman’s First Meeting with Thalia’ in the special Bergman issue of Nordic Theatre Studies, edited by Ann Carpenter Fridén, vol. XI, 1998: 12-33. An abbreviated version of this essay appeared in Swedish in UNT, 14 July 1998, p. 11. Henrik Sjögren.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Från lek till raseri. Ingmar Bergman på teatern (Stockholm: Carlson, 2002) deals with same subject, pp. 43-61. For Bergman’s own comments on his work at Mäster Olofsgården, (See Ø 2 in Chapter II). 344.
TILL FRÄMMANDE HAMN, 1938 [Outward Bound] (lit. To a Foreign Port)
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Date
Outward Bound Sutton Vane Ingmar Bergman Mats Friberg and Gösta Larsson Mäster Olofsgården/State Mission Auditorium 23-24 April 1938
Cast Tom Prior Scrubby, Bartender Rev. William Duke Mrs. Cliveden-Banks Ann Mrs. Midget Businessman Lingley Henry The Mother Pastor Frank Thomson/ Comptroller
Gösta Larsson Sture Djerf Lennart Lindberg Maud Sandwall Inga Hall Gun Öijerholm Stig Falkner Ted Winther Barbro Hjort af Ornäs Ingmar Bergman
Commentary Vane’s play had been a success a few years earlier at Stockholm’s Komedi Theatre and in 1931, at age 13, Ingmar Bergman had seen a performance there with his father. In connection with his own production seven years later he published his thoughts on ‘Till främmande hamn’ in Mäster Olofsgården’s SFP (no. 3, 1938, p. 3). The publication is an acronym for Storkyrkoflickorna/ pojkarna [Great Church girls and boys] and is available at the Mäster Olofsgården archives. Bergman writes that he had lived with Vane’s drama for several years before producing it. He had actually tried to stage it in his home-made puppet theatre and was obviously drawn to its metaphysical and eschatological theme: the play depicts passengers who gradually realise they are on board a ship heading towards their final destination. Bergman played a pastor, the play’s moral emissary, also referred to as The Comptroller. After his production of Sutton Vane’s play Ingmar Bergman’s name appeared for the first time in the press in an untitled news item in SvD, 24 April 1938, p. 14. Many of his subsequent stagings at Mäster Olofsgården were discussed briefly in the press and in the SFP.
Reception In a note in SFP newsletter no. 2, 1939, p. 1, Bergman brings up what he terms audience lack of sensitivity to the serious issues in Vane’s play. This is in contrast to the brief review in DN, 27 April 1938, p. 4, stating that ‘the gripping play [made] a deep impression on the audience’ [det gripande stycket gjorde ett djupt intryck på publiken] and in ST, same date (p. 11), where the reviewer talks about ‘a theatre house filled to the last seat by an immensely enthusiastic audience’ [en teatersalong fylld till sista plats med en oerhört entusiastisk publik]. SFP reviewer Gunnar Ollén who had seen all of Mäster Olofsgården’s previous theatre productions, called
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Bergman’s debut SFP’s best production ‘together with Easter and Everyman. Perhaps the very best’ [tillsammans med Påsk och Envar. Kanske den allra bästa]. He noted that some of the actors had never been better than under Bergman’s direction.
Reviews n.a. ‘Sjömän på studentteater’ [Sailors attending student staging]. DN, 27 April 1938. p. 4 Ollén, Gunnar. ‘Till främmande hamn’ [Outward Bound], SFP newsletter, no. 4, 1938, p 5. Sand. ‘Till främmande hamn’. ST, 24 April 1938, p. 11.
1939 345.
GULDKAROSSEN [The Golden Chariot]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Opening Date
Guldkareten (1898) Axel Bentzonich Ingmar Bergman Nicolai Elementary School 5 April 1939
Cast Mrs. Lyders Petrine William Beck
Doris Rönnqvist Inga Nicklasson Kurt Östergren
Double bill with next item.
346.
GALGMANNEN [The Hangman]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Date
Runar Schildt Ingmar Bergman Nicolai Public School 5 April 1939
Cast The Colonel Maria
Cai Winter Barbro Hiort af Ornäs
Commentary In two separate notes titled ‘Teatraliskt i SFP’ (SFP, no. 2, 1939) and ‘Experimentteater!’ [Experimental theater], (SFP, no. 3 1939, p. 24), Ingmar Bergman proudly announced a forthcoming production at Mäster Olofsgården of two plays not yet presented in the professional theater: Axel Bentzonich’s dramatic short story ‘Guldkarossen’ (The Golden Chariot) and Runar Schildt’s play Galgmannen (The Hangman). He was incorrect, however, about Bentzonich’s play, which had been produced in Stockholm on several previous occasions, the first time at Dramaten in 1910, then at the Blanche Theatre in 1916 and again at Dramaten in 1922. The performance of the double bill took place in the Nicolai Public School (Folkskola) on Ash Wednesday and was preceded by the director’s short introduction. The purpose of the production was to offer serious drama during ‘the Week of Stillness’ and present a repertory not offered by the large professional theatres in Stockholm.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre No newspaper reviews have been located but SFP, no. 4, 1939, contains a rather long unsigned resume of the double bill, where most of the praise went to Bergman, whose inspiring direction produced ‘a sense of spiritual devotion that the audience brought home with them after this strong evening’ [en känsla av andakt som publiken gav sig hem (med) efter denna starka kväll].
347.
LYCKO-PERS RESA [Lucky-Per’s Travels ]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Music Stage Date
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman/Ruben Zehlén Rune Ede Mäster Olofsgården 21 April 1939
Cast Lycko-Per Lisa The Old Man The Goblin The Fairy Nisse Nilla Headwaiter Tax Accountant Clerk Member of the Crowd The Courtier The Bride Friend I Friend II Girlfriend The Statue The Pillory The Shoemaker The Carriage Maker The Pedicurist The Relative The Mayor The Visor The Historiographer Death The Wise Man
Cai Winther Inga Hall Stig Falkner Curt Östergren Barbro Hjort af Ornäs Doris Söderström Irma Kjellgren Sture Djerf Ruben Zehlén Lennart Svensson Inga Nicklasson Ruben Zehlén Gun Öijerholm Curt Östergren Ingmar Bergman Inga Nicklasson Lennart Lindberg Mats Eljas Arne Palmquist Jon Frisk Anne-Marie Sandberg Stig Falkner Elis Hahne Lennart Lindberg Jon Frisk Arne Palmquist Elis Hahne
Commentary Ingmar Bergman presented the upcoming production of Strindberg’s play in a note titled ‘Lycko-Pers resa’ (Lucky Per’s Journey), SFP, no. 3, 1939, p. 4, 13. His focus was on the moral content of the play: the core of Strindberg’s drama lay in the advise given to the title figure: ‘Here one gets nothing without work — Work, Per, and be honest!’ [Här får man inget utan arbete – Arbeta, Per, och var ärlig!]. See also SFP, no. 2 (1939), p. 1, for a note on the rehearsals
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman of Strindberg’s play, as well as the SFP handwritten annual report from 1939, which contains a reference to the rehearsal time for Lycko-Pers resa – 125 hours, divided between 48 meetings. An indication of the intensity of Bergman’s rehearsal schedule.
Reception and Reviews In a note headlined ‘Kända personer om Lycko-Pers resa’ (Well-known people about Lucky Per’s Travels), in SFP newsletter, no. 4, 1939, p. 4, actress Naima Wifstrand who attended the opening performance praised the discipline and empathy of the ensemble but warned against histrionic excess and false theatricality. In the audience that same night was playwright-in-exile Bertolt Brecht, who afterwards sent ‘a comradely greeting’ [en kamratlig hälsning] to Sven Hansson. Brecht termed the performance interesting, intelligent, and serious but added that his conception of theatre differed from that of the ensemble, both generally and in detail. After the performance of Lucky Per’s Travels Mäster Olofsgården’s religious leader, pastor Gabriel Grefberg, wrote a thank-you note to Ingmar Bergman and his cast in SFP no. 5 (1939), p. 5, 8. Praising their youthful enthusiasm in the productions of Guldkarossen, Galgmannen and, above all, Lycko-Pers resa, Grefberg added: ‘With this you have realized my dream of many years. [...] It was the drama of my youth. I have now experienced it over again. [...] Good luck, dear young people! It was a success’. [Därmed har ni förverkligat min dröm i många år, att få se den (Lycko-Pers resa) uppsatt i SFPs teatersektion. Det var min ungdoms drama. Nu har jag upplevt det på nytt. [...] Lycka till, kära unga människor! Det var en framgång.] The only review located – Gunnar Ollén, ‘Lycko-Pers resa’. SFP, no. 4, 1939, p. 1, 4, 13 – was critical of the excessive acting style but reserved praise for the décor, which Bergman himself had sketched, and for the rhythmic flow of the production. See also short notice about the production in DN, 23 April 1939, p. 18 and brief comment by Peo (Sixten Ahrenberg) in AB, same date.
348.
KVÄLLSKABARET [Evening Cabaret]
Credits Author Stage Date
MO-gården’s theatre team/Ingmar Bergman Mäster Olofsgården October 1939
A note in the SFP annual report is the only located reference to this cabaret evening, supposedly presented in late October 1939. It might possibly be the same program mentioned by Bergman in an SFP note (no. 5, 1940, p. 8, 14, 15) where he sums up the 1939-40 theatre season, listing in the repertory an entertainment program called ‘Ju galnare ju bättre’ (The crazier, the better).
349.
ROMANTIK [Romanesques]
Credits Original title Playwright Director Stage Design Music Costumes Stage Date
Romanesques Edmond Rostand Ingmar Bergman Ruben Zehlén Rune Ede Kerstin Svennilson and Marianne von Schantz Mäster Olofsfgården, Stortorget 5 4, 5, 6 November 1939
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Cast Percinet His father Sylvette Pasquinot, her father Straforel
Kurt Östergren Sture Djerf Ingrid Lien Lennart Lindberg Ingmar Bergman
Commentary Rostand’s comedy was part of a double bill together with ‘Höstrapsodi’ (Ø 350). In a brief note ‘Evenemang’, (SFP, no. 8, 1939, p. 8), Bergman points out that the play would be performed in complete period style.
Reviews Gunnar Ollén, SFP, no. 9 (1939) devotes most of his review to ‘Höstrapsodi’, the other play in the double bill, and refers to ‘Romantik’ as ‘a little skit to warm up the public for Höstrapsodi’. [ett litet skämt för att värma upp publiken till Höstrapsodi].
350.
HÖSTRAPSODI [Autumn Rhapsody]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Music Costumes Stage Date
Doris Rönnqvist Ingmar Bergman Ruben Zehlén Rune Ede Kerstin Svennilson and Marianne von Schantz Mäster Olofsgården, Stortorget 5 4-6 November 1939
Cast Hans Greta Street Musician Summer Autumn Wind Rain Autumn Leaf
Lennart Lindberg Gun Öijerholm Arne Palmqvist Gunnel Wiklund Maud Sandwall Kurt Östergren Barbro Hjort af Ornäs Ingrid Sandström
Commentary Doris Rönnqvist, author of the play, was a member of the theatre section at Mäster Olofsgården. In his note in SFP, no. 8, 1939, p. 8, Ingmar Bergman announced this production as the first comedy staged at Mäster Olofsgården. He also pointed out that the theatre section was now self-supporting and had its own composer and scenographer, as well as its own costume shop, program printer and photographer.
Reception and Reviews Gunnar Ollén reviewed the double bill in SFP: ‘Se det var en riktig TEATERKVÄLL!’ [See, that was a real THEATRE EVENING!], SFP, no. 9, 1939, p. 5, 13. He called Ingmar Bergman a genuine theatre director and the performance ‘a great and emotionally gripping evening. Not an evening when you merely applaud politely. [...] No, one of those precious moments in the history of our theatre when the applause came from the heart and not from biased fathers, mothers, girl friends. [...] Such an evening is a triumph! [en stor, gripande, varm kväll. Ingen
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman sån där kväll, då man sitter och artighetsapplåderar. [...] Nej, ett av de dyrbara tillfällen i sektionens historia, då publikens applåder kom från hjärtat och inte från pappors, mammors, fästmörs jäviga hjärtan. [...] En sådan kväll är en seger!]
351.
HAN SOM FICK LEVA OM SITT LIV [The Man who Lived Twice ]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Date
Pär Lagerkvist Ingmar Bergman Ruben Zehlén Mäster Olofsgården, Stortorget 5 7 December 1939; additional performances: 13-14 February 1940
Cast Daniel Anna Agnes, their child Hugo, their child Ingrid, their child Elof, their child Old Man Boman Karlsson The Prisoner
Sture Djerf Barbro Hjort af Ornäs Svea Sjögren Olle Brunell Gunnel Wiklund Kurt Östergren Ingmar Bergman Arne Palmqvist Lennart Lindberg
Commentary In early 1939, Ingmar Bergman added the name ‘Experimentteatern’ (Experimental Stage) to his productions at Mäster Olofsgården. He wrote an one-page announcement of the production of Lagerkvist’s drama in SFP, no. 9, 1939, p. 3, under the heading ‘Experimentteatern igen’ (The Experimental Theatre once more), signing it ‘The Director’ [Regissören]. Bergman talks about ‘the moments of spiritual recreation’ [stunder av andlig rekreation] that Lagerkvist’s serious drama had given the ensemble and about the endless care that had been devoted to the stage set: ‘We wish this time to present a performance that is as absolutely planned and right as our capacity allows’. [Vi vill denna gång presentera er en föreställning, som är så absolut genomtänkt och riktig som vi förmår]. This declaration is followed by a typical Bergman address to a would-be audience, a note with an almost Victorian ‘dear-reader’ approach, held in a half pleading, half predding tone: ‘This is as you probably understand, dear reader, no easy matter. [...] Will we be able to continue on our chosen path [to offer serious drama] or must we cancel our experimental activity? That is a matter that you, and only you, dear reader, (and your 50 öre piece) can decide’. [Detta är som du nog förstår käre läsare ingen lättillgänglig sak. [...] Kommer det att gå så att vi kan fortsätta på den inslagna vägen eller skall vi behöva lägga ned experimentteaterns verksamhet? Ja, det är en sak som du, och endast du, käre läsare (och din 50öring) kan avgöra.]
Reviews Margit Fröman reviewed the production in SFP newsletter, Christmas issue 1939, pp. 3, 15. She praised acting, lighting, décor, director’s interpretation, and asked for additional performances, which resulted in encores on 13-14 February 1940.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre 352.
JUL [Christmas]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Date
(Excerpt from) Svarta handsken [The Black Glove], first entitled ‘Jul’ by Strindberg August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Mäster Olofsgården Mid-December 1939
Cast No program located
Commentary This pre-Christmas production represents Bergman’s only box-office flop among his dozen presentations in a 2-year period at Mäster Olofsgården. Cf. next entry. The SFP annual handwritten protocol for 1939 suggests that choosing Strindberg’s somber play as a Christmas offering was ignoring the audience expectations of a happy piece of entertainment before the holiday season. The unsuccessful presentation of ‘Jul’ did not, however, prevent the SFP board from recognizing Ingmar Bergman’s invaluable contribution to Mäster Olofsgården’s theatre section. At Christmas time 1939 he was awarded an annual ambulatory prize, instituted in 1936 in memory of SP (Great Church Boys) member Åke Eskil Johansson, to be given to ‘the member who has made the greatest contribution of the year’. [den medlem som har åstadkommit den bästa insatsen under året]. The previous year’s winner who passed on the prize to Ingmar Bergman, was SFP theatre critic (and later Strindberg scholar) Gunnar Ollén.
1940 353.
I BETHLEHEM – ETT JULSPEL [In Bethlehem: A Christmas Play]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Date
Unknown Ingmar Bergman Mäster Olofsgården and Hedvig Eleonora Church 3 January 1940
Cast No program has been located
Commentary This traditional Christmas pageant seems to have been staged to make up for Bergman’s production of Jul [Christmas], in December 1939 (see Ø 352). I Bethlehem was also performed in the Hedvig Eleonora church where Bergman’s father was a pastor.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman 354.
SVARTA HANDSKEN [The Black Glove]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Date
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Mäster Olofsgården 4 January 1940
Cast No record found. Cf. Ø 352.
Reception No press reviews have been located, but SFP member Margit Fröman wrote about the production in SFP no. 1, 1940. Her write-up is mostly a resumé of the play’s moral content. Bergman’s name is not mentioned.
355.
MACBETH
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Date
William Shakespeare Ingmar Bergman Ruben Zehlén and Torsten Ohlsson Assembly Hall at Girls School at Sveaplan 13-14 April 1940
Cast Duncan Malcolm/Donalbain Macbeth Lady Macbeth Banquo Fleance, his son Porter Macduff Rosse Doctor Servant Chambermaid Three Witches Soldiers, Chambermaids, Murderers
Ingmar Bergman Torsten Torestam/Arne Forsberg Kurt Östergren Maud Sandwall Lennart Lindberg Olle Brunell Veine Persson Bertil Sjödin Sture Djerf Lennart Lindberg Rune Bernström Eva Asplund Annemari Sandberg, Ingegerd Vetter, Essie Fischer
Commentary Bergman offered a full-page presentation of Shakespeare’s drama, titled ‘En saga’ (A fairy tale) in SFP, no. 3 (1940), p. 4. Evoking a mood of fateful, misty gloom across a Scottish moorland, he set the stage for the reader to enter a Gothic landscape. The production of Macbeth ran into difficulties because of the German occupation of Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940, with subsequent drafting of several members of the cast. Also, the quarters at a girls’ school in Stockholm, which had been leased for the Macbeth performance, had suddenly been taken over by the military authorities to house drafted soldiers. A compromise was worked out with the military command, and the draftees were invited to the performances. The reviewer in SFP, Helge Hane, wrote: ‘The outer frame of the drama – the Sveaplan School – presented a confused and confusing sight. Soldiers and theatre visitors
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre elbowed up the stairs and hallways. A timeless and current drama was enacted in various ways that night within the walls of the school’. [Den yttre ramen för premiären – Sveaskolan – företedde en förvirrad och förvirrande anblick. Soldater och teaterbesökare armbågade sig fram i trappuppgångar och vestibuler. Ett otidligt och aktuellt drama gestaltades på olika sätt inom skolans ramar den kvällen]. Bergman himself comments in retrospect on the situation in a note published prior to his second production of Macbeth at Hälsingborg City Theatre in 1944. See: ‘Vi måste ge Macbeth’ [We have to present Macbeth]. Helsingborgs Dagblad, 14 November 1944, p. 7. A few days before the premiere of Macbeth, DN (7 April 1940, p. 12) carried a brief interview with Ingmar Bergman titled ‘Energisk amatörteater i Gamla stan’ [Energetic amateur theatre in the Old Town], in which Bergman complains about the lack of a proper theatre stage but praises the enthusiasm of his ensemble of young actors.
Reception Bergman’s staging was a mixture of chamber play and medieval pageantry, using spot lighting and shadow play to focus on the inner human drama, but also contained colorful crowd scenes in a multi-level performance area. It was considered a somewhat risky undertaking for an amateur theatre but the production received positive comments in the press about the scenography, acting and directorial conception. Bergman was also mentioned favourably in his role as Duncan. The reviewer in DN expressed his admiration for an amateur group that seemed devoutly committed, inspired by good companionship, sincerity, humility.
Reviews O. R-t [Oscar Rydqvist]. ‘Macbeth vid Sveaplan’. DN, 14 April 1940, p. A 9. Corinne, SvD ‘Macbeth i ungdomlig regi’ [Macbeth in youthful direction]. SvD, 14 April 1940, p. 7. Helge G. Hane ‘Ödesdrama i ödestid’[Fateful drama in fateful times] in SFP, no. 4 (April) 1940, p. 3, 10, 15.
See also Ann Fridén. ‘‘He Shall Live a Man Forbid’: Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Macbeth’’. Shakespeare Survey 36, 1983 (a study of Bergman’s various productions of Shakespeare’s drama).
356.
SOPPKITTELN [The Pot of Broth]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Date
William Butler Yeats Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Mäster Olofsgården, Stortorget 3 18 May 1940
Cast John Coneely Sibby Coneely The Vagabond
Rune Bernström Gun Öijerholm Sture Djerf
Double bill with next item.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman 357.
TIMGLASET [The Hour Glass]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Date
The Hour Glass William Butler Yeats Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Mäster Olofsgården, Stortorget 3 18 May 1940
Cast The Wise Man The Fool The Angel Bridget The Pupil
Sture Djerf Bertil Sjödin Ingrid Lundgren Gunnel Wiklund Rune Bernström
Commentary The double bill was presented as Program III on Mäster Olofsgården’s Experimental Stage. No reviews have been located. This was the last production for the 1939-40 theatre season. In SFP no. 5, 1940 (p. 8, 14-15), Bergman sums up the year as a good one, filled with ‘calm and intense’ [lugnt och intensivt] work, and concludes that critics and general public seem to have been satisfied. He reports that the economic situation, though not ideal, had not stalled theatre activity, which had included five full evening productions and three entertainment programs: ‘Ju galnare ju bättre’ (The crazier the better), ‘Professor Putnams panoptikon’ and ‘Pyramus och Thisbe’. In addition, the amateur team had studied practically all of Strindberg’s dramas, engaged in pantomime exercises, and met for film showings and discussions. The time covered in this report coincides with the outbreak of World War II, including the occupation of Denmark and Norway, but Bergman’s entire focus is on the Mäster Olofsgården theatre activities, with rehearsals running from 19 July 1939 to 27 May 1940, three to four evenings a week.
358.
TILLBAKA [Return]
Credits Original title Playwright Director Stage Date
Return Gregor Ges Ingmar Bergman Mäster Olofsgården Autumn 1940
No program and no reviews have been located.
359.
MELODIN SOM KOM BORT [The Melody that Disappeared]
Credits Original title Playwright Director Stage Date
Melodien der blev væk. Kjeld Abell Ingmar Bergman Mäster Olofsgården/State Mission Assembly Hall 16-17 November 1940
No other details available
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre 360.
SVANEVIT [Swanwhite]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Music Stage Date
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Jan-Erik Forsmark Sveaplan Girls High School auditorium 4, 7 December 1940
Cast The Young King The Duke The Stepmother Swanwhite The Prince The Gardener The Fisherman Swanwhite’s mother The Prince’s mother Bridesmaids
Gösta Prüzelius Sture Djerf Barbro Hjort af Ornäs Ingrid Lundgren Börje Andersson (later: troubadour Anders Börje} Ingmar Bergman Rune Bernström Margareta Sjögren Ragnhild Wessberg Irma Kjellgren, Maj Segerstam, Maud Lindberg
Commentary This was Ingmar Bergman’s last production at Mäster Olofsgården. 62-year old actress Harriet Bosse, August Strindberg’s third wife, to whom he dedicated Svanevit as an engagement gift, attended the performance. The reviewer of Svanevit in SFP, Helge Hane, summed up Bergman’s formidable activity at Mäster Olofsgården as follows: Ingmar Bergman holds his own as an amateur director. He is both diligent and inventive. The Merchant (of Venice), The Pelican and Swanwhite in one fall season testifies to an unusual capacity and devotion. When you also know that he has used the last months to teach the art of theatre leadership to others, you acknowledge with amused surprise that he ungemein tüchtig ist. [Ingmar Bergman hävdar sig som amatörregissör. Han är både flitig och uppfinningsrik. Köpmannen, Pelikanen och Svanevit på en höstsäsong vittnar om ovanlig kapacitet och hängivenhet. När man dessutom vet att han använt de senaste månaderna till att undervisa teaterledarskapets konst till andra, erkänner man med road överraskning att han ungemein tüchtig ist.] Ten years after his arrival at Mäster Olofsgården, Bergman commented nostalgically on his time there in a letter to Sven Hansson, dated 11 February 1948. Bergman refers to his two-year tenure at the amateur stage as ‘the gateway to the ‘real’ theatre’. [porten till den ‘riktiga’ teatern]. See Billqvist, 1960, pp. 30-31 (Ø 1040), where letter is published.
Reception Brief reviews praised the acting, stage design and, especially, the stylized approach to Strindberg’s fairy play. Wrote Nils Beyer: ‘Greatest honor must go to the director, Ingmar Bergman’. [Största äran av att det gick så bra är regissören, IB]. His particular forte – to get the actors to
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman outdo themselves – was also noted by Helge Hane. See Henrik Sjögren, Lek och raseri, 2002, pp. 253-56.
Reviews Allegro (Olle Halling). ‘Strindberg vid Sveaplan’ [S. at Sveaplan]. AB, 8 December 1940, p. 11. -yer (Nils Beyer), ‘God amatörteater’ [Good amateur theatre]. Soc. Dem., 8 December 1940, p. 13. Eveo, (ErikWilliam Olsson), ‘Svanevit i Flickläroverket’ [Swanwhite at the Girls High School]. SvD, 8 December 1940, p. 18. Hane, Helge G. ‘En hög visa’ [A song of songs]. SFP, no. 1, 1941, p. 4, 7. Stål, Sven. ‘Teater. Svanevit’. Lidingö Tidning, 11 December 1940.
Stockholm Student Theatre (1940-43) In the spring of 1940, Bergman was approached by members of the Stockholm Student Theatre and in late fall that year he made his debut as its director with a production of Strindberg’s The Pelican. The members of the Stockholm Student Theatre included several people who would continue professionally in the theatre field in various capacities: Claes Hoogland (head of Drama section at Swedish Radio (SR), Artur Lundkvist (author and critic), Birger Malmsten (actor). Bergman set up a total of six productions at the Student Theatre. They are listed here sequentially. 361.
PELIKANEN [The Pelican ]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Date
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Stockholm Student Union, Holländargatan 32 1 November 1940
Cast Mother (Elise), a widow Son, Fredrik, a law student Daughter, Gerda Son-in-law, Mårten Margret, housemaid
Karin Lannby Carl Ivar Sandström Barbro Hiort af Ornäs Ted Winther Margareta Sjögren
Commentary On 26 November 1907, Strindberg’s Intima Theatre opened its brief performance history with Pelikanen/The Pelican. In a program note to the 1940 Student Theatre production of the play, Carl Ivar Sandstöm wrote that Sweden’s theatrical tradition was rooted in Strindberg, not in Shakespeare. However, Strindberg, according to the note, was not widely known by the theatre going public. The Stockholm Student Theatre aimed to rectify that, and Bergman’s production of Pelikanen was seen as the first step. A public rehearsal of the last act of Pelikanen took place in the Student Union on 10 October 1940, followed by a talk by Ingmar Bergman on how a theatre presentation is born [‘Hur en teaterföreställning blir till’]. Special invitations were sent out to academic teachers and to the professional theatre corps.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre In April 1941, Bergman’s production of Pelikanen paid a guest visit to the University of Copenhagen in occupied Denmark. Barbro Hiort af Ornäs’ role as Gerda was replaced by Annika Tretow. Danish reviews were respectful. See Studentavis at University of Copenhagen, no. 3 (May) 1941, and Extrabladet (Danish), 21 April 1941, p. 4, for interviews. The opening night performance in Copenhagen was attended by members of the royal Danish family and was preceded by a prologue written for the occasion by Danish playwright Kjeld Abell.
Reception Clearly, Strindberg was still a controversial figure in Sweden’s theatre life. The reviewer in Social-Demokraten (Guldbrand) expressed some reservations about Strindberg’s play as ‘the most horrible, grotesque and, frankly speaking, abominable play that Strindberg in his desperate moments has written [det mest hemska, groteska och rent ut sagt avskyvärda som Strindberg i sina desperata ögonblick skrivit]. However, Guldbrand termed Bergman’s production full of ‘ambitious sincerity’ [ambitiöst allvar] and hoped that the young ensemble would focus on something more optimistic in the future. Other reviewers agreed in their assessment of the amateur group; the performance was said to be artistically rewarding (DN), a laudable undertaking (SvD) and providing a fascinating and interesting evening (AB).
Reviews Eveo (Erik Wilhelm Olsson). ‘Strindberg på Studentteatern’. SvD, 2 November 1940, p. 9. (According to this review, Bergman had worked with Strindberg’s play earlier, but no record has been found; cf. however next item.) -ki, (Hartvig Kusoffski). ‘Studentteatern’. AB, 2 November 1940, p. 18. S. G-d (Sten Guldbrand). ‘Studentteatern: Pelikanen’. Social-Demokraten, 2 November 1940, p. 16. S. T-d. (Stig Tornehed) ‘Pelikanen’. DN, 2 November 1940, p. 9. Stål, Sven. ‘Pelikanen. Gott och ont hos Studentteatern’ [The Pelican. Good and bad at the Student Theatre]. Lidingö Tidning, 9 November 1940, p. 1.
See also Karin Bergman. Detta underliga skådespel som heter livet, 1995, p. 101, (Linton, Ø 1526), which reports on Ingmar Bergman’s visit to Copenhagen, and Henrik Sjögren. Lek och raseri, 2002, pp. 258-60, for review summary of Stockholm performance.
1941 362.
FADREN [The Father]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Date
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Stockholm Student Theatre, Student Union Bldg 15 May 1941
Cast The Captain Laura, his wife Berta, their daughter The Pastor The Doctor Old Margret, housekeeper Nöjd
Folke Walder Dagny Lind Margit Schwandt Edward Danielsson Harry Philipsson Marga Riego Rune Bernström
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Commentary A program note to the production pointed out that Strindberg’s play Fadren (The Father) had not been performed in Stockholm in 25 years. The performance was billed as the second one in a trilogy comprising Pelikanen, performed in 1940, and a forthcoming staging of Himmelsrikets nycklar (The Keys of Heaven), which never took place. Bergman however wrote an undergraduate paper on this play for Professor Martin Lamm. (See Ø 5) in Chapter II. The performers were not students but professional actors. In fact, Folke Walder who played the Captain in Fadren went on tour with the production. Bergman recalls a couple of disastrous performances in the Swedish provinces, among them one in the town of Lidköping. It was however an important event for him personally, in that he decided – in the summer of 1943 and under parental protest – to leave his university studies behind and devote his future efforts to becoming a professional theatre director.
Reception Bergman’s production of Fadren was performed without intermissions. The assessment of the performance varied; critics acknowledged the professionalism of the acting but felt that the actors lacked the ability to penetrate Strindberg’s characters. It was not an easy situation for the actors as there was a good deal of adjacent disturbing noise from other activities in the student union building.
Reviews E.W.O. (Erik Wilhelm Olsson). ‘“Fadren” på Studentteatern’. SvD, 16 May 1941, p. 13. R-t (Oscar Rydkvist). ‘Fadren’, DN, 16 May 1941, p. 9-10. -yer (Nils Beyer). ‘Fadren på Studentteatern’. Social-Demokraten, 16 May 1941, p. 11.
See also Henrik Sjögren. Lek och raseri, 2002, pp. 256-57.
1942 363.
KASPERS DÖD [Death of Punch]
Synopsis ‘Kaspers död’ (Death of Punch) is a sorrowful tale in two acts and a prologue, set at a pub, at a church cemetery, in a waiting room, and before God’s tribunal. The plot revolves around a good-for-nothing fellow who leaves his wife, Kasperina, to dance and drink with prostitutes and criminals. But suddenly, in the midst of his rowdy escapades, he dies. The climax of the play depicts him sitting on his grave, waiting to meet God. In a long, intensely personal speech he expresses his existential and eschatological fears. The metaphysical and stylised perspective of ‘Kasper’s död’ and its reference to the title figure as a marionette-like character are features foreshadowing Bergman’s subsequent works for the theatre and the screen.
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Music Choreography Stage Date
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Rune Ede Else Fisher Stockholm Student Theatre, Student Union 24 September 1942
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Cast Kasper (Punch) Kasperina (Judy) Prostitutes The Dandy The Sinful Woman The Gangster Kasper’s Children The One The Other The Priest The Secretive The Cheated The Drowned
Bertil Sjödin Astrid Söderbaum Margret Hesse, Julie Bernby Rune Stylander Marianne Lenard Sture Djerf Names not listed Lennart Lagerwall Rune Bernström Per Johan Östberg Gösta Holmström Hans Ullberg Signe Clæsson
Commentary In presenting his own play, Ingmar Bergman responded to a call for new Swedish drama issued by the Stockholm Student Theatre. For the program Bergman wrote a note titled ‘Möte med Kasper’ [Encounter with Punch], conceived as a dialogue between the author and his title figure. It is reprinted in Billqvist (Ø 1040), pp. 44-46. In its bantering tone, it could be seen as an early study of the Skat-Death double entendre scene in Sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal). With hindsight it appears as a crucial piece in what would be Bergman’s lifelong meta-conscious use of the medium and his concept of the theatre as a world where play-acting and real life merge. The theatre program for the production also included a presentation of Bergman as a director and author, listing some of his previous stage productions. His intense productivity caught the attention of the press: See a brief article/interview titled ‘Sex pjäser på två månader’ [Six plays in two months], SvD, 26 September 1942. For reference to early draft of play, see (Ø 11-12), Chapter II.
Reception The production of ‘Kaspers död’ was crucial for Bergman in that it brought him the attention of Sten Selander, poet, theatre critic and member of the Swedish Academy, who, in his review of the production, called Ingmar Bergman a lucky young man who can write such a good play, and may and can produce it himself, in the right environment for the art of tomorrow. [...] It was a theatre evening one would not have wanted to miss. [...] When leaving the Student Union Building one thought: Is it here in Stockholm’s Latin Quarter with its atmosphere of intellectual debate and self-assured contempt for everything old and mouldy that a new Swedish drama will be born? [en lycklig ung man som kan skriva en så bra pjäs och får och kan sätta upp den här, i de rätta omgivningarna för den konst som vill vara morgondagens. [...] När man lämnade kårhuset, tänkte man: Är det här, i Stockholms quartier latin med dess atmosfär av intellektuell debatt och tvärsäkert förakt för allt gammalt och mögligt, som en ny svensk dramatik skall födas?] Selander’s statement allegedly aroused the interest of Mrs. Stina Bergman (no relation), widow of playwright and screenwriter Hjalmar Bergman, and head of the manuscript department at Svensk Filmindustri. She invited Ingmar Bergman to an interview and promptly offered him a
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman job as manuscript reader at SF. For an account of the meeting between Stina Bergman and Ingmar Bergman, see Gunnar Oldin’s article ‘Ingmar Bergman’ in American Scandinavian Review 47, no. 3 (September) 1959: 250-57. Selander, like other reviewers of Bergman’s first play to be produced, recognised however its imitative nature. Theatre critic Oscar Rydqvist called Kaspers död ‘an excuse for a theatre production’ [en ursäkt för en teateruppsättning] and pointed out a number of inspirational sources, from Strindberg and Lagerkvist to medieval allegories. He also observed what was to become a mantra among Swedish reviewers of Bergman’s stagings of his own plays: that his true directorial talent definitely surpassed his playwriting skills.
Reviews Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Studentteatern’. ST, 25 September 1942, p. 11. O. R-t. [Oscar Rydqvist]. ‘Svensk premiär hos Studentteatern’. DN, 25 September 1942, pp. 11-12. S. S-r. [Sten Selander] ‘Svensk urpremiär på Studentteatern’. SvD, 25 September 1942 (theatre page).
See also Unsigned interview/reportage from dress rehearsal, published in SvD, 24 September 1942. Comment in Karin Bergman’s diary, Detta underliga skådespel som heter livet), p. 127. (Linton, Ø 1526)
1943 364.
VEM ÄR JAG? ELLER NÄR FAN GER ETT ANBUD [Who Am I? or When the Devil Makes an Offer]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Hvem er jeg? Carl-Erik Soya Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Stockholm Student Theatre, Student Union Building 24 February 1943
Cast Dr. Paprika The Devil Mary Hans Christian A Gentleman Rasmussen Mrs. Ramussen The Consul General Lilian, his daughter The Hydrologist Don Juan Rolf Bluebeard Virgin Mary The Gray One The Professor
Rolf Alexandersson Sture Ericsson Anna Tretow Bertil Sjödin Per-Johan Östberg Sture Djerf Marianne Lindgren Karl-Axel Forssberg Astrid Söderbaum Lars-Erik Löfman Sture Djerf Claes Esphagen Signe Claesson Margareta Sjögren Erland Josephson
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre The Ape Death A Prostitute
Palle Granditsky Erland Josephson Inga Gill
Commentary Carl Erik Soya was a Danish playwright who served a prison term during the Nazi occupation of Denmark for the novel ‘En gæst’ (A Guest). His play ‘Who am I or The Devil makes an offer’ uses symbolic figures close to Bergman’s own liking; it is a medieval morality play in modern attire. In interview comments in AB, 1 March 1943, Bergman called the Student Theatre an important cultural factor and a recruiting ground for the professional stage. He also asked for a better performance area, arguing that the Student Theatre’s real potential was lost when the stage was squeezed between noisy parties next door and rowdy late suppers on the floor below. Cf. Eveo’s review of Fadren, (Ø 362).
Reception Bergman was making a name for himself in Stockholm’s cultural life. On the opening night of Soya’s play, the film producer Carl Anders Dymling and film director Victor Sjöström sat in the front row. The critical response was very positive, especially in terms of stage design and direction. P.G. Petterson (AB) called the performance ‘the Student Theatre’s maturity test’ [mogenhetsexamen], referring to it as ‘one of those rare theatre evenings when one forgets time’ [en av dessa sällsynta teaterkvällar när man glömmer tiden]. Sten Selander sensed a professional quality in the amateur production and recommended it ‘wholeheartedly’ [helhjärtat]. Other reviewers noted that Soya’s abstracted characters and occasional irreverant tone were suitable for amateur student actors. Nils Beyer in Social-Demokraten clearly recognized Bergman’s talent and in a review titled ‘Gycklarnas afton’ (Eve of the Clowns, the name of Bergman’s 1953 film) he offered the kind of praise rarely bestowed upon amateur directors: If you want to see something truly interesting right now and need to have your faith restored that Thalia still lives, it is clearly to the Student Theatre you must go. The credit must go, above all, to the principal director of this small academic amateur theatre – one of the most remarkable young directing talents we have in this country at the moment – Ingmar Bergman. [Om man skall se någonting verkligt intressant just nu och behöver få sin tro återställd på att Thalia fortfarande lever, är det uppenbarligen till Studentteatern man skall gå. Förtjänsten tillfaller framför allt huvudregissören i denna lilla akademiska amatörteater – en av de märkligaste unga regissörstalanger vi har i detta land för ögonblicket – Ingmar Bergman.]
Reviews K. A-n. ‘Studentteaterns danska pjäs’. AT, 25 February 1943, p. 11. PGP (P.G. Petterson).‘Thalia hos ungdomen. Ny framgång för Studentteatern’. AB, 25 February 1943, p. 13. Rydqvist, Oscar. ‘Soya-premär hos Studentteatern’. DN, 25 February 1943, pp. 9-10. S. S-r. (Sten Selander). ‘Modern moralitet på Studentteatern’. SvD, 24 February 1943, p. 7. -yer (Nils Beyer). ‘Soya på Studentteatern’. Social-Demokraten, 25 February 1943, p 15. See also Henrik Sjögren. Lek och raseri, 2002, (Ø 677), pp. 75-77.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman 365.
STRAX INNAN MAN VAKNAR ... [Just before awakening ...]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Bengt Olof Vos Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Stockholm Student Theatre, Student Union Bldg 17 May 1943. World Premiere
Cast Maria, proprietor’s daughter The Fisherman Georg The Proprietor Officer The Stranger The Soldier The Bank Clerk The Blind Man
Barbro Hjort af Ornäs Erland Josephson Birger Malmsten Rune Stylander Sture Ericsson Paul Grannér (Palle Granditsky) Curt Edgard Hans Ullberg Ingmar Bergman
Commentary The author of this one-act play was a student at Stockholm University. His play alluded to the Nazi invasion of Norway and was subtitled: ‘Drama in one act from an occupied country’. [Drama i en akt från ett ockuperat land]. The production opened on May 17, Norway’s Constitution Day. The play consists of a series of monologues, accompanied by a wailing foghorn. The theme revolves around the hatred that has invaded the small town where the action takes place, and the surviving hope of better times. The title alludes to the moment when the occupational nightmare is about over and people will wake up to a new life. Vos’ model was said to be Saroyan’s Livets lek (The Time of Your Life). The cast allegedly renamed the play ‘Strax innan man somnar’ (Just before falling asleep). See Erland Josephson. Vita sanningar (White truths) 1995, p. 46, for anecdotal memories of the production in which he played an outspoken fisherman. There were four future professional theatre heads together on stage in this performance: Ingmar Bergman, Palle Granditsky, Erland Josephson and Hans Ullberg. See Henrik Sjögren, Lek och raseri, 2002, pp. 77-80.
Reception In a program note, the Stockholm Student Theatre thanked the professional actors who had joined the student amateurs in the performance. Ingmar Bergman was said to have played his role as the Blind Man ‘with low key discretion’ (AB) and ‘with the piously patriarchal dignity of a seer’ [med den fromt patriarkala värdigheten hos en siare] (DN), though actor Erland Josephson claims that Bergman was more interested in adjusting the lighting than performing his part on stage. The performance was received with warm applause.
Reviews Edfelt, Johannes. ‘Teater och Film’. BLM XII no. 6, 1943, p. 500-01. (Mostly a synopsis of the plot). Eveo (Erik Wilhelm Olsson). ‘Teater, musik, film. Dramatikerdebut i Studentteatern’. SvD, 18 May 1943, p. 9. Koski (Hartvig Kusoffski). ‘På Norges dag’. AB, 18 May 1943, p. 15. M. S-g (Martin Strömberg). ‘Nytt original på Studentteatern’. ST, 18 May 1943, p. 5. S.T. ‘Teater – Musik – Film. Studentteatern’. DN, 18 May 1943, p. 9. -yer (Nils Beyer). ‘Scen och Film. Studentteatern’. Social-Demokraten, 18 May 1943, p. 11.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre 366.
TIVOLIT [The Tivoli]
Synopsis Subtitled ‘4 True Stories of Life with a Prologue and an Epilogue’, Bergman’s play consists of four vignettes framed by scenes from the seasonal closing and opening of a tivoli. The stories are titled: ‘The Princess and the Swineherd’; ‘The Blackest Day of Winter’; ‘Sunday at 11 a.m.’; and ‘Spring Preludes’. The mood goes from melancholy love (first tale) to pitch-dark despair (second and third tale) and renewed hope (fourth tale) as the tivoli fairgounds prepare to open for a new season. Unable to cope with the dark seven months of the year when the gates to the fairgrounds are closed, the characters drink, whore and murder. Their true representative is old Albert, who has gone blind in his job as an usher in a Fun House of distorting mirrors, but who maintains that life as a tivoli worker is a happy one, for it is a life with room for longing. Longing for the day when the fairgrounds will open their gates again and the sun will come out to greet a new season.
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Stockholm Student Theatre 19 October 1943
Cast Karlsson Birgit, prostitute The Author Jan Lisa Lindquist, musician Ebba, hairdresser Boronowsky Night Watchman Maria The Son Alfred, janitor Folke, janitor The Fool Mrs. Svensson Fredrik Sampo
Åke Fridell Sif Ruud Sten Moberg Birger Malmsten Anna Tretow Rune Stylander Marianne Nielsen Erland Josephson Hans Ullberg Estrid Hesse Palle Granditsky Karl-Axel Forssberg Curt Edgard Rune Bergström Gun Adler Claes Esphagen Bernhard Rogin
Commentary No complete manuscript of ‘Tivolit’ has been located to date, but there exists an unpublished early version of the play. See (Ø 18), Chapter II. Claes Hoogland, who helped administer The Student Theatre, published a program note titled ‘Kring Studentteatern’ (Around the Student Theatre) for the opening of Ingmar Bergman’s production of ‘Tivolit’. The Student Theatre had actually planned a production of Bergman’s play Jack hos skådespelarna (Jack Among the Actors), but because of military drafts, the cast was reduced; hence ‘Tivolit’, a play with fewer characters, was staged instead.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman The cast list from the Tivoli production contains a number of future members of Bergman’s professional ‘stable’ of actors: Åke Fridell, Birger Malmsten, Marianne Nielsen, Erland Josephson, Karl-Axel Forssberg, Curt Edgard.
Reception Judging by the attention that Ingmar Bergman’s productions now elicited in the capital press, it is obvious that reviewers recognized his directorial potential but were more critical of his talent as a playwright; a common view was that Bergman wrote plays reminiscent of the expressionistic Twenties but seen through a temperament of the 1940s (Oscar Rydqvist). The signature Eveo wrote that ‘there is something ghostlike about this style’ [det är något gengångaraktigt över denna stil], and several other reviewers called ‘Tivolit’ an epigonic piece, reminiscent of Strindberg but also of the Swedish cinema of the Forties with its stark black-and-white contrasts. Yet at the same time, the production was said to confirm Ingmar Bergman’s talents as a man of the theatre. Modernist poet Artur Lundkvist, though calling Bergman’s play stimulating, artistic and colorful, and directed with bold expressiveness, nevertheless raised questions that were to surface repeatedly during the next several years: Was Bergman’s attraction to dark and forbidding subjects genuine or was he a sensationalist exploiting his abiblity to arouse an audience emotionally? Several other reviewers were also disturbed by Tivolit’s violence, crude language and ‘roaring demonics’ [rytande demoni].
Reviews Eveo (Erik Wilhelm Olsson). ‘Tivolidramatik på Studentteatern’. SvD, 20 October 1943, p. 13. E. W-n (Erik Wettergren). ‘Tivolit på Studentteatern‘. AT, 20 October 1943, p. 12 Lundkvist, Artur. ‘Teater och Film’, BLM 12, no. 9, November 1943, p. 750. PGP (P.G. Pettersson). ‘Studentteatern börjar säsongen’. AB, 20 October 1943, p. 15. O. R-t. (Oscar Rydqvist). ‘Premiär hos Studentteatern’. DN, 20 October 1943, p. 15. Strömberg, Martin. ‘Studentteatern: “Tivoli” – svenskt original’. ST, 20 October 1943, p. 17. Tell. (Thorleif Hellbom). ‘Tivolit på Studentteatern’. Nya Dagligt Allehanda, 20 October 1943, p. 16. ‘Tivolit’ became Bergman’s last production for the Student Theatre. As had been the case at Mäster Olofsgården, he left a difficult spot to fill. In a review of a Student Theatre production, dated several years later (ST, 6 February 1947, p. 5), Herbert Grevenius wrote: ‘The Student Theatre has a bit of difficulty getting recharged since Ingmar Bergman departed’. [Studentteatern har lite svårt att ladda upp igen efter Ingmar Bergman].
North Latin School (1941-42) The Concordia Society, a literary society at the Norra Latin School in Stockholm, usually produced one amateur production a year. In 1941 Ingmar Bergman was asked to present a play and chose Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. A year later he repeated the task with an abbreviated version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night¨s Dream.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre 367.
KÖPMANNEN I VENEDIG [The Merchant of Venice]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Stage Design/Props Date
William Shakespeare Ingmar Bergman Norra Latin High School Claes Varenius 30 November 1941
Cast Doce in Venice Shylock Jessica, Shylock’s daughter Tubal, his friend Lancelot Gobbo Antonio Bassanio Solanio Salarino Graziano Lorenzo Portia Nerissa, her chambermaid
Ingemar Essén Gösta Prüzelius Margit Berglund-Müllern Frank Hjalmarsson Bengt Lundin Erland Josephson Lars Henrik Ottoson Olle Lindgren Kjell Fastborg Magnus Sjöstrand Arne Svensson Carla Carnman Ragnhild Wessberg
Commentary The production is discussed by filmmaker and novelist Vilgot Sjöman in his memoir Mitt personval. Utkast 98 (Ø 1646), pp. 31-32. Sjöman quotes the chairman of Concordia (‘Old Concan’), Carl-Magnus Sjöstrand: ‘It was a success, the likes of which the venerable assembly hall at Norra Latin had seldom experienced. The director had trimmed his actors to a top performance and had worked miracles with the lighting effects’. [Det var en framgång vars like den aktade aulan på Norra Latin sällan hade upplevt. Regissören hade trimmat sina skådespelare till en topprestation och hade åstadkommit mirakel med ljuseffekterna]. The almost 100year-old Concordia Society kept a protocol of the production, which is available in the school’s archives. A review in DN signed Jerome (Göran Trauung, 1 December 1940, p. 14), remarked favourably on Bergman’s use of curtains and a few movable props to solve problems of staging a play in a school auditorium. A report in SvD (1 December 1940) stated: ‘The performance was altogether succesful. [...] The applause this evening was completely wild and the actors were surrounded by a sea of flowers’. [Föreställningen blev i allo lyckad. [...] Applåderna denna kväll var fullständigt vilda och aktörerna omgavs av ett blomsterhav].
368.
EN MIDSOMMARNATTSDRÖM [A Midsummer Night’s Dream]
Credits Playwright Director Choreography Stage designer Stage manager Stage Date
William Shakespeare Ingmar Bergman Else Fisher Gunnar Lindblad Lars-Åke Forsell North Latin School, Stockholm; Concordia Society 28 November 1942
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Cast Theseus Hippolyta Egeus, Hermia’s father Hermia Lysander Demetrius Oberon Titania Servant Philostrat Peter Quince, carpenter Snugg, joiner Nick Bottom, weaver Francis Flute Tom Snout Robin Starveling, tailor Puck Helena Four Trolls Ballet
Vilgot Sjöman Kerstin Fries Lars Elwin Marianne Rosenbaum Carl Magnus Sjöstrand Eddie Levin Erland Josephson Carin Cederström Ingvar Hindersson Ingvar Lundewall Harald Wessling Hans Leffler Lars Hansegård Erik Lycke Herrman Schück Bengt Mårtenson Gunnel Ljunggren Ragnhild Wessberg Birgit Boman, Ulla Frykstrand, Titti Ljunggren, Ingrid Lundberg Olof Berggren, Ulf Ferm, John Göran Holmquist, Sture Klassén, Sven Sandblom
Commentary A brief, unsigned column in DN, ‘Shakespeare i Norra latin’, 29 November 1942, p. 13, reports on Bergman’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The occasion was the anniversary of ‘Old Conkan’ or Concordia, an almost 100-year-old high school theatre society. Bergman had cut Shakespeare’s text but the production was considered superior to his staging at the Sago Theatre a year earlier. (See Ø 371)
See also Vilgot Sjöman’s autobiography Mitt personregister. Urval 98. (Ø 1646), discusses his involvement in the production as a student at North Latin School, pp. 26-32. Sjöman has also provided the program for this entry. Erland Josephson who played Oberon in the same production talks briefly about it in his memoir book Sanningslekar, 1990, p. 73 (1994 pocket edition).
Sagoteatern – Medborgarteatern (1941-42) In fall of 1941, Ingmar Bergman led a small ensemble that staged children’s plays at the newly founded Sagoteatern, housed in the Civic Center, built in 1936-39. See Vilgot Sjöman, Mitt personregister (1998, p. 33) for an account of Bergman’s worries about finding sponsors for his project. The opening piece, on 30 August 1941, was an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale ‘The Tinder Box’. An intense information campaign seems to have preceded the event, with special invitations going out to prominent theatre people and politicians. In an introductory program note to his first production, Bergman stated: ‘This children’s theatre is an experimental theatre; its ambition is to give the
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre very young public a theatre that is happy, beautiful, and artistic. [...] We step into the fire full of enthusiasm and in the meantime we wait for our great sponsor’. [Denna barnteater är en experimenteater; dess ambition är att ge den mycket unga publiken en teater som är lycklig, vacker och konstnärlig. [...] Vi går i elden fulla av entusiasm och under tiden väntar vi på vår stora understödjare]. See Billqvist (Ø 1040), pp. 3239, and DN, 27 August 1941, p. 9. Bergman staged six productions at the Sago Theatre in one season, with a total of 235 performances. Economically, the project was a roller coaster ride. Technically, it was a feat of improvization; the first floodlights, for instance, were made out of herring cans. Most of the actors, among them Gunnar Björnstrand, performed without pay or for a very modest wage. It was an undertaking bound to run into practical problems. But the principles behind it are worth noting, since they were to resurface some twenty years later when Bergman became head of the Royal Dramatic Theatre and advocated the need for a theatre for young people as a form of viewer recruitment for the future. In his program proclamation at the Sago Theatre (see DN, 27 August 1941) he states: ‘I hold on to two principles! Never ask the parents what the children think of different plays. [...] Secondly, I believe it wrong to let children perform for children. [...] Children who perform can never achieve concentration’. [Två principer håller jag på! Att aldrig höra med föräldrarna vad barnen tycker om olika pjäser. [...] För det andra tror jag att det är fel att låta barn spela för barn. [...] Barn som spela kan aldrig uppnå koncentration]. Bergman believed, as he had done at Mäster Olofsgården, that by training his young public to watch artistically ambitious productions, he would help establish an aesthetically demanding audience: ‘I believe and hope that by always showing plays of very good quality, you train the children little by little to achieve an evaluation standard, unconsciously’. [Jag tror och hoppas att man genom att ständigt visa pjäser av mycket god kvalitet skolar barnen omedvetet så att de så småningom får en bedömningslinje]. As at Mäster Olofsgården, the tempo at Sagoteatern was intense. (See interview with Bergman in SvD, 26 September 1942, titled ‘Sex pjäser på två månader’ [Six plays in two months]). He launched a double project, one catering to children, the other – named Medborgarteatern [The Civic Theatre] – aimed at adult audiences (see Commentary, Ø 368). Bergman’s ambition was to present two performances a day: one for children at 6:45 pm and one for the general adult public at 9 pm. But the authorities felt he exceeded his contract agreement with the city administration. On December 18, 1941, three months after opening the stage, the fire department closed down the theatre, and everything that Bergman and his staff had built up, was torn down. The theatre remained closed for the Christmas month, which is traditionally the best month for children’s theatre. The Sago cum Civic Stage reopened in February 1942 but was closed down at the end of that season for lack of financial support.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman
1941 369.
ELDDONET. Saga i åtta bilder av Hans Christian Andersen [The Tinder Box. Fairy Tale in Eight Tableaus by Hans Christian Andersen]
Credits Original title Author Director Stage Design Music Stage Manager Stage Opening Date
Fyrtøyet Hans Christian Andersen Ingmar Bergman Sven Erixson (X-et) Rune Ede Gunnar Lindblad Sagoteatern, Civic Centre, Stockholm 29-30 August 1941
Cast The Soldier The King The Queen The Princess The Witch The Innkeeper Shoeshine Boy The Tailor Court Marshal Four Ladies at Court
Bertil Sjödin Karl-Axel Forssberg Martha Olsson Blenda Bruno Karin Lannby Bo Lindström Irma Kellgren Rune Bernström Olov Källman Anastasia, Adèle Lundwall, Maud Lindberg, Ragnhild Wessberg
Dwarfs, Dogs, People
Commentary Bergman modernised Hans Christian Andersen’s tale, using contemporary slang and changing Danish references in the text to places in the Stockholm area. He also removed all the scary elements in the story. The Soldier did not kill the Witch, and the Dogs didn’t chew the King and Queen to bits; instead, they barked benignly in back of the stage. The opening program at the Sago Theatre was well publicized. Among the specially invited guests at the dress rehearsal (29 August) was the head of the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Pauline Brunius) and a prominent member of the city government (Oscar Larsson) who supported the project. Bergman gave a brief introduction, asking the public to retain its child mentality in viewing the production. He also announced that special arrangements had been made with the city schools to bring classes of school children to see the production, and pointed out that the actors were recruited from the various theatre schools in Stockholm and were to be considered professional trainees rather than amateurs. See Soc-Dem, 27 August 1941.
Reception Bergman’s new theatre project received positive publicity but there were some objections to the production itself for changing Andersen’s original tale and tampering with a classic and universal text.
Reviews Ames. ‘Ungdom, Du är född med vingar. Premiär för vår första barnteater’ [Youth, you are born with wings. Opening of our first children’s theatre]. AB, 30 August 1941, p. 12.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Bey. (Nils Beyer). ‘Sagoteatern startar’. ST, 30 August 1941, p. 12. Ette. ‘H.C Andersen i Medborgarhuset’. SvD, 30 August 1941, p. 9. E.v.Z. (Eva von Zweigbeck). ‘Teater musik – film. Sagoteatern’. DN, 30 August 1941, p. 7. Ge. ‘Elddonet på Lilla teatern’. Soc-Dem, 30 August 1941, p. 9.
370.
SPÖKSONATEN [The Ghost Sonata]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Date
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Medborgarteatern, Civic Centre 20 September 1941
Cast (only partly identified) Old Man Hummel The Student The Young Lady The Colonel The Mummy The Consul The Dark Lady The Fiancee The Posh Man The Milkmaid Johansson Bengtsson The Cook
Erland Colliander Peter Lindgren Marianne Öhman Gunnar Björnstrand Dagny Lind Peter Lindgren Karin Lannby Anna-Stina Osslund Rune Stylander Marianne Lenard Bo Lindström Bertil Sjödin Agnes Svedbäck
Commentary A week after the premiere of Elddonet (Ø 367), Bergman announced that he and a group of young people had formed the Civic Theatre (Medborgarteatern), a small stage seating 100 people, located at Folkungagatan 43 in South Stockholm, the same address as the Sago Theatre. In a brief newspaper statement Bergman declared the new theatre group’s goal: ‘We intend to let our public get acquainted with a strong and essential repertory that the big theatres do not present, for a number of reasons. It has been an obvious choice to start with Strindberg’. [Vi ämnar låta publiken stifta bekantskap med en stark och väsentlig repertoar som de stora teatrarna av olika skäl inte presenterar. Det har varit ett uppenbart val att starta med Strindberg]. See ‘Ungdomar starta experimentscen’. [Youths start experimental theatre group]. AB, 14 September 1941, p. 5. For Bergman’s recollection of this production, see his comments in the program to his second Spöksonaten production, in Malmö, March 1954 (Ø 89). See also Lillie Björnstrand’s account about the involvement of her husband Gunnar Björnstrand in the project (Inte bara applåder, 1975, p. 91, (Ø 1263).
Reception Two of Bergman’s early supporters, Nils Beyer and Herbert Grevenius praised his Strindberg production, Beyer for the troupe’s efforts to offer serious drama and thus break the dominance of light entertainment in Stockholm’s theatre life, and Grevenius for its enthusiasm. Bergman’s intepretation was said to follow Olof Molander’s approach to Strindberg’s text: a close reading
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman of its melancholy and resigned content and a recreation of the playwright’s biographical background. But Grevenius wondered why the character of Hummel appeared in a Shylock mask and a skullcap.
Reviews Beyer, Nils. ‘Spöksonaten på Medborgarplatsen’. Social-Demokraten, 21 September 1941, p. 12. Gvs (Herbert Grevenius). ‘Medborgarteatern’. ST, 21 September 1941, p. 4. -ky (Hartvig Kusoffsky). ‘Spöksonaten på Medborgarteatern’. AB, 21 September 1941, p. 4.
371.
EN MIDSOMMARNATTSDRÖM [A Midsummer Night’s Dream]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
William Shakespeare Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Sagoteatern, Civic Centre, Stockholm 12 October 1941
Cast Theseus, King of Athens Flute Hippolyta, engaged to Theseus Hermia, in love with Lysander Helena, in love with Demetrius Oberon Titania Egeus Lysander Demetrius Philostrat Robin Starveling, tailor Quince, woodcutter Snug joiner Bottom, weaver Snout Mal, first elf Pea Flower Spider Web Mustard Seed Fifth Elf Puck
Sture Djerf Gunnar Nielsen Maud Hyttenberg Ingrid Michaelsson Ragnhild Wessberg Marianne Lenard Birgitta Arman Sture Ericsson Bertil Sjödin Rune Stylander Rune Bernström Ulf Johansson Karl-Axel Forssberg Olof Källman Per Lindström Börje Herner Bojan Westin Kerstin Boström Gudrun Ekberg Gunnel Hansson Gittan Söderlund Bengt Dalunde
Commentary In a program note Ingmar Bergman called Shakespeare’s comedy the ‘Fairy Tale with a Big F’ [Sagan med stort S], a play with an impressive performance history engaging the best of actors, utilising the magic of big stages, and Mendelsohn’s music. Bergman’s theatre measured 5 x 6 meter with two narrow entrances and Mendelsohn on a record player. To dare stage Shakespeare’s play under such circumstances, Bergman envisioned a public not familiar with Shakespeare’s play as a living stage tradition, but more like Shakespeare’s groundlings – naïve and spontaneous in their reactions and judgment. Assuming that such a public would be more
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre interested in Puck, Oberon, Titania and Bottom than in the lovers’ game of musical chairs, Bergman shortened Shakespeare’s text accordingly to five quarters of an hour. Puck was played by a 12-year old boy.
Reception While one reviewer (Herbert Grevenius, ST) noted that Bergman had managed, despite his radical cuts in Shakespeare’s text, to preserve some of the poetry of the play, another critic (Oscar Rydqvist, DN) took issue with Bergman’s abridged version and also questioned the suitability of putting on Shakespeare for young children: ‘The justification of a children’s theatre, like all other forms of theatre, lies in offering its public something it can enjoy. [...] The Sago Theatre must be careful not to assume that a young public is uncritical and forgiving’. [Rättfärdigandet av en barnteater liksom andra former av teater ligger i att erbjuda publiken något den kan glädjas åt. [...] Sagoteatern måste vara försiktig och inte anta att en ung publik är okritisk och förlåtande.] Bergman responded indirectly to Rydqvist’s cautionary remarks in a telephone interview before the opening of his next production, Rödluvan (Little Red Riding Hood), a few months later: ‘We have experimented the whole time; after our first program, The Tinder Box, we dared tackle Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which ran no less than 50 times on our small stage. The public seemed happy, but in some quarters it was tantamount to sacrilege to perform Shakespeare in an hour and fifteen minutes’. [Vi har hela tiden experimenterat; efter vårt första program, Elddonet, vågade vi gripa oss an Shakespeares En midsommarnattsdröm, som gick inte mindre än 50 gånger på vår lilla scen. Publiken verkade nöjd men i vissa kretsar var det lika med helgerån att spela Shakespeare på en timma och femton minuter.] See ‘Sagoteatern har fått vind i seglen’, AB, 31 March 1942.
Reviews Eveo (Erik Wilhelm Olsson). ‘En midsommarnattsdröm på Sagoteatern’. SvD, 13 October 1941, p. 11. Gvs. (Herbert Grevenius). ‘Shakespeare för barn,’. ST, 13 October 1941, p. 24. O. R-t (Oscar Rydqvist). ‘Shakespeare på Söder’. [S. in South Stockholm], DN, 13 October 1941, p. 9.
372.
FÅGEL BLÅ [Bluebird]
Credits Author Director Stage Design Music Choreography Stage Opening date
Zacharias Topelius Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Rune Ede Else Fisher Medborgarhusteatern/Civic Centre 29 November 1941
Cast Guido, King of Cyprus Mangipani Sibyl of Monterrat, his wife Sysis, a witch Princess Florinna Deoletus, a magician Wet Nurse
Carl Cramér Ingmar Bergman Marianne Lenard Margareta Sjögren Birgitta Arman Börje Herner Maud Hyttenberg
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Princess Forella, Queen’s daughter Chamber maids Rosa, Purple, Viola Prince Amandus, King of Syria Holofernes
Karin Lannby Gittan Söderlund, Gudrun Ekberg, Gunnel Hansson Curt Norin Karl-Axel Forssberg
Commentary In a program note Bergman dismissed the author of ‘Fågel Blå’ – 19th-century Finnish writer Zacharias Topelius – as a popular but somewhat mediocre writer, with the exception of his dramatised versions of the tales of ‘Fågel Blå’ and ‘Törnrosa’ (Sleeping Beauty), stories filled with archetypal characters like the evil Stepmother, the henpecked King, the innocent Girl and the stupid Stepdaughter, the noble Prince and the Witch. To this folktale world Topelius added, according to Bergman, ‘a good-natured, happy, and never crude sense of humor’ [en godmodig, glad och aldrig plump skämtsamhet]. This production marked the first time Bergman worked together with Else Fisher, who would later become his first wife. The performance lasted one hour.
Reception Fågel Blå received short but positive notices in the press. Most interesting was Nils Beyer’s observations that Bergman’s temperament captured the archetypal folktale elements in the play and that he knew how to adapt the production to suit different levels of audiences (children and adults).
Reviews Don José (Josef Oliv). ‘Sagoteatersuccé’ [Fairplay theatre success]. SvD, 30 November 1941, p. 13. M. B-n. ‘Bra barnteater’. ST, 30 November 1941, p. 9. R-t. (Oscar Rydqvist). ‘Fågel Blå på Sagoteatern’. DN, 30 November 1941, p. 11. Sven Stål. ‘Teater’, Lidingö Tidning, 3 December 1941, pp. 1, 4. -yer (Nils Beyer), ‘Fågel Blå på Sagoteatern’. Social-Demokraten, 30 November 1941, p. 7.
1942 373.
SNIGGEL-SNUGGEL. SAGOSPEL I 9 BILDER [Sniggel-Snuggel. Fairy Play in 9 Scenes]
Credits Author Director Stage Design Stage Date
Hugo Valentin/Torunn Munthe Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad The Sago Theatre, Civic Centre, Stockholm 18 February 1942
Cast Troll King The Nurse Troll Queen Countesses Sniggel Snuggel, their son Maitre d’hotel in palace A Professor The Magpie Queen
Gösta Jansson Kerstin Berthel Karin Lannby Kerstin Berthel, Nancy Dalunde Bojan Westin Ingemar Pallin Ingemar Pallin Gertrude Stenberg
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Mrs. Strömberg Count Comet Star Gärda, rope dancer Countess Comet Star Her mother Georg and Maria, children
Gertrude Stenberg Karl-Axel Forssberg Gittan Söderlund Karin Lannby Nancy Dalunde Sture Persson, Gunnel Hansson
Double bill with next item.
374.
DE TRE DUMHETERNA. SKÄMTSAGA I 6 BILDER [The Three Stupidities. Humorous fairy tale in 6 tableaus]
Credits Author Director Stage Design Music Stage Opening Date
Torun Munthe Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Rune Ede The Sago Theatre, Stockholm 18 February 1942
Cast Old Man Karlsson Anna Kerstin Benkt Lillan Pelle A Cheater: Lisa Pantless
Karl-Axel Forssberg Karin Lannby Nancy Dalunde Gösta Jansson Gunnel Hansson Bojan Westin Ingmar Bergman Gittan Söderlund Ingemar Pallin
Commentary In a program note for Sagoteatern’s Spring program, dated February 1942, Ingmar Bergman reports on the fire inspection that closed down the theatre over the Christmas holidays. When it reopened, it was with reduced seating capacity, a curtain and a ‘platform for a story-teller’ (sagotant). Gone were the stage design studio and storage space, the make-up rooms, and lighting equipment. The cast was reduced to ten people. Bergman vowed to master these limitations. This double bill seems to have been the least successful of Bergman’s productions at the Sago Theatre. In a telephone interview in AB (31 March 1942) before the opening of his next program, Rödluvan, Bergman blames the failure of the two Munthe plays on his use of adult actors in a production meant to be acted by children. No reviews located.
375.
RÖDLUVAN [Little Red Riding Hood]. From Märchenspiel
Credits Author Director Stage Design Stage
Grimm Brothers/Robert Bürkner Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Sago Theatre
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Opening Date
28 March 1942
Cast Little Red Riding Hood The Mother Grandmother The Forest Warden The Miller The Tailor The Wolf
Gittan Söderlund Karin Lannby Agnes Svedbäck Erik Liebel Karl-Axel Forssberg Gertrud Stenberg Gösta Holmström
Commentary Ingmar Bergman lists himself as translator and adaptor of Bürkner’s dramatised version of Grimm’s fairy tale. In a program note addressed to the public (‘Till Publiken!’), Bergman writes of his difficulty in finding good Swedish plays for a children’s theatre. He lists three likely authors: Zacharias Topelius, Helena Nyblom, and ‘possibly’ Elsa Beskow but concludes that none of them was suitable: ‘For here it is a question of composing in a way that is simple and clear, exciting and funny, short and colourful. It’s not just a matter of having a prince and a princess, a king and a queen, a troll etc., and mix the whole thing. If anything, it is a matter of having a dramatic imagination’. [För här gäller det att komponera enkelt och klart, spännande och roligt, kort och färgstarkt. Det är inte bara att ha en prins och en prinsessa, en kung och en drottning, ett troll etc och blanda det hela. Ty här om någonsin gäller det att ha dramatisk fantasi]. Bergman then researched Russian and English plays for children but found them inaccessible under the circumstances and technically difficult for his rather primitive stage. Finally he found what he was looking for when he discovered that all of Grimm’s major fairy tales had been dramatised by Robert Bürkner. Bergman, who referred to Little Red Riding Hood as ‘A Ghost Sonata for Children’, [En spöksonat för barn] took the production on the road in the summer of 1943, at which time he served as both director and stage manager. It was a great success and opened the way for a touring of Clownen Beppo the following summer (1944). In a telephone interview – in part reprinted as ‘Sagoteatern har fått vind i seglen’ [The Sago Theatre has Got Wind in the Sails] (ST, 31 March 1942) – Bergman talks briefly about the comeback of the Sago Theatre after its month-long close-down. He is optimistic about the future of the theatre, but in reality ‘Rödluvan’ was his next to the last production there.
Reception Ingmar Bergman’s production captured the young audience; their enthusiasm included the intermissions consisting of the entire house singing well known children’s songs. ‘There are no such fun intermissions in the real theatres!’ [Så roliga mellanakter är det inte på riktiga teatrar!], exclaimed one reviewer. The performance received a real boost in Guido Valentin’s write-up in ST, calling the play the best children’s play he had seen and Bergman ‘an inventive young director’ [en påhittig ung regissör] with a real ability for presenting theatre to the young, even if the actors’ performance was not first rate. See ‘Rödluvan på Sagoteatern’. ST, 29 March 1942.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre 376.
CLOWNEN BEPPO ELLER DEN BORTRÖVADE CAMOMILLA. DANSÄVENTYR I ÅTTA BILDER [Beppo the Cown or the abducted Camomilla. Dance adventure in 8 tableaus].
Credits Story Director Choreography Costumes Music Stage Opening Date
Else Fisher/Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman/Else Fisher Else Fisher Else Fisher Maj-Britt Aronsson The Sago Theatre, Civic Centre 16 May 1942; summer stock, 1944
Cast (second name listed refers to 1944 summer stock production) Beppo Mr. Bofvén Camomilla The Circus Director The Wizard The Camel Driver Clod-Hans The Customer
Else Fisher/Curt Edgard Bertil Sjödin Karin Håkansson/Dagny Nilsson Sture Ericsson/Ulf Johanson Marrit Ohlsson/Siv Thulin Birger Malmsten Marrit Ohlsson Gunnar Nielsen
Commentary Bergman wrote down a synopsis of a plot in twenty lines and asked Else Fisher to compose a pantomime based on it. The result of their collaboration was ‘Clownen Beppo eller Den bortrövade Camomilla’ (Beppo, the Clown or the abducted Camomilla). The main figure is the magician Mr. Bofvén (Mr. Crook) who can transform himself into a variety of shapes, all of them recognisable however to young audiences. Bergman’s plot synopsis seems to have been taken from his unpublished manuscript ‘Cirkusen’ (The Circus), a play in three acts; the characters are identical, except that Bergman also includes a Lion. (See Ø 6), Chapter II. Clownen Beppo went on tour in May 1944, now changed from a dance pantomime to a play. See notice in SvD, 21 May 1944, p. 16, ‘Sommarteater för de små’ [Summer stock for the little ones]. Else Fisher was replaced by Curt Edgard (formerly Kurt Östergren). ‘Beppe’ was also performed at Hälsingborg City Theatre in the fall of 1944. The 1944 Hälsingborg program calls Beppo the Clown ‘a dance adventure by Else Fisher’ and lists her as responsible for Direction, Choreography and Costumes. It also notes that she is on sick leave. The eight tableaus comprising ‘Beppo’ were titled: Tableau Tableau Tableau Tableau Tableau Tableau Tableau Tableau
1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7: 8:
At home at the circus Going out into the wide world A toy store with strange puppets Beppo meets a Camel Ugh, what an adventure in the East Beppo meets an old man with a long beard and learns to fly Milky Way 35. Second floor in the back Peace, joy and finale
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reception All of the reviews pertain to the 1944 summer stock production. Opening night in the town of Falun was rainy and cold, which dampened the performance. The critical reception was good, however, pointing out the artistry, colourfulness and good spirit of this collaboration between Else Fisher and Ingmar Bergman. Several reviewers recommended that the production be brought back to Stockholm.
Reviews n. a. ‘Clownen Beppo i Folkparken i Falun’. Dala-Demokraten, 22 May 1944, p. 12. Age. ‘Teater, Musik-Film’. DN, 21 May 1944, p. 14. -ki. (Hartvig Kusoffski). ‘Barnpjäs i parkerna’. AB, 21 May 1944, p. 11. Parlé. ‘Scen och film’. Falukuriren, 22 May 1944, p. 5. -yer. (Nils Beyer). ‘Clownen Beppo’. MT, 21 May 1944, p. 9.
Folkparksteatern (1943) In addition to touring in the summer with two productions originally presented at the Sago Theatre – Rödluvan and Clownen Beppo – Bergman joined the Colliander Touring Co and went on the road with Bjørnstierne Bjørnson’s comedy Geografi og kærlighed in July 1943. The production was sponsored by the Field Theatre (Fältteatern), which was part of Folkparksteatern, an ambulatory summer stock, and presented entertainment to soldiers drafted during the war years. 377.
GEOGRAFI OCH KÄRLEK [Geography and Love]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Opening Date
Geografi og kærlighed Bjørnstierne Bjørnson Ingmar Bergman Folkparksteatern [Fältteaterm] 1 July 1943 at Frösunda
Cast Professor Tygesen His Wife Karen Helga Tygesen Ane Henning, painter Birgit Römer Malla Professor Turman
Erland Colliander Ingrid Luterkort Kerstin Boström Sif Ruud Sture Djerf Marianne Lenard Edith Svensson Hugo Tranberg
Commentary Most notices in local papers do not mention the director’s name among the credits. An exception is Nils Beyer’s survey article of summer stock productions in Vecko-Journalen, 24 July 1943. See also Henrik Sjögren, Lek och raseri, 2002, p. 83.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Dramatikerstudion – The Dramatist Studio (1943-44) The idea behind Dramatikerstudion (The Dramatist Studio) was conceived in 1939 by authors Vilhelm Moberg and Brita von Horn, and actor Helge Hagerman. It officially constituted itself in 1942, with Moberg and, later, author Bertil Malmberg as president and Brita von Horn as secretary-treasurer. 54-year old von Horn was in reality the driving force behind the enterprise, a temperamental iconoclast not unlike Ingmar Bergman in her enthusiasm and audacity. She antagonised the establishment theatre world represented by the organization Teatrarnas Riksförbund [National Association of Theatres], referred to by von Horn as ‘the trolls’. She also antagonised Vilhelm Moberg who soon left the Studio. The purpose behind Dramatikerstudion was to be a counter-balance to Dramaten’s neutral playbill during the war but above all, to encourage newly written works with timely, political implications. When Ingmar Bergman joined the theatre, it had been active for almost a year and had presented five productions, one of them – Bertil Malmberg’s Excellensen [His Excellency] – staged under protest from the German Embassy in Stockholm. Ingmar Bergman did three productions at the Dramatist Studio, two of them with contemporary political overtones: Rudolf Värnlund’s U 39 [U-Boat 39] and Kaj Munk’s resistance drama Niels Ebbesen. The third production was a staging of two short plays by Hjalmar Bergman, Spelhuset [The Gambling Hall] and Herr Sleeman kommer [Mr. Sleeman Cometh]. For glimpses of Bergman’s working relations with Brita von Horn, see the latter’s very lively book Hornstötar i kulissen (Ø 538), passim. Von Horn introduces Bergman as ‘an awfully young experimentor who gambled away money at the Civic Centre’ [en fasligt ung experimentator som spelade bort pengar på Medborgarhuset]. At the Dramatists Studio Bergman joined well-established guest directors of high artistic caliber, such as Per Lindberg, Olof Molander and Danish theatre man in exile, Sam Besekow. Ingmar Bergman’s productions at Dramatikerstudion are listed here as a sequential unit, as were his productions at The Stockholm Student Theatre and the Sago Theatre above.
1943 378.
U 39 [U-boat 39]. Drama in Five Tableaus
Credits Playwright Director Satge Design Stage Opening Date
Rudolf Värnlund Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Dramatikerstudion, Borgarskolan Extra performance at China Theatre 13 April 1943. World Premiere
Cast The Mother The Son His Fiancee Her Mother Sister-in-Law The Brother The Widow First Mate
Dagny Lind Curt Edgard Sally Palmblad Gun Adler Sif Ruud Sture Djerf Ilse-Nore Tromm Gustaf Hjort af Ornäs
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Captain’s Wife Janitor Women
Marianne Lenard Börje Herner Anna Tretow, Anna-Stina Osslund, Estrid Hesse, Margareta Sjögren, Birgitta André, Agnes Svedbäck, Karin Lannby
Commentary A possible production of U 39 was discussed twice with Dramaten during World War II but plans were cancelled for fear of political repercussions. U-39, written by a pacifist in 1939 shortly before the outbreak of the war, depicts the aftermath of a submarine accident, with women waiting at a marine base for information about their loved ones on board the sunken boat. The central conflict revolves around a mother’s attempt to cover up for her son, who got drunk and missed the submarine’s departure. Bergman staged the waiting women as a Greek chorus. Värnlund’s play was inspired by a prewar British submarine accident. It took on unexpected topicality three days after its opening when Swedish submarine Ulven (The Wolf) sank on the west coast after a mine explosion. But even before this accident, the production had aroused critical response and debate, even though the play itself was termed somewhat pale and lacking in moral pathos (SvD). See Henrik Sjögren, Lek och raseri, 2002, pp. 85-86, for presentation of press debate.
Reception The concensus among critics was that Bergman was both artistically and emotionally engaged in Värnlund’s play, and challenged by its juxtaposition of individual conviction (a mother’s determination to save her son) and collective tragedy. All reviewers were struck by the enthusiasm of the young ensemble and a direction that had overcome very limited stage resources. The production definitely showed, wrote Sten Selander in SvD, that the Dramatists Studio had gone past its original phase as an experimental stage. The only negative critique came from Nils Beyer in Soc. Dem., who questioned what he called Bergman’s ‘visionary style’, as if he had had Strindberg’s Ghost Sonata in mind. To Beyer, Bergman relied too much on outer theatrical effects to create the waiting women’s anguish. Herbert Grevenius (ST) concurred and called Bergman ‘a young esthete with more sense for style than for how people look inside’ [en ung estet med mera sinne för stilen än egentligen för hur folk ser ut inuti].
Reviews Bergman, A. Gunnar. ‘Värnlunds U39’. AT, 14 April 1943, p. 15. Beyer, Nils. ‘Rudolf Värnlund på Dramatikerstudion’. Social-Demokraten, 14 April 1943, p. 11. Edfelt, Johannes. ‘Teater och Film’. BLM XII, no. 5 (May) 1943: 403-04. O. R-t. (Oscar Rydqvist), ‘U 39 hos Dramatikerstudion’. DN, 14 April 1943. S. S-r. (Sten Selander), ‘Värnlunds ‘U 39’ på Dramatikerstudion’. SvD, 14 April 1943.
379.
NIELS EBBESEN
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Music Choreography Stage
Kaj Munk Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Rune Ede Else Fisher Dramatikerstudion, Borgarskolan
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Opening Date
14 September 1943. Special memorial performance on 18 January 1944 after Kaj Munk’s murder by the Nazis.
Cast Niels Ebbesen Gertrud, his wife Ruth and Ebbe, their children Ove Haase, brother in law Niels Bugge Father Lorents The Lead Singer The Bishop Peasant Woman A Young Peasant
Anders Ek Dagny Lind Bibi Lindqvist, Bengt Dalunde Karl-Erik Flens Curt Edgard Sture Ericson Valdemar Åström Elis Hahne Sif Ruud Birger Malmsten
Holstein People Count Gerhard Vitinghofen Von Döbelin
Toivo Pawlo Alf Kjellin Paul Granditsky
Commentary Niels Ebbesen,, written by contemporary Danish Lutheran minister Kaj Munk, is a freedom drama and chronicle play in five acts, set in Jutland (Danish peninsula) in 1340 during an uprising against Holstein rulers (Schlesvig-Holstein, now a North-German province, has historically been the cause of territorial disputes between Denmark and its neighbor to the South). The title figure, Niels Ebbesen, serves as an incarnation of Denmark, an easy-going pacifist farmer, who is transformed into a liberation fighter. Munk’s play was clearly aimed at the German occupation of Denmark in World War II and was confiscated by the Nazis on its day of publication. The German Legation in Stockholm tried to stop the Studio production of the play. Brita von Horn calls the opening night ‘a nervous premiere’ [en ängslig premiär]. See Hornstötar, Ø 538, p. 211. In the Dramatist Studio’s program (no. 1, 14 September 1943), Bergman claims to have found, by sheer coincidence, a poem titled ‘Klagosång över Danmark’ [Elegy over Denmark], written in 1329 by an anonymous writer. It reads in English translation: If we are to manage to throw off the heavy burden of our enemies, if we are to receive atonement and relief from our bitter weal and woe, then You, all merciful God must look down upon us with grace. Protecting us, Preserving us! Thus the struggle will give us victory, light and happiness, joy and peace. No other Swedish stage would perform Munk’s play at the time of Bergman’s production. Reviewer/editor Georg Svensson in the literary magazine BLM noted: ‘It ought to have been dear to the heart [of Dramaten] to show the Danes how we, at least in spirit, stand on their side
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman in the struggle..’. [Det borde ha legat (Dramaten) varmt om hjärtat att visa danskarna hur vi åtminstone i anden står på deras sida i kampen]. After Munk’s murder by the Nazis in April 1944, Dramatikerstudion was asked by the Danish Embassy to present a rerun of Niels Ebbesen. Sture Ericson was replaced by Martin Ericson from the Göteborg City Theatre, where Munk’s drama was also being staged at this time, now with a prologue written by Prince Vilhelm, younger brother of Swedish king Gustav V.
Reception The production, which took place on the small and narrow Borgarskolan stage, was a public sensation. Bergman’s staging and Gunnar Lindblad’s scenography, requiring several mass scenes, was said to have done magic with the limited space. BLM wrote: ‘The young director Ingmar Bergman, trained within the modest resources of the Student Theatre, did not lose courage despite the current staging difficulties; he even added dance numbers, chorus effects and fight scenes not in the play text. His direction was intelligent in a young and engaging way’. [Den unge regissören Ingmar Bergman, tränad inom Studenteaterns klena resurser, förlorade inte modet inför den aktuella uppsättningen; han lade även till dansnummer, köreffekter och stridsscener i dramatexten]. Reviewer PGP (AB) called Bergman ‘a gentleman with the gift of making everything he touches grand and spatious. [...] Technically, the production was unbelievable.’[en gentleman med gåvan att göra allting han rör vid stort och rymligt. [...] Tekniskt sett var uppsättningen otrolig]. An exception to the favourable reviews was Sten Selander’s, who objected to Bergman’s dance numbers and his added chorus executing a medieval song (see above) as the grand finale. The political timeliness of the Munk production both as an anti-Nazi statement and as a critical challenge of the current Dramaten policy shared review space with performance analyses. One reviewer (Rydqvist) captured the mood: ‘With this production and in today’s poor Swedish theatre life, Dramatikerstudion has made a real contribution that one has reason to be grateful for’. [Med denna produktion och i dagens fattiga svenska teaterliv har Dramatikerstudion gett ett verkligt bidrag som man har skäl att vara tacksam över]. But Bergman himself was so absorbed in directorial matters that he was hardly aware of any possible political repercussions of his production of Nils Ebbesen: ‘I myself didn’t understand that there was any risk in it’. [Det förstod man inte själv, att det var någon risk med det]. See Sjögren, Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, p. 305.
Reviews Beyer, Nils. ‘Dramatikerstudion. Niels Ebbesen’. Social-Demokraten, 15 September 1943, p.11. Horn, Brita von. Hornstötar ur kulissen. Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren, 1965, pp. 207-10; Sjöman, Vilgot. Mitt personregister. Urval 98 [My Name Index. Selection 98]. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur, 1998, pp. 38-44; O. R-t. (Oscar Rydqvist), ‘Niels Ebbesen hos Dramatikerstudion’. DN, 15 September 1943, p. 8. PGP. ‘Kaj Munk – En succes för Dramatikerstudion’. AB, 15 September 1943, p. 19. S. S-r. (Sten Selander), ‘Niels Ebbesen på Dramatikerstudion’. SvD, 15 September 1943, p. 22. Strömberg, Martin. ‘Dramatikerstudion: Munks Niels Ebbesen’. ST, 15 September 1943, p. 16. Svensson, Georg. ‘Teater och Film’, BLM XII, no. 8 (October), 1943: 652-53.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre
1944 380.
HJALMAR BERGMAN AFTON [Hjalmar Bergman Evening]: Spelhuset (The Gambling Hall), Herr Sleeman kommer (Mr. Sleeman Cometh)
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Hjalmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Dramatikerstudion (Dramatists Studio) 15 February 1944
Spelhuset [The Gambling Hall] Cast Gambling House Manager Main Assistant Lady with Jewels Lady with Roses First Gambler Second Gambler Third Gambler Railroad Boss First Callgirl Second Callgirl Olga The Friend Old Lady Gunnar Karin
Toivo Pawlo Bertil Sjödin Monica Schildt Sif Ruud Rune Stylander Curt Edgard Paul Granditsky Åke Fridell Tulli Sjöblom Siv Thulin Inge Wærn Anders Ek Margit Andelius Birger Malmsten Franci Uher
Herr Sleeman kommer [Mr. Sleeman Cometh] Cast Aunt Bina Aunt Mina Anne-Marie The Hunter Mr. Sleeman
Margit Andelius Sif Ruud Inge Wærn Anders Ek Toivo Pawlo
Commentary Hjalmar Bergman’s plays present a ‘marionette’ vision of life: a fatalistic view focussed on possessiveness and evil. Per Lindberg, Hjalmar Bergman’s brother in law, staged Sagan (The Legend) at the Dramatists Studio in 1942. Encouraged by Brita von Horn, Ingmar Bergman directed a double bill of Hjalmar Bergman plays in 1944: Spelhuset and Herr Sleeman kommer. Herr Sleeman is a typical Hjalmar Bergman work in its juxtaposition of youthful innocence (young Anne-Marie) and old cynicism and lust (Herr Sleeman). The play was presented by Ingmar Bergman as an expressionistic nightmare, supported by Gunnar Lindblad’s phantasmagoric stage design. Spelhuset is a minor dramatic exercise, clearly an imitation of German expressionistic dramas of the 1920s. Its setting, a gambling hall, is a symbolic representation and distortion of human life. Ingmar Bergman depicted it with gaudy theatrical effects.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reception Grevenius (ST) termed Spelhuset ‘a very bad play’ [en mycket dålig pjäs] but added that it was Ingmar Bergman’s type of drama where he could ‘move the actors like pawns’ [flytta skådespelarna som brickor] in a stylized and macabre production that became a labor of love. Reviewers saw a link between Ingmar Bergman and his older namesake, terming the event a directorial triumph (PGP, AB; Edfelt, BLM) – an ambitious, spooky and magical production of a drama suffused with a fatalistic view of life. But if the director had rescued the dramatically weak Spelhuset, he failed, apparently, to do justice to the more demanding Herr Sleeman ... Even a Bergman supporter like Nils Beyer had some difficulty coming up with a positive conclusion: ‘It is always fascinating to capture a glimpse of a great poet’s workshop – and also to see an original directorial intelligence struggle with difficult tasks’. [Det är alltid fängslande att få en glimt in i en stor diktares verkstad – och likaså att se en originell regissörsbegåvning brottas med svåra uppgifter].
Reviews Edfelt, Johannes. ‘Teater och Film’, BLM 13, no. 3 (March) 1944: 242-43. A. Fbg. (Allan Fagerberg). ‘Kusligt och sagolikt’ [Spooky and magical]. Idun, 1944: 6. S. S-r.(Sten Selander) ‘Hjalmar Bergman på Dramatikerstudion’. SvD, 16 February 1944, p. 21.
Boulevardteatern (1944) Brita von Horn’s and Ingmar Bergman’s collaboration at the Dramatist Studio ended with the Hjalmar Bergman production. Somewhat regretfully von Horn had recommended Bergman for the job to administer the Hälsingborg City Theatre. But before he left for Hälsingborg, Bergman directed a Parisian play at the Boulevard Theatre in Stockholm, a small private theatre housed in a former cinema at Ringvägen 125 in South Stockholm, led by two of Ingmar Bergman’s early actors, Rune Stylander and Karl-Axel Forssberg. Their project had started in the spring of 1943. In the fall season that year Ingmar Bergman, who had just married Else Fisher, assembled members of his amateur and semi-professional ensemble. His one and only production at the Boulevard Theatre was Pierre Rocher’s play from the Twenties, ‘The Hotel Room. A play in 8 tableaus’.
381.
HOTELLRUMMET [The Hotel Room]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Date
La chambre d’hotel Pierre Rocher Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad The Boulevard Theatre/Scala Theatre, Stockholm 12 February 1944
Cast (in order of appearance according to the eight scenes that compose the play) 1. DEPARTURE Marthe Monica Schildt, Jean Rune Stylander
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre 2. THE HOTEL STAFF’S THOUGHTS The Cleaning Maid Estrid Hesse The Hotel Manager Karl-Eric Forssberg 3. ON VACATION Arthur Bertil Sjödin Victor Gunnar Nielsen Berthe Barbro Ribbing Louise Ingrid Luterkort 4. BREAK-UP Jean Bertil Sjödin Lise, an aging woman Estrid Hesse 5. HOME FROM VACATION Maurice Rune Stylander Victor Gunnar Nielsen Berthe Barbro Ribbing Louise Ingrid Luterkort 6. OPENING NIGHT Gaby Siv Thulin André Curt Edgard 7. INFIDELITY Maurice Rune Stylander Catrine Ingrid Luterkort Emile Karl-Axel Forssberg 8. NEWLY MARRIED Yvonne Sif Ruud Louis Gunnar Nielsen
Commentary Hotellrummet was performed twice every evening with tickets at regular movie house prices. The play had been staged in 1932 at the Blanche Theatre in Stockholm. Bergman’s production became a huge public and critical success. After 100 performances, the production moved to the Scala Theatre in May 1944. See notice in MT, 20 May 1944. The theatre program reprinted a note by the author (Pierre Rocher) in which he motivates his change of characters in each of the eight tableaus: a hotel room is a temporary stop in the lives of many people. His hotel room represented life – an ordinary, yet abstracted and impersonal place.
Reception With Bergman’s production, the Boulevard Theatre gained the reputation as a much needed avant-garde stage in Stockholm: ‘From now on we have a right to count on the Boulevard Theatre as an avant-garde theatre worthy of encouragement’. [Från och med nu har vi rätt att räkna med Boulevardteatern som en avant gardeteater värd uppmuntran] (Sven Stål). Again, it was the enthusiasm of the young ensemble and the inventiveness of its director that prompted a positive response. ‘One felt gratitude and sympathy for the genuineness, the freshness, the successful will to do one’s best that characterised the young ensemble’s performance under the skillful leadership of director Ingmar Bergman’. [Man kände tacksamhet och sympati för den äkthet, den friskhet, den lyckosamma viljan att göra sitt bästa som utmärkte den unga ensemblens föreställning under regissör Ingmar Bergmans skickliga ledarskap] (Rydqvist). Sven Stål concurred: ‘Ingemar (sic) Bergman is a magician when it comes to getting actors to show their best and refrain from histrionics’. [IB är en trollkarl när det gäller att få skådespelare att
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman visa sitt bästa och avstå från teatergriller]. Nils Beyer added that Bergman was particularly successful in his instruction of actresses. However, there was also some controversy over this production. Bergman gained additional media attention when an offended woman in the audience placed a complaint with the Stockholm police department, because she found several indecent scenes in the production, among them one where a girl pulled off her dress, which was followed by a swift curtain fall. The SvD’s critic shared the viewer’s indignation and asked in her review: ‘Is there (a type of) theatre banned for children? If not, it’s about time’. [Finns det barnförbjuden teater. I annat fall är det hög tid]. Herbert Grevenius was also critical and found the choice of play speculative and morally questionable, given the theatre’s location in a section of the city full of young people. See AT, 11 March 1944, p. 10, for an illustrated satirical verse about the incident.
Reviews Beyer, Nils. ‘Hotellrummet’. MT, 13 February 1944, p. 9. Corylus. ‘Fransk hotellromantik’. SvD, 13 February 1944, p. 11. FLH. ‘En lysande teaterkväll’. Idun, no. 9, 1944: 4, 6. O. R-t. [Oscar Rydqvist] ‘Hotellrummet på Boulevardteatern’. DN, 13 February 1944, p. 11. PGP. (P.G. Pettersson). ‘Franskt på Boulevardteatern.’ AB, 13 February 1944, p. 3. Sven Stål. ‘Söder på teaterkartan’. Lidingö Tidning, 19 February 1944, p. 1.
Hälsingborg City Theatre (1944-46) On 6 April 1944, Maundy Thursday in Easter Week, Ingmar Bergman signed a contract with the municipally run Hälsingborg City Theatre in Southern Sweden. (See reportage titled ‘Ny konstnärlig ledare utsedd för Stadsteatern’ in Hälsingborgs Dagblad, 8 April, p. 5, 8). Just as Brita von Horn had feared, Bergman left for Hälsingborg with many of the actors he had worked with at the Student Theatre, the Sago Theatre, The Dramatist Studio, and the Boulevard Theatre (the latter closed down after Bergman’s departure). It was a close-knit group which began its engagement in Hälsingborg in the fall of 1944. For Bergman’s Hälsingborg period, see introduction to this chapter; Henrik Sjögren, 1968, pp. 9-45, 202-04; Lise-Lone and Frederick Marker, 1982, pp. 32-35, and Fall/Winter 1979 issue of journal Theater, pp. 9-11.
1944 382.
ASCHEBERGSKAN PÅ WITTSKÖVLE [The Ascheberg Widow at Wittskövle]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Choreography Music Stage Opening Date
Brita von Horn Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Ellen Lundström Karl-Henrik Edström Hälsingborg City Theatre 21 September 1944
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Cast Ascheberg’s Widow Fjumena, daughter Son A younger daughter General von Meyerfeldt Aurora, Widow’s cousin Eufemia The Tutor Lieutenant Bennet Captain Rushjelm Officers
Elsa Burnett Carin Cederström Gunnar Nielsen Siv Thulin Sture Ericson Dagny Lind Ingrid Luterkort Ulf Johanson Birger Malmsten Otto Landahl Åke Fridell, Curt Edgard, Karl-Axel Forssberg, Bertil Sjödin
Commentary Bergman’s first production in Hälsingborg was more of an insider squabble than a bold artistic debut, as he and Brita von Horn clashed over the world premiere of her (and her friend Elsa Collin’s) ‘comedy’ Aschebergskan på Wittskövle, which von Horn had scheduled for the Dramatist Studio in the fall of 1944 (some eight years after the play was completed). The opening of the play took place on 6 September 1944; Ingmar Bergman’s staging in Hälsingborg occurred a few weeks later. His inaugural choice was probably intended, at first, as a gesture to his former boss, but especially as a friendly nod to the Hälsingborg theatre public. Aschebergskan is a play set on an estate in Skåne, with plenty of local references to add to its provincial appeal. Ingmar Bergman went to Stockholm to see Brita von Horn’s production and she came to see his in Hälsingborg. They were soon reconciled. See Brita von Horn’s Hornstötar ur kulissen, 1965, pp. 217-22. Also attending the opening in Hälsingborg were veteran actresses Gerda Lundequist and Anna Norrie. They had stopped in Hälsingborg on their way to the inauguration of the Malmö City Theatre.
Reception Bergman’s staging of Aschebergskan received mostly glowing reviews in the local press: ‘Thus we can conclude at once that the inauguration of a new epoch in the Helsingborg City Theatre’s tumultuous history could hardly have been more fortunate: Red lantern (sold out), good mood, success!’ [Sålunda kan vi genast dra den slutsatsen att invigningen av en ny epok i Hälsingborgs Stadsteaters omtumlande historia knappast kunde ha blivit lyckosammare: Röda lyktor (utsålt), bra stämning, succé!] (Tom). Inevitably, several critics compared the staging to von Horn’s Stockholm production and found it superior, foremost because of Bergman’s cuts in the original text to achieve greater dramatic stringency. Also noted were such features as his playful approach, his attention to acoustic details and his sense of rhythm. These were traits that would remain central in defining Bergman’s stagecraft in the years to come.
Reviews Kei. ‘Hälsingborg Stadsteater som kommunal scen’ [Hälsingborg City Theatre as a municipal stage] SDS, 22 September 1944, p. 10. Mbg. ‘Aschebergskan på Wittskövle’. Helsingborgs Dagblad, 22 September 1944, pp. 1, 7. Tom (Åke Thomson). ‘Aschebergskan’. Skånska Social-Demokraten, 22 September 1944, p. 1, 6.
See also Vilgot Sjöman. Mitt personregister. Urval 98, 1998, pp. 44-46.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman 383.
FAN GER ETT ANBUD [The Devil makes an Offer]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Choreography Music Stage Date
Hvem er jeg? Carl-Erik Soya Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Ellen Lundström Karl-Henrik Edström Hälsingborg City Theatre 20 October 1944
Cast The Devil The Man in a Straw Hat Pregnant woman Young Man Prof. Reason/Mr. Rasmussen Mrs. Rasmussen Consul General/Prof. Trimbley Upper class family girl The Monkey Conscience Don Juan/Doctor Death Bluebeard Virgin Mary Dr. Paprika
Otto Landahl Gunnar Nielsen Marianne Nielsen Bertil Sjödin Ulf Johanson Dagny Lind Karl-Axel Forsberg Siv Thulin Curt Edgard Ingrid Luterkort Åke Fridell Birger Malmsten Carin Cederström Sture Ericson
Commentary This was Ingmar Bergman’s second production of Soya’s play, (see Ø 364), and the theatre’s fourth production in five weeks.
Reception Production was well received by the local press. Skånska Social-Demokraten. termed it the theatre’s greatest artistic victory so far. A few Stockholm critics who came to see Bergman’s Macbeth production (see next entry), also saw Soya’s play, which was still running at the time.
Reviews Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Shakespeare och Soya vid Sundet’. ST, 20 November 1944, p. 9. Mbg. ‘Fan ger ett anbud’. Hälsingborgs Dagblad, 21 October, p. 7. Penninah. ‘Fan ger ett anbud’, Skånska Social-Demokraten, 21 October 1944, p. 6.
384.
MACBETH
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Choreography Music
William Shakespeare Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Ellen Lundström Karl-Henrik Edström (The instruments used in Edström’s specially composed music were: piano, drum, violin and horn. The music was used to tie the acts
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre
Stage Opening Date
together – there was only one intermission – and as mood painting). Helsingborg City Theatre 19 November 1944
Cast The Seeress Macbeth Lady Macbeth Duncan Malcolm, his son Donalban, his son Witches Banquo Macduff Rosse Seyton The Porter A Page The Soldier
Dagny Lind Sture Ericson Ingrid Luterkort Otto Landahl Curt Edgard Birger Malmsten Ellen Lundström, Monica Schildt Ulf Johanson Bertil Sjödin Gunnar Nielsen Åke Fridell Karl-Axel Forssberg Monica Schildt Birger Malmsten
Commentary This was the third production directed by Ingmar Bergman in three months as head of the Hälsingborg Theatre. With Macbeth he proved his mettle and began to figure in the press as a cultural personality. See for instance ‘Namn och Nytt’ (Names and News) page, SvD, 21 November 1944. Contributing to his visibility was the tremendous success of the film Hets (Torment/Frenzy), which premiered in October 1944 and was scripted by Bergman. See Filmography, (Ø 202). When Bergman staged Macbeth for the first time (Mäster Olofsgården, 1940), he had referred to the play as ‘En saga’, probably a reference to Swedish translator Hagberg’s usage in his translation of Macbeth’s famous ‘Sound and Fury’, soliloquy, where Shakespeare’s ‘tale’ is rendered as ‘saga’ (epic and/or fairy tale). In Bergman’s first production the medieval mood painting had been essential (see Commentary, Ø 355). In his second production, he ‘updated’ Shakespeare’s tragedy (the setting was now early Renaissance rather than the dark Middle Ages), and called it ‘an anti-Nazi drama’ featuring a murderer and a war criminal. (Hälsingborg Stadsteater Program, November 1944, p. 27). The program note concluded: ‘We must have faith’, [Vi måste ha en tro], an exhortation supported by some of the visual details in the production, suggesting a Christian atonement motif. A bloody Christ figure hung above Lady Macbeth’s quarters and her post-murder reaction pointed to the possibility of a religious conversion. Shakespeare’s final lines were cut and replaced by Macbeth stumbling and falling down the stairs while his victors knelt, raising their swords to form a cross against a chalky white background, reminiscent of the walls of a medieval church. In an advance notice of his production in Helsingborgs Dagblad (14 November 1944) Bergman referred to his version of Shakespeare’s drama as both ‘thriller’ and ‘religious service’. In addition, Bergman emphasised the erotic tension between Macbeth and his Lady. The couple were cast as quite young and possessed by each other; their murderous plans were hatched in the marital bed. When Macbeth, after the Lady’s death, sums up his life philosophy in Act V, he did so with his dead wife’s head resting in his lap.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reception Reviewers were astounded by the spectacle Bergman had achieved on a stage with limited technical facilities. His Hälsingborg Macbeth was a richly orchestrated production, in which the visual and musical effects were especially notable, reminding some critics of Bergman’s past training at the Stockholm Opera. Harald Schiller in SDS wrote: ‘Shadow plays, boldly inserted projections made one forget the limited means available. [...] It was Shakespeare’s own spirit and thought, carried forth by the will and enthusiasm of young artists’. [Skuggspel, djärvt infogade projektioner fick en att glömma de begränsade medel som fanns att tillgå. [...] Det var Shakespeares egen anda och tanke, framförda av viljan och entusiasmen hos unga artister]. Stockholm critics who attended the opening noted that in one season, Bergman and his young ensemble had won the heart of the local people, whose applause at the end ‘grew to a storm’. [växte till en storm] (Beyer). Bergman, wrote af Geijerstam in DN, is ‘a young director with charm and shock impact, puzzling and thought-provoking at the same time. [...] When you leave the performance you are stimulated by the vital and original artistic will that supports it, and by the genuine enthusiasm for the stage that inspires all the participants’. [är en ung regissör med charm och chockverkan, på samma gång förbryllande och tankeväckande. [...] När man lämnar föreställningen är man stimulerad av den vitala och originella vilja som bär upp den och av den äkta entusiasm för scenen som inspirerar alla deltagarna]. The local critic in Hälsingborgs Dagblad wrote: ‘This is a performance that will go down in history as one of the most remarkable in our theatre, an example of what can be achieved by an imaginative and bold director who is not weighed down by tradition’. [Detta är en föreställning som kommer att gå till historien som en av vår teaters märkligaste, ett exempel på vad som kan åstadkommas av en fantasifull och djärv regissör som inte tyngs ner av traditionen]. The only critical reservations concerned Bergman’s colloquial treatment of Shakespeare’s blank verse, an attempt on his part to tone down the theatricality of the piece and introduce a new and less rhetorical approach to playing Shakespeare, more in tune with his relatively young ensemble.
Reviews Beyer, Nils. ‘Macbeth’. MT, 20 November 1944, p. 9. Eveo (Erik William Olsson). ‘Macbeth i Hälsingborg’. SvD, 20 November 1944, p. 13. Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Shakespeare och Soya vid Sundet’. ST, 20 November 1944, p. 6. J.L. (John Landqvist). ‘Shakespeare i Hälsingborg’. AB, 20 November 1944, p. 14. Mgm. ‘Macbeth’, Helsingborgs Dagblad, 20 November 1944, n.p. S. af Gm. (Sten af Geijerstam). ‘Teatern som fortsatte’ [The theatre that continued]. DN, 20 November 1944, p. 4. Schiller, Harald. ‘Kring en Macbeth-premiär’ [Around a Macbeth opening]. SDS, 20 November 1944, p. 10. Scen och salong 12, 1944.
See also Henrik Sjögren. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, (Ø 548) pp. 17-22. Ann Fridén. Macbeth in the Swedish Theatre, 1838-1986. Stockholm: Liber, 1986.
385.
ELDDONET [The Tinder Box]
Credits Original Title Author Director
Fyrtøyet Hans Christian Andersen, adapted by Greta Wranér Ingmar Bergman
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Stage Design Choreography Music Stage Date
Gunnar Lindblad Ellen Lundström Karl-Henrik Edström Helsingborg City Theatre 26 December 1944
Cast The Witch The Soldier The King The Queen The Princess The Innkeeper Court Lady I Court Lady II Court Lady III Court Lady IV Court Marshal The Dog The Shoemaker Boy The Fiddler The Tailor Two Mechanical Dolls
Ulf Johanson Gunnar Nielsen Karl-Axel Forssberg Ingrid Luterkort Siv Thulin Åke Fridell Ellen Lundström, Monica Schildt, Carin Cederström, Marianne Nielsen Birger Malmsten Bertil Sjödin Sture Ericson Karl-Henrik Edström Birger Malmsten Aina Larsson, Ebba Krook
Reception When he signed his Hälsingborg contract, Bergman had listed three ambitions: A new subscription policy, a rationalization of the repertory and a theatre for children and young adults. At Christmas time 1944 he set up a dramatization of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale ‘The Tinder Box’. Reviews called the production clear and easy to understand, ‘suitable for both small and big children’. [lämplig för både stora och små barn] (SDS); it was reportedly received ‘with enormous jubilation’ [med enormt jubel] (Hbg Dagbl). There is no record of Bergman repeating the local changes he had made in Andersen’s tale for the Stockholm production (see Ø 369). Considering Hälsingborg’s proximity to Copenhagen, it would seem natural to go back to the tale’s original local colour.
Reviews Pilo. ‘Elddonet – en trevlig barnpjäs’. [The Tinder Box – a nice children’s play]. Skånska SocialDemokraten, 27 December 1944, p. 3. Sk. ‘Elddonet’på Hälsingborgs stadsteater’. SDS, 27 December 1944, p. 14. Håge. ‘Elddonet.’, Helsingborgs Dagblad, 27 December 1944, p. 10.
1945 386.
KRISS-KRASS-FILIBOM
Synopsis This New Year’s cabaret was opened by a figure named The Occult, after which the stage was taken over by the Paprika Theatre Company. The Occult resumed momentary control until Romeo and Juliet intervened. Sketches, dance, and musical numbers followed. The Paprika Theatre was feted in the presence of royalty, accompanied by Mr. H. Goldrain (ref. to poet
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Hjalmar Gullberg) and Thalia. Pouring rain turned into the Flood, but the Arc reached Mount Ararat in time for a pastoral finale of part 1. This was followed by an ‘Opera tragica’ in two acts by Wagni, Werder et al., titled ‘Den vilseförhyrda (eller Svärmordet)’ [The Abducted on lease (or the Murder-in-law); ‘Svärmor’ means ‘Mother-in-law’]. The action took place in 1478 outside a palace in Verona. He, She and their two children have been evicted and are looking for a new palace to lease. The accompanying musical numbers range from ‘meaningful tunes in major’ to ‘a happy marching song’. The second act of the opera opened with the landlord (‘a dramatic barytone’) singing his great aria about the human kindness of house owners. The landlord’s mother-in-law (‘a lyrical counter base’) turned the situation into a tragedy by shooting ‘He’ with a hatpin. ‘She’ died of a broken heart. The opera ended with death everywhere and an orchestra in total disarray.
Credits Authors Director Stage Design Choreography Music Stage Date
Scapin, Pimpel and Kasper (Punch)/Sture Ericson, Rune Moberg, Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Ellen Lundström Karl-Henrik Edström Helsingborg City Theatre 1 January 1945
Cast (‘in disorder of appearance’) The Occult Noak Noaksson, Theatre Director Augusta, his wife Père Noble Mère Noble The Primadonna He She Machinist Stage Manager The Extra Dr. Paprika
Otto Landahl Ulf Johanson Dagny Lind Åke Fridell Monica Schildt Ingrid Luterkort Birger Malmsten Siv Thulin Karl-Axel Forssberg Bertil Sjödin Curt Edgard Sture Ericson
Reception The reviewer in Skånska Soc.-Dem. summed up the New Year’s Cabaret as follows: ‘Ingmar Bergman’s staging is, as expected, full of ideas. [...] There is speed and vitality throughout the entire undertaking, the actors pop up in every imaginable spot on stage and in the audience, disappear through trapdoors etc. [...] There is shooting and banging so that the smoke settles like a thick fog over the house. That Bergman! He has an inclination to shock’. [Ingmar Bergmans uppsättning är som väntat full av idéer. [...] Det är fart och liv över hela tilltaget, skådespelarna dyker upp på varje upptänkligt ställe på scenen och i publiken, försvinner genom falluckor osv. [...] Det är ett skjutande och pangande så att röken lägger sig som en tjock dimma över salongen. Den där Bergman! Han har en benägenhet att chockera].
Reviews Tom (Åke Thomson). ‘Revypremiären på Stadsteatern’. Skånska Social-Demokraten, 2 January 1945, p. 14.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre 387.
SAGAN [The Legend]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Music Choreography Stage Opening Date
Hjalmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad K. H. Edström Ellen Lundström Helsingborg City Theatre 7 February 1945
Cast Sune Sagan Astrid Rose Ehrenstål Colonel’s wife Chamber servant Flora Gerhard Legal clerk
Gunnar Nielsen Siv Thulin Ruth Kasdan Carin Cederström Ulf Johanson Dagny Lind Otto Landahl Ingrid Luterkort Bertil Sjödin Sture Ericson
Commentary Ingmar Bergman has staged Hjalmar Bergman’s Sagan three times. This poetic and cruel play, an Alfred Musset pastiche, depicts innocent youth capable of intense passion, in contrast to disillusioned old age that destroys the hopes of the young. A particular Hjalmar Bergman feature is the title figure emerging from a fairy tale well to comment on the trials and tribulations of the marionette-like characters who reenact a version of her fate, which occurred many centuries earlier when she was killed by a knight at a well on his wooded premises. Three years prior to Ingmar Bergman’s Hälsingborg production of Sagan, theatre director Per Lindberg had staged his brother-in-law Hjalmar Bergman’s posthumous play in the Stockholm Concert Hall. Hjalmar Bergman’s widow, Stina Bergman, who wrote the program note for the Hälsingborg production, attended on opening night. In a press statement she called Ingmar Bergman ‘a curious mixture’ [en egendomlig blandning] of the playwright [Hjalmar Bergman] and director [Lindberg]: ‘If one compares their well-known fanatical love of the theatre, one can only conclude with joy that Lindberg’s work has been shouldered by Hälsingborg City Theatre’s young head. He will no doubt carry it on with honor’. [Jämför man deras välkända fanatiska kärlek till teatern kan man bara konstatera med glädje att Lindbergs arbete har axlats av Hälsingborgs stadsteaters unga chef. Han kommer utan tvivel att föra det vidare med den äran].
Reception Opening night did not start out well. In the first act, according to Tom (Åke Thomson), ‘the public turned in their seats, coughed, and cleared their throats, the doors creaked as people arrived late due to the rain’. [publiken vände sig i stolarna, hostade och harklade sig, dörrarna knarrade och knakade när folk anlände sent på grund av regnet]. The house was not full (there was tough competition from two other entertainment events: A Karl Gerhard cabaret and a popular concert by Rosita Serrano). Still, the critics termed the presentation both brilliant and intense, and praised the stage designer (Gunnar Lindblad): ‘Nothing seems impossible for that man’. [Ingenting tycks omöjligt för den mannen]. Other local reviewers remarked positively on
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Bergman’s combination of poetry and dramatic realism in the mise-en-scene, and on his use of music and sound effects. Brief notices in the capital press remarked on the fine ensemble acting.
Reviews n.a. ‘Hjalmar Bergman-premiär i Hälsingborg’. DN, 8 February 1945, p. 11. n.a. ‘Hjalmar Bergmans ‘Sagan’ i Hälsingborg’. SvD, 8 February 1945, p. 11. Mbg. ‘Sagan’, Helsingborgs Dagblad, 8 February 1945, p. 8. Tom (Åke Thomson). ‘Sagan om “Sagan”’. Skånska Social-Demokraten, 8 February 1945, p. 5. Henrik Sjögren, Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 202-04.
388.
REDUCERA MORALEN [Down with morality]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Date
Sune Bergström Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Helsingborg City Theatre 12 April 1945
Cast The Consul Marianne Gun, Lecturer’s mistress Lecturer, Marianne’s father The Assistant The Fellow Human Being Olle, the Consul’s Son The Ex-wife
Ulf Johanson Siv Thulin Carin Cederström Otto Landahl Ingrid Luterkort Curt Edgard Bernt Callenbo Dagny Lind
Commentary This ‘serious farce’ by a contemporary Swedish writer had first opened at the Dramatist Studio in Stockholm on 31 May 1944. As was often the case with Ingmar Bergman’s repertory, he relied both on his own favorites (plays by Strindberg, Hjalmar Bergman, Shakespeare) and on recent productions elsewhere that had proven to be public successes. Reducera moralen was the thirteenth and last presentation for the 1944-45 season in Hälsingborg. In a program note Bergman thanked the public for its ‘patience with our youth, indulgence vis-à-vis our capers and recognition of our good will and our genuine intent’. [tålamod med vår ungdom, överseende med våra påhitt och för att ni insett vår goda vilja och vår äkta avsikt].
Reception Certain key assessments of Ingmar Bergman’s directorial style and approach now began to crystallize in the local reviews, which referred to his ‘inventiveness’ and ‘shocking unconventionality’ and praised his rhythmic pacing, supported by artistry in lighting and choice of music, and his ability to choose and inspire the cast. SDS reviewer of ‘Reducera moralen’ concluded that Bergman’s productions exhibited ‘a style that deviates from what is seen on the usual stage roads.’ [en stil som skiljer sig från vad som ses på de vanliga scenvägarna].
Reviews G. L-tz. ‘Reducera moralen’. SDS, 13 April 1945, p. 13. Tom.(Åke Thomson). ‘Bör moralen reduceras?’ [Should morals be reduced?]. Skånska SocialDemokraten, 13 April 1945, p. 9.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre 389.
KATEDRALEN
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Date
Le cathédral Jules Baillod Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Hälsingborg City Theatre 12 September 1945
Cast The Bishop The Maiden
Erland Josephson Siv Thulin
Commentary With World War II over, Ingmar Bergman wanted to open the new fall season with a play that could serve as a memorial service. Jules Baillod’s (sometimes listed as Jules Baillot) one-act play was written during the German occupation of France. Called a medieval mystery play, it tells of the destruction of the Cathedral of Chartres in war time, and of its reconstruction by people coming together from the surrounding areas. It is likely that Baillod’s play provided Bergman with his central metaphor (the cathedral of Chartres) as a symbol of communal creativity in his essay ‘Det att göra film’ (What is Filmmaking?), first published in 1954. (See Ø 87). The Baillod play was translated by Bergman’s colleague in the Student Theatre, Claes Hoogland. It served as a prologue to the main item on the playbill, Franz Werfel’s Jacobowky and the Colonel.
Reviews In his review of Jacobowsky... Grevenius also briefly discussed Baillod’s The Cathedral, which he found to be more important as a symbolic gesture than as a great dramatic piece. Local press (Hbg Dagbl.) remarked on the emotional impact of the piece, reinforced by Bergman’s use of Gregorian music.
390.
JACOBOWSKY OCH ÖVERSTEN [Jacobowsky and the Colonel]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Date
Jacobowsky und der Oberst Franz Werfel Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Helsingborg City Theatre 12 September 1945
Cast Jacobowsky The Colonel German Officer Marianne Szabuniewicz Mme Bouffier The Tragic Man The Lady from Arras Clementine Widow
Sture Ericson Åke Fridell Birger Malmsten Elsa Burnett Otto Landahl Dagny Lind Ulf Johanson Maud Hyttenberg Siv Thulin Annika Tretow
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Salomon Young Girl Unit Captain Lady Chauffeur Ginette Gendarme Gestapo Dice Gambler
Bertil Sjödin Monica Schildt Erland Josephson Carin Cederström Curt Edgard Marianne Nielsen Karl-Axel Forssberg Bertil Sjödin Gunnar Nielsen
Commentary Bergman’s production of Werfel’s play was originally scheduled to open in spring 1945 but was postponed until the following season. The printed theatre program to Werfel’s play contains an essay signed by Ingmar Bergman, outlining his ambition with the Hälsingborg Theatre. (See Ø 502), Theatre/Media Bibliography.
Reception Werfel’s play had been produced by Torsten Hammarén at the Gothenborg City Theatre a year earlier. Comparisons were inevitable and some voices indicated that Bergman’s undertaking was somewhat presumptuous. He obviously had fun with the production and introduced farcical elements and spectacular effects such as a roaring automobile traversing the stage. Reported enthusiastic response from the audience indicated to the reviewers that this was Bergman’s most popular staging so far in Hälsingborg.
Reviews n. a. ‘Stor teaterkväll i Hälsingborg’ [Great theatre evening in Hälsingborg]. AT, 13 September 1945, p. 12; n.a. ‘Lyckad säsongstart i Hälsingborg’ [Successful season start in H.]. SvD, 13 September 1945, p. 11; n.a. ‘Säsongstart i Hälsingborg’. DN, 13 September 1945, p. 12; Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Spelöppning i Hälsigborg’. ST, 13 September 1945, p.1; Harrie, Ivar. ‘Teater i Hälsingborg’. Expr., 13 September 1945, p. 16; J.L. (John Landqvist). ‘“Översten” på skånsk premiär’ [The Colonel in Scanian opening]. AB, 13 September 1945, p. 11; Mbg. ‘Jacobowsky och översten. Helsingborgs Dagblad, 13 September 1945, p. 8-9.
391.
RABIES: SCENER UR LIVET [Rabies: Scenes from life]
Credits Original Title Author Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Slå dank [Loafing] Olle Hedberg Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Helsingborg City Theatre 1 November 1945. World premiere
Cast Dr. Bo Stensson Svenningsson Knut Mosterson Jenny
Sture Ericson Gunnar Nielsen Carin Cederström
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Garberg, country store manager Eivor Erik Moster/The Aunt Sven, Sergeant/Tutor Cronsvärd Wholesaler Mrs. Svensson
Åke Fridell Annika Tretow Birger Malmsten Dagny Lind Erland Josephson Bertil Sjödin Ulf Johanson Maud Hyttenberg
Commentary In 1944, bestselling Swedish novelist Olle Hedberg, whose forte was sharp depictions of middleclass life, published the fourth volume in a tetralogy about the medical doctor Bo Stensson Svenningsson. Titled ‘Slå dank’ (Loafing), the novel included six chapters in dialogue form written by Svenningsson during a convalescence and based on the moral question ‘Are the woes of life ameliorated by the wailing of the likes of you?’ Bergman saw the dramatic potential of Hedberg’s work, adapted it for the stage and renamed it ‘Rabies’. He also adapted the play for the radio in 1946 (see Media Chapter, Ø 261). In a program note Bergman called the play ‘an unpleasant theatre piece’ and warned the audience to hold on tight, for now ‘we are going to pull the floor from under your feet and take you down to horror chambers and dung heaps to look at the eyeless monsters that hide there’. [skall vi rycka undan golvet under era fötter och ta med er ner till skräckkamrarna och dynghögarna för att se på de ögonlösa monster som gömmer sig där.]. Bergman justified his focussing on morbid and dark issues by calling them part of the pessimistic climate of the times. See Fyrtiotalism (Ø 952).
Reception Since ‘Rabies’ was Olle Hedberg’s first presentation on stage, most reviewers focussed their attention on the dramatic text. Some critics took issue with Hedberg’s cynicism and the deliberately shocking tone of Bergman’s adaptation. The reviewer in Skånska Dagbladet wrote: Bergman and Hedberg have resorted to exaggerations that are much too strong to be taken seriously. [...] ‘Rabies’ shocks more than it warns. It is depressing but does not move. It is not necessary to beat on hell’s gate to get us to wake up. A viewer must protest that he or she does not feel at all like a rabies-infected dog who must promptly rush ahead and bite others. [Bergman och Hedberg har tagit till överdrifter som är alltför starka för att tas på allvar. [...] ‘Rabies’ chockerar mer än varnar. Den är nedslående men berör inte. Det är inte nödvändigt att klappa på helvetets port för att få oss att vakna. En åskådare måste protestera att han eller hon inte alls känner sig som en rabies-smittad hund som prompt måste rusa fram och bita andra.] The DN reviewer made the observation that Hedberg’s piece provided a glorious opportunity for Ingmar Bergman to vent his sadistic impulses on the audience. Despite such reservations the production was highly praised as a theatrical event and became in fact a cause célèbre in the Swedish theatre world. Bergman’s ensemble was invited to a guest performance in Stockholm after a suggestion made by theatre critic Ebbe Linde in BLM (XIV, no. 10, December 1945, p. 863). For reviews of the Stockholm guest performance, which had to be extended on demand, see Stockholm and Göteborg press, 23 March 1946.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reviews Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Svensk urpremiär: Rabies’ [Swedish world premiere: Rabies]. ST, 2 November 1945, p. 16. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Sensation i Hälsingborg’. Expr., 2 November 1945, p. 16. J.L. (John Landqvist). ‘Olle Hedbergs scendebut’. AB, 2 November 1945, p. 11. Josephson Ragnar. ‘Olle Hedbergs dramatiska debut’. SvD, 2 November 1945, p. 16. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Teater och Film’. BLM XIV, no. 10 (December) 1945: 862-63. S. af Gm. (Sten af Geijerstam). ‘Olle Hedbergs Rabies ovanlig teaterhändelse’ [OH’s Rabies an unusual theatre event]. DN, 2 November 1945, p. 15. Tn. ‘Olle Hedberg både tjusade och chockerade Hälsingborg’ [OH both charmed and shocked Hbg]. MT, 2 November 1945, p. 11. Tom(Åke Thomson). ‘Skräck och komik på teatern’ [Horror and comedy in the theatre]. Skånska Social-Demokraten, 2 November 1945, p. 9.
See also Sjögren, Henrik. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 31-36.
392.
PELIKANEN [The Pelican]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Martin Ahlbom Malmö City Theatre 21 November 1945
Cast The The The The The
Mother Son Daughter Son-in-law Maid
Stina Ståhle Anders Ek Inga Bucht Eric Malmberg Jullan Kindahl
Commentary When Ingmar Bergman was invited as a guest director to the Malmö City Theatre in 1945, he chose to present Strindberg’s Pelikanen (The Pelican), even though the same play had been produced at Hälsingborg in the preceding season (directed by Sture Ericson). On that occasion, Bergman had given a short speech to the audience at a special performance arranged for the press on Strindberg’s birthday, 22 January. However, he used the occasion primarily to argue for increasing public support for the theatre among the Hälsingborg citizenry, adding that ‘proclaimers of human and artistic truth who have no audience are like a broken record player at the bottom of the sea’. [förespråkarna för mänsklig och konstnärlig sanning som inte har någon publik är som en trasig grammofon på havets botten]. His program note to his Malmö production of Pelikanen, titled ‘En slags tillägnan’ (A kind of dedication), was much more personal and was addressed to director Olof Molander whose remarkable production of Strindberg’s Drömspel (A Dreamplay) in 1934 had been a fundamental theatre experience for young Ingmar Bergman. Molander had given Strindberg’s plays a biographical and realistic anchoring, as opposed to the expressionistic renderings by German director Max Reinhardt during his visits to Sweden in the 1910s and 1920s. Bergman, like Molander, aimed at normalising Strindberg’s psyche while also capturing the visionary or dreamlike quality of his plays. He exposed both the drabness of Pelikanen’s family conflict
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre and the esoteric vision at the end as brother and sister dream of ‘summer vacation’. He maintained a biographical anchoring by having the draped wall portrait of the dead father bear the features of Strindberg himself but departed from a literal reading of Strindberg’s stage instructions by letting the Mother die a suffocating death in the fire rather than trying to escape by jumping from the balcony. Bergman’s focus was on the unmasking motif and its double implication of punishment (of the evil mother) and revenge/atonement (for brother and sister).
Reception Despite the proximity of Malmö and Hälsingborg, some local reviewers seemed to have just discovered Ingmar Bergman as a theatre director: ‘Ingmar Bergman is not only a fellow who understands how to advertise himself. He is apparently also a talented director’, wrote Allan Bergstrand in Malmö Arbetet in his review of Pelikanen. Bergman’s homage to Olof Molander in his program lured the critics to make comparisons between the older and the younger director, not altogether to Bergman’s disadvantage. (See SDS, MT, and ST reviews listed below). But there were sharp critical variations in terms of Bergman’s approach to Pelikanen. John Landqvist preferred Reinhardt’s non-naturalistic staging of the play to Bergman’s and Molander’s more realistic interpretation. Ragnar Josephson on the other hand appreciated Bergman’s restraint in ‘holding back the spooky horror effects in Strindberg’s chamber play’. [att hålla tillbaka de spöklika skräckeffekterna i Strindbergs kammarspel].
Reviews Bergstrand, Allan. ‘Strindbergstriumf på Intiman’. Arb, 22 November 1945, p. 5. H. G-e. ‘“Pelikanen” på Intiman’. SDS, 22 November 1945, p. 20. Geijerstam, Sten af. ‘Strindbergs “Pelikanen” på Studion i Malmö’, DN, 22 November 1945, p. 14. Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Malmö Intima: Pelikanen’. ST, 22 November. 1945, p.12. Josephson, Ragnar. ‘Pelikanen på Malmöstudion’. SvD, 22 November. 1945, p. 24. J.L (John Landqvist]. ‘Pelikanen i Malmö’. AB, 22 November 1945, p. 11. Sjögren, Henrik. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, pp. 36-41 (reception collage).
393.
UTAN EN TRÅD [Without a Shred] New Year’s Cabaret
Credits Author Director Stage Design Choreographer Stage Opening Date
Rune Moberg Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Ellen Lundström Hälsingborg City Theatre 26 December 1945
Cast This cabaret consisted of a number of sketches aimed at local events and phenomena. Most of the actors participated in several different numbers. Karl Axel Forssberg functioned as Emcee. Among other participants were the following: Dagny Lind, Otto Landahl, Erland Josephson, Marianne Nielsen, Gunnar Nielsen, Ulf Johanson, Siv Thulin, Bertil Sjödin, Annika Tretow, Siv Thulin, Maud Hyttenberg, Britta Billsten, Birger Malmsten, Åke Fridell, Curt Edgard, Sture Ericson, Gösta Pettersson.
Reviews Ikaros. ‘Utan en tråd’. Helsingborgs Dagblad, 27 December 1945. (Enthusiastic review, praising versatile actors, witty author, and a director who established good contact between stage
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman and audience. Unlike previous year’s cabaret, where the performers apparently had more fun than the public, Utan en tråd was said to exude a contagious joie de vivre that spread to the audience.)
1946 394.
REKVIEM [Requiem]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Music Stage Opening Date
Björn-Erik Höijer Ingmar Bergman Gunnar Lindblad Karl-Henrik Edström Helsingborg City Theatre 6 March 1946
Cast Dr. Berg The Pastor Gravedigger Gravedigger’s wife Sexton’s son Elon Old Karin Mrs. Grey A ‘Sister’ Bourgeois snobs Vagabond Funeral guests
Sture Ericson Åke Fridell Otto Landahl Annika Tretow Birger Malmsten Dagny Lind Carin Cederström Marianne Nielsen Gunnar Nielsen, Ulf Johanson Bertil Sjödin Siv Thulin, Maud Hyttenberg
Commentary The success of Rabies may have prompted Bergman to seek out another new contemporary Swedish play. Requiem was a play to Bergman’s liking about the post mortem unmasking of a pillar of the community, a man with the royal – yet everyday name – of Gustaf Adolf Grå (Grey). The play is in part starkly realistic, in part symbolic, telling the story of incest and murder but presenting the victim, Old Karin, as a personification of Conscience. Requiem became Bergman’s last production in Hälsingborg. In the theatre program he published a ‘farewell interview’ (Avskedsintervju). (See Ø 30, 507). Two months prior to the opening of Rekviem, (6 January 1946, SDS, p. 5), the local press reported on Bergman’s intention to leave Hälsingborg City Theatre to fulfil a contract with Svensk Filmindustri (SF) from 14 April to 30 September 1946 and to become a director at Göteborg City Theatre for the 1946 fall season. But before his arrival in Göteborg Bergman managed to squeeze in a production of his own play Rakel och biografvaktmästaren (Rakel and the Cinema Doorman) at the Malmö City Theatre (see next item). The Requiem production was broadcast on Swedish Public Radio on 15 March 1946. See Chapter V, (Ø 260).
Reception As in the case of Olle Hedberg’s Rabies, reviewers focussed much of their attention on Requiem’s dramatic text and somewhat less on the performance itself. The local press was more enthusiastic than the Stockholm reviewers. All agreed however that the play had serious motivational
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre and structural weaknesses but disagreed on Bergman’s part in it. The reviewer (G. L-tz) in SDS wrote: ‘[The play is] a strange and obscure form of Strindberg and Greek drama of fate. [...] The whole thing would inevitably have fallen to the ground were it not for the almost ingenious staging that has been wasted on this uneven work. Together, Ingmar Bergman and set designer Gunnar Lindblad have created a work that, no matter how strange it may sound, covered the flaws in the author’s eclectic piece of craft’. [en egendomlig och dunkel form av Strindberg och grekiskt ödesdrama. [...] Det hela skulle oundvikligen ha fallit till marken om det inte hade varit för den nästan genialiska inscenering som ödats bort på detta ojämna arbete. Tillsammans har IB och scenografen GL skapat ett verk som, hur egendomligt det än kan låta, täckte bristerna i författarens eklektiska hantverk.] Skånska Soc-Dem. on the other hand was very critical of both the play and direction: ‘One wants a firm ground to stand on when thrown into the world of symbols. This firm foundation, Bengt (sic!)-Erik Höijer has not built and, unfortunately, one cannot claim that Ingmar Bergman has lent him a helping hand – rather the opposite, as he has [failed] to preserve dramatic tension and striking details [...], features that have been characteristic of his direction earlier’. [Man vill ha fast mark att stå på när man kastas in i en värld av symboler. Denna fasta grund har inte B-E H byggt och tyvärr kan man inte påstå att Ingmar Bergman har sträckt honom en hjälpande hand – snarare tvärtom då han misslyckats med att bevara dramatisk spänning och slående detaljer [...], drag som har varit karakteristiska för hans tidigare regi]. The production was not a public success and there were only 9 performances.
Reviews G. L-tz. ‘Rekviem på Hälsingborgsteatern’. SDS, 7 March 1946, p. 9. Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Hälsingborg stadsteater: Rekviem’. ST, 7 March 1946, p. 5. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Urpremiär i Hälsingborg’. Expr., 7 March 1946, p. 14. Mbg, ‘Rekviem’, Helsingborgs Dagblad, 7 March 1946, p. 7. S.S-r. (Sten Selander), ‘En blivande dramatiker?’ [A future dramatist?]. SvD, 7 March 1946, p. 9. T. ‘Urpremiär i Hälsingborg’. AT, 7 March 1946, p. 11. Tom. (Åke Thomson), ‘Mässan, som aldrig sjöng’ [The mass that never sang]. Skånska SocialDemokraten, 7 March 1946, p. 6, 11.
395.
RAKEL OCH BIOGRAFVAKTMÄSTAREN [Rachel and the Cinema Doorman]
Synopsis Kaj Hesster, author and cinema usher, seduces an old flame, a childless woman, Rakel, during her husband’s absence. When the incident is revealed, the husband threatens to kill himself. But the gun misfires and kills Kaj’s innocent young wife Mia instead.
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening date
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Martin Ahlbom Malmö Intiman Theatre 12 September 1946
Cast Eugen Lobelius Rakel, his wife Kaj Hesster Mia, his wife Petra, housekeeper
Ulf Johanson Barbro Kollberg Curt Masreliez Gaby Stenberg Jullan Kindahl
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Commentary In a tongue-in-cheek dialogue entitled ‘Möte’ [Encounter] and printed in the program to Bergman’s production of his play Rakel och biografvaktmästaren, playwright and director engage in a dispute with a clearly disarming purpose. Rakel och biografvaktmästaren forms the basis of the first episode in Bergman’s film from 1952, Kvinnors väntan (Waiting Women/Secrets of Women). It was published in a volume entitled Moraliteter, Stockholm: Bonniers, 1948, pp. 5-73. Cf. Ø 56, Chapter II. Prompter’s copy (no. 49) of 1946 Malmö staging is available at Malmö Music Theatre (formerly Malmö City Theatre) Archives. Rakel och biografvaktmästaren was also staged at the Boulevard Theatre in Stockholm in 1949. (See Ø 406) below.
Reception This was the first play both authored and directed by Ingmar Bergman in a professional theatre. The critical response followed the usual pattern when a new play was staged for the first time: more attention was given to dramatic content and structure and somewhat less to the presentation itself. Bergman’s reputation as a young iconoclast preceded his production of Rakel... and is reflected in some of the reviews. Ebbe Linde (DN) questioned the media focus on author/director Bergman: ‘No fabled animal in the Swedish theatre has been preceded by so much huffing and puffing as he’. [Inget fabeldjur i svensk teater har föregåtts av så mycket pustande som han.] (See Ø 509) Ivar Harrie (Expr.) thought the Malmö audience seemed a bit confused and he was not surprised: ‘Such is the effect when a theatre-crazy student is let loose with a full orchestra’. [Så blir verkan när en teatergalen student släpps loss med full orkester]. Several reviewers linked Rakel... to a Swedish or Nordic play tradition, with predecessors like Ibsen, Strindberg, Helge Krogh, Kaj Munk, and Soya. (See Allan Bergstrand, Arb.; Ivar Harrie, Expr. and Frederik Schyberg, ST). Positive critique focussed on the play’s dynamic and technically firm structure; on its build-up of a dramatic story; and on its psychological depiction of character. Negative assessments termed Rakel... too literary, puerile, and histrionic. (See Linde. Landqvist). Several reviewers raised what was to become the most common question about Ingmar Bergman as a playwright and theatre director: Was he a genuine dramatic talent or a clever man of the theatre? Danish theatre critic Frederik Schyberg’s verdict in ST expressed an opinion that quickly established itself among Swedish reviewers: ‘Ingmar Bergman’s own staging was better than the piece itself. [...] Ingmar Bergman is still in his puberty as a writer. As a director he is a mature young artist’. [IBs egen iscensättning var bättre än själva stycket. [...] Som författare är IB fortfarande i puberteten. Som regissör är han en mogen ung konstnär].
Reviews n.a. ‘Urpremiär i Malmö’. DN, 13 September 1946, p. 12. A-g. (Adolf Anderberg). ‘Rakel och biografvaktmästaren’. Skånska Social-Demokraten, 13 September 1946, p. 7. Bergstrand, Allan. ‘Säsongstart på Intiman’. Arb., 13 September 1946, p. 28. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Rakel och biografvaktmästaren’. Expr., 13 September 1946, p. 4. H. G-e. ‘Ingmar Bergman-premiär’. SDS, 13 September 1946, p. 20. Josephson, Ragnar. ‘Rakel på Malmö intima scen’. SvD, 13 September 1946, p. 8. J.L. (John Landqvist). ‘Urpremiär i Malmö’. AB, 14 September 1946, p.13. Leiser, Erwin. ‘Besvärligt’ [Problematic]. AT, 13 September 1946, p. 12. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Rakel och biografvaktmästaren’. BLM 15, no. 8 (October)1946, p. 688. Schyberg, Frederik. ‘Rakel och biografvaktmästaren’. ST, 13 September 1946, p. 16.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Göteborg City Theatre (1946-50) Ingmar Bergman arrived in Göteborg in the fall of 1946. He joined what was at that time one of Sweden’s artistically most exciting stages. But the Göteborg years would be tumultuous for Bergman. His second marriage (to Ellen Lundström) was rocky; there were soon four children to provide for; and he found himself in an intense period as an up-and-coming filmmaker and scriptwriter. Nevertheless, Bergman staged ten productions in Göteborg in four years, including two of his own morality plays, Dagen slutar tidigt (Early Ends the Day) and Mig till skräck (Unto My Fear).
396.
CALIGULA
Credits Playwright Translator Director Stage Design Choreography Music Stage Opening date
Albert Camus Eyvind Johnson Ingmar Bergman Carl Johan Ström Ellen Lundström Roman Maciejewski Göteborg City Theatre, Main Stage 29 November 1946
Cast Caligula, Emperor Cesonia, his mistress Helicon, his confident Young Scipio The Old Patrician First Patrician Second Patrician Third Patrician Mereia Mucius Mucius’ wife Treasurer Cherea
Anders Ek Ingrid Borthen Yngve Nordwall Folke Sundquist Ludvig Gentzel Martin Ericsson John Ekman Richard Mattsson Bertil Anderberg Herman Ahlsell Harriett Garellick Harry Ahlin Tore Lindwall
Commentary Bergman’s debut at the Göteborg City Theatre was the world premiere of a play by existentialist playwright Albert Camus. Camus was a well-known name in Sweden at the time and would receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. The Göteborg City Theatre had established a reputation during World War II as a contemporary stage, producing plays of political and social currency. With Hitler’s disastrous destiny in fresh memory, many associated Caligula’s name with similar tyranny. Bergman himself had used Caligula as a nickname for his portrait of the sadistic Latin teacher in Hets (Torment/Frenzy). In Bergman’s production of Camus’ play, the title figure became not only a psychopathic ruler; he was also an actor who staged his own demise in a series of increasingly histrionic and orgiastic scenes. Enacted by the physically agile Anders Ek, Caligula became a clown and acrobat whose hysterical hiccupping laughter totally dominated the stage. In an interview, Bergman stated that he and Ek had worked like a pair of Siamese twins: ‘My task was simply
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman that of a midwife. When I saw the direction in which Ek was taking his role, I just let him go, after which I created the outer frame for the whole thing. [...] When I first read the play, I thought it was something for the Studio Stage. But that wouldn’t have worked. There would not have been room enough for Ek on the small stage’. [Min uppgift var helt enkelt barnmorskans. När jag såg den riktning som Ek tagit med rollen lät jag honom bara fortsätta och därefter skapade jag den yttre ramen för det hela. [...] När jag först läste pjäsen trodde jag det var någonting för Studioscenen. Men det hade inte fungerat. Det hade inte funnits nog med utrymme för Ek på lilla scenen]. (‘Tvillingpar på Göteborgsscenen’ [Twin couple on the Göteborg stage], GT, 1 December 1946). For the occasion French composer Roman Maciejewski created special music using only instruments found in ancient Egypt and justified his choice by the fact that Caligula is said to have harbored a special passion for the Egyptian goddess Isis. But reviewers found Maciejewski’s music to be closer to French impressionism, especially Ravel’s compositions. (See GP, 30 November 1946, signature K.B.). A director’s copy (manuscript no. 1345) is at the theatre museum (Teaterhistoriska museet) in Göteborg. There are no cuts or changes indicated in the text but quite a few handwritten notes (some with rudimentary sketches of the set design); the notes address actors’ precise movements on stage, often stressing physical contact or reinforcing emotions suggested in the written text, sometimes with a ‘bergmanian’ expletive: ‘Ut med en djävla fart!’ [Exit quick as hell!]. There are also some scribbled references to musical instruments (harp, clarinet, flute, trumpet). Most detailed note concerns the market scene (Third act, scene 1). The museum also has some stage models of the production by set designer Carl Johan Ström.
Reception ‘Göteborg and Sweden wrote theatre history with Caligula, thanks to a new great actor, a new French dramatic genius and a new (for us) important director’, [Göteborg och Sverige skrev teaterhistoria med Caligula tack vare en ny stor skådespelare, ett nytt franskt dramatiskt geni och en ny (för oss) viktig regissör], wrote theatre critic Ebbe Linde (Ny Tid). Other reviewers referred to Bergman’s production as a dramatic sensation and a renaissance for stagecraft on Swedish latitudes. Some found it virtually impossible to decide where Ek’s contribution began and Bergman’s ended: ‘One can use the same words about the director as about the actor: originality, cleverness, humor and obsession’. [Man kan använda samma ord om regissören som om skådespelaren: originalitet, skicklighet, humor och besatthet.](Grevenius). Many noted Ingmar Bergman’s unabashed love for using striking dramatic effects – as an example, he transformed a costume ball at Caligula’s court into an ancient erotic cult. Wrote one reviewer: ‘Youth and deviltry occupied the stage, raged on stairs and along walls, jumped and danced, burst into flames and spent itself. [...] It was like stimulating springtime winds’. [ungdom och djävulskap upptog scenen, rusade i trappor och längs väggar, hoppade och dansade, brast i lågor och förtärdes. [...] Det var som stimulerande vårvindar] (GP). The audience on opening night was described as ‘in rapture’: ‘It was proven, in the ovationlike applause [...] that the high expectations placed on the City Theatre’s two new arrivals, director Ingmar Bergman and actor Anders Ek, were fulfilled to the fullest through this memorable performance’. [Det bevisades genom den ovationsliknande applåden [...] att de höga förväntningar som ställts på Stadsteaterns två nykomlingar, regissör Ingmar Bergman och skådespelaren Anders Ek, infriades till fullo genom denna minnesrika föreställning] (MT; see also SvD). Though visually stunning scenes apparently at times threatened to draw attention away from Camus’ text, Bergman’s collaboration with set designer Carl-Johan Ström received rave reviews: ‘It is rather rare, even at the City Theatre, to see such a thorough décor,
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre both stunning and practical’. [Det är ganska sällsynt till och med på Stadsteatern att se en så noggrann dekor, både fantastisk och praktisk] (GP, 30 November 1946). The enthusiastic reception of Caligula led to a media discussion about a possible exchange of play productions between Göteborg and Stockholm (Dramaten and the Oscar Theatre, led by musical director Gustav Wally, were mentioned as possible exchange stages). Bergman himself responded (GT, 15 December 1946): ‘An exchange would be fun both for Anders Ek and myself ’. [Ett utbyte skulle vara roligt både för Anders Ek och för mig själv]. But nothing came of the suggestion.
Reviews Almström, Ove. ‘En märklig göteborgspremiär’ [A remarkable Göteborg opening]. MT, 30 November 1946, p. 11. Andersson, Elis. ‘Segrande ungdom’ [Victorious youth], GP, 30 November 1946, p. 2. Bergman, A. Gunnar. ‘Tre män om Caligula’ [Three men about Caligula]. AT, 30 November 1946, p. 10. E.P. ‘Logiskt vanvett. Stadsteatern presenterar den franske dramatikern Albert Camus’ patologiska studie Caligula’ [Logical madness. The City Theatre presents the French dramatist AC’s pathological study Caligula]. GT, 30 November, p. 5. Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Göteborgs Stadsteater: Caligula’. ST, 30 November 1946, p. 11. Hallén, David. ‘Dramatisk sensation i Göteborg’. AB, 30 November 1946, p. 13. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Anders Ek och regin segrade i Caligula’ [AE and the direction victorious in Caligula]. Expr., 30 November 1946, p. 12. Leche, Mia. ‘Tyranndrama på Stadsteatern’ [Tyrant Drama at City Theatre]. GHT, 30 November 1946, p. 3. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Caligula på Stadsteatern’. Ny Tid, 30 November 1946, p. 2, 5. Also a review by same critic in BLM XVI, no. 1 (January) 1947, pp. 86-7. E.W.O (Erik Wilhelm Olsson). ‘Caligula i Göteborg’, SvD, 30 November 1946, p. 11. Sjögren, Henrik, Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 46-52.
See also Henrik Dyfverman’s radio discussion of production, ‘Teater. Caligula’, Radiotjänst, 15 December 1946.
1947 397.
DAGEN SLUTAR TIDIGT [Early Ends the Day]
Synopsis Bergman’s dramatic piece, termed a morality play in three acts (five scenes), is set during midsummer. An old woman, Mrs. Åström, tells five people that they are all going to die the following day. Among them are Jenny, a business woman who at one time was married to Robert van Hijn, a name that suggests the Devil in Swedish (hin Onde); a homosexual beauty operator, Finger-Pella, who is petrified at the thought of dying; and Peter, an actor who entertains the others with a puppet performance of Everyman (one of the earliest of the frequent play-within-a-play scenes in Bergman’s work). A rational explanation is provided for Mrs. Åström’s morbid prediction; she is an hallucinating alcoholic who has escaped from an institution. Yet, in the final scene she appears with the five people whose death she has forecast; they are all dead and now dwell in a great void. The play ends with Jenny’s desperate prayer to an unresponsive deity, reminiscent of the Knight’s prayer at the end of Bergman’s film Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal).
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Carl-Johan Ström Göteborg City Theatre, Studio Stage 12 January 1947
Cast Jenny Sjuberg Robert van Hijn Valborg Ole, her fiance Peter, unemployed actor Finger-Pella Oscar Mrs. Åström Young lady Fia-Charlotta The Model; Brita Welamson Dr. Värn Pastor Broms Wholesaler Fredell Miss Wortselius Jonsson, a student
Ebba Ringdahl Sven Miliander Gertrud Fridh Claes Thelander Anders Ek Bengt Anderberg Herman Ahlsell Maria Schildknecht Ingrid Borthen Ann-Mari Ström Ulla Zetterberg Ulla Malmström Yngve Nordwall Johan Ekman Harry Ahlin Elsa Baude Folke Sundquist
Commentary Dagen slutar tidigt was published in a volume titled Moraliteter (Stockholm: Bonniers, 1948, pp. 75-123). Ingmar Bergman was introduced in the Göteborg Theatre program (pp. 11-15) as a young man caught up in the problem of man’s relationship to the devil. Manuscript no. 1346 is available at Göteborgs Teaterhistoriska Museum, which also has a couple of incomplete stage models by set designer Carl-Johan Ström.
Reception Reviewers responded positively to Bergman’s psychological skill as a playwright and his ‘unscrupulous’ dramatic dialogue (AB) but felt that his plot structure revealed ‘artistic helplessness’ (Barthel), an inability to bring the play to a convincing conclusion (Geijerstam, Lagercrantz), and a tendency to take facile shortcuts by moving the conflict to an abstract level. The most striking feature in the reception of Dagen slutar tidigt was the ambivalence among reviewers towards Bergman’s role as playwright vs director. Olof Lagercrantz (SvD) asked whether Bergman’s production constituted the breakthrough of a dramatic author or the work of a director who created a brilliant performance out of a dubious manuscript. Ebbe Linde (BLM) concluded: ‘Once before I have voiced the opinion that the director Bergman is fatal for the author Bergman through his tendency to freely maximise all the effects without considering the dramatic structure of the play. Bergman possesses rich expressive means which are sabotaged by his superficial skillfulness’.
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[En gång tidigare har jag uttryckt åsikten att regissören Bergman är ödesdiger för författaren Bergman genom sin tendens att fritt maximera alla effekter utan att beakta skådespelets dramatiska struktur. Bergman äger rika uttrycksgåvor som saboteras genom hans ytliga skicklighet.]
Reviews Barthel, Sven. ‘Människan och djävulen’ [Man and the Devil]. VeckoJournalen no. 4, 1947: 27. Hax. ‘Opus III av Ingmar Bergman’, AB, 13 January 1947, p. 13. Geijerstam, S. af. ‘Dagen slutar tidigt i Göteborg’. DN, 13 January 1947, p. 7. Lagercrantz, Olof. ‘Märklig premiär i Göteborg’ [Remarkable (strange) opening in Göteborg]. SvD, 13 January 1947, p. 7. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Dagen slutar tidigt’. BLM XVI, no. 2 (February) 1947, p. 183.
398.
MAGI [Magic]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Gilbert Keith Chesterton Ingmar Bergman Carl-Johan Ström Göteborg City Theatre, Studio Stage 29 March 1947
Cast The Duke Dr. Grimthorpe Parson Cyril Smith Morris Carleon, brother Patricia Carleon, sister The Stranger/Magician Hastings, Duke’s secretary
Sven Miliander Semmy Friedmann Tore Lindwall Herman Ahlsell Gertrud Fridh Anders Ek Claes Thelander
Commentary Chesterton’s play, written in 1913 and subtitled ‘a fantastic comedy’, demonstrates the author’s creed as expressed in his book Orthodoxy, which is an attack on modern financial entrepreneurs and scientists who lack moral stature and adhere to principles of pragmatic relativity. Chesterton gave voice to a demand for absolute faith, even to the point of absurdity. In the confrontation between a skeptical scientist and an illusionist who performs a miracle when challenged to turn a red lamp into a blue one, Bergman no doubt found the genesis of his own 1958 film Ansiktet (The Magician). Bergman’s presentation of Chesterton’s play used in fact filmic devices, such as dimming ‘dissolves’ to suggest act transitions. The play had been produced earlier (April 1945) at the Stockholm Student Theatre, though not directed by Bergman. Director’s production copy, titled ‘Trolldom’, is available at Göteborg Museum of Theatre History (Teaterhistoriska museet i Göteborg/Stadsmuseet; manuscript no. 1081). Copy has only a few handwritten (mostly one-word) comments about actors’ physical movements. Museum also has one stage model by set designer Carl-Johan Ström.
Reception The production was not an unconditional success, in part because Chesterton’s play competed, in a double bill, with Thornton Wilder’s more popular The Long Christmas Dinner; in part
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman because several plays with similar themes had been produced at the Göteborg City Theatre in recent seasons. There was also renewed concern about Bergman’s use of theatrical effects at the expense of realistic stagecraft. But critics also spoke of Bergman’s ‘almost spooky self-possession’. [nästan spöklika självsäkerhet] (Es. An.) and remarkable visual imagination. He was said to have ‘more than enough dynamics and boldness for a genius’. [mer än tillräckligt med dynamik och djärvhet för ett geni]. (Linde).
Reviews Es. An. (Elis Andersson). ‘Illusionister’. GP, 30 March 1947, p. 5. E.T. (Ella Taube). ‘Anglosachsisk studiokväll’. GT, 30 March 1947, p. 15. S. af Gm. (Sten af Geijerstam). ‘Dubbelpremiär i Göteborg’. DN, 30 March 1947, p. 11. Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Den långa julmiddagen – Magi’. ST, 30 March 1947, p. 10. Hjern, Kjell. ‘Två enaktare på Studion’. GHT, 31 March 1947, p. 3. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Förtrollande förvandlingsspel’ [Spellbinding metamorphosis]. Ny Tid, 31 March 1947, p. 5.
See also Koskinen, Maaret. Ingmar Bergman: ‘Allting föreställer, ingenting är’, 2001, p. 23. Sjögren, Henrik. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 57-59.
399.
MIG TILL SKRÄCK [Unto My Fear]
Synopsis Paul, a young writer of metaphysical-oriented fiction is pressured by his publisher to produce more popular works. Paul’s drama opens in his grandmother’s apartment where he is joined by his fiance Kersti. The action spans almost fifteen years of his life, during which time he compromises with his artistic vision and becomes ‘a formula being’, filled with self-contempt. Paul and Kersti are exposed to two archetypically conceived characters, Mean and Grandmother, who play the parts of good and evil fairy. Mean controls the situation in the first act and protects Paul and Kersti as they arrive at Grandmother’s place. In the second act, Paul and Kersti have fallen under the spell of Grandmother, an unfeeling hag of a woman (and an early study of Isak’s Borg’s old mother in Smultronstället), whose presence brings unhappiness and self-destruction. The play ends with Paul as a disillusioned high school teacher; he has left Kersti and turned to Irene, a common, sleazy woman, far from Kersti’s innocence and moral firmness. Paul’s choice of women mirrors his artistic and religious compromising.
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening date
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Birgit Afzelius-Wärnlöf Göteborg City Theatre, Studio Stage 26 October 1947
Cast Paul His fiancee Grandmother Mean The Jew, Isak Anders Erneman
Ulf Johanson Gertrud Fridh Maria Schildtknecht Hjördis Pettersson Kolbjörn Knudsen Bengt Schött Ludde Gentzel
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Irene Carl Ebba Tobias
Ingrid Borthen Håkan Jahnberg Lisa Lundholm Folke Sundquist
Commentary Mig till skräck appeared in print in Moraliteter (Stockholm: Bonniers, 1948), pp. 159-257. Bergman published a short essay titled ‘I Mormors hus’ [In Grandmother’s house] in the theatre program to his Göteborg production of Mig till skräck. He paints a picture of Grandmother’s apartment in the university town of Uppsala, reminiscent of the setting for his film Fanny and Alexander made some 35 years later. Program also includes a list of Bergman’s published and unpublished literary works to date, and a reference to an earlier version of Mig till skräck which included a prologue by Tobias revealing himself to be the author’s alter ego. Manuscript copy (no. 836) available at Göteborgs Teaterhistoriska Museum. Museum has one stage model (no. 49) by set designer Birgit Afzelius-Wärnlöf.
Reception Reviewers were struck by Bergman’s hectic work tempo and prolific production (See Juvenalis, Arb.). The AT theatre critic felt that Ingmar Bergman’s time of apprenticeship was behind him and predicted a successful future. Nils Beyer (MT) thought the play was more dramatically stringent and mature than earlier Bergman works. Ebbe Linde (Ny Tid, BLM), who was at first rather critical, changed his mind after a second viewing. In his BLM review of Mig till skräck he apologised for his earlier description of playwright Bergman as ‘a fabled animal’ and acknowledged him as a playwright of considerable stature. In sharp contrast to this positive response, Elis Andersson (GP) called Bergman’s play a far from full-fledged work and Olof Lagercrantz (SvD) named it a total failure. His review formed a reckoning with the playwright Ingmar Bergman, calling for a stop to the ‘nursery room approach’ to Bergman’s stagecraft, where that people applaud ‘every time he succeeds in making a clumsy somersault’ [varje gång han lyckas göra en klumpig kullerbytta.] What is also very noticeable in these reviews is the difficulty critics had with Bergman’s spleenic view of life and his main character’s defeatist personality. Ebbe Linde wrote: ‘This reviewer is in deep disagreement with Ingmar Bergman in almost all matters concerned’. Juvenalis (Arb.) pointed to Bergman’s difficulty in ending his play: ‘It is as if the last pages of the manuscript had disappeared. The audience returned home, as disillusioned as the author’. [Det är som om de sista sidorna i manuskriptet hade försvunnit. Publiken återvände hem, lika desillusionerad som författaren]. (See also Beyer, af Geijerstam).
Reviews Es. An (Elis Andersson). ‘Ingmar Bergman-premiär’. GP, October 27, 1947, p. 2. Bergman, A. Gunnar. ‘Oss alla till skräck’ [Fear unto us all]. AT, October 27, 1947, p. 8. Beyer, Nils. ‘Ny pjäs av Ingmar Bergman’ [New Play by IB]. MT, 27 October 1947, p. 7. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Mig till skräck’. Expr., 27 October 1947, p. 4. Hjern, Kjell. ‘Bergmanpjäs på Studion. Mig till skräck?’ GHT, October 27, 1947, p. 3, 11. Juvenalis. ‘Teaterkrönika från Göteborg: En bleknande Ingmar Bergman’ [Theatre chronicle from G-g: A paling IB]. Arbetaren, 30 October 1947, p. 7. Lagercrantz, Olof. ‘Mig till skräck i Göteborg’ [Unto My Fear in Gbg]. SvD, 27 October 1947, p. 7. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Livet som fiasko och mysterium’ [Life as fiasco and mystery]. Ny Tid, 27 October 1947, p. 5, and ‘Teaterkrönika’, BLM, no. 11 (november) 1947, pp. 789-70. S. af Gm (Sten af Geijerstam). ‘Mig till skräck i Göteborg’. DN, 27 October 1947, p. 9.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman See also Sjögren, Henrik. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 108-113.
1948 400.
DANS PÅ BRYGGAN [Dancing on the dock]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening date
Björn-Erik Höijer Ingmar Bergman Carl-Johan Ström Göteborg City Theatre, Studio Stage 8 February 1948
Cast Janson, an author Algot Falk, a male nurse Anna, his wife Edit, their invalid daughter Oskar Rydén, masseur/psychologist Funeral Guests
Ulf Johanson Yngve Nordwall Berta Hall Solveig Dahl Kolbjörn Knudsen
Commentary Bergman had a certain faiblesse for contemporary playwright Björn Erik Höijer and directed his works both on stage and on the radio. Höijer’s stark and violent vision no doubt appealed to Bergman. There is in fact an interesting parallell between this Höijer drama and Bergman’s 1961 film Såsom i en spegel (Through a Glass Darkly). Both works are chamber plays with strong moral overtones and both centre on a young woman’s destiny, tied to a non-committal and/or parasitical father figure. In Höijer’s play, a 16-year old girl, paralyzed as a result of shock since age four, develops a father-daughter dependence with Mr. Rydén, a psychologist and former masseur who moves into her home. The psychologist’s motivation is unclear and ultimately he fails in his attempted cure. Manuscript copy is available at Göteborgs Teaterhistoriska museum (no. 501) and a stage model (no. 487) by set designer Carl-Johan Ström.
Reception Most reviewers had problems with Höijer’s play, especially with his inability to motivate and end an act: ‘Suddenly the light went out on stage, one feared a short circuit, but it was an act that had ended’. [Plötsligt släcktes ljusen på scenen, man fruktade kortslutning men det var akten som slutade]. (Hjern, GHT). Another problem was the obscure psychology of the character of Mr. Rydén; here reviewers had hoped that Bergman would help elucidate the role. They were also surprised (though not necessarily critical) by his focus on the realistic elements of the play, which toned down Höijer’s excessive coloration of characters and episodes. Critics had anticipated more emphasis on the dreamlike and drastic features in the drama, especially when comparing this production to Bergman’s broadcast of Höijer’s radio drama Sommar (Ø 262). Finally, though praising his instruction of the actors, critics missed Bergman’s rhythm and balance. On the whole, this was not seen as one of his more successful stage productions.
Reviews Es. An. (Elis Andersson), ‘Urpremiär på Studion’ [First opening at the Studio]. GP, 9 February 1948, p. 2.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Fredén, Gustaf. ‘Maxwell Anderson och Björn-Erik Höijer på Göteborgs Stadsteater’. Studiekamraten, 1948: 3-5. S. af Gm. (Sten af Geijerstam). ‘Höijer på Göteborgsstudion’. DN, 9 February 1948, p. 7. Hallén, David. ‘Dans på bryggan’. AB, 9 Febrary, 1948, p. 11. Harrie, Ivar. ‘En teaterförfattare slår igenom’ [A playwright’s breakthrough], Expr., 9 February 1948, p. 9. Hjern, Kjell. ‘Studions svenska nyhet’ [The Studio’s Swedish novelty]. GHT, 9 February 1948, p. 7. J. Thn. ‘Svensk urpremiär på studion’. GT, 9 February 1948, pp. 2-3.
401.
MACBETH:
Credits Playwright Translator Director Stage Design Music Music Director Stage Opening date
William Shakespeare C.A. Hagberg Ingmar Bergman Carl-Johan Ström Roman Maciejewski Franz Zak Göteborg City Theatre, Main Stage 12 March 1948
Cast Duncan, King of Scotland Malcolm, his son Donalbain Macbeth Lady Macbeth Banquo Fleance, Banquo’s son Macduff Macduff’s son Lady Macduff Lenon Rosse Menteth Angus Cathness Northumberland His son Seyton Porter Doctor Chambermaid; Soldier Three Witches Three Murderers
Martin Ericsson Folke Sundquist Bengt Schött Anders Ek Karin Kavli Bertil Anderberg Bror Follin Koldbjörn Knudsen Solveig Dahl Ebba Ringdahl Yngve Nordwall Claes Thelander Jan von Zweigbergk Herman Ahlsell Karl-Magnus Thulstrup Håkan Jahnberg Lars Barringer Arne Nyberg Ludde Gentzel Ulf Johanson Eva Baude Arne Nyberg Inga-Lill Åhström, Ulla Malmström, Nine-Christine Jönsson Richard Mattsson, Thore Wallengren, Gordon Löwenadler
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Commentary Apart from Bergman’s three Macbeth productions (see entries 364 and 393), Shakespeare’s tragedy has had a rather meagre stage history in Sweden and was produced only five times in the first half of the 20th century. In the 1930s, a production with the great actor Lars Hanson in the title role had to be cancelled after a week. In his Shakespeare study, Danish critic Georg Brandes practically skipped over the play, which he found too melodramatic. August Strindberg did not favor the piece either; he found it too ‘elementary and vulgar’ [busigt]. One reviewer (Ivar Harrie) of Bergman’s Göteborg production suggested however that for a young generation of theatre people, living in the aftermath of World War II, Macbeth might become a centerpiece in the Shakespeare canon. The production of Macbeth was planned as the theatre’s seasonal climax and included special music composed by Roman Maciejewski for a violin, a harp, drums, and a group of trumpets. (See Björn Johanssson, ‘Musiken till Macbeth’, GHT, 13 March 1948, p. 1.) A complex set design was constructed with three performance levels, presumably harking back to the original Globe presentation. Curtains and drapes served as entry ways into the castle. The level above ground was for the guestroom where Duncan was killed, and from there a staircase led to a 7-meter tower, from which Macbeth would look out over Birnam Woods. To the sides of the proscenium were towers and gates, and beyond this was the heath, dominated by a sinewy old oak tree, from which dangled the bodies of hanged men. The three witches sat among the branches like owls, or practiced their magic at the foot of the tree. They were present, in a non-realistic and stylized way, in almost every scene as silent witnesses to what happened. Using characters as silent observing chorus figures throughout the performance was a feature Bergman would repeat many years later with the figure of Ophelia in his production of Hamlet (1986). In Macbeth, he also undermined the potential realism of the play by having the actors step out of the illusory play area to declare their soliloquies at the ramp, addressing them directly to the audience in the house Claes Hoogland published an insider account of the various preparations for the production, from costumes and stage machinery to discussions between director and cast about Macbeth’s personality. In an unsigned note in the production program (pp. 9-15), presumably reflecting Bergman’s interpretation, the figure of Macbeth is presented as ‘a poet, naïve, impressionable, sensitive and with a dangerous propensity for toying with ideas.’[en diktare, naiv, lättpåverkad, känslig och med en farlig fallenhet att leka med idéer]. Actor Anders Ek, who played the title figure, was said to have found similar personality traits discussed in Shakespeare scholar Dover Wilson’s analysis of Macbeth’s character, making him a soulmate to Hamlet. In the aftermath of his production of Macbeth in Göteborg, Bergman talked to the press about the execution of Shakespearean blank verse: ‘I think Shakespeare should be spoken, not read in verse. The modern Swedish public is not used to hearing blank verse. Most cultures have a treasure of classical drama in bound form but we lack playwrights who write in verse’. [Jag tycker att Shakespeare skall talas, inte läsas på vers. Den moderna svenska publiken är inte van vid att höra vers. De flesta kulturer har en skatt av klassisk dramatik i bunden form men vi saknar dramatiker som skriver vers]. (See ‘Publiken skall lära höra vers’. AB, 22 March 1948). In the Göteborg version of Macbeth, Shakespeare’s verse was spoken in a deliberately monotonous but not colloquial way. More than ten years after his Göteborg production of Macbeth, the play was still on Bergman’s mind and he was thinking of doing a fourth production. In an interview in London, he discussed the major stumbling blocks for a director of Macbeth: how to stage the Witches; how to create sympathy for the title figure; and how to find the right young couple to convey the sexual passion between Macbeth and his Lady, so that ‘you feel it in your stomach’. (See ‘Mr Bergman Relaxes’. The Times, 4 May 1959).
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Prompter’s production copy (no. 1506) is available at the Göteborg Museum of Theatre History. It contains changes in the text, making it somewhat less archaic. These seem to be in Bergman’s own handwriting but there is also a loose sheet by someone else’s hand with a revision of the Porter’s speech in the 10th scene. Copy contains no notes or stage directions other than a few musical references and a series of very sketchy drawings of the table seating in the banquet scene. The Museum also has a proscenium stage model in five parts by set designer Carl-Johan Ström (no. 490).
Reception All reviewers agreed that Macbeth was a play that suited Bergman’s fiery temperament, one in which he could find a dramatization of his own personal theme: how, in a world without grace, man can fall victim to demons pointing out the road to hell. Most critics accepted Bergman’s Gothic excesses in stage design and his use of the gaudily outfitted and perversely lusty witches – emblematic signs of the title figure’s ugly subconscious drives. However, Macbeth’s primitive court of drunken, sword-dancing chieftains in Scottish kilts made one critic (Harrie) remark that he felt as if a crowd of Indian chiefs had been transported back to the Nordic Iron Age. There was some concern that the visual impact and Shakespearean rhetoric competed too much with each other: ‘One’s eye drank itself full, so that one’s ear became absent-minded’. [Ögat drack sig mätt så att örat blev frånvarande]. Karl Ragnar Gierow, playwright and future head of Dramaten, whose own drama Rovdjuret (The Predator) bears distinct Shakespearean features, felt that Bergman tried to cover up his lack of penetration into Macbeth’s psyche with all kinds of external visual paraphernalia. On the whole, the reviews suggest that two parties struggled for dominance in this production: one led by the director and his scenographer, the other by dynamic and strong-willed actors, headed by Anders Ek in the title role and Karin Kavli as his wife. As a result of this dynamic ‘infighting,’ reviewers tended to focus either on Bergman’s vision of the play with its many stylized and excessive stagecraft features or on the strong performance by the two central characters whose human destinies were gradually transformed into something ghastly and inhuman. But despite reservations, Bergman’s third production of Macbeth was a real breakthrough for the play in Sweden. For a detailed discussion of the Göteborg Macbeth production, see Ann Fridén’s study of the Swedish stage history of Shakespeare’s play (Theatre/Media Bibliography, 1983, Ø 596).
Reviews Björkman, Carl. ‘Macbeth som 40-talist’ [Macbeth as man of the 40s], Vecko-Journalen no. 13, 1948, p. 23, 33. Geijerstam, Sten af [S. af Gm]. ‘ ‘Macbeth’ i Göteborg’. DN, 13 March 1948, p. 22. Gierow, Karl Ragnar. ‘Macbeth på Göteborgs stadsteater’. SvD, 13 March 1948, p. 7. Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Macbeth i Göteborg’. ST, 13 March 1948, p. 7. Hallén, David [D. H-n]. ‘Shakespeare nummer 20 i Göteborg’. AB, 13 March 1948, pp. 4-5. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Två sorgespel i Göteborg’ [Two tragedies in Göteborg]. Expr.,15 March 1948, p. 4. Hjern, Kjell. ‘Macbeth på Stadsteatern’. GHT, 13 March 1948, p. 3. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Teater och Film’. BLM XVII, no. 4 (April) 1948, p. 307. Neander-Nilsson, S. ‘Teater i Göteborg’. Medborgaren, no. 16, (Spring) 1948, n.p.
See also Gustaf Fredén’s ‘Macbeth och teatertraditionen’, GHT, 11 March 1948 (provides an account of Macbeth’s stage history); Vecko-Journalen no. 17, 1948 (pp. 3-4).
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman 402.
TJUVARNAS BAL [Thieves Carnival]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Choreographer Stage Opening date
Le bal des voleurs Jean Anouilh Ingmar Bergman Carl-Johan Ström Ellen (Lundström) Bergman Göteborg City Theatre, Studio Stage 11 September 1948.
Cast Peterbono, thief Gustave, thief Hector, thief Lord Edgar Lady Edgar Juliette and Eva, her nieces Dupont-Dufort, Sr., banker Dupont-Dufort, Jr., banker Crier Wet nurse Musician Three policemen A Girl
Harry Ahlin Arne Nyberg Tore Lindwall Yngve Nordwall Hjördis Petterson Nine-Christine Jönsson, Gertrud Fridh Semmy Friedmann Folke Sundquist Gordon Löwenadler Aja Gneiser Lorang Landberg Ove Tjernberg, Jan von Zweigbergk, Lars Barringer Gunilla Tamm
Commentary In the late 1940s the Frenchman Jean Anouilh was one of the most frequently staged contemporary playwrights in Scandinavia, with equal attention paid to his ‘black’ and ‘rose’ plays. Bergman’s staging of Le bal des voleurs, one of Anouilh’s rose plays, came one season after the play had been produced in Stockholm. The program to the Göteborg production included a photograph of Ingmar Bergman against the backdrop of an old marionette theatre with a richly painted curtain. It was a signal to the audience that the production of Le bal des voleurs would follow the puppetry tradition. Bergman’s standing as the theatre’s favorite son was suggested in a note to another Göteborg production that premiered the night before Le bal des voleurs: veteran director Helge Wahlgren’s presentation of a play by Peter Ustinov, ‘Familjenäsan’ (1945, The Banbury Nose,). In a negative review of Wahlgren’s production, Elis Andersson called for Bergman’s assistance: ‘It’s easy to imagine how Ingmar Bergman would have let it sparkle around father and son’. [Det är lätt att föreställa sig hur Ingmar Bergman skulle ha låtit det spraka kring far och son]. (GP, 11 September 1948, p. 2). No production copy has been located.
Reception The reviewer in DN wrote after the Göteborg opening of Bal des voleurs: ‘As usual Bergman’s direction was perfect’. [Som vanligt var Bergmans regi perfekt]. The audience response was reportedly enthusiastic and the critics praised the staging for its comic charm and poetic qualities. Even Bergman’s severe critic Olof Lagercrantz waxed lyrical: ‘Ingmar Bergman’s production [moves] as if on butterfly wings, a musical performance swept in blue, romantic veils’. [IBs uppsättning rör sig som på fjärilsvingar, en musikalisk föreställning svept i blåa romantiska slöjor]. Ellen Bergman’s special choreography also received much praise.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Reviews n.a. ‘Anouilhpremiär i Göteborg’. DN, 12 September 1948. Es. An. (Elis Andersson). ‘Munter lek bortom gott och ont’ [Playful game beyond good and evil]. GP, 12 September 1948, p. 18. Hjern, Kjell. ‘Tjuvarnas bal på Studion’. GHT, 13 September 1948. Lagercrantz, Olof. ‘‘Tjuvarnas bal’ i Göteborg med yrande spelglädje’ [‘Thieves Carnival’ in Göteborg in dizzying and joyous acting]. SvD, 12 September 1948.
403.
KAMMA NOLL [Come Up Empty/To Draw Zero]
Synopsis The action takes place at the Karlberg’s summer house in the Stockholm archipelago where Daughter Susanne, 17, has just introduced Martin, also 17, to her parents, Ingeborg and Jan. Ingeborg is tempted to seduce young Martin when Gertrud, Professor Karlberg’s former pupil and spectre from his past, arrives and starts playing the devil. But the family has a skeleton in the closet, a brain-damaged boy who lives in an institution. Gertrud plays the role of intruder, temptress, and catalyst. The past is unravelled, passions revealed. The atmosphere is cleansed and Gertrud leaves, defeated.
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Date
Ingmar Bergman Lars Levi Læstadius Eric Söderberg Hälsingborg City Theatre 8 December 1948
Cast Susanne, 17 Martin, her boyfriend Jan Karlberg, father Ingeborg, mother Gertrud, 32
Ingrid Östergren Willy Keidser Gunnar Strååt Dagny Lind Margareta Bergfelt
Commentary Bergman wrote Kamma noll in Hälsingborg in the spring of 1948 and revised it together with Lars Levi Laestadius in early fall the same year, at which time he had moved to the Göteborg City Theatre. The unpublished typed manuscript contains the following motto from George Bernard Shaw: ‘If you give the Devil fair play, he loses’. Kamma noll was directed by Læstadius, head of the Malmö City Theatre. He introduced the play and its author in a program note titled ‘Ingmar Bergman får urpremiär i Hälsingborg’ [Ingmar Bergman world premiere in Hälsingborg]. See Hälsingborgs Stadsteater Program Säsongen 1948-1949, pp. 1-4, 30, 53. Stating that Bergman’s new play demonstrated that ‘the pure at heart’ shall inherit the world, Læstadius challenged those critics who maintained that Bergman had never shaken off his juvenile angst and cynicism. See annotated entry Ø 514. Helsingborgs-Posten published Bergman’s reaction to the production on 19 December 1948. Bergman praised Hälsingborg as a theatre city and Lars Levi Læstadius’ direction of the play. No production copy has been located but the Helsingborg City Theatre Archives has a stenciled copy of the (unpublished) play.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reception Ingmar Bergman called his play a comedy in three acts, but many reviewers (see Sk. Soc-Dem, AT, Expr. and MT) referred to ‘Kamma noll’ as a morality play and an uplifting Christmas sermon. They were pleasantly surprised to discover a note of reconciliation and relatively little of the author’s ‘perverse violence’, though at least one reviewer (Ivar Harrie) felt that in Bergman’s latest work ‘anguish, nausea, and bad manners hit new rock bottom’. [ångest, äckel och dålig stil nådde ett bottenrekord]. Herbert Grevenius begged to differ, terming Kamma noll a new victory for Bergman as a playwright. The reviews reported ‘thunderous applause’ for the performers on opening night.
Reviews Bergman, A. Gunnar. ‘När djävulen kammar noll’ [When the Devil comes up empty]. AT, 9 December 1948, p. 3. Bergrahm, Hans. ‘Bergmans ‘Kamma noll’ en hymn till ungdomen’ [Bergman’s ‘Come Up Empty’ a hymn to youth]. SvD, 9 December 1948, p. 11. Same reviewer in KvP, 12 December 1948, p. 8 (‘Bergmans “Kamma noll”’). Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Hälsingborgs stadsteater: Kamma noll’. ST, 9 December 1948, p. 14. H. G-e. ‘“Kamma noll” blir kanske kassapjäs’ [Come Up Empty might become a box office hit]. SDS, 9 December 1948, p. 5. I.H. (Ivar Harrie). ‘Förbryllande Bergman-komedi’ [Puzzling Bergman comedy]. Expr., 9 December 1948, p. 15. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Ny Ingmar Bergman’. DN, 9 December 1948, p. 15. Th-m. ‘Kamma noll fick en tjusig premiär’ [Come Up Empty got a splendid opening]. MT, 9 December 1948, p. 9. Tom.(Åke Thomson), ‘Bergmans julpredikan’ [Bergman’s Christmas sermon]. Skånska SocialDemokraten, 9 December 1948, p. 3.
1949 404.
EN VILDFÅGEL [The Wild Bird]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening date
La Sauvage Jean Anouilh Ingmar Bergman Carl-Johan Ström Göteborg City Theatre, Studio Stage 11 February 1949
Cast Thérèse Tarde Florent Hartman Gösta, pianist M. Tarde, musician Mme Tarde Jeanette Marie Mme Bazin The Dresser
Gertrud Fridh Claes Thelander Ulf Johanson Tore Lindwall Semmy Friedmann Hjördis Petterson Nine-Christine Jönsson Ulla Malmström Elsa Baude Ebba Ringdahl
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre The Maid The Cook M. Lebonze The Waiter
Lisa Lundholm Brita Hedenberg Richard Mattsson Bror Follin
Commentary In early fall of 1948, there were rumours that Ingmar Bergman would terminate his contract at the Göteborg City Theatre, but on October 18, 1948 the theatre’s secretary, Claes Hoogland, denied this and announced that Bergman would stage Anouilh’s play La sauvage after the New Year. Manuscript (no. 517) is available at the Museum of Theatre History in Göteborg as well as a stage model by set designer Carl-Johan Ström.
Reception The production of La Sauvage became above all a victory for Bergman as an instructor of actors and marked Gertrud Fridh’s breakthrough as a character actress. The following year she would leave Göteborg, as would Anders Ek and others, to follow Ingmar Bergman to Stockholm. In the years to come both would appear in major Bergman films and stage productions.
Reviews Es. An. (Elis Andersson). ‘Vildfågel – flyttfågel’ [Wild bird – bird of passage]. GP, 12 February 1949, p.2. Björkman, Carl. ‘I franska ramar’ [In a French framework]. Vecko-Journalen no. 8, 24 February 1949, pp. 24-25. Cramér, Carl. ‘Farväl till Gertrud’. Ny Tid, 12 February 1949, p. 2. Hjern, Kjell. ‘En vildfågel på studion’. GHT, 12 February 1949, p. 3. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Teaterkrönika’. BLM no. 3, March 1949, p. 227. Rv. ‘En vildfågel i Göteborg’. AB, 12 February 1949, p. 9. Sjögren, Henrik. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968: 64-66
405.
SPÅRVAGN TILL LUSTGÅRDEN [A Streetcar Named Desire]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening date
Tennessee Williams Ingmar Bergman Carl-Johan Ström Göteborg City Theatre, Main Stage 1 March 1949
Cast Stanley Kowalski Stella Kowalski Blanche du Bois Mitch Steve Hubbell Eunice Hubbel Pablo Gonzales A Negro Woman A Mexican Woman The Nurse The Doctor
Anders Ek Annika Tretow Karin Kavli Harry Ahlin Herman Ahlsell Ann-Mari Ström Arne Nyberg Maria Sjöstrand Berta Hall Ulla Zetterberg Håkan Jahnberg
544
Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Commentary Göteborg and Malmö City Theatres competed to be the first in Sweden to present Williams’ new play. Göteborg won by fifteen minutes by changing the curtain time to 7:30 pm. With his staging of Macbeth a year earlier, it had become clear that Ingmar Bergman had developed a close working rapport with stage designer Carl-Johan Ström. Their collaboration in setting up Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire gained much praise. Using a revolving stage, Ström placed the shabby Kowalski house in New Orleans’ French Quarter next to a nonstop neighborhood cinema with the neon-flashing sign ‘Desire’. Ingmar Bergman opened the production with a colourful mix of people exiting from the movies; they represented an escape from reality analogous to Blanche duBois’ attempts to flee her troublesome past. In a brief interview (GHT, 24 February 1949, p. 16), Bergman stated: ‘Tennessee Williams’ play is full of poetry. For me personally it arouses many memories of my own films and plays. Tennessee Williams has an interest in death and desire, which I share. Therefore I am very grateful for this task’. [Tennessee Williams pjäs är full av poesi. För mig personligen väcker det många minnen av mina egna filmer och skådespel. Tennessee Williams har ett intresse för döden och lustan som jag delar. Därför är jag mycket tacksam för den här uppgiften]. Manuscript (no. 1365) available at the Göteborg Museum of Theatre History, as well as a sketch of the stage design (no. 548).
Reception Bergman’s production of Streetcar received rave reviews and was the highlight of his Göteborg years. Kjell Hjern (GHT) concluded that ‘with this production the director Ingmar Bergman has presented a production that is his most balanced and mature so far’. [regissören Ingmar Bergman har med denna föreställning signerat en iscensättning, som är den måttfullaste och mognaste han hittils har åstadkommit.] The reviewer in AT referred to it as ‘exquisitely artistic in every detail’ [utsökt konstnärlig i varje detalj] and claimed that Bergman probably made the play more impressive than Williams’ text deserved. David Hallén in AB termed the production one of the most intensely dramatic moments in a long time on a Swedish stage: ‘Never before has he (Bergman) shown, as he does here, what a fantastic man of the theatre he is. Everything is perfect. The casting has not a single snag, the tempo is hectic, the psychological progression is clear and concise’. [Aldrig förr har han (Ingmar Bergman) visat som här vilken fantastisk teaterman han är. Allt är perfekt. Rollbesättningen klickar inte på en punkt, farten är hektisk, det psykologiska skeendet framstår klart och koncist]. Mikael Katz in Expr. wrote that the furious trio of Ingmar Bergman, Karin Kavli and Anders Ek had a stranglehold on the audience until it gasped for air. On the whole, it was the intensity and energy of the production, coupled with Bergman’s attention to details, that caught the critics attention. However, filmmaker Vilgot Sjöman (Vi) sensed at times too much of the movie magician Bergman in a production in which a fast and loud screen tempo usurped Williams’ poetic and tragic mood. Bergman had now convinced even his most discriminating critics. Ebbe Linde wrote in DN: ‘Ingmar Bergman came to Göteborg City Theatre as a talented eccentric. He leaves it after two years with this masterful proof that shows his mature power as one of the country’s most knowledgeable directors’. [Ingmar Bergman kom till Göteborgs Stadsteater som begåvad eccentriker. Han lämnar den efter två år med ett mästarprov, som visar en mogen kraft som en av landets kunnigaste regissörer]. Cf. Similar assessment by Grevenius (ST).
Reviews Bergman, A. Gunnar. ‘Teaterspårvagn i Göteborg och Malmö’. AT, 2 March 1949, p. 3. Beyer, Nils. ‘Spårvagn till Lustgården’. MT, 2 March 1949, p. 4. Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Spårvagn till Lustgården’. ST, 2 March 1949, p. 8. Hallén, David. ‘... och i Göteborg’. AB, 2 March 1949, p. 9.
545
Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Hjern, Kjell. ‘Spårvagn till lustgården’. GHT, 2 March 1949, p. 3, 9. Katz, Mikael. ‘Williams i Göteborg och Malmö’. Expr., 2 March 1949, p. 9. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Spårvagn till Lustgården’. DN, 2 March 1949, p. 11. Sjöman, Vilgot. ‘Blanche du Bois’ tragedi’. Vi, 1949:11 (12 March), pp. 9, 22-23. Stenström, Urban. ‘Spårvagn till Lustgården i Göteborg’. SvD, 2 March 1949, p. 9.
Articles Kolin, Philip. ‘On a Trolley to the Cinema: Ingmar Bergman and the First Swedish Production of A Streetcar Named Desire’. South Carolina Review 27, no. 1-2 (Fall/Spring) 1994/95, pp. 277-286.
406.
RAKEL OCH BIOGRAFVAKTMÄSTAREN [Rachel and the Cinema Doorman]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Ingmar Bergman John Zacharias Eric Söderberg Boulevard Theatre, Stockholm 9 November 1949
Cast Kaj Hesster Eugen Lobelius Rachel Mia Petra, housekeeper
Stig Olin Börje Mellvig Ruth Kasdan Ingrid Backlin Olga Appellöf
Reception Reviewers were critical of the director of Bergman’s play (Zacharias) and called for a quicker tempo to keep pace with the playwright’s dramatic temperament. But reservations were also raised about Rakel ..., similar to those expressed in the earlier (1946, Ø 395) Malmö production of the play, i.e., that it lacked a psychological solution and was overly moralistic and facile in its conclusion (See Linde, Åkerhielm). Critics felt little rapport with Bergman’s religious references though acknowledging his serious personal struggle with such issues. Above all, however, they recognised his dramaturgical skill. Author Sigfrid Siwertz (VJ) suggested that Dramaten would be the right spot for Bergman.
Reviews Helén, Gunnar. ‘Ingmar Bergman-premiär på Boulevard’. ST, 10 November 1949, p. 10. Linde, Ebbe. ‘“Rakel” på Boulevard’. DN 10 November 1949, p. 14. Siwertz, Sigfrid. ‘Fan i nöten’ [Catching the devil]. Vecko-Journalen No. 47, 1949, p. 22, 44. Stenström, Urban. ‘Rakel och biografvaktmästaren’ [Rakel and the Cinema Usher]. SvD, 10 November 1949, p. 11. Åkerhielm, Helge. ‘Ingmar Bergman i Stockholm’. MT, 10 November 1949, p. 9.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman
1950 407.
GUDS ORD PÅ LANDET [Divine Words]
Credits Original Title Playwright Translator Director Stage Design Music Stage Opening date
Divinas Palabras Don Ramon del Valle-Inclán Ivar Harrie Ingmar Bergman Carl-Johan Ström Roman Maciejewski Göteborg City Theatre 3 February 1950
Cast Septimo Mjau, Street performer Levalätt [Livelight], his current girl Juana, aka Queen Johanna, beggar Laureano, her Son, an idiot Pedro Gailo, Sexton, Juana’s brother Mari-Gaila, his wife Simonina, their daughter Marica del Reino, Juana’s sister Rosa la Tatula, beggar Miguelin el Padrones, aka Fikus (Gay) The Sheriff An Invalid Soldier Blind Man from Gondar Benita, seamstress The Pilgrim Milon de la Arnoya, Peasant The Saint Her Father Quentin Pintado, Shepherd A Neighbor’s wife Serenin de Bretal Ludovina, Inn hostess Lemonade seller Two Gendarmes
Kolbjörn Knudsen Ulla Malmström Maria Schildknecht Herman Ahlsell Yngve Nordwall Karin Kavli Maria Sjöstrand Berta Hall Hjördis Petterson Claes Thelander Benkt-Åke Benktsson Ove Tjernberg Erland Josephson Ann-Mari Ström Ulf Johanson Lars Barringer Ulla Jacobsson Richard Mattsson Bror Follin Lisa Lundholm Håkan Jahnberg Ingrid Borthen Folke Sundquist Berth Söderlund, Arthur Hultling
Commentary This was the first staging in Sweden of Spanish playwright Valle-Inclán’s macabre Goya-inspired ‘comedy’ – a cavalcade of beggars, itenerant performers and pilgrims traversing the Iberian landscape, a setting foreshadowing the desert procession in Bergman’s TV film Fanny and Alexander more than thirty years later. Bergman and scenographer Carl-Johan Ström presented the play as a stylized and colourful set of tableaus in primarily red, white and black, with the various characters grouped together in fresco-like processions. Nils Beyer described the production as dynamic and colourful, yet at the same time toned down by its unrealistic character: ‘Here was a wild and strange troupe of itenerant actors, belonging to a strange country, who
547
Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre performed a play for us’. [Här var det ett vilt främmande gycklarfölje, hörande hemma i ett underligt land, som uppförde ett spel för oss]. Director’s Production Copy (no. 1108) is available at the Göteborg Museum of Theatre History. It contains quite a few handwritten comments about detailed stage movements; also some simple sketches showing placement of characters, especially in crowd scenes, plus a drawing of scene 12 (Sexton’s kitchen) with a note that the entrance door be up front and turned towards the audience, yet another indication of Bergman’s conscious striving to establish physical contact between stage and house. In a note in Act II, scene 6, Bergman presents an addition to the original: a train of chanting monks carrying icons are to appear as a countermovement to the wandering rabble who are accompanied by a set of musicians. The reference to Det sjunde inseglet‘s flagellant procession seems obvious. The Göteborg Museum of Theatre History also has three miniature models of the set, nos. 498-99, 547.
Reception This was termed both a sensational and trying production. The reviewer in the local paper GP wrote: ‘The City Theatre’s new program does not run the risk of being buried quietly. Yesterday it seemed rather the opposite, as if sensation was in the offing. Moralists in all the city’s quarters, unite! Here some things are said and done!’ [Stadsteaterns nya program lär inte riskera begravning i stillhet. Det föreföll i går snarare som om sensationen stod på språng. Moralister i alla stadsdelar, förenen Eder! Här säges det och göres saker!]. The public response was more polite than enthusiastic. A local critic (J. THN) rightly predicted that the production would not become a popular success: ‘Should the public stay away, they cannot be blamed. There has to be a certain limit to what the adminstration can demand in terms of receptivity by those sitting in a theatre, even if one presents a spellbinding spectacle of sophisticated technical stage features [Skulle publiken utebli kan den näppeligen drabbas av rättvist klander. Det får nog vara en viss måtta även på vad en teaterledning kräver av mottaglighet hos dem som befolkar salongen även om man förvänder synen på dem med scentekniska finesser]. The critical consensus was that Bergman had achieved a visual tour de force: ‘One’s eye is busy all evening long, watching more or less impassioned images, [...] a strange series of wild and nauseous, painful and solemn scenes [...]’ [Ögat är kvällen lång sysselsatt med mer eller mindre passionerade bilder [...], den sällsamma raden av vilda och äckliga, pinsamma och högstämda scener...]. (GP). But what was it all for? asked Ebbe Linde (DN): ‘Sensation for the sake of sensation? Grand Guignol? The square root of Tobacco Road?’ [Sensation för sentionernas egen skull? Grand Guignol? ‘Tobaksvägen’ i kvadrat?]. Olof Lagercrantz (SvD) felt that though the play suited Bergman’s mindset, his actors did not have ‘enough spice in their temperament to give the right pungent flavours that Spanish popular dishes deserve’. [inte kryddor starka nog i temperamentet för att ge den rätta rivande smaken åt spanska folkrätter].
Reviews Bæckström, Tord. ‘Guds ord på landet på Stadsteatern’. GHT, 4 February 1950, p. 3, 6. Beyer, Nils. ‘Guds ord på landet. Spansk pjäs i Göteborg’. MT, 4 February 1950, p. 4. Es. An. ‘Spanska sensationer’. GP, 4 February 1950, p. 2. J.THN. ‘Spanskt på Stadsteatern’. GT, 4 February 1950, p. 4. Lagercrantz, Olof. ‘Brokigt patrask i Göteborg’ [Colorful rabble in Göteborg]. SvD, 4 February 1950, p. 16. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Guds ord på landet’. DN, 4 February 1950, p. 8.
548
Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Intima Teatern, Stockholm (1950-51) 408.
TOLVSKILLINGSOPERAN [The Three Penny Opera]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Music Music Conductor Stage Opening date
Dreigroschenoper Bertolt Brecht Ingmar Bergman Erik Söderberg Kurt Weill Stig Rybrant Intima Teatern, Stockholm 17 October 1950
Cast Conferencier/Street Singer Peachum Mrs. Peachum Polly, their daughter Macheath, Mackie the Knife A beggar Crowbar Robert Lucy, his daughter Sad Walter Jimmy Ede Two constables Pastor Kimbal Smith Jacob Policemaster Jackie Brown Dolly, Molly Nellie and Betty Filch Mathias, Counterfeiter
Lars Egge Anders Ek Hjördis Pettersson Gertrud Fridh Edvin Adolphson Gösta Prüzelius Kulörten Ann-Mari Wiman Georg Skarsted Gösta Prüzelius Rune Andréasson Erik Liedholm, G. Fyhring John Melin Folke Hamrin Ragnar Falck Ulf Johanson Emy Storm, Teeri Stenhammar Julia Bernby, Gita Gordeladz Birger Malmsten Alf Östlund
Commentary Ingmar Bergman’s staging of Bertolt Brecht’s and Kurt Weill’s Three Penny Opera was a cause célèbre. On 17 October 1950, Lorens Marmstedt opened a new theatre in Stockholm, the Intima Teatern, designed as a small and elegant ‘Parisian’ boulevard stage. The inaugural production, Brecht’s Three Penny Opera, was directed by Bergman who had never before staged Brecht. It was a strange event, where Anders Ek, playing the role of Peachum, delivered lines filled with revolutionary sarcasm directly to opening night’s tuxedo-dressed public. Virtually all the reviewers were puzzled by this ‘attack’ on the audience at the inauguration of a boulevard theatre on an evening designed as a social gala affair. There were other curious circumstances at the opening. Because of a shortage of seats, not all of the theatre reviewers were admitted. One of them was novelist, playwright, and journalist Stig Dagerman. Lorens Marmstedt had to loan him his internal television set, so that Dagerman could watch a transmission of a partially blurred performance.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre In a program note to the production Ingmar Bergman dates his first acquaintance with Weill’s music to the summer of 1933, when he listened to the classical Lotte Lenya sing Jenny’s ballad to the accompaniment of Lewis Ruth’s band. It took some time before Bergman encountered Brecht’s text, one reason being that it had been confiscated by the Nazis. Later, when reading the play he was disappointed and repelled by its dry and matter-of-fact mixture of farce and tragedy. Brecht’s cool objectivity towards his painful story bothered Bergman.
Reception The critical divergences were so strong one might wonder if the reviewers actually watched the same performance. To Sten Selander (SvD), Bergman had created a perfect production by using the actors as grotesque marionettes who came alive in their songs, allowing the despair and bitterness of the really poor to stream forth into the house. But to others his stylized marionette approach destroyed Brecht’s realism (Beyer). To still others, Bergman had ignored Brecht’s expressed purpose of staging the play as a musical and had failed to create a distance between stage and audience (Verfremdung). Some felt that Bergman lacked a feeling for Brecht’s gallows humor (Hjorvard) and destroyed Brecht’s pungency: ‘The acting was like a gang of dressed-up beggars at a charity spectacle’. [Man spelade som of det varit ett gäng uppklädda tiggare på ett välgörenhetsspektakel] (A. Gunnar Bergman). The production was termed ‘macabre, vulgar, and loud’ [makaber, vulgär och högljudd] (Linder). Some even asked why Bergman had staged the play at all: ‘The production conveys no message. And what is The Threepenny Opera without a message? A piece from the Twenties’. [Uppsättningen förmedlar inget budskap. Och vad är Tolvskillinsoperan utan ett budskap? Ett stycke tjugotal]. (Dagerman). The real problem with the production seems to have been similar to Bergman’s staging of Camus’ Caligula in Göteborg a few years earlier: two strong but divergent wills – Anders Ek and Bergman – imposed their artistic ambitions on Brecht’s work. In his review, Ebbe Linde suggested as much: ‘Peachum was transformed into a snaking demon. It was all Anders Ek. But also all Ingmar Bergman. But was it the real Bert Brecht?’ [Peachum förvandlades till en ormande demon. Det var Anders Ek. Och det var också Ingmar Bergman, för hela slanten. Men var det den riktige Bert Brecht?].
Reviews Bergman, A. Gunnar. ‘För mer än tolv skilling på Intiman’ [For more than three pennies at the Intimate]. AT, 18 October 1950, p. 3. Beyer, Nils. ‘Tolvskillingsoperan – invigning av ny teater’ [Three Penny Opera – inauguration of a new theatre], MT, 18 October 1950, p. 7. Dagerman, Stig. ‘Intima Teatern: Tolvskillingsoperan’. Arbetaren, 18 October 1950, p. 8; Harrie, Ivar. ‘Brecht, Bergman, Marmstedt’. Expr., 18 October 1950, p. 5. Also radio review on 21 October 1950; Hjorvard. (Gustav Johansson), ‘Ny tiggaropera på nyaste teatern’ [New beggar’s opera on newest stage]. Ny Dag, 18 October 1950, p. 8. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Tolvskillingsoperan’. DN, 18 October 1950, p. 11. Linder, Erik Hj. ‘Tolvskillingsoperan’. ST, 18 October 1950, p. 13. PGP. (P.G. Pettersson), ‘Må konsulerna se sig om’ [May the consuls look back (videam consules)]. AB, 18 October 1950, p. 4. S. S-r. (Sten Selander). ‘Intima teaterns invigning’ [Inauguration of the Intimate Theatre]. SvD, 18 October 1950, p. 22.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman 409.
MEDEA
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening date
Jean Anouilh Ingmar Bergman Erik Söderberg Intima Teatern, Stockholm 28 December 1950
Cast Medea Jason Kreon Wet nurse A Boy Guards
Gertrud Fridh Anders Ek Ulf Johanson Märta Arbin Birger Malmsten Gösta Prüzelius, Lars-Erik Liedholm, Göte Fyhring
Double bill with:
410.
EN SKUGGA [A Shadow]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening date
Hjalmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Erik Söderberg Intima Teatern, Stockholm 28 December 1950
Cast Old Bridegroom Bride, a young girl Bride’s mother Erik, a young person Middle-aged servant First Bridesmaid Second Bridesmaid Third Bridesmaid Marshals
Lars Egge Ann-Mari Wiman Hjördis Pettersson Birger Malmsten Ulf Johanson Julie Bernby Teeri Stenhammar Marie-Louise Martins Gösta Prüzelius, Göte Fyhring, Lars-Erik Liedholm
Reception and Reviews The double bill was welcomed as a novel idea but critics were puzzled by the juxtaposition of Hjalmar Bergman’s bittersweet play about a young girl’s tragic disillusionment and Jean Anouilh’s modern version of Euripedes’ cruel and vengeful drama. Some concluded that their common bond was to be found in Ingmar Bergman’s special view of life, i.e., in his fascination with worldly evil. The staging was praised for its plasticity, but some found Bergman’s graphic realism too excessive: ‘Medea ran around barefoot like a gypsy and her wet nurse had the dirtiest skirt I have ever seen on stage’. [Medea sprang runt barfota som en zigenerska och hennes amma hade den smusigaste kjol jag någonsin sett på scenen] (Siwertz). Bergman, A. Gunnar. ‘Tvåstämmig premiär’ [Opening for two voices]. AT, 29 December 1950, p. 3.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Beyer, Nils. ‘Två enaktare på Intiman’ [Two one-act plays at the Intima]. MT, 29 December 1950, p. 7. Katz, Mikael. ‘Svensk tragedi och fransk’ [Swedish tragedy and French]. Expr., 29 December 1950, p. 4. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Intimans andra premiär’ [The Intima’s second opening]. DN, 29 December 1950, p. 2. Linder, Erik Hj., ‘Intimans tvåpjäsprogram’. [The Intima’s double bill program], ST, 29 December 1950, p. 7. PGP,. ‘Caliban och Medea på Intiman’. AB, 29 December 1950, p. 4. S. S-r. (Sten Selander). ‘Bergman och Anouilh på Intima Teatern’. SvD, 29 December 1950, p. 9. Stål, Sven. ‘Medea på Intiman’. Lidingö Tidning, 13 January 1951. Siwertz, Sigfrid. ‘Bergman – Anouilh – Wilder’. Vecko-Journalen 1951, no. 3 (18 January) 1951, p. 15, 22.
Dramaten (1951)
1951 411.
DET LYSER I KÅKEN [Lights in the shack]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening date
Björn-Erik Höijer Ingmar Bergman Sven Fahlstedt Royal Dramatic Theatre 19 April 1951
Cast Old Man Karlin The Forest Warden Lena, his daughter Elin, his mistress Pirkko Nilsson Sven Lisa Bettan Blow, freelancer
Anders de Wahl Uno Henning Maj-Britt Nilsson Birgitta Valberg Ingvar Kjellson Hugo Björne Sven-Erik Gamble Marianne Lindberg Margit Carlqvist Henrik Schildt
Commentary By the early 1950s, Björn-Erik Höijer, a vocational teacher in Northern-most Sweden, was hailed as a major new playwright. His play ‘Det lyser i kåken’ depicts the conflict between several social and ethnic groups in the far North: the middle-class Swedes, the poor tattare (‘gypsies’) about to lose their shack, and the Lapps (Sami). It was considered Höijer’s best play and had already been produced elsewhere in Sweden when Dramaten decided to stage it. The event was set up as a rather special affair, in which one of the grand old men of the Swedish stage, Anders de Wahl, was coupled with a director 50 years his junior, about to make his debut
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman at Sweden’s National stage. Reviewer Ivar Harrie wrote: ‘Two great enthusiasts – both young at heart – are hired to serve a young playwright’. [Två stora entusiaster – båda unga i hjärtat – är anställda för att tjäna en ung dramatiker]. De Wahl was a moody actor, well aware of his stature, who displayed a certain diva attitude during the rehearsals. Fortunately his role was confined to a cameo appearance as a Northern shaman. When de Wahl died in 1956, Ingmar Bergman wrote down some memories of his rehearsals of Det lyser i kåken. See ‘Anders de Wahl och den sista rollen’ [Anders de Wahl and the last role]. FIB [Folket i Bild], no. 18, 1956, p. 11. There were speculations in the press that Ingmar Bergman’s guest production at Dramaten was a test case before hiring him on contract as a Dramaten director but this did not come about. Clearly his presentation of Höijer’s play was not one of his directorial successes. Another factor working against him was the dire financial situation at Dramaten at the time, making it difficult for the state-subsidised theatre to hire on more permanent staff. (See ‘Dramatens affärer granskas’ [The finances at Dramaten to be audited], SvD, 28 April 1951 and ‘Dramatens ekonomi’, GHT, 28 April 1951). There were also rumors that both the head of Dramaten, Karl Ragnar Gierow, and its senior director, Olof Molander, discouraged Bergman’s engagement – maybe a brewing ‘father-son’ conflict. See Bergman’s The Magic Lantern, pp. 190-91.
Reception Several reviewers had seen the same play in Göteborg the previous season, with another veteran actor in the lead role, Sven Miliander, and directed by Bengt Ekerot, on loan from Dramaten. Ekerot’s directorial temperament was reticent when compared to Bergman’s flamboyance. Comparisons between the two productions were practically inevitable, and since the Göteborg performance had received rave reviews, Bergman’s Dramaten debut opened with a handicap. The critics’ apprehensions on opening night are obvious in their reviews, as is their sense of relief that the outcome was more than passable. But despite a fairly positive reception, there was a curious critical ambivalence about who to blame for the shortcomings that still marred the production: slow tempo, excessive realism verging on vulgarity, a stilted literary dialogue. Even if these features were ultimately the playwright’s problems, the director got part of the blame for not overcoming them in his production. Several critics pointed out that the playwright and director were seldom on the same wave length.
Reviews Bergman, A. Gunnar. ‘Lysande svensk premiär på Dramatens lilla scen’ [Brilliant Swedish opening at Dramaten’s small stage]. AT, 20 April 1951, p. 3. Beyer, Nils. ‘Liv och blod för en kåk’ [Life and blood for a shack]. MT, 20 April 1951, p. 9. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Makternas spel i Lappland’ [The powers at play in Lappland]. Expr., 20 April 1951, p. 4. PGP (P.G. Pettersson). ‘Helafton i tattarkåken’ [Full evening in the gypsie shack]. AB, 20 April 1951, pp. 4-5. S. B-l.(Sven Barthel). ‘Ödemarksdrama på Dramaten’ [Wilderness drama at Dramaten]. DN, 20 April 1951, p. 15. S. P-s (Set Poppius). ‘Dramaten (Lilla scenen)’. Skådebanan, no. 5 (May) 1951, pp. 4-5. S. S-r. (Sten Selander). ‘Svensk pjäs på Lilla Dramaten’. SvD, 20 April 1951, p. 7. Siwertz, Sigfrid. ‘Lappländskt på lilla Dramaten’ [Lapplandish at Dramaten’s small stage]. Vecko-Journalen, no. 17, 1951, p. 25, 37. Strömberg, Martin. ‘Det lyser för Höijer’ [Light for Höijer]. ST, 20 April 1951, p. 13. Stål, Sven. ‘Det lyser i kåken’. Lidingö Tidning, 5 May 1951.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre See also Björn-Erik Höijer writes about Bergman’s work with his play in ‘Att möta figurerna’ [To meet the characters]. Teatern 3, 1953: 3, 4, 10.
Folkparksteatern (1951) 412.
MANNEN DU GAV MIG [The Man You Gave Me]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening date
The Country Girl Clifford Odets Ingmar Bergman Evert Myhrman Folkparksteatern (Ambulatory Summer Stock) 9 June 1951 in Eskilstuna
Cast The Actor His Wife His Director Bernie The Financier The Ingenue
Georg Rydeberg Karin Kavli Åke Engfeldt Erik Rosén Margreth Weivers
Commentary This was the first European production of Odets’ play about an alcoholic actor and his wife. The original title, The Country Girl, (which was also the distribution title in Sweden for the film version of the play) was changed on the Swedish stage to the rather inoccuous ‘The man you gave me’.
Reception The play became a popular summer stock success in Sweden. Kavli and Rydeberg were publicity magnets, the one an histrionic stage star, the other a well-known first lover and he-man of the Swedish cinema. Bergman’s direction was termed skillful, clear, and controlled, though one reviewer suggested that almost any director could have done the same job. (Wahlund).
Reviews n.a. ‘Georg Rydebergs stora kväll i Eskiltuna’ [Georg Rydebergs big evening in Eskiltuna]. MT, 10 June 1951. S. B-l. (Sven Barthel), ‘Karin Kavli-turnén’ [The Karin Kavli tour]. DN, 10 June 1951. Strömberg, Martin. ‘Rydeberg-Kavli triumf i Eskilstuna’. ST, 10 June 1951. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Clifford Odets i Eskilstuna’. SvD, 10 June 1951.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Norrköping-Linköping City Theatre (1951) 413.
DEN TATUERADE ROSEN [The Rose Tattoo]
Credits Playwright Swedish Translator Director Stage Design Stage Opening date
Tennessee Williams Sven Barthel Ingmar Bergman Carl Johnsson-Cloffe Norrköping-Linköping City Theatre 15 November 1951, Norrköping; 30 November 1951, Linköping
Cast Serafina delle Rose Rosa delle Rose, her daughter Alvaro Mangiacavallo Assunta Jack Hunter Estelle Hohengarten Miss Yorke Flora Bessie Father De Leo The Agent Guiseppina Peppina Violetta
Karin Kavli Sigrid Kaiser Åke Engfeldt Signe Wirff John Harryson Ulrika Modin Kerstin Boström Gertrud Danielson Nine-Christine Jönsson Sture Ericson Tore Karte Louise Bojar Kerstin Olin Ruth Hoffsten
Commentary After The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams became a soughtafter name by Scandinavian theatres. In 1951, his play The Rose Tattoo was produced as a comedy in Copenhagen and as a somber tragedy in Göteborg. When Ingmar Bergman guest-directed the play at Norrköping-Linköping City Theatre, he approached it as a farce and changed both the opening and the ending of the original text. Even more drastically, he cut out all the crowd scenes depicting an Italian-American reality. The Rose Tattoo became a play designed as a solo performance for Karin Kavli, playing the title role.
Reception This production was one of Ingmar Bergman’s rare flops. The reviewer in SvD wrote: ‘One leaves the theatre depressed over a strangely insensitive and stiff presentation that lacks all charm. When Ingmar Bergman misses the mark, he does so thoroughly’. [Man lämnar teatern deprimerad över en egendomligt okänslig och stel föreställning som saknar all charm. När Ingmar Bergman hugger i sten gör han det ordentligt]. Kavli’s performance was termed more extroverted ferocity than inward passion; one reviewer characterised her as ‘more peony than rose, i.e., something without fragrance. But anything else was hardly possible in that flower bed’. [mer pion än ros, dvs något utan doft. Men något annat var knappast möjligt i den blomsterrabatten]. (Linde). Perhaps Bergman felt that his flamboyant guest actress from Göteborg would not give the resident ensemble much of a chance. The reviews clearly suggest that
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre he had had difficulty creating a cohesive performance with a dominant leading lady and a group of actors with whom he had never worked before. Nevertheless, the combination Kavli-Bergman-Williams attracted the public and of the twelve productions presented at the Norrköping-Linköping Theatre in the 1951-52 season, Den tatuerade rosen ranked third in terms of ticket sales.
Reviews Linde, Ebbe. ‘Tatuerade rosen som fars’ [The Rose Tattoo as a farce]. DN, 16 November 1951, p. 13. Linder, Erik Hj. ‘Tatuerade rosen på Norrköpings stadsteater’. ST, 16 November 1951, p. 13. P.E.W. (Per Erik Wahlund). ‘Dramatisk hötorgskonst’ [Dramatic kitsch]. SvD, 16 November 1951, p. 13. Bergman’s production of The Rose Tattoo went on tour in Sweden’s open air theatres (Folkparkerna) in the summer of 1952.
Malmö City Theatre (1952-58) Bergman’s six years at the Malmö City Theatre represent a peak in his work as a theatre director and constitute a new start for him after a personally difficult time in the period 1949-51 and his somewhat unsuccessful attempt to gain a name for himself again on the Stockholm theatre scene. His regular contract in Malmö began with the fall season of 1952. He now moved to the largest and most modern stage in Sweden (the main stage was 36 meters deep, 22 meters wide, and 5 meters high) and to a theatre with a relatively short production history. The head of the theatre, Lars Levi Læstadius, gave him his full confidence. In retrospect, Bergman has said that the work pace at Malmö was ‘incredible’ where one production would open on Friday night and the blocking for the next one would start on the following Monday. Average rehearsal time was four weeks. He likened Malmö’s two stages to mail boxes that gaped and swallowed one delivery after another or referred to them as ‘cracks in eternity’ [sprickor i evigheten]. (Bergman at an inpromtu appearance at Fågel Blå Cinema, 1 April 1998). See Elisabeth Sörenson, ‘Brutalt men lysande’, SvD, 2 April 1998. Prior to his contracted stay at Malmö, Bergman produced his own drama Mordet i Barjärna at the Malmö Intiman (Studio stage).
1952 414.
MORDET I BARJÄRNA – Ett passionsspel [Murder at Barjärna. A Passion Play]
Synopsis The setting is a vicarage in the Barjärna parish in Dalecarlia in the late 1800s. In a prologue, Jonas, the parish minister, stands talking to a troupe of itinerant players about a strange hallucinatory experience: his head seemed to pierce the sky and he entered another world, a diabolic landscape of dead fish, poisonous snakes, black harvest, bleeding cattle, and pregnant women who gave birth to mutilated children. The players laugh at Jonas’ nightmare, not realizing that his vision is a premonition of his future marriage to Mari, a young actress in the travelling troupe who, when discovering she is pregnant, seduces Jonas. Later Mari aborts the child and also terminates a second pregnancy. With a clear address to Strindberg’s play Fadren/The Father, Mari insinuates possible infidelity, intercepts her husband’s bookkeeping
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman and attempts to have him declared insane. Jonas suffers a nervous collapse and kills Mari by strangling her. He then attempts to mutilate himself to death but survives.
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Not listed in program Malmö City Theatre, Intiman Stage 14 February 1952
Cast Jonas Mari Malla Karin Frans Jesper Ella Modern Carolina Old Men
Oscar Ljung Margareta Bergfelt Harriette Garellick Berit Gustafsson Rune Turesson Toivo Pawlo Lena Cederström Naima Wifstrand Jullan Kindahl Per Hjern, Per Björkman, Josef Norman
Commentary Bergman had been a guest director at Malmö in 1945 (see Ø 392). Some have suggested (see Sjögren, 1968, p. 113) that the production of Mordet i Barjärna was a kind of test case for Bergman before assuming his 6-year stay at the Malmö City Theatre. Prompter’s copy (no. 164) available at the Malmö Theatre Archives.
Reception The play was presented without intermission. On opening night several members in the audience reportedly walked out. The critical consensus was overwhelmingly negative. One reviewer (Jarl W. Donnér) wrote: ‘This is probably the only premiere the play will ever have’. [Detta är troligen den enda premiär som pjäsen någonsin kommer att ha]. The work had been given a great deal of pre-publicity, pointing out its sadistic and sexually provocative content, which was seen by several reviewers as a smokescreen to detract attention from the fact that Bergman’s play was a literary disaster. Wrote Carl Björkman in Vecko-Journalen: ‘Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Murder at Barjärna’ is a dreadful piece. [...] This chamber of horrors, has no more life than a panopticon; its figures have no more artistic interest than a bunch of wax figures. [...] Ingmar Bergman has cultivated all his worst [literary] qualities’. [Ingmar Bergmans ‘Mordet i Barjärna’ är ett avskyvärt skådespel. [...] Detta skräckkabinett har inte mera liv än ett panoptikon; dess figurer inte högre artistiskt intresse än en skock vaxfiguer. [...] Ingmar Bergman (har) renodlat sina allra sämsta sidor och där allt det som är dålig litteratur hos honom kom fram]. Bergman’s unique qualities as a stage director were never questioned, but with its oscillation between the sublime and the grotesque, Mordet i Barjärna was seen as an embarrassing imitation of Gothic drama. The critic in ST (Strömberg) referred to it as ‘necromancy, a vulgar version of high-romanticism’. [svartkonst, högromantik i vulgärupplaga]. The play was not for people going to their first communion, wrote Hans Ruin (SDS) and described the performance as ‘kicking and shouting [...], the cues working like knives and thongs into flesh and soul, not a single shameless feature is left untried, not a vulgarity is left unsaid’. [Det sparkas och skriks i stycket, replikerna arbetar som knivar och tänger i kött och själ, inte en skamlöshet lämnas oprövad, inte en gemenhet blir osagd]. The works of Carl Jonas Love Almqvist’s (1793-1866)
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre were mentioned and so were Strindberg’s marriage dramas. Many reviewers were reminded of Erskine Caldwell’s Southern drama Tobacco Road, a theatrical sensation in Sweden at the time. The overall critical response clearly indicates skepticism that Bergman’s virtuosity as a director could hide his weakness as a playwright. (See also Olsson, Wahlund). It was the same kind of opinion expressed after the productions of his plays in Göteborg a few years earlier. No doubt the rather scathing views of Bergman’s playwriting talents contributed to his total shift, in the 1950s, to writing screenplays rather than stage dramas.
Reviews Bergman, A. Gunnar. ‘Mord bland kedjefångar på Malmö Intiman’ [Murder among chain convicts at the Malmö Intimate Theatre]. AT, 15 February 1952, p. 3. Beyer, Nils. ‘Mordet i Barjärna’. MT, 15 February 1952, p. 4. Björkman, Carl. ‘Malmö Grand Guignol’. Vecko-Journalen 1952: 9, p. 2. Donnér, Jarl W. ‘Passionspel’. GHT 18 February 1952. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Ingmar Bergman i Malmö’. DN, 15 February 1952, p. 8. PGP [P.G. Petersson]. ‘Bergman går en match med Djävulen’ [B. fights a match with the Devil]. AB, 15 February 1952, p. 2. Ruin, Hans. ‘Inte för konfirmander’ [Not for people going to their first communion]. SDS, 15 February 1952, p. 14. Strömberg, Martin. ‘Ett passionsdrama’. ST, 15 February 1952, p. 7. Sundell, Thure. ‘Malmö spelar bröllopsdramatik’ [Malmö plays wedding drama]. Scen och salong, no. 12, 1952, p. 14. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Skräckdrama på Malmö-Intiman’ [Horror drama on Malmö Intimate Stage]. SvD, 15 February 1952, p. 20.
See also Henrik Sjögren. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 113-18.
415.
KRONBRUDEN [The Bridal Crown/The Crown Bride]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Choreography Music Conductor Stage Opening Date
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Per Falk Carl-Gustaf Kruuse Ture Rangström Ingvar Wieslander Malmö City Theatre, Main Stage 14 November 1952
Cast Kersti Mats Kersti’s mother Kersti’s father, Soldier Kersti’s grandfather Brita, Mats’ sister Mats’ grandfather Mats’ father Mats’ mother Mats’ grandmother
Karin Kavli Rune Turesson Jullan Kindahl Oscar Ljung Josef Norman Berit Gustafsson Anders Frithiof Frans Oscar Öberg Dagmar Bentzen Alfhild Degerberg
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Anna, Mats’ sister The Sheriff The Parson Madame Larsson The Water Sprite The Fisherman The Hangman The Singer
Gun Arvidsson Åke Fridell Arnold Sjöstrand Naima Wifstrand Paul Höglund Sven-Erik Gamble Ernst Hugo Järegård Gunnel Nygren-Almquist
Commentary Bergman’s director’s copy (no. 182) is available at Malmö Theatre Archives. It contains some notes on lighting, sketches of actors’ stage movements, and suggested cuts in Strindberg’s dialogue, most notably in the confrontation between Kersti and her Mother. There are also some brief comments on character personalities, with Mats described as ‘a poor devil in the hands of Kersti, afraid of everyone, including her’. [en förtvivlad krake i händerna på Kersti. Rädd för alla, även för henne]. Some crucial scenes in the director’s copy are underlined and named: Mordtanken (Thought of Murder), Spänningen (Tension), Mot den religiösa extasen (Towards religious ecstasy), Offret fullbordat (Sacrifice finished) Nattvard? (Communion?), and Lovsång och Tacksägelse (Praise and Thanksgiving). The most interesting part is Bergman’s description of the ending, using a distinct visual language and a fade-out reminiscent of one of his own B/W films: ‘The moment of ecstasy dies down and the brisk, grey wintry spring morning dawns with driving clouds and an increasing storm. The crucifix darkens to a silhouette and people leave, carrying the dead woman. They disappear far away with extinguished torches’. [Extasens ögonblick förtonar och den blåsiga grå vårvintermorgonen gryr med jagande skyar och tilltagande storm. Krucifixet svartnar till en siluett och människorna drar bort bärande den döda. De försvinner långt bort med släckta facklor].
Reception In its setting amidst Dalecarlian folklore, Strindberg’s play, written in 1901, was an attempt to follow in the tracks of national neo-romanticism, a cultural movement that characterized Swedish painting and literature at the time. Bergman toned down some of the pastoral and picturesque elements of the play and ‘demonized’ it: ‘We are considerably closer to the sulphurous lakes of hell than to the glittering water of Lake Siljan’. [Vi är avsevärt närmare helvetets svavelsjöar än Siljans glittrande vatten (Beyer)]. Bergman replaced Strindberg’s emblem of Christian love, embodied in the figure of the ‘White child’, with a diabolic creature wreaking havoc amidst the performers during a wedding dance. Adding to the ‘demonic’ aspect of the production was the lead actress Karin Kawli as Kersti, the crown bride. ‘Her Kersti’, wrote Per Erik Wahlund, [is] ‘a strange, over-aged Kersti, primitive, [...] monotonous and highstrung’. [en egendomlig överårig Kersti, primitiv [...] monoton och överspänd]. Nils Beyer called Kavli’s Kersti ‘a wild and dark-haired troll hag from the aboriginal woods, who even smoked an iron pipe’ [en vild och mörkhårig trollpacka från urskogarna som till och med rökte järnpipa]. In fact, several reviewers found Kavli’s performance to be verging on parody. Bergman’s utilization of space – both the main stage and the apron were used, with no curtain separating them – got a mixed critical response. The opening scene was criticized for its overly dimensional mise-en-scene, dominated by a grotesque wind-fallen tree that was likened to some mythic prehistoric monster, around which the characters were to be seen crawling. Linde thought the setting resembled the place of some exotic fertility rite in Latin America. But all the reviewers were struck by the final scene – a crowd scene with two feuding groups of people meeting on a frozen lake, with a sunken church rising from its depths – a powerful image of metaphysical dimension that turned the stark drama into a dreamplay.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Reviews Beyer, Nils. ‘Kronbruden i Malmö’. MT, 15 November 1952. Hansson, Hansingvar. ‘Aspekt på kronvrak’ [Aspect of a wreck]. ST, 15 November 1953. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Kronbruden i Malmö’. DN, 15 November 1952. M-n. ‘Strindberg-Bergman i Malmö’. AT, 15 November 1952. PGP. ‘Kromosombruden på Malmöteatern’ [The chromosome bride at Malmö Theatre]. AB, 15 November 1953. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Kronbruden’. SvD, 15 November 1952.
See also Frederick and Lise-Lone Marker. Ingmar Bergman: Four Decades in the Theatre, 1992, pp. 60-63. Henrik Sjögren. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 124-30. (Both of these items provide excellent discussions of the production).
1953 416.
JACK HOS SKÅDESPELARNA [Jack among the Actors]
Synopsis When Corporal Jack Kasparson ends up in a provincial theatre, he becomes part of a Pirandellean play within a play situation. A distant and silent director has left the troupe in disarray. One actor hangs himself, another dies of a stroke, his widow seduces a third actor during the funeral dinner. In the end the Director appears like a deus ex machina and explains why he has set this witches sabbath in motion.
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Date
Ingmar Bergman Eric Heed Gustaf Mandal Lilla teatern, Lund 21 January 1953
Cast Jack Kasparsson Mikael Bro Carlsson, stage janitor Nelly, primadonna Sanna, old dancer
Erik Heed Hans Polster Lars-Olof Lindquist Maj-Britt Pamp Lil Sjölin
Commentary The production took place in a small theatre in the university town of Lund and was directed by a former actor at Hälsingborg City Theatre, Erik Heed. He toned down Bergman’s expressionistic voice in the play by incorporating traits of the student ‘spex’ genre, i.e., grotesque travesties of high tragedy. According to reviewer Ingvar Holm, (‘Jack hos skådespelarna’) [Jack among the Actors], DN, 21 January 1953), Heed’s production shifted the focus from Bergman’s alter ego, Jack Kasparsson, to the self-destructive actor Mikael Bro, whose foil was the stage janitor Carlsson, a comic character offsetting the nightmarish mood of the play.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman 417.
SEX ROLLER SÖKER EN FÖRFATTARE [Six Characters in Search of an Author]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening date
Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore Luigi Pirandello Ingmar Bergman Per Falk Malmö City Theatre, Intiman Stage 21 November 1953
Cast The Father The Girl The Mother The Boy The Son Madame Paix The Stepdaughter
Åke Fridell Marie-Louise Åkerlund Aino Taube Nine-Christine Jönsson Folke Sundquist Gunnel Edlund Gertrud Fridh
Theatre company members Theatre director The Primadonna 1st Actor 2nd Actor 3rd Actor The Ingenue 1st Lover Stage manager Prompter Propman Porter
Benkt-Åke Benktsson Birgitta Hellerstedt Arnold Sjöstrand Judith Frithiof Åke Åkerlund Harriet Andersson John Alvar Holm Sven Ahlström Lillemor Jonsson Thore Lindqvist Carl Liljeholm
Commentary Prompter’s copy (no. 208) is available at Malmö Theatre Archives. Pirandello’s drama about a play rehearsal, which is interrupted by six characters who want their lives portrayed, is set in the 1920s. Bergman antedated the rehearsed play to the turn of the last century, the reason being that the old-fashioned costumes helped the audience distinguish between the actors in rehearsal and the six interrupting characters dressed in modern black clothing. Besides, Bergman has always had a faiblesse for the dress code of a hundred years ago.
Reception Bergman’s production of Pirandello’s Six Characters... was his first major success during his sixyear term at Malmö City Theatre. The audience reportedly followed the performance in breathless silence (PGP). Reviewers singled out two aspects in particular: the director’s faithful reading of Pirandello’s text and the high quality of acting ‘not found on any other stage in Sweden’. [som inte hittas på någon annan scen i Sverige] (Kjellström, Vecko-Journaalen). Erwin Leiser (MT) claimed that Malmö had now surpassed Göteborg as Sweden’s leading theatre city and Ebbe Linde (DN) termed the production not only Ingmar Bergman’s but also the Malmö Theatre’s greatest artistic achievement thus far.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Reviews Håkansson, Harald. ‘Illusion och verklighet’ [Illusion and Reality]. Studiekamraten, no. 12, 1953. Kjellström, Nils. ‘Sex roller söka en författare’ [Six Characters seek an author]. Vecko-Journalen, No. 50, 1953. Leiser, Erwin. ‘Sex roller erövrar scenen’ [Six Characters conquer the stage]. MT, 22 November 1953. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Sex roller i Malmö’. DN, 22 November 1953. PGP. ‘Tredje resan Pirandello’ [Third Pirandello trip]. AB, 23 November 1953. Sundell, Thure. ‘Brecht-Pirandello i Malmö’ Scen och salong, no. 12, 1953, p. 17. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Pirandello i Malmö’. SvD, 22 November 1953.
418.
SLOTTET [The Castle]
Credits Original Title Playwright Translator Director Stage Design Stage Opening date
Das Schloss Max Brod, based on Franz Kafka’s novel Tage Aurell Ingmar Bergman not listed in program Malmö City Theatre, Intiman Stage 19 December 1953
Cast Josef K. Arthur Schwarzer Host at Herrenhof Barnabas, messenger Frieda, waitress Olga, his sister Head of Town Council Amalia, young sister Mizzi, his wife Innkeeper The Teacher Innkeeper’s wife Peasants at Pub Jeremiah Barnabas’ parents
Toivo Pawlo Rune Turesson Folke Sundquist Oscar Ljung Björn Bjelvenstam Nine-Christine Jönsson Eva Stiberg Åke Fridell Harriet Andersson Berit Gustafsson Arnold Sjöstrand Georg Årlin Jullan Kindahl Frans Oscar Öberg, Nils Eklund Josef Norman Nils Nygren, Mona Dan-Bergman
Commentary The director’s copy (no. 203) is available at Malmö Theatre Archives but contains very few notes or stage details/sketches. It indicates some minor cuts and a few additions in the dialogue, mostly of a colloquial nature. For his production of Max Brod’s dramatization of Franz Kafka’s novel The Castle, Bergman displayed an almost empty stage – a few chairs, a table, and some projected images on the back wall suggesting the unreachable castle or a spiritual wasteland. The lighting was a form of dreamlike clair-obscure in black, grey, and white tones. The overall effect was that of an expressionistic nightmare.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reception The critics reacted with enthusiasm. Sven Barthel in DN termed the production a new feather in the cap for Malmö City Theatre. Danish paper Politiken felt that Malmö’s Slottet was the most exciting production performed on ‘these latitudes’ and was convinced that Kafka’s eyes were shining on Bergman in gratitude. For years Bergman had been greeted as Sweden’s most promising but also most juvenile director. Now at age 35 he was finally said to have reached maturity as a stage director. Jarl Donnér in GHT wrote: ‘It was an unusual theatre evening and [...] still another proof that the strangest directorial talent in the Swedish theatre has entered a phase of maturity, the continuation of which one anticipates with interest’. [Det var en ovanlig teaterkväll och ett [...] förnyat bevis på att svensk teaters mest aperta regissörsbegåvning nu ingått i ett skede av mognad, vars fortsättning man med intresse avvaktar]. Four distinct features in Bergman’s work at Malmö now began to crystallize in the critical response: He coupled artistic energy and discipline with an ability to transform the written word into dramatic performance: ‘One gets the feeling that Ingmar Bergman can make good theatre out of the most resisting material’, [Man får en känsla av att Ingmar Bergman kan göra bra teater av det mest motståndskraftiga material], wrote Ingvar Hansson in ST, 20 December 1953; 2. Bergman’s work was based on a careful and sensitive reading of the dramatic text; 3. He displayed an unusual visual and acoustic creativity; 4. He showed a remarkable ability to get the performers to excel. Nils Beyer (MT, 20 December 1953) wrote: ‘There does not exist another director in this country, who can utilize his actors for the total effect like Ingmar Bergman. Does he hypnotize them?..’. [Det finns verkligen ingen annan regissör i detta land, som kan utnyttja sina skådespelare för helhetseffekten som Ingmar Bergman. Hypnotiserar han dem?...]. 1.
Reviews Barthel, Sven [S. B-l]. ‘Kafka i Malmö’. DN, 20 December 1953. Beyer, Nils. ‘Kafkas Slottet i Malmö’. MT, 20 December 1953. Donnér, Jarl W. ‘Kafka på Malmöteatern’. GHT, 21 December 1953. Hansson, Hansingvar. ‘Kafka i Malmö’. ST, 20 December 1953. Kjellström, Nils. ‘Kafkas drömvärld och teaterns’ [Kafka’s dreamworld and the theater’s]. VeckoJournalen, no. 2, 1954. Steinthal, Herbert. ‘Menneskesjelens ensomhed’ [The loneliness of the human soul]. Politiken (Danish), 20 December 1953. Sundell, Thure. ‘Kafka på Malmöscenen’. Scen och salong, no. 2, 1954, p. 14. Swensson, Sven. ‘Teater i Malmö’. Teatern 1, 1954: 12-13. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Kafka’s Slottet i Malmö’. SvD, 20 December 1953.
1954 419.
SPÖKSONATEN [The Ghost Sonata]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design/Costumes Stage
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Martin Ahlbom Malmö City Theatre, Main Stage
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Opening Date
5 March 1954
Cast Old Man Hummel The Student The Milkmaid The dead Consul The Dark Lady The Colonel The Mummy The Young Lady The Snob Johansson Bengtsson The Fiancee The Cook
Benkt-Åke Benktsson Folke Sundquist Harriet Andersson Anders Frithiof Birgitta Hellerstedt Georg Årlin Naima Wifstrand Gaby Stenberg Arnold Sjöstrand Åke Fridell Josef Norman Lena Cederström Alfhild Degerberg
Commentary A director’s copy (no. 207) is available at Malmö Theatre Archives. It contains relatively few notes, some sketches of the opening scene describing concierge’s activities (sweeping, polishing brass, watering laurels, spreading spruce branches), and of the ghost supper (placement of chairs and table). Ingmar Bergman wrote a brief untitled note in the theatre program (pp. 5, 7, 14), in which he claimed he read Strindberg’s play at age 12. There are some age variations (anywhere from 12 to 17) concerning Bergman’s first encounter with Strindberg’s texts, but little doubt about Strindberg’s early impact on him. In the program note (p. 7) he recalls his first production of Spöksonaten in 1941 (see Ø 368) when ‘the frail ensemble was lifted, as if on a wave, by the immensity of the drama [den bräckliga ensemblen lyftes som på en våg av dramats väldighet] and ‘got to take part in the theatre as magic: to be thrown beyond our own limits’. [fick vara med om teatern som magi: att slungas utanför våra egna gränser]. Juxtaposing his 1941 production of Spöksonaten to his experience of Olof Molander’s staging of Strindberg’s play in the following year, Bergman recalls: ‘Never has a young rooster’s crowing got stuck in his throat with such force as mine did that evening’. [Aldrig har väl en tuppkyckling fått galandet i vrångstrupen med sådant eftertryck som jag fick den kvällen.] He calls his Malmö production ‘ett kärleksbarn’ (a love child), with his own staging in 1941 as the mother and Molander’s production the following year as the father, but also asserts that the offspring is independent enough to stand on its own two feet. The program note as such is an interesting balance between Bergman’s respect for Molander and his plea that his own work be blessed by the great Dramaten director.
Reception Because of Bergman’s program note, most reviewers felt obliged to compare his production to Molander’s, usually in very positive terms for Bergman. ‘Molander has no monopoly on The Ghost Sonata’ [Molander har inget monopol på Spöksonaten], wrote P.G. Peterson in AB and the reviewer in Skånska Dagbladet stressed Bergman’s artistic independence: ‘Bergman pays homage to Molander but he himself has of course the predisposition to interpret the play independently’. [B visar sin vördnad för M men han själv har naturligtvis förutsättning att oberoende tolka pjäsen]. Per Erik Wahlund (SvD) made a key statement about Bergman as a careful listener to the dramatic text – a role that Bergman himself would frequently come to stress. Wahlund ad-
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman mitted that he had anticipated quite a theatrical spectacle when demonic director Bergman met fiery playwright Strindberg but had to acknowledge that Bergman had served well in the role of interpreter.
Reviews Beyer, Nils. ‘Spöksonaten i Malmö’. MT, 6 March 1954, p. 2. Hanson, Hansingvar. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Spöksonat’. ST, 6 March 1954. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Stort kammarspel’ [A great chamber play]. Expr., 6 March 1954. Ivarsson, Nils Ivar. ‘Strindberg och Lagerkvist på Malmö stadsteater’ [Strindberg and Lagerkvist on Malmö City Theatre]. Studiekamraten, no. 3, 1954. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Spöksonaten i Malmö’. DN, 6 March 1954. Mårtenson, Sigvard. ‘Spöksonaten’ Skånska Dagbladet. 6 March 1954. Peterson, P.G. ‘Spöksonaten som var annorlunda’ [The Ghost Sonata that was different]. AB, 6 March 1954. Ruin, Hans. ‘Spöksonaten på Stadsteatern’. SDS, 6 March 1954. Steinthal, Herbert. ‘Et mareridt med menneskelige toner’ [A nightmare ride with human tones]. Politiken (Danish), 8 March 1954. Sundell, Thure. ‘Malmöteatern spelar svenskt’ [Malmö Theatre plays something Swedish]. Scen och salong, no. 4, 1954, p. 8. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Spöksonaten i Malmö’. SvD, 6 March 1954.
Special Studies Marker, Frederick & Lise-Lone. Ingmar Bergman: Four Decades in the Theatre, 1992, pp. 67-97. (A discussion of Bergman’s 1954 and 1973 Spöksonaten productions). Sjögren, Henrik. Ingmar Bergman på teatern 1968, pp. 141-47. Törnqvist, Egil. The production is dicussed in his book Strindberg’s The Ghost Sonata. Amsterdam UP, 2000, pp. 118-20 and passim.
420.
GLADA ÄNKAN [The Merry Widow]
Credits Libretto Music Director Stage Design/Costumes Music Arrangements Choreography Conductor Assistant Director Stage Opening Date
Viktor Léon and Leo Stein Franz Lehar Ingmar Bergman Per Falk Ingvar Wieslander Carl-Gustaf Kruuse Sten-Åke Axelson Ingrid Tönsager Malmö City Theatre, Main Stage 1 October 1954
Cast Baron Mirko Zeta Valencienne Praskowia Greve Danilo Hanna Glawari Camille de Rosillon Vicomte Cascada Raoul de St. Brioche
Åke Askner Britta Larke/ Gunnel Nygren-Almquist Anna-Greta Nyberg Per Grundén Gaby Stenberg Sigvard Berg Paul Höglund Arne Dahl
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Bogdanovitsch Sylviane Von Kronow Olga Pritschnisch Njegus Lolo Dodo Jou-Jou Frou-Frou Clo-Clo Margot Dancers
Per Björkman Ulla Hellberg Per Hjern Ulla-Greta Starck Åke Åkerlund Toivo Pawlo Marianne Törje/Britta Larke Marianne Andersson Gisela Bennech Titti Dupont Judith Frithiof Stina Jerre Pauline White, Lenn Hjortzberg, Charles Ley, Shirley Roberts, Inga Berggren, Klaus Zimmermann
Commentary Malmö City Theatre celebrated its tenth anniversary with an operetta: Bergman’s production of Franz Lehar’s ‘The Merry Widow’. In an interview in the Malmö City Theatre newsletter Mellanakt (II, no. 1 1954, pp. 1-2), Bergman states: ‘The Merry Widow is like a wonderful old kerosene lamp. One must be careful not to put electric lights in it. It has to be treated with care and must not be modernized’. [Glada änkan är som en underbar gammal fotogenlampa. Man måste vara försiktig och inte sätta elektriskt ljus i den. Den måste behandlas med omsorg och får inte moderniseras]. The Merry Widow’s constellation of characters seems to have served as a model for Bergman’s subsequent film comedy Sommarnattens leende (Smiles of a Summer Night). Some twenty years after his Malmö production of The Merry Widow he had plans to make a film version of Lehar’s operetta with Barbra Streisand as Hanna Glawari, but the talks stranded when Bergman became miffed at what he termed Streisand’s primadonna response. (See Ø 804). Assistant director Ingrid Tönsager’s copy (no. 226) is available at Malmö Theatre Archives. It contains detailed cue-by-cue notes of actors’ gestures and movements. Director’s copy (in two parts), no. 226, is in Ingmar Bergman Fårö Archive at SFI. It is referenced in Koskinen’s book Ingmar Bergman. Allting föreställer, ingenting är, 2001, p. 233, and contains handwritten notes and an inserted booklet entitled Die lustige Witwe.
Reception Bergman’s operetta production was a huge public success and changed his image as a theatre director. So far his work had been associated with dark dramatic subjects. That he would bother to produce an operetta took reviewers by surprise, but they were delighted at the humor and ironic touch of his Merry Widow, where Bergman’s angst had been ‘replaced by a spurting joie de vivre’ [ersatts av bubblande livsglädje] (ST). In fact, reviewers surpassed each other in rave reviews. The SDS critic spoke for most of his colleagues: ‘I have seldom seen such a witty and laugh-provoking operetta production as this one and never one as brilliant’. [Sällan har jag sett en så kvick och skrattlockande operettföreställning som denna och aldrig förut en så biljant.] What excited the critics the most was Bergman’s upgrading of a popular middle-class form of entertainment to refined and sophisticated theatre art. Music critic Yngve Flyckt in Expr. wrote: ‘Now all the country’s administrative theatre heads with The Merry Widow in their knapsack can withdraw, chewing their nails. For they have had the bad luck of seeing a real theatre director get interested in their supreme number, using his imagination and know-how’. [Nu kan alla landets teaterdirektörer med ‘Glada änkan’ i kappsäcken dra sig tillbaka och tugga på naglarna. De har råkat ut för oturen att en riktig teaterregissör fått intresse för deras parad-
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman stycke och använt sin fantasi och sitt kunnande]. The reviewer in DN epitomizes both the enthusiasm in the critical corps at discovering the operetta genre as a viable art form and their mea-culpa attitude for having underestimated the genre in the past: After Friday’s opening of The Merry Widow one wants to climb a chair, a table, or anything and cry out ‘Cheers’! Cheers to the Malmö City Theatre, double cheers to Gaby Stenberg [who played the Widow] and a hundred cheers to the directorial genius Ingmar Bergman. [...] Whereupon one will want to crawl under the table, mutter a brief confession of sins and take back everything one has thought, said, and written earlier about the operetta as an art form. [Efter fredagens premiär på ‘Glada änkan’ har man lust att kliva upp på en stol, på ett bord eller vad som helst och ropa ‘Triumf!’ Triumf för Malmö Stadsteater, dubbel triumf för Gaby Stenberg, hundrafaldig för regisnillet Ingmar Bergman [...]. Och sedan skulle man vilja krypa ner under möbeln, mumla en liten syndabekännelse och ta tillbaka allt man förut tänkt, sagt och skrivit om operetten som konstform]. The only deviating critical voice was that of Teddy Nyblom (AB) who objected to Bergman’s departure from the romantic love conventions in the operetta genre: ‘Bergman shows [...] surprising proof of both talent and genius. [...] But his filmic sense of arrogance towards the erotic, the inflated, and at times disgusting does not [...] belong in an operetta’. [Bergman visar... överraskande prov på både talang och geni... (men) hans filmbetonade sinne för arrogans mot det erotiska, det svulstiga och ibland motbjudande ... hör (inte) hemma i en operett].
Reviews Broman, Sten. ‘Jubileumsänkan på Stadsteatern’. SDS, 2 October 1954. Flyckt, Yngve. ‘Änkan utan kattguld’ [The Widow without false glitter]. Expr., 2 October 1954. Henry. ‘Jubileumssuccé med Glada änkan’ [Jubilee success with Merry Widow]. Arbetet, 2 October 1954. Hl. ‘Jubileumsänka i Malmö’ [Jubilee Widow in Malmö]. DN, 2 October 1954. L-n. ‘Glada Änkan på galej’ [Merry Widow on a spree]. ST, 2 October 1954. Nyblom, Teddy. ‘Lehars och Bergmans Enka’. AB 2 October 1954. Om. ‘Glada änkan i Malmö’. SvD, 2 October 1954. S.K. ‘Ingmar Bergmans “Glada Änka” i Malmö’. MT, 2 October 1954. Sjögren, Henrik. ‘Änkan och den glade greven’. (The widow and the happy count). KvP, 2 October 1954.
421.
SKYMNINGSLEKAR [Twilight Games] Ballet
Credits Ballet in Four Scenes Music Stage Design and Costumes Conductor Choreography Stage Opening date
Carl Gustaf Kruuse and Ingmar Bergman Ingvar Wieslander Martin Ahlbom Ingvar Wieslander Carl Gustaf Kruuse Malmö City Theatre, Main Stage October 1954
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Cast/Dancers I. Intermezzo The Queen The King The Singer The Pub Nymph Courtiers, Mob
Pauline White Carl Gustaf Kruuse Bengt von Knorring Marianne Mohaupt Corps de ballet
The setting is 18th-century Stockholm in the Haga Park and in a pub at Djurgården. II. Skorna [The Shoes] The Pawnbroker The Girl at the Piano The Dancer
Ingrid Tönsager Ulla-Britt Engström Jutta Gieseke/Shirley Roberts
Story about a pair of well worn ballet shoes (inspired by Hans Cristian Andersen’s tale ‘The Red Shoes’). III. Broadsheet The Rope Dancer The Officer The Wife Street Organ Player Saturday People
Ina Katterfeld Hans Rohde Shirley Roberts Bengt von Knorring Corps de ballet
‘Sad things will happen ... as you know!’ (Quote from Swedish broadsheet song about rope dancer Elvira Madigan). IV. Twilight Game She He Students
Inga Berggren Winfried Krisch Corps de ballet
A spring poem about the wish to dance, to float... ‘let us enjoy our days of youth’ [Swedish student song].
Commentary Bergman’s role is not specified in the program but it seems likely he was responsible for ideas and storyline and his collaborator, Carl Gustaf Kruuse, for the choreography.
Reviews Sundell, Thure. ‘Aida och skymningslekar’. Scen och Salong 12, 1954: 11.
1955 422.
DON JUAN
Credits Original Title Playwright Translator Director Assistant Director
Don Juan ou le festin de pierre Molière Tor Hedberg Ingmar Bergman Lennart Olsson
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Costumes Stage Opening date
Stig Nelson Malmö City Theatre, Intima Stage 4 January 1955
Cast Don Juan Sganarelle Donna Elvira Gusman Don Carlos Don Alonse Don Louis Charlotte Mathurine Commander’s Statue Francisque Pierrot La Violette Ragotin Dimanche, merchant
Georg Årlin Toivo Pawlo Berit Gustafsson Nils Nygren Bengt Schött Oscar Ljung Anders Frithiof Harriet Andersson Gunnel Lindblom Frans Oscar Öberg Josef Norman Åke Fridell Ulf Quarsebo Nils Nygren Nils Eklund
Commentary Assistant director Lennart Olsson’s copy (no. 230) is available at Malmö Theatre Archives. It contains some detailed descriptions of Don Juan’s movements and state of mind, especially in the opening scene: ‘Tired, hunch-backed, flabby, Don Juan appears before Sganarelle [Trött, kutryggig, slapp visar sig Don Juan inför Sganarelle]. Copy also includes some rather rudimentary stage sketches. An important theme in Bergman’s production of Molière’s play was the unmasking of Don Juan, which was demonstrated in an added introductory pantomime, where Don Juan had his elegant night gown and cap removed, revealing for a moment a bald and aging seducer. Though servant Sganarelle soon dressed him up in a virile black wig, tight pants, ruffled coat and a sword, the audience immediately knew that Don Juan is a fake as he sets out on his obsessive erotic conquests. Bergman saw Molière’s play as a morality play in which Don Juan’s punishment in hell was a given from the start. Despite Sganarelle’s fawning and cowardly attitude, Bergman used him as a truth-sayer who revealed his master’s self-deception and empty life style. The scenography was a replica of Molière’s stage with sloping floor, ancient props, and a simple painted backdrop.
Reception The Don Juan production was another victory for Ingmar Bergman and his ensemble. Though not unanimous, the critics were fascinated by the opening pantomime and by the element of pastiche which made the production a lesson in theatre history. They also commented on the morality play approach, which displayed human situations and actions in Christian terms of saved or lost souls. One critic (Hansson, ST) referred to Bergman’s production as ‘a dramatically refined sermon’ [en dramatiskt förfinad predikan]. Almost all of the reviewers concluded that Bergman was an unusual Molière interpreter who combined an understanding of both theatre classicism and modernity. The Don Juan production confirmed his expanding mastery of stagecraft. Linde in DN concluded: ‘Ingmar Bergman goes from clarity to clarity’. [Ingmar Bergman går från klarhet till klarhet].
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Reviews Bergstrand, Allan. ‘Molière’s Don Juan’. Arbetet, 5 January 1955, p. 5. Hansson, Hansingvar. ‘Raka spåret till skärselden’ [Straight on to purgatory]. ST, 5 January 1955. Leiser, Erwin. ‘Visa i Malmö’. MT, 6 January 1955, p. 2. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Malmö spelar ‘Don Juan’’. DN, 5 January 1955. M-n. ‘Ingmar Bergman rider Molière’ [Bergman rides M]. AT, 6 January 1955. PGP. ‘1600-tal på två vis’ [17th century in two ways]. AB, 7 January 1955, p. 2. Ruin, Hans. ‘Molières “Don Juan”’. SDS, 5 January 1955. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Molière i Malmö’. SvD, 5 January 1955.
See also Marker, Lise-Lone and Frederick. Ingmar Bergman: Four Decades in the Theater, 1982, pp. 133-34. Sjögren, Henrik. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 151-56. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Ingmar Bergman and Don Juan’, 1993 (Ø 642) and ‘Molière’s Don Juan on Stage and Screen’, Bergman’s Muses, 2003, pp. 80-90.
423.
TEHUSET AUGUSTIMÅNEN [Teahouse of the August Moon]
Credits Playwright Director Translator Stage Design and Costumes Music Stage Opening date
John Patrick Ingmar Bergman Stig Ahlgren Per Falk Gert-Ove Andersson Malmö City Theatre, Main Stage 5 February 1955
Cast Sakini, interpreter Mr. Oshira Captain Fisby Mr. Keora Sergeant Gregovich Lotus Blossom Colonel Purdy Captain McLean Mr. Seiko Young woman Mr. Hokaida Old woman in jeep Her daughter Mr. Omura Mr. Sumata Her child Miss Higa Jiga Old man in jeep
Toivo Pawlo Josef Norman Gunnar Björnstrand Nils Nygren Rune Turesson Gaby Stenberg Åke Fridell Yngve Nordwall Folke Sundquist Berit Gustafsson Per Hjern Alfhild Degerberg Titti Dupont Bengt Schött Nils Eklund Ingalill Anneminne Jullan Kindahl Lenn Hjortzberg
Commentary When Bergman presented John Patrick’s play about life on the occupied island of Okinawa, it was the fourth production in Sweden of a comedy which was said to have gone around the
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman world like an epidemic (DN). Rumor had it that the Malmö production was intended to offset a simultaneous (non-Bergman) staging of Strindberg on the theatre’s Intimate stage. In Bilder/Images (1990, p. 175) Bergman reveals how Patrick’s play came to replace, for commercial reasons, a tentative plan to sett up Euripides’ classical drama The Bachae (Backanterna): We began planning but became hesitant. The Malmö City Theatre had really only one mission: to get people to the theatre. So we weighed the pros and cons and cancelled the project without further sentimentality. The theatre fought for its life and this (The Bachae) was both too big and too narrow. So then we did Teahouse of the August Moon instead. [Vi började planera men blev betänksamma. Malmö Stadsteater hade egentligen bara ett uppdrag: att skaffa folk till teatern. Vi övervägde således fördelarna och nackdelarna och la ner projektet utan vidare sentimentalitet. Teatern slogs för sitt liv och det här var både för stort och för smalt. Så då gjorde vi Thehuset Augusti-månen i stället]. Director’s copy is available at Malmö Theatre Archives. It contains only a few notes and a rudimentary sketch of Fisby’s office.
Reception Production became a great popular success. The reviews were more reserved. Some called Bergman’s directing ‘conventional’ (SvD); others felt that the farcical elements in the play were overdone (ST), and objected to Bergman’s ‘primitive’ use of situational comedy (Donnér). Recognizing that the playbill was meant to be ‘ett muntert publikstycke’ [a happy popular piece] (Barthel, DN), the reviewers did not regard the production as one of Bergman’s more memorable ones.
Reviews B-nd (Allan Bergstrand). ‘Ockupationskomedi’. Arbetet, 6 February 1955. Barthel, Sven. ‘Ingmar Bergmans tehus’. DN, 6 February 1955. Hanson, Hansingvar. ‘Vildarna i väster’ (Savages of the west). ST, 6 February 1955. Om. ‘Tehuset i Malmö’. SvD, 6 February 1955. Ruin, Hans. ‘Tehuset Augustimånen’. SDS, 5 February 1955.
See also Sjögren. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 161-64.
424.
TRÄMÅLNING [Wood Painting/Painting on Wood] See also (Ø 283, 317) Trämåling is a one-act play that became the basis of Bergman’s script to Sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal). Set in the Middle Ages, it depicts the homecoming and encounter of a Knight and his Squire with a group of people, who also appear in the film. The play however has none of the many different scene changes that occur in the film, though the original plot is structured as a journey. Like The Seventh Seal, the dramatic conception of Painting on Wood is built on the morality play genre. The main difference between the stage version and the screenplay is that in the original play Death is not a dramatic character but performs the role of narrator. Squire Jöns’ part is more central in the play while the Knight’s role is almost mute. In the play, Maria (Mia) is more explicitly cast as the Virgin Mary while Jof, Mia’s husband in the film, is absent. The Witch has a more pronounced and active role in the stage version.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Credits Playwright Director Costumes Stage Opening date
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Stig Nelson Malmö City Theatre, Intiman Stage 18 March 1955 (18 performances)
Cast The Girl Jöns The Knight Karin, his wife The Witch The Smith Lisa Maria The Actor Narrator (Death)
Gunnel Lindblom Gunnar Björnstrand Oscar Ljung Naima Wifstrand Nine-Christine Jönsson Åke Fridell Birgitta Hellerstedt Berit Gustafsson Rune Turesson Folke Sundquist
Commentary Bergman’s 1955 production of Trämålning is a revision of a text originally written for his students at Malmö City Theatre and printed in Radiotjänst’s play anthology from 1954 (Ø 90). The Trämålning presentation was part of a triple bill; its companion pieces, Fjäderboll (Feather Ball) and Världen ände (The Ends of the Earth), were authored and directed by the head of the Malmö City Theatre, Lars Levi Læstadius, and its dramaturgue Sigvard Mårtensson, respectively. The prompter’s copy (no. 247) is available at Malmö Music Theatre Archives.
Reception The silhouetted opening of Bergman’s production, in which different medieval classes of people were projected like shadows on the rear wall, produced spontaneous applause on opening night. Special mention was made of Gunnar Björnstrand’s performance as Jöns (same role as in The Seventh Seal) and of the choreographic grouping of characters. One reviewer (Holm) referred to the production as ‘a satanic knock-out’ [en satanisk knock-out] and PGP in AB concluded that ‘there is definitely no wood in this painting’. [det finns definitivt inget trä i denna målning]. Yet, some reviewers reacted negatively to what they termed burlesque and expressionistic features, referring to the production as a piece of das grosse Welttheater of the 1920s (Holm), Though one critic (Bergstrand) found the play ‘a definite victory both for the writer and director Ingmar Bergman’ [en definitiv seger både för författaren och regissören Ingmar Bergman], the critical consensus was (once more) that Bergman was a better director than playwright. The main critique focussed on Bergman’s tendency to ignore character conflict and focus too much on an emotional display of eschatological fear and distress.
Reviews B-nd, A. (Allan Bergstrand). ‘Tre enaktare’ [Three one-act plays]. Arbetet, 19 March 1955. Donnér, Jarl W. ‘Enaktare på Intiman’. Skånska Dagbladet, 19 March 1955. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Skånsk hemslöjd i Malmö’ [Scanian handicraft in Malmö]. Expr., 19 March 1955. Holm, Ingvar. ‘Malmö ger tre hemgjorda enaktare’ [Malmö gives three homemade one-acters]. DN, 19 March 1955. Kjellström, Nils. ‘Familjegala i Malmö’ [Family Gala in M-ö]. VeckoJournalen no. 14, 1955.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman PGP. (P.G. Petterson). ‘PGP besöker Malmö’ [PGP visits Malmö]. AB, 22 March 1955. Ruin, Hans. ‘Tre enaktare’ [Three one-act plays]. SDS, 19 March 1955. Stenström., Urban. ‘Rabalder och reklam i Malmö’ [Rumpus and commercials in Malmö]. SvD, 19 March 1955.
See also Henrik Sjögren. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 119-22.
425.
TRÄMÅLNING [Wood Painting/Painting on Wood]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening date
Ingmar Bergman Bengt Ekerot None listed Royal Dramatic Theatre 16 September 1955, 18 performances
Cast The Girl The Crusader His Wife Jöns, the Squire The Actor The Smith Lisa, Smith’s wife The Witch Maria The Narrator
Gunilla Sundberg Lars-Olof Lindquist Gun Jönsson Claes-Håkan Westergren Sven-Erik Weilar Björn Gustafson Bibi Andersson Berit Lindsjö Mona Malm Elisabet Liljenroth
Commentary As in Bergman’s original version of the play, Bengt Ekerot’s staging at Dramaten was an exercise for students at its theatre school. When compared to the film version, Bibi Andersson does a complete role reversal from the Smith’s wife in Dramaten’s school production to Mia (Maria) in Det sjunde inseglet. Trämålning was also staged at the Axvalla Folk High School in 1961. See brief reportage by Ebbe Linde, ‘Teatern som kunskapsskola’ [Theatre as school of knowledge]. DN, 2 April 1961. In 1963, Trämålning was presented as a TV drama with an ensemble from Malmö City Theatre. It was originally scheduled to be televised on Easter Sunday but was postponed. (See Ø 317) in the TV section, Media Chapter V.
Reception As a student exercise, Dramaten’s production of Trämålning got relatively few reviews. Sven Barthel found the play excellent as a training piece for drama students and also considered it Bergman’s best play to date. Margareta Sjögren (who had acted in the Stockholm Student Theatre during Bergman’s time there in 1941-43) called the production ‘a piece of theatre history taking place quietly and in pouring rain, as we got to witness how our most productive film and theatre writer finally got his first worthy presentation on a Stockholm stage’. [ett stycke teaterhistoria som ägde rum i det tysta och i hällande regn där vi fick bevittna hur vår mest produktive film- och teaterförfattare till sist fick sitt värdiga framförande på en stockholmsscen].
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Reviews S. B-l. (Sven Barthel), ‘Dramatenelever ger “Trämålning”’ [Dramaten students give Wood Painting]. DN, 17 September 1955. Falk, Gunnar, ‘Stockholm väntar regn’ [Stockholm expecting rain]. Teatern 4, 1955: 16. Sjögren, Margareta. ‘Ingmar Bergman predikar’ [Bergman preaches]. SvD, 17 September 1955.
426.
LEA OCH RAKEL [Leah and Rachel]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design and Costumes Stage Opening date
Vilhelm Moberg Ingmar Bergman Per Falk Malmö City Theatre, Intima Stage 27 October 1955
Cast Jakob Laban Lea Rakel The Shepherd The Wetnurse Silpa, Lea’s servant Bilha, Rakel’s servant
Max von Sydow Åke Fridell Harriet Hedenmo Harriet Andersson Björn Bjelvenstam Gudrun Brost Berit Gustafsson Gunnel Lindblom
Commentary A printed book copy used as Asst. director Lennart Olssons copy (no. 257) is available at the Malmö Music Theatre Archives. It indicates cuts, stage movements, some references to gestures and mimicry. In a program note, the author – novelist and playwright Vilhelm Moberg – told of his reading between the lines in the sparse biblical account of Leah and Rachel, Jacob’s two wives. He saw it as an opportunity to expound and dramatize the rivalry between the two sisters. In his production, Bergman maintained Moberg’s realism but confined the performance to a single setting: a desert-brown podium with a colossal stone and a water jug as only props. The characters were grouped and regrouped in varied lighting. Sometimes projections were added to suggest biblical motifs. There was only one intermission (as opposed to Moberg’s ten tableaus, several intermissions, and numerous scene changes). Each new scene and time change was simply announced by the stroke of a gong or a change of light and a faint melody from afar – an approach that one reviewer referred to as ‘filmic’ (Beyer).
Reception Much of the evaluation of the Lea och Rakel production concerned itself with giving out merit points to author, director, and/or cast: ‘If one were to divide the great merits of the production, then Moberg would have to be happy with one fourth, while the Bible, Bergman, and the actors have a right to claim the rest’. [Ska man fördela föreställningens stora förtjänster, så får nog Moberg nöja sig med en fjärdedel, medan bibeln, Bergman och skådespelarna har rätt att lägga beslag på resten (M.K. Vecko-Revyn 1955: 45). It was the critical consensus that Moberg’s play had benefited immensely from Bergman’s direction, which had provided a tighter structure and a less pedestrian tone. (See Brunius, Expr.; Linder, ST; P.G. Petterson, AB; Wahlund, SvD). A different view was expressed by the critic in Vecko-Journalen (Kjellström) who praised Moberg’s play over and above Bergman’s production.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Bergman’s frugal mise-en-scene appealed to Ebbe Linde (DN) who thought Bergman and his scenographer had captured the three elements that define a desert setting: sky, emptiness and silence. But A. Gunnar Bergman found the set too esoteric and called for more primitivism: ‘at least a single tent, surrounded by camel feces, sheep spillings and goat odors and full of dirt, lice, and stench’. [åtminstone ett enda tält, omgivet av kamelträck, fårspillning och getlukt och fullt av smuts, löss och stank.].
Reviews Bergman, A. Gunnar. ‘Lett om Rakel’ [Nasty about Rachel]. AT, 29 October 1955. B-nd. (Allan Bergstrand). ‘Bibeldrama på Intiman’ [Bible drama at Intiman]. Arbetet, 28 October 1955. Beyer, Nils. ‘Lea och Rakel i Malmö’. MT, 28 October 1955. Brunius, Claes. ‘Bra betyg åt Moberg, stort A i bibliskan’ [Good mark to Moberg, highest mark in Biblical history]. Expr., 28 October 1955. Kjellström, Nils. ‘Vilhelm Moberg och Bibeln’. Vecko-Journalen, no. 46, 1955. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Lea och Rakel i Malmö’. DN, 28 October 1955. Linder, Erik Hj. ‘Lyckosam premiär’ [Happy opening]. ST, 28 October 1955. PGP. ‘Stutahandel och gammaltestamentlig passion’ [Horsetrading and old-testamental passion]. AB, 28 October 1955. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Biblisk berättelse i Malmö’ [Biblical tale in Malmö]. SvD, 28 October 1955.
See also Henrik Sjögren. Ingmar Bergman på teaern, 1968, pp. 164-68.
1956 427.
BRUDEN UTAN HEMGIFT [The Dowerless Bride]
Credits Original Title Author Translator Director Stage Design and Costumes Stage Opening date
Bespridannica Alexander Ostrovskij Gun Bergman Ingmar Bergman Martin Ahlbom Malmö City Theatre, Intiman Stage 28 January 1956
Cast Xarita Ignatjevna Ogudalova Larisa Dmitrievna, her daughter Mokij Parmenytj Knurov, merchant VasilijDanilytjVozjevatov,ayoung man Julij Kapitonytj Karandysjev Sergej Sergeitj Paratov, a nobleman Efrosinia Potapovna,Karandysjev’saunt Robinson Gavrilo, café owner Ivan, waiter Ilja, a gypsy
Harriet Hedenmo Gunnel Lindblom Benkt-Åke Benktsson Folke Sundquist Toivo Pawlo Max von Sydow Naima Wifstrand Åke Fridell Josef Norman Björn Bjelvenstam Berndt Henziger
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Commentary Ostrovskij’s play, written in 1878, introduced bourgeois drama in Russia, but had never been performed in Sweden when Ingmar Bergman decided to stage it at Malmö’s Intimate Stage. Originally conceived as a social satire of its time, Bergman transformed the play into an ironic critique of the male species. The play was translated by Gun Bergman, Ingmar Bergman’s third wife, who later became a lecturer in Slavic Languages at Uppsala University. Assistant Director Lennart Olsson’s copy (no. 262) is available at the Malmö Music Theatre Archives. It contains sketches of furniture, description of performers’ activities, and suggestions of sounds like chiming bells and boat whistles. The copy also indicates cuts (mostly short cues).
Reception ‘A melodrama in a provincial town – wonderful material for Ingmar Bergman to work with!’ [Ett melodrama i en landsortsstad – underbart material för IB att arbeta med], exclaimed Nils Beyer in his review. He and others remarked on the kinship in temperament between director and playwright. Thus Ivar Harrie (Expr.) wrote: Yesterday evening one got to witness the encounter of two remarkable poets of the theatre: Ingmar Bergman and Alexander Ostrovskij. The meeting was a bang, a real theatrical bang [...] which continued uninterrupted for three straight hours until our heads were spinning and our ears ringing. One should have been prepared for such a thunderous outburst. [...] Ostrovkij presents exactly the score that tempts Ingmar Bergman to let loose without inhibition. [I går kväll kunde man bevittna mötet mellan två anmärkningsvärda teaterdiktare: Ingmar Bergman och Alexander Ostrovskij. Mötet blev en skräll, en riktig teaterskräll [...] som fortsatte oavbrutet tre timmar i sträck tills det svindlade för ögonen och susade i öronen. Sådan urladdning borde man ha varit beredd på. [...] Ostrovskij presenterar exakt det partitur, den text som kan fresta Bergman att släppa loss utan hämningar]. Not to be outdone in his response, Hans Ruin (SDS) enthused: ‘What a fantastic production! What Ingmar Bergman has accomplished with the best resources a theatre has to offer and with Martin Ahlbom’s set design is truly worth seeing. Are you interested in theatre? Then go and see Ingmar Bergman’s staging of Ostrovskij’s Bride without a Dowry!’ [Vilken fantastisk produktion! Vad Ingmar Bergman har åstadkommit med teaterns bästa resurser och med Martin Ahlboms scenografi är sannerligen värt att se. Är ni intresserad av teater? Gå då och se Ingmar Bergmans uppsättning av Ostroskijs Bruden utan hemgift!]. Among somewhat more tempered assessments was Urban Stenström’s (SvD): ‘It is a charming performance but not one of Bergman’s astounding and unsurpassable ones’. [Det är en förtjusande föreställning men inte någon av Bergmans häpnadsväckande och oöverträffliga]. Several reviewers wrote that Bergman’s eagerness to enforce his personal interpretation on the play was detrimental to the actors and to the original pacing of the piece. (See ST and AB). On the whole, the reception of this stage production demonstrated the same kind of ambivalence that much of Bergman’s filmmaking was beginning to elicit abroad: On the one hand a critical corps overwhelmed by the director’s uninhibited and visually charged presentation; on the other hand, reservations about an artist who seemed to manipulate both his cast and his audiences emotionally to enforce his personal vision.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reviews B-nd. (Allan Bergstrand). ‘Rysk urpremiär på Intiman’ [Russian world opening at Intiman]. Arbetet, 29 January 1956. Beyer, Nils. ‘Melodram i småstadsram’ [Melodrama within a small town frame]. MT, 29 January 1956. Hansingvar Hansson. ‘Toivo Pawlos triumf ’. ST, 29 January 1956 Harrie, Ivar. ‘Teaterskräll i Malmö’ [Theatre bang in Malmö]. Expr., 31 January 1956. Hr. Bert. ‘En verden uden kærlighed’ [A world without love]. Politiken (Copenhagen), 30 January 1956. Kjellström, Nils. ‘Ingmar Bergmans ryske klassiker’ [Bergman’s Russian classic]. Vecko-Journalen, No 9, 1956. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Brud utan hemgift’ [Bride without dowry]. DN, 29 January 1956. M.B. ‘Äktenskap med förhinder’ [Marriage thwarted]. AB, 29 January 1956. Ruin, Hans. ‘Bruden utan hemgift’. SDS, 29 January 1956. Stenström, Urban. ‘Ostrovskij i Malmö’. SvD, 29 January 1956.
See also Henrik Sjögren. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 169-71. On opening night, Max von Sydow received the Thalia Prize, an annual Swedish award for best actor, sponsored by SvD.
428.
KATT PÅ HETT PLÅTTAK [Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]
Credits Playwright Translator Director Stage Design Costumes Stage Opening date
Tennessee Williams Sven Barthel Ingmar Bergman Härje Ekman Greta Johansson and Manne Lindholm Malmö City Theatre, Main Stage 19 October 1956
Cast Big Daddy Mommy Brick Maggie Gooper Mae Dixie Doctor Baugh Pastor Tooker Lacey Sookey
Benkt-Åke Benktsson Lisa Lundholm Max von Sydow Eva Stiberg Nils Eklund Harriet Hedenmo Mimmo Wåhlander Nils Nygren Gustaf Färingborg Lenn Hjortzberg Ulla Rodhe
Commentary Williams’ play was presented on four different stages in Sweden in 1956. The most notable features in Bergman’s production were his strong focus on the father-son conflict; his interpretation of Brick, the son and husband, as a drunken degenerate cripple without any charm;
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre and his total unmasking of all the characters, ending in their complete loss of illusions, without any trace of the (forced) happy end that was presented in the original Broadway production. A director’s copy (no. 271) is available at the Malmö Music Theatre Archives. It includes sketches of the stage suggesting props and actors’ movements and with notes referring to the tone of voice to be used. The Brick-Big Daddy confrontation scene indicates more of a violent physical encounter than Williams’ text.
Reception In a comparison between the different Swedish productions of Williams’ play, Bergman’s presentation received the most glowing reviews. ‘Malmö’, wrote Ingvar Holm (DN), ‘had a secret weapon: it is Ingmar Bergman [...]. One is vanquished, happy, joyful [...]. The whole performance [...] was strict and feverish, it was a sexual trench war but even more a tragedy of loneliness. As the curtain came down, a great liberated jubilation burst forth from the Malmö audience. With that jubilance one greeted a masterpiece’. [Malmö hade ett hemligt vapen: Det är Ingmar Bergman [...] Man är besegrad, lycklig, glad [...]. Hela föreställningen [...] var sträng och febrig. Det var sexuellt krypskytte men mer av ensamhetens tragedi [...]. När ridån föll var det ett stort befriat jubel som trängde fram hos Malmöpubliken. Med det jublet hälsades ett mästerverk]. Yet, the reviews varied a great deal and most were more metaphorical than precise. AB called the production, ‘a rather hot cat on a tin roof ’ [en ganska het katt på plåttak], while ST described the performance as ‘a cat without claws’ [en katt utan klor] and SvD likened Bergman’s version to a cat on an overheated roof.
Reviews A. B-nd. (Allan Bergstrand). ‘Williams i Malmö’. Arbetet, 20 October 1956. Beyer, Nils. ‘Tre teaterkvällar i Malmö’. MT, 21 December 1956. Brunius, Clas. ‘Tennessee Williams-premär i Malmö i går’. Expr., 20 October 1956. Hansson, Hansingvar. ‘En katt utan klor’ [A cat without claws]. ST, 20 October 1956. Holm, Ingvar. ‘Katt på hett plåttak i Ingmar Bergmans regi’ [Cat on a hot tin roof in Ingmar Bergman’s direction]. DN, 20 October 1956. M.B. ‘Het katt på plåttak’. AB, 20 October 1956. Om. ‘Upphettat plåttak i Malmö’ [Overheated tin roof in Malmö]. SvD, 20 October 1956.
See also Henrik Sjögren. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 171-75.
429.
ERIK XIV
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Costumes Music Choreography Stage Opening date
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Per Falk Greta Johansson and Manne Lindholm Ingvar Wieslander Ingrid Tönsager Malmö City Theatre, Main Stage 7 December 1956
Cast Erik XIV Göran Persson
Toivo Pawlo Åke Fridell
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Count Carl Karin Månsdotter Måns, her father Svante Sture Nils Sture, his son Erik Sture, his son Nils Gyllenstjerna Göran’s mother Agda Katarina Stenbock Nigels Goldsmith Count Johan Peder Welamson Ensign Max The Bridgekeeper Lejonhufvud Ivarsson Brahe Stenbock The Dwarf Two courtiers
Max von Sydow Bibi Andersson Rune Turesson Åke Askner Leif Hedberg: Bernt Henziger Björn Bjelvenstam Jullan Kindahl Ingrid Thulin/Gunnel Lindblom Gerd Hein Åke Åkerlund Nils Eklund Yngve Nordwall Axel Düberg Josef Norman Gustav Färingborg Hans Kjölaas Karl-Fredrik Liljeholm Per Björkman Lenn Hjortzberg Gerhard Lindqvist, Thure Carlman
Commentary Assistant Director Lennart Olsson’s copy (no. 274) is available at the Malmö Music Theatre Archives. It includes a cast list, quite a few very rudimentary stage sketches and suggestions of actors’ movements. Bergman’s approach was to stylize the setting in Strindberg’s history play and minimize stage conventions. There were no specially constructed interior or exterior sets, no rotating stage, and no curtain. The only décor was an immense vault that spanned the stage and could be lowered and raised by a simple mechanism. This vault served to link intimate scenes and mass scenes. The stage had an immense depth where royal regalia and costumes glistened, with purple and hermine lying on the floor in soft pleats. Crowds of guests in rags appeared in the famous wedding scene, like survivors from Bergman’s own flagellant scene in The Seventh Seal. Members of the court were in black with wax-like faces, performing a graceful dance of death. Bergman did not cut a single line from Strindberg’s text but added new dramatic vignettes, such as a vampire-like courtly ballet and the appearance of a substitute king at Erik’s and Karin Månsdaughter’s wedding, dressed like a woman but wearing a huge white beard.
Reception The reviews of the Erik XIV production were sharply mixed, a great many of them highly critical, calling Bergman’s approach an unfortunate return to an earlier, more excessive directing style. Ebbe Linde wrote: ‘There is no support in Strindberg’s text or in our Renaissance history for such impulses (as the transvestite substitute king). [...] No, such bubbles from a childhood swamp must be limited to Bergman’s own literary production. Directing should mean interpretation and not capricious additions, the right name for which [...] is self-indulgence’. [Det finns inget stöd för ett sådant tilltag, varken hos Strindberg eller i vår renässanshistoria [...] Nej, sådana bubblor ur barndomsträsket må begränsas till den egna litterära produktionen. Regi skall vara tolkning och inte nyckfull nydiktning, vars rätta namn [...] blir självsvåld]. Donnér (Skånska Dagbladet) referred to the production as ‘coarse and clumsy symbol-making, a relapse to the director’s infamous and stubbornly juvenile fantasies’ [ett
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre grovt och klumpigt symbolmakeri, ett återfall i regissörens ökända och envist barnsliga fantasier]. At the other end of the critical spectrum were views like Hansingvar Hansson’s (ST) who nominated Bergman as Olof Molander’s heir as a director of Strindberg, and Per Erik Wahlund in SvD who concluded ambiguously: ‘In sum, it is a production one could probably cope with seeing seven times a week, nota bene in a single week’. [In summa, det är en föreställning som man nog skulle stå ut med att se sju gånger i veckan, nota bene under en enda vecka].
Reviews Beyer, Nils. ‘Tre teaterkvällar i Malmö’ [Three theatre evenings in Malmö]. MT, 21 December 1956. Donnér, Jarl W. ‘Erik XIV på Stadsteatern’. Skånska Dagbladet, 8 December 1956. Hansson, Hansingvar. ‘Ingvar (sic) Bergmans Erik XIV’. ST, 8 December 1956. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Erik XIV vidfilmsspel om kungakrona’ [Bergman’s Erik XIV: wide angle play about a royal crown]. Expr., 8 December 1956. K-R. ‘Ingmar Bergman vann ny seger’ [Bergman gained a new victory]. MT, 8 December 1956. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Ingmar Bergman är självsvåldig’ [Bergman is self-indulgent]. DN, 8 December 1956. PGP. ‘Ingmar Bergman slätrakad’ [Bergman clean-shaven]. AB, 15 December 1956. Ruin, Hans. ‘Strindbergspremiär. Stor teater’. SDS, 8 December 1950. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Erik XIV på Malmö Stadsteater’. SvD, 8 December 1956.
1957 430.
PEER GYNT
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Costumes Music Choreography Lighting Make-up Stage Opening date
Henrik Ibsen Ingmar Bergman Härje Ekman Greta Johansson and Manne Lindholm Carl-Erik Hansson and Ingvar Wieslander Ingrid Tönsager Nils Andersson Karl Magnusson Malmö City Theatre, Main Stage 8 March 1957
Cast Peer Gynt Åse, his mother Kari, peasant woman Old Woman Eyvind Aslak, the Smith The Bridegroom Bridegroom’s father Bridegroom’s mother Hans The Cook
Max von Sydow Naima Wifstrand Jullan Kindahl Gudrun Brost Åke Åkerlund Gustaf Färingborg Björn Bjelvenstam John Degerberg Alfhild Degerberg Hans Kjölaas Per Björkman
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Haegstad Farmer Ingrid, his daughter Solveig Her father Her mother Helga, her sister Master Cotton Von Eberkopf Trumpeterstråhle Monsieur Ballon The Thief Hider of stolen goods Anitra Prof. Begriffenfelt Huhu The Fellah Hussein A Madman Guttorm Three Girls at saeter The Woman in Green Her Sister The Dovre King Troll at Dovre Court Troll Kids Troll Maiden Troll Cook Eldest Troll The Witch Old Witch Limping Glytten The Captain The Lookout First Mate The Cook Strange Passenger The Deckhand A Boy The Sheriff The Old Man The Button Molder The Thin One
Åke Fridell Eva Stiberg Gunnel Lindblom Nils Nygren Judith Frithiof Karin Olafsdottir Gustaf Färingborg Bengt von Knorring Åke Askner Nils Eklund Thure Carlman Axel Düberg Ingrid Thulin Åke Fridell Nils Nygren Leif Hedberg Rune Turesson Hans Polster Bernt Henziger Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Ulla Rodhe Gerd Hein Mimmo Wåhlander Åke Fridell Per Björkman Maud Hansson, Anna-Stina Walton Helena Reuterblad Bengt Rosén Åke Järnfalk Leif Forstenberg Hans Polster Lenn Hjortzberg Rune Turesson Dagfinn Heiborg Karl Fredrik Liljeholm Axel Düberg Oscar Ljung Jöran Olsson Gerhard Lindqvist John Degerberg Josef Norman Toivo Pawlo Yngve Nordwall
Commentary There is no production copy in the Malmö Music Theatre Archives but the Malmö City Arhive (Malmö Stadsarkiv) has individual performers’ cue books. Bergman’s production of Peer Gynt was billed as the biggest artistic investment in the history of the Malmö City Theatre, with over 90 people participating, 130 wigs combed, 276 costumes
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre sewn, and 33 scene changes. Added to the acting ensemble were numerous singers, ballet dancers, and students at the theatre’s drama school. Some scenes were naturalistic, such as the wedding at Haegstad; other scenes were stylized through the use of enlarged back projections, based on the set designer’s sketches. In the words of reviewer P.G. Petterson (AB), the immense crescent-shaped stage was at times filled with colorful doll house interiors, like plates designed for Asbjörnsen and Moe’s folktales; at other times the stage became an empty wasteland, ‘like the earth at the moment of creation’. [som jorden i skapelseögonblicket]. Bergman’s intention was to de-romanticize Peer Gynt. For that reason he did not avail himself of Grieg’s or Sæverud’s music (but of Norwegian folk music and brief musical compositions by Carl-Erik Hansson and Ingvar Wieslander). One reviewer (Bæckström in GHT) found the result amazing, ‘like seeing a painting free from old yellowed gallery varnish’. [som att se en målning befriad från gulnad gallerifernissa]. Nor was Peer Gynt himself (Max von Sydow) cast as a blond Norwegian farm boy but as a dark-haired lad with gypsy blood in his veins. Both his looks and dynamic temperament made him a kin of the feared trolls. Bergman staged the play in three acts (rather than the original five), ending each act with a climactic scene: Mother Ase’s death; the madhouse in Cairo; and Peer’s meeting with the Buttonmolder. The last part of the play – Peer’s homecoming – was acted out on an empty stage with figures disappearing into backstage darkness. Despite cuts, the performance lasted almost five hours, including intermissions, during which hot dogs (at the time a rather unconventional fare on opening night) were served in the lobby. See Malmö City Theatre’s newsletter Teater-Nytt, 1957. For a pre-opening reportage, see Age, DN, ‘Ingmar Bergman gör hela Peer Gynt, men utan musik’ [Bergman does the whole of Peer Gynt, but without music], 21 December 1956, p. 14.
Reception Though much praise went to Max von Sydow as Peer Gynt and Naima Wifstrand as his mother Åse, it was Bergman’s direction that captured the press enthusiasm. Ulla Isaksson, Bergman’s script collaborator on the film Nära livet (Close to Life 1958), wrote in the magazine Idun : ‘It is Ingmar Bergman who dominates the production from beginning to end: his fire, his knowhow, his magical imagination’. [Det är Ingmar Bergman som dominerar produktionen från början till slut: hans eld, hans kunnande, hans magiska fantasi]. The GHT theatre critic (Bæckström) admired Bergman’s ability to shape the mise-en-scene in such a way that one felt, ‘in every step, the firm grasp of an artistic will’, [i varje fas kände den konstnärliga viljans tumgrepp]. Ebbe Linde (DN) claimed that with Bergman and his ensemble, Sweden’s, perhaps Europe’s, dramatic centre was now Malmö. Therefore he suggested sending the production to the European theatre festival in Paris. Linde’s proposal is worth noting. By following his continuous assessment of Bergman’s stagecraft from the late Forties and on, one can gain an idea of how the forefront among Swedish theatre critics reacted to Bergman’s work. Unlike some of his contemporary colleagues, such as Nils Beyer and Herbert Grevenius who were much more appreciative of Bergman’s theatre directing from the start, Linde moved from a very skeptical, blatantly negative point of view to a gradual positive recognition of Bergman’s talent. Hence his evaluative summary of a production like Bergman’s Peer Gynt carries special weight: The masterpiece is the only thing that matters, said Palinurus. Here is the masterpiece, blooming for one day or fifty, enough to forgive and condone the whole Ingmar Bergman phenomenon with all the difficulties and trouble it has entailed. And the viewer must be happy that Ingmar Bergman got to live this long [he was 49!] and that he himself [the viewer] got to live and see such a rich and beautiful piece of theatre.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman
[Mästerverket är det enda som betyder något, säger Palinurus. Här är nu mästerverket, blommande för en dag, eller femtio, nog för att urskulda och motivera hela fenomenet Ingmar Bergman med allt vad det inneburit av snår och trassel. Och nog för att åskådaren skall vara glad över att regissören fick leva så långt, och över att han fick leva själv och vara med att beskåda ett så rikt och skönt stycke teater]. In sharp contrast to the mostly rave Swedish reception of Ibsen’s play, Norwegian reviewers offered rather devastating criticism, one reason perhaps being that Bergman’s conception of Peer Gynt as a sinner differed too much from the view of Peer as a national icon, a charming albeit irresponsible Norwegian country lad. The unsigned reviewer in Oslo Morgenbladet (9 March 1957) found the performance too marked by Bergman’s ‘diabolic wish’ to unmask and stress Peer’s lack of character, his egotism, impudence, cowardice, and bad conscience. Herbert Steinthal’s review in Aftenposten (9 March 1957) found the performance ‘very, very long’, could discover no pervasive theme in the production and called von Sydow’s role ‘a technical feat’ but uninspired; he was also critical of the omission of Grieg’s music. Practically the only feature to be approved by Steinthal was the presentation of the Dovre King and his troll family, who reminded him of the drawings by Norwegian troll illustrator Kittelsen. There was a degree of national chauvinism in some of the Norwegian response to Bergman’s version of Peer Gynt.
Reviews n.a. ‘Peer Gynt i Malmö’. Morgenbladet (Oslo), 9 March 1957. Bergstrand, Allan. ‘Stadsteaterns Peer Gynt’. Arbetet, 9 March 1957. Beyer, Nils. ‘En storartad Peer Gynt’ [A glorious PG]. MT, 9 March 1957. Bæckström, Tord. ‘Peer Gynt i Malmö’. GHT, 13 March 1957. Donnér, Jarl W. ‘Peer Gynt-premiär’. Skånska Dagbladet, 9 March 1957. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Den teatraliske Peer Gynt’. AB, 9 March 1957. Isaksson, Ulla. ‘Ingmar, trollkarlen’ [Ingmar, the magician]. Idun, no. 12, 1957. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Det ville sig inte för Ingmar Bergman: Peer Gynt korrekt och lite tråkig’ [It didn’t click for Bergman: Peer Gynt correct and a bit dull]. Expr., 9 March 1957. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Peer Gynt i Malmö’. DN, 9 March 1957. Linder, Erik Hj. ‘Peer Gynt “sådan den är”’ [PG ‘such as it is’]. Morgonbladet, 9 March 1957. M.K. ‘Peer Gynt’. Vecko-Revyn, no. 12, 1957. PGP. ‘Ingmar Bergmans dagdröm’ [Bergman’s daydream]. Vecko-Journalen, no. 11, 1957. Ruin, Hans. ‘Peer Gynt’. SDS, 9 March 1957. Steinthal, Herbert. No title. Aftenposten, 9 March 1957. Strömberg, Martin. ‘Peer Gynt som botgörardrama’ [Peer Gynt as drama of atonement]. ST, 9 March 1957. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Peer Gynt i Malmö’. SvD, 9 March 1957.
Essays or Special Studies Marker, Lise-Lone and Frederick. Ingmar Bergman: Four Decades in the Theatre, 1982, pp. 172-78. Piersdorff, Erik. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Peer Gynt. Et moderne Spill om Enhver’ [Bergman’s Peer Gynt. A modern play about Everyman]. Morgenbladet (Norwegian), 1 April 1957. (Piersdorff compares briefly and favorably the Malmö production with the Norwegian National Theatre’s staging of the play at the Ibsen jubilee in 1956. He argues that the Malmö City Theatre’s immense stage with its modern technology was right for Ibsen’s epic drama with its many scene changes). Ruin, Hans. ‘Peer Gynt i Malmö’. Studiekamraten, no. 3-4, 1957. (A 4-page study of Peer’s personality with reference to essays on the subject by Swedish philosopher Hans Larsson
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre and Danish theatre critic Frederik Schyberg. The second half of the essay is an analysis of the Malmö production). Sjögren, Henrik. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 182-93. Sjöman, Vilgot. ‘Spänningen Ingmar Bergman’. Vi, no. 14 (5 April) 1957: 16-17, 38. (Article based on visit to rehearsals of Peer Gynt at the Malmö City Theatre. Sjöman is critical of Bergman’s staging of the madhouse scene in Act IV, which he felt turned Ibsen’s satire into tasteless fun-making of mentally retarded people).
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MISANTROPEN [The Misanthrope]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Assistant director Stage Design/Costumes Stage Opening date
Le Misantrope Molière Ingmar Bergman Gösta Ekman Kerstin Hedeby Malmö City Theatre, Main Stage 6 December 1957
Cast Alceste, a nobleman Célimène, young widow Philinte, friend of Alceste Dubois, Alceste’s servant Eliante, Célimène’s cousin Basque, Célimène’s servant Arsinoë, Célimène’s friend An officer Oronte, a courtier Clitandre, a marquis Ae, a marquis
Max von Sydow Gertrud Fridh Frank Sundström Axel Düberg Bibi Andersson Lenn Hjortzberg Marianne Aminoff Leif Forstenberg Åke Fridell Oscar Ljung Tor Isedal
Commentary A director’s copy in two parts (Act I and Act II, no. 298) as well as assistant director Gösta Ekman’s copy are in the Bergman archive at SFI. Individual members’ cue copies are available at Malmö Music Theatre Archives. Some of these contain brief notes, others just doodles. Bergman placed only four black chairs and canapes on a chequered marble floor – like a chessboard – against an autumnal tapestry-like backdrop. The only scene changes consisted of two servants moving the chairs around. Two heavy chandeliers cast a yellowish light over a stage flanked by two high portals. The sober color scheme in the décor was offset by the bright costumes and Alceste’s black attire. Max von Sydow’s mask with its thin black moustache reminded some commentators of Molière. The mask was similar to Vogler’s in Ansiktet (The Magician).
Reception Bergman’s Molière presentation received rave reviews, with critics focusing on the erotic tension that permeated his interpretation of Molière’s comedy of manners and on Max von Sydow’s portrayal of an angry young man and idealist. It was a colorful production in which the exquisite costumes enthralled the reviewers; Hans Ruin (SDS) claimed never to have seen the likes of it: ‘It was no longer cloth and textiles we saw, it was the glimmer of precious stones. [...] When the actors moved in precise turns [...] (they looked like) puffed up birds in tropical
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman feathers’. [Det var inte längre tyger och vävnader vi såg, det var glansen hos ädelstenar. [...] När de agerande [...] rörde sig i välavvägda turer (såg de ut som) uppblåsta fåglar i tropisk fjäderskrud]. The production was called ‘an epoch in Swedish Molière interpretations’ [en epok i svensk Molieretolkning]. (Harrie, Expr.). Nils Beyer (MT) urged the administrative head at Dramaten in Stockholm to pay attention to Bergman’s success: Right now one would wish [...] that Gierow [head of the Royal Dramatic Theatre] would close the national stage for a few evenings and make a study trip with his entire ensemble to Malmö to see how Molière should be played. For Ingmar Bergman’s staging on Malmö’s Main Stage of The Misanthrope is the finest Molière presentation that has appeared on a Swedish theatre in our lifetime. [Just nu skulle man [...] önska att Gierow stängde nationalscenen för några kvällar och med hela sin personal företog en studieresa till Malmö för att se hur Molière skall spelas. Ingmar Bergmans iscensättning på Stora scenen av ‘Misantropen’ är nämligen den yppersta Molièreföreställning, som i vår livstid gått på en svensk teater.] The critical tributes to Ingmar Bergman’s Misanthrope production culminated in Henrik Sjögren’s review (Kvällsposten), in part written as an official thank-you note to the director: ‘TO INGMAR BERGMAN: my admiration and gratefulness for The Misanthrope. As far as I understand it, this is the most ingenious staging, the finest, richest, and most sensitive production that the Malmö City Theatre has ever shown’. [TILL INGMAR BERGMAN: min beundran och tacksamhet för ‘Misantropen’. Så vitt jag förstår är det hans mest geniala uppsättning, den finaste, lödigaste, känsligaste föreställning Malmö stadsteater någonsin visat]. With his Misanthrope production, essential features in Bergman’s stagecraft became cemented in the critical evaluation: clarity and balance; musical timing of dialogue, coupled with precise movement of the actors; and careful attention to details in mise-en-scene and gesture. It is also apparent that reviewer appreciation focused more on Bergman’s ability to present a splendid and cohesive feast for the eye than on his character and theme analysis. This was a marked contrast to the reception of his filmmaking with its focus on thematic content.
Reviews A. A-l (Alvar Asterdahl). ‘Molière i Malmö’. Arbetet, 7 December 1957, p. 6. Beyer, Nils. ‘’Misantropen’ i Malmö’. MT, 7 December 1957, p. 9. S. B-l (Sven Barthel). ‘Molière i praktfull infattning’ [Molière in a splendid frame]. DN, 7 December 1957, p. 16. Engberg, Harald. ‘Molières vrede unge mand’ [Molière’s angry young man]. Politiken, 8 December 1957. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Moralkakor i Malmö’ [Moral lessons in Malmö]. AB, 7 December 1957, p. 2. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Ingmar Bergmans nya recept: Inga konster får störa konsten’ [Bergman’s new recipe: No tricks must disturb art]. Expr., 7 December 1957, p. 4. PGP. ‘Barockt men skönt’ [Baroque but beautiful]. Vecko-Journalen, 1957: 51-52. Ruin, Hans. ‘Människoföraktaren’ [The Misanthrope]. SDS, 7 December 1957, p. 26. Sjögren, Henrik. ‘Ingmar Bergman gör det otroliga: Intim stilteater på Stora scenen. En höjdpunkt i svenskt teaterliv’ [Bergman does the incredible: Intimate classical theatre on the Main Stage. A high point in Swedish theatre life!]. Kvällsposten, 7 December 1957, p. 4. Strömberg, Martin. ‘Molières och Bergmans trollspö över Malmö’. [Molière’s and Bergman’s magic wand over Malmö]. ST, 7 December 1957, p. 11. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘’Misantropen’ i Malmö’. SvD, 7 December 1957, p. 15.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre See also Age (Anders Elsberg). ‘Ung konstnärinna gör vacker dekor till Ingmar Bergmans Misantropen’ [Young woman artist does beautiful décor for Bergman’s Misanthrope]. DN, 3 December 1957. (About costumier Kerstin Hedeby but also brief interview with Bergman about ‘the different stages of purgatory’ that a director must pass through before the opening of a production). Andersson, Bibi. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Program note to 1957 Malmö production of Misantropen. Marker, Frederick & Lise Lone. Ingmar Bergman: A Life in the Theater, 1992, contains a good section on Bergman’s Molière productions, and so does Henrik Sjögren’s book Lek och raseri, 2002.
Guest Performance in Helsinki The Malmö Misantropen visited Svenska Teatern in Helsinki in the spring of 1958. For reception, see: A.M. ‘Malmö stadsteaters gästspel’ [Malmö City Theatre guest performance]. Hangö tidning, 10 May 1958. H.K. ‘Misantropen – Malmö stadsteaters glansfulla giv’ [The Misanthrope – Malmö City Theatre’s spectacular offer]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 7 May 1958.
1958 432.
SAGAN [The Legend]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Music Choreography Costumes Masks and Wigs Stage Opening Date
Hjalmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Härje Ekman Ingvar Wieslander Ingrid Tönager Greta Johansson and Manne Lindholm Karl Mangusson Malmö City Theatre, Intiman Stage 12 April 1958
Cast Sagan Ehrenstål Sune Rose Astrid Gerhard Leo, the dog Colonel’s wife Chamber servant Flora Legal clerk Guests at Ball
Bibi Andersson Oscar Ljung Folke Sundquist Ingrid Thulin Gunnel Lindblom Max von Sydow Invisible Dagny Lind Allan Edwall Naima Wifstrand Per Björkman Maud Hansson, Anna-Stina Walton, Bengt Rosén, Hans Polster
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Commentary Hjalmar Bergman’s posthumous play is a combination of poetic dreamplay and social satire. In his second staging of Sagan Ingmar Bergman toned down the lyrical fairy tale elements and focussed on the darker, tragic aspects of the play. Especially noteworthy was his use of his namesake’s concept of human beings as marionettes, which he visualized in the pirouette-like mechanical encounter between the older Ehrenstål family and the vulnerable young lovers. Assistant director Gösta Ekman’s copy (no. 303) is available at the Malmö Theatre Archives. His stage design sketches are quite detailed and his notes are clear and legible. The director’s copy is among Bergman’s papers, at SFI Archive.
Reception Ingmar Bergman’s Malmö production was said to improve upon the original text by giving it a new clarity of vision and by stylizing the realistic middle section of the play. (See P.G. Petterson in VJ; Hans Ruin in SDS; and Steinthal in Danish Politiken). Ivar Harrie (Expr.) thought that Bergman’s Sagan production surpassed his recent, much praised Misanthrope staging. Ebbe Linde (DN) congratulated Ingmar Bergman for presenting an exquisite ensemble, confirming Malmö’s position as Sweden’s most vital stage. Most of the praise went to the supporting roles played by Max von Sydow, Allan Edwall, and Naima Wifstrand, while the major roles with Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, and Folke Sundquist, got mixed reactions. In a review with the nasty title ‘När grodorna kväker’ (When the frogs are croaking), Allan Fagerström (AB) claimed that Bergman worked with mediocre artists and characterized Bibi Andersson’s title character as a sweet fairy tale figure who lacked the voice needed for her long poetic cues. Folke Sundquist’s young lover was said to only demonstrate how ‘a slender young man can become even more slender in pants sewn at a theatre costume workshop’ [en smal ung man kan bli ännu smalare i byxor sydda i teaterns klädateljé]. It is clear however that the Malmö production of Sagan confirmed Ingmar Bergman’s position as one of Sweden’s outstanding theatre directors while suggesting that his impressive stagecraft was related to an increasing ability to subsume his own vision to that of the original dramatic text (see Wahlund, SvD). It might be noted that although Bergman employed many members of his Malmö ensemble in his by now internationally successful filmmaking ventures, none of the reviewers of his stage productions made any comparisons between his two artistic activities. To them, he was first and foremost a theatre director. Cf. however reception of next item, Goethe’s Ur-Faust.
Reviews Bergstrand, Allan. ‘Bitterljuv vår på Intiman’ [Bitter-sweet spring at Intiman]. Arbetet, 13 April 1958. Fagerström, Allan. ‘När grodorna kväker’ [When the frogs are croaking]. AB, 13 April 1958. Hansson, Hansingvar. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Sagan’. ST, 13 April 1958. Harrie, Ivar. ‘En grym lek med kärleken’ [Cruel playing with love]. Expr., 13 April 1958. Isaksson, Ulla. ‘Grymma lekar’ [Cruel games]. Idun. No. 18, 1958. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Hjalmar Bergmans Sagan’. DN, 13 April 1958. PGP. ‘Bergmans saga’. Vecko-Journalen, no. 17, 1958. Ruin, Hans. ‘Sagan på Intiman’. SDS, 13 April 1958. Steinthal, Herbert. ‘En forgænger for det poetiske teater’ [A precursor of the poetic theatre]. Politiken (Copenhagen), 21 April 1958. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Sagan i Malmö’ SvD, 13 April 1958.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Guest Performance Abroad Paris, Théatre Sarah Bernardt, 23-25 April 1959 The Sagan production was invited to the Theatre of the Nations festival in Paris in April 1959. The time of the guest performance coincided with the French opening of Bergman’s film Smultronstället (Les fraises sauvages). At a press conference on 21 April 1959, Bergman charmed reporters with quick and witty replies to questions that mostly concerned his filmmaking and the connection between his film and theatre work. See Paris press, April 22, 1959. The enthusiastic audience reception on opening night was mostly reserved for Ingmar Bergman who appeared in person after the performance. It was an evening with celebrities and cultural names. In attendance were authors Marcel Aymé, Albert Camus, Samuel Beckett, and Eugene Ionesco, film actresses Ingrid Bergman, Jeanne Moreau, and Juliette Greco, numerous theatre directors and performers from the Comédie Française, nine ambassadors from all the Nordic countries plus Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and India. Also present was Dramaten’s head Karl Ragnar Gierow and Hjalmar Bergman’s widow Stina. The audience on opening night also included 400 journalists from 25 different countries. Most Swedish press releases about the guest performance paid little attention to the critical response to Bergman’s production and focussed instead on the public event itself. See: ‘’Sagan’ fångade parisarna’ [Sagan captured the Parisians]. Lunds Dagblad, 24 April 1959; ‘Sagan gjorde lysande Paris-debut’ [Sagan made brilliant Paris debut], SDS, 22 April 1959, p. 3; ‘Sagans poesi svår för Paris’, [Sagan’s poetry difficult for Paris], DN, 24 April 1959, p. 16; ‘Film och teater. Svensk succé i Paris’ [Swedish success in Paris], Mora Tidning, 24 April 1959; ‘Publikovationer i Paris vid premiären på ‘Sagan’’ [Public ovations in Paris on opening night of ‘Sagan’], SvD, pp. 3, 23. However, see also Arbetet report ‘Lite besviken eftersmak’ [A little bitter aftertaste], 24 April 1959, p. 1. All three performances were sold out. Bergman’s reputation as a gloom-and-doom Nordic filmmaker had preceded his presentation of Sagan in Paris. The (London) Times reviewer (unsigned) wrote: ‘Anyone who is familiar with Mr. Ingmar Bergman’s passion for the macabre and lugubrious aspects of the human predicament will understand why he was attracted to this drama’. Yet, although translated copies of Hjalmar Bergman’s play, which was performed in Swedish, were distributed among the audience, unfamiliarity with Hjalmar Bergman’s authorship resulted in rather bland, though polite French reviews. Le Monde’s reviewer Robert Kemp gave up understanding the play, which he felt was too far removed from French culture and mindscape. All in all, however, he called the occasion ‘une jolie soirée’.
Reviews n.a. ‘The Two Bergmans in Paris’. The Times, 27 April 1959. Fabre, Jacqueline. ‘Ingmar Bergman à Paris’. Libération, 22 April 1959. Press meeting report. G. Joly. ‘Au Théâtre des Nations. Festival Bergman. “Une Saga”’. Aurore, 24 April 1959. Kemp, Robert. ‘La Saga au Théâtre des Nations’. Le Monde, 25 April 1959, Spectacles page. Marcabru, Pierre. ‘Actualités’. Arts, 25 April 1959.
433.
FAUST [Ur-Faust]
Credits Author Director Stage Design and Costumes Stage Opening date
Johan Wolfgang von Goethe Ingmar Bergman Kerstin Hedeby Malmö City Theatre, Main Stage 17 October 1958
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Cast Faust Mephistopheles Gretchen Wagner The Student Frosch Altmeyer Siebel Brander Lieschen Valentin Evil Spirit The Priest
Max von Sydow Toivo Pawlo Gunnel Lindblom Oscar Ljung Axel Düberg Åke Askner Gustaf Färingborg Tor Isedal Leif Hedberg Bibi Andersson Folke Sundquist Gerd Hein Arne Hasselblad
Commentary A director’s copy (no. 302) is in the Bergman archive at SFI. Assistant director’s copy (Gösta Ekman) is available at Malmö Theatre Archives. It contains some inserted loose notes in Bergman’s handwriting, describing scene sequences (three acts, eighteen scenes), moods, and basic themes (strong sense of life, feeling for nature, individualism, megalomania). There is also a reference to 18th-century puppetry (mentioned in Goethe’s Dichtung und Wahrheit) and a sketchy outline of Faust figures from 15th, 16th and 17th centuries where the title character is described as an ambiguous charlatan, a vagabond, an adventurer, and a forceful renaissance man full of contempt for dry medieval science. Bergman chose to stage the original version of Goethe’s Faust, written when Goethe was 2324 years old and first read in a literary salon in Weimar in 1775, only to be lost and rediscovered more than 100 years later. In an interview (Vilgot Sjöman, below), Bergman explained his choice of Ur-Faust: ‘The work was rhythmic, clear, cohesive, complete as theatre... all that which the later Faust is not’. [rytmisk, klar, enhetlig, avslutad som teater... allt det som den senare Faust inte är]. Another reason for his choice might have been that Ur-Faust had been broadcast on Swedish Radio two years earlier in a new translation (by Bertil Malmberg), which made it more accessible to a modern Swedish audience. In the Sjöman interview Bergman declared the theme of Ur-Faust to be emptiness: ‘First comes the discovery of emptiness. Then, the acceptance of emptiness. Then, the filling of emptiness. And finally, the punishment’. [först kommer upptäckten av tomheten. Sen: tomhetens bejakande. Sen: tomhetens fyllnad. Och sist: straffet]. Bergman saw the drama as a morality play and produced it like a medieval lithurgical drama. He interpreted the title figure as a sexually brutal man whose main flaw was his inability to feel empathy and pain. He also changed Gretchen’s character from an innocent girl to a woman of questionable morals. Faust and Mephisto were made to look like a couple of Siamese twins: same hairstyle, same beard, same red costumes. Theirs was a brotherhood to death, a physical body and its shadow. What they had in common was emotional coldness. (Ebbe Linde, DN, saw a homosexual coloring in the Faust-Mephistopheles relationship: ‘after all, we are with Ingmar Bergman’. [vi är ju trots allt hos Ingmar Bergman]. The set design was kept sparse: three Gothic vaults dominated the stage, the middle one flanked by two sculptures, a madonna and a gargoyle of the kind that ornates the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. These vaults served as a frame for all the scenes, be it Faust’s study chamber, Auerbach’s cellar, Mephistopheles’ consorting with Martha, Gretchen’s bedroom or her prison cell. The characters, often in very bright costumes, either passed in and out under the vaults
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre against a background of projected sketches, or were silhouetted against a pale blue horizon. There were no other props than Faust’s desk, stacked with a few opulent volumes. No poodle appeared, no wine was poured, Faust signed an invisible pact. When not involved in the action, the actors remained on stage, posing like shadows in the background.
Reception Critics were not surprised that Bergman would produce Goethe’s Faust, a work based on the same juxtaposition of good and evil as his own stage plays and films: ‘Bergman too is torn, like young Goethe, between darkness and light; he is thrown between the abysses of heaven and earth; he oscillates between smouldering paganism and heavenly glow. And his duality goes right through his being’. [Också Ingmar Bergman slits, som den unge Goethe en gång, mellan mörkt och ljust; kastas mellan himlens och jordens avgrunder; pendlar mellan rykande hedendom och himmelsk glöd. Och hans klyvnad går rakt genom hans väsen] (Ruin, SDS). There was much anticipation prior to the opening night of Bergman’s Faust, but many reviewers were disappointed: ‘The premiere of Goethe’s Ur-Faust on Malmö’s main stage, a production regarded for months as the theatre event of the year, almost resulted in our tense expectations dissolving into nothing. Ingmar Bergman was to be authorized, definitely, as our new and innovative director of the classics. But none of this happened’. [Premiären på Goethes Ur-Faust på stora scenen i Malmö, en föreställning som betraktats som årets teaterevenemang sedan månader, blev nära nog en spänd förväntans upplösning i intet. Ingmar Bergman skulle definitivt auktoriseras som vår nya och nyskapande klassiker-regissör. Men inget av detta inträffade] (Hansingvar Hansson (ST). Though the production was termed visually magnificent (see Bæckström, Brunius, Wahlund) and somewhat reminiscent of The Seventh Seal, Bergman’s staging seemed undramatic and plain boring (Brunius) or disintegrated into single flashes of illuminated tableaus (Wahlund). It seems that the more the reviewers noticed ‘cinematic’ features in the production, such as projected imagery and rhythmic cuts, the more critical they became. The great positive surprise for the critics was Gunnel Lindblom’s performance as Gretchen (see Bæckström, Fagerström, Hansson) and Bergman’s interpretation of her character. An abstract, almost symbolic figure in Goethe’s text, Gretchen became, in Bergman’s interpretation, the most realistic of the dramatis personae Clas Brunius wrote (Expr.): ‘Goethe’s Faust has certainly not given Ingmar Bergman any real kick [...] until he gets to what really interests him: Margaret. Suddenly, his direction achieves a different pace, a rhythmic undulation’ [Goethes Faust har sannerligen inte gett Ingmar Bergman någon riktig kick [...] (förrän) han är framme vid det som verkligen har intresserat honom: Margareta. [...] Regin går över i en helt annan takt, en rytmisk gungning]. Cf. however Bergstrand (Arbetet), Piersdorff (Politiken), and Linde (DN) for reservations about Bergman’s portrayal of Gretchen’s spiritual rape. Piersdorff found it strange that a production as esthetically effective in its simplicity was also coarse and direct in its portrayal of Gretchen. Linde (DN) saw the combination of emotional manipulation and vulgarity as symptomatic of Bergman’s theatrical work and a possible explanation for its impact on audiences. The most unreservedly positive voice came from Kajsa Krook at Helsinkis Hufvudstadsbladet: ‘That Ingmar Bergman is the theatre director of big productions, which Peer Gynt and The Misanthrope have shown, is still true after Faust. [...] His production is so strong and beautiful in image and movement that it is well suited to be presented abroad [...]. One might discuss Bergman’s analysis and solutions but not the fact that he represents what is best in Nordic theatre today’. [Att Ingmar Bergman är den teaterregissör av stort format som Peer Gynt och Misantropen har visat, står fast också efter Faust. [...] Så starkt och skönt som Ingmar Bergmans Faustföreställning uttrycks i bild och rörelse är den väl ägnad att presenteras på ett
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman främmande språkområde. [...] Man kan diskutera Bergmans analys och lösningar, men det skymmer inte det faktum att han representerar det bästa i nordisk teater i dag.]. See also positive write-ups of the production by Ossia Trilling in The (London) Times, 22 October 1958, and by Svend Kragh-Jacobsen in the Danish Berlingske Tidence, 18 October 1958.
Reviews Bergstrand, Allan. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Faust’. Arbetet, 18 October 1958. Beyer, Nils. ‘Årets teaterhändelse bländande skönhetssyn’ [Theatre event of the year a blinding vision of beauty]. MT, 18 October 1958. Also in Scen och Salong 11, 1958: 2-3. Bæckström, Tord. ‘Ur-Faust i Malmö’. GHT, 18 October 1958. Brunius, Clas. ‘Margareta den enda som lever i Goethes döda scenpanoptikon’ [Margaret the only one alive in Goethe’s dead stage panoptikon’]. Expr.,18 October 1958. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Gretchen pysslar med Gotiken’ [Gretchen fiddles with Gothicism]. AB, 18 October 1958. Hansson, Hansingvar. ‘Gretchens stora kväll’ [Gretchen’s big evening]. ST, 18 October 1958. Krook, Kajsa. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Faust’. Hufvudstadsbladet, 12 November 1958. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Faust’. DN, 18 October 1958. PGP. ‘Demonen på Stora teatern’ [The demon at the City Theatre]. Vecko-Journalen, no. 44, 1958. Pierstorff, Erik. ‘Djevlebesettelsen i Malmö’ [Possessed by the devil in M.]. Morgenbladet, 8 November 1958. Rifbjerg, Klaus. ‘Faust, fanden og den gotiske uskyld’ [Faust, the devil and Gothic virginity]. Information, 18-19 October 1958. Ruin, Hans. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Faust’. SDS, 18 October 1958. Trilling, Ossia. ‘Ingmar Bergman Stages Goethe’s Youthful Draft of Faust’. The Times, 22 October 1958. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Faust på Malmö stadsteater’. SvD, 18 October 1958.
See also Dallmann, Günther. ‘Lorbeer und Sturm um Ingmar Bergman’. Der Kurier, 14 February 1959. (An article on the reception of Ur-Faust and discussions about financing guest performances abroad). Lilliestierna, Christina. ‘Fan själv’ [The Devil himself]. Vecko-Journalen, no. 44, 1958. (Interview with Toivo Pawlo and scenographer Kerstin Hedeby). Sjögren, Henrik. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 214-24. Sjöman, Vilgot. ‘Faust kan icke lida’ [Faust cannot suffer]. Vi, no. 42, 1958, p. 19.(Conversation with Ingmar Bergman prior to producing Faust in Malmö).
Guest Performance London Prince’s Theatre, May 4, 1959, 8 performances. The Faust production was invited to London in early May 1959. Bergman arrived on May 1 after minor surgery in Stockholm and gave a press conference the same day at the Swedish Embassy in London. See report ‘Nyopererad Ingmar Bergman skötte konferens från stol’ (Newly operated Bergman managed a press conference from a chair. (SDS, 2 May 1959). See also interview with Bergman in The Times (‘Mr. Bergman Relaxes’), 4 May 1959, p. 14, and summary of press conference by Torsten Ehrenmark, ‘Ingmar Bergmans Londondebut’ [Bergman’s London debut] AB, 2 June 1959, p. 8. Questions directed to Bergman referred almost entirely to his filmmaking and touched on such subjects as his loyalty to Sweden; his films as various facets of himself; and a statement he had made about all great artists making the same work over and over again.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre A sold-out opening night was attended by cultural celebrities and the Swedish diplomatic corps. Audience response resulted in ten curtain calls. Both Bergman and Lars Levi Læstadius (head of Malmö City Theatre) were present. The performance, though in Swedish, still ‘gave Londoners their most fantastic theatrical experience for years’, according to Daily Herald reviewer Anthony Carthew, who felt that ‘Bergman leaps the language barrier like a champion hurdler’. Carthew was seconded by W.A. Darlington in the Daily Telegraph and by Cecil Wilson in the Daily Mail. Michael Meyer (Financial Times) concluded that ‘for anyone interested in fine acting and direction [the performance] is not to be missed’. The overall British reception was respectful and had few of the reservations voiced in the Swedish reviews at home. Possibly, the production had become more refined since the premiere in Malmö. British critics were probably influenced by the international Bergman wave in the cinema, which peaked around this time but left Swedish critics rather cold. One reviewer (Felix Barker) suggested however that the applause on opening night was simply a matter of courtesy to a company who had come a long way to show their work to Londoners.
Reviews n.a. ‘Stylized Urfaust Slips Through Double Language Barrier’. The Times, 5 May 1959. B.L. ‘Clear Two Obstacles’. Daily Worker, 5 May 1959. Barker, Felix. ‘Well, They Have come a Long Way’. Evening News, 5 May 1959. Carthew, Anthony. ‘Triumphant Nightmare’. Daily Herald, 5 May 1959. Darlington, W.A. ‘Early Goethe Stylized by Swedes’. Daily Telegraph, 5 May 1959. Dent, Alan. ‘Very Gothic Goethe by the Swedes’. News Chronicle, 5 May 1959. Hope-Wallace, Philip. ‘“Ur-Faust” in Swedish’. Manchester Guardian, 5 May 1959. Meyer, Michael. ‘Princess Theatre. Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Faust’’. The Financial Times, 5 May 1959. Shulman, Milton. ‘An Experience Strictly for Connoisseurs’. Evening Standard, 5 May 1959. Thompson, John. ‘You don’t need Swedish for this’. Daily Express, 5 May 1959. Wilson, Cecil. ‘Fiery Bergman Comes to Town in Triumph’. Daily Mail, 5 May 1959. Wraight, Robert. ‘This is Simply Magic’. The Star, 5 May 1959. The Swedish press reported extensively on the British reception of Faust on 6 May 1959: n.a. ‘Lysande teatersamling såg Bergman-premiären’ [Distinguished theatre crowd saw Bergman premiere]. GHT, 5 May 1959. n.a. ‘Londons kritiker applåderar Malmö-gästspelet’ [London critics applaud Malmö guest visit]. KvP, 5 May 1959. D.V. ‘Londonpressen är entusiastisk över “Urfaust”’. DN, 6 May 1959. Hedström, Karl Olof. ‘London njöt i fulla drag av Urfaust, trots språket’ [London fully enjoyed Ur-Faust despite the language]. ST, 6 May 1959. Ivarsson, Nils-Ivar. ‘Malmösegern i London fullständig – Ur-Faust god svensk propaganda’ [The Malmö victory in London complete – Ur-Faust good Swedish propaganda]. SDS, 6 May 1959. Bergman planned a second Faust production at Dramaten in the 1996/97 season but it was never realized.
434.
VÄRMLÄNNINGARNA [The People of Värmland]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design
F.A. Dahlgren Ingmar Bergman Martin Ahlbom
592
Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Choreography Conductor Stage Date
Ingrid Tönsager Gert-Ove Andersson Malmö City Theatre, Main Stage 19 December 1958
Cast The Squire Vilhelm, his son Lotta, his daughter The Parson Sven Ersson at Hult Lisa, his wife Erik, their son Stina, their maid Per, their farmhand Nisse the Runner Britta, his daughter Jan Hansson, crofter Annika, his wife Anna, their daughter Anders, their farmhand Bengt Henrik Squire’s servant Ola at Gyllby
Toivo Pawlo Olav Gerthel Anna-Stina Walton Albin Lindahl Åke Fridell Dagny Lind Folke Sundquist Bibi Andersson Max von Sydow Åke Askner Gunnel Lindblom Oscar Ljung Kerstin Rabe Christina Lindström Arne Hasselblad Axel Düberg Lenn Hjortzberg Nils Nygren Tor Isedal
Commentary Assistant director Gösta Ekman’s copy (no. 165) is available at the Malmö Music Theatre Archives. It has rather detailed stage directions, especially of mass scenes (folk dancing and musicians groups). In the crucial church scene, Bergman added the liturgical words announcing the upcoming marriage of Erik Svensson and Britta Olsdotter, read by the parson. Usually performed at Christmas time, Värmlänningarna is a Swedish Romeo and Juliet pastiche with a happy ending, involving two peasant families, one rich, the other poor. The author, a folklorist and translator of Shakespeare, also incorporated an Ophelia theme in his piece: Anna, the crofter’s daughter whose marriage to the rich farmer’s son is thwarted, is driven to madness and near-drowning. Bergman wanted to set up Värmlänningarna as a sign of gratitude for a memorable childhood experience of the play. But he had actually tackled the play before; in fact, every Christmas since 1951, a taped radio version directed by Bergman had been broadcast on the Swedish Public Radio (see Ø 273). A more likely reason for producing Värmlänningarna in Malmö was suggested in an interview with Björn Vinberg (Expr., 19 December 1958), where Bergman claims having stopped working as ‘en lyxhora’ [a luxury whore]. There were to be no more exclusive productions by him for an intimate theatre with space for 150 people. From now on he was to attract the masses who seldom went to the theatre, and do so with quality productions: If you produce a popular play, you must do so with quality. It is very easy to stage popular plays in a careless and ugly fashion. But there should be beautiful music, beautiful and fun people, colorful costumes and stage design, a moving plot, the right length of the performance. [...] The person who sees Värmlänningarna for the first time will certainly find the theatre enjoyable. Then he will perhaps return and see Faust.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre
Men spelar man folkligt så skall man se till att det blir kvalitet. Det är väldigt lätt att presentera folkpjäser slarvigt och fult. Det ska vara vacker musik, vackra roliga människor, färgsprakande dräkter och dekorationer. En rörande handling, rätt speltid. [...] En som upplever teater för första gången med ‘Värmlänningarna’ måste finna teater roligt. Han går dit igen och ser Faust kanske. For his Malmö production of Värmlännningarna, Bergman decided to go back to the original score, as it was presumably played at the Stockholm Opera in 1846. The set, kept in white, blue, and gold colors, was copied from the old Opera house. It was designed as a peephole structure reminiscent of 19th-century theatres. In the background were pictures that looked like oldfashioned theatre posters. Behind the proscenium, the large main stage remained like a church in natural size, out of which the congregation ‘came tumbling’, as one critic (Fagerström, AB) put it. Malmö City Theatre’s main stage was built for musicals and Bergman had at his disposal an ensemble that was large and varied enough to provide him with stage actors with musical training. A few opera singers joined the regular ensemble. One might compare Bergman’s approach to casting ‘Värmlänningarna’ to his filmed version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
Reception A language pedagogue was called in to train the cast in a Värmland-like dialect. Not many of the reviewers liked the result. Brunius, Expr., called it ‘a linguistic soup of dreadful effect’. [en språklig soppa av fruktansvärd verkan]. The production as a whole, however, was a huge critical and popular success, and it was suggested that the Malmö City Theatre make it a tradition to present Värmlänningarna once a year at Christmas time. A good many of the reviewers explained the success as a mixture of national nostalgia – like leafing through an old picture book – and good solid entertainment; or in the words of Nils Beyer (ST): Every educated Swede knows that this play is corny trash but he cannot free himself from its innocent charm. In some way, it has become the most Swedish of Swedish plays. Strindberg liked it. The same thing has happened to Ingmar Bergman. [...] The overall beauty of the production is that Ingmar Bergman has taken the characters and the whole childish conflict in earnest. [Varje bildad svensk vet, att det är ett särdeles pekoral men kan inte frigöra sig från dess troskyldiga charm. På något sätt har det blivit det mest genuint svenska av alla svenska stycken. Strindberg tyckte om det. Det har gått Ingmar Bergman på samma sätt. [...] Det fina i föreställningen är över huvud taget att Ingmar Bergman tagit figurerna och hela den barnsliga konflikten på allvar]. Bergman’s approach to his material was ironic but not overbearing, ‘the kind of amusing lack of respect one can permit oneself towards something one loves with all one’s heart. [...] It is on that love that his production builds, and it is that love he communicates to the audience, just as he apparently communicated it to his cast’. [det slags roande brist på respekt man kan tillåta sig gentemot något man älskar av hela sitt hjärta. [...] Det är på den kärleken hans uppsättning bygger och det är den kärleken han förmedlar till publiken, precis så som han tydligen förmedlade den till sin ensemble] (Arne Ericsson, SDS). Almost all of the reviews mentioned, in fact, the festive atmosphere and happy vitality that Bergman’s mixture of pastiche and sincerity transmitted: ‘It was as much fun as if one were suddenly seven years old and attended the theatre for the first time in one’s life’ [det var roligt
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman som om man plötsligt blivit sju år och för första gången i sitt liv var på teatern], exclaimed Nils Beyer (ST). It is rather rare in Sweden to find such rave and happy theatre reviews as those that appeared fairly regularly during Bergman’s Malmö years. The period has come to live on as one of the absolute peaks in Bergman’s career as a stage director. Upon his departure from the Malmö stage, several reviewers commented on his development as a theatre director, listing as important features his careful reading of the dramatic text (Brunius, Expr.); his attention to detail in mise-en-scene and casting (Bergstrand, Arbetet; Ericsson, SDS; Fagerström, AB); his ability to inspire and hold together a huge ensemble. One of the leading theatre critics in Sweden at the time, Per Erik Wahlund (SvD), noted with satisfaction Bergman’s development from the enfant terrible of the 1940s to a mature master of the stage in the 1950s: ...Ingmar Bergman’s evolution is one of the greatest delights in today’s Swedish theatre. His period of strained experimentation is over; chaos has become clarity, his histrionic deviltry has been disciplined, the desire to shock has been replaced by the ability to interpret and elucidate. Nowadays Bergman has breadth, a feeling for style, a sense of a living tradition that no other younger director shares. With all his modernity and international outlook he combines a broad appeal with a national perspective. [...Ingmar Bergmans utveckling är ett av de största glädjeämnena i dagens svenska teater. De överansträngda experimentens tid är förbi; kaos har klarnat, det teatraliska diableriet har stadgat sig, lusten att chockera har ersatts av förmågan att tolka och förnya. Bergman har numera en bredd, en stilkänsla och ett sinne för levande tradition som ingen annan av våra yngre regissörer. Med all sin modernitet och internationella överblick förenar han en folklighet och en nationalism.]
Reviews Bergstrand, Allan. ‘Ny triumf för Ingmar Bergman’ [New triumph for Bergman]. Arbetet, 20 December 1958. Beyer, Nils. ‘Ack, Värmeland du sköna..’. [Ah, Värmland thou beautiful...]. ST, 20 December 1958. Also in Scen och Salong 1, 1959: 2-3. Brunius, Clas. ‘Bergmans Värmlänningarna det verkliga “lyxhoreriet”’ [Bergman’s People of Värmland a real piece of luxury whoring]. Expr., 20 December 1958. (Review heading refers to interview with Bergman cited in Commentary above). Centervall, S. ‘Julteater i Malmö’ [Christmas theatre in Malmö]. GHT, 22 December 1958. Ericsson, Arne. ‘Ett älskat skådespel’ [A beloved stage play]. SDS, 20 December 1958. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Ingmar Bergman och Värmlänningarna’. AB, 20 December 1958. Hoogland, Claes. ‘Nyårspremiärerna’ [The New Year’s Openings]. SR (Swedish Public Radio), 16 January 1959. (Includes brief review of Bergman’s production). Hähnel, Barbro. ‘Värmlänningarna i Malmö’. DN, 20 December 1958. PGP. ‘Återuppståndna Värmlänningar’ [Resurrected Värmland people]. Vecko-Journalen, no. 1, 1959. Steinthal, Herbert. ‘Sveriges Elverhøj’. Politiken (Danish), 21 December 1958. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Svensk tradition i Malmö’ [Swedish tradition in M]. SvD, 20 December 1958.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Dramaten (Royal Dramatic Theatre) (1961-1976) In early 1959 Ingmar Bergman returned to Stockholm. He had withdrawn from a planned Malmö production of Molière’s Amphytrion but remained in touch with the Malmö stage, where preparations were under way for guest performances of Bergman’s Sagan in Paris and Faust in London. The following years (1959-1963) were devoted to filmmaking – Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring) and ‘The Trilogy’ – with a couple of exceptions: an opera production of Stravinski’s The Rake’s Progress (see Ø 489) and a production of Chekhov’s The Seagull at the Royal Dramatic Theatre where he now had a contract as senior director.
1961 435.
MÅSEN [The Seagull]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Assistant Director Wigs and Make-up Stage Opening Date
Tjajka/Čajka Anton Checkov Ingmar Bergman Marik Vos Lenn Hjortzberg Arne Lundh Dramaten, Main Stage 6 January 1961
Cast Irina Nikolajevna Trepleva, Actress Konstantin Treplev, her son Pjotr Nikolajevitj Sorin, her brother Ilja Afanasievitj Sjamrajev, manager of Sorin estate Polina Andrejevna, his wife Masja, their daughter Boris Alexejevitj Trigorin Jevgenij Sergejevitj Dorn, doctor Semjon Semjonovitj Medvedjenko, doctor Jacob Cook Maid Farmhand
Eva Dahlbeck Per Myrberg Christina Schollin Jan Erik Lindqvist Aino Taube Kristina Adolphson Ulf Palme Uno Henning Hans Strååt Gunnar Collin Gustaf Andersson Carin Lundqvist Etienne Glaser
Commentary Måsen (The Seagull) was Bergman’s first Checkov production. Some reviewers were surprised that he chose to make his Dramaten directorial debut with a playwright he had never staged during his more than twenty years in the theatre and with whose temperament he did not have much affinity. One reason for his choice may have been Checkov’s portrayal of the self-absorbed artist Trigorin, a kindred spirit of Bergman’s own mediocre artist (David) in the film Såsom i en spegel (Through a Glass Darkly 1961). Bergman’s focus in his Seagull production was
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman clearly on the attraction and curse of being an artist, a theme he would also develop in several subsequent films (Persona, Vargtimmen, Skammen). Dramaten has a director’s copy of the production. It shows a faithful retention of the original text, with only one substantial cut, the croquet scene in Act II. There are relatively few notes but a couple of quotes from two Checkov letters are reproduced in Bergman’s handwriting and placed like a motto at the beginning of the dialogue text. One quote reads: ‘A conscious life without a definite view of life is not a life; it is a burden, something terrible’. [Ett medvetet liv utan en medveten livssyn är inget liv; det är en börda, något förfärligt]. The other quote concerns Checkov exhorting himself to write a story about a young man, ‘fawning before God and the whole world without being forced to do so, but only out of his own sense of insignificance’ [som kryper inför Gud och hela världen utan att tvingas därtill utan bara ur en känsla av sin egen obetydlighet].
Reception The anticipation prior to Bergman’s staging of The Seagull was high. P.G. Petterson (AB) described the mood in his review: ‘There was a rather breathless mood in the house when the Dramaten public was confronted with Ingmar Bergman for the first time (sic)’. [Det var ganska andlöst i salongen när Dramatens publik för första gången konfronterades med Ingmar Bergman]. Nils Beyer (ST) wondered if ‘the magician from Malmö’ would live up to his reputation: ‘It was more than the anticipation of a Checkov play. It was a question of whether Ingmar Bergman, after his many triumphs in the provinces, would finally conquer the capital’. [Det var mer än förväntan på Tjechovs pjäs. Det var fråga om Ingmar Bergman efter sina många triumfer i landsorten till sist skulle erövra huvudstaden]. Actually, Bergman’s international reputation as a filmmaker also played a part. Several foreign newspapers had sent their critics to the opening. This seemed to irritate some of the Swedish reviewers; Per Erik Wahlund in SvD wrote: ‘I must report a quiet wonder at the international importance it [the production] has been given in advance’. [man måste rapportera en stilla undran inför den internationella betydelse den (föreställningen) har getts i förväg]. Sven Stål (Lidingö Tidning) also felt that the foreign interest in Bergman was exaggerated: ‘Through his films, his world fame etc., Ingmar Bergman has become elevated to something of a miracle man. One demands miracles from him and forces oneself to see considerably more in his stagecraft than what can, soberly speaking, be read into it’. [Genom sina filmer, sitt världsrykte etc har Ingmar Bergman blivit upphaussad till något av en mirakelman. Man begär mirakler av honom och tvingar sig till att se betydligt mer i hans uppsättningar än vad som nyktert talat kan läsas in i dem]. And the most glowing reviews were indeed written by foreign critics. Thus, Kenneth Tynan in The Observer praised the combined realism and poetry of Bergman’s rendering of Checkov and felt that the production came closer to perfection than he had ever dreamt possible. By contrast, most of the Swedish reviewers were ambivalent. To one group, represented by Ebbe Linde (DN) and Tord Bæckström (GHT), there was little reason to believe that Bergman would succeed with material as strange to his temperament as Checkov’s. Bergman’s forte was, after all, colorful and surprising directorial impulses rather than subtle Checkovian nuances. But to another group of reviewers, for example P.G. Petterson (AB), it was precisely the temperamental differences between playwright and director that was a positive feature: ‘It was not Bergman one met but Checkov, not Checkov seen through Ingmar Bergman’s mind but through Checkov’s own. And it was indeed wonderful to experience the confrontation; one made discoveries..’. [Det var inte Bergman man mötte utan Tjechov, inte Tjechov sedd genom Ingmar Bergmans genius utan genom Tjechovs eget. Och det var i sanning underbart att uppleva konfrontationen; man gjorde upptäckter...].
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre When Bergman returned to the capital after his years in Malmö, his old reputation as a volatile, self-preoccupied iconoclast seemed to have lingered among some of the reviewers, seemingly unaware of the professional development he had undergone in Malmö. Among those who reacted most positively to Bergman’s Seagull were critics for whom the production represented a new Ingmar Bergman, free of his youthful histrionics, an intent listener to another artist’s dramatic text; or in the words of Ivar Harrie (Expr.): ‘Was it Checkov? Yes, it was Checkov, the real Checkov. Was it Ingmar Bergman? Yes, it was the real Ingmar Bergman. He who shows himself to be a poet of the theatre by being completely subservient to the real poets of the theatre’. [Var det Tjechov? Ja, det var Tjechov, den riktige Tjechov. Var det Ingmar Bergman? Ja, det var den riktige Ingmar Bergman. Han som visar sig vara teaterdiktare, genom att vara helt lydig de riktiga teaterdiktarna]. In retrospect, however, the reception of Bergman’s Seagull production has been termed tepid and unengaged – Henrik Sjögren (Ingmar Bergman på teatern, p. 231) calls the critical response ‘an expression of controlled disappointment’. [ett uttryck för kontrollerad besvikelse]. A case in point is Uno Florén (Idun) for whom the production was lukewarm, neither a thunderous fiasco nor a moving success.
Reviews Beyer, Nils. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Måsen’. ST, 7 January 1961. Baeckström, Tord. ‘Måsen på Dramaten’. GHT, 9 January 1961. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Denna ljuvliga lantliga melankoli’ [This lovely provincial melancholy]. AB, 7 January 1961. Florén, Uno. ‘Varken – eller’ [Neither – nor]. Idun, no. 4, 1961. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Bergmans Tjechov: Ett knallande leverne’ [B’s Checkov: A thunderous living]. Expr., 7 January 1961. Heyman, Viveka. ‘Teaterrond’ [Theatre round]. Arbetaren, no. 2, 1961. Leiser. Erwin. ‘Dramaten slår på stort’ [Dramaten on a big foot]. Scen och Salong 1, 1961: 2. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Diskret Bergmanpremiär’. DN, 7 January 1961. PGP. ‘Tjechov, Måsen och Bergman’. AB, 7 January 1961. Stål, Sven. ‘Måsen på Dramaten’. Lidingö Tidning, 14 January 1961. Tynan, Kenneth. ‘The Seagull in Stockholm’. The Observer, 7-10 January 1961. Per Erik Wahlund. ‘Måsens magi naken verklighet’ [The Seagull’s magic is naked reality]. SvD, 7 January 1961.
Special Studies Schildt, Göran. ‘Den levande och den döda måsen’ [The living and the dead seagull]. SvD (understreckare), 20 February 1961. (A newspaper essay in which the author compares two current stagings of Checkov’s play: Bergman’s Dramaten production, and Eino Kallima’s on the Finnish National stage in Helsinki.)
Royal Swedish Opera (1961) 436.
RUCKLARENS VÄG [The Rake’s Progress] (See Ø 489), Opera Section at end of Chapter VI.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Head of Dramaten (1963-1966) Ingmar Bergman accepted the post as head of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in January 1963 after Karl Ragnar Gierow had announced his retirement. See interview on Swedish Public Radio (SR), ‘Dagens Eko’ (Daily News Commentary) on 14 January 1963. When Bergman assumed his new task in the fall of that year, theatre critic Nils Beyer wrote: After 25 years we have a man of the theatre as head of the country’s most prestigious stage, and for Ingmar Bergman it must be a triumph, the last and final one following all his other triumphs, to get to show at last the hard-to-please, traditional Dramaten audience that he is not only a film genius but perhaps even greater as a stage artist. [Efter 25 år har vi fått en teaterman i spetsen för landets förnämsta scen, och för Ingmar Bergman bör det vara en triumf, den sista och slutgiltiga efter alla hans andra triumfer, att äntligen få visa Dramatens gamla svårflirtade publik att han inte endast är ett filmgeni, utan kanske ändå större som scenisk konstnär.] (ST, 5 October 1963, p. 11). As head of Dramaten, Bergman now faced two of his most respected directors: Olof Molander and Alf Sjöberg. He began his tenure by seeing to it that Molander retired, together with aging actor and Dramaten icon Lars Hanson. For Bergman’s account of his Dramaten years, including his reaction to Molander’s dismissal and his respectful collegiate relationship with Sjöberg, see Laterna magica (The Magic Lantern), pp. 222-24. Though brief, Bergman’s tenure as administrative head of the Royal Dramatic (1963-66) is an important chapter in his career since it involved him directly in cultural policy-making. See radio interviews with Bergman about actors participating in administrative decision-making at Dramaten (SR, ‘Stockholm: Dramatiska teatern’, 9 February 1963) and about new program policy where Dramaten would advocate special theatre programs for school children (SR, ‘P 3-Posten’, 30 August 1963). In an interview by Lars Öhngren in Idun-Veckojournalen, no. 9 (26 February 1965), pp. 23-27, 52, Bergman outlines the central cultural role that the theatre should play in a modern welfare state: The theatre is the most sensitive and quickest gauge or thermometer of any symptom of poisoning or feverish condition in a society. Furthermore, the theatre is one of the strongest conveyors of impulses to other cultural manifestations, it is a stimulant at work in the midst of cultural life. [Teatern är den känsligaste och snabbaste registratorn eller termometern på varje förgiftningssymptom eller febertillstånd i ett samhällsliv. Dessutom är teatern en av de starkaste impulsgivarna för övriga kulturmanifestationer, den är en stimulans som verkar i mitten av ett kulturliv.] In yet another interview, this time with Claes Hoogland, Bergman lists the principles inherited from his mentor Torsten Hammarén at Göteborg City theatre, on which he would continue to build: to be frank with the ensemble; to be well prepared and not try to improvise; and to be an active director and ‘move within the life cell itself. The life cell in a theatre is the actors on stage, not when they come to your office to discuss different matters’. [röra sig inom själva livscellen. Livscellen på teatern är skådespelarna på scenen, inte när de kommer till ditt tjänsterum i olika ärenden]. Comparing his Dramaten post to his filmmaking experiences, he defined it as 95% planning and organization, and 5% artistic work. (See ‘Dramatenchefen’ [Head of Dramaten],
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre SR, 31 March and 15 April 1964. This interview was published by Hoogland under the title. ‘Jag lockar inte med synden’. [Sin is not my drawing-card]. Röster i Radio-TV, no. 18, 1964: 14-16, 58). Ingmar Bergman assumed his administrative task at the Royal Dramatic Theatre with great enthusiasm and energy. His ambition was to improve the conditions of the actors, introduce a Performers Council, set up a definite production routine with eight weeks rehearsal time and an agenda of strict opening dates. He also initiated a Dramaten news magazine. To do all this, he demanded and got a substantially higher state subsidy than his predecessor. But he assumed his job at a period of cultural unrest in the Swedish theatre world, when Dramaten was seen as the epitome of the establishment. And despite all his new ideas to make Dramaten accessible to a larger audience, Bergman was opposed to politicizing its structure and repertory. When he resigned as head of Dramaten after less than three years, he referred to his tenure there as ‘the worst lye bath [eklut]’ of his career. See Laterna magica, pp. 220-32, for Bergman’s own account of the cultural situation.
437.
VEM ÄR RÄDD FÖR VIRGINIA WOOLF? [Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Assistant Director Stage Opening date
Edward Albee Ingmar Bergman Georg Magnusson Lenn Hjortzberg Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm, Main Stage 4 October 1963
Cast Martha George Honey Nick
Karin Kavli Georg Rydeberg Bibi Andersson Thommy Berggren
Commentary A director’s copy is among Bergman’s private papers, now at SFI. It is presented in Koskinen (Allting föreställer..., 2000, Ø 1676, p. 233) and includes seven handwritten loose pages with comments and two typed sheets referred to as ‘Latinska texterna i tredje akten av vem är rädd???’ [The Latin texts in third act of who’s afraid???]. Bergman’s papers also include assistant director Lenn Hjortzberg’s copy. Edward Albee was supposed to come to the opening of his play at Dramaten, but cancelled at the last moment. Bergman’s and Albee’s names had been linked in 1961 by Harry Schein, initiator and head of The Swedish Film Institute. He claimed that Albee’s ambition as a playwright touched base with Bergman’s films in its focus on loneliness and a need to establish communication, and in a deliberate striving to both entertain and shock. (See BLM, no. 9, November 1961: 706-710). At the time, Albee had gained a world-wide recognition as a very promising American playwright, following in the footsteps of Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller, and Tennessee Williams. A race among European theatres to be the first to stage Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf took place. Ingmar Bergman won. It was a repeat of his coup some fifteen years earlier when his production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire had won the opening-night race in Sweden (Göteborg).
Reception Bergman’s setting for Albee’s play exposed a rather abstract room in black and grey tones, a colorless inner landscape reminiscent of his black-and-white filmmaking at the time. Ebbe
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Linde called it ‘Hades grey’ [Hadesgrått] and Nils Beyer described the setting as ‘somewhere in eternity’ [någonstans i evigheten]. The Albee production coincided with the premiere of Bergman’s film Tystnaden (The Silence) and became part of a debate about his presentation of sexual explicitness on stage and screen. ‘It is as if a powerful PR organization has suddenly entered into pornographic activity’ [Det är som om en mäktig PR-organization plötsligt har trätt i pornografisk verksamhet], wrote critic Allan Fagerström (AB, 5 October 1963). See also Carlo Bergkvist, ‘Ingmar Bergman släpper lös CHOCKPJÄS på Dramaten’ [Bergman lets loose SHOCKING PLAY at Dramaten] (AB, 2 October 1963). Ebbe Linde (DN), referring to the production as Bergman practicing knockouts, wrote: ‘His old frenetic temper got fired up from time to time. [...] When [Albee’s] text lets someone sink to the floor, [Bergman] has her stretch out, hammering her fists; a prescribed kiss [...] becomes a near rape’. [Dennes gamla frenesi brände till då och då. [...] När texten låter någon sjunka sittande till golvet fick hon ligga raklång och hamra; en föreskriven kyss [...] blir en halv våldtäkt.] With few exceptions (Sandell, Wahlund), critics were not very kind to Albee’s play, which they found to be a virtuoso piece of theatrics based on a witty absurdist dialogue, but diffuse and, above all, pretentious. At times the criticism spilled over to include Bergman’s production or at least his choice of play: ‘What a hangover on the day of reckoning! Edward Albee’s, when he has to motivate this ideological trash, Ingmar Bergman’s, when he must explain why he exerted himself to show this artistically sterile package ahead of everybody else in Europe, and Harry Schein’s, when he claims that this is socially explosive stuff. MY GOD, has everyone in decision-making forgotten what is dangerous? Is it as simple as saying ‘fuck you’ at Dramaten? [Men vilken baksmälla på redovisningens dag! Edward Albees, när han en gång ska motivera detta ideologiska trams. Ingmar Bergmans, när han ska förklara varför han ansträngde sig före alla andra i Europa att visa detta konstnärligt sterila paket, och Harry Schein, när han ska bevisa att det är samhällsfarligt. HERRE GUD, har allesammans som bestämmer glömt vad som menas med farlighet? Är det så enkelt som att säga ‘kukfan’ på Dramaten?]. (Fagerström, AB). For similar blunt reviews, see Claes Brunius, Expr., and Tord Bæckström, GHT. On the other hand, amidst these negative reactions much praise was given to Bergman’s direction of the four actors, seeing his emphasis on ensemble acting as a welcome antidote to Dramaten’s traditional solo performances (See Beyer, ST and Josephson, SDS).
Reviews Abrahamssson, Bengt. ‘Tortyr på Dramaten’ [Torture at Dramaten]. GP, 5 October 1963. Beyer, Nils. ‘Albees dödsdans i Bergmans regi’ [Albee’s dance of death in B’s direction]. ST, 5 October 1963. Björkstén. Ingmar. ‘Strindberg på amerikanska’ [Strindberg in American]. Scen och Salong, 11, 1963: 22-23. Brunius, Clas. ‘Bergman slår K.O. igen’ [Bergman strikes a knock-out again]. Expr., 5 October 1963. Bæckström, Tord. ‘Dramaten. Vem är rädd för Virginia Woolf ’. GHT, 5 October 1963. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Ack, vilken baksmälla!’ [Oh, what a hangover!]. AB, 5 October 1963. Josephson, Lennart. ‘Ett amerikansk inferno’ [An American inferno]. SDS, 5 October 1963. Linde, Ebbe. ‘Avklädningslek i Hades grått’ [Undressing game in Hades gray]. DN, 5 October 1963.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Sandell, Ove. ‘En amerikansk dödsdans’ [An American dance of death]. Arbetet, 5 October 1963, p. 2. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Dödsdans vid ett college’ [Dance of death at a college]. SvD, 5 October 1963.
438.
SAGAN [The Legend]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Music Stage Opening date
Hjalmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Sven Erik Skawonius Ingvar Wieslander Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm, Main Stage 20 December 1963
Cast Sagan Herr Sune Ehrenstål Chamber servant Colonel’s Wife Flora Rose Gerhard Astrid Legal Clerk
Bibi Andersson Per Myrberg Uno Henning Björn Gustafson Aino Taube Renée Björling Kristina Adolphson Erland Josephson Helena Brodin Ragnar Falck
Commentary The director’s and assistant director’s (Lenn Hjortzberg) copies are in the Bergman Archive at SFI. In his third staging of Sagan Bergman placed less emphasis on theatrical effects and colorful costumes, and focussed more on the moral theme of the play and on the cynical old members of the Ehrenstål family. At the same time he toned down their overly grotesque aspects, so that they emerged in a more naturalistic light than in the Malmö production. There were no dance numbers, as in Malmö, and on the whole the Dramaten version of Sagan had a darker tone but also greater calm than Bergman’s earlier versions of the play. (Ø 378, 432) In the program note to the Dramaten production, Hjalmar Bergman’s widow, Stina, told a story that might be the genesis of Sagan: at Hjalmar and Stina Bergman’s summer residence on Dalarö, there was a well from which a clear spray of water emerged. The innocent young title figure in Sagan shares the purity of the water in the well. The story brings to mind the well at the end of Bergman’s Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring), a miraculous emblem of young violated innocence.
Reception ‘For many this production will be a surprise, as they get to see what a broad register Ingmar Bergman has as a director’, [För många kommer denna uppsättning att bli en överraskning, när de får se vilket brett register Ingmar Bergman har som regissör], wrote Nils Beyer in his review (ST) and added that Bergman was one of the few poetic minds on the Swedish stage. Not everyone agreed however. Clas Brunius (Expr.) thought Bergman paid little attention to the lyrical mood of the play text, while Sven Barthel in DN and Ingmar Björkstén in Scen och salong maintained that the production achieved a fine balance between satirical marionette play and lyrical drama.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman As in the 1958 Malmö production, Bibi Andersson played the title role. This time, unlike her reception in Malmö, she received glowing reviews. ‘This time she acts The Legend with a hundred melodies in her being, ... [Denna gång spelar hon Sagan med hundra melodier i sitt väsen...] (Beyer, ST).
Reviews B-l. S. [Sven Barthel]. ‘Ett spel om kärlek och död’ [A game of love and death]. DN, 21 December 1963. Beyer, Nils. ‘Dubbel Bergman-triumf ’ [Double Bergman triumph]. ST, 21 December 1963. Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Så många olika slags sagor’ [So many different kinds of tales]. Scen och Salong 1, 1964: 2. Brunius, Clas. ‘Sagan som blev moral’ [The fairty tale that became morality]. Expr., 21 December 1963. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Bergman slår nytt slag för Bergmans Sagan’ [B. beats another drum for Bergman’s Sagan]. AB, 21 December 1963. Stenström, Urban. ‘Kvickheter i vemodiga sammanhang’ [Witticisms in melancholy contexts]. SvD, 21 December 1963.
1964 439.
TRE KNIVAR FRÅN WEI [Three Knives from Wei]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design and Costumes Choreography Music Assistant Director Stage Opening date
Harry Martinson Ingmar Bergman Kerstin Hedeby Mercedes Björlin Ulf Björlin Lenn Hjortzberg Dramaten Main Stage 4 June 1964
Cast Shi Mo, corrections teacher at Fenix Prisons Chi Yün and Yü Tan, assistant teachers The Duchess of Wei Princess Yang Li Hua, musician Lai, altar slave Wai, servant for life Lai Yü and Yü Pei, court ladies at Clan of Sui Pagoda Guard Nan Fei, head concubine Tai Yü Al-Lu-Te First camp concubine Second camp concubine Nun Peil
Inga Tidblad Marianne Aminoff, Jane Friedmann Renée Björling Sissi Kaiser Solveig Ternström Margaretha Krook Dora Söderberg Helena Brodin, Mona Malm Hans Sundberg Gunnel Broström Ellika Mann Lena Nyman Birgitta Valberg Irma Christenson Aino Taube
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Second nun Third nun Pa First servant woman Second servant woman New woman slave Young ladies Peasant women Garden servant Housekeeper Arms guard Kong Lu, robber Messenger His Wife Shan Hua Carrier Refugees
Sissi Kaiser Ellika Mann Christian Lundqvist Marianne Karlbeck Sonja Kolthoff Mona Andersson Kerstin Wartel, Anne Nord Lillemor Björnstad, Signe Enwall, Marianne Karlbeck Ragnar Falck Karin Kavli Morgan Andersson Henrik Schildt Helge Skoog Fillie Lückow Mona Andersson Birger Malmsten Per-Olof Ekvall, Olle Ek
Commentary In June 1964, during the Stockholm Drama and Arts Festival, Bergman presented the world premiere of Swedish poet (and later Nobel Prize winner) Harry Martinson’s Tre knivar från Wei (Three knives from Wei). Martinson’s historical play takes place in China in the late 7th century. Chinese culture is threatened from the outside by hoards of Tartars, and from the inside by palace revolutions. The evil Empress Wu Tse-tien, having persecuted and killed all but three of the ruling Tang dynasty families, decides to offer ‘a half grace’ to some of the women among her victims by sending them to a remote camp where they will eventually be massacred, either upon orders from the Empress or by the Tartars. Raised according to the Tao ‘pattern of obedience’ the prisoners wear three knives in their hair. When the Tartars attack, they use their knives in a ritualized act of suicide. Bergman’s production of Martinson’s drama in 1964 might be juxtaposed to his staging of Japanese playwright Mishima’s Madame de Sade in 1989. Both plays have a predominately female cast and both productions became visually splendid performances, like courtly masques. A director’s copy is in the Bergman archive recently transferred to SFI. It includes a cast list and a picture of an Oriental statue on the title page. Also in the same collection of material is assistant director’s (Lenn Hjortzberg) copy, dated 6 April 1964, with some loose sheets with sketches of the stage design, attendance lists, and ten pages of handwritten notes. (See Koskinen, 2000, Ingmar Bergman: ‘Allting föreställer, ingenting är, p. 233).
Reception Bergman’s production was preceded by months of publicity. The director himself added to the high expectations by stating in a TV interview (SVT, 2 June 1964) that Martinson’s drama was ‘the most remarkable Swedish theatre piece I’ve received in my hands’ [Det märkligaste svenska teaterstycke jag fått i min hand]. Reviewers recognized that the play was a labor of love by Martinson who had been occupied with it for almost a decade, but questioned its dramatic potential. Many suggested that Bergman’s role was absolutely crucial in making Martinson’s play stage-worthy but considered the production more of a cultural event than a truly memorable theatrical experience: ‘The knives from Wei flashed but left no wounds in the hearts of the audience’ [Knivarna från Wey blixtrade men lämnade inga sår i publikens hjärtan], as P.G. Petterson put in AB. (See also Per Erik Wahlund (SvD) for a similar assessment).
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reviews Beyer, Nils. ‘Martinsonska kineseriet en skönhetsupplevelse på Dramaten’ [Martinsonian chinoiserie an experience of beauty at Dramaten]. ST, 5 June 1964. Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Uppseendeväckande avslutning’ [Sensational finale]. Scen och Salong 6-7, 1964: 5, 20. Bæckström, Tord. ‘Revolt inom lydnaden’ [Revolt within obedience]. GHT, 5 June 1964. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Omringat KVINNOHUS’ [Surrounded House of Women]. AB, 5 June 1964. Harrie, Ivar. ‘Ett stort festspel’ [A great festival]. Expr., 5 June 1964. Holm, Ingvar. ‘Oratorium för ängsliga röster’ [Oratorio for anxious voices]. DN, 5 June 1964. PGP. ‘Blixtrande knivar från Wey’ [Flashing knives from Wei]. Vecko-Journalen, no. 25, 1964. Tollet, Håkan. ‘Lysande framgång: Tre knivar från Wei’ [Brilliant success: Three knives from Wei]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 5 June 1964. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Kineseri på mörk botten’ [Chinoiserie against a dark bottom]. SvD, 5 June 1964.
440.
HEDDA GABLER
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design and Costumes Stage Opening Date
Henrik Ibsen Ingmar Bergman Mago Royal Dramatic Theatre, Main Stage 17 October 1964
Cast Jörgen Tesman Hedda Tesman Ejlert Lövborg Juliana Tesman Thea Elvsted Berta Judge Brack
Ingvar Kjellson Gertrud Fridh Georg Årlin Renée Björling Jane Friedmann Ellika Mann Olof Widgren
Commentary After the final curtain fell in Bergman’s production of Ibsen’s play, Hedda’s green silk shoes remained in front of the curtain. In an interview in KvP on 18 October 1964, Bergman explained his intention: ‘She [Hedda] has rehearsed her last gesture in front of the mirror. She knows how to use the pistol so that it becomes esthetic. Perhaps she also takes into consideration that she must fall nicely. It is an uncontrollable moment that she subconsciously tries to control by taking off her shoes’. [Hon har repeterat den sista gesten framför spegeln. Hon vet hur hon ska föra pistolen för att det ska bli estetiskt. Kanske tänker hon också på att hon måste falla vackert. Det är ett okontrollerbart moment som hon omedvetet försöker behärska genom att befria sig från skorna]. But Hedda was cheated by her own body. As she died, Bergman had her fall on her knees with her rump in the air, an ugly and ludicrous position. This final vignette was one of several departures from traditional stagings of Ibsen’s play. Bergman made cuts in the original text, such as the repeated reference to Løvborg’s ‘vine leaves’, and he omitted General Gabler’s portrait, together with Ibsen’s Victorian plush furniture and carpeted floors. Instead, the red-vaulted stage, split by a central screen and housing only a few props, was dominated by a black piano. A mirror became the central piece in an added pantomime scene that opened the performance. Hedda, dressed in white, was alone on stage,
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre studying her presumably pregnant figure in the mirror with a mixture of disgust and selfabsorption. In Bergman’s production the audience area became part of the total theatrical space. The lights in the house were not dimmed until several minutes into the performance, and in the second half, a strong flashlight was directed towards the stage from the far back of the house, so that members of the audience became visible to each other and were made aware of their role as spectators. Henrik Sjögren who reviewed the production (KvP) notes in his book Lek och raseri (2002, p. 196) that Bergman’s removal of Ibsen’s detailed realistic stage design was part of a trend in contemporary European theatre. The director’s copy with notes is among Bergman’s papers donated to SFI, as is assistant director’s (Lenn Hjortzberg) copy, dated 12 June 1964, which contains a sketch of the mise-enscene and a cast list.
Reception A media debate about Bergman’s production of Hedda Gabler was initiated by DN’s cultural editor Olof Lagercrantz (‘Dammig evighet..’. [Dusty eternity], 6 November 1964, p. 4). The debate is covered in the Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 537), 1964. Lagercrantz’s negative assessment of Bergman’s production had already been formulated by the same paper’s theatre critic Bengt Jahnson, who called the production too controlled, implying that staging the play as a kind of happening, much in vogue at the time, would have been preferable. Two views of the production dominated: Like Lagercantz, there were those who termed the choice of play old-fashioned (e.g., Sandell in Arbetet), while others appreciated Bergman’s removal of what was antiquated in Ibsen’s work, i.e., its explicit symbolic clues and traditional 19th-century mise-en-scene. Part of the ambivalent response to the production had to do with Bergman shifting the drama’s symbolism from verbal refererences (e.g., vine leaves) to physical performance (Hedda’s pantomime), which some experienced as a form of Bergman filmmaking that relied on visual effects. It is striking how frequently so-called cinematic features carried negative connotations in the reviews, indicating a distrust of their artistic potential and seeing them as a form of emotional manipulation of the audience. However, Bergman’s 1964 Hedda Gabler production lived on for a long time as a point of reference and, in retrospect, stands out as a milestone in his theatre work, confirming his bold (or annoying) personal liberties with the original play text.
Reviews Beyer, Nils. ‘Hedda Gabler – en lysande vision’ [Hedda Gabler – a brilliant vision]. ST, 18 October 1964, p. 12. Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Laddad teatertid’ [Loaded theatre time]. Scen och Salong 11, 1964: 15. Brunius, Clas. ‘Sensationen Gertrud Fridh’. Expr., 18 October 1964, p. 4. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Den sköna damen utan nåd’ [The beautiful lady without mercy]. AB, 18 October 1964, p. 4. Jahnson, Bengt. ‘Storslaget på Dramaten. En hysterikas eftermiddagsdröm’ [Grandiose at Dramaten: A hysterical woman’s afternoon dream]. DN, 18 October 1964, p. 20. Janzon, Åke. ‘Teater i Stockholm’. BLM, November 1964, p. 708, 710. Josephson, Lennart. ‘En ny Hedda Gabler’. SDS, 18 October 1964, p. 10. Sandell, Ove. ‘Gertrud Fridhs Hedda’. Arbetet, 18 October 1964, p. 2. Sjögren, Henrik. ‘Bort med Ibsens bråte!’ [Out with Ibsen’s clutter!]. KvP, 18 October 1964, p. 4. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Konstfull, fängslande, personlig ‘Hedda Gabler’’ [Artful, fascinating, personal ‘Hedda Gabler’]. SvD, 18 October 1964, p. 18.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman See also Koskinen, Maaret. Ingmar Bergman. Allting föreställer, ingenting är. 2001, pp. 53-57 (juxtaposes Hedda Gabler production and Bergman’s film Tystnaden (The Silence). Marker, Lise-Lone and Frederick. Ingmar Bergman: Four Decades in the Theater, 1982, pp. 178201 (discusses all three of Bergman’s Hedda Gabler productions). Sjögren, Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 253-63, and Lek och raseri, 2002, pp. 196-202.
Guest Performances In 1967 Bergman’s Dramaten production of Hedda Gabler made guest appearances in Helsinki and Berlin, and was invited to the Royal Shakespeare Company’s World Theatre Season in London in the spring of 1968.
1. Helsinki, Svenska Teatern, 14-15 June 1967 In a press conference in Helsinki with the Dramaten ensemble, Bergman talked about the obsolescence of theatre art for the public in general and the need to reform the theatre from within. See extensive report in Hufvudstadsbladet, 14 June 1967, p. 1,16. (Cf. Ø 537 in Theatre/ Media Bibliography). The Dramaten visit was reviewed in major Finnish papers, also outside the capital. (Swedish translations of reviews listed below are available at Dramaten library). Some reviewers (see Maria Laukka) felt that Bergman’s ‘incestuous public’ was very different from a folksier Finnish theatre public. Bergman represented ‘Nordic high culture’, which he examined via Hedda Gabler: ‘Bergman has turned psychological drama into a very polished, refined product – and soon its time is gone’. Cf. Helsinki reaction to Dramaten/Bergman guest visit of Strindberg’s Dreamplay in 1970 (Ø 447). A number of reviewers pointed to filmic aspects in Bergman’s production which created both closeness (through spotlighting and by isolating Hedda from the others) and distance (by placing the characters at opposite ends of the stage in a simulated wide-angle perspective). Leo Stålhammar argued that because of this ‘wide angle’ approach, ‘one could just as well speak of Ingmar Bergman’s play as of Ibsen’s [...] the filmic way of treating the subject gives it a whole new dimension’. Critic Kari Suvalo felt that Bergman dealt with Hedda’s sudden shifts in emotional expression as a form of cinematic cuts. Finnish reviewers were in fact much more positively attuned to Bergman’s ‘filmmaking’ approach than their Swedish colleagues. Helsinki theatre critics had obviously followed the Stockholm debate about Bergman’s Hedda Gabler. Some of the reviews – almost all of them positive – can in fact be read as defensive responses to the Lagercrantz objections. Katri Veltheim stated: ‘Though Hedda Gabler is a few years old, no dust has settled on this mercilessly clairvoyant analytical X-ray [...], exposing what really happens between Hedda and the men.’ Most critics were anxious to point out Bergman’s ability to blow new life into Ibsen and arouse a new interest in the classics: ‘When one sees classical theatre of this kind, one begins to believe again in the unlimited possibilities of producing theatre’ (Riita Kyttä). One might think, wrote another reviewer (T.B. Oramaa), ‘that it is not possible to get anything more out of that Ibsen. Then someone like this guy Bergman comes along, knows what he wants and breaks with tradition’.
Reviews Arpiainen, Laila. ‘Dramatenin loistava loppuakordi Ruotsalainen teatterin juhlakan delle’ [Dramaten’s brilliant final chord for the Swedish Theatre’s (in Helsinki) jubilee season]. Helsingin Sanomat, 16 June 1967. Hakulinen, Rita. ‘Vaikuttava Hedda Gabler’. Paivan Sanomat, 16 June 1967. Herler, Don. ‘Hedda Gabler à la Bergman’. Tammerfors Aftonblad, 27 June 1967.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Kihlman, Mårten. ‘Bergman blåste nytt liv i Ibsen’. [Bergman blew new life into Ibsen.][ Hufvudstadsbladet, 15 June 1967. Kyttä, Riita. ‘Ihminen Hedda Gabler – nutta elävää Ibseniä’ [HG, the human being – Ibsen in a new and living way]. Ilta-Sanomat, 15 June 1967. Laukka, Maria. ‘Hedda Gabler. Tradition och nerv’. Suomen Sosialdemokraatii, 16 June 1967. Oramaa, T.B. ‘Intensiivista teatteria ja taitavaa ihmiskuvausta’ [Intense theatre and skilful human depiction]. Kansan Uutiset, 17 June 1967. Spåre, Catharina. ‘Marionettspel i ibsensk orddräkt’ [Marionette performance in Ibsenite word dress]. Nya Pressen, 15 June 1967. Stålhammar, Leo. ‘Upea Hedda Gabler’ [A grandiose HG]. Suomenmaa, 17 June 1967. Suvalo, Kari. ‘Vielä kerran H. Gahler (sic)’ [Hedda Gabler once more]. Suomen Sosialdemokratti, 23 June 1967. Veltheim, Katri. ‘Läpivalaistu Hedda Gabler’ [An illuminated HG]. Uusi Suomi, 16 June 1967.
2. Berlin, Hebbeltheater, 3-6 October 1967 Reviews from the Berlin guest performance convey the impression that the critics, being unfamiliar with Bergman’s theatre work, looked for the better known filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. Almost all of the reviews singled out what were termed the filmic aspects of his Hedda Gabler production, a feature that (unlike the Finnish response above) carried mostly negative connotations: ‘Ingmar Bergman disappointed the Berliners with a filmic staging of Hedda Gabler’ (Kiefer). The production was written off as ‘a film in Biedermeier collars’ (Hübner). However, in a review (‘Luder Hedda und Wippschaukeleien’, Frankfurter Rundschau, 26 October 1967), Volker Klotz distinguished between good and bad cinematic features; to the positive he listed an intimate chamber film format with masterly direction of fine actors whose faces revealed, as if in close-ups, every nuance of the soul; among the negative filmic traits he noted overly explicit gestures and details, or what could be called non-functioning close-ups. The Dramaten ensemble received high praise: ‘I know of no German theatre whose actors could have given such a performance’. (Melchinger).
Reviews Fehling, Dora. ‘Mehr Bergman als Ibsen’. Telegraph (Berlin), 5 October 1967. Hübner, Paul. ‘Plüsch von 1890’. Rheinische Post, 7 October 1967. Kaiser, Joachim. ‘Von der Belangosigkeit zur Ballade’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 5 October 1967. Karsch, Walter. ‘Psychologie ganz gross’. Der Tagespiegel, 5 October 1967. Kiefer, Jean Egon. ‘Ibsen in Grossaufnahme’. Wiener Zeitung, 8 October 1967. Melchinger, Siegfried. ‘Theater 67’. Theater Heute, no. 10, October 1967, p. 8. Schulte, Gerd. ‘Bergmans Paukenschlag in Berlin’. Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, 9 October 1967. Urbach, Ilse. ‘Bergmans verstaubte Hedda Gabler’. Stuttgarter Nachrichten, 10 October 1967. Windelboth, Horst. ‘Ein roter Käfig für Hedda Gabler’. Berliner Morgenpost, 5 October 1967.
3. London, Aldwych Theatre, 3-10 June 1968 Dramaten’s well attended guest performance, part of London’s World Theatre Season, was played in Swedish with English translation provided through earphones. The majority of the reviewers referred to Bergman as an ‘awesome’ or ‘austere’ filmmaker rather than stage director and viewed the performance as a humorless, gloom-and-doom Bergman film, also noting the cinematic approach to the lighting and scenography. ‘And so the evening is full of fascination, at least for filmgoers’, wrote one critic (Shorter). But the British have their own, long-established Ibsen tradition, based on respect for Ibsen’s realistic stagecraft, and seemed somewhat reluctant to accept Bergman’s ‘cinematic’ departure from it. Philip Hope-Wallace wrote: ‘Regrettably, direc-
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman tor Ingmar Bergman does not always seem ready to trust the Norwegian master’s stage directions.’ The classical Ibsen stood out as the more subtle of the two: ‘Ingmar Bergman, the famous film director, has tried to make explicit some of Hedda’s psychological motivations where Ibsen seems to have deliberately left them obscure.’ (Shulman). Financial Times’ B.A. Young juxtaposed Bergman’s ‘elegant’ stagecraft and his ‘overly explicit’ and controlling filmmaking style: ‘Bergman manipulates the picture in front of us as if we saw it on the cinema screen.’ Several reviewers remarked on the clinical coldness of the production (see Shorter, Wardle). But none questioned its professional quality. There was however little of the boyant response that the guest performance had elicited in Helsinki. In a foreword to his own June 1972 staging of Hedda Gabler at London’s Royal Court Theatre, director John Osborne called Bergman’s 1964 production of the play ‘lamentable.’
Reviews Barker, Felix. ‘The Agony of a Female Tarantula’. The Evening News, 4 June 1968. Hope-Wallace, Philip. ‘Hedda Gabler at the Aldwych’. The Guardian, 5 June 1968, p. 6. Lewis, Peter. ‘Hedda dominates the wide stage’. The Daily Mail, 4 June 1968. Shorter, Eric. ‘Bergman’s ‘Hedda’ is cool and film-like’. The Daily Telegraph, 4 June 1968. Shulman, Milton. ‘At the theatre’. The Evening Standard, 4 June 1968. Wardle, Irving. ‘You are asked to judge’. The Times, 4 June 1968. Young, B.A. ‘Hedda Gabler’. The Financial Times, 4 June 1968. In 1970, Bergman directed a different, British production of Hedda Gabler (see Ø 448).
1965 441.
DON JUAN ELLER STENGÄSTEN [Don Juan or the Stone Guest]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design and Costumes Music Stage Opening Date
Don Juan ou le festin de pierre Molière Ingmar Bergman Sven Erik Skawonius Daniel Bell Dramaten School staging at China Theatre 24 February 1965; School theatre performance 17 March at China Theatre
Cast Don Juan Sganarelle Donna Elvira Gusman Don Carlos Don Louis Mathurine Charlotte The Statue Francisque Pierrot La Violette
Georg Årlin Ernst-Hugo Järegård Kristina Adolphson Einar Axelsson Sven Nilsson Hans Strååt Christina Frambäck Margaretha Byström Ragnar Arvedson Åke Lagersen Axel Düberg Lenn Hjortzberg
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Ragotin Dimanche The Ghost
Per-Olof Ekvall Björn Gustafson Kristina Adolphson
Commentary The director’s copy with Molière’s portrait on front and the assistant director’s (Lenn Hjortzberg) copy are at SFI. This was a production designed for Swedish high schools with a great deal of emphasis put on slapstick elements focusing on Sganarelle who fled into the audience – both a traditional feature present already in 17th-century versions of the play and a typical Bergman ‘ploy’ to engage a young and unsophisticated audience. The production was televised on educational TV (Skol-TV) on 17 March 1965. A TV program about the production was broadcast on 26 February 1965. An article by Yngve Schollin, titled ‘Vacker målsättning missförstådd i byråkratisk tillämpning’ [Beautiful objective misunderstood in bureaucratic application], appeared in the teachers’ magazine Lärartidningen on 13 March 1965. It criticizes a special Molière workbook, issued to students for the production, for being too difficult and literary, in contrast to Bergman’s presentation.
Reviews This being an educational theatre production, the performance received relatively scant though positive attention in the press. See Sven Barthel in DN, 25 February 1965, and Claes Brunius in Expr., same date.
442.
FÖR ALICE [Tiny Alice]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design and Costumes Stage Opening Date
Tiny Alice Edward Albee Bengt Ekerot/Ingmar Bergman Stellan Mörner Dramaten, Main Stage 4 December 1965
Cast The Attorney The Cardinal Brother Julian Butler Miss Alice
Georg Rydeberg Georg Årlin Anders Ek Gösta Prüzelius Gunnel Broström
Commentary The original director, Bengt Ekerot, fell ill during rehearsals and Ingmar Bergman took over. The Dramaten opening of For Alice took place eleven months after the original Broadway premiere and was the second staging of the play in Europe (after London).
Reception The Dramaten program for For Alice reprinted five pages of comments and review excerpts from the Broadway production of the play. Several Swedish theatre critics were offended by what they saw as preview advertisement. The program also included an interview with Albee, done by Ingmar Björkstén, in which the playwright warned potential viewers not to speculate about the symbolism of the play. To reviewer Allan Fagerström (AB) the Dramaten production had not heeded the advice: ‘Ingmar Bergman and scenographer Stellan Mörner arrange a pietà
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman scene, opening up a Niagara of symbols to tumble down in barrels that crack of their own meaninglessness’. [Ingmar Bergman och scenografen Stellan Mörner arrangerar en pietascen som öppnar för ett Niagara av symboler att tumla ner i tunnor som spricker av sin egen meningslöshet]. Fagerström’s response is rather typical of the Swedish reception of this ‘albeegory’. Wahlund (SvD) stated bluntly: ‘It seems totally impossible for me to make an evaluation of this strange product’. [Det tycks mig fullständigt omöjligt att göra en utvärdering av denna egendomliga produkt]. Bengt Jahnson (DN) questioned Dramaten’s choice of Albee’s play in its repertory: ‘In five, six years Albee may mature as a playwright. Couldn’t Dramaten have waited until then?’ [Om fem, sex år kan Albee ha mognat som dramatiker. Kunde inte Dramaten ha väntat till dess?]. Reviewers also felt that Bergman made Albee’s text overly-explicit; Göran O. Eriksson (ST) wrote: ‘If a stage direction suggests that Alice’s shoulder might be bared, Bergman has her pull up her skirt to the waist. [...] I can’t see the point. I can’t even find Bergman’s or Albee’s vision particularly interesting’. [Står det i en scenanvisning att Alices skuldra kanske ska blottas drar hon i Bergmans iscensättning upp kjolarna till midjan. [...] Jag kan inte se att det leder någonstans. Jag kan inte ens finna vare sig Bergmans eller Albees vision särskilt intressant]; (See also Lennart Josephson, SDS, for similar reaction).
Reviews Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Teater just nu. Brustna förväntningar’ [Theatre right now. Broken expectations]. Scen och Salong 1, 1966: 24-25. Bredsdorff, Thomas. ‘Alice i Bergman-land’. Politiken (Copenhagen), 6 December 1965. Brunius, Clas. ‘Teatern är lös!’ [Theatre on fire]. Expr., 5 December 1965. Eriksson, Göran O. ‘Så beskriver man helvetet’ [Thus one describes hell]. ST, 5 December 1965. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Alice i Dramatens underland’ [Alice in Dramaten’s wonderland]. AB, 5 December 1965. Jahnsson, Bengt. ‘För Alice på Dramaten: Albees alltför privata jakobsbrottning’ [Tiny Alice at Dramaten: Albee’s Jacob wrestling too private]. DN, 5 December 1965. Josephson, Lennart. ‘Albees gud’ [A’s god]. SDS, 5 December 1965. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Ett absurt mysteriespel’ [An absurd mystery play]. SvD, 5 December 1965.
1966 443.
RANNSAKNINGEN. ORATORIUM I 11 SÅNGER [The Investigation. Oratorio in 11 songs]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design and Costumes Stage Opening Date
Die Ermittlung Peter Weiss Ingmar Bergman Gunilla Palmstierna Weiss Royal Dramatic Theatre, Main stage 13 February 1966
Cast The Judge Prosecutor Defense Attorney
Hans Strååt Gösta Prüzelius Olle Hilding
The Accused: Mulka
Erland Josephson
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Boger Capesius Frank Schatz Lucas Kaduk Hofmann Klehr Scherpe Hantl Stark Baretzki Schlage Bischof Broad Breitwieser Bednarek
Sigge Fürst Alf Östlund Ragnar Arvedson Hans Sundberg Olle Ek Ulf Johanson Helge Hagerman Bengt Eklund Per-Olof Ekvall Birger Malmsten Per Myrberg Oscar Ljung Kotti Chave Henrik Schildt Rudolf Wendbladh Axel Düberg Gösta Krantz
Witnesses (nameless)
Ingvar Kjellson, Georg Årlin, Olof Widgren, Anita Björk, Barbro Larsson, Tord Stål, Anders Ek, Jan-Olof Strandberg, Ragnar Falck
Commentary A director’s copy is among Bergman’s archival papers at SFI. It has actors attendance lists, inserted (glued) markings of the acts and 26 loose pages of handwritten notes. The Dramaten program for Bergman’s production includes reprints of newspaper articles and analyses discussing the background of the holocaust. The German-born playwright Peter Weiss came to Sweden before World War II. In the politicized 1960s, after a career as an avant-garde painter and author, Weiss gained a reputation as a radical and innovative playwright. He is said to have influenced the theatre in the same way as Francis Bacon influenced painting. Weiss’ play, Die Ermittlung (The Investigation), is based on documentary material edited by journalist Bernd Naumann at the Frankfurter Allgemeine after the Frankfurt am Main trial of some of the SS functionairies who had served at Auschwitz. The play caused considerable debate when it was produced on several stages in Europe. In Cologne, West Germany, the production discreetly omitted the names of the industrialists mentioned by Weiss. To Weiss the Nazi concentration camps might be gone, but the capitalist system that produced them lived on. Bergman’s interest in the play was more existential: he had the scenographer Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss construct a wooden wall behind the performers, that provided no exit. He followed Weiss’ recommendation that the lights be left on in the house during the entire performance; they were only turned off when the trial/performance ended, leaving the audience seated in total darkness. The audience was asked not to applaud. Bergman who took over this production from another director did not feel comfortable with the play at first; he experienced it as a form of pornographic violence [vålds-pornografi]. But after discussions with Weiss, he became impressed by the playwright’s moral commitment to his subject (Cf. Introduction, p. 473 and Sjögren, Lek och raseri, 2002, p. 36). He cut the original four-hour play to three hours and omitted Luigi Nono’s original music. In his stark approach, Bergman seems to have interpreted Weiss’ ‘oratorio’ not only as a reference to the music of composers like Händel, but also to the old Roman usage of oratio recta or direct speech.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reception ‘Go to Dramaten. There they are performing the most important play there is’, [Gå till Dramaten. Där spelar man den viktigaste pjäs som finns], wrote Allan Fagerström in AB. All of the reviews testified to the emotional impact of the production: ‘The audience sits breathless. Here a terrible reality opens up. For the most part it is nothing new, but it comes so very close’ [Publiken sitter andlös. Här öppnas en förfärlig verklighet. För de flesta är det ingenting nytt, men det kommer så nära], wrote Håkan Tollet in Helsinki Hufvudstadsbladet. Even a notorious Bergman critic like Bengt Jahnson (DN) admitted that ‘Of everything I have seen in the theatre, nothing has shaken me as much as this performance’. [Av allt jag sett av teater har ingenting skakat mig så mycket som denna föreställning]. Jahnson, in fact, had some difficulty reviewing the production as a piece of theatre: ‘It is impossible to apply artistic measuring sticks to its subject matter’. [Det är omöjligt att komma med konstnärliga måttstockar på dess ämne]. Nevertheless, others argued for treating the production as a piece of theatre. Per Schwanbom (Arbetaren) wrote: ‘The Investigation should be noted, above all as a theatre event. It is nothing that anyone should see out of duty or as a source of knowledge’. [Det är ändå som teaterhändelse Rannsakningen i främsta rummet skall uppmärksammas. Det är inget någon bör se av plikt eller som kunskapskälla]. Göran O. Eriksson (ST) also chose to evaluate the production as a stage performance: ‘What Ingmar Bergman succeeds in showing with his production of Peter Weiss’ The Investigation is that the oratorio form really fulfills an essential artistic function. [...] It is one of the most intelligent theatre productions I have seen’. [Vad Ingmar Bergman lyckas visa med sin uppsättning av Peter Weiss’ Rannsakningen är att oratorieformen verkligen fyller en väsentlig konstnärlig funktion. [...] Det är en av de intelligentaste uppsättningar jag sett].
Reviews Bæckström, Tord. ‘Sången om helvetet’ [The song about hell]. GHT, 14 February 1966, p. 3. Brunius, Clas. ‘Auschwitz kan upprepas’ [A. can happen again]. Expr., 14 February 1966. Eriksson, Göran O. ‘Levande scenkonst’ [Living stagecraft]. ST, 14 February 1966. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Det direkta talet om ondska’ [Direct talk about evil]. AB, 14 February 1966. Jahnsson, Bengt. ‘Publik och domare söker sanningen i upplyst Dramatensalong’ [Audience and judge seek the truth in lit-up Dramaten house]. DN, 14 February 1966. Josephson, Lennart. SDS, 14 February 1966. Schwanbom, Per. ‘Samtidsdrama och salongsfars’ [Contemporary drama and drawing room farce]. Arbetaren, no. 7, (18-24 February), 1966. Stenström, Urban. ‘En universell rannsakning’ [A universal investigation]. SvD, 14 February 1966. Tollet, Håkan. ‘Rannsakningen’. Hufvudstadsbladet (Helsinki), 15 February 1966.
See also ‘Dramaten och Auschwitz’. DN, 21 September 1965, p. 10. (A reply by Bergman to the question raised about why the Royal Dramatic Theatre did not premiere Peter Weiss’s play Die Ermittlung at the same time as German stages). Koskinen, Maaret. Ingmar Bergman. Allting föreställer, ingenting är, 2000, pp. 59-61 (brief juxtaposition of Rannsakningen production and film Persona). Sjögren, Henrik. Lek och raseri, 2002, pp. 34-38. Steene, Birgitta. ‘I have never pursued a particular program policy – Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre’. Contemporary Theatre Review vol. 14 (2), 2004: 41-56.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre 444.
HUSTRUSKOLAN and KRITIK ÖVER HUSTRUSKOLAN [School for Wives] and [Critique of School for Wives]
Credits Original Titles Playwright Director Stage Design and Costumes Stage Opening Date
L’Ecole des femmes and La Critique de l’Ecole des femmes Molière Ingmar Bergman Sven Erik Skawonius Royal Dramatic Theatre, Main Stage 20 November 1966
Cast Hustruskolan Arnolphe Agnès Horace Alain Georgette Chrysalde Enrique Legal Clerk
[School for Wives] Georg Rydeberg Bibi Andersson Börje Ahlstedt Sigge Fürst Ulla Sjöblom Erland Josephson Helge Hagerman Henrik Schildt
Kritik över Hustruskolan Uranie Elise Climène Markin Dorante Lysidas Oronte Galopin
[Critique of School for Wives] Jane Friedmann Bibi Andersson Ulla Sjöblom Oscar Ljung Erland Josephson Sigge Fürst Oscar Ljung Börje Ahlstedt
Commentary The director’s and assistant director’s (Lenn Hjortzberg) copies, dated 12 September 1966 and containing cast lists and attendance lists, are among Bergman’s papers at SFI. Bergman dominated Stockholm’s cultural life in November 1966. His production of Stravinksi’s The Rake’s Progress had opened for a rerun at the Stockholm Opera. His film Persona had just premiered. And his production of Molière’s School for Wives at Dramaten drew critics from all over Scandinavia and beyond. In an interview shortly before the opening of School for Wives (DN, 17 November 1966), Bergman talked about his discovery of Molière in Paris in 1949. He read the play biographically, as the dramatic story of an aging playwright’s love and jealousy, culminating in a literal unmasking of Arnolphe/Molière, reminiscent of the undressing of the title figure in Bergman’s Malmö production of Don Juan some ten years earlier. This was Bergman’s last production as head of Dramaten, which led one critic to ask if Bergman’s choice of a ‘farewell’ production did not suggest a certain parallell to Molière’s destiny. See Yvonne Frendel, ‘En bergmansk tragedi’, Arbetarbladet (Gävle), 22 November 1966, which contains an interesting comparison between Molière and Bergman as ‘theatre
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman kings’ possessed by the stage and surrounded by a ‘stable’ of actors, but only interested in life insofar as it could be converted into roles and directorial tasks. As in the production of Weiss’ The Investigation, Bergman’s staging of Molière was performed without dimming the lights in the house. This time the reason was said to be a desire to present the play as in Molière’s own time. The décor was stripped down, the only stage prop being an old armchair. This was to become part of a more general orientation towards visual asceticism in Bergman’s theatre work, culminating with his production of Strindberg’s A Dreamplay in 1970. With this asceticism followed an increasing emphasis on the spoken word and on the actors’ presence on stage: ‘His prevailing ambition has obviously been to place the text at the centre, transform the word into flesh’. [Hans förhärskande ambition har tydligen varit att placera texten i centrum, förvandla ordet till kött], wrote Jurgen Schildt in AB.
Reception See resume of the rather lukewarm critical response to the production in SvD, 22 November 1966. The consensus was that Bergman’s heart and energy were not in it. Henrik Sjögren (KvP) called it ‘... an interesting production but not on the same high level as Bergman’s earlier Molière productions. It is difficult to free oneself from the impression that this time he has not been as engaged by the material’. [...en intressant uppsättning men inte på samma nivå som Bergmans tidigare Moliereuppsättningar. Det är svårt att frigöra sig från intrycket att han denna gång inte varit engagerad i materialet]. DN critic Bengt Jahnsson called the production ‘poorly prepared’ [illa förberedd] and added fuel to the antagonism between him and Bergman (see Ø 551) by questioning not only the current Molière production but Bergman’s professional role at Dramaten: ‘If the City Theatre (Stockholms Stadsteater) had misused its resources in the same way, people would have called it a scandal. Instead they call on Bergman. But what exactly has he done as a director?’ [Om Stadsteatern missbrukat sina resurser på samma sätt skulle man kallat det en skandal. I stället kallar man på Bergman. Men vad exakt har han gjort som regissör?]. Expr.’s cultural page published three independent reviews of Bergman’s Molière production, all of them critical. Editor-in-chief Bo Strömstedt wrote: ‘Ingmar Bergman’s “School for Wives” is perfect, exact, brilliant, clear – a superb theatrical display; and it leaves me absolutely cold’. [Ingmar Bergmans ‘Hustruskolan’ är perfekt, exakt, blank, klar – en fulländad teateruppvisning, och den lämnar mig alldeles kall]. Leif Zern, the paper’s cultural editor, also found the production without warmth (‘the same cold, green light/samma kalla gröna ljus’) and complained about Bergman’s need to deal in moral and existential absolutes: ‘It is a performance [...] about the given place of all things in the universe and never a performance about falling in love, about the emotional mobility and freedom that Molière despite everything depicts with such modern sensitivity’. [Det är ett spel om [...] alltings givna plats i universum – aldrig ett spel om förälskelsen, den känslans rörlighet och frihet som Molière trots allt också beskriver med sådan modern känslighet]. The third reviewer, Mats Ödéen, felt that Bergman never established contact between stage and audience: ‘After a while we lose interest’. [Efter en stund tappar vi intresset]. Behind the unengaged reception was a common feeling that Bergman had opted for a strictly clinical and distancing approach. A positive exception was Bengt Olof Vos’ review in a women’s magazine (Damernas värld): ‘With another director and less skilfull actors, the whole thing could have been [...] monotonous [...]. Here the result is brilliant!’ [Med en annan regissör och mindre skickliga skådespelare kunde det hela ha blivit [...] monotont. [...] Här är resultatet lysande!]. Note that the negative assessments did not include the ‘prologue’, Critique of School for Wives, which was much more favorably received.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Reviews Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Dramaten spelar Molièrekomedi’. Östgöta-Correspondenten, 22 November 1966. Bye, Anders. ‘Bergmans avskjed med Dramaten’ [Bergman’s farewell to Dramaten]. Dagbladet (Norwegian), 23 November 1966. Eklann, Thorsten. ‘Hanrej och ligist på Dramaten’ [Cuckold and hooligan at D). UNT, 23 November 1966. Hammarén, Carl. ‘Avskalad, väsentlig Molière’ [Stripped, essential Molière]. Nerikes Allehanda, 21 November 1966. Jahnsson, Bengt. ‘Vad har regissör Bergman gjort? “Hustruskolan” illa förberedd’. [What has director B done? School for Wives poorly prepared]. DN, 21 November 1966. Josephson, Lennart. ‘Molière från två håll’ [M from two directions]. SDS, 22 November 1966. Schildt, Jurgen. ‘Bergmans hustruskola’. AB, 21 November 1966. Sjögren, Henrik. ‘I den högre Hustruskolan’ [In the higher school for wives]. KvP, 21 November 1966. Stenström, Urban. ‘Asketisk Molière på Dramaten’. SvD, 21 November 1966. Strömberg, Martin. ‘Moderniserade klassiker och klassisk modernism’. Traktören, no. 10, 1966. Strömstedt, Bo. ‘... som i en glaskula’ [...as in a glass ball]. Expr., 21 November 1966. Vos, Bengt Olof. ‘Teater’. Damernas värld, no. 48, 1966. Zern, Leif. ‘Samma kalla, gröna ljus’ [The same cold, green light]. Expr., 21 November 1966. Ödéen, Mats. ‘Vi “ser” för lite’ [We ‘see’ too little]. Expr., 21 November 1966.
See also Sjögren, Henrik. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 277-82.
1967 445.
SEX PERSONER SØKER EN FORFATTER [Six Characters in Search of an Author]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Asst. director Stage Design Stage Date
Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore Luigi Pirandello Ingmar Bergman Lenn Hjortzberg Mago Nationalteatret, Oslo 1 April 1967
Cast The Father The Mother Stepdaughter The Son The Boy The Girl Madame Pace Theatre director Prompter Actresses
Knut Wigert Tore Segelcke Liv Ullmann Joachim Calmeyer Wenche Medböe Mette Rakeng and Ranveig Iversen Ella Hval Henki Kolstad Ilse Kramm Urda Arneberg, Gøril Havrevold, Aagot Børseth, Eva Opaker
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Actors Propman Manager Machinist
Gunnar Olram, Axel Thue, Ståle Bjørnhaug Bjarne Thomsen Arne Bang-Hansen Geir Børresen
Commentary Ingmar Bergman left Stockholm for Oslo in early 1967, disenchanted with the Swedish theatre situation (See Ø 537). In Oslo he presented his second production of Pirandello’s play (cf. Ø 419). The premises were different: the large Norwegian National Theatre with its baroque ornamental style was a significant contrast to the small modern stage at Malmö Intiman. The action in the Oslo production unfolded on one or more of three descending levels disappearing into the wings or into a nondescript black and bottomless pit that loomed behind. Just as he had done in his production of Hedda Gabler in Stockholm, Bergman placed the action of Pirandello’s tragedy of identity inside a virtual mental space. In both productions, his miseen-scene emphasized the distance between the two groups of characters: in this case between the actors and the dramatis personae who come to the theatre to have their unfinished drama completed. A pattern in Bergman’s stagecraft established itself in the 1960s and was to continue for the next couple of decades. Emphasis on costumes to provide color to the production was juxtaposed to a stripped-down decor, with a few props carried on and off stage by stage hands. This anti-illusionist form of theatre was demonstrated in the Oslo production of Pirandello’s play by such features as having the little girl who drowns simply fall into the prompter’s box. Bergman had cut freely into Pirandello’s dialogue, and the entire performance, including a 20-minute intermission, took less than two hours. Pirandello’s stage directions were largely ignored and some of the cues were rearranged as well.
Reception Norwegian critics raved about the performance. They noted Bergman’s dynamic and precise way of moving the actors on stage to achieve ultimate emotional impact and were struck by his acoustic use of invisible space (such as an off-stage pistol shot). On the whole, Norwegian critics focussed on Bergman’s reading of Pirandello’s play as a tragedy of non-communication and compared it to the theme of his films Tystnaden and Persona. The Swedish press response was much more concentrated on Bergman’s mise-en-scene and his exposure of the theatre as artificiality. Bo Strömstedt (Expr.) noted Bergman’s depiction of a ridiculous and decrepid theatre situation: ‘the prompter is so hoarse she can hardly be heard, the propman so limping he can hardly walk; around the actors in the theatre group, there is a naphta smell of conceit and false intonation – a theatre wardrobe that is out and moving’. [sufflösen är så hes att hon knappt hörs, inspicienten så stultig att han knappast kan gå, kring teatergruppens skådespelare står det en naftalindoft av tillgjordhet och falska tonfall – av teatergarderob som är ute och rör på sig.]. Several commentators touched on Bergman’s reference to the crucifixion of Christ in the last act when the Father entered with bloodied hands: ‘...it is a way of concluding that is not foreign to Bergman’, wrote Allan Fagerström (AB) and added: ‘And it is always dramatically effective, for everybody has heard of Jesus Christ, whatever he is doing in this context with his piercedthrough palms. There will always be some people who go home thinking that Pirandello is a great religious seeker. I don’t believe so, but on the other hand, I am convinced, after Ingmar Bergman’s presentation, that an ingenious director can transform philosophical ambiguities into tense drama’. [...det är ett sätt att sätta punkt som inte är Bergman främmande. Och dramatiskt verkningsfullt är det ju alltid, ty alla människor har ju hört talas om Jesus Kristus, vad han nu har i det här sammanhanget att göra med sina genomborrade handflator. Alltid går
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre någon hem och tror att Pirandello är en stor religiös sökare. Det tror nu inte jag, men däremot är jag efter Ingmr Bergmans föreställning övertygad om att en genial regissör kan förvandla filosofiska tvetydigheter till laddad dramatik]. Ossia Trilling of London’s Times called Bergman’s staging of Pirandello ‘one of the most successful productions to have appeared on the stage of Norway’s National Theatre in living memory. [...] This is because [the play] has been directed by Ingmar Bergman, one of the most imaginative directors in all of Scandinavia’.
Reviews Anderssen, Odd-Stein. ‘Seks personer søker en forfatter’. Aftenposten (Oslo), 3 April 1967. Barthel, Sven. ‘Ingmar Bergman och Pirandello i Oslo’. DN, 2 April 1967, p. 24. Donnér, Jarl W. ‘Ingmar Bergmans avskedsföreställning’ [Bergman’s farewell production]. SDS, 2 April 1967, p. 8. Eidem, Odd. ‘Når inspirasjonen gløder’ [When inspiration glows]. Verdens Gang (Oslo), 3 April 1967. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Jubel för Ingmar Bergman i Oslo’ [Jubilence for Bergman in Oslo]. AB, 2 April 1967. Gjesdal, Paul. ‘Pirandellos “Seks personer” ble en stor forestilling’ [P’s Six Characters became a great performance]. Arbeiderbladet, 3 April 1967. Omberg, Asbjørn. ‘Bak virkelighetens forheng’ [Behind reality’s curtain]. Morgenposten, 3 April 1967. Raum, Odd. ‘Drama finner iscenesetter’ [Drama finds director]. Nationen, 3 April 1967. Strömstedt, Bo. ‘Ingmar Bergman gör en grimas åt teatern’ [Bergman grimaces at the theatre]. Expr., 2 April 1967. Sørensen, Ernst. ‘Seks personer søkte en forfatter..’. [Six characters sought an author...]. Morgenbladet, 3 April 1967. Trilling, Ossia. ‘Bergman and Pirandello’s Six Characters’. The Times, 21 June 1967.
See also Koskinen, Maaret. Ingmar Bergman: ‘Allting föreställer, ingenting är.’, 2000, pp. 61-63; (juxtaposition of Oslo production of Pirandello’s play and Persona.) Sjögren, Henrik. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 283-90 (reception summary).
1969 446.
WOYZECK
Credits Playwright Translation Director Stage Design Choreography Music Lighting Assistant Director Stage Opening Date
Georg Büchner Per Erik Wahlund Ingmar Bergman Marik Vos Mats Ek Daniel Bell Holger Juhlin Göran Sarring Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm, Main Stage 14 March 1969
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Cast Woyzeck Marie Their Son The Jew The Captain The Doctor Drum major Anders Town Crier The Lady Two men The Girl Subaltern The Fool Grandmother Katrin Innkeeper Margret Two children
Thommy Berggren Gunnel Lindblom Charlotta Öhman/Susanna Söderström Gösta Prüzelius Sigge Fürst Tord Stål Lars Amble Axel Düberg Ulf Johanson Agda Helin Sven-Eric Gamble, Urban Sahlin Malin Ek Carl Billqvist Birger Malmsten Sif Ruud Margaretha Byström Erik Hell Ellika Mann Cecilia Nilsson/ Daphne Strååt Madeleine Fjellström/ Mikaela Strååt
Commentary The director’s copy, which includes a rehearsal outline and is dated 13 January 1969, is in the Bergman material donated to the SFI. The Swedish Radio (SR) manuscript (no. 537), used for the radio transmission on 25 April 1969, is also among these papers. The historical Woyzeck was both a barber and professional soldier (who also served briefly in the Swedish army). In Büchner’s play he is a Captain’s aide and a guinea pig for a medical doctor; a human victim not unlike what Bergman was later to allude to in his film The Serpent’s Egg. To provide psychological (rather than social) motivation for Woyzeck’s murder, Bergman elaborated on the character of the lackey who seduces Woyzeck’s mistress Marie. In a further shift away from the social issues in the drama, Bergman eroticized Marie by making her prostitute herself out of sexual lust and not because her degraded social position leaves her no option. Several reviewers were to criticize this. (See Expr.; SvD; DN). Bergman’s production of George Büchner’s Woyzeck was a crucial step in his conception of the symbiotic relationship between stage and audience. At a press conference on 16 January 1969, he displayed – together with set designer Marik Vos – a stage model of a specially designed arena theatre to be built on Dramaten’s Main Stage and seating 150 spectators. The acting space was to measure 5 times 3 1/2 meters. Close to fifty people were to be involved in the production; of these, only nineteen were actors. Apart from the traditional house seats, some seats towards the back of the stage would be reserved for members of the audience who, together with a great many extras in the production, would surround the performers. For a summary of press conference, see SvD, 17 January 1969, and DN same date. After some twenty rehearsal sessions in a special studio at Dramaten, the ensemble continued rehearsing on the arena stage on 20 February 1969, at which time theatre students, critics and other professionals in the field were invited to attend. Once seated for a rehearsal, viewers could not leave until the performance was over. Critics were told they could write about the production at any time and talk to the cast but had to show respect for the work rules set down. Open rehearsals continued for a month. They took place twice a day, at 11 am and at 1 pm. The
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre number of seats reserved for public attendance was set at 60. One hundred people showed up for the first rehearsal and all were admitted after signing their names in a guest book. Bergman introduced the play and its author. He pointed out that open rehearsals were not a novelty. Molière suggests them in his play ‘Intermezzo at Versailles’. See reportage by signature Fabricius, ‘Molière var först, sa Bergman’ [Molière was first, said Bergman]. SvD, 21 February 1969. There were several short radio news programs and radio interviews during the Woyzeck rehearsals. See the following: ‘Morgoneko’ [Morning news], Sveriges Radio, 17 January 1969. 4 min. Bergman presents his new production ideas. Mentions that Büchner’s play has been one of his companion pieces since his student days. Talks about the ennui he felt with theatre work after three years as head of Dramaten. He is so elated to be back he even ‘sings’ an old ditty to the occasion: Hälsa hem, sade han Jag har bakat som en man Och nu ligger jag bland skorpor och bland smulor.
[Greet them at home, said he. [I’ve baked like a man [And now I lie amidst biscuits and crumbs].
‘Luncheko’ [Lunch news]. Sveriges Radio, 12 March 1969. 2 minutes. Ingmar Bergman and actor Thommy Berggren discuss the open rehearsals of Woyzeck production. Same subject discussed in interview in ‘Morgoneko’ [Morning news]. Sveriges Radio, 15 March 1969. 4 minutes.
Reception Staging Woyzeck with open rehearsals might have been an attempt by Bergman to respond, in a professional rather than political way, to demands by young Swedish drama groups to make the theatre a more open democratic institution. In an article in the London Sunday Times on 14 April 1969, Edward Lucie-Smith reported from the Stockholm scene that Bergman’s Woyzeck, though brilliant and with distinct Peter Brook features (the use of a chorus), nevertheless was an imitation of what the radical ‘free groups’ in Stockholm had been doing for years. These groups, which could be found on such stages as the Arena Theatre, the Pistol Theatre, and the Pocket Theatre [Fickteatern], had long been Bergman’s harshest critics. The Times article was a replica of an item written by Björn Häggqvist on 6 March 1969 in AB (‘Knuffen på Dramaten’ [The push at Dramaten]). Häggqvist’s main argument was that Bergman’s novelties with open rehearsals, unnumbered seats, and lowered ticket prices were pseudo-democratic gestures that only covered up an old-fashioned dictatorial approach where the actors were mere instruments, used to further the director’s personal vision. Actor Thommy Berggren (who played Woyzeck) wrote a sharp reply in AB, 11 March 1969 (‘Öppet brev från Thommy Berggren, Dramaten: Du Häggqvist – här har du lite f-a-k-t-a’ [Open letter from TB, Dramaten: Hey, H. – here are som f-a-c-t-s]). Häggqvist responded in AB 18 March 1969 (‘Woyzeck och teaterdemokratin’ [W. and theatre democracy]). The overall press response to Bergman’s Woyzeck production provides a good illustration of a critical corps divided in their assessment of Bergman’s disciplined type of direction and his formal estheticism; to some his version of Woyzeck resulted in a beautiful performance; to others it was too controlled and rigid. The issue of Bergman imposing his personal vision on a production runs like a mantra through the press response. One theatre critic (Josephson, SDS) titled his review ‘Bullying (översitteri) à la Bergman’ and implied that the director’s control was built into his stage design with its diminished acting space and removal of all unnecessary
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman props. To Tollet (Hufvudstadsbladet) the production was ‘a tragi-comic Bergmanian circus. [...] This is Ingmar Bergman’s “Woyzeck” and not Büchner’s’. [en tragikomisk bergmancirkus. [...] Detta är Ingmar Bergmans Woyzeck och inte Büchners]. Also Tord Bæckström in GHT concluded that Bergman’s Woyzeck was ‘governed by a sovereignly conscious will that makes every movement and every group a link in the chain. It is masterful – a theatrical act depicted by an unhesitant and strong vision’. [styrs av en suveränt medveten vilja som gör varje rörelse och varje grepp till en länk i kedjan. Det är mästerligt – en scenhandling gestaltad av en tveklös och stark vision]. P.O. Enquist (Expr.), who termed the performance ‘an extremely clean and very Bergmanian work’, [ett utomordentligt snyggt och mycket bergmanskt arbete] was less appreciative of the result: ‘Everything feels polished but conventional, spotless but spineless’. [Allting känns polerat men konventionellt, fläckfritt men ryggradslöst]. An important deviating voice was that of Leif Zern (DN) who saw Bergman’s Woyzeck as a collaborative effort: ‘I have never seen Bergman work more openly than here. [...] I experience his production as very liberating, very present. [...] It is personal but not at the expense of the material, and it is born out of a collaboration between text, direction, and actors that is unique in our country’. [Jag har aldrig sett honom arbeta öppnare än här, [...] och själv upplever jag hans föreställning som mycket befriande, mycket närvarande. [...] Den är personlig, men inte på materialets bekostnad, och den är född ur en samverkan mellan text, regi och skådespelare som är unik i vårt land]. Theatre critic Henrik Sjögren followed the production of Woyzeck and later published his notes in Regi, Ingmar Bergman. Dagbok från Dramaten, 1969, (see Ø 554).
Reviews n.a. ‘Bergman and Woyzeck’. The Times, 2 June 1969. Branting, Jacob. ‘Kan en fattig djävel ha moral’ [Can a poor devil have moral sense]. AB, 15 March 1969, p. 8. Bæckström, Tord. ‘Människan och fattigdomen’ [Man and poverty]. GHT, 15 March 1969. Enquist, Per Olov. ‘Woyzeck – vad är det som fattas?’ [W. – what is missing?]. Expr., 15 March 1969. Janzon, Åke. ‘Ingmar Bergmans ‘Woyzeck’ – ett lysande spektakel’ [Bergman’s Woyzeck – a brilliant spectacle]. SvD, 14 March 1969. Josephson, Lennart. ‘Översitteri à la Bergman’ [Bullying à la Bergman]. SDS, 15 March 1969. Tollet, Håkan. ‘Bergmans Woyzeck’. Hufvudstadsbladet, 19 March 1969. Zern, Leif. ‘Woyzeck sceniskt mästerverk’ [W. a stage masterpiece]. DN, 15 March 1969.
See also Dallmann, Günter. ‘Wider das Premierenfieber’. Tagesspiegel, 31 January 1969. Leiser, Erwin. ‘Inszenierung ohne Premiere’. Die Weltwoche, 28 February 1969. (article based on rehearsals). Koskinen, Maaret. Ingmar Bergman: ‘Allting föreställer, ingenting är’. 2001, pp. 63-66. (Juxtaposition of Woyzeck production and Bergman’s film En passion/Passion of Anna). Rumler, Fritz. ‘Das Publikum kommt zur Probe’. Der Spiegel, no. 12, 17 June 1969.
1970 447.
ETT DRÖMSPEL [A Dreamplay]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Lennart Mörk
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Stage Opening date Running time
Dramaten, Small Stage 14 March 1970 1 hr 45 minutes
Cast Indra’s Daughter Agnes The Glazier The Officer The Father The Mother Lina, servant The Concierge The Billboard Man The Singer The Choir Singer The Prompter The Policeman The Lawyer The Chancellor Kristin A Naval Officer The Blind Man The Teacher Dean of Theology Faculty Dean of Medicine Faculty Dean of Philosophy Faculty Dean of Law Faculty The Poet Wordstroem The Sick Don Juan The Coquette The Friend He She The Retiree Coal Carriers The Ballet Girl The Husband The Lady Edit Edit’s mother Alice
Kristina Adolphson Malin Ek Oscar Ljung, Ragnar Arwedson Holger Löwenadler Henrik Schildt Aino Taube Ellika Mann Birgitta Valberg John Harryson Irene Lindh Dora Söderberg Olof Willgren Hans Sundberg Allan Edwall Ragnar Arwedson Aino Taube Jan Dolata Hans Strååt Olle Hilding Henrik Schildt Olle Hilding Hans Sundberg Axel Düberg Georg Årlin/Hans Strååt Gösta Prüzelius Hans Sundberg, Einar Axelsson Dora Söderberg Henrik Schildt Jan Dolata Irene Lindh Oscar Ljung Axel Düberg, Hans Strååt Kari Sylwan John Harryson Dora Söderberg Kari Sylwan Birgitta Valberg Irene Lindh
Commentary Bergman talks about this staging of Strindberg’s Drömspel (A Dreamplay) in a radio program: ‘Ingmar Bergman intervjuas’ [Bergman interviewed]. SR, 9 and 12 March 1970. Bergman was also interviewed about the production in the radio program ‘Spektakel’ [Spectacle], SR, 21 March 1970, where he talked about his difficulty with Strindberg’s conception of Indra’s
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman daughter as a female Christ figure. It led him to make some radical dramaturgical changes, having the character of Indra’s daughter performed by two different actresses, one enacting the divine woman, the other representing Agnes, the earthly woman and wife of the Lawyer. The Poet too was split into two beings, one personifying a dream consciousness who opened the play (a change from Strindberg’s text where Indra’s daughter descends from heaven); the other as the Skald who was identical to Strindberg’s Poet in the original text. By having the Poet replace Indra’s daughter at the opening of Ett drömspel, Bergman converted the drama from a divine vision into a human dream. Strindberg prepared for the opening of his Drömspel in 1907 by buying a slide projector with which he planned to project visual images to create a dreamlike mood. But he could not overcome the technical drawbacks of his primitive machine. In his 1970 version of Ett drömspel, Bergman utilized Strindberg’s idea by having scenographer Lennart Mörk paint a rectangular screen in the back of the stage, on which images could be projected. All the technical machinery was visible, like a theatre workshop in full view. Walls and doors were painted black. None of the metaphysical and biographical frameworks of earlier Swedish productions of the play were present in Bergman’s version. There was no burning castle in the end; instead Indra’s daughter wandered into total darkness while the Skald (Poet) hid under a table. None of the male actors wore a Strindberg mask. Bergman cut Strindberg’s text drastically, especially in the second half, which was reduced by almost 50%. According to Bergman, however, he had cut only 11 minutes of performance time. His production took 1 hour, 45 minutes, without intermission. A detailed discussion of Bergman’s cuts can be found in Wolf Dietrich Müller’s dissertation study Der Theaterregisseur Ingmar Bergman (Ø 587), pp. 10-14. Müller bases his discussion on Volker Klotz’ review article, listed below. A director’s copy with the rehearsal schedule is among Bergman’s papers deposited at the SFI. Michael Meyer published an English edition of Bergman’s shortened text: Strindberg, A Dream Play, Adapted by Ingmar Bergman. Stockholm: Norstedt, 1973. 58 pp.
Reception There was considerable critical ambivalence about Bergman’s cuts and changes. Most negative was Allan Fagerström (AB) for whom Bergman turned Ett drömspel into a farce: ‘This variation of A Dreamplay is not signed by Strindberg but by a humorist. [...] The dream mood is strangled; this production is straight and pure prose[...] ’. [denna variant av Ett drömspel är inte signerat av Strindberg utan av en humorist. [...] Drömstämningen stryps; uppsättningen är ren och skär prosa]. Tord Bæckström (GHT) offered an excellent resume of the divided critical response, noting both the visual impact of the production and the problematic mutilation of the play: This is a wonderful production. Strindberg’s Dreamplay: finally free from the heavy theatrical imagery that only thwarts one’s imagination instead of liberating it, acted on a stage that is nothing but a stage in a theatre, the anonymous room of dreams. [...] Or: a misrepresentation of Strindberg’s drama. What is being shown is a torso, a very beautiful torso; the director has cut off the head of the drama by rationalizing away the main character [...]. When his (Strindberg’s) greatest drama finally meets a director who can give it its most authentic form on stage, diabolic pride gives the same director the idea to mutilate his (Strindberg’s) thought... [Detta är en underbar uppsättning. Strindbergs Drömspel till sist befriat från det tunga teatermaskineri som bara stryper ens fantasi i stället för att frigöra den, spelat på en scen
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre som ingenting annat är än en scen på en teater, drömmarnas anonyma rum. [...] Eller: en felrepresentation av Strindbergs drama. Vad som visas är en torso, en mycket vacker torso; regissören har skurit av huvudet på dramat genom att rationalisera bort huvudkaraktären. [...] När hans största dikt äntligen möter en regissör som kan ge den dess sannaste form på scenen, då inger högmodets djävul samma regissör idén att stympa hans tanke...]. Whether positive or negative in their reactions, reviewers agreed that Bergman revealed a confident knowledge of Strindberg’s text and that his signature was unmistakable in a production that challenged the Molander tradition and one in which stage esthetics dominated over metaphysics (see Zern, DN; Per Erik Wahlund, SvD; Strömstedt, Expr.). Lennart Josephson (SDS) pointed out, however, that in order to be receptive to Bergman’s approach, the spectator might need to suppress personal memories of Strindberg’s text and of its Swedish (i.e., Molander) performance history. One critic who did just that was Håkan Tollet in Hufvudstadsbladet: ‘It is as if I had never seen Strindberg’s Dreamplay until now. In exactly one hour and forty-five minutes without an intermission one sits captivated, fascinated, caught in a great poet’s and a great director’s dream’. [Det är som jag aldrig sett Strindbergs Drömspel förrän nu. På exakt en timma och fyrtiofem minuter utan paus sitter man fängslad, fascinerad, fångad av en stor diktares och en stor regissörs dröm].
Reviews Bæckström, Tord. ‘Bergman och Drömspelet’. GHT, 16 March 1970. Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Strindbergs Drömspel en befriande källa’ [S’s Dreamplay – a liberating well]. Scen och Salong 4, 1970: 14-15, 23. Elmquist, Carl Johan. ‘At digte og at drömme’ [To fantasize and to dream]. Politiken (Copenhagen), 15 March 1970. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Ingmar Bergmans drömspel’. AB, 15 March 1970. Janzon, Åke. ‘Ingmar Bergman på Dramaten: Förtätat, osmyckat Drömspel’ [Bergman at Dramaten: Dense, unembellished Dreamplay]. SvD, 15 March 1970, p. 12. Josephson, Lennart. ‘Strindberg eller Bergman’ [S or B]. SDS, 15 March 1970. Strömstedt, Bo. ‘Drömspelet’. Expr., 15 March 1970. Tollet, Håkan. ‘Bergmans version av Strindbergs Drömspel’. Hufvudstadsbladet, 17 March 1970. Zern, Leif. ‘En känsla av befrielse’ [A feeling of liberation]. DN, 15 March 1970. There were several German reviews of the Stockholm opening of Ett drömspel. See: Klotz, Volker. ‘Traum- und Denkspiele der Schweden’, Theater Heute XI, No 6 (June) 1970, pp. 38-40. Klotz acknowledges that to the Germans, Strindberg’s Traumspiel lacks a realistic anchoring, colored as it is by expressionists like Hasenclever, Johst, and Toller. Klotz however discovers a ‘Swedish’ Strindberg in Bergman’s production, which relies on a native tradition that places the playwright hand and foot in his Stockholm environment. Klotz is also struck by Bergman’s oscillation between a mood of stark seriousness and clownish, sometimes mannered acting. Leiser, Erwin. ‘Ein Traum wird wahr’. Die Welt Woche, 29 August 1970. To Leiser ‘Bergman has not violated this famous piece but has adapted it for a modern public.’ Rühle, Günther. ‘Aufklärung, Alptraum und Leid’. Frankfurter Allgemeine, 12 May 1970. Rühle suggests that a younger generation of theatre workers in Sweden feel no affinity for Bergman or Strindberg but admits that Bergman succeeds in his Dreamplay production in drawing the audience into Strindberg’s dream.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Articles and Chapters in Books Marker, Frederick and Lise-Lone. Ingmar Bergman. Four decades in the Theatre (Ø 594), pp. 97110, gives a presentation of the mise-en-scene in Bergman’s production. Sjögren, Henrik. Lek och raseri (Ø 677), pp. 297-303, offers a reception summary of Bergman’s 1970 Dreamplay staging. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Staging A Dreamplay’. In Strindberg’s Dramaturgy, ed. by G. Stockenström. Minneapolis: Minnesota UP, 1988, pp. 256-290. Discusses a number of productions of Strindberg’s Dreamplay, including Bergman’s from 1970. —. ‘Strindberg, The Dreamplay (1970)’. In author’s Between Stage and Screen, 1995, pp. 23-29.
See also Ehrenkrona, Anne-Marie. ‘Holger Löwenadler, 65, har fått sin drömroll’ [HL, at 65 has got his dream part]. AB, 14 March 1970. An interview with the actor who played the Officer in Bergman’s Dreamplay production. Löwenadler prefers a director with a strong personality and good leadership qualities. Helgheim, Kjell. ‘Fra Stockholms-teatrene: Når gudene stiger ned på jorden’ [From Stockholm’s theaters: When the gods descend on earth]. Morgenbladet (Oslo), 23 December 1971. Includes a review of Bergman’s Dreamplay production. Helgheim points out Bergman’s departure from Swedish Strindberg tradition represented by Molander. Opperud, Inger-Marie. ‘I kväll är det hennes tur’ [Tonight it is her turn]. Expr., 14 March 1970. Brief presentation of Malin Ek as Indra’s Daughter, with a list of other Swedish actresses who have played the role.
Guest Performances Bergman’s production of Ett drömspel went on tour in Sweden, 13 October to 11 November 1970. For a sample reception, see ‘Succé för ‘Drömspelet’ vid gästspel i Norrland’, DN, 8 November 1970. The production was invited to a number of guest performances abroad: Helsinki, Belgrade, Venice, London, West Germany, and Amsterdam.
1. Helsinki, Finland, 19-20 May 1970, 2 performances. During Dramaten’s guest visit to Helsinki with Ett drömspel, Bergman held a press conference on 18 May 1970 in which he talked about his relationship to Strindberg. See M.K., ‘Strindberg har alltid följt mig’ [S. has always followed me]. Hufvudstadbladet, 19 May 1970. Asked what kind of benefit a guest visit might have for the director and his ensemble, Bergman replied: ‘For the director – none whatsoever. A heck of a nuisance. The task is to keep a hundred fleas on one sheet. [...] But for the ensemble it is immensely valuable to perform in a new environment’. [För regissören – ingen alls. En massa besvär. Uppgiften är att hålla hundra löss på ett lakan. [...] Men för ensemblen är det oerhört värdefullt att spela i en ny omgivning.]. The performance on 19 May 1970 in the city’s Svenska Teatern was sold out, with extra standing room provided in the balcony. According to one reviewer (Kihlman) the public experienced Bergman’s production in breathless silence. Theatre critics in the major papers were enthusiastic, but the visit was questioned by younger radical reviewers.
Reviews Eklund, Hilkka. ‘Dramatenin Uninäytelmä’. Suomen Sosialidemokraatii, 20 May 1970. Eklund questions the rationale behind inviting Bergman and Dramaten to the Helsinki festival. ‘Time has passed both Strindberg and Bergman; at least that is how the younger generation feels.’
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Kihlman, Mårten. ‘Bergmans Drömspel’. Hufvudstadsbladet, 21 May 1970. Saw Bergman reflected in the blind man’s monologue: clear insight, anguish, and tenderness for human beings. Uexküll, Sole. ‘Bergmans drömspel – jordisk, öm, vacker’ [B’s dreamplay – earthly, tender, beautiful]. Helsinki Sanomat, 20 May 1970. ‘What is admirable is Bergman’s ability to crawl under Strindberg’s skin, yet at the same time keep a critical distance. Strindberg remains in his own time in his own attitudes. This gives a particular transparency to the whole performance.’ Excerpts from four of the reviews appeared in DN, 22 May 1970.
2. Vienna Akademitheater, 10-12 June 1970 (five performances, including two matinees for school audiences). An invitation to perform during Wiener Festwochen had been preceded by earlier attempts to attract Bergman as a director to the city’s Burgtheater. The performance of Ein Traumspiel did not take place in the Festival House but at the city’s Burgtheater complex, the old Akademietheater. Bergman came to Vienna from his rehearsals of British Hedda Gabler in London, via a stop-over in Helsinki (see above). He appeared at a press conference in the Vienna Concordia House and surprised the journalists with his humor and light-heartedness. Bergman spoke about his love-hatred of Strindberg, his wish to stage The Magic Flute, his directorial premises (an audience and a set of actors); and his plan to make film comedies in the future ‘since life is so sad, people have nothing to laugh at’. See: Hugo von Hupper, ‘Bergman über sich selbst’. Volkstimme (Vienna), 11 Juni, 1970; G. Obzyna, ‘Ingmar Bergman für Akademietheater-Gastspiel mit ‘Traumspiel’ in Wien’. Express (Vienna, morning ed), June 10, 1970; Bobby Bummler, no title, Neue Zeit (Graz), 11 June 1970; U.B ‘Der humorige Herr Bergman’, Salzburger Nachrichten, 11 June 1970; Leonore Gray, ‘Mit dem Zuschauer spielen’, Kurier (Vienna, morning ed.), 10 June 1970; -n (signature) ‘Demütig interpretieren’, Volksblatt (Vienna), 10 June 1970.
Reception The Bergman production drew almost a full house, but the accompanying Dramaten production of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, a classic performance with actors Ernst Hugo Järegård and Jan Olof Strandberg, was poorly attended. (For a heated reaction to Viennese lack of interest in the Godot production, see Pizzini review below). Bergman’s international reputation and the name of Strindberg no doubt account for the greater attendance at the Drömspel performance. Almost all reviews from the Vienna Theatre Festival singled out Bergman’s production as the festival’s high point, seeing it as a new reading of Strindberg’s work and stressing the simplicity of the décor and the high professionalism of the ensemble. One theatre critic (Rismondo) summed up what he termed Bergman’s ingeniously ‘simple’ approach to the play with the words: ‘A table – the universe’. Most reviews gave a brief historical resume of Strindberg’s importance for expressionist drama and then pointed out Bergman’s dramaturgical changes: his giving the play a firmer structure, removing Strindberg’s excessive and outdated symbolism and achieving a modern distancing effect by casting the Poet in the role of observer while at the same time creating a cohesive play-within-the play structure. Of the critical references listed below, only Irmgard Steiner’s review was altogether negative, blaming the result in part on the poor loudspeaking facilities. The rest of the critical corps echoed Krista Hauser’s summation: ‘Grandiose’. Reviewer Gyögy Sebestyen concluded: ‘An event to remain in our memory, no weaker than our own dreams’. See also Dr. Jürg’s review below for an account of the Vienna public’s positive response.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reviews Benesch, Gerda. ‘Wiener Festwochen 1970. Erste Höhepunkte’. Der Lantbote (Winrthur), 11 July 1970. Blaha, Paul. ‘Die Welt, ein Alptraum’. Kurier (Vienna, morning ed.), 11 June 1970. Dr. Jürg. ‘Einfach genial – genial einfach’. Illustrierte Kronen-Zeitung (Vienna), 13 June 1970. Hauser, Krista. ‘Bergman’s “Traumspiel” – Masstab für Strindberg-Inszenierungen’. Tiroler Tageszeitung, (Innsbruck), 13 June 1970. Huppert, Hugo von. ‘Schwedens Gastspiel’. Volkstimme, 12 June 1970. Koselka, Fritz. ‘Traumspiel – modern aus Dichters Landen’. Wiener Zeitung, 12 June 1970. Pablé, Elisabeth. ‘Wiener Theaterfestival-Höhepunkt: “Traumspiel”’. Oberösterreicher Nachrichten (Linz), 12 June 1970. Pizzini, Duglore. ‘Träumen und Warten’. Wochenpresse (Vienna), 16 June 1970. Rismondo, Piero. ‘Ein Tisch – das Universum’. Die Presse (Vienna), 12 June 1970. Sebestyen, Gyögy. ‘Strindbergs Abschied vom Leben’. Salzburger Nachrichten, 12 June 1970. Spiel, Hilde. ‘Bergman begeistert in Wien’. Frankfurter Allgemeine, 20 June 1970. Steiner, Dr. Irmgard. ‘Kaltes Traumspiel aus Schweden’. Linzer Volksblatt, 12 June 1970. Sterk, Harald. ‘Strindbergs dramatisierter Alptraum des Lebens’. Neue Zeit, (Graz), 12 June 1970. (An abbreviated version of this review appeared in Arbeiter-Zeitung, 12 June 1970). Zeleny, Dr. W. ‘Schwedisches Gastspiel in Wien’. Salzburger Volksblatt, 12 June 1970.
3. Belgrade, Teater Ateljé, 23-24 September 1970, 3 performances. Dramaten’s Drömspel was awarded the Grand Prix as best production during Belgrade’s fourth international festival, September 1970. No reviews located.
4. Venice, Italy, 27-28 September 1970, 2 performances in Palazzo Grassi. Dramaten’s production of Ett drömspel was presented in Venice in connection with the Venice Biennale. Tickets for the guest performances were sold out long in advance and near-riots broke out among those who could not be admitted. The performances were greeted with standing ovations and Il Gazettino’s reviewer thought that Dramaten’s production justified the whole festival. See also Paese Sera and Corriere della Sera for similar views. Some critics, like Renzo Tian in Il Messaggero, felt that Bergman’s rendering of A Dreamplay would create an interest in Strindberg’s work in Italy. This was only the second appearance of Strindberg’s play on an Italian stage. Shortly before Bergman’s guest presentation, Michael Meshke had directed the play in Torino with Bergman actress Ingrid Thulin in the role of Indra’s daughter. Dramaten’s Drömspel was the first Italian encounter with a Bergman stage production, though Bergman was a well-known name in Italy as a filmmaker. This is reflected in several reviews that refer to the Drömspel production as ‘Bergman’s greatest film’. Critics made direct references to Smultronstället and other Bergman screen works, from Tystnaden (The Silence) to En passion (A Passion). These brief comparisons pertained not only to generic and structural matters but emphasized parallels between the nihilistic tone of Bergman’s films and his presentation of the ending of Ett drömspel with Indra’s daughter walking into darkness. ‘Bergman’s Dreamplay shows the road to hell, hell consisting of human suffering. A Dreamplay is the theatrical counterpart of Bergman’s films’, wrote Alberti Blandi in La Stampa, and Arturo Lazzari in Unita concurred: ‘Bergman has given a very personal interpretation of A Dreamplay, confirming a development in his films. The message expresses total pessimism – behind the door there is nothing. [...] Yet, the performance had a religious quality, a kind of lay religiosity. But Ingmar Bergman has removed all of Strindberg’s religious content’. In their focus on the philosophical implications of Bergman’s production, the Italian critics took a different approach from most of the German reviewers at the Vienna guest performance
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre a few months earlier, who viewed the performance with an awareness of earlier Dreamplay productions and stressed Bergman’s departure from the Molander tradition. There was a resume in DN, 2 October 1970, of some of the reviews listed below.
Reviews Bertani, Odoardo. ‘Il male di Strindberg’. Il Giorno, 29 September 1970. Blandi, Alberti. ‘“Il sogno” di Strindberg nel posto delle fragole’. La Stampa, 29 September 1970. Cibotto, G. A. ‘Bergman sogna con Strindberg’. Il Gazzettino, 29 Spetember, 1970. Cucchetti, Gino. ‘Successo di Bergman nel “Sogno” di Strindberg’. L’Osservatore romano, 3 October 1970. Lazzari, Arturo. ‘Qualcosa di nuovo in questo “Sogno” di Bergman?’. Unita, 28 September 1970. Monticelli, Roberto de. ‘Bergman smonta il sogno e ne fa opera anche sua’. Il Giorno, 28 September 1970, p. 16. Pagliarani, Elio. ‘Trionfa Bergman sulle scene di Venezia’. Paese Sera, 29 September 1970. Radice, Raul. ‘Bergman si riconosce in Strindberg’. Corriere della Sera, 29 September 1970. Taricco, Maeserano di. ‘Trionfo di Ingmar Bergman’. Umanita, 29 September 1970. Tian, Renzo. ‘Solo il nulla dietro la porta chiusa’. Il Messaggero, 29 September 1970.
Special Study For a fine discussion of the Italian reception of Bergman’s work in the theatre, see Francesco Bono in Nordic Theatre Studies, Vol. 11 (1998), pp. 105-113.
5. London, at the Aldwych, 19-24 April 1971. The 1971 ‘World Theatre Season’ in London, hosted by the Royal Shakespeare Company, included a guest performance of Bergman’s 1970 production of A Dreamplay on 19-24 April 1971. For Swedish assessment of this guest visit, see Expr., 21 April 1971 (‘Blandad kritik för Drömspelet’/Mixed reviews for A Dreamplay), and DN, (‘Positiv press för ‘Drömspelet på Londonbesök’/Positive press report on the Dreamplay on London visit), same date. British reception was very mixed. Among positive responses was The Guardian’s review praising Bergman’s lucid mise-en-scene and Dramaten’s fine ensemble acting and concluding that the production was the best one in the World Theatre Season. But to the Daily Express the performance in Swedish, without an intermission, represented the critic’s definition of hell: ‘Yesterday evening was like listening to a madman phoning from China on a poor line, to the accompaniments of SOS signals from a sinking ship. August Strindberg’s play would not be an illuminating piece of entertainment even if one spoke Swedish like a Swede. Directed by Ingmar Bergman, who has never been an enemy of the obscure, the members of Swedish Dramaten trudge on clumsy feet in the author’s philosophical waters and give us a very murky view of human existence’. Prior to Dramaten’s arrival with A Dreamplay, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre’s artistic leader, Trevor Nunn, commented that one could expect a new revelation concerning Strindberg. Nunn based this statement on Dramaten’s previous guest visit with Bergman’s Hedda Gabler. (See GHT, ‘Stor förväntan i London för Bergmans Strindberg’ [Great expectations in London for Bergman’s Strindberg] 3 February 1971). But the British had a long stage tradition with Ibsen to fall back on, but hardly any with Strindberg. This may have affected their critical response to the Dreamplay visit. Irving Wardle in The Times noted in fact that British viewers had no other Strindberg presentation to compare Bergman’s production with.
Reviews Barber, John. ‘Bergman impresses with “Dream Play”’. The Daily Telegraph, 20 April 1971. Bryden, Ronald. ‘Into Strindberg’s Inferno’. The Observer, 25 April 1971, p. 39. Darlington, W. A. ‘Coming to grips with genius’. The Daily Telegraph, 10 May 1971.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Wardle, Irving. ‘A new debt owing to World Theatre season’. The Times, 20 April 1971, p. 10.
6. Obernhaus, Essen and Stuttgart, West Germany, 12-16 June 1971. ‘God, what an ensemble! What comic richness! To mention a single person in this collective would be unfair.’ Thus wrote the anonymous reviewer in Neue Ruhr-Zeitung of Bergman’s Dreamplay production. Several West German critics noted especially the unique artistic quality of the Dramaten ensemble. Kurt Honolka in Stuttgarter Nachrichten even concluded that ‘they [the actors] make a stronger impression than the piece itself.’ The reviewer in Westdeutsche Allgemeine spoke of ‘a European quality production’. As in Dramaten’s guest performance in Vienna a year earlier, West German reviewers commented especially on Bergman’s realistic, word-oriented production, its absence of Strindbergian visual symbolism and metaphysics. ‘Bergman’, wrote Werner Gilles, ‘has, as far as it is imaginable, demythologized A Dreamplay. [...] [He makes] Strindberg’s pessimistic visions graspable and understandable also as social accusations’. Wolfgang Ignée in Stuttgarter Zeitung emphasized Bergman’s ability to build ‘a communication bridge to the mystical (Unheimlich) between his piece on the one hand (it soon becomes clear that this is his piece and that we are participating in a Bergman dream) and the public on the other hand. [...] Bergman knows how to transmit Strindberg’s ‘Dreamplay’ as a work of our time.’ (Cf. Melchinger review, listed below). J. Mühlberger in Essinger Zeitung claimed that Reinhardt’s expressive 1921 version of A Dreamplay ‘would be unbearable to us today’ and that Bergman’s dismissal of Strindbergian paraphernalia, such as clouds, castles and caves, in favor of an almost empty stage ‘turned a pompous spectacle into a character display of great insight’. Cf. W. Unger (Kölner Stadtanzeiger) who contrasted the production briefly to Reinhardt’s expressionistic staging and Oscar Fritz Shuh’s archetypal and depth-psychological approach in an earlier Hamburg production. To the majority of West German theatre reviewers this was their first encounter with Bergman as a stage director. Many dwelt on how the well-known filmmaker had emerged as a man of the theatre. Ivan Nage in Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote: ‘Ingmar Bergman as one gets to know him this evening is a theatre director through and through, who wants to conquer the stage. What he has in common with the auteur-director of his films is only what the cinema has learnt from actors: the crystallization of a character through... meaningful gestures.’ The guest performances in West Germany played to three-quarter-filled houses. The public reception was reportedly very warm and enthusiastic. There was only one really disappointed critical response; Christoph Müller in Schwäbische Zeitung missed Strindberg’s phantasmagoric settings and saw little point in presenting a production so focussed on the verbal text to an audience who did not understand a word of it.
Reviews n.a. Neue Ruhr-Zeitung, 14 June 1971. n.a. Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 14 June 1971. Dannecker, Hermann. ‘Realität und Traum im Gleichgewicht’. Schwäbische Zeitung, 18 June 1971. Gilles, Werner. ‘Ein schwedisches Mysterium’. Mannheimer Morgen, 18 June 1971. Honolka, Kurt. ‘Schade um die Menschen’. Stuttgarter Nachrichten, 18 June 1971. Ignée, Wolfgang. ‘Nicht von dieser Theaterwelt’. Stuttgarter Zeitung, 18 June 1971. Lg. ‘Ingmar Bergman in Essen gefeiert’. Main-Echo (Aschaffenburg), 16 June 1971. Melchinger, Siegfried. ‘Ein Traumspiel’. Christ und Welt (Stuttgart), 16 June 1971. Mühlberger, Joseph. ‘Ein Traumspiel von August Strindberg’. Essinger Zeitung, 18 June 1971. Müller, Christoph. ‘Eine Wand von Menschengeschichten’. Schwäbische Donau-Zeitung’. 19 June 1971.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Nage, Ivan. ‘Strindberg ohne Geschrei und Papierrascheln’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 19 June 1971. Unger, Wilhelm. ‘Mehr ein Denkspiel’. Kölner Stadtanzeiger, 18 June 1971. Westecker, Dieter. ‘Ein schwedischer Traum’. Düsseldorfer Nachrichten, 14 June 1971.
7. Holland Festival, 18-21 June 1971: Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg, 18 June 1971; Haag Koninklijke Schouwburg, 19 June 1971; Rotterdam Schouwburg, 21 June 1971 To several reviewers Bergman’s production proved that Strindberg’s drama was still playable. They assessed the production as ‘pure theatre’ without ‘theatricality’ and felt that Bergman had captured Strindberg’s dream mode and had listened to Strindberg’s foreword to the play when he staged it as a vision by the poet, which was termed ‘ingenious’ (Dubois). But there were also critical reservations about Bergman’s ‘amputation’ of Strindberg’s text (Rutten) and about his transposition of original passages (Van den Bergh).
Reviews n.a. ‘Droomspel’. Trouw, 22 June 1971. Bergh, Hans van den. ‘“Droomspel” door Ingmar Bergman “onttoverd”’ [A Dreamplay ‘disenchanged’ by Bergman]. Het Parool, 19 June 1971, p. 9. Boswinkel, W. ‘Droomspel’. NRC Handelsblad, 19 June 1971. Dubois, Pierre H. ‘Strindberg. A’. Vaderland, 21 June 1971. Lange, Daniel. ‘Strindberg gespeeld door landgenoten’ [S. played by countrymen]. De Volkskrant, 19 June 1971. Mieke, Kolk. ‘Men kent maar één leven, zijn eigen’. Elsevier, 19 June 1971 (mostly a presentation of Strindberg). Rutten, André. ‘Verleden tijd getheatraliseerd’ [The past theatricalized]. De Tijd, 19 June 1971.
See also Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Ingmar Bergman als toneelregisseur’. Vrij Nederland, 12 June 1971, p. 21. — . ‘Het leven is een droom’. NRC Handelsblad, 11 June 1971, CS 4.
Postscript After the foreign guest performances, Ett drömspel continued its third season at Dramaten. The production was moved from the small to the main stage. The ensemble remained intact except for the Lawyer’s role, where Allan Edwall was replaced by Max von Sydow. For brief reviews of the production at this point, see Janzon, Åke. ‘Drömspelet byter advokat’ [The Dreamplay changes lawyer]. SvD, 28 August 1971, and Zern Leif. ‘Prestation av Sydow’ [A feat by S]. DN, 27 August 1971.
448.
HEDDA GABLER
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Henrik Ibsen Ingmar Bergman Mago The National Theatre, London/Cambridge Theatre 29 June 1970
Cast Jörgen Tesman Hedda Gabler Thea Elvsted Ejlert Løvborg Judge Brack
Jeremy Brett Maggie Smith Sheila Reid Robert Stephens John Moffatt
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Berta Juliana Tesman
Julia McCarthy Jean Watts
Commentary This was Bergman’s first production outside of Scandinavia. He writes about his time in London in Laterna magica (The Magic Lantern), pp. 235 f. In England, Bergman met actors with a different rehearsal routine than in Scandinavia: ‘Their professionalism and speed frightened me a little. [...] They had learned their lines by the first rehearsal. As soon as they had the scenery, they started acting at a fast tempo. I asked them to slow down a little and they loyally tried to, but it bewildered them.’ (The Magic Lantern, p. 236). The lead role, played by Maggie Smith, presented a more restrained and less passionate Hedda Gabler than Gertrud Fridh in the earlier Swedish production (Ø 440, 1964).
Reception Some reviewers had seen the guest visit of the Stockholm production in 1967. They were thus prepared for the crucial opening pantomime by Hedda, an ‘addition’ they again expressed doubts about (as they had questioned Hedda’s eavesdropping throughout the play), since it detracted too much attention from Hedda’s surroundings (see Hope-Wallace and Lewis). A number of reviewers sensed a mismatch between director and actress, and complained about the icy coldness of Bergman’s vision of Hedda’s tragedy. Peter Lewis in The Daily Mail felt manipulated by the director’s mesmerising effects and Milton Shulman thought the presentation was ‘a blood-shot, brooding nightmare’. Bergman felt distant from his English-speaking cast and his sense of alienation in the London atmosphere no doubt had an impact on his production, which was termed ‘abstract’, ‘calculated’ and ‘an insect life studied under glass.’
Reviews Bryden, Ronald. No title. The Observer, 30 June 1970. Hope-Wallace, Philip. ‘Hedda Gabler at the Cambridge Theatre’. The Guardian, 30 June 1970, p. 8. Lewis, Peter. No title. The Daily Mail, 30 June 1970. Shulman, Milton. No title. The Evening Standard, 30 June 1970. Wardle, Irving. ‘British version of Swedish Hedda’. The Times, 30 June 1970, p. 13.
See also Ossia Trilling interviewed Bergman prior to the opening of Hedda Gabler. See ‘Bergman’s baroque dream’. The Guardian, 30 June 1970, p. 8. The interview is mostly a summary of Bergman’s theatre career to date plus some comments by Bergman on The Magic Flute.
1971 449.
SHOW
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Choreography Music Assistant Directors Stage Opening Date
Lars Forssell Ingmar Bergman Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss Donya Feuer Lars Johan Werle Anita Brundahl/Gunnel Lindblom Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm, Main Stage 20 March 1971
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Cast The Poet Nan Berry Maria Peter Paul David The Police Officer Two policemen Eberknödel Eliane Dancers Ick Karin Waiter Waitress The Judge Mrs. Bruere Colonel Rack Two men The girl Old soldier The President Old woman
Allan Edwall Harriet Andersson Anita Wall Solveig Ternström Börje Ahlstedt Mathias Henrikson Jonas Bergström Gösta Prüzelius Jan Nyman/Birger Malmsten Karin Kavli Kristina Adolphson Fatima Ekman, Charlotte Kuylenstjerna, Kerstin Ljunglöf, Kristina Lundborg Ernst-Hugo Järegård Lil Terselius Heinz Hopf Gertrud Fridh Hans Strååt Hjördis Petterson Georg Årlin Carl Billquist/Peter Harryson Kari Sylwan Anders Ek Georg Rydeberg Birgitta Valberg
Commentary Lars Forssell’s ‘Show’ is inspired by the life of the Jewish-American ‘Apostle of Sick Humor’, Lenny Bruce, alias ‘The Goat’. In 1968, Forssell published the poem ‘Elegy for Lenny Bruce’, which is the genesis of ‘Show’. With ‘the Goat’ as his ventriloquist, Forssell depicts Sweden, the US, and the world in biting, cynical terms. ‘The Goat’ is an aging clown with an entourage of ‘kids’, a travelling group of comedians, who are quite ready to betray him. The real villains are the authorities – the police, the judicial system, and the shady entrepreneurs who run the establishment where ‘The Goat’ and his companions perform. Forssell used American poet Carl Sandburg’s poetry ‘The People – Yes’ as a theme. In an interview (Expr., 27 February 1971), Forssell called Bergman a ‘genius. Completely phenomenal! We in Sweden don’t understand that we have such a gigantic talent among us.’ [ett geni. Fullständigt fenomenal! Vi i Sverige förstår inte att vi har en sådan jättetalang ibland oss]. In a note to the theatre program, Forssell thanked Bergman for his suggested cuts, changes, and additions to his text. See also his comments about the production in DN, 21 March 1971. Forssell’s program note appears in a Bergman copy of the play, in which the author has written in longhand: ‘Ingmar, how shall I be able to thank you?!! Lars, 19.III. LXXI; you have the world’s finest, most human and warmest radar’. [Ingmar, hur ska jag kunna tacka dig?! Lars, 19.III. LXXI; du har världens finaste, mänskligaste och varmaste radar.]. This copy of the play is part of the director’s rehearsal copy, dated 19 Januay – 19 March, which also includes division of scenes and a cast list. It is deposited at SFI.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reception Forssell’s ambition to transform the life of Lenny Bruce into a universal vision was supported by Bergman in his staging of the play, which opened with ‘The Goat’ tumbling out of a crack in a symbolic world egg. To the critics, it was Bergman who gave Forssell’s work its dramatic cohesiveness: ‘It takes a magician like Ingmar Bergman to transform all these practical jokes, sketches, puns, and witty lines into a theatre performance. [...] Ingmar Bergman has used the text as a musical score and he succeeds... in convincing us that he can make splendid theatre out of practically anything’. [Det skall till en trollkarl som Ingmar Bergman för att förvandla alla dessa skämt, sketcher, vitsar och kvicka rader till en teaterföreställning. [...] Ingmar Bergman har använt texten som ett partitur och han lyckas... övertyga oss att han kan göra bländande teater av praktiskt taget vad som helst.] (SvD). For similar views of Bergman’s handling of Forssell’s ‘chaotic mishmash’ (Hufvudstadsbladet), see Lennart Josephson (SDS), Henrik Sjögren (KvP), Hans Axel Holm (DN), and Tord Bæckström (GHT). See also Henrik Sjögren’s reassessment of the production some thirty years later, which reaches the same conclusion (Lek och raseri, 2002, p. 366).
Reviews Bæckström, Tord. ‘Amoraliska moraliteter’ [Amoral moralities]. GHT, 22 March 1971. Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Stockholm rik teaterstad: Sol, Show och Bond Räddad’ [Stockholm a rich theatre city: Sun, Show and Bond Saved]. Scen och Salong 4, 1971: 18, 26. Elfving, Ebba. ‘En unik satsning’ [A unique stake]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 22 March 1971. Holm, Hans Axel. ‘Stark Forssell på Dramaten: Edwall fascinerar från första scen’ [Strong F. at Dramaten: E. fascinates from the first scene]. DN, 21 March 1971. Janzon, Åke. ‘Ett drömspel på drift’ [A drifting Dreamplay]. SvD, 21 March 1971. Josephson, Lennart. ‘Ett skrik av ångest över världens ondska’ [A cry of anguish over the evil of the world]. SDS, 21 March 1971. Lindholm, Karl-Axel. ‘Show på Dramaten’. Storstaden, 25 March 1971. Nilsson, Björn. ‘En mycket stor smärta’ [A very great pain]. Expr., 2 March 1971. Schildt, Jurgen. ‘Forssell och Bergman maler tomgång’ [F and B are idling]. AB, 21 March 1971.
See also Sven Britton. ‘Motroten’ [In opposition]. DN, 31 March 1971. (A report on lining up for one of 300 free tickets to the performance, followed by a rather negative comment on Forssell’s play). Björn Vinberg. ‘Sjuk humorist Bergmans nästa på Dramaten’ [Sick humorist Bergman’s next at Dramaten]. Expr., 5 November 1970. Early announcement of Forssell/Bergman production and brief presentation of Lenny Bruce.
1972 450.
VILDANDEN [The Wild Duck]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Assistant Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Vildanden Henrik Ibsen Ingmar Bergman Gunnel Lindblom Marik Vos Royal Dramatic Theatre, Main Stage 17 March 1972
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Cast Old Werle Gregers Werle Old Ekdal Hjalmar Ekdal Gina Ekdal Hedvig Mrs. Sörby Relling Molvik Gråberg, bookeeper Pettersen, servant Jensen Kaspersen, chamberlain Balle, chamberlain Stockman, chamberlain
Anders Ek Max von Sydow Holger Löwenadler Ernst-Hugo Järegård Margaretha Krook Lena Nyman Harriet Andersson Ingvar Kjellson Jan Malmsjö Alf Östlund Olle Hilding Hans Sundberg Frank Sundström Erland Josephson Ragnar Arwedson
Commentary In an interview with Elisabeth Sörenson (SvD, 29 February 1972, p. 8), Bergman said he was inspired to produce Ibsen’s play – which he considered one of the ten best plays in world drama – because he had a perfect ensemble for it. In another interview (Olle Ekström, Hufvudstadsbladet, 1 March 1972), Bergman defined Vildanden as a meeting between Peer Gynt and Brand. For his production, Bergman reversed the attic-livingroom layout as it appears in Ibsen’s stage directions, where the theatre public never gains access to the attic. Bergman constructed a proscenium stage that represented part of the attic and was a space shared by the audience. It was here, in front of the prompter’s box, that young Hedvig Ekdal, who became the central figure in the production, fired the pistol shot that killed her. At the far back of the stage could be seen the attic beams vaulting into dark space. The Ekdal household was crammed in between these areas. A door from the apartment led out to an area housing the wild duck but suggested only by subtle lighting. An addition in the production was a large portrait of the dead Mrs. Werle, which dominated the scenes in the Werle house. Bergman held open rehearsals several weeks before the opening. On each occasion he would greet the public in the same way: ‘It is dear to have you here. There is no real performance until you are here and the ensemble can feel and test how you react’. [Det är kärt att ha er här. Det blir ingen riktig föreställning förrän ni är här och ensemblen kan känna och pröva hur ni reagerar]. See Betty Skawonius, ‘Så repeterar Bergman Ibsen’s Vildanden’ [This is how Bergman rehearses The Wild Duck]. DN, 12 March 1972, p. 16. Bergman held a press conference on 14 March 1972, three days before the opening. See Björn Vinberg, ‘Vrid på sidan får ni se Bergmans önskeaktörer’ [Turn the page and you’ll see B’s favorite actors], Expr., 15 March 1972, pp. 32-33.
Reception With few exceptions (see Donnér, SDS), the production received rave reviews. Ossia Trilling in The Financial Times found Bergman’s production ‘as revolutionary as his Hedda Gabler. [...] Such intelligence and imagination, helped along by a touch of genius, can breathe new life into what might have remained... an empty old Norwegian carcass. [...] Bergman has turned Ibsen’s ailing 19th-century drame à thèse into a 20th-century Freudian farcical tragedy’. A similar angle was taken by Tord Bæackström (GHT) in answering his own question ‘Why still play The Wild Duck?’ His colleague in AB, Allan Fagerström topped the crowd of enthusiasts: ‘This is the finest that the theatre can offer! [...] life can possess a moment of bliss in the meeting with the perfect
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman work of art. It can now be seen on Dramaten’s main stage’. [Detta är det finaste teatern kan bjuda på! [...] livet kan äga ett moment av salighet och det är mötet med det perfekta konstverket. Det finns nu att betrakta på Dramatens stora scen]. Leif Zern (DN) felt that Bergman’s development as a stage director had now reached its peak: ‘I am sure that The Wild Duck will be counted as one of Bergman’s absolutely greatest productions. He seems right now to be in a period of unusually confident creativity in the theatre: hence this fusion of knowledge and freedom’. [Jag är säker på att ‘Vildanden’ kommer att räknas som en av Bergmans allra största uppsättningar. Han tycks just nu vara inne i en period av ovanligt förtroendefullt skapande för teatern: därav denna förening av kunskap och frihet]. The reviewers marvelled at Bergman’s unique mise-en-scene, which was considered to be close to Ibsen’s own conception of the drama, despite the fact that it constituted a ‘violation’ of his stage directions. The superb casting and fine ensemble acting was by now expected of any Bergman production. Here it was especially Lena Nyman’s portrayal of young Hedvig that caught critical attention. Her central role was offset by Bergman’s interpretation of Gregers Werle as an ugly pathetic fool. Max von Sydow’s potrayal of Gregers Werle was described by Tord Bæckström as ‘a tall and as it were messy fellow, in whom no limbs seemed to fit together. [...] He can neither stand nor sit still and straight, it is as if he always had a lot of hands and feet with which he doesn’t know what to do. A restless neurotic who is about as much at home in life as a dew worm in an anthill’. [En lång och liksom skräpig karl hos vilken inga lemmar riktigt tycks passa ihop [...]. Han kan varken stå eller sitta stilla rätt upp och ned, det är som om han alltid hade en massa händer och fötter som han inte visste vad han skulle göra av. En rastlös neurotiker som trivs i tillvaron ungefär lika bra som en daggmask i en myrstack]. Finally, many reviewers remarked on Bergman’s obvious deep love of the play. (See Bredsdorff in Politiken and Kajsa Krook in Hufvudstadsbladet). In this seems to lie a key to Bergman’s impact on his audience: He came across as a director with a passionate commitment, coupled with a unique sense of stage aesthetics and a penetrating look into the psychological minutiae of the dramatis personae.
Reviews Andersssen, Odd-Stein. ‘Bergmans Vildanden på Dramaten’. Aftenposten (Norwegian), 18 March 1972. Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Medan världen dör ser vi ingenting’ [While the world is dying we see nothing]. Scen och Salong 4, 1972: 14-15, 27. Bredsdorff, Thomas. ‘Vildanden i os alle’ [The Wild Duck in us all]. Politiken (Danish), 18 March 1972, p. 12. Bæckström, Tord. ‘Varför spelar man alltjämt Vildanden?’ [Why does one continue to stage The Wild Duck?]. GHT, 18 March 1972. Donnér, Jarl W. ‘En föreställning med överraskningar’ [A performance with surprises]. SDS, 18 March 1972. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Det fulländade konstverket’ [The perfect work of art]. AB, 18 March 1972. Janzon, Åke. ‘En studie i naiviteter’ [A study in naivites]. SvD, 18 March 1972. Krook, Kajsa. ‘Bergman’s Vildanden’. Hufvudstadsbladet, 18 March 1972. Kruuse, Jens. ‘Ideologen og mennesket’ [The ideologue and man]. Jyllands-Posten, 18 March 1972. Marcussen, Elsa Brita. ‘Vildanden vårens suksess i Stockholm’ [The Wild Duck is the success of the spring in Stockholm]. Arbeiderbladet, 24 April 1972. Nilsson, Björn. ‘Ett hem på jorden’ [A home on earth]. Expr., 18 March 1972. Rühle, Günther. ‘Ibsens Hohlräume und Bergmans Augen’. Frankfurter Allgemeine, 28 March 1972.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Thagaard, Aud. ‘Bergmans “Vildanden” som oprivende tragedie’. Dagbladet (Norwegian), 18 March 1972. Trilling, Ossia. ‘Die Wilde Eend leeft weer dankzij Ingmar Bergman’. Haagsche Courant, 28 April 1972. Also appeared in Financial Times, 6 May 1972, Arts Section. Zern, Leif. ‘En av Bergmans största uppsättningar. Rent nöje se Vildanden’ [One of Bergman’s greatest stagings. The Wild Duck is pure enjoyment]. DN, 18 March 1972.
See also Marker, F. and L., Ingmar Bergman. Four decades in the Theatre, (Ø 594), pp. 201-211, provides an analysis of the stage design of Bergman’s production. Sjögren, Henrik. Lek och raseri (2002), pp. 207-212. Sjögren is more reserved about the production than the rest of the critical corps.
Guest Performances Vildanden production was invited to guest performances in a number of European cities: Berlin, Copenhagen, Florence, Oslo, and Zurich.
1. Florence, 28-29 April 1972 According to reviewer in La Nazione, the performance was ‘a triumphant success’ despite some technical problems with the simultaneous translation. Poesio, Paolo Emilio. ‘La vertia che distrugge’. La Nazione, 29 April 1972.
2. Berlin, Freie Volksbühne, 1 & 2 May 1972 There was some skepticism among the Berlin reviewers about Ibsen’s relevance in today’s theatre. But ‘Bergman’s production shows that the psychological theatre is not dead’. (Karsch). The guest performance was an overwhelming success: ‘The Berlin theatre has not had this many curtain calls in a long time.’ Bergman was praised for his empathy with the characters and for his focus on a close father-daughter relationship that motivated Hedvig’s despair at being rejected by Hjalmar. Ignée, Wolfgang. ‘Riesen aus Porzellan’. Stuttgarter Zeitung, 4 May 1972. Karsch, Walther. ‘Ovationen für Bergman’. Der Tagespiegel/Feuileton, 3 May 1972. Ritter, Heinz. ‘Geflecht der Beziehungen’. Der Abend, 3 May 1972. Schauseil, Alphons. ‘Alle Ingmar Bergman Stars sind in diesem Ibsen-Inszenierung versammelt’. Berliner Morgenpost, 10 April 1972.
3. Zurich, Stadthof 11, 4-6 May 1972, three performances. Bergman was a very current name in Zurich during Dramaten’s guest visit, for his film The Touch had just premiered. Some reviewers paid more attention to the film than to The Wild Duck production. Others were intrigued to find that Bergman avoided filmic features in his staging of Ibsen’s play: ‘Those who had expected Ingmar Bergman to change Ibsen’s theatre play on stage into an Ingmar Bergman film were disappointed. Bergman gives the theatre what belongs to the theatre’. (Baur, Der Lantbote). References were made to Peter Stein’s recent production of Peer Gynt, comparing it unfavorably to Bergman’s ‘clean’ and ‘perfect’ Wild Duck staging. Stein’s approach was called ‘mannered’ while Bergman’s production was praised for its sensitive rendering of realistic detail, making it a model for future stagings of classical and ‘essential drama’ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung). Der Bund (Berne) compared Bergman’s work favorably to such leading theatre directors as Strehler, Visconti, Krejca, Noelte, and Fehling, and attributed the success of The Wild Duck to Dramaten’s homogenous ensemble whose outstanding performance resulted in a production that reached ‘intensity and artistic perfection.’
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reviews Baur, Arthur. ‘Eine schwedische “Wildente”’. Der Landbote (Winthertur), 8 May 1972. haj. ‘Die Wildente’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 6 May 1972. m-. ‘Ingmar Bergman inzeniert “Die Wildente” von Ibsen’. Zürcher AZ, 8 May 1972. Meier, Peter. ‘Beinahe zu perfekter Realismus’. Tages-Anzeiger, 8 May 1972. Merz, Richard. ‘Die Wiltente’. Zurichsee, No 108, 10 May 1972. R. Sch. ‘Blick auf die Bühne von heute: Das neueste von Hochhuth und ein 90-jahriges Stück von Ibsen’. Internationales Argus der Presse, (Geneve-Zurich), 8 May 1972. Sg. ‘Die Wildente’. Die Tat (Zürich), 9 May 1972. Th.T. ‘Ibsen als Ereignis’. Der Bund (Bern), 9 May 1972. Waeger, Gerhart. ‘Zweimal Bergman in Zürich’. Die Weltwoche, no. 18, 8 May 1972.
4. Oslo, Det norske teatret, 4-6 June 1972 The Norwegian Theatre has a smaller stage than Dramaten, but reviewers attending both the Stockholm and Oslo presentations of The Wild Duck remarked that Bergman’s arrangement of making the loft visible to the audience worked beautifully on both stages. It had the advantage, said Aud Thagaard (Dagbladet), of allowing the actors to play straight to the audience instead of facing an opening in the back wall at an awkward angle. The reviewer in Verdens gang (Hartmann) thought that ‘Dr. Ibsen’ himself might have pulled his whiskers in approval of Bergman’s mise-en-scene since the production was so masterful. Odd-Stein Andersen in Aftenposten, who had also reviewed the production when it opened in Stockholm, found Bergman’s and Max von Sydow’s compassion for Gregers Werle the most remarkable part of the performance. A somewhat unusual analysis of Bergman’s production was offered by the Norwegian paper Friheten, where the focus rested on Hjalmar Ekdal as ‘a stranded socialist’ and Gregers Werle as ‘a fanatic who loves to experiment with socialist ideas’.
Reviews n.a. ‘Svensk gjestespill med Ibsens “Vildanden”. Et sosialismens drama?’ [Swedish guest performance with Ibsen’s ‘The Wild duck’. A socialist drama?]. Friheten (Oslo), 19 June 1972. Andersen, Odd-Stein. ‘Svensk vildand’. Aftenposten, 5 June 1972. Hartmann, Alf. ‘Bergmans ypperste’ [B’s best]. Verdens gang, 3 June 1972. Nordrå, Olav. ‘Sterk Bergman-Ibsen forestilling’. Morgonbladet, 6 June 1972. Thagaard, Aud. ‘Svensk vildand på Det Norske Teatret’. Dagbladet, 6 June 1972, p. 15.
See also Report from press conference in Oslo, Morgenbladet, 5 June 1972 (‘Vildanden i Ingmar Bergmans regi på gjestebesøk i Oslo’).
5. Copenhagen, Folketeatret, 26-27 April 1973 Danish theatre critics outdid each other in superlative praise of a performance they called fantastic, brilliant, and matchless. To Henrik Lundgren in Information, the Danish capital had not seen a more perfect piece of theatre in memorable times, one that allowed Ibsen’s text to be resurrected ‘in all its width and depth’. Henrik Moe in Kristeligt Dagblad felt like he had seen Ibsen’s play for the first time. Inge Dam in Berlingske was envious of Sweden for producing such superb actors and for having a director like Ingmar Bergman who could hold together an ensemble, so that the audience was not distracted for one moment. Politiken’s Bent Mohn concluded: ‘The feast is over but the lucky ones will remember it for a long time as a meeting with world art. [...] Bergman’s The Wild Duck has given us a new – and dangerous – measuring stick for what constitutes theatre art’. The production was named the best in Europe in 1972, according to Danish paper Politiken (18 April 1973).
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Dramaten’s visit coincided with Bergman’s Danish staging of The Misanthrope at the Royal Theatre (Det Kongelige) and his TV film Scener ur ett äktenskap (Scenes from a Marriage). The newspapers reported an ‘Ingmar Bergman fever’ in Copenhagen. See full page articles titled ‘Dønninger efter en bergman-bølge’ [Swells after a Bergman wave], Politiken, 20 May 1973, in which Danish stage director Frederik Dessau analyzes Bergman’s impact on Danish theatre life and Anders Bodelsen discusses the importance of Scenes from a Marriage as a TV series. Dessau stressed the fact that with his Molière production and his TV play, Bergman bridged two cultures: the classical-oriented ‘elitist’ theatre and the popular ‘soap opera’ culture of television.
Reviews Cornelius, Knud. ‘Et mageløst teatergæstespil’. Fredriksborgs Amtavis, 28 April 1973. Dam, Inge. ‘Svenskerne kan spille, de rører ved hindanden’ [The Swedes can act, they touch each other]. Berlingske Tidende, 27 April 1973. Erichsen, Sven. ‘Selv teaterhistoriens vanskeligste stykke lykkedes for Bergman’ [Even the most difficult piece in theatre history succeeded for Bergman]. Aktuelt, 28 April 1973. Kistrup, Jens. ‘Vildanden så nær som muligt’ [The Wild Duck as close as possible]. Berlingske Tidende, 27 April 1973. Lundgren, Henrik. ‘Scener af ægteskabet’. Information, 28 April 1973. Moe, Henrik. ‘Mesteren Bergmans dramatiske røntgenblik’ [Master Bergman’s dramatic X-ray]. Kristeligt Dagblad, 28 April 1973. Mohn, Bent. ‘Svensk verdenskunst’ [Swedish world art]. Politiken, 28 April 1973. The Copenhagen reception was also reported in DN, 29 April 1973 and in SvD, 30 April 1973. See also ‘Livsløgn og lykke’ [Life lie and happiness], Artenytt 1972/73 for a summary of critical response.
6. London, World Festival Season, Aldwych Theatre, 28 May to 2 June 1973 The Wild Duck production was performed eight times at the Aldwych Theatre, 28 May to 2 June 1973. For a Swedish report on the London visit and response, see DN, 29 May 1973, and articles by Barbro Hähnel in DN, 30 May 1973 and by Per Persson in SvD, same date.
Reception ‘Ingmar Bergman’s production [...] is a stunner’, wrote Michael Billington in the Guardian and continued: ‘It gives you the exhilirating sensation of seeing a classic text re-thought and re-felt from start to finish. [The production] shows how an imaginative director can bring to the stage the spatial freedom of the cinema’. Regretting that the Dramaten visit was only for a week, the reviewer in The Financial Times referred to Bergman’s staging as ‘absolutely brilliant production and acting.’ He was seconded by Herbert Kretzmer who urged his readers to see this ‘stunning... momentous production’ and by Jack Sutherland: ‘What an electrifying experience this is. [...] Intensity and passion of acting on this scale are rarely seen in Britain, and never with Ibsen who has suffered more than most from inadequate performances’. John Barber in The Daily Telegraph felt that The Wild Duck production was far superior to Bergman’s staging of Hedda Gabler a few years back, both in terms of visual imagination and clean presentation without the use of any stage tricks. There were, however, some reservations among leading theatre critics about Bergman’s presentation of the loft. Irving Wardle in The Times questioned making it visible to the audience, since it limited the spectator’s idea of what goes on there, and felt that Hedvig’s suicide in full view supplied ‘a powerful climax, purchased at a rather high price’. The most ambitious review of the London guest visit was offered by visiting American theatre critic Robert Brustein in The Observer Review. Setting up three principles on which to judge a theatre production: (1) emotional texture; (2) imaginative daring; and (3) style
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman (professionalism), Brustein concluded that Bergman’s production of The Wild Duck failed on style and imagination but had ‘enough emotional power to rivet one’s attention.’ Max von Sydow was interviewed in BBC TV on opening night (28 May 1973).
Reviews Barber, John. ‘Bergman “Wild Duck” a brilliant event’. Daily Telegraph, 29 May 1973. Billington, Michael. ‘The Wild Duck at the Aldwych’. The Guardian, 29 May 1973. Brustein, Robert. ‘Too much style, not enough passion’. The Observer Review, 3 June 1973. Kretzmer, Herbert. ‘When the truth hurts’. Daily Express, 29 May 1973. O’Connor, Garry. ‘The Wild Duck’. Financial Times, 29 May 1973. Shulman, Milton. ‘Reviews’. Evening Standard, 29, May 1973. Wardle, Irving. ‘The Wild Duck’. The Times, 29 May 1973. In May 1973, at about the time of Dramaten’s visit to London, the head of Sweden’s National stage at the time, Erland Josephson, reported with some bitterness to the press that for economic reasons (lack of additional state subsidies), Dramaten had been unable to accept guest invitations for The Wild Duck from Yugoslavia, Italy, Finland, West Germany, USA, France, Iceland, Spain, and Switzerland.
Special Studies Bredsdorff, Thomas. ‘The Sins of the Fathers: Bergman, Ronconi, and Ibsen’s “Wild Duck”’. New Theatre Quarterly 4, no. 14 (May) 1988, pp. 159-172. A translated reprint from author’s book Magtspil [Power play], Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1986.
1973 451.
SPÖKSONATEN [The Ghost Sonata]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Assistant Director Stage Opening date
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Marik Vos Gunnel Lindblom Royal Dramatic Theatre, Main Stage 13 January 1973
Cast Old Man Hummel The Student The Young Lady The Mummy The Colonel Bengtsson Johansson The Milkmaid The Cook The Dark Lady The Nobleman The Fiancee The Consul The Concierge
Toivo Pawlo Mathias Henrikson Gertud Fridh Gertrud Fridh Anders Ek Oscar Ljung Axel Düberg Kari Sylwan Hjördis Petterson Harriet Andersson Frank Sundström Dora Söderberg Gösta Prüzelius Marianne Karlbeck
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Commentary An interview article by Elisabeth Sörenson about Bergman’s production appeared in SvD, 12 December 1972 (‘Bergman gör Spöksonat no. 3’/B does Ghost Sonata no. 3). Bergman claimed that the only workable approach to Strindberg’s play was to proceed from the last act in which the Student ‘kills’ the Young Lady word for word. In that act ‘the logic of waking consciousness ceases to exist’. [upphör det vakna medvetandets logik att existera]. Bergman called the play ‘a wild, terrible and beautiful piece’. [en vild, förfärlig och skön pjäs]. The first act of The Ghost Sonata takes place outside a house whose façade is visible to the characters on stage. Bergman placed the (imagined) interior of the house somewhere in the auditorium, so that the actors could ‘spy’ on the occupants as if these were among the spectators. He presented the play without intermission; instead, at the end of each act, a large picture of Strindberg was projected on the curtain, and flickering lights reminiscent of those of a malfunctioning TV transmission, were used to indicate transitions between acts. Strindberg’s face showed a certain resemblance to the Student’s and Hummel’s physionomies. This variant of the traditionally biographical approach to Strindberg, associated primarily with Olof Molander’s stagings, was commented upon by Bergman in an interview article by Olle Ekström in Hufvudstadsbladet, 1 March 1972, at a time when Bergman had first announced his plans to produce The Ghost Sonata and talked about Olof Molander’s impact on Swedish stagings of Strindberg: We do other kinds of productions than he did, maybe we are entering into polemics with him, but he is always there at the bottom, in the kick-off phase itself. And Molander in turn had an actress like Maria Schildtknecht in his ensemble. An actress who had been at Strindberg’s own theatre and had learnt from him. So we can talk about an unbroken Strindberg tradition. And no art lives without a tradition. To think anything else is only simple-minded and uneducated. [Vi gör andra uppsättningar än han gjorde, kanske går vi i polemik mot honom, men han finns alltid där på botten, i själva avsparken. Och Molander i sin tur hade en skådespelerska som Maria Schildtknecht i sin ensemble. En skådespelerska som hade varit vid Strindbergs egen teater och hade lärt från honom. Så vi kan tala om en obruten Strindbergstradition. Och ingen konst lever utan tradition. Att tro något annat är bara att vara enfaldig och obildad]. Bergman invited the public to open rehearsals, as he had done in the 1969 production of Woyzeck. See Thorleif Hellbom’s reportage ‘Repetition med Bergman på Kgl dramatiska teatern’ [Rehearsal with Bergman at the Royal Dramatic], DN, 5 January 1973, and Eva Bendix, ‘Er livet værd så meget besvær?’ Politiken, 14 January 1973. See also Törnqvist special study listed below.
Reception DN, 15 January 1973, printed a resume of the press reception of Bergman’s production: ‘Spöksonaten: Imponerande teater pressens omdöme’ [The Ghost Sonata: Impressive theatre according to press opinion]. The reviewer in Arbetet called Bergman ‘a magician, terribly clever’ [en trollkarl, förskräckligt skicklig] and referred to the production as ‘fantastic’. Allan Fagerström in AB considered the result of the collaboration between set designer Marik Vos and Ingmar Bergman ‘the perfect theatre production. It is beautiful, it is grandiose, it is impressive’. [den perfekta teateruppsättningen. Det är vackert, det är storslaget, det är imponerande]. Leif Zern termed Bergman’s third Ghost Sonata ‘a remarkable deed, a great theatre event’. [en märklig gärning, en stor teaterhändelse].
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Critics focussed specific attention on the problematic third act (the Student and the Young Lady in the Hyacinth Room) but disagreed on its successful integration with the rest of the performance. (See Janzon and Donnér). Other points of disagreement concerned Bergman’s casting of Gertrud Fridh as both the Mummy and the Young Lady in order to suggest a destructive mother-daughter relationship. (See Donnér, Janzon, Zern).
Reviews Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Från Spöksonaten till Kung Lear’ [From the Ghost Sonata to King Lear]. Scen och Salong 3, 1973: 22-23. Donnér, Jarl W. ‘Tukthuset, dårhuset, livet’ [The correctional house, the asylum, life]. SDS, 14 January 1973, p. 8. Fagerström, Allan. ‘När ett hus blir gammalt möglar det’ [When a house gets old, it molds]. AB, 14 January 1973, p. 24. Janzon, Åke. ‘Bergmans tredje Spöksonat’ [Bergman’s third Ghost Sonata]. SvD, 14 January 1973, p. 8. Kragh-Jacobsen, Svend. ‘Skæbnens marionetspil og menneskets frigørelse’ [Destiny’s marionette play and man’s liberation]. Berlingske Tidende, 14 January 1973. Monté-Nordin, Karin. ‘Bergman trollar med Spöksonaten’ [Bergman uses magic with the Ghost Sonata]. Arbetet, 14 January 1973, p. 2. Perlström, Åke. ‘Ingmar Bergman och Strindberg’. GP, 14 January 1973, p. 2. Schoulgin, Eugene A. ‘Strindbergmans spøksonate’. Aftenposten (Oslo), 24 January 1973. Storléer, Lars. ‘Suggestiv men egenrådig “Spöksonate” på Dramaten’. [Suggestive but willful Ghost Sonata at Dramaten]. Morgenbladet (Oslo), 22 January 1973. Thagaard, Alf. ‘Fantastisk Strindberg og blekt “Dukkehjem” på Dramaten’. Dagbladet, 23 January 1973. Thoor, Alf. ‘Alf Thoor ser Bergmans nya Spöksonaten’ [Alf Thoor sees Bergman’s new Ghost Sonata]. Expr., 14 January 1973, p. 4. Trilling, Ossia. ‘The Ghost Sonata’. Financial Times, 5 February 1973. Zern, Leif. ‘Bergmans inlevelse förnyar “Spöksonaten”’. [Bergman’s empathy renews Ghost Sonata]. DN, 14 January 1973, p. 19.
Special Studies Cardullo, Bert. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Concept for his 1973 Production of The Ghost Sonata: A Dramaturg’s Response’. Essays in Arts and Sciences, West Haven, CT, May 1985, pp. 33-48. Jenny, Urs. ‘Bedenkenlos wie Strindberg selbst’. Theater heute. no. 3 (March 1973): 17-21. A review article focussing on Bergman’s ‘innocent’ acceptance of Strindberg’s drama both in terms of ‘esthetics’ and vision. Bergman approaches the production like the young Student who unwittingly enters and is initiated into the strange rites of the ‘ghost’ house. Marker, Lise-Lone & Frederick. Ingmar Bergman. Four Decades in the Theater, 1982, pp. 85-97. Törnqvist, Egil. Strindberg och Bergman. Spöksonaten – drama och iscensättning, 1973. Törnqvist followed the open rehearsals of the 1973 production of Spöksonaten. Together with Henrik Sjögren’s diary Regi. Ingmar Bergman. Dagbok från Dramaten 1969, based on Bergman’s open rehearsals of Woyzeck, Törnqvist’s book provides a detailed analysis of Bergman’s directorial methods and persona. See also Törnqvist, Between Stage and Screen. Ingmar Bergman Directs, 1995, pp. 30-45, and his articles entitled ‘Ingmar Bergman Directs Strindberg’s Ghost Sonata’, Theatre Quarterly III, no. 11, 1973: 3-14; ‘Ingmar Bergman regisserar Spöksonaten’, Dramaten no. 26, 1973, pp. 3-6; and ‘Ingmar Bergman met en scene: La source des spectres. Théâtre/public 73, 1987, pp. 83-88. In 2000, Törnqvist published a separate monograph on Spöksonaten (see Theatre Bibliography, Chapter VII, 2000). See also his article ‘Ingmar Bergmans fjärde Spöksonat’, Strindbergiana 16 (2001), pp. 32-42.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre See also n.a. ‘Bedenkenlos wie Strindberg selbst’. Argus, March 1972, p. 19. Bendix, Eva. ‘Er livet værd så meget besvær?’ [Is life worth so much trouble?]. Politiken, 14 January 1973. (Report from rehearsals of Spöksonaten with comments by Bergman and some of his actors.)
Guest Performance Florence, Pergola Theatre, 7-8 April 1973 This was the second Bergman production to visit Florence in two years. Italian reviewers spoke of the ‘bravura’, ‘coherence’, and ‘poetic lightness’ of Bergman’s staging of La Sonata di fantasmi.
Reviews Blandi, Alberto. ‘I fantasmi di Strindberg con il genio di Bergman’. La Stampa, 7 April 1973, p. 8. De Monticelli, Roberto. ‘Bergman nel mondo di Strindberg’. Il Diario di Milano, 8 April 1973. Dursi, Massimo. ‘Strindberg segundo Bergman’. Cronache dello Spettacolo, 7 April 1973. Pagliarani, Elio. ‘Bergman in un dramma di vampiri’. Paese Sera, 8 April 1973. Poesio, Paolo, Emilio. ‘Bergman piu grande che mai’. La Nazione, 8 April 1973. Radice, Raul. ‘Ingmar Bergman e ritornato a Strindberg’. Corriere della Sera, 8 April 1973. Savioli, Aggeo. ‘Sonata di Fantasmi a Firenze’. L’Unita, 7 April 1973, p. 13.
452.
MISANTROPEN [The Misanthrope]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Le Misantrope Molière Ingmar Bergman Kerstin Hedeby Royal Dramatic Theatre, Copenhagen (Det Kongelige) 6 April 1973
Cast Alceste Philinte, his friend Oronte Célimene Eliante Arsinoe Acaste Clitandre Basque, servant A Messenger Dubois, Alceste’s servant
Henning Moritzen Holger Juel Hansen Ebbe Rode Ghita Nørby Hanne Borchsenius Lise Ringheim Erik Mørk Peter Steen Paul Hüttel Olaf Ussing Benny Hansen
Commentary A detailed record of this production was kept by Bergman’s assistant Ulla Elmquist. Contact Library Archives, Det Kongelige, Copenhagen. Videotapes of the production were made by Danmarks Radio, which may be available to scholars through courtesy of Danish Broadcasting Corp., Archival no. 25404. A TV version was transmitted on Danish Television on 10 May 1974. The Swedish radio program ‘Teaterronden’, SR 8 April 1973, includes a 4-minute review and presentation of the Misantropen production.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Prior to the rehearsals of Misantropen in Copenhagen, Morten Sabroe interviewed Bergman, ‘Alle taler om skandinavisme, ingen tager initiativet’ [Everybody talks about Scandinavianism, no one takes the initiative], Berlingske Tidende, 24 December 1972, p. 8. For details, see Interview Chapter, (Ø 810), 1972. See also ‘Dialog med Bergman’, interview by Heino Byrgesen, in Danmarks Radio, Archival no. 14736-73, about his views on Holberg, Molière, and actors. In a program note to the production titled ‘Molière, Bergman, os – en berøring’ [Molière, Bergman, Us – a Touch], Viggo Kjær Petersen quoted from Bergman’s speech to his cast at the beginning of the rehearsals, in which he focussed on the artificiality and stymied social situation in the play. According to him, Molière’s society was hierarchic and governed by rigid formality. To be in power was important and in order to gain power one had to conform. Bergman thought the theme of the play was unmasking – and, above all, the price one paid for executing it, a theme reminiscent of Strindberg’s Spöksonaten (The Ghost Sonata), which Bergman had just staged at Dramaten (see previous item). In his Copenhagen Misanthrope, Bergman maintained a dual approach: On the one hand, a production of Molière’s play as a theatrical game, performed in style and intellectually conceived; on the other hand, an exposure, through physical and psychological intensity, of the emotional tragedy in which Alceste and Celimène are both victims. Bergman retained the contrast in costumes from his 1958 Malmö production, i.e., the splendor of the dress worn by the court versus Alceste’s somber dark attire to emphasize his position as outsider. As in Malmö, there were certain illusion-breaking features in the Copenhagen production, most explicitly the presence of actors seated in the wings when not performing on stage. Theatre scholar Jytte Wingaard followed the rehearsals of Misantropen in Copenhagen and published a study, Teatersemiologi, (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1976) using Bergman’s 1973 Copenhagen production as a test case for a semiological approach to theatre studies. The Copenhagen ensemble paid a guest visit to Dramaten in Stockholm on May 28-31, 1973.
Reception Det Kongelige in Copenhagen has a long Molière tradition with roots in French classicism and Holberg’s comedies. Expectations were high prior to Bergman’s production of Misantropen. ‘For the first time’, wrote theatre critic Svend Kragh-Jacobsen, ‘Molière’s connection to the Danish stage is intercepted by a director whose forte is psychological tragedy, Strindberg over Holberg’. See listing below and also Svend Erichsen, Aktuelt, 31 March 1973, p. 37. Many reviewers had expected Bergman to put his very personal stamp on the production. Instead they experienced ‘a clean Molière’ and were struck by Bergman’s faithfulness to the original mise-en-scene and to the classical rhythm of Molière’s text. Impressed by the visual and plastic impact of Bergman’s production, critics pointed to the colorful costumes and the superb acting. Ghite Nørby’s Celimène was said to grow in size under Bergman’s direction. Jens Kruuse (Jyllands-Posten) concluded that a better performance had never been seen at Det Kongelige, while Henrik Lundgren (Information) was more restrained; though he found the performance a fine and visually stunning presentation, he did not deem it a pathbreaking Bergman production.
Reviews Kragh-Jacobsen, Svend. ‘Ingmar Bergman bar Ghita Nørby til triumf ’ [Bergman carried Ghita Nörby to triumph]. Berlingske Tidende, 11 April 1973, Section 2, p. 1. Kruuse, Jens. ‘Teatrets og sandhedens triumf ’ [The triumph of theatre and truth]. JyllandsPosten, 11 April 1973. Lundgren, Henrik. ‘Alceste, Bergman og – Celimene’. Information, 7-8 April 1973. Naur, Robert. ‘Af banen, her kommer Molière’ [Get out of the way, here comes Molière]. Politiken, 11 April 1973.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Neilendam, Henrik. ‘Teaterkronik’. Weekendavisen, 13 April 1973. See also Jens Emil’s brief interview with Bergman just prior to opening night, (Ø 569), including Bergman’s hasty return to Sweden, for ‘I don’t want to die in Denmark’. [Jeg vill ikke dø i Danmark].
1974 453.
TILL DAMASKUS [To Damascus]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Music Arrangements Assistant Director Stage Opening Date
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Marik Vos Daniel Bell Kari Sylwan Royal Dramatic Theatre, Main Stage 1 February 1974
Cast The Stranger The Lady The Beggar/Dominican Monk The Doctor The Fool Casear The Mother The Father The Old Man The Professor The Woman Innkeeper The Police The Midwife The Host The Abbess The Maid Two Women Two Derelicts Three Guests
Jan-Olof Strandberg Helena Brodin Anders Ek Ulf Johanson Frank Sundström Aino Taube Per Sjöstrand Oscar Ljung Gösta Prüzelius Hjördis Petterson Dennis Dahlsten Dora Söderberg Per Grundén Barbro Hjort af Ornäs Gerthi Kulle Ellika Mann, Gertrud Fridh Birger Malmsten, Segol Mann Gösta Söderberg, Karl-Axel Forssberg, Åke Wästersjö
Commentary An interesting director’s copy, currently in the Dramaten library, has detailed notes describing technical solutions, actors’ placement and movements, sound and music arrangements, as well as compositional sketches of such scenes as the funeral procession and the opening scene; the latter is described as a series of filmic close-ups with the Stranger emerging out of the darkness, the light focussed only on his face. Notes also reveal Bergman’s conception of The Stranger as ‘a poseur’ and of his encounter with the Lady as flirtatious. Assistant Director’s (Kari Sylwan) copy, divided into 19 scenes, is also available at Dramaten. Strindberg’s ‘station drama’ in three parts from 1898 and 1901 depicts the spiritual journey of a man called The Stranger. The title of the play is a reference to the conversion of the Biblical Apostle Paul en route to Damascus. Bergman chose to combine Parts I and II of Strindberg’s
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman play; he cut the text extensively and toned down its religious implications to present a human relationship drama. The first act centered on the Stranger and the Lady; the second act on the Stranger and his mother-in-law; and the third act on the Stranger and the Doctor, the lady’s exhusband. One reviewer suggested renaming the drama ‘Scenes from a Marriage by August Strindberg’. (Expr., 2 February 1974). A drab monochrome color scheme was used both for the décor and the costumes, except in the penultimate asylum and banquet scenes. But the most striking scenographic feature was the use of a screen with large projected background images. Stage designer Marik Vos first made some forty sketches in black ink and pencil, which were then photographed; the negatives were placed between glass plates in 18 by 18 cm size; when projected against the back wall, they produced an 11-meter high décor. The reason for this scenographic approach was Bergman’s wish to keep the acting space as stark and uncluttered as possible and to suggest that Till Damascus is a dreamplay, where many of the events emanate from the Stranger’s inner distraught self. In an interview, Marik Vos discussed the compromises she had to make as a set designer. (See Sörenson, ‘Damaskus-scenografin resultatet av ständig dialog, té och sympati’ [To Damascus scenography the result of continuous dialogue, tea and sympathy], SvD, 28 January 1974). Few reviewers were impressed by the result, however: ‘The projections are not very mood-creating’, [Projektionerna är inte särskilt stämningsskapande] wrote the critic in DN, 2 February 1974). Bergman invited the public to Saturday rehearsals, which were performed without costumes, lighting, or projection.
Reception Bergman’s productions of Strindberg’s dramas had gained a reputation of being the best the Swedish theatre had to offer. The reception of Till Damaskus was mixed however. Bengt Jahnsson in DN thought Bergman took uncalled-for liberties with Strindberg and objected especially to his rather extensive cuts in the original text and to his toning down of the play’s religious theme. On the other hand, a non-Swedish critic like Ossia Trilling thought Bergman had never before reached such psychological insight and craftsmanship. Trilling was seconded by Åke Janzon in SvD: ‘One can hardly imagine at this moment a more knowledgeable and independent production. Bergman knows what he is doing and he does it with his own total self-assurance’. [Man kan knappast för tillfället föreställa sig en mer kunnig och självständig uppsättning. Bergman vet vad han gör och han gör det med sin egen absoluta självsäkerhet]. More and more the critical responses to Bergman’s stage productions expressed enthusiasm for his professional skills and imaginative craftsmanship, while criticism often focussed on the reviewer’s preconception of the play text and the degree to which Bergman remained loyal or sensitive to it.
Reviews Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Från Bergmans Damaskus till tredje Carl Z-revyn’ [From Bergman’s Damascus to third Carl Z show]. Scen och Salong 2, 1974: 24, 26. Donnér, Jarl W. ‘Egocentriker jagar en högre mening’ [An egocentric pursues a higher meaning]. SDS, 2 February 1974, p. 10. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Till Damaskus – med humor’ [To Damascus – with humor). AB, 2 February 1974, p. 18. Jahnsson, Bengt. ‘Till Damaskus på Dramaten: En splittrad uppsättning’ [To Damascus at Dramaten: A split staging]. DN, 2 February 1974. Janzon, Åke. ‘Den svåra vägen till Damaskus’ [The difficult road to Damascus]. SvD, 2 February 1974, p. 9. Perlström, Åke. ‘Ingmar Bergman och Damaskus’. GP, 2 February 1974.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Thoor, Alf. ‘Scener ur ett äktenskap av August Strindberg’. Expr., 2 February 1974. Rühle, Günther. ‘Die Leiden Strindbergs’. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 6 February 1974. Trillimg. Ossia. ‘To Damascus’. Financial Times, February 1974.
Special Studies Brandell, Gunnar. ‘Vad gör Bergman av “Till Damaskus?”’ [What does Bergman make of To Damascus]. SvD, 30 January 1974. (Strindberg scholar Gunnar Brandell compared Bergman’s approach to Till Damaskus to earlier Swedish productions of the play). Lindholm, Karl-Axel. ‘Hur skriver de – Nordens kritiker?’ (How do they write – Scandinavia’s critics?). Scen och Salong 4, 1974: 16-16. (Analysis of Scandinavian critics’ view of Bergman’s Till Damaskus production). Marker, F. and L. Ingmar Bergman. Four Decades in the Theatre, (Ø 594), pp. 113-131, provides a fine analysis of Bergman’s mise-en-scene. Sjögren, Henrik. Lek och raseri, (Ø 677), pp. 282-295, gives a good presentation of the production and its reception, plus an interview with Bergman about his conception of the play.
Guest Performances 1. Berlin, Berliner Festwochen, 27-28 September 1974 For a report from the Berliner Festwochen, see Birgitte Adjouri, ‘Från Schöberg till Strindberg’, Hufvudstadsbladet (Helsinki), 9 October 1974, that includes a brief assessment of Dramaten’s guest performance, which was not termed a great success. Berlin theatre reviewers had expected ‘a Bergman sensation’ and were disappointed by what was termed a restrained, bleak, and ‘talky’ production, and a set design that was called ‘kitschy’ (Göpfert). One reviewer (Weber) described the evening as ‘abstruse and boring’ and was grateful that the third part of the play was not included. Heinz Ritter thought the staging was quite unsensational, realistic, ‘almost petitbourgeois conventional Strindberg’. The production was termed too long or, in the words of one critic, ‘eine Höllensitzung auf Schwedisch’. Several reviewers contrasted this visit with the 1972 production of The Wild Duck and concluded that Strindberg’s play was not stage-worthy but remained ‘an item in theatre history, a source for Strindberg scholars’. (Luft; cf. however, Schrumpf who claimed the very opposite). The audience, most of whom did not understand Swedish, was described as politely attentive. Bergman’s absence from the performances, referred to as ‘godlike withdrawal’ (Luft), was lamented by several critics who would have liked to ask him why he had staged To Damascus in such a dry, unemotional, and non-theatrical manner. Was it to give the actors free reign to expand? Was it because Bergman himself was tired of ‘the masochistic’ Strindberg? Die Welt’s critic concluded: ‘We enjoy the actors, but we do not understand, at the end, why they must play this piece’.
Reviews Bachmann, C.H. ‘Die Wirklichkeit wie in einem Spiegel: Bergman in Berlin’. Graz, 5 October 1974. Blaha, Paul. ‘Bergman kam nur halb nach Damaskus’. Kurier (Vienna), 1 October 1974. Grack, Günther. ‘Herr Strindberg persönlich’. Der Tagespiegel, 29 September 1974. Göpfert, Peter Hans. ‘Bergman wird kein Paulus’. Nürnberger Zeitung, 2 October 1974. Luft, Friedrich. ‘Eine Höllensitzung auf schwedisch’. Die Welt, 30 September 1974. Niehoff, Karina. ‘Strindberg: Mystische Lemuren-Oper’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 4 October 1974. Reimann, Viktor. ‘Der Mensch in seiner Hölle’. Neue Kronen-Zeitung, 29 September 1974. Ritter, Heinz. ‘Mysterium in der Bluse’. Der Abend (Berlin), 30 September 1974. Schrumpf, Ilona. ‘Stockholm kam mit bedeutungsvoller Strindberg-Version’. Berliner Morgenpost, 29 September 1974.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Stone, Michael. ‘Die Leiden des alten Strindberg’. Stuttgarter Zeitung, 17 October 1974. Weber, Annemarie. ‘Feier des zerissenen Menschen’. Die Presse, 2 October 1974.
2. Belgrade, 5-6 October 1974. No further details available.
1975 454.
TRETTONDAGSAFTON [Twelfth Night]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Choreography Music Stage Opening Date
William Shakespeare Ingmar Bergman Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss Donya Feuer Daniel Bell Royal Dramatic Theatre, Main Stage 7 March 1975; also in summer stock 1979
Cast Viola/Cesario Sir Andrew Orsino Malvolio Olivia The Fool Maria Sebastian Sir Toby Antonio
Bibi Andersson Sven Lindberg Heinz Hopf Jan-Olof Strandberg Lill Terselius Ingvar Kjellson Solveig Ternström Jonas Bergström Ulf Johanson Lauritz Falk/Birger Malmsten
Commentary Bergman had planned to produce Romeo and Juliet in Malmö back in 1952 but had cancelled. Later, at Dramaten, he avoided Shakespeare since he felt it was his colleague Alf Sjöberg’s domain. However, in the fall of 1974, Bergman discussed plans to stage Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream but could not put together the right cast. His administrative successor at Dramaten, Erland Josephson, suggested that he do Twelfth Night instead. This choice may have intrigued Bergman who had just finished shooting Mozart’s Magic Flute for television, a work in which couples in love are also exposed to harsh tests before reaching a happy union. For his production, Bergman asked set designer Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss to construct the interior of an Elizabethan house in which some players had set up a little platform, with William Shakespeare himself welcoming the audience. (‘Shakespeare’ later assumed the part of Antonio). While the rain was pouring down against the windows, a love game of musical chairs took place in alternating lyrical and burlesque scenes. Bergman stressed the sensuality and sexual ambiguity built into the part of the androgynous Viola/Cesario character and staged the play with a great deal more explicit erotic and sensuous cavorting than Shakespeare’s text suggests. Malvolio did not simply kiss Olivia’s hand; he practically raped her, so that she had to flee screaming. Malvolio in turn became a thwarted lover more than a nasty fool. Bergman juxtaposed the theme of young love to the theme of aging. The Fool was marked by old age and sickness as he coughed his way around the stage, and his witticisms grew increasingly melan-
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre choly and resigned by the end. When all the mistaken identities had been unravelled and Malvolio sat whining in his cell, the Fool sang the Song of the Rain (the same song that Gunnar Björnstrand sings in the (longer version) of the play rehearsal sequence in Fanny and Alexander). Bergman added an aftermath to the final scene: the different couples whirled around to music, stopped in the middle of the dance and found themselves hand in hand with the wrong partner. Music was prominent in this production with the musicians present in the music gallery throughout the play. The musical compositions consisted of a form of Elizabethan pastiche.
Reception After the opening of Trettondagsafton (Twelfth Night), one reviewer wrote: ‘Everything becomes a magic flute that he [Bergman] and only he plays’. [Allting blir en magisk flöjt som han och bara han spelar på](Expr.). This was both praise and criticism: Bergman’s theatrical genius was obvious in its formal control of the production but he also revealed himself to be, in the words of Björn Nilsson (Expr.) the most self-glorifying and authoritarian director around. Some reviewers definitely hesitated to praise whole-heartedly the production despite its acknowledged artistry. Leif Zern (DN), like virtually all of the critics, recognized the esthetic professionalism behind the performance but felt that Bergman had skirted the dark pessimistic streaks in Shakespeare’s love comedy. Rather typical is Teddy Brunius’ (UNT) remark: ‘In terms of refinement and variety, no other performance [of the play] has reached the level of Dramaten’s and Ingmar Bergman’s production’. [Ingen föreställning har i raffinemang och omväxling nått upp till den nivå där man finner Dramatens och Ingmar Bergmans scenkonst]. But as if to make sure he had not been spellbound by Bergman’s magic, Brunius concluded: ‘And yet, it was a trifle, a piece of entertainment’. [Ändå var det bara en bagatell, en underhållning].
Reviews Björkstén, Ingmar, ‘Nu försöker Bergman ringa in kärleken’ (Now Bergman tries to ring in love). Scen och Salong 3 1975: 14-15, 24. Brunius, Teddy. ‘ I det heliga skämtets namn’ [In the name of holy jest]. UNT, 11 March 1975, p. 2. Donnér, Jarl W. ‘Shakespeare som teaterlek’ [Shakespeare as theatrical game]. SDS, 9 March 1975, p. 10. Fagerström, Allan. ‘Musiken är vad kärlek lever på’ [Love lives on music]. AB, 8 March 1975, p. 20. Janzon, Ake. ‘Vild och ohämmad teater’ [Wild and uninhibited theatre]. SvD, 8 March 1975, p. 11. Nilsson, Björn. ‘Allting blir en trollflöjt’ [Everything becomes a magic flute]. Expr., 8 March 1975, p. 4. Sjögren, Henrik. ‘Det blir sinnlig fysisk påverkan’ [It has a form of sensuous physical impact]. Arbetet, 8 March 1975, p. 2. Zern Leif. ‘En svart fars i Bergmans anda’ [A black farce in Bergman’s spirit]. DN, 8 March 1975, p. 16.
See also Beck, Ingamaj. ‘Som i et spejl – med en cigar i næven’ [As through a glass – with a cigar in his fist]. Politiken, 6 April 1975. (A Danish review claiming that ‘Bergman had sold his soul for a more secure old age’, leaving his earlier introspective approach behind to become a voyeur looking at his performers like puppets, ‘as if through a key hole, but making no effort to open the door’.)
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Brotherus, Greta. ‘Sinnligt Illyrien’. Hufvudstadsbladet (Helsinki), 9 March 1975. (‘Like a ripe fruit, Ingmar Bergman’s Twelfth Night falls into our hands. The taste is rich and tempting. [...] I have never before had the same feeling after seeing a film or stage production by Ingmar Bergman that the work of art is created by a wise human being with a sense of inner harmony’.) Curtiss, Thomas Quinn. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Sparkling “Twelfth Night”’. International Herald Tribune, 18 March 1975. (Contrasts Bergman’s ‘brooding screen works’ and his lighter fare in the theatre – with some errors in terms of stage history and name of scenographer). The review is brief and includes accounts of Stockholm’s theatre scene. Lehmann-Brauns, Elke. ‘Ingmar Bergman erheitert sich an Shakespeare’. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 26 March 1975. (Lehmann-Brauns was struck by the sensuality of the production). Popkin, Henry. ‘Bergman’s Celebration of Sexual Love’. New York Sunday Times, 7 September 1975. (Review when the play reopened at Dramaten for the fall season). Popkin was reminded of the love games in Bergman’s films Smiles of a Summer Night and A Lesson in Love.
Guest performances 1. Warsaw, Theatre of Nations, 14-17 June 1975 When the Theatre of Nations festival, for several years held in Paris, faced a crisis, Poland and Warsaw’s Theatre Polski picked up the event for one year, after which the festival became ambulatory among IIT members. Bergman’s production of Twelfth Night was the first item on the Warsaw playbill and the audience reception was triumphant: ‘An English play performed in Swedish makes the audience in Warsaw stand on its feet. The world of the theatre is small’, wrote Jan Klossowics in ‘The Great Carnival. The Evening with Bergman’, published in the Polish Litteratura, 26 June 1975. There were three sold-out performances. Since the guest performance was part of an international theatre festival, it was covered not only by the Polish media but also by an international cadre of reviewers. The non-Polish response varied: some felt that this was little more than an elegant divertissement, Bergman ‘nodding’; others thought that he displayed his well-established theatrical skill. The critic in Le Monde referred to Bergman’s approach as ‘a kind of Comédie Française ideal’ focussing more on the actors than on interpretive ideas. The Times critic (Wardle) agreed and was relieved by the absence of Nordic guilt; yet, he was irritated by the folksiness of the production: ‘More English than any English version I have seen, it is an approach that throws all the responsibility onto the actors. [...] They are not there to measure their humanity against ours; they are there to be laughed at’. Polish reviewers, on the other hand, maintained an awesome respect for Bergman whom they elevated to a philosopher of rank, seeing his production of Twelfth Night as ‘one more piece of material in his existential search’. (Balicki). The Polish critic Misiorni summed it up: ‘In Poland, Ingmar Bergman has until now been known only as a filmmaker. [...] He is a great and deeply melancholy artist. His sorrow is of course that of a philosopher and a skeptical moralist who, even when he stages a fairy tale, spices it up with his distrust of all fairy tales.’
Reviews Balicki, S. W. ‘Bergman’s Twelfth Night’. Zycie Warszawy, 17 June 1975. Inviato, Dal Nostro. ‘Un elegante divertissement lo Shakespeare di Bergman’. Sera, 17 June 1975. Lane, John Francis. ‘Polish audiences excited by Ingmar Bergman’s view of ‘Twelfth Night’’. Daily American, 24 June 1975. (Lane quotes Jan Olof Strandberg (Malvolio) who in a press conference had stated that Dramaten also had other good directors besides Bergman: ‘If they can do better than this I would like to see it’.)
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Misiorni, Michat. ‘Bergman’s saga’. Trybuna Ludu, 17 June 1975. Wardle, Irving. ‘Bergman’s Bizarre Twelfth Night’. The Times, 2 July 1975. Wysinska, Elzbieta. ‘Discovery of the Swedish theatre’. Kultura, 29 June 1975. (The juxtaposition of crude lower-class eroticism and upper-class sensuality reminded the reviewer of Bergman’s film Smiles of a Summer Night). Zand, Nicole. ‘La Nuit des Rois d’Ingmar Bergman’. Le Monde, 18 June 1975.
2. Paris, Théâtre de l’Odéon, 5-12 November 1980 Five years after its original opening, Bergman’s production of Twelfth Night visited Paris for a week. The event received some media attention, with several interviews with Bibi Andersson. See Marion Thébaud, ‘La nuit des rois à l’Odéon. Ingmar, William, Bibi et les autres’, Le Figaro, 5 November 1980, p. 28. Reviews emphasized the difference between Bergman’s directorial persona as a filmmaker and as a theatre director, to the point where the two did not seem to be the same person. Pierre Marcabrue in Le Figaro wrote (‘A la bonne franquette’), 7 November 1980, p. 29: ‘In the theatre, no metaphysics, no sophistication. Instead: an innocent and naïve approach’.
1976 455.
DÖDSDANSEN [The Dance of Death] Bergman’s rehearsal of August Strindberg’s play was interrupted on 30 January 1976 when police in civilian clothes apprehended Bergman at Dramaten on suspicion of tax evasion. Though later absolved of all charges, Bergman left Sweden in protest in April 1976. (See Ø 1272), Chapter IX, for details.
Munich Residenztheater (1977-1984/85) Having left Sweden in April 1976 to go into voluntary exile, Ingmar Bergman eventually chose Munich as his new domicile. He signed a contract with the city’s residential theatre, where he would produce a total of twelve plays between 1977 and 1985, including a triptych consisting of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (Nora), Strindberg’s Miss Julie, and his own Scenes from a Marriage. Some of his productions were of plays he had staged earlier, including his opening piece, Strindberg’s Ett drömspel. In retrospect, Bergman would refer to his first encounter with the Residenztheater as ‘catastrophic’, blaming the situation on language problems, an unfamiliar ensemble, an uninspiring ‘Nazi-looking’ theatre building, and a directorial approach that went counter to local tradition: he tried to apply a democratic Swedish model to an established, more hierarchic German work structure. Later he described what amounted to a veritable culture shock, where his methods served as a catalyst to uncover brewing internal conflicts at the theatre: I stormed into the Residenztheater with principles and ideas acquired during a long professional life in our (Swedish) protected outskirts. [...] It was real fatal idiocy. I insisted on staff meetings and succeeded in bringing about a representative council of actors consisting of five members who were given an advisory function. It went literally to hell. Hatreds which had collected and soured for years now broke forth, ass-kissing and fear reached unimagined levels. Animosities between different groups flared up. Intrigues and gerrymandering
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman of proportions we’ve never seen the likes of here at home – not even in church circles – became everyday fare in the dirtiest of canteens. [Jag dundrade in på Residenztheater medförande principer och tankegångar förvärvade under ett långt yrkesliv i vår skyddade utkant. [...] Det var en riktigt fatal idioti. Jag genomdrev ensemblemöten och lyckades få till stånd en skådespelarrepresentation, bestående av fem medlemmar som begåvades med en rådgivande funktion. Det gick bokstavligen åt helvete. Under åratal samlat och surnat hat bröt fram, rövslickeriet och rädslan nådde oanade nivåer. Fientligheter mellan olika grupper flammade högt. Intriger och rävspel i en omfattning som vi här hemma inte ser maken till – inte ens i kyrkliga kretsar – blev vardagsmat i den skitigaste av kantiner.] (see Ø 604) On 26 April 1979 SR (Sveriges Radio) presented a program by Lisbeth Lindeborg who had visited the Residenztheater to find out the reasons behind Bergman’s Munich criticism. Lindeborg interviewed Bergman, as well as actors, critics, theatre producers, and people in the audience. Two years later, in 1981, the tension between Bergman and Kurt Meisel, head of the Residenztheater, culminated and Bergman’s contract was terminated with a great deal of publicity, which reached all the way up to the State Ministry of Culture. But after Meisel’s retirement as administrator (he remained as an actor) Bergman returned. However, according to his own account, other mistakes were made: for example, he refused to comply with the local press in terms of talking about his ideas concerning a particular production – a principle of silence he had always maintained in Sweden but which was seen as a form of conceit by German journalists. Eventually, a group of actors referred to as ‘Bergmans Kinder’ crystallized at the Residenztheater. With these performers, Bergman established ‘a signal system of emotions and touches’ [ett signalsystem av känslor och beröringar]. In the end, Bergman would give most of the credit for his success in Munich to this group of actors ‘whose sensitivity, quick response, and patience’ offset ‘the terrible garbage I myself produced’ [vars känslighet, snabba uppfattning och tålamod (kompenserade för) den förfärliga rotvälska som jag själv presterade] (all quotes above from Expr. interview 17 August 1985). See also Henrik Sjögren, Lek och raseri, (2002), pp. 368-371, which includes a more benign assessment of Bergman’s situation at the Residenztheater.
1977 456.
EIN TRAUMSPIEL
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Choreographer Music Stage Opening Date
Ett drömspel August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Walter Dörfler Heino Hailhuber Herbert Baumann Residenztheater, München 19 May 1977
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Cast The Officer Kurt Meisel Agnes Christine Ostermayer The Lawyer Nikolaus Paryla Kristin Anne Mertin The Poet Michael Degen The Teacher Max Mairich The Concierge Anne Kersten The Mother Lola Müthel The Father Hans Quest Coal Carriers Erich Ludwig, Jacques Breuer The Young Lovers Christine Buchegger, Gerhard Garbers (Buchegger and Garbers also played Indra’s Daughter & the Poet in second half of play.)
Commentary Several preview articles and/or interviews with Bergman appeared at the time of his first stage production in Munich. See Der Spiegel, 17 May 1977, pp. 185-86, 188; Abendzeitung (Munich), 26 June 1977, p. 10; and Süddeutsche Zeitung, 18/19 May 1977. His directorial debut at the Residenztheater was much anticipated. Bergman’s Traumspiel used the same approach as his 1970 Dramaten production: the Poet, seated at his desk, opened the play and presented it as a product of his imagination. At the end he remained alone on an empty stage. The approach anticipated such subsequent Bergman works as Efter repetitionen (After the Rehearsal) and Trolösa (Faithless) where his fictional self was to appear as a dreamer fantasizing about his own story. In his Munich presentation, the Wagnerian scenography of Walter Dörfler was not to Bergman’s liking. The growing castle emerged like a stark Gothic structure: ‘I wanted a wall and he built me a ruin.’ (Marker, 1982, 1992, Ø 594, p. 110). For a detailed comparison between the 1970 Dramaten and Munich productions, see Wolf Dietrich Müller, 1980, (Ø 587).
Reception ‘The disappointment regarding Ingmar Bergman’s Dreamplay was almost unanimous’, wrote Michael Skasa in Theater heute XVI, no. 7 (‘Frei von Mystik’, July 1977, p. 11) some two months after the opening of Bergman’s first theatre production in exile. Expecting a production that capitalized on the drama’s metaphysical, surreal, and dreamlike qualities, the German critics who knew Bergman primarily as a filmmaker with a penchant for metaphysics were surprised by his realistic and text-oriented production and by a mise-en-scene that ignored the rich imagery of Strindberg’s play: ‘No growing castle with budding cupola. No Fairhaven, no flames from the roof and no gigantic chrysanthemum – all of this was left to the audience to imagine. An immense risk to take with dreams’. (Eichholz). Instead of a visually stunning production, ‘Ingmar Bergman [...] confines himself and Strindberg to a miserable stark row of scenes. [...] Strindberg’s grandiose hallucinations were never shown [...] [but] were merely suggested through the most ineffective of old-fashioned theatre conventions. [...] Ingmar Bergman has staged Strindberg’s weaknesses: the escapist thoughts of an insomniac, not the visionary flow of a dreamer’. (Hensel). In replacing Strindberg’s visionary stagecraft, where the Germans saw his real impact on modern drama, with a realistic approach in the Swedish Molander tradition, Bergman staged ‘only one half of Strindberg, and the weaker half ’. (Kaiser) To several critics this meant making Strindberg’s absurd complaints about human life appear sentimental and laughable (see Ramseger, Iden, Kaiser). If Bergman, the visual virtuoso and filmmaker, preconditioned the Munich response to his Dreamplay production, so did the fact that Ein Traumspiel had its own stage history in Ger-
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman many, established by Max Reinhardt’s famous and pathbreaking expressionistic interpretations of Strindbergian drama in the 1910s and 1920s, and brought up-to-date by later absurdist stagings of the play. German critics were used to reading the play in such a light: ‘Bergman should have taken us further into the surrealism of dreams.’ (Kayser). In putting more weight on the spoken word than on visual spectacle, Bergman in fact ran the risk, as a non-German speaker, of not having the right feel for the nuances or melody of the language (Kaiser). Reviewers sensed that Bergman barely knew his Munich ensemble and found his instruction strained, almost mechanical (Seidenfaden). Though one critic (Ramseger) noted that Bergman had succeeded in releasing new energies in the Munich actors, others remarked that the actors were accustomed to more grandiose performances and a bolder dramaturgy. Although no critical success, Bergman’s first staging in Munich was greeted with overwhelming applause by an audience paying tribute to their guest director with a total of 34 curtain calls and with Bergman making a rare appearance on stage together with the ensemble. In an article titled ‘Ingmar Bergman Lights up the Munich Stage’ in the NYT (5 June 1977, Section 2, p. 3, 28) Henry Popkin calls the Munich Dreamplay production a smash hit and warns that ‘the world had better accomodate itself to this new theatrical comet. [...] Bergman could make Munich one of the theater capitals in Europe’.
Reviews Eichholz, Armin. ‘Göttertochter in Szenen einer Ehe’. Münchner Merkur, 21 May 1977. Graeter, Michael. ‘34 Vorhänge für Ingmar Bergman’. AZ München, 21/22 May 1977. haj. ‘Strindbergs ‘Traumspiel’ mit Münchner Erdenschwere’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 24 May 1977. Hensel, Georg. ‘Gedankenflucht eines Schlaflosen’. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 21 May 1977. Iden, Peter. ‘Lebens-Lamento’. Die Zeit, 27 May 1977. Kaiser, Joachim. ‘Wie Bergman das Traumspiel verwirklichte’ Süddeutsche Zeitung, 21/22 May 1977. Kayser, Beate. ‘Indras Tochter muss vor der Burgruine träumen’ Tz, 21-22 May 1977. Pörte, Gerhard. ‘Stiller Strindberg: Ingmar Bergman inszenierte “Ein Traumspiel”’. Kölner Stadtanzeiger, 26 May 1977. Schmidt, Dietmar N. ‘Aus allen Träumen gefallen’. Rhein-Main-Kulturspiegel/Frankfurter Rundschau, 24 May 1977. Schmidt-Mühlisch, Lothar. ‘Bildersaal des Zweifels’. Die Welt, 17 October 1977. Seidenfaden, Ingrid. ‘Nur der Dichter darf zornig sein’. Frankfurter Neue Presse, 25 May 1977. Skasa, Michael. ‘Frei von Mystik’. Theater Heute, no. 7, July 1977, p. 11.
Guest Performance Berlin, Schiller Theater, 4-5 May 1978 Bergman’s Traumspiel production continued to disappoint the German reviewers. See: Grack, Günther. ‘Leidensweg mit Strindberg’. Tagesspiegel, 6 May 1978. Grack compares Bergman’s production to that of Roberto Ciulli in Cologne shortly before. He finds Bergman’s handling of grotesque humor successful. Luft, Friedrich. ‘Ingmar Bergman enttäuschte mit Strindberg’. Berliner Morgenpost, 6 May 1978;
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre
1978 457.
DREI SCHWESTERN [Three Sisters]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Costumes Stage Opening Date
Tri sestry Anton Chekhov Ingmar Bergman Walter Dörfler Charlotte Flemming Residenztheater München 22 June 1978
Cast Irina Masha Olga Natascha Andrej Prosorov Officer Werschinin Military doctor
Christine Buchegger Christine Ostermayer Ursula Lingen Gaby Dohm Kurt Meisel Karl-Heinz Pelser Franz Kutschera
Commentary The set for Bergman’s version of Chekhov’s play exposed a stark, almost abstract living-room, behind which stood a raised platform. The performance opened with the three sisters emerging arm in arm from the pit-like darkness of the back stage. It was a visually stunning overture (to be used again more than twenty years later in Bergman’s production of Schiller’s Maria Stuart). The Three Sisters production remained very faithful to Chekhov’s play text. In an interview in Münchner Abendzeitung (21 June 1978) prior to the opening, Bergman declared that his ensemble would play Three Sisters like a Mozart symphony, movement by movement, with no subjective directorial interpretation of the text, but rather like an objective following of a musical score.
Reception Some reviewers found Bergman’s musical reference misleading, claiming that following a musical score was no more objective than analyzing a dramatic text. What it implied, according to one critic (Henrichs) was a tendency to dehumanize the actors by making them mere serving instruments and the production a costumed recitation. Despite generous audience applause on opening night, the critical response to Bergman’s Three Sisters was lukewarm, if not down right negative. Kurt Meisel had given Bergman a record-long 14-weeks of rehearsal time for Three Sisters. Reviewers asked why the result was no better than what ‘a mediocre colleague could have accomplished in five weeks’ (Henrichs). The expectations had been high – there had been record-long lines at the ticket office at Max Joseph Place – but, in the words of the reviewers, ‘St. Ingmar’s’ Chekhov interpretation dwelt in an airless room, lacking both dramatic tension and the necessary realistic references to a given place and time (Gliewe, Schmidt-Mühlisch). Being familiar both with Stanislavski’s naturalistic approach to Three Sisters and Chekhov’s own statement that his play was a comedy, reviewers found neither in Bergman’s production. Emphasizing the perfectionist esthete in Ingmar Bergman, one reviewer (Salmony) compared the production to the perfectly tinted living pictures of an UFA film: ‘But living pictures are less than pictures come alive’. The sisters appeared like decorative snapshots in a family album (Henrichs) but lacked cohesiveness as a group
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman (Schmidt-Mühlisch). They were like puppets and laughed like marionettes (Kaiser). To another reviewer (Krieger) the acting was termed ‘stiff and stunted’. Bergman’s attitude towards the three sisters was called uninspired and, at best, one of avuncular concern. Bergman seemed to lack an understanding of Chekhov’s own expressed view that emotions should not be conveyed with hands and feet but through the tone of voice and the glance of an eye (Kaiser). Several reviews suggested that Bergman did not have an ear for the German language and would probably never have accepted, in his native Swedish, such unnatural cadences in the dialogue as appeared in this production. Only one critic (Hensel) intimated that Bergman seemed more at home this time with his German situation than in his first Munich production, Strindberg’s Traumspiel.
Reviews Becker, Peter von. ‘Ein Genie-Fall: Bergmans Fall’. Theater Heute, no. 8, 1978: 4-7. Eichholz, Armin. ‘Die träumenden und tränenden Herzen der drei Schwestern von 1900’. Münchner Merkur, 24 June 1978. Gliewe, Gert. ‘Versäumtes Leben am Vorabend der Revolution’. Tz München, 24 June 1978. Henrichs, Benjamin von. ‘Schauspiel: Ingmar Bergmans “Drei Schwestern” im Münchner Residenz-Theater’. Die Zeit, 30 June 1978. Hensel, Georg. ‘Nicht länger warten sie auf Moskau’. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 24 June 1978. Kaiser, Joachim. ‘Von der Belanglosigkeit zur Ballade’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 24 June 1978. Krieger, Hans. ‘Ein Gleichnis des Lebens’. Nürnberger Nachrichten, 24 June 1978. Salmony, Georg. ‘Eine Tragikomödie der Sehnsucht’ [A tragi-comedy of longing]. Münchner Abendzeitung, 20-21 June 1978. Schmidt, Dietmar. ‘Ruhe wie Blei vor dem Sturm’. Frankfurter Rundschau/Stuttgarter Nachrichten, 24 June 1978. Schmidt-Mühlisch, Lothar. ‘Bezweifeltes erneut bezweifelt’. Die Welt, 24 June 1978. Stadelmaier, Gerhard. ‘Eine Komödie natürlich’. Stuttgarter Zeitung, 24 June 1978.
See also Lahann, Birgit. ‘Das Genie, das früher stotterte’. Welt am Sonntag, 17 June 1978. (Lahann describes Bergman’s life and the Chekhov production.) Nennecke, Charlotte. ‘Eine Gesellschaft im Niedergang’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 22 June 1978. (A preview presentation of Chekhov’s play.)
1979 458.
TARTUFFE
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Molière Ingmar Bergman Charlotte Flemming Residenztheater, München 13 January 1977
Cast Tartuffe Orgon Marianne, his daughter
Nikolaus Paryla Walter Schmidinger Susanne Uhlen
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Orgon’s mother Orgon’s son Orgon’s wife Elmire Valère Damis Cléante Dorine King’s courier
Franz Kutschera Gerd Anthoff Rita Russek Robert Atzorn Gerd Anthoff Karl Heinz Pelser Gaby Dohm Jürgen Arndt
Commentary Bergman’s production focussed more attention on the bourgeois fool Orgon and his often silly and easily duped entourage than on the hypocritical Tartuffe, the dangerous impostor. In keeping with his increasingly meta-conscious approach, Bergman staged Tartuffe as a production in the making, where stage hands moved props around as if during a rehearsal and with the lighting equipment clearly visible to the audience. Obviously artificial canvas screens, depicting Watteau-like motifs, were placed in the back and to the sides. As confusion mounted in Orgon’s household, the screens sometimes appeared upside down or with their backside, marked ‘Tartuffe’, turned towards the spectators. Thus theatricality became a theme in itself, with the actors appearing like a wandering troupe of minstrels who performed in an exaggerated manner, like marionettes. An exception was the character of Dorine (Gaby Dohm) who served as the raisonneur of the common people. Adding to the theatricality was letting Tartuffe’s manservant Laurent serve as a silent spectator on stage. Bergman’s intention, as stated in an interview, was to stress ‘the ironic charm’ of the play rather than its ‘blackness’ (Marker, Four Decades in the Theater, 1982, p. 134), a view that culminated in the final scene where Bergman let the King’s courier pronounce his message in pompous French.
Reception Dietmar Schmidt began his review of Bergman’s Tartuffe with: ‘This is now the third time. Already twice it has not gone well’. His colleague in the Müncher Merkur (Eichholz) concluded: ‘Again, the world-famous Bergman has not struck out.’ Lothar Schmidt-Mühlisch in Die Welt termed ‘Bergman’s third stage attempt in Munich rather disappointing’ in a production that was called ‘over-directed’ and ‘artificial’. The performance was a ritualized dance’, wrote Clara Menck in Frankfurter Allgemeine and continued: ‘Bergman choreographs, he does not interpret’. Clearly, most reviewers did not care for the self-conscious theatricality of the production. ‘With time, Bergman’s theatre-in-the-theatre concept, which was convincing at first, proves to be an obstacle’, concluded Gert Gliewe. Bergman relied on external effects, wrote Klaus Colberg in Der Tagesspiegel (Berlin) and added: ‘In his casting, the great director reveals more of a desire to create theatre fun than paying attention to character complexity’. The production was likened to a Feydeau piece or a light film comedy – ‘in other words laughable but not in the way that the greatest French writer of comedies had intended’. (Kaiser). The critical consensus was that Bergman’s approach was demeaning to Molière: ‘Bergman aimed at funmaking but Molière is too full of spirit, too clear in his thoughts and development of action to have a fool’s cap put on him. [...] It is beneath Molière’s level’. (Schmidt-Mühlisch). Several of the German reviewers were particularly offended by Bergman casting a male actor in the role of Madame Pernelle (Orgon’s wife). ‘An inveterate Tartuffian would almost go to pieces when seeing [...] the improper way in which Bergman has transformed Molière’s characters.’ (Eichholz). Despite their barely covered disappointment, reviewers continued however to be curious about Bergman as a stage director: ‘Ingmar Bergman [is] a brilliant film person whom we are ready to follow on stage through thick and thin, for when such an artist does not succeed, he can at least reveal something about the spirit of the times’. (Kaiser). But even with such
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman concessions, the critical corps was rather brutal in their assessment of Bergman’s Tartuffe production. ‘He who had expected a good Molière performance and not a Bergman miracle, could feel satisfied.’ (Clara Menck). But most reviewers had obviously looked for the ‘miracle’.
Reviews Colberg, Klaus. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Molière’. Der Tagesspiegel (Berlin), 20 January 1979. Eichholz, Armin. ‘Wenn Wände, Hüllen und Pointen fallen – Wer hat Angst vorm nackten Tartuffe?’ Münchener Merkur, 15 January 1979. Gliewe, Gert. ‘Keine Sekunde gefährlich’. TZ, 15 January 1979. Kaiser, Joachim. ‘Bergman’s Sünden wieder Molières Geist’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 15 January 1979. Menck, Clara. ‘Tartuffe oder: Der Unheilige und sein Narr’. Frankfurter Allgemeine, 18 January 1979. Schmidt, Dietmar. ‘Naiv, direkt, heftig’. Frankfurter Rundschau, 20 January 1979. Schmidt, Dietmar. ‘Das Kunststück der Verstellung’. Stuttgarter Nachrichten, 16 January 1979. Schmidt-Mühlisch, Lothar. ‘Ein Scheinheiliger als Hanswurst’. Die Welt, 15 January 1979. Stadelmaier, Gerhard. ‘Es ist Bergman’. Stuttgarter Zeitung, 19 January 1979.
Longer Studies For an excellent discussion of all of Bergman’s Molière productions except his 1995 Misanthrope, see Marker, Ingmar Bergman: Four Decades in the Theater 1992, pp. 132-71. Henrik Sjögren in Lek och raseri (2002) follows Markers’ approach and devotes a separate chapter to Bergman’s Molière productions but confines himself to a reception report.
See also Hennecke, Charlotte. ‘Ein Ungeliebter verfällt dem Verführer’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 12 January 1979. (Preview presentation of production on day of opening).
459.
HEDDA GABLER
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Assistant Director Stage Opening Date
Henrik Ibsen Ingmar Bergman Mago Johannes Kaetzler Residenztheater, Munich 11 April 1979
Cast Jörgen Tesman Hedda Gabler Tesman Juliana, his aunt Thea Elvsted Judge Brack Ejlert Lövborg Berta, maid
Kurt Meisel Christine Buchegger Annemarie Wernicke Gaby Dohm Karl-Heinz Pelser Martin Benrath Paula Braend
Commentary Bergman’s third Hedda Gabler production (cf. Ø 440 and Ø 448) was performed without intermission but with the dimming of lights to suggest the end of an act. Latecomers were not admitted. The Munich production was a ‘remake’ of Bergman’s much admired 1964 Dramaten staging of Ibsen’s play, including Hedda’s famous opening pantomime before the
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre mirror when she examines her body for signs of pregnancy, and her final scene when she takes off her shoes prior to her suicide, trying to stage a death in beauty. The Munich Hedda Gabler was conceived as a chamber play set in an enclosed space that offered the entrapped and bitter Hedda no alternative but suicide. The set designer Max Goldstein (Mago) had built a boxlike structure without windows, like a velvet-clad coffin. All the characters wore clothes in monotonous muted colors, from dark green to olive, grey, and black. The stage was lit in a cold light and was stripped even more of Ibsen’s realistic bourgeois paraphernalia than in Bergman’s 1964 Stockholm production. Also gone was the portrait of Hedda’s father, General Gabler.
Reception This became Bergman’s best reception thus far in Munich, though several reviewers noticed a discrepancy between Bergman the filmmaker who projected his personal self on the screen and Bergman the theatre director who apparently sought a different, less subjective form of expression: ‘There is, and not for the first time, a trait of the impersonal... in Bergman’s stagecraft... there is no personal touch, no nuances of his own’. (Salmony). Yet, one reason for the relative success of the Hedda Gabler production seems to have been that this time Bergman’s artistic distance had found its own raison d’etre in the title figure. Christine Buchegger’s Hedda revealed not only her complete alienation from all the other characters; she also became the detached observer of her own life. Hedda’s coldness of mind was matched by the cool distance that all the dramatis personae maintained on stage: ‘The characters act as though they’re walking in a distant meadow’, wrote George Salmony (AZ), and Hans Schwab-Felisch (Frankfurter Allgemeine) saw Christine Buchegger’s Hedda as a woman who moved as if ‘there was always a glass wall between her, the defeated human being, and the others.’ As with Strindberg, Ibsen’s dramas have their own stage history in Germany (Hedda Gabler had its world premiere in Munich in 1891). But several recent German productions of Ibsen’s play had been more radical departures from Ibsen’s original than Bergman’s staging. Most critics accepted Bergman’s dismissal of the detailed naturalistic setting of Ibsen’s text; some however found, in both set design and acting, a hesitancy in Bergman’s directorial approach, as though he had not made up his mind between a probing form of psychological realism and a completely stylized performance. Mago’s decor was criticized for its mix of a few realistic props in an otherwise abstract set (Lehnhardt). At least one critic (George Salmony) missed the ambience of a beautiful [Tesman] villa. In the 1964, Stockholm production of Hedda Gabler, the German critic Siegfried Melchinger had called Bergman’s staging ingenious and Dramaten’s ensemble so overwhelming that he knew of no German stage or actors who could have realized such a performance. In a response to Melchinger’s assessment, Michael Skasa now argued that Bergman’s approach in 1964 had aged and left a cold impression. In the interim period, other directors like Rudolf Noelte, Peter Zadek, and Niels-Peter Rudolph had offered novel and more timely interpretations of Ibsen’s play. Skasa concluded: ‘Melchinger wrote that Bergman’s Hedda Gabler in Stockholm had blown the dust off Ibsen’s play; the remake in Munich was covered with ‘a loadful of dust.’
Reviews Borngässer, Rose-Marie. ‘Wenn Hedda Gabler vor dem Spiegel die Pistole hebt’. Die Welt, 17 April 1979. Eichholz, Armin. ‘Bergman als Ibsen’s Diener’. Münchner Merkur, 18 April 1979. haj. ‘Ibsens Weltkunst als Kunstwelt’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 26 April 1979. Janzon, Åke. ‘Klassisk ‘Hedda Gabler’ med nytt rafffinemang’. SvD, 3 May 1979. Lehnhardt, Rolf. ‘Entschlüsselung im stummen Vorspiel’. Schwäbische Zeitung, 17 April 1979. Pörtl, Gerhard. ‘Hedda Gabler im Bergman-Käfig’. Südwestpresse, 14 April 1979, p. 19.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Salmony, George. ‘Bacchantin im Bürgerheim’. AZ, 16 April 1979. Schmidt, Dietmar N. ‘Der grosse Unterschied’. Frankfurter Rundschau, 18 April 1979. Schwab-Felisch, Hans. ‘Die Welt bleibt draussen’. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 19 April 1979. Skasa, Michael. ‘Tote Seelen in der Asche’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 16 April 1979, p. 16.
Longer Studies For a fuller discussion of all three of Bergman’s Hedda Gabler productions, see Marker, Four Decades in the Theater, 1982, pp. 178-201, and Sjögren, Lek och raseri, 2002, pp. 196-207. The former is a comprehensive analytical study of Bergman’s stagecraft, the latter a reception survey.
1980 460.
YVONNE: PRINZESS VON BOURGOGNE
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Music Stage Opening Date
Ivona, ksiezniczka Burgunda Witold Gombrowicz Ingmar Bergman Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss Rudolf G. Knabl Residenztheater, München 10 May 1980
Cast King Ignaz Queen Margarethe Crown Prince Philipp Chamberlain Cyryll Zyprian Innozenz, nobleman Valentin, lackey Yvonne Isa, lady of the court Kanzler Marshal Chief Justice Yvonne’s aunts Beggar Courtier 1st Lady of the Court 2nd Lady of the Court 3rd Lady of the Court
Klaus Guth Gaby Dohm Robert Atzorn Hans Zander Erich Hallhuber Herbert Rhom Gerd Anthoff Erwin Faber Andrea-Maria Wildner Rita Russek Alfred Cerny Heino Hallhuber Franz Kollasch Alfred Cerny, Franz Kollasch Erwin Faber Maximilian Villinger Angelika Hartung Doris Jensen Solveig Samzelius
Commentary Gombrowicz’ play, written in 1935 and usually linked to absurdist drama, has a relatively long stage history on the European continent, among them Jorge Lavalli’s legendary staging in 1965, Peter Löscher’s Wupperthal production in 1968, and Wilfried Mink’s vaudeville version in 1971 – the first one stylized through the use of masks; the second one toning down the title figure’s stubborn nature by omitting her repetitive line ‘I will not bend’; and the last one turning
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Gombrowicz’ tragi-comedy into grotesque caricature. Bergman’s conception was both more abstract and more estheticized; the political focus of the afore-mentioned productions from the Sixties and Seventies was gone; instead, Bergman emphasized older theatrical forms through the use of farce, caricature, and stylized acting.
Reception ‘The big enthusiasm with which the Swedish film genius was met in Munich three years ago has cooled off. Others have provided the big happy theatre events’, wrote Rolf May in his review of Yvonne..., a Bergman production he thought lacked sting as though it had been ‘boiled in water’. Gerhard Pörtl in Südwest Presse summed up the German critical reservations about Bergman’s theatre craft: The actors at the Residenztheater may ‘flock to Bergman’s rehearsals for soul searching and experience, but the majority of critics remain cool’. Through his previous Munich productions, Bergman had established himself as a psychological stage realist. It was a professional persona considered a bit conventional; in the words of Gerhard Pörtl ‘the man from Sweden has not seemed eccentric enough’. Bergman’s staging of Gombrowicz’ Yvonne...was however more of ‘a bravura staging’; in fact, several critics (Schmidt, Joachim Kaiser, Hans Krieger) termed the Gombrowiez production Bergman’s best work in Munich, with excellent instruction of the actors. Yet, the German critics were very divided in their assessments; those who saw Bergman’s version as a parable recognized the filmmaker of the Fifties but found the production more philosophically ambitious and intellectually serious than Gombrowicz’ play could support; others who reacted to Bergman’s excessive use of farce called his version of Yvonne... a choreographed marionette play deprived of a moral voice (‘Marionettes cannot shame themselves’ – Pörtl) and were reminded of Bergman’s recent, German-produced film Aus dem Leben des Marionetten.
Reviews Borngässer, Rose-Marie. ‘Gräten für die Kröte’. Die Welt, 14 May 1980. Eichholz, Armin. ‘Bergmans heisser Flirt mit Yvonne’. Müchener Merkur, 12 May 1980. Gliewe, Gert. ‘Ein Hatschertes Deppenkind’. AZ, 12 May 1980. haj. ‘Märchen als Alptraum’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 13 May 1980. Kaiser, Joachim. ‘Wie Bergmans Kunst Faszination erzwingt’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 12 May 1980. Krieger, Hans. ‘Vollböser Komik’. Nürnberger Nachrichten, 14 May 1980. May, Rolf. ‘Nichts als ein opulenter Scherz. Residenztheater: Ingmar Bergman inszeniert Gombrowicz’ ‘“Yvonne”’. Az, München, 12 May 1980. Pörtl, Gerhard. ‘Bergmans Blitzlichtregie’. Südwest Presse, 17 May 1980. Schmidt, Dietmar N. ‘Staat und Störenfried’. Frankfurter Rundschau, 23 May 1980. Schwab-Felisch, Hans. ‘Unter Larven ein fühlend Herz’. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 20 May 1980.
1981 461.
NORA UND JULIE; SZENEN EINER EHE: The Bergman Project
Credits Playwrights Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss/Elizabeth Urbancic Residenztheater, München, Main Stage and Theater am Marstall 30 April 1981
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Cast: Nora [A Doll’s House] Nora Helmer Torvald Helmer Dr. Rank Krogstad Mrs. Linde
Rita Russek Robert Atzorn Horst Sachtleben Gerd Anthoff Annemarie Wernicke
Cast: Julie [Miss Julie] Julie Jean Kristin
Anne-Marie Kuster (replaced Christine Buchegger who had fallen ill) Michael Degen Gundi Ellert
Cast: Szenen einer Ehe Johan Marianne Journalist
Erich Hallhuber Gaby Dohm Monika John
Commentary This dramatic triptych was referred to at the Munich Residenztheater as ‘The Bergman Project’ and was, at the time, intended to be his farewell to Munich. It consisted of three separate productions on the theme of marital crisis – Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (Nora) and Strindberg’s Miss Julie (Julie), plus a stage adaptation of Bergman’s own script of Scenes from a Marriage. All three plays were performed in the same evening on two different stages in the theatre complex: Nora (reduced to two hours) and Julie were presented on the Main stage, one after the other during a total of 4 1/2 hours. Performances at the Residenztheater started at 7 pm, which meant that Julie did not end until close to midnight. Concurrently, in the Theater am Marstall, seating only eighty spectators, the 3-hour long world premiere of the stage version of Scenes from a Marriage took place. One and the same ticket gave admission to all three plays. Originally, they were to have been presented in three separate locations, but Bergman did not care for the third stage, the Cuvilliés Theatre. In an interview, Bergman referred to the main female characters (Nora, Julie, and Marianne) as ‘sisters’ (Münchener Merkur, 26 February 1981). In the theatre program, excerpts from all three works were juxtaposed to demonstrate the evolving gender history and sexual strife during the past hundred years (in Scandinavia). The motifs were specified as Unmasking, Buying and Selling, Breakup, Winners and Losers, Suppression, Deformation, and Role Play. Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss’ scenography for Nora presented an enclosed box-like space – the setting suggested Sartre’s Huit Clos. As in a subsequent staging of A Doll’s House in Stockholm in 1985, the characters remained seated next to the performance area when they were not actively involved – one more example of Bergman’s faiblesse for using performers as both dynamic characters and silent observers of the action. Julie’s set design, also by Palmstierna-Weiss, was very realistic, all the way down to frying a real, smelly concoction in the kitchen for Miss Julie’s dog Diana. In Scenes from a Marriage, the contemporary Ikea furniture probably seemed right to the German set designer, Elizabeth Urbancic, though a Swede would have a hard time recognizing such standardized furniture as that of an upper-middle class home. Compared to the film version of Scenes from a Marriage, the play was simpler in structure. The couple Peter and Katarina were omitted and the play concentrated totally on the confrontation between Marianne and her husband Johan.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Reception There had been a great deal of publicity beforehand for ‘The Bergman Project’, which seems to have backfired: ‘Bergman’s trilogy was nothing sensational (rather somewhat of a disappointment), [...] even if it was dealt with as a sensation in the media. What the Munich press has called a “theatre event” does not even have the quality of an emergency exit’. (Schöd). Again, Bergman’s legendary film persona appeared like a ghost. Referring to him as ‘the movie master and fanatic soul scratcher’, reviewers called for the filmmaker to rescue the stage director: ‘The Wonderman of cinema owes the magic of images to the stage’. (Ingrid Seidenfaden, AZ). The negative Mr. Schöd even wrote off Bergman’s career as a stage director: ‘Ingmar Bergman’s career began when his film Smiles of a Summer Night won in Cannes in 1956. In 1963, he arrived (sic) in the theatre and became head of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Sweden. But when he produced a play four years ago in Munich, it was already clear that he has nothing more to say on stage.’ The reserved reception of ‘The Bergman Project’ might have had a ‘simple’ physical reason: The spectators – ‘overwhelmed but exhausted’ (Eichholz) – experienced the juxtaposed performance of Nora and Julie as very long and tiring. ‘The Project’ simply turned out to be too taxing on both actors and audience: ‘What Bergman offered the spectators with his double evening [...] hit the actors badly, who were only bidden farewell in a rather tired fashion’. (Michael Dultz, Rheinische Post). All in all this seems to have been a production fraught with some frustration for Bergman, the cast and the administration. Bergman’s star actress in Munich, Christine Buchegger, fell seriously ill and a substitute (Ann Marie Kuster) had to be called in from Hamburg. The head of the theatre, Kurt Meisel, and Bergman did not always see eye to eye (see Theatre/Media Bibliography, Ø 583). In addition, some critics tended to view the whole Bergman’s project as a bit self-indulgent: ‘There are really no plausible grounds for staging Bergman’s spectacle... three openings by a single director, in one and the same evening’. (H. Lehmann, Darmstädter Echo).
Reviews Dultz, Michael. ‘Damen-Dramen’. Rheinische Post (Düsseldorf), 5 May 1981. Eichholz, Armin. ‘Bergman-Festival der offenen Seelen’. Münchner Merkur, 22 May 1981. haj. ‘Schwierigkeiten der Partnerschaft’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 5 May 1981. (review of Nora and Julie). Ignée, Wolfgang. ‘Frauenfragen, Männersachen’. Stuttgarter Zeitung, 7 May 1981. Kaiser, Joachim. ‘Noras Menschwerdung – und die Folgen’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 23 May 1981. Lehmann, H. ‘Ibsen, Strindberg, Bergman’. Darmstädter Echo, 7 May 1981. Ma, Rolf. ‘Der Ehe-Zertrümmerer kann sich die Hände reiben’. TZ, 23 May 1981. Nilsson, Björn. ‘Ett makalöst trippeltrick’ [A matchless triple trick]. Expr., 2 May 1981. Schr. W. ‘Szenen einer Ehe’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 5 May 1981. Schwab-Felisch, Hans. ‘Dreimal Geschlechterkampf ’. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 13 May 1981. Schöd, Helmut. ‘Wo, bitte, geht’s zum Notausgang?’. Die Zeit, 7 May 1981. Schöter, Michael. ‘Szenen einer Ehe auf der Bühne’. Volksblatt Berlin, 5 May 1981. Seidenfaden, Irene. ‘Wenn herrische Böcke heulen’. AZ, 13 May 1981. Skasa, Michael. ‘Ibsen “Nora”, Strindberg “Fräulein Julie”, Bergman “Szenen einer Ehe”’. Theater Heute XX, no. 6, June 1981, p. 61. Thomas, Peter. ‘Mammut-Projekt: Bergman hasst Theater für satte Leute’. Stern, no. 19, 30 April 1981.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Special Studies Marker, Lise-Lone and Frederick. A Project for the Theater, 1983, (Ø 599). Oliver, Robert W. ‘Bergman’s Trilogy: Tradition and Innovation’. In Ingmar Bergman. An Artist’s Journey, ed. by Robert W. Oliver. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1995, pp. 105-111. Rumler, Fritz. ‘Ich glaube, in mir sind viele Frauen’. Der Spiegel, no. 19 (4 May), 1981: 259-60. (Interview article). Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Doll’s Houses’. Scandinavica 30, no. 1 (May) 1991: 63-76.
Postscript In early May 1981, Bergman’s production of Julie, with the same Bayerisches Staatsanspielen ensemble, gave a guest performance at Dramaten in Stockholm. For critical reports, see: Edberg, Ulla-Britta. ‘Fyra gånger Fröken Julie’ [Four times Miss Julie]. SvD, 14 May 1981. Irving, Sven and Johannes Ekman. ‘Tysk Fröken Julie på Dramaten’ [German Miss Julie at Dramaten]. Morgoneko, Swedish Public Radio (SR), P1, 15 May 1981. Olsson, Per Allan, ‘Ingmar Bergman på gästspel: Gärna Dramaten för mig’ [Bergman on a guest visit: Dramaten, that’s fine with me]. DN, 14 14 May 1981. Petsch, Ernstotto. ‘Ingmar Bergman in Stockholm’. Chic, no. 7, 1981. Schildt, Jurgen. ‘Ingmar Bergmans tyska slutspel: Tretal i damer’ [Bergman’s German endgame: Triple in ladies]. AB, 12 May 1981.
1983 462.
DOM JUAN
Credits Original Title Author Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Don Juan, ou Le festin de pierre Molière Ingmar Bergman Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss Cuvilliés Theatre, Munich/Salzburg Festspiel 17 July 1983
Cast Dom Juan Sganarelle Donna Elvira Charlotte Stablemaster Gusman Servant Beggar Dom Juan’s Father Pierrot Carlos Alonse Merchant Dimanche Peasant Girls
Michael Degen Hilmar Thate Birgit Doll Gundi Ellert Erwin Faber Olivia Grigolli Hans Quest Franz Kutchera Gerd Anthoff Erich Hallhuber Klaus Guth Heinrich Schweiger Olivia Grigolli, Gundi Ellert
Commentary This was Bergman’s third production of Molière’s play Dom Juan. (Cf. Ø 422 and Ø 441). The premiere took place at the Salzburg Festival in Austria where Bergman was the big drawing
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre card. To honor him a mini-retrospective of his films had been arranged concurrently. The opening night of Dom Juan occurred however on the hottest day of the summer. Bergman fell ill and cancelled his scheduled appearance. Three months after the presentation in Salzburg, the play opened the annual season in the Cuvilliés Theatre in Munich. As in his 1955 Malmö production of Don Juan, a pantomime – staged as a dressing ritual – opened the Salzburg/Munich production. The set exposed a red-papered large room with four balconies. At the end of each act, stage hands (again, a typical Bergman anti-illusionist feature) would bring in two halves of a theatre curtain. Bergman wanted to ‘re-theatricalize’ Molière (See Ø 605). Serving as Dom Juan’s foil, Sganarelle sometimes enacted Dom Juan’s seductive desires while his master remained a vicarious voyeur. Neither an ebulliant lover nor a cynical rationalist challenging the world order, Dom Juan emerged as an empty and burnt-out loser with a vacant look in his eyes and a decadent slackness in his features.
Reception Two important elements have been present in most of Bergman’s stagings of Molière: first, an often brutal unmasking of human foibles; and, second, a farcical, stylized playfulness exposing the silliness of the characters but also revealing the production’s reliance on (parodied) slapstick and commedia dell’ arte. But the reviewers were bewildered by Bergman’s approach. Was it a character study or a theatrical farce? ‘It seems that Bergman has not been able to decide which Dom Juan he would stage’ (Rolf May). Not much was left of the traditional portrayal of Molière’s Dom Juan as a demonic iconoclast; instead, the production was, said one reviewer, ‘A play about male fantasies and male angst that only knows love as possession and booty’. (kr, Bayerische Staatszeitung). The reviewer in the Münchner Mercur called Dom Juan ‘perverse, filled with self-hatred, trembling as though he performed in an eschatological Bergman film or in a hellish “Strindberginade”’. Another critic referred to him as an aging libertine and a perfumed mixture of Oswald Spengler and the Marquis de Sade (Kaiser), more akin to Fellini’s Casanova than to a frivolous seducer. (Erich Wickenburg, Die Welt). After the Salzburg opening, some reviewers even called the production a bad omen for Frank Baumbauer who was to take over the administration of the Munich Residenztheater in the fall (where Bergman was still under contract). However, when Bergman’s production opened in Munich three months later, the critical reception was much more positive. One reviewer wondered if a difference in performance could simply be attributed to the weather (Armin Eichholz). Or could perhaps the stage be partly responsible? The Salzburg Landestheater had been a new performance area for Bergman and his all-Munich ensemble.
Reviews n.a. ‘Null Innenleben’. AZ München, 29 July 1983. Beer, Otto F. ‘Der falsche Don Juan’. Tagesspiegel, 29 July 1983. Eichholz, Armin. ‘Zum Teufel mit dem Senior-Helden der Liebe’. Münchner Merkur, 20 October 1983. Gugg, T. ‘Weiterhin ohne Bekenntnis’. Salzburger Volkszeitung, 29 July 1983. Jungheinrich, Hans-Klaus. ‘Herr und Knecht zwischen den Zeiten’. Frankfurter Rundschau, 12 August 1983. Kaiser, Joachim. ‘Dom Juans zweites Ich’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 20 October 1983. Kr. ‘Der ausgebrannte Lüstling’. Bayerische Staatszeitung, 23 September 1983. May, Rolf. ‘Mit dem Schlagstock’. AZ München, 29 July 1983. Spiel, Hilde. ‘Dom Juan als Triebverbrecher’. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 29 July 1983. Wickenburg, Erik G. ‘Verführer auf dem Topf ’. Die Welt, 29 July 1983.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Articles Heinrichs, Benjamin. ‘Bergmans Gespenst’. Die Zeit, 5 August 1983. Kruntorad, Paul. ‘Ein Zyniker als Jedermann’. Theater Heute, no. 9, 1983: 14-16. Marker, Lise-Lone and Frederick. ‘Ingmar Bergman and the Comic Theatre of Molière’, 1984, (Ø 605), Theatre Media Bibliography. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Ingmar Bergman and Don Juan’. (See Ø 642), 1993, Theatre/Media Bibliography. Reprinted and expanded in author’s Bergman’s Muses, 2003, pp. 80-90. The Dom Juan production was televised on German television (ZDF) in late fall 1984. See EvaSuzanne Bayer, ‘Einblick in die Arbeit eines sanften Tyrannen’, Stuttgarter Zeitung, 31 January 1985.
1984 463.
VOM LEBEN DER REGENSCHLANGEN [From the Life of the Rain Worms]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Från regnormarnas tid P.O. Enqvist Ingmar Bergman Marik Vos Residenztheater, München 4 May 1984
Cast Johanne Heiberg Hans Christian Andersen Johan Ludvig Heiberg Heiberg’s mother
Christine Buchegger Heinz Bennent Horst Sachtleben Monika John
Reception Reviewers of the Munich production of Vom Leben der Regenschlangen harshly criticized Enquist’s play about a fictitious meeting between two Proletarian artists, the 19th-century Danish actress Johanne Heiberg and fairy tale author Hans Christian Andersen. Writing it off as a set of ‘terrible trivialities’, ‘a clever conversation piece without much dramatic tension’, and ‘a series of confession monologues’, the critical consensus was that had it not been for Bergman turning a banal piece into brilliant theatre, the play would not have been worth seeing (Michael Dultz, Gerhard Pörtl, and Armin Eichholz); others, like Schmitz-Burckhardt and Georg Hensel, were negative of both the play and the production, in part because Bergman ignored actor Heinz Bennent’s talent and put all the emphasis on the character of Johanne Heiberg, so that she became ‘the only person on stage who aroused any interest’. (Gliewe). Also criticized was the scenography of Marik Vos (‘an embarassing historical naturalism’). However, the opening night audience gave standing ovations to both Bergman and the ensemble during a dozen curtain calls.
Reviews Dultz, Michael. ‘Nie nur lächerlich’. Rheinische Post, 24 May 1984. Eichholz, Armin. ‘Dichter und Diva im gleichen Dreck’. Münchner Merkur, 7 May 1984. Gliewe, Gert. ‘Unterwegs zu sich selbst’. AZ, 7 May 1984. haj. ‘Niemand wagt, an die Schmerzpunkte zu rühren’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 7 May 1984. Hensel, Georg. ‘Hans Christian Andersen, die mechanische Nachtigall’. FAZ, 8 May 1984.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Jörder, Gerhard. ‘Tod und/oder lebendig’. Theater Heute, no. 6, 1984, p. 61 (Chronik). Macher, Hannes. ‘Seelendrama und Klamotte’. Aus dem Kulturleben, Jahrgang 1984. May, Rolf. ‘Häubchen für den Kahlkopf ’. TZ, 7 May 1984. Pörtl, Gerhard. ‘Der Märchendichter und die Schauspielerin’. Südwestpresse, 16 May 1984. Schmitz-Burckhardt, Barbara. ‘Eine unheimlich starke, schwache Frau’. Frankfurter Rundschau, 11 May 1984.
See also Nennecke, Charlotte. ‘Dichter und Schauspielerin im Clinch’. Süddeutsche Zeiting, 4 May 1984. (A preview of the production, with brief quoted statements by actors Buchegger and Bennent).
1985 464.
JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN
Credits Playwright Translator Director Stage Design Stage Opening Date
Henrik Ibsen Heinrich Gimmler Ingmar Bergman Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss Residenztheater, Munich 31 May 1985
Cast John Gabril Borkman His wife Gunhild Ella Rentheim Foldal Frida, Foldal’s daughter Erhart, Borkman’s son Fanny Wilton
Hans Michael Rehberg Christine Buchegger Christa Berndl Heintz Bennent Anne Bennent Tobias Moretti Rita Russek
Commentary Ingmar Bergman, who had begun his residency in Munich with the staging of Strindberg’s Dreamplay, ended his stay at the Residenztheater with an Ibsen ‘dreamplay’, John Gabriel Borkman. The play was discussed briefly the day before Bergman’s premiere in a local newspaper write-up by Ute Fischbach, ‘Und inmitten all dieser verbitterten Existenzen...’ Münchner Merkur, 31 May 1985. For the production of John Gabriel Borkman, a play only rarely performed in Germany, Heinrich Gimmler, dramaturgue at the Residenztheater, had done a new German translation that moved between the archaic and the modern. Christian symbolic allusions had been omitted. Bergman interpreted the drama as an archetypal ‘Faustian’ destiny in a middle-class household. He conceived of Borkman, the megalomaniac mining entrepreneur as a poetic mind gone astray. He presented Borkman’s only friend, Foldal, as the title figures’s alter ego, a shadow from his youth, and suggested Ibsen’s persona in the Borkman-Foldal duo by adding to the play text a passage from Ibsen’s youthful tragedy Catalina, which he had Foldal present as an excerpt from one of his own dramas in the making. Bergman was to retain this addition in his 2001 radio version of the play in Sweden. ((See Ø 310), Media Chapter V).
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reception Though Bergman’s last production in Munich was politely applauded, the critical reaction was mixed. Münchner Merkur called it ‘a noble farewell’. Most positive was the signature kr in Bayerische Staatsanzeiger who felt that Bergman was in his right element staging a bourgeois family drama full of neurotic overtones: ‘Seldom have we experienced Ibsen in such an exciting way. [...] The recollection of his [Bergman’s] theatre work in Munich, less than a decade long, remains divided. But the finale he now presents has greatness’. Several reviewers saw more Strindberg than Ibsen in Bergman’s production (See Frankfurter Allgemeine, Süddeutsche Zeitung) and not always favorably, for such a conception went counter to a realistic Ibsen tradition. Nor did Bergman’s attempt to add comic elements in the slapstick style of the Vienna Volkstheater, especially in the figure of Foldal, arouse much enthusiasm: ‘What remained of Ibsen’s old age tragedy was for the most part cynicism.’ (Kaiser). Also, Bergman’s attempts to ‘theatricalize’ the play met some resistance: the dialogue was termed artificial; the tempo appeared more stylized than natural; and there were objections to the set design as being too formalistic. ‘It was not a great theatre evening’, concluded Joachim Kaiser in Süddeutsche Zeitung. In fact, the Residenztheater bid Bergman farewell on a decidedly reserved note.
Reviews Eichholz, Armin. ‘Ingmar Bergmans nobler Abschied von München’. Münchner Merkur, 3 June 1985. haj. ‘Ibsen mit Strindbergtönen’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 4 June 1985. Hensel, Georg. ‘Schnee im Haar und Eis im Herzen’. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 3 June 1985. Kaiser, Joachim. ‘Wilde Träume von späten Triumphen’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 3 June 1985. kr. ‘Bergmans grandioser Schlusspunkt’. Bayerische Staatsanzeiger, no. 23, 1985.
Interviews Marker, Lise-Lone and Frederick. ‘Bergman’s Borkman. An Interview’. Theater 17, no. 2 (Spring) 1986: 48-55.
Guest Performances 1. Théâtre de l’Odéon, Paris 13-15 December 1985 For a sample review, see Michel Cournot. ‘John Gabriel Borkman à Paris. Des vies brisées’. Le Monde, 14 December 1985, p. 22.
2. Holland Festival, Amsterdam, 24-25 June 1985 The Borkman production was part of a Bergman double bill at the Holland Festival, which also included King Lear. Several reviewers used the occasion to compare the two title figures and the themes of power and guilt. Together the plays proved the scope of Bergman’s stagecraft (Ruivenkamp) but the Borkman performance, staged with restraint and repressed emotions, though according to one reviewer (Nico Vos) exuding warmth, was inevitably overshadowed by the more spectacular Lear production.
Reviews Arian, Max. ‘Vervelend en voorspelbaar drama van Ingmar Bergman’. De Groene Amsterdammer, 26 June 1985. Freriks, Kester. ‘Oprecht realisme van Bergman in Ibsenstuk’. NRC Handelsblad, 25 June 1985. Gortzak, Ruud. ‘Bergmann (sic) en John Gabriel Borkman. Verrotte wereld zonder verzoening bij Ibsen’. De Volkskrant, 26 June 1985. Justesen, Per. ‘Bergmans Borkman was een belevenis’. Het Parool, 25 June 1985. Liefhebbe, Peter. ‘Ingmar Bergman “bevriest” Ibsen’. De Telegraaf, 27 June 1985. Monnikhof, Ton Olde. ‘Drama Ibsen vakwerk’. A.D., 26 June 1985.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Post, Alma. ‘Schitterende Ibsen-regie van Bergman’. Haarlems Dagblad, 25 June 1985. Ruivenkamp, Piet. ‘Bergman ontleedt drama van Ibsen’. Haagse Courant, 27 June 1985. Vos, Nico. ‘Ingmar Bergman, conventioneel maar gedegen toneelregisseur’. De Waarheid, 27 June 1985.
3. Edinburgh, World Theatre Season Festival, August 1986. For a sample review, see Nicholas de Jongh. ‘Bergman finds fire at the heart of Ibsen’. Manchester Guardian Weekly, vol. 135, no. 9, week ending 31 August 1986, p. 21. The Guardian review was very appreciative of Bergman’s ‘revelatory production’ which was said to rescue Ibsen’s play ‘from the pitfalls of melodrama’ by removing Borkman’s self-indulgent gloominess and Ibsen’s ‘marks of naïve symbolism.’
Return to Dramaten (1984-2003)
1984 465.
KUNG LEAR
Credits Original Title Playwright Translator Director Stage Design Choreography Music Assistant Director Stage Opening Date
King Lear William Shakespeare Britt G. Hallqvist Ingmar Bergman Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss Donya Feuer Daniel Bell Anita Molander Royal Dramatic Theatre, Main Stage 9 March 1984 (176 performances)
Cast King Lear Goneril Regan Cordelia The Fool Kent Gloucester Son Edgar Son Edmond Albany, husband of Goneril Cornwall, husband of Regan Oswald, Goneril’s M.C. Burgundy Frankland Old Man Officer
Jarl Kulle Margaretha Byström Ewa Fröling/Gerthi Kulle Lena Olin Jan-Olof Strandberg Börje Ahlstedt Per Myrberg Mathias Henrikson Tomas Pontén Per Mattsson Peter Stormare/Peter Andersson Olof Lundström Lakke Magnusson Peter Andersson/Johan Lindell Oscar Ljung Hans Strååt
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Servant Scribe Doctor Messenger Herald Captain Fencing Master
Birger Malmsten Rolf Skoglund Frank Sundström Gudmar Wivesson Jan Nyman/Hans Strååt Dennis Dahlsten Pierre Wilkner
Commentary King Lear was Bergman’s first production at Dramaten after his exile in Munich. More than eight years had passed since he left Sweden in April 1976. Bergman commented in a press conference: ‘It is unreal, dreamlike, wonderful to be back with one’s own language, friends, and the theatre I grew up with’. [Det är overkligt, drömlikt, underbart att vara tillbaka med sitt eget språk, vänner och den teater jag växte upp med]. See: ‘På Dramatens scen – igen!’ [On Dramaten’s stage again!], Östgöta-Correspondenten, 7 December 1983, p. 8. See also report by Nenne Wåhlander, ‘Bergman på Dramaten igen’ [Bergman back at Dramaten], Arbetet, 7 December 1983, in which Bergman likened a staging of King Lear to ‘climbing the North Side of the Himalayas. There’s a 90% risk that you’ll fall down’. [att bestiga nordsidan på Himalaya. Det finns en 90%-ig risk att man ramlar ner]. Comparing Shakespeare’s play to a five-movement symphony for orchestra, soloists and instrument groups, Bergman mentioned three reasons for producing King Lear (or any other particular play): (1) he felt like doing it; (2) he had the right actors for it; (3) he thought the public would enjoy it. As for his own relationship to Lear, he quoted Goethe: ‘In an aging man there is always a King Lear.’ Ingmar Bergman had not directed a Shakespeare tragedy since his third production of Macbeth in 1948. King Lear had not been staged at Dramaten since 1929. Bergman was hesitant about available Swedish translations of Shakespeare; therefore he commissioned a new translation that was to be ‘a playable, speakable and above all understandable version of King Lear’. [en spelbar, talbar och framför allt begriplig version av Kung Lear]. He assigned the task to Britt G. Hallqvist; it was published by Ordfront (1984), with a brief foreword by Bergman (pp. 5-6). (For an interview with the translator about her translation, see ‘Hon slängde titlarna med Kung Lear’ [She threw aside all formality with King Lear]. Expr. 29 February 1984). Though happy with the translation, Bergman talked in his foreword about the loss of original qualities in translated texts by such playwrights as Molière, Shakespeare, and Ibsen. This did not keep him from cutting drastically (about one third) from the Lear text. In the summer of 1983, Bergman had read Georg Brandes’ study of Shakespeare and was struck by his view of King Lear as an apocalyptic play. In his preface to Dramaten’s production program, (included in printed version of the play translation), Bergman calls Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘a secret continent’ [en hemlig kontinent]. He decided to approach King Lear as an existential drama and replaced Shakespeare’s anachronistic references to classical mythology. In the Fool’s prophesies, Merlin, for instance, became Nostradamus. Bergman also handled the opening and ending of the play differently from the original text. The production began with a song and dance number, which was under way while the audience was being seated, and concluded with an apocalyptic big bang as the stage ‘exploded’, exposing the theatrical machinery before it was engulfed in darkness. Another special feature was Bergman’s use of formations of actors and stagehands instead of props, such as when Gloucester was put in the stocks and human figures assumed the shape of logs. In the second act, masks were used to suggest people ready to tear each other to pieces like wild animals.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Reception Bergman’s homecoming and return to Dramaten (even though he was still under contract at the Munich Residenztheater) seemed so remarkable that one reviewer (Jurgen Schildt) suggested the Lear production be noted in the Swedish calendar as a cultural milestone, while his colleague Björn Nilsson vowed to see to it that Bergman come back permanently to Sweden ‘even if we must drag him by his hair through the waves of the Baltic Sea’ [även om vi måste dra honom i håret genom Östersjöns vågor]. The Lear production was preceded by well-orchestrated publicity, including open rehearsals, radio and television reports, and a glitzy opening night when Dramaten bathed in a glowing festive light. Among those attending was American director/producer Joseph Papp. Bergman made a rare appearance on stage with the ensemble and was met with standing ovations. The reviews reflected the fact that this was both an impressive Dramaten production and a glamorous evening celebrating a native son and master. The situation created a certain unease among the critics. Gothenburg theatre reviewer Bo Lundin (GT), whose piece was headlined ‘Lysande Lear – och en besvikelse’ [Brilliant Lear – and a disappointment], is a case in point: The disappointment I feel is multifaceted. A small part has to do with Dramaten when it displays its most massive competence, so solidly monumental that it threatens to become petrified in its breathless elegance. Another part may have to do with an excessive form of self-defense: the production is so obviously magnificent and talked about that I have to try to sweep away preconceived notions to make room for my own experience. There is always the risk that the sweeping becomes too efficient. [Den besvikelse jag känner är mångfacetterad. En liten del har med Dramaten att göra då den är som mest massivt kompetent, så stabilt monumental att den hotar att förstenas mitt i sin andlösa elegans. En annan del kan bero på överdrivet självförsvar: uppsättningen är så självklart – och omsusat – storartad att jag måste försöka sopa rent med de förutfattade meningarna för att få rum med min egen upplevelse. Risken finns alltid att sopandet blir för effektivt.] Reviewers emphasized the Lear production as Bergman’s very personal reading of Shakespeare’s tragedy and pointed to his qualities as an inspirer of actors and staff. There was almost complete unanimity that Bergman’s disciplined and lucid direction had a beneficial effect on both set designer and choreographer, and that it released the best professional qualities among the actors. Teddy Brunius in UNT wrote for instance: ‘Ingmar Bergman shows that through firmness, planning, and a work ethic that disciplines the imagination, it is possible to solve a difficult dramatic task in a magnificent and festive way’. [Ingmar Bergman visar att genom fasthet, planering och en arbetsmoral som disciplinerar fantasin är det möjligt att lösa en svår dramatisk uppgift på ett storslaget och festligt sätt.]. The inward focus of Bergman’s production raised no objections. But critics were divided about his final dismantling of Shakespeare’s tragedy, his pessimistic view of Lear’s fate as a repetative cycle in human history, suggested by the calamitous ending with new combatants emerging from Lear’s collapsed universe, weapons in hand and ready to set the stage for another violent struggle for power. The explosive finale seemed desperate to Bengt Jahnsson in DN, who called it a Beckett effect that was not supported by the rest of the production. But Ingmar Björkstén in SvD referred to the big bang ending as ‘a final vignette thought up by a theatre genius’ [en slutvinjett uttänkt av ett teatergeni].
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reviews Andergård, Marita. ‘Bergmans Kung Lear: Vår narrteater som panorama’ [Bergman’s King Lear: Our fool’s theatre as panorama]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 10 March 1984, p. 3. Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Ingmar Bergman och Kung Lear på Dramaten. Fenomenalt bildskapande och teater’ [Bergman and King Lear at Dramaten. Phenomenal image making and theatre]. SvD, 10 March 1984. Brunius, Teddy. ‘Vårens stora teaterjäs: Bergmans och Kulles Kung Lear’ [The great stage play of the spring: Bergman’s and Kulle’s King Lear]. UNT, 12 March 1984. Fischer, Lillie. ‘Bergman bedövande i sin Leartolkning’ [Bergman stunning in his Lear interpretation]. Norrköpings Tidningar, 10 March 1984. Gellerfelt, Mats. ‘King Lear. En inte helt invändningsfri tolkning’ [King Lear. An interpretation not entirely free from reservations]. Tempus, 16 March 1984: 19. Jahnsson, Bengt. ‘Stor tragedi med matt slut’ [Great tragedy with weak ending]. DN, 10 March 1984. Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘Mer respekt än gripenhet för Bergmans Kung Lear’ [More respect than catharsis of Bergman’s King Lear]. SDS, 10 March 1984. Lind, Ia. ‘Förföriskt men gängse’ [Seductive but conventional]. FIB, no. 6, 1984. Lindholm, Karl-Axel. ‘Lear, makten och tystnaden’ [Lear, the power and the silence]. Skånska Dagbladet, 13 March 1984. Lundin, Bo. ‘Lysande Lear – och en besvikelse’ [Brilliant Lear – and a disappointment]. GT, 10 March 1984. Nilsson, Björn. ‘Toppen, Bergman!’ [Superb, Bergman!]. Expr., 10 March 1984, pp. 1, 38-39. Palmqvist, Bertil. ‘Kunglig revansch’ [Royal revenge]. Arbetet, 10 March 1984.
Brief Essays Cueno, Anne. ‘Bergman, Kurosawa und Lear’. Filmbulletin 146, no. 1, 1986, p. 46. Törnqvist, Egil. See below, reviews, Holland guest performance.
See also Aktuellt. ‘Kung Lear på Dramaten’. News reports about Bergman’s production of Lear, Swedish Televsion, Channel 2, on 6, 9, and 10 March 1984. News vignette: ‘Bergman tillbaka på Dramaten’ [Bergman back at Dramaten]. SR, P1, 10 March 1984. Henrikson, Thomas. ‘Möt våren med teater’ [Meet spring with theatre]. ST, 11 March 1984. Lundberg, Stina. ‘Nöjesmaskinen’ (TV talk show), STV 2, 23 March 1984. Schueler, Kaj. ‘Dramatens kungar’ [Dramaten’s kings]. SvD 7 Dagar, 16 March 1984, p. 37. Skawonius, Betty. ‘Börje Ahlstedt: Vi har fått igen kraften’ [We’ve regained the energy]. DN, 10 March 1984. Interview with Börje Ahlstedt who states: ‘Entering the director’s mood creates a kind of human agreement – that’s Bergman’s way of working.’ (Att leva sig in i regissörens humör ger en sorts mänsklig överenskommelse – det är det som är Bergmans sätt att arbeta). Svanberg, Lena. ‘Brist i Dramatenkassan trots succén Kung Lear. Vargatider stundar nu’ [Deficit in Dramaten’s finances despite the success of King Lear. Hard times ahead]. Veckans affärer, no. 12, 1984: 46-47. About Dramaten’s economic difficulties, which would culminate ten years later, see Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 602). Söderberg, Agneta. ‘Kung Bergman blåser liv i Lear – och Dramaten’ [King Bergman blows life into Lear – and Dramaten]. Expr., 9 March 1984. Interview article; refers back to last time King Lear was produced in Sweden (by Per Lindberg in 1929). Sörenson, Elisabeth. ‘Bergmans Lear visar Dramatens kapacitet’ [Bergman’s Lear shows Dramaten’s capacity]. SvD, 11 March 1984. (Interview with Jarl Kulle (Lear)).
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Author P.O. Enqvist and actress Bibi Andersson published articles in response to Bergman’s presentation of King Lear. See: ‘P.O. Enqvist begrundar “Kung Lear”: Skänk aldrig bort makten!’ [P.O. Enqvist ponders ‘King Lear’: Never give away the power!]. Expr., 31 March 1984, p. 4. ‘Bibi Andersson begrundar “Kung Lear”: När samvetet vaknar hos en ful gubbe’ [Bibi A ponders ‘King Lear’: When conscience awakens in a dirty old man]. Expr., 7 April 1984, p. 4.
Guest Performances 1. Paris, Odéon Théâtre, 5-10 March 1985. Dramaten’s King Lear production visited Paris as the final event in the 1985 Théâtre de l’Europe season, invited by director Giorgio Strehler. There were seven performances. Bergman made one of his rare official appearances, was decorated by French president François Mitterand with the Legion of Honor in the Elysée Palace, and was fêted with special retrospectives of his movies and by the Parisian opening of his TV film Efter repetitionen/Après la répétition. As a result of all these events, there was a great deal of press publicity prior to the opening night of King Lear, and an interview with set designer Gunilla Palmstierna Weiss. The audience reportedly went wild (see Gustaf von Platen, ‘Stormande applåder hälsade Bergmans “Lear” i Paris’ [Thunderous applause greeted Bergman’s ‘Lear’ in Paris], SvD, 6 March 1985). As elsewhere outside of Scandinavia, Bergman’s name was primarily associated with film; the news magazine Le Point (see below) referred to him as ‘without doubt the most important filmmaker in the last thirty years’. Several articles, however, attempted to rectify this emphasis by suggesting an interplay between his stage work and filmmaking. See: Héliot, Armelle. ‘Bergman, côté théâtre’. Le Quotidien, 4 March 1985. Leclerc, Marie-Françoise. ‘Bergman souverain’. Le Point, no. 650, 4 March 1985, pp. 135-38.
Reception Bergman’s Lear production competed with a timely Parisian interest in Shakespeare after Ariahne Mnouchkine’s months-long presentation of Shakespeare’s history plays and comedies at the Théâtre de Soleil in performances inspired by Japanese Kabuki theatre. By comparison, Bergman’s King Lear seemed quite traditional though unique in its superb ensemble acting. The French press response ranged from enthusiasm, boredom (with reservations that not understanding Swedish contributed to this), and cool reservation. Le Figaro found Bergman’s production ‘academic’ in its choreographed, ‘opera-like’ beauty. L’Humanité too spoke about the ‘academic’ quality of the production but qualified it by stressing Bergman’s compassion and love of man. Le Matin felt that Dramaten’s presentation had little connection with developments within theatre art since the Sixties. Libération and Le Monde were much more positive, both focusing on the ending and on Bergman’s existential approach to the play. In the French reception one can see a clear dichotomy between those critics (mostly positive) who concentrated on Bergman’s pessimistic interpretation of the Lear figure and those (somewhat negative) who approached the production as a visual ‘choreographed’ event.
Reviews Costaz, Gilles. ‘Odéon: Le Triumphe ambigü de Bergman’. Le Matin, 6 March 1985. Leonardini, Jean-Pierre. ‘Une si grande plénitude’. L’Humanité, 7 March 1985. Marcabru, Pierre. ‘Un bel académisme’. Le Figaro, 6 March 1985. Seguret, Olivier. ‘Kung Bergman’. Libération, 6 March 1985. Zand, Nicole. ‘Bergman à Paris’. Le Monde, 7 March 1985, p. 13. See also same page interview with stage designer Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Dramaten’s Paris visit with King Lear was also reviewed in two British papers: Roud, Richard. ‘The red light version’. The Guardian, 15 March 1985. Roud felt that Lear, Gloucester, and the Fool were miscast and that Bergman took ‘shocking liberties’ with Shakespeare. He was also disturbed by the sex-oriented production, adding erotic scenes not supported by the text. Concluded: ‘It was magnifique all right, but was it Shakespeare?’ Wardle, Irving. ‘The blinding vision of Ingmar Bergman’. The Times, 15 March 1985. Wardle, like Roud, was struck by Bergman’s use of what Variety would term ‘socco effects’, spectacular crescendoes and simultaneous action exposing a cycle of multiple events, such as Goneril coupling with Oswald at the moment when Gloucester’s eyes are put out. Wardle concluded: ‘This is the most unrelentingly penetrating account of the play I have seen since Peter Brook’s over 20 years ago’. The Swedish press closely followed Dramaten’s guest performance of Lear. See ‘Lovord – trots språket’ [Praise – despite the language]. SvD, 8 March 1985; ‘Bergmans franska triumf ’ [Bergman’s French triumph]. Borås Tidning, 20 March 1985; ‘Paris-succé för Bergmans Kung Lear’, LISA (Lycée internationale) no. 5, May 1985.
See also Alain Finkelkraut. ‘Kung Bergman fast i sextitalet’ [King B stuck in the Sixties]. Expr., 10 March 1985 (tr. by Jan Stolpe). A review article about Lear production as a dated type of presentation.
2. Barcelona, Tivoli Theatre, Congrés Internacional de Teatre a Catalunya, 19-25 May 1985. Bergman’s Lear production opened the International Theatre Congress, the theme of which was the interchange of theatres with limited cultural and linguistic radius (Sweden, Catalonia). The performance was a tremendous public success with continuous ovations until the ensemble began to applaud the audience. There was a total of six performances. In connection with Dramaten’s visit to Barcelona, the Spanish monthly theatre journal El Publico devoted part of its May 1985 issue to Bergman’s experience in the theatre with fairly extensive quotes from him on the crisis of the institutionalized theatre; the crisis of the Sixties; and the consequences of his leaving Sweden in 1976. Rejecting a non-democratic form of decision-making, Bergman nevertheless maintained that the theatre was an elitist institution, governed by professional quality and by the public. The mistake of the radical voices of the 1960s was to disregard the fact that good theatre thrives on its roots, on continuity. See Francisco Uriz, ‘Bergman llega a Barcelona’. El Publico, no. 20 (May 1985), pp. 15-22. A press conference in which most of the Lear cast participated was reported in El Pais (‘El rey Lear es un ser ingenuo, afirma Jarl Kulle’), 19 May 1985. Some three weeks earlier, El Pais theatre critic Joan de Sagarra had published an article about Bergman’s return from Munich to Dramaten (‘Ingmar Bergman vuelve a casa tra nueve años de exilio’), El Pais, 25 April 1985, p. 27.
Reviews Sagarra, Joan de. ‘Cuando los locos guian a los ciegos’. El Pais, 25 May 1985.
3. Milano, El Lirico, Théâtre de l’Europe, 3-6 June 1985. Dramaten’s guest visit to Milano with King Lear was part of a manifestation called ‘Milano aperta’ held in cooperation with Théâtre de l’Europe. There were four performances. Bergman’s production received a good deal of pre-arrival attention; see: Francesco Alonzo, ‘Arriva il ‘Re Lear’ di Ingmar Bergman’. Corrierre degli spettacoli, 1 June 1985, and Guido Davico Bonino, ‘Bergman e la rossa arena di ‘Re Lear’’. La Stampa, 2 June 1965. On 3 June 1985, Il Giornale degli spettacoli published excerpted statements by the Lear cast (‘Fare Re Lear e come scalare
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre I’Himalaya. Bergman si identifica nel grande vecchio’). Suzanna Marzolla interviewed Margaretha Byström, Gerthi Kulle, and Lena Olin in ‘Le tre figlie di Re Bergman.’ La Stampa, 4 June 1985.
Reception Referring to Bergman’s production of Lear as ‘the spiritual testament of a great director’ (Geron), Italian critics termed Lear ‘an extraordinary production of impeccable formal rigor’ (Bonino). Enthusiastic reviews praised everything from ‘a great parade of actors’ (Moscati) to stupendous costumes (Manciotti) and the sensuality of Bergman’s interpretation (Gregori, Bonanni). Some reviewers (Maria Gracia Gregori, Renzo Tian) noted Bergman’s independent approach to Shakespeare’s drama, with no trace of influence from other productions of the play in the last several years (e.g., Peter Brook and Giorgio Strehler). Others (Moscati, Paganini) suggested that Bergman’s background as a filmmaker might help explain his ability to synthesize such a huge theatrical production into a whole. The public reception was overwhelming, with applause ‘of rare duration and intensity’, lasting in fact for fifteen minutes.
Reviews Bertani, Odoardo di. ‘Un seducente Re Lear’. L’Avvenire, 5 June 1985. Bonanni, Francesca. ‘La mano di Bergman accende Re Lear su una sanguigna “scatola scenica”’. Il Tempo, 5 June 1985. Bonino, Guido Davico. ‘Bergman nella violenzia di Lear’. La Stampa, 5 June 1985. Chiaretti, Tommaso. ‘Bergman & Shakespeare o il Gioco del Teatro’. La Republica, 5 June 1985. Geron, Gastone. ‘Bergman, la lezione della natura’. Il Giornale, 5 June 1985. Gregori, Marie Grazia. ‘Re Lear ha perso la corona’. L’Unita, 5 June 1985. Manciotti, Mauro. ‘Lear di Bergman: la follia del mondo senza speranza’. Il secolo XIX, 5 June 1985. Marzolla, Susanna. ‘Le tre figli di Re Bergman’. La Stampa, 4 June 1985. Monticelli, Roberto de. ‘Trionfa a Milano il “Re Lear” di Bergman’. Corriere della Sera, 5 June 1985. Moscati, Italo. ‘Com’e iconoclasta questo “Re Lear”’. La Provincia Pavese, 5 June 1985. Paganini, Paolo A., ‘Un grande re. Il “Lear” di Bergman in scena al Lirico’. La Notte, 5 June 1985. Ronfani, Ugo. ‘Re Lear. Bergman illumina l’arena dei pazzi’. Il Giorno, 5 June 1985. Tian, Renzo. ‘Tragedia di vita’. Il Messaggero, 5 June 1985.
4. Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg, Holland Festival, 22-23 June 1985. An exclusive Dutch program folder (available at the Amsterdam Theatre Museum) includes a scene by scene account of the action. The program has drawings by Carin Hartmann. See also special Swedish Institute presentation, ed. by Törnqvist/Sonnen (listed in reviews below).
Reception With one exception (Arian, who called the production boring and predictable), the guest visit (with two performances) was a critical success; the production was described as a very visual, dynamic, fabulous, overpowering spectacle with allegorical allure that would live on like a Bergman film (Gortzak). The mass scenes, using figures in red clothing as eavesdroppers, drew critical attention; one reviewer (Arian) likened them to groups in a Breughel painting. Another critic (Ruivenkamp) sensed a Bergman touch in the dominant space he allotted the women in his production; another saw the explosive ending, announcing the collapse of Lear’s world and exposing the stage machinery, as ‘a genuine Bergman exclamation point’ (van der Harst). Also praised was the choreography of the performance, the ‘magnificent’ use of sound and light, especially in the storm scene (van den Bergh), and Palmstierna-Weiss’ set design. Kester Fre-
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman driks, who had also seen the production in Stockholm, wrote a review article in which he juxtaposed the simplicity of the mise-en-scene and the complicated theme and story line.
Reviews Arian, Max. ‘Vervelend en voorspelbaar drama van Ingmar Bergman’. Groene Amsterdammer, 26 June 1985. Bergh, Hans van den. ‘Zweden met glansrijke Kung Lear’. Het Parool, 25 June 1985. Freriks, Kester. ‘Een riskante expeditie naar de wereld van Koning Lear’. NRC Handelsblad, 17 June 1985. Gortzak, Ruud. ‘Kung Lear van Ingmar Bergman door publiek uitbundig bejubeld’ [Ingmar Bergman’s King Lear exuberantly celebrated by public]. De Volkskrant, 24 June 1985. Harst, Hanny van der. ‘Bergman Kung Lear: glasheldere allegorie van eeuwige machtsstrijd’. Trouw, 24 June 1985. Monnikhof, Jon Olde. ‘Zweedse King Lear om in te lijsten’. Algemeen Dagblad, 24 June 1985; also in De Waarheid, 27 June 1985. Post, Alma. ‘Kung Lear folkloristisch en kleurig. Bergman filmisch toneelregisseur’. NRC Handelsblad, 24 June 1985. Ruivenkamp, Piet. ‘Bergmans magische hand reikt nu ook tot King Lear’. H.C., 24 June 1985. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Ingmar Bergman regisseert Lear. De wereld als gekkenhuis’. Toneel Teatral, October 1984, pp. 30-31. Also in English as ‘The World as Madhouse. Ingmar Bergman Directs King Lear’, in Törnqvist, Egil and Arthur Sonnen, eds. Niet alleen Strindberg: Zweden op de planken/Not only Strindberg: Sweden on Stage. Swedish Institute: Holland Festival. ’85, pp. 62-66.
5. Tammerfors (Tampere), Tampere Theatre Festival, 18-19 August 1985, three performances. The planned guest visit to Tampere’s Summer Festival had been cancelled in December 1984, just before the (pressured) resignation of Dramaten head Lasse Pöysti, a former director at Tampere Theatre. But the cancellation of the guest visit was annulled a couple of weeks before the Festival opening; as a result, an extra day had to be added to the festival in order to accomodate Dramaten’s visit.
Reception and Reviews Most reviewers were positive about the production, except Eteläppää who termed Kulle’s Lear ‘a declaiming Hofschauspieler’ and found the staging obsolete in its theatrical ritualization of the tragedy. Eteläppää, Heiki. ‘Lear kronikkanäytelmänä’. Uusi Suomi, 20 August 1985. Kihlman, Mårten. ‘Tfrs teatersommar: Mäktig final’. Hufvudstadsbladet, 21 August 1985. Moring. ‘Lear ihmiskunnan rajatilassa’. Helsingin Sanomat, 20 August 1985. Peltola, Katri. ‘Bergmanin Lear täytti odotukset’. Ilta Sanomat, 19 August 1985. Sundqvist, Harry. ‘Suurten mittojen täh titeatteria’. Aamulenti, 21 August 1985. Vuori, Jyrki. ‘Lear – narri jo eläessään’. Turun Sanomat, 20 August 1985.
1985 466.
FRÖKEN JULIE [Miss Julie]
Credits Playwright Director
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Stage Design Stage Opening date
Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss Royal Dramatic Theatre, Small Stage 7 December 1985 (167 performances + 9 performances in October 1991)
Cast Julie Jean Kristin Farmhands and servants
Marie Göranzon Peter Stormare Gerti Kulle Peter Blomberg, Eva Callenbo, Lars-Erik Johansson, Anna von Rosen, Måns Edwall, Paula Ternström
Commentary In an interview with Elisabeth Sörenson in SvD, 3 December 1985, titled ‘Jädrans pärs – men lustfyllt’ [A hell of an ordeal – but full of joy], Bergman recalls a conversation in the 1960s with his colleague at Dramaten, Alf Sjöberg who had staged (and filmed) Miss Julie in 1949 and was thinking of producing it again. Bergman voices an oft-repeated view about the importance of tradition and continuity on a stage like Dramaten: ‘... it could be that the conversation with Alf on the second balcony in the early 60s was the beginning of my conception of Miss Julie. I think it’s fun when a theatre like Dramaten functions in this way that we give the relay baton to each other’. [... det är möjligt att samtalet med Alf på andra raden i början av 60-talet blev upptakten till min konception av Fröken Julie. Jag tycker det är roligt när en teater som Dramaten fungerar på det sättet, att vi ger stafetten till varandra]. Bergman’s conception of Strindberg’s play was in fact reminiscent of Alf Sjöberg’s approach in his film version of Fröken Julie in the late 1940s when he saw the drama as a dreamplay, a form of ‘hallucinatory realism’. In the Sörenson interview, Bergman states: ‘At the same time as this play is no doubt naturalistic, Strindberg has given it such enormous forcefulness that it places it... on a level with his later [...] station dramas and dreamplays. The icy realism suddently serves a strange purpose, i.e., to become part of a terrifying dream’. [Samtidigt som detta skådespel otvivelaktigt är naturalistiskt, så har han givit det ett tryck som är så oerhört att det plötsligt [...] ligger precis i jämnhöjd med de senare... vandringsdramerna och drömspelen. Den isande realismen tjänar plötsligt ett syfte, nämligen att bli en del av en fasansfull dröm]. Another ‘Sjöberg feature’ in Bergman’s Dramaten production was to suggest the continuous presence of a world outside the kitchen, with servants spying and invading the stage with crude and noisy behavior. Compared to the 1981 Munich production of Julie, his Dramaten presentation four years later was a much more explicit expression of upper-class contempt and lower-class vulgarity. As in Munich, Bergman picked up a detail from an early version of Strindberg’s manuscript: On her cheek, Miss Julie wears a visible scar, the result of a lash from her fiance’s riding whip. To Bergman the scar, which he became aware of through Peter Weiss’ German translation of the play, explains Julie’s motivation (shame) for not travelling with her father to visit their relatives: ‘Instead she stays in her room until twilight and then she uses so much make-up that she looks like a little clown: she believes she can cover up that scar. Then she goes down to the barn and dances like a madwoman. Later, when she comes into the kitchen, those birds of prey are ready, become provoked and attack. This becomes important for the production and it has been one of our premises’. [I stället håller hon sig på sitt rum tills skymningen faller och då sminkar hon sig så våldsamt att hon ser ut som en liten clown: hon tror att hon skall kunna sminka bort det där ärret. Så går hon ner på logen och dansar som en galning. När hon småningom kommer in i köket finns då de där rovfåglarna beredda, blir provocerade och angriper. Det här blir ju
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman betydelsefullt för uppsättningen och det har varit en av de utgångspunkter vi haft]. (Sörenson interview cited above). In both the German and Swedish productions, Kristin remained on stage throughout the performance as a background figure and observer of Jean and Julie; she thus became a more prominent figure than indicated in Strindberg’s text. Jean in turn emerged at times as little more than a marionette. To stress this, Bergman cut out the hypnotic element at the end, where Jean induces Julie to commit suicide: ‘if you cut that [...] what happens is that Julie forces Jean to participate in her death. It is, among other things, a fight for power and [...] in the same moment that Julie takes her death in her own hands, she becomes the stronger. She has the power and can crush Jean’ [om man stryker den [hypnosen] blir det nämligen så att Julie tvingar Jean att delta i hennes död. Det är ju – bland annat – ett spel om makt och [...] i samma ögonblick som Julie tar döden i sin hand, så är hon den starkare. Hon har makten att krossa Jean]. (Sörenson interview. For differences between the Munich and Stockholm productions, see Törnqvist-Jacobs, listed below.) Bergman held an open rehearsal of his Julie production on 30 November 1985, at which time he talked to the public about the play. See Frank Bergå, ‘Ingmar Bergman berättar om sin Fröken Julie – för publiken!’ [Bergman talks about Miss Julie – to the public!]. AB, 1 December 1985. Bergman made a rare stage appearance after the premiere of Fröken Julie, which was attended by the Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, Nobel prize winner Claude Simon and other dignitaries. Also present were no less than twelve actresses who had previously played the role of Julie.
Reception In a chorus of positive voices, there were very few jarring notes. One appeared in SvD (Björkstén) who could not find any cohesiveness in the production. Far more typical was Larsén’s review in SDS: ‘When Ingmar Bergman returns to Miss Julie... one expects precisely a kind of classical recording: exquisite in tone, a model of interpretation, technically perfect. And so it has become’. [När Ingmar Bergman återkommer till Fröken Julie... väntar man sig just ett slags klassikerinspelning: fulländad i tonen, mönstergill i tolkningen, tekniskt perfekt. Och så har det också blivit]. In short, most reviewers would have subscribed to Jurgen Schildt’s (AB) exclamation: ‘To ... witness a production of this caliber is, I’ll be darn, a privilege’. [Att ... bevittna en föreställning av den här kvalitén är förbanne mig ett privilegium]. In pinpointing the particular strength of Bergman’s production, reviewers singled out his attention to nuances (see Bredsdorff, Politiken) and his achievement of a rhythmic balance in the performance: ‘He follows it [Strindberg’s text] like a musical score that becomes richer the more he plays it in a simple and ascetic way’. [Han följer Strindbergs text som ett musikpartitur som blir rikare ju längre han spelar det på ett enkelt och asketiskt sätt] (Sverker Andréason, GP; see also Larsén, Lindén, Linder, Sjöberg below). The greatest critical attention focussed on Bergman’s interpretation of the characters: his upgrading of Kristin’s supportive role to make her a powerful presence in the drama; his portrayal of Julie as a wing-clipped bird: ‘It is a death process that is depicted, and it is enormously fascinating and moving. [...]’ [Det är en dödsprocess som skildras och den är enormt fascinerande och rörande] (Larson, Expr.); and on his ‘softening’ of Jean’s character making him less of an upstart cad and brutish oaf and more a victim of circumstances, someone who feels a certain degree of sympathy for Julie.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Reviews Andréason, Sverker. ‘En mästerlig Fröken Julie’ [A masterly Miss Julie]. GP, 8 December 1985. Bergstén, Gunilla. ‘Bergmans Fröken Julie än en gång’ [Bergman’s Miss Julie once more]. UNT, 9 December 1985. Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Ingen övertygande helhet’ [No convincing whole]. SvD, 8 December 1985. Bredsdorff, Thomas. ‘Den sårede frk. Julie’ [The wounded Miss Julie]. Politiken (Copenhagen), 8 December 1985. Dagsland, Sissel Hamre. ‘Frøken Julie i Bergmans hender’ [Miss Julie in Bergman’s hands]. Bergnes Tidende, 9 December 1985. Larsén, Carlhåkan, ‘Hjärnornas kamp, lustans batalj’ [Battle of the brains, battle of lust]. SDS, 8 December 1985. Larsson, Lisbeth. ‘Marie Göranzon är storartad’ [Marie Göranzon is splendid]. Expr., 8 December 1985. Lindén, Gunnar. ‘Det förklarande piskrappet’ [The explanatory whiplash]. Nerikes Allehanda, 10 December 1985. Linder, Lars. ‘Oväntad bild av Jean i konventionell pjäs’ [Unexpected portrayal of Jean in a conventional piece]. DN, 8 December 1985. Lundin, Bo. ‘Ingmar Bergmans “Fröken Julie”: Värme och förvirring’ [Bergman’s Miss Julie: warmth and confusion]. GT, 8 December 1985, p. 5. Marcussen, Elsa-Brita. ‘Lykkelig Bergman – nevrotisk Julie’ [Happy Bergman – neurotic Julie]. Arbeiderbaldet (Oslo), 27 February 1986. Nordin, Vera. ‘Som en gammaldags jaktscen’ [Like an old hunting scene]. Östgöta-Correspondenten, 9 December 1985. Palmqvist, Bertil. ‘Sommarnattens illvilliga grimas’ [The nasty grimace of the summer night]. Arbetet, 8 December 1985. Schildt, Jurgen. ‘Ingmar Bergmans “Fröken Julie”. Enastående!’ [Bergman’s Miss Julie. Superb!]. AB, 8 December 1985. Sjöberg. Hans-Christer. ‘Bergmans Fröken Julie. Våldsam dödsdans’ [Bergman’s Miss Julie. Violent dance of death]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 8 December 1985.
Press Articles and Longer Studies Cornell, Peter. ‘Fröken Julie – den första surrealisten’ [Miss Julie – the first surrealist]. Expr., 31 December 1985. Compares Julie in her desperate passion and hysteria to a number of surrealistic female martyrs: Nadja, Solange, Germaine Berton, Violette Nozière, the sisters Papin. What they have in common is their use of Eros as a subversive force against class society and bourgeois morality. Florin, Magnus. ‘Det lockande vämjeliga’ [The seductive nausea]. Expr. 21 January 1986. In part a response to Cornell’s column above, but Florin interprets Julie’s hysterical revolt in light of Julia Kristeva’s 1980 study ‘Pouvoirs de l’horreur’. Julie’s break with sexual and social convention, and her nausea and verbally cannibalistic outburst over Jeans sexuality are seen as signs of repressed pre-cultural areas in Julie’s personality that imply a powerful attraction to sexual intercourse, castration, and murder. Hägglund, Kent. ‘Fröken Julie gånger 4’ [Miss Julie times 4]. Entré, no. 4, 1986, p. 9. Hägglund is critical of Peter Stormare’s portrayal of Jean as someone who is too isolated from the other performers, which makes the production dull and lifeless. Likens Jean to John Cleese as Basil Fawlty in TV series Fawlty Towers, who – though a total failure– thinks of himself as very smart. Suggests Fawlty Towers as an alternative sequel to Miss Julie. Nilsson, Petra et al. ‘Julie och Rosita – två fröknar i tiden’ [Julie and Rosita – two current misses]. Expr., 18 January 1986. Miss Julie at Dramaten and Garcia Lorca’s Rosita at Stock-
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman holm’s Stadsteater premiered about the same time. Academic contributors to news media and one psychoanalyst were asked to compare and comment on the two productions: Petra Nilson, Lisbeth Larsson, Ronny Ambjörnsson, and Johan Cullberg. Norén Kjerstin. ‘Den intuitive realisme’. Information, 24 December 1985. Discusses Bergman’s production as ‘a new form of realism, free from the social conventions that have governed the traditional readings of the play’. Törnqvist, Egil. Between Stage and Screen, 1995, pp. 46-58. Törnqvist, Egil and Barry Jacobs. ‘Miss Julie on Stage’ in Strindberg’s Miss Julie. A Play and its Transpositions. Norwich: Norvik Press Series A: no. 5, 1988, pp. 163-85.
See also Nygren, Ronny. ‘Jublet för Bergman’ (Ovations for Bergman). AB, 8 December 1985. Report from opening night of Miss Julie.
Guest Performances There were only a few performances of Miss Julie at Dramaten in December 1985 and January 1986. In February 1986, the production went on tour to fourteen places in Sweden. In the spring and summer of 1986, there were guest performances in Madrid, Vasa (Finland), Reykjavik, Quebec, and Spoleto (Italy) and in the fall of 1986 in Edinburgh and Belgrade. Bergman accompanied the guest performance in Reykjavik. In September 1987, Dramaten travelled to Los Angeles and London with the same production, and in the following year (1988), the troupe went to Tokyo and Moscow. In June 1991, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) in New York presented a partly updated version of Miss Julie, with Lena Olin replacing Marie Göranzon in the title role. This latter event was part of a New York arts festival, at which Dramaten also presented Bergman’s productions of A Doll’s House (1989) and Long Day’s Journey into Night. (1988). For details, see respective play below.
1. Madrid, International Theatre Festival, 28 Feb-3 March 1986 Joan de Sagarra saw the production of Miss Julie in Stockholm and reported on it to his paper El Pais on 24 December 1985 (‘Un montaje de Ingmar Bergman de ‘La senorita Julia’ inaugurara el proximo festival de teatro de Madrid.’) Four performances at Teatro Español were received with much applause. However, the murder of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme during Dramaten’s performances in Madrid shifted the press attention to the political events. The reviews paid more attention to Strindberg as a social rabblerouser than as a playwright. Bergman’s production of Miss Julie was discussed as a social class drama. See ‘Nytt om nöjen’ [News about entertainment]. DN, 4 March 1986, and Monica Vermcrantz, ‘Bergman genom raster’ [Bergman through grids]. SvD, 3 March 1986.
Reviews Arroro, Andres. ‘Un Strindberg servido magistralmente por Bergman’. YA, 2 March 1986. (‘To add Bergman to Strindberg is to double the Nordic esprit [...] a fire looked at through ice, a gloomy sensuality – I’d rather take a midsummer in Andalusia where the theology student falls for Pepita Jimenez’.) Lopez Sancho, Lorenzo. No title, ABC, 2 March 1986. (Reviewer who dubbed Bergman’s 1972 film Cries and Whispers into Spanish considered himself a Bergman fan but as such felt betrayed by Dramaten’s version of Miss Julie: ‘Bergman’s use of the scar reference added nothing to explain Julie’s degradation, and Strindberg’s drama did not need Bergman’s added “exciteable sonority”.’)
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre 2. Vasa, Finland, 15-17 April 1986 Three performances took place at the Wasa Theatre to sold-out houses and enthusiastic reviews. Hufvudstadsbladet wrote: ‘[The audience] was led into Strindberg’s world by a director and actors who respect their public. They show that Strindberg is not a heavy and boring author, sitting on a pedestal, but is humorous and manifaceted, though intelligible’. See Uljens, Anita. ‘Fröken Julie i Vasa’ [Miss Julie in Vasa]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 19 April 1986.
3. Reykjavik, Iceland, 7-8 June 1986 Bergman made a rare appearance during Dramaten’s performances in Iceland’s capital, which celebrating its 200th anniversary. A general presentation of Bergman, titled ‘Ingmar Bergman meth Fröken Juliu a Listahatid ‘86’, was published in DV., Helgarblad II, 7 June 1986. At a press conference in President Vigdis Finnbogadottir’s guest house, Bergman talked about the different versions of Strindberg’s manuscript and about his own love of the theatre, referring to his stagecraft as ‘a natural, simple, unneurotic and creative process’. See report in Icelandic Morgunbladi, 7 June 1986.
Reviews Bergman’s Julie production got an overwhelming reception. There were two performances. For response, see also filmmaker Hrafn Gunnlaugsson’s interview with Bergman on this occasion (Ø 916, Interview Chapter). Astgeirsson, Gunnlaug. ‘Fröken Julia’. Helgarposturinn, 12 June 1986. Holmarsson, Sverri. ‘Fröken Julia’. Pjodviljinn, 10 June 1986. Stefansson, Gunnar. ‘Bergman a Listahatid’. Timinn, 10 June 1986.
4. Quebec International Theatre Festival, 12-14 June 1986 The three performances of the Dramaten production of Miss Julie did not play to full houses, though it received standing ovations in the Grand Theatre. The production was awarded the festival jury’s special honorary prize. See Finn Persson, ‘Dramatens Julie succé i Kanada’. AB, 17 June 1986. Alexander Hausvater, the festival’s artistic leader, had a double purpose for inviting Bergman’s production of Miss Julie: The very first performance of Strindberg’s play took place in French, and Quebec viewed itself as part of French culture. Hausvater also felt that Bergman’s role as stage director needed to become better known in North America, where he was seen primarily as a filmmaker. ‘His name has great magic’, said Hausvater in an interview with Swedish news service (TT). For a report from Dramaten’s guest visit, with brief interviews with the actors, see Bert Willborg. ‘Strindberg-succé på Kanada-turné’ [S success on Canada tour], AB, 14 June 1986.
Reviews Bernatchez, Raymond. ‘“Mademoiselle Julie” une expérience traumatisante’. La Presse (Montreal), 14 June 1986. (Bernatchez was irritated at a performance in Swedish and claimed he could not evaluate it). Conlogue, Ray. ‘Play wears Bergman’s Signature’. The Globe and Mail, 14 June 1986. (‘Bergman is at the height of his powers, and although filmgoers may not realize it, those powers are largely those of a theatre director.’) Corrivault, Martine R. ‘L’émouvante Mlle Julie de Bergman’. Le Soleil (Quebec), 14 June 1986. Levèsque, Robert. ‘Strindberg revu par Bergman et ses acteurs’. Le Devoir, no. 137, 14 June 1986. (Levèsque claims that Bergman transforms Strindberg’s play into a troubling vision of intimacy, turning the spectators into voyeurs).
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman 5. Spoleto Music and Theatre Festival, 23, 25, 27 June 1986 Included in the festival was a retrospective showing of selected Bergman films. Miss Julie played to full houses in three performances. There was a great deal of press coverage (interviews and reportages) in addition to numerous reviews. For preview articles, see: Luccesini, Paolo. ‘Spoleto o cara, ecco la mia Guilia’. La Nazione, 22 June 1986. Marrone, Titti. ‘Che sorpresa, ad aprire e la prosa... svedese’. Il Mattino, 23 June 1986. Bergman’s strong following in Italy as a filmmaker (See Chapter IX, Ø 1012) paved the way for a warm reception of his Strindberg production, even though Strindberg had been performed very rarely in Italy. There was noted disappointment that Bergman cancelled his promised appearance at the festival; on opening night, a letter from him was read instead.
Reviews Bonino, Guido Davico. ‘Bergman-Strindberg; duello di demoni’. La Stampa, 25 June 1986. Chiaretti, Tommaso. ‘Con quello sfregio la signorina Giulia ritorna simbolo dell’ Eros perverso’. La Republica, 25 June 1986. Cordelli, Franco. ‘Strindberg apocalisse del sottosuola’. Paese sera, 25 June 1986. Luccesini, Paolo. ‘Ferite in una notte d’estate. Julie di Bergman a Spoleto: e fu subito festival’. La Nazione, 25 June 1986. Manciotti, Mauro. ‘Negli inferno die Strindberg sboccia la magia di Bergman’. Secolo XIX, 25 June 1986. Saviolo, Aggeo. ‘Il corpo a corpo della signorina Giulia’. l’Unita, 25 June 1986. Scorrano, Osvaldo. ‘Che magica illusione Guilia sembre vera!’ Corriere del Giorno, 25 June 1986. Tian, Renzo. ‘Due donne, un solo peccato’. Il Messaggero (Rome), 25 June 1986.
See also Bono, Francesco. ‘Ingmar Bergman in the Eyes of Italian Theatre Critics’. Nordic Theatre Studies 11 1998, pp. 105-113. Kappelin, Kristina. ‘Fröken Julie i Italien’. SDS, 28 June 1986. Interview with Marie Göranzon who says she hesitated at first to accept Bergman’s chalky-white and scarred Miss Julie.
6. Edinburgh Theatre Festival, 30 August to 1 September 1986 Bergman’s production of Miss Julie shared the spotlight at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival with his Munic production of Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman. Miss Julie was also somewhat overshadowed by another Swedish contribution to the Edinburgh Festival: The Stockholm Folk Opera’s version of Verdi’s Aida. The Dramaten performance took place in the renovated King’s Theatre where accoustic problems with the loudspeakers caused the simultaneous translation to echo on stage. With the exception of Eric Shorter’s review in The Daily Telegraph, who termed the production ‘painful and boring’, Bergman’s version of Miss Julie was an eye-opener to the British and Scottish critics who were struck by the way Bergman conveyed the rise and fall of passion. ‘Bergman makes us see Strindberg with completely new eyes’, wrote Michael Billington in The Guardian. Michael Ratcliffe in The Observer thought that ‘Miss Julie emerges as a much richer and fuller play than ever before.’ Richard Mowe in The Evening News felt that ‘this production of Miss Julie obliterates the memory of all others’ by its ‘precise realism on the battleground of sex and class wars’. And Irving Wardle in The Times concluded that ‘although a masterpiece can be defined as a work that can never reach a definitive performance, it is hard to imagine any version of Miss Julie more complete than this production...’
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Reviews Brennan, Mary. ‘King’s Theatre, Edinburgh. Miss Julie’. The Glasgow Herald, 31 August 1986. Mowe, Richard. ‘Perfect Finale from Bergman’. The Evening News, 30 August 1986. Ratcliffe, Michael. ‘Upstairs and downstairs’. The Observer, 31 August 1986. Shorter, Eric. ‘Cold “Miss Julie”’. The Daily Telegraph, 30 August 1986, p. 9. Wardle, Irving. ‘Miss Julie. King’s’. The Times, 30 August 1986. Wright, Allen. ‘Greater Depths of Bitterness’. The Scotsman, 20 August 1986.
7. Belgrade, September-October 1986, three performances The presentation was part of the 20th BITEF (Belgrade International Theatre Festival). In competition with ten other international guest productions, Bergman’s Miss Julie shared the festival’s grand prize (the audience prize) with Eugenio Barba’s ‘Oxirinicus’, performed by the Danish Odin Theatre. Miss Julie was also awarded the Yugoslav newspaper Politika’s special prize. No reviews located.
8. London, Lyttleton, 17-18 June 1987 Presented together with Bergman’s 1986 Hamlet production at the British National Theatre’s Lyttleton stage, Miss Julie aroused none of the critical controversy of Bergman’s Shakespeare production: ‘There is no room for disagreement over this second offering’, wrote Irving Wardle in The Times, who characterized the performance as ‘one of brilliance and energy’ resulting in ‘a brand new masterpiece’. Other British reviewers praised the Miss Julie production for its rich and revealing details, its choreographed precision and psychological realism. Michael Coveney (Financial Times) called the production ‘a magnificently sensual performance’. The portrayal of Kristin as the ‘other woman’ with a strong bond to Jean was noted, as was Bergman’s transformation of Strindberg’s text into very physical acting.
Reviews Coveney, Michael. ‘Miss Julie, Lyttleton’. Financial Times, 18 June 1987, p. Arts?. Wardle, Irving. ‘Miss Julie. Lyttleton’. The Times, 18 June 1987, p. 16.
See also Hedvig Thorburn. ‘Fröken Julie mötte lovord’ [Miss Julie met with praise]. GP, 21 June 1987. Hans-Ingvar Johnsson. ‘Julie tar emot Londons jubel’ [J. receives London accolades]. DN, 19 June 1987.
9. Los Angeles Theatre Festival, James A. Doolittle Theatre, 22-27 September 1987 Most of the six performances were sold out. For a local response, see Dan Sullivan, ‘Staged by Bergman. The Truth of ‘Miss Julie’ Goes Beyond Words’. Los Angeles Times, 24 September 1987, Calender section/Part IV, p. 1, 10. (Review called the presentation ‘a lucid evening’ but found Marie Göranzon as Miss Julie too sturdy for the part of a neurasthenic lady. Praise went to Bergman’s development of Kristin’s character, with critic concluding that ‘If this were a Bergman film, Julie and Kristin would go off to start the hotel, leaving Jean to shine the master’s shoes’.
10. Tokyo Globeza Theatre, 27-29 June 1988 The three performances took place at the Japanese Globeza Theatre, designed by Arata Isozaki as a replica of the English Globe and Swan Theatres from the 1600s. Dramaten visited Tokyo with two productions: Miss Julie and Hamlet. Shakespeare’s play drew an almost full house (700 seats) – thanks in part to a long-time sponsoring of Shakespeare among Japanese businesses. Strindberg’s play was not as well-known in Japan and the performance did not sell out. For a report on the theatre situation in Tokyo at the time, see Monica
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Braw, ‘Noterat i Tokyo’, SvD, 12 July 1988. For a response to the Dramaten visit, see Thomas von Heijne, ‘Tokyo-beröm för Dramaten’ [Tokyo praise for Dramaten]. SvD, 6 July 1988.
11. Moscow, Mchat Theatre, 21-25 September, 1988 There was a sold-out house for all five performances at the old Stanislavski Artists Theatre Mchat, close to Red Square. On the evening of the premiere, people reportedly lined up outside the theatre to try to buy tickets, and barricades were torn down as the public stormed the theatre. Tickets for the additional performances soon circulated on the black market. Acoustics in the theatre were problematic. During the performance, a voice delivering a simultaneous Russian translation was heard as a murmur throughout the house and appeared disruptive to the actors on stage. But the audience reception was overwhelming and the stage was covered with a sea of flowers. For reports, see Larserik Häggman, ‘Lyckat gästspel för Dramaten’ [Successful guest performance by Dramaten], SDS, 23 September 1988, and Gabriella Ros, ‘Dramaten gör succé i Moskva’ [Dramaten successful in Moscow], UNT, 28 September 1988.
Reviews Bozjovits, V. ‘Gamlet, Bergman i my’. Izsvetzia, 15 October 1988. (Juxtaposes the closed space (kitchen) of Strindberg’s play, its impeccable psychological motivation and its hidden metaphorical meaning). Obrazova, Anna. ‘Igry i sny to Bergmanu’. Sovetskaja kultura, 13 October 1988. (Points out lack of a Russian Strindberg tradition and notes that Bergman’s production was the first time Moscow got to see how Strindberg’s tragedy should be produced. Emphasizes choreographic clarity of the performance, and refers to Bergman’s stagecraft as a theatre of human passions and a theatre that can give spiritual catharsis and joy.
12. New York, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), 10-20 June 1991 The Dramaten performances were part of New York’s International Arts Festival, sponsored by filmmaker Woody Allen, photographer Richard Avedon, the directors Mike Nichols and Harold Prince, and by Sean Cohn’s Actors Agency. It was one of three Bergman productions, which also included A Doll’s House and Long Day’s Journey into Night. Miss Julie was a new, less stylized version of Bergman’s 1985 production, now with Lena Olin in the title role. Olin’s star status in American film gave her more press exposure than Göranzon had received. For excerpts from the press conference with cast and administrative head of BAM, Harry Lichtenstein, see Kristina Kappelin, ‘Blodig USA-debut för Lena Olin’ [Bloody US debut for LO]. SDS, 8 June 1991. For an appraisal of Olin’s critical reception in New York, see Jens Peterson, ‘Olin tar New York – med Stormare’ [Olin takes NY – with Storm-are]. AB, 8 June 1991, and ‘New Yorks kritiker hyllar Lena Olin’ [NY’s critics praise LO], AB, 13 June 1991. Peterson’s write-up includes excerpts of an interview with Lena Olin who calls this new version of Bergman’s Julie ‘more carnal. It is blood, sweat and tears’. For the source of the interview, see Richard Bernstein, ‘An Actress Drawn to Characters on the Verge’, NYT, 10 June 1991, and Francis Lewis, ‘Lena Olin: A Garbo for the 90s’, Where/New York, June 1991: 41-43. For a presentation of Peter Stormare, see ‘International Arts Festival: Solemn Meets Spunky’, NYT, 7 June 1991, p. C1. For a general presentation of the three Bergman productions at BAM, including interview statements by Lena Olin and Peter Stormare, see Matthew Flamm, ‘Bam! It’s Bergman! And it will be surreally big’. New York Post, 10 June 1991. The New York reception of Miss Julie (three performances) was enthusiastic. Reviewers called the production ‘a great classic text perfectly fulfilled’ (Barnes) and ‘a riveting, unforgettable’ production (Kissel). ‘This is an eloquent performance of a masterwork, in every sense a transcendent evening in the theatre’, wrote Mel Gussow. Reviewers praised Bergman’s precise ‘camera-sharp’ sense for details (Markers) and the highly charged intensity ‘using the kitchen as
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre an active presence and dramatizing mood’. (Gussow). ‘New York has had Bergman festivals before’, wrote Linda Winer, ‘but none so alive that you could smell the sausage cooking’. Bergman’s ‘powerfully hyper-realistic’ production was noted as a sharp contrast to his stylized Hamlet production a few years earlier, but was also seen as so ‘hallucinatory’ and ‘hypnotic’ that watching it made Strindberg’s Swedish setting fade away, leading the spectator ‘inside a deep wound’ (Richards, NYT). The only objection concerned Bergman’s interpolation of a crudely executed drunken interlude, which replaced Strindberg’s high-spirited midsummer dance. See however Kissel’s positive reading of this as a social class gesture.
Reviews Barnes, Clive. ‘Ah, Swede Mystery of Life’. New York Post, 12 June 1991. Brustein, Robert. ‘The Dreams of Ingmar Bergman’. The New Republic, vol. 205, no. 5 (29 July 1991), p. 29-30. Feingold, Michael. ‘Urbane Renewal’. Village Voice, 25 June 1991. Gussow, Mel. ‘Strindberg’s “Miss Julie” via Ingmar Bergman’. New York, 11 June 1991, p. C13, 18. Kissel, Howard. ‘Bergman’s theatrical “Julie”’. Daily News, 12 June 1991. Marker, Lise-Lone and Frederick. ‘Three Plays, One Vision – Bergman’s’. NYT, 9 June 1991, p. 5. Richards, David. ‘Bergman Creates a Hallucinatory “Julie”’. NYT, 23 June 1991. Simon, John. ‘Three by Three’. New York, 24 June 1991, p. 51. Winer, Linda. ‘A Power Play for Bergman’s “Miss Julie”’. Newsday, 12 June 1991, p. 58. For reports on the New York reception in the Swedish press, see: Andréason, Sverker. ‘Ny Julie i New York’ (New Julie in NY]. GP, 13 June 1991. (Called the NY performance more tense and violent than in Stockholm). Bergkvist, Lars George. ‘Dramaten i fokus’. SvD, 9 June 1991, and ‘USA faller för Bergman’ [US falls for Bergman]. SvD, 13 June 1991.
Aftermath The New York version of Bergman’s Miss Julie production was presented at Dramaten in early September 1991. It was reviewed by Lars Ring in SvD, 3 September 1991. The review is an homage to Lena Olin.
1986 467.
ETT DRÖMSPEL [A Dreamplay]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Choreographer Music Assistant Director Stage Opening Date
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman Marik Vos Mait Angberg Daniel Bell Richard Looft Royal Dramatic Theatre, Small Stage 25 April 1986 (34 performances)
Cast The Poet The Glazier Agnes
Mathias Henrikson Oscar Ljung Ellen Lamm, Linn Oké/Lena Olin
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman The Officer The Mother The Father Lina, servant The Concierge The Billboarder The Singer The Ballet Girl Singer The Prompter The Policeman The Lawyer Kristin Quarantine Master Don Juan The Coquette He She Lina at Foulstrand The Retiree The Friend Edith Edith’s mother A Naval Officer Alice The Husband The Wife The Blind Man The Teacher Two Coal Carriers The Newly Wed The Lord Chancellor Dean of Theology Dean of Philosophy Dean of Medicine Dean of Law
Stellan Skarsgård Irene Lindh Gösta Prüzelius Ingrid Boström Kristina Adolphson Hans Strååt Kicki Bramberg Marie Richardson Lars Väringer Dennis Dahlsten Carl Billquist Per Myrberg Gerd Hagman Ingvar Kjellson Johan Lindell Dora Söderberg Pierre Wilkner Pernilla Östergren Kicki Bramberg Oscar Ljung Dennis Dahlsten Marianne Karlbeck Gerd Hagman Mikael Säflund Louise Amble Carl Billquist Gertrud Mariano Frank Sundström Åke Lagergren Olof Willgren, Jan Waldekranz Pernilla Östergren, Pierre Wilkner Carl Billquist Gösta Prüzelius Claes Thelander Per Sjöstrand Åke Lagergren
Commentary This two-and-a-half hour production of Strindberg’s Drömspel was about twenty minutes longer than Bergman’s 1970 staging. Played without intermission on Dramaten’s Small Stage, a former movie house, this became a performance frought with frustration. See Laterna magica, pp. 47-63 (The Magic Lantern, pp. 32-51). See also Bergman’s comments in an interview with Mikael Timm, (Ögats glädje, 1993). In a Swedish TV interview prior to the premiere (24 April 1986), Bergman indicated his doubts about a play ‘where someone walks about declaring that mankind should be pitied’ [där någon går omkring och säger att det är synd om människorna]. For those who had seen Bergman’s 1970 and 1977 versions of Ett Drömspel (Ein Traumspiel), the 1986 production was somewhat of a deja-vu. Seven of the actors had participated in the 1970 production. Bergman retained the concept of Indra’s daughter as an earthly woman, this time split into three: child-wife-mother; he cut out the Prologue and replaced it, as in the earlier
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre productions, with the Poet sitting at his writing-desk, imagining the play in his mind. The Poet remained present throughout the performance, as did a pianist seated on the left (who later became ugly Edith). They served as a point–counterpoint: two observers of the action. As in his earlier productions of the play, Bergman let the Lawyer’s laurel become a crown of thorns that was lifted down from a crucifix. He ignored the growing castle except once as a projection. Yet his most controversial feature was the scene in Fingal’s Cave, which he turned into a stage rehearsal with the Poet and Indra’s daughter memorizing, in a deliberately amateurish way, Strindberg’s lines to the sounds of an old-fashioned record player and in front of a parodic projection of Böcklin’s painting ‘Toteninsel’. Grotesque caricature and parody also characterized the promotion scene and the Foulstrand episode. All in all, this was a Dreamplay deprived of its metaphysical dimension. Salvation lay in Agnes as a mother figure: Bergman let all the men around Indra’s daughter – the Officer, the Lawyer, the Poet – rest in her bosom in a pietà image. But the final vignette belonged to Agnes the child, who returned to play on the floor while the Poet kept on writing.
Reception ‘The Dreamplay is criticized’ [Drömspelet får kritik] was the headline of DN’s summary of the critical response to Bergman’s production (27 April 1986). Certainly, with few exceptions the reviews lacked the rave exclamations of Bergman’s earlier post-Munich productions. One reviewer (Mario Grut) called this performance ‘a distracted Dreamplay’ [ett distraherat Drömspel] and confirmed Bergman’s later words that his 1986 staging lacked real enthusiasm. Sverker Andréason (GP), who was less critical than most commentators, still felt that Bergman’s unusual handling of the Fingal’s Cave scene was a kind of tired capitulation by a director who had given up. In contrast, Per Erik Wahlund (SvD) described the production as a work that showed no signs of aging (referring both to Strindberg’s play and Bergman’s staging of it). The provincial press was more positive than the Stockholm press.
Reviews Andréason, Sverker. ‘Bergmans drastiska drömspel’ [Bergman’s drastic dreamplay]. GP, 26 April 1986. Behring, Bertil. ‘Så vackert, så vackert..’. [So beautiful, so beautiful...]. KvP, 26 April 1986. Bladh, Curt. ‘Dröm = dikt = liv’ [Dream = poetry = life]. Sundsvalls Tidning, 26 April 1986. Brunius, Teddy. ‘Av samma tyg som drömmar vävas av’ [Of the same cloth that dreams are woven]. UNT, 26 April 1986. Carlsson, Larsolof. ‘Ett drömspel som äkta teater’ [A dreamplay as genuine theatre]. Helsingborgs Dagblad, 26 April 1986. Grut, Mario. ‘Ingen glöd, Bergman!’ [No glow, Bergman!]. AB, 26 April 1986. Hörmark, Mats. ‘Spektakulärt Drömspel blir Bergmans fullträff ’ [Spectacular Dreamplay becomes Bergman’s bull’s eye]. Nerikes Allehanda, 26 April 1986. Jahnsson, Bengt. ‘Bergman sätter kniven i Strindberg’ [Bergman puts the knife in Strindberg]. DN, 26 April 1986. Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘Bergmans drömackord värdigt nationalscenen’ [Bergman’s dream chord worthy the national stage]. SDS, 26 April 1986. Larson, Lisbeth. ‘Kvinnan är hans hopp, all hans längtan’ [Woman is his hope, all his longing]. Expr., 26 April 1986. Palmqvist, Bertil. ‘I huvet på en diktare’ [In the head of a poet]. Arbetet, 26 April 1986. Sablich, Sergio. ‘Il teatro? E sogno. Bergman: ancora una volta Strindberg’. Nazione, 23 May 1986. Wahlund, Per Erik. ‘Ingmar Bergman och Strindberg på Dramaten. Drömspel utan ålderdomssymptom’ [Bergman and Strindberg at Dramaten. Dreamplay without symptoms of aging]. SvD, 26 April 1986.
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See also Malaise, Yvonne, ‘Därför älskar jag ett Drömspel’ (Therefore I love a Dreamplay). DN, På stan section, 26 April 1986, pp. 6-7. Interview article.
468.
HAMLET
Credits Playwright Translator Director Stage Design and Costumes Choreography Music Lighting Dramaturgue Assistant Director Stage Opening date
William Shakespeare Britt G. Hallqvist Ingmar Bergman Göran Wassberg Mercedes Björlin Jean Billgren Hans Åkesson Herbert Grevenius, Ulla Åberg Richard Looft Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm, Main Stage 20 December 1986 (87 performances)
Cast Claudius Hamlet The Ghost Gertrude Polonius Laertes Ophelia Horatio Rosencranz Guildenstern Bernardo Marcellus Francisco Osric Court Lady A Priest Gravedigger Fortinbras Theatre King Theatre Queen Lucianus Pelageia Flutist Drummer A Captain
Börje Ahlstedt Peter Stormare Per Myrberg Gunnel Lindblom Ulf Johanson Pierre Wilkner Pernilla Östergren Jan Waldekranz Johan Lindell Johan Rabæus Joakim Westerberg Johan Rabæus Dennis Dahlsten Johan Lindell Marie Richardson Oscar Ljung Ulf Johanson Joakim Westerberg Per Myrberg Marie Richardson Oscar Ljung Gerd Hagman Ivan Ossoinak Michael Vinsa Dennis Dahlsten
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Commentary A week before the opening of Hamlet, Bergman held a press conference. See Elisabeth Sörenson, ‘Sista chansen göra Hamlet’ [Last chance to do Hamlet], SvD, 12 December 1986; Eva Redvall, ‘En bergmansk Hamlet i tiden’ [A Bergmanian Hamlet of our time], SDS, 14 December 1986; and Agneta Söderberg, ‘En stormande Hamlet-debutant’ [A storming Hamlet debutant], Expr., 12 December, 1986. Bergman had discussed a staging of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream but changed his mind to Hamlet, giving two reasons for his choice of play: he had discovered that Dramaten had an actor, Peter Stormare, who was an ideal Hamlet figure, and he, at nearly 70, did not want to leave the theatre without having done a production of Hamlet. Once before, in the early 1940s, when he directed plays at the Stockholm Student Theatre, he had planned a production which had to be cancelled for lack of space in the Student Union. Hamlet had also been on his mind in the making of Fanny and Alexander where the Ekdahl Company rehearses Shakespeare’s tragedy. In his memoir (Teaterchefen. Bakom masker, 249-51), Lars Löfgren, then head of Dramaten, describes the early phase of the Hamlet production as not without friction. Because other Dramaten productions were under way, Bergman’s long cast list did not include all the names he had originally picked out. In May 1986 (the production of Hamlet was first discussed in December 1985), Bergman wrote Löfgren that he wished to bow out rather than compromise with the casting. The conflict was resolved. To Löfgren, Bergman listed four principles he intended to follow in his production: (1) conceiving the play as a station drama, with Hamlet’s soliloquies marking ‘stations’ in the prince’s spiritual search; (2) using an empty stage and seeking out an acoustic and optical circle, five meters in diameter – a narrow acting space dictated by Hamlet’s words that Denmark is a prison. The costumes would be from different time periods to suggest the timelessness of the play; (3) using a new Swedish translation up to par with the original text but easier for the actors to handle than older translations; (4) defining Hamlet’s conflict as the maturation process of a desperate soul. Bergman viewed the appearance of the ghost of Hamlet’s father as the catalyst that sets the process in motion. But he would not present the dead king as a spooky theatrical figure dressed in armor but as a harbinger of death whose hand touched Hamlet and sucked the life out of him. Hamlet in turn would affect Ophelia in the same way. Bergman called this encounter with death a contamination and a poison that he himself had known since childhood and had often portrayed in his films. His description also brings to mind Strindberg’s vampire theme in Spöksonaten (The Ghost Sonata). In retrospect, Bergman was to refer to his Hamlet production as a completely unified (helstöpt) way of looking at Hamlet. But he also called his undertaking ‘one of my angriest productions, perhaps the angriest’. [en av mina argaste uppsättningar, kanske den argaste] (Sjögren, Lek och raseri, 2002, p. 183). Bergman’s Hamlet began with a series of curtain raises, the first ones in glittering gold, then in black until a bare stage and a stark void was revealed. Streaks of light sought out possible acting spots. The production opened with a waltz from The Merry Widow, an ironic and anachronistic reference to Queen Gertrude, and finished with hard rock (composed by the Swedish rock band Imperiet) as Fortrinbras and his storm troopers, dressed in modern leather attire, rode in on stage on roaring motorbikes. Hamlet’s funeral was directed by Fortrinbras as a media event on TV. In Bergman’s production, Hamlet and Ophelia were two outsider victims in Claudius’ lusty court. Hamlet was dressed in black and wore sunglasses, like a James Dean of the 1980s, a disillusioned young rebel (occasionally appearing in a knitted cap similar to the one worn by Bergman as an angry young man). Ophelia, barefoot, in a light blue dress, was present on stage
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman like a spectre throughout the performance (an approach that had been tried a few years earlier in a Berlin production by director Klaus-Michael Grüber but also by Bergman in other play productions). Polonius was cast as a silly old bureaucrat hugging his portifolio; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern looked like two Dickens characters; and Horatio (to whom Bergman’s Hamlet had a homosexual attachment) was a dandy from Oscar Wilde’s London. In a post-production program on Swedish Radio Channel 1 by Kerstin Berggren, titled ‘Vägen till Hamlet’ [The Road to Hamlet], 11 and 12 May 1987 (and again on 30 June 1988), Bergman and several members of the cast commented on his production of Hamlet. Bergman refers to the unnerving dress rehearsal when one of the curtains in the opening vignette got stuck, which everyone saw as a bad omen. He discusses his decision to shift the famous ‘To be or not to be’ monologue to the scene where Hamlet instructs the actors, and explains his intentions behind the unconventional rock music ending. Dramaten published the new Swedish translation of Hamlet by Britt G. Hallqvist (Stockholm: Ordfront, 1986) with Bergman’s cuts and changes marked in the text. Major cuts were the following: (1) shortening of the opening scene; (2) Act II, scene 1 (Polonius before meeting Ophelia); (3) beginning of Actor’s speech; (4) part of Hamlet’s soliloquy, end of Act II ; (5) Act IV, scene 6 and most of scene 7 (King and Laertes); (6) Gravedigger scene, Act V, cut prior to gravedigger’s song. Of the 150-page printed text, approximately 60 pages were cut. The performance lasted 3 hrs 45 min.
Swedish Reception ‘...a Hamlet not like any other’ [en Hamlet likt ingen annan], wrote one reviewer (Andréasen) about a production said to be more Bergman than Shakespeare: ‘it leads right into Bergman’s world, seldom into Shakespeare’s’ [leder oss rätt in i Bergmans värld, mera sällan Shakespeares] (Zern). Views were mixed about Bergman using Peter Stormare (a distant relative and lookalike) as his young alter ego. To Leif Zern, Peter Stormare’s Hamlet was less of a Renaissance prince and more of a deperate rebel and loser from Café Existence (see also Boldt, Hufvudstadsbladet). Ophelia’s continuous presence on stage led some critics to see her as the intended main character and as a dream consciousness reminiscent of Indra’s daughter in Strindberg’s Drömspel (Dreamplay): ‘Bergman had quite simply imagined the play as Ophelia’s nightmare. [...] Ophelia is even a witness to her own funeral’. [Bergman hade helt enkelt föreställt sig pjäsen som Ofelias mardröm. [...] Ofelia bevittnar till och med sin egen begravning] (Palmqvist). Many Swedish critics found it difficult to find a thematic unity in the production and were puzzled by Bergman’s intended focus – was it on the Hamlet figure as a despondent, motherfixated iconoclast; on Ophelia as the embodiment of sacrificial innocence; on a meta-theatrical space where all the world is a stage; or on the political threat of fascism? Few if any commentators were happy about Bergman’s post-modernistic melange of clothing styles, time periods, and other ironic and distancing devices. Some reviewers looked for the core of Bergman’s interpretation in his juxtaposition of the little world of theatrical illusion and the violent, larger world outside. Still, an ambivalent response remained also in this case: ‘Is this a dreamplay or is it a stylistic parody?’ [Är detta ett drömspel eller en stilistisk parodi], asked one critic (Larsén). Above all, there was consternation about the violent punk ending: ‘The attack at the end was so cool and trendy that one reacts negatively’. [Attacken på slutet var så cool och trendig att man reagerar negativt]. (Wistrand). See also the so-called Hamlet debate below.
Reviews, Swedish Andréasson, Sverker. ‘Hamlets inre svarta scen’ [Hamlet’s inner black stage]. GP, 21 December 1986.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Bergman i visuell högform’ [Bergman in visual top form]. SvD, 21 December 1986. Boldt, Julin. ‘Hamlet i polotröja’ [Hamlet in turtle neck]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 23 December 1986. Brunius, Teddy. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Hamlet’. UNT, 22 December 1986. Ellefsen, Tove. ‘Orytmiskt och hackigt ytspel’ [Jerky superficial acting without rhythm]. DN, 21 December 1986. Grut, Mario. ‘Poff! Wham!’ AB, 21 December 1986, p. 5. Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘En pyrande vulkan’ [A smoking volcano]. SDS, 21 December 1986. Lundin, Bo. ‘Ingmar Bergmans “Hamlet” på Dramaten: Mindre om Hamlet än om Ofelias sorg’ [Bergman’s Hamlet at Dramaten: Less about Hamlet and more about Ofelia’s sorrow]. GT, 21 December 1986, p. 4. Milits, Alex. ‘Bergmans W.C’. Nya Vermlands Tidning, 21 December 1986. Palmqvist, Bertil. ‘Ofelias mardrömmar’ [Ofelia’s nightmares]. Arbetet, 21 December 1986. Wistrand, Sten. ‘Bergman har blåst dammet av Hamlet’ [Bergman has dusted off Hamlet]. Nerikes Allehanda, 22 December 1986. Zern, Leif. ‘Är det Bergman som är Hamlet?’ [Is it Bergman who is Hamlet?]. Expr., 21 December 1986.
Non-Swedish Reception ‘A postmodernist Hamlet who conceals as much as he reveals and who could only be the child of Ingmar Bergman’, wrote Time’s correspondent and concluded that ‘the production is certainly not for Shakespearean purists’. But non-Swedish reviewers were by and large more appreciative of Bergman’s Hamlet than their Swedish colleagues. Ossia Trilling of The Times was surprised at the Swedish resistance to Bergman’s ‘innovative production’ and at the failure to see a method to the madness [of the storm-trooper ending]: ‘Anyone who has followed Ingmar Bergman’s stage career since his early postwar venture into the world of Shakespeare with a vexatious production of Macbeth... should have been able to take the strident innovations of this Hamlet in his stride. [...] All the world is Bergman’s stage. [...] Here literally, anything goes’. The post-modernistic and meta-theatrical features of the production were viewed with tolerance. The intrusion of reality into the closed world of the theatre may be a cliché in the 1980s, wrote Michael Bonneson in Danish Politiken but accepted the final ‘wildly melodramatic scene’ since it was carried out with unforgettable sharpness and an artistic mastery that came close to perfection. Jens Kistrup in Danish Berlingske Tidende was intrigued by Bergman’s rockage Hamlet in slick raincoat and sunglasses and saw him as an ironic clown dancing with the actors; a desperate and sensuous lover of Ophelia; and a confused rebel in a decadent court.
Non-Swedish Reviews Bonnesen, Michael. ‘Fra blød vals til hård rock’ [From soft waltz to hard rock]. Politiken, (Danish), 21 December 1986 Kistrup, Jens. ‘Hamlets livsnerve – og Ingmar Bergmans’ [Hamlet’s life nerve – and Bergman’s]. Berlingske Tidende, 21 December 1986. Kohan, John. ‘A Hamlet for the 80s’. Time, 30 March 1987. Ratcliffe, Michael. ‘A lamp shines on Elsinore’. The Observer, 4 January 1987, p. 18. Sørensen, Viggo. ‘Bergman’s nøgterne Hamlet’ [Bergman’s sober Hamlet]. Jyllands-Posten, 21 December 1986. Trilling, Ossia. ‘Bergman still in full cry’. The Times, 2 January 1987.
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One of Bergman’s most controversial stage productions was his rendering of Shakespeare’s Hamlet at Dramaten in 1986. Hamlet was acted by his look-alike and distant relative Peter Stormare. Ulf Johanson, a long-time member of Bergman’s stable of actors, played the Gravedigger in a bowler hat. Insert shows a younger Bergman in same headgear as Stormare’s Hamlet (Courtesy: Bengt Wanselius/SFI)
Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre See also Garde, Mogens. ‘Kom till Kronborg med den “Hamlet”’, Berlingske Tidende, 22 December 1986. (Garde urged the organizers of the summer Shakespeare festival at Kronborg to invite Bergman’s Hamlet production in 1987. Discussions were held, but Bergman felt that the lighting, crucial to his production could not be transferred to an open air theatre in the Nordic summer night).
The Hamlet Debate The most devastating critique of Bergman’s Hamlet production was published in DN, 21 December 1986. Its reviewer, Tove Ellefsen, called the production unfinished, the acting superficial, and the rhythm jerky; she concluded that ‘this is not a Shakespeare worthy of Bergman. Or a Bergman worthy of Shakespeare’. [detta är inte en Shakespeare värdig Bergman. Eller en Bergman värdig Shakespeare]. Two days later (23 December), the evening paper Expr. questioned the DN review. Ellefsen, in turn, responded (DN, 13 January 1987 ). Journalist Madeleine Grive claimed that Bergman was surrounded by ‘fawning dogs’ (knähundar) that prevented an honest critique of his work (AB, 4 January 1987). Reviewer Mario Grut (AB, 15 January 1987) tried to shift the debate to a question of principle: To what extent could Hamlet be abbreviated, rewritten and rearranged and still be presented as Shakespeare’s work? Grut’s own answer was negative: ‘This Hamlet is no more Shakespearean than it would be Schubertian to play “Death and the Maiden” with the allegro and andante movements in the reverse order. [...] What has disappeared is the depth and complexity in the text’s Hamlet. [...] All is lost in a psychological void barely illuminated by pyrotechnical ersatz entertainment’. [Denna Hamlet är inte mer shakespearsk än det skulle vara schubertskt att spela ‘Döden och flickan’ med allegro och andantesatserna i omvänd ordning. [...] Det som försvunnit är djupet och komplikationen hos textens Hamlet. [...] Allt förloras i ett psykologiskt tomrum nödtorftigt upplyst av pyroteknisk ersättningsunderhållning]. For press articles in the debate, see: Ellefsen, Tove. ‘Får man vara recensent?’ [May one be a reviewer?]. DN, 13 January 1987, p. 20. Gellerfelt, Mats. ‘Bergman och värdenas sönderfall. Några tankar kring en omstridd teateruppsättning’ [Bergman and the disintegration of values. Some thoughts about a controversial theatre production]. Tempus, 30 January – 6 February 1987, pp. 28-29. Grive, Madeleine. ‘Bergmans knähundar’ [Bergman’s fawning dogs] AB, 4 January 1987, p. 4. —, Skådespelarna tar Bergman i försvar’ [The actors defend Bergman], AB, 6 January 1987, p. 7. Grut, Mario. ‘Hamlet – noter till en skendebatt’ [Hamlet – Notes to a fake debate]. AB, 15 December 1986, p. 5. Josephson, Erland. ‘Hur står det till min prins’ [How goes it, my prince]. Expr., 15 January 1987, pp. 4-5. Linder, Lars. ‘Debatten kring Bergmans “Hamlet”. Det handlar om teaterns val av språk’ [The debate about Bergman’s Hamlet. It’s a question of the theatre’s choice of language]. DN, 28 January 1987. Nilsson, Björn. Månadsjournalen, no. 5, 1987 (see Ø 1448, Chapter IX). (Suggested that part of the resistance to Bergman’s very postmodern Hamlet had to do with his refusal to act the role of aging director rather than challenging innovator.) Wærn, Carina. ‘En Hamlet bredvid tiden’ [A Hamlet alongside time]. DN, 31 January 1987. Zern, Leif. ‘God natt, Hamlet’. Expr., 10 May 1987. The ‘Hamlet debate’ as it was dubbed in the Swedish press was discussed by Thomas Bredsdorff in ‘Krigen om Hamlet’ [The war about Hamlet], Politiken (Danish), 22 February 1987. For a report in English on the Swedish reception of Bergman’s ‘Hamlet’, see Richard Stayton, ‘Bergman’s “Hamlet” is a Rebel Without a Cause’, Los Angeles Herald Tribune, 1 March 1987. Stayton
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman quotes Ellefsen saying that criticizing Bergman was sacrilege: ‘It’s a very irreverant parallel, but attacking Bergman is like questioning the Palme murder. In fact, it has replaced Palme.’ The head of Dramaten, Lars Löfgren, became worried that the DN response and ensuing debate would prejudge the production when it was taken abroad (Dramaten was already scheduled to visit Florence, London and Edinburgh; see Löfgren, Bakom masker). That the negative reception had an impact on attendance at home was confirmed when the production closed at Dramaten in mid-April 1987 and Dramaten’s ticket office revealed that Hamlet had played to only 80% audience capacity, as opposed to all other productions on the Dramaten repertory, which had had full houses. See ‘Allt utsålt – utom Bergmans Hamlet’ [Everything sold out – except Bergman’s Hamlet], Expr., 13 April 1987. When Dramaten went abroad with Hamlet, some of the actors commented on the rather vitriolic Swedish critique. Both Peter Stormare (Hamlet) and Pernilla Östergren (Ophelia) felt they had experienced not only unjust criticism of the production but a spiteful attitude directed at Bergman and the actors. See Åke Malm, ‘Svenska “Hamlet” och “Ofelia” säljer ut Italiens teatersalonger’ [Swedish Hamlet and Ophelia a sell-out in Italian theatres]. AB, 9 January 1987.
Review Articles and Longer Studies Babski, Cindy. ‘Theater: Bergman Brings a Restive Hamlet to Brooklyn’. New York Times, 5 June 1988, p. 5ff. Interview article. See Ø 619. Lusardi, James P. ‘Hamlet on the Postmodernist Stage: The Revisionings of Bergman and Wajda’. Hamlet Studies 19, no. 1-2 (Summer-Winter) 1997: 78-92. Löfgren, Lars. Bakom masker, pp. 254-55. (Reports on the mood on opening night. Bergman, reacting to the reviews in the negative Stockholm press, apparently cancelled his plans to stage The Bachae right after Hamlet). Koskinen, Maaret. Ingmar Bergman. Allting föreställer, ingenting är, 2001, pp. 174-75. Ratcliffe, Michael. ‘Bergman to be....’. Sweden Now, no. 3, 1987, pp. 33-35. Sörenson, Elisabeth. ‘Viktigt att berätta en historia’ [Important to tell a story]. SvD, 16 December 1986. n.a. ‘Såsom i en spegel’. Expr., 21 December 1986, p. 7. (Pictorial comparison between Bergman and Stormare).
Guest Performances outside of Sweden 1. Florence, 10-12 January 1987. Bergman’s Hamlet production was invited to Florence for three performances in early January 1987 (Florence was Cultural City of Europe in 1986-87 and this was the concluding event). Performances took place in the 17th-century Pergola Theatre, which had the right ambience for Bergman’s Hamlet production. One problem however was the amount of electricity needed for the performance, but this was remedied by having the electric company in town shut off the lights in two villages outside of Florence, as well as at a fashion show. See Löfgren, Bakom masker, p. 256.
Reception Sabine Heymann’s report ‘Hamlet Heute’, Theater Heute 5/87: 32-34 refers to week-long Italian media reporting on Dramaten and Bergman’s Hamlet prior to the first night opening. The press conference before opening night was packed. Italian critics were well informed about the Swedish debate, referred to as ‘an execution of Ingmar Bergman’. Peter Stormare responded to questions about the negative Swedish reception of Bergman’s Hamlet. Pernilla Östergren (Ophelia) mentioned Bergman’s reference to Ophelia as ‘a conscience that dies and dissolves but lives on as a memory.’ The Italian response was respectful but critics expressed their disappointment at Bergman cancelling his scheduled appearance, the second time in Italy (first
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre time at Spoleto Theatre Festival in 1986). See Carlo Lienzi’s report in Nazione Spettacolo, 9 January 1987 (‘Dalla Svezia ma senza Bergman’). Reporters sometimes outdid each other in hinting at a scandalously outrageous production in the offing, with sodomy, incest, rape and homosexuality on stage. This was said to reflect an aging Bergman in the middle of a sexual crisis. A more serious media event in connection with Dramaten’s visit with Hamlet was a conference arranged by Teatro regionale toscana at Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence, sponsored by the Slavic, Germanic, and Ugro-Finnish Department at Florence University. Participating were Dramaten head Lars Löfgren, translator Göran O. Ericsson, theatre historian Laura Caretti, and actors Pernilla Östergren and Peter Stormare. The moderator was Florence’s leading theatre critic Paolo Emilio Poesio, who summed up: ‘This is without doubt Bergman’s interpretation of Shakespeare. Just as the Bible has apocryphical books besides the canonical ones, one can say that this is an apocryphical interpretation. That does not preclude that it be an interpretation based on great knowledge and great love of Shakespeare. Besides, the production is full of new observations of the text and that is what makes it so excellent’. See ‘In occasione della prima di ieri alla Pergola’, La Republica, 10 January 1987. The Italian reviews of Bergman’s Hamlet were mixed but the performance was a public success. Reviewers chose a less evaluative and more analytical approach than their Swedish colleagues. Though critical of the ending, several found Bergman’s placement of the ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy ingenious: by having Hamlet address the visting actors, Bergman transformed the soliloquy into an essential theatre metaphor rather than a dark and despondent view of life (Bonino). The meta-theatrical aspect of Bergman’s staging was noted favorably in many of the reviews, as was Peter Stormare’s portrayal of Hamlet as the eternal intellectual (Brunelli). There was critical agreement that this was Bergman’s Hamlet as much as Shakespeare’s: ‘This was the same Shakespeare that mixed magic and death in Fanny and Alexander’. (Volli). For Swedish summaries of Italian reception of Hamlet production, see Peter Loewe, ‘Hamlet i Florens. Blandade omdömen’ [Hamlet in Florence. Mixed evaluations], DN, 13 January 1987, or the same reporter, ‘Italienarna gillade Hamlet’ [The Italians liked Hamlet], Östgöta-Correspondenten, 14 January 1987, and Ann-Mari Kjellander, ‘Dramaten i Italien. “Hamlet kitsch”’, SvD, 12 January 1987. An American report by Gordon Rogoff of the Hamlet performance in Florence appeared in The Village Voice, 3 February 1987 (‘Directorially Bound’). Rogoff termed Bergman’s Hamlet ‘a remarkable achievement, the most eloquent reading of Shakespeare since [Peter] Brook’s Lear [...] Shakespeare is presented with a paradoxical respect. [...] Hamlet, for once, emerges like a painting scrubbed back to its original colors’. A German report on the reception of Hamlet in Stockholm and in Florence was written by Sabine Heymann. ‘Wie in einem Spiegel’, Frankfurter Rundschau, 22 January 1987. Heymann also gave a positive review of the production. Cf. her article in Theater Heute above.
Reviews Bonino, Guido Davico. ‘Amleto, il ribelle punk’. La Stampa, 11 January 1987. Brunelli, Vittorio. ‘Firenze ha acclamato l’Amleto’ diverso di Bergman’. Corriere della Serra, 11 January 1987. Lapini, Lia. ‘Bergman, Luci di Amleto’. Paese Sera, 11 January 1987. Lienza, Carlo. ‘Dalla Svezia ma senza Ingmar’. Nazione, 9 January 1987. (Preview). Lucchesini, Paolo. ‘I turbamenti del giovane Hamlet’. Nazione, 11 January 1987. Ronfani, Ugo. ‘Amleto splendido, quasi punk’. Il Giorno, 11 January 1987. Savioli, Aggeo. ‘Amleto e il grande dittatore’. L’Unita, 11 January 1987.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Testaferrata, Luigi. ‘Bergman si specchia in Amleto’. Il Giornale degli spettacolo, 11 January 1987. Tian, Renzo. ‘La rabbia del principe impziente’. Il Messaggero, 11 January 1987. Vannucci, Marcello. ‘Bergman si specchia in Amleto’. Il Giornale, 11 January 1987. Volli, Ugo. ‘“Amleto”, l’incapacita di decifrare il mondo’. La Republica, 11 January 1987.
2. London and Edinburgh, June 10-15, 1987 The London performances of Dramaten’s Hamlet took place 10-15 June 1987 at the Lyttleton Stage, one of three stages in the National Theatre’s performance complex in London. The visit was occasioned by the National Theatre’s 10-year anniversary, which included a Swedish week. Besides five performances of Hamlet, Dramaten also presented two evenings of Bergman’s 1985 production of Strindberg’s Miss Julie. The event represented the first time that the National Theatre had invited foreign theatre productions to its stages; the other visiting performances came from the Japanese Toho Theatre, West Berlin’s Schaubühne, and the American Kennedy Center.
Reception Some British reviewers expressed the hope that Bergman would come back, as he had done with Hedda Gabler, to direct a Hamlet production in Shakespeare’s own country (see Kingston review below). Most enthusiastic was Gordon Giles in London Daily News: ‘This is the most vital production of Hamlet I’ve seen in years. Though I speak no Swedish, it kept me at the edge of my seat throughout a marvellous evening. [...] Bergman and his actors have revived, in Swedish, a play on the British stage which we have come to regard, in the last decade, as a tiresome exam test.’ Blake Morrison in The Observer was equally enthralled: ‘Shakespeare’s most linguistically complex and cerebral [play] is restored to us – clearly and movingly – as a drama of great visual force’. Michael Billington in The Guardian felt that the advantage in Bergman’s Hamlet was its simplicity and wit ‘and that it was unafraid to go back to moral fundamentals that, in our super-sophistication, we have lost sight of ’. Jeremy Kingston in The Times called the presentation ‘a vigorously physical production, [...] passionate, sensual, tightly knit and persuasively motivated, with a Hamlet actor who ‘has the look of an Irish seminarist wracked by sexual desires’. Yet, at the other end of the critical spectrum, there were a number of reviews that echoed the Swedish reservations about Bergman’s Hamlet: its self-indulgent personal note, its post-modernistic mélange of costumes and styles, its treatment of Ophelia, its lack of a clear focus, and its excessive ‘gimmickry’ and ‘vulgarity’. Thus, the critic in the Independent called Bergman’s production one of ‘startling crudity – elaborate crudity, crudity built up layer by layer, but crudity nonetheless. [...] (Fortrinbras’) arrival is a fittingly grotesque finish to a production of prodigious miscalculation and excess.’ Robin Stringer in The London Evening Standard thought that Bergman’s treatment of Ophelia shifted the whole balance of the play: ‘Representing all the innocents who ever suffered unjustly, she seems a repository for all that is rotten in Bergman’s state of Denmark, which is plenty’. Francis King in The Sunday Telegraph was ‘saddened that a director as great as Bergman should have come up with a production so tawdry’. Charles Osborne in The Daily Telegraph called Bergman’s Hamlet ‘radically chic’ but only moderately successful ‘because the director’s intentions, other than the obvious one to impose himself upon the play, are not clearly conveyed’. But the most devastating response came from John Peter in The Sunday Times: ‘This is not Shakespeare’s Hamlet but an expressionist fantasy on the same theme, called, presumably, Ingmar the Black Prince, [...] the existentalist misfit. [...] Why the National Theatre invited [Bergman] to bring this vulgar and pretentious production of Hamlet...is a mystery to me’. Not unexpectly, many British reviewers were more conscious of Bergman’s cuts and rearrangements of well-known Shakespeare passages than critics elsewhere. Nevertheless few con-
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre sidered Shakespeare’s text so sacred that no adaptations could be made but instead recognized Bergman’s rationale for making changes in the text. For Swedish (positive) summaries of British reception, see Ola Gummesson, ‘Mycket Londonberöm för ‘svensk Hamlet’’ [Much London praise for Swedish Hamlet], SvD, 13 June 1987, and Hedvig Thorburn, ‘Lyckad svensk Hamlet i London’ [Successful Swedish Hamlet in London], GP, 13 June 1987.
Reviews Billington, Michael. ‘Sex and the single prince’. The Guardian, 12 June 1987. Giles, Gordon. ‘The play’s the thing’. London Daily News, 11 June 1987. Hoyle, Martin. ‘Hamlet /Lyttelton’. Financial Times, 11 June 1987, p. 25. King, Francis. ‘Alas! Poor Hamlet’. The Sunday Telegraph, 14 June 1987. Kingston, Jeremy. ‘Fiery Stress on Sensual Rage’. The Times, 12 June 1987. Mars-Jones, Adam. ‘Danes and Swedes in goalless draw’. The Independent, 12 June 1987. Morrison, Blake. ‘Dream of Passion’. The Observer, 14 June 1987, p. 19. Osborne, Charles. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s neurotic Hamlet’. The Daily Telegraph, 12 June 1987, p. 14. Peter, John. ‘Prince of Darkness’. The Sunday Times, 14 June 1987, p. 51. Stringer, Robin. ‘Bad eggs in a Swedish Hamlet’. The London Evening Standard, 11 June 1987.
See also Thorburn, Hedvig. ‘Svensk Hamlet gästar London’. SDS, 10 June 1987. A brief interview with Lars Löfgren during Dramaten’s visit to London. Löfgren believed that foreign viewers might have an easier time understanding Bergman’s symbolism – in part because the performers were not well-known individual faces to them as was the case in Sweden.
3. New York, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), 10-17 June 1988 A year after the European guest performances, Dramaten’s Hamlet paid a week-long visit to New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), with opening night on 10 June 1988. There were a total of eight performances. This coincided with the New Sweden jubilee, celebrating the 300th-anniversary of the Swedish founding of a colony in America in present-day Delaware. The King and Queen of Sweden were in attendance. See reportage in AB, ‘Stormare ger USA Hamlet-feber’ [Stormare gives the US Hamlet fever], 10 June 1988. See also publicity articles in the weekly 7 Days; in NYT, and in New York (Amy Virshup’s ‘Taking Hamlet by Stormare’), all 10 June 1988. An interview with Bergman, done previously in Stockholm, was published in NYT, on 5 June 1988 (See Ø 619, 911), Chapters, VII, VIII).
Reception As in London, the criticism was mixed, ranging from lyrical enthusiasm over the acting (Howard Kissel, Daily News,) to negative responses to Bergman’s ‘mish-mash’ of styles and time periods, ‘frills and furbelows that are plentiful and ridiculous’, presenting a title figure who is ‘a jokey 20th-century neurotic, a guy ready for the psychiatrist’s couch at best, an early morgue at worst.’ (Clive Barnes, New York Post). To Mel Gussow (NYT) the production was ‘like a Bergman film on stage’ and a hard feat to match despite the questionable ending. Michael Kuchwara in an Associated Press (AP) release, 11 June 1988, felt that Bergman’s ‘fascinating and powerful production could just as well belong to one of New York’s trendy rock clubs’. Michael Feingold in Village Voice focussed on Bergman’s sense of detail and ability to bring life to every scene: ‘I can’t think of any modern director who has turned words into flesh so consistently, and with such obsessive force, as Bergman does here.’ Bergman’s final scene was rejected by most NY critics as ‘pointless’ (Weales), ‘gratuitous’ (Gussow), ‘tampering’ (Kramer), and ‘a less than original finish’ (DeVries). DeVries pointed out that similar modernized, TV-inspired endings had been tried by Britain’s Michael Bogdanov and Americans like Peter Sellars and Mark Lamos. The only critic who saw the Fortinbras finale in positive terms was Robert Brustein,
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman who felt it was part of Bergman’s total vision of Shakespeare’s tragedy as a play of terror rather than pity: ‘Through terror, Bergman uses Shakespeare’s play to dramatize the Second Coming.’
Newspaper Reviews Barnes, Clive. ‘Modern Hamlet highly strung’. New York Post, 10 June 1988, p. 30. DeVries, Hillary. ‘Bergman’s Cinematic “Hamlet” on Stage’. Christian Science Monitor, 15 June 1988, p. 21. Feingold, Michael. ‘Drinking Hot Blood’. The Village Voice, 21 June 1988, p. 97-98. Gussow, Mel. ‘Stamped with a Bergman Seal’. New York Times 11 June 1988. Kissel, Howard. ‘For Raw Challenge the Play’s the Thing’. New York, 10 June 1986. (‘If you didn’t know that Bergman had directed this “Hamlet” you might think it was the work of some fierce young whippersnapper, maybe from Chicago.’)
Magazine Reviews Brustein, Robert. ‘Robert Brustein on Theater’. The New Republic, vol. 199, no. 3-4 (July 18) 1988, pp. 28-29. Called Bergman’s Hamlet ‘one of the most extraordinary theater events of our time’. To Brustein, ‘Bergman has rethought every character, every relationship, every scene, every moment, in exquisite detail... [which] radically alters our understanding of Shakespeare’s play without altering its shape.’ Brustein also felt that having a well-known play performed in a foreign tongue had a liberating effect on the spectator who could focus on the non-verbal aspects of the drama, making the production a theatrical rather than literary experience. Disch, Thomas R. ‘Hamlet. Brooklyn Academy of Music’. The Nation, vol. 247, no. 2 (16 July) 1988, pp. 68-9. Unlike Brustein above, Disch felt that only a spectator knowledgeable of Swedish could judge the production. ‘For me, Bergman’s Hamlet was much like Kabuki [...]. Bergman, showman that he is, seems to have anticipated our need for ballet-like big gestures and choreographs accordingly [...]. However, even with the furthest license that symbolism allows, the number of scenes that can be ornamented with physical abuse or sexual pantomime is limited, and the rest isn’t silence, it’s Swedish.’ Kramer, Mimi. ‘The Theatre – Across the River’. New Yorker, 27 June 1988, p. 82. ‘As a collective audience, we have no preconceptions left [about staging Hamlet] – beyond the preconception that someone will do something unconventional’. But Kramer found Bergman’s production quite conventional, except for the ending: ‘Shakespeare straightforwardly performed by a first-rate company of European classical actors.’ Weales, Gerald. ‘Upside-Down in Swedish’. Commonweal, 12 August 1988, pp. 432-33. Weales saw the language barrier as a major problem in understanding Bergman’s Hamlet. Without a comprehensible text, he could not figure out the motivation behind some of the acting.
See also Kroll, Jack. ‘Shakespeare Triple Play’. Newsweek, 16 June 1988 (Interview excerpts with Peter Stormare). Tallmer, Jerry. ‘Swedish Shakespeare’. New York Post, 8 June 1988, p. 6 (Interview with Peter Stormare).
Sponsoring the New York Visit – Another Hamlet Debate On the day of the opening performance of Hamlet in New York, a controversy started in Sweden over the sponsorship of Dramaten’s American tour of Hamlet. The catalyst was an advertisement that the sponsor, Sparbankernas bank, had published in the press on 9 June 1988, showing Ophelia (Pernilla Östergren) and Hamlet (Peter Stormare) in an intense tete-a-tete, accompanied by the line ‘To Be or Not To Be’. Tove Ellefsen in DN (10 June) questioned Dramaten’s policy to let a bank sponsor the opening performance. The following day, leftist
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre actor Sven Wollter questioned business-sponsoring of state-supported cultural events and demanded that Dramaten’s head, Lars Löfgren, resign since he had sold out Dramaten to big business: ‘The little prince Lasse Bernadotte Löfgren can hardly be ignorant of the sponsoring debate that has gone on for years. [...] Such a man does not have anything to do with our [national] theatre. For please note that Dramaten is our theatre, not Tjabo’s [nickname for King Carl Gustaf] or Silvia’s [The Queen] or The Savings Bank’s’. [Den lille prinsen Lasse Bernadotte Löfgren kan knappast vara okunnig om den sponsringsdebatt som har pågått i åratal. [...] En sådan man har ingenting att göra med vår teater. För lägg märke till att Dramaten är vår teater, inte Tjabos eller Silvias eller Sparbankens]. See AB, ‘Wollter: Sparka Dramatenchefen’ [W.: Kick Out the Head of Dramaten], 11 June 1988. Actress Bibi Andersson addressed a series of questions to Löfgren in DN on 14 June 1988, in which she argued that Dramaten’s actors, who received no extra pay for guest performances abroad and had to travel tourist class to New York, were being manipulated to help support private business (‘Bibi Andersson till attack mot sponsring’ [Bibi Andersson attacks sponsoring]). Lars Löfgren responded the next day (15 June) in DN (‘Lars Löfgren svarar kritiker’ [Lars Löfgren answers critics]). Dramaten, he explained, received state subsidies only for its actitivities in Sweden. No state support was available for performances abroad; the Dramaten Board had voted to accept sponsor support for such occasions. In this particular case, the sponsor (Sparbankernas bank/Savings Bank) paid all of the transportation costs for the ensemble. Löfgren’s arguments were seconded by Ingmar Björkstén in SvD, 15 June 1988. Sven Wollter responded in AB, 8 July 1988 and asked again for Lars Löfgren’s resignation. Chris Torch, head of the theatre troupe Jordcircus (Earth Circus) who had toured the US in Spring 1986, questioned not only the sponsorship issue but the entire purpose of the New Sweden 88 project, which was seen as an artistic manifestation aimed at promoting Swedish business rather than presenting a diversified Swedish culture. See ‘New Sweden 88 gagnar inte kulturen’ [New Sweden 88 does not benefit culture], DN, 17 June 1988. Several of Dramaten’s actors had voiced a protest over the sponsor ad, and Östergren and Stormare asked for financial compensation from the sponsor. (The money would be donated to Greenpeace). The issue ended there.
4. Tokyo Globe Theatre, 2-3, 5-9 July 1988. In Tokyo, Bergman’s production of Hamlet was performed seven times at the Globe Theatre. The technical quality of the translation system was excellent and the audience very attentive, but to the Swedish troupe the applause seemed tame. See summary of Japanese reception in Arbetet, 6 July 1988 and report by Thomas von Heijne in SvD, 6 July 1988 (‘Tokyo-beröm för Dramaten’/ Tokyo praise for Dramaten). Japanese audiences reportedly found the performance much more aggressive and noisy than their own native theatre tradition.
5. Moskow, Stanislavski Artistic Theatre, 27 September-1 October 1988. As in New York and Tokyo, the Hamlet production in Moscow was part of a double bill with Bergman’s 1985 staging of Miss Julie. The five performances took place in Stanislavski’s old Artistic Theatre, which had just reopened after being closed for repairs for seven years.
Reception See reception under Miss Julie entry (Ø 466). Dramaten was in a city of theatre enthuiasts. Michail Kozakov, Moskovskie novosti, called the performance ‘a shattering theatre experience’ and Bergman’s Hamlet figure a modern funereal egghead. Bergman’s approach was termed that of a daring traditionalist turned radical man of the theatre. Kozakov compared the impact of Bergman’s presentation to the Moscow production by Peter Brook.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reviews Bozjovitj, V. ‘Hamlet, Bergman, y my’ (H and us). Izvestia, 15 October 1988. V. Bozjovitj in Izvestia interpreted Hamlet as a man who has lost respect for himself, a typical intellectual Bergman hero, the persona of ‘one of the most tragic and important artists in our cruel and turbulent century’. Kozakov, Michael. ‘Fenomena bergmana’. Moskoviskie novasti, 23 October 1988. Obrastova, Anna. ‘Igry i sny to Bergmanu’ [Lekar och drömmare enligt Bergman]. Sovjetskaja kultura, 13 October 1988. Appreciated Bergman’s abilitity to break into Shakespeare’s text and undertake a rapid journey through several centuries to our own time. Obstratova experienced the production as part melodrama, part farce, and found the shocking finale logical for a Shakespeare hero.
469.
SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE: DIVORCE SWEDISH STYLE
Credits Playwright Stage Date
Ingmar Bergman Edinburgh, unknown neighborhood club Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 28 August 1986
During the official Edinburgh Theatre Festival, where Bergman’s Dramaten production of Strindberg’s Miss Julie gave a guest performance, an alternative festival for small professional theatre groups, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, was arranged. A Welsh troupe named Waccs Works performed the last scene in Bergman’s TV series Scener ur ett äktenskap (Scenes from a Marriage). The performance was billed as the British world premiere of Bergman’s work. It was briefly reviewed by Camilla Lundberg in Expr. (‘“Dramatenska” bättre på walesiska’), 30 August 1986, p. 5. Lundberg compared the Waccs Works’ performance style favorably to what she termed Dramaten’s stilted dialogue style.
1988 470.
LÅNG DAGS FÄRD MOT NATT [Long Day’s Journey into Night]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Music Projections Assistant Director Stage Opening Date
Eugene O’Neill Ingmar Bergman Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss Daniel Bell Bengt Wanselius Jan Bergman Royal Dramatic Theatre, Main Stage 16 April 1988 (129 performances)
Cast James Tyrone Mary Tyrone Edmond Jamie Cathleen
Jarl Kulle Bibi Andersson Peter Stormare Thommy Berggren Kicki Bramberg
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Commentary Eugene O’Neill’s widow Carlotta gave to Dramaten the world rights to his posthumous autobiographical play about the alcoholic actor James Tyrone, his morphinist wife Mary, and their two adult sons, the older Jamie, a second-rate actor, and Edmund, a lung-sick would-be writer. The first production took place in 1956 in a now legendary staging by Bengt Ekerot. For an account of the impact of the 1956 production and later attempts to stage the play in Sweden, see Björn Vinberg, ‘Lång dags färd sen – 56’ [Long Day’s Journey since – 56], Expr., 2 April 1988. In 1988, during Dramaten’s 200th anniversary and one hundred years after O’Neill’s birth, the head of the theatre, Lars Löfgren, asked Ingmar Bergman to set up Long Day’s Journey.... Bergman had never before staged an O’Neill play, though he once had thoughts of producing the 9-act drama Strange Interlude, and had been asked by New York producer Joseph Papp, in the early 1970s, to do an O’Neill production with Liv Ullmann in the lead, but had declined. O’Neill was in fact one of two playwrights – the other being Brecht – that Bergman had been reluctant to tackle. In 1988, the 1956 production still lived on as a classical highlight in Dramaten’s history. Its legendary actors Inga Tidblad and Lars Hansson seemed virtually present in Bergman’s cast. Bergman said in an interview: ‘Behind Bibi Andersson’s voice I can suddenly hear Inga Tidblad’s. Behind Jarl Kulle’s Lars Hansson’s – besides, Kulle can tell us what it was like back then. We are nothing in and of ourselves, we are always part of something’. [Bakom Bibi Anderssons röst kan jag plötsligt höra Inga Tidblads. Bakom Jarl Kulles Lars Hanson – och Kulle kan berätta hur det var då. [...] Vi är inte någonting i oss själva, utan vi är en del i någonting]. (See Elisabeth Sörenson, ‘Det går inte att hålla sig fri från demonerna’ [It’s not possible to stay free of the demons], SvD, 20 March 1988, p. 13). Jarl Kulle, who had played one of the sons in the 1956 production now assumed Lars Hansson’s part as the older Tyrone. Thommy Berggren who had played the son Edmund in a cancelled 1973 Dramaten production, directed by filmmaker Bo Widerberg, now accepted the part of the derelict son Jamie. In the same Sörenson interview Bergman talked about the harrowing experience of working with O’Neill’s drama: Early on, when I looked at our task, in a routine fashion, I realized it would not be an easy journey. But I never realized how deeply revolutionary it would be for all of us. The play touches at strong personal experiences in different ways – and at the same time it must not become a kind of private striptease. [...] A certain type of drama, for instance Long Days Journey into Night, has a dark downward attraction. If you finally come down to the level where the demons live who have triggered the drama, you cannot remain free of them. They get to us too. [När jag, på ett tidigt stadium, såg litet ‘rutinmässigt’ på vår uppgift, insåg jag att det inte skulle bli någon lätt resa. Men att det skulle bli så djupt omvälvande för oss allihop hade jag inte föreställt mig. Pjäsen rör på olika sätt vid starka personliga upplevelser – samtidigt får det inte bli någon privat striptease. [...] En viss sorts dramatik, till exempel Lång dags färd mot natt, har ett mörkt sug neråt. Kommer man till slut ner till den nivå, där de demoner vistas som utlöst dramat, kan man inte hålla sig fri från dem. De hoppar på oss också]. This statement probably comes closer to the mood during the rehearsals of Long Day’s Journey [...] than the allegedly rather flippant remark Bergman gave Lars Löfgren: ‘Rehearsing this play has been something of the most god awful thing I’ve been through. After two weeks, the job was done and the scenography laid out, and I got to be a rehearsal custodian the rest of the time’. [Att repetera den här pjäsen har varit något av det djävligaste jag varit med om. Efter
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman fjorton dagar var arbetet gjort och scenerierna lagda och jag fick vara repetitionsvakt tiden ut]. (Löfgren, Teaterchefen. Bakom maskerna, p. 141). Bergman reduced O’Neill’s text considerably – removing most references to the father’s shady affairs and omitting some drunken jokes and various literary allusions. In 1956, Dramaten’s production lasted 4 1/2 hours; Bergman’s 1988 version was a little over three hours long. Bergman also did considerable pruning in terms of O’Neill’s stage instructions. On the other hand, Bergman added an opening scene to O’Neill’s play by having the Tyrones come on stage, hand in hand, as a family unit. This stood in marked contrast to the ending disarray, when each character exited alone. Unlike the realistically reproduced Irish-American milieu in the 1956 world premiere of O’Neill’s work, Bergman gave the play an aescetic, almost stylized quality, turning it into an existential drama of almost Greek proportions. ‘Meet Antigone as an aged morphinist’ [möt Antigone som åldrad morfinist], was the headline of one review (Palmqvist, Arbetet). With the help of scenographer Gunilla Pamstierna-Weiss, Bergman removed all naturalism, opening the play on a stage framed by two classical pillars and black walls. ‘Here reigns perpetual night’ [här råder evig natt] as one critic put it (Linder, DN). The play area consisted of a square platform leaning slightly towards the house; around and behind the actors was darkness. The only décor consisted of a few non-matching chairs, a worn-out armchair, a table, a bar cabinet and a madonna on a pedestal. From time to time images of a house, a foggy landscape or a few clouds would be projected against the back wall. A fog horn constituted the only external moodbuilding sound.
Reception In 1956, Long Day’s Journey... represented the ultimate in psychological realism. The unwritten question before Bergman’s production was how he would stage the play so that it would have the same impact on the audience as 32 years earlier but without seeming to be a repeat performance: ‘Thus Bergman has to find some kind of meaning in the play that exceeds the original performance situation’. (Zern, Expr.). See also similar remarks in reviews by Jolin Boldt, Lars Linder, and Mario Grut. Not surprisingly, directorial vision and artistic quality rather than timely circumstance determined Bergman’s success. On opening night there were standing ovations that would not stop until Bibi Andersson, Jarl Kulle, Thommy Berggren, and Peter Stormare stood clapping around an empty chair, to indicate that Bergman would not come up on stage. Afterwards, Dramaten head Lars Löfgren reportedly said: ‘I have never heard such ovations. This production represents a new dimension for the theatre’. [Jag har aldrig hört sådana ovationer. Denna uppsättning representerar en ny dimension för teatern]. See Ronny Nygren, ‘... men mästarens stol stod tom’ [...but the master’s chair was empty], AB, 17 April 1988. Critics singled out three main features to explain the success: (1) Bergman’s ‘reductionary’ approach, both in terms of set design and dialogue (with an almost 20% cut in O’Neill’s text); (2) Bergman’s instruction of the individual actors whose remarkable performances revealed four separate tragedies as well as a family in disintegration. Thommy Berggren as Jamie received especially rave reviews for his insightful as well as humorous acting: ‘I have seldom or never seen anything like it in the theatre. Splendid! Robert de Niro should be green with envy’. [Jag har sällan eller aldrig sett något liknande på teatern. Enastående! Robert de Niro borde bli grön av avund.] (Zern, Expr.) Zern’s assessment is remarkable, given Berggren’s own account of the rehearsal, where he refused to follow Bergman’s suggestions. (See Stefan Jarl’s documentary about Berggren, Muraren [The Bricklayer]). Berggren’s recollection might also be juxtaposed to the review in Danish Politiken where the performance was likened to ‘being at a concert with a virtuoso. Not a false note but not improvization either’. [som at være på et konsert med en
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre virtuose. Ikke en falsk tone men helder ikke improvisation]; (3) Bergman’s interpretation of O’Neill’s play as a piece pointing forward to a modernist theatre where secrets are hidden in silence and revealed in gestures and performative rhythm: ‘Later American drama, more akin to the cinema – not least of all Bergman’s own – hides its meaning in what is left unsaid. In this production [...] Bergman tries to bring O’Neill closer to Shepard than to Shakespeare’. [Senare amerikansk dramatik mera i släkt med filmen – inte minst Bergmans egen – döljer sin mening i det som lämnas osagt. I den här produktionen [...] söker Bergman föra O’Neill närmare Shepard än Shakespeare]. (Lars Linder, DN). What stands out in the critical response to Long Day’s Journey into Night is a recognition of Bergman’s empathy for O’Neill’s vision. The combination of emotional commitment and professional acumen made virtually all reviewers capitulate. Ingmar Björkstén in SvD captured the critical acclaim: This is splendid! World theatre, if anything. It does not happen often. But occasionally it is granted a stage and an audience to be united in a mystery that is immediately recognized as an elucidated miracle. It is a great privilege to be present when this metamorphosis occurs. It happens in Bergman’s interpretation of Long Day’s Journey into Night, which is so rich in human insight. [Detta är storartat! Världsteater, om något. Det inträffar inte ofta. Men någon enstaka gång är det scen och salong förunnat att få förenas i det mysterium där vad som presenteras ögonblickligen förnims som ett förklarat under. Det är en nåd att vara närvarande då denna metamorfos inträffar. Det sker i Ingmar Bergmans människokunskapsrika tolkning av ‘Lång dags färd mot natt’ på Dramatens stora scen.]
Reviews – Swedish
Andréason, Sverker. ‘Stark O’Neill på Dramaten: På en flotte i mardrömmen’ [Strong O’N at Dramaten: On a raft in a nightmare]. GP, 17 April 1988. Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Bergman gör världsteater’ [Bergman creates world theatre]. SvD, 17 April 1988. Boldt, Jolin. ‘En familj som andra’ [A family like any other]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 18 April 1988. Donnér, Jarl W. ‘...och var så lycklig en tid’ [...and was so happy for a time]. SDS, 17 April 1988. Hörmark, Mats. ‘En färd rakt genom garden’ [A journey right through your shield]. Nerikes Allehanda, 18 April 1988. Kollberg, Bo-Ingvar. ‘Lång dags färd mot natt en höjdpunkt hos Dramaten’ [Long Day’s Journey... a high point at Dramaten]. UNT, 18 April 1988. Linder, Lars. ‘Lång dags färd på Dramaten. Berggren har aldrig varit bättre’ [Long Day’s Journey at Dramaten. Berggren has never been better]. DN, 17 April 1988. Palmqvist, Bertil. ‘Möt Antigone som åldrad morfinist’ [Meet Antigone as aging morphinist]. Arbetet, 17 April 1988. Schildt, Jurgen, with Kristoffer Leandoer and Mario Grut. ‘Lysande!’ [Brilliant!]. AB, 17 April 1988. Zern, Leif. ‘Bergman skapar ljus i mörkret’ [Bergman creates light in darkness]. Expr., 17 April 1988.
Non-Swedish Reviews and Reports Like their Swedish colleagues, a number of foreign reviewers found Bergman’s production unsurpassable, a classic of Greek format and art (see Bredsdorff, Politiken). Jens Kistrup in Berlingse Tidende admitted that all he could do as a reviewer was to kneel before Bergman’s
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman genius. Jan E. Hansen in Norwegian Aftenposten described the presentation as a form of catharsis achieved through a series of scenes that were like filmic images and transcended the realistic parameter of the play. Several reviewers felt that the production of O’Neill’s family drama was so intense and personal that the play could have been written by Bergman. Alonzo, Francesco S. ‘Bergman a casa, O’Neill agli attori’. Corrierre della Sera, 19 April 1988, p. 23. (Report). Baydar, Yavuz. ‘Savas sonrasl Isvec’in izdüsümü’. Kültür Yasam (Turkish), 15 May 1988, p. 46. Boldt, Jolin. ‘Ingmar Bergmans O’Neill-drama. En familj som andra’. Hufvudstadsbladet, 18 April 1988, p. 5. Bredsdorff, Thomas, ‘Rejsen mod lyset’ [The journey towards light]. Politiken, 18 April 1988. Dagsland, Sissel Hamre. ‘Lang dags ferd i kjærlighet’ [Long day’s journey in love]. Bergens Tidende, 18 April 1988. Hansen, Jan E. ‘Ikke sitteplasser nok!’ [Not enough seats!]. Aftenposten, 9 May 1988. (Preview report). Hansen, Jan E. ‘Verdenskylden i langsom kino’ [World guilt in slow motion]. Aftenposten, 18 April 1988. Kistrup, Jens. ‘Familiebilledet fuldendes’ [The family picture perfected]. Berlingske Tidende, 18 April 1988. Rolf. ‘Triumf for Bergman’. Byens Stiftstidende, 21 April 1988. Sablich, Sergio. ‘Bergman, oltre il teatro l’incubo’. Il Giornale, 19 April 1988. Sjursen, Annette. ‘Kærlig helvete’ [Loving hell]. Verdens Gang, Oslo, 18 April 1988. Vindsetmo, Björg. ‘Tre menn söker ömhet’ [Three men seek tenderness]. Dagbladet (Oslo), 18 April 1988.
Articles Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Ingmar Bergman y Largo viaje hacia la noche’. Primer acto 226, no. 4, (November-December) 1988: 63-69. Also published in English as ‘Ingmar Bergman Directs Long Day’s Journey Into Night’. New Theatre Quarterly V, no. 20, 1989: 374-84; and as ‘Ingmar Bergman and Long Day’s Journey into Night’ in Eugene O’Neill in China: An International Centenary Celebration, ed. by Haiping Lii and Lowell Swortzell. New York, Westport, Conn., London: Greenwood Press, 1992, pp. 241-48. Same material discussed in author’s book Between Stage and Screen, 1995, pp. 59-68, and in Eugene O’Neill. A Playwright’s Theatre. Jefferson, N.C. and London: McFarland & Co., 2004, pp. 176-196.
Interviews For interviews with Bibi Andersson and Jarl Kulle before the opening of Long Day’s Journey..., see Ingalill K. Eriksson and Kerstin Weigl. ‘Föreställningen vi väntat på. Jarl och Bibi i 80-talets premiär’ [The production we’ve been waiting for; Jarl and Bibi in the theatre opening of the 80s], AB, 15 April 1988. For an interview with Peter Stormare and Thommy Berggren (who played the Tyrone sons], see Kerstin Weigl, ‘Brödernas långa färd’ [The brothers’ long journey], AB, 7 April 1988.
Media programs Grönstedt, Olle. ‘Förmiddag’ [Late morning show], P1 (Swedish Radio), 14 April 1988. Program about Bergman’s 1988 O’Neill production with comments by Dramaten head Lars Löfgren, Ingmar Bergman and Jarl Kulle. Knutsson, Ulrika. ‘Kulturen’. SVT, Channel 1, 17 April 1988. TV program about Bergman’s production of Long Day’s Journey. [...] with comments by Ingmar Bergman, interviews with Jarl Kulle and Bibi Andersson, and excerpts from the rehearsals.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre See also Bergström, Lasse. ‘PS till Lång dags färd..’. [PS to Long Days Journey]. Expr., 15 April 1988. (Defense of Peter Stormare’s performance who is cast as O’Neill’s alter ego and has the key to the play.) Gentele, Jeannette. ‘Pjäsen O’Neill inte ville visa’ [The play O’Neill didn’t want to show]. SvD, 15 April 1988. (Background article on O’Neill and Long Day’s Journey...). Thygesen, Peter. ‘Lang dags venten på billet’ [Long Day’s Waiting for a ticket]. Politiken, 25 April 1988. (Report on lines of ticket buyers to Bergman’s production of Long Day’s... after the rave reviews. Bergman himself is said not to have read them (yet), since he was recuperating from hip surgery).
Guest Performances Dramaten’s production of Long Day’s Journey into Night paid a guest visit to Bergen on 2-5 June 1988. A year later, it went to Rome, Paris, Hamburg, Barcelona. New York’s BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) hosted it in June 1991 (triple bill with Strindberg’s Miss Julie and Ibsen’s A Doll’s House). Requests had come from as far as Melbourne and Buenos Aires. Guest performances in China and Argentina were cancelled because of the political situation in these countries. Economic factors also determined the number of guest performances.
1. Bergen, 2-5 June 1988, Bergen Music and Art Festival. Anticipations of Dramaten’s guest visit to Bergen with four performances of O’Neill’s drama had run high because of the enthusiasm demonstrated by the Swedish press after its Stockholm opening. Some Norwegian reviewers were obviously disappointed and found the performance dull and traditional: ‘Just four very long hours with solid, down-to-earth, conventional quality theatre.’ (Kolstad). Bergman was said to have sentimentalized O’Neill’s play by focussing too much on its melodramatic features and avoiding the tragic depth of the members of the Tyrone family (Paulsen). In sharp contrast to these negative assessments, other critics however termed the performance ‘an outstanding theatrical experience’ and ‘a brilliant virtuoso display... that hurts. [...] I cannot find words that will fully describe the total impact of the production’. [Ida Lou Larsen). See also Kari Thomsen and J. Stanghelle’s reviews for similar assessments. Kolstad, Harald. ‘Skuffende Bergman-ferd’ [Disappointing Bergman journey]. Arbeiderbladet, 4 June 1988. Larsen, IdaLou. ‘Enestående teateropplevelse’ [Outstanding theatre experience]. Nationen, 7 June 1988. Paulsen, Erik O. ‘Bergmanns (sic!) ferd mot det tradisjonelle’. Morgenbladet, 5 June 1988. Stanghelle, John. ‘Dramatens “Lang dags ferd mot natt” i Bergen’. Vårt land, 9 June 1988. Thomsen, Kari. ‘Teaterkunst om og av nåde’ [Theatre art about and of grace]. Stavanger Aftenblad, 4 June 1988.
2. Rome, Teatro Argentina, 31 May to 4 June 1989. Dramaten’s five performances of Long Day’s... were preceded by a preview presentation, ‘La lanterna di Ingmar’, published by Marco Palladini in Paese Sera, 30 May 1989. An interview article with Bibi Andersson and Jarl Kulle by Rita Sala appeared in Il Messagero, (‘Ingmar, regista stregone’, 31 May 1989). The reception was almost unanimously positive, except for the review in Corriere della Sera that found the performance unengaging. Others interpreted the production as a surgically objective Protestant approach to a Catholic play (Paese Sera). Bergman’s Long Day’s Journey... received the Premio Ubu prize as the best foreign theatre production in Italy during the 1988-89 season. The jury consisted of 41 Italian theatre critics.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reviews Almansi, Guido. ‘La verita e del diavolo’. Panorama, 18 June 1989. Bertani, Odoardo. ‘Bergman, la tragedia della memoria’. L’Avenire, 2 June 1989. D’Amico, Masolini. ‘Bergman, miracolo di semplicita’. La Stampa, 2 June 1989. De Chiara, Ghigo. ‘Scene inquietanti di Bergman-O’Neill’. Avanti, 2 June 1989. Geron, Gastone. ‘Bergman, quell’antico dolore’. Il Giornale nuovo, 2 June 1989. Lucchesini, Paolo. ‘Quella speranza cosi disperata’. La Nazione, 2 June 1989. Manciotti, Mauro. ‘Famiglia e toremento’. Il Secolo XIX, 2 June 1989. Palladino, Marco. ‘La famiglia: inferno a una dimensione’. Paese sera, 2 June 1989. Prosperi, Giorgio. ‘Bergman, impietoso scavo nella miniera dei Tyrone’. Il Tempo, 2 June 1989. Quadri, Franco. ‘Bergman, un capolavoro’. La Republica, 2 June 1989. Raboni, Giovanni. ‘Un Bergman fin tropp perfetto’. Corriere della Sera, 2 June 1989. Savioli, Aggeo. ‘Bergman e O’Neill dentro un specchio’. L’Unita, 2 June 1989. Tian, Renzo. ‘Vero profondo. Il testo di O’Neill diretto da Bergman’. Il Messagero, 2 June 1989.
Interviews Bocchi, Lorenzo. ‘Uno spot per i saponi e mi innamorai di Bergman’. Il Giorno, 10 June 1989 (Interview with Bibi Andersson during Long Day’s Journey visit to Paris). Minetti, Guilia. ‘Scelte da un matrimonio’. Epoca, June 1989: 58-61 (interview with Bibi Andersson). Scotti, Paolo. ‘Bibi gran sacerdotessa’. Giornale Nuovo, 4 June 1989 (interview with Bibi Andersson).
3. Paris, Odéon, Festival Théâtre en Europe, 7-11 June 1989 French criticism of Dramaten’s five performances of Long Day’s Journey ... was mixed and far less enthusiastic than the Italian response in Rome a week earlier. Le Monde called the acting conventional and mechanical, and questioned Bergman’s use of Peter Stormare as his double. See: Cournot, Michel. ‘Deux grands malades de son enfance’. Le Monde, 10 June 1989, p. 21.
4. Hamburg, Theater der Welt festival, 20-21 June 1989 The guest visit of Long Day’s... was part of the biennial Theater der Welt festival. There were two performances. Critics talked about a brilliant but 4-hour long (and very hot) ordeal on stage which was met with thunderous applause. Several reviews talked about Bergman’s (auto)biographical approach to O’Neill’s drama and the similarities between his own background and the Tyrone family. There were regrets that the performance used simultaneous interpretation, since the ‘monotony’ of the interpreter’s voice went counter to the dramatic stringency on stage.
Reviews Henrichs, Benjamin von. ‘Alles, was kommt, ist gut’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 29 June 1989, p. 45. Platzeck, Wolfgang. ‘Zeichen aus Leningrad’. Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 22 June 1989. Rehder, Mathes. ‘Inferno hinter der Idylle’. Hamburger Abendblatt, 22 June 1989. Thies, Heinrich. ‘Othello im Schlafrock’. Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, 24 June 1989. Warnhold, Birgit. ‘Süchtige Mutter träumt im Brautkleid von alten Zeiten’. Berliner Morgenpost, 23 June 1989. Warnicke, Klare. ‘Torturen, Trips und Therapie’. Die Welt, 22 June 1989.
5. Barcelona, 4-8 October 1989 Reviewers mentioned Bergman’s splendid direction but complained about the length for a nonSwedish audience. There were a total of five performances.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Reviews Benach, Joan Anton. ‘Viajes por las tinieblas de O’Neill’. La Vanguardia, 6 October 1989, p. 62. Casas, Joan. ‘Atraccio del’impossible’. Divendres, 6 October 1989. Olaguer, Gonzalo Perez de. ‘Una leccion magistral de los actores de Ingmar Bergman’. El Periodico de Catalunya, 6 October 1989. Rague, Maria José. ‘Excelente ‘Viaje’. El Independiente, 6 October 1989. De Sagarra, Joan. ‘Qué actores!’ El Pais, 6 October 1989.
6. New York, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 14-16 June 1991 The reception varied; on the one hand, the production was considered ‘a very fresh look at a familiar masterpiece’ with the characters playing their parts in an abstract void rather than a realistic New London parlor (Brustein) but also as a disappointing, simplified version of the play with its pared-down décor and ‘uneven casting’. (Simon). There were a total of three performances.
Reviews Brustein, Robert. ‘A Long Day’s Journey into Night’. The New Republic, vol. 205, no. 5 (29 July) 1991, pp. 30-31. Marker, Frederick and Lise-Lone. ‘Three Plays, One Vision – Bergman’s’. NYT, 9 June 1991. Simon, John. ‘Baptism by Fire Island’. New York, 15 July 1991, p. 55.
1989 471.
MARKISINNAN DE SADE (Madame de Sade)
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Choreography Music Stage Opening Date
Sado Koshaku Fujin Yukio Mishima Ingmar Bergman Charles Koroly Donya Feuer Ingrid Yoda Royal Dramatic Theatre, Small Stage 8 April 1989 (162 performances)
Cast Renée, the Marquise de Sade Madame de Montreuil, her mother Anne, Renée’s younger sister The Baroness de Simiane The Duchess of Saint-Fond Charlotte, housekeeper
Stina Ekblad Anita Björk Marie Richardson Margaretha Byström Agneta Ekmanner Helena Brodin
Commentary Bergman’s production of Yukio Mishima’s play Madame de Sade was not the first work by the Japanese playwright to be performed in Sweden. In 1959, Dramaten had produced some of Mishima’s Noh plays and in 1970 (the same year that Mishima committed harakiri), the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki visited Dramaten with a version of Madame de Sade. Mishima had been nominated several times to the Nobel Prize in literature but was passed over in favor of his mentor Kawabata (1968).
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman The setting of Madame de Sade begins in France in 1772 and ends twelve years later, nine months after the French Revolution. Six women, one of them Madame de Sade, discuss their views and feelings of the notorious sadist and sodomist Marquis de Sade. That Mishima’s play depicts a decaying world was suggested in Bergman’s production by a changing color scheme, which remained in orange and rose tones during the first act; in bloody red colors in the second act, and in grey and black in the final act. One reviewer (Kristoffer Leandoer) described it as ‘a fire that was lit and flared up but left nothing but ashes behind’. [en eld som tändes och flammade upp men endast lämnade aska efter sig]. Bergman’s production was a form of stage minimalism where a sparse décor included projected images alluding to Mishima’s poetry. The performers used only subtle physical movements to suggest the characters’ vibrating sensibilities. The acting style was reminiscent of the ceremoniousness of the Japanese Noh theatre, while the costumes and wigs alluded to the 18thcentury French l’ancien régime, later replaced by the strict clothing of the revolutionary period. The scenographer Charles Koroly received much praise for the splendour of his costumes.
Reception – Swedish An enthusiastic critical corps focussed on Bergman’s ensemble of actresses and on the concentration and musicality of his staging. The review in Arbetet may illustrate: The acting trembles with tension. There are nuances one did not think were possible to achieve on stage. [...] Slowly but mercilessly Bergman sharpens the performance. [...] One must know a great deal about the theatre to carry off that artistic feat. And one must of course have access to this wonderful ensemble of the most sensistive of instrumentalists. It is hard to imagine better theatre than this. [Spelet skälver av spänning. Där finns nyanser som man inte trodde var möjliga att åstadkomma på scenen. [...] Sakta men obevekligt skärper han så utspelet. [...] Man ska kunna åtskilligt om teater för att klara det konststycket. Och man måste naturligtvis förfoga över denna underbara ensemble av de allra känsligaste instrumentalister. Bättre teater än så här har man svårt att föreställa sig]. Almost all of the reviewers were amazed by Bergman’s ability to make dynamic theatre out of a rather static and wordy play, and talked about ‘a director’s triumph over the circumstances’ [en regissörs triumf över omständigheterna] (Kristoffer Leandoer). The stylized theatricality and visual beauty of the production helped reconcile many critics to a text they found morally confounding: ‘As a dilettante I have great difficulties with Mishima’s religion [...] but in Bergman’s hands (the play) remains as multifaceted as it should be’. [Mishimas religion har jag som dilettant stora svårigheter med [...] men i Bergmans händer blir den lika mångsidig som den bör vara.]. (Zern; see also Ellefsen and Andréason for similar views). The very estheticism of the production, which some fifteen to twenty years earlier would have produced charges of preciosity and escapism, was now seen as a positive feature: ‘through the esthetic filter, feelings are sifted with far greater power and awesome pregnancy than if Bergman had chosen a more brutal and wild form of staging’. [genom det estetiserande filtret silas känslor fram med långt större kraft och fasansfull tydlighet än om Bergman hade valt ett råare och vildare utspel]. (Ellefsen).
Reviews Alonzo, Fracesco Saverio. ‘Con Bergman triomfa la divina Marchesa’. Corriere della Sera, 14 April 1989.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Andergård, Margita. ‘Fångar i de Sades värld’ [Prisoners in de Sade’s world]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 11 April 1989. (‘Bergman’s Marquise de Sade is a deep dive into the tangled human psyche, into the universe where the wolves howl in the cellar but the choirs of angels sing in the cupola’). Andersen, Hans. ‘Bergman og kvinderne’ [Bergman and women]. Jyllands-Posten, 12 April 1989; (‘Bergman’s actresses become like angels’). Andréason, Sverker. ‘Bergmans Mishima-uppsättning på Dramaten: Det mänskligas paradoxer’ [Bergman’s Mishima production at Dramaten: The paradoxes of human life]. GP, 9 April 1989. Bredsdorff, Thomas. ‘Høstsonate for seks personer’ [Autumn Sonata for six people]. Politiken, 9 April 1989. Ellefsen, Tove. ‘Bergmans markisinna bländande vacker’ [Bergman’s marquise stunningly beautiful]. DN, 9 April 1989. Hoem, Edvard. ‘Bergmans nye storverk’ [Bergman’s new masterpiece]. Dagbladet (Oslo), 12 April 1989. Hörmark, Mats. ‘Bildspråket prunkar och tankarna blixtrar’ [The imagery flowers and the thoughts are flashing]. Nerikes Allehanda, 10 April 1989. Kistrup, Jens. ‘Ingmar Bergman og bagtrappen til Gud’ [Bergman and the back stairway to God]. Berlingske Tidende, 9 April 1989. Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘Vibrerande av sensibilitet’ [Vibrating with sensitivity]. SDS, 9 April 1989. Leandoer, Kristoffer. ‘Bergmans reningsrit’ [Bergman’s purification rite]. SvD, 9 April 1989. Palmqvist, Bertil. ‘Markis de Sade i oss’ [The marquis de Sade in us]. Arbetet, 9 April 1989. Straume, Eilif. ‘Følelsenes forkledning’ [The mask of emotions]. Aftenposten (Oslo), 14 April 1989. Zern, Leif. ‘Sex kvinnor finner sin pjäs’ [Six women find their play]. Expr., 9 April 1989.
Longer Articles Norén Kjerstin. ‘Tvang til at elske’ [Need to love]. Information, 20 May 1989. (Mostly about Mishima). Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Mishima’s Madame de Sade on Stage and on Television’. In Bergman’s Muses, 2003, pp. 101-16.
See also Johansen, Birthe. ‘Guds abort’ [God’s abortion]. Börsen, 8 April 1989.
Guest Performances 1. Århus Music Hall, International Theatre Festival, 6-7 September 1989 Major Danish critics had already reviewed the production in Stockholm. There was extensive press attention prior to opening night (one of two performances). The reception was enthusiastic: ‘To see this performance is to be reminded how high – and how deep – theatre art can reach when it is at its greatest. And most rare’ (Grymer). A discussion was arranged with the public after the performance on 7 September 1989. Participants included the cast, Dramaten head Lars Löfgren, and set designer Charles Koroly. Moderating critics were Kjerstin Norén, Karen Syberg, and Peter Wivel. See Information, ‘Markisinnan til debat i fjerde akt’ [The marquise in debate in fourth act], 8 September 1989.
Reviews Andersen, Hans. ‘Bergman på japansk’ [Bergman in Japanese]. Jyllands-Posten, 25 August 1989. (Preview).
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Duun, Rie. ‘Marquisens og Bergmans kvinder’ [The marquis’ and Bergman’s women]. Berlingske Tidende, 25 August 1989. (Preview) Grymer, Claus. ‘De tusind sjæle i een’ [Thousand souls in one]. Kristeligt Dagblad, 8 September 1989. Thygesen, Peter. ‘Festuge med teater fra alle verdensdele’ [Festival week with theatre from all parts of the world]. Politiken, 1 September 1989. (Preview)
See also Norén, Kjerstin. ‘Hycklare? En Gycklare!’ [A hypocrite? A Jester]. Information, 30 August 1989. (Claims that in Bergman’s productions, experience clarifies the concept, not the other way around). Stouby, Hanne. ‘Hun bygger en katedral på kloakken’ [She builds a cathedral in the sewer]. Aarhus Stiftstidende, 20 August 1989. (Interview with Stina Ekblad in her role as Madame de Sade).
2. Tokyo Globe Theatre, 8-13 January 1990 There were a total of six performances. Japanese reviewers were impressed by Bergman’s knowledge of Noh dramaturgy but also by his bold disregard for Mishima’s stage directions. Special mention was made of the beautiful costumes worn by the six actresses, whose movements were praised while their voices – especially Anita Björk’s and Stina Ekblad’s – were considered too harsh.
Reviews n.a. ‘The Moment of Art: “Presentation of a carefully prepared Idea”’. Asahi Shinbun, 20 January 1990. n.a. ‘Bergman Stages Mishima Drama’. Okinawa Times, 23 January 1990. Miyauchi. ‘A Mixture of French Classicism and Noh Technique’. Nichinichi, 26 January 1990.
3. Zurich Corso Theatre, 9-12 May 1990 The review in Neue Zürcher Zeiting, 11 May 1990, p. 28, called the performance ‘much talking and little acting’ and referred to Bergman’s production as ‘a linguistic work of art’. There were four performances.
4. Israel Festival, Jerusalem, 5-10 June 1990 The assessment below is based on handwritten, undated English translations of Israeli newspaper reviews, available at Dramaten Library. There were six performances. All reviews use superlatives; critics were obviously swept off their feet by the performance, which they described as ‘a masterpiece’, ‘perfect theatre’, and ‘perfect like chamber music’. The theatre critic Shosh Avigal (Chadashot) wrote: ‘Yesterday at five o’clock in the afternoon my breath was taken away and didn’t come back until the play was finished. At last a performance that justifies the festival!’ Again, reviewers were impressed by the combination of Noh dramaturgy, French classicism, and the splendor of costumes and minimalistic stage design, and last but not least by ‘the wonderful Swedish actresses, whose every movement and touch of voice are coordinated and orchestrated as a string quartet, (and who) move on stage with amazing and cold grace, like Dresden china dolls...’ (Bonz Evren, Yediot Achronot).
Reviews Avigal, Shosh. ‘Masterpiece’. Chadeshot. Evren, Bonz. ‘Perfection’. Yediot Achronot. Handelzalte, Michael. ‘Perfect Theatre’. Ha’arete. Yaron, Elyakim. ‘The directing perfect like chamber music’. The name of the paper is unreadable.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre 5. Glasgow, 13-15 August 1990 Three performances but no media response located.
6. Antwerp, 17-21 October 1990 Five performances. No reviews located.
7. Lisbon, Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, 18-20 April 1991 Dramaten’s three performances of Madame de Sade took place during Lisbon’s Festival Internacional de Teatro. At the same time a photo exhibit titled ‘Bergman/Em Cena’ opened at Lisbon’s Galeria Almada Negreiros. Several full page presentations of Bergman’s work in the theatre and of the actresses appeared in the Portuguese press. See: ‘“Madame de Sade” segundo Ingmar Bergman’, Diario de Noticias, 17 April 1991; ‘Bergman em Lisboa com “Madame de Sade”’. Quinta-Feira, 18 April 1991; ‘Teatro nos auscultadores’. Quinta-Feira, 18 April 1991 (signed by Manuel João Gomes). Reviews were mixed. Most praise went to Bergman’s instruction of the women performers but several critical write-ups complained about the poor technical arrangements. Correiro de Manha criticized the use of earphones that transformed the dialogue into a monotonous soccer type report and created a distance between stage and audience. Journal de Letras was irritated by the interpreter’s inaccurate and poorly enunciated Portuguese.
Reviews n.a. ‘Madame de Sade sueca perde-se na traducao’. Correio da Manha, 20 April 1991. Porto, Carlos. ‘Presenca dos ausentes’. Jornal de Letras, 23 April 1991. Vacondeus, Joaquim. ‘Fotogramas de Palco com o peso de Bergman’. Exposicao Semanario, 22 April 1991.
8. Festival de Parma, Italy, 27-28 September 1991 The festival included a mini-festival of Bergman, the filmmaker and theatre director. In addition to two performances of his production of Mishima’s La marchesa de Sade, two of his films were shown – The Face and After the Rehearsal. Reviewers spoke of the serene grandeur of Bergman’s production, the stylistic beauty of the presentation and his ability to portray the women around De Sade with a great deal of ambiguity. Audience response was reported to have been attentive though tired. The initial Italian enthusiasm over seeing Bergman’s work on stage had worn off.
Reviews D’Amico, Masolino. ‘Un morbido Bergman fra I vizi e le violenze della signora De Sade’. La Stampa, 29 April 1991. Nadotti, Maria. ‘Markisinnan de Sade’. Artforum, vol. 30, no. 2, (Winter) 1991: 137. Quadri, Franco. ‘Gli enigmi di Sade. Le donne narrano il divino marchese’. La Republica, 30 April 1991. Raboni, Giovanni. ‘A Parma il testo di Yukio Mishima’. Corriere della Sera, 29 April 1991. Sala, Rita. ‘E ora parliamo di vizio’. Il Messagero, 29 April 1991.
9. Vilnius, 11-13 May 1993 There were three performances, received with rave reviews that talked about the production as ‘a noble gem’ and ‘a delicate perfection’. Critics singled out every aspect of the production as extraordinary: mise-en-scene, rhythm, costumes, performance, etc. The guest visit was part of a Life Festival. One critic felt that Bergman’s production was worth a Life Festival in itself. Paper Respublica carried an interview with actress Agneta Ekmanner (‘Extraordinary trip with Ingmar Bergman’), 21 May 1993.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reviews Jansonas, Egmontas. ‘Rafinuota tobulybe’ [The Delicate Perfection]. Respublica, 14 May 1993. Liuga, Audronis. ‘Taurus brangakmenio spindesys’ [Brilliance of the Noble Gem]. Septynios meno dienos [Seven Days of Art], May 1993. Sabaseviciene, Daiva. ‘Bergmanas ir...’ [Bergman and...]. Krantai, April-October 1994 (journal review). Vasiliauskas, Valdas. ‘Prarastas teatras’ [The Lost Theatre]. Lietuvos Rytas, 13 May 1993. Zemuliene, Laima. ‘Su Ingmaru Bergmanu geriausiai susitiki per sv. Kaledas..’. [The Best Time to Meet Ingmar Bergman is Christmas Time]. Lietuvos Rytas, 11 May 1993. (Presentation of Bergman and the Dramaten troupe).
10. New York, BAM, May 20-22, 1993. Return visit June 7-10 1995 In May 1993 and again in June 1995, Dramaten’s production of Madame de Sade was presented at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), in 1993 in a double bill with Bergman’s 1991 version of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. While the reception of Peer Gynt was full of reservations, the Madame de Sade production (three performances) made John Lahr experience ‘one of the most noble evenings I’ve ever spent in the theatre.’ He called it ‘a flawless production, in which [Bergman’s] genius is entirely in the service of the play’s meaning’. John Simon, who gave a thumbs down to the Peer Gynt production praised Bergman’s Madame de Sade for being ‘visually, vocally, kinetically at once French, Japanese, and Swedish’ and claimed that ‘under Bergman’s guidance, the sextet [of women] raises ensemble acting to new heights’.
Reviews Barnes, Clive. ‘“De Sade” so good it hurts’. New York Post, 25 May 1993. Gussow, Mel. ‘De Sade, Via Many Filters But Clear’. NYT, 22 May 1993. Lahr, John. ‘Gravity and Grace’. The New Yorker, 10 May 1993, pp. 101-08. Simon, John. ‘Married to the Marquis’. New York, vol. 26, no. 23 (7 June), 1993, pp. 61-2. Stuart, Jan. ‘Defining de Sade’. Newsday, 22 May 1993.
11. Taiwan, Tapei International Theatre Festival, 5-8 August 1993 There was a total of four performances. In the English language journal Performing Arts Review, October 1993 (‘From Swelling Feelings to Personal Liberation’), Huang Chien-ye saw the production as the essence of Bergman’s theatre art: his esthetic stylization, his instruction of the actresses, his psychological penetration where ‘the different doors open towards the seven deadly sins.’
12. Budapest, European Theatre Union Festival, 6-8 November 1993 Mishima’s play had been produced earlier in Hungary, in productions that were termed warmer and more passionate (Takacs) than Bergman’s production which was called ‘a pure, precise, carefully executed calligraphy’, (Stuber) fulfilling ‘perfectly all the expectations that Bergman’s reputation has created’. (Mihalicza). Nevertheless on opening night – there were three performances – a great many professional critics left after the first act. One critic, not very fond of ‘Mishima’s psychological fog bank’ asked why Bergman had bothered to stage the play, yet concluded that his production left everyone else in the festival behind. (Meszaros). Reviewers compared Bergman’s presentation of Madame de Sade to his filmmaking, which was termed ‘sharp, elegant... and realized through a performance of similar quality. [...] To Mishima’s multiple electric circles, Bergman adds his own’. (Takacs).
Reviews (based on Hungarian reviews translated into Swedish, available at Dramaten Library.)
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Mészaros, Tamas. ‘Det grundläggande kravet’ [The fundamental demand]. Magyar hirlap, 18 November 1993. Mihalicza, Tamas. ‘Bergman i Budapest – Fackfolkets uttåg. Förgiftade solfjädrar’ [Bergman in Budapest – Exit of the professionals. Poisoned fans]. Mai nap, 9 November 1993. Stuber, Andrea. ‘Japans fransman à la Bergman’ (Japan’s Frenchman a la Bergman]. Népszava, 9 November 1993. Takacs, Istvan. No title. Uj Magyarorszag, 10 November 1993.
472.
ETT DOCKHEM [A Doll’s House]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Choreography Music Stage Opening Date
Ett dukkehjem Henrik Ibsen Ingmar Bergman Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss Donya Feuer Daniel Bell Dramaten 17 November 1989 (105 performances)
Cast Torbjørn Helmer Nora Helmer Doctor Rank Krogstad Mrs. Linde Hilde, the child
Per Mattsson Pernilla Östergren Erland Josephson Björn Granath Marie Richardson Mirja Modén/Elin Ekman/Hanna Ahlström/Erika Harrysson
Commentary In his 1989 Dramaten production of A Doll’s House, for which playwright Klas Östergren did a new Swedish translation, Bergman followed Ibsen’s text very closely but made dramaturgical and scenographic changes. He omitted the opening Christmas scene, left out the maid altogether with the motivation that she represented a bygone age. He reduced the number of children in Nora’s and Helmer’s marriage to one child only, named Hilde, who appeared in a mute role at the beginning and end of the performance. The final confrontation scene between Nora and Helmer took place in the bedroom, with Nora fully dressed and ready to leave while Helmer remained naked in the marriage bed. Nora closed the door – and walked out into the auditorium. In keeping with his increasing emphasis on an ascetic, minimal set, Bergman shunted aside most of Ibsen’s precise middle-class décor. The main action took place on a raised platform, in a boxlike room with high-placed grated windows, suggestive of a patrician vestibule or a prison cell. Alongside the platform but outside the main acting area, chairs were placed on row where characters would sit down like silent observers instead of exiting the stage as prescribed in Ibsen’s play text. One reviewer likened these silent characters to waiting reserves in a hockey team. (Teddy Brunius, UNT). On Hilde’s chair sat a doll when she herself was not present on stage. Nora was the only one who never left the acting area. In a combined rehearsal-press conference interview, Bergman stressed the importance of the child as a tragic figure in a collapsing marriage. (He had received criticism for omitting the children in his own film Scenes from a Marriage). When he saw Nora leave at the end of his
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Munich production in which there was no child present, his Dramaten production began to take form: ‘Nora leaves a big and a small child behind.’ [Nora lämnar ett stort och ett litet barn efter sig]. His Dramaten conception rested on Nora and Helmer as a couple united in a sensuous, erotic love but a love without friendship; instead, they enact their respective sex role. See Elisabeth Sörenson, ‘Bergman hittar svärta och bråddjup hos Ibsen’. [Bergman finds blackness and depth in Ibsen], SvD, 15 November 1989, p. 15. In same press write-up Bergman also talks briefly about Ibsen’s place in his repertory compared to Strindberg: ‘Ibsen is enigmatic, with steep depths’. [Ibsen är gåtfull, med branta djup]. For treatment of same material, see also Yvonne Malaise, ‘Yuppie i Bergmans dockhem. Dagens unga inreder dockhem’ [Yuppie in Bergman’s doll house. The young of today furnish their doll house]. DN, 11 November 1989. The Danish radio program ‘Kalejdoskopet’ sent a 26-minute broadcast from the opening of A Doll’s House in Stockholm. The editor was Lene Bredsdorff. Transmission date: 17 November 1989.
Swedish Reception The Swedish critical concensus was that Bergman had cut certain ‘dusty’ wordings in Ibsen’s text but had stayed very close to its core. Yet he had created, dramaturgically speaking, a new play: ‘When Ingmar Bergman sets up Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, it becomes a production minted more by the director than by the dramatist’. [När Ingmar Bergman sätter upp Ibsens Ett dockhem blir det en uppsättning myntad mer av regissören än av dramatikern]. (Tove Ellefsen, DN). Bergman focussed on the psychological aspects of Nora’s life and shifted the attention to a relationship tragedy. At times he turned the drama into a triangle drama between Nora, Helmer and Dr. Rank. When Nora collapsed dancing her tarantella, she fell into Dr. Rank’s arms. Eroticism took precedence over bourgeois values and women’s lib: ‘Bergman does not, first and foremost, stage a play that is a debate about women’s liberation. [...] [His] subject is the nature of love, the stage is – as so often in Bergman – a magnetic field where the poles are eroticism and death’. [Han iscensätter inte i första hand en debattpjäs om kvinnans frigörelse. [...] Ämnet är kärlekens väsen, scenen ett kraftfält där polerna – som så ofta hos Bergman – är erotiken och döden] (Andréason, GP). But by toning down the impact of the social system on Nora’s situation, Bergman shifted the moral onus to her. In fact, several reviewers felt that Bergman’s approach turned Nora into a flaky woman full of dissemblance and deception, very close to the way August Strindberg once read her. Seen from such an angle, Nora’s exit at the end became a thoughtless and selfish act: ‘The whole character’s hollowness shines through. [...] She has committed a really stupid thing. She punishes his (her husband’s) loving care by leaving him. Her morals are as thoughtless in the end as in earlier scenes’. [Hela karaktärens ihålighet lyser fram. [...] Hon har gjort en riktig dumhet. Hon straffar hans kärleksfulla omtanke med att lämna honom. Hennes moral är i slutscenen lika tanklös som den har varit i de tidigare scenerna] (Brunius, UNT). In sharp contrast to such negative responses to Bergman’s Nora, one finds Leif Zern’s enthusiastic review: ‘Today I am not going to have any inhibitions, for what Bergman has done with A Doll’s House is a performance so beautiful, so moving, so incomparably rich that I have to go back to 1969 to find anything similar in his and Dramaten’s modern history’. [Idag ska jag inte ha några hämningar, ty det som Bergman gjort med Ett dockhem är en föreställning så vacker, så rörande, så ojämförligt rik att jag måste gå tillbaka till 1969 för att hitta något liknande i hans och Dramatens moderna historia]. The reason for the success was, according to Zern, Bergman’s focus on five personal tragedies; besides Nora’s, also that of Helmer, Krogstad, Mrs. Linde and Dr. Rank. For Zern, the production became a chamber play with five equally important voices. In fact, all of the reviewers agreed that this was a production that allowed the performers to overshadow the play’s traditional feminist theme: ‘Everything exists
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre to give the actors the greatest possible opportunities to depict their roles’. [Allt existerar för att ge skådespelarna största möjliga tillfälle till att teckna sina roller] (Palmqvist, Arbetet). In keeping with Bergman’s increasing tendency to include meta-theatrical features in his stage productions, his Doll’s House included allusions to theatre history and to the Dramaten tradition. Not all critics appreciated such sophisticated twinkles to a public with a good theatre memory: ‘Ingmar Bergman seems more interested in talking with Alf Sjöberg and Orson Welles than with us’. [Ingmar Bergman verkar mer intresserad av att tala med Alf Sjöberg och Orson Welles än med oss]. (Leandoer, AB).
Reviews – Swedish
Andréason, Sverker. ‘Förtätat dockhem mellan erotiken och döden’ [Dense doll house between eroticism and death]. GP, 18 November 1989. Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Sensualism i pussel som inte går ihop’ [Sensualism in a puzzle that doesn’t fit together]. SvD, 18 November 1989, p. 15. Brunius, Teddy. ‘Noras moral under debatt’ [Nora’s morale debated]. UNT, 20 November 1989. Ellefsen, Tove. ‘Minnesbilder från en barndom’ [Visual images from a childhood]. DN, 18 November 1989. Hedén, Birger. ‘Genial nytolkning’ [Ingenious new interpretation]. KvP, 11 November 1989. Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘Aktörerna lyser i Bergmans dockhem’ [The actors shine in Bergman’s dollhouse]. SDS, 18 November 1989. Leandoer, Kristoffer. ‘När livet börjar är pjäsen slut’ [When life begins, the play is over]. AB, 18 November 1989. Palmqvist, Bertil. ‘Nora pånyttfödd’ [Nora born again]. Arbetet, 18 November 1989. Wistrand, Sten. ‘Bergmans dockhem utan nerv och glöd’ [Bergman’s Doll’s house withour nerve and flame]. Nerikes Allehanda, 18 November 1989. Leif Zern. ‘Fem roller finner en trollkarl’ [Five characters find a magician]. Expr., 18 November 1989, p. 4-5 . For press review excerpts, see ‘Bergman och Östergren imponerar i dockhemmet’ [Bergman and Östergren impressive in the doll’s house], Arbetet, 19 November 1989.
Reviews – non-Swedish Three Danish reviewers offered different conclusions about Bergman’s ending to Ibsen’s play. Jens Kistrup in Berlingske Tidende thought that Helmer’s pathetic bedroom appearance, on the verge of caricature, deprived Nora’s decision to leave her home of some of its agony. But to Inger-Lise Klausen in Jyllands-Posten the ending made Ibsen’s play painful and tragic, a love relationship destroyed by insurmountable conventions, while Carsten Thau in Information thought that Bergman could have questioned those conventions more radically. Alnæs, Karsten. ‘Når Bergman finner Nora’ [When Bergman finds Nora]. Dagbladet, 22 November 1989. Bredsdorff, Thomas. ‘Scener fra et ægteskab’ [Scenes from a marriage]. Politiken, 18 November 1989. Dagsland, Sissela Hamre. ‘Bergmans sterke og flotte Nora’ [Bergman’s strong and splendid Nora]. Bergens Tidende, 18 November 1989. Hansen, Jan E. ‘Nora født på ny’ [Nora born again]. Aftenposten, 20 November 1989. Kistrup, Jens. ‘Furien Nora – skvattet Helmer’ [Nora the furie – Helmer the cad]. Berlingske Tidende, 18 November 1989. Klausen, Inger-Lise. ‘Bergman fanger tidens stemme’ [Bergman captures the voice of the times]. Jyllands-Posten Morgenavisen, 18 November 1989.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Nordvik, Martin. ‘Dukkehjem med dødsdans’ [Doll’s house with dance of death]. Adresseavisen, 20 November 1989. Sablich, Sergio. ‘Nell’inferno dei sentimenti Bergman brucia con Ibsen’. Il Giornale, 21 November 1989. Thau, Carsten. ‘Ibsen før mesterklasse’ [Ibsen in master league]. Information, 24 November 1989.
Studies Lenti, Adriano. ‘L’Uscita di Nora dalla casa bergmaniana’. Cinema nuovo, no. 4-5/326-327 (JulyOctober 1990): 58-63. Sjögren, Henrik. Lek och raseri (2002), pp. 212-219. (Reception survey). Törnqvist, Egil. Between Stage and Screen, 1995, pp. 69-80; and Transposing Drama, 1991, pp. 6869. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Doll’s Houses’. Scandinavica 30-31: 63-76. (The fullest comparative discussion of Bergman’s two Doll’s House productions: Munich and Dramaten). See also Törnqvist’s monograph Ibsen: A Doll’s House. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 163-167.
Interviews Levin, Mona. ‘Nora er trygg med Bergman’ [Nora is secure with Bergman], Aftenposten, 22 November 1989. (Interview with Pernilla Östergren (Nora)). Wernersson, Susanna. ‘Prima Primadonna’ /Prime Primadonna), Expr. 18 November 1989, p. 26. (Same subject as previous item). Westman Tullus, Barbro. ‘Väninnor spelar väninnor i Ett dockhem’ [Girlfriends play girlfriends in A Doll’s House], SvD, 17 November 1989, Friday section, p. 15. Interview with Pernilla Östergren and Marie Richardson, who both stressed the sense of security they felt in working with Bergman. Östergren said she sensed Bergman’s hand on her back: ‘I dare to jump, for it is not too deep. And after I jumped, the hand was still there’. [Jag vågar hoppa för det är inte för djupt. Och när jag har hoppat är handen fortfarande där]. Marie Richardson related her sense of confidence in Bergman to his total presence and sensitivity: ‘He is there the entire time. At the same time, he is the most sensitive person I have ever met. It is as if he is equipped with some kind of antenna; he always knows how you feel, what kind of help you need’. [Han är hos en hela tiden. Samtidigt är han den känsligaste människa som jag nånsin har träffat. Det är som om han är utrustad med nån sorts antenn; han vet hela tiden hur man har det, vilket slags hjälp man behöver].
Guest Performances The production went on an international tour to Madrid, Venice, Bergen, Glasgow, Oslo, Barcelona, Copenhagen and New York.
1. Madrid, 10th annual theatre festival, 14-17 March 1990 Besides four performances of Ingmar Bergman’s production, Madrid’s 10th theatre festival included productions by such notable directors as Arias, Peter Brook, Peter Stein, and Andrecz Wajda. A Doll’s House received enthusiastic ovations.
Reviews For Swedish press assessment of the Madrid reception, see Olle Svenning. ‘Nora slår ut tjurfäktarna’ [Nora beats the bull fighters]. Arbetet, 7 April 1990.
2. Venice, Teatro Goldoni, 16-18 May 1990, three performances The three performances received overwhelmingly enthusiastic responses by critics and audiences. La Stampa called opening night ‘a rare and perfect evening’. Reviewers remarked on the
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre robust projection of Nora and on Bergman’s ability to turn Ibsen’s housewife into a consistent character whose break-up from her marriage seemed motivated from the start.
Reviews Cibotto, G.A. ‘Parole come pugni’. Il Gazzettino, 18 May 1990. D’Amico, Masolino. ‘Bergman, maestro di semplicita’. La Stampa, 18 May 1990. Quadri, Franco. ‘In questa Nora ribelle c’e il tocco di Bergman’. La Republica, 18 May 1990. Raboni, Giovanni. ‘Bergman mette le ali a Ibsen’. Corriere della Sera, 18 May 1990. Savioli, Aggeo. ‘Bergman, la parola magica’. L’Unita, 18 May 1990. Tian, Renzo. ‘Donna, bambola virile’. Il Messagero, 18 May 1990.
3. Bergen Festival, 26-29 May 1990 Bergen’s Music and Arts Festival included 94 different events, among them four performances of Bergman’s Dramaten production of A Doll’s House. The four performances were sold out with tickets circulating on the black market. Reviews suggested that as a non-Norwegian, Bergman could take a freer stand towards Ibsen’s text. Theatre critics appreciated his existential reading of Nora’s situation, his stylized scenography and his conception of the play as a piece of theatre rather than a realistic slice of life. One reviewer (Syvertsen) said: ‘I have seen many Doll’s house performances but none that has made such an impression on me as this one. With simple but ingenious means Ingmar Bergman has made Ibsen’s text new and close’.
Reviews (See also previous Norwegian reviews after Stockholm opening of play) Schieldrop, Bjarne. ‘Genialt “Dukkehjem” i Bergman-regi’. Drammens Tidende, 31 May 1990. Stanghelle, John. ‘Tyngepunktene mellom liv og død’ [Main points between life and death]. Vårt land, 30 May 1990. Starheimsæter, Herman. ‘Ibsen som erotikar’. Gula Tidende, 30 May 1990. Syvertsen, Emil, Otto. ‘Et dukkehjem i genial Bergman-oppsetning’. Fædrelandsvennen, 30 May 1990.
4. Glasgow, Theatre Royal, 7-11 August 1990 The five performances took place during Glasgow Cultural Capital of Europe celebrations, titled ‘Five Theatres of the World’, which included Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, the Soviet Union, and Sweden. The celebrations also included performances of Bergman’s production of Madame de Sade.
Reviews Mowe, Richard. ‘Dramatic Tension’. Independent Monthly Guide; Scotland on Sunday, midAugust 1990, theatre section. (undated Dramaten clipping.)
5. Oslo, Nationaltheatret, Ibsen Festival, 5-7 September 1990. As in Bergen, critics and audiences in Oslo shared their enthusiasm for Bergman’s production. There were four performances. Impressed by what was termed a cinematic cutting technique that did away with Ibsen’s realistic paraphernalia, reviewers outdid each other in favorable responses. ‘Is there such a thing as “theatre happiness”?’ asked one reviewer (Larsen) and continued: ‘It must be what I felt after having seen Ingmar Bergman’s staging of “A Doll’s House”.’ Another critic (Fjermeros) admitted that ‘it is seldom that one experiences a theatre so moving that one’s reactions are generated to the skin.’ Bergman visited Oslo in private – to attend the christening of his youngest grandchild – a few days before the presentation of A Doll’s House but returned home before opening night. A press conference with the actors and Dramaten’s administrative head, Lars Löfgren, is covered in Jan
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman E. Hansen’s article ‘Ingmar Bergman – i sitt fravær’ [Bergman – in his absence], Aftenposten, 5 September 1990.
Reviews Many Norwegian newspapers had reviewed the Stockholm opening of the production. See above. Fjermeros, Halvor. ‘Pernillas Nora’. Klassekampen, 6 September 1990 (includes exerpts from an interview with Pernilla Östergren). Larsen, Ida Lou. ‘Når Ibsen blir ny’ [When Ibsen turns new]. Nationen, 8 September 1990.
6. Barcelona, Teatre Romea, Festival de Tardor, 12-14 October 1990 The three performances of ‘La casa de les niñes’ were presented in Swedish with simultaneous translation in Catalan. There was a great deal of publicity prior to Dramaten’s performances. See the following articles (listed in order of dated appearance): n.a. ‘Els actors de Bergman no volen fer cap ombra a l’obra d’Ibsen’. Avui (Barcelona), 13 October 1990. Corbella, Ferran. ‘“Casa de muñecas”, o cuando el matrimonio ya no es lo que era’. La Vanguardia, 9 October 1990. De la Torre, Albert. ‘El teatro de Bergman vuelve a Barcelona con “La Casa de Munecas”, de Ibsen’. El Pais, 13 October 1990. De Olaguer, Gonzalo Perez. ‘Bergman trae su “Casa de muñecas”’. El Periodico, 12 October 1990. Lang, Jack. ‘La version de Bergman de “La casa de muñecas”, en el Romea’. La Vanguardia, 13 October 1990, p. 31. Merino, Imma. ‘Bergman du a Barcelona un nou muntatge de “Casa de niñes”’. El Punt, 12 October 1990. Planas, Xavier Serrat. ‘Ibsen, segun Bergman’. El Periodico, 6 October 1990. Rague, Maria José. ‘Ingmar Bergman, el gran teatro del Norte para el Festival de Tardor de Barcelona’. El Independente, 12 October 1990. An interview with Erland Josephson, presented as a defense of Bergman, was published in El Periodico, 13 October 1990 (‘Bergman no esta anclado en nungun pasado’). A portrait of Pernilla Östergren and an early presentation of Bergman’s film script Best Intentions appeared in La Vanguardia, 18 November 1990. An article about Ibsen as a non-feminist by Josep Maria Carandell, ‘No me’n parli, de la Nora’, was published in the aftermath of Bergman’s guest presentation in Barcelona and appeared in El Pais, 22 November 1990.
Reviews Benach, Joan-Anton. ‘“Nora” en el corazon de Bergman’. La Vanguardia, 14 October 1990. De la Torre, Albert. ‘Solo se vive una vez’. El Pais, 14 October 1990. Ordonez, Marcos. ‘“Casa de muñecas” en el Romea: Bergman liga repoker de ases en una mano genial’. ABC, 14 October 1990. Pons, Pere. ‘El Dramaten escenifica les dues versions de “La casa de les niñes”’. Mirador, 13 October 1990.
7. Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Theatre, 6-9 February 1991 The ticket prices were raised by 50% for Dramaten’s four performances of A Doll’s House. For a presentation of Dramaten’s performances, see Per Dabelsteen’s ‘Dukkehjem med helt nyt indhold’ [Doll’s house with completely new content]. Politiken, 1 February 1991. For a presentation of the ensemble, see E. Saugmann, ‘Et dukkehjem a la Bergman’, Jyllands Posten, 1 February 1991, and H. Nellendam, ‘Den tilknappede mystifax’, Weekendavisen, no. 220, 1991.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Reviews talked about Bergman’s fresh approach to a dramatic ‘evergreen’, which brought out the ‘ordinary human’ in the play. The ending was viewed as somewhat farcical (Dithmer, Information). There were some reservations about Bergman’s strict décor fitting into the large stage at Det Kongelige.
Reviews Dithmer, Monna. ‘Noratorium’. Information, 8 February 1991. Heltberg, Bettina. ‘Fremragende kammerspil’ [Superb chamber play]. Politiken, 8 February 1991. Kistrup, Jens. ‘Bergman – på kvindens parti’ [Bergman on woman’s side]. Berlingske Tidende, 3 and 8 February 1991. Rask, Elin. ‘Dukkehjem med spillevende Nora’ [Doll House with vital Nora]. Kristeligt Dagblad, 9 February 1991. Bente Linnéa Friis interviewed Pernilla Östergren August in ‘Ingmar sier, at jeg ligner hans mor’ (Ingmar says that I resemble his mother), Berlingske Tidende, 10 February 1991. See also: Elin Rask. ‘Nora vender hjem’ [Nora returns home]. Kristeligt Dagblad, 2 February 1991. (About set design of the production).
8. New York, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 18-20 June 1991 There were three performances of A Doll House. ‘Leaving the BAM Majestic [Theatre) I felt like a medieval peasant after a feastday, grimly contemplating his return to the workaday world’, wrote Howard Kissel in his review of Bergman’s A Doll’s House production, one of three Bergman productions visiting New York during the first half of June 1991 – the others being Miss Julie and Long Day’s Journey into Night. Clearly, Bergman’s productions represented, to a number of the New York critics, a performance standard that they felt their own city could not offer. The Doll’s House production in particular was considered flawless, a stylized, filmic version of Ibsen’s play, presented as a series of cinematic cuts (Gussow, NYT). Though Bergman’s mise-en-scene, with the characters remaining on stage as observers, was questioned, Pernilla Östergren was lauded for her transformation from doll to woman, in a production that was termed ‘grippingly austere’ (Jan Stuart). What struck reviewers was the sensuality of the Nora-Torvald relationship. Bergman’s presentation of the ending received special attention; John Simon called it ‘a daring, powerful conceit [...] that took one’s breath away.’ Overall, there was a strong critical consensus that Bergman’s production furnished the kind of artistic experience that transcended national bounderies. Michael Feingold (Village Voice) concluded: ‘Here was... an aging master, at the height of his power, being served loyally by executants equally high in artistry, making a statement that was at once æsthetically decisive, in touch with the past, and wholly alive to the outside world. It would be hard to imagine art more complete or transfiguring’.
Reviews Feingold, Michael. ‘A Doll’s House’. Village Voice, 2 July 1991, p. 95, 98. Gussow, Mel. ‘Bergman’s “Doll’s House” Completes a Hat Trick’. NYT, 20 June 1991, p. C 13. Kissel, Howard. ‘Bergman’s Beautiful “Doll”’. Daily News, 21 June 1991, p. 53. Marker, Frederick and Lise-Lone. ‘Three Plays, One Vision – Bergman’s’. NYT, 9 June 1991. Simon, John. ‘Baptism by Fire Island’. New York, 15 July 1991, p. 55. Sterritt, David. ‘Ingmar Bergman Directs on Stage’. Christian Science Monitor, 19 June 1991, p. 14. Stuart, Jan. ‘A Fragile Doll’s House’. Newsday, 20 June 1991, p. 65.
9. Japan, Fall 1991 No details available.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman
1991 473.
PEER GYNT
Credits Playwright Translation Director Stage Design Choreography Music Lighting Sound Assistant Director Stage Opening Date Running time
Henrik Ibsen Lars Forssell. Stockholm: Dramaten Litteraturfrämjandet, 1991 Ingmar Bergman Lennart Mörk Donya Feuer Bohuslav Martinu Bohuslav Martinu Jan-Erik Piper Irene Frykholm Royal Dramatic Theatre, Målarsalen Stage 27 April 1991 (130 performances) 2 hrs. 30 min., plus two intermissions
Cast First Part – ‘Tales and Dreams’ Åse Peer Gynt Aslak, the Smith Ole, Rabblerouser Finn, Rabblerouser Hægstad Farmer The Bridegroom His Mother His Father The Bride Ingrid Synnöve Hilde Nora Ingert Solveig Her Father Her Mother Her Sister Helga The Boys
Sæter Girls The Woman in Green The Dovre Troll King His Son Ole His Son Finn
Bibi Andersson Börje Ahlstedt Carl Magnus Dellow Anders Ekborg Jakob Eklund Oscar Ljung Per Mattsson Gerthi Kulle Jan Waldekranz Maria Ericson Görel Crona Gunnel Fred Kicki Bramberg Anna Björk Lena Endre Tord Peterson Agneta Ehrensvärd Maja-Lena Holmberg/Rebecca Ebbersten/Linda Resén, Emilie Åkerlund Maria Ericson, Carl Magnus Dellow, Anders Ekborg, Jakob Eklund, Benny Haag, Thomas Hanzon, Gunnel Fred, Ulf Evrén, Jukka Korpi, Jesper Eriksson, Erik Winqvist, Sara Larsson, Therese Andersson, Pia Muchiano, Marie Bergenholtz Solveig Ternström, Kristina Adolphson, Kicki Bramberg Gerthi Kulle Johan Rabæus Anders Ekborg Jakob Eklund
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre His Son Odd His Son Egil His Daughter Synnöve His Daughter Hilde His Wife Grandmother Grandfather Vaidur Troll Kid Kari Second Part – ‘Foreign Lands’ Trumpeterstråhle Master Cotton Monsieur Ballon Von Eberkopf Anitra Madmen: Asra Basra Begriffenfeldt Apis The Pen Third Part – ‘The Homecoming’ The Captain The Strange Passenger The Cook Aslak The Bridegroom Finn Ole Odd Egil Synnöve Hilde Nora Ingert The Sheriff Auctioneers The Thoughts The Songs The Tears Åse The Buttonmoulder The Dovre Troll Solveig
Benny Haag Thomas Hanzon Görel Crona Gunnel Fred Kicki Bramberg Agneta Ehrensvärd Pierre Wilkner Anna Björk Kristina Adolphson
Jan Waldekranz Björn Granath Agneta Ehrensvärd Pierre Wilkner Solveig Ternström Gunnel Fred Kicki Bramberg Johan Rabæus Maria Ericson Per Mattson
Tord Peterson Björn Granath Jakob Eklund Carl-Magnus Dellow Per Mattsson Görel Crona Gunnel Fred Kicki Bramberg Anna Björk Benny Haag Jakob Eklund Anders Ekborg Thomas Hanzon Oscar Ljung Pia Muchiano, Jukka Korpi, Sara Larsson, Virpi Pahkinen Gerthi Kulle Solveig Ternström Kristina Adolphson Bibi Andersson Jan-Olof Strandberg Johan Rabæus Lena Endre
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Commentary In his 1991 production of Peer Gynt, Bergman cut about 30% of Ibsen’s 5-act drama and divided it into three parts titled ‘Sagor och drömmar’ [Tales and Dreams]; ‘Främmande land’ [Foreign Lands], and ‘Hemkomsten’ [The Homecoming]. The Dramaten Publishing department issued a text based on Bergman’s adaptation of Ibsen’s dramatic poem, showing omissions and changes. Most of the cuts were in the fourth and fifth acts (Peer’s travels and the meeting between Peer and The Thin Man). The cuts were dictated by Bergman’s decision to place the action indoors – in Mother Åse’s cabin, in the Hægstad farm house, in the Dovre’ King’s cave, in a Sahara tent, etc. The production became a special scenographic challenge in that the Målarsalen stage, where Peer Gynt first opened, is very small and shallow for such an epically conceived play. In fact, seats in the house were barely twice that of the number of cast members, and the actors were close enough to the front row to be within touch of the audience. The limited acting space was enlarged through the construction of a walkway that extended into the audience, and by a hoisted platform that hovered above the stage and could be moved up and down as well as sideways; it was used as setting and prop for Peer’s various predicaments and could simulate a house roof, a raft in a shipwreck, etc. During his various escapades, Peer sometimes used the walkway to sit down and rest among the spectators. He was present during the entire 4-hour performance. Thirty-five years earlier a tall and vigorous Max von Sydow had played Ibsen’s farmboy in Bergman’s Peer Gynt production at Malmö City Theatre (Ø 430). At Dramaten in 1991, the title role went to the roundish, 52-year old Börje Ahlstedt [Carl in Fanny and Alexander] who portrayed Peer like a clown in a Chaplinesque bowler hat, a figure who hardly believed in his own tall tales but who was egged on by Mother Åse and others to fantasize. In a radio program (‘Kulturen’, P1, 25 April 1991) Bergman described Peer as a mama’s boy and superegotist who did not understand love as a feeling resting on friendship, togetherness, trust, and respect. Ahlstedt’s Peer was a creature barely saved in the end by a white-haired and blind Solveig (Lena Endre), an esoteric counterpoint to Åse’s tough punk mother in the opening scene (Bibi Andersson). As in his earlier Malmö production, Bergman made no use of music composed specifically for Ibsen’s play (Grieg and Sæverud). Instead he used the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu’s music. He also borrowed Mozart’s three spirits from The Magic Flute and presented them in different forms: as sæter (summer farm) girls, as belly dancers in the desert, and as a funeral train composed of Peer’s unrealized thoughts, unsung songs, and never-shed tears. All in all this was a very playful and boisterous production, filled with wild dancing, sexual orgies (as when Peer romped around among the trolls with a huge dildo attached to his pants), and grotesque physical scenes in the Egyptian madhouse, whose clients included Napoleon, Beethoven, and van Gogh. Bergman used all kinds of toys and dressed-up animals as props and comic interludes, as if he were putting on a children’s play, but alternated such scenes with rather sick ones: a madman cutting off his fingers, squirting blood; another hugging a mummy so that the intestines flew about, and Peer himself throwing an axe deep into the skull of his troll wife. It was, as one critic put it (Ring, SvD), farce and cruel theatre at the same time. Behind it unfolded an existential tragedy with Peer’s travels treated like hallucinatory nightmares that charted his moral decline. A lifetime passed, during which – despite the circus atmosphere – each major part included a death scene: Mor Ase’s demise, a madman’s suicide, the Buttonmolder’s appearance, costumed and made-up in such a way he could have been Death’s double from Sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal).
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Swedish Reception Bergman’s 1991 version of Peer Gynt was both a public and critical knock-out. Ellefsen in DN called it Bergman’s most imaginative and impudent production and described it as a grunting, farting fairy tale thundering through the most diminutive of Dramaten’s stages. Bergman’s ability to coordinate a 50-person ensemble in a small physical space aroused critical respect. This was Bergman in his most extravagant mood, assimilating literature and cultural history with various kinds of theatrical gimmicks (Larsén, SDS). ‘In Bergman’s Peer Gynt there is not a dead moment, it feels like a big popular feast’, [I Bergmans Peer Gynt finns inte ett dött ögonblick, det känns som en stor folkfest], wrote the reviewer in Huvfudstadsbladet (Andergård) and continued: ‘I have seldom seen an audience at a Bergman production have as much fun as here; suddenly some hidden well of boyish playfulness seems to begin to bubble to the surface, like champagne bubbles over a basically rather bitter brew’. [Sällan har jag sett en publik vid en Bergmanuppsättning ha så roligt som här; plötsligt tycks någon dold källa av pojkaktig lekfullhet bubbla upp till ytan, som champagnebubblor över en i grunden ganska bitter brygd]. The SvD critic (Ring) concluded: ‘The public leaves the house saturated and silenced by moods and images. Moved, dazed and spellbound’. [Publiken lämnar salongen mättad och tystad av stämningar och bilder. Rörd, omtumlad och trollbunden]. In fact, Peer Gynt at Målarsalen became such a popular success that the production was moved to the Main Stage for the following season. The occasional reservations about Bergman’s exuberant version of Peer Gynt referred to its disparate elements of farce, parody, poetry, and angst. Some felt that theatrical antics overshadowed the depth of Peer’s tragedy and usurped the actors’ talents: ‘Bergman fills the stage with his directorial imagination. But in this there is also a problem. Some of his visual fantasies seem so complete from the start, it is as if the actors were there mostly to fill in something already designed’. [Bergman fyller scenen med sin regissörsfantasi. Men här ligger också ett problem. Några av hans visuella fantasier verkar från början så fullständiga att det är som om skådespelarna mest var där för att fylla i något som redan är formgett]. (Sverker Andréason, GP). Bergman’s portrayal of Peer Gynt as an aging, clowning figure, a smart and rather thoughtless globetrotter filled with increasing despair, differed from the traditional portrayal of Peer as an irresponsible but happy-go-lucky farmboy: ‘To see Peer romp around in his underwear in a harem setting is unexpected for those who have believed that he was for the most part a son of the mountains’ [Att se Peer Gynt tumla runt i underkläder i haremmiljö är oväntat för dem som har trott att han mest var en bergens son], wrote Grut in AB. Ahlstedt’s Peer Gynt dominated the production with his continuous presence and boisterous appearance, sometimes to the exclusion of ensemble acting: ‘The concentration on Peer makes the women around him fade away’. [Koncentrationen på Peer får kvinnorna kring honom att blekna]. (Fredriksson, Nerikes Allehanda). Ahlstedt would have been world famous for his Peer Gynt if Bergman still made movies, wrote Bredsdorff in Politiken (see also Larsén, SDS). A couple of reviews connected Bergman’s interpretation of Peer with his portrait of the artist as a perennial outsider who creates poetry but also fantasizes his life. The trolls became the demons who drive him to exploit and feed on others. (See: Ring, SvD, and Ellefsen, DN).
Reviews (in Swedish) Andergård, Margita. ‘Bergmans Peer Gynt är suggestiv saga, lekfull fest – med skärande dissonanser’ [Bergman’s Peer Gynt is suggestive fairy tale, playful feast – with cutting dissonances]. Hufvudstadsbladet (Helsinki), 29 April 1991. Andréason, Sverker. ‘En livsfresk om försoning’ [A life fresco about atonement]. GP, 28 April 1991.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Bredsdorff, Thomas. ‘Magisk lys fra Bergmans lanterne’ [Magical light from Bergman’s lantern]. Politiken, 28 April 1991. Brunius, Teddy. ‘En annan Peer Gynt’ [A different PG]. UNT, 29 April 1991. Ellefsen, Tove. ‘Hisnande fräckt teateräventyr’ [Dizzying insolent theatre adventure]. DN, 28 April 1991. Fredriksson, Karl G. ‘Gynt med nya dimensioner’ [Gynt with new dimensions]. Nerikes Allehanda, 29 April 1991. Grut, Mario. ‘Bergmans lek med Peer Gynt’ [Bergman’s playing with Peer Gynt]. AB, 28 April 1991. Kollberg, Bo-Ingvar. ‘Knappstöparen Ingmar Bergman’ [The Buttonmolder Bergman]. UNT, 22 August 1992. Larsson, Lisbet. ‘Dödskallen tittar fram’ [The death skull shows through]. Expr., 28 April 1991. Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘En sagofarbror läser Ibsen’ [A storytelling uncle reads Ibsen]. SDS, 28 April 1991. Ring, Lars. ‘Stor och väldig dikt om livet’ [Grand and mighty poem about life]. SvD, 28 April 1991.
See also Hellström, Mats. ‘Ibsens troll utmanar Peer Gynt på Dramaten’ [I’s trolls challenge Peer Gynt at Dramaten], SvD, 26 April 1991. (A background article about the historical Peer Gynt and The Boyg by Swedish Minister of Agriculture). Malaise, Yvonne. ‘Kvinnlig Peer Gynt med flicksjäl och grått hår’ [Female Peer Gynt with a girl’s mind and grey hair]. DN, 27 April 1991. (An interview with Bibi Andersson about Bergman’s version of Peer Gynt). Mårtensson, Mary. ‘Solveig Ternström är mer vågad än någonsin’ [ST is more daring than ever], AB, 25 April 1991. (A write-up about actress playing Anitra). Nilsson, Björn. ‘Ett öde mellan jord och himmel’ [A fate between earth and heaven]. Expr., 12 May 1991, and ‘Norsk Ibsen från Norge’ [Norwegian Ibsen from Norway], Expr., 19 May 1992. Pehrson, Lennart. ‘Berömmet regnar över Bergmans Peer Gynt’ [Praise is raining over Bergman’s Peer Gynt]. SDS, 14 May 1993. Westman-Tullius, Barbro. ‘Kvinnan bakom bröllopsdansen’ [The woman behind the wedding dance]. SvD, 29 April 1991. (About choreographer Donya Feuer). Westman-Tullius, Barbro. ‘Oslo hoppas på Peer Gynt’ [Oslo is hoping for Peer Gynt], SvD, 25 April 1991. (Bergman’s Peer Gynt production invited to Oslo Ibsen festival 1991).
Non-Swedish Reception and Reviews of Stockholm performance Reviews focussed on Börje Ahlstedt’s superb performance and on Bergman’s playful handling of fantastic and non-realistic features in Ibsen’s play, such as the figure of the Boyg, the knitting balls accusing Peer of failing himself, and the strange creatures in the Asylum scene (Neuer Zürcher Zeitung, Aftenposten). Bergman treated Ibsen’s play as a vaudeville and the title figure as a clown, according to Jens Kistrup in Berlingske, who saw Bergman’s conception of Peer Gynt as an ironic self-portrait. Vindsetmo in Dagbladet (Oslo) called the production ‘a grotesque, burlesque adventure of Angst’. [et grotesk burlesk eventyr i angst]. Though the clowning and at times wild theatrical ‘gimmicks’ in Bergman’s production were viewed with some reservation, this was overshadowed by praise of the actors, especially Börje Ahlstedt’s vitality as Peer. (Politiken, Verdens Gang). ‘This is theatre that can never be forgotten’ [Dette er teater som aldrig kan glemmes] concluded Eilif Straume in Norwegian Aftenposten.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Bredsdorff, Thomas. ‘Magisk lys fra Bergmans lanterne’. Politiken (Copenhagen), 28 April 1991. Cornelius, Knud. ‘Peer Gynt med varme og udlængsel’ [Peer Gynt with warmth and longing to escape]. Fredriksborgs Amts Avis (Danish), 15 May 1991. Dagsland, Sissel Hamre. ‘Gnistrende teaterartisteri’. Bergens Tidende, 29 April 1991. haj. ‘Am farbigen Abglanz haben wir das Leben’. Neuer Zürcher Zeitung, 11 June 1991. Huotari, Markku. ‘Suuri pieni Peer Gynt’. Aamulehti, 28 April 1991. Kistrup, Jens. ‘Peer Gynt som livets evige klovn’ [Peer Gynt as life’s eternal clown]. Berlingske Tidende, 28 April 1991. Sablich, Sergio. ‘Ne a soffitta di Bergman’. Il Giornale, 28 April 1991. Straume, Eilif. ‘Bergman og Ibsen i russisk rulett’ [Bergman and Ibsen in Russian roulette]. Aftenposten, 29 April 1991. Sørensen, Viggo. ‘Bergmans geniale “Peer Gynt”’. Jyllands-Posten (Danish), 28 April 1991. Vindsetmo, Bjørg. ‘“Peer Gynt” som skrekkdrama’ [Peer Gynt as horror drama]. Dagbladet (Norwegian), 30 April 1991.
Guest Performances 1. Seville, Lope de Vega Theatre, World’s Fair, 15-18 August 1992 Dramaten visited Seville for four performances of Peer Gynt. Börje Ahlstedt as Peer testified that he felt some shock waves in the audience during Peer Gynt’s sexual orgy among the trolls (see DN, ‘Peer Gynt i Sevilla’, 18 June 1992). But Spain’s leading theatre critic, Joan de Sagarra in El Pais, was very appreciative of Bergman’s farcical humor, which to him resulted in ‘a performance with the same freshness as if a child had done it. The same freshness and the same cruelty’. Julio Martines Velasco called the performance a piece of total dramatic art, Bergman’s direction ‘inimitable’ and Dramaten’s actors exceptional. José Padilla was appreciative of the ‘plastic perfection and exactitude’ of the production but felt a distance between the actors and the audience, and a lack of transmitted feeling. No doubt the language barrier had something to do with this lack of rapport between house and stage.
Reviews Padilla, José Manuel. ‘Catarata de texto’. Diario 16, 18 June 1992. Sagarra, Joan de. ‘Bergman muestra su genio escénico’. El Pais, 17 June 1992, p. 39. Skawonius, Betty. ‘Peer Gynt i Sevilla’. DN, 18 June 1992 (report on reception). Velasco, Julio Martinez. ‘Peer Gynt’. ABC 92, Diario de la Expo, 17 June 1992, p. 74. Vigorra, Jesus. ‘Teatre “Peer Gynt” en el Lope de Vega. Fantastica realidad’. El Correo de Andalucia, 17 June 1992.
See also Castro, Manuel. ‘La firma de Bergman’. El Correo de Adaluçia, 16 June 1992. Sanchez, Silvia. ‘La magia de Bergman e Ibsen en “Peer Gynt”’. Cronica de la Expo, 16 June 1992. Velasco, Julio Martinez. ‘Peer Gynt, Dramaten de Estocolmo e Ingmar Bergman: tres ases’. ABC 92, Diario de la Expo, 15 June 1992, p. 68; also in English as ‘The Stockholm Dramaten presents Peer Gynt at the Lope de Vega Theatre’, ABC 92, Diario de la Expo, 16 June 1992, p. 76.
2. Düsseldorf, 12-15 November 1992 Rossman, Andreas. ‘Flügelschläge’. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 14 November 1992. Saw ‘Peer Gynt as a conformist, an artist and Ingmar Bergman’s alter ego. The fairy tale is over, the clock is ticking. Death is waiting, and theatre history’. There were four well-attended performances.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman 3. New York, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), 13 May 1993 There were five performances of Peer Gynt in New York. Critics were respectful, praised the acting but had some difficulty with Bergman’s very explicit burlesque humor and sexual joking. Linda Winer (New York Newsday) headlined her review of the production ‘a crude Peer Gynt’. NYT (Mel Gussow) and New York Post (Clive Barnes) were more positive but very general in their assessments. Börje Ahlstedt’s rendering of Peer was termed ‘extraordinary’ (NYT), ‘phenomenal’ (New York Post) but the character was described as ‘an unattractive village idiot’ in New York Newsday and ‘a crude lout’ in New York Magazine. Howard Kissel (Daily News) felt that ‘the production never seems to get beneath the surface of the play’. All in all, this was not Bergman’s most successful production at BAM. John Simon, an old Bergman admirer, called it ‘a disaster’. Cf. however Michael Feingold’s enthusiastic review in Village Voice: ‘I wish I had space to describe every brilliant stroke in Bergman’s staging. After a year of dreary, uneven, halfrealized or misconceived New York theater, it was a relief to be back in the real theater again.’ For the Swedish assessment of the New York reception of Peer Gynt, see: Staffan Thorsell. ‘Svalt mottagande i New York för Bergman & Peer Gynt’ [Cool reception in NY for Bergman and Peer Gynt], Expr., 14 May 1993.
Reviews Barnes, Clive. ‘Bowing to Peer Pleasure’. New York Post, 13 May 1993. Feingold, Michael. ‘Peer Pressure’. Village Voice, 25 May 1993. Gussow, Mel. ‘Dreamers and Clowns: Bergman’s Vision in a New “Peer Gynt”’. NYT, 13 May 1993. Kissel, Howard. ‘Growing Old with “Peer Gynt”’. Daily News, 14 May 1993. Simon, John. ‘Less Austerity, More Ostriches’. New York Magazine, 31 May 1993. Simonson, Robert. ‘An Epic Career’. Theater Week, 17 May 1993, pp. 22-23. Stearns, David Patrick. ‘“Peer Gynt” through Bergman’s eyes’. USA Today, 14 May 1993. Winer, Linda. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Coarse Rendering of Ibsen’s “Peer”’. New York Newsday, 13 May 1993.
4. Bergen Festival, Den Nationale Scene (DNS Theatre), 9-12 June 1993 Peer Gynt comes close to being a national epic in Norwegian culture, with the title figure usually seen as a charming liar and country bumpkin. In Bergman’s production Börje Ahlstedt’s egocentric and self-destructive clown lacked any redeeming features and his portrayal became the focus of critical attention when Dramaten visited the Bergen Art Festival. ‘This is a piece of theatre originating in Strindberg’s country more than in Björnson’s’, wrote the reviewer in Fædrelandsvennen. See also Sissel Hamre Dagsland’s article ‘Peer Gynt – hvem er du?’ [PG – who are you?], Bergens Tidende, 28 May 1993, and IdaLou Larsen’s review ‘En svensk Peer Gynt’ [A Swedish Peer Gynt], Nationen, 17 June 1993. Reviews praised the acting and the theatrical vitality of the production but were somewhat critical of Bergman’s reading of Ibsen’s text (too superficial), of his conception of Peer Gynt as part Chaplin, part Beckett (Stavanger Aftenblad) and of a performance that seemed more like a collage of stage tricks from earlier Bergman productions than a new and original interpretation. Much of the response depended on the reviewer’s assessment of the last act. Some felt that Peer’s clownish appearance lacked the potential for the existential tragedy he faces at the end (Ones; Jan E. Hansen).
Reviews Dagsland, Sissel Hamre. ‘Bergmans intense Peer’. Bergens Tidende, 11 June 1993. Hansen. Jan E. ‘Ingmar Bergmans siste akt’ [Bergman’s last act]. Aftenposten, 13 June 1993. Larsen, Ida Lou. ‘En svensk Peer Gynt’. Nationen, 17 June 1993.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Ones, Sveinung. ‘Eventyrspill’ [Fairy tale play]. Bergens Avis, 11 June 1993. P.H. ‘Svensk Peer’ [Swedish Peer]. Gula Tidend, 12 June 1993. Syvertsen, Emil Otto. ‘I Bergmans redselkabinett’ [In B’s chamber of horrors]. Fædrelandsvennen, 11 June 1993. Thomsen, Kari. ‘Det gamle barn Peer’ [The old child Peer]. Stavanger Aftenblad, 14 June 1993.
See also Gjelsvik, Erling. ‘Peer som buskis’ [Peer as burlesque]. Bergensavisen, 11 June 1993. (A brief comparison between Bergman’s production and Kjetil Bang-Hansen’s version of the play, which opened the festival; admires Bergman’s virtuosity but was more moved by BangHansen’s production).
1993/94 474.
SISTA SKRIKET – EN LÄTT TINTAD MORALITET [The Last Cry – a slightly tinted morality play] The morality play reference is used here by Bergman even more loosely than in his collection Moraliteter back in 1948. The morality term has no metaphysical overtones but alludes to the crass business ‘morality’ displayed by af Klercker’s film producer, Charles Magnuson.
Synopsis A short one-act stage play, later filmed for television, tells of the fictitious encounter in 1919 between Charles Magnusson, the founder of the early Swedish film company Svenska Bio, and silent filmmaker Georg af Klercker who used to work for Magnusson. The play is a meeting of talent and power, film artist and business-like producer. Af Klercker, who has made films for a film company in Gothenburg, is drunk and burnt out. His attempt to gain interest and support from Charles Magnusson for a new film idea becomes one long monologue by af Klercker, in part a professional resume, in part a humiliating plea. At the end he is dismissed by Magnusson, who also withdraws af Klercker’s courtesy ticket to film and theatre events in Stockholm.
Credits Playwright Director Stage Opening Dates Number of Performances
Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman SFI (Bio Victor); in Malmö (Victoria); Gothenburg, (Lorensberg Theatre); and Dramaten, (Small Stage) 4 February 1993; 20 September 1993; 8 February 1994; and 9 October 1994 22 in total
Cast Georg af Klercker Charles Magnusson Miss Holm, Magnusson’s secretary
Björn Granath Ingvar Kjellson Anna von Rosen
Commentary In 1978, ‘The Ingmar Bergman Plaque’ was instituted in connection with Bergman’s 60th birthday to honor someone active in the Swedish cinema. Since 1992 the award has been called ‘The Ingmar Bergman Prize’. In that year it was divided between film restoration expert Inga Adolphson and (posthumously) the silent film director, Georg af Klercker, a contemporary of the more famous directors Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller. Adolphson had restored Klerck-
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman er’s film Nattliga toner [Nightly tunes] from 1917. In connection with an exclusive showing of the restored film plus another Klercker screen work, Under cirkuskupolen [Under the circus cupola], Bergman wrote and directed his play Sista skriket. Performed by Dramaten actors, the play was first presented at the SFI Victor movie theatre on 5 February 1993, then toured Malmö and Gothenburg (shown at Gothenburg Film Festival). Dramaten’s Small Stage (Lilla scenen), an old movie theatre, presented the combined film and stage program 16 times in October 1994. Later the play was adapted for television and shown on 6 January and 8 April 1995. The TV broadcast was preceded by an exposé of the Swedish silent cinema between 1916-1920, narrated by Bergman. As a result of Bergman’s attention to Georg af Klercker’s films, the Centre culturel suèdois in Paris presented a retrospective of Klercker’s work on 21 January 1996.
Reception Bergman’s play opened as somewhat of an in-house showing, billed as an af Klercker evening. There were relatively few reviews, most of them focussing on af Klercker. Those who wrote about Bergman’s play were, however, by and large enthusiastic; several pointed out Bergman’s sharp and humorous dialogue, suggesting that Sista skriket was based on Bergman’s memories of his own early days in the film industry. Bergman talked about af Klercker and his play in an interview with Jannike Åhlund. ‘Bergman vid källsprånget’ [Bergman at the source]. Chaplin, no. 239, (April-May), 1992: 29-35.
SFI Reviews opening Andersson, Gunder. ‘Till attack mot tigandets diktatur’ [Attacking the dictatorship of remaining silent]. AB, 5 February 1993, pp. 4-5. Furhammar, Leif. ‘Enastående enaktare av Bergman’ [Superb one-acter by Bergman]. DN, 5 February 1993, p. B1.
Malmö (Victoria) performance Aghed, Jan. ‘Underhållande hyllning till af Klercker’ [Entertaining homage to af Klercker]. SDS, 22 September 1993, p. A15. Lindberg, Börje. ‘Ingmar Bergman äreräddar’ [Bergman rescues (af Klercker’s) honor]. Arbetet, 22 September 1993, p. 5 (Section 2).
Gothenburg (Lorensbergsteatern) performance Kågström, Per. ‘Grymt och roligt’ [Cruel and funny]. Festivaltidningen Draken, February 1994, p. 6.
Dramaten, Lilla scenen (Small Stage) Grünstein, Michael. ‘Bergmans Sista Skriket smakar beskt’ [Bergman’s Last Gasp has tart flavor]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 1 November 1994. (Sees play as a bitter Bergman variation of a father-son struggle.) Wahlin, Claes. ‘Bergmans bagateller’ [Bergman’s trifles]. AB, 10 October 1994. Television version: See Media Chapter, TV 1995, (Ø 338).
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre
1993 475.
RUMMET OCH TIDEN [Room and time]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Assistant Director Stage Opening Date
Die Zeit und das Zimmer Botho Strauss Ingmar Bergman Mette Möller Åsa Kalmér Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm, Small Stage 20 March 1993 (53 performances)
Cast Marie Steuber Julius Olaf Man without a watch Figure Frank Arnold Dancer The Lie-a-bed The Man in winter coat The Completely Unknown The Pillar The Impatient One The Clerk
Lena Endre Erland Josephson Per Mattsson Mats Bergman Virpi Pahkinen Hans Klinga Johanna Johansson Marie Richardson Björn Granath Carl-Magnus Dellow Gerd Hagman (voice)/ Gerthie Kulle Jan Nyman
Commentary Botho Strauss’ Die Zeit und das Zimmer is part of a trilogy that also includes Der Besucher and Sieben Türe, all with the common theme of modern man’s alienation and empty existence in a world without God and without any other referential points outside the self. The play is built up as a series of brief encounters between human beings. The variations in such meetings are determined by the roles people play, conditioned by their age, gender, and social position. In the program to his production of Die Zeit und das Zimmer, Bergman reprinted Strindberg’s brief preface to A Dreamplay: ‘Time and space do not exist; anything can happen, anything is possible and probable...’ [Tid och rum existera icke, etc.]. This link to Strindberg was obvious from the start. The setting showed a house façade, reminiscent of the opening in several of Strindberg’s chamber plays, behind which was a greyish-white interior where two men and skeptics, Olaf and the writer Julius, are seated at a window, registering the people outside. The window faced the audience, a departure in Bergman’s staging from the original stage instructions. The rather ghost-like patrician living room was not only Julius’ look-out point but served as a platform for anyone who might materialize on stage. Some ten different characters appeared, at first in sharp profile but soon dissolving and reassembling their identities. Along the back wall, there was a padded ditch in the floor which was invisible to the audience but into which a character could suddenly disappear as quickly as any figure in a dream – or in a film. A woman named Marie Steuber links all the characters together. Played by Lena Endre, an up-and-coming Bergman star, Marie, too, appeared in continuous metamorphoses and became, in her lack of fixity, the leading lady of nothingness, a contemporary Indra’s daughter.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Steuber’s recent suicide attempt was suggested by her bandaged wrist. The surreal mood of a mutilated life was augmented by an irreverant mix of Chopin’s funeral music and U2’s hardrock from the LP Achtung Baby. At the world premiere of Strauss’ play in Berlin, the tone was farcical and the tempo had the swiftness of today’s electronic age. Bergman’s interpretation was more embedded in past German history and also more eschatological, with death as a prominent and concrete theme. The character called ‘The Completely Unknown One’ appeared in Bergman’s production as a threatening, black-attired death figure. Bergman seems to have become inspired by Botho Strauss for his subsequent film script Trolösa (Faithless). Like the voyeuristic Julius in Strauss’ play, the character named ‘Ingmar Bergman’ in Trolösa, interpreted by the same actor (Erland Josephson), is able with the help of his creative fantasy and memory to conjure forth a human being as if in a dream, and make her take on a reality of her own. Both Marie in Die Zeit und das Zimmer and Marianne in Trolösa have to be cajoled by their ‘creators’ to step forward, and appear reluctantly in flasback scenes as muses of a man’s fantasies. They are also characters who meet their lovers in a defined space, only to become separated from them by time. The Danish scenographer Mette Möller who made her debut at Dramaten in this Bergman production, was interviewed in SvD (‘Första teaterpremiären för TV-scenograf ’/First theatre opening for TV scenographer), 20 March 1993. Möller had assisted Bergman in transferring his theatre production of Mishima’s Madame de Sade to television. Lena Endre was interviewed in DN about her role in Bergman’s production of Strauss’ play. See Yvonne Malaise, ‘En temp i röven på 90-talet’ [A thermometer in the ass of the nineties]. DN, På stan section, 20-26 March 1993.
Reception Reviews were very mixed. Hufvudstadsbladet called the production ‘theatre at its very best’ but SvD wrote that ‘the Master does not show his lion claw’ [Mästaren visar inte lejonklon] and referred specifically to Bergman’s uninspired instruction of the actors. Several critics found Bergman’s interpretation academic and distant, though revealing an intelligent reading of the play. The production was only understandable to those who saw the main character, Marie Steuber, as a reincarnation of Indra’s daughter in A Dreamplay, wrote Jens Kistrup in Weekendavisen. He was seconded by Sverker Andréason (GP): ‘Bergman plays in an inspired way with dreamplay absurdities’. [Bergman leker på ett inspirerat sätt med drömspelsabsurditeter] (Sverker Andréason, GP). There was a feeling that Bergman had not captured the dark tone of the original: ‘All in all what is offered is a sophisticated theatre evening where precision, tone, and rich subtlety is obvious. But perhaps a more accentuated blackness would at times have been an advantage’. [Allt som allt erbjuds en sofistikerad teaterkväll där precision, tonfall, och rik nyansering är uppenbar. Men en mer accentuerad svarthet skulle understundom ha varit en fördel]. (Nerikes Allehanda). Danish Politiken noted that Bergman could also fail, in part by replacing Botho Strauss’ melancholy with heavy spleen: ‘it is like Chekhov presented by Strindberg’.
Reviews Andréason, Sverker. ‘Skimrande samtidsskärvor’ [Shimmering fragments of our time]. GP, 21 March 1993. Arrhenius, Sara. ‘Abstrakt och kyligt’ [Abstract and cold]. AB, 21 March 1993, pp. 4-5. Avellan, Heidi. ‘Bergman är absurd i Rummet och tiden’ [Bergman is absurd in die Zeit und das Zimmer]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 15 April 1993. Bonnesen, Michael. ‘Mislykket möde’ [Unsuccessful meeting]. Politiken, 21 March 1993. Gustavsson, Björn. ‘Mästerligt om vår vilsenhet’ [Masterful about our lostness]. Nerikes Allehanda, 22 March 1993.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Kistrup, Jens. ‘Ingmar Bergman moderniserer sit drømmespil’ [Bergman modernizes his dreamplay]. Weekend Avisen, 26 March 1993. Lund, Me. ‘Stævnemøde i Stockholm’ [Appointment in Stockholm]. Berlingske Tidende, 21 March 1993. Nilsson, Björn. ‘Ett drömspel halvvägs till “Lorry”’ [A dreamplay half way to (the soap) ‘Lorry’]. Expr., 21 March 1993. Ring, Lars. ‘Kallt och pratigt. Bergman’s Strauss-uppsättning berör inte’ [Cold and talky. Bergman’s Strauss production does not move]. SvD, 21 March 1993. Sablich, Sergio. ‘Bergman incontra Botho Strauss e scopre il teatro in una stanza’. Il Gionale, 21 March 1993. Waaranperä, Ingegärd. ‘Befriande resa i rum utan tid’ [Liberating journey in space without time]. DN, 21 March 1993. Wille, Franz. ‘Augen auf? Augen auf?’. Theater Heute, no. 5, 1993, pp. 10-11.
1994 476.
GOLDBERGVARIATIONERNA [The Goldberg Variations]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Choreographer Music Assistant Director Assistant Scenographer Stage Opening date
Georg Tabori Ingmar Bergman Göran Wassberg Donya Feuer Johan Lindell and J.S. Bach Anna von Rosen Sundelius Kajsa Larsson Målarsalen at Dramaten 4 February 1994 (The opening was originally set for 11 December 1993, but a flu epidemic postponed the premiere twice, until 4 February 1994). (69 performances).
Cast Mr. J., Director Goldberg, his Assistant Mrs. Mop Teresa Tormentina, Superstar Ernestina van Veen, Scenographer Jafet, Actor; plays Smoke Flame Mas, Actor; plays Abel Raema, Actor; plays Kain
Johan Rabæus Erland Josephson Basia Frydman Inga-Lill Andersson Bibi Andersson Björn Granath Hans Klinga Mats Bergman
Devil’s Angels, a punk rock orchestra: Habackuk Johan Lindell Hanok Pierre Wilkner Ham Fredrik Hammar Vasti Virpi Pahkinen Hagar Anna von Rosen Sundelius Ohola Fanny Josephson
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman A Boy Guards
Malin Edwall Daniel Carter, Henri Hanus-Haim, Themma Tainton
Commentary In Bergman’s previous production at Dramaten, Botho Strauss’ play Die Zeit und das Zimmer, there was little contact between the characters, who seemed to live their lives by chance and with no more emotions than occasional lust and desire. In many ways, George Tabori’s play The Goldberg Variations can be seen as a retort to Strauss, with several of the actors from the earlier production reappearing but with the blasé life attitude in Room and Time replaced by an ethos rooted in Judeo-Christian thinking. Tabori’s drama, part meta-theatrical farce, part Jewish morality play, is full of intertexual quotes and references to the Bible, Shakespeare, and Milton. On the farcical level it presents a rehearsal that ends in disarray; as a morality play, it depicts a series of disasters throughout the history of mankind where God has decided not to intervene. In the play within the play, the director J. (J. as in Jahve) is the main character; in the tragic story of mankind, Goldberg, J.’s old assistant, occupies center stage as a fusion of Ahasverus, Moses, and Christ. Bergman chose again the small Målarsalen stage at Dramaten, which facilitated his sought-after contact between stage and audience. He placed the director J. among the front row seats and instructed the actors to seek eye contact with individual spectators. The entire play was printed in the theatre program in a translation by Erland Josephson and Ulla Åberg.
Reception Bergman’s production of Tabori’s play, which one critic (Lars Ring, SvD) referred to as ‘a fastforward farcical version of the Bible’ [en snabbspolad farsversion av bibeln], received rave reviews both in the Stockholm area and in the press outside the capital. Sweden’s largest newspaper, DN, even changed its standard place for theatre columns by printing the entire review on its front page. Many reviewers remarked on a certain affinity between Tabori’s work and Bergman’s own interest and background: his irreverence and questioning of God, his familiarity with biblical stories and their symbolism, his affinity for burlesque humor and his modernistic interest in meta-theatrical dramatic forms (see Franzén, DN; Kollberg in UNT and Nilsson in Expr.). ‘His loyalty to the text has made some of his recent classical productions boring’, wrote Franzén. ‘But here the text is not sacred. Bergman permits himself a form of theatrical coarseness and mischief that is refreshing’. [Hans lojalitet mot texten har gjort några av hans senaste klassiska uppsättningar tråkiga. Men här är texten inte helig. Bergman tillåter sig en form av teatralisk grovhet och okynne som är uppfriskande]. Reviewers were intrigued by Tabori’s and Bergman’s juxtaposition of different dramatic traditions: ‘Seriousness shares the space with farce in a performance spiced with extravagant humor’ [allvar delar plats med fars i en föreställning kryddad med överdådig humor], wrote Västerbottens-Kuriren and felt that the play had everything to attract both an intellectual, traditional theatre public and young people of pop music age. SvD encouraged its readers – ‘atheists and seekers alike’ – to ‘go to Dramaten and meet God and his Messiah, Goldberg’. [att gå till Dramaten och möta Gud och hans Messias]. Actors in the burlesque roles, including Bergman’s own son Mats Bergman, carried the first half of the play, but the one performer who, according to the reviews, gave an extra dimension to Tabori’s piece, was Goldberg himself, Erland Josephson: ‘He observes the stage escapades with tired irony... and gives Tabori’s play the kind of firmness it needs in order not to become a mere display of dramatic virtuosity’. [Han observerar scenupptågen med trött ironi... och ger åt Taboris pjäs den slags fasthet den behöver för att inte bli ett rent utspel av dramatisk vituositet]. The same reviewer (Fredriksson) also
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre remarked positively on Bergman’s use of well-established actors for all the parts, major as well as minor. He concluded: ‘It is impossible not to praise author, director and ensemble. The whole thing is a brilliant production’ [Det är omöjligt att inte lovprisa författaren, regissören och ensemblen. Det hela är en lysande uppsättning]. (Nerikes Allehanda).
Reviews Avellan, Heidi. ‘Burlesk bibelläsning’ [Burlesque Bible reading]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 9 February 1994. Dithmer, Mona. ‘Bergmans skaberverk’ [Bergman’s creative work]. Politiken, 6 February 1994. Fishbach, Lars. ‘Hjärta och humor mellan raderna’ [Heart and humor between the lines]. Östgöta-Correspondenten, 15 February 1994. Franzén, Lars Olof. ‘Bra krut i busig Bergman’ [Great go in mischievous Bergman]. DN, 5 February 1994. Fredriksson, Karl G. ‘Virtuosa variationer med det rätta tuggmotståndet’ [Virtuoso variations with the right chewing resistance]. Nerikes Allehanda (NA), 5 February 1994. Kistrup, Jens. ‘Ingmar Bergmans bibelske teater’. Berlingske Tidende, 5 February 1994. Kollberg, Bo-Ingvar. ‘Allvar och gyckel på biblisk grund’ [Seriousness and farce on Biblical ground]. UNT, 5 February 1994. Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘Bergman svänger sitt trollspö’ [Bergman waves his magic wand]. SDS, 5 February 1994. Lundberg, Christina. ‘En triumf för Bergman – och teaterkonsten’ [A triumph for Bergman – and for theatre art]. Västerbottens-Kuriren, 7 February 1994. Nilsson, Björn. ‘Det gamla spelet om Envar’ [The old play about Everyman]. Expr., 5 February 1994. Ring, Lars. ‘Genial text iscensatt med lätt hand’ [Ingenious text staged with a light touch]. SvD, 5 February 1994. Sörenson, Ulf. ‘Guds ofullkomliga teater’ [God’s imperfect theatre]. GP, 5 February 1994. Wahlin, Claes. ‘Taboris värld – och Bergmans’ [Tabori’s world – and Bergman’s]. AB, 5 February 1994.
See also Basia Frydman, who played the cleaning-lady Mrs. Mop, was interviewed about Tabori’s play in DN’s ‘På stan’ section, 17 December 1993. An account of the preparation for the production, including a lecture by head rabbi in Stockholm, Morton H. Narrowe, was published by Erwin Leiser, ‘Was ist, wenn Gott nicht Gott ist?’ Weltwoche, 16 February 1994.
477.
VINTERSAGAN [The Winter’s Tale]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Music Stage Opening date
William Shakespeare Ingmar Bergman Lennart Mörk Compositions for Almqvist’s Songes The Royal Dramatic Theatre, Main Stage 9 April 1994 (114 performances)
Cast The female Singer The male Singer King Leontes
Irene Lindh Pierre Wilkner Börje Ahlstedt
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Queen Hermione Perdita, their daughter Mamillius, age 10 King Polixenes Florizel, his son Camillo, Sicilian nobleman Antigonus Cleomenes Dion Paulina, Antigonus’ wife Emilia Amalia Archidamus A Judge Gerontes The Shepherd Clown, his son Autolycus, petty swindler Mopsa, a shepherdess Dorcas, a sherpedess Sailor Prison Guard An Abbess An Old Courtier Time
Pernilla August Kristina Törnqvist Anna Björk Krister Henriksson Jakob Eklund Gösta Prüzelius Ingvar Kjellson Jan Blomberg Pierre Wilkner Bibi Andersson Monica Nielsen Thérèse Brunnander Oscar Ljung John Zacharias Gerd Hagman Tord Peterson Per Matsson Reine Brynolfsson Thérèse Brunnander Monica Nielsen Jan Nyman Oscar Ljung Gerd Hagman Ingvar Kjellson Kristina Adolphson
Commentary In a self-styled interview (Dramat, no. 3, 1994, under pseudonym Anna Salander), Bergman mentions having been fascinated by The Winter’s Tale as early as 1932 when he was experimenting with his puppet theatre. His 1994 Dramaten production of the play was the third one in Sweden in a short period of time but also the boldest in terms of conception and handling of Shakespeare’s text. Using a new commissioned translation (by Britt G. Hallqvist and Claes Schaar), Bergman omitted one third of Shakespeare’s text. The most radical change however was not the omissions but Bergman’s addition of a Swedish frame for the drama: the fictional hunting castle of Hugo Löwenstierna from 19th-century author Carl Johan Love Almqvist’s novel Drottningens juvelsmycke [The Queen’s Jewel]. In Almqvist’s novel the hunting castle is the scene of story-telling and dramatic enactments. In Bergman’s production at Dramaten some fifty festively dressed actors (all in imperial blue) entered the stage ten minutes before the performance was to start and incarnated 19th-century members of the Löwenstierna family, who in turn, as amateur players, assumed the parts of Shakespeare’s characters in The Winter’s Tale. Sicily (where Shakespeare’s action begins at King Leontes court), Bohemia (home of Leontes’ childhood friend, Polyxenes) and Swedish provincial life in Almqvist’s time were juxtaposed. In addition to such a multifaceted setting, anachronistic props were used to expand the time frame of Shakespeare’s drama. Thus jealous King Leontes wandered, in a black cape and to the tolling of church bells, through a city landscape, a steely pistol in his hands, and Autolycus, the buffoon and counterpoint to the tragic characters, entered the stage on a motorized delivery scooter of the kind that used to be seen in Bergman’s own Östermalm neighbourhood in the 1920s. Bergman’s Östermalm was also incorporated in set designer Lennart Mörk’s scenography which included the marbled foyer at the Royal Dramatic Theatre
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre with its art nouveau pillars and painted ceiling – a meta-theatrical nod to the Dramaten audience and one more framing device. There were other Bergman references: 10-year old Mamillius and a little girl played with a puppet theatre, over which hung the Danish sign from Det Kgl. Teater in Copenhagen – Ej blot til lyst (not just for pleasure) – that appeared in Fanny and Alexander’s opening sequence. The Almqvist framework served two purposes; it signaled Bergman’s link to an older and a younger colleague, Alf Sjöberg and Peter Oscarsson, both of whom had brought Almqvist, long considered a closet dramatist, on to the stage with productions of his works Amorina and Drottningens Juvelsmycke (The Queen’s Jewel); and it reinforced the quality of adventure, dream and fantasy in Shakespeare’s drama. Almqvist’s lines ‘Oh Lord, how sweet to die in music and song’ [O herregud, hur ljuvt att dö i musik och sång] formed the finale as personified Time entered and placed a loudly ticking alarm clock at the ramp.
Reception The following opening statement in Leif Zern’s review (DN) epitomizes the overall happy tone of the Swedish reception of Bergman’s production of The Winter’s Tale and the many references in the reviews to Bergman’s own cruel, yet happy film, Fanny and Alexander: Ingmar Bergman’s staging of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale on Dramaten’s main stage has all the prospects of becoming the same kind of popular feast as Fanny and Alexander once was. It is not only because the threads between the film and this theatre performance are many and tightly woven together, but also, and above all, because the whole project is realized by the same happy hand that blessed Bergman’s last film. [Ingmar Bergman’s iscensättning av Shakespeares Vintersagan på Dramatens stora scen har alla utsikter att bli samma slags folkfest som en gång Fanny och Alexander. Inte bara därför att trådarna mellan filmen och denna teaterföreställnng är många och fast sammanknutna utan framför allt därför att hela projektet har åstadkommits av samma lyckliga hand som välsignade Bergmans sista film]. The critical concensus was that Ingmar Bergman’s personal vision had entered into a happy union with Shakespeare’s fairy tale drama. The framing device was praised for providing, through Almqvist’s musical ‘Songs’, a meditative and poetic link to Shakespeare’s irrational tragi-comedy, thus presenting an insane tale and its miraculous reversal in both a bucolic mood and a Christian context: ‘All is well that ends well. Bergman [...] lets the dead Hermione become a Virgin Mary figure’. [Slutet gott, allting gott. Bergman [...] låter den döda Hermione bli en jungfru Mariagestalt]. (Ring, SvD). As usual in a Bergman production, the actors were lauded for their intense and rich performances, transforming a fairy tale’s archetypal pattern into a human tragedy. Bergman’s direction was praised for its beauty, clarity, and wealth of striking concrete details (See Larson, AB; Larsén, SDS). But what the overall enthusiastic reviews finally focussed on was Bergman’s conception of Shakespeare’s play as a timeless story whose grimness was tempered by Bergman’s addition of festivity and poetry. As the reviewer in the Danish Politiken noted: Bergman’s own vision of the stage as a theatrum mundi helped give a timeless quality to a production of Shakespeare, shaped into a symbiosis of human passion and art, of tragedy and irrational dream.
Reviews Andersen, Hans. ‘Bergmans vintereventyr’ [Bergman’s winter’s tale]. Morgenavisen/JyllandsPosten, 1 May 1994.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Avellan, Heidi. ‘Bergmans vackraste saga’ [Bergman’s most beautiful tale]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 4 May 1994. Bonnesen, Michael. ‘Sommernattens smil’ [Smile of the summer night]. Information, 4 May 1994. Heltberg, Bettina. ‘Fortryllende drøm’ [Enticing dream]. Politiken Søndag, 1 May 1994. Kistrup, Jens. ‘Kærligheden dør, overlever og genopstår’ [Love dies, survives and is reborn]. Weekend Avisen, 6 May 1994. Kollberg, Bo-Ingvar. ‘Överdådig Vintersaga’ [Extravagant Winter’s tale]. UNT, 30 April 1994. Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘Avskedets stund är inne’ [The moment of farewell is here]. SDS, 30 April 1994. Larson, Kate. ‘Lysande teater, men..’. [Brilliant theatre but...]. AB, 30 April 1994. Larson, Lisbeth. ‘Se, det var en riktig vintersaga’ [Look, that was a real winter’s tale]. Expr., 30 April 1994. Lund, Me. ‘Teatret er magiens hjem’ [The theatre is the home of magic]. Berlingske Tidende, 1 May 1994. Ring, Lars. ‘En saga – svensk så att det värker’ [A tale – so Swedish it hurts]. SvD, 30 April 1994. Rossiné, Hans. ‘Bergmans superbe Shakespeare’. Dagbladet, 2 May 1994. Straume, Eiliff. ‘Et nytt storverk av Bergman’ [A new masterpiece by Bergman]. Aftenposten, 2 May 1994. Sörenson, Ulf. ‘En teaterfest i Shakespeare’s anda’ [A theatre feast in Shakespeare’s spirit]. GP, 30 April 1994. Zern, Leif. ‘Bergman målar ännu en livsfresk’ [Bergman paints yet another life fresco]. DN, 30 April 1994.
Articles and Book Excerpts Cohen-Stratyner, Barbara. ‘Ingmar Bergman and the Theater: An Exhibition of Process and Results’. In Nordic Theatre Studies 11 (special Bergman issue, 1994), pp. 98-109. (Discusses the set design for Bergman’s staging of The Winter’s Tale.) Lahr, John. ‘Winter Songs’. The New Yorker, 3 October 1994, pp. 105-08. Reprinted in Ingmar Bergman: An Artist’s Journey, ed. by Roger Oliver. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1995, pp. 155-160. Loman, Rikard. ‘Svartsjuka. William Shakespeares och Ingmar Bergmans vintersagor’ [Jealousy. WS’s and Bergman’s winter tales]. In Ingmar Bergman. Film och teater i växelverkan, ed. by Maragareta Wirmark. Stockholm: Carlssons, 1996, pp. 152-171. (Juxtaposes Leontes’ irrational and unmotivated jealousy towards an innocent Hermione in Shakespeare’s text to Bergman’s staging of the first scenes where a sensuous Hermione, caressing her husband but also consorting with Leontes’ visiting childhood friend Polixenes, provides a reason for Leontes’ jealousy). Møllehave, Johannes. ‘Mellem forblindelse og klarsyn’ [Between blindness and clear perception]. Fyens Stifstidende/Morgenposten Søndag, 26 June 1994. (Discusses Time as a central theme of the play and the production). Sjögren, Henrik. Lek och raseri, 2002, pp. 174-178. (Reception summary). Törnqvist, Egil. Between Stage and Screen. Ingmar Bergman Directs, 1995, pp. 81-92. Dramaten’s own magazine, Dramat, published two articles about Vintersagan’s scenography. See Inga Maja Beck, ‘Scenrummet och det imaginära’ [Scenographic space and the imaginary], Dramat, no. 3, 1994, pp. 28-31; and Christina Rosenqvist’s article about stage designer Lennart Mörk: ‘Målaren i Mörk’ [The painter in Mörk], Dramat, no. 2, 1994, pp. 22-27. The same issue of Dramat also prints an article by Lolo Amble, ‘En kväll med Vintersagan’, pp. 28-32, which is an account of the production from back stage.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre See also Andersson, Camilla. ‘Songes skapar stämning’ [Songes creates atmosphere]. SvD, 3 May 1994. (Interview with Irene Lindh, actress who sang Almqvist’s Songes in Bergman’s The Winter’s Tale). Grundström, Elisabeth. ‘Premiär för Shakespearebilder’ [Opening of Shakespeare pictures]. DN 10 September 1994. (About National Museum exhibit of scenogapher Lennart Mörk’s sketches to Bergman’s production of The Winter’s Tale, together with British 18th-century engravings and lithographs with Shakespeare motifs). Malaise, Yvonne. ‘Bergman i lektagen’ [Bergman in a playfull mood]. DN, 29 April 1994. (Presentation of The Winter’s Tale production on opening day).
Guest Performances New York City, Bergman festival, May-June 1995 The production made a guest appearance with four performances at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) during the New York City Bergman festival 31 May-3 June 1995. The production was also invited to the Barbican Centre in London by the Royal Shakespeare Company, but Bergman declined, fearing that the Barbican’s stark, almost brutal stage would kill the atmosphere of his Winter’s Tale. New York critics oscillated all the way from awe to booing, between deep appreciation of ‘Bergman’s visual intelligence’ (Sterritt) and irritation at such directorial self-indulgences as romping bears and verbal horsing around. Michael Feingold (Village Voice) thought he had seen The Winter’s Tale come alive for the first time and toyed with the idea that Shakespeare might be Swedish; ‘Why else would he seem so much more understandable in that language?... It’s Shakespeare seen through the prism of Strindberg which would seem odd, if it weren’t also utterly, perfectly Shakespearean’. Feingold was seconded by NYT critic Vincent Canby who called the production ‘simply and purely theatrical, a celebration of the art of the stage. [...] Bergman allows the imagination to soar.’ These reviews and John Lahr’s enthusiastic and knowledgeable New Yorker analysis of the production (see listing above under ‘Articles’) might be juxtaposed to Brustein’s and Simon’s negative assessments. Brustein called the production ‘Not one of Bergman’s most brilliant ones’ but added that ‘nothing created by this master is ever less than compelling’. He gave it a B (good) rating. John Simon thought Bergman had ‘ballasted the play with a top-heavy frame’, one of many signs that Bergman ‘suffered from AMS, i.e., Aging Master Syndrome. Review Grade: D.’ (below average, almost failing).
Reviews Brustein, Robert. ‘The Winter’s Tale’. The New Republic, vol. 213, no. 3-4, 1995, p. 2. Canby, Vincent. ‘Bergman’s Vision of Shakespeare’. NYT, 2 June 1995, p. C3. Feingold, Michael. ‘The Winter’s Tale’. Village Voice, 13 June 1995, p. 85. Simon, John. ‘Psychodramas’. New York, 19 June 1995, pp. 76-77C. Sterritt, David. ‘Bergman’s Vision Illuminates Festival in his Honor’. Christian Science Monitor, 8 June 1995, p. 12.
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1995 478.
MISANTROPEN [The Misanthrope]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Choreography Music Assistant Director Assistant Scenographer Stage Opening Date
Le Misantrope Molière Ingmar Bergman Charles Koroly Donya Feuer Jean Billgren, Scarlatti Antonia Pyk Cilla Norborg Royal Dramatic Theatre, Main Stage 17 February 1995 (117 performances)
Cast Alceste Célimène Philinte Oronte Eliante Arsione Acaste Clitandre Du Bois Basque Dorine An orderly Two servants
Torsten Flinck Lena Endre Thomas Hanzon Jarl Kulle Nadja Weiss Agneta Ekmanner Mats Bergman Claes Månsson Sven Lindberg Benny Haag Inger Sigvarddotter Fredrik Hammar Lars Andersson, Richard Gustavsson
Commentary In a program note Bergman wrote that his third production of The Misanthrope owed a great deal to Ariane Mnouchkin, whose 1978 film version of Molière’s play had greatly impressed him. Mnouchkin’s Shakespeare productions in Paris had coincided with Dramaten’s and Bergman’s Kung Lear performances Bergman’s third Misanthrope was performed on a virtually empty stage: the only props were a bed, a couple of chairs and some mirrors, i.e., a set that formed a stark contrast to the luxurious costumes and extravagant wigs worn by all the performers except Alceste, dressed in simple dark clothes and no wig. The play opened with a ‘Bergman-type’ visual prologue and play within a play. The curtain was raised to reveal another curtain – a painted scrim of Watteau’s painting ‘La Prairie Quarrée’, depicting three women and a Pierrot figure – supposedly a scene of pastoral tranquillity but one that Bergman immediately began to undercut by exposing a peephole in the golden skirt of one of the Watteau maidens and an actor peering through, waving at the audience. A commotion ensued behind the scrim. The theme of the production was set: the rowdiness of life behind a façade of mannered serenity. Suddenly a ‘real’ Pierrot appeared, leaning against the wings. The inner curtain was raised and Molière’s piece began with Lena Endre’s Célimène playing blind man’s buff with some choreographed figures – another play within the play.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Reception Most of the reviewers agreed that Célimène’s little game signaled Bergman’s overall approach: to expose flirtatious social manners that camouflaged (and destroyed) genuine feelings. This Misanthrope was more than a scathing satire; it was Célimène’s tragedy, not Alceste’s, even though he appeared in the foreground most of the time, with Célimene and her consorts moving behind him. But critics disagreed on the effect of Bergman’s spatial separation of the two characters. To one reviewer (Andréasson) it was ‘in the interplay between Alceste and Célimène that the drama deepens and the special Bergman pattern emerges’. But to another (Zern), Bergman missed the ambiguity in Molière’s depiction of love and manners by separating the two main characters in different areas on stage: ‘The problem with “The Misanthrope” at Dramaten is that the [main] characters perform in different theatrical rooms’. [Problemet med Misantropen på Dramaten är att karaktärerna agerar i olika teatrala rum]. Bergman’s (and Molière’s) juxtaposition of inflated social manners (inauthenticity) and misanthropy (self-imprisonment and social ostracism) was the focus of critical attention. The reviewer Avellan titled her piece ‘Gossip and genuine feelings’ (Skvaller och äkta känslor) to point to Bergman’s contrast between the cynical chatty mode of Célimène’s entourage and a genuine tragic depiction of the destruction of love. AB’s theatre critic Claes Wahlin defined the two contrasting modes of behavior as a battle between eroticism and rhetoric, where the former was the motivating factor behind the characters’ behavior and the latter its disguise, a form of linguistic blind man’s buff; language itself became part of an inauthentic social pattern: ‘All speech-making hides [something], even if not all the characters are aware of the language game’. [allt tal döljer, även om inte alla personerna är medvetna om det språkliga spelet]. As gameplaying and theatricality was built into the main conflict between Alceste and Célimène, Alceste became the loser: ‘the theatrical form annuls little by little the misanthropic life view. Two theatrical trolls, Molière and Ingmar Bergman, have combined their sacks’. (Kollberg). In Bergman’s third Misanthrope production the professionalism of the performance was almost taken for granted as critics spoke of a production full of vitality, wit, and beauty. NYT critic John Lahr concluded that ‘taken together with his previous two productions – Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale and Yuko Mishima’s Madame de Sade – these are the finest displays of stagecraft I have ever seen’.
Reviews Andréasson, Sverker. ‘Bergman blottlägger en kärlekstragedi’ [Bergman uncovers a love tragedy]. GP, 18 February 1995. Avellan, Heidi. ‘Skvaller och äkta känslor’ [Gossip and genuine feelings]. Hufvudstadsbladet (Helsinki), 30 March 1995. Kollberg, Bo-Ingvar. ‘Misantropi enligt Bergman’ [Misanthropy according to Bergman]. UNT, 18 February 1995. Lahr, John. ‘The Battle of the Vanities’. The New Yorker, 8 May 1995, pp. 95-97. Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘En raffinerad Misantrop’ [An exquisite Misanthrope]. SDS, 18 February 1995. Larsson, Lisbeth. ‘Ett riktigt dygdemonster’ [A real monster of virtue]. Expr., 18 February 1995. Lindén, Gunnar. ‘Grandios teater helt enkelt!’ [Grandiose theatre quite simply!]. Nya Dagligt Allehanda, 18 February 1995. Ring, Lars. ‘Lustfylld, effektiv tragedi’ [Lusty, efficient tragedy]. SvD, 18 February 1995. Typed English translation available at Dramaten library. (Reviewer sees parallells between Bergman’s parents and the Alceste-Célimène couple in the early part of the play: fanaticism and strict moralism (father Erik) versus sociability and joyousness (mother Karin). Wahlin, Claes. ‘Erotik – retorik’. AB, 18 February 1995.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Zern, Leif. ‘Satir med scener ur ett äktenskap’ [Satire with scenes from a marriage]. DN, 18 February 1995. Typed English translation available at Dramaten library. (Positive, yet reserved about the production’s lack of balance: ‘Bergman rehearses a moral comedy that glides into Scenes from a marriage’).
Cancelled Guest Performance After the success of The Winter’s Tale and Madame de Sade in New York in May-June 1995, Dramaten was invited to present Bergman’s The Misanthrope at the BAM’s (Brooklyn Academy of Music) 1996 French Spring Festival. But when Bergman decided to view the 118th performance of his Misanthrope on 28 April 1996, he found his staging so altered from the opening night that he refused to send the production to New York. He met afterwards with the ensemble both as a group and on an individual basis. Some of the actors had apparently taken more liberties than others; Bergman seems to have had the most reservations about the main character (Alceste) as performed by Torsten Flinck, a self-willed and unpredictable actor and would-be director who was not unlike Bergman himself in his young, eccentric days (though Bergman was, professionally, more self-disciplined). Torsten Flinck had also backed out of Bergman’s 1996 production of The Bachae in which he was scheduled to play Dionysos, which may have been a contributing factor for the tension that led to the cancellation of The Misanthrope. Bergman’s decision caused a minor debate in the press and led to frozen relations between the departing head of Dramaten, Lars Löfgren, and Bergman. Actors Agneta Ekmanner and Torsten Flinck were interviewed in the press (DN, 8 May 1996). Both tried to downplay the fracas while expressing regrets about the incident. Lena Endre also addressed the acting ensemble’s reactions in DN, 7 May, p. 9. Bergman refused to rehearse the production for two reasons: the performance was termed ‘wretched’ and time was too short to remedy it. Löfgren issued a curt statement emphasizing that ‘a director is responsible for maintaining the production quality during the entire repertory period. Ingmar Bergman had been aware of this upcoming visit to New York. The present situation created great problems both for Dramaten and for BAM in New York.’ (Dramaten press release, 6 May 1996). Bergman later acknowledged his mistake in not checking on the performance earlier; however, it had always been his principle to bow out after the opening of a production. Bergman said in an interview: ‘This is terribly embarrassing and everybody is sad, which I understand. But I have made this decision on strictly artistic grounds. The performance did not hold up to the standard it has to have to be accepted internationally. In New York, Dramaten has a reputation to defend as one of Europe’s best theatres. “The Misanthrope” does not meet those expectations today’. [Detta är förskräckligt pinsamt och alla är ledsna, vilket jag kan förstå. Men jag har tagit detta beslut helt och hållet på konstnärliga grunder. Föreställningen höll inte för den standard den måste ha för att accepteras internationellt. I New York har Dramaten ett rykte att försvara som en av Europas bästa teatrar. ‘Misantropen’ möter inte dessa förväntningar i dag.] See ‘Pjäsen håller inte måttet’ [The production is not up to standard], AB, 7 May 1996, p. 32; also in DN, same date, p. B1, and 9 May 1996, p. B4. The press coverage of the ‘Misanthrope’ incident ranged from serious attempts to understand the causes behind it to a great many tabloid articles trying to sensationalize the issue and scandalize Bergman. For a sampling, see the following: Grive, Madeleine ‘Knähundarnas uppror’ [The rebellion of the lap dogs]. AB, 8 May 1996. (Mostly a resume of her 1987 anti-Bergman article ‘Bergman och hans knähundar’ [Bergman and his lap dogs]; see Ø 1444). Holmqvist, Malin. ‘Lojaliteten bruten’ [Loyalty broken]. DN, 8 May 1996.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Malaise, Yvonne. ‘Bergman själv har förändrats’ [Bergman himself has changed]. DN, 8 May 1996. (An interview with Agneta Ekmanner). Pauli, Calle. ‘Bergmans beslut väcker ilska’ [Bergman’s decision arouses anger]. DN, 7 May 1996. Sima, Jonas. ‘Ingmar Bergman stoppar sin egen Dramatenpjäs’ [Bergman stops his own Dramaten piece]. Expr. 6 May 1996; ‘Han kom, han såg, han sågade’ [He came, he saw, he sawed]. Expr. 8 May 1996; and ‘Thorsten Flinck talar ut om bråket på Dramaten’ [TF speaks up about the fuss at Dramaten]. Expr. 19 May 1996. Waaranperä, Ingegärd. ‘Vi spelar inte i New York’ [We won’t play in New York]. DN, 9 May 1996. Zern, Leif. ‘Iscensätta katastrof ovärdig reaktion’ [To stage a catastrophe is undignified reaction]. DN, 8 May 1996. Ångström, Anna. ‘En skandal – tungt för skådespelarna’ [A scandal – hard on the actors]. SvD, 9 May 1996. (On legal possibilities of sending Dramaten production to NY despite Bergman’s veto).
479.
YVONNE, PRINSESSA AV BURGUND [Yvonne, Princess of Bourgogne]
Credits Original Title Playwright Director Stage Design Choreography Stage Opening Date
Ivona, ksiezniczka Burgunda Witold Gombrowicz Ingmar Bergman Göran Wassberg Donya Feuer Dramaten, Main Stage 24 November 1995 (106 performances)
Cast Yvonne The King The Queen The Prince The Cardinal Iza, Lady of the Court Cyril Cyprian Amalia Emilia Inocent Valentin Beggar Marshal Judge Chancellor Admiral Lieutenant Nobleman Marquise Colonel’s Wife Duchess Countess
Nadja Weiss Erland Josephson Kristina Adolphson Pontus Gustafsson Ingvar Kjellson Gunnel Fred Benny Haag Pierre Wilkner Gerd Hagman Monica Nielsen Johan Lindell Sven Lindberg Olof Willgren Sten Johan Hedman Sten Ljunggren Magnus Ehrner Johan Björck Magnus Ehrner Ingrid Boström Kristina Törnqvist Maria Bonnevie Kicki Bramberg Ingar Sigvardsdotter
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Petter, lackey Niklas, lackey Timjan
Lars Andersson Rickard Gustafsson Timjan
Commentary Like Alf Sjöberg before him (1965), Bergman placed Gombrowicz’ cruel and absurdly funny fairy tale drama in the roaring twenties. The play – an inverted Cinderella story about a prince who marries an ugly, silent, introverted girl, and a court that abuses her and finally kills her – was presented by Bergman as a morality play, a farce and a tragedy at the same time. The set design displayed a sepia-brown painted backdrop, reminiscent of silent films and old photographs, against which a group of colorfully costumed, highly parodied characters appeared, representing artificiality and dead convention. The exception was the Prince; in Bergman’s staging he became a Hamlet figure tired of role-playing. The title figure, a mute and anguished common girl lured into a snob-ridden ludicrous court, reminded several critics of Princess Diana’s ostracism by the British royal house. The critic Kollberg likened Yvonne to Struwwel Peter, the 19th-century child who is scared into obedience by drastic and cruel pedagogical measures. At a later press conference during Dramaten’s guest visit to Krakow, Bergman’s ensemble briefly compared Sjöberg’s and Bergman’s directorial methods in staging the same play. One actor (Ingvar Kjellson) had appeared in both productions of Yvonne. Sjöberg had prefaced the actual rehearsals with a series of analyses of Gombrowiczs’ work, while Bergman let the cast listen to a reading of the play by its author and register his tone of voice – a clear example of the difference between Sjöberg’s intellectual approach and Bergman’s hands-on focus on the author’s intentions. But Bergman also took liberties with the original text. He shifted Gombrowicz’ philosophical and political focus to the theatrical sphere and in so doing gave an autobiographical bent to his staging. Thus he expanded the theme of power abuse, represented by the Court, to also include the Church: The role of Chamberlain was changed to a Cardinal in ludicrous clerical attire, with symbolic crosses around his neck and on the soles of his feet; underneath his cassock, the Cardinal wore ladies underwear. Other typical Bergman features were frequent sexual innuendoes, the ringing of church bells, and a staging of the final scene as a travesty of the Last Supper. During the meal when Yvonne chokes to death on a fish bone, the backdrop was transformed into a black abyss and a huge crucifix was slowly lowered as the sacrificial victim expired.
Reception Bergman’s Yvonne production was received as yet another artistic triumph for director, scenographer, and ensemble. Several reviewers felt that Bergman saw more human depth in the story of Yvonne and the Prince than Gombrowicz’ text suggested (see Wistrand, Kollberg). Much critical attention focussed on the theatricality of the performance and on Bergman’s rapport with the actors. The critic in DN (Franzén) concluded: ‘It is obvious that Ingmar Bergman does something remarkable with the actors, releases their love to work and their confidence. It is an art that has to do with charisma, inspiration, and experience, and it can probably not be written down in a book of rules for future directors. But there is no better theatre being practiced in Sweden, perhaps not the world’. [Det är tydligt att Bergman gör något märkligt med skådespelarna, förlöser deras kärlek till arbetet och deras förtroende. Det är en konst som har att göra med utstrålning, inspiration och erfarenhet, och det kan troligen inte skrivas ned i en regelbok för framtida regissörer. Men det finns ingen bättre teater utövad i Sverige, kanske inte ens i världen.]. Other reviewers chimed in: ‘Bergman releases the Dramaten ensemble to present new great deeds’. [Bergman förlöser Dramatens ensemble till att skapa nya stordåd.] (Ring, SvD).
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre At the beginning of Dramaten’s 1995-96 season, Bergman (again) announced his decision to retire. Several critics expressed their doubts. One reviewer who had belonged to the critical ‘anti-Bergman’ group of the 60s (Franzén) concluded: ‘This superb creativity and artistic power that he shows in Gombrowicz’ “Yvonne, Princess of Burgundy” cannot simply be shut off. It would appear like a pure act of revenge against those of us who have not always been appreciative and impressed enough [by his work]. We shall miss him forever’. [En sådan superb konstnärlig skaparkraft som han visar i G’s Yvonne kan helt enkelt inte stängas av. Det skulle se ut som en ren hämdeakt mot dem av oss som inte alltid varit tillräckligt uppskattande och imponerade. Vi kommer att sakna honom för alltid].
Reviews Andréason, Sverker. ‘Grymhet och gemyt’ [Cruelty and good humor]. GP, 25 November 1995. Avellan, Heidi. ‘Vanvettigt roligt rop på hjälp’ [Terribly funny cry for help]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 30 November 1995. Franzén, Lars-Olof. ‘Ingen slår Bergman’ [No one surpasses Bergman]. DN, 25 November 1995. Gislén, Ylva. ‘Bergman tar tragikomiskt adjö’ [Bergman bids a tragi-comic farewell]. SDS, 25 November 1995. Grut, Mario. ‘Vackert som en kandisburk’ [As beautiful as a candy jar]. AB, 25 November 1995. Kollberg, Bo-Ingvar. ‘En överdådig teaterfest’ [A sumptuous theatrical feast]. UNT, 25 November 1995. Ring, Lars, ‘Mästerligt tillyxade parodiska typer’ [Masterfully hewn parodic types]. SvD, 25 November 1995. Schwartz, Nils. ‘Noblesse oblige’. Expr., 25 November 1995. Wistrand, Sten. ‘Fruktansvärt rolig med lika betoning’ [Terribly funny with equal emphasis]. Nerikes Allehanda, 25 November 1995.
See also Nicholas Wennö’s interview with Pontus Gustafsson (the Prince) in ‘Hemma igen som elak prins’ [Home again as nasty prince], DN, 24 November 1995.
Guest Performances When the guest visit to the New York performance of The Misanthrope was cancelled, Dramaten offered to replace it with Bergman’s staging of Yvonne. The offer was declined by BAM since the play did not fit into its festival context – a celebration of French theatre. See ‘Även “Yvonne” stoppas’ [Yvonne too is stopped], DN, 13 May 1996.
1. Krakow, European Theatre Union festival, 22-25 September 1996 Bergman’s production of Yvonne opened the fifth European Theatre Union’s festival in Krakow, the city where Gombrowicz’ play had first premiered in 1957. There were three performances. For a report, see Peter Hanneberg, ‘Yvonne på turné i Polen’, DN, 29 September 1996. In Catholic Poland, Gombrowicz was still considered a rather controversial playwright. Bergman added fuel to this by his changing the chamberlain in Yvonne into a diabolic and ridiculous cardinal in full clerical regalia. At a press conference one critic asked if the Cardinal’s white robe alluded to the pope (this was denied by the stage designer). In its emphasis on spectacle and farce, Bergman’s production deviated from more serious Polish interpretations of the play, which had given it a uniformly dark political focus. An earlier attempt by Polish director Jesusz Stuhr to make a farce out of Gombrowicz’ play had met with some severe criticism in Poland. But Bergman’s absurdist approach was greeted with enthusiasm and respect; reviewers pointed out that the rigid, yet often farcical tone of his production provided a parallel to the play’s thought content: the severe but also ludicrous maintenance of petrified hierarchic conventions as a means to maintain power. Mention was made in particular
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman of the conservative and traditional nature of Bergman’s production but also of its clarity, stringency, and discipline. The uniformly high quality of the performance, down to the slightest gesture, was stressed, as was the final scene (which was singled out by all the reviewers) where the décor disintegrates and the stage discloses hidden archetypal motives for Yvonne’s murder, elevating the drama from power play to an act of mysticism. Reviewers also found Bergman’s production more cruel than Gombrowicz’ play in suggesting that Yvonne becomes aware of her upcoming murder (Kornas). Several commentators saw the performance as an homage to Gombrowicz and a unique interpretation of his attempt to examine the mechanisms and structure of power. Bergman’s production was seen as a lesson to Polish theatre people (Wakar). One reviewer thought it was enough to observe the elegance and color schemes of the costumes to see the difference between a sophisticated production and ‘a peasant-like’ Polish presentation (Magda Huzarska-Szumiec). All three performances were sold out.
Reviews Huzarska-Szumiec, Magda. ‘Prowokacyjna “Iwona...”’ [Provocative ‘Yvonne’]. Gazeta Krakowska, 23 September 1996. Kornaś, Tadeusz. ‘Osaczona’ [Captured (‘sewn in’)]. Echo Krakowa, 23 September 1996. Kowalczyk, Janusz. ‘Platynowa “Iwona”’ [Platina ‘Yvonne’]. Rzeczpo polita (Warszawa), 23 September 1996. Pawłowski, Roman. ‘Iwona religią podszyta’ [Yvonne with a religious subtext]. Gazeta Wyborcza, 23 September 1996. Wakar, Jacek. ‘Lekcja teatru Ingmara Bergmana’ [Ingmar Bergman’s theatre lesson]. Życie Warszawy, 23 September 1996.
See also Drewniak, Łukasz. ‘Bergman czyli przyjaciel z batem’ [Bergman or a friend with a whip]. Rzeczpo polita (Warszawa), 24 September 1996. This is both a review and a report from a press conference with the ensemble where Bergman’s invisible spirit dominated. Erland Josephson likened him to a friend with a whip, demanding but offering his actors moments of illumination when they came to understand that they were part of something extraordinary.
2 Copenhagen, 14-15 February 1997 In the early 1970s, there had been talks about Bergman producing Yvonne... at Det Konglige in Copenhagen, but he chose The Misanthrope instead. Twenty-five years later, Dramaten visited with Bergman’s Yvonne. Though neither of the two guest performances was sold out, the critical reception was filled with rave reviews. ‘With Bergman’s Yvonne, theatre has really come to town’, wrote Politiken. Me Lund in Berlingske Tidende headlined her response ‘Miraculous, Miraculous, Miraculous’ [Vidunderlig, vidunderlig, vidunderlig] and concluded that Bergman’s production gainsaid current speculation that the theatre as art was in a crisis. On the contrary, his staging, predicted Lund, would have an impact far into the next century. Jens Kistrup in Jyllandsposten agreed, calling the production ‘a great satisfaction and liberation.’ What impressed the Danish reviewers was both the professional quality of Dramaten’s crew and ensemble and Bergman’s ability to incorporate the playwright’s tragic fairy tale into his own life experience. It was his personal (but not private) approach to Gombrowicz’ play that caught the critics’ attention. Kistrup saw Bergman’s Yvonne as a prime lesson in what Ingmar Bergman could do with the stage and its actors, his famous ‘demonic’ touch: ‘As in for instance his staging of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, he makes the drama his drama and thereby
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre appropriates it for the theatre – on his conditions and the playwright’s. And at the same time he fills the roles – and the actors – with a life which is at one and the same time his own and theirs.’
Reviews Dithmer, Monna. ‘Prægtige ohyrer’ [Mighty monsters]. Politiken, 16 February 1997. Kistrup, Jens. ‘Ingmar Bergmans vision af verden’ [Bergman’s vision of the world]. Weekendavisen, 21-27 February 1997. Lund, Me. ‘Vidunderlig, vidunderlig, vidunderlig’. Berlingske Tidende, 16 February 1997. Lyding, Henrik. ‘Vidunderligt gæstespil med Bergman’ [Miraculous guest performance with Bergman]. Jyllands-Posten, 16 February 1997 (Arts & Culture), p. 2.
1996 480.
BACKANTERNA [The Bacchae]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Choreography Music Musicians Stage Opening Date
Euripides, trans. by Göran O. Eriksson and Jan Stolpe Ingmar Bergman Göran Wassberg Donya Feuer Daniel Börtz Jan Bengtsson (flute), Kenneth Fant/Daniel Kåse (drums) Royal Dramatic Theatre, Målarsalen 15 March 1996 (84 performances)
Cast Dionysos Pentheus Cadmos Agaue Tiresias The Messenger The Shepherd The Guard The Companion The Officer Soldiers The Choir Alfa, Leader of the Chorus Gamma Zeta Lambda Xi Sigma Omega Talatta
Elin Klinga Gerhard Hoberstorfe Erland Josephson Gunnel Lindblom Ingvar Kjellson Per Myrberg Carl-Magnus Dellow Roland Jansson Kicki Bramberg Richard Gustafsson Lars Andersson, Max Winerdal Anita Björk Helena Brodin Gunnel Fred Kristina Törnqvist Gerthi Kulle Inga-Lill Andersson Lil Terselius Donya Feuer
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Commentary Dramaten’s administrative head, Lars Löfgren, set aside part of the entire 1995-96 season to produce three Euripides dramas. The last production was Bergman’s stage version of The Bachae, set to music by Daniel Börtz. Cf. Bergman’s 1991 opera version, (Ø 492), and his 1993 TV version, (Ø 337). Börtz’ music, composed for the Dramaten staging, was a new score, more theatrical than his stylized opera and subsumed under the spoken text. The drama was produced as a chamber play, but retained many of the ideas from the 1991 opera version. One month before the opening date, Bergman made a drastic change in the cast by replacing actor Torsten Flinck as Dionysos with actress Elin Klinga. (For the conflict between Flinck and Bergman, see Commentary to Misantropen production (Ø 478) in which Flinck played the part of Alceste). The switch to a woman playing the role of Dionysos harked back to the earlier opera version of The Bachae. The God, personfied by a female, was accompanied by a shadow, an emblematic androgynous actor with a chalky white face who resembled both a clown and a death figure [cf. specter in Bergman’s TV play Larmar och gör sig till/In the Presence of a Clown). For his Dramaten version of The Bachae, Bergman used the minimalistic Målarsalen stage, which was made to look like a black box with a simple grey platform serving as acting space. In the short performance – barely two hours, Bergman’s focus was on the spoken text and the stylized movement of the actors, directing the individual performers to use a certain emotional restraint as a counterpoint to the ecstatic and violent rhythm of the chorus of Bachantes. Pentheus often turned his back to the audience, while Dionysos suddenly appeared in their midst. Bergman’s decision to retire at the end of the 1995-96 season may have been both personal and professional. He had lost a vital support when his wife of 24 years died in the spring of 1995. But the main reason for leaving Dramaten probably had something to do with the controversy over Bergman’s Misanthrope production and the stand taken by the head of Dramaten, Lars Löfgren. See Maria Schottenius’ article ‘Dionysos på Fårö’ [Dionysos on Fårö] in Expr., 21 May 1996, which suggests that the Bachae story of the murder of Pentheus by his Dionysian mother could be seen as a subtext to Bergman’s critique (sacrifice) of Flinck in his role as Alceste in the cancelled New York performance of the Misanthrope production. Several critics expressed their regrets over Bergman’s announcement to retire: One of them (Zern) wrote: ‘May Dionysos haunt him if this is true’. [Måtte Dionysos hemsöka honom om detta är sant]. Another one (Kollberg) hoped that the The Bachae’s final vignette – a single thyros staff, the emblem of theatrical art as magic, resting against a wall on an empty stage – might be a sign that Bergman would once more return to Dramaten.
Reception The reception was unanimously enthusiastic with critics speaking of a production worthy of a divinely gifted magician and master of the stage. One reviewer (Sörenson) compared the production to Bergman’s films from the Fifties, especially Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal), ‘a medieval midnight mass’. [en medeltida midnattsmässa]. Another (Zern) saw Euripides’ tragedy as a Bergman urtext, speaking through his films and stage productions; a text dramatizing the tension between the demonic powers represented by a dangerous god (Dionysos) and the spokesman of reason and rationality (Pentheus). Almost all of the critics noted the tremendous emotional and esthetic impact of Bergman’s production: ‘The feeling is of a god having passed by, of having been touched by a magic thyros staff, and of standing there afterwards with an obscure sense of no longer being the same person as before...’[Känslan är av en gud som gått förbi, av att ha berörts av en magisk stav och att stå där efteråt med en dunkel känsla av att inte längre vara samma person som förr]. (Fredriksson). Leif Zern (DN) testified that the production cut deep into his being: ‘Nothing
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre I have seen by this almost 78-year old director has moved me so right down to my bare bones. He stages ‘The Bachae’ with a self-evident authority that makes the cruel play speak directly to our own time’. [Ingenting jag sett av denne nästan 78-årige regissör har berört mig så djupt ner i märgbenen. Han iscensätter ‘Backanterna’ med en självklar auktoritet som får den grymma pjäsen att tala direkt till vår tid].
Reviews Avellan, Heidi. ‘Backanterna – Bergmans svarta sorti’ [The Bachae – Bergman’s black exit]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 26 March 1996. Forser, Thomas. ‘Hämnd, ljuva hämnd’ [Revenge, sweet revenge]. Expr., 16 March 1996. Fredriksson, Karl G. ‘Ritual som föder dunkla känslor’ [Ritual bringing on somber feelings]. Nerikes Allehanda, 16 March 1996. Kollberg, Bengt Ingvar. ‘Ingmar Bergmans farväl’. UNT, 16 March 1996. Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘Förtätat möte mellan gud och människa’ [Intense meeting between god and man]. SDS, 16 March 1996. Ring, Lars. ‘Backanter med mästarstämpel’ [Bachae with masterful stamp]. SvD, 16 March 1996. Sauer, Fritz Joachim. ‘Dionysos auf Erden’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 26 April 1996. Sörenson, Ulf. ‘Svart kompromisslöshet’ [Black absence of compromise]. GP, 16 March 1996. Wahlin, Claes. ‘Den viljelösa tragedin’ [The will-less tragedy]. AB, 16 March 1996. Zern, Leif. ‘Ingmar Bergman hemma i sin urtext’ [Bergman at home in his prototypal text]. DN, 16 March 1996.
Longer Studies Iversen, Gunilla. ‘The Terrible Encounter with a God. The Bacchae as Rite and Liturgical Drama in Ingmar Bergman’s Staging’. In Nordic Theatre Studies 11, 1998, pp. 70-83, special Bergman issue ed. by Ann Fridén (Ø 663). Iversen traces the performance of the play as ritual and as an existential drama about worship and art. In Bergman’s staging, Euripides’ tragedy takes on certain features found in the medieval morality play, a deep-rooted tradition in Bergman’s relationship to dramatic art as ritual.
See also Jordahl, Anneli. ‘Kölapp i gryningen för att njuta Bergman gratis’ [Lining up at dawn to enjoy Bergman free of charge]. DN, 15 March 1996. (A report from Dramaten’s ticket office where people started to line up at 6 o’clock in the morning to get a free seat at Målarsalen for the dress rehearsal of Bergman’s production of The Bachae).
1997 481.
IIOCAE PEIIETHIIHH [Efter repetitionen]
Credits Playtext Director Stage Design Music Stage Swedish Opening
Ingmar Bergman Vjacheslav Dolgashev Margita Demianova V. Bibergan Moscow Artistic Theatre/Södra Teatern, Stockholm 25 August 1997
Cast The Director
Sergej Jurskij
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Young Actress Old Actress, her mother
Natalia Teniakova Daria Jurskaja
This Russian stage adaptation of Bergman’s screenplay Efter repetitionen was produced with Bergman’s consent. According to a press release in connection with two guest performances in Stockholm during the 1997 Strindberg Festival, the production had been ‘a theatre sensation’ during Moscow Artistic Theatre’s 1996-97 season. The male role was played by one of Russia’s leading actors, Sergej Junskij.
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SZENEN EINER EHE [Scenes from a Marriage]
Credits Play text Director Stage Design Costumes Music Stage Opening Date
Ingmar Bergman Dieter Giesing Rolf Glittenberg Falk Bauer Janusz Stoklosa Akademietheater, Vienna 11 September 1997
Cast Johan Marianne Frau Palm, journalist Katarina Egermann Peter Egermann Frau Jacobi Karin and Eva Daughters
Ernst Stötzner Dörte Lyssewski Regina Stötzel Maria Happel Franz J. Csencsits Gertraud Jesserer Veronika Plichta/Johanna Grubner Katharina Kotanko/Nela Piehl
The booklet program to this Austrian stage production of Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage contains the entire play text, translated by Hans-Joachim Maass; a one-page comment by François Truffaut on Bergman’s focus on women; a brief synopsis of Bergman’s life; and excerpts from an interview in 1980, where Bergman states that he is above all a man of the theatre. The booklet concludes with brief comments on marriage by a number of writers, from Kierkegaard to Canetti. The program was issued by Burgtheater Wien as Programmbuch 184 (1997). For a review of the production, see Alfred Pfoser, ‘Vom Fernsehen zum Film und jetzt auf die Bühne’, Salzburg Zeitung, 13 September 1997. The production was performed in Berlin on 12 October 1998. See the following German reviews: Dermutz, Klaus. ‘Erledigt’. Frankfurter Rundschau, 13 October 1998. Friedrich, Detlef. ‘Gernsehabend am Kudamm’. Berliner Zeitung, 13 October 1998. Göpfert, Peter Hans. ‘Kein Scheidungsgrund’. Berliner Morgenpost, 13 October 1998. Heine, Matthias. ‘Macht Wahrheit frei?’ Die Welt, 13 October 1998. Schulz-Ojala, Jan. ‘Sketche einer Ehe’. Tagesspiegel, 13 October 1998.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre
1998 483.
BILDMAKARNA [The Image Makers]
Credits Playwright Director Stage Design Costumes Stage Opening Date Number of Performances
Per Olov Enquist Ingmar Bergman Göran Wassberg Mago Royal Dramatic Theatre, Målarsalen Stage 13 February 1998 (World Premiere) 100, last one on 16 May 1999
Cast Selma Lagerlöf Tora Teje Viktor Sjöström Julius Jænzon
Anita Björk Elin Klinga Lennart Hjulström Carl-Magnus Dellow
Commentary When Bergman, who had retired from the Royal Dramatic Theatre in 1996, read Per Olof Enqvist’s play about a meeting between Selma Lagerlöf and filmmaker Victor Sjöström during the shooting of Körkarlen, one of Bergman’s favorite films, he decided that he had to stage the play. See interviews with Bergman by Jannike Åhlund, ‘Bergman i giganters sällskap’ [Bergman in the company of giants], SvD, 7 February 1998 (also published in Danish Politiken, 21 March 1998), and by Yvonne Malaise. ‘Genierna möts på Dramaten’ [The geniuses meet at Dramaten], DN, 11 February 1998. Enquist’s play is a meta-artistic work about the origin and rationale of creativity. His interpretation of Selma Lagerlöf ’s authorship is based on an (imagined?) childhood trauma – her father’s humiliating alcoholism and the family’s attempt to cope and cover up. This forms a psychological link to Bergman’s own ‘obsession’ with his parental relations and his belief in the subconscious roots of art. But what attracted Bergman to ‘Bildmakarna’ was its references to his own professional background: the silent cinema and the (Dramaten) stage. The play is an encounter between representatives of Bergman’s own tripartite artistic persona: the writer (alias Selma Lagerlöf), the filmmaker (alias Viktor Sjöstrom and Julius Jænzon), and the stage director (alias actress Tora Teje, who serves as a catalyst for Selma). In staging ‘Bildmakarna’ (in his favorite Dramaten performance area, the diminutive Målarsalen (The Paint Room), Bergman transformed the acting space into an attic-like film projection room with a few pieces of worn-out furniture and the walls covered with film posters. On a screen, excerpts from Sjöström’s Körkarlen were shown. The stage performance ended with the silent cinema’s concluding text ‘Slut’ (The End) projected on the curtain. In the words of one critic (Rygg), it was ‘the theatre’s homage to the cinema and the cinema’s homage to the theatre’. [Teatrets hyllest til filmen och filmens hyllest til teatret].
Reception The Swedish reviews were all positive but not enthusiastic. While acknowledging Bergman’s personal stake in the story, the critics focussed most of their attention on Anita Björk’s remarkable portrayal of Selma Lagerlöf and on Enquist’s psychological interpretation of the author, her guilt and attempt at rehabilitating an alcoholic father. For a resume of the critical appraisal of Björk and a brief interview with the actress, see Elisabeth Sjökvist’s ‘Så svårt leva upp till berömmet’ [So hard to live up to the praise], DN, 15 February 1998.
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Reviews – Swedish
Arnald, Jan. ‘Mästerligt när monumenten möts’ [Masterly when the monuments meet]. GP, 15 February 1998. Kollberg, Bo-Ingvar. ‘Storartad hyllning till konsten och magin’ [Grandiose homage to art and magic]. UNT, 14 February 1998. Ring, Lars. ‘Hur skuld och smärta blir till konst’ [How guilt and pain becomes art]. SvD, 14 November 1998. Zern, Leif. ‘Med Selma träder allvaret in’ [With Selma seriousness steps in]. DN, 14 November 1998.
Reviews – foreign
Avellan, Heidi. ‘Supen som Selmas sandkorn’ [The booze shot as Selma’s grain of sand]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 14 February 1998. Heltberg, Bettina. ‘Urfortællingen og liget i lasten’ [Archetypal tale and the skeleton in the closet]. Politiken, 14 February 1998. Lund, Me. ‘Universel billedmagi’ [Universal magic of images]. Berlingske Tidende, 14 February 1998. Nordvik, Martin. ‘Geniene mötes – ansikt til ansikt’ [the geniuses meet – face to face]. Adresseavisen (Trondheim), 14 February 1998. Paulsen, Cathrine Th. ‘Nytt lys over Lagerløf ’ [New light over L.]. Dagsavisen, 14 February 1998. Rossiné, Hans. ‘Svensk mestermøte’ [Swedish meeting of masters]. Dagbladet, 14 February 1998. Rygg, Elisabeth. ‘Magisk mestermøte’ [Magic meeting of masters]. Aftenposten, 14 February 1998. Sletbakk, Astrid. ‘Mestermøte’ [Master’s meeting]. Verdens gang, 14 February 1998. Steinfeld, Thomas. ‘Ewige Säufer’. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 16 February 1998. Villiger Heilig, Barbara. ‘Wer hat Angst vor Selma Lagerlöf?’ Neuer Zürcher Zeitung, 16 February 1998. Waal, Allan de. ‘Blændende Bergman-comeback’ [Brilliant Bergman come-back]. Information, 14 February 1998.
Studies Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Film on Stage and on Television: Enquist’s The Image Makers’. In author’s Bergman’s Muses, 2003, pp. 146-160. A comparison between theatre and TV versions of the play.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre See also Media Chapter (Ø 342) for TV version of same play, televised 15 November 2000 on SVT Drama.
Guest Performances 1. New York City, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), 2, 4-6 June 1999 Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) hosted four performances of Bergman’s production of The Image Makers. BAM included this Dramaten visit as part of a Bergman mini-festival. The Academy’s Rose Cinemas screened The Phantom Carriage, Wild Strawberries, and Bergman’s TV film In the Presence of a Clown. Taken together, wrote one critic, ‘Mr. Enquist’s play and the three movies represent a magical hall of mirrors that is almost dizzying in its multiple refractions of words, images, sounds, rhythms and movement.’ Major praise went to Ingmar Bergman who ‘releases the actors in the same unsurpassable way that he has done in his films’. (Brantley). Donald Lyons in New York Post, calling Ingmar Bergman ‘one of the century’s greatest artists’, felt that he was still ‘a master who can trace the geometrics of the human heart.’ Enquist appeared (and charmed the audience) at a pre-opening Question and Answer session, an event that made John Simon (New York) conclude that neither the playwright nor Bergman had transported Enquist’s wit and intelligence into this talky play, which badly needed ‘an image-breaker’. Simon was gainsaid however by Aileen Jacobsen (Newsday) who wrote that thanks to Bergman’s direction ‘we don’t feel buried by the metaphor pile-up of Enquist’s play. We feel transported’.
Reviews Brantley, Ben. ‘Blink of the Eye, Tremor of the Soul’. NYT, 4 June 1999, section E, p. 1. Jacobsen, Aileen. ‘Travels Through Bergman Imagery’. Newsday, 5 June 1999. Kaufman, David. ‘Art and Soul entwine in “The Image Makers”’. Daily News, 5 June 1999. Lyons, Donald. ‘A New Stage Image for Film Director Bergman’. New York Post, 5 June 1999. Simon, John. ‘The Worst Noel’. New York, 21 June 1999, pp. 62-63.
See also Lahr, John. ‘The Demon-Lover’. New Yorker, 31 May 1999, pp. 67-79. Schwartz, Stan. ‘Bergman, as Stage Director, Never Stops Digging’. NYT Sunday, 30 May 1999, p. AR 5.
2. Strasbourg, 5-7 November 1999, three performances No reviews located.
3. Milan, 13-14 November 1999, two performances No reviews located.
484.
NORA A production of Bergman’s version of A Doll’s House (Nora) was produced at the Chicago Court Theatre, 30 November 1998. No details available.
2000 485.
SPÖKSONATEN [The Ghost Sonata]
Credits Playwright Director
August Strindberg Ingmar Bergman
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Stage Design Costumes Music Choreography Stage Opening Date
Göran Wassberg Anna Bergman Bela Bartók Virpi Pahkinen Royal Dramatic Theatre, Målarsalen stage 12 February 2000 (119 performances)
Cast Old Man Hummel The Young Lady The Student The Milkmaid The Concierge The Dead Consul The Dark Lady The Mummy Bengtsson Johansson The Fiancee The Cook
Jan Malmsjö Elin Klinga Jonas Malmsjö Virpi Pahkinen Gertrud Mariano Nils Eklund Gerthi Kulle Gunnel Lindblom Erland Josephson Örjan Ramberg Margreth Weivers-Norström Gerd Hagman
Commentary This was Bergman’s fourth production of Strindberg’s play. (See Ø 368, 419, and (451). At the time of the first one (1941), he was a young man, the same age as the Student in the play. In the last one, he was an old man, about the same age as Hummel. It affected his focus in the play. See Egil Törnqvist’s discussion in his book Strindberg’s The Ghost Sonata: A Stage History (listed below). In his fourth production of Spöksonaten Bergman presented Old Man Hummel as the mastermind in a web of crimes and lies. His hands were covered in bloody rags, perhaps a reference to the murder he once committed and possibly also to Strindberg himself, who suffered from psoriasis while writing the play. There were other biographical allusions in the production: an image of the house at Karlavägen 10 where Strindberg once lived (at the time it was also Bergman’s Stockholm address) was projected on the black cloth that framed the stage, and the sparse décor included a statue whose features were somewhat reminiscent of the actress Harriet Bosse, Strindberg’s third wife. While Bergman had reconstructed the decrepit bourgeois world of Strindberg’s play in great realistic detail in his 1973 production and only gradually gave it an hallucinatory tone, he now presented Spöksonaten in a stylized and abstracted setting. The set included half a dozen chairs, placed in a horizontal row, on which the characters were seated during the ghost supper, facing the spectators and suggesting that the house entered by Hummel and the Student extended out into the audience. The Mummy’s closet was behind a black cloth, somewhat reminiscent of a confession booth. The hyacinth room where the Student visits the Young lady was suggested by a single flower box, where the hyacinths wilted drastically in the course of the play. But despite the abstracted décor, Bergman’s production was very physical and exuded human decrepitude and bodily nausea; at one point the maid emptied a pot of human excrements in a latrine below the stage floor. The Young Lady’s dress was soiled with blood in the final scene; as she died in full view of the audience, she crawled out of her dirtied clothing, ‘like a butterfly out of the chrysalis’ [som en fjäril ur puppan] (Zern). The Milkmaid, played by a ballerina, performed a dance suggesting flight and release. Strindberg’s Buddha statue was nowhere to be seen and his suggested projection of Böcklin’s painting ‘Toteninsel’ was omitted.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre The production was staged without intermission on Dramaten’s small Målarsalen stage. In the program Bergman referred to Spöksonaten as ‘a piece of fantasy’, a term Strindberg had used in a letter to theatre director Victor Castegren in 1908. Musically, the play has usually been associated with Beethoven’s ‘Gespenstersonat’ but Bergman used Bela Bartok as musical accompaniment, though his fourth reading of Strindberg’s play had the dark mood of Beethoven’s piece. In an original write-up about the production prior to opening night Pia Huss focussed on the lighting and included a brief interview with Pierre Leveau, lighting master at Dramaten. See ‘Ljusmagi’ [Magic of light], DN, 11 February 2000. AB published a 3-page pictorial reportage from the rehearsal of Spöksonaten, with comments by Jan Malmsjö who played Hummel. See Dan Panas, ‘Mästarmötet [...] som slutade i ett tårfyllt farväl’ [The meeting of masters that ended in a tearfilled farewell], AB, 12 February 2000, pp. 25-27. Bergman talked about his stagings of Spöksonaten in the Swedish Radio program ‘Lördagsintervjun’ (P1), 6 February 1999.
Reception Almost all of the reviewers were struck by the merciless and morbid mood of Bergman’s fourth Spöksonat, referring to it as a depressing existentialist Strindberg compendium; a Judgment Day drama: ‘It is a heavy, black and anxiety-ridden world that Ingmar Bergman depicts. [...] A synopsis of a whole Swedish tradition but painted in a dark vision of sulphur and vitriolics’. [Det är en tung, svart och ångestfylld värld Ingmar Bergman skildrar [...] en sammanfattning av en hel svensk tradition men målad i en mörk vision av sulfur och vitriol.] Lars Ring (SvD). Great theatre but also depressing. The stark and abstracted set was likened to ‘a black box’; Leif Zern (DN), though finding some amusing moments in the ghost supper scene called the production as a whole ‘a before-death experience’ where Hummel assumed a place in Bergman’s book of accounts, revealing that life is an act between two dark spaces. To Zern there were ‘moments in Målarsalen when emptiness threatens to take over’. [ögonblick i Målarsalen då tomheten hotar ta över]. An exception to this gloom-and-doom assessment of the production was UNT’s Bo-Ingvar Kollberg, to whom Bergman/Strindberg’s black vision took on a mood of atonement, and GP’s Jan Arnald who saw not only a bottomless tragedy but also a bizarre, desperate comedy in Bergman’s production. To some reviewers the high professional quality of the production was compensation for the morbid mood conveyed in set design and directorial vision. (Larsén, SDS; Westling, AB). Swedish reviewers have tended to keep Bergman’s theatre productions separate from his filmmaking. But in her review of Spöksonaten, Margareta Sörenson in Expr. found a cross fertilization between Bergman the filmmaker and Bergman the theatre director: ‘[The performance] begins altogether magically; as in a slowly rewound film, the actors step out from the wings. All enter with their backs to the audience, as if they had just exited and the director in the editing room had said ‘Stop! Rewind!’ [föreställningen börjar helt magiskt; som i en långsamt spolad film stiger skådespelarna ut från kulisserna. Alla kommer in med ryggen åt publiken, som om de just gått ut och regissören i klipprummet hade sagt ‘Stopp! Spola tillbaka!] The link between Bergman’s staging of Spöksonaten and his experience as a filmmaker was also mentioned in several foreign reviews (for samples, see: Kvistad, Rossiné). Foreign reviewers who attended the Stockholm opening talked about it as a historical murmur: ‘It is like a link back to Strindberg himself.’ (Rygg). Because of Bergman’s age at the time (82 years old), some critics saw the production as Bergman’s professional obituary; wrote Per Theil in Danish Berlingske: ‘The production looks like a farewell. A final farewell. A moment of goodbye so bitter and at the same time so moving that one is close to crying.’
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reviews Arnald, Jan. ‘Nålvasst förtätad spöksonat’ [Piercingly dense ghost sonata]. GP, 14 February 2000. Kjellin, Gösta. ‘Fantasi på Bergmans manér’ [Fantasy a la Bergman]. Helsingborgs Dagblad, 1 March 2000. Kollberg, Bo-Ingvar. ‘Spöksonaten som en hyllning till Nationaldiktaren’ [The Ghost Sonata as an homage to the National Poet). UNT, 14 February 2000. Kvistad, Yngve. ‘Bergmans skrekk-kabinett’ [Bergman’s horror cabinet]. Verdens gang (Oslo), 14 February 2000. Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘Allt är förgänglighet i Bergmans fjärde Spöksonat’ [All is vanity in Bergman’s fourth Ghost Sonata]. SDS, 13 February 2000. Lindh-Garreau, Maria. ‘Giganternas afton på Dramaten’ [Evening of giants at Dramaten]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 13 February 2000. Lundberg, Christina. ‘Gastkramande naket’ [Spookily naked] Bohusläningen, 15 February 2000. Ring, Lars. ‘Bergmans skräckfantasier’ [Bergman’s horror fantasies]. SvD, 13 February 2000. Rossiné, Hans. ‘Bergmans svarte messe’ [Bergman’s black mass]. Dagbladet (Oslo), 13 February 2000. Rygg, Elisabeth. ‘Spøksonate blir tragedie på Dramaten’ [Ghost Sonata becomes tragedy at Dramaten]. Aftenposten Morgen Søndag (Oslo), 13 February 2000. Sjögren, Henrik. ‘Bergmans slutgiltiga Spöksonat’ [Bergman’s final Ghost Sonata]. Arbetet Ny Tid, 17 February 2000. Sörenson, Margareta. ‘Det spökar på Dramaten’ [There are ghosts at Dramaten]. Expr., 13 February 2000. Theil, Per. ‘Slutspil – og avsked?’ [Endgame – and farewell?]. Berlingske Tidende (Danish), 14 February 2000. Westling, Barbro. ‘En högtidsstund på Dramaten’ [A festive occasion at Dramaten]. AB, 13 February 2000. Zern, Leif. ‘Bergman rör vid hjärtat’ [Bergman touches the heart]. DN, 13 February 2000.
Studies and Review Articles Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ingmar Bergman möter Strindberg’ [Bergman meets Strindberg]. UNT, 23 February 2000. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Bergmans fjärde Spöksonat’ [Bergman’s fourth Ghost Sonata]. Strindbergiana 16, 2000, pp. Törnqvist, Egil. The Ghost Sonata: A Stage History. University of Amsterdam Press, 2000, pp. 83103; 117-45, 248, 250. (Discusses all of Bergman’s productions of Strindberg’s play).
Guest Performances The Spöksonaten production was selected as the first recipient of an annual Scandinavian Theatre Prize, instituted by the Norwegian Sat Sapiente Foundation to honor the best stage production of a Scandinavian play, put on by one of the three Scandinavian national stages: Dramaten in Stockholm, Det Kongelige in Copenhagen, and Nationalteatret in Oslo. The award stipulates that the winning production be performed at the other two Scandinavian national stages. Besides the Sat Sapiente award of half a millions crowns, Bergman also received a personal award of 10,000 crowns, which he decided to give away to a Norwegian non-establishment theatre group, Totalteatret from Tromsö in northern Norway.
1. Oslo, Nationalteatret, Back Stage, 31 May-1 June 2001 The reviewer Grete Indahl in the leftist paper Klassekampen (‘Superaktuelt teaterstoff ’, 2 June 2001) saw a connection between the parasitical theme of Strindberg’s play and the rationale
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre behind the Attac movement’s struggle against global capitalism. Other Oslo papers had already reviewed the production when it opened in Stockholm. See also the coverage on the Norwegian radio program ‘Kulturnytt’, NRK P2, 1 June 2001.
2. Copenhagen, Det Kongelige, 9-10 June 2001, three performances Reviews Christensen, Charlotte. ‘Kammermusik over Strindberg’. Information, 12 June 2001. Christensen saw Bergman as a representative of a bygone stage tradition when the national theatre could count on an audience that was well educated and culturally homogenous. She pays homage to a director who ‘unites, without much ado and with no self-adulation, his lifelong experiences in the theatre and his self-evident genius. And the actors follow him like angels in both farce and tragedy’. Dithmer, Monna. ‘Knokkelmandens mestergreb’ [The masterly grip of the Skeleton man (Death)]. Politiken, 11 June 2001. Calls the production both classical and modern, simple in set design and precise in its character study. Lund, Me. ‘Souper med de døde’ [Supper with the dead]. Berlingske Tidende, 12 June 2001. Lund sees the production as both an exaggerated and restrained exposé of the magic of theatre in an unbearable world.
3. New York, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), 20-24 June 2001. ‘Every few years’, wrote Linda Winer (Newsday), ‘Ingmar Bergman electrifies the Brooklyn Academy of Music with a bolt of his visionary theater. And in the zap of an evening, we are stunned yet again with the power of a permanent acting ensemble, with the importance of marrow-deep understanding of style and a master to transform theory and text into living, breathing, sweating stage genius’. Several reviewers felt that this was Bergman’s theatre work at its untouchable best. There were a total of five performances. PR material provided by Dramaten, which emphasized Bergman’s lifelong interest in The Ghost Sonata and his special affinity for Strindberg, seems to have spoonfed the reviewers. Some however recognized a certain similarity between the Strindberg-Bergman ghost supper and their own social circle: ‘To tell the truth, as an assembly of tic-riddled, hollow poseurs and desiccated beauties, the Ghost Supper isn’t so different from some Park Avenue dinner parties I’ve attended’. (Brantley). The comparison reflects the way American reviewers experienced the production: as a grotesque joke and beautifully sinister vision (Gamerman) and as a sardonic commentary on a harsh, self-devouring world, at times undercutting the inherent poetry of Strindberg’s piece: ‘It renders the play even more arid than the text.’ (Kissel). Several critics took the occasion to compare the quality of Bergman’s production and the standard fare in New York. Michael Feingold wrote: ‘I would say that Strindberg’s play has never been seen more vividly in New York in my lifetime. [...] I am as ashamed of New York today as Hummel’s victims are of their guilty secrets. This city’s theater, like the living-dead household where Arkenholz finds himself, is poisoned at the very source of life’. A deviating voice among the many positive and respectful reviews was presented by John Simon. Calling Dramaten’s visit to BAM a ‘downer’, Simon concluded that the best thing about the production was Bartok’s music in the background: ‘I kept hoping that Strindberg would go away so that a full performance of Bartok could take over.’ An English translation by Inga Stina Ewbank was available on headsets.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Reviews Brantley, Ben. ‘Strindberg’s Eerie World of Lost Souls’. NYT, 22 June 2001, p. E l. Feingold, Michael. ‘A Jolt from Strindberg Wakes up the Living Dead’. Village Voice, 10 July 2001, p. 68. Gamerman, Amy. ‘Strindberg through the Eyes of Bergman’. Wall Street Journal, 27 June 2001, p. A. 12. Jenkins, Ron. ‘Letting Silence Speak of Anguish in Strindberg’. NYT, 17 June 2001. Kissel, Howard. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Unfriendly “Ghost”’. New York Daily News, 22 June 2001, p. 53. Lahr, John. ‘The Ghost Sonata’. New Yorker, July 9, 2001, pp. 92-93. Lyons, Donald. ‘Bergman Replays “Sonata”’. New York Post, 22 June 2001, p. 43. Simon, John. ‘The Ghost Sonata’. New York, 9 July 2001, p 44. Winer, Linda. ‘The Exquisite Yearnings of the Walking Dead’. New Day, 22 June 2001, p. B2, B3.
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MARIA STUART
Credits Playwright Translator Director Dramaturgue Stage Design Costumes Composer Choreographer Lighting Sound Stage Opening date
Friedrich Schiller Britt G. Hallqvist Ingmar Bergman Ulla Åberg Göran Wassberg Charles Koroly Daniel Börtz Donya Feuer Hans Åkesson Jan-Erik Piper Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten), Main Stage 16 December 2000 (57 performances)
Cast Maria Stuart Pernilla August Queen Elizabeth Lena Endre Maria’s wetnurse Gunnel Lindblom Lord Leicester Mikael Persbrandt Lord Burleigh Börje Ahlstedt Lord Talbot Per Myrberg Melvil, Maria’s steward Erland Josephson Lord Paulet Ingvar Kjellson Mortimer Stefan Larsson Davison, secretary Carl-Magnus Dellow Drury Nils Eklund Margaretha, lady in waiting Charlotta Larsson Ladies of the court, prison guards, soldiers
Commentary A brief interview with Bergman about his preparations for the production of Maria Stuart appeared in DN, 19 September 1999. (Mårten Hennéus, ‘Tre frågor...’), p. B 1. This was Ingmar Bergman’s first staging of a Schiller play and the first production of Maria Stuart in a long time on any Swedish stage. Bergman reportedly got the idea to set up the play
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre when he came to a performance of Swedish playwright Kristina Lugn’s 1998 production of Nattorienterare (Night Briefers) in a small basement theatre, Brunnsgatan 4, in Stockholm. The leading parts were played by Lena Endre and Pernilla August, the two actresses who portray Queen Elizabeth and Mary Stuart in Bergman’s staging of Schiller’s drama. According to an interview with Endre and August in the December 2000 issue of the monthly magazine Månadsjournalen, Bergman read Schiller’s preface to the play, in which the playwright states that the roles of Elizabeth and Mary Stuart should be cast by women in the mistress category and not in the queen category, women who are political rivals but above all women who can be swept away by passion and love. There may have been other professional reasons for Bergman’s late interest in Schiller. As a classical playwright in the German theatre, Schiller holds the position of a Molière in France and a Shakespeare in England. For years Bergman had emphasized the importance of keeping a theatre tradition alive and had obviously had an ambition to inscribe himself in that tradtion, both nationally and internationally. Working for many years during his exile within a German cultural context may have prompted him to take up a play by Schiller. But Schiller also represents an artistic temperament that complements Bergman’s own. Though lacking the theatrical playfulness of Molière and Shakespeare, which obviously attracted Bergman, Schiller nevertheless combines two important features in Bergman’s vision: a strong moral voice and a sense of the importance of aesthetics to convey that voice. Like Schiller, Bergman’s aesthetics seldom become an art for art’s sake feature but is a tool used to reveal a basic approach to life and art by showing their interdependence – the theatre functioning as a mirror of human conflicts, a forum for man’s ethical obligations, which also includes the role and function of art. As in almost all of Bergman’s productions of the classics since his return to Dramaten, the stage contours of Maria Stuart were stark and ascetic – grey walls rising towards the skies, reminiscent of Gordon Craig’s vertical scenography. Maria Stuart, the prisoner, was dressed in grey; Elizabeth, the ruler, in red. Her court and Maria’s prison shared the space on stage at the same time, one resting in a tableau while the other ‘performed’. Bergman’s interpretation reversed the traditional view of Elizabeth as virginal, cold, and hard and Maria Stuart as beautiful, seductive, and manipulative. In this version, Elizabeth became a sensuous woman who smoked cigarillos and lustily made love in front of her court, while Maria was ascetic and dressed like a nun.
Reception The reviews could easily have become entirely focussed on the two star performers, Lena Endre and Pernilla August. In fact, the critic in Frankfurter Allgemeine felt seduced by the two superb actresses who were said to have turned a musty old German classic into a modern theatrical display. But reviewers also tended to juxtapose their performance to Göran Wassberg’s set design and Bergman’s stage imagery. In fact, at times the critical assessment downplayed the acting: ‘Strangely enough for being a Bergman production, the acting is not what impresses one the most. Rather it is the rich esthetic imagery. Göran Wassberg’s high, darkly shimmering space, Charles Koroly’s colorful costumes [...] and Hans Åkesson’s lighting create both hypnotic depth and dizzying beauty to the performance’. [egendomligt nog för att vara en Bergmanproduktion så är det inte spelet som imponerar mest. Snarare då det rika estetiska bildspråket. GWs höga, mörkt skimrande rymd, CKs färgstarka kostymer [...] och HÅs ljus skapar både hypnotiskt djup och svindlande skönhet i föreställningen]. (Schwartz). To Leif Zern (DN), Bergman the image maker almost succeeded in hiding the fact that Maria Stuart was not a very good work, a historical play overshadowed by a passion drama that usurps the historical context. Bergman’s attempt to make a grandiose passion play out of Schiller’s drama was termed impressive but distancing. Ring, SvD, called it: ‘a beautiful staging about eros
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman and agape. [...] The production is an exquisite mixture of subtle esthetics, will, and self-evident vitality. [...] Ingmar Bergman builds his own church on stage’. [ en vacker iscensättning om eros och agape. [...] Föreställningen är en utsökt blandning av subtil estetik, vilja och självklar kraft [...] Bergman bygger sin egen kyrka på scenen.] Bergman’s conversion of the stage into a theatrical dome was actually irritating to some reviewers: The audience was expected to kneel before Bergman, wrote the critic in AB. Contributing to this irritation was Bergman’s self-referential hints to earlier productions – his own and those of others – on stage and in film history. In her review, Zanton-Ericsson in ÖstgötaCorrespondenten asked if Bergman was building an echo temple of his own; she had noted dejavu features in the production that pointed to Bergman’s Markissinnan de Sade with Lena Endre looking like a copy of Agneta Ekmanner, and to Ingrid Bergman’s portrayal of Joan of Arc on the screen. Yet to several critics, Bergman was not building a sacred monument to himself but to the theatre as a holy art. To them his perfectionist esthetics and intertextual references had a justifiable purpose: to suggest that Schiller’s moral conflict, embodied in each of the two queens and ending in Mary’s long confessional farewell and in Elizabeth’s total abandonment, was also a hymn to the theatre as a blessing and a place of human consolation and atonement. (For Bergman turning the theatre into a cathedral, see Widegren, Fredriksson, Rygg, Rossiné, and Theil).
Reviews – Swedish
Arnald, Jan. ‘Styrka, sinnlighet, skuld’ [Strength, sensuality, guilt]. GP, 18 December 2000. Fredriksson, Karl, G. ‘Starkt gripande och stram Stuart’ [Strongly moving and strict Stuart], Nerikes Allehanda, 18 December 2000. Lindh-Garreau, Maria. ‘Skådespelarna bär känslan i Maria Stuart’ [The actors carry the emotion in Maria S.], Hufvudstadsbladet, 17 December 2000. Lundberg, Christina. ‘Kvinnoporträtt det slår gnistor om’ [Women portraits with sparks]. Bohusläningen, 20 December 2000. Ring, Lars. ‘Bergman bygger sin kyrka på Dramatens stora scen’ [Bergman builds his church on Dramaten’s main stage]. SvD, 17 December 2000. Schwartz, Nils. ‘Pärlan i musslan’ [The pearl in the mussel]. Expr., 17 December 2000. Wahlin, Claes. ‘På knä för Bergman’ [On knees before Bergman]. AB, 17 December 2000. Widegren, Björn. ‘Storslaget om skuld och samvete’ [Grandiose about guilt and conscience]. Gefle Dagblad, 17 December 2000. Zanton-Ericsson, Gun. ‘Drottningkamp i mästerliga bilder’ [Struggle between queens in masterly images]. Östgöta-Correspondenten, 18 December 2000. Zern, Leif. ‘Vackra kvinnor och hämmade män’ [Beautiful women and frustrated men]. DN, 17 December 2000.
Reviews – Foreign
Alonzo, Francesco Saverio. ‘Tutti in ginocchio davanti a Bergman’. La Sicilia, 4 January 2001, Cultural page. (Mostly quotes from Swedish reviewers). Garsdal, Lise. ‘Bergmans dronningerunde’ [Bergman’s round of queens]. Politiken, 17 December 2000. Nisi, Roberto. ‘Scontro di due natue femminili nell’ultima fatica di Bergman’. Prima fila, 20012002, p. 35. Rossiné, Hans. ‘Bergmans sterke kvinner’ [Bergman’s strong women]. Dagbladet, 17 December 2000. Rygg, Elisabeth. ‘Bergmans storslagne dronninger’ [Bergman’s grandiose queens]. Aftenposten, 17 December 2000.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Theil, Per. ‘To kvinder og en Bergman’ [Two women and one Bergman]. Berlingske Tidende, 18 December 2000. Weyler, Svante. ‘Den Flor der Nacht muss ich entlehnen’. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 4 January 2001.
Longer Articles Zern, Leif. ‘Schiller, Bergman och friheten’ [Schiller, Bergman and freedom]. Artes, no. 2, 2001: 75-79.
See also Tiselius, Henric. ‘Två drottningar på Dramaten’ [Two queens at Dramaten]. Tidningen Södermalm, no. 51, 16 December 2000. (an interview with Lena Endre and Pernilla August who point out that to them the Maria Stuart production had a quicker and more aggressive tempo than other stagings by Bergman).
Guest Performance New York, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 13-16 June 2002 New York critics were struck by the multicultural basis of this Bergman production: a German classic from 1800 about a 16th-century event in British history, performed by a 21st-century Swedish cast. The reception was more courteous than warm, in part because the historical subject was ‘not exactly a sizzling topic’ (Kissel). The focus was on Bergman’s attempt to tie the two women together psychologically, rather than historically. Brantley in NYT saw reminiscence of Bergman’s fusion of faces in Persona as the two queens became consumed by passion. All in all, it was a rather reserved critical corps that wrote about this guest performance at BAM – very different from the response to The Ghost Sonata the year before.
Reviews Brantley, Ben. ‘Two Queens, Each the Prisoner of the Other’. NYT, 14 June 2002. Kissel, Howard. ‘Scepters that haunted Europe’. Daily News, 14 June 2002. Winer, Linda. ‘Bergman Gives Queens the Stage’. Newsday, 14 June 2002.
2000 487.
GENGÅNGARE (Ghosts)
Credits Playwright Adaptation/Translation Director Stage Designer Costumes Music Opening Date
Henrik Ibsen Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Göran Wassberg Anna Bergman Arvo Pärt’s ‘For Aliina’, played by Käbi Laretei 9 February 2002
Cast Mrs. Helene Alving Pastor Gabrile Manders Osvald Jacob Engstrand Regine Engstrand
Pernilla August Jan Malmsjö Jonas Malmsjö Örjan Ramberg Angela Kovacs
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman Commentary The published version of Bergman’s adaptation and translation of Ibsen’s drama has a small Munch etching on its cover, a signal of the direction in which Bergman would take the play, juxtaposing Ibsen’s ‘corseted’ drama with a Munchian form of expressionism: restraint turning into explosiveness. The cave-like set design by Göran Wassberg showed a well-to-do livingroom in elegant art nouveau style, walled and draped in dark green, almost black Munchian colors, with Mrs Alving in a rich red ‘Aspasia’ hairdo and Osvald in a stark white Munchian ‘Scream’ mask with a single red stroke in his hair. If the set design was inspired by Munch, Bergman’s language was ‘Strindbergmanian’ – a combination of direct references to some of Strindberg’s ‘expressionistic’ chamber plays and Bergman’s own high strung and explosive expressiveness. In an Afterword to his translation of Gengangere Bergman writes that in reading and rereading Ibsen’s drama he began to hear the detonation of Strindberg’s Pelikanen. The parallels seemed obvious to him: a forceful dominant mother, a deceased father whose ghost-like presence remained in the family, a deathly ill son, a wing-clipped young woman, and an apocalyptic fire at the end. Ibsen, said Bergman, was a little wiser than Strindberg, for he put ‘an iron corset on the children of his wrath’, [en järnkorsett på sin vredes barn], thus adjusting his expressiveness to the public of his time. Bergman however decided ‘to cut the iron corset to pieces without tampering with the basic themes’. [att skära järnkorsetten i bitar utan att röra vid grundmotiven]. He concludes his Afterword with an homage to Ibsen, the master-builder: ‘The architecture, the building itself, is the work of a master’. [Arkitekturen, själva byggnaden är en mästares verk]. Bergman’s stamp on Ibsen’s text was already noticeable during the opening scene, where Regine’s confrontation with her ‘father’ Jacob Engstrand was punctuated with Bergman’s lingo of swear words and slangy forms of address. The performance was also marked by typical Bergman moments, such as having Osvald, white as a ghost, put on a clown’s red nose or tumble about in an explicit sexual tete-a-tete with Regine. In the final scene Osvald undressed stark naked, assuming the statuesque pose of a figure on a Munch Life Frieze with bloody-red, then yellow ‘resurrection’ sunlight streaming in through the window. Bergman called his version of Ibsen’s Gengangere ‘a family drama’ but could also have called it a drama of unmasking. It was Ibsen’s life lie (livsløgn) that became his major theme; he made it more explicit in his textual additions and by pruning the plot of such ‘irrelevant’ matters as the uninsured status of the orphanage and Osvald’s and Manders’ ‘obsolete’ discussion of free love. Ibsen’s open ending became a visible act of euthanasia as Mrs. Alving gave her son a double dose of fatal drugs, then turned her back to him and, standing at the ramp, faced the audience in a typical Bergman gesture of turning the house into an accomplice in the act. Pernilla August (Mrs Alving) was interviewed on the day of the premiere. See: Lars Collin. ‘Livet har hunnit i kapp fru Alving’ [Life has caught up with Mrs. A], SvD, 9 February 2002, pp. 4-5 (Kultur).
Reception Reviews remarked on the production’s combination of traditionalism and stylization. SvD called it theatre of the 1940s and 1950s in an 1880s set design. Almost all the critics saw obvious autobiographical elements in Bergman’s version of Ghosts, – some superficial such as when he named the dead Mr. Alving Erik after his own father and some more psychologically profound, as in his explicit portrayal of an oedipal mother-son relationship. Thus, Bergman’s production of Ghosts was seen to include more than Ibsenite spectres: Bergman’s own life and theatre concepts also haunted the production. Phrased differently and in the words of GP critic Amelie Björck, Bergman treated Ibsen ‘as if he were Strindberg [...] or why not Bergman himself; all his marriages, all his agony of death’. [som om han vore Strindberg [...] eller varför inte Bergman
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre själv; alla hans äktenskap, all hans dödsångest.] Bergman’s personal presence led Me Lund in the Danish paper Berlingske to call his production of Ghosts ‘Scenes from a Marriage that never turned into anything’. [Scener fra et ægteskab, der aldrig blev til noget]. Compared to the reception of Maria Stuart, there was less focus among the reviewers of Ghosts on estheticism and more emphasis on Bergman as a unique instructor of actors, on what one reviewer (Schwartz) termed ‘the theatre of the moment’. [ögonblickets teater]. The critical consensus was that the production was carried by Pernilla August – whose performance was termed superb and mature – while Osvald’s role (Jonas Malmsjö) remained uneven and puzzling to many of the reviewers. There was disagreement about the ending, where Bergman instead of toning down Ibsen’s text, intensified its melodramatic aspects. (For constrasting views about the final scene, see Schwartz in Expr. (positive) and Björck in GP (negative). Several Norwegian papers reviewed the original Stockholm performance, which they found verging on such a caricature of Ibsen’s time period that ‘we almost get a sneezing attack because of the theatre dust’. [vi nesten får nyseanfall på grunn av teaterstøvet] (Verdens Gang). None objected to Bergman’s adaptation of Ibsen’s text but approved of his focus on the unmasking motif and on his ability to penetrate Ibsen’s Victorian façade: ‘He has intensified and he has brought matters to a head’. [Han har intensivert, og han har satt ting på spissen] (Bergens Tidende). One reviewer (Wiese, Dagbladet) urged his readers to commit a crime if necessary in order to secure a ticket for the scheduled guest visit of Bergman’s Ghosts in Oslo.
Swedish Reviews Björck, Amelie. ‘Värdiga mästare i möte’ [Encounter of worthy masters ]. GP, 10 February 2002. Fredriksson, Karl O. ‘Den siste gengångarens död’ [Death of the last ghost]. Nerikes Allehanda, 11 February 2002. Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘Ibsen upphöjd till Norén’ [Ibsen elevtated to Norén]. SDS, 10 February 2002. Lindh-Garreau, Maria. ‘Ja till aktiv dödshjälp’ [Approval of active eunastasia]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 13 February 2002. Lysell, Roland. ‘Bergmansk försoning’ [Bergmanian reconciliation]. UNT, 11 February 2002. Ortman, Lisa and Peter. ‘Snudd på expressionistisk Gengångare’ [Touch of expressionistic Ghosts]. Helsingborgs Dagblad, 12 February 2002. Ring, Lars. ‘Allt går igen hos Bergman’ [Everything reappears in Bergman]. SvD, 10 February 2002. Schwartz, Nils. ‘Ibsen går igen’ [Ibsen haunts again]. Expr., 10 February 2002. Waaranpää, Ingegärd. ‘Trovärdigt montage om tröst’ [Believable montage about solace]. DN, 10 February 2002. Westling, Barbro. ‘Det brinner!’ [Fire!]. AB, 10 February 2002. Zanton-Ericsson, Gun. ‘Allt går igen hos Bergmans Ibsen’ [Haunting ghosts in Bergman’s Ibsen]. Östgöta-Correspondenten, 11 February 2002.
Non-Swedish Reviews Dagsland, Sissel Hamre. ‘Bergmans gråtende gjengangere’ [Bergman’s crying ghosts]. Bergens Tidende, 10 February 2002. Kvistad, Yngve. ‘Gigantenes Gjengangere’ [The Ghosts of the Giants]. Verdens Gang (Oslo), 10 February 2002. Lund, Me. ‘Bergmans gengangere’ [Bergman’s ghosts]. Berlingske Tidende, 19 February 2002. Lutherson, Peter. ‘Trilogie der Wiedergänger’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 11 February 2002. Schloemann, Johan. ‘Einlass der Dämonen’. Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung, 12 February 2002. Villiger Heilig, Barbara. ‘Treue und Untreue’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 12 February 2002, p. 61. Wiese, Andreas. ‘Ibsen a la Bergman’. Dagbladet (Oslo), 20 February 2002.
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Stage Productions by Ingmar Bergman See also Sauer, Joachim. ‘En gengångare i vår tid’ [A ghost in our time]. UNT, 27 February 2002. (A brief review article about the Ibsen-Strindberg-Bergman conglomerate in Bergman’s production of Ghosts).
Guest Performances 1. Oslo Ibsen Festival, 9-11 September 2002 Dramaten visited Oslo with Bergman’s version of Ghosts during the annual Ibsen festival. Major Norwegian papers had already reviewed the production after its opening night in Stockholm. See reception summary above. Only Imdahl was a great deal more critical than her other colleagues. She called the production traditional and not very creative in its focus on the text and with the actors either standing or sitting in a frontal position. She called the ending a piece of comic art. In contrast, Elisabeth Rygg in Aftenposten thought Bergman’s theatrical force was so strong it overshadowed his exaggerated and questionable ending, which to Rygg lacked any undercurrents of human warmth.
Reviews Calmeyer, Bengt. ‘Rik og majestetisk Ibsen’ [Rich and majestic Ibsen]. Dagsavisen (Oslo), 12 September 2002. Imdahl, Grette. ‘Dødelig drama fra Dramaten’ [Deadly drama from Dramaten]. Klassekampen (Oslo), 12 September 2002. Rygg, Elisabeth. ‘Ibsen på Ingmar Bergmans vis’ [Ibsen a la Bergman]. Aftenposten Morgen, 12 September 2002.
2. The Barbican, London, 1-4 May 2003 The guest performances in London were a BITE (Barbican International Theatre Event) and were termed an ‘astonishing, historic piece of luck to see the Royal Dramatic Theatre of Sweden production with which the great Ingmar Bergman marks his farewell to film and theatre directing’. (de Jong, Evening Standard). But the reviews of Bergman’s version of Ghosts were quite ambivalent and clearly showed once more that the British have their set way of ‘reading’ Ibsen: as a reticent realist subtly uncovering the held-back truth of the past. Almost all of the critics found Bergman’s version too explicit, crude, and eroticized. In the words of The Observer’s critic, Bergman had ‘introduced clarity at the expense of tension’; another concluded that ‘evidently [Bergman] believes that trapped inside every Ibsen play there is a more explicit drama raging to get out.’ (Paul Taylor, Independent). Other reservations concerned the impression that this Bergman production relied too much on his filmmaking style, as if he were using a slow, probing camera of close-ups which made the performance very static. When Osvald mocked sanctimoniousness by donning a jester’s red nose, it made him look, according to Kate Bassett (Independent on Sunday), like Coco the Clown: ‘The nose lands Ibsen’s Norway in a mime school, circa 1970.’ In contrast to these negative reactions to Bergman’s approach to Ibsen’s play, there were very appreciative reviews of the actors: ‘The superlative feature of the staging is the performance he elicits from his five actors’. (Alastair Macauley, Financial Times). Benedict Nightingale in The Times concluded: ‘So do we need Bergman’s rewriting? No – but that needn’t stop us relishing his excellent cast.’
Reviews Bassett, Kate. ‘Ghosts at Barbican’. Independent on Sunday, 11 May 2003. Cavendish, Dominique. ‘Cast rises to the occasion for Bergman’s swansong’. The Daily Telegraph, 3 May 2003.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Clapp, Susannah. ‘Theatre’. The Observer, 4 May 2003. de Jong, Nicholas. Evening Standard, 2 May 2003. Gardner, Lyn. ‘Bergman’s Ghosts go bump’. The Guardian, 2 May 2003. Macaulay, Alastair. ‘The Critics. Ghosts’. Financial Times, 5 May 2003. Nightingale, Benedict. ‘Theatre. Ghosts’. The Times, 2 May 2003.
3. New York, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), 10-14 June 2003 Dramaten’s visit to BAM with Ghosts in June 2003 was the 11th guest performance of a Bergman production in New York. It turned into a farewell homage to Bergman and the Dramaten team. BAM’s artistic leader, Joseph Melillo, called it a painful parting for the 144-year old Brooklyn Academy of Music. He singled out Bergman’s unique directorial vision, his ‘conceptualized solutions’, and the ensemble’s high quality of acting. To Melillo, Bergman had set new limits for revealing emotional and psychological depth in a theatre performance. For a report, see DN article, 10 June 2003. (Dnet). The reviews were somewhat more reserved, though they paid homage to Bergman as a theatrical genius. Linda Winer (Newsday) felt ‘stunned’ and ‘privileged’ to attend an occasion by a master whose style created a ‘living, breathing, sweating stage event’ and for ‘his exquisite company’ who came to Brooklyn ‘for too few days with one of his kaleidoscopic excavations of the human psyche.’ Though missing Ibsen’s powerful tension of latent churnings, Winer applauded Bergman’s production ‘on its own tormented, Expressionistic terms’. Her colleagues were more critical. Howard Kissel thought that Bergman talked the play to death and failed to produce shock waves equivalent to Ghosts’ impact in Ibsen’s own time since Bergman’s method – four-letter words and nudity – are already old-fashioned in today’s theatre. Ben Brantley in NYT concurred, calling Bergman’s frank obscenity no more than a way of dragging ‘the implicitly obvious to the surface’. Like Kissel, Brantley found Bergman’s ‘renovation’ of Ibsen’s drama ‘oddly stuffy’. As elsewhere, New York reviewers forgave everything for the stunning performance by all the actors, but particularly Pernilla August. Jeremy McCarter wrote: ‘The play’s crowning glory... is Pernilla August... She doesn’t play the role of Mrs. Alving, she plays all the roles of Mrs. Alving [...] [with] a precise physicality, which only seems effortless; a voice like the mountains – full of sudden ascents and steep drops, both dangerous and beautiful – that ought to be the envy of any actress; warmth, loveliness, wit.’
Reviews Brantley, Ben. ‘Bergman Reimagines Ibsen’s Haunted Widow’. New York Times, 12 June 2003. Filipski, Kevin. ‘End of the line’. The Brooklyn Papers, 9 June 2003. Kissel, Howard. ‘Bergman’s “Ghosts” isn’t all that haunting’. Daily News, 13 June 2003. McCarter, Jeremy. ‘The Passion of Bergman’. New York Sun, 13-15 June 2003. Winer, Linda. ‘It’s a Privilege, Mr. Bergman’. Newsday, 13 June 2003.
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Opera/Ballet
Opera/Ballet
1954 488.
SKYMNINGSLEKAR [Twilight Games] (Ballet)
Credits Director Choreography Music/ Conductor Stage Design and Costumes Stage Opening Date
Ingmar Bergman Carl Gustaf Kruuse Ingvar Wieslander Martin Ahlbom Malmö City Theatre, Main Stage October 1954
1961 489.
EN RUCKLARES VÄG [The Rake’s Progress] (Opera)
Credits Production Opera Score Libretto Swedish Text Director Stage Design Costumes Conductor Stage Opening Date Revived, with same ensemble Broadcast on Swedish radio (SR) Guest Performance
Royal Opera, Stockholm Igor Stravinsky W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman Östen Sjöstrand Ingmar Bergman Birger Bergling Kerstin Hedeby Michael Gielen Royal Opera, Stockholm 22 April 1961 30 October 1966 (conductor: Silvio Varviso) 7 May 1961 Montreal World’s Fair, summer 1967, 2 performances
Cast Ann Truelove Baba, Turkish woman Tom Rakewell Nick Shadow Mother Goose Truelove Sellem, auctioneer A Guard in the madhouse
Margareta Hallin/Busk Margit Jonsson Kerstin Meyer/Barbro Ericson Ragnar Ulfung Erik Sædén/Anders Näslund Barbro Ericson/Kerstin Dellert Arne Tyrén/Erik Sundquist Olle Sivall Erik Sundquist/Paul Höglund
Rowdy young men, prostitutes, servants, city dwellers, and madmen
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Commentary Stravinski composed his opera between 1948 and 1949, with a libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman. The music score was published by Boosey & Hawkes, London, in 1949 (Library at Royal Opera, Stockholm, has a copy). The world premiere was in Venice on 11 September 1951. Bergman’s staging of the opera was the second opening in Scandinavia; the first took place in Danish city of Århus a few months before. En Rucklares väg was Bergman’s first venture into opera and an old dream come true. He had attended the Stockholm Opera frequently as a teenager and had had his favorite seat in the stalls. In the early 1940s when he was a young director at the Sago Theatre in Stockholm’s Civic Centre, he also held a part time job as an assistant at the Opera. His task was to a large extent to run errands, picking up beer and sandwiches for the cast, but occasionally he would be asked to act as prompter and to serve under opera directors like Ragnar Hyltén-Cavallius and Issay Dobrowen. In interviews, Bergman would talk about the Royal Swedish Opera with the same kind of deep-rooted love as he spoke about his childhood experience of Dramaten. Bergman had only seen one staging of Stravinski’s opera earlier: the Rennert production in Hamburg in 1954. The work appealed to him as a kind of morality play in the Italian buffa opera style. In preparation for his production he studied closely William Hogarth’s series of satirical engravings titled ‘The Rake’s Progress’, on which the opera is based. Bergman referred frequently to Hogarth in his mise-en-scene, but also to the Globe Theatre and to the 18th-century Drottningholm Court Theatre outside Stockholm. He had the set designer construct a stage within a stage, surrounded by blackness, and a special front apron that projected over half of the orchestra pit. Such a structure allowed him to alternate between scenes where the singers seemed to move very close to the viewers and scenes of depth and distance. Stage hands carried grey sets (suggesting Hogarth’s work) on and off the stage, without the use of a curtain. In an interview (Wiskari, NYT) Bergman explained his rationale: He saw Stravinski as a Christian moralist whose lesson was: ‘The devil finds work for idle hands.’ When the mood was especially tense, the illusion had to be broken to alert the viewers that ‘Stravinski wants to tell you something’. The Stockholm papers carried brief stories about Bergman’s initial meeting with the cast. See ‘Bergmans första operadag’ [Bergman’s first opera day], ST, 28 February 1961. There were several newspaper accounts during the rehearsal time and after a press conference on 18 April 1961. See: AGE. ‘Operans passopp vände tillbaka på ett flyttlass’ [The Opera’s pageboy returned on a moving truck]. DN, 16 April 1961. Höken (Marianne Höök). ‘Pacificerad Bergman på Operan’ [Pacified Bergman at the Opera]. SvD, 21 April 1961. (A report from dress rehearsal, in which Bergman claimed that he had wanted to stage operas since the age of six.) Janzon, Bengt. ‘Bergman on Opera’. Opera News, 5 May 1962, pp. 12-14. For details, (See Ø 743), 1962, Chapter VIII. Widerberg, Bertil. ‘Ingmar Bergman och Rucklaren’ [Bergman and the Rake]. SDS, 6 April 1961, p. 2. Wiskari, Werner. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s way with “The Rake”’. NYT, 7 May 1961. In time for Bergman’s production of The Rake’s Progress, Bonniers published a Swedish translation of the libretto by Östen Sjöstrand. Sjöstrand wrote a newspaper article about his task: ‘Aldrig har jag så smärtsamt erfarit bristen på enstaviga verb’. [Never have I experienced so painfully the lack of one-syllable verbs]. Expr., 21 April 1961, p. 4. After his staging of The Rake’s Progress, Bergman received many invitations to set up operas abroad. Variety, 13 September 1967, p. 1, reports that he might stage a Wagner opera at the
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Opera/Ballet Bayreuth Music festival, even though he had turned down previous offers from La Scala and the Hamburg Opera. The Hamburg negotiations had been tough: Bergman had asked for 3 months rehearsal time, a doubling of the number of singers in leading roles, and an assistant director who would follow all of his rehearsals and be present after the opening to make sure the production remained intact. Bergman’s production was revived in 1967 in connection with a guest visit to the Montreal World’s Fair. No reviews located.
Reception The Swedish King and Queen attended the premiere. Later Stravinsky came to Stockholm to view Bergman’s production. His response was very positive. See: Stravinsky, Igor and Robert Craft, Dialogues and a Diary, New York: Doubleday, 1963, pp. 165-71. Excerpts based on conversations between the composer and Craft appear in Swedish in the Opera program to Bergman’s production. ‘What an opera evening!’ exclaimed one reviewer (Skans) after the opening of Bergman’s production, which was an unconditional success met with standing ovations during innumerable curtain calls. Superlatives were used about all aspects of the production that was termed the most beautiful ever seen at the Royal Opera. Music critic Alf Thoor exclaimed: ‘When did we see Swedish opera ensembles and mass scenes directed with such suggestive exactness? When did we see lighting incorporated in the events on stage with such virtuosity? The Rake’s Progress is the result of collaboration on an ingenious level’. [När såg vi svenska operaensembler och masscener regisserade med sådan suggestiv exakthet? När såg vi ljusssättningen inkorporeras med händelserna på scenen med sådan virtuositet? Rucklarens väg är resultatet av samverkan på en genial nivå.]. Reviewers focussed almost exclusively on Bergman’s direction: ‘There is only one director of Ingmar Bergman’s stature. He is familiar with the world of fools and madmen. He knows the face of the devil, Faust, Don Juan, man’s greatness and lowness, the powers of life and death. He is perhaps the only one today who can rightly interpret this opera pastiche about love and its enemies.’ [Det finns bara en regissör av Ingmar Bergmans mått. Han är bekant med dårars och vetvillingars värld. Han känner djävulens ansikte, Faust, Don Juan, människans storhet och låghet, livets och dödens makter. Han är kanske den enda i dag som kan rätt tolka denna operapastisch om kärleken och dess fiender]. (Johansson, GHT). What appealed to the reviewers was Bergman’s combination of ‘irony and demonics’, which also reverberated in Stravinski’s music. Director and composer were said to share a basically traditionalist approach to art but with a unique personal ear for music. In connection with the 1966 Bergman production of the same opera, music critic Folke Hähnel concluded that it was ‘the most amusing, most delicate and most balanced performance that the Stockholm Opera has displayed during the last several decades.’[den roligaste, mest finstämda och balanserade föreställning som Stockholmsoperan har uppvisat de sista åtskilliga decennierna]. See: Folke Hähnel, ‘Övertala Bergman sätta upp fler operor’ [Persuade Bergman. to set up more operas], DN, 31 October 1966.
Swedish Reviews (of original production) Berg, Curt. ‘Rucklarens väg’ på Operan en lysande föreställning’ [The Rake’s Progress at the Opera a brilliant production]. DN, 23 April 1961, p. 33. Brandel, Åke. ‘Ingmar Bergmans rucklare – en historisk galakväll på Operan’ [Bergman’s rake – a historical gala evening at the Opera]. AB, 23 April 1961, p. 2. See also same page: Hans Eklund. ‘Hogarth på scenen’ [Hogarth on stage]. Broman, Sten. ‘Rucklarens väg på Kungl. Teatern’ [The Rake’s Progress at the Royal Theatre/ Opera]. SDS, 23 April 1961, p. 9.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Johansson, Björn. ‘Ingmar Bergman leker med Stravinskij-opera’ [Bergman plays with Stravinsky opera]. GHT, 24 April 1961, p. 3. (Referred to Bergman’s production as ‘the multidimensional possibilities of a film.’ Pergament, Moses. ‘En rucklares väg till triumf på Operan’ [A rake’s progress to triumph at the Opera]. ST, 23 April 1961, p. 13. Peterson, Erik. ‘Benådad och bejublad rucklare’ [Blessed and praised rake]. GT, 23 April 1961. Rootzén, Kajsa. ‘Rucklarens väg – en lyrisk moralitet’ [Rake’s Progress – a lyrical morality play]. SvD, 23 April 1961, p. 14A. Sand, Arne. ‘Ingmar Bergman och Rucklaren’ [Bergman and the Rake]. Vecko-Journalen, no. 18, 1961. Thoor, Alf. ‘Geniernas rucklare gjorde succé’ [The rake of geniuses made a success]. Expr., 23 April 1961, p. 4.
Non-Swedish Reviews Goodwin, Noel. ‘So-Shy film genius brings new magic to the opera stage’. Daily Express, 24 April 1961. (‘If Covent Garden could tempt Mr. Bergman just once, what a sensation that would be! [...] There is hope that Ingmar Bergman will follow [up] with other productions. I can think of no more encouraging prospect for the advancement of the art in our time.’) Hurum, Hans Jørgen. ‘Ingmar Bergman en mester også i operaens kunst’ [Bergman also a master in the art of opera]. Aftenposten (Oslo) 11 June 1961. Salzer, Michael. ‘Hymnen auf Ingmar Bergman’. Die Welt, 3 May 1961. Skans, Gunnar. ‘For en operaften!’ [What an opera evening!] Adresseavisen (Trondheim), 4 May 1961. Wiskari, Werner. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Way with “The Rake”’. NYT, 7 May 1961.
Program/Special Articles Royal Swedish Opera program IV, 1960-61. Contains a presentation of the musical score by Folke H. Törnblom (‘Den musikaliska stilen i ‘Rucklarens väg’’, pp. 1-3); brief notes on Hogarth, Stravinski, Auden, and Bergman (pp. 4-12); and excerpts in Swedish of Robert Craft’s conversation with the composer (Ø 1101, Chapter IX), pp. 17-20. Sundler Malmnäs, Eva. ‘Art as Inspiration’. In Ingmar Bergman in the Arts: Nordic Theatre Studies, 11, 1998: 34-46. (Sundler Malmnäs traces the connection between The Rake’s Progress and Hogarth’s etchings).
1975 490.
TROLLFLÖJTEN [The Magic Flute] Original Title Transmission date
Die Zauberflöte 1 January 1975
Opera by Mozart, filmed for Swedish National Television in 16 mm. Later released as a 35 mm commercial film. (See Ø 247) in Chapter IV: Filmography and (Ø 326) in Chapter V, Media.
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Opera/Ballet
1976 491.
DE FÖRDÖMDA KVINNORNAS DANS [The dance of the damned women] Original title: Il ballo della ingrate Ballet produced for Swedish Television with text by Ingmar Bergman, after an idea by Donya Feuer, and music by Monteverdi. (See Ø 328) in Media Chapter.
1991 492.
BACKANTERNA [The Bacchae]. (Opera in two acts)
Credits Producers
Music Original Text Libretto Director Conductor Orchestra Assistant Director Stage Design Lighting Sound Choreography Stage Opening Date
Royal Opera in Stockholm, the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten) and Swedish National Television (SVT), Channel 1/Katarina Sjöberg Daniel Börtz Euripides; Swedish interpretation: Jan Stolpe/Göran O Eriksson Daniel Börtz and Ingmar Bergman Ingmar Bergman Kjell Ingebretsen Royal Court Orchestra Irene Frykholm Lennart Mörk Hans-Åke Sjöquist Pontus Larsson Donya Feuer Royal Opera, Stockholm 2 November 1991 (World premiere, 14 performances)
For 1993 TV-adapted production of Backanterna, see Ø 337 in TV section, Media Chapter (V). A TV documentary on the production of the opera version of Backanterna was broadcast on SVT, Channel 1, produced by Måns Reuterswärd, 7 November 1993. See also (Ø 480) for theatre production of Euripides’ play at Dramaten in 1996.
Cast Dionysos Teiresias Kadmos Pentheus Agaue The Bacchae choir: Alfa, choir leader Beta Gamma Delta Zeta Theta Lambda
Sylvia Lindenstrand Laila Andersson-Palme Sten Wahlund Peter Mattei Anita Soldh Berit Lindholm Paula Hoffman Camilla Staern Ellen Andreassen Ann-Marie Mühle Anna Tomson Eva Österberg
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Xi Rho Sigma Tau Omega Talatta Soldier Shepherd Messenger Teiresias’ Attendant Guards
Carina Morling Amelie Fleetwood Lena Hoel Helena Ströberg Ingrid Tobiasson Mariane Orlando Carl Magnus Dellow Per Mattsson Peter Stormare Kicki Bramberg Jukka Korpi, Staffan Ek
Commentary Bergman had struggled with The Bachae for a long time. On two occasions – 1954 in Malmö and 1987 at Dramaten – he had planned to stage Euripides’ drama but had cancelled on both occasions. In November 1986, he made a rare trip abroad, to Greece and Delphi to view the site where the Dionysian theatre festival took place in antiquity. In 1987, a new Swedish translation of Euripides’ play (by Östen Sjöstrand) was published by Atlantis Publishing Co. In his 1991 opera production, Bergman reduced this play text by 35%. His final libretto made the original plot more stringent and individualized. The chorus figures consisted of twelve different personalities and were given names taken from the Greek alphabet. The main character, Dionysos, was made less abstract than in Euripides’ play and fulfills several functions: he is a response to the passionate needs of human beings; he is a gentle and protective being of his followers, the bachantes; and he is a cruel and vengeful god. In the prologue, the god Dionysos appears transformed into a young man who claims to be a priest in charge of the Dionysos cult. Bergman used a strong-looking female opera singer for the part. For the rest of his casting, Bergman used both opera singers and Dramaten actors. The composer Daniel Börtz was approached by Bergman to provide the music. For an account of this encounter, see Larsén article listed below and Marcus Boldemann, ‘Sånt händer en gång i livet’ [Such a thing happens once in a lifetime], DN, 2 November 2001, p. B1. Börtz’s opera contains recitation, declamation, spoken passages and singing, much of it of a chamber music variety. Börtz’ esthetic mentors were the Swedish so-called Monday Group of artists from the 1940s, who strove to realize a form of total artistic work (Allkunstwerk), and were of the same generation as Bergman. In a note about the production available at the Royal Swedish Opera, Bergman states: ‘Euripides makes a clean house with the gods of power and the power of gods, he sets man’s holiness and vulnerability against the foulness and bloodthirst of those above’. [Euripides gör rent hus med maktens gudar och gudarnas makt, han sätter människans helighet och sårbarhet mot styggelsen och blodtörsten hos dem ovan]. Bergman pitted the two figures of Dionysos and Pentheus against each other but made them look-alikes, a form of character portrayal reminiscent of Faust and Mephisto in his 1958 production of Ur-Faust in Malmö and of the juxtaposition of Alma and Elisabeth in the film Persona. Dionysos, androgynous and dressed in strict black, became an irrational fundamentalist leader of religious terrorists while Pentheus represented rational law and order, though of a disturbing kind: Pentheus and his followers looked like leather-attired, shaven skinheads in tall boots, apprehensive about strangers whom they met with violence. Love of humanity came from neither Dionysos nor Pentheus but from what Bergman called ‘two retirees’, the blind Teiresias and Pentheus’ old grandfather Cadmus. Scenographically, Bergman had constructed a narrow but elongated stage, framed by two side walls in grey. It was a closed space, almost a bunker with no room for escape. When the
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Opera/Ballet bachantes arrived in a flaming red thespis cart, they formed a sharp contrast in their fiery clothing to an almost bare stage with a black, tunnel-like backdrop that ended in darkness. Unlike a classical Greek choir, they were not commentators or witnesses to horrible events but lustful participants in the sexual rites and bloodbaths. For samples of publicity articles prior to opening date, see: Hedqvist, Hedvig. ‘Dramatik på Operan’, SvD, 27 October 1991. Sablich, Sergio. ‘Ingmar Bergman debuttera il 2 novembere a Stockholm con l’opera ‘Le Bacchanti’ di Börtz’. Il Giornale, 31 October 1991; ‘Totentanz am Telefon’. Der Spiegel, no. 45, 1991, p. 278, 280 (includes survey of Bergman’s opera productions).
Reception The Opera in Stockholm had experienced a major program scandal not long before the Bergman-Börtz production. A staging of an old Swedish opera about Gustav Vasa had been booed on opening night and subsequently cancelled – a rare event in Swedish opera history. The media were focussed on the Royal Opera. ‘Bergman is the phantom of the Stockholm Opera’, [Bergman är fantomen på Stockholmsoperan], wrote one reviewer (Anrell) appreciatively after the opening of The Bachae. The production in fact received nothing but rave reviews, though critics felt that the collaborative work between Börtz and Bergman bore the distinct stamp of Ingmar Bergman: ‘One does not go to the Opera to listen to a Börtz opera. That’s how humbly Daniel Börtz has subsumed his part under Euripides – read and seen by Ingmar Bergman – that he could just as well be said to have composed an expanded form of theatre music’. [Man går inte till Operan för att lyssna på en Börtz opera. Det är så ödmjukt Daniet Börtz har underställt sin roll Euripides – läst och sedd genom Ingmar Bergman – att han lika väl kunde sägas ha komponerat en förlängd form av teatermusik]. (Lundberg). With one exception (Frankfurter Allgemeine) the reviewers agreed that Börtz’ music was not an autonomous opera but – as a concession to Ingmar Bergman – a work half way between song and speech: ‘Is it really the birth of an opera? In that case, is it by Börtz-Bergman or Bergman-Börtz? Neither one nor the other. But a great theatre man’s staging of a Greek tragedy and with a music for actors’. [Är det verkligen en opera som fötts? Och i så fall, av Börtz-Bergman eller Bergman-Börtz? Varken det ena eller det andra. Utan en stor teatermans iscensättning av en grekisk tragedi och med musik för skådespelarna]. (Aare). Theatre critic Leif Zern summed up: ‘The result more resembles a theatre performance than an actual opera; in an opera more should happen in the orchestra pit’. [Resultatet liknar mer en teaterföreställning än en verklig opera; i en opera skulle mer hända i orkesterdiket]. Some critics went so far as to say that Börtz’s work was a one-time event and could never be performed again without Bergman. The view of Bergman as the crucial and dominant mind behind the opera was reinforced by the conviction that Euripides’ drama was closely tied to Ingmar Bergman’s own vision, bringing together two major tracks in his work: ‘On the one hand, a reckoning with a demanding and gruesome god who also promises joy and courage to face life. On the other hand, an exploration of the feminine, and underneath that, the feminine in man, which cannot be suppressed unpunished’. (Bonnesen, Politiken).
Swedish Reviews Aare, Leif. ‘Känslotryck nära kokpunkten’ [Emotional pressure near the boiling point]. DN, 3 November 1991, p. B 1. Anrell, Lasse. ‘Häftigt, Bergman’ [Cool, Bergman]. AB, 3 November 1991, p. 5. Bexelius, Björn, ‘Bergmans Backanterna... lever nästan upp till förväntningarna’ [Bergman’s The Bachae... almost lives up to expectations]. Gefle Dagblad, 5 November 1991.
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Chapter VI Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre Bromander, Lennart. ‘Lysande klangfantasi’ [Brilliant tone fantasy]. Arbetet, 4 November 1991, p. 27. Lundberg, Camilla. ‘Här är Demonen på Operan!’ [Here is the Demon of the Opera]. Expr., 3 November 1991, p. 4. Redvall, Eva. ‘En triumf i starka färger’ [A triumph in strong colors]. SDS, 3 November 1991, p. A 25. See also same reviewer in Opera News, April 1961. Tjäder, Per Arne. ‘Överdådigt allkonstverk’ [Extravagant total work of art]. GP, 4 November 1991, p. 4. Törnblom, Folke H. ‘En stor föreställning’ [A great performance]. UNT, 6 November 1991, p. 14. Zern, Leif. ‘Mer teater än opera’ [More theatre than opera]. Expr., 3 November 1991, p. 5. Åhlén, Carl-Gunnar. ‘Bergman har nått målet’ [Bergman has reached the goal]. SvD, 3 November 1991, p. 1, 36.
Foreign Reviews Bonnesen, Michael. ‘Mesterens store finale’ [The Master’s grand finale]. Politiken, 3 November 1991. Brincker, Jens. ‘I kamp mod guder’ [Fighting against gods]. Berlingske Tidende, 4 November 1991. Carbajal, Isabel. ‘Ingmar Bergman lleva por fin a escena la opera “Bacantes”’. La Vanguardia, 3 November 1991. (Review in a Barcelona paper). Cella, Carlo Maria. ‘Grida Dioniso e scuote il Teatro’. Il Gionro, 6 November 1991. Finch, Hillary. ‘Backanterna. Royal Opera, Stockholm’. The Times, 15 November 1991. Rosboch, Walter. ‘Le Bacchanti di Euripide rivistate da Bergman’. Corriere del Ticino, 4 November 1991. Sablich, Sergio. ‘Dioniso “en travesti”’. Il Giornale, 4 November 1991 (Spettacoli). Sandner, Wolfgang. ‘Blut, Schweiss und keine Träne’. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 6 November 1991, p. 33. Sutcliff, James Helme. ‘Bergman, Euripides and Opera’. International Herald Tribune, 6 November 1991. Tiozzo, Enrico. ‘“Le baccanti” di Bergman fanno sognare’. Il Messaggero, 6 November 1991. Zurletti, Michelangelo. ‘Tutti biondi a Tebe’. La Republica, 6 November 1991.
See also ‘Backanterna i två akter’ [The Bachae in two acts]. Trans. by Jan Stolpe and Göran O. Eriksson. Stockholm: Kungl. Operan, 1991, 1996. Carlson, Tore. ‘Operan hoppas på Bergman’ [The Opera stakes its hopes on Bergman]. DN På stan, 1-8 November 1991, p. 14. (On Bergman rescuing the Stockholm Opera from a traditional repertory and fiascoes). Friedner, Calle, (moderator). ‘Samtal om music’ [Conversation about music]. Sveriges Radio, P2, 8 April 2001. (Ingmar Bergman and Daniel Börtz exchange thoughts on music). Hedlund, Oscar. ‘Han som går på vattnet’ [He who walks on water]. SvD, 1 November 1991, p. 18. (Write-up of Bergman’s opera production before opening night and the impact of Rucklarens väg in 1961). Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘Börtz, Bergman och Euripides’. Opera program, 2 November 1991, pp. 1320. An abbreviated version appeared in SDS, 1 November 1991. Petersén, Gunilla. ‘Dionysuskulten var dramats ursprung’ [The Dionysos cult was the origin of the drama]. Opera program to Bergman’s production, pp. 25-31. Sankel Shimbun (Tokyo) published a report on 1 January 1992 (title in translation: ‘Frälser Operan med Backanterna’. [About Bergman saving the Opera from a stereotyped repertory].
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Opera/Ballet Studies and Articles Iversen, Gunilla. ‘The Terrible Encounter with a God: The Bachae as Rite and Liturgical Drama in Ingmar Bergman’s Staging’. In Nordic Theatre Studies 11 (1998), ed. by Ann Fridén, pp. 7083. Porter, Andrew. ‘Musical Events. Singing the Bachae’. New Yorker, 26 November 1991, p. 151. A short version appeared in The Financial Times, 15 November 1991, Arts Sec. Rygg, Kristin. ‘The Metamorphosis of The Bacchae: From Ancient Rites to TV Opera’, In Nordic Theatre Studies 11, 1998, (Ø 663), pp. 47-69. See listing in TV section of Media Chapter. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘“Euripides” The Bachae as Opera, Television Opera, and Stage Play’. In author’s Bergman’s Muses, 2003, pp. 91-100. (Discussion of all three versions of Bergman’s production of The Bachae.) A chronological listing of Bergman’s theatre, opera and media productions appears at the end of Chapter VII (Theatre/Media Bibliography).
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The international focus on Bergman’s filmmaking grew steadily over the years, but his work as a media and stage director was, naturally, less known outside his own country. However, after his return from exile and his renewed ties with Dramaten since 1984, a great many of his stage productions toured around the world. One of them was his staging of Mishima’s play Madame de Sade (1989), which travelled from New York to Japan with many intermittent stops. Photo: Bengt Wanselius. Courtesy: Dramaten.
Chapter VII Ingmar Bergman in Theatre and Media: A Bibliography This bibliography consists of annotated articles and studies dealing with Ingmar Bergman’s playwriting and stagecraft in general, including radio and TV theatre. Interviews with Bergman concerning stage and media matters are annotated here rather than in the Interview Chapter, (VIII). However, reviews and articles dealing with a specific stage or media production are normally listed under that item’s entry in Section 2 of Theatre Chapter (VI), or in Media Chapter (V) but are cross-listed here if they contain major assessments of Bergman’s craft or address a concurrent theatre or media debate. Bergman’s own play texts, play fragments (published and unpublished), play adaptations, and program notes are annotated in Chapter II (Ingmar Bergman, the Writer), but a selection of his program notes (usually of an early date) are cross-listed here. Some press items in the bibliography, especially of an early date, list only author’s signature. When identified, the full name appears in parenthesis. See also Chapter IX, Writings on Ingmar Bergman, which is a bibliography dealing with his production at large.
1940 493.
Bergman, Ingmar. ‘Teatraliskt i stan’ [Theatrics in town]. SFP, no. 2 (1940), p. 1. For this and other presentations by Bergman on theatre items during his time at Mäster Olofsgården in Stockholm, see entry (Ø 2), in Chapter II. See also a brief interview titled ‘Energisk amatörteater i Gamla stan’, DN, 7 April 1940, p. 12A, in which Bergman complains about the lack of a proper stage but praises the enthusiasm of his group of young theatre amateurs.
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography
1942 494.
-ll. ‘Sex pjäser på två månader’ [Six plays in two months]. SvD, 28 September 1942, p.11. A brief interview with 24-year old Ingmar Bergman who dates his first dramatic opus to 20 July 1942 when he completed ‘Kaspers död’ [Death of Punch] during an evening, a night, and a morning. Bergman mentions his assistantship at the Royal Opera where he ‘currently enjoys the inspiring privilege of working with Professor Dobrowen in the staging of Boris Godunov’. [åtnjuter det inspirerande privilegiet att arbeta med professor Dobrowen i uppsättningen av Boris G]. Most of the interview addresses Bergman’s work at the Sago Theatre where he presented, during one year, 235 performances of seven different productions. Bergman points out that he has been both artistic and economic director of the Sago Theatre. See Theatre Chapter VI, (Ø 367-374).
1943 495.
Beyer, Nils. ‘Den stora sommarteatern’ [The big summer theatre]. Vecko-Journalen, 23 July 1943. A survey of productions offered in the ambulatory summer theatre (Folkparksteatern), including Bergman’s version of Bjørnson’s ‘Geografi och kärlek’. (See Ø 377).
496.
Hoogland, Claes. ‘25-årig regissör märkesman i Stockholm’ [25-year old stage director a man of note in Stockholm]. GT, 19 September 1943 (theatre page). First longer presentation of Bergman as a theatre director in the Swedish press, written by a member of the Student Theatre Board at Stockholm University. A year and a half later, Hoogland elaborated on this article in the magazine Teatern 12, no. 2 (February) 1945: p. 7,10. His main assessment of Ingmar Bergman centered on his ‘ruthless’ commitment; on his ability to create a cohesive ensemble out of inexperienced amateurs and semi-professionals; and on his volatile temperament.
497.
Lundkvist, Artur. ‘Teater och film’. BLM (12, no. 9, November 1943, p. 750). Artur Lundkvist, modernist poet and film critic in the prestigious literary magazine BLM, raised questions about Bergman’s playwriting that were to surface repeatedly during the next several years: Was Bergman’s attraction to dark and forbidding subjects genuine or was he a sensationalist exploiting his abiblity to arouse audiences emotionally?
1944 498.
n.a. ‘Ny konstnärlig ledare utsedd för Stadsteatern’ [New artistic leader chosen for the City Theatre]. Hälsingborgs Dagblad, 8 April 1944, p. 5, 8. Report of a ceremony at which the economically troubled Hälsingborg City Theatre in southern Sweden signed a contract with 26-year old Ingmar Bergman as new administrative head. See Introduction, Theatre Chapter VI.
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 499.
Jackson. ‘Teatern är ingen lyxvara’ [Theatre is no luxury article]. MT, 8 March 1944, p. 3. Cross-listed in Interviews,(Ø 686). Contains statements by Bergman on the theatre, focussing on his interest in children’s theatre. Bergman also begins to formulate his role as stage director and his view of what constitutes good theatre: ‘To produce a good performance with only a black sheet as background’. [att iscensätta en bra föreställning med bara ett svart skynke som bakgrund]. He wants to see a renewed interest in the classics and sees himself as an interpreter who believes more in his intuition than in his intellect. These are fundamental ideas in Bergman’s directorial approach and were to be repeated over the years. See Wåhlstedt below, (Ø 506), and Sjögren, (Ø 548).
1945 500.
Bergman, Ingmar. ‘Blick in i framtiden’ [Look into the future]. Unpublished manuscript, Swedish Radio Archives, Stockholm, n.p. Crosslisted in (Ø 32), Chapter II. Asked to describe what Stockholm might look like in 1980, Bergman presented his views on 17 January 1945, as did a handful of other people active in cultural and political affairs. Bergman focussed his attention on a futuristic Stockholm City Theatre, which would house multiple stages but also other forms of public relaxation, such as gigantic swimming pools. The performances would be handled by robots, since both artists and public would be unable to see the difference between artificial and real actors. Bergman’s tone is both playful and serious.
501.
Bergman, Ingmar. An untitled program note to the Helsingborg City Theatre production of Sune Bergström’s comedy Reducera moralen [Down with morality!], 12 April 1945. Cross-listed in Chapter II, (Ø 30). Director’s note announcing the theatre’s recapturing of state subsidies and vowing that its function will continue to be ‘the stormy center of our city’. [‘stadens oroliga hörn’]. Cf. Next item.
502.
Bergman, Ingmar. An untitled program note to the Helsingborg City Theatre production of Franz Werfel’s play Jacobowski and the Colonel, 9 September 1945. Also listed but not annotated in Chapter II (group entry Ø 30) and in Commentary on the production of play, (Ø 389, 390). At the opening of his second season in Helsingborg, Bergman printed a six-point ‘wish list’ concerning the function of the Helsingborg City Theatre: 1. ‘Our theatre shall be the city’s unruly corner’. [Vår teater skall vara stadens oroliga hörn] 2. ‘Our theatre shall be a young theatre’. [Vår teater skall vara en ung teater] 3. ‘Our theatre shall be a test case for our ability at self-critique’. [Vår teater skall vara en prövosten för vår förmåga till självlkritik] 4. ‘Our theatre shall be a playground’. [Vår teater skall vara en lekplats] 5. ‘(Our theatre) shall look like a theatre [...] and not like a movie house, [...] a boxing hall or Pentecostal meeting-house. [...]’. [Den skall se ut some en teater... inte som en bio [...] en boxningshall eller pingstmöteslokal. [...]]. ‘(Our theatre) shall make big room for happy laughter, joking and friendly humor’. [Vår teater skall ha stort svängrum (för) det glada skrattet, skämtet, vänligheten och humorn. [...]]
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 503.
Bergman, Ingmar. An untitled program note to the Helsingborg City Theatre production of Bergman’s adaptation of Olle Hedberg’s ‘Rabies’, 1 November 1945. Crosslisted in Chapter II, (Ø 30). Could be called Bergman’s modernist manifesto, a defense of Swedish fyrtiotalist literature (see Ø 952, Chapter IX).
504.
Bergman, Ingmar. An untitled program note to a guest performance of Strindberg’s The Pelican at the Malmö City Theatre, 25 November 1945. See Commentary to production in (Ø 392), Theatre Chapter VI. Important homage to Olof Molander, prominent director of Strindberg at Dramaten in the 1930s and on.
505.
Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Teaterkrönika: Ingmar Bergman berättar en historia för skådespelarna innan ridån går upp’ [Bergman tells a story to the actors before the curtain rises]. Sveriges Radio (SR), 28 September 1945. An abbreviated French version appears in Jacques Siclier’s book Ingmar Bergman, pp. 181-82. Bergman tells an anecdote about a Chinese craftsman who set out to build chimes for a temple and only succeeded when he committed himself to hard work and concentration on his task.
506.
Wåhlstedt, Ingeborg. ‘Den svenska teaterns Kasper’ [Punch of the Swedish theatre]. Svensk Damtidning 15 September 1945: 15-16. One of the fullest early presentations of Bergman as a talented, energetic, and promising theatre director. Bergman is quoted as saying that filmmaking is a cumbersome and often frustrating undertaking, whereas the theatre has great simplicity: ‘All you need are a few actors and a curtain’. [Allt man behöver är några skådespelare och en ridå].
1946 507.
Bergman, Ingmar. ‘Avskedsintervju’ [Farewell interview], in playbill program to Björn Erik Höijer’s play Rekviem, at the Helsingborg City Theatre, 6 March 1946. Also cross-listed in Interview Chapter VIII (Ø 690) and in group (Ø 30), Chapter II. A ‘self-interview’ which is an ironic but joyful farewell to Helsingborg and to a theatre experience that saved Bergman from remaining ‘a peripheral guy’ [en periferikille]. Bergman lists as his happiest moment in Helsingborg the minutes of ensemble togetherness before the opening of Macbeth and as one of his saddest experiences to have begun in Helsingborg ‘as a fanatic and ended up as a compromising old guy’. [‘Att börja som fanatiker och sluta som kompromissgubbe’]. The entire ‘self-interview’ is printed in Sjögren, Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 44-45.
508.
Bergman, Ingmar. ‘Möte’ [Encounter]. Malmö City Theatre program to Bergman’s play Rakel och biografvaktmästaren [Rakel and the cinema doorman], September 1946, pp. 8-9. See Chapter II, (Ø 30). A tongue-in-cheek dialogue between a playwright and a director of his play.
776
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 509.
Linde, Ebbe. ‘Rakel och biografvaktmästaren’ [Rakel and the Cinema Usher]. BLM 15, no. 8 (October) 1946, p. 688. A leading Swedish theatre critic at the time makes the following assessment of Bergman’s standing as a playwright: ‘No fabled animal in the Swedish theatre has been preceded by so much huffing and puffing as he. We are still waiting for him to appear in person from behind the smoke screen’. [Intet fabeldjur i svensk teater har föregåtts av så mycket frustande rök som han. Vi väntar fortfarande på att han skall visa sig i egen person bakom rökridån].
1947 510.
n.a. ‘Ung man vid teatern’ [Young Man in the Theatre]. Gothenburg City Theatre presentation of Ingmar Bergman in a playbill note to his production of his own play Dagen slutar tidigt [The Day Ends Early]. 12 January 1947, pp. 11-15. Lists Bergman’s main theme in his own early plays as ‘man’s relationship to the devil – a natural motif for a young man who has experienced World War II’. [människans förhållande till djävulen – ett naturligt motiv för en ung man som upplevt andra världskriget].
511.
512.
‘Ej för at roa blott’ [Not just to entertain]. Radiotjänst (SR), 2 January 1947. See Ø 692. Es. An. (Elis Andersson]. ‘Ingmar Bergman-premiär’. GP, 27 October 1947, p. 2. In a review of Bergman’s production of his own play Mig till skräck (Unto my fear), Gothenburg theatre critic sums up Bergman’s position in the theatre: ‘He irritates some and makes others fall into foolish ecstasy’. [Han retar somliga och kommer andra att falla i dåraktig extas]. Reviewer refers to Bergman’s ‘bluffing and search for shock effects’ [bluff och grovt effektsökeri] but also remarks on his creative intensity and artistic potential.
513.
Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Studentteatern’. ST, 6 February 1947, p. 5. As had been the case at Mäster Olofsgården, Ingmar Bergman left a hard spot to fill when he left the Stockholm Student Theatre after his production of Tivolit (1943). In a review four years later of a 1947 Student Theatre production, Grevenius wrote: ‘The Student Theatre has had a bit of difficulty getting recharged since Ingmar Bergman departed’. [Studentteatern har haft lite svårt att komma igång igen sen Ingmar Bergman gav sig av].
1948 514.
Laestadius, Lars Levi. ‘Ingmar Bergman får urpremiär i Hälsingborg’. In Hälsingborg City Theatre’s Program, 1948-1949 season, December 1948, pp. 1-4, 30, 53. Also printed in Röster i Radio-TV, no. 28 (10-16 June) 1949, p. 6, in connection with a radio transmission of Bergman’s play ‘Kamma noll.’ See also Ø 268. A presentation of Ingmar Bergman at the opening of his comedy Kamma noll (Come Up Empty/ To draw Zero), directed by Læstadius. Defines the common theme in Bergman’s early stage plays as studies in the power of evil, represented by an older generation who tramples on the young, but also points out the Christian motifs embedded in Bergman’s dramatic texts. Refers to
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography Ingmar Bergman as ‘the foremost of our young theatre men with an overflowing imagination, a fine sensitivity for mood and atmosphere, and a volatile, strong-willed, and sometimes uncontrollable temperament’. [den främste bland våra unga teatermän med en överflödande fantasi, en fin känsla för stämning och atmosfär, och ett eldfängt, egensinnigt och ibland okontrollerbart temperament].
515.
Ollén, Gunnar. ‘Amatörteaterkrönika’. Radiotjänst (SR), 21 November 1948. Gunnar Ollén and Ingmar Bergman were involved with Mäster Olofsgården at the same time in the early 1940s. Ollén became affiliated with Sveriges Radio. In this radio program, the two meet and Bergman says apropos of amateur theatre: ‘It ought to be a holy madness. [...] One becomes rather moved at the thought of all the people who work and study their parts and put up the décor [...] out of an inner irresistable urge to accomplish something beyond the narrow limits of everyday life’. [Det borde vara heligt vanvett. [...] Man blir ganska rörd av tanken på alla människor som arbetar och studerar sina roller och sätter upp dekor [...] utifrån en inre oemotståndlig önskan att åstadkomma någonting bortanför vardagslivets snäva gränser].
1949 516.
‘Spårvagn med många namn...’ [Streetcar with many names]. GHT, 24 February 1949), p. 16. A brief unsigned interview article. See Commentary to production of Tennessee Williams’ play, Chapter VI, (Ø 405).
517.
Wallqvist, Örjan. ‘Puritanen och Kasperteatern’ [The Puritan and the Punch and Judy show]. AT, 6 September 1949, p. 2-3. A discussion of Bergman as a Puritan moralist and believer in both the Devil and God as puppeteers. Finds Bergman’s themes too unforgiving and dark.
1951 518.
Grevenius, Herbert. Dagen efter. Stockholm and London: C.E. Fritze, 1951. Collection of theatre reviews, among them several dealing with Bergman productions after 1946 and prior to 1950. See pp. 34-38; 129-32; 164-65; 213-14; 217-221; 252-55.
1953 519.
Group Item: Mini-Debate about Actors Life Style Bergman became controversial when he insisted, in an interview, that a present director/actor at the Malmö City Theatre, Gunnar Ekström, be asked to leave; in the same context he made a statement that actors should not settle into a middle-class life style but ‘live in trailers’. [bo i teatervagn]. See ‘Skådespelare bör bo i teatervagn’ [Actors should live in theatre trailers], AB, 12 January 1953, p. 9. Another interview on the same subject was published in the magazine FIB by
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography Sven Hammar, ‘Fräcka frågor till Ingmar Bergman’ [Impertinent questions to Bergman], FIB (Folket i Bild), no. 19 (1953), p. 12. A response by Gunnar Ekström, titled ‘Skandaler passar bara ‘Kronprinsen’’ [Scandals only suit the Crown Prince], was published in AB, 13 January 1953, p. 9. Actor Edwin Adolphson answered Bergman in SvD, 20 February 1953, p. 5. See also full-page rebuttal of Bergman’s statement by editor of the theatre journal Skådebanan, Set Poppius: ‘Ingmar Bergman och Thespiskärran’ [Bergman and the Thespis cart], Skådebanan 3/1953, p. 4. Poppius questioned the newspapers that printed Bergman’s statement, which he considered defamatory and contemptuous of the acting corps and its efforts to establish decent and respectable living conditions for its members. A defense for Bergman was published by Sven Forssell and Hans Malmberg in ‘Försvar för Ingmar Begman’ [Defense of Bergman]., Filmjournalen 34, no. 5 (February) 1953: 8-11, 26. Cross-listed in Interview Chapter, (Ø 698).
520.
Beyer, Nils. Teaterkvällar. 1940-1953. Stockholm: LT:s förlag, 1953. Contains reprints of several of Beyer’s reviews of Bergman’s early theatre productions. See pp. 46-48; 72-75; 219-22.
521.
Bergström, Kåbe. ‘Pirandello e’ ingen Paddock’ [Pirandello is no Paddock]. (Paddock was a Swedish variety show contributor). Frihet, no. 23, 1953, pp. 15-17. See also listing in Interviews, (Ø 697). An interview with Bergman and actress Harriet Andersson, living and working together in Malmö where Bergman had become artistic director in 1952. Bergman outlines his view of the theatre as an institution with high artistic ambitions.
1954 522.
n.a. ‘Intervju med strateg’ [Interview with a strategist]. Mellanakt 3, no. 1 (1954): 1-2. In a program issued in connection with his production of the operetta The Merry Widow at the Malmö City Theatre, Ingmar Bergman is portrayed in a brief presentation (rather than in an interview as headline misleadingly suggests).
523.
Bergman, Ingmar. ‘Spöksonaten’ [The Ghost Sonata]. Malmö City Theatre program of Bergman production of Strindbergs’s drama, 5 March 1954. Available at the Malmö City Theatre library and Swedish Theatre Museum. Bergman relates his earlier experiences with Strindberg’s play and reminisces about his reaction to Olof Molander’s production of it at Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. A crucial statement in terms of Bergman’s link to Swedish Strindberg tradition. Cross-listed in Chapter II, (Ø 89).
524.
Linder, Erik Hjalmar. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. In Scenens ungdom [Youth on stage], ed. by Claes Hoogland and Gunnar Ollén. Stockholm: Stockholmstidningens Förlagsavd, 1954, pp. 68-71. Portrait of Bergman as a man of the theatre in a book presenting the 33 most promising young people working on Swedish stages during the preceding ten years. Linder quotes Bergman on
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography three points he considers anathema to a theatre production: (1) naturalistic imitation; (2) flirtation with the public above and beyond the seductive potential of the work itself; (3) esthetic exercises aimed at 50 experts in the house.
1956 525.
Hoogland, Claes and Ollén, Gunnar. ‘Teaterfoajé’, Broadcast on Swedish Public Radio, 1 February 1956. Crosslisted in (Ø 707), Interview Chapter. Bergman (and Lars Levi Læstadius) are interviewed about directing their own plays. Bergman is critical of such an undertaking since he finds it difficult to discuss his own text with his cast, for ‘the words then lose their virginity’. [orden förlorar sin jungfrulighet]. He claims that a film script is a different matter, a suggestive score rather than a complete, verbalized product.
1957 526.
AGE. ‘Misantropen i Malmö får färgglada dräkter’ [The Misanthrope in Malmö gets colorful clothes]. DN, 3 December 1957. Reportage about Kerstin Hedeby’s costumes in The Misanthrope production but also brief statements by Bergman about the process of directing a new production and about his first encounter with Molière at the Comédie Française in Paris in 1949.
527.
Sjöman, Vilgot. ‘Spänningen Ingmar Bergman’ [Bergman, man of tension]. Vi, no. 14, 1957, p. 16-17, 38. Reportage from Malmö City Theatre with ‘flashbacks’ to Bergman’s earlier work in theatre and film, and some comments by Bergman, who is quoted as stating that the theatre experience is no longer part of a cult ceremony. Denies that theatre to him is magic: ‘It is craftsmanship, technique, collected, and applied experience. [...] I could do without the film studio but I could never manage without the theatre’. [Det är hantverk, teknik, samlad och tillämpad erfarenhet. [...] Jag kan vara utan filmstudion men jag kunde aldrig klara mig utan teatern]. Bergman would repeat the last part of the statement throughout his professional life. Cf. also Sellermark, 1958 (Ø 529).
1958 528.
Beyer, Nils. ‘Från Gösta Ekman till Ingmar Bergman: 25 år svensk teater’ [From Gösta Ekman to Bergman: 25 years of Swedish theatre]. Teatern 25, no. 3-4 (September) 1958: 30-31. In a brief history of Swedish theatre directors in the last few decades, author singles out Bergman’s unusual approach to his actors, resulting in superb performances.
529.
Sellermark, Arne. ‘Lek med laddningar’ [Playing with dynamite]. Idun, 24 October 1958, pp. 21-22, 63.
780
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography Article quoting Bergman’s view – to be repeated over the years – that his work in the theatre is necessary for his mental well-being, since it implies a merging with a collective and is based on a relationship of give and take.
530.
Sjöman, Vilgot. ‘Faust kan inte lida’ [Faust cannot suffer]. Vi, no. 42, 1958. A conversation with Bergman prior to his production of Goethe’s Ur-Faust in Malmö. The encounter is of interest in revealing interpretative differences between Sjöman and his early ‘mentor’, in this case concerning the Gretchen figure. See also Sjöman, Mitt personregister, 1998, (Ø 668).
1959 531.
Arvidsson, Gunnar. ‘Ingmar Bergman introducerad på Paris-teater’ [Bergman introduced in Paris theatre]. DN, 6 March 1959, p. 14. A report of a presentation of Bergman’s play Trämålning by National d’Art Dramatique in Paris before an audience of 600 people in Paris’ Cité Universitaire. The play was introduced by Pierre Billard and Frédéric Durant, and coincided with the opening of The Seventh Seal in Paris and the guest visit of the Malmö City Theatre production of Bergman’s production of Sagan (see Ø 432), Theatre Chapter.
532.
‘Mr. Bergman Relaxes’. The Times, 4 May 1959. Special Times Correspondent meets Bergman and Lars Levi Læstadius (administrative head of Malmö City Theatre) for a luncheon during their visit to London with a guest presentation of Ur-Faust. Bergman refers to his seven years (1952-59) working with Læstadius as the best years in his life. The rather meandering talk moves from Strindberg to Shakespeare (Macbeth). Bergman states that his basic principle in staging a play is to ask: What is in the text?
1960 533.
Group Item: Mini-debate on Underground Theatre. In an unsigned interview titled ‘Källarteater är självbefläckelse’ [Underground theatre is selfindulgence], AB, 7 September 1960, p. 10, Bergman expresses his excitement about directing Måsen (The Seagull) at Dramaten but is critical of the small underground theatres that established themselves at the time as a form of counter-culture movement: I care very much for young talents and young enterprises. But this business with small theatres is altogether wrong. It trains neither actors nor audiences. None of them get the right perspective on the theatre as art when they sit in each other’s laps. Underground theatre is some kind of spiritual masturbation. He who practices it will never learn to understand that it is the technique that shall convey the emotions and not the other way around. [Jag är mycket mån om unga talanger och unga företag. Men jag tror att det här med småteatrar är alldeles fel. Det uppfostrar varken skådespelare eller åskådarna.. Ingen av dem får rätt perspektiv på teaterns konst, när de sitter i knät på varandra. Källarteater är nån slags
781
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography andlig självbefläckelse och den som övar den lär sig aldrig begripa att det är tekniken som skall bära fram känslan och inte tvärtom]. See critical responses, all in AB, by Claes von Rettig, ‘Fråga till Ingmar Bergman’ [Question to Bergman], 9 September 1960, p. 2; Sven Wollter, ‘Vad menar herr Bergman?’ [What does Mr. B. mean?], 9 September 1960, p. 10; Åke Lagergren, ‘Storregissören och småteatrarna’ [The big director and the small theatres], 12 September 1960, p. 3; and K. Lind-g, ‘Ingmar Bergman och källarteater’ [Bergman and underground theatre], 14 September 1960, p. 29.
534.
Billqvist, Fritiof, Ingmar Bergman, Teatermannen och filmskaparen [Bergman: Man of the theater and filmmaker]. Stockholm: Natur & Kultur, 1960, 279 pp. (See Ø 1040), Chapter IX.
1962 535.
Wahlund, Per Erik. Scenväxling: Teaterkritik 1951-1960. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur, 1962. A collection of theatre reviews, including several reprints of reviews of Bergman productions between 1954 and 1960. Together with Nils Beyer and Herbert Grevenius, Wahlund was one of the most important theatre critics to notice Bergman’s development as a director. Many later pronouncements by Bergman himself about his approach to a play echo formulations by these critics. A statement by Wahlund in his review of Bergman’s production of Hjalmar Bergman’s posthumous play Sagan in Malmö in 1958 is illustrative: ‘Bergman’s full maturing as a metteuren-scène came at the same time that he realized that the art of interpreting is both more difficult and more crucial than the ambition to reinterpret; his strength today lies not in his inventiveness but in his sensitivity, his ability to listen his way into a play and release its keynote’. [Bergmans fulla mognad som iscensättare kom samtidigt som han insåg att konsten att tolka är svårare och viktigare att tillägna sig än ambitionen att omtolka; hans styrka idag är inte så mycket uppfinningsrikedomen som lyhördheten, förmågan att lyssna sig rakt in i ett drama och förlösa grundtonen.]. Also later collections of Wahlund’s theatre reviews include several references to Bergman’s stagecraft. See Avsidesrepliker (1966), Ridåfall (1969), and Sortierepliker (1986).
1963 536.
Group Item: Appointment as head of the Royal Dramatic Theatre Reports of Ingmar Bergman’s appointment as head of the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten) appeared in the Swedish press and mass media on 14 and 15 January 1963. See editorial headlined ‘Ingmar Bergman till teatern’ [Bergman to the theatre] in DN, 15 January 1963, p. 2, and a 5-minute interview on radio news program ‘Dagens eko’ on 14 January 1963. DN editorial expresses the common Swedish view that Bergman was a better theatre director than filmmaker. On 9 February 1963, Swedish radio news reported that Bergman had instituted a representationally elected council at Dramaten, which was to have a voice in the management of the theatre. See 3-minute report in ‘Dagens eko’ headlined ‘Dramatenaktörer får medbestämmanderätt i teaterns skötsel genom ett av skådespelarna valt representantråd’ [Dramaten actors get a
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography voice in the decision-making and running of the theatre...]. See also AB, 7 September 1963, for an interview with Bergman at the opening of his first season as head of the RDT (Dramaten). On 8 September 1963, Swedish radio program ‘P3-Posten’ transmitted a brief interview with Bergman about his plans, in which he advocated a theatre repertory that would address young school audiences, an ambition dating back to Bergman’s earliest years in the theatre. The same idea came back in a later interview (Björkstén, SR, 29 December 1967. See Ø 537). Bergman’s appointment was also reported by Brooks Atkinson in NYT, 1 March 1963, theater section.
1964 537.
Group Item: Signs of Disenchantment, 1964-66.
Hedda Gabler Debate In November 1964, after the opening of Bergman’s production of Hedda Gabler, a media debate was initiated by the cultural editor of DN, Olof Lagercrantz, 6 November 1964, (p. 4). He published a piece titled ‘Dammig evighet..’. [Dusty eternity], referring to Bergman’s production of Ibsen’s play as ‘a degenerate shoot on an old theatre tree’, [ett degenererat skott på ett gammalt teaterträd], contrasting it to an up-to-date theatrical happening at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm. Bergman’s Hedda Gabler was said to be ‘a performance that would have been becoming to any biological museum. The dust blew, the audience trembled with excitement that so much of what they found old, dear and customary had been assembled in one and the same place’. [en föreställning som skulle prytt vilket biologiskt museum som helst. Dammet rök, publiken darrade av upphetsning över att så mycket gammalt, vant och kärt hopats på en enda plats]. Bergman countered Lagercrantz’ charges in an unsigned interview in SvD, ‘Bergman svarar på Ibsenkritik’ [Bergman responds to Ibsen criticism], 4 December 1964, p. 16). He pointed out that Lagercrantz’ most recent literary focus, Dante, was as old and musty as Ibsen, and declared that Dramaten was his happening. For Bergman’s full statement, see the program to Ulla Isaksson’s play ‘Våra torsdagar’ [Our Thursdays], which opened at Dramaten in early December 1964. See also Commentary to Hedda Gabler production in Theatre Chapter VI, (Ø 440). The printed program for the Dramaten production of Hedda Gabler includes an essay by Ingmar Bergman, titled ‘Tråkigheter’ [Unpleasant matters], pp. 33-35. Originally a talk held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and published in Encore, May-June 1964, ‘Tråkigheter’ concerns the dwindling public support of the theatre and a critique of a cultural policy in which artists lag behind in terms of pay and social benefits. According to Bergman, actors should be looked upon as members of a profane priesthood and be paid like pastors, deans, and bishops. But the real issue to Bergman was the failure among theatre administrators to build up a public interest in the theatre among the young. He advocated a co-operation between theatres, pedagogues, and schools. This was a concern that Bergman had voiced as early as 1941 when he staged plays at the Sago Theatre in Stockholm.
Bergman’s Dissatisfaction with Theatre situation in Sweden In issue 18 (25 April – 2 May 1964) of Röster i Radio-TV, Bergman also voiced his disappointment over the Swedish government’s theatre policies. The article is a transcript of a radio interview titled ‘Dramatenchefen Ingmar Bergman intervjuas’ [Dramaten head Bergman is interviewed] by Claes Hoogland on 31 March 1964. In another radio interview by Hoogland in a regular program titled ‘Teaterrond’ (9 June 1964) Bergman responded to criticism that Dramaten was draining other Swedish theatres of their talents. In early 1965, Bergman was also
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography criticized by the leftist magazine Tidssignal for dismissing old actors; for hiring new actors without having any good parts for them; and for signing a contract with TV, which did not benefit Dramaten’s actors. See a report of this critique in AB, 23 April 1965, p. 24. In early 1965, there were also reports of Bergman’s growing dissatisfaction with Dramaten’s insufficient governmental subsidies. See radio interview on 7 January 1965 on the news program ‘Dagens eko’.
Resignation as Head of Dramaten A number of political and personal factors would lead to Bergman’s resignation as head of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, effective as of 1 July 1966. The announcement was made at a press conference half a year earlier. See ‘Pengar, filmuppslag och konstnärssamvete, skälen Ingmar Bergman lämnar Dramaten’ [Money, film ideas and artistic conscience – reasons for Bergman to leave Dramaten]. SvD, 25 November 1965, pp. 1, 16. Same issue was dealt with in two brief interviews on the radio news program ‘Dagens Eko’ on 22 and 24 November 1965. Responding that his decision felt like a liberation (befrielse) but also a bit sad (melankoliskt), he concluded that life would be more fun again and that ‘it was time for Bergman to be a bit more restrictive in his tasks’. [dags för Bergman att ta det lite sparsammare på uppgifterna]. See also reports on the same subject by Göran O. Ericsson, ST, 30 November 1965, p. 5; Bengt Jahnson, DN, 28 November 1965, p. 4; and Leif Zern, DN, 2 March 1966, p. 7. For reports in English on these matters, see The (London) Times, ‘Ingmar Bergman finds his true vocation’, 14 January 1965, p. 5, and R. Huntford, Los Angeles Times, 25 January 1966. For a longer discussion in English of Bergman’s time as head of Dramaten, see Glenn Loney, ‘Bergman in the Theater’, Modern Drama 9 (1966): 170-77 (annotated in Ø 541). Time, 3 December 1965, p. 45, and Variety, 1 December 1965, p. 27, carried news of the resignation. Swedish papers deplored Bergman’s resignation. DN, 28 November 1965, p. 4, pointed out his many improvements at Dramaten during his short tenure: his revival of children’s theatre, his increase in actors salaries and job benefits, his generous touring policy, his support of a new drama school, and his input in the theatre debate. However, in an article, ‘Adjö, Ingmar Bergman’ [Goodbye, Bergman], published in Expr., 15 June 1966, p. 5, influential theatre critic Leif Zern summarized Bergman’s time as head of Dramaten as more a matter of resources than new viewpoints: ‘Dramaten has become a better theatre but it has remained the same’ [Dramaten har blivit en bättre teater men har förblivit densamma] – i.e., a traditional and not very radical stage. Zern’s assessment, colored by the politicized 1960s, would seem to imply that Bergman had failed to implement his own ambitions, expressed in an interview at the time that the theatre should be a gadfly in the welfare state; its task ‘to register every sign of poisoning and hot fever [in society] and to give impulses to other institutions’. [att registrera varje tecken på förgiftning och hög feber (i samhället)och ge impulser till andra institutioner]. See IdunVeckojournalen, 26 February 1966, pp. 23-27, 52. Bergman’s brief tenure as head of Dramaten (1963-66) occurred during politicized times in Swedish culture. Bergman writes briefly about the situation at Dramaten in his 1987 memoir book Laterna magica (The Magic Lantern), p. 231-232 (Sw. ed.). See also introduction to chapter VI, Dramaten – Round 2.
Bergman turning his back on the Swedish theatre On 30 June 1966, Ingmar Bergman left his post as head of Dramaten. In November of that year he announced that his production of Molière’s Hustruskolan (School for Wives) would be his farewell to the Royal Dramatic Theatre. See AGE, ‘Bergmanfarväl med Molière. Riv Operan och Dramaten!’ [Bergman Farewell with Molière. Tear Down the Opera and Dramaten], DN 17 November 1966 (annotated in Ø 540). The Molière production did not receive very good reviews, which may have contributed to Bergman’s desillusionment. By early January 1967, he had left Sweden and was soon directing Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography at the Nationalteatret in Oslo (Norway’s Dramaten). He had broken up from his marriage to pianist Käbi Laretei and was living with actress Liv Ullmann, with whom he would have a daughter, Linn. At the time, his departure from Stockholm was considered more than a temporary absence. On 18 March 1967, he appeared in a rather bitter interview in the Swedish TV program ‘Mellanstick’, in which he lambasted Stockholm’s young theatre critics. The interview was recorded in Oslo. See write-up titled ‘Ingmar Bergmans nya liv’ [Bergman’s new life]., Expr., 19 March 1967, pp. 1, 13. The Expr. report also includes a response by the paper’s cultural editor Bo Strömstedt (p. 13), titled ‘Han kan ha rätt att dilla i TV’ [He has the right to talk nonsense on TV]. The same TV interview was also reported by Anita Sundin in AB, 23 March 1967, p. 10, ‘Därför lämnade jag svenska teatern’ [That’s why I left the Swedish theatre]. DN interviewed Bergman in Oslo, 25 March 1967, where he again declared his disenchantment with Dramaten, with the Swedish corps of theatre critics and with the politicized repertory. On 27 March 1967, Expr.’s Bo Strömstedt wrote an open letter to Ingmar Bergman, headlined ‘Kom tillbaka, Ingmar Bergman!’ [Come Back, Bergman], p. 4. To Strömstedt, Bergman was trying to make himself into a martyr, despite the fact that he had had more success and had received more appreciation than any other Swedish film and theatre director. Strömstedt pointed out that during Bergman’s three years as head of Dramaten, state subsidies to the theatre had tripled, and he concluded: ‘Ingmar Bergman sits in Oslo and pretends to be the ugly duckling in Sweden. It’s the wrong tale. He is the Princess on the Pea’. [Ingmar Bergman sitter i Oslo och låtsas vara den fula ankungen i Sverige. Det är fel saga. Han är Prinsessan på ärten.] The second half of Strömstedt’s open letter urges Bergman to stop sulking and come home to set up Strindberg, the foremost classic in Swedish drama. A few years later Bergman was back at Dramaten, staging Strindberg’s Ett drömspel/A Dreamplay. Bergman continued, however, in his negative pronouncements about the Swedish theatre situation, including the type of audience that frequented the productions. During a visit to Helsinki in June 1967 with a guest performance of his (1964) Hedda Gabler production, Bergman said in a press interview that the theatre lagged behind contemporary social change and now attracted the kind of conservative audience it deserved, that is, small groups of people who kept running to all available cultural events, while the general public stayed home. To remedy the situation he suggested reserving all state-allocated resources within the theatre to educate young audiences. The theatre had to reform itself from within to counteract its obsolescence and current elitist appeal. See ‘Bergman: Teatern är falsk’ [Bergman: The theatre is false], Hufvudstadsbladet, 14 June 1967, p. 1, 16. Similar thoughts were expressed at a press conference on 9 September 1967, just before Bergman began the shooting of Skammen. Bergman compared the theater to the Swedish State Church – that is, a meaningless institution reaching only a small percentage of people: ‘It is a kind of luxury maintained by the state for a minority’. [Den är en sorts lyx, som staten håller en minoritet med]. The discussion continued in a Swedish radio interview with theatre critic Ingmar Björkstén: ‘Teaterronden’ [Theatre Round], Swedish Public Radio, December 29 and 31, 1967 (see Ø 544). In this central hour-long conversation about theatre, Ingmar Bergman vents his disillusionment with the current theatre situation in Sweden: ‘Swedish theatre and the Swedish Church today are two dreadfully sad institutions’. [Svenska teatern och svenska kyrkan i dag, det är två fruktansvärt sorgliga företeelser]. He discusses mediocre programming, the bad work morale among actors, the lack of a theatre public who knows their classics. Bergman has a vision: He wants to create a project titled Moraliska Teatern AB [Moral Theatre, Inc], with well-trained committed actors; a repertory focussing on the classics (from Euripides to Brecht); and the challenge of a big stage where performers have to learn to communicate with X, Y, Z at a distance of twenty meters. He still feels disillusioned about his Dramaten years but admits that ‘theatre is my blood, it is something innate’. [teatern är mitt blod, det är nånting medfött]. In
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography fact, he leaves a back door open for his possible return to the stage: ‘Eventually, [...] when I get some sort of idea why one should be involved with theatre, I intend to start again. If someone wants me. There’s no point in doing it when one finds it boring’. [När jag så småningom [...] kan hitta någon slags idé på varför man håller på med teater tänker jag börja igen. Om det är någon som vill ha mig. Det är ingen idé att hålla på, när man bara tycker det är tråkigt]. Bergman’s disenchantment with the theatre situation in Sweden was reported extensively in the West German press. See especially: Robert Braun, ‘Erziehung zum Theater. Ein Interview mit Ingmar Bergman’. Der Tagesspiegel Berlin), 11 April 1967; Helmuth Hoht, ‘Bergmans Hassliebe zum Theater’. Nordwest Zeitung (Oldenburg), 7 June 1967; Michael Salzer, ‘Schauspieler dürfen ihren Mund aufmachen’. Kölner Stadtanzeiger, 27 June 1967. Bergman’s successor as head of Dramaten, actor Erland Josephson, got involved in a press discussion with three theatre critics at DN in April 1970. The issue was Dramaten’s role as Sweden’s National Stage, its choice of repertory and the employees’ rights to participate in policy issues. These were matters that had surfaced during Bergman’s tenure. See reportage about Dramaten by DN journalists Annika Holm, Betty Skawonius, and Leif Zern, 5 April 1970; Josephson’s response in Expr. (‘Borde vi inte riva vår Kungliga Dramaten?’/Shouldn’t we tear down our Royal Dramaten?), 9 April 1970; and a rebuttal by the journalists in Expr. on 15 April 1970, entitled ‘Varför denna förvåning, Erland Josephson? [Why so surprised, EJ?].
1965 538.
Horn, Brita von. Hornstötar ur kulissen, Stockholm: Rabén and Sjögren, 1965, pp 190-222. One of the founders of the Dramatists Studio (Dramatikerstudion) in Stockholm in the early 1940s gives an account of her meetings and dealings with a young Ingmar Bergman. Amusing reading by histrionic and forceful counter-voice in the Swedish theatre.
539.
Schuh, Oscar Fritz. ‘Vom “Traumspiel” zum “Schweigen”: Ein Gespräch über August Strindberg und Ingmar Bergman’. Eckart Jahrbuch, 1965, pp. 81-88. An interview with Bergman about his views on and productions of Strindberg.
1966 540.
AGE. (Anders Elsberg). ‘Bergmanfarväl med Molière. Riv Operan och Dramaten!’ [Bergman farewell with M. Tear down the Opera and Dramaten!]. DN, 17 November 1966. An interview during Bergman’s rehearsal of School for Wives at Dramaten. First half of headline refers to Bergman’s love of Molière, whom he had discovered during a three-month stay in Paris in 1949: ‘I sat in Jean Vilar’s big and terribly ugly Théâtre Populaire Nationale amidst thousands of people and watched grandiose actors in Tartuffe perform on a podium that was empty except for a table with a tablecloth’. [Jag satt i Jean Vilars stora och förskräckligt fula Théâtre Populaire Nationale bland tusentals människor och såg storslagna skådespelare framträda i Tartuffe på ett podium som var tomt sånär som på ett bord med en duk.] The second half of the headline refers to Bergman’s view that Dramaten and the Opera represent art for an elitist, unengaged public, while his ideal audience is young and questioning.
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 541.
Loney, Glenn. ‘Bergman in the Theater’. Modern Drama 9, 1966: 170-77. The author discusses Bergman’s tenure as head of the Royal Dramatic Theatre. Quoting from an interview with Bergman, author lists three goals for Bergman at the RDT: (1) to build a new audience of young people; (2) to discover and train new directors, actors and designers; (3) to find or create original new Swedish drama.
542.
Ollén, Gunnar. ‘Radioteater i 40 år. Ingmar Bergman intervjuas’ [Radio theatre for forty years. Bergman is interviewed]. Swedish Public Radio, 24 February 1966. 15 minutes. Bergman discusses his play Staden (The City) with Gunnar Ollén during a repeat broadcast of his 1951 radio piece. (See Ø 271)
543.
Wahlund, Per Erik. Avsidesrepiker: Teaterkritik 1961-1965. Stockholm: Bonniers, 1966. See Ø 535.
1967 544.
‘Teaterronden’ [Theatre Round]. Swedish Public Radio, 29 and 31 December 1967. Theatre critic Ingmar Björkstén conducts a central radio interview with Bergman about current theatre situation in Sweden. (See Ø 537).
1968 545.
Chicco, Elisabetta. ‘Cinema e teatro nell’opera di Bergman’. Cinema Nuevo 17, no. 192 (March-April 1968): 96-108. The author traces relationship between Bergman’s films and various theatre traditions, such as medieval station drama and Strindberg in The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries; Aristotelean dramaturgy in Thirst; and chamber play structure in Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, and The Silence.
546.
Gitlitz, Marcia. ‘The Acting Theories of Ingmar Bergman through the Television Medium in a production of Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit’. M.A. thesis, Theater Arts Dept., Adelphi College, 1967, 174 pp. The title is confusing since Bergman never staged Sartre’s play. In all likelihood the production mentioned is a student production. As for Bergman’s ‘acting theories’, see Lise-Lone Marker’s fine essay ‘The Magic Triangle: Ingmar Bergman’s Implied Philosophy of Theatrical Communication’, Modern Drama 26, no. 3 (September) 1983: 251-61. (Ø 600).
547.
Isaksson, Anders. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Jag vill inte teaterns död – men TV når miljonpublik’ [I don’t wish the death of the theatre – but TV reaches a public of millions]. DN, 18 July 1968, p. 10. See also same subject in ‘Dagens eko’ Swedish Public Radio, 16 January 1969.
787
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography A reportage from Bergman’s press conference before beginning to shoot his first TV film, Riten (The Ritual), ‘an experiment I have paid for myself and have complete freedom to reject or show’ [ett experiment jag har betalat för själv och har fullständig rätt att förkasta eller visa]. Bergman talks about his first encounter with television in a shop window in Malmö. See Introduction Media Chapter, TV section, and Bergman’s ‘Confessions of a Television Freak’ in Dramat, 1998, Ø 662.
548.
Sjögren, Henrik. Ingmar Bergman på teatern [Bergman in the theatre]. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell/Gebers, 1968, 316 pp. The most complete discussion at the time of Bergman’s work in the theatre, a reception survey based on extensive review material from Bergman’s entire professional stage career before 1968. Sjögren’s book concludes with a very valuable interview with Bergman about his work in the theatre, ‘Dialog med Ingmar Bergman’, pp. 291-316. Excerpts of this interview were published in the Italian magazine La Dramma, no. 11-12, 1971.
549.
Steene, Birgitta. Ingmar Bergman. Boston: Twayne, 1968, 153 pp. Pocket edition, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1974. The study includes a chapter on Ingmar Bergman as a playwright, pp. 25-37.
1969 550.
Group Item: Bergman’s Return to Dramaten. Open Rehearsals Introduced In January 1969, Ingmar Bergman returned to ‘Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern’ (The Royal Dramatic Theatre as he called Dramaten because it sounded ‘camp’). On January 16, he held a press conference to talk about his upcoming work. Three years earlier, he had felt that the theatre was an obsolete institution. But after a couple of years of ‘sulking like Achilles in the tent’, [‘sura som Akilles i tältet’] he had watched a TV program at Fårö called ‘Dramaten efter föreställningen’ and realized how much he longed to come back: ‘And now I feel it is our task to see to it that the theatre does not die off ’. [Och nu känner jag att det är vår uppgift att se till att teatern inte dör bort]. One remedy, Bergman stated, might be to start collaboration with television, which he defined as a much more democratic medium. Announcing an agreement with Swedish Television, SVT, Channel 2, he talked about a radio and TV studio at Dramaten where live performances might be reproduced directly in the ether media. Another suggested project was his pet old idea to invite young people (age 13 to 14) to Dramaten. At the same press conference Bergman announced his intention to introduce open public rehearsals during his next production, Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck. See Elisabeth Sörenson, ‘Ingmar Bergman åter på Dramaten’ [Bergman back at Dramaten], SvD, January 17, 1969. The same subject was aired in radio news programs on 17 January, 12 March, and 15 March 1969. See also Commentary to Woyzeck production, (Ø 455). Staging Woyzeck with open rehearsals might have been an attempt by Bergman to respond, in a professional rather than political way, to demands to de-institutionalize the theatre, made by young Swedish theatre groups and critics throughout the 1960s. For debate on this issue, see Reception, Woyzeck entry (Ø 446).
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 551.
Group Item: Bengt Jahnsson Affair. On 27 February 1969, Ingmar Bergman was holding open rehearsals of Büchner’s Woyzeck at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. In the audience, seated on stage, was DN theatre critic Bengt Jahnsson, who had long annoyed Bergman and his colleague Erland Josephson. A month earlier (28 January 1969) the two had published an open letter to Jahnsson in DN (p. 1), castigating him for spreading incorrect information about ticket prices at the theatre. When Bergman spotted Jahnsson in the audience at the Woyzeck rehearsal, he attacked him physically. See interview reportage with Bergman, titled ‘Det kändes skönt att klippa till’ [It felt good to punch him], Expr., 28 February 1969, p. 7. In an ensuing court case initiated on 25 March 1969 by public prosecutor Dagmar Heurlin, Bergman was charged with disturbing the peace in a public place. In a telephone statement from Fårö to the Stockholm police, he stated: ‘For a long time I have been annoyed by Bengt Jahnsson’s way of reviewing (play productions) in the DN. He has, in an infamous way, humiliated and abused certain actors. I harbour no personal resentment but I have felt indignant on behalf of those concerned. During the rehearsal on said day a decision ripened to smack Bengt Jahnsson’s face and thus crush him and make him look ridiculous. I wanted our confrontation to be public’. [Jag har länge förargat mig över Bengt Jahnssons sätt att recensera i DN. Han har på ett infamt sätt förödmjukat och förolämpat vissa skådespelare. Jag hyser inget personligt agg men jag har känt mig indignerad på egna och de berördas vägnar. Under repetitionens gång den aktuella dagen mognade hos mig ett beslut att örfila upp Bengt Jahnsson och därmed få honom omöjliggjord och framstå som löjlig. Jag ville att uppgörelsen skulle ske inför allmänheten.] See Expr., 25 March 1969, p. 7. Bengt Jahnsson did not press charges. At a hearing on 12 May 1969, Ingmar Bergman spoke in his own defense. In his final plea he declared himself to be against any form of violence in principle, yet called his act premeditated in the sense that he had long felt a strong need to defend the integrity of his profession against a ‘threat’ like Jahnsson (Expr., 13 May 1969, p. 5). As early as 1 March 1969, Bergman had in fact told journalist Anita Sundin (AB, p. 1) that he had chosen the moment in the theatre to attack Jahnsson because he wanted witnesses. Sundin also quoted Jahnsson objecting to Bergman’s ‘institutionalized theatre’ and to his view of himself as a saint defending his staff. At the same time, however, Jahnsson also stated that Bergman was ‘one of our few important directors, perhaps the greatest’. [en av våra få betydande regissörer, kanske den största.] Bergman was fined 5000 Swedish kronor (approximately 1000 dollars). After the court decision he told the press that ‘it was well worth it!’ [det var det väl värt!]. A paraphrase in English of Ingmar Bergman’s court statement appeared in the Manchester Guardian, 14 May 1969. The Bengt Jahnsson incident was widely discussed in the Swedish press. Editor Olof Lagercrantz, arch-enemy of Bergman at the time (cf. critical commentaries to entries 29 and 33, and Ø 537) headlined his editorial in DN, (2 March 1969, p. 2), ‘Den maktgalne’ (The Megalomaniac) and charged Bergman with authoritarian behavior. Lagercrantz captured a common critique at the time among Swedish intellecutals: that there was an unholy marriage between Bergman’s authoritarian style and his artistic vision. This is a politicized variation of a more psychological form of critique sometimes raised abroad: that Bergman used his talent to manipulate his audience. Many commentators felt the court proceedings made a mockery of the Swedish justice system (see, for example, Allan Fagerström in ‘Spektaklet kring Ingmar Bergman’ [The spectacle surrrounding Bergman), AB, 15 May 1969, p. 10). See also report in Der Spiegel, 17 March 1969, p. 187, which concludes: ‘God forgives –Bergman never.’ In fact, in a television interview
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography in 2000, (Sievers, Ø 943) Bergman concluded one of his references to Jahnsson (then deceased) with the words: ‘Må han brinna i helvetet!’ [May he burn in hell!] In February 1970 Bergman was awarded the so-called Rubber Point (gummiudden) by the Humanist Society at the University of Stockholm for ‘non-violence against theatre critic Bengt Jahnsson since 28 February 1969’. [icke-våld mot teaterkritikern Bengt Jahnsson sedan 28 februari 1969].
552.
‘I Paris undrar man...’ . Bergman invitation to Odéon Theatre in Paris. AB, 21 February 1969, p. 27. At the time of the Bengt Jahnsson incident, Bergman had been invited to present Woyzeck at the Odéon Theatre in Paris but declined after making vague promises for a month. Odéon was the theatre occupied by 400 French students in 1968. Jean Louis Barrault, famous actor and head of the theatre, supported them. The theatre was vandalized during the occupation, but was remodeled and reopened in 1969 with a theatre festival in which Bergman was asked to participate. His decline of the invitation miffed the French who reportedly responded: ‘It’s like wooing a capricious woman. But we had expected something else from Ingmar Bergman. Now we had to turn down others, so that he could come. And suddenly he doesn’t come. Why?’ [Det är som att uppvakta en nyckfull kvinna. Men av Ingmar Bergman hade vi väntat oss annat. Nu tvingades vi säga återbud till andra för att han skulle komma. Och plötsligt kommer han inte. Varför?]. See ‘I Paris undrar man: Vågar Bergman inte komma hit?’ [In Paris they ask: Is Bergman afraid of coming here?]., AB, 21 February 1969, p. 27.
553.
‘Naima’. Swedish Public Radio, 4 April 1969. Bergman participated in a radio program about Naima Wifstrand, a grand old lady in Swedish theatre and film. Wifstrand, then a Dramaten actress, had noticed Bergman’s stagecraft already at the Mäster Olofsgården amateur theatre. She was a member of ‘Bergman’s stable’ during his Malmö years (1952-58) and she played Isak Borg’s old mother in Wild Strawberries and Granny in The Magician, as well as the old specter and rubber-face lady in Hour of the Wolf.
554.
Sjögren, Henrik. Regi: Ingmar Bergman. Dagbok från Dramaten 1969. Stockholm: Gebers, 1969. 173 pp. A diary kept by a theatre critic during Bergman’s rehearsals of Büchner’s play Woyzeck at the Royal Dramatic Theatre. Contains many interesting day-by-day comments by Bergman (and his actors) about the production.
1970 555.
Anthal, Jussi. ‘Nu står England på knä för Bergman—men’ [Now England kneels before B.—but]. Expr., 27 27 June 1970, p. 11. The item is based on Ingmar Bergman’s visits to London during his production of Hedda Gabler. Bergman had visited London the year before ( 19 June 1969) to talk to Laurence Olivier about the Ibsen production to be staged at the National Theatre with Maggie Smith in the title role. On both of his visits, he declared England to be an undemocratic society (see London Standard, 20 June 1969). For Bergman’s nasty portrait of Laurence Olivier, see Laterna Magica, 1987, pp. 276-273).
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 556.
Glaser, M. ‘Gespräch mit Ingmar Bergman’. AZ (Vienna), 20 June 1970. An interview in which Bergman talks about his work in the theatre and his view of actors. ‘The actors play less for the public than with the public.’
557.
Gustafson, Ragnar, ed. Thalia, 25 – ett kvartsekel med Malmö Stadsteater. Sydsvenska Dagbladets Årsbok. Malmö: SDS, 1970. A yearbook celebrating 25 years at the Malmö City Theatre since its inauguration, a period including Bergman’s presence there as a director.
558.
Klotz, Volker. ‘Mellan uppriktigt allvar och clowneri’ [Between authentic sincerity and clowning]. Dramaten I, no. 1 (1970-71): 13-17. A discussion of Bergman’s staging of Strindberg’s Ett drömspel at Dramaten in 1970. The material is similar to a televised discussion about the production on Swedish Public TV (STV), 30 April 1970, titled ‘Drömspel i en diktares medvetande’ [Dreamplay in a poet’s consciousness].
559.
M.K. ‘Strindberg har alltid följt mig’ [Strindberg has always followed me]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 19 May 1970. Information from a press conference prior to Dramaten’s guest performance of Bergman’s production of Ett drömspel (A Dreamplay) in Helsinki. Topics covered include Bergman’s relationship to Strindberg; his views on children’s theatre and on political theatre; and the importance of film, theatre and television for him, and his opinion of the critical corps: ‘They do their job, we do ours’. [De gör sitt jobb, vi gör vårt]. Bergman expressed some of the same views in the ‘Dialog’ interview in Sjögren’s Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968 (Ø 781). See also Skawonius, Interview Chapter, 1970, (Ø 794).
560.
Palmstierna-Weiss, Gunilla. ‘Ingmar Bergman! Naken dekor är också dekor’ [Bergman! Bare scenography is also scenography]. DN, 2 April 1970. An open letter to Bergman by one of his set designers, protesting a statement by him that scenography has been attributed too great an importance in today’s theatre productions. For original statement, see DN, 11 March 1970.
561.
Rydeberg, Georg. Ridån går alltid ner [The curtain is always closed]. Stockholm: Bonniers, 1970. Actor’s memoirs. The chapter titled ‘Ingmar Bergman ger regi’ [Bergman directs], pp. 183-192 deals with his work for Bergman on stage (and to a lesser extent on the screen).
1971 562.
La Dramma. Teatro, Letteratura, Cinema, Musica, Radio TV 47, no. 11-12 (Nov.-Dec.) 1971: 30-50. Special double issue titled ‘Ingmar Bergman, Premio Pirandello’ contains following items of interest to Bergman’s stage work: Giorgio Zampa. ‘Il teatro come esercizio di conscienza’, p. 34.
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography Henrik Sjögren. ‘Il suo secreto: il punto di intersezione’, pp. 35-43. (Sjögren item is an excerpt of his interview with Bergman in Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, trans. by Elizabeth Jörgensen).
563.
Montan, Alf. ‘Aldrig! Hellre kommunteater på Fårö!’ [Never! Rather (head of) a provincial theatre on Fårö]. Expr., 20 March 1971, p. 1. Bergman’s name had been mentioned as a possible candidate for the post as head of the Royal Opera in Stockholm. Bergman’s response is quoted in the headline.
564.
Sjögren, Henrik. ‘Ingmar Bergmans teater – rörelser i rummet’ [Bergman’s theatre – movements in space]. In Perspektiv på teater, ed. by Ulf Gran and Ulla-Britta Lagerroth. Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren, 1971, pp. 120-37. A discussion of the basic factors in Bergman’s theatre work – a subject, an actor, a public – and the director’s function as an intermediary between play text, performer, and audience. This is exemplified with a selection of Bergman’s stage productions prior to 1970.
565.
Trilling, Ossia. ‘Bergman’s Baroque Dream’. The Guardian (Arts section), 30 June 1970, p. 8. The title refers to Bergman’s ambition to produce Mozart’s The Magic Flute : ‘I’ve been at work with it for over ten years now and I love it very much. [...] Sometimes if you love something very much, you can love it to death. I can’t say exactly how I’d try to do it. I prefer to dream about it.’ Article also touches briefly on Bergman’s career as a theatre director and on his London staging of Hedda Gabler.
1972 566.
Ekström, Olle. ‘Ström av medkänsla i Ibsens Vildanden’ [Stream of human empathy in Ibsen’s Wild Duck]. Hufvudstadsbladet, 1 March 1972. Though subject of this brief interview is Bergman’s decision to stage The Wild Duck, he also talks about his stagecraft in more general terms: ‘Every drama has secret rooms that might be hidden even to the playwright. And it might happen that you come across such a hidden room’. [Varje drama har hemliga rum som kan vara dolda också för pjäsförfattaren. Och det kan hända att man kommer på ett sådant dolt rum.]
567.
Sjögren, Henrik. ‘Den gode arbejdsleder’. Politiken, 13 February 1972. A presentation for Danish readership of Bergman’s role as theatre leader.
1973 568.
L’Avant-scène du cinéma, no. 142 (December) 1973, 55 pp. A special Bergman issue, which includes a list of his theatre work.
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 569.
Dessau, Frederik. ‘Dønninger efter en Bergman-bølge’ [Swells after a Bergman wave]. Politiken, 20 May 1973. The author defines the importance of Bergman’s visit to Det Kongelige (Royal Danish Theatre) with the Misanthope: His productions are built on ensemble acting; he releases the talents in individual actors; he combines a naturalistic theatre in the Ibsen tradition with a ‘spiritual complement’ so that a dramatic situation can emerge as both crystal clear and complex. This article might be juxtaposed with an interview by Heino Byrgesen, ‘Dialog med Bergman. Teaterkronik’, Danmarks radio. Production no. 14736-73. 13 April 1973. This two-hour conversation is mostly about Bergman’s Copenhagen production of the Misanthrope. The same subject is also covered more briefly in an interview by Jens Emil, ‘Jeg lærer meget af danske skuespillere’ [I learn a lot from Danish actors], Aktuelt, 31 March 1973. Cf. Ø 452.
570.
Törnqvist, Egil. Bergman och Strindberg: Spöksonaten – drama och iscensättning. (Stockholm: Gebers, 1973). A study of the 1973 Bergman production of Strindberg’s Spöksonaten at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. Törnqvist followed the rehearsals. The book also contains transcribed comments of two separate radio programs about Bergman’s production. (See ‘Kulturbilagan’ [Cultural supplement], SR, 12 January 1973, and Bergman’s reaction in a letter.). An article on the same project appeared in English as ‘Ingmar Bergman Directs Strindberg’s The Ghost Sonata’, Theatre Quarterly III, no. 11, (July-Sep 1973): 3-14; and in French as ‘Ingmar Bergman met en scène: La Sonate des spectres’ (trans. Terje Sinding), Théâtre/public, no. 73 (Jan.-Feb. 1987): 83-88. See also references to Bergman-Strindberg connection in group item (Ø 989), Chapter IX.
571.
Wingaard, Jytte. Teatersemiologi. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1976. A book using Bergman’s 1973 Copenhagen production of The Misanthrope as a test case for a semiological approach in theatre studies.
1974 572.
Dam, Hanne. ‘Peer Gregaard porträtterer Ingmar Bergman’. Berlinske Tidende, 13 January 1974. An article about the head of Denmark’s Royal Dramatic Theatre and his encounter with Bergman during the rehearsals of The Misanthrope in Copenhagen. Bergman was, according to Dam, a good, understanding and intense listener, an incredible observer, a formidable and demanding planner. See also Danish Gutenberghus årsskrift, 1974, where Gregaard writes that the hours he spent with Ingmar Bergman in rehearsal were the most inspiring and encouraging he had had in his entire life in the theatre.
573.
Skoogh, Catrine. ‘Från Woyzeck – Till Damaskus’. Dramaten IV (14 March - 11 April 1974): 5-9. A richly illustrated exposé of the stage designs for Bergman’s productions of Woyzeck, Ett drömspel (A Dreamplay), Vildanden (The Wild Duck), and Spöksonaten (The Ghost Sonata).
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography
1975 574.
575.
576.
Entré. ‘Trollflöjten, Drutten och tjocka släkten’ [The Magic Flute, Humpty Dumpty and All in the Family], II, no. 1 (February) 1975, editorial page. See Trollflöjten Commentary in Filmography and debate about distribution of SVT production means. Wysinska, Elzbieta. ‘Discovering of the Swedish Theatre’. Kultura, 29 June 1975. A comparison between Bergman’s production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and his film Smiles of a Summer Night. ‘Teaterronden’. Sveriges radio (SR), 6 February 1975. A radio interview with Bergman about his staging of Strindberg’s To Damascus at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. This segment was preceded by a discussion of the Wheeler/ Sondheim musical A Little Night Music, which had just opened at Gothenburg’s musical theatre, Stora Teatern, and at the Malmö City Theatre.
1976 577.
578.
579.
‘Kris’. SVT, 24 May 1976. Special TV program addressing Bergman’s TV film Face to Face. Cf. Ø 579. Raphaelson, Samson ‘That Lady in Bergman’. Film Comment XII, no. 3 (May-June) 1976: 46-49, 65. American playwright calls Face to Face a banal TV series of non-sequiturs. See Ø 1282. Article represents trend by Film Comment to project a negative view of Bergman’s screen work. Harryson, Kajsa. ‘Ansikte mot ansikte: Ett samtal med Ingmar Bergman’ [Face to face: A conversation with Bergman]. Röster i Radio-TV, no. 18 (23-28 April) 1976: 7-8, and no. 19 (29 April-5 May) 1976. Bergman defines his notion of what constitutes a good public response to his (TV) films: ‘If 150 people sit down in the kitchen with a beer and a sandwich and talk with each other after watching something I have done for television, then I think that all this work, all this agony has served some purpose’. [Om 150 människor sitter ner i köket med en öl och en smörgås och talar med varandra efter att ha sett något som jag har gjort på TV, då tycker jag att allt detta arbete, all denna ångest har tjänat ett syfte]. The interview was made at a time when Bergman’s 4-part TV work Ansikte mot ansikte (Face to Face) had just premiered in New York and was about to be shown on Swedish television. Bergman also briefly discusses Arthur Janov’s concept of ‘the primal scream’ as a central idea behind his script for Ansikte mot ansikte. Cf. Commentary to Ø 327.
794
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography
1977 580.
Popkin, Henry. ‘Ingmar Bergman Lights Up the Munich State’. NYT, 5 June 1977, Section 2, pp. 3, 28. An article written in connection with the Munich opening of Bergman’s Dreamplay production. Cf. Ø 436.
1978 581.
Teater i Göteborg 1910-1975. 3 volumes. Umeå: Acta Universitatis Umeensis. Umeå Studies in the Humanities Ø 20, 1978. Distributed by Almqvist & Wiksell. Volume 3 (directors index) lists Bergman’s stage productions at Gothenburg City Theatre.
582.
Uggla, Andrzej. ‘Strindberg w teatrze Bergmana’. Dialog XXIII no. 8, 1978: 153-58. Swedish-Polish scholar points out Strindberg’s impact on Bergman’s theatre work.
1979 583.
Group Item: Conflict at Munich Residenztheater, 1979-81. The first signs of a conflict during Bergman’s tenure in Munich came in 1979. See Lisbeth Lindeborg’s radio reportage about Bergman’s work in Munich, titled ‘Ingmar Bergman i München’, Sveriges Radio (SR), 26 April 1979. 44 minutes. For another interview on the same subject, see: Birgitta Sandstedt, ‘Magasinet’ [The magazine], SVT, 15 September 1981. See also items (Ø 585, 586, 592, 593 and 604) below. On 31 July 1981, Berlin Volksblatt carried a report headlined ‘Keine Regie unter Meisels Intendanz’ and refers to a schism between Bergman and Kurt Meisel, head of Munich Residenztheater. Bergman was asked by Meisel to cancel a production of Claudel’s play A Message to Mary, planned for spring 1983. Bergman considered Meisel too autocratic and had tried to introduce a more democratic system in the theatre with greater input by the staff. When Meisel approached retirement in 1981, finding a successor became a political issue, involving conservative politician Franz Joseph Strauss. See Björn Nilsson interview with Bergman, ‘Jag undrar om jag inte börjar bli mogen för Shakespeare nu..’. [I wonder if I am not ripe for Shakespeare now], Expr., 9 September 1981, p. 4. As a contrast to the Munich situation, Bergman mentions his years at the Malmö City Theatre under Lars Levi Læstadius’ administration: ‘The happiest time in my life perhaps. Læstadius was no dictator. I remember those years as one long uninterrupted conversation’. [Den lyckligaste tiden i mitt liv kanske. Læstadius var ingen diktator. Jag minns de där åren som ett enda långt oavbrutet samtal]. Bergman also comments on the then current tumultuous situation at the Gothenburg City Theatre where young directors had issued a manifesto against the board. Bergman’s view is that manifestoes only aggravate a situation and that the only remedy is to work constructively within the theatre. Standing on barricades draws the attention of the media but is counter-productive.
584.
Marker, Lise-Lone and Frederick. ‘Ingmar Bergman as Theater Director’. Theater 11, no. 1 (Fall) 1979: 5-64.
795
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography A retrospective view of Bergman as theater director, with detailed discussion of several of his stage productions. Also includes a list of play productions by Bergman. A precursor of authors’ major study Ingmar Bergman: Four Decades in the Theater. (See Ø 594).
585.
Schmidt-Mühlisch, Lothar. ‘Bergman – bei uns hat er kein Glück’. Welt am Sonntag, 28 January 1979. A report on the negative reception of Bergman’s Munich productions of Ein Traumspiel, Drei Schwestern, and Tartuffe and his films Das Schlangenei and Herbstsonate.
586.
Seidenfaden, I. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. AZ (Munich), 11 April 1979. Bergman talks about his work as a theatre director in Munich. Reiterates his dislike of directors who use a play’s text in such a strong personal way that it stands between the actors and the playwright. Maintains his lifelong interest in the classics, that is, Strindberg, Ibsen, Chekhov, and Molière.
1980 587.
Müller, Wolf Dietrich. Der Theaterregisseur Ingmar Bergman: dargestellt an seiner Inszenierung von Strindberg’s ‘Traumspiel’. Munich: Kitzinger, 1980, 156 pp. Originally presented as a thesis at University of Munich in 1979. A study of Bergman’s Munich production of Strindberg’s Dreamplay. Though addressing a specific production, this study may be of broader interest in terms of Bergman’s directorial approach to a production.
588.
Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ingmar Bergman and the Theater’. Selecta, no. 1, 1980: 91-94. A presentation of Bergman as a stage director in Proceedings from 1979 Pacific NW Language Conference.
1981 589.
Irving, Sven & Johannes Ekman. ‘Tysk Fröken Julie på Dramaten’ [German Miss Julie at the Dramaten]. Morgoneko, Swedish Public Radio (SR), P1, 15 May 1981. A brief presentation of Bergman’s German production of Miss Julie during a guest performance by Dramaten. Includes some comments by Bergman. See also Olsson, Per Allan, ‘Ingmar Bergman på gästspel: Gärna Dramaten för mig’ [Bergman on a guest visit: Dramaten, that’s fine with me]., DN, 14 14 May 1981.
590.
Reilly, Willem Thomas. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Theatre Direction, 1952-1974’. Diss. University of California at Santa Barbara, 1980, 241 leaves. UMI (Univ. Microfilms International), Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1981. A selective well-documented examination of Ingmar Bergman’s theatre production based on program notes, reviews, videotapes, and interviews.
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 591.
Sandstedt, Birgitta. ‘Magasinet’, SVT, 15 September 1981. See Ø 583.
592.
Thomas, Peter. ‘Aussen ruhig, innen Vulkan’. Stern, no. 19, 30 April 1981. A portrait of Bergman since his arrival in Munich in 1976. He is described as charming on the surface but explosive on the inside. Also a discussion of his early difficulties with German actors and a write-up of the Bergman Project – his tripartite Munich production of Nora, Julie, and Scenes from a Marriage.
1982 593.
Dessau, Frederik. ‘Drømmen om et kunstnerisk teater’ [The dream of an artistic theatre]. Danmarks Radio (DR), 4 December 1982. A report from a directors’ seminar in Stockholm, where one of the main contributions was Bergman’s frank account of his years as a theatre director at the Munich Residenztheater.
594.
Marker, Frederick J and Lise-Lone. Ingmar Bergman. Four Decades in the Theater. Cambridge/London/New York/Melbourne/Sydney: Cambridge University Press, 1982. 262 pp. New expanded edition in 1992, titled Ingmar Bergman: A Life in the Theater. Toronto: Cambridge University Press. Italian edition titled Ingmar Bergman. Tutto il teatro. Milan: Ubulibri, 1996. After a 1979 interview with Bergman, ‘Talking about Theater’, the book gives a historical overview of Bergman’s career in the theatre but focusses on certain important segments of his theatre production: the early formative years; the Strindberg productions; the Molière stagings; and the Ibsen cycle of plays. The book concludes with another interview with Bergman from 1980, ‘Talking about Tomorrow’, (Chapter 6). The authors have established themselves as insightful and knowledgeable analysts of Bergman’s work as a theatre director and this study remains a key source for anyone interested in Bergman’s approach to directing. It is especially valuable for its reconstructions of specific productions and its cohesive block analysis of Bergman’s presentation of Molière, Strindberg, and Ibsen. See also Interviews, (Ø 887).
595.
‘Perspektiv på 50-talet’ [Perspective on the Fifties]. Sveriges Radio, 17 April 1982. A radio program series. This segment deals with Bergman’s years at Malmö City Theatre in the 1950s. Bergman talks about the Malmö audience and the close-knit theatre ensemble.
1983 596.
Fridén, Ann. ‘“He Shall Live a Man Forbid”: Ingmar Bergman’s Macbeth’. Shakespeare Survey 36, 1983, pp. 65-72. An analysis of three different Bergman productions of Macbeth: Mäster Olofsgården 1940, Hälsingborg 1944, and Gothenburg 1948. Subject of this article is expanded in Fridén’s dissertation Macbeth in the Swedish Theatre 1838-1986. Stockholm: Liber, 1986.
797
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 597.
‘Inför Hustruskolan’ [Before School for Wives]. STV, Channel 1, 25 December 1983. An interview with Bergman and cast, conducted by Bengt Lagerkvist. Dramaten director Alf Sjöberg’s last production before his accidental death in 1980 was Molière’s Ecole des femmes/Hustruskolan. Almost three years later, Bergman decided to transcribe it for television as an homage to Sjöberg but also as a democratic project which was to allow the entire country to see a Dramaten production. At a press conference on 22 April 1983, Bergman pointed out that his undertaking was an artistic challenge, not a technical endeavor. The press conference was edited and published by TV reporter Jarl Alfredius as ‘L’Ecole Bergman’, Positif 289 (March) 1985: 31-33. For a brief Swedish write-up of the event, see Elisabeth Sörenson, ‘En bergmansk tanke’ [A Bergman idea], SvD, 24 December 1983. Swedish Radio program ‘Kulturnytt’ transmitted part of same material in ‘Ingmar Bergman och Hustruskolan’ [and School for Wives], 31 December 1983. See also Ø 329, 1707.
598.
Janzon, Leif. ‘Entréintervjun. Ingmar Bergman’. Entré, no. 3, 1983, pp. 7-14. Crosslisted in Interview Chapter VIII, (Ø 891). An important interview, which is also a response by Bergman to current Swedish debate about an ‘actors’ theatre’ vs a ‘director’s theatre’. Bergman tries to minimize the role of the director: ‘... my thesis about the three necessary elements for a theatre performance to occur – the word, the actor, and the spectator – [implies] what every director should make clear to himself early in his development: that he is to a great extent an addition and a complement’. [... min tes om de tre nödvändiga elementen för teater: ordet, skådespelaren och åskådaren (innebär) ett faktum som jag tycker att varje regissör på ett väldigt tidigt stadium i sin utveckling borde göra klart för sig, [...] att han i högsta grad är ett tillägg och ett komplement]. The ‘word’ in this case includes action, mime, song. Bergman compares himself to a music conductor who is given a set of notes to interpret; he does not add notes of his own to the composer’s score. But he is given the ‘miraculous’ task of making the notes come alive. Bergman regrets the loss of a classical tradition in the Swedish theatre, with young actors who no longer know how to play Shakespeare. He reiterates that the theatre for him is ‘playfulness’, not a weapon: ‘I have never had any theories about other prominent men of the theatre. I have created theatre capriciously, because I have felt like it, because it gives me an enormous pleasure’. [Jag har aldrig haft några teorier om andra framstående teatermän. Jag har gjort teater nyckfullt därför att jag har haft lust, därför att det bereder mig en så enorm glädje].
599.
Marker, Frederick and Lise-Lone. Ingmar Bergman: A Project for the Theater. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1983. Contains the following material: ‘Of Winners and Losers. A Conversation with Ingmar Bergman’, pp. 1-18. Annotated in Interviews, (Ø 887). ‘Love without Lovers. A Commentary on the Bergman Project’, pp. 19-45. The Bergman Project (Bergman’s 7-hour stage adaptations of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (Nora), Strindberg’s Miss Julie (Julie), and Bergman’s own TV film Scenes from a Marriage). (See Ø 461). Review: Films and Filming 344 (May) 1983: 36-38.
798
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 600.
Marker, Lise-Lone. ‘The Magic Triangle: Ingmar Bergman’s Implied Philosophy of Theatrical Communication’. Modern Drama 26, no. 3 (September) 1983: 251-61. An analysis of Bergman’s directorial method on stage. One of the best discussions on this subject.
601.
Timm, Mikael. ‘Trollkarlen. Intervju med Ingmar Bergman’. SR, P 1, 4 and 6 April, 6 May 1983. The interview is reprinted in Timm’s book Ögats glädje, 1994 pp. 127-169 and also available on cassette at SALB (Statens Arkiv för ljud och bild) in Stockholm, but only for listening on premises. Crosslisted in Interview Chapter, (Ø 896). A somewhat unstructured conversation with Bergman on such subjects as differences between film and theatre; on interpreting Ibsen; and on Bergman directing Strindberg.
1984 602.
Group Item: Economic Crisis at Dramaten. Bergman Protest at Government Cultural Policies. Economic problems at Dramaten, calling for a 2% cut in its budget, were discussed in the news in January 1984. A brief radio interview with Ingmar Bergman was transmitted in ‘Luncheko’, SR, P 1, 26 January 1984. See also Expr. report, 18 February 1984, about financial and cultural impoverishment of Dramaten. Despite the public success of Bergman’s production of King Lear at the time, Dramaten’s difficulties continued. See Lena Svanberg, ‘Brist i Dramatenkassan trots succén Kung Lear. Vargatider stundar nu’ [Deficit in Dramaten’s finances despite the success with King Lear. Hard times ahead], Veckans Affärer, no. 12, 1984: 46-47. The economic problems at Dramaten continued throughout the 1980s under Lars Löfgren’s leadership, ironically at a time when the theatre gained international recognition through a number of world tours with different Bergman productions. In an interview made by Björn Nilsson, Bergman talks about the declining support for cultural activities in Sweden but concludes on a challenging note: ‘I promise you: if we can only keep the demons of stinginess at bay, this theatre [Dramaten] will be one of the world’s foremost within five years’. [Jag lovar dig: om vi kan hålla snålhetens demoner stången kommer denna teater (Dramaten) att vara en av världens förnämsta om fem år]. See ‘Vi lät oss köpas – nu får vi betala’ [We sold ourselves – now we get to pay], Expr., 20 February 1988, pp. 4-5. This interview was made in the aftermath of a Bergman protest over administrative policies at Sveriges Radio (SR). See ‘Bergman skäller ut radiochefen’ [Bergman bawls out radio head], Expr., 4 February 1988, p. 6 (see Ø 621). Interviewed in DN, (16 February 1988) Bergman said: ‘We must face the cultural bureaucrats with total suspicion [...] we must never begin to cooperate with cultural bureaucracy. [...] And above all, not be understanding [of their policy]. I want to see armed neutrality. But as soon as we are attacked, we must strike back. With toughness and without hesitation’. [Vi måste möta kulturbyråkraterna med en total misstänksamhet [...] vi får aldrig börja samarbeta med kulturbyråkratin. [...] Och framför allt inte [bli] förstående. [...] Jag vill se en väpnad neutralitet. Men så fort vi blir angripna så måste vi slå igen. Stenhårt och utan att tveka]. In 1989, there were further cuts in government support for Dramaten (and other cultural institutions), which led to a press conference where Bergman voiced his indignation at the reduction of state subsidies. See ‘Bergman dundrar mot s’ [Bergman attacks Social-Democrats], SvD, 14 January 1989, p. 1, 11. The crisis at Dramaten did not culminate until 1997 when a minor drama evolved as Lars Löfgren and the Dramaten Board put
799
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography pressure on the Swedish Ministry of Culture to grant the National stage a loan of 22 million Swedish crowns to cover the theatre’s current expenses. Löfgren was now about to leave Dramaten after twelve years as its administrative head. Also, after the debacle around a planned New York visit with Bergman’s production of The Misanthrope (see Ø 478) in late spring 1996, Bergman had declared Lars Lögren his enemy and announced his own retirement from Dramaten. At the same time he opposed author Per Olov Enquist as Löfgren’s successor (Enquist was launched as a candidate by actress Bibi Andersson) and instead advocated SVT administrator Ingrid Dahlberg. Bergman withdrew his play Larmar och gör sig till (In the Presence of a Clown) from the scheduled Dramaten repertory and offered it to Swedish TV instead – an obvious sign of support of Dahlberg, who in the end was appointed the new administrative head at Dramaten. After four years she had turned Dramaten into a fairly lucrative enterprise. She resigned in the Fall of 2001, effective July 2002. For a report on these events, see: Per Andersson, ‘Bakom kulisserna. Ett drama i tre akter’ [Behind the scenes. A drama in three acts]. Expr. March 16, 17, 18, 1997). The articles examine the political discussions behind the scenes and are subtitled: ‘Bergmans bäste vän blev hans fiende’ [Bergman’s best friend became his enemy, 16 March, p. 1, 19-22]; ‘Dramatens låneaffärer avslöjas’ [Dramaten’s loan situation disclosed, 17 March, pp. 16-17]; and ‘Nya chefen styrde rakt in i stormen’ [New head sailed right into the storm, 18 March, pp. 14-15]. The series also includes an interview with Bergman titled ‘Dramaten var ett godståg i utförsbacken’ [Dramaten was a freight train going downhill], 18 March, 1997, pp. 16-17.
603.
Eko. ‘Ingmar Bergman intervjuas med anledning av sin återkomst till radioteatern...’ [Bergman is interviewed about his return to radio theatre...]. Sveriges Radio (SR), 21 May 1984. 4 minutes. Bergman talks about his first contact with radio theatre and his own early work for the radio. The occasion of the interview was his production of Erland Josephson’s radio play ‘En hörsägen’ (Ø 307). This interview was also part of a radio program titled ‘Radioteatern ger..’. [The radio theatre presents...], 25 August 1984.
604.
Frankl, Elisabeth. ‘Här hör jag hemma’ [Here I am at home]. Expr., 2 November 1985, pp. 22-23. A compact interview after Bergman’s return to Dramaten, coinciding with rehearsals of Fröken Julie. Bergman contrasts his joy at working at Dramaten to the feelings he used to have walking into the Munich Rezidenztheater to do his daily work and asking himself: ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ [Vad i helvete gör jag här?]. He talks about his creative work as a form of therapeutic release: ‘The bacterial infections have never had time to clog up, to become stagnant pools’. [Bakterieinfektionerna har aldrig fått tid att stanna upp, att bli stillastående pölar]. What he relishes is the initial phase of writing or walking around with a classical play in his head: ‘Then I am king, almost emperor; it is a fantastic experience’. [Då är jag kung, nästan kejsare; det är en fantastisk upplevelse]. Equally enjoyable is working with the actors: ‘...the sudden feeling that now it is soaring. Now it clicked. Now the miracle has occurred!’ [den plötsliga känslan att nu lyfter det. Nu klickade det. Nu inträffade miraklet!].
605.
Marker, Lise-Lone and Frederick. ‘Bergman and the Comic Theatre of Molière: German Years’. Maske und Kothurn. Internationale Beitrage zur Theaterwissenschaft 30, no. 1-2, 1984: 203-16.
800
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography A study of Bergman’s approach to Molière, based on his determination to ‘re-theatricalize’ the French playwright and reaffirm his theatrical heritage by heightening audience awareness of the stage as theatre and make-belief. The article discusses two specific Bergman productions in Munich and Salzburg of Molière’s Tartuffe and Dom Juan. (See Ø 458, 462). Both performances derived their mise-en-scene from the commedia dell’ arte tradition and French farce bordering on brutal absurdist comedy.
606.
Jostad, Morten. ‘“I den lilla världen”: Ekdahlerne og teatret. Noen aspekter ved Ingmar Bergmans Fanny og Alexander’ [In the small world: the Ekdahls and the theatre. Some aspects of Bergman’s F. & A.]. Samtiden 6 (1985), pp. 40-46. (See Ø 253) in Filmography. Cf. Törnqvist and Koskinen articles in Chaplin XXV, no. 6/189 1983, Ø 1393, pp. 253-259.
607.
Ollén, Gunnar. ‘Jag kastade mig med ett rytande över teater’ [I threw myself with a roar at the theatre]. Sveriges Radio, 26 May 1985. A radio interview with Ingmar Bergman about his first years in the professional theatre. The focus is on Hälsingborg City Theatre, Sweden’s oldest municipally run theatre. This 30-minute interview gives a lively account of the working conditions and mood at the theatre in 1944.
608.
Skawonius, Betty. ‘Nu lockar mig bara det omöjliga’ [Now only the impossible attracts me]. DN, 15 August 1985, p. 24. Mostly an interview revolving around Bergman’s upcoming production of Strindberg’s Fröken Julie and his approach to Strindberg: ‘I am not interested in making Strindberg autobiographical, Molander did that. What interests me is: Why does an author write a play?’ [Jag är inte intresserad av att göra Strindberg självbiografisk, Molander gjorde det. Vad som intresserar mig är: Varför skriver en författare en pjäs?] Bergman also describes his changing approach to actors, that is, a move from blind love to ‘seeing’ love, and talks about his motivation to do theatre work: as an artistic challenge rather than a desire for success.
609.
Thieringer, Thomas. ‘Die Fernseharbeit lockt’. Frankfurter Rundschau, 3 June 1985. A brief report on Bergman’s interest in television theatre.
610.
Törnqvist, Egil. ‘De wereld als gekkenhuis: Ingmar Bergman regisseert Koning Lear’ [the World as Madhouse: Ingmar Bergman Directs King Lear]. In E. Törnqvist/A. Sonnen, eds. Niet allen Strindberg: Zweden op de planken [Not only Strindberg: Sweden on Stage]. Amsterdam: Holland Festival, 1985, pp. 62-66. See also same title in Toneel Teatraal, October 1984, pp. 30-31. A presentation of Bergman’s production of King Lear during Dramaten’s guest visit to Holland. See Ø 465.
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography
1986 611.
Cueno, Anne. ‘Bergman, Kurosawa und Lear’. Filmbulletin, no. 1, 1986: 46. A brief comparison of the treatment of Shakespeare’s play in Kurosawa’s film Ran and Bergman’s production of King Lear at the Royal Dramatic Theatre. Cf Ø 465.
612.
Gado, Frank. ‘A Foothold in Theater’. In his The Passion of Ingmar Bergman. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1986, pp. 19-36. A discussion of Bergman’s early days in the theatre and his playwriting.
613.
Hansen, Jan E. ‘Snestorm rundt en syltestrikk’ [Snow storm around a string]. Aftenposen (Oslo), 8 February 1986. Also annotated in Interview Chapter, (Ø 908). At the time of this interview by a Norwegian journalist, Bergman was planning his fourth production of Ett drömspel (A Dreamplay) and explains his need to return to the same dramatic text or to new and more difficult texts: Every artist must be an anarchist, he must continuously place himself and his work under judgment and debate. He must reject even his best results, for he must move forever onwards and onwards. I am beginning to grow old. When I take hold of A Dreamplay for the fourth time or Hamlet next fall, it is because these texts cannot be interpreted perfectly. The same was true of King Lear two years ago, an especially enigmatic text where the potential to fail is very high. I care less and less about success and more and more about the desire and joy of the attempt itself. [Hver kunstnær må være en anarkist, han må hele tiden placere seg selv og sit arbeid under dom og debatt. Han må forkaste også sine beste resultater fordi han må fortløpig fremad og fremad. Jeg begynder å bli gammel. Når jeg tar fatt i Ett drömspel for fjerde gang eller Hamlet neste høst, er det fordi slike texter kan ikke tolkes på en perfekt måte. Detsamme var sant med Kong Lear for to år siden, en særlig gåtefull text hvor muligheten att mislykkes er meget høi. Jeg bryr meg mindre og mindre om fremgang og mer og mer om ønsket og glæden av selve forsøket.] Cf. Skawonius, Ø 608.
614.
Marker, Lise-Lone and Frederick. ‘Bergman’s Borkman.’. Theater 17, no. 2 (Spring) 1986: 48-55. See Interviews (Ø 909).
615.
Xartoyvaph, Mikeva. ‘Twpa qovo Oeatpo’ [Now only theatre]. Ta Nea, 4 November 1986. A Greek article based on Bergman’s visit to Greece to study the amphitheatre in Delphi as part of his preparation for staging Euripides’ The Bachae. He appeared at a question and answer session, led by the Greek cultural minister at the time, the film star Melina Mercouri.
616.
Widegren, Björn. ‘Vad skulle mitt liv varit utan Strindberg’ [What would my life have been without Strindberg]. Gefle Dagblad, 21 January 1986, p. 1, 4.
802
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography An interview made during Bergman’s visit to the Gefle City Theatre with his 1985 Dramaten production of Strindberg’s Fröken Julie. Bergman uses the occasion to declare his loyalty to Strindberg’s text.
1987 617.
Hayman, Ronald. ‘Glimpses of the pictures in his mind’. The Listener, 2 July 1987: 1617. Originally a radio conversation (British Programme 3) titled ‘Bergman and his Demons’, this is a brief assessment of Bergman’s work in film and theatre (the latter confined to those productions which had been performed in Great Britain: Ur-Faust, Hedda Gabler, A Dreamplay, John Gabriel Borkman, Hamlet, and Miss Julie.)
618.
‘Vägen till Hamlet’ [The Road to Hamlet]. SR, Channel 1, 17, 18, and 20 April 1987, rebroadcast on 30 June 1988. A radio program in three parts about Bergman’s production of Hamlet at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in December 1986. Most of the program is focussed on an interview with Peter Stormare about his title role. But Bergman also talks about various aspects of the production, from Britt G. Hallqvist’s new translation of Hamlet to his preparations for the staging. Conversation includes an account of a disastrous dress rehearsal; of press response to the production; the placement of the ‘to be or not to be’ soliloquy; and the much discussed Bergman ending to Shakespeare’s play. The production caused a critical debate. See Theatre Chapter (Ø 468).
1988 619.
Babski, Cindy. ‘Theater: Bergman Brings a Restive Hamlet to Brooklyn’. NYT, 5 June 1988, Sec. 2 (Arts & Leisure), p. 5. Cross-listed in Ø 468, 911. An interview article done in Stockholm. Bergman sees Hamlet (like other Shakespeare tragedies) originating in the rules and morality of the real world where ‘one meter is one meter and there are good and decent people. [...] And suddenly in one moment, in one second, everything changes. There is no morality any more. A foot is no longer a foot...’ Bergman draws a parallel to his own life where he lost his faith in God [i.e., rules, morality], after which he ‘tried to live in a mad world. And tried to be fair, to be decent, to do my work. And to understand what’s going on. So that was the reason for staging Hamlet.’ But he concludes: ‘I don’t want to be his friend’. Article, which also includes quotes by Peter Stormare (Hamlet) and Pernilla Östergren (Ophelia), contains some interesting details about the production.
620.
Bredsdorff, Thomas. ‘The Sin of the Fathers: Bergman, Ronconi and Ibsen’s “The Wild Duck”’. New Theatre Quarterly 4, no. 14 (May) 1988, pp. 159-172. Translated reprint from author’s book Magtspil [Power play], Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1986. Comparison of two productions of Ibsen’s The Wild Duck: Bergman’s 1972 version at the Royal Dramatic and Luca Ronconi’s in Rome five years later. Suggests a hidden dialogue on the issue
803
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography of patricide, illuminated by two different directors. Yet, argument seems more based on Ibsen’s text (and subtext) than on the two specific productions mentioned in the title.
621.
Conflict with SR. ‘Bergman skäller ut radiochefen’ [Bergman bawls out radio head]. Expr., 4 February 1988, p. 6. Report on conflict between Bergman and Ove Joanson, administrative head of the Swedish Radio at the time. When the head of the radio’s theatre section Per Lysander resigned in protest over pressure from the administration to popularize the programming, Bergman, in solidarity and in anger at Joanson’s policies, withdrew the production of a new radio play, scheduled to be aired in the fall of 1988. The play (En själslig angelägenhet/A Matter of the Soul) was produced in 1990. (See Media Chapter, V, (Ø 308). See also DN, 7 February 1988 and SDS, 5 February 1988. Conflict was part of Bergman’s ongoing disenchantment with Swedish cultural policies. (See Ø 602).
622.
Nobel Symposium at Dramaten, May 1988 Two-day international symposium at The Royal Dramatic Theatre, where part of the program included Bergman’s work at Sweden’s National stage. No proceedings published. Among the lecturers were Frederick and Lise-Lone Marker on Bergman’s work on stage. An announced discussion between Bergman and his actors Erland Josephson, Bibi Andersson, and Max von Sydow had to take place without Bergman, who called in sick at the last moment. See Eilif Straume’s report ‘Bergman kom ikke’ [Bergman did not come], Aftenposten (Oslo), 15 July 1988. The Markers later published an interview with Bergman’s actors on the occasion. (See Ø 630).
623.
Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Ingmar Bergman y Largo viaje hacia la noche’. Primer acto 226, no. 4 (November-December) 1988: 63-69. Also published in English as ‘Ingmar Bergman Directs Long Day’s Journey into Night’. New Theatre Quarterly V, no. 20, 1989: 374-84; and as ‘Ingmar Bergman and Long Day’s Journey into Night’ in Eugene O’Neill in China: An International Centenary Celebration, ed. by Haiping Lii and Lowell Swortzell. New York/Westport, Conn./London: Greenwood Press, 1992, pp. 241-248. A discussion of Bergman’s production of O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in 1988. Cross-listed in Ø 470.
1989 624.
Bentivoglio, Leonetta. ‘Il teatro e la mia casa’. La Republica, 16 September 1989. Crosslisted and annotated in Interviews, (Ø 915).
625.
Hjelm, Keve. ‘Människokrossarteatern’. [lit. ‘theatre grinding human beings’]. AB, 810, 19-20 August 1989. A series of articles by actor and head of Swedish School for Advanced Theatre Studies. To Hjelm Swedish actors have been crushed by the terror of their directors. First two parts of the series deal with Bergman’s predecessors Olof Molander and Alf Sjöberg; in the third part (10 August), titled ‘Skitprat, sa Bergman’ [Bullshit, said Bergman], Hjelm’s attack focusses on Bergman, whom he considers yet another dictatorial director in the institutionalized Swedish theatre.
804
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 626.
627.
Liggera, Joseph and Lanayre. ‘Going Roundabout: Similar Images of Pilgrimage in Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and Bergman’s The Seventh Seal’. West Virginia University Philological Papers (WVUPP) 35, 1989: 21-27. See Chapter IX, group (Ø 989). Strømberg, Ulla. ‘Ukuelige Bergman. Ingmar Bergman og den svenske nationalscene’ [Indomitable B. Bergman and the Swedish national stage]. Danish Radio program transmitted on 28 April and 22 May 1989. On Bergman and Dramaten.
628.
Sörenson, Elisabeth. ‘Jag har en kanonbesättning’ [I have a fantastic crew]. SvD, 30 March 1989, p. 7. Though basically a discussion of Bergman’s production of Mishima’s play Madame de Sade, this interview article expresses a couple of central Bergman thoughts on the preconditions necessary for a staging to take place: The right set of actors must be available; his initial feel of resistance to a playwright’s text must be overcome; and the challenge to study the text very carefully must be met. Bergman quotes a poem by Swedish poet Gunnar Ekelöf that expresses his own thoughts on a shared artistic vision: ‘In every soul a thousand souls are captive/in every world a thousand worlds are hidden/and all these blind and lower worlds/are real and alive/though incomplete/as truly I am real’. [I varje själ är tusen själar fångna/i varje värld är tusen världar dolda/och dessa blinda, dessa undre världar/är verkliga och levande, fast ofullgångna,/Så sant som jag är verklig]. Quote is from a poem titled ‘etyder’ no. 3, in the 1941 volume Färjesång.
1990 629.
Lenti, Adriano. ‘L’uscita di Nora dalla casa bergmaniana’. Cinema nuovo xxxix, nos. 326-327 (July-October 1990): 58-63. Reference to Bergman’s theatre stagings, especially his adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House in Munich in 1981.
630.
Marker, Frederick and Lise-Lone Marker. ‘Bergman and the Actors. An Interview’. Theater, no. 1-2: 1990: 74-80. Three Bergman actors – Bibi Anderson, Erland Josephson, and Max von Sydow – talk about their experiences of Bergman’s theatre direction. The interview took place during a Nobel Symposium at Dramaten in 1988. (See Ø 622).
631.
Martin, Jacqueline. ‘The Role of Language in Ingmar Bergman’s Shakespeare Productions’. Nordic Theatre Studies. Special International Issue: New Directions in Theatre Research, ed. by Wilmar Sauter. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1990, pp. 112-120. A look at Bergman’s Shakespeare productions between 1940 and 1986 (six in all) to examine the role that language has played as part of a polyphony of signs. Martin suggests a developing formula in Bergman’s productions towards a repeated use of red and black in costumes and setting, a preference for an almost naked play area, and use of actors as both performers and observers.
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography
1991 632.
633.
Heath, Elizabeth, F. ‘The Theme of Anxiety in Selected Works of Henrik Ibsen, Edward Munch and Ingmar Bergman’. M.A. thesis, University of South Florida, 1991, 60 pp. Details not available. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Doll’s Houses’. Scandinavica, no. 1 (May) 1991: 63-76. A discussion of Bergman’s two productions of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, that is, Nora in Munich in 1981 and Ett dockhem at Dramaten in 1989. See also author’s article ‘Ibsen: A Doll’s House’. Plays in Production Series ed. by Michael Robinson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 92-107, 163-168.
634.
Vasques, Eugénia. ‘Bergman o teatro e as mulheres’. Expresso, 13-19 April 1991, p. 8. A Portuguese presentation of Bergman as a theatre director, focussing on his innovations as head of Dramaten, 1963-66. Item includes a photo exhibit of stills from his stage productions, and a brief presentation of Dramaten’s Madame de Sade.
1992 635.
Oliver, Roger. ‘Bergman’s Trilogy: Tradition and Innovation’. Performing Arts Journal, January 1992, pp 74-87. Reprinted in Ingmar Bergman: An Artist’s Journey, ed. by Roger Oliver. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1995, pp. 105-111. Regards Bergman’s staging of Miss Julie (1985), Long Day’s Journey into Night (1988), and A Doll’s House (1989) as a naturalistic trilogy in which Bergman reconciles traditional and contemporary theatrical practices. The three Dramaten productions were performed together as a triptyk in a guest performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1991.
636.
Törnqvist, Egil. Transposing Drama: Studies in Representation. New Directions in Theatre. Series ed. by Julian Hilton. London: Macmillan, 1991, passim. Also in Spanish as El teatro en otra lengua y otro medio, trans. by Marta Mateo Martinez-Bartolomé. Madrid: Arco/Libros, S.L., 2002, passim. Cf. Törnqvist, Bergman och Strindberg, 1973, Ø 570. In discussion of transpositions from textual to audio-visual signs, Bergman’s 1973 staging of Strindberg’s The Ghost Sonata serves as one of four prime examples.
1993 637.
Arntzen, Knut Ove. ‘Trollmannen i svensk teater’ [The magician in Swedish theatre]. Bergens Avisen (BA), 8 June 1993, p. 27. In connection with Dramaten’s guest visit to Bergen in June 1993 with Bergman’s production of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, there were several press write-ups such as this one about Bergman as a theatre director, as well as interviews with actors Börje Ahlstedt (Peer Gynt) and Bibi Andersson (Mother Åse).
806
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 638.
Durbach, Errol. ‘Ibsenian Uterus, Strindbergian Seed. Ingmar Bergman’s Hedda Gabler’. Essays in Theatre – Etudes théâtrales 12, no. 1 (November) 1993: 41-49. On Strindbergian elements in Bergman’s production(s) of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler.
639.
640.
Granqvist, Knut. ‘När Bergman tänder kommer brandkåren’ [When Bergman flares up the fire engine arrives]. Expr., 6 February 1993. An interview article with Bergman and Dramaten head Lars Löfgren. Title refers to Bergman’s angry reaction to a publicity stunt at Dramaten where an automobile was placed in the lobby. Bergman insisted that it be removed. Lahr, John. ‘Gravity and Grace’. The New Yorker, 10 May 1993. Though basically a review of Bergman’s production of Mishima’s Madame de Sade, the article has some useful remarks (quotes from choreographer Donya Feuer) about Bergman’s search for ‘the acoustic and optical center of the stage.’
641.
Reuterswärd, Måns, producer. ‘Bergman, Börtz och Backanterna’. SVT, Channel 1, 7 April 1993, 72 min. A documentary, with comments by Bergman, about the making of a TV film from the Daniel Börtz-Bergman opera production of Backanterna based on Euripides’ drama, The Bachae. See Ø 1694.
642.
Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Ingmar Bergman and Don Juan’. In Sormova, Eva (ed.). Don Juan and Faust in the XXth Century. Prague: Department of Czech Theatre Studies, 1993, pp. 244-49. Proceedings from Theatre Conference, 27 September – 1 October 1991. About the Don Juan motif in Bergman’s film Djävulens öga (The Devil’s Eye) but also about his theatre productions of Molière’s Don Juan.
1994 643.
Kolin, Philip C., ‘On a Trolley to the Cinema: Ingmar Bergman and the First Swedish Production of A Streetcar Named Desire’. South Carolina Review 27, no. 1-2 (Fall-Spring) 1994-95: 277-286. An analysis of Bergman’s 1949 production of Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire at the Gothenburg City Theatre, remarking on Bergman’s cinematic conception of the play, including the presence of a movie theatre on the set. Contains some questionable assessments about Bergman’s standing in the Swedish theatre at the time and about the technical status of the Gothenburg theatre as Sweden’s most advanced stage. Bergman was in fact still a junior director working in the shadows of people like Torsten Hammarén, and Malmö rather than Gothenburg had the technically most advanced theatre in Sweden at the time. Cf. Ø 405.
644.
Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night: Bergman’s TV version of Oväder compared to Smultronstället’. In Kela Kvam, ed., Strindberg’s Post-Inferno Plays. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1994, pp. 186-195.
807
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography Comparison between Bergman’s 1960 TV production of Strindberg’s play Storm/Thunder in the Air and Bergman’s film Wild Strawberries.
1995 645.
Björksten, Ingmar Det förtätade livet. Teaterkritik 1980-1990. Stockholm: Carlsons, 1995, pp. 101-106, 141-144, 226, 261-264, 269, 236-238, 281-284, 312-314. Contains several reprints of author’s reviews of Bergman theatre productions from the 1980s.
646.
Dramat. Special Ingmar Bergman Festival edition in English of magazine published by the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm in connection with theatre’s visit to BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) during New York Bergman festival, April-June 1995. Crosslisted in Group entry (Ø 1580). The issue contains the following brief articles on Bergman and Dramaten: Amble, Lolo. ‘An Evening with The Winter’s Tale’, pp. 21-24. Anderson, Bibi, et. al ‘On Bergman’, pp. 14-16. Actors’ comments on working with Bergman. Josephson, Erland. ‘Bergman in New York. Can you Imagine Bergman Walking around on his Own in Manhattan? Impossible!’ p. 6. Löfgren, Lars. ‘The Theater as Life’, p. 4. Salander, Anna. ‘When Do You Quit, Ingmar?’ Fictitious interview with Bergman by ‘FinnoSwedish freelance journalist, living in Rome.’
647.
Gyllenpalm, Bo. Ingmar Bergman and Creative Leadership. Diss. University of California in Santa Barbara. STABIM; Torö, 1995, 148 p. An overview of Bergman’s theater experience, followed by an analysis of his managerial qualities, directorial style, and actor response based on interviews at the Royal Dramatic Theatre. Author uses management theory as an approach. Three factors are considered crucial to Bergman’s success as a stage director: strategy, culture, and mindset.
648.
Olofgörs, Gunnar. Scenografi och kostym: Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss. Stockholm: Carlssons, 1995. Published dissertation in Theatre Studies on the work of one of Ingmar Bergman’s stage designers. Cf. this item to Palmstierna-Weiss’ Scenografi. Stockholm: Waldemarsudde, 1995.
649.
Törnqvist, Egil. Between Stage and Screen. Ingmar Bergman Directs. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 1995. 243 pp. Part I of this study, titled ‘The Stage Director’, discusses three of Bergman’s Strindberg productions (The Dream Play, 1970; The Ghost Sonata, 1973; and Miss Julie, 1985), his staging of O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night (1988), Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1989) and Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale (1994).
650.
Zern, Leif. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Dialog, scena, kamera’. Dialog (Polish) 40, no. 4 (April) 1995: 84-90. Trans. by Tadeusz Szczepanski. On Bergman’s use of dialogue on stage and screen.
808
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 651.
Åhlund, Jannike. ‘Sista intervjun med Ingmar Bergman’ [Last interview with Bergman]. Expr., 23 November 1995: 17-20. Cross-listed in Interviews, (Ø 930). Bergman discusses difference between work in theatre and film: ‘The theatre has always been the main thing for me. Film has been [...] not a secondary thing, but insecurity. A tremendous pleasure, yes, but the security has always been here (in the theatre)’. [Teatern har alltid varit huvudsaken för mig. Filmen har varit [...] inte en sekundär sak men otrygghet. Ett oerhört nöje, jo, men tryggheten har alltid funnits här].
1996 652.
Wirmark, Margareta, ed. Film och teater i växelverkan [Film and theatre at interplay]. Stockholm: Carlssons, 1996. Volume consists of lectures at Ingmar Bergman Conference at Lund University in 1995 on interaction between his theatre work and his filmmaking. Cross-listed in Chapter IX, Ø 1613. Book also includes a conversation between two of Bergman’s actors, Agneta Ekmanner and Max von Sydow (pp. 13-52), one associated (at the time) primarily with his late theatre work (Madame de Sade, The Misanthrope), the other with his theatre work in Malmö and his films from 1955-1972. Sydow points to Bergman’s preparedness as a director, to his ability to make the classics understandable to the actors, and to the essence of his direction, i.e., his sense of dramatic rhythm. Sydow considers Bergman’s situation unique in its artistic freedom and in the core of actors he has been able to work with. Ekmanner points to Bergman’s absolute commitment to a production and to the importance of costumes and mise-en-scene, but also discusses Bergman’s choice of actors as possibly based on their ability to enter into his world.
653.
Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Att sätta-i-scen. Teatern som metafor och tilltal i olika verk av Ingmar Bergman’ [Mise-en-scene. The theatre as metaphor and address in different works by Bergman], pp. 65-78, in item Ø 652 Using some comparative samples of Bergman’s stage productions, films and memoir book Laterna magica, Koskinen examines his artistically conscious use of the theatre as a motif, representational principle and form of address: to establish a dialogue between a director and his public (viewer or reader).
654.
Schottenius, Maria. ‘Dionysus på Fårö’. Expr., 21 May 1996. Somewhat negative portrayal of Bergman, who at the time was staging The Bachae at Dramaten. See Ø 480.
655.
Sjögren, Henrik. ‘Bergman i Malmö. En höjdpunkt i vår moderna teaterhistoria’ [B in Malmö. A high point in our modern theatre history], pp. 100-126, in item Ø 652. Historically based overview of Bergman’s years as artistic director at Malmö City Theatre. Largely a resumé of the same author’s Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 123-230.
656.
Törnqvist, Egil. ‘“I min fantasi!” Subjektivt gestaltande hos Ingmar Bergman’ [‘In my imagination!’ Subjective representation in Bergman], pp. 79-99, in item Ø 652.
809
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography After numerous examples from Bergman’s theatre work and filmmaking, author concludes that ‘subjectivism’ for Bergman lies both with the dramatis personae and the audience. The ability to fantasize is the fundamental premise that enables an understanding between dramatis personae, actors, and viewers.
657.
Wirmark, Margareta. ‘Ingmar Bergman och Dramatentraditionen’ [Bergman and Dramaten tradition], pp. 127-151, and ‘I scenens brännpunkt. Dockhemmet och Vintersagan på Dramaten’ [Stage focus. A Doll’s House and Winter’s Tale at Dramaten], pp. 172-186, in item Ø 652. Relates Bergman’s stage repertory to that of The Royal Dramatic Theatre’s two dominating directors, Olof Molander and Alf Sjöberg, and to the theatre building itself which is incorporated in the mise-en-scene to Bergman’s Dramaten productions of A Doll’s House (1989) and The Winter’s Tale (1994).
658.
Zern, Leif. ‘Från avstånd till närhet’ [From distance to closeness], pp. 53-64, in item Ø 652. By focussing on certain scenes and sequences in several of Bergman’s theatre stagings and films, Zern stresses the interconnection between play production and filmmaking in Bergman’s oeuvre. One fundamental dramatic technique, used both on stage and on screen, lies in his movement from distance to closeness, from longshot to close-up.
1997 659.
Löfgren, Lars. Teaterchefen. Bakom maskerna. Stockholm: Bonniers, 1997, 352 pp. Memoirs of Löfgren’s time as head of Dramaten, 1985-97, a time that overlaps with Bergman’s return to Dramaten after his years in Munich. Löfgren’s working relations with Bergman were good until the Misanthrope debacle in 1996. (See Ø 478, 602). Löfgren’s period as head of Dramaten included such Bergman productions as Miss Julie, Madame de Sade, King Lear, Hamlet, The Winter’s Tale, A Doll’s House, Peer Gynt and The Misanthrope.
660.
Lusardi, James P. ‘Hamlet on the Postmodernist Stage: The Revisionings of Bergman and Wajda’. Hamlet Sudies 19, no. 1-2 (Summer/Winter) 1997: 78-92. Portions of essay also appeared in Shakespeare Bulletin, July-August 1989, pp. 23-24, and Spring 1990, pp. 21-22. A comparison of post-modernist productions of Hamlet done by two filmmakers/theatre directors. The two stagings are seen as meta-theatrical revisionings of the play, though strikingly different in interpretation and effect. Bergman focusses on the theatricalizing of experience, culminating in Fortrinbras’ media–conscious take-over; Wajda explores the experience of the theatrical: his Fortrinbras is an actor taking over Hamlet’s problematic role.
661.
Ritzu, Merete Kjoller. Bergman e Shakespeare. Roma: Bulzoni, 1997, 112 pp. A comparative presentation of Shakespeare’s and Bergman’s historical contexts.
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography
1998 662.
Dramat. ‘Bergman. Författaren, regissören, bildmakaren’. [B. Author, Director, Image Maker]. Special issue of Royal Dramatic Theatre’s journal, no. 1, 1998. 55 pp. With two sets of photographs: ‘Ögonblick med Bergman’ [Moments with Bergman], pp. 1113, and ‘Ingmar Bergmans teater’, pp. 42-55. The journal contains the following brief essays and interviews: Ek, Mats, Staffan Valdemar Holm & Suzanne Osten. ‘Tre i skuggan av ett monument. Tre regissörer om Bergman.’. [Three in the shadow of a monument. Three directors about Bergman], pp. 35-39. (Views on Bergman by younger generation of colleagues). Enquist, PO. ‘Bilderna i ordet’ [The images in the word], pp. 30-34. (An account of author’s first encounter with Bergman who staged several of Enquist’s plays: ‘No one has shown such a fundamental, almost furious respect for the text’ [Ingen har visat en så fundamental, nästan furiös respekt för texten]. Josephson, Erland. ‘I Ingmars glada hage’ [In Ingmar’s happy meadow], p. 27. (Some recollections by a lifelong friend and colleague about working with Bergman at Dramaten). Wassberg, Göran. ‘Med känsla för rummet’ [With a feeling for space], pp. 21-24. (Scenographer at Dramaten talks about Bergman’s spatial imagination). Zern, Leif. ‘Att komma nära. Om Ingmar Bergmans närbilder’ [To come close. About Bergman’s close-ups], pp. 58-61. Åhlund, Jannike. ‘En TV-dåres bekännelser’ pp. 14-18. Interview focussed on Bergman’s works for television, from Hjalmar Bergman’s Herr Sleeman kommer [Mr. Sleeman Cometh] (1957) to Larmar och gör sig till [In the Presence of a Clown] (1997). Appeared in French as ‘Entretien Ingmar Bergman. La confession d’un fou de télé’ in Positif 447 (May) 1998: 55-59.
663.
Fridén, Ann Carpenter, ed. Ingmar Bergman and the Arts. Nordic Theatre Studies 11 1998. Cross-listed in Chapter IX, (Ø 1635). Essays on Bergman’s contributions to theatre, opera and TV, and on importance of older paintings as visual inspirations. Volume contains the following articles: Bono, Francesco. ‘Ingmar Bergman in the Eyes of Italian Theatre Critics’, pp.105-113. Cohen-Stratyner, Barbara. ‘Ingmar Bergman and the Theater’, pp. 98-104. Iversen, Gunilla. ‘The Terrible Encounter with a God: The Bacchae as Rite and Liturgical Drama in Ingmar Bergman’s Staging’, pp. 70-83. (See entry Ø 492 in opera production listing in Theatre, Chapter VI). Rygg, Kristin. ‘The Metamorphosis of The Bacchae: from Ancient Rites to TV Opera’, pp. 4769. (See Bachae entry Ø 492). Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s First Meeting with Thalia’, pp. 12-33. (On Bergman’s early years as a director on amateur stages). Part of article appeared as newspaper column titled ‘Ingmar Bergmans första möte med Thalia’. UNT, 14 July 1998, p. 11. Sundler, Eva Malmnäs. ‘Art as Inspiration’, pp. 34-46. (Places Ingmar Bergman among Master Painters. Motifs from medieval murals, Hogarth engravings, and Rembrandt van Rijn are viewed as models for a study of the relationship between Bergman and pictorial art). Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Transcending Bounderies: Bergman’s Magic Flute’, pp. 84-97. Annotated cross-listing in Filmography, (Ø 247) and Media Chapter, (Ø 326).
811
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 664.
Hockenjos, Vreni. ‘Ur en drömmares perspektiv. Strindbergs subjektivism i Bergmans tolkning’ [From a dreamer’s perspective. Strindberg’s subjectivism interpreted by Bergman], Aura 4, 1998: 42-50. Discusses Bergman’s 1963 TV production of Ett drömspel at some length, comparing it to his 1970 stage version of same play and to Persona).
665.
Holmqvist, Ivo. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Winter Journey – Intertextuality in Larmar och gör sig till’. Tijdschrift voor Skandinavistiek 19, no. 2, 1998, pp. 79-94. Traces parallels in Bergman’s TV film In the Presence of a Clown to Schubert’s Die Winterreise, Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, and Bergman’s own film Winter Light. Points out Bergman’s onomastic use of the name Vogler in his film works, and suggests a possible scatalogical reference to ‘the farter at Moulin Rouge’, Joseph Pujal (‘Le pétomane’)
666.
Malaise, Yvonne. ‘Genierna möts på Dramaten’. DN, 11 February 1998. Mostly about Bergman’s production of Bildmakarna, but also about the current administrative and artistic crisis at the Gothenburg City Theatre and about playwright Lars Noren’s attacks on Bergman in his play Personkrets 3:1. Quote: ‘Lars Norén knows how the mass media function and I suppose he needed some attention. Lars Norén is a genius and I am a great admirer of his. The rest I am totally indifferent to’. [Norén vet hur massmedia fungerar och jag antar han behövde lite uppmärksamhet. Lars Norén är ett geni och jag är en stor beundrare av honom. Resten är jag totalt likgiltig inför].
667.
Qvist, Per-Olov. ‘Från Sleeman till livsförsoning’ [From Sleeman to reconciliation to life]. Upsala Nya Tidning, 14 July 1998, p. 10. Full-page newspaper column on Bergman’s TV productions in the 1950’s, especially his televised version of the Malmö City Theatre’s 1958 playbill Rabies, which is said to foreshadow his films of the 1960s.
668.
Sjöman, Vilgot. Mitt personregister. Urval 98. Stockholm: Natur & Kultur, 1998. 403 pp. Filmmaker and author Vilgot Sjöman’s memoirs include several chapters on his experiences with Bergman’s stage work: first as a teenager when Bergman directed Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Sjöman’s high school; then during Bergman’s early years in the professional theatre; and finally during Bergman’s tenure as head of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in the early 1960s. See chapters titled Ingmar Bergman I, III, pages 26-55, 353-362.
1999 669.
Ekman, Johannes. ‘Ett liv kring naturkraften Strindberg’ [A Life around elemental force of Strindberg]. Interview with Ingmar Bergman and Erland Josephson in P1, Swedish Radio, 6 February 1999. In connection with upcoming broadcast of his production of Strindberg’s Oväder [Storm], Bergman is asked to talk about Strindberg. Erland Josephson, who played the role of the Gentleman in Strindberg’s play, also participates in the interview.
812
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography 670.
Hennéus, Mårten. ‘Tre frågor...’. DN, 19 February 1999, p. B1. Brief answers to three questions: (1) why did Bergman decide to produce Schiller’s Maria Stuart? (answer: he had the right actresses); (2) how does he prepare a theatre production? (answer: reading the play text in detail; studying the background; interpreting the text – the fun period; instructing the cast); (3) how long will he continue to work? (answer: quote from George Tabori: There is only one sensible alternative to the stage and that is the mortuary).
671.
Schwartz, Stan. ‘Bergman, as Stage Director, Never Stops Digging’. NYT Sunday, 30 May 1999, p. AR 5. Brief article about Bergman as a visionary in the theatre, concluding with a reference to Dramaten’s guest performance in New York with Enquist’s play The Image Makers.
2000 672.
Koskinen, Maaret. Ingmar Bergman: ‘Allting föreställer. Ingenting är.’ Filmen och teatern – en tvärvetenskaplig studie. [Bergman: ‘Everything represents. Nothing is.’ Film and theatre – an interarts study]. Stockholm: Nya Doxa, 2001, 237 pp. Also in (Ø 1676). Chapter IX, 2001. The main thesis of this study rests on a thematic and formal interaction between Bergman’s theatre work and his filmmaking. After a chronological perspective on the subject, author discusses such parallel features on stage and screen as doubling and unmasking, faces and masks, close-ups and actor positioning, observers and voyeurs.
673.
Törnqvist, Egil. Strindberg’s The Ghost Sonata. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2000, pp. 83-103; 117-45, 248, 250. This stage history of Strindberg’s The Ghost Sonata includes a discussion of Bergman’s four productions of the play.
2001 674.
Ohrlander, Gunnar. ‘En Hamlet från Manpower?’ AB, 31 March 2001, p. 4. An article dealing with the artistic and economic guidelines for administering a theatre. The author includes excerpts from a telephone conversation on the subject with Ingmar Bergman, who is optimistic that the artistic voices in the theatre will retain their influence.
675.
Zern, Leif. ‘Därför skall diktaren inte ha någon grav’ [Hence the poet should have no grave]. Strindbergiana, ed. by Birgitta Steene, vol. 16, 2001, pp. 9-22. An article on Swedish approaches to Strindberg’s theatre, including a discussion of Bergman’s and Sjöberg’s productions of his plays.
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Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography
2002 676.
Koskinen, Maaret. I begynnelsen var ordet. Ingmar Bergman och hans tidiga författarskap. (See Ø 1676), Chapter IX. Koskinen’s study of young Bergman’s first artistic endeavors contains numerous references to his early ventures into playwriting.
677.
Sjögren, Henrik. Lek och raseri. Ingmar Bergmans teater 1938-2002. Stockholm: Carlsons, 2002. Expanded version of Sjögren’s 1968 study of Ingmar Bergman’s theatre productions. 2002 volume adds a chapter on Bergman’s earliest stage work (1938-44), prior to his directorship at the Helsingborg City Theatre in 1944, and concludes with his production of Gengangere in 2002. In this volume Sjögren structures the bulk of his material around Bergman’s productions of Shakespeare, Molière, Ibsen, and Strindberg but retains the original reception approach. Also includes interview excerpts with Bergman about his lifelong contribution to the theatre.
678.
Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ingmar Bergman Staging Strindberg’. Proceedings from the XVIth International. Strindberg Conference. Humboldt University, Berlin, 2002. On Bergman staging Strindberg in Stockholm and Munich, with focus on A Dreamplay.
2003 679.
Ehrnwall, Torbjörn, producer. ‘I Bergmans regi’ [Directed by Bergman]. SVT, 24 November 2003. Documentary about the making of TV film Saraband, with interviews with Bergman, cast and crew, including costumier, set designer, and propman. See Media Chapter (Ø 343). Crosslisted in Interviews (Ø 948) and Varia, A .
680.
Florin, Magnus. ‘Foajé’. SR, P 1, 1 February 2003. A radio interview with Bergman about his recent broadcasts of Strindberg’s Pelikanen och Dödens ö. Bergman also comments on re-broadcasts of some of his early radio productions.
681.
Florin, Magnus. ‘Det gamla spelet om Envar’. [Everyman]. SR, P 1, 14 July 2003. A brief radio conversation with Bergman about von Hoffmansthal’s version of Everyman.
682.
Törnqvist, Egil. Bergman’s Muses. Aesthetic Versatility in Film, Theatre, Television and Radio. (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2003). 265 pp. Contains several chapters on Bergman’s stage and media productions, and their interrelationship. See following chapters: ‘From Drama Text to Stage Performance: Ibsen’s Ghosts’ (pp. 2135); ‘From Drama Text to Radio Play: Aural Strindberg’ (pp. 36-45); ‘Mishima’s Madame de Sade on Stage and Television’ (pp. 101-115); ‘Film and Stage on Television: Bergman’s In the Presence of a Clown’ (pp. 129-45).
814
Chapter VII Bergman in Theatre and Media: a Bibliography
2004 683.
Steene, Birgitta. ‘“I have never pursued a particular program policy”. Ingmar Bergman in the Theatre’. Contemporary Theatre Review vol. 14 (2), 2004: 41-56. A discussion of Bergman’s theatre work. Argues that Bergman has a lifelong commitment to the theatre but not to a particular platform in the theatre.
815
Theatre, opera, tv and radio productions
Theatre, opera, tv and radio productions by Ingmar Bergman The listing includes all stage productions directed or written by Ingmar Bergman, including radio and TV transmissions of works produced specifically for these media, as well as complete media transmissions of stage performances. In cases where another director was responsible for a Bergman stage or media play, an asterix (*) appears before the date of the item.
Abbreviations used MO-gården Mäster Olofsgården Student Stockholms Studentteater Norra Latin Norra Latin Lyceum DramStudio Dramaterikerstudion/Dramatists Studio, Stockholm Medborgar T Medborgarhusteatern/Citizens Theatre Sago Sagoteatern Folke W Folke Walders turné (Folke Walders touring company) Folkpark Folkparksteatern/Fältteatern Boulevard Boulevardteatern, Stockholm Hbg Stads Hälsingborgs stadsteater (City Theatre) Gbg Stads Göteborgs stadsteater (Gothenburg City Theatre) Intima T Intima Teatern, Stockholm Dramaten Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm Norr/Lin Stads Norrköping-Linköping stadsteater (City Theatre) Malmö Stads Malmö stadsteater (City Theatre) Kongelige Det Kongelige, Copenhagen (Royal Theatre, Copenhagen) National, No Nationaltheatret, Oslo Norsk Det Norske Teater (The Norwegian Theatre, Oslo) NT, London The National Theatre, London München Res. Munich Residenztheater DR Danmarks Radio NRK Norsk Rikskringkasting (Norwegian Broadcast System) SR Radiotjänst/Sveriges Radio (Swedish Public Radio) SVT Sveriges Television (Swedish Public Television)
816
Theatre, opera, tv and radio productions Date
Play Title
Playwrigt
Theatre
# Performances
23 April 1938
Till främmande hamn [Outward Bound]
Sutton Vane
MO-gården
2
05 Apri; 1939
Guldkarossen; [Guldkareten/ The Golden Chariot]
A. Bentzonich;
MO-gården
1
Galgmannen [The Hangman]
Runar Schildt
MO-gården
1
21 April 1939
Lycko-Pers resa [Lucky Per’s Travels]
August Strindberg
MO-gården
3
Oct
1939
Kvällskabaret [Evening Cabaret]
SFP team
MO-gården
?
4 Nov
1939
Höstrapsodi/Romantik [Autumn Rhapsody/Romance]
D. Rönnqvist/Edm
MO-gården
3
7 Dec
1939
Han som fick leva om sitt liv [The Man Who Lived Twice]
Pär Lagerkvist
MO-gården
3
mid-Dec 1939
Jul [Christmas] (from Svarta handsken)
Strindberg
MO-gården
1
3 Jan
1940
I Betlehem – Ett julspel
unknown
MO-gården/ 1 Hedvig Eleonora 1 Church
4 Jan
1940
Svarta handsken [The Black Glove]
August Strindberg
MO-gården
2
13 April 1940
Macbeth
Shakespeare
MO-gården
2
18 May 1940
Timglaset/Soppkitteln [The Hour Glass/The Pot of Broth]
William Yeats
MO-gården
1
1 Nov
1940
Pelikanen [The Pelican]
August Strindberg
Student
3
16 Nov
1940
Melodin som kom bort [Melodin der blev væk]
Kjeld Abell
MO-gården
2
30 Nov
1940
Köpmannen i Venedig [Merchant of Venice]
Shakespeare
Norra Latin
1
1940
Tillbaka [Return]
Gregor Ges
MO-gården
NA
1940
Svanevit [Swanwhite]
August Strindberg
MO-gården
2
15 May 1941
Fadren [The Father]
August Strindberg
Folke W/ Student NA
29 Aug
1941
Elddonet [The Tinderbox]
H.C. Andersen
Sago
2
20 Sep
1941
Spöksonaten [The Ghost Sonata]
August Strindberg
Medborgar T
7
12 Oct
1941
En midsommarnattsdröm [A Midsummer Night’s Dream]
Shakespeare
Sago
NA
29 Nov
1941
Fågel Blå [Bluebird]
Zach. Topelius
Sago
NA
30 Nov
1942
Köpmannen i Venedig [The Merchant of Venice]
William Shakespeare
Norra Latin
1
7 Dec
817
Theatre, opera, tv and radio productions Date
Play Title
Playwrigt
Theatre
# Performances
18 Feb
1942
Sniggel Snuggel/De tre dumheterna [Sniggle Snuggle/The Three Follies]
Torun Munthe
Sago
NA
28 Mar
1942
Rödluvan [Little Red Riding Hood]
Robert Bürkner
Sago
NA
16 May 1942
Clownen Beppo
Else Fisher
Sago
NA
24 Sep
1942
Kaspers död [Death of Punch]
Ingmar Bergman
Student
2
28 Nov
1942
En midsommarnattsdröm [A Midsummer Night’s Dream]
Shakespeare
Norra Latin
1
24 Feb
1943
Vem är jag? eller När fan ger ett anbud [Who Am I?]
Soya
Student
NA
13 April 1943
U 39 [U Boat 39]
Rudolf Värnlund
Dram Stud
NA
17 May 1943
Strax innan man vaknar [Just before waking up]
Bengt Olof Vos
Student
NA
2 June
1943
Rödluvan och vargen [Little Red Riding Hood]
Robert Bürkner
Folkpark
NA
1 July
1943
Geografi och kärlek Bjørnstierne Bjørnson Folkpark [Geografi og kærlighed/Geog. and Love]
NA
14 Sep
1943
Niels Ebbesen
Kaj Munk
Dram. Studio
NA
19 Oct
1943
Tivolit [The Fun Fair]
Ingmar Bergman
Student
NA
12 Feb
1943
Hotellrummet [The Hotel Room]
Pierre Rocher
Boulevard
100+
15 Feb
1944
Spelhuset/Herr Sleeman kommer [The Casino/Mr. Sleeman Cometh]
Hjalmar Bergman
Dram.Studio
NA
21 May 1944
Clownen Beppo
Else Fisher
Folkpark
NA
21 Sep
1944
Aschebergskan på Wittskövle [Ascheberg’s Wife at W]
Brita von Horn/ Elsa Collin
Hbg Stads
NA
20 Oct
1944
Fan ger ett anbud [The Devil makes an Soya Offer]. (Same as “Who Am I?”)
Hbg Stads
?
19 Nov
1944
Macbeth
Shakespeare
Hbg Stads
?
26 Dec
1944
Elddonet [The Tinderbox]
H.C. Andersen
Hbg Stads
?
1 Jan
1945
Kriss Krass Filibom
New Year’s Cabaret
Hbg Stads
?
7 Feb
1945
Sagan [The Legend]
Hjalmar Bergman
Hbg Stads
?
12 April 1945
Reducera moralen [Reduce morality]
Sune Bergström
Hbg Stads
?
12 Sep
1945
Jacobowsky och översten [Jacobowsky and the Colonel]
Franz Werfel
Hbg Stads
?
1 Nov
1945
Rabies
Olle Hedberg
Hbg Stads
?
25 Nov
1945
Pelikanen [The Pelican]
August Strindberg
Malmö Stads
20
818
Theatre, opera, tv and radio productions Date
Play Title
Playwrigt
Theatre
# Performances
5 Mar
1946
Rekviem
Björn-Erik Hoijer
SR
1
6 Mar
1946
Rekviem
Björn-Erik Höijer
Hbg Stads
?
29 Nov 12 Sep
1946 1946
Caligula Rakel och biografvaktmästaren [Rachel and the Cinema Doorman]
Albert Camus Ingmar Bergman
Gbg Stads Malmö Stads
21 41
12 Dec
1946
Sommar [Summer]
Björn-Erik Höijer
SR
1
12 Jan
1947
Dagen slutar tidigt [Early Ends the Day] Ingmar Bergman
Gbg Stads
33+11
31 Jan
1947
Holländarn [The Dutchman)
August Strindberg
SR
1
29 Mar
1947
Magi/Magic
Ingmar Bergman
Gbg Stads
28
10 Sep
1947
Vågorna [The Waves]
Gustav Sandgren
SR
1
26 Oct
1947
Mig till skräck [Unto My Fear]
Ingmar Bergman
Gbg Stads
27
23 Nov
1947
Leka med elden [Playing with Fire]
August Strindberg
SR
1
8 Feb
1948
Dans på bryggan [Dancing on the dock] Björn-Erik Höijer
Gbg Stads
30
12 Mar
1948
Macbeth
Shakespeare
Gbg Stads
27
9 Sep
1948
Lodolezzi sjunger [L. is singing]
Hjalmar Bergman
SR
1
11 Sep
1948
Tjuvarnas bal [Bal des voleurs/Ball of Thieves]
Jean Anouilh
Gbg Stads
33 + 13
4 Nov
1948
Moderskärlek [Mother Love]
August Strindberg
SR
1
*9 Dec
1948
Kamma noll
Ingmar Bergman
Hbg stads
NA
11 Feb
1949
En vildfågel [La Sauvage)
Jean Anouilh
Gbg Stads
49
1 Mar
1949
Spårvagn till Lustgården [A Streetcar Named Desire]
Tennessee Williams
Gbg Stads
31
14 July
1949
Kamma noll [Come Up Empty/To Draw Ingmar Bergman Zero]
SR
1
*9 Nov
1949
Rakel och biografvaktmästaren
Ingmar Bergman
Boulevard
NA
3 Feb
1950
Guds ord på landet [Palabras divinas]
Ramon de ValleInclán
Gbg Stads
28
17 Oct
1950
Tolvskillingsoperan [Threepenny Opera] Bertolt Brecht
Intima T, Sthlm
NA
28 Dec
1950
En skugga/Medea [A Shadow/Medea]
Hjalmar Bergman/ Jean Anouilh
Intima T, Sthlm
NA
Summer 1951
Flickan du gav mig [The Country Girl]
Clifford Odets
Folkpark
NA
12 Feb
Medea
Jean Anouilh
SR
1
Det lyster i kåken [Light in the shack]
Björn-Erik Höijer
Dramaten
37
1951
19 April 1951
819
Theatre, opera, tv and radio productions Date
Play Title
Playwrigt
Theatre
# Performances
*9 May 20 Feb 2 Mar
1951 1966 2003
Staden [The city]
Ingmar Bergman
SR
5
16 Aug
1951
Sommar [Summer]
Björn-Erik Höijer
SR
1
15 Nov
1951
Den tatuerade rosen [The Rose Tattoo] Tennessee Williams
Norr/Lin Stads
NA
25 Dec
1951
Värmlänningarna [The People of Värmland]
F.A. Dahlgren
SR
1
8 Jan
1952
Nattens skuldbörda [The Night’s Burden of Guilt]
Alberto Perrini
SR
1
22 Jan
1952 2003
Brott och brott [Crimes and Crimes]
August Strindberg
SR
3
14 Feb
1952
Mordet i Barjärna [Murder at B.]
Ingmar Bergman
Malmö stads
34
6 Mar
1952
Blodsbröllop (Blood Wedding]
Garcia Lorca
SR
1
*26 June 1952
Dagen slutar tidigt [Early Ends the Day] Ingmar Bergman
SR
1
14 Nov
1952
Kronbruden [The Crown Bride]
August Strindberg
Malmö stads
32
4 Dec
1952
En vildfågel [La Sauvage]
Jean Anouilh
SR
1
*12 Mar 1953 7 July 1960
Mig till skräck [Unto My Fear]
Ingmar Bergman
SR
2
*21 Jan 1953
Jack hos skådespelarna [Jack among the Actors]
Ingmar Bergman
Lund
NA
16 April 1953
En lusteld eller unga präster predika bäst Alfred de Musset [Passion or Young Priests Preach Best]
SR
1
8 Oct
1953
Holländarn [The Dutchman]
SR
1
21 Nov
1953
Sex roller söker en författare Luigi Pirandello [Six Characters in Search of an Author]
Malmö stads
32
19 Dec
1953
Slottet [The Castle]
Franz Kafka/Max Brod Malmö stads
33
5 Mar
1954
Spöksonaten [The Ghost Sonata]
Strindberg
Malmö stads
18
24 Sep
1954
Trämålning [Wood Painting]
Ingmar Bergman
SR
1
1 Oct
1954
Glada änkan [The Merry Widow]
Franz Lehar
Malmö stads
107
12 Dec
1954
Ett bord av apel [A Table of Apple Wood]
Herman Melville
SR
1
4 Jan
1955
Don Juan
Molière
Malmö stads
33
5 Feb
1955
Tehuset Augustimånen [Teahouse of the August Moon]
John Patrick
Malmö stads
39
18 Mar
1955
Trämålning [Wood Painting]
Ingmar Bergman
Malmö stads
17
*16 Sep 1955
Trämålning [Wood Painting]
Ingmar Bergman
Dramaten
18
August Strindberg
820
Theatre, opera, tv and radio productions Date
Play Title
Playwrigt
Theatre
# Performances
21 May 1955
Bollen [The Ball]
Carlo Fruttero
SR
1
29 Sep
1955
Munken går på ängen [Munken gaar i Carl Gandrup Enge] (The Monk Walks in the Meadow)
SR
1
27 Oct
1955
Lea och Rakel [Leah and Rachel]
Malmö stads
50
1 Jan
1956
Farmor och vår Herre [Grandmother Hjalmar Bergman and Our Lord]
SR
1
28 Jan
1956
Bruden utan hemgift [The Dowerless Bride]
A.N. Ostrovskij
Malmö stads
24
6 Feb
1956
Vox humana [La voix humaine]
Jean Cocteau
SR
1
1 April
1956 2003
Det gamla spelet om Envar [Everyman]
Hugo von Hoffmansthal
SR
1 2
23 May 1956
Tunneln [The Tunnel]
Pär Lagerkvist
SR
1
19 Oct
1956
Katt på hett plåttak [Cat on Hot Tin Roof]
Tennessee Williams
Malmö stads
34
2 Dec
1956
Porträtt av en madonna [Portrait of a Madonna]
Tennessee Williams
SR
1
7 Dec
1956
Erik XIV
August Strindberg
Malmö stads
33
8 Mar
1957
Peer Gynt
Henrik Ibsen
Malmö stads
32
Vilhelm Moberg
18 April 1957
Herr Sleeman kommer [Mr. S. Cometh] Hjalmar Bergman
SVT (live)
1
19 April 1957
Fången [The Prisoner]
Bridget Boland
SR
1
16 Nov
1957
Falskspelare [Igroki/Counterfeiters]
Nikalai Gogol
SR
1
6 Dec
1957
Misantropen [Le Misanthrope]
Molière
Malmö stads
24
21 Feb
1958
Venetianskan [The Venetian Woman]
Unknown
SVT
1
12 May 1958
Sagan [The Legend]
Hjalmar Bergman
Malmö stads
25
18 Sep
1958
Sagan [The Legend]
Hjalmar Bergman
SR
1
7 Nov
1958
Rabies – Scener ur människolivet [Rabies Olle Hedberg – Scenes from human life]
SVT (live)
1
17 Oct
1958
Ur-Faust
Goethe
Malmö stads
33 + 8
13 Nov
1958
Den som intet har [He who has Nothing]
Bengt Anderberg
SR
1
18 Dec
1958
Värmlänningarna [The People of Värmland]
F.A. Dahlgren
Malmö stads
37
22 Jan
1960
Oväder [Storm/Thunder in the Air]
August Strindberg
SVT
1
*4 Mar 26 Sep
1960 1989
Kalkmaleri [Wood Painting]
Ingmar Bergman
DR
2
821
Theatre, opera, tv and radio productions Date
Play Title
Playwrigt
Theatre
# Performances
11 Aug
1960
Första varningen [The First Warning]
August Strindberg
SR
1
6 Jan
1961
Måsen [The Seagull]
Anton Tjechov
Dramaten
42
*17 Jan 1961
Måla på kyrkjevegg [Trämålning/Wood Painting]
Ingmar Bergman
NRK
1
21 Jan
Leka med elden [Playing with Fire]
August Strindberg
SR
1
22 April 1961
Rucklarens väg [Rake’s Progress]
Stravinskij/ W.A. Auden
Operan, 1961-67 44 + 2
7 May
Rucklarens väg [Rake’s Progress]
Opera Transmission
SR
1
*22 Apr 1963
Trämålning [Wood Painting]
Ingmar Bergman
SVT
1
2 May
1963
Ett drömspel [A Dreampay]
August Strindberg
SVT
1
4 Oct
1963
Vem är rädd för Virginia Woolf [Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf]
Edward Albee
Dramaten
62
20 Dec
1963
Sagan [The Legend]
Hjalmar Bergman
Dramaten
49
4 June
1964
Tre knivar från Wei [Three knives from Wey]
Harry Martinson
Dramaten
30
17 Oct
1964
Hedda Gabler
Henrik Ibsen
Dramaten
89
24 Feb
1965
Don Juan
Molière
Dramaten
19
4 Dec
1965
För Alice [Tiny Alice]
Edward Albee
Dramaten
24
9 Dec
1965
För Alice [Tiny Alice]
Edward Albee
SR
1
13 Feb
1966
Rannsakningen [Die Ermittlung/The Investigation]
Peter Weiss
Dramaten
26
22 Nov
1966
Hustruskolan [Ecole des femmes/School for Wives]
Molière
Dramaten
33
1 April
1967
Sex personer söker en författer Luigi Pirandello [Six Characters in Search of an Author]
Norsk
34
*10 Nov 1967 3 Oct 1989
Byen [Staden/The city]
Ingmar Bergman
DR
2
14 Mar
1969
Woyzeck
Georg Büchner
Dramaten
70
25 Mar
1969
Riten [the Ritual]
Ingmar Bergman
SVT
1
25 April 1969
Woyzeck (radio adaptation of Dramaten production above)
Georg Büchner
SR
1
1 Jan
1970
Fårödokument
Ingmar Bergman
SVT
1
14 Mar
1970
Drömspelet [The Dreamplay]
August Strindberg
Dramaten
171
17 Mar
1970
Radio transmission of Drömspelet
August Strindberg
SR
1
Hedda Gabler
Henrik Ibsen
NT, London
NA
1961
1961
29 June 1970
822
Theatre, opera, tv and radio productions Date
Play Title
Playwrigt
Theatre
# Performances
*28 Oct 1970
Reservatet [The Sanctuary]
Ingmar Bergman
SVT
1
*29 Oct 1970
The Lie [Reservatet]
Ingmar Bergman
BBC 1
1
20 Mar
1971
Show
Lars Forssell
Dramaten
36
17 Mar
1972
Vildanden [The Wild Duck]
Henrik Ibsen
Dramaten
85
13 Jan
1973
Spöksonaten [The Ghost Sonata]
August Strindberg
Dramaten
64
6 April
1973
Misantropen
Molière
Kongl.
85
1973
Misantropen – radio transmission of previous item. No date listed
Molière
DR
1
11 April 1973 1986 2003
Scener ur ett äktenskap [Scenes from a Marriage]
Ingmar Bergman
SVT 2
3
*24 Apr 1973
The Lie [Reservatet/The Sanctuary]
Ingmar Bergman
CBS (USA)
1
2 Jan
1974
Till Damaskus [To Damascus]
August Strindberg
Dramaten
55
1 Jan
1975
Trollflöjten [The Magic Flute)
Mozart/I. Bergman
SVT/ Eurovision 1
7 Mar
1975
Trettondagsafton [Twelfth Night]
Shakespeare
Dramaten
Feb
1976
Dödsdansen [Dance of Death] rehearsal August Strindberg interrupted
Dramaten
28 April 1976
Ansikte mot ansikte [Face to Face]
SVT
1
15 Dec
De fördömda kvinnornas dans Ingmar Bergman/ [Il ballo delle ingrate. The Dance of the Donya Feuer Damned (Women)]
SVT, 2
1
19 May 1977
Ein Traumspiel [A Dreamplay]
August Strindberg
München Res
NA
22 June 1978
Drei Schwester [Three Sisters]
Anton Chechov
München
NA
13 Jan
Tartuffe
Molière
München
NA
11 April 1979
Hedda Gabler
Henrik Ibsen
München
NA
25 Dec
Fårödokument 79
Ingmar Bergman
SVT, 2
1
10 May 1980
Yvonne, Prinzessin von Burgund
Witold Gombrowicz
München Res
NA
30 April 1981
Nora – Julie – Szenen einer Ehe
I. Bergman Trilogy
München
NA
27 July
1983
Dom Juan
Molière
Salzburg/ München
NA
25 Dec
1983
Hustruskolan [TV adaptation of Alf Sjö- Molière berg Dramaten prod. of School for Wives]
SVT
2
9 Mar
1984
Kung Lear
Dramaten
176
9 April
1984
Efter repetitionen [After the Rehearsal] Ingmar Bergman
SVT, 1
1
1976
1979
1979
Ingmar Bergman
Shakespeare
823
105
Theatre, opera, tv and radio productions Date
Play Title
Playwrigt
Theatre
# Performances
4 May
1984
Aus dem Leben der Regenwürmer [Ur regnormarnas tid/From the Life of the Rainworms]
Per Olov Enquist
München Res
NA
2 Sep
1984
En hörsägen [A hearsay]
Erland Josephson
SR
1
25 Dec
1984
Fanny och Alexander (first of four segments)
Ingmar Bergman
SVT, 1
2
7 Dec
1985
Fröken Julie [Miss Julie]
August Strindberg
Dramaten
167 + 9
19 Feb
1986
De två saliga [The Blessed Ones]
Ulla Isaksson
SVT, 2
1
26 April 1986
Ett drömspel [A Dreamplay]
August Strindberg
Dramaten
34
*28 Aug 1986
Scenes from a Marriage. Divorce Swedish Style
Edinburgh
NA
29 Sep
1986
Karins ansikte [Karin’s face]
Ingmar Bergman
SVT, 2
1
20 Dec
1986
Hamlet
Shakespeare
Dramaten
87
16 April 1988
Lång dags färd mot natt [Long Day’s Journey into Night]
Eugene O’Neill
Dramaten
129
8 April
1989
Markisinnan de Sade [Madame de Sade] Yukio Mishima
Dramaten
162
17 Nov
1989
Ett dockhem [A Doll’s House]
Henrik Ibsen
Dramaten
105
10 Jan
1990
En själslig angelägenhet [A Matter of the Soul]
Ingmar Bergman
SR
1
27 April 1991
Peer Gynt
Henrik Ibsen
Dramaten
130
2 Nov
1991
Backanterna [The Bachae]
Euripides Operan (Music: Daniel Börtz)
14
25 Dec
1991
Den goda viljan [Best Intentions]
Ingmar Bergman
SVT, 1
1
17 April 1992
Markissinnan de Sade [Madame de Sade]
Yukio Mishima
SVT, 1
1
20 Mar
1993
Rummet och tiden [Das Zimmer und die Botho Strauss Zeit/Room and Time]
Dramaten
53
Dec
1993
Sista skriket [The Last Scream]
Ingmar Bergman
Dramaten
16
9 April
1993
Backanterna [The Bachae]
Euripides
SVT, 1
1
04 Feb
1994
Goldbergvariationer [Goldberg Variations]
George Tabori
Dramaten
69
29 April 1994
Vintersagan [The Winter’s Tale]
Shakespeare
Dramaten
14 + 4 (NY)
4 Jan
1995
Sista skriket [The Last Scream]
Ingmar Bergman
SVT
1
17 Feb
1995
Misantropen
Molière
Dramaten
117
24 Nov
1995
Yvonne, prinsessa av Burgund
Gombrowicz
Dramaten
106
824
Theatre, opera, tv and radio productions Date
Play Title
Playwrigt
Theatre
# Performances
14 Jan
1996
Harald och Harald [H and H]
Ingmar Bergman
SVT
1
15 Mar
1996
Backanterna [The Bachae]
Euripedes
Dramaten
84
*25- 26 1996 Dec
Enskilda samtal [Private Conversations]
Ingmar Bergman
SVT
1
*25 Aug 1997
After the Rehearsel
Ingmar Bergman
Moscow Artistic Theatre
NA
*11 Sep 1997
Szenen einer Ehe
Ingmar Bergman
Akademietheater NA Vienna
1 Nov
1997
Larmar och gör sig till [In the Presence of a Clown]
Ingmar Bergman
SVT
1
12 Feb
1998
Bildmakarna [The Image Makers]
Per Olov Enquist
Dramaten
85
29 Aug
1999
Oväder [Storm/Thunder in the Air]
August Strindberg
SR
1
11 Feb
2000
Spöksonaten [The Ghost Sonata]
August Strindberg
Dramaten
119
14 Nov
2000
Bildmakarna [The Image Makers]
Per Olov Enquist
SVT
1
16 Dec
2000
Maria Stuart
Friedrich Schiller
Dramaten
57
19 Oct
2001
John Gabriel Borkman
Henrik Ibsen
SR
2
9 Feb
2002
Gengångare [Gengangere/Ghosts]
Henrik Ibsen
Dramaten
66 + 10
8 Feb
2003
Pelikanen och Dödens ö [The Pelican & Island of Death]
August Strindberg
SR
2
1 Dec
2003
Saraband
Ingmar Bergman
STV
1
825
Many published interviews with Bergman are based on his press conferences. Here he is presenting his film Persona in 1966, together with his two actresses Bibi Andersson (left) and Liv Ullmann (right) (Courtesy: SVT).
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman This chapter lists a selection of published interviews and interview articles, as well as radio and television interviews with Ingmar Bergman. Note however that interviews (including brief broadcast interviews often done by telephone) which address a specific film or play production are listed in the Commentaries to the appropriate item in the Filmography, Media and Theatre Chapters (IV, V, VI). Some interviews dealing exclusively with theatre items are cross-listed in Theatre/Media Bibliography, Chapter VII. Bergman’s self-interviews in early theatre programs are listed in Chapter II (Bergman as Writer). See also list of TV documentaries in Varia, which usually include interview material.
1940 684.
n.a. ‘Energisk amatörteater i Gamla stan’. DN, 7 April 1940, p. 12A. See Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 493).
1942 685.
-ll. ‘Sex pjäser på två månader’ [Six plays in two months]. SvD, 28 September 1942, p.11. Annotated in (Ø 494), Theatre/Media Bibliography.
1944 686.
Jackson. ‘Teatern är ingen lyxvara’ [Theatre is no luxury article]. MT, 8 March 1944, p. 3. More fully annotated in Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 499). Bergman begins to formulate his role as stage director.
827
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman
1945 687.
n.a. ‘Har teatern försuttit sina chanser?’ [Has the theatre missed its chances?]. SDS, 16 September 1945, p. 3, 12. An unsigned interview with Bergman about current status of Swedish theatre and film. Bergman advocates more repertory companies to create job security for actors and is critical of film overproduction in Sweden.
688.
Jolo (Jan-Olof Olsson). ‘Endast Gud, Dr. Dymling och jag...’ [Only God, Dr. D. and me]. Filmjournalen, no. 15 (April) 1945, p. 19. Reporter and author Jolo meets Bergman at the Hälsingborg City Theatre where Bergman has been a director since fall season 1944. Bergman expresses an early auteur wish to make a film based on his own story. He reveals that he has written several film manuscripts and/or plays and mentions the following titles: ‘Sjätte budet’ [The Sixth Commandment], about marital infidelity; ‘Dimman’ [The Fog], about a jealous mother who murders her son’s fiancee; and ‘Matteus Mandus fjärde berättelse’ [M. Mandus’ fourth tale], about a perverse young man who recognizes the advantage of being mentally sick. However, Bergman is skeptical that any of these manuscripts will ever find the financial support necessary to film them. See also Ø 19, 23 Bergman expresses admiration for contemporary Swedish writers like Lars Ahlin. He criticizes private theatre schools who train their students for the screen rather than the stage.
1946 689.
n.a. ‘ Avgående teaterchef får idealiskt arbete’ [Departing theatre head gets ideal job]. Helsingborgs-Posten, 24 January 1946, p. 8. Bergman is interviewed upon announcing his departure from Hälsingborg and accepting a new position as director at Gothenburg City Theatre. The title of the interview refers to Bergman’s new opportunity of working both on stage and in the film industry. Bergman criticizes Swedish film producers for not soliciting scripts by the talented literary generation of the Forties (see Ø 952). Bergman may be prodding SF (Svensk Filmindustri) to live up to a new production policy stated in the 1944 program to their 25th-anniversary film Hets, scripted by Bergman. There SF vowed to encourage new talent and ‘give young people a chance to prove themselves in the production’ [ge unga människor en chans att visa upp sig i produktionen].
690.
n.a. ‘Avskedsintervju’ [Farewell interview]. Bergman writes his own interview in the program to his production of Björn Erik Höijer’s play Rekviem at the Hälsingborg City Theatre, 6 March 1946. Cross-listed/annotated in Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 507).
828
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman
1947 691.
‘Den bästa novellen’ [The best short story]. Vecko-Journalen 38, no. 7, 1947, p. 6. Asked by the magazine Vecko-Journalen to choose his favorite short story, Bergman picks Erland Josephson’s ‘Återkomst till vår by’ [Return to our village] and comments on his choice.
692.
‘Ej för att roa blott’ [Not just to entertain]. Swedish Broadcast Corp (Radiotjänst), 2 January 1947. Retransmitted on 15, 17, 23 February 2003. Bergman participates in a radio interview with young Swedish artists about the ambitions of contemporary literature, sculpture, music, and theatre. Bergman’s contribution is a dialogue with actor Anders Ek about film and theatre as public arts, in contrast to the allegedly narcissistic and exclusive literary movement of the time, fyrtiotalism. Bergman admits however that the fyrtiotalist writers represent ‘a new kind of unpruned romanticism’ that fascinates him [en sorts ny oansad romantik] and an existential fear and anguish that he recognizes in himself. (Cf. Ø 952).
1949 693.
‘Vi ser på filmen: Slutkyssen och verkligheten’ [We look at the movies: The happy end kiss and reality]. Radiotjänst (Swedish Broadcast), 1 November 1949. Bergman participates in a radio interview with film producers, film directors, and film critics, in which the topic is Hollywood vs new realistic cinema.
1950 694.
Hamberg, Per Martin. ‘Februarirevyn’ [February cavalcade]. Swedish Broadcast, 25 February 1950. Bergman is interviewed on Swedish radio about the intentions of his movies. He emphasizes his need to communicate and to be clear in what he wants to say. He rejects the popular view that he is ‘a cultural hooligan’ [en kulturell buse] whose screen world is peopled by prostitutes and pimps. His stated aim is ‘to transmit something of life’s suddenness to film’. [överföra något av livets plötslighet till filmen]. This statement practically silenced the interviewer.
695.
HIM. ‘Det personligas kris: Ingmar Bergman talar fritt’ [Personal crisis: Bergman talks openly]. Filmnyheter 5, no. 6, 1950: 8-10, 15. An interview with Bergman in which he declares: ‘Theatre is like a faithful wife, film is the big adventure, the expensive and demanding mistress – you worship both, each in her own way’. [Teatern är som en trogen hustru, filmen är det stora äventyret, den dyrbara och fordrande älskarinnan – man dyrkar båda, var och en på sitt sätt.]. Cf. K.M. Birkelund, Filmjournalen (Oslo), 11-25 June 1952, pp. 6-7, 28, where Bergman develops this statement.
829
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman
1953 696.
n.a. Untitled German interview in Der Mittag (Düsseldorf), 20 October 1953. Bergman talks about his film Törst (Thirst), which aroused debate among German critics because of its lesbian motif. His response: ‘No one can claim that my film makes such matters desirable. On the contrary! My only task is to see to it that people who watch my films do not remain indifferent.’
697.
Bergström, Kåbe. ‘Pirandello e’ ingen Paddock’ [Pirandello is no Paddock. (Paddock is the Swedish variety show contributor]. Frihet, no. 23, 1953, pp. 15-17. See also listing in Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 521). Bergman talks about receiving film offers from abroad but values professionalism of Swedish studios too much to leave, though deploring the status of current filmmaking in Sweden which, according to him, is ‘95% drivel’ [95% smörja]. He discusses his scriptwriting method.
698.
Forssell, Sven and Hans Malmberg. ‘Försvar för Ingmar Begman’ [Defense of Bergman]. Filmjournalen 34, no. 5 (February) 1953: 8-11, 26. The authors’ defense of Bergman concerns a controversy at the Malmö City Theatre about actors’ lifestyle. See Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 519), Chapter VII.
699.
Hammer, Sten. ‘Fräcka frågor till Ingmar Bergman’ [Impudent questions to Bergman]. FIB (Folket i Bild), no. 19, 1953: 12. Bergman contrasts his situation as an artist in a mass culture to the exclusive ‘cotton boys’ (bomullsgossarna), writers who live on advances and stipends, and get depressed if their works sell more than 250 copies. He attributes his success to his diligence and an ability to exploit his talents.
700.
Hellqvist, Elof. ‘Min idol: Ingmar Bergman’ [My idol: Bergman]. Hörde ni?, 28 November 1953, pp. 36-41. A published radio conversation between Bergman and a book salesman who had been asked to pick his favorite person to interview. Bergman talks about having achieved a certain distance from his personal problems, stating that his films now grow out of ‘an embittered tenderness for other people’. [Ut ur en bitter ömhet för andra]. This statement is repeated in an interview article (possibly faked) by Rune Moberg, ‘Elakt geni’ [Nasty genius] in the Swedish tabloid magazine Se, no. 5 (1953), p. 16.
701.
Montan, Alf. ‘I.B.: Gärna skamlöst men inte pornografiskt’ [Bergman: Impudence is fine, but not pornography]. Expr., 20 September 1953, p. 9. An interview article full of tongue-in-cheek statements by Bergman. For example: ‘I’d rather be executed by a sword than carved by blunt pen knives’. [Jag skulle hellre avrättas med svärd än att skäras i med slöa pennknivar]; ‘To woo the public and to engage the public are two different things’ [Att fria till publiken och att engagera publiken är två olika ting]; ‘I try to transfer a woman to the screen; how she feels, thinks, and smells’. [Jag försöker överföra kvinnan till duken; hur hon känner, tänker och luktar]; ‘I always write in longhand; I am pedantic – a clerk type. I rewrite and polish. In the final manuscript everything must be clean and proper. Not a
830
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman change’. [Jag skriver alltid för hand; jag är pedantisk – en kamrerartyp. Jag skriver om och polerar. I det slutliga manuskriptet måste allting vara rent och snyggt. Inte en ändring.]
702.
-sch. ‘Ich suche ein gutes Drehbuch’. Die Welt, 22 May 1953. An interview article in which Bergman talks about both his film work and theatre productions during a visit to Hamburg.
1954 703.
Bergen visit and interviews Ingmar Bergman’s visit to Bergen, Norway, on 17 March 1954 in connection with the Norwegian opening of Gycklarnas afton (The Naked Night), (See Ø 220, Commentary) resulted in two follow-up interviews: Filmjournalen (Oslo), no. 8 (April), p. 3, and Filmdebatt 4, no. 2 (April): 14-15. In the first interview, Bergman insists that film must assault people emotionally rather than appeal to their intellect, an idea that remained crucial to him throughout his career. See Thomas Samuels’ interview with Bergman (Ø 811). In the Filmdebatt interview, Bergman stresses his ambition to entertain the audience, another central thought in his artistic credo. See Bergman, ‘Det att göra film’ (Ø 87). Bergman’s visit was also commented on in Norsk Filmblad 22, no. 4 (April) 1954: 120.
704.
Sellermark, Arne. ‘‘Ingmar Bergman varnar för stora braknummer’ [Bergman warns against big bravura numbers]. Jämtlands Tidning (Östersund), 25 February 1954, pp.4- 5. An interview article in which Bergman argues that Swedish cinema is coming into its own again by going back to its national roots: a poetic sense of nature and a liberal and unprejudiced spirit. Bergman associates the traditional Swedish cinema with a psychological chamber-play approach, which is ‘quite unique and extends from Victor Sjöström’s The Phantom Chariot to Gustaf Molander’s, Alf Sjöberg’s, Hasse Ekman’s and my own films’. [helt unik och sträcker sig från Körkarlen till Gustaf Molanders, Alf Sjöbergs, Hasse Ekmans och mina egna filmer]. In another Sellermark interview article from 1954 (Allers, no. 35, August 29, pp. 6-7, 37-38), Bergman continues his discussion of the chamber film concept, stating that he aims at transcending the realistic barriers of the film medium.
1955 705.
Beronius, Boel Marie. ‘Jag vill inte vara lycklig’ [I dont want to be happy]. Allt, no. 3, 1955, pp. 22-24. An interview about Bergman’s view on marriage and happiness, with quotes from En lektion i kärlek/A Lesson in Love.
706.
Sellermark, Arne. ‘Tre nattliga leenden’ [Three nightly smiles]. Filmnyheter 10, no. 19-20, 1955: 4-7, 10.
831
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman A discussion of Smiles of a Summer Night, based on a conversation with Bergman, who states his satisfaction with having found an expressive comedy form that is challenging in its demand for precision, a light touch, and fullness. A similar interview article by same author was published under the title ‘Är han tyrannregissör?’ [Is he a tyrant director?]. Vecko-Journalen 46, no. 41 (October 15) 1955: 27-29, 9. Bergman makes a central statement about the relationship between his films and his personal life: ‘My themes are constant; they exist in their sealed packages, strangely anonymous. [...] Whether my films are comedies or farces, broadsheets or dramas, they are all fetched from my private life. Remolded and masked’. [Mina teman är konstanta; de existerar i sina förseglade paket, egendomligt anonyma. [...] Oavsett om min filmer är komedier eller farser, skillingtryck eller dramer så är de alla tagna ur mitt privata liv. Omgjutna och maskerade.].
1956 707.
Hoogland Claes and Gunnar Ollén. ‘Teaterfoajé’. Broadcast on Swedish Public Radio, 1 February 1956. Bergman (and Lars Levi Læstadius) are interviewed about directing their own plays. (See Ø 525), Theatre/Media Bibliography.
708.
‘Jag får väl kompromettera mig igen...’. Kvällsposten, 22 January 1956, p. 16. Bergman talks briefly about his balancing act between entertainment and artistic integrity. The interview is related to the success of Sommarnattens leende.
709.
Nilson, Ulf. ‘En lektion i Bergman’ [A lesson in Bergman]. Vecko-Revyn, no. 2, 14 January 1956, pp. 22-23. See also Tannefors, Chapter IX, (Ø 981). An interview article based on the author’s meeting with Bergman in his office at the Malmö City Theatre. The title refers to the reporter’s ‘lesson’ in facing Bergman’s challenging attitude. The gist of the interview is Bergman’s emphasis on his work as entertainment, both light and serious.
710.
‘Sex frågor till Ingmar Bergman’ [Six questions for Bergman]. Bildjournalen,no. 38, 1956, pp. 8-9. The interview appeared in French as ‘Bergman par lui-même’ Cahiers du cinéma, no. 85 (July 1958), p. 15; in Spanish in preface to ‘El septimo sello’, Cuadernos de Cine Club del Uruguay (Montevideo), 1961, pp. i-ii; and in German (untitled) in Action 4, no. 7 (October 1968): 36. A brief statement in which Bergman talks about himself as a bourgeois person and an unborn actor.
1957 711.
Goland, Erik, ed. ‘Tidspegeln’ [Mirror of the Times]. Swedish Public Radio, 8 February 1957. In a cultural news program Bergman participates briefly in a film debate at Lund University on the topic ‘Filmen 1957: Förfall eller förnyelse’ [The Cinema in 1957: Decadence or Renaissance].
832
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman Discussants were film critics Robin Hood (Bengt Idestam-Almqvist), Harry Schein and Gunnar Tannefors, producer Carl Anders Dymling, filmmakers Arne Mattsson and Bergman. Everyone except Bergman expresses negative feelings about ‘utsugningen’ (the tax exploitation) of Swedish film production. Bergman’s role is very minor.
712.
Sjöman, Vilgot. ‘Spänningen Ingmar Bergman’ [Tension: Bergman]. Vi, no. 14, (5 April) 1957: 16-17, 38. Filmmaker Vilgot Sjöman provides one of the most insightful early magazine and television interviews and review articles about Bergman. On this occasion he had visited Bergman at the Malmö City Theatre. The article is part impressionistic portrait of Bergman, part commentary on his staging of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. Bergman mentions his fear of critics.
1958 713.
Béranger, Jean. ‘Rencontre avec Ingmar Bergman’. Cahiers du cinéma 15, no. 88 (October) 1958: 12-30. Translated into English in Focus on The Seventh Seal (Ø 1220), pp. 10-15. One of the most extensive early interviews with Bergman by a foreign film critic. Bergman discusses his shooting technique, his work conditions, and his desire to see more (French) films.
714.
Dallmann, Günther. ‘Ingmar Bergman dreht nicht nur Filme’. Tagespiegel, 24 August 1958. A visit by interviewer to SF Studios in Råsunda (Stockholm) during shooting of Ansiktet (The Magician). Bergman talks about his mentor in film (Sjöström) and about authors who have inspired him. Discusses concept of entertainment on an artistic level. The article gives a summary of Bergman’s film and theatre work to date.
715.
Lilliestierna, Christina. ‘Min själ angår ingen’ [My soul is nobody’s business]. Vecko-Journalen 49, no. 20, 1958: p. 21, 40. An interview article from the Sophia Hospital in Stockholm, where Bergman had gone to cure his ulcer and work on his next script. Bergman is presented as a workaholic, who avoids glitzy occasions like film festivals. He sums up his needs in life – apart from making films and directing plays: ‘A comfortable sweater to work in and a comfortable sweater when I am not working; an old car that does not need to be washed; a chair to sit on and then some food’. [En bekväm tröja att arbeta i och en bekväm tröja när jag inte arbetar; en gammal bil som inte behöver tvättas; en stol att sitta i och så lite mat]. Bergman distinguishes between two types of truths in his filmmaking: documentary truth and artistic truth. Insists that ‘my view of life or faith in God and the Devil is my business and cannot possibly be of interest to anyone else. I need that kind of foundation [...] within myself in order to have the strength to create something. [...] But not so that the label attachers can point and say: so and so is a self-portrait, in such and such a detail lies the Bergman sermon’. [... min livssyn eller min tro på Gud eller Djävulen är min ensak och kan inte rimligen vara av intresse för någon annan. Jag behöver den slags grund [...] inom mig för att ha styrkan att skapa något. [...] Men inte så att etikettklistrarna kan peka och säga: det och det är ett självporträtt, i den och den detaljen ligger Bergmans predikan.]
833
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 716.
Müllern, Gunnar. ‘Vår generation tänker med ögonen’ [Our generation thinks with their eyes]. AB, 13 April 1958, p. 7. An interview article in which Bergman sees a gap between his own visually-oriented generation and the preceding word-fixated one. He expresses a worry that film technology will turn future filmmakers into engineers instead of creative artists. Cf. Thiessen (Ø 719) below.
717.
Perpetua, (Barbro Hähnel). ‘Ingmar Bergman filmar: von Sydow magnesitör’ [Bergman is filming: von Sydow an illusionist]. DN, 4 July 1958, p. 1, 30. In an interview during the shooting of Ansiktet (The Magician/The Face), Bergman points out the importance of intuition and musicality in his directing, stating that he never demonstrates a scene before his ensemble but listens and makes suggestions. Both directing and acting ‘is a matter of feeling, intuition and imagination’. [är en fråga om känsla, intuition och fantasi].
718.
Sellermark, Arne. ‘Lek med sprängladdningar’ [Playing with dynamite]. Idun, no. 43 (27 October), 1958: 21-22, 63. An interview article presenting a view often expressed by Bergman over the years that his work in the theatre is necessary for his mental balance, ‘ Theatre work is a give-and-take, you always get something back. Film is the very opposite. It is your own responsibility from beginning to end. Self-sacrifice. Self-combustion. And what do you get back? Money. Nothing but money’. [Teater är ett givande och tagande, du får hela tiden något tillbaka. Film är det motsatta. Eget ansvar från början till slut. Självuppoffring. Självförbrännelse. Och vad får man tillbaks? Pengar. Ingenting annat än pengar]. Part of this article was paraphrased in Time cover story, 14 March 1960. See Group item (Ø 1011).
719.
Thiessen, Sven. ‘Ingmar Bergman vill vara underhållande’, Vår Bostad, no. 10 (October), 1958: 26-27, 32-33, and Östgöta-correspondenten, 6 September 1958, Saturday Section, pp. 1-2. An interview in which Bergman is quoted as saying: ‘You can’t vomit on the audience and ask SEK 2.75 for it’. [Du kan inte kräkas på publiken och begära 2.75 för det]. Bergman lists his favorite authors: Strindberg, Hjalmar Bergman, Balzac, Maupassant, Dostoyevski, Tolstoy, and Turgenyev. Bergman repeats his doubts about new technical inventions in the cinema: ‘Film technique was invented between 1895 and 1914. Since 1914, nothing of importance has happened except sound, which is of questionable value’. [Filmtekniken uppfanns mellan 1895 och 1914. Efter 1914 har ingenting av betydelse inträffat utom ljudet, vilket är av tvivelaktigt värde].
1959 720.
Burvenich, Josef. ‘Ontmoeting met Ingmar Bergman’ [Meeting with Ingmar Bergman]. De Linie, 24 December 1959. An interview article focussing on Bergman’s films from the Fifties. The author, a Belgian Catholic priest, was an early introducer of Bergman outside of Sweden.
834
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 721.
Fleisher, Wilfrid. ‘Talk with the Director’. Newsweek, 23 November 1959, pp. 116-17. A brief interview article with some biographical information. Bergman discusses filmmaking in Sweden and his future plans; talks about close-ups as his personal trademark and about the camera’s role as objective observer.
722.
Jungstedt, Torsten, ed. ‘Biodags’ [Movie Time]. Sveriges Radio (SR), August-September (no day listed) 1959. 10 minutes. Ingmar Bergman is interviewed about film music and his future film plans. Asked about offers to film in France, Bergman answers: ‘With me it’s like a violinist who received an offer in France. They said, you should come down here and play, but you must play on a French instrument. He didn’t want to do that. It’s the same with me’. [Det är med mig som med violinisten. Han fick ett erbjudande från Frankrike. De sa, du ska komma ner hit och spela men du måste spela på ett franskt instrument. Det ville han inte. Det är samma sak med mig.]. Jungstedt reports on a meeting with producer Dino de Laurentis who was planning a film about the Bible and allegedly had saved the Apocalypse for Ingmar Bergman. Bergman denies any knowledge of this and refers to the producer as one of those people who ‘goes to bed as Don Quixote and gets up as Sancho Panza’ [går och lägger sig som Don Quijote och stiger upp som Sancho Panza].
723.
‘Mr. Bergman Relaxes’. The Times, 4 May 1959. See Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 532).
724.
Rådström, Anne-Marie. ‘Film är min passion’. FIB, no. 18, 1959: 8-9, 54. An interview in which Bergman talks about the theatre as the essence of life, compared to filmmaking, which is ‘a vice, a passion’. [en last, en passion]. Defines his role as director as someone who is responsible for creating the outer and inner preconditions that release the energy and talent of the actors. Mentions his preference for a large stage for his theatre productions (a view that would change in the years to come).
1960 725.
n.a. ‘Källarteater är självbefläckelse’ [Underground theatre is self-indulgence]. AB, 7 September 1960, p. 10. Crosslisted and annotated more extensively in group item (Ø 533) in Theatre/Media Bibliography, Chapter VII. Bergman is critical of current underground theatres whose work was based on group decisions, radical ideology, and improvization.
726.
Alpert, Hollis. ‘Bergman as Writer’, Saturday Review, 27 August 1960, pp. 22-23, and ‘Style is the Director’, Saturday Review, 23 December 1961, pp. 39-41. Reprinted in Dreams and Dreamers. New York: Macmillan, 1962, pp. 62-77. Two comprehensive interview articles in which Bergman comments on scriptwriting and film structure, and talks about other directors.
835
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 727.
Baldwin, James. ‘The Precarious Vogue of Ingmar Bergman’. Esquire 53, no. 4 (April) 1960: 128-32. Reprinted in Nobody Knows My Name (New York: Dial Press, 1961), pp. 163-80. Notes based on an interview with Ingmar Bergman in Stockholm. Baldwin realizes that the landscape Bergman depicts actually exists in reality. This essay might be juxtposed to interviews by Samuels (Ø 811) and Murphy (Ø 855) as good examples of unique personal encounters between Bergman and interviewers.
728.
Buchwald, Gunnar. ‘Ordets frihed er endnu ikke filmens frihed’ [Freedom of the word is not yet freedom of the film]. Berlingske Tidende (Copenhagen), 20 November 1960, p. 2. An interview article about film censorship. Bergman relates issue to a moral imperative based on ‘Truthfulness between men and women that will be transmitted to their children. Only then will we create a world in which people are not afraid and therefore not dangerous’. [Sanningen mellom men og kvinder som vil overføres till deres børn. Kun da vill vi skabe en verden i vilken menneskene ikke er bange og derfor ikke farlige.]
729.
Ericsson, Arne. ‘Möte med Ingmar Bergman’ [Encounter with Bergman]. SR, 6 February 1960. Typescript in SR archives. An important radio interview. Bergman confirms his indebtedness to Strindberg, states his lifelong love of music, emphasizes the importance of his revolt against his parents, and reiterates his sense of rootedness in Sweden.
730.
Fredriksson, Nils. ‘Han förtrollar människor’. Hemmets Journal 40, no. 23, 1960, p. 6-7, 52. Mostly a resumé of Billqvist’s book on Ingmar Bergman (Ø 1040), written up as an interview.
731.
Hamdi, Britt. ‘Ingmar Bergman och Käbi Laretei’. [Bergman and KL]. Damernas värld, 17 November 1960: 27-33, 74. At home reportage about the early days of Bergman’s marriage to pianist Käbi Laretei. The marriage was Bergman’s fourth, his previous wives being Else Fisher, choreographer; Ellen Lundström, choreographer; and Gun Grut, journalist. Bergman states: ‘For the first time in my life, I have something I can call a home, a little well-ordered world that is my defense against disintegration and chaos. I experience security, warmth, care, and mature togetherness with another person’. [För första gången i mitt liv har jag något jag kan kalla ett hem, en liten välordnad värld som är mitt försvar mot upplösning och kaos. Jag upplever trygghet, värme, omtanke och mogen samvaro med en annan person.]. The above statement by Bergman might be juxtaposed to the following afterthought, quoted in Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), p. 167: ‘Suddenly I veer off at a right angle, get myself a villa in Djursholm [upper-class Stockholm suburb], set up house and lead a bourgeois life which is a spitting image of my notion of a secure existence. [...] Afterwards I discover that it’s all utterly crazy, simply doesn’t fit together. [...] The result is a deep disappointment and the entire ideology collapses’. See also home interviews with Bergman by K. Karlstedt, Vecko-Journalen, no. 31 (1959), pp. 16-19, 38; A. Lagercrantz in Idun-Veckojournalen, no. 30 (1963), pp. 23-27, and by R. Gylder in Svensk Damtidning, no. 22 (8 June) 1965, pp. 28-31.
836
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 732.
Rying, Matts. ‘Sluta upp med pratet om min demoni!’ [Stop this talk about my demonic nature!). Vecko-Journalen, no. 10, 1960: 24, 38. Bergman denounces media portrait of him as a demonic director, claiming this was only true when he was still young and insecure. Also mentions his hypersensitivity to critics. See also Rying interview in Röster i Radio, 3-9 February 1963: 24-25, 56, where Bergman talks about avoiding his ‘demonic’ persona through hard and concentrated work.
1961 733.
734.
‘Dagens eko: Ingmar Bergman intervjuas’ [The Daily Echo. Bergman interviewed]. SR, 18 April 1961. Bergman is interviewed in connection with winning an Oscar for Best Foreign Film with Jungfrukällan [The Virgin Spring]. Forslund, Bengt. ‘Ingmar Bergman ser på film’ [Bergman looks at film]. Chaplin 3, no. 18, 1961: 60-61; and no. 20, 1961: 124-25. Talk ranges in subject matter from Bergman’s specific film favorites to an assessment of his position in filmmaking. Bergman criticizes the French new wave for flaunting crafsmanship. Interview was continued in Chaplin 5, no. 34, 1963: 13-15, ‘En oavbruten rörelse. Ingmar Bergman ser tillbaka’ [An uninterrupted movement. Bergman looks back], and in no. 39, 1963: 17879, 205.
735.
Jungstedt, Torsten. ‘Biodags’ [Movie time]. Swedish Public Radio, 23 September and 31 October 1961. Bergman is interviewed on Swedish radio about his filmmaking and current film plans at a time when he had just released Såsom i en spegel and was in the midst of shooting Nattvardsgästerna.
736.
Jungstedt, Torsten. ‘Fyra filmer i en bok’ [Four films in one book]. Swedish Public Radio (SR), 7 March and 13 March 1961. A half-hour interview with Bergman and his producer at Svensk Filmindustri (SF), Carl Anders Dymling, in connection with the American publication of Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman. Bergman asserts that international recognition does not change his target viewer; he still makes films for a Scandinavian audience.
737.
Moberg, Rune. ‘Framgången, gosse, är en kviga med såpad svans’ [Success, man, is a heifer with a soaped tail]. Se, no. 17, 27 April 1961: 42, 44-45. The title of the interview refers to medieval Swedish custom of testing itenerant artists by asking them to hold on to the soaped tail of a heifer. If the artist lost his grip, he was judged a fake. Bergman likens his own position to similar irrational views among the public. He also likens his international fame to a flu epidemic: ‘It goes from country to country, reaches its peak and then tapers off ’. [Den går från land till land, når sin kulmen och avtar.] Cf. title of next item.
738.
Montan, Alf. ‘Utländska intresset för mig bara modesak – tar snart slut’ [Foreign interest in me only a fad – will soon end]. Expr., 12 October 1961: 20-21.
837
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman In this interview Bergman gives two reasons why he wants to articulate himself in film: The first is personal, a form of self-therapy. The second one stems from a wish to provide emotional experiences for the audience.
1962 739.
‘Amerikanska filmakademins Oscars-pris’ [American Film Academy’s Oscar Prize]. Swedish Public Radio (SR) 10 April 1962. Bergman is interviewed in connection with winning an Oscar for Såsom i en spegel (Through a Glass Darkly).
740.
Burvenich, Jos. ‘Incontro con Bergman’. Cineforum 2, no. 17 (July) 1962: 681-690. An interview article by a Catholic priest who was an early contributor to Bergman scholarship. In this item he attempts to assess Bergman’s standing in the European cinema.
741.
Grenier, Richard. ‘Bergman and Opus 26’. Financial Times (London), 29 August 1962, n.p. (BFI clipping). An interview article reporting a half-million dollar MGM offer to Bergman, i.e., 24 times his income at the time. Bergman discusses his lack of interest in going to Hollywood with talk show personality Lennart Hyland in Folket i Bild, 31 January 1962, pp. 13-16.
742.
Hamdi, Britt. ‘Nu ger vi tusan i alltihop och gör nå’t roligt’ [Let’s quit and have some fun]. Vecko-Revyn, no. 10, 1962: 19-28, 8. An interview article from the shooting of Nattvardsgästerna/Winter Light. Cf. Sjöman (Ø 751). Bergman is critical of current film and theatre education in Sweden.
743.
Janzon, Bengt. ‘Bergman on Opera’. Opera News, 5 May 1962: 12-14. An interview with Bergman on opera and his experiences from directing Stravinski’s The Rake’s Progress at the Stockholm Opera.
744.
Lindström, Jan. ‘Ingmar Bergman förklarar bortklippta TV-intervjun’ [Bergman explains cut TV interview]. Expr., 24 May 1962, p. 26. The title refers to an interview with Bergman on the BBC TV program ‘Panorama’, which dealt with Sweden. Bergman insisted that the interview only be televised to an English-speaking public and gave the following reasons: (1) that he was concerned about his broken English and hesitated giving the interview in the first place; (2) that he was unaware that the program was going to be televised in Sweden and hence asked the producer to cancel it on the grounds that his statements were aimed at a different, non-Swedish audience; (3) that his statements were prompted by Mai Zetterling’s critical TV film about Sweden titled ‘The Prosperity Race’, televised on the BBC. Bergman disliked the film and wanted to provide a ‘corrective’ view but now realized it would be interpreted in Sweden as his personal attack on Zetterling.
838
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 745.
Rådström, Anne Marie. ‘FIB frågar Ingmar Bergman: Är svensk film på väg uppåt’ [FIB asks Bergman: Is Swedish film on its way up?] Folket i Bild, no. 7 (25 April) 1962: 6-7. Bergman complains about heavy taxation of the Swedish film industry and about obsolete technical equipment. Calls for a new generation of filmmakers, stating he would like to create opportunities for them to work with a sense of security.
1963 746.
747.
Forslund, Bengt. ‘En oavbruten rörelse. Ingmar Bergman ser tillbaka’ [An uninterrupted movement. Bergman looks back]. Chaplin 5, no. 1 (34), January 1963: 13-15. See Forslund, (Ø 734), 1961. Forslund, Bengt. ‘För att inte tala om alla dessa skådespelare’ [Not to speak of all these actors]. Chaplin 5, no. 6 (September) 1963: 178-79, 205. Bergman talks about the personal basis of his films and his early need both to locate an alter ego in the script and assume an attitude of greater distance to his work. Most of the interview deals with Bergman’s conscious efforts to build confidence between himself and his group of actors.
748.
Hedlund, Oscar. ‘Ingmar Bergman, lyssnaren’ [Bergman, the Listener]. Expr., 20 July 1963, pp. 4-5. Appeared in English as ‘Ingmar Bergman, the Listener’ in Saturday Review, 29 February 1964, pp. 47-49. Bergman talks about the relationship between film and music. (Cf. Ø 931), Lundberg, 2000.
749.
Rasmussen, Björn. ‘Profil: Ingmar Bergman’. ST, 3 November 1963: 16. Bergman praises Danish filmmaker Kjerrulf ’s Weekend and Fellini’s 8 1/2. He considered the latter a personal greeting to him, just as Wild Strawberries had been a greeting to Fellini. Expresses skepticism about film schools as opposed to his own autodidactic training in the film studios, and criticizes film censorship: ‘The only censorship I accept and respect is the artist’s inner compulsion’. [Den enda censur jag accepterar är konstnärens inre tvång]. The last two points were issues under discussion at the time. A Swedish Film School was being established, where Bergman was snubbed by a new generation of ideologues and filmmakers-to-be, and Bergman had been confronted with Swedish censorship rules because of his film The Silence. Swedish magazine Året runt, no. 17 (1964), pp. 10-11, 66, 68, 70, published an interview with Bergman on The Silence and the issue of censorship. See Commentary (Ø 234). Cf. also Ø 752, 755.
750.
Rying, Matts. ‘Bara här hör jag hemma’. [I only belong here]. Röster i Radio-TV, 3 February 1963, pp. 24-25, 56-57. Bergman deplores the economic status of Swedish theatre and film. He complains about lack of a cultural tradition in Sweden and explains why many of his films have been set in the past – he simply feels rapport with certain epochs in the past: the Nordic High Middle Ages, Louis XIV’s France, and Vienna culture. Talks at some length about the importance of the slanted Nordic light for him to feel comfortable.
839
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 751.
Sjöman, Vilgot. ‘Vilgot Sjöman intervjuar Ingmar Bergman’. SVT, 27 January, 3 February and 10 February 1963. Vilgot Sjöman conducted a series of TV interviews with Ingmar Bergman titled ‘Ingmar Bergman gör en film’ [Bergman makes a film]. Some of these interviews were filmed during the shooting of Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light). Sjöman covers more ground here than in his book L-136, based on the same material, and provides an important document on Bergman’s views on his artistic activity in the early Sixties. The 4-part series is entitled: Manuskriptet [The manuscript]; (2) Inspelningen [The shooting]; (3) Efterarbetet [The editing]; (4) Premiären [The opening]. A French version of the interview titled ‘Journal des Communiants’ appeared in Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 165-168 (April-July 1965).
1964 752.
Beer, Allan. ‘Ingmar Bergman talar ut’ [Bergman speaks his mind]. Året Runt, no. 17, 1964, pp. 11, 66, 68, 70. Bergman is interviewed about his work as head of Dramaten and about his film Tystnaden (The Silence) and censorship. He also talks about his Swedish roots; about cancelled plans to make an American film, followed by a sabbatical year; and about his view of himself as an author.
753.
Billard, Pierre. ‘Le monde du silence’. Cinema 64, no. 85 (April) 1964: 83-93. See also the same author in Wie sie filmen, ed. Ulrich Gregor (Gutersloh: Sigberth Mohn, 1966), pp. 102-08. Author visits Bergman at Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. He is struck by Bergman’s sense of order: ‘Here is the regulated, organized, chronometered, hierarchic, hygienic, and methodical universe in which Bergman springs forth.’
754.
‘Playboy Interview: Ingmar Bergman. A Candid Conversation with Sweden’s Oneman New Wave of Cinematic Sorcery’. Playboy 11, no. 6 (June) 1964: 61-68. The interview is preceded by a brief intoduction to Bergman’s life and artistic activity, which contains some factual errors. The interview ranges from Bergman’s rather bland comments on some recent film titles to an account of the genesis of The Silence.
755.
Prouse, Derek. ‘Ingmar Bergman: The Censor’s Problem-genius’. Sunday Times (London), 15 March 1964, p. 30. Reprinted in Los Angeles Times Calendar, 29 March 1964, p. 1. Bergman talks about his present good relations with his parents and about his new contentment: ‘You can only make a film like The Silence when you’re content.’
756.
Riffe, Ernest. ‘Bergman parle de lui-même et du Silence’. L’Express (Paris), 5 March 1964: 28-29. Also in German in Weltwoche Magazin, 20 March 1964: 25, 35. (Cf. Ø 778). An interview article using Bergman’s pen name, assessing his metaphysical position in a welfare state.
840
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 757.
Rying, Matts. ‘Vi galna hundar’ (Us mad dogs). Röster i Radio-TV, no. 41, 1964, pp. 17, 54, 56. An interview in connection with Bergman’s TV version of Olle Hedberg’s Rabies, first staged by him in 1945. He cautions about looking back at past work, for then ‘we are turned into stone’. [då förvandlas vi till sten]. For that reason he prefers theatre work to filmmaking, since it is temporal and unlike old films does not reappear ‘like burps’. [som rapningar].
758.
Stempel, Hans. ‘Begegnung mit Ingmar Bergman’. [Encounter with B]. Westdeutsche Rundfunk/TV, 6 August 1964, 13 pp. A typescript of a West German TV interview with Bergman, with excerpts from The Naked Night, The Seventh Seal, Winter Light, and The Silence. Talk is somewhat morbid. Bergman juxtaposes the difference between a past when people died at home amidst a family and today’s dying alone in a hospital, which he sees as the epitome of loneliness in the 20th-century.
759.
Öhngren, Lars. ‘Det svenska geniet’ [The Swedish genius]. Femina, nos. 45-48, 1964. Biographical series of articles, partly based on interviews with Ingmar Bergman.
1965 760.
Hederberg, Hans. ‘Jag gjorde reklamfilm för att försörja mig’ [I made commercials to support myself). AB, 23 September 1965, p. 16. An interview article in which Bergman talks about his early years in filmmaking and the resistance he encountered. The title refers to his 1951 commericals for Bris (Breeze) soap.
761.
Newman, Edwin. ‘A Profile of Ingmar Bergman’. NBC, 16 November 1965. 54 min. A television interview taped in Stockholm. Bergman speculates on the Scandinavian character and its influence on his work. He makes distinctions between artistic and commercial failures and discusses the genesis of a film, his use of sound, his need to work in Sweden, and his concept of ‘art for the artist’s sake’. This interview appeared in print, titled ‘My Need to Express Myself in a Film’. Film Comment 4, no. 2-3 (Fall-Winter) 1967: 58-62.
762.
Rying, Matts and Ulf Stråhle. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. In Intryck i Sverige [Impressions in Sweden]. Malmö: Bo Cavefors, 1965, pp. 66-71. An interview article, focusing on Bergman’s dynamic temperament. Asked why he has turned down all offers from abroad, Bergman replies: Here I manage my own business, I am my own boss. Now, I’m not exactly afraid of losing this independence, were I to come to Hollywood – if they invite me into the boat, they are dependent on me, on what I make, and have to leave me alone. But what one might fear is not having a say in the editing process. [...] That would be like taking a new born baby from its mother’s breast. [Här sköter jag mig själv, jag är min egen chef. Nu är jag inte direkt rädd för att förlora mitt oberoende om jag kom till Hollywood – om de bjuder in mig i båten är de beroende av mig,
841
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman av vad jag gör och måste lämna mig ensam. Men vad man kan frukta är att inte ha något att säga till om i klippningen. [...] Det vore som att ta en nyfödd från modersbröstet.]
763.
Schuh, Oscar Fritz. ‘Vom “Traumspiel” zum “Schweigen”: Ein Gespräch über August Strindberg und Ingmar Bergman’. Eckart Jahrbuch, 1965, pp. 81-88. Cross-listed in Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 539).
1966 764.
765.
AGE. (Anders Elsberg). ‘Bergmanfarväl med Molière. Riv Operan och Dramaten!’ [Bergman farewell with M. Tear down the Opera and Dramaten!]. DN, 17 November 1966. Cross-listed and annotated more fully in Theatre/Media Chapter, (Ø 540). Béranger, Jean. ‘Je suis un boulimique’. Arts, no. 27 (30 March) 1966: 16-17. Though presented as a live interview, item seems to be Béranger’s extraction of statements made by Bergman in his essay ‘The Snakeskin’ (Ø 131).
766.
[Holm], Annika. ‘För mig är film ansikten’ [For me film is faces]. DN, 28 May 1966, p. 10. An interview about Bergman’s return to filmmaking after his years as head of Dramaten. The mood expressed is reminiscent of the disillusioned tone of Bergman’s ‘Snakeskin’ essay (Ø 131) from about the same period of time. It confirms Bergman’s sense of isolation in his filmmaking.
767.
Kalmar, Sylvi. ‘När värklighetens [sic] gränser viker undan’ [When the limits of reality give away]. Fant 1, no. 4-5, 1966: 6-14. An interview with Bergman, who becomes irritated at interviewer’s insistence that he talk about his professional disappointments.
768.
Oldin, Gunnar. ‘Filmkrönika’. STV, 26 October 1966. In connection with the release of Persona, Bergman was interviewed on Swedish Television together with Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann. Bergman calls Buñuel a basic cinematographic experience for him and expresses his dislike of Godard. Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann recall being intimidated by Bergman. This interview is the basis of a 1992 videocassette (83 minutes, B/W), issued by Film Classics in Swedish, with English subtitles.
1967 769.
Archer, Eugene. ‘Bergman. I Try to Write Subconsciously’. NYT, 2 April 1967, sec. 2, p. D 11. Bergman discusses his early favorites among his films. Talks about his writing method, work schedule, and the cost of his films. Swedish summary in SvD, 2 April 1967.
842
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 770.
Hamdi, Britt. ‘Det är Bergman som gör film på Fårö’ [It’s Bergman making a film on Fårö]. Vecko-Revyn, 6 December 1967: 32-41. An interview during the shooting of Skammen. Bergman is in a relaxed mood and jokes about posterity, when he will be a stuffed museum piece and charge a fee for the public to look at him, a fee which might go to establishing a fund for young filmmakers.
771.
Löthwall, Lars-Olof. ‘Ingmar Bergman, Fårö, den 9 september 1967’. Film och Bio, 2/1967, pp. 27-30. A press conference interview at Hammars on Fårö before the shooting of Skammen. Though most questions concern this specific film, some of Bergman’s comments reveal his current disenchantment with the theatre. (See Ø 537, 544 in Theatre/Media Bibliography).
772.
Sundgren, Nils Petter. ‘Io vivo ogni film che faccio come un sogno’. Cineforum 8, no. 77 (September) 1967: 449-52. A translation of typescript from a Swedish TV interview on 21 February 1967 (Prod. no. 67/3039). Also published in Nuevo film (Montevideo), no. 4 (Autumn-Winter 1969), pp. 29-34. See also Expr., 19 March 1967. Bergman talks about experiencing each of his films as a conglomerate of dreams; sees dreams as essential in expressing the vulnerability of our life situation today; refers to some dreams he used in Gycklarnas afton (The Naked Night) and Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf).
1968 773.
Björkman, Stig, Torsten Manns and Jonas Sima. ‘Interview with Ingmar Bergman’. Movie no. 16 (Winter 1968/69): 2-8. Bergman discusses various aspects of his filmmaking during the shooting of Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf). Originally published under the title ‘Ingmar Bergman: “Man kan ju göra vad som helst på film”’ [Bergman: One can do just about anything on film], in Chaplin, no. 79 (February 1968): 44-51, this interview was incorporated in abbreviated form in Bergman on Bergman (1970) and had a wide circulation in the international press in 1968. It also appeared in Film in Sweden, no. 2 (1968), pp. 5-6. Excerpts were printed in Russian, Literaturnaja gazeta, 10 July 1968, n.p. Complete translations appeared in 1968 in the following languages and publications: French German Italian Norwegian
774.
Cahiers du cinéma, no. 203 (August), pp. 48-56. Also excerpted in L’Avant- scène du Cinéma, no. 85 (October) 1968: pp. 51-52; Filmkritik 12, no. 9 (September) 1968: pp. 604-9; Cinema & Film, no. 5-6 (Summer) 1968: pp. 163-80, and Cineforum 8, no. 77 (September) 1968: pp. 464-74; Film og kino 36, no. 4 (April-May) 1968: pp. 100-102.
Ceretto, Alberto. ‘Il regista svedese a Roma’. Corriere della Sera (Milan), 27 February 1968, n.p. (SFI). Bergman and Liv Ullmann visited Rome in February 1968. A press conference was held on February 26. Bergman talked about Hour of the Wolf and Shame . Cf. Mölter below (Ø 777).
843
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 775.
Friedman, Louis [alias Lewis Freedman]. ‘Ingmar Bergman, Super Symbolist’. Modern Cinema cassette recording (50 minutes). North Hollywood, Calif.: Center for Cassette Studies, 1967, 1970. Cassette has ref. no. 551. Freedman, Lewis. ‘All my Pictures are like Dreams’. Chicago Daily News, 13 April 1968. Panorama sec. p. 6. Also available in Radio TV Reports, Inc. Public Broadcasting Laboratory, WNDT-TV, New York City. A taped interview conducted in 1967 and televised three times. It probes Bergman’s approach to his major films, with excerpts, plus additional interviews with Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann. This interview is the basis of a discussion by Ira Progroff, ‘Waking Dream and Living Myth’, in Myths, Dreams and Religion, ed. by Joseph Campbell. Dallas: Spring Publications, 1988, pp. 184-195. The interview is also mentioned in Thure Stenström’s brief write-up about Bergman’s impact on US audiences, entitled ‘Vår andes stämma?’ [ Our spiritual voice?]. SvD, 21 January 1969, p. 5.
776.
Löthwall, Lars-Olof. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Take One 2, no. 1 (September-October) 1968: 16-18. A variation of this interview appeared in Films and Filming 15, no. 5 (February 1969): 4-6, and Cahiers du cinéma, no. 215 (September 1969): 47-50. It appeared first in Swedish in Film och Bio, no. 1, 1968, pp. 20-23, and Expr., 27 January 1968, pp. 4-5. An interview covering a range of subjects such as Bergman’s work methods; his use of family names; his approach to actors; importance of international breakthrough for his survival as a filmmaker, etc. It ends with Bergman making a list of no-needs. Cf. Buntzen and Craig, Film Quarterly 30, no. 2 (Winter 1976): 23-34, for questioning Bergman’s reasons for making such a list.
777.
Mölter, Veit. ‘Pornographie statt Gewalt’. Abendzeitung (Austrian), 3 May 1968. Billed as an interview but seems to be based on the Bergman press conference held in Rome in February 1968 (see Ceretto above). Cross-listed in (Ø 1166).
778.
Riffe, Ernest. ‘Schizophrenic Interview with a Nervous Film Director’. Film in Sweden, no. 3, 1968, pp. 5-6. Also in French, pp. 3-4, and German, pp. 7-8. Reprinted in Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 206 (November 1968). Appeared in Swedish under title ‘Utför med Ingmar Bergman – skriver Ingmar Bergman’ [Downhill for Bergman – writes Bergman]. Expr., 25 September 1968, p. 12. A self-interview by Bergman using familiar pseudonym. Bergman reiterates his apolitical nature and claims membership in only one party: The Party of the Scared [De räddas parti].
779.
Sjögren. Henrik. ‘Dialog med Ingmar Bergman’. In author’s Ingmar Bergman på teatern Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1968, pp. 291-316. See Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 548). A very informative interview conducted on 25 May 1968, in which Bergman talks about his approach to theatre directing. In each theatrical space he looks for ‘a radiation point’ connecting stage and audience, and in each theatre production that he undertakes, he looks for a similar charging point between the playwright and himself. He defines his foremost task as a
844
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman theatre director to be ‘an ear and an eye’ for the performers. He talks also about his Lehrjahre with role models like directors Olof Molander and, above all, Torsten Hammarén. Excerpts of this interview were published in Italian magazine La Dramma, no. 11-12, 1971.
780.
Vinberg, Björn. ‘Startar eget bolag – och gör TV-film’ [Starts own company and makes TV movie]. Expr., 3 February 1968, p. 26. An interview about Bergman’s plans for his company Cinematograph, which he compares to Lorens Marmstedt’s old Terra Film in the 1940s; that is, a production company intended to help young new directors and their projects.
1969 781.
Aghed, Jan. ‘Samtal med Bergman’ [Conversation with Bergman]. SDS, 9 February 1969, pp. 21-22. Reprinted in French in Positif, no. 121 (November) 1970: pp. 41-46. Bergman talks about film criticism in general; about the intolerance of the new left; about cinema as a legitimate form of escapism; about his studio, a laboratory where he studies human faces (cf. Vergerus in En passion).
782.
Henttonen, Anita. ‘Är du ett geni, Ingmar?’ [Are you a genius, Ingmar?]. AB, 26 April 1969, p. 10-11. In response to the title question, Bergman states that he is a talented craftsman, not a genius. Coming out of a dark period after leaving as head of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in 1966, and after facing criticism from the Sixties generation, Bergman now expresses joy of living and love of Fårö, his home.
783.
‘Ingmar Bergman intervjuas i Rom’ [Bergman interviewed in Rome]. SR, 5 January 1969. 2 min. Gunnar Kumlien talks to Bergman about his meeting with Frederico Fellini to plan a film project together. See also Ø 850, 1174.
784.
‘Ingmar Bergman sjunger’ [Bergman Sings]. Swedish Public Radio (SR), 17 January 1969. Bergman sings during a radio interview covering his stage production of Büchner’s Woyzeck. See Commentary (Ø 446), in Theatre Chapter, VI. Additional interviews on the same subject were broadcast on 12 and 15 March 1969.
785.
Strömstedt, Bo. ‘Vad tyr du dig till, Ingmar Bergman?’ [Where do you seek comfort, Bergman?]. Expr., 15-16 February 1969, Sunday section, pp. 1-3. An extensive interview with Bergman who stresses his need to work with a collective of actors and to live on Fårö. He defines ‘security’ (trygghet), a near-sacred concept in welfare-state Sweden, as the ability to look at reality without illusions, yet wake up each day with a sense of curiosity about life.
845
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 786.
Vinberg, Björn. ‘Bergman och SF – ett evigt kärlekshat’ [Bergman and SF – an eternal love hatred]. Expr. 14 December 1969, pp. 16-17. Interview article about Bergman’s relationship to the production company Svensk Filmindustri and the Råsunda Studios (‘Filmstaden’). The article includes Bergman’s comments on his days in SF’s script department and his earliest film ventures under its auspices.
1970 787.
788.
Anthal, Jussi. ‘Nu står England på knä för Bergman–men...’ [Now England kneels before B.–but]. Expr., 27 June 1970, p. 11. Cross-listed and annotated in Theatre/Media Bibliography, Ø 555. Björkman, Stig, Torsten Manns, and Jonas Sima, eds. Bergman om Bergman Stockholm: Norstedts, 1970, 308 pp. See below for foreign editions. Interviews with Ingmar Bergman over an 18-month period, covering all his films up to the making of Fårö-dokument. Though somewhat defensive about analytical interpretations of his films and uncomfortable about political slant of some of the questions, Bergman provides a goldmine of information about the genesis and production aspect of his filmmaking. Students are advised to use the English edition, since the Swedish edition has no index, which makes its use as a source book more difficult. According to one of the interviewers, the original manuscript was cut by one third after Bergman insisted upon deletions of certain parts. Some twenty years later, Bergman was still critical of Bergman om Bergman. See opening of his 1990 book Bilder [Images: My Life in Film]. Jonas Sima responded in ‘Så långt är det sant’ [So far it is true], Chaplin no. 232, 1991: 23-26. Taped excerpts from Bergman om Bergman were broadcast on Swedish radio, 28 November 1970. The interview book exists in a number of foreign language editions: Danish: Dutch: English: French: German:
Bergman om Bergman, trans. Claus Hesselberg. (Copenhagen: Rhodos, 1971), 277 pp. Bergman over Bergman, trans. by Joline Springer. (Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1977), 310 pp. Bergman on Bergman, trans. by Paul Britten Austin. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973), 288 pp, with an updated bibliography. Bergman selon Bergman, trans. by Alain Debore. (Paris: Editions Seghers, 1973), 376 pp. Excerpted in Ecran 15 (May) 1973: 2-8. Bergman über Bergman, trans. by W. Batt, J. Grohamn, and C. Henning. (Munich: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1976), 333 pp.
Czech excerpts in Panorama, vol. I, no. 3 (Summer 1976), pp. 77-90.
Reviews Mauritz Edström, DN, 23 November 1970, p. 4. Lars Forssell, Expr., 11 December 1970, p. 4. Charles Champlin, Los Angeles Times, 15 September 1974. Stanley Kaufmann, New Republic, 24 August 1974, p. 22. Jan Dawson, Sight and Sound 43, no. 3 (Summer) 1974: 182.
846
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 789.
Björkstén, Ingmar. ‘Skrapa på samhället och förnedringsritualen skiner igenom’ [Scrape the surface of society and the humilation ritual shines through]. Vecko-Journalen, no. 19 (5 May) 1970: 24-27. In this interview article Ingmar Bergman recognizes a developmental form in his films but denies any conscious thematic continuity. Defines artist’s role in society: to satify a need, to be a sounding board, and provide an emotional outlet. He modifies earlier statement that the theatre is his real home. Fårö is where he has his roots. The interview heading refers to a basic idea held by Bergman throughout his career: that a socially condoned pattern of humiliation forms the fabric of life in our culture.
790.
Jungstedt, Torsten. ‘Ingmar Bergman: En nästan vit synd’ [Bergman: An almost white sin]. Röster i Radio-TV, no. 13, 1970, p. 17. An interview with Bergman in connection with a TV showing of the 1961 film Lustgården [Garden of Eden) on 21 October 1970. Bergman wrote the script, Alf Kjellin directed the film. See Filmography, (Ø 232).
791.
‘Man Alive Presents Ingmar Bergman’. A special edition of CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) series. The program was written by the Rev. Marc Gervais, S.J. 1970, 58 min. A discussion of the religious implications of Bergman’s films, focussing on The Seventh Seal and Winter Light. Comments include Bergman briefly discussing impact of faith on creative expression.
792.
Skawonius, Betty. ‘Varför just Strindberg – Bergman?’ [Why precisely Strindberg – Bergman?]. DN, 11 March 1970. Mostly about Bergman’s upcoming production of Strindberg’s Drömspel, but also touches on his critical views of current Swedish television, which he feels has abrogated its cultural obligations. Bergman is also critical of the cultural debate in Sweden, which he finds rooted in ‘puritanism and dogmatism and an infantile rejection of tradition’. [puritanism och dogma och ett barnsligt förkastande av traditionen].
793.
Wester, Maud. ‘I 25 år har det stormat kring Ingmar Bergman’ [For 25 years it has been storming around Bergman]. Vecko-Journalen, nos. 15-18, 1970, various pages. A series of articles tracing Bergman’s biographical and artistic life during a quarter of a century. The basis is an interview with Bergman where he states his fundamental reasons for making films: To test psychological limits, ‘to move barriers where an emotional flow has been dammed up’ [att flytta gränser där ett känsloflöde har dämts för].
1971 794.
Aghed, Jan. ‘Conversation avec Ingmar Bergman’. Positif, no. 121 (November 1970): 41-46. An interview conducted after the opening of Shame. Interviewer’s repeated insistance on discussing Bergman’s filmmaking from the point of view of ideological topicality makes this
847
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman conversation symptomatic of the politicized climate that Bergman encountered at the time. Referring to it as naïve and himself as too pessimistic and ‘faithless’ to join the leftist camp, Bergman nevertheless talks about young leftist filmmakers with sympathy as long as ‘they have something in their heads’. [de har något i huvudet]. Bergman acknowledges his love of Hollywood films as a legitimate form of escapism that appeals to the child in the viewer.
795.
Beauman, Sally. ‘Bergman: Cold and wary’. Daily Telegraph Magazine (London), 12 March 1971: 37-42. The article subtitled ‘Portrait of the Artist as Puritan’ is based on an interview with Bergman and his crew during the shooting of The Touch. Bergman discusses a variety of subjects, from preparations for shooting a film to his lack of political conscience. The article also appeared in Show 2, no. 4 (June) 1971: 38-41, and in French in L’Express, n.d. (SFI clipping).
796.
Björkman, Stig. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Film in Sweden, no. 2, 1971: 7-8. Also printed in French, same source, pp. 3-6. Also in American Cinematographer LIII, no. 4 (April 1972): 434-39, 450; and in Movieland, 3 September 1971, pp. 11-12. The French version titled ‘Bergman parle’ also appeared in Télérama, 9 October 1971, pp. 53-55. A dialogue excerpt from 50-minute documentary film, made during the shooting of The Touch, produced for SFI, shot by Roland Lundin, and shown at San Francisco and London film festivals in 1972. See report in Variety, 1 November 1972, p. 26. For reviews of Björkman’s film, see Hanserik Hjertén, ‘Fräsch närbild av Bergman’ [Fresh close-up of B]. DN, 12 May 1972; Elisabeth Sörenson, ‘Porträtt av Ingmar Bergman’. SvD, 12 May 1972; Betty Skawonius, ‘Bergman-skildrare filmar med Harriet A’ [Portrayer of Bergman films with Harriet A]. DN, 6 December 1973, and Film/Literature Quarterly IX, no. 4, 1976: 355-57; 366-68.
797.
Borger-Bendegard, Lisbeth. ‘Ingmar Bergman – hur kan du förföra så?’ [Bergman – how can you seduce to such a degree?]. Femina, no. 45 (7 November) 1971: 26-29. Bergman talks about the feminine component in his psyche, that is, his need for continuity, his sensitivity to light, smell, warmth, cold, and touch. Asked to list his best and worst character traits, he responds: lust for life and an ability to listen with his whole body versus suspiciousness and impatience. The conversation ends with Bergman’s discussion of faithfulness. This interview might be juxtaposed to one in another, more traditional women’s weekly, Husmodern [The Homemaker], no. 29 (20 August) 1971: 65, 67, in which Bergman talks about his mother.
798.
Dick Cavett Show. ABCTV, 1 August 1971. Also on National Educational Television (NET), 12 April 1972. An interview with Bergman and Bibi Andersson, taped in Stockholm. Bergman comments on this interview in Röster i Radio-TV, 15 January 1972, p. 13. Though Bergman praises Cavett as an interviewer who could listen, and liked the idea of an interview televised on another continent, he found it trying to speak in English and felt that the show lost its sting during the final 20 minutes.
848
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 799.
Kupfer, Peter. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Frauen sind Wachs in meinen Händen’. Wien Kurier (morning ed.), 19 June 1971. A brief interview during Bergman’s visit to Vienna with his 1970 Dramaten production of A Dreamplay. The most interesting statement is Bergman’s clarification of the relationship between his theatre work and his filmmaking: ‘In the theatre I’ve got to know my friends, Strindberg, Macbeth, Faust who have followed me and will continue to follow me my entire life. In the theatre I translate the vision of another person into flesh and blood, into visible material. That is one of the roots of my creativity! From these roots grows a tree, which are my films’.
800.
‘På parkett’ [Orchestra seat]. SRTV, Channel 1, 12 June 1971. Bergman participates in a talk show hosted by Lasse Holmqvist, with a surprise guest, Sven Hansson, from Bergman’s Mäster Olofsgården days.
801.
Reilly, John. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Interview’. In Image Maker, ed. by Ron Henderson. Richmond: John Knox Press, 1971, pp. 40-45. An interview in which Bergman emphasizes his films as transcripts of his dreams.
802.
Sima, Jonas. ‘Befängt sätta en gammal stöt som censurchef ’ [Crazy to place an old fogie as head of Censorship Board]. Expr., 29 September 1971, p. 4. An interview in which the title is a Bergman quote referring to the new head of the Swedish Censorship Board.
803.
Thorvall, Kerstin. ‘Man måste bli kär i Ingmar Bergman’ [One has to fall in love with Bergman]. Damernas värld. 30 August 1971, pp. 14-5, 77, 90. 92. An interview by journalist and author Thorvall in a women’s magazine. Bergman talks about the new left in Swedish cultural life.
1972 804.
Group Subject: Plans to Film The Merry Widow with Barbra Streisand In an interview in December 1972, Elisabeth Sörenson reported on Bergman’s discussions with Barbra Streisand to play the role of Hanna Glavari in a film version of Lehar’s operetta The Merry Widow. See ‘Bergman gör Spöksonat no. 3’ [Bergman does Ghost Sonata no. 3]. SvD, 12 December 1972. The Streisand plan was also mentioned in an interview article by Charles Champlin, ‘Bergman: A Private Man with a Hit on His Hands’, Los Angeles Times, 25 February 1973, pp. 1, 16, and was discussed briefly in ‘Eko’, Swedish Public Radio (SR), 6 June 1973. As late as 23 March 1974, the project was commented upon in an interview reportage by Carl-Östen Nordmark, ‘Bergman och Streisand överens: Vi ska göra en film ihop’ [Bergman and Streisand agree: We shall make a movie together]. AB, 23 March 1974, p.18. The project however never materialized. For more on this aborted film venture, see Kenne Fant’s memoirs Nära bilder (Ø 1616), p. 123 ff. On 13 April 1974, Bergman announced to Fant: ‘So now I have liquidated the Widow. It was with great relief that I dismissed the troublesome
849
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman lady’. [Så nu har jag likviderat Änkan. Det var med stor lättnad som jag skickade iväg den besvärliga damen].
805.
American Cinematographer. LIII, no. 4 (April 1972), pp. 434-439, 450. (Cf. Ø 796). An interview with Ingmar Bergman based on Stig Björkman’s film documentary Bergman. The topics covered deal with Bergman’s thoughts on the film medium as self-expression and its practical circumstances; on his own concept of himself as a dramatist (seeing tensions, dualities); and on The Touch.
806.
Essen, Ebba von. ‘Mina äktenskap har lärt mig förstå kvinnan’ [My marriages have made me understand woman]. AB, 6 January 1972, pp. 54-57. An interview article quoting a statement made by Ernie Anderson from the Philadelphia Bulletin: ‘To asssociate with Bergman is like proceeding to the altar and receiving the holy communion’. The article concludes by referring to a certain formality about Bergman in spite of his knitted cardigans and flannel shirts: ‘You just don’t tell funny stories in his company’. [man berättar inte precis lustiga historier i hans sällskap]. Cf. interview article by von Essen in 1973 (Ø 822).
807.
Hagander, Astrid. ‘Ingmar och Ingrid i glad och öppen intervju’ [Ingmar and Ingrid’s happy and frank interview]. Vecko-Journalen, no. 38, 1972: 4, 6-7. An interview article about Bergman and his fifth wife, Ingrid von Rosen (née Karlebo), who dissolved a long marriage to marry Bergman. Ingrid was instrumental in bringing about a rapprochement between Bergman and his children. She attributes her new sense of self to Bergman, who gave her the courage to break away from her conventional upper-class life style. (Ingrid and Ingmar Bergman remained married for 24 years until Ingrid’s death in 1995).
808.
Löthwall, Lars-Olof. ‘Sådan är han...’ [That’s what he is like]. Allers 34, 1972, pp. 10-11, 43, 45, 47. An interview reportage subtitled ‘Vad som blir till hos Bergman är ändå inte det det blir’ [The making of a Bergman film is not the end result (free trans.)], based on the shooting of Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers), where Löthwall served as press liaison. A similar article appeared in Filmbullen (stencil publication] 10, 1972, 4 pp., and in English as ‘Excerpts from a Diary about Ingmar Bergman’s Filming of Viskningar och rop Outside of Stockholm 1971’, Film in Sweden 2/1972: 3-8 (French version, pp. 8-12). See also Ø 1216.
809.
Marcussen, Elsa Brita. ‘Ingmar Bergman om film. Legende eller besvergelse’ [Bergman on film. Legend or magic]. NRK (Norwegian Public Radio), 25 June 1972. Reported in a number of Norwegian newspapers, 22 June 1972. See Oslo Dagbladet, Romerikes Blad (Lilleström), and Verdens gang (Oslo, 24 June 1972). Well-known Norwegian film scholar interviewed Bergman in Stockholm in Spring of 1972. Bergman states that he has freed himself from his earlier image of women as strong mother figures and that his interest lies in depicting ‘human beings’. Claims that the four women in Viskningar och rip (Cries and Whispers) could just as well have been men. Bergman also talks about the current film climate in Sweden and sees a trend away from documentary and politicized filmmaking.
850
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 810.
Nykvist, Sven ‘A Passion for Light’. American Cinematographer 53, no. 4 (April) 1972: 380-81, 456. Cross-listed in Ø 1213. Interview with Bergman’s cinematographer.
811.
Sabroe, Morten. ‘Alle taler om skandinavisme. Ingen tager initiativet’. [Everybody speaks about Scandinavianism. Nobody takes the initiative]. Berlingske Tidende (Copenhagen), 26 December 1972, p. 8. The interview ranges from Bergman’s assessment of Danish theatre (superb acting, no director’s theatre as in Sweden) and lack of real cultural contacts between the Nordic countries, to his responding to critics: ‘It’s interesting to read reviews, it’s being coquettish not to do so, a form of escapism’. [Det er interessant at læse intervjus, det er koketteri ikke at gøre det, en form av eskapisme]. In response to the common view that his films lack social anchoring, Bergman states: ‘There are two kinds of realities: one you carry within you, which is reflected in your face; the other is external reality. I only work with a tiny speck, a human being whom I try to dissect and penetrate deeper in order to capture the secret. [...] Other filmmakers photograph [...] external reality and do so much better than I do. What interests me is the speck, quite simply. Why, I don’t know’. [Der finns to slags virkeligheder; en du bær inom deg der reflekteres i ditt ansigt; en anden er den ydre virkelighed. Jeg arbeider kun med en lille flækk, ett menneske jeg prøver att dissikere og trænge dybere ned i før att fånge hjemmeligheden. [...] Andre filmskabere fotograferer [...] den yttre virkeligheden och gør det så meget bedre æn meg. Hvad som intresserer meg ær simpelthen den lille flækk. Hvorfor ved jeg ikke].
812.
Samuels, Charles. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. In Encountering Directors. New York: Capricorn Books, 1972, pp. 179-207. Reprinted in Kaminsky (Ø 1266), pp. 98-132. Samuels’ interview (along with Mary Murphy’s interview with Bergman, Ø 855), is among the best examples of the kinds of manipulation, tension, challenge, and excitement a critic may encounter upon meeting Bergman. Bergman’s criterion of a good interview is emotional rapport.
813.
Sima, Jonas. ‘Bergman i Expr.-intervju – Jag ville inte dö i Danmark’ [Bergman in Expr. Interview – I didn’t want to die in Denmark]. Expr., 3 March 1972. Bergman repeats his reluctance to comment on his latest film: ‘You’ve made a piece of furniture, then out go the wood chips. What’s left is perhaps a more beautiful everyday article which people can use’. [Man har gjort en möbel, sen bort med träflisorna. Vad som blir kvar är kanske en vackrare vardagsvara som folk kan använda.] Talks about the Swedish school system producing ‘spiritual illiterates’ by teaching children ‘...everything about farming in Scania, the molars of rabbits and penis erections but nothing about why people get angry and fight and about how our soul functions – not a word!’ [allting om åkerbruk i Skåne, kaninernas kindtänder och svällkropparna i penis men ingenting om varför människor blir arga och slåss och om hur vår själ fungerar – inte ett ord!].
814.
Simon, John. Ingmar Bergman Directs. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1972, pp. 11-40. The book begins with the author’s somewhat ingratiating interview with Bergman. See Chapter IX, (Ø 1218).
851
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 815.
Steene, Birgitta. ‘Words and Whisperings: An Interview with Ingmar Bergman’, in Focus on the Seventh Seal. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1972, pp. 42-44. An interview on the set during the shooting of Cries and Whispers. Bergman talks about his use of close-ups and words vs images and music. He mentions his favorite subjects at school (Latin and the Bible stories) and subjects he disliked (geography and math).
816.
Sundgren, Nils Petter. ‘Ska vi begrava den svenska filmen? Filmkrönikan’ [Are we to bury the Swedish film? Film Chronicle program]. STV, Channel 2, 16 January 1972. Bergman participates in a program about the future of Swedish filmmaking and repeats his frequent demands that the whole Swedish film production branch be socialized. Cf. Ø 830.
817.
Vinberg, Björn. ‘På Fårö har Ingmar Bergman byggt Sveriges modernaste filmstudio’ [On Fårö Bergman has built Sweden’s most modern film studio]. Expr., 8 October 1972, Sunday sect. pp. 4-6. See also DN reportage by T. Hellbom, 30 August 1972, p. 12. A reportage/interview from Bergman’s Fårö with a drawing of his film studio at Dämba, later referred to as ‘Little Hollywood’. Bergman reveals plans to convert it into a theatre school for young actors when he retires from filmmaking.
818.
Wolden, Anne Raethinge. ‘Kvindene vil beholde sit martyrium’ [Women wish to keep their martyrdom]. Aftenposten (Oslo), 20 July 1972, Eve. ed. p. 5. Also published in Politiken (Copenhagen), 9 July 1972, p. 2. A compact and revealing interview article. Wolden met Bergman 20 years earlier when he was 34. She finds him younger-looking at 54 but just as defensive as in 1953 and with the same intense need for contact. Bergman discusses his views on art and social commitment (his lack of it). He feels Western civilization has failed and deplores the situation of women which has not changed since Ibsen’s time, but also believes many women wish to preserve their noncommital position and withdraw from responsibility for themselves. Reiterates his need to live and work in Sweden. Denies existence of God and feels relief at having arrived at this view: ‘As long as I belived in God I suffered tremendously. [...] What I feared most was a life after this one’. [Så länge jag trodde på Gud led jag förskräckligt. [...] Vad jag fruktade mest var ett liv efter detta.].
1973 819.
Andhé, Stefan. ‘Jag är svag för ytlighet’ [I have a weakness for the superficial]. Vecko-Journalen, 17 January 1973, p. 47. The headline refers to Bergman’s statement that he loves ‘first class superficialities: Rachmaninoff ’s piano concerto, the Beatles, cabaret. The circus!’ [första klassens ytligheter: R’s pianokonserter, the Beatles, kabarén. Cirkusen!]. ‘Superficiality’ in this case means popular entertainment. Bergman also discusses the therapeutic function of art and his own refusal to be ‘a male nurse’. Art can give people a new perspective on themselves and can make them break away from set reponses. But he works in art because it is joyful and fun.
852
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 820.
Champlin, Charles. ‘Bergman: A Private Man with a Hit on His Hands’. Los Angeles Times, 25 February 1973, pp. 1, 16. An interview article based on a meeting with Bergman in Copenhagen during The Misanthrope production at ‘Det Kongelige’. Bergman talks about making Cries and Whispers as a way for him to understand his mother (rather than doing a biographical portrait of her). Cf. Sundgren, (Ø 826). He talks about his current plans (The Merry Widow with Barbra Steisand), the TV film ‘The Lie’ (Reservat).
821.
Edvardsson, Cordelia. ‘Jag tror på det heliga i människan’ [I belive in what is holy in man]. Vecko-Journalen, no. 15 (11 April) 1973: 16-17, 46. An interview article during Bergman’s rehearsal of The Misanthrope at Copenhagen’s Royal Dramatic Theatre. Bergman expresses a new sense of joie de vivre, having discovered that ‘the world around me is much more interesting to me than I am to myself ’. [världen omkring mig är mycket mer intressant för mig än jag är för mig själv.]
822.
Essen, Ebba von. ‘Jag arbetar helst med kvinnor’ [I prefer to work with women]. AB, 23 April 1973, p. 3. The interview focusses on Bergman’s love of his mother as a child; his neglect of his children when younger; and better professional rapport with women in his work situations.
823.
Grenier, Cynthia. ‘Conversation with Ingmar Bergman’. Oui, March 1973, pp. 71-72, 123-4. An interview taking place in Copenhagen during Bergman’s rehearsal there of The Misanthrope. Bergman talks about censorship and the future of cinema, about the vacuity of faces in porno magazines, his hatred of sunlight, his love of Fårö and of his wife, Ingrid: ‘She is a little like the island of Fårö. She knows something very basic about proportions in life.’
824.
Heyman, Daniele, Sophie Lannes, and Michel Delain. ‘Bergman: Le succès? J’adore ça!’ L’Express (Paris), 8-10 October 1973, pp. 79-81, 84-86. Also published in Cinema (Bukarest) XI, no. 12, 1973: 38-40, 52, and in Weltwoche no. 47, 21 November 1973 (‘Erfolg? Finde ich herrlich!’). Bergman comments on death and dying; discusses the uncompromising commitment of artists to their visions; defines his own periphery as being that of ‘my own country, my island.’
825.
Kalmar, Sylvi. ‘Cannes 1973’. Fant, no. 26, 3/ 1973, pp. 33-35. A Norwegian report from a Bergman press conference about Cries and Whispers in the Grande Salle at Cannes, a disastrous arrangement according to the reporter. Bergman seemed paralyzed and so did the press. No intelligent questions were asked and no new answers were given. (pp. 34-35 includes review of Cries and Whispers). The interview was also reported under the title ‘Un film pour vous divertir’ in Cinéma Québec III, no. 1 (September 1973): 13-15; and under the heading ‘Ils ont dit’ in Image et son 278 (November) 1973: 7. It was also touched upon the Swedish radio news program ‘Eko’, SR, 19 May 1973. Bergman’s comments range from denials that he will film Ibsen or Strindberg to mentioning his favorite filmmakers (Ford, Fellini, Buñuel, Varda), and the pleasure of directing actresses – stressing, however, his love of directing good performers, regardless of gender.
853
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 826.
Sundgren, Nils Petter. ‘Filmkrönikan’. Swedish Television, Channel 2, 4 March 1973. An interview with Bergman about Viskningar och rop [Cries and Whispers] as a film about the complex personality of his mother. Bergman admits his dependence on a moral pattern that was formed in a different time. In his parental home, guilt and punishment were moral realities that he claims none of his contemporaries experienced. The interview was commented upon by Clas Brunius in Expr., 5 March 1973. Sundgren’s interview was summarized in Films in Review XXIV, no. 7 (August-September) 1973: 447-448.
827.
‘Utmaningen’ [The challenge]. STV, Channel 2, 11 June 1973. A conversation between Ingmar Bergman and pastor Ludvig Jönsson about a Christian upbringing focussed on guilt and punishment, and on the use of forgiveness (including divine grace) as an instrument of power. For a discussion of the TV conversation, see Asta Bolin in Vår lösen, no. 5, 1974, and Marianne Zetterström, ‘Fnys inte åt mödrarna’ [Don’t pooh-pooh the mothers], Vecko-Journalen no. 26, 1973, p. 55.
828.
Wilson, Berit. ‘Jeg har fått publikum inn på livet’ [I’ve got close to the public]. Dagbladet (Norwegian), 10 May 1973. This interview was also published in DN, 8 February 1974, p. 12. An interview with Bergman after the success of Scener ur ett äktenskap (Scenes from a Marriage).
1974 829.
Larsén, Carlhåkan. ‘Bergman spelar Trollflöjten – störst av allt är kärleken’ [Bergman plays Magic Flute – greatest of all is love]. SDS, 31 December 1974, p. 10. An interview with Bergman about Swedish cultural policies. The same subject appears in an interview by Carl-Östen Nordmark in AB, 23 March 1974, p. 18. Cf. Ø 832
830.
‘Kulturpolitik är ett jävla lappverk’ [Cultural policy is a damned patchwork], SDS, 31 December 1974. In a brief interview comment, Bergman advocates nationalizing movie houses and production companies, including his own Cinematograph. The State should subsidize film production/ distribution, but not control the industry through political pressure.
831.
Merryman, Richard. ‘I Live at the Edge of a Strange Country’. Life 71, no. 16 (10 October 1974): 60-74. An interview article researched at the time of the making of The Touch. It covers familiar Bergman topics: his need of privacy and fear of strangers and uncertain situations; his unneurotic atttitude towards work and pragmatic view of filmmaking as a craft.
832.
Nordmark, Carl-Östen. ‘Bergman och Streisand överens: Vi ska göra en film ihop’ [B. and S. agree: We shall make a movie together]. AB, 23 March 1974, p. 18.
854
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman Bergman is pessimistic about Sweden’s future as a film-producing country. See also (Ø 829) and AB, 4 July 1974, p. 24 (short interview about the founding of Svenska spelfilmsföreningen/ Swedish Feature Film Society). For Streisand reference, see Ø 804.
833.
Sellermark, Arne. ‘Kvinnor behagar genom att hålla käften’ [Women please by shutting up]. Femina, no. 39, 1974, pp. 29, 87. One of several interviews around this time (in the aftermath of Viskningar och rop and Ansikte mot ansikte) that discussed Bergman’s observation and depiction of women.
834.
Strömstedt, Bo. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Ge kvinnorna en chans!’ [Bergman: Give women a chance!]. Expr., 18 February 1974, pp. 4-5. Despite the headline, the interview touches on a number of items other than Bergman and women. Asked to define his roots, Bergman replies: Sweden, the Social-Democratic ideology, the Royal Dramatic Theatre, the island of Fårö. Asked how he would like to change Sweden, he responds: ‘Equal rights for women and equal rights for children’. [Lika rättigheter för kvinnor och lika rättigheter för barn]. Points out that the efficiency rate in shooting his films increased when he hired more women on the crew. Sees connection between his authoritarian background and Nazism.
1975 835.
Alvarez, A. ‘Visit with Ingmar Bergman’. New York Times Magazine, 7 December 1975, pp. 36, 90-106. Reprinted in Observer, 25 January 1976, p. 25, and in Tages Anzeiger (Zürich), 20 March 1976, n.p., and summarized in Svensk Damtidning, no. 3 (1976), pp. 17, 63, 69. See also same author’s ‘Ingmar Bergman, poeta della materia’ in Italian paper La Republica, 1 February 1976. The interviewer is mostly interested in Bergman’s lifestyle. Bergman comments on the present generation of young people and the state of the world. He deplores TV addiction replacing reading habits.
836.
Donner, Jörn. ‘Samtal med Ingmar Bergman’ [Conversation with Bergman]. Also referred to as ‘Tre scener med Ingmar Bergman’ [Three Scenes with Bergman]. SVT, Channel 2, on 28 and 30 December 1975, and 1 January 1976. Film copyright: Jörn Donner Productions & Cinematograph AB. Resumé in Finland, Finland, no. 1 (1978), pp. 64-65. Resumés were published by Jonas Sima (‘Jörn Donner intervjuar Ingmar Bergman’), TV-Expr., 26 December 1973, and by Berit Wilson (‘Bergman talar med Donner’), DN, 23 December 1975, pp. 1-2. Also reported as a 95-minute film by Hawk, in Variety, 12 November 1975, and shown at the 1975 Chicago Film Festival as ‘Three Scenes with Ingmar Bergman’. Also basis for a later documentary titled The Bergman File (1977). The original TV interview was in three parts, each 30 minutes long, edited from 13 hours of conversation between Donner and Bergman. Part One is titled ‘Barndom och uppbrott’ [Childhood and Breaking up], later published in Swedish Films, 1976, p. 16. Scene 2, titled ‘Från Filmstaden till Fårö’ [From Film City to Fårö], deals with Bergman’s years with Svensk Filmindustri. Part three, titled ‘Vägen till insikt’ [The road to insight], attempts to link Bergman’s life and art. Bergman defends his choice of subject-matter, i.e., depicting psychological crises rather than economic and social misery.
855
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 837.
Elfving, Ulf. ‘Bilden som retar Bergman’ [The picture that annoys Bergman]. AB, 18 January 1975, p. 18. A meandering interview. The title refers to a TV transmission of the annual opening of the Swedish Parliament, which Bergman describes as ‘dismal direction, silliness and miserable quality’. [sorglig regi, fånighet och miserabel kvalitet]. Bergman discusses the need to establish a sense of harmony and security between director and ensemble, about his love of images (‘Jag äter dem/I eat them’), and his claim that he remembers visual moments from age 1.
1976 838.
Aghed, Jan. ‘Entretien avec Ingmar Bergman sur “La flûte enchantée et quelques autres sujets”’. Positif 177 (January 1976): 5-9. Bergman compares Mozart’s opera to Winnie the Pooh (that is, story and wisdom combined, written for a 10-year-old by an adult). He defines opera’s main theme as ‘the morality of love’ and justifies changes he made in the libretto as an attempt to make this theme more explicit.
839.
‘Bergman i USA: mer fars än tragedi’ [Bergman in USA: more farce than tragedy]. SRTV, 30 April 1976. After leaving Sweden in the aftermath of the tax debacle (Ø 1272), Bergman flew to Los Angeles where he gave a press conference/interview. Also covered by NBC, CBS, and ABC, same date. Also on SVT, Channel 2.
840.
Borngässer, Rosemarie. ‘Ein Report und eine Welt–Gespräch mit Ingmar Bergman in München’. Die Welt, 11 September 1976, p. 32. The same page also has an article on Munich as Germany’s leading film city. See also Ø 846, 847 and 1272 (pp. 946, 947). An interview after Bergman and his wife decided on Munich as their foreign domicile. Bergman reveals that his first choice had been Paris, but two months in Munich to prepare the shooting of The Serpent’s Egg changed his mind. The city impressed him with its cultural activity. The interview also touches on his role as stage director. He repeats the statement made to Sjögren in ‘Dialog’, Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, that he is the actors’ ear and eye and reaffirms his goal as an artist to reach and communicate with the audience.
841.
‘Dialogue on Film: Ingmar Bergman’. American Film 1, no. 4 (January-February) 1976: 33-48. A question-and-answer period with Bergman at AFI (American Film Institute) in Beverly Hills in November 1975. The dialogue often lacks direction. Bergman reveals little he has not stated before, mostly in Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788). The most interesting part consists of Bergman’s repeated statement that his directorial approach (and his writing) is intuitive, i.e., based on gut feeling and not on intellectual concepts. Denies that he (and Sven Nykvist) have created a specific camera style and maintains that each film develops its own style. He concludes with advice for young filmmakers that passion, obsession, and having something to say is more important than camera technicalities. See also McBride, Joseph, ed. ‘Ingmar Bergman’ in Filmmakers on Filmmaking: The American Film Institute Seminars on Motion Pictures and Television. Los Angeles: Tarcher, 1983: 42-54.
856
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 842.
843.
Harryson, Kajsa. ‘Ansikte mot ansikte: Ett samtal med Ingmar Bergman’ [Face to face: A conversation with Bergman]. Röster i Radio-TV, no. 18 (23-28 April) 1976: 7-8, and no. 19 (29 April-5 May) 1976. See Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 579). Jungstedt, Torsten. ‘Hos Ingmar Bergman i Bavaria-ateljén’ [With Bergman in the Bavaria Studios]. SR/TV, 12 December 1976. A report of a press conference in Munich at the release of Bergman’s film The Serpent’s Egg. Part of the same press conference opens Jörn Donner’s documentary The Bergman File (Ø 836). Jungstedt’s report includes brief interviews with Ingmar Bergman, Liv Ullmann, and Sven Nykvist.
844.
‘Kvällsöppet’. [Late night show]. SR/TV, 29 November 1976. A taped interview with Bergman on a talk-show program in which he discusses his exile in Munich and the present political situation there. Bergman unwittingly became embroiled in a political incident when he was seen at an official gathering with conservative Bavarian politician Franz Josef Strauss. (See Ø 1272), 1976, Bergman Tax Case and Exile, Aftermath.
845.
Mehr, Stefan. ‘Men när jag blir gammal vill jag bli Fårögubbe’ [But when I get old I want to become an old man on Fårö]. Expr., 29 August 1976, pp. 1, 25-27. An interview in which Bergman discusses his present life in exile and his plans to return to Fårö in his old age.
846.
Müller, Andreas. ‘Ein neues Leben in Deutschland: Gespräch mit dem schwedischen Regisseur Ingmar Bergman’. Kölner Stadtanzeiger, 26 June 1976. Cf. Ø 1272, p. 946. Bergman touches on such topics as his attitude towards Swedish bureaucracy, his political views, spiritual state of mind, importance of artistic freedom, and his future plans (counts on working in the Munich theatre for the next ten years). The same subject is dealt with in S. Schober, ‘Ich fühlte mich wie im Tunnel’. Der Spiegel. no. 20/21, 17 May 1976, 185-86, 188. Bergman states his reason for leaving Sweden: anger and a need to create: ‘When I am not creative, I don’t exist.’
847.
Schottenius, Maria. ‘Bergman är en bra utlänning’ [Bergman is a good foreigner]. AB, 28 November 1976, pp. 28-29. An interview article about Bergman’s life in exile. West German journalists reportedly found him to be a strange recluse. The article describes Bergman’s routine work habits and his living quarters: an apartment in fashionable Bogenhausen. Cf. tax case Ø 1272, 1976.
848.
Sundgren, Nils Petter. ‘Filmkrönika’. STV, Channel 2, 12 November 1976. A televised interview with Bergman about the background of The Serpent’s Egg. [Ormens ägg]. This interview was published in French under the title ‘Rencontre avec Bergman’, Positif 204 (March) 1978, pp. 21-22.
857
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 849.
Szostack, J. ‘Aspekte’. ZDF TV channel, West Germany, 1976. An interview with Bergman after his arrival in Munich, at the beginning of his 8-year exile there. Bergman talks a great deal about his childhood: ‘I always, always, experience, every morning and every evening that the child Ingmar is there’.
850.
Sörensen, Elisabeth. ‘Det är en älsklig tanke att Fellini och jag skall jobba ihop...’ [It is a lovely thought Fellini and I are to work together...]. SvD, 28 January 1976, p. 9. Cf. Ø 783, 1174. Bergman mentions two current film projects: ‘Ormens ägg’ [The Serpent’s Egg] and ‘Den förstenade prinsen’ [The Petrified Prince]; the latter to be his contribution to a projected Fellini and Bergman film on the theme of love, produced by Warner Brothers. Bergman also mentions plans to make a 7-hour TV film for Italian television on Jesus. He wants to focus on the period from the Last Supper to the Resurrection. In this interview Bergman talks briefly about the difference between making films for the cinema and for television; apropos of Ansikte mot ansikte/Face to Face, about to be released, he says: ‘Thus I have had two different manuscripts – but the film version is included in the TV version. It is the very steel pillar. [...] This is no stranger than when a composer makes an orchestra version and a string quartet (of the same composition)’. [Jag har alltså haft två skilda manuskript – men i TV-versionen ligger filmversionen inbakad. Den är själva stålpelaren. [...] Det här är inte märkvärdigare än när en kompositör gör dels en orkesterversion och dels en stråkkvartett.] But Bergman adds that some films can never become TV films; Bergman gives Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers) as an example.
851.
Weintraub, Bertrand. ‘Bergman in Exile’. New York Times, 17 October 1976, p. 15. Though focussed on Bergman settling into his new life in Munich, the interview covers some aspects of his personal background, such as his early lack of rapport with his parents.
1977 852.
Baby, Yvonne. ‘Rencontre avec Ingmar Bergman: Si vous êtes un artiste, pas de cathédrales’. Le monde, 22 December 1977, pp. 13-14. Bergman talks about the necessity for an artist to become like a child in order to be creative. He advocates a new kind of education for the young, reminiscent of the ideas of Ivan Illich: no formal schooling but learning through exploration of reality, in libraries, in conversations with a teacher/mentor. He also discusses the role of women.
853.
Börjlind, Rolf. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. AB, 18 December 1977, magazine sec., p. 22. Reprinted in author’s Satir 1976-1982 (Stockholm: Federativs förlag, 1983), pp. 10-11. A faked interview written by satirist R.B. in a series named ‘Struptaget’ [Stranglehold] and including other Swedish celebrities, among them prime minister Palme, which resulted in a summons for breaking the Swedish press code. ‘Quotes’ are pure fantasies but modelled after real statements or happenings, and are much in the manner of the ‘typical’ Bergman interview, though a great deal more vulgar. Sample (on the reconciliation between Bergman and the Swedish government): ‘Jan-Erik [Wikström, Minister of Culture] stood up, burped and pronounced the deeply felt apology of the Swedish people [...] and Harry [Schein] toasted, fucking
858
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman touching it was, and I’m a sensitive guy and I stretched out my hand and Jan-Erik licked my thumb and Harry cried “skål” and we all sang “When the sun goes down behind Sjöberg’s outhouse!” And Harry vomited in his napkin and then we danced all night to Beethoven’s fifth and I got 4 ideas for a feature film, 2 plays and 1 black comedy, plus a short one-act thing about the universe...’ [Jan-Erik stod upp, rapade och uttalade svenska folkets djupt kända ursäkt [...] och Harry skålade, det var djävla rörande, och jag är en känslig kille och sträckte ut min hand och Jan-Erik slickade min tumme och Harry ropade ‘skål’ och vi sjöng alla ‘När solen går ned över Sjöbergs dass!’ Och Harry spydde i servetten och sen dansade vi hela natten till Beethovens femte och jag fick 4 idéer till en långfilm, 2 pjäser och 1 svart komedi, plus en kort enaktare om universum...]. No reaction was reported from Bergman – unlike others depicted in the series.
854.
Grafe, Frieda. ‘Ganz zu schweigen von all diesen Frauen’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 23 April 1977. An interview in which Bergman talks about his good relationships with his former wives. Cf. interview on same subject by K. von Faber in Hör Zu, 29 October 1977.
855.
Murphy, Mary. ‘Face to Face with Ingmar Bergman’. New West, 25 April 1977, pp. 1622, 28-30. An emotional encounter between Bergman and a persistent journalist who tries to probe Bergman’s personality in an attempt to understand her own hostility towards him. The interview proceeds like a therapy session, leaving both Bergman and Murphy exhausted, and at the end hugging each other.
856.
Zacharias, J. ‘Jag vill hem igen’ [I want to come home again]. AB, 10 July 1977, p. 1, 6. A follow-up interview after Swedish government plea to Bergman to return to Sweden. See ‘Regeringen vädjar: Kom hem Ingmar Bergman’ [The government pleads: Come home Ingmar Bergman]. AB, 9 July 1977, p. 1. For context, (See Ø 1272), 1976, Ingmar Bergman Tax Case and Exile.
1978 857.
Bragg, Melvyn. ‘The South Bank Show: Ingmar Bergman at Sixty’. Interview on British television, London Weekend Production, 1978, 56 min. This interview was summarized by David Quinlan in ‘Bergman, the Man Who Surrendered an Army for an Assault on Film’. TV Times, 6 May 1978, p. 17. The title refers to Bergman swapping Christmas gifts with an older brother. See Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), p. 7. Bergman talks about his childhood and questions of faith that have shaped his intensely personal oeuvre.
859
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 858.
Gauweiler, Peter. ‘München, diese unwahrscheinlichen Möglichkeiten!’ Bayern Kurier 21 October 1978. An interview conducted after Bergman’s first year in exile in Munich. He denies rumors that he is to return soon to Sweden and talks about German audiences as more responsive than Swedish public. He finds the cultural climate in Bavaria more positive than in Sweden.
859.
Rossing-Jensen, Jörn. ‘Ikke lenger eksklusiv, folk ska ha glaede av arbeidet mitt’ [No longer exclusive, people shall enjoy my work]. Aftenposten (Oslo), 12 July 1978 (Morning edition), p. 6. Bergman discusses the political background of The Serpent’s Egg and the failure of his own generation to change political developments in the world today. He refers specifically to West German terrorism and claims that those coming of age lack an ideolological frame of reference, a sense of tradition, and of history.
860.
Screen International. ‘Interview with Ingmar Bergman’. no. 130 (March) 1978, p. 10. Bergman talks briefly about his stage and screen work in exile. The most interesting part of the interview is his remark about failing the generation of the Sixties and his own overreacting to their protests.
861.
Sorel, Edit. ‘Ingmar Bergman: I confect Dreams and Anguish’. New York Times, 22 January 1978, Sect. 2, pp. 1, 20. An interview with Bergman in Munich. Many comments do not seem current but appear to be lifted from earlier statements made in the Fifties. The familiar Bergman topics of the seventies also crop up: love of Fårö; the concept of scripts as sheets of music; his approach to directing as a form of listening and ‘creating an atmosphere of serenity’. Bergman also talks about his reading habits; love of Fellini; and successful adjustment to Munich.
1979 862.
Frankl, Elisabeth. ‘Vad vill du göra med resten av ditt liv, Ingmar?’ [What do you want to do with the rest of your life, Bergman?]. Expr., 15 September year?, pp. 14-15. Contrary to the impression given by the title, Bergman talks a great deal about the past: his relationship to his father (‘a distant power’); his mother (‘mother was love’); his grandmother (‘very terse. But she treated children with immense respect’); and God (‘the caretaker’).
863.
Hembus, J. Interview with Bergman on 18 December 1979, published in Das Fernsehspiel im ZDF, no. 30, Mainz, 1980, p. 34. Bergman talks about his deep-rooted anxiety, which surfaced anew when he was arrested in February 1976. ‘Every day I get up and feel angst’. The remedy is filmmaking, opening the door to the studio is like becoming a child who is allowed to play.
860
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 864.
Håstad, Disa. ‘Hur tar vi vara på barnens själar?’ [How do we take care of children’s souls?]. DN, 9 September 1979, p. 14. The focus is on a mental understanding of children. An early mention by Bergman of the Fanny and Alexander project.
865.
Lindeborg, Lisbet. ‘Ingmar Bergman i München’. Sveriges Radio (SR), 26 April 1979. 44 min. A radio reportage about Bergman’s work in Munich. Lindeborg’s program includes interviews with Bergman, some actors, critics, theatre students and members of the audience. Includes excerpts from Bergman’s productions of Chekhov’s Three Sisters and Molière’s Tartuffe.
866.
Nilsson, Björn. ‘Gud och mamma regerade min barndom’ [God and Mother ruled my childhood]. Expr., 8 September 1979, p. 8. A reportage from one of Bergman’s rare public appearances (other than press conferences and TV interviews), a panel discussion celebrating the 700th anniversary of Storkyrkan [Great Church] in Stockholm. Bergman talks about his close contact with God until organized religion destroyed the rapport. He sees a connection between his intuitive closeness to his mother and his guiding artistic principle, which tells him to rely on intuition and ‘throw a spear into a dark jungle and know it will reach the right spot’. [ kasta ett spjut in i en mörk jungel och veta att det träffar rätt].
867.
Timm, Mikael. ‘Från presskonferens i Stockholm’ [From a press conference in Stockholm]. Sveriges Radio (SR), 11 June 1979, 4 minutes. Ingmar Bergman announces an initiative to save 250 Swedish nitrate feature films threatened with destruction.
1980 868.
Blum, Doris. ‘Was uns fehlt, ist die Erziehung zur Liebe’. Die Welt, 6 February 1980, p. 27. An interview with Bergman after four years in Germany. Questions range from critical reception of his theatre work in Munich to his neglected role as father and the importance he attributes to marriage in our time.
869.
Fredriksson, M. and Sörenson, Elisabeth. ‘Ingmar Bergman om konsten och livet. Så har kvinnorna svikit sig själva’ [Bergman about art and life. This is how women have failed themselves]. SvD, 14 December 1980, Sunday Section pp. 1, 5. More than the title suggests, Bergman talks about his distrust of film schools (and his negative experience of the Swedish film school back in the 1960s).
861
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 870.
‘Nöjesmagasinet’ [The entertainment magazine]. Sveriges Radio (SR), P1, 13 December 1980. A brief interview with Bergman in exile about his views on Sweden, the economic situation for Swedish filmmaking, new Swedish films he likes, and his view of his own films as utility items (bruksföremål).
871.
Peyser, Arnold. ‘I am a Voyeur: A Conversation with Ingmar Bergman’. Los Angeles Times, 23 November 1980, pp. 1-2. Bergman talks about his life in exile and present plans.
872.
‘Rapport’ [News Report]. STV, Channel 2, 14 November 1980. A brief interview with Bergman, announcing his decision to return to Sweden and his plans for filming Fanny and Alexander. The same news program reported on the financing and shooting of the film on 18 and 24 September 1981, and on 31 January 1982.
873.
Ruth, Arne. ‘Svenskarna pratar om kärnkraft i stället för om Gud’ [The Swedes talk about nuclear power instead of God]. Expr., 15 March 1980, pp. 4-5. The headline is a Bergman quote. Bergman talks about his work in the theatre and about older and newer films. He defends recent popular Swedish films by Lasse Åberg et. al.
874.
Wolf, William. ‘Face to Face with Ingmar Bergman’. New York, 27 October 1980: 3338. An interview with Bergman at home on Fårö. The subject ranges from glimpses of Bergman’s early years to a reunion with his children and his new experiences during exile.
1981 875.
‘Filmkalas’ [Film Party]. SVT, 14 November 1981. Bergman is interviewed about his first years at Svensk Filmindustri.
876.
Fogelbäck, J. ‘Konstnär, slugger, revoltör’ [Artist, slugger, rebel]. FIB/Kulturfront, no. 1, 1981: 2-3, 27. Bergman talks about his sense of loyalty to the dramatic text and about a Swedish lack of debate on subjects like theatre and film (when compared to Munich, his domicile at the time).
877.
Frankl, Elisabeth. ‘Vem är du idag, Ingmar Bergman?’ [Who are you today, Bergman?] Expr., 8 February 1981, pp. 30-1. Bergman talks about his years in exile, his fear of too many overwhelming impressions that might interfere with work. Going into exile was like learning to ride a bicycle, overcoming a fear of his own inability to function. Exile was difficult because it was not personally but politically motivated (the tax case, Ø 1272). Bergman sees his creative basis like a stack of cards that he shuffles differently for each new project.
862
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 878.
879.
Jones, William G., ed. Talking with Ingmar Bergman (Dallas: SMU Press, 1983), 103 pp. Ill. See Chapter IX, group (Ø 1368). Larass, Claus ‘Das einzige, was ich nicht ertrage, ist Gleichgültigkeit’. Welt am Sonntag, 8 February 1981. An interview during Bergman’s last year in Munich. Some retrospective biographical information and standard questions about religious issues, bourgeois background, importance of Fårö. Bergman declares he likes Munich better than Stockholm, for Munich has ‘human proportions.’
880.
Lidbeck, Gunilla. ‘Jag är hundraprocentigt trogen min uppgift’ [I am 100% loyal to my task]. Läs-Femina, no. 2, 1981: 18-20. Bergman states loyalty to his profession which surpasses loyalty to people; talks about directing like constructing a stable railroad track on which the ensemble can travel; describes demands placed upon himself and the crew: precision, sensitivity, friendliness, integrity, emotional balance, and punctuality. Additional material from the interview was published in Femina, no. 16 (13 April), pp. 31-33, 36, under title ‘Jag har varit förälskad varje gång – från tårna och ända upp’ [I’ve been in love every time – from my toes up]. Bergman talks about his love and friendship with women and about the careers of his children.
881.
882.
Nilsson, Björn. ‘Jag undrar om jag inte börjar bli mogen för Shakespeare nu...’ [I wonder if I am not ripe for Shakespeare now]. Expr., 9 September 1981, p. 4. Annotated in Theatre/ Media Bibliography, group (Ø 583). Wunch, William.‘Talking with Ingmar Bergman’. Dallas Morning News, 11 May 1981, see pp. 1-2. During a visit to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, Bergman talked in an interview about directorial manipulation as a danger and a sickness; touches upon his relationship to his parents and children; mentions fear of unknown cities and people; makes a list of favorite American and European directors; sees himself as a fading filmmaker.
1982 883.
Lejefors, Ann-Sofi ‘Ingmar Bergman. Hans styrka och hans genialitet är hans barnsliga lust att gestalta’ [Bergman: His strength and his genius lie in his childish yen to depict]. Månadsjournalen, November 1982, pp. 64-71. Published in English as ‘Bergman in Close-up’. Sweden Now, no. 1, 1983, pp. 36-40. An insightful interview article based on a visit to the set of Fanny and Alexander. Bergman talks about creativity as a way of confirming one’s intuition, of recognizing the radar installation in one’s soul: ‘This radar is turned to the future, the present, the past, [...] to the ghosts, the demons, the angels and the saints. It’s just a matter of not letting reason and the world around you destroy that contact’. [Denna radar är vänd mot framtiden, nuet, det förflutna, [...] mot spökena, demonerna, änglarna och helgonen. Det är bara fråga om att inte låta förnuftet och världen runt omkring dig förstöra denna kontakt]. Through his intuition, says Bergman, he can
863
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman tell in a second what a person he meets is like and knows that the only thing that cannot be faked is the mouth. Defines himself as ‘a bourgeois anarchist’. [en borgerlig anarkist].
884.
Löthwall, Lars-Olof. ‘Några dagar hos Ingmar Bergman’ [A few days with Bergman]. Filmrutan XXV, no. 4 (1982): 2-15. A diary of recorded impressions and conversations with Bergman and his staff during the shooting of Fanny and Alexander. Cf. Next item, and documentary film from the making of F and A.
885.
Marker, Frederick J., and Marker, Lise-Lone. ‘Why Ingmar Bergman Will Stop Making Films’. Saturday Review, April 1982: 36-39. An interview during the shooting of Fanny and Alexander. Bergman explains the practical reasons why he will stop making feature films. Cf. Sundgren, l983, (Ø 894). The same subject is also discussed in an interview with Arnd Rühle, ‘Noch zwei Filme – dann höre ich auf ’, Münchner Merkur, 26 February 1981.
886.
887.
Marker, Frederick J., and Marker, Lise-Lone. ‘Of Winners and Losers: A Conversation with Ingmar Bergman’. Theater 13, no. 3 (Summer-Fall) 1982: 42- 52. Reprinted in Ingmar Bergman. A Project for the Theater, 1983, pp. 1-18. An interview in connection with Bergman’s staging of his 7-hour triptych at Munich Reidenztheater on 30 April 1981. Cross-listed in Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 599). Marker, Frederick J. and Marker, Lise-Lone. Two interviews entitled ‘Talking about Theater. A Conversation with Ingmar Bergman’, and ‘Talking about Tomorrow’. In authors’ book Ingmar Bergman: Four Decades in the Theater. 1982, 1992 (Ø 594), pp. 5-30 and pp. 220-234. The first interview was originally done in 1979 and addresses some of Bergman’s Ibsen, Molière, and Strindberg productions. Bergman also talks briefly about the connection between his theatre work and filmmaking (pp. 24-25). The second interview took place in 1980 and concerns (mostly) Bergman’s theatre work in Munich. (Cf. Ø 886).
888.
Palmgren, Christina. ‘Jag har försökt ta kål på barnet i mig men det lever’ [I’ve tried to kill the child in me but it is alive]. Vi, no. 15 (15 April) 1982: 3-4, 40-43. An interview article ranging from small talk to insightful comments. Bergman reiterates his need to maintain open channels to his childhood. He views his older films as of little interest except as good correctives, a way of discovering ‘en kvardröjande skenhelighet i mig själv’ [a lingering hypocrisy in myself]. Dwells on Fanny and Alexander, comparing the Ekdahls to a parson’s family: ‘Kyrkans värld är också en slags teater’. [The world of the church is also a kind of theatre].
1983 889.
Cinema Nuovo xxxii, no. 286 (December 1983): 23. A press conference in Venice, 9 September 1983. Excerpts are also published in Film Bulletin no. 133 (Zurich), December 1983 and in Positif (‘Propos’) no. 289 (March) 1985: 17-19.
864
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman The occasion was the showing of the full-length TV version of Fanny and Alexander. Bergman talked about the Strindberg reference at the end of the film, mentioning his early interest in the Swedish playwright and his father’s alleged protest when son Ingmar purchased Strindberg’s collected works: ‘Put it away, that fellow Strindberg does not exist under our roof ’.
890.
Cowie, Peter. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Schooldays. Extracts from an Interview with Ingmar Bergman’. Monthly Film Bulletin 50, no. 590 (March) 1983: 84-85. Not really about Bergman’s schooldays but more about his involvement with Hets (Torment/ Frenzy), set in a school environment, and his relation to film director Alf Sjöberg. The material is taken from an interview with Bergman at the NFT in September 1982.
891.
892.
Janzon, Leif. ‘Entréintervjun. Ingmar Bergman’. Entré, no. 3, 1983, pp. 7-14. Crosslisted and annotated iin Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 598). Kakutani, Michiko. ‘Ingmar Bergman Summing Up a Life in Film’. New York Times Magazine, 26 June 1983, pp. 24-29, 32-33, 36-37. Excerpted in Arbetet 3 July 1983, pp. 2324. Also published in Dutch as ‘Ingmar Bergman, een leven in film’. de Volkskrant, 6 September 1983. This interview article was included in the author’s collection of essays, The Poet at the Piano: Portraits of Writers, Filmmakers, Playwrights, and Other Artists at Work. New York: New York Times Books, 1988, pp. 103-16. An interview article based on author’s visit to Fårö; sees Bergman’s filmmaking as an autobiographical chronicle, but also as reflecting the inwardness of Swedish life. Other subjects touched on are: Bergman’s interview technique and mental note-taking; his political exposure; his philosophical shift in the early 1960s; his daily work schedule and need for control over self and others.
893.
Marker, Frederick and Marker, Lise-Lone. ‘The Making of Fanny and Alexander. A Conversation with Ingmar Bergman’. Films and Filming, no. 341 (February 1983): p. 4-9. Bergman talks about himself as a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in terms of his scriptwriting and filmmaking. The script is deeply personal; to direct it as a film, it becomes necessary for him to free himself from it; it is an exercise in objectivity, watching his own material from a distance. The interview also discusses the making of Fanny and Alexander in some detail. A similar subject is also discussed in American Film VIII, no. 8 (June 1983): 55-58, 61.
894.
Sundgren, Nils Petter. ‘Ingmar Bergman Bids Farewell to the Cinema’. SVT, Channel 2, 14 May 1983, 60 min. An interview with Bergman that includes vignettes from the set of Fanny and Alexander. Bergman announces his retirement from feature filmmaking: ‘I don’t want to be swept out from the arena, worn out and tired. I want to go to the bottom with a hoisted flag’. [Jag vill inte sopas ut från arenan, utsliten och trött. Jag vill gå till botten med hissad flagg]. For resumes of the interview in the press, see Expr., 14 May 1983, p. 6; AB, 14 May 1953, p. 56, and UNT, 14 May 1983.
865
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 895.
Sörenson, Elisabeth. ‘Bergman efter Venedig-utmärkelsen: Hoffmann lockar mig’ [Bergman after the Venice award: Hoffmann tempts me]. SvD, 13 December 1983, p. 13. An interview article after the showing of the five-hour version of Fanny and Alexander in Venice, where Bergman accepted the Golden Lion Award given to him in 1982. The headline of Sörenson’s report refers to discussions between the Gaumont production company and Bergman about a filmed version of the opera The Tales of Hoffmann. Bergman reiterates his view that his TV version of The Magic Flute (1974) is a film rather than an opera staging. The same would be true of making a TV version of The Tales of Hoffmann, which was never realized.
896.
Timm, Mikael. ‘Trollkarlen. Intervju med Ingmar Bergman’. SR, P 1, 4 April and 6 May 1983. The interview is reprinted in Timm’s book Ögats glädje, 1994, pp. 127-169. Crosslisted in Theatre/Media Bibliography, (601). A somewhat unstructured but informative radio interview with references both to Bergmans’s filmmaking and theatre work.
1984 897.
Axelsson, Per Arne. ‘Gud är inte alldeles död’ [God is not alltogether dead]. SVT, 23 December 1984. Bergman participates in a discussion on religious faith between author Kerstin Ekman, the Reverend Ludvig Jönsson, and journalist Pia Gadd.
898.
Bertina, B. J. and van der Linden, Frank. ‘Reflections on a Cinematic Legacy: Scenes from Ingmar Bergman’s Life and Work’. World Press Review, January 1984: 3940. Excerpted from Dutch news magazine De Tijd. Also appeared in Spanish El Pais, 31 March 1984, under title ‘Ingmar Bergman: Cada artista es su proprio Psiquiatra’, and in Cinema Canada, as ‘Goodbye to all that. Ingmar Bergman’s farewell to film’, no. 104 (February 1984): 10-14. Talk ranges from women as strong partners to Bergman’s sense of morality and discipline. He dismisses struggle over God as a problem of the past and gives a brief account of his escape into work and his personal crisis in the mid-Sixties.
899.
Harryson, Kajsa ‘Ingmar Bergman: Sinnenas värld var annorlunda förr’ [Bergman: The world of the senses was different in the old days]. Röster i Radio-TV, no. 52/1, 1984/85, pp. 9-12. An interview article, mostly about Fanny and Alexander and Bergman’s recollections of his childhood.
900.
Larsson, Mika. ‘Man måste älska – annars går det inte’ [You have to love – or else it’s no good]. Upp & Ner, no. 2, 1984: 50-55, and AB, 11 March 1984, pp. 2-3, Sunday magazine. The headline of this interview article refers to Bergman’s discussion of different kinds of love: self-love, creativity based on love, his father’s love for his mother, his own love for his mother,
866
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman his love of actors. He refers to love as a sense of joy. Bergman describes himself as a workaholic in film and theatre, which is an attempt to compensate for his sense of failure in other areas – as an author, as a religious person, in his marital relations, and politically. Talks about his own basic indolence, inherited from his father who had an ‘escapist intelligence’, which he mastered through self-discipline, a key aspect in Bergman’s own upbringing. Looks upon his artistic activity as hard: ‘like sculpting in granite.’
901.
Thieringer, Thomas. ‘Ich bin ein Handwerker’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 15 May 1984, p. 104. Interview ranges from questions about the The Silence, the film that made Bergman well-known in Germany, to a request that Bergman comment on art, which he refuses to do, defining his work as that of a craftsman. He reiterates his decision not to return to filmmaking because it is physically too tiring. Similar content is also found in ‘Goodbye to all that: Ingmar Bergman’s farewell to film’. Cinema Canada, February 1984: 10-14. See also ‘Gespräch mit Ingmar Bergman’. Frankfurter Rundschau, 3 January 1985, where Bergman expresses similar ideas about retiring from filmmaking.
902.
Wauters, Jean-Pierre. ‘Luisteren naar Ingmar Bergman’. Film en Televisie 330 (November) 1984: 11-13. Interview in which Bergman talks about his filmmaking in general and his making of Fanny and Alexander in particular.
1985 903.
Frankl, Elisabeth. ‘Här hör jag hemma’ [Here I am at home]. Expr., 2 November 1985, pp. 22-23. The first half of the interview is annotated in Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 604). The second half touches on Bergman’s views of Stockholm: ‘a tough and dirty and rather uncomfortable city’ [en tuff och smutsig och ganska obekväm stad]; on his leisure time (theatre and concerts); on his attitudes in his younger days: ‘I don’t think I understood my bad behavior, that I farted in church. I was met with so much aggressiveness from people, I didn’t understand why’. [Jag tror inte jag förstod mitt dåliga uppförande, att jag släppte mig i kyrkan. Jag mötte så mycken aggression från människor, jag förstod inte varför]. Interview concludes with a reference to Bergman’s new contacts with his children.
904.
Laretei, Käbi. ‘Kväll med Käbi’ [An Evening with Käbi]. Swedish Television, Channel 2, 19 January 1985. Bergman’s former wife, pianist Käbi Laretei, interviews him about his use of music in his work.
905.
Marker, Lise-Lone and Frederick. ‘Fanny och Alexander: God, sex en Ingmar Bergman’. Skoop XXI, no. 4 (June-July 1985); p. insert 21-23. Also published in English in Films and Filming, February 1983, pp. 4-9. See Filmography, Fanny and Alexander.
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Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 906.
Positif. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. no. 289 (March 1985): 17-35. Excerpts from a press conference at Venice film festival after the showing of the long version of Fanny and Alexander, plus an interview focusing on Bergman’s work for television, especially his TV version of Molière’s Ecole des femmes.
907.
Serre, Olivier. ‘Bergman parle’. Cinéma 327 30 October 1985, p. 3. Excerpts from earlier interviews published in Cahiers du Cinéma (1956); in Jean Béranger’s book Ingmar Bergman et ses films (1960); L’Express (1970) and The Personal Vision of Ingmar Bergman by Jörn Donner (1970).
1986 908.
Hansen, Jan E. ‘Snestorm rundt en syltestrikk’ [Snow storm around a string]. Aftenposten (Oslo), 8 February 1986. Also annotated in Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 613). A personal interview article based on a Norwegian journalist’s visit to Bergman’s room at Dramaten. The title of the article refers to Stockholm’s wintry streets and to Bergman playing with a piece of string throughout the interview. Main focus: Bergman’s total staging of the interview situation. Cf. Murphy and Samuels interviews (Ø 811 and 855).
909.
Marker, Lise-Lone and Frederick. ‘Bergman’s Borkman. An Interview’. Theater 17, no. 2 (Spring) 1986: 48-55. Cross-listed in Ø 614. Though focussing on Bergman’s 1985 Munich production of Ibsen’s play John Gabriel Borkman, this interview includes other references to Bergman’s stagecraft.
1987 910.
Nygren, Ronny. ‘Bergman’. AB, Bokbilaga [Book supplement]. 29 November 1987 p. 24. An interview about Bergman’s reading habits. Bergman expresses his appreciation of women writers.
1988 911.
Babski, Cindy. ‘Bergman Brings a Restive Hamlet to Brooklyn’. New York Times, 5 June 1988, pp. 5, 23. An interview article based on a meeting with Bergman in Stockholm during the staging of Long Day’s Journey into Night. The interview was also published as ‘Epic Journey into Night’. Sweden Now, no. 4, 1988: 7-9. A mixture of comments on Bergman’s production of Hamlet, its inpending visit to BAM, and general Bergman statements about life at 70: ‘I am not very far from the falls (rapids) but that does not worry me; life on the river just before the falls is very beautiful’. See also annotated cross-listing in Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 619).
868
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 912.
Ingmar Bergman: The Magic Lantern. Thames ITV documentary, shown on BBC Channel 4, directed by Michael Winterbottom and produced by Alan Horrox, May 1988. 52 min. Accompanying booklet published by British Film Institute and Thames Television. London: BFI, 1988, 57 pp. Program combines archival material with clips from forty years of interviews in order to explore the roots of Bergman’s artistic vision. This documentary has a companion piece called ‘Ingmar Bergman: The Director’ (52 min.), which consists of recollections by Bergman actors and crew. A publication titled Working with Ingmar Bergman was edited from this film and consists of interviews with Erland Josephson, Gunnar Fischer, Birger Malmsten, Harriet Andersson, Bibi Andersson, Max von Sydow, and Liv Ullmann.
913.
Lubowski, Bernt. ‘Gespräch mit dem Meister-Regisseur und Felix-Gewinner. Ingmar Bergman tritt für Europas Filmkünstler ein’. Berliner Morgen-Post, no. 304, 29 December 1988. An interview conducted in connection with the founding of the European filmmakers Felix Prize, of which Bergman was the first recipient. He declares his filmmaking days are over but his love of the cinema is still alive. Talks about his film viewing habits (old German silent films, early American cinema) and explains his presence on the occasion: Not to pick up the Felix Prize (‘They could have sent that by mail’) but to give his support to the idea of a European cinema and send a signal to European film audiences not to watch only American movies. See also Ø 920.
914.
Nilsson, Björn. ‘Vi lät oss köpas – nu får vi betala’ [We sold ourselves – now we get to pay]. Expr., 20 February 1988, pp. 4-5. Bergman talks about the declining support of cultural activities in Sweden. See Group entry (Ø 602) in Theatre/Media Bibliography for fuller comment on economic crisis at Dramaten.
1989 915.
Bentivoglio, Leonetta. ‘Il teatro e la mia casa’. La Republica, 16 September 1989. Italian interview in which Bergman explains the difference between theatre direction and filmmaking. The former is a secure world, the latter is like a cancer harbouring his demons. In contrast to Fellini (whom Bergman refers to as ‘my brother’) who said that the cinema was his life, Bergman defines his way of life as ‘theatre, silence and my family’. Cf. similar interview in Il Messagero, 5 May 1989. This interview was also published (in excerpts) in German in Die Welt, 20 June 1989.
916.
Gunnlaugsson, Hrafn. ‘Ingmar Bergman på Island’ [Bergman in Iceland]. SVT, Channel 1, 19 January 1989. In June 1986, when Dramaten visited Reykjavik with Bergman’s production of Fröken Julie, Icelandic filmmaker Hrafn Gunnlaugsson covered the visit for Icelandic Television. Several times earlier he had tried in vain in the US to track down Ingmar Bergman for an interview, when Bergman was scheduled to appear in connection with various Nordic events, but each time Bergman cancelled the visit. But Iceland had aroused his curiosity as an island: ‘Islanders
869
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman are a little different from people on the mainland. They themselves become like islands.’ To travel to Iceland, said Bergman, was like travelling to relatives and friends. Gunnlaugsson’s interview with Bergman is highly recommended. It is a talk between two professionals and its value lies in their special rapport, producing a conversation that is both easy-going and informative. The subjects range from Bergman’s view of Strindberg to the difference between directing a film and a stage play – the former being a more controlling task since a filmmaker is the only one who knows what the final film is supposed to look like. Bergman would like to see both theatre and cinema as the art of the moment, where the only thing surviving ‘lies in the memory of the receivers’ [ligger i mottagarens minne].
917.
Gustavsson, Ulf. ‘Ingmar Bergman i Uppsala: Barndomslandet ännu en källåder’ [Bergman in Uppsala. The land of childhood is still a main source]. Upsala Nya Tidning, 29 November 1989, p. 19. A full page summary of a seminar in which Bergman participated, titled ‘Barnet inom oss’ (The Child within us) and held at the Nursing School in his childhood town of Uppsala. Most statements are variations of what Bergman writes about his childhood in Laterna magica, 1987. Asked about the present, he says: ‘I feel like a Model T Ford with a jet engine. The mind is still there, but the chassis is worn out’. [Jag känner mig som en T Ford med en jetmaskin. Hjärnan finns där fortfarande men chassit är utslitet].
918.
Ninka. ‘Mit utrolige liv’ [My incredible life]. Magasinet (Danish), 8 October 1989. In connection with his receiving the Danish Sonning Prize (see Chapter IX, (Ø 1477), Bergman gave a long interview in which he talked about his ‘life spark’ – to have connected again with his own rhythm from his childhood; about his reconciliation with his parents so that they ceased to be mythical figures and became friends; about his relationship with his children, including younger actors and directors who adopt him as a father figure; about his growing love of people – and his growing distance from them; and about his sense that mankind has mentally reached point zero. Also talked about his form of recreation: to sit at Fårö and look out to sea: ‘I can sit for two hours and there exists nothing else than me looking at the sea. I look at the light over the sea. Sit there like an old dog. A dog always looks so wise. And then it sleeps for awhile. And then it looks again. I can feel a sadness, an intense pain that one day I will not be sitting there looking out over the sea. And then again: no melancholy. And I think that has to do with the fact that I’ve had such a fantastic life’. [Jeg kan sidde i to timer og der existerer ikke andet æn meg som ser på havet. Jeg ser på lyset over havet. Sidder der som en gammel hund. En hund ser altid så klog ud. Og sen sover den en stund. Og sen kikker den igen. Jeg kan føle en sorg, en intensiv smerte att jeg en dag ikke vil sidde og kikke ud over havet. Og så igen: ingen melankoli. Og jeg tror det hænger sammen med att jeg har haft ett så fantastisk liv].
1990 919.
Assayas, Olivier & Björkman, Stig. ‘Conversation avec Bergman’. Editions de L’Etoile/Cahiers du cinéma 1990, 125 pp. [Excerpt in Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 436, 1990; in Scotland on Sunday, 2 December 1990; and in Kino XXV, no. 1 (283) (January 1991), pp. 32-35]. Issued as a book in Swedish in Filmkonst, no. 13 (1993), titled Tre dagar med Bergman, 143 pp. See also J. M. Frodon, ‘Bergman blickar tillbaka’. Tempus, 1-7 Nov 1990, pp. 24-27 (trans. from Le Monde with excerpts from Assayas & Björkman).
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Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman A series of somewhat unstructured conversations with Bergman, ranging from early theatre stagings and the impact of Strindberg to films that have influenced him and brief discussions of some of Bergman’s own films such as Summer Interlude, Summer with Monica, The Magician, and From the Life of the Marionettes. Reviews: Iris (Spring) 1991: 144-46; Images (Spring) 1991: 86.
920.
Mowe, Richard. ‘Bergman’s Dream’. Scotland on Sunday, 2 December 1990. An interview with Bergman after he accepted to become president of the European Film Awards jury in Glasgow. He later resigned. See Elisabeth Sörenson interview, ‘Min hemresa var en protest’ [My return home was a protest]. SvD, 10 December 1991, section 2, p. 1-2. Cf. Ø 913.
1991 921.
Bergström, Lasse. ‘Den gamle och havet. En försonad Ingmar Bergman längtar till den absoluta friheten’ [The Old Man and the Sea. A reconciled Bergman longs for absolute freedom]. Månadsjournalen, November 1991. Cf. Bergström, 1992 (Ø 924). Also published in Danish Berlingske Tidende, 24 November 1991. Bergman explains the difference between Den goda viljan and his screenplays, which stems from the fact that he knew he would not be directing the film himself. An earlier work of his that served as a kind of model was Scenes from a Marriage, a relationship drama told chronologically.
922.
Skawonius, Betty. ‘Kulturella arvet måste räddas’ [Cultural heritage must be saved]. DN, 14 February 1991, p. B1, B3. Bergman criticizes new economic film policy which signals cuts of various activities at the Swedish Film Institute: the Cinemateque, the Archival section, the film library, and the film journal Chaplin. The crisis was related to increasing costs and declining public support of newly produced Swedish films. Bergman would like to separate the film production section at SFI from the cultural activities now threatened.
1992 923.
n.a. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. The Great Directors, Series 2. Rockleigh, NJ: Film Classics VHS video cassette (83 minutes, b & w), 1992. In Swedish with English subtitles. Interview with Ingmar Bergman, Bibi Andersson, and Liv Ullmann, dating back to the release of Persona in 1966. See Ø 768.
924.
Bergström, Lasse. ‘Bergman’s Best Intentions’. Scanorama, May 1992, pp. 10-18. An interview with Bergman on Fårö by his book editor. At the time, Bergman was preparing the staging of the opera The Bacchae. At age 74, he now only does the type of theatre work he enjoys. Talks about damage done to the theatre and the classics by 1968 generation and about his attempts to rectify this by his post-exile staging of classics like Shakespeare and Molière.
871
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 925.
Trassato, Sergio. Ingmar Bergman, il paradoxo di un ‘Ateo cristiano’. Firenze: La nuova Italia. Series: Casturo Cinema, no. 156, 1992: 7-163 (+ filmography). 188 pp. Book opens with a brief interview with Bergman, pp. 3-6. The reference to him as a ‘Christian atheist’ reflects Italian approach to his filmmaking. See Ø 1012 and 1536.
926.
Åhlund, Jannike. ‘Bergman vid källsprånget’ [Bergman at the source]. Chaplin xxxiv, no. 239, (April-May), 1992: 29-35. An interview in connection with the restoration of Georg af Klercker’s film Nattliga toner [Nightly tunes], a project financed through a donation by Bergman. Bergman comments on possible rivalry between af Klercker and Victor Sjöström. Considers af Klercker a better narrative filmmaker, whom he envies because he was part of the origins of filmmaking. But he also experiences the mystique of that era: ‘This fantastic feeling of sitting at the source’. [Denna fantastiska känsla av att sitta vid källan].
1993 927.
n.a ‘Trollkarlens lärling’ [The magician’s apprentice]. Chaplin xxxv, no. 3 (March) 1993: 53-54. Bergman’s directorial assistant in the mid-Fifties, Gösta Ekman, son of Hasse Ekman and grandson of legendary Swedish actor of the same name, is interviewed about his contact with Bergman: ‘One day God (ha-ha-ha) asked if I would come along down the road a bit. It was of course very strange that he would take time to put aside the cross and ask if I wanted to join in on the way to Golgotha’. [En dag frågade Gud (he-he-he) om jag ville följa med bortåt vägen en bit. Det var ju mycket märkligt att han hade tid att ställa ifrån sig korset och fråga om jag skulle hänga med på väg till Golgota.] Ekman believes that Bergman was trying to establish another link to Swedish film and theatre history. Ekman worked as an assistant on Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries) (starring silent film’s nestor Viktor Sjöström) during Bergman’s tenure at the Malmö City Theatre in the Fifties.
1994 928.
Salander, Anna. ‘När lägger du av, Ingmar?’ [When will you quit, Ingmar?]. Dramat no. 3, 1994: 34-39. A fictitious interview by ‘Finno-Swedish journalist living in Rome’. Interview is rejected by her paper but ‘Bergman’ helps get it published in Dramat. An English translation appeared in a special New York festival issue of Dramat, 1995, under the title ‘When Do You Quit, Ingmar?’, pp. 8-13.
1995 929.
Riding, Alan. ‘Face to Face with a Life of Creation’. NYT, 30 April 1995, pp. 1, 30. Bergman is interviewed in connection with the New York Bergman festival in May-June 1995. Bergman was invited but would not attend. Interview uncovers nothing new and is mostly a
872
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman survey of Bergman’s artistic career, juxtaposed with some biographical comments (childhood, parents, exile). This interview was printed in Dutch in de Volkskrant, 4 May 1995 and was reported in Swedish press. See Arne Reimer, ‘Bergman har gett sista intervjun’ [Bergman has given his last interview]. Expr., 30 April 1995, p. 8.
930.
Åhlund, Jannike. ‘Sista intervjun med Ingmar Bergman’ [Last interview with Bergman]. Expr., 23 November 1995: 17-20. Cross-listed and annotated in Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 651). Bergman discusses the difference between work in theatre and film. Considers work necessary for his well-being: ‘If you sit down without knowing what to do, then you easily fall into a black hole’. [Om du sätter dig ner utan att veta vad du ska göra, då ramlar du lätt ner i ett svart hål]. Calls hard and disciplined work ‘en bra korsett’ [a good corset].
1996 931.
‘Möte med Ingmar Bergman.’ Interview by Marie Nyreröd on Fårö shortly before TV transmission of Bergman’s TV film Larmar och gör sig till (In the Presence of a Clown). SVT, Channel 2, ‘Nike’ program, 50 minutes. Photo: Arne Carlsson. 1 November 1997. Bergman talks about the background figure to Carl in Larmar och gör sig till, an uncle by the name of Johan Åkerblom who was a mentally unstable inventor, much admired by Bergman as a child. The film is basically his life story. Talk also covers Bergman’s thoughts about old age, the death of his wife, his late rapport with his children and grandchildren, his love of music but inability to memorize and execute a musical piece, his need for Fårö and its isolation.
1998 932.
Bergdahl, Gunnar. ‘Bergmans röst’ [Bergman’s voice]. A film interview. 1 hr. 27 min. Produced by Gunnar Bergdahl & Bengt Toll. Gothenburg Film Festival, 1997; Triangelfilm, 1998. Available in English (Voice of Bergman); German (Bergmans Stimme); Portuguese (Voz de Bergman). Expanded material from a TV interview with Bergman in 1997, broadcast on 8 February 1997 on SVT, when he became honorary president of Gothenburg Film Festival. Bergman comments on the history of the cinema and filmmakers of importance to him. Available with English subtitles. Resume of Bergdahl’s presentation was printed in Film West, no. 29 (July 1997): 45.
933.
Björkman, Stig. ‘Ingmar Bergman, clown toujours’. Also listed under two titles: ‘Seule me guide le principe de plaisir’ and ‘Bergman, faiseur d’images’. Cahiers du Cinéma no. 524 (May 1998): 33-45. A combined article and interview focusing on Larmar och gör sig till. Bergman talks about his love of Schubert, about the sensitivity of TV cameras, and about the making of Larmar... (In the Presence of a Clown).
873
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 934.
Donner, Jörn. ‘Ingmar Bergman om liv och arbete’ [Ingmar Bergman about life and work]. SVT Interview with Bergman, broadcast on his 80th birthday, 14 July 1998. Translated by Joan Tate as ‘Demons and Childhood Secrets: An Interview’. Grand Street 17, no. 2 (Fall) 1998: 180-93. A life and letters question-and-answer period, somewhat unstructured and with relatively little new information, but with a nice rapport between Donner and Bergman, based on decades of contact concerning filmmaking issues.
935.
Eriksson, Olle. ‘Tystnaden bruten’ [Broken Silence]. Expr., 10 May 1998, pp. 14-15. A resume of Bergman’s two-hour press conference, at which he presented his new film script Trolösa (Faithless), to be directed by Liv Ullmann. Bergman refers to the personal background of the film. Other aspects of the interview/press conference deal with Bergman’s daily routine and his many farewells to the screen. For the same subject, see also Thomas Höjeberg, “Utpressning’ bakom nya Bergman-filmen’. Arbetet, 10 May 1998, and Jeanette Gentele, ‘Egentligen har jag slutat med det här’ [Actually, I am done with this]. SvD, 10 May 1998, p. 14.
1999 936.
937.
Ekman, Johannes. Radio interview with Ingmar Bergman and Erland Josephson. Sveriges Radio (SR), P1, 6 February 1999. Cross-listed and annotated in Ø 669. Lahr, John. ‘The Demon-lover: after six decades in film and theatre, Ingmar Bergman talks about his family and the invention of psychological cinema’. The New Yorker, vol. 75, issue 13 (31 May) 1999, pp 66-80. Billed as an interview, this is more of a composite of earlier talks with Bergman by a variety of critics. However, the piece is informative and well-written, and a good overview of Bergman’s career.
2000 938.
Lindström, Jan. ‘Ingmar Bergman berättar’ [Bergman relates]. Expr. 29 December 2000, pp. 1, 26-29. Mostly a pictorial reportage. Bergman talks about his self-chosen isolation on Fårö after wife Ingrid’s death in 1995; about his relationship to Dramaten; his plans (an Ibsen radio play; a new play for TV); and about his 63-year old handicap, tinnitus, an ailment caused during his military service.
939.
Lundberg, Camilla. ‘Ingmar Bergman och musiken’ [Bergman and music]. SVT, Channel 1, 25 December 2000 and 6 January 2001. A conversation with Bergman about the role of music in his life and his use of music in his films.
874
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman 940.
Sievers, Malou von. ‘Malou möter’ [Malou meets]. TV 4, 4 April 2000; rebroadcast 30 December 2000. A conversation with Ingmar Bergman and actor Erland Josephson, life-long friends. The subject ranges from their role as fathers to thoughts on love, old age, and death. Josephson expresses his fear of death; Bergman says he would rather commit suicide than allow his soul to be trapped inside a decaying body. This interview was quoted in a number of newspapers abroad. See, for instance, Chicago Tribune, 5 April 2000, p. 2. It was later broadcast in many European countries and shown at the Cannes Film Festival.
941.
Söderberg, Agneta. ‘Den gamle och lusten’ [The Old Man and desire]. Månadsjournalen no. 10 (October) 2000: 25-29. Bergman gives three reasons for his continued creativity: (1) it is rooted in his childhood; (2) certain actors inspire him to go on; (3) it is fun. The interview is an homage to his actors for their insight, self-effacing irony, musicality, and sensitivity, and for expressing a radiant joy for their profession.
2001 942.
Friedner, Calle. ‘Samtal om musik’ [Conversation about music]. Sveriges Radio, 8 April 2001. Ingmar Bergman and Daniel Börtz (composer of opera, The Bachae) talk about music.
2002 943.
Aghed, Jan. ‘När Bergman går på bio’ [When Bergman goes to the movies]. SDS, 12 May 2002, pp. B1, 3. Bergman recalls his teenage matinees on Sundays, squeezed in between Pastor Bergman’s afterchurch coffee and family dinner at five. He recalls a response to French journalists in the Sixties about his favorite French filmmakers (Carné and Duvivier from the Thirties) when he realized he should have said Renoir instead of naming two representatives of ‘le cinéma de papa’. Comments on the Hollywood filmmaker he admires most, Billy Wilder, for his acumen in picking the right actors. Current filmmakers he likes, because they are ‘passionate and have an idealistic approach to filmmaking’ [passionerade och har en idealistisk syn på filmandet]: Soderbergh, Spielberg, Scorsese in the US, Jan Troell, Lukas Moodison, and Reza Parsa in Sweden. Concludes that he had a tough time with some Swedish film critics in the early part of his career. Also some brief comments about the Malmö theatre scene and on the change of leadership at Dramaten.
944.
Bergdahl, Gunnar. ‘Ingmar Bergman. Intermezzo’. TV interview, SVT, Channel 1, 29 January 2002. Produced by Gunnar Bergdahl and Gothenburg Film Festival. Bergman begins by conducting an interview with Bergdahl, then responds to subjects ranging from Strindberg and Ibsen to old age (sleeplessness and keeping the demons at bay) and the
875
Chapter VIII Interviews with Ingmar Bergman reality of death. Most topics have been dealt with in previous Bergman interviews. The most interesting feature of this one is Bergman’s attempt to project his own passion for film on the (rather tame) interviewer.
945.
Björkman, Stig. ‘Jag ser allt. Ingmar Bergman i samtal med Stig Björkman’ [I see everything. Bergman in a Conversation with Stig Björkman]. In Fucking Film. Den nya svenska filmen, ed. by Stig Björkman, Helena Lindblad & Fredrik Sahlin. Stockholm: Alfabeta Anamma, 2002, pp. 138-44. The same interview with some additional comments by Bergman about retiring from life in Stockholm is published in Sight and Sound (August 2002). A conversation with Bergman about recent Swedish cinema. Bergman sees present situation in Swedish filmmaking as a generational shift rather than a new trend, as in the 1960s. He misses the ‘erotic’ light and magic of old-fashioned filmmaking. He is ambivalent about the new DVD cameras.See also Björkman, Stig. ‘Pure kamikaze’. Sight and Sound XII, no. 9 (September) 2002: 14-15. Mostly an interview about Bergman’s forthcoming TV film Saraband but also a brief conversation about cinematography in the silent cinema vs the self-conscious trickery of the Dogma films. Part of this interview is excerpted from Sight and Sound interview in August 2002 issue.
946.
Sjögren, Henrik. ‘Lek och raseri’, Ø 677, 2002. This reception study of Bergman’s theatre productions is interspersed with Bergman’s own comments in dialog segments after each chapter, based on recent telephone interviews.
2003 947.
Sveriges Television (STV), Channel 1. Saturdays and Sundays, June-September 2003. In recognition of Bergman’s 85th birthday on July 14, 2003, SVT paid tribute to him by transmitting one of his films every week from June to September. The films were chosen by Bergman and each showing was preceded by a brief interview, filmed in his small private cinema on his Fårö premises. Interviewer: Marie Nyreröd. See also next item.
2004 948.
Nyreröd, Marie. SVT Producer. Interviews with Ingmar Bergman in three 1-hour segments titled: ‘Bergman och filmen’, broadcast on 8 April 2004; ‘Bergman och teatern’, broadcast on 9 April 2004; ‘Bergman och Fårö’, broadcast on 12 April 2004. The interviews all took place on Fårö. Nyreröd had extensive conversations with Bergman in preparation for a retrospective showing of his films on SVT in honor of his 85th birthday. There is a warm rapport between the two but also a certain feeling that Bergman is merely responding with answers formulated long ago. The first two interviews include relatively little new information by Bergman, while in the last one he shares some rare glimpses of his home with the viewer.
876
Ingmar Bergman’s work has elicited a great deal of comment and analysis. His dominant position in Swedish filmmaking is suggested by this cover from volume V of Svensk Filmografi, where two out of three illustrations are taken from Bergman films.
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman This chapter lists in chronological order bibliographical items that address Ingmar Bergman’s life and work, except for items pertaining to Bergman’s stagecraft and media productions, which are listed in the Theatre/Media Bibliography (Chapter VII), and interviews, which are found in Chapter VIII. Review articles and essays dealing with a single screenplay, film or theatre production are listed under the appropriate item in either the Filmography, Media or Theatre Chapters (IV, V and VI). Longer articles on individual films or produced plays, which are deemed of special importance are cross-listed and annotated here. As in the Theatre/Media Bibliography (Chapter VII) selective entries addressing the same subject have been listed as ‘group entries’ and appear at the beginning of the year when the first item in the group was published. FIAF’s database on critical material dealing with Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking currently lists some 800 items, mostly reviews and articles in film journals. There is some overlapping with FIAF material here but care has been taken to focus on sources usually not listed or annotated in FIAF.
1938 949.
Untitled news item. SvD, 24 May 1938, p. 14. A press note and first official mention of Ingmar Bergman, referring to him as ‘Kandidat Bergman’ [kandidat was the common titular reference to a student qualified for university studies]. The occasion was Bergman’s first (amateur) stage production, Sutton Vane’s Outward Bound, at Mäster Olofsgården. See Theatre Chapter VI, (Ø 344).
1945 950.
n.a. ‘Från Körkarl till Kejsare’ [From Coachman to Emperor]. Filmbilden XI, no. 1, 1945: 6-7. The title refers to two important productions in Svensk Filmindustri’s history: Körkarlen (The Phantom Carriage) from 1919 and Kejsaren av Portugallien (The Emperor of Portugallia) from
879
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1944, both of them based on novels by Selma Lagerlöf. The article points out the importance of scripts of literary quality and suggests the timeliness of Bergman’s debut as a filmmaker and scriptwriter. The item includes a statement by SF producer Carl Anders Dymling: ‘A nation gets the kind of film it deserves’. [En nation får den film den förtjänar].
1946 951.
n.a. ‘England vill ha filmmanus av Ingmar Bergman’ [England wants film script by Bergman]. ST, 22 August 1946, p. 7. A report of an offer to Bergman to write a film script for British Film Company Two Cities. Bergman’s script to Hets (Frenzy) had aroused the British production company’s interest in having him provide a screenplay based on an idea to be suggested by the company.
1947 952.
Group Item: Fyrtiotalism. Bergman and Literary Scene of the 1940s In an article by Nils Beyer (‘Ingmar Bergman’. See next item) the author makes a reference to Bergman as a fyrtiotalist, i.e., a member of the modernist, metaphysically oriented generation of writers who dominated the literary scene in Sweden in the Forties and received a great deal of publicity in the media. Bergman’s own attitude towards the fyrtiotalister was ambivalent: He obviously shared their existentialist mood and published an early prose vignette, ‘En kortare berättelse om en av Jack Uppskärarens tidigaste barndomsminnen’ [A short tale about one of Jack the Ripper’s earliest childhood memories] in the ‘fyrtitalist’ literary organ, 40-tal (Ø 26). But he was critical of their exclusiveness. In a 1947 radio dialogue with actor Anders Ek (SR, 2 January 1947), titled ‘Ej för att roa blott’ [Not just to entertain], Bergman rejects the fyrtiotalist writers as narcissistic closet poets who write for themselves or a clique of insiders (Ø 692). In an interview article from 1950 (‘Det personligas kris’, Filmnyheter 6, 1950: 8-10, 15, Ø 695) Bergman states: ‘I’m no elitist snob who makes films for a clique of rare esthetes, and I don’t accept being called “a fyrtitalist”’ [Jag är ingen elitsnobb som gör filmer för en klick sällsynta esteter och jag accepterar inte att man kallar mig ‘fyrtitalist’]. This statement was made in the aftermath of the reception of Bergman’s 1949 film Fängelse (Prison) which had been called by one reviewer ‘a fyrtitalist film morality’ [en fyrtitalistisk filmmoralitet] (Ø 210, Rec.). Yet, a few years earlier in a program note to his production of Olle Hedberg’s Rabies, Bergman had written: There are many who wonder why the generation of the Forties is preoccupying themselves right now with literature and drama, with what is popularly called ‘filth’. [...] There is really only one explanation for this: we live in a post-war world. The time after World War I was marked by an altogether other form of festivity. [...] there were dogmas to tear down, illusions to be lost, a morality to oppose, a nihilism to enjoy. Now not even the illusion of chaos exists. Now only the illusion of a great infinite emptiness exists. A terrifying impersonal nothingness. [Det är många som undrar varför fyrtiotalets generation sysslar just nu i litteratur och dramatik med det som populärt kallas ‘smuts’. [...] Det finns egentligen bara en förklaring till detta: att vi lever i en efterkrigstid. Tiden efter första världskriget var märkt av en helt
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman annan slags festivitas. [...] det fanns dogmer att riva ner, illlusioner att förloras, en moral att opponera mot, en nihilism att njuta av. Nu existerar inte ens illusionen av ett kaos. Nu finns bara illusionen av ett oändligt stort tomrum. Ett skrämmande opersonligt ingenting]. Cf. Ø 30. Similar thoughts were expressed by Bergman in a 1966 radio interview in connection with a rebroadcast of his 1951 play Staden [The city]. The interviewer, Gunnar Ollén, asks if Bergman experienced what was then called ‘atombombsångest’ [anguish over the atomic bomb]. Bergman’s answer is negative: his angst was conditioned by his personal background, though he also admits to ‘an immensely dark attraction’ [ett oerhört mörkt sug] to the literary themes of the Forties with their ‘gradual revelation of human evil, something one experienced perhaps with a certain coquettishness and didn’t have sense enough to experience simply with terror’ [gradvisa avslöjande av den mänskliga ondskan, nånting som man kanske då upplevde med ett visst koketteri och inte hade vett nog att uppleva enbart med fasa]. See ‘Radioteater i 40 år’, SR, 24 February 1966 (Ø 542). For contemporary comments on Bergman and fyrtitalism, see: Beyer, Nils. En bok om film [A book on film]. Stockholm: Radiotjänst, 1949, p. 150: ‘With Ingmar Bergman the young generation of the Forties stormed into the movies with their angst, their rebellious feelings, their shocking outspokenness’ [Med Ingmar Bergman stormade den unga fyrtitalsgenerationen in i filmen med sin ångest, sina upproriska känslor, sin chockerande uppriktighet]. Furhammar, Sten. Frikyrklig ungdom, no. 1 (January) 1950: 9-10; Höök, Marianne. Ingmar Bergman, 1962, pp. 37-39; Neander-Nilsson, S. Göteborgs Morgon-Post, 13 January 1947, p. 4. Osten, Gerd. Nordisk film. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand, 1951: 28-37, and same author in Vi 39, no. 47, 1952: 3-4; Wortzelius, Hugo. Biografbladet 30, no. 4 (Winter) 1949: 217-236. For attacks by cultural conservatives on Bergman and modernism/fyrtiotalism, see Torsten Tegnér’s response to Nils Beyer’s article in Vecko-Journalen, (next item). Tegnér’s reply was titled ‘Det stackars kriget’ [The miserable war], Vecko-Journalen 39, no. 42 (1947, p. 13). Similar ideas appeared by him in Idrottsbladet, 6 October 1947, p. 8. (See below, Ø 956). For other voices in this mini-debate, see Stig Almqvist in AT, 12 October 1947, p. 12, and Rip [Thorsten Eklann] in UNT, 11 October 1947, p. 9. For other aspects of the topic ‘Ingmar Bergman and Literature’, see group item (Ø 989).
953.
Beyer, Nils. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Vecko-Journalen 38, no. 41, 1947, pp. 18, 33, 37. Stockholm film and theatre critic talks about Bergman’s amazing productivity and increasing visibility as a name in Swedish culture. Beyer also provides one of the earliest suggestions of Bergman’s different social masks: as a young provocative rebel, as a diabolical director, as a sensitive artist. Regards him as self-centred but praises his serious approach to filmmaking, from manuscript to instruction of actors and laying a mise-en-scene. Concludes: ‘Ingmar Bergman is the great child wonder in Swedish film and theatre’. [Ingmar Bergman är det stora underbarnet i svensk film och teater]. Cf. Beyer, Teaterkvällar, 1953 (Ø 520).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 954.
Grevenius, Herbert. ‘Vänporträtt av ung man’ [A friend’s portrait of a young man]. ST, 16 September 1947, p. 6. Bergman collaborated with Herbert Grevenius, an established scriptwriter and author of radio plays, on several early film scripts. In this portrait, Grevenius challenges the Swedish view at the time that Bergman was a lucky Aladdin who succeeded without much effort. Grevenius points out that (1) Bergman has had to work hard and without connections to make it; (2) was not recognized by the cultural elite – none of his plays had been produced on professional stages in Stockholm; and (3) was considered to be too productive to become respected as a serious artist at a time when the cultural trend was to praise thin volumes of modernist poetry. In an interview with Christina Lilliestierna in Vecko-Journalen 49, no. 20 (1958): 21, 40, Bergman rejects the lucky Aladdin view of him as a myth: Filmmaking to him is nothing but hard work. Grevenius published a second portrait of Bergman at age 34 in Röster i Radio/TV, no. 26 (2228 June) 1952, p. 13.
955.
Idestam Almqvist, Bengt (signature Robin Hood). ‘På glid mot freudska drömmar’ [Adrift towards Freudian dreams]. ST, 30 September 1947, p. 6. Author, one of Sweden’s leading film critics at the time, became one of the early perceptive commentators on Bergman’s filmmaking – together with names like Nils Beyer, Herbert Grevenius, Lasse Bergström, and Hugo Wortzelius. This article is a full-page newspaper analysis of Bergman’s filmmaking to date, praising his narrative approach, especially his use of flashbacks. See also same author’s discussion of Bergman’s script to Eva as an example of modernist dramaturgy: ‘Ingmar Bergman och framtiden’ [Bergman and the future], ST, 13 February 1949, p. 4. Almqvist argues that classical cinematic structure as shaped in the twenties has not kept up with modernist trends in the other arts, but that Bergman has tried to rectify this through his use of fragmented flashbacks, dreams, and a focus on memories. See also Idestam Almqvist chapter titled ‘Ingmar Bergman – magiker, fantast, moralist’ [Bergman – magician, phantast, moralist] in Filmboken 1, 1951, pp. 169-73.
956.
Tegnér, Torsten (signature TT). ‘Fnask, hyndor, vrak, fasor och ett par sköna stilla bilder’ [Whores, bitches, wrecks, horrors, and a couple of beautiful stills]. Idrottsbladet, 6 October 1947, p. 8. The article appearing in sports journalist Tegnér’s column ‘Kultur och levnadskonst’ [Culture and the art of living], represents a common popular view at the time of Bergman’s films as obscene and decadent. By juxtaposing previous entry (Ø 955) to Tegnér’s article, one gets a good idea of the ambivalent Swedish assessment of Bergman’s filmmaking in the 1940s. The divided opinion of his work as either shocking and vulgar or cinematically promising is also reflected in the Marmstedt entry below (Ø 962).
1948 957.
Group Item: A Doll’s House and David Selznick In early 1948, Bergman and Alf Sjöberg were commissioned by Hollywood producer David Selznick to write a screenplay based on Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. See news release headlined ‘Svensk skriver Selznickfilm’ [Swede writes Selznick film]. SvD, 20 January 1948, and notice in GT, 29 January 1948. Selznick however rejected the script in April 1948 but wanted to go
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman ahead with the film project, which was scheduled to be shot in Sweden. He turned to American playwright and scriptwriter Lillian Hellman. See report by signature Gunnarsson, ‘Bergmans filmmanus ratas av Selznick’ [Bergman’s film script rejected by Selznick], DN, 30 April 1948, p. 3. According to another report, the cancellation of the Bergman-Sjöberg script was due to Selznick having difficulties finding collaborators. See GHT, 13 March 1948, p. 9. On 2 May 1948 SvD (p. 9) printed a New York news release issued by Selznick in which he points to a special clause in the Bergman-Sjöberg contract, stating that the Swedish script’s English dialogue be written by an American writer. Selznick’s announcement explains the project’s delay as stemming from difficulties in finding ‘a first rate’ dialogue writer and available actors. Selznick concludes his letter by stating that Bergman’s and Sjöberg’s co-operation has only increased his respect for them and he predicts a great future for both of them within the Swedish and American film industries.
958.
‘Ingmar Bergman.’ Terrafilm 10 år [Terrafilm 10 years old]. Stockholm: Terrafilm, 1948, p. 14. A portrait of Bergman in a booklet from the film company whose producer, Lorens Marmstedt, was a crucial and stern mentor to Bergman. A letter to Marmstedt from Bergman appears in same publication, p. 20 (listed in Chapter II, Ø 50). See also Marmstedt’s evaluation of Bergman as an angry young man in (Ø 962).
1949 959.
Bergström, Lasse. ‘Den gymnasiale Ingmar Bergman’ [The adolescent Bergman]. Expr., 15 November 1949, p. 5. A polemic defense of Bergman’s filmmaking and artistic persona by Bergman’s future editor at the Norstedt publishing house. Contrary to Bergman’s image in the Swedish press at the time, Bergström does not find his work juvenile or emotionally excessive. He argues that tragic themes are balanced against Bergman’s faith in human love and fellowship.
960.
Pedersen, Werner. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Information, (Copenhagen), 25 May 1949, p. 4. So-called ‘kronik’ (column) in Danish newspaper. One of the earliest items on Ingmar Bergman to be published outside of Sweden. The author paints a portrait of an auteur who defies his producers, like Danish filmmaker Carl Dreyer did, but who is also economically frugal in his filmmaking. He is critical however of Bergman for relying too much on dialogue rather than visuals to convey meaning, a view in keeping with the contemporary emphasis on film as an image-making rather than ‘literary’ (verbal) medium. Cf. Bergman’s own statements quoted in introduction to Chapter I.
1950 961.
Furhammar, Sten. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Frikyrklig ungdom no. 1, 1950: 9-10. A brief essay about some of Bergman’s films of the Forties with a focus on their humanistic themes.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 962.
Marmstedt, Lorens. ‘Ruda eller Gamba?’ [Enfant terrible or Wunderkind]. Obs! no. 18 (13 September) 1950. Producer Lorens Marmstedt addresses a dichotomy common in presentations of Bergman at the time: Was he a troublesome rebel or a unique young talent?
963.
Wortzelius, Hugo. ‘A Decade of Swedish Films’. Biografbladet 30, no. 4 (Winter) 1950: 217-36. An article in an English issue of Biografbladet on Bergman’s films of the 1940s tracing their motifs back to the so-called Swedish problem films during the war years, i.e., films introducing urban realism and dealing with lower-class youth, crime, abortion, and prostitution. The same issue of the journal also contains Forsythe Hardy’s ‘Impressions of the Swedish Cinema’, pp. 208-09 (‘Until Hets practically nothing was known of the contemporary Swedish cinema’). In 1950, Wortzelius also published an early presentation of Ingmar Bergman in Italian: ‘Bergman, il regista piu discusso del recente cinema svedese’. Cinema (Rome) 4, no. 53 (December) 1950: 371-72. Wortzelius, by far one of the best of Bergman’s early film commentators, provides a good retrospective analysis of his films from the Forties in ‘Bergman i backspegeln’ [Bergman in retrospect], Svensk Filmografi, 1940-1949, Stockholm: SFI, 1980: 716-20. See also same author, (Ø 967).
1951 964.
Christensen, Theodor. ‘Ingmar Bergman och nyanserna’ [Ingmar Bergman and Nuances]. AB, 23 February 1951, p. 4. Danish documentary filmmaker explains Bergman’s low public status in Denmark: he has no sense of humor; at the same time, Christensen warns Swedish film critics not to be too critical of Bergman, since he possesses a unique film talent.
965.
Fischer, Gunnar. ‘Sommarlek med Ingmar Bergman’ [Summer Interlude with Bergman]. Biografbladet 32, no. 2 (Summer) 1951: 55-59. Bergman’s leading photographer in the Fifties discusses experiences with the director in a humorous tone. For another account by Fischer, see Filmnyheter VII, no. 15 (27 October) 1952: 4-6, 24, where he defines the ideal relationship between cinematographer and director as one of ‘mutual respect and mutual confidence’ [ömsesidig respekt och ömsesidigt förtroende]. For an account of the Fischer-Bergman collaboration, see Bergman om Bergman (Ø 788), p. 35.
966.
Lawrence, Eric. ‘The Motion Picture Industry in Sweden’. Hollywood Quarterly V, no. 2 (Winter) 1950/51: 182-188. A brief survey of the motion picture industry in Sweden, including a presentation of ‘the baffling Ingmar Bergman, the Orson Welles of Swedish filmland.’
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 967.
Wortzelius, Hugo. ‘Jack och Joakim Naken: Samtal med Ingmar Bergman’ [Jack and Joakim Naked: Conversation with Bergman], Perspektiv 2, no. 5 (May 1951): 28791. Also published in Italian in Quadr. della F.I.C.C, no. 4 (1952), pp. 26-32. Despite the title, this is an article rather than an interview. Wortzelius sees Jack in Kris [Crisis] as a youthful Storm and Stress figure while Joakim Naked, the main character in Bergman’s radio play Staden [The city], emerges as a disillusioned but less dogmatic person, created after a personal crisis in Bergman’s life in 1949, which also produced the more mature films Till glädje (To Joy, 1949) and Sommarlek (Summer Interlude, 1950-51). The appearance of this article in Italy may account for the early interest in Bergman’s work among the so-called ‘critica catolica’ in Italy. See Italian Reception, (Ø 1012).
1952 968.
Himmelstrand, Ulf. ‘Ingmar Bergman och döden’ [Bergman and death]. SvD, 7 July 1952, p. 4. A newspaper essay on Bergman’s early filmmaking and his play Dagen slutar tidigt (Early Ends the Day), focussing on his fixation on sudden physical death. Considers Bergman’s ‘moralities’ to be based more on emotional exhibitionism than moral content, which is reflected in his overly dramatic and catastrophic solutions.
969.
Petersen, Bent. ‘Nordisk tegn i teater og film’. Information (Copenhagen), 26 November 1952, p. 2. A presentation in Danish newspaper of Bergman as an artist who understands the difference betweeen theatre art and cinema art: as a stage director he gives priority to the actors; as a filmmaker he focusses on images and editing. Concludes that Bergman gives contemporary youth its face.
1953 970.
Group Item: Bergman and Actors In his formative years as a stage and film director Bergman gained a reputation for being a tough and ruthless instructor who sometimes cajoled, sometimes bullied his actors to perform their best; see introduction to Theatre Chapter VI. Later he attributed his reputation as ‘the demon director’ to a sense of insecurity and denied that it was the result of a conscious directorial method. In fact with relatively few exceptions, Bergman and his ‘stable’ of actors have always spoken of each other with warmth and respect. Already at Mäster Olofsgården’s amateur theatre section, letters collected from the young ‘ensemble’ by the manager, Sven Hansson, testify to the appreciation that Bergman’s work elicited. In subsequent years actors were to list among Bergman’s special qualities as a director: his sense of clarity; his attention to detail so that every member of the cast, no matter how small the part, could feel included; an ability and willingness to become a sensitive eye and ear that would register, almost intuitively, every nuance in the performance; a gift for establishing both a relaxed atmosphere and a precise work discipline, providing both security and a sense of order. In a dissertation studying Bergman’s approach to his cast and crew at Dramaten, Bo Gyllenpalm (Theatre/Media Bibliography,
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Ø 647), concluded that a good part of his success as a director depended on qualities that are also found among successful corporate leaders. One of the earliest statements on the subject of Bergman’s approach to the actors was published in Bent Petersen’s press article ‘Ingmar Bergman’, Social-Demokraten (Copenhagen), 6 November 1953, pp. 1, 4, in which Bergman is quoted as stressing the importance of building confidence and rapport between director and actors. See also an eye-witness account by Lars Erik Olsson, ‘Så jobbar Ingmar’ [This is how Ingmar works], Se no. 50 (14 December) 1961, pp. 9-13: ‘He walks around like a wood stove and tries to transfer his warmth to the actors. Sometimes the swift touches: a pat on the shoulder, a squeeze of the hand, a grip of the arm’. [Han går omkring som en kamin och försöker överföra sin värme till skådespelarna. Ibland de snabba beröringarna: en klapp på axeln, en handtryckning, ett grepp om armen]. In an interview in DN, 4 July 1958, pp. 1, 30, Bergman points out the importance of intuition in his directing, stating that he never demonstrates a scene before his ensemble but listens and makes suggestions. That Bergman succeeded early in eliciting a remarkable response from many of his actors is apparent in reviews of his productions and by early critics like Nils Beyer in ‘Från Gösta Ekman till Ingmar Bergman: 25 års svensk teater’ [From G.E. to Bergman: 25 years of Swedish theater], Teatern 25, no. 3-4 (September 1958): 30-31. For a relatively late positive assessment of Bergman’s approach to his actors, see Ana Maria Narti, ‘Det är viktigt att beskriva vad skådespelaren gör’ [It’s important to describe what the actor does] (interview with Erland Josephson), Chaplin no. 167 (1980), p. 55; according to Narti, Bergman’s forte was his recognition of an actor’s limits. Other relevant sources are Frederick and Lise-Lone Marker’s 1990 interview with Bergman about his views on actors (Ø 630) and Henrik Sjögren’s ‘Dialog’ with Bergman in his 1968 book Ingmar Bergman på teatern (Ø 548), pp. 291-316. See also Leif Janzon’s 1983 interview with Bergman in theatre magazine Entré (Ø 598), and H. Lundgren’s 1978 article ‘Bergman og skuespillerne’, Kosmorama, Ø 1325. From an actor’s point of view, see Ø 1013. For non-Scandinavian discussions of this subject but focusing on film actors, see the following articles: Cinémonde, no. 1393, 18 April 1961, p. 7; Films and Filming, IX, no. 4 (January 1963): 27; Making Films in New York, IV, no. 5 (October 1970): 16-32, and Nina Darnton’s ‘Artist as Lover’, Elle, May 1993 (Ø 1548).
971.
De la Roche, Catherine. ‘Swedish Films’. Films in Review 4, no. 9 (November) 1953: 461-64. An early mention of Ingmar Bergman in American film press. Claims that Bergman can write his own ticket in terms of filmmaking. For a reaction to this, see Ingmar Bergman in Röster i Radio, 10-18 June 1962, pp. 27-29. Cf. Grevenius, (Ø 954), 1947.
972.
Gerbracht, Wolfgang. ‘Kolportage mit Tiefgang’. Filmforum, March 1953, p. 6. One of the first general presentations of Bergman in German. Claims that Bergman’s film Till glädje [To Joy] made him known in (West) Germany. The article is based on West German circulation of two films scripted by Bergman (but directed by Gustaf Molander): Eva and Kvinna utan ansikte (Woman without a Face (Frau ohne Gesicht).
973.
Lindqvist, Sven. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Den delikata spetälskan’ [Bergman: Delicate leprosy]. Arbetaren, 20 October 1953, p. 4. Reprinted in Motbilder, 1978, (Ø 1317). A discussion of the relationship between form and content in Bergman’s films, with focus on Fängelse (Prison) and Gycklarnas afton (The Naked Night). The author sees a clash between
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman esthetic (‘delicate’) and sadistic (‘leprosy’) tendencies in Bergman’s films, a clash he feels destroys their artistic value. This article represents an early critique of Bergman’s ‘manipulative’ filmmaking by one of the leading cultural voices in Sweden in the 1960s.
1954 974.
Group Item: Bergman and Early Reception in Latin America Foreign recognition of Ingmar Bergman occurred first in Latin America. Among the earliest commentators on Bergman was T. H. Alsina in Uruguay who began to review Bergman’s films in the early Fifties. Through an Argentine distributor with contacts in Venice and Paris, Gustav Molander’s Eva (scripted by Bergman) and Bergman’s Gycklarnas afton (Noites de circo) had a limited showing in art cinemas and film clubs in Montevideo and Buenos Aires. According to Brazilian filmmaker Walter Hugo Khouri (editor’s interview), it was this connection that enabled organizers to include the two Swedish films in a 1954 festival program celebrating São Paulo’s 500th anniversary. The Museum of Modern Art in São Paulo issued a pamphlet titled Ingmar Bergman and in the festival contest Bergman’s Gycklarnas afton (Noites de circo) won the top prize. This event represents the first large-scale public recognition of Ingmar Bergman’s films abroad. As a follow-up to the São Paulo celebration, the Brazilian journal Revista de cinema published a special issue on Bergman in 1956 [vol. 4, no. 22 (April-May): 5-16], edited by Khouri. It consists of two articles by Ely Azeredo: ‘Cinema sueco: Espectaculo e imagen livre’ (pp. 5-9) and ‘Noites de circo’ (pp. 10-13). The first is a discussion of Eva, Sommaren med Monika (Monica e o desejo), and Kvinnors väntan (Quando as mulheres esperam); the second is an analysis of Gycklarnas afton. The titles represent Bergman films distributed throughout Latin America by the mid-Fifties. The Revista de cinema Bergman issue also includes a filmography covering the period from Hets (Tortura) to Kvinnodröm (Sonhos de mulheres), pp. 14-15. The same material appeared in a brochure, edited by H. Khouri and P. Emilio (São Paulo: Filmoteca do museu de arte moderna, 1956), 20 pp. In 1958, Alberto Tabbia published an introduction to Ingmar Bergman. Buenos Aires: Libreria Letras, 1958. 129 pp. Also listed as Flashback 1: Ingmar Bergman with Edgardo Cozarinsky and Maria Rosa Vaccaro. In 1963, Cuadernas de Cine Club Mercedes (Uruguay), no. 1 (May) 1963. 50 pp., brought out a special Bergman issue. It includes biographical information; excerpts from Hopkins Industria article (Ø 1004); an article on Swedish cinema by B. Idestam-Almquist (Robin Hood); plus a presentation of three Bergman films: Törst (La sed), Nära livet (En el Umbral de la Vida), and Jungfrukällan (La fuente de la doncella). In 1964, Uruguayan critics Thevenet H. Alsina and Emir Rodrigues Monegal published a study titled Ingmar Bergman, un dramaturgo cinematografico. Montevideo: Communidad del Sur, 1964. 125 pp. The book presents Bergman’s films from Kris to the Trilogy. In 1965, Cuadernos de Cine Club (Montevideo) brought out a 28-page brochure with the Swedish title ‘Ingmars ansikte’ authored by Martinez Carril. Excerpted in Focus on The Seventh Seal (Ø 1220), pp. 110-11, it is a survey of Bergman’s career through Tystnaden (The Silence), dividing it into four periods: (1) realistic period, from Kris through Hamnstad; (2) dramas and comedies centering on women, from Fängelse through Sommarnattens leende; (3) metaphysical films, from Sjunde inseglet through Djävulens öga; (4) the chamber films, i.e., the trilogy. Also in 1965, an Argentine survey of Bergman’s filmmaking to date (1963) appeared. Authored by Augustin Mahieu, it was titled Bergman: Angustia y conocimiento. Buneos Aires: Ediciones Lorraine, 1965. 40 pp.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman See also report by Annette Kullenberg, titled ‘Det var jag som upptäckte Bergman’ [I was the one who discovered Bergman]. AB, 13 July 1988: 5. The title refers to a statement made by Uruguay film critic T.H. Alsina.
975.
Group Item: Bergman’s Portrayal of Women Bergman gained an early reputation for being a filmmaker who paid particular attention to the portrayal of women. His films from the early part of the 1950s were advertised as ‘women’s films’, i.e., films about and for women; it was also a genre designation that helped establish Bergman’s filmmaking in Latin America. One of the first articles on the subject was Alf Matteson’s ‘Ingmar Bergmans kvinnolinje’ [Bergman’s approach to women]. SDS, 17 December 1954, p. 4, 7. According to Matteson, Bergman’s success as a woman’s filmmaker rested on a juxtaposition of psychological complexity and ‘an almost metaphysical implication of woman’s role as mother’ [en nära nog metafysisk innebörd i kvinnans roll som mor]. A similar assessment can be found in J. Burnevich, ‘La donna nell’universo di Bergman’, Cineforum 3, no. 21 (January 1963), also published in Spanish in Film Ideal 8, no. 117 (April 1963): 208-13, and in Swedish in Credo 42, no. 5 (November 1961): 199-206. An unsigned article in which Bergman’s women portrayals were referred to as seismographs of their time appeared in ‘Das Bild der Frau im modernen Film’, Atlas Filmheft (Frankfurt), no. 8, 17 pp. Erik Kwakernaak’s article ‘Madonna med barn’ [Madonna with child], Kosmorama XVIII, no. 110 (September 1972): 261-263, discusses the ‘passionate’ woman character in later Bergman films, with special focus on Karin in The Touch (1970). Åsa Boström defends Bergman’s portrayal of mother love in ‘Bergmans mödrar’ [Bergman’s mothers]. Filmrutan IX, no. 1, 1979, pp. 8-9; with special reference to Autumn Sonata. The above articles emphasize the traditional ‘universal’ aspects of womanhood and are close to studies of Bergman’s women as archetypal figures; see the following samples: Braucourt, G., D. Serceau and J. Domarchi. ‘Trois cinéastes de la femme’. Ecran 28, AugustSeptember 1974. 45-54. (Discussion of the portrayal of women in films of Bergman, Mizoguchi and Cukor). Cinque, Anne-Marie. ‘Beyond the Day’s Light: A Study of the Emerging Archetypal Feminine and Its Personification in Ingmar Bergman’s Filmic World’. Diss. Ann Arbor: Dissertation Abstracts International, 46, no. 4 (October) 1985, p. 1354B. McManus, Barbara F. ‘A Failure of Transformation: The Feminine Archetype in Bergman’s Cries and Whispers’. Transformations in Literature and Film, ed. by Leon Golden. Tallahassee: University Press of Florida, 1982, pp. 57-68. Serçeau, Michel. ‘L’archetype Lola: réalisme et métaphore’. CinémAction no. 28 (April 1984): 114118. (Treatment of femme fatale in Bob Fosse’s Cabaret, Ingmar Bergman’s The Serpent’s Egg and Fassbinder’s Lola and Lili Marleen). These largely affirmative presentations of Bergman’s screen women might be contrasted to a set of highly critical, feminist contributions to the subject, the first being Margareta Ekström’s ‘Ingmar Bergman i kvinnoland’ [Bergman in woman country]. Hertha 48, no. 2 (1961): 16-17, 31. Ekström charges Bergman with stereotyping women by dividing them into three abstracted types: the good-bad girl; the maternal woman; and the demonic or old hag woman. However, a controversial debate about the subject did not surface until 1971 with The Touch (see Commentary, Ø 244). Two years later the feminist discussion of Bergman’s portrayal of women started anew in the aftermath of the Swedish television talk show ‘Utmaningen’ [The challenge] on 11 June 1973, in which Bergman responded to questions from callers. A working mother raised the issue of guilt in women for not staying home with their children. According
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman to report in Expr. the following day (p. 1), headlined ‘Ingmar Bergman oförskämd i TV’ [Bergman rude on TV], Bergman told women to go into politics instead of ‘just sitting there whining about the old boys in local politics who do nothing for them’ [i stället för att bara sitta där och gnälla över dom gamla gossarna i lokalpolitiken som inte gör något för dem]. In the ensuing press storm, Bergman was reprimanded by Cecilia Nettelbrandt, a member of the Swedish Parliament (riksdag), who called him insensitive to the situation of working mothers and accused him of having neglected his own children. For this and other responses, see Expr., 15 June 1973 (pp. 2, 5) and 19 June 1973 (p. 9); DN, June 12 (p. 2) and Femina, 12 September 1973 (pp. 26-27, 87). Bergman touched on the feminist theme in a 1972 interview with Anne Raethinge Wolden (see Ø 818). In another interview by Berit Wilson in DN, 8 February 1974 (see Ø 828), he elaborated on the subject by referring to Doris Lessing whose portrayal of women he admired after reading her body of work. Claiming that only a violent outburst of female aggressiveness could bring about a change in women’s status, he talked about the present situation as a huge underdeveloped country of housewives and working mothers who often harbored the enemy inside. At the same time, Bergman admitted an ambivalence within himself: resisting a change in established sex roles but resenting the enslavement of women. See also 1974 interview (Ø 834) with Bo Strömstedt in which Bergman lists equal rights for women (and children) among the social issues he supports. All of Bergman’s statements can be viewed in the context of his films Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers) and Scener ur ett äktenskap (Scenes from a Marriage). The feminist issue was also raised in the US during the same period. Cries and Whispers was in fact the Bergman film that triggered several American articles on his portrayal of women. See Ann Morrisett Davidson’s ‘A Great Man who Humiliates Women?’ The Village Voice, 29 March 1973, pp. 70, 80, and Constance Penley in Women and Film 1, no. 3-4 (1973): 55-56, reprinted in Movies and Methods, ed. by Bill Nichols (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1976, pp. 204-08). In 1973, American film writer Joan Mellen published an oft-cited critique, using Bergman’s film Cries and Whispers as her focal point: ‘Bergman and Women: Cries and Whispers’. Film Quarterly XXVI, no. 5 (Fall 1973): 2-11. Mellen’s approach is Marxist-feminist and in contrast to Burnevich (Catholic priest) above, who referred to Bergman’s women as timely exponents of Western values, Mellen saw them as examples of a traditional patriarchal culture that does not allow women any space outside their biological function. Mellen’s article was reprinted in her book Women and their Sexuality in the New Film (New York: Horizon Press, 1974, pp. 106-27), and in Kaminsky (Ø 1266), pp. 297-312. Mellen’s assessment was questioned by Robert Boyers, ‘A Case against Feminist Criticism’. Partisan Review 43, no. 4 (1976): 602-11. Birgitta Steene argues against Mellen’s categorical use of Cries and Whispers as emblematic of Bergman’s sexist views by juxtaposing his early realistic films and his later more symbolic works in ‘Bergman’s Portrayal of Women: Sexism or Suggestive Metaphor?’. Sexual Stratagems: The World of Women in Film, ed. by Patricia Erens (New York: Horizon Press, 1976), pp. 91-107. Check also Commentaries and Critical Reception columns in Filmography (Chapter IV) entries for Persona, Scener ur ett äktenskap (Scenes from a Marriage), Höstsonat (Autumn Sonata), and Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers). For major studies of Bergman’s women portraits, which also reflect the development within feminist thinking from sex role analysis to gender discussion, see the following: Amile, Vincent. ‘La part des femmes’. Positif, no. 360 (February 1991): 98-99. On Bergman’s portrayal of women in connection with a retrospective film series; Blackwell, Marilyn Johns. Gender and Representation in the Films of Ingmar Bergman. Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 1997. 225 pp. A presentation of Bergman’s films from a gender perspective. Though somewhat predictable in its formulaic application of gender theory,
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman the book is a worthwhile contrast to earlier feminist critiques of Bergman (Ekström, Mellen). For a discussion of Bergman’s portrayal of women, with specific reference to Blackwell’s study, see Steene, Birgitta. ‘Omvärdering av Bergmans kvinnosyn’ [Revaluation of Bergman’s view of women]. SvD, 22 July 1997, ‘understreckare’ (cultural column). Foelz, Sylvia and Erika Mondry. ‘Versuch einer kritischen Filmanalyse unter Besonderer Berücksichtigung von Weiblichkeitsideologie – aufgezeigt an Film-Beispielen von Ingmar Bergman’. Diss. Freie Universität, Berlin, 1981. 475 pp, plus separate volume of ‘Empirisches Material’, 293 pp. The first half of the dissertation proceeds from a theoretical argument that consciousness of the place of women in society can only be transmitted on film as a ‘false’ or subjective view. Focus is on a series of ‘dimensions’ in Bergman’s films: professions, marriage, children, sexuality, nuclear family, freedom, sickness, death, religiosity, identity, etc. This is followed by a historical overview of women as domestic and powerless creatures and then applied to Bergman’s portrayal of women as lovers, wives and mothers, pp. 85-261. Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey. ‘Feminist Theory and the Performance of Lesbian Desire in Persona’. In Michaels, Lloyd, ed. Ingmar Bergman’s Persona. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 1999, pp. 130-146. Harrell, Mary Runnels. ‘The Role of Woman in the Films of Ingmar Bergman’. B.A. thesis, Eckerd College, 1977, 95 leaves. No details available. Haskell, Molly. From Reverence to Rape. (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1974), pp. 277-322. Discussion of Bergman’s screen portrayals of women as reflections of his male psyche. Höök, Marianne. Ingmar Bergman, 1962, and article ‘Så skapar geniet sina kvinnor’ [This is how a genius creates his women]. Idun-Veckojournalen, no. 26, 1964, pp. 34-35. Höök discusses Bergman’s different types of women in the chapter titled ‘Bergman och kvinnorna’; she divides them into three groups with a reference to classical mythology: The sensuous, strong and triumphant Venus figure; the cool, serious and intellectual Diana woman; and the innocent ingenue – Hebe or youth goddess. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ett subversivt filmspråk. Ingmar Bergman i ett filmfeministiskt perspektiv’. I Nordisk forskning om kvinnor och medier, ed. by Ulla Carlsson. Göteborg: Nordicom 3, 1993, pp. 141-58. Author argues that through the shift to a female voice, Bergman undercuts not only a male-defined ideology but also a traditionally male-shaped cinematic style. See also the following articles for discussion of women in particular Bergman films: Ek, Johan. ‘Könsroller och relationer i Ingmar Bergmans filmer Det regnar på vår kärlek, Smultronstället, Scener ur ett äktenskap’. Undergraduate thesis, Stockholm University 1981, 94 pp. (SFI library). Klynne, K. ‘Ingmar Bergmans kvinnosyn’ [Bergman’s view of women]. Chaplin XIV/1 (112), 1972, pp. 28-29. Discussion of Bergman’s portrayal of women with special reference to The Touch. Reuschmann, Eva, Sisters on Screen: Siblings in Contemporary Cinema. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000. (Contains references to Bergman's portrayal of women.) Söderquist, Eva. ‘Kvinnoskildringarna i två svenska 50-talsfilmer’ [Depictions of women in two Swedish films of the Fifties]. Filmrutan XXII, no. 2, 1979, pp. 43-54. Discussion of Summer with Monica and Arne Mattson’s One Summer of Happiness (1951, Hon dansade en sommar), focussing on the female leads, Monika and Kerstin. Talbert, Linda Lee. ‘Images of Women in three Ingmar Bergman Films’. M.A. thesis, Arizona State University, 1975, 60 leaves. Portrayal of women in Through a Glass Darkly, Persona, and Cries and Whispers.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Thi Nhu Quynh Ho. ‘La femme dans l’univers bergmanien’. Diss., University of Fribourg, 1975, 123 pp. Descriptive analysis of women in Summer with Monica, Shame, The Touch, and Cries and Whispers. Wood, Robin. ‘Women: Oppression and Transgression. Persona Revisited’. In Sexual Politics and Narrative Film. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998, pp. 248-262. Wood offers an addendum to his discussion of Persona in his 1969 book on Bergman’s films (Ø 1185) by focussing on lesbian motif, defined as women bonding in mutual support against male dominance.
976.
Krusche, Dieter. ‘Ingmar Bergman will “auch das Letzte sagen”’. Filmforum, October 1954, p. 6. German overview of Bergman’s early filmmaking.
977.
Salzer, Michael E. ‘Bergmann (sic!) will keine Revolverschüsse’. Neue Zeitung, 19 August 1954. A report on Bergman’s plans to make a film in (West) Germany. A second report on the same subject was published by Salzer on 23 December 1955 in Der Tag. Plans were apparently cancelled.
1955 978.
n.a. ‘Ingmar Bergman: “Från Kris till Kvinnodröm” [Bergman: From Crisis to Waiting Women]. Nutid 16 (September) 1955: 2-5. An unsigned article in a contemporary Swedish journal, tracing Bergman’s career in the cinema from 1946 to 1955. Likens Bergman to the magicians of ancient times in that he wants to spellbind his audience. See also Filmnyheter 11 (27 August) 1956: 1-2, for article about Bergman as ‘Trollkarl eller fältherre?’ [Magician or General?] Ø 985. Cf. Lindqvist above (Ø 1028).
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Forsberg, Gunnar. ‘Regissör med djävulskomplex’ [Director with devil’s complex]. Norrländska Social-Demokraten, 8 October 1955, p. 4. One of many presentations of Bergman at the time as a ‘demonic’ director who possesses a magical touch.
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Olsson, Jan Olof (sign. Jolo). ‘Gossen i mörkrummet’ [The boy in the darkroom]. DN, 21 August 1955, p. 6. A newspaper article that challenges the view that Ingmar Bergman’s film scripts are drawn from the popular press and women’s magazines. Olsson corroborates Bergman’s own statement that his filmmaking is closer to dreams than to realism.
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Tannefors, Gunnar. ‘Ingmar Trollkarlen’ [Ingmar the magician]. Hela världen no. 48, 1955, pp. 24, 40. Like the interview article by Ulf Nilsson (‘En lektion i Bergman’) [A lesson in Bergman]. VeckoRevyn, (Ø 709), Gunnar Tannefors’ entry was published in a weekly tabloid magazine and is indicative of the early interest that Bergman’s persona elicited in the Swedish popular press; he,
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman in fact, achieved the status of kändis (pop culture personality). Note also that many of his early film scripts were first published in the popular weekly journal Allers. Tannefors presents Bergman as a talented rebel, whose literary skill has not been properly appreciated by Swedish critics. A similar portrait was published by Tannerors in ‘Månadens profil’, Biografägaren, no. 1, 1956, p. 11.
1956 982.
Group Item: Bergman and French response in mid-Fifties (1956-1960) At the Cannes Film Festival in 1956, Sommarnattens leende (Sourires d’une nuit d’été) won the coveted Jury Prize. In the late spring of the same year, the Cinématèque Française put on a Scandinavian retrospective. For a report, see Georges Sadoul, ‘Ingmar Bergman et le cinéma suèdois’, Les lettres françaises, no. 626 (28 June 1956), p. 6, which relates Bergman’s films to the silent cinema of Sjöström and Stiller. The Cinématèque retrospective resulted in the discovery of Bergman by young French cineasts. See Ado Kyrou, ‘A Propos de la rétrospèctive Scandinave de la Cinémathèque Française. Ingmar Bergman et quelques autres’, Positif, no. 17 (June-July), 1956: 51-53. Kyrou terms Bergman one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Many of the French critics who discovered Bergman’s films in 1956 were associated with the Cahiers du Cinéma. The journal published a special Bergman issue: Cahiers 11, no. 61 (July) 1956. The issue included Bergman’s essay ‘Det att göra film’ (‘Qu’est-ce-que faire des films?’), a favorable review of Sommarnattens leende/Sourires d’une nuit d’été by J.L. Richer, and a filmography by Jean Béranger. But the main item was a ‘Présentation d’Ingmar Bergman’, (pp. 7-10), written by critic and filmmaker Eric Rohmer who praised Bergman’s poetic rather than spatial sense of location, and his concentration on a state of mind instead of action drama. Rohmer became one of Bergman’s early advocates in France during 1956-59. In an issue of Arts (October 16-22, 1957, p. 4) Rohmer wrote apropos of the French opening of Gycklarnas afton (La nuit des forains): ‘Bergman recommends himself to us for his coherent universe.’ Rohmer saw Bergman as a filmmaker stuck between two world wars, whose Nordic pessimism had a visual rather than verbal impact. (For a summary in Swedish of this article, see Marianne Höök in SvD, 19 August 1956. Bergman’s film Det sjunde inseglet (Le septième sceau) was shown at the 1957 Cannes festival. It was included in a festival report written by François Truffaut and published in Cahiers du cinéma 14, no, 72 (June) 1957: 28-29. See also report in Arts, 11 June 1957. Eric Rohmer continued his rave assessment of Bergman’s filmmaking with a review of Det sjunde inseglet in Arts, 23-29 April , 1957, p. 4, reprinted in Focus on the Seventh Seal (Ø 1220), pp. 134-135; and of Kvinnodröm (Dreams/Rêves des femmes) in Cahiers du Cinéma 15, no. 89 (November) 1958: 45-48. In the latter review Rohmer predicts that 1958 will go down in history as Bergman’s year for the French filmgoing public. To filmmaker François Truffaut, Bergman’s uniqueness lay in his auteurship, i.e., in his ability to use the screen the way a novelist makes use of his pen. Truffaut’s homage to Bergman culminated in his article ‘The Lesson of Ingmar Bergman’, Take One 3, no. 10 (March-April) 1972: 40, translated from L’Express (Paris) by P. Levensvold and reprinted in Truffaut’s The Films of My Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1975), pp. 253-60. According to Truffaut, Bergman’s lesson was three-fold: (1) demonstrating a new ‘liberated’ form of dialogue on screen; (2) proposing a radical cleansing of the image; and (3) establishing the primacy of the human face in the cinema. Though hardly alone in the French ‘idolatrie’ of Bergman in the mid-Fifties, Jean Béranger was to establish himself over the next few years as the main introdocteur of Bergman in France.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman In Cahiers du cinéma 13, no, 74 (August-September) 1957: 19-28, Béranger published an essay, ‘Les trois métamorphoses d’Ingmar Bergman’ which was to be quoted often in French and Italian Bergman studies. Béranger discussed Bergman’s development from screenwriter to director and auteur. He distinguished three stages in Bergman’s filmmaking to date: (1) adolescent stage, 1944-1952; (2) films about women, which were both lighter and more mature in tone, 1952-1955; and (3) allegorical films, 1956. Jean Béranger also provided the first extensive interview with Bergman by a foreign film critic: ‘Rencontre avec Ingmar Bergman’. Cahiers du cinéma 15, no. 88 (October) 1958: 12-20. Translated into English in Focus on The Seventh Seal’ (Ø 1220), pp. 10-15. Cross-listed in (Ø 713) in Interview Chapter. Béranger continued his presentation of Ingmar Bergman in ‘Renaissance du cinéma suèdois’. Cinéma 58, no. 29 (July-August) 1958: 32. This article focusses on Bergman’s filmmaking as a revival of internationally recognized silent Swedish cinema, while a follow-up article in the same journal, ‘Le rêve d’Ingmar’, Cinéma 58, no. 31 (November) 1958: 13-23, provides a somewhat rambling discussion of Bergman’s religious sense, his father’s personality, and the ontological implications of Smultronstället (Les fraises sauvages). In 1959, Béranger’s interest in Bergman resulted in a book length study, Ingmar Bergman et ses films. Paris: Le terrain vague, 1959, 103 pp. (Rev. ed. 1960). Here Béranger presents some major themes in Bergman’s films from Skepp till India land (Bateau pour les Indes) to Ansiktet (Le Visage), themes referred to as Nostalgia of Childhood, The Torment of the Couple, the Commitment of Self, and the Flow of Time. An expansion of this volume, co-authored with François D. Guyon and titled Ingmar Bergman, was published in 1964 (Lyon: Premier plan, no. 34), 134 pp. New edition 1969, 128 pp. Guyon published a short monograph in 1959 titled Ingmar Bergman (Lyon: Premier plan, no. 3), 41 pp. See also Béranger’s Le noveau cinéma scandinave, 1957-1968 (Paris: Le terrain vague, 1969), pp. 17-38, 70-74. A special Bergman issue of Cahiers du cinéma was published in July 1958 (vol. 15, no. 85), which solidified Bergman’s reputation in France. The most important item in the issue was Jean Luc Godard’s essay, ‘Bergmanorama’, pp. 1-5, which also appeared in Cahiers du cinéma in English, no. 1 (January) 1966: 56-62, and in Jean Luc Godard par Jean Luc Godard, (ed. by J.L. Comolli, J. Narboni), Paris: Editions Pierre Belfond, 1968. pp. 122-130, translated into English as Godard on Godard. (ed. T. Milne), London: Secker & Warburg, 1972, pp. 75-80. Reprinted in Ingmar Bergman. An Artist’s Journey, 1995 (Ø 1298), pp. 37-41. Godard’s tribute also appears in a special 1988 issue of the film magazine Chaplin, titled Ingmar Bergman at 70 – a Tribute (Ø 1452). Godard saw Bergman working in the spirit of Marcel Proust, ‘a cineast of the prolonged moment’ using flashbacks dictated by the philosophical thrust of his films. Godard’s 1958 Cahiers article was preceded by brief notes (pp. 6-17) on Bergman’s films to date, written by Jean Béranger, Claude Beylie, P. Demonsablon, Claude Gauteur, L. Barcorelles, and Eric Rohmer. See also Godard’s assessment of a new release of Sommaren med Monika (Monique ou le désir) in 1958. (See commentary to film in Filmography, Chapter IV, Ø 219). 1958-59 was the Bergman year in Paris. His Malmö ensemble gave a well-received guest performance of Faust. The Cinématèque Française showed a Bergman retrospective, as did the Cinéma Pagodes and Cinéma d’Essais. Cinéma 59, no. 41 (November-December) 1959: 3950, 87-9, 130-32, provided a new collection of reviews of Bergman’s films to date and a French translation of his essay ‘Varje film är min sista film’ (‘Chaque film est mon dernier’). (See Ø 108). This was also the time when Jacques Siclier established himself as a major interpreter of Bergman in France by bringing out the first long study on Bergman’s filmmaking in French: Ingmar Bergman. (Brussels: Club du livre de cinéma), no. 12-13, 1958. An expanded version was
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman published in 1960 (Paris: Editions universitaires, 1960, 190 pp.). A revised edition appeared in 1964. Translated into Spanish by José Vila Selma (Madrid: Ediciones Rialp, 1962), 241 pp., and into German by Frieda Grafe (Hamburg: Marion von Schröder Verlag, 1965), 189 pp. Siclier’s updated study covers Bergman’s films before Jungfrukällen (La source). The approach is thematic with films grouped under such headings as Return to Adolescence, The Integrated Couple, and The Universe of Women. It provides a good general introduction, but is now somewhat outdated and has been replaced by newer studies (see especially Binh, 1993, Ø 1542). The German edition of Siclier’s book was reviewed (rather negatively) by Manfred Delling. ‘Ein Bergman-Porträt’. Die Welt, 29 October 1966. Delling found Siclier’s book lacking in an understanding of Bergman’s cultural context and too focussed on providing a French perspective. Siclier also published a couple of noteworthy articles on Bergman in 1960: ‘Le style baroque de La Nuit des forains d’Ingmar Bergman’, Etudes cinématographiques 1, no. 1-2 (1960): 109-14, and ‘Ingmar Bergman, un oeuvre énorme’, Télérama, 28 December 1960, n.p. By 1960, a difference of opinion could be discerned among French critics with regard to Bergman’s lasting impact as a filmmaker. In a segment titled ‘L’univers d’Ingmar Bergman’ in his book Le cinéma et la crise de notre temps (Paris: Edition du Cerf, 1960), pp. 99-125, Jean Leirens praised Bergman as a philosophical visionary. Like Rohmer and Kyrou he was struck by the existential and metaphysical scope of his films while Godard was more intrigued by their cinematic form. At the same time however, more skeptical and negative voices began to emerge. One such voice was represented by Claude Gauteur in his article ‘Renaissance du cinéma suèdois: Ingmar Bergman’, Cinéma 58, no. 29 (July-August) 1958: 22-32. (Appeared in Swedish as ‘Den svenska filmens renässans. En fransman om Ingmar Bergman’ in Clarté 32, no. 3 (1959): 34-35, 39-40). To Gauteur, Bergman was above all a psychologist who depicted intense relationships between men and women. In a subsequent article titled ‘Les fans et la critique’ in Image et son, no. 158 (January) 1963: 4-9, Gauteur discussed the various ideological approaches to Bergman among French enthusiasts, expressing surprise at the variety of critical positions involved, while he himself now saw Bergman’s real strength in his instruction of actors. Gauteur’s somewhat cautious evaluation of Bergman as a filmmaker signals a decline for Bergman in France. The following items, listed chronologically, reflect the change in the early French assessment of Bergman’s filmmaking: Rohmer, Eric. ‘Voir ou ne pas voir’. Cahiers du cinéma 16, no. 94 (April) 1959: 48-51. A discussion of reader response to Cahiers’ ‘bergmandolatrie’. Rohmer admits that Bergman represents two aspects that the Cahiers editors have fought against: archaism and literary style. Rohmer also acknowledges that Bergman’s metaphysics may not be very refined, but maintains that he still moves his audience through the innocence of his vision and by his ability to create a balanced tension between abstract idea and concrete mise-en-scène. Benayoun, Robert. ‘Docteur Bergman et Monsieur Hyde’. Positif, no. 30 (July), 1959: 39-41. Charging the French with ‘L’Ingmardolatrie’, i.e., a snobbish elevation of all Bergman’s films to masterpieces, the author compares his filmmaking to Howard Hawks, Anthony Mann, and Delmer Davies, technical craftsmen who occassionally achieve first-rate results but can also plunge into melodrama. Benayoun sees Bergman as both an artist and a dilettante/poseur. Domarchi, Jean. ‘La source: Declin de Bergman?’ Arts, ( December 14-20) 1960, p. 7. Denouncement of Bergman, predicting that ‘Bergman and our Bergmania will pass like the scoobiedoo and hula hoop’. This article on The Virgin Spring seems to have been the real catalyst in bringing about a disenchantment with Bergman among the devout Cahiers group. Peter Graham in Granta (Cambridge University film journal), 26 November 1961, pp. 27-32, responds extensively in Bergman’s defense.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman The French ‘execution’ of Bergman continued in Cinéma 61, no. 53 (February 1961), pp. 98-100, when R. Larris and R. Gilson rejected the now (too) familiar Bergman landscape and referred to him as a naive metaphysician. In the early 1970s, Ingmar Bergman seems to have met a renewed interest among French critics. The following two items are typical of Bergman’s come-back in France, culminating in a number of public tributes to him in the 1990s (see ‘Awards and Tributes’ in Varia): Jeancolas, F. ‘Après Riten, retour sur Bergman’. Jeune cinéma, no. 67 (December-January) 1973: 34-36. (Evaluation of Bergman’s work from 1966 to 1972, suggesting a comeback for the director in France); Nave, Bernard and Welsh, Henry. ‘Retour de Bergman: au cinéclub et au stage de Bouloris’. Jeune cinéma 142 (April-May) 1982: 27-32. (The first part (pp. 27-29) is about a revival of interest in Bergman among French cinema art groups after his decline in France in the Sixties and Seventies; the second part consists of excerpts from discussions that took place in December 1981 at the Bouloris stage in connection with showings of Gycklarnas afton (La nuit des forains), Sjunde inseglet (Le séptième sceau) and Ormens ägg (L’œuf du serpent); Saunier, Thierry. ‘Bergman le solitaire’. La nouvelle revue française. no. 520, May 1996, pp. 125142. (See Ø 1609).
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Höök, Marianne. ‘Marianne Höök porträtterar: Ingmar Bergmans tre perioder, en svart, en strimmig, en rosa’ [Marianne Höök portrays: Bergman’s three periods, black, streaked, rose]. SvD, August 19,1956, pp. 3, 5. One of Bergman’s earliest biographers discusses his filmmaking to date as three mood shifts: dark pessimism, serious drama, and comedy.
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L-n, S.B. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Min melodi, no. 16, 1956, p. 39. A portrait of Bergman as disciplined craftsman and poseur; as Sweden’s foremost scriptwriter; and as a uniquely independent filmmaker who listens more to his own artistic integrity than to the filmgoing public.
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Mr. Mix. ‘Trollkarl eller fältherre?’ [Magician or General?]. Filmnyheter 11, no. 11 (27 August) 1956:1-2. A brief presentation of Bergman’s work persona on the film set.
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Osten, Gerd. ‘Ingmar Bergman – artist och filosof ’. [Bergman – artist and philosopher]. Clarté., no. 3, 1956, pp. 7- 8. A major Swedish film critic at the time comments in leftist journal on Bergman’s development as a filmmaker from the adolescent rebel in Hets to an appreciated director of film comedies. Osten stresses the bizarre, fantastic, and macabre in Bergman’s film production and notes an influence from Méliès.
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Saxdorph, Erik S. ‘Ingmar Bergman og Alf Sjöberg overfor hinanden’ [BergmanSjöberg relationship]. Kosmorama, no. 20, 1956: 28-30. A discussion of early Bergman-Sjöberg collaboration.
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1957 988.
Group Item: Bergman as Literary Author See introduction to Chapter II, Ingmar Bergman as a Writer, and ‘fyrtitalist’ entry (Ø 952), 1947. The assessment of Ingmar Bergman as a literary writer goes through different stages in his career, in part dictated by himself, in part reflecting changing views of the relationship between literature and film, word and image, among film theoreticians. The matter is also related to the severe criticism that Bergman met in reviews of some of his own stage plays (see productions of Bergman’s plays in Theatre Chapter VI), where stage director Bergman always seemed to outshine playwright and author Bergman. By 1957, Bergman was no longer writing stage plays; he was emerging in France and elsewhere as ‘a cinéma d’auteur’; and he declared in essays that he had never had any ambition to be a man of literature. One article, written about the same time by the head of SFI (Swedish Film Institute), Harry Schein, (‘Poeten Bergman’. BLM, no. 4, 1957, p.350-52) confirms Bergman’s low status as a literary writer among Swedish critics. Schein, using Sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal) as an example, acknowledges Bergman as a visual poet but charges him with literary bombasm. Other examples in the same vein are: Forssell, Lars. ‘Den abstrakta filmen’ [The abstract film]. Chaplin no. 1, 1959: 4-7. Argues that Ingmar Bergman uses superficial literary features to make popular movies and claims that Bergman is ‘abstractly international’, i.e., relies on established plots and screen typology of characters rather than narrative complexity and psychological depth. Forssell would later modify his view on Bergman after the latter staged his play Show in 1971 (see Ø 449). Göranson, Sverker. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Götheborgske spionen 24, no. 10 (December) 1959: 8-9, 14. Charges Bergman with vulgarizing literary motifs. See also John Landquist in Reception to The Seventh Seal, (Ø 225). Abroad, critics were more prone to place Bergman positively in a literary Swedish context, beginning with Frédéric Durand’s comparison between Ingmar Bergman and writers like Lagerkvist and Strindberg in ‘Bergman et la littérature suèdoise’, Cinéma no. 47 (June 1960): 39-44. See also Italian reception (Ø 1012) for several early references to Bergman’s literary predecessors in Scandinavia, and Hollis Alpert’s article ‘Bergman as Writer’, Saturday Review, 27 August 1960, pp. 22- 23. Once Bergman had been defined as an auteur, his literary status improved and his scripts began to be published as books, first in the US and later in Sweden. The real turning-point in the (delayed) Swedish view of Bergman as a literary writer came with the publication of his memoirs Laterna magica/The Magic Lantern in 1987. See for instance Ø 1441 (Bohman) and reviews of Laterna, Ø 185. For a sample of literary treatment of Bergman’s works, see Ø 1409 (Ingemansson). Bergman himself has upgraded his role as writer after his retirement as a filmmaker. As part of the same trend one might view Maaret Kosinen’s book from 2002, I begynnelsen var ordet... (Ø 1681), which focusses on Bergman’s ‘early authorship’ (1938-1955). With this study Bergman’s initial ambitions to enter the literary field have been acknowledged with positive interest rather than earlier, often negative (Swedish) criticism.
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Group Item: Bergman and Literature – Influences and Parallells A more neutral discussion of the subject ‘Ingmar Bergman and Literature’ is represented by a number of comparative studies of literary influences or literary parallells to Bergman’s oeuvre.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman The following items are listed in alphabetical order according to the compared author’s last name.
Samuel Beckett In his essay ‘Bergman’s Persona and the Artistic Dilemma of the Modern Narrative’, Literature/ Film Quarterly, V, no. 1 (Winter) 1977: 75-88, C.J. Jones compares Bergman’s filmmaking – with particular reference to Persona – and Samuel Beckett’s novels.
Hjalmar Bergman One of the earliest articles on Swedish playwright, scriptwriter and novelist Hjalmar Bergman’s importance to Ingmar Bergman was written by Bengt Forslund: ‘Bergman och Bergman’, GHT, 23 September 1959, p. 3. Forslund focusses on what he calls ‘the Sleeman motif ’ and the ‘the clown motif ’ in the two artists, i.e., disillusionment of youth and humiliation of the artist. ‘Sleeman motif ’ refers to Hjalmar Bergman’s play Herr Sleeman kommer [Mr. S. Cometh], and ‘clown motif ’ to his roman à clef, Clownen Jac. Hjalmar Bergman’s impact on Ingmar Bergman is also discussed in Gado, 1986 (Ø 1431), Mosley, 1981 (Ø 1376), Steene, 1968 (Ø 1170). In Bilder, (Ø 188), p. 25, Ingmar Bergman mentions a specific, never realized film project based on Hjalmar Bergman’s novel Chefen fru Ingeborg (Head of the Firm), with the title role reserved for actress Ingrid Bergman.
Jorge Borges Borges and Bergman are contrasted in terms of their depiction of personal identity as either egomania or self-annulment in Maurice Bennett’s article ‘Everything and Nothing: The Myth of Personal Identity in Jorge Borges and Bergman’s Persona’. In Transformations in Literature and Film, ed. by Leon Golden. Tallahassee: University Press of Florida, 1982, pp. 17-28.
Anton Chekhov In an article titled ‘Images of Dying and the Artistic Role’, Australian Journal of Screen, No. 2, 1977: 33-61, John Tulloch compares Bergman’s Wild Strawberries and Chekhov’s Dreary Story in terms of thematic content (old age, sickness, approaching death), but also discusses the contrast between the two artists when it comes to the concept of the creative self. The article is marred by its shifting focus from structural analysis to sociological clichés about family life in Sweden. In his article ‘Three Literary Sourees for Through a Glass Darkly’. D.F. Holden compares Bergman’s films and Chekhov’s play The Seagull. Literature/Film Quarterly II, no. 1 (Winter) 1974.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton In The Chesterton Review 11, no. 1 (February) 1985: 34-46, James Mark Purcell compares ‘Chesterton’s Magic and Bergman’s Magician: Variations on a Theme’. The theme is faith versus magic. See also Ø 398.
Dante Alleghieri A comparison between Bergman’s film The Silence and Dante’s Divine Comedy in terms of salvation was published in 1964 by Kurt Almkvist: ‘Tystnaden och Hermesstaven’ [The Silence and the Hermes staff]. Horisont XI, no. 1, 1964, pp. 10-12. Bergman’s film depicts Purgatory but gives no hint of Paradise; it lacks an equivalent to the Hermes’ staff, which gained control over the snakes in Dante’s underworld, the symbolic creatures representing chaos (rather than absolute evil).
E.T.A. Hoffmann In an article titled ‘Mozart, Hoffmann and Ingmar Bergman’s Vargtimmen’, Literature/Film Quarterly VIII, no. 2, 1980: 104-114, Jeffrey Gantz argues that Mozart’s Magic Flute and Hoff-
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman mann’s tales ‘The Gold Pot’ and ‘The Sandmann’ provide the thematic foundation of Hour of the Wolf. Mitteilungen der E.T.A. Hoffmann Gesellschaft. Bamberg, Germany: 1989, pp. 35, 62-77, contains an article by Uwe Schadwill titled ‘’Aber was reflektieren die Scherben?’: E.T.A. Hoffmann und Ingmar Bergman’, which also compares a Bergman film (Vargtimmen (Stunde des Wolfes) and Hoffmann’s Der goldene Topf and Der Sandman. Schadwill draws parallels between two sets of characters: Veronika-Anselmus-Serpentina (Hoffmann) and Alma-Johan-Veronica (Bergman).
Henrik Ibsen Apart from studies of the Ekdahl family in Fanny and Alexander (see Filmography Ø 253), there are relatively few references to Ibsen in studies of Bergman’s filmmaking. The most extensive one is by Joseph and Lanayre Liggera, ‘Going Roundabout: Similar Images of Pilgrimage in Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and Bergman’s The Seventh Seal’, West Virginia University Philological Papers (WVUPP) 35, 1989: 21-27. To Liggera both Ibsen’s and Bergman’s works use a quest structure centering on a self-deceiving protagonist, and share an imagery rooted in folklore and Christian symbolism. In a volume edited by Henry Perridon (see under Strindberg below), Evert Sprinchorn compares Bergman’s Ekdahl/Vergerus dichotomy in Fanny and Alexander to Ibsen’s Ekdal/ Gregers Werle (the bon vivant vs the stern moralist) in The Wild Duck. Egil Törnqvist discusses the same Ibsen references in Chaplin special anniversary issue, (1983), pp. 253-259, and so does Morten Jostad in Samtiden 6 (1985), pp. 40-46. Törnqvist analyzes ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Doll’s Houses’, Scandinavica XXX, no. 1 (May) 1991: 63-76, and Bergman’s adaptation of Ibsen’s Ghosts in his book Bergman’s Muses (2003), pp. 21-35. In their study Ingmar Bergman: Four Decades in the Theater, 1982 (see Ø 594) Frederick and Lise-Lone Marker discuss Bergman’s productions of Ibsen in chapter 5, titled ‘The Esssence of Ibsen’, pp. 172-218. See also same author’s 1986 interview with Bergman about his staging of John Gabriel Borkman (Ø 909). Henrik Sjögren’s Från lek till raseri, 2002 (Ø 677) pp. 185-238, treats several of Bergman’s Ibsen productions in a separate Ibsen section of the book. See also commentaries and reviews in entries of Bergman’s Ibsen productions in the Theatre Chapter VI, and Ø 1255.
Søren Kierkegaard In ‘Connaissance de la voie’, Positif, no. 121 (November) 1970: 34-40, Bernard Cohn discusses Bergman as a disciple of Kierkegaard, with whom he shares a contempt for ideologies, a drive to isolate the individual against social conventions, and a negative view of the past. Focus is on Skammen (La Honte) and En passion (Passion). In his dissertation ‘Bergman and the Existentialists: A Study in Subjectivity’, (University of Texas at Austin, 1979, 259 typed pp.) Amos D. Wimberley examines The Seventh Seal and the Trilogy, comparing them to the works of Kierkegaard, Jaspers, and Camus. See also items in Ø 997, 1012, 1121 and 1697.
Selma Lagerlöf In an article titled ‘Bergmans filmberättelse – en saga lik Berlings’ [Bergman’s film story – a fairy tale like Berling’s], KvP, 1 February 1983, p. 11, Stephan Linnér makes a brief comparison between Fanny and Alexander and Gösta Berling’s Saga from the point of view of character and the use of fantasy.
Margaret Laurence In an article titled ‘Heuresis: The Mother-Daughter Theme in A Jest of God and Autumn Sonata’, New Quarterly: New Directions in Canadian Writing 7, no. 1-2 (Spring-Summer) 1987:
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 267-73, Michael Bird compares the primordial relationship (heuresis) of mother and daughter in Bergman’s Autumn Sonata and Margaret Laurence’s novel A Jest of God, the story of unmarried schoolteacher Rachel and her possessive mother who live in a shared apartment in a small, isolated town. The comparison is built on a rather general psychological hypothesis and is hardly concrete enough to illuminate the theme of Bergman’s film.
Thomas Mann In ‘Films out of Books: Bergman, Visconti and Mann’, Mosaic (Winnipeg) 16, no. 1-2 (WinterSpring) 1983: 165-73, David Glassco questions Bergman’s distinction between film and literature in the Introduction to Four Screenplays (Ø 110) where Bergman argues that film appeals directly to the emotions whereas literature is absorbed intellectually through a conscious act of will. Having rejected this dichotomy in our mental receptivity to film and literature, Glassco examines Visconti’s screen version of Thomas Mann’s novella Death in Venice. The title of the article is somewhat misleading since no comparison is made between Bergman and Mann.
Molière Molière is a major name in Ingmar Bergman’s stage productions. The best study of his interpretation of Molière is Frederick and Lise-Lone Marker’s Ingmar Bergman: Four Decades in the Theater (Ø 594). Chapter 4 titled ‘A Theater for Molière’ discusses such Bergman productions as Don Juan and The Misanthrope, pp. 132-171. See also same authors’ study of the BergmanMolière connection in ‘Bergman and the Comic Theatre of Molière: German Years’, Maske und Kothurn. Internationale Beitrage zur Theaterwissenschaft 30, no. 1-2, 1984: 203-216. Egil Törnqvist’s book Bergman’s Muses (Ø 1689) devotes a chapter to Bergman’s treatment of the Don Juan myth, including Molière’s play Dom Juan. Also Henrik Sjögren discusses Bergman’s Don Juan production in Malmö in Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 1968, pp. 156-60, and makes a reception collage of a number of Molière stagings in his book Lek och raseri, 2002 (Ø 677).
Toni Morrison (and Fyodor Dostoevsky) Though more of a sequential than comparative exploration of a common theme, Kimberly-Kay McGhee’s dissertation on the subject of melancholia attempts to juxtapose the works of two filmmakers (Bergman and Tarkovsky) and two literary writers (Morrison and Dostoevsky). See ‘To Duty Doubly Bound: A Study of Melancholy in Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Persona’, Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’, Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘The Sacrifice’ and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ‘The Idiot’’, Diss. State University of New York at Buffalo, 1998. DAIA (Dissertation Abstracts International Section A) 9908129, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1999.
Eugene O’Neill In a comparative analysis of religious theme in O’Neill’s drama Long Day’s Journey into Night (staged by Bergman in 1986) and Bergman’s film Såsom i en spegel (Through a Glass Darkly), Thomas P. Adler discusses mentally unstable women in both works and the role of the father figure. The article is titled ‘’Daddy Spoke to Me!’: Gods Lost and Found in Long Day’s Journey into Night and Through a Glass Darkly’, Comparative Drama 20, Winter 1986/87: Reprinted in Critical Approaches to O’Neill, ed. by John H. Stroupe. New York: AMS, 1988, pp. 161-68. The title quote refers to son Minus’ final cue in Through a Glass Darkly. Egil Törnqvist’s book Between Stage and Screen: Ingmar Bergman Directs, 1995 (Ø 1597) discusses Bergman’s staging of O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night (1988). Törnqvist also writes about the same production at greater length in Eugene O’Neill in China: An International Centenary Celebration, ed. by Haiping Lii and Lowell Swortzell. New York, Westport, Conn., London: Greenwood Press, 1992, pp. 241-48. Crosslisted in Theatre Chapter VI, 1988.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Sylvia Plath In her dissertation titled ‘Sylvia Plath and the Cinema: Sylvia Plath’s Poetics and the Cinematography of Ingmar Bergman, Jean Cocteau, and Carl Dreyer’, Linda Lussy Fraser includes a chapter on the influence of Bergman’s cinema on Plath’s poetic conception. Diss. University of California, Riverside, 1997. 166 typewritten pp.
Marcel Proust In what is basically an analysis of Wild Strawberries but of broader interest through its comparison between Bergman’s film and Proust’s narrative technique, Feeydoum Hoveyda’s article ‘Le plus grand anneau de la spirale’, Cahiers du Cinéma, 95 (May 1959): 40-47, juxtaposes Bergman’s film and Proust’s rendering of time and space in his novels. The same subject is suggested in Eugene Archer’s Bergman article ‘The Rack of Life’ in Film Quarterly 12, no. 4 (Summer) 1959: 3-16.
William Shakespeare Ingmar Bergman has produced plays by Shakespeare throughout his career. See in particular the following items: Cavell, Stanley. ‘Kärlekens årstider: Ingmar Bergmans ‘Sommarnattens leende’ och ‘En vintersaga’’ [Seasons of love: Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night and A Winter’s Tale]. Filmhäftet, XXVIII/111 (2000): 47-52. (Juxtaposes two ‘remarriage comedies’: Bergman’s early film Sommarnattens leende (Smiles of a Summer Night) and his stage production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. Sees Smiles... as a study in theatre, Winter’s Tale as a theatre study in film). Fridén, Ann. ‘’He Shall Live a Man Forbid’: Ingmar Bergman’s Macbeth’. Shakespeare Survey 36, 1983, pp. 65-72. (Analysis of three different productions by Ingmar Bergman of Macbeth: Mäster Olofsgården 1940, Hälsingborg 1944, and Gothenburg 1948. This article is expanded in Fridén’s dissertation Macbeth in the Swedish Theatre 1838-1986. Stockholm: Liber, 1986). Lahr, John. ‘Winter Songs’. The New Yorker, 3 October 1994, pp. 105-08. Reprinted in Ingmar Bergman. An Artist’s Journey, ed. by Roger Oliver. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1995, pp. 155-160. (Enthusiastic discussion of Bergman-Shakespeare based on the production of The Winter’s Tale). Loman, Richard. ‘Svartsjuka. William Shakespeares och Ingmar Bergmans vintersagor’ [Jealousy. William Shakespeare’s and Bergman’s winter’s tales]. In Ingmar Bergman. Film och teater i växelverkan, ed. by Margareta Wirmark (Ø 1613), pp. 152-171. Ritzu, Merete Kjöller. Bergman e Shakespeare. Roma: Bulzoni, 1997, 112 pp. (A comparative study of Shakespeare’s and Bergman’s historical contexts). Rokem, Freddie. ‘Bergmans dibbuk’. Judisk krönika, no. 1, 1989, pp. 16-17. (A discussion of Isaac, the Jew in Fanny and Alexander, with reference to a 1940 high school production, directed by Bergman, of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice). Törnqvist, Egil. Between Stage and Screen. Ingmar Bergman Directs. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 1995. 243 pp. (Part I of this study, titled ‘The Stage Director’, discusses Bergman’s staging of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale (1994). See also Marker, Four Decades in the Theater, 1982, 1992 (Ø 594), and special Shakespeare segment in Sjögren, Från lek till raseri, 2002 (Ø 677), as well as Commentaries and Reception of Bergman’s theatre productions of Shakespeare in Theatre Chapter. (VI).
Sigfrid Siwertz In his discussion of Tystnaden (The Silence) in Bilder (Images: My Life on Film) (Ø 188, pp 10809) Bergman makes a direct reference to Siwertz’ collection of short stories Den mörka seger-
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman gudinnan (The dark goddess of victory) from 1907. One of the stories, titled ‘Cirkeln’ is set in Berlin, and is said to have caused Bergman to dream about and formulate the recurrent imagery of the decadent city as it appears in Tystnaden, Riten and Ormens ägg.
August Strindberg This is by far the most frequent literary reference in studies of Bergman’s filmmaking and playwriting. See the following discussions, referring to Bergman’s filmmaking and television work. For his staging of Strindberg’s plays in the theatre, see pertinent entries in Theatre Chapter VI and Theatre/Media Bibliography, Chapter VII, as well as Strindberg sections in Marker and Sjögren books (Ø 594 and Ø 677). Abraham, Henry H.L. ‘A Successor to Strindberg: Alienation in Ingmar Bergman’. Commonweal 29 (May) 1964: 291. (Discussion of Bergman’s characters as gloomy descendents of Strindberg’s neurotics). Blackwell, Johns Marilyn. ‘Dream and Reality in Strindberg’s Ett drömspel and Bergman’s Smultronstället. Proceedings of the Pacific-Northwest Council on Foreign Languages’, 1976, pp. 122-25. See also following items by same author (listed in chronological order): —. ‘Strindberg’s Influence on Bergman’s Det sjunde inseglet, Smultronstället and Persona’. Diss. University of Washington, 1976. Ann Arbor: Dissertation Abstracts International, 1977 (38: 1401A). —. ‘Journey into Autumn: Oväder and Smultronstället.’ Scandinavian Studies, Vol 50, no. 3 (Summer 1978): 292-303. (The article is a comparison between Strindberg’s chamber play and Bergman’s script in terms of the main character (an old gentleman), theme, visual and literary methods). —. ‘The Chamber Plays and the Trilogy: A Revaluation of the Case of Strindberg and Bergman’. In Structures of Influence: A Comparative Approach to August Strindberg, ed. by Marilyn Johns Blackwell. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1981, pp. 49-64. (On the chamber play concept in Strindberg and Bergman). Fletcher, John. ‘Bergman and Strindberg’. Journal of Modern Literature I, no. 10, 1981: 173-90. (Draws brief parallells between Bergman’s films Three Strange Loves (Törst), Passion of Anna, and The Touch on the one hand, and Strindberg’s depiction of triangular love in Creditors and The Dance of Death on the other. Then compares Wild Strawberries and A Dreamplay; Through a Glass Darkly and The Ghost Sonata; Smiles of a Summer Night and Miss Julie. Bergman transmutes Strindbergian themes and is, according to Fletcher, the greater artist). Haverty, Linda. ‘Strindbergman: The Problem of Filming Autobiography in Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander’. Literature/Film Quarterly 16, no. 3, 1988: 174-80. (The article pays particular attention to the Ishmael sequence, comparing it to Strindberg’s ‘autobiographical’ use of the Ishmael myth in his writing). Hockenjos, Vreni. ‘Ur en drömmares perspektiv. Strindbergs subjektivism i Bergmans tolkning’ [From a dreamer’s perspective. Strindberg’s subjectivism interpreted by Bergman], pp. 4250. (About Bergman’s conveyance of Strindberg to stage and screen with focus on the dreamer perspective as a subjective metaphor). Müller, Wolf Dietrich. Der Theaterregisseur Ingmar Bergman: dargestellt an seiner Inszenierung von Strindberg’s ‘Traumspiel’. Munich: Kitzinger, 1980, 156 pp. (Originally presented as a thesis at University of Munich in 1979. A study of Bergman’s Munich production of Strindberg’s Dreamplay.) Oldrini, Guido. ‘L’esperanza letteraria “nazionale” in Sjöberg et Bergman’. Civilta dell’imagine, no. 1, 1966, n.p. (Discussion of Strindberg’s influence on Alf Sjöberg and Ingmar Bergman).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Perridon, Harry, ed. Strindberg, Ibsen & Bergman. Essays on Scandinavian Film and Drama. Maastricht: Shaker Publishing, 1998. Essays in honor of Egil Törnqvist. The following two items pertain to Bergman and Strindberg: Sprinchorn, Evert. ‘Fanny and Alexander and Strindberg and Ibsen and...’, pp. 177-188. Discusses dream vs reality theme of Bergman’s film in conjunction to Strindberg’s Dreamplay. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Fire rekindled: Strindberg and Bergman’. pp. 189-204. (Traces Bergman’s life and work in relation to temperament and cultural background). Schuh, Oscar Fritz. ‘Vom “Traumspiel” zum “Schweigen”: Ein Gespräch über August Strindberg und Ingmar Bergman’. Eckart Jahrbuch, 1965, pp. 81-88. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Strindbergs språk brände sig in i mitt kött’ [Strindberg’s language burnt into my skin]. Parnass, no. 6, 1994-no. 1, 1995: 40-44. (About lifelong symbiotic relationship between Bergman and Strindberg). —. ‘Besatt viking eller uppskattad konstnär: Strindberg och Ingmar Bergman i USA’ [Possessed or appreciated artist: Strindberg and Bergman in the US]. In Kungliga Vitterhetsakademins Konferenser 33. Stockholm, 1995, pp. 87-107. (Discussion of Strindberg’s and Ingmar Bergman’s reputation in the US, using a 3-step reception terminology: (1) the transmitter phase; (2) the annectation phase; (3) the assimilation phase.) —. ‘Strindberg, Ingmar Bergman and the Visual Symbol’. In The Moscow Papers, ed. by Michael Robinson. Stockholm: Strindbergssällskapet, 1998, pp. 85-94. (Discusses transposition of literary metaphors in Strindberg’s text, such as the symbolic life/death implications of the summer motif, to a cinematic language in Bergman). —. ‘August Strindberg, Modernism and the Swedish Cinema’. In Expressionism and Modernism. New Approaches to August Strindberg, ed. by Michael Robinson and Sven Hakon Rossel. Vienna: Præsens, 1999: 185-196. (Comparative study of Strindberg’s Till Damaskus, Sjöström’s Körkarlen and Bergman’s Smultronstället.) —. ‘Ingmar Bergman Staging Strindberg’. In Proceedings from Berlin Strindberg Conference titled ‘Strindberg and his Media’, Humboldt University, 2000. Törnqvist, Egil.. ‘Kammarspel på tre sätt’ [Chamber Plays in three ways]. In Jan Stenkvist, ed., Från Snoilsky till Sonnevi: Litteraturvetenskapliga studier tillägnade Gunnar Brandell. Stockholm: Natur & Kultur, 1976, pp. 76-94. (About the relationship between Bergman’s Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers) and his 1973 staging of Strindberg’s chamber play Spöksonaten (The Ghost Sonata). —. ‘August StrindBERG?man’. Skrien 132-133 (Winter) 1983-84, p. 31-34. (Discussion of Strindberg’s impact on Bergman and similarities in their work); —. ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night: Bergman’s TV Version of Oväder Compared to Smultronstället’. In Kela Kvam, ed., Strindberg’s Post-Inferno Plays. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1994, pp. 186-95. —. ‘Strindberg, Bergman and the Silent Character’. Tijdschrift voor Skandinavistiek XX, no. 1, 1999: 61-72. (An analysis of silent characters in Strindberg’s The Stronger and The Ghost Sonata, and in Bergman’s The Seventh Seal and Persona). Also in revised form in author’s book Bergman’s Muses, 2003, pp. 197-203; —. ‘Ibsen, Strindberg and the Intimate Theatre: Studies in TV Presentation’. Film Culture in Transition Series, ed. by Thomas Elsæsser. Amsterdam University Press, 1999, pp. 134-154. (An analysis of Bergman’s TV versions of Strindberg’s A Dreamplay and Thunder in the Air/ Storm); —. ‘Screening August Strindberg’s A Dream Play: Meaning and Style’. In Expressionism and Modernism: New Approaches to August Strindberg, ed. by M. Robinson & S.H. Rossel. Wiener Studien zur Skandinavistik 1, Wien: Edition Præsens, 1999, pp. 233-241. (Compar-
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman ison between three TV versions of Strindberg’s drama, one of them being Bergman’s 1960 production); —. Det talade ordet: Om Strindbergs dramadialog [The spoken word: About S’s drama dialog]. Stockholm: Carlsson, 2001): 216-226. (About the problematic transfer from text to performance, illustrated with examples from Bergman’s staging of Miss Julie and his TV and radio versions of Thunder in the Air/Storm. Uggla, Andrzej. ‘Strindberg w teatrze Bergmana’. Dialog XXIII no. 8 1978: 153-58. (SwedishPolish scholar points out Strindberg’s impact on Bergman’s theatre work). Zern, Leif. ‘Därför skall diktaren inte ha någon grav’ [Hence the poet should have no grave]. Strindbergiana, ed. by Birgitta Steene, vol. 16, 2001. (On Bergman’s (and Sjöberg’s) staging of Strindberg as part of a traditionalist Swedish approach). See also Johannes Ekman’s radio talk with Bergman and Erland Josephson (Ø 669), titled ‘Ett liv kring kring naturkraften Strindberg’ [A life around the elemental force of Strindberg], Ekots lördagsintervju special. SR, 6 February 1999 and 11 August 2001, as well as brief radio interviews by Magnus Florin in connection with broadcasts and retransmissions of Bergman Strindberg productions (Ø 680-81), plus rebroadcast of ‘Brott och brott’, SR, 15 February 2003 (see Ø 275).
Unamono In a comparative article titled ‘The Unbelieving Priest: Unamuno’s Saint Emmanuel, the Good Martyr and Bergman’s Winter Light’, Literature/Film Quarterly X, no. 1, 1982: 53-61, Allen Lacy discusses Unamono’s priest and Bergman’s parson Tomas Eriksson. Both have symbolic Biblical names; both works focus on a spiritual state of mind rather than on plot; both works allude to the lithurgical year; and both suggest that the meaning of life lies in human existence. But Unamuno’s priest conceals his doubt to protect his parishioners, whereas Bergman’s minister bares his in a self-centered way. See also the following Bergman items containing literary references: Donner, Jörn. ‘Jungfrukällan’ [The Virgin Spring]. BLM 19, no, 3 (March 1960): 254-59. Though basically a review of The Virgin Spring, Donner’s text is an early attempt to juxtapose Ingmar Bergman’s artistic vision to that of Strindberg, Hjalmar Bergman, Pär Lagerkvist, and Swedish poets of the Forties. Durant, Frédéric. ‘Ingmar Bergman et la littérature suèdoise’. Cinéma 60, no. 47 (June) 1960: 3944. Durant claims that a study of Swedish literature, most notably Strindberg, Hjalmar Bergman, and Pär Lagerkvist, can help elucidate Bergman’s films for non-Swedish viewers. The same topic is also covered by Maurice Gravier in ‘Ingmar Bergman et la littérature suèdoise’, Etudes cinématographiques 1, no. 6-7 (Winter) 1960: 372-82. See also Thiessen interview (Ø 719), 1958. Holden, D. F. ‘Three Literary Sources for Through a Glass Darkly’. Literature/Film Quarterly II, no. 1 (Winter) 1974: 22-29. (See Ø 1252).
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n.a. ‘Bergman plockar smultron’ [B. picks strawberries]. Filmnyheter XII, nos. 18-20, 1957: 1-3. A news article in Svensk Filmindustri’s magazine during the shooting of Wild Strawberries. The most memorable feature of the article is a quote by Bergman actor Gunnar Björnstrand describing what it is like to work with Bergman: ‘Ingmar is stimulating. It is like climbing mountains. He shows you the most enticing views, but you always feel that the precondition of the view is an abyss’. [Ingmar är stimulerande. Det är som att bestiga berg. Han visar en de mest hänförande utsikter men man känner alltid att förutsättningen för utsikten är en avgrund.], (p. 1).
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Béranger, Jean. ‘Les trois métamorphoses d’Ingmar Bergman’. Cahiers du cinéma 13, no, 74 (August-September) 1957: 19-28. An oft-quoted essay in early French and Italian Bergman studies. See French Reception, (Ø 982).
992.
993.
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Forslund, Bengt. ‘Prästsonen Ingmar Bergman’ [Bergman, the pastor’s son]. Ord och bild 66, no. 10 (December) 1957: 528-34. See Group item (Ø 997). Goland, Erik, producer. ‘Filmdebatt i Lund. Förfall eller förnyelse’ [Film debate in Lund. Decadence or Renaissance]. In radio program Tidsspegeln, 8 February 1957. (See Ø 711). Gregor, Ulrich. ‘Aus Norden dreht man gute Filme’. Filmforum, June 1957, p. 5. A general overview of Nordic cinema, including a brief discussion of Ingmar Bergman, filmmaker and ‘paradoxical pessimist.’
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Truffaut, François. ‘Cannes 1957’. Cahiers du cinéma 14, no. 72 (June) 1957: 28-29. A brief report on the showing of Det sjunde inseglet (Le septième sceau/The Seventh Seal) at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. The report is of interest because of its suggestion of Bergman’s impact on the French filmmaker. See also article in Arts, 11 June 1957; French Reception (Ø 982); and Truffaut, 1972 (Ø 1221).
1958 996.
Group Item: Early British Views on Bergman The Bergman vogue that affected France also reached the British Isles. In 1958, Ingmar Bergman was presented as ‘Personality of the month’ in Films and Filming, V, no. 1 (October 1958): 5. But his popularity seems to have established itself more among college audiences than among professional film critics. The exception is Peter Cowie, who was to provide an appreciative commentary and analysis of Bergman’s life and work over the years. More typical of the British response is the voice of Isabel Quigly, reviewer in The Spectator. To Quigly, Bergman was a maker of films that expressed what she termed ‘northernness’, i.e., features that reflected the lyrical light and brooding mood of earlier Scandinavian cinema. A good example is her review of Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal) titled ‘Cardboard Pastoral’, which appeared in The Spectator, 14 March 1958, p. 326. See also Quigly’s review in Spectator (31 October 1958, p. 578) of Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries) as a representation of ‘the spiritual dilemmas and moral unease of a nation’. Viewing Bergman’s work as the expression of a gloom-and-doom Nordic crisis was also the thrust of J.G. W[eightman]’s article ‘Bergman, an Uncertain Talent’ in Twentieth Century 164, no. 982 (December) 1958: 566-572. Other, largely negative British critics of Bergman are Caroline Blackwood, E. McGann, Penelope Houston, Dilys Powell, and John Russell Taylor. Their preference for a topical, realistic cinema and critique of ‘metaphysical’ themes, often dismissed as pseudo-intellectualism, was also representative of the film journal Sight and Sound. For a sampling of their views, see the following:
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Blackwood, Caroline. ‘The Mystique of Ingmar Bergman’. Encounter 16, no. 91 (April) 1961: 5457. To Blackwood, Bergman’s ‘rabid anti-intellectualism’ was trendy; his popularity was based on an ability to serve up ‘a quasi-modern potpourri of Strindberg, Kafka and Jung.’ Houston, Penelope. ‘The Movie-Makers’. Contemporary Cinema, 1945-1963, pp. 163-66. Sees Bergman as a manipulator of actors and audiences. Powell, Dilys. ‘Sacred Cows: Depression over Sweden’. Sunday Times Magazine (London), 8 May 1977, p. 86. Powell sums up her view of Bergman as an autobiographical maker of gloomy films, obsessed with death. Taylor, John Russell. ‘Bergman’. In Cinema Eye, Cinema Ear. London: Methuen & Co., 1964, pp. 138-69. A critical survey of Bergman’s career up to 1965, echoing author’s mostly negative reviews of Bergman’s films in the Times (London). Taylor finds Bergman talented but pretentious and undisciplined. Much of the negative British criticism of Bergman is reminiscent of the country’s long-time reservations about Strindberg, where the understated Ibsen has been seen as the master and Strindberg as emotionally excessive and morbid. For a different and more positive British assessment of Bergman’s filmmaking, see items by Peter Cowie, Jan Dawson, and Robin Wood. See also: Alan Stanbrook, ‘An Aspect of Bergman’, Film, no. 20 (March-April) 1959: 10-13. Stanbrook elevates Bergman to the company of Fellini, Kurosawa, and Bresson; i.e., to the status of a film auteur rather than a metteur-en-scene. A good example of the gist of the critical controversy about Bergman in England is found in Geoffrey Newman’s ‘Bergman and the Whigs’. Film, no. 28 (March-April) 1961: 32. The title refers to Yeats’ definition of ‘Whiggery’ as ‘a levelling, rancorous, rational sort of mind’, which Newman claims is characteristic of British Sight and Sound film criticism. The object of his attack is John Dyer whose review of Bergman’s Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring) is quoted. A defence is offered for Bergman who ‘has proved that the cinema can go beyond the world of actuality to the world of ultimates.’
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Group Item: Religious Approaches to Bergman’s Filmmaking Beginning in the late 1950s and early 1960s, an increasing number of European and NorthAmerican studies were published on the religious background and Christian implications of Bergman’s films. The studies comprise both Protestant and Catholic writers and constitute, quantitatively speaking, the most addressed aspect of Bergman’s filmmaking. The first registered item on the subject dates back to 1958: Asta Bolin’s article ‘Bakvänd predikan’ [Awkward sermon]. Vår lösen 49, no. 2, (March) 1958: 69-71. Over the years Bolin would frequently review Bergman’s films for the same religious Swedish journal. In this particular item, the author questions Bergman’s integrity as an artist as long as he won’t let go of his magic image-making wand to take a leap of faith and anchor his film stories in grace and forgiveness. Bolin always approaches Bergman’s work from an angle of Christian ethics but provides a more subtle discussion of the subject in his art than many of Bergman’s other religious analysts. Among a plethora of religious studies of Bergman’s films, the following items provide a representative list. They are listed in alphabetical order by author: Awalt, Mike H. ‘The Silence: an Analysis of the Concepts of God and Man in the Films of Ingmar Bergman’. (Diss.), Baylor University, 1984. 308 pp. Benfrey, Mathias Wilhelm. ‘Religious Dimensions in Four Ingmar Bergman Screenplays: The Seventh Seal, Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light and The Silence.’ M.A. thesis, McGill University, 1976. 98 leaves. Microfiche available at National Library of Canada, Ottawa, 1977.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Bergom-Larsson, Maria and Bengt Kristensson-Uggla. ‘Film som religiöst språk. Hedenius och Bergman i livsåskådningsdebatten’. Nedstigningar i modern film – hos Bergman,Wenders, Adlon, Tarkovski. [Descents into modern film – in Bergman, etc]. Delsbo: Åsak, Sahlin & Dahlström AB, 1992. Contrasts Bergman’s religious point of view and that of atheist philosopher Ingemar Hedenius. Blake, Richard A., SJ. ‘Salvation without God’. Encounter 28, no. 4 (Autumn) 1967: 313-26. Reprinted as ‘Wild Strawberries: Theology and Psychology’ in Kaminsky (Ø 1266), pp. 163-79. Discusses Lutheran concept of salvation through an act of faith but argues against viewing Bergman’s film scripts as specifically Christian. Bergman depicts a man of quest, not a man of dogma or faith. —, ‘The Lutheran Milieu in the Films of Ingmar Bergman’. (Diss.), Northwestern University, 1972. 340 pp. See also Blake, (Ø 1196), 1971; (Ø 1505), 1991. Burnevich, J. Thèmes d’inspiration d’Ingmar Bergman. (Brussels: Collection encyclopedique du cinéma, no. 30). 1960. 60 pp. One of the earliest Catholic presentations of the religious dimension of Bergman’s films. Calhoun, Alice. ‘Suspended Projections: Religious Roles and Adaptable Myths in John Hawkes’s Novels, Francis Bacon’s Paintings, and Ingmar Bergman’s Films’, (Diss.) University of South Carolina, 1979, 346 pp. Chapter 3 discusses religion and myth in Bergman’s films. Cinémaction, no. 80, 1996, a special issue on Christianity and the cinema. Pp. 84-91 are reviews of Bergman’s and Buñuel’s work and the Protestant vs Catholic elements in their films. Dannowski, Hans Werner. ‘Die späten Filme Ingmar Bergmans’. In Film und Theologie, ed. by Wilhelm Roth. Stuttgart: Steinkopf Verlag, 1989, p. 97-106. Forslund, Bengt. ‘Prästsonen Ingmar Bergman’ [Bergman, the pastor’s son]. Ord och bild 66, no. 10 (December) 1957: 528-34. One of the first articles published on Bergman’s religious family background. Gerle, Jörg. ‘Disseits von Gott und Tod’. Filmdienst 51 no. 14, 1998: 10-11. Cf. Ø 1634. Gervais, Marc. Ingmar Bergman: Magician and Prophet. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1999. 257 pp. Jesuit priest analyzes Bergman’s films from the point of view of a contemporary Christian sensiblity. Sees Bergman’s work anchored in a specific time and place, shaped by its cultural context. Gibson, Arthur. The Silence of God: Creative Response to the Films of Ingmar. New York: Harper & Row, inc., 1969. Expanded and revised in 1995 as The Rite of Redemption: An Interpretation of the Films of Ingmar Bergman. (Lewiston: Mellen, 1995). 153 pp. Canadian theologian’s drive is to make Bergman’s films confirm author’s own religious viewpoint. A similar approach can be found in Nystedt below. Hamilton, W. ‘Ingmar Bergman and the Silence of God’. Motive 27, no. 2 (November) 1966: 3641. Addresses the most common theme discussed in Bergman’s films in the 1960s and on: The silence of God. Hartman, Olof. ‘Guds tystnad: En studie i tre filmer av Ingmar Bergman’ [God’s silence: a study of three films by Bergman]. In author’s book Jordbävningen i Lissabon [The earthquake in Lisbon], Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren, 1968, pp. 158-67. A study of the Trilogy by Swedish Lutheran theologian. Holloway, Ronald. ‘The Religious Dimension in the Cinema: With Particular Reference to the films of Carl Theodor Dreyer, Ingmar Bergman and Robert Bresson’. Diss. Hamburg, 1972, 304 pp. Ketcham, Charles. The Influence of Existentialism on Ingmar Bergman: An Analysis of the Theological Ideas Shaping a Filmmaker’s Art. Lewston: E. Mellen Press, 1986. 381 pp. A study of Bergman’s films using Heidegger’s and Kiergegaard’s existentialist philosophy.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Koebner, Thomas. ‘Die Wohnung des Herrn verlassen’. Filmdienst. Kino-Fernsehen-Video, 51, no. 14 (1998): 8-9. About religion, God and family tragedy in Bergman’s films in special Bergman issue of German magazine. Lauder, Robert E. ‘Bergman’s Odyssey’. America 125, no. 5 (September) 1971: 119-20. Reprinted as ‘The Touch. The Role of Religion’. in Kaminsky (Ø 1266), pp. 292-96. Father Lauder has followed Bergman’s filmmaking since the early 1970s as a reviewer for the Catholic journal America. —. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Still Asking the “God Question”’. NYT, 3 December 1978, p. 2: 1, 13. —. God, Death, Art and Love. The Philosophical Vision of Ingmar Bergman. Mahwah, NJ: The Paulist Press, 1989. 198 pp. With a foreword by Liv Ullmann. Liggera, Joseph J. ‘Rejecting Christ: Bergman’s Counter Gospel’. In Holding the Vision: Essays on Film, ed. by Douglas Umstead. Proceedings of First Annual Film Confernce of Kent State University, 1983, pp. 54-60. Linz, Martin. ‘Gleichnisse. Philosophische und theologische Spuren im Werk Bergmans’. In ... noch einmal zu Bergman. Frankfurt: Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft für Jugendfilmarbeit und Medienziehung, 1990. Nelson, David. ‘Ingmar Bergman. The Search for God’. Film Studies 1 (Boston University Communications/Art Division, 1964). 60 pp. Longer essay on religious implications of Bergman’s films, including the Trilogy. Niemeyer, G. ‘Bergman: Image and Meaning’. National Review, 22 April 1961, pp. 257-58. A focus on religious motifs in Bergman’s films up to 1960. Nystedt, Hans. Ingmar Bergman och kristen tro [Bergman and Christian faith], Stockholm: Verbum, 1989, 171 pp. A personal interpretation by Lutheran pastor in pursuit of biblical allusions in Bergman’s films. Reminiscent of Gibson (above). Review: Chaplin XXXI, no. 6 (225) 1989: 329, with a retort by Nystedt in Chaplin, no. 226: 37, 58. See also Nystedt in commentaries (Ø 233, 236, 238). Phillips, Gene D., S.J. ‘Ingmar Bergman and God’. In Ingmar Bergman. Essays in Criticism, ed. by Stuart Kaminsky (Ø 1266), pp. 45-54. A portion of the article was published earlier in The Clergy Review 52, no. 10. Pomeroy, David. ‘The Depths of Our Souls: The Films of Ingmar Bergman’, Theology Today 33 (January) 1977: 398-401. Discussion of Face to Face, Scenes from a Marriage, and Cries and Whispers as affirmative struggles towards redemption, not ‘cheap grace’ but ‘filmic pilgrimages’ into the depths of the human soul. Renaud, Pierre. ‘Les visages de la Passion dans l’univers de Bergman’. Etudes Cinématographiques 2, no. 10-11 (Autumn) 1961: 207-16. Study of Prison (Fängelse), Jeu d’été (Sommarlek), Le visage (Ansiktet) and La source (Jungfrukällan) with specific reference to Christ’s suffering. Robins, Charles Edward. ‘Theological Analysis of Religious Experience in the Films of Ingmar Bergman’, (Diss.) Ponteficia Universitas Georgiana, Rome, 1975, 758 pp. A voluminous study of the theme of the silence of God and passion of Christ, and its human parallels in Bergman’s films from The Seventh Seal to Cries and Whispers. Schilliachi, Anthony. ‘Vision of Good and Evil’, Listening/Current Studies in Dialog 2, no. 1 (Winter 1967): 17-28, reprinted in Movies and Morals (Tenbury Wells, Worcs.: Fowler Wright, 1968), pp. 93-110 and in Celluloid and Symbols, ed. J.C. Cooper and C. Skrade (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1970), pp. 75-88. A rather simplistic but at one time much circulated essay on Christian morality in Bergman’s films. Schneider, Hans-Helmuth. Rollen und Räume. Anfragen an das Christentum in den Filmen Ingmar Bergman. Frankfurt: Verlag Peter Lang, 1993. 373 pp. Diss. University of Munich, 1992.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Silverstein, Norman. ‘Ingmar Bergman and the Religious Film’, Salmagundi II, no. 3 (SpringSummer 1968): 53-66. About Bergman’s position on religious issues in The Seventh Seal, The Virgin Spring, The Trilogy, and Persona. Sobolewski, Tadeusz. ‘Przezycie religijne w kinie’. Kino XVII, no. 3 (June 1983): 33-36. About religious experiences in the cinema with some examples from Bergman. Sonnenschein, Richard. ‘The Problem of Evil in Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal’. West Virginia Philological Papers 27, 1981, pp. 137-143. (Discusses concept of evil in Bergman’s film by referring to three classical premises: the existence of an all-loving God; the idea of an omnipotent God; and the existence of a multitude of moral and physical ills. Draws parallels to Epicurus, Thomas a Aquinas, Leibnitz, Hume, and French existentialists.). Suttor, T. ‘Religious Dialectic in Bergman’, University of Windsor Review 9, no. 1 (Fall 1975): 6781. Söderbergh-Widding, Astrid. ‘Vad skall man tro? Religiösa motiv hos Ingmar Bergman’. [What is one to believe? Religious motifs in Bergman], pp. 51-61. (Polemics against literal-minded trackers of religious symbolism in Bergman’s films). Aura: Filmvetenskaplig tidskrift IV, no. 4, 1998, pp. 51-61. Thomsen, Chr. Braad. ‘Bergmans Guds-kompleks’. Jyllandsposten. 9 jan., 1965. See Ø 1130. Törnqvist. Egil. ‘Från manus till film. Ingmar Bergmans Nattvardsgästerna’ [From manuscript to film. Bergman’s Winter Light]. Religious theme in Winter Light discussed from semiotic point of view. See 2003, (Ø 1690). Visions of Film and Faith. NBC TV special, 29 July 1979. A televised discussion of Bergman’s films. Moderator: Charles Champlin. Participants: Father Robert Lauder, actress Liv Ullmann, and the Rev. James Wall. Wasserman, Raquel. Filmologie de Bergman: Dios, la vida y la muerte Buenos Aires: Editorial Fraterna, 1988. Presentation of religious and existential themes in Bergman’s films.
998.
Dallmann, Günter. ‘Ingmar Bergman dreht nicht nur Filme’. Der Tagesspiegel, 24 August 1958. See Interviews Chapter VIII, (Ø 714).
999.
Fors. [Gunnar Tannefors]. ‘Ingmar Bergmans triumf ’ [Bergman’s triumph]. Biografägaren, no. 6, 1958: 9. A brief comparison between Bergman’s film production and Jean Anouilh’s so-called black and rose plays.
1000. Fröier, Lennart. ‘Ingmar Bergman och världskritiken’ [Bergman and world criticism]. Folket i Bild, no. 17, 1958, pp. 10, 36. Recognition in Swedish cultural magazine of Ingmar Bergman’s growing international fame.
1001. Gauteur, Claude. ‘Renaissance du cinéma suèdois: Ingmar Bergman’, Cinéma 58, no. 29 (July-August) 1958: 22-32. Translated into Swedish in Clarté 32, no. 3 (1959): 3435, 39-40. Cf. French Reception, (Ø 982). Survey of early Bergman films from thematic point of view, seeing the relationship between man and woman as their central focus.
1002. Godard, Jean Luc. ‘Bergmanorama.’ Cahiers du cinéma, no. 85 (July) 1958: 1-5. Also in Cahiers du cinéma in English, no. 1 (January) 1966: 56-62, and Jean Luc Godard par Jean Luc Godard, (ed.J.L. Comolli, J. Narboni), Paris: Editions Pierre Belfond, 1968.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman pp. 122-130, Translated into English as Godard on Godard. (ed. T. Milne), London: Secker & Warburg, 1972, pp. 75-80. Also appeared in ‘Ingmar Bergman at 70 – a Tribute’, Chaplin, 30, no. 2-3 (215/216), 1988. See Godard’s assessment of Summer with Monica (Ø 219, Commentary), and group entry titled French Reception, (Ø 982). 1003. Heyman, Viveka. ‘I Bergmans och Sucksdorffs tecken’ [In the signs of B and S]. Beklädnadsfolket, no. 3, 1958, p. 22, 31. Actually a review of Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries) but also representative of Heyman’s continuous critique of Bergman: ‘Each time I see a new work by Bergman, it seems more and more lifeless, more and more empty, more and more affected’. [Varje gång jag ser ett nytt verk av Bergman verkar det mer och mer livlöst, mer och mer tomt, mer och mer affekterat.] See also the following film columns by Heyman: ‘Filmfestivaler och annat politiskt’ [Film festivals and other political matters]. Beklädnadsfolket no. 5, 1956, pp. 12-13. A report from Cannes Film Festival with a sour comment on the award to Sommarnattens leende (Smiles of a Summer Night), which is referred to as poor plagiarism of Ophul’s La Ronde. ‘Om dygd och kvinnor’ [On virtue and women]. Beklädnadsfolket no. 7, 1958, pp. 18-19. A review of Nära livet (Close to Life), appreciated because Bergman did not write the script. ‘Konsten att förtrolla’ [The art of spellbinding]. Beklädnadsfolket no. 2, 1959, pp. 14-15, 29. A comparison between Bergman’s Ansiktet (The Magician) and Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter (Trasdockan), considered superior to Bergman’s work. ‘Ingmar Bergman och hans entreprenörer’ [Bergman and his entrepreneurs]. Arbetet, 24 March 1960, p. 9. A travesty of Strindberg’s polemical writing in Det nya riket (The New Kingdom) with Bergman as the target. His ‘entrepreneurs’ are those who only give credit to formalist art. Bergman is the epitome of a visual virtuoso and his critics ignore the (questionable) content of his films.
1004. Hopkins, Steve. ‘The Celluloid Cell of Ingmar Bergman’. Industria International 1958-59, pp. 33-36, 108-17. Most exhaustive early discussion of Ingmar Bergman in English. The author argues that Bergman saved the Swedish film industry when it was beset by heavy taxation, high production costs, and marketing problems. Hopkins sees Bergman’s films as studies of intellectuals versus artists, and traces their theme of emotional atrophy to turn-of-the-century Swedish fiction writer Hjalmar Söderberg. The second half of the article is a resumé of Swedish film history.
1005. Idestam-Almqvist, Bengt [Robin Hood]. ‘Victor Sjöström och Ingmar – mötet mellan två stora i svensk film’ [Victor Sjöström and Ingmar – the encounter between two great men in Swedish film]. Folket i Bild no. 7, 1958, 8-9. The author gives a portrait of a ‘new Ingmar Bergman’ who has outgrown his puberty. The reason for the juxtaposition of Sjöström and Bergman has to do with the journal’s upcoming serialization of Bergman’s script to Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries), the film where Sjöström plays the lead role as Isak Borg.
1006. Runeby, Margot. ‘Der “zornige junge Mann” des schwedischen Films’. Frankfurter Allgemeine, 21 August 1958.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman A presentation of Bergman as an angry young man in Swedish filmmaking industry, focusing on films from Hets to Nära livet.
1007. Schildt, Jurgen. ‘Brev till Ingmar Bergman’ [Letter to Bergman]. Vecko-Journalen 49, no. 15 (April) 1958: 22, 44. An open letter to Bergman from a Stockholm film critic, asking him if he has a face (a real self) behind his artist’s mask. Schildt encourages Bergman to continue to ‘deceive’, to be a conjurer and a magician. This letter indicates a continuous Swedish interest in Bergman’s persona but points, above all, to a central theme in Bergman’s filmmaking: role-playing versus authenticity; mask versus naked face; art as ritual versus art as deception/illusion; and the ambiguous relationship between artist and his public. The article was written after the opening of Ansiktet (The Magician). Cf. Commentary (Ø 228).
1008. Tabbia, Alberto. Ingmar Bergman. Buenos Aires: Libreria Letras, 1958. 129 pp. Also listed as Flashback 1 with authors Edgardo Cozarinsky and Maria Rosa Vaccaro. See Group (Ø 974). 1009. Ulrichsen, Erik. ‘Ingmar Bergman and the Devil’. Sight and Sound 27, no. 5 (Summer) 1958: 224-30. Also published in Kaminsky (Ø 1266), pp. 135-147. Analysis of Bergman’s films through Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal), tracing Bergman’s background in film and theatre with some emphasis on his metaphysical topics.
1010. Waldekranz, Rune. ‘How Great Our Adventure’. Films and Filming 5, no. 1 (October) 1958: 9-11. A survey of Swedish cinema from the outbreak of World War II to date, with many references to Bergman, whose artistic roots are said to be the puppet show, the commedia dell’ arte, the medieval mystery play, and early Méliès films. Claims that Bergman’s uniqueness rests on his ability to combine such ‘primitive’ art forms with depth psychology. See also same author’s Swedish Cinema, a pamphlet published by the Swedish Institute in 1959 (77 pp.) and survey article titled ‘Eros und Mythos’ in Film (Hannover) 3, no. 4 (April) 1965: 24-27.
1959 1011.
Group Item: American Reception of Ingmar Bergman There is a direct link between the early French response to Bergman (Ø 1037) and his introduction to American viewers. The mediator was the film critic for The Village Voice and sometime editor of the English edition of Cahiers du Cinéma, Andrew Sarris, who was to launch the auteur concept in the US and apply it to Bergman and to some of Hollywood’s directors. The earliest distributors of Bergman’s films on the US market tended to advertise them as samples of a so-called sexploitation genre. See Commentary to Sommaren med Monika/Summer with Monica/The Story of a Bad Girl in filmography and article by Jack Stevenson, ‘Somrarna med Monica. Bergman som buskis på bystan’. [Summers with Monica. Bergman as slapstick in the boondocks]. Chaplin 258, no.3 (Summer) 1995: 18-22. Sarris’ essay on The Seventh Seal in the journal Film Culture, no. 19, 1959: 51-61 was crucial for changing Bergman’s early image and status in America. Sarris called Bergman’s film the first
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman genuinely existential work in the history of the cinema. A year later art and film critic Arlene Croce wrote in Commonweal Magazine (11 March 1960, pp. 647-649) that Manhattan had begun ‘to look like an island entirely surrounded by Ingmar Bergman’. Bergman’s changed status in the US ran parallell to (and was instrumental in) transforming the American concept of the art theatre from a soft porn movie house to a display area for the works of Bergman and other postwar European filmmakers. Among critics whose articles helped cement Bergman’s reputation with American audiences – these consisted mostly of college students and coffee house intellectuals – are the following (listed in alphabetical order): Alpert, Hollis. ‘The Other Bergman’. Saturday Review, 21 March 1959, p. 34. Reprinted in Introduction into the Art of Movies, ed. by Lewis Jacobs. New York: Noonday Press, 1968, pp. 296-99. One of the best early presentations of Bergman in the US. The title refers to Ingmar Bergman replacing actress Ingrid Bergman as notable Swedish film name. Alpert also published two fine articles on Ingmar Bergman in 1960-1961: ‘Bergman as Writer’, Saturday Review, 27 August 1960, pp. 22-23; and ‘Style is the Director’, Saturday Review, 23 December 1961, pp. 39-41. Reprinted in author’s Dreams and Dreamers (New York: Macmillan, 1962), pp. 62-77. Archer, Eugene. ‘The Rack of Life’. Film Quarterly 12, no. 4 (Summer) 1959: 3-16. An analysis of major Bergman films from Torment to The Magician, referring to Bergman’s work as ‘strange, exceedingly personal, and deeply provocative’. See also Archer, 1967, in Interview chapter VIII (Ø 769). Cole, Alan. ‘Ingmar Bergman, Movie Magician’. New York Herald Tribune, 24 October, 1 November, and 8 November 1959. A general presentation of Bergman’s life and work to date, using Bergman’s own statements about the origins of his filmmaking as outlined in the essay ‘What is Filmmaking?’ (Ø 87). Cole sees Bergman as a challenge to ‘popcorn audiences.’ Croce, Arlene. ‘The Bergman Legend’. The Commonweal, 11 March 1960, pp. 647-649. A presentation of Bergman as a filmmaker who has attained the eminence of directeur du conscience, with an enormous impact on ‘present generation of young intellectuals’. His fascination lies in ‘a kind of gay [=happy] agnosticism [...] an eclectic vitality of expression.’ Kauffmann, Stanley. ‘Swedish Rhapsody’, New Republic, 27 April 1959, p. 20. Reprinted in A World of Film (New York: Dell, 1966), pp. 270-273. In this review of Wild Strawberries Kauffmann retrospectively refers to Törst (Thirst) as ‘dreadful’, The Seventh Seal as ‘pretentious’, and Smiles of a Summer Night as a film only the French could carry off, while Wild Strawberries, ‘teeters on the edge of complete realization’. Kauffmann reviewed most of Bergman’s major films from the mid-Fifties to the mid-Seventies. His collected critiques provide a good record of an American view of ‘one of the most interesting and irritating film artists alive’. His review of The Magician in New Republic, 12 October 1959 (p. 21), is typical of his reluctant acknowledgement of Bergman’s art: ‘It is now clear that we must resign ourselves to [...] the Swedish director [who] is enormously gifted, often technically dazzling, essentially undisciplined’. Additional Bergman reviews through All These Women are assembled in Kauffmann’s A World of Film, pp. 273-290. For review articles of The Touch, Cries and Whispers, and Persona, see his book of collected reviews, Living Images (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), pp. 64-65, 164-166, and 340-350. Throughout Bergman’s reception in America, there is a distinct difference between the homage paid to him by a filmmaker like Woody Allen or by devotee critics like John Simon, Father Robert Lauder, and the early Andrew Sarris, and the irritation often expressed by reviewers like Kauffmann and his colleagues Henry Hart, Pauline Kael, and Richard Shickel. See for instance:
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Kael, Pauline. ‘Celtic Spring, Swedish Summer’. The New Republic, 6 May 1967, pp. 32-33. Reprinted in author’s Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1968), pp. 171172, and in Film 67/68, ed. by Richard Shickel and John Simon (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1968), pp. 194-200. This review of Persona is typical of Kael’s view of Bergman’s filmmaking as anti-social and emotionally manipulative, her assessment of Shame being an exception (see Ø 239, Commentary). Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang has retrospective notes on half a dozen earlier Bergman films, pp. 208-210 and passim. See also Kael’s Going Steady (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1970), pp. 214- 221; and Reeling, same publisher, 1976, pp. 89-94. Schickel, Richard. ‘Scandinavian Screen’. Holiday 40, no. 5 (November) 1966: 156-60. Schickel sees Bergman’s films as manifestations of a discrepancy in Swedish society between a rational social order and a seemingly incurable sickness of the soul among its citizens. See also same author in Second Sight: Notes on Some Movies, 1965-1970, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972), pp. 175-79, where Schickel’s ambivalence towards most of Bergman’s work is apparent: ‘Is Bergman indeed a consummate magician or merely a mountebank? I change my mind from film to film’. Time. 14 March 1960, pp. 60-66 (42-46 in the international edition). Cover story titled ‘I am a Conjurer’ suggests Bergman’s growing visibility in the US. The magazine’s cover design portrays Bergman against a background of Nordic gloom: a dark forest with a woman figure (an alluring huldra?) hidden next to a tree trunk and a silhouetted male stalker in the distance. The drawing seems inspired by the first sequence of Ansiktet (The Magician), opening in the US in 1959. The feature article refers to Bergman as ‘The Bunyan of show business [...] whose glimpses of the dark heart of man are without equal in the history of the cinema.’ Includes a reference to Bergman’s shooting schedule and a recent Hollywood offer to direct Harry Belafonte in a film about Alexander Pushkin. Bergman’s response: ‘Pushkin was a genius, Belafonte is not’. For Belafonte reference, see also DN, 16 March 1959, p. 16; ST, same date, p. 11, and 24 March 1959, p. 11. Wiskari, W. ‘Another Bergman Gains Renown’. NYT Magazine, 20 December 1959, pp. 20-21, 4850. Follow-up article on NYT reviewer Bosley Crowther’s presentation ‘The Other Bergman’, NYT, 6 September 1959, sec. 2, p. 1., written at a time when actress Ingrid Bergman was better known than her filmmaking namesake. Wiskari argues that technique and theme are inseparable in Bergman’s works and challenges Swedish critics at the time who had told him that Bergman’s international fame rested on technical brilliance and dazzling photography.
Aftermath Bergman never experienced a sudden decline in the US as in France (Ø 982, Domarchi). But a very clear disenchantment with his films of the 1960s occurred for many of his early followers. Andrew Sarris, the critic responsible for introducing Bergman among American cineasts became one of Bergman’s harshest critics. See Sarris, ‘Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962’, Film Culture, no. 27 (Winter 1962/63): 1-8, and ‘Films – Persona’, Village Voice, 23 March 1967, p. 25. See also commentaries to entries (Ø 35, 37, and 38); Kathleen Murphy’s article in Film Comment, May 1995 (Ø 1594) and Peter Harcourt in Scandinavian/Canadian Studies, 1992 (Ø 1523). Both Murphy and Harcourt express their disenchantment with the post-Sixties Bergman. Paisley Livingston summed up this critical North-American reversal in his 1982 study Ingmar Bergman and the Rituals of Art, 1982, (Ø 1384): ‘Although his [Bergman’s] “classics” serve as standard fare in cinema society programs and in courses on film, they receive less and less critical attention’. However, several book length studies appeared in the 1980s and 1990s by American film scholars (see Frank Gado, 1986 (Ø 1432), Hubert Cohen 1993 (Ø 1546), and Marc Gervais 1999 (Ø 1657). The Royal Dramatic Theatre’s guest visits to BAM (Brooklyn Academy of
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Music) in the 1980s and 1990s have cemented Bergman’s reputation among American audiences. In 1995 New York presented his life work in a month long Ingmar Bergman festival. Sarris’ critique of Bergman’s filmmaking runs a curious parallell to that of Pauline Kael, though reversed. Kael respected Bergman as a writer of screenplays but was very critical of his films for their lack of social scope and realism (a critique shared by many British and Swedish critics). Her change of heart came with Skammen (1968, Shame) where she felt that Bergman escaped his former egocentric vision. For Sarris on the other hand, Shame represented Bergman’s total failure as a filmmaker, a film that he characterized as ‘boom-boom theatrics’. Another major American film critic who became disenchanted with Bergman’s work was John Simon whose idolatrous approach in his 1972 book Ingmar Bergman Directs (Ø 1218) changed in the 1980s to a negative assessment of a filmmaker and stage director he then described as suffering from AMS (Aging Master syndrome). (See Ø 473, 477, 483, American [BAM] reception.) The Kael-Sarris debate over Shame closes the first phase of Bergman’s reception among American film reviewers. To American audiences in general, drawn to his films of the 1950s, Bergman became a cult figure. To academic writers on cinema, his later films, especially Persona, have attracted the most attention. In no other country have so many books, theses, and dissertations been written on Bergman’s filmmaking as in the US. The overriding interest among academic writers has been in the religious or humanist aspects of Bergman’s filmmaking, but also psychological (and psychoanalytical) studies have been numerous. For discussions of Bergman’s reception in the US, see: Mayer, Michael F. ‘Here, There and Everywhere’. In Foreign Films on American Screens. New York: Arco Publishing Co., 1965, p. 51. Brief resumé of Bergman’s reception up to the early 1960s in the US. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Manhattan Surrounded by Ingmar Bergman’: The American Reception of a Swedish Filmmaker’. In Ingmar Bergman: An Artist’s Journey, ed. by Roger Oliver, 1995, pp. 137-154. See also same author’s feature article (‘understreckare’) ‘Ingmar Bergmans mottagande i USA’ [Bergman’s reception in the US]. SvD, 3 June 1983, p. 12-13.
1012. Group Item: Italian Reception of Ingmar Bergman Bergman’s early films were shown at Venice Film Festival from 1947 onwards, though they seldom won any awards. A note about Fellini and Bergman as ‘contemporary myths’ appeared in Bianco e nero, XV, no. 2-4 (Feb/April 1954): 39. But more extensive Italian attention to Bergman’s filmmaking coincides in time with the French discovery of Bergman (see Ø 982), though the Italian discussion of Bergman’s films focusses much more on their religious and existential themes and frequently stresses their connection with what is seen as a metaphysical tradition in the Scandinvian cinema. One of the trendsetters in that respect was Guido Aristarco with his report from the Venice Film Festival in 1959 where Smultronstället (Il posto delle fragole) and Ansiktet (Il volte) were shown. Aristarco’s article ‘Questa malattia non e mortale’, Cinema Nuovo 8, no. 141 (September-October) 1959: 430-31 typifies the Italian focus on Bergman’s ‘ontological solitude’, relating his work to Scandinavian culture with its ‘Kierkegaardian’ emphasis on the problem of the self and the crises of the instituitons of church and family. See same author’s ‘La solitudine ontologica in Dreyer e Bergman’ in Il Dissolvimento della Ragione: Discurso sul Cinema (Rome): Canesi, 1965, pp. 541-78, first published as ‘Il tema solitudine in Dreyer e Bergman’, Cinestudio 8: n.p. Dreyer, Bergman and/or Kierkegaard (alternately Bergman and Protestantism) are also discussed by the following Italian critics (listed alphabetically):
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Busco, Maria Teresa. ‘Miti contemporanei: Fellini e Bergman’. Bianco e nero 26, no. 2 (February) 1965: 39-46. An analysis of Kierkegaardian motifs in Fellini and Bergman, seeing Fellini’s films as representations of the malaise of Kierkegaard’s aesthetic personality, while Bergman’s films deal with the spiritual crisis of Kierkegaard’s ethical stage. Chiaretti, Tommaso. Ingmar Bergman. Rome: Canesi, 1964. The author views Bergman as a filmmaker who pursues three basic philosophical tracts: those of Kierkegaard, Freud, and Sartre. Chiaretti also sets up six points that characterize Bergman’s filmmaking: (1) influence from the French cinema of the 1930s (Carné and Duvivier); (2) influence from German expressionism; (3) focus on marital crises; (4) introduction of theatrical solutions related to Pirandello’s dramaturgy; (5) influence from psychoanalysis; and (6) stylistic break with traditional cinematic narratology. Laura, Ernesto G. ‘Trei voci spiritualiste del cinema contemporano: Bresson, Dreyer, Bergman’. Cineforum 5, no. 45 (May) 1965: 356-65. The author argues that of the three filmmakers listed in the title, all of whom have used the cinema to document a spiritual landscape, Bergman has succeeded best in reaching a large public, because he presents his subjectmatter in the guise of popular filmmaking. Napolitano, Antonio. ‘Dal Settimo sigillo alle Soglie della vita’. Cinema Nuovo 10, no. 151 (MayJune) 1961: 210-224. A presentation of metaphysical themes in Bergman’s films, especially The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries and Close to Life. The author refers extensively to Bergman’s cultural heritage with its rigid Puritanism, Lutheran ethos, and cult of nature. Oldrini, Guido. ‘La sfondo cultural della critica su Ingmar Bergman’. Cinema Nuovo 9, no. 144 (March-April) 1960: 117-27. An overview of critical responses to Bergman’s films, arguing that Sweden’s non-alignment during World War II created a neutrality complex that masked itself as metaphysical angst. This mood, with roots in Kierkegaard and Protestantism, was captured by Bergman, and postwar Europe responded to it. Oldrini gives extensive resumes of the French Béranger-Rohmer-Gauteur reception of Bergman in France (see Ø 982) and of the American view of him as a Romantic filmmaker (Sarris-Archer-Colin Young). Oldrini’s approach to Bergman follows the French group but puts more emphasis on his Lutheran heritage. See also same author’s survey of Bergman’s career through Winter Light in his book La solitudine di Ingmar Bergman. Parma: Ugo Guanda, 1965. 113 pp. Prigione, R. ‘La donna e il sentimento dell’ angoscia in Bergman, Antonioni e Dreyer’. Civilta dell’ imagine, no. 1, 1966, no. pag. A discussion of intimate and intellectual view of women in the works of title filmmakers. Renzi, Renzo. ‘Bergman e l’abolizione dell’Inferno’. Cinema Nuovo XII, no. 163 (May-June) 1963: 166-168. Focussing on Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light/Luci d’inverno), Renzi’s discussion points to Bergman’s films as works challenging both a neo-capitalistic and a Catholic (religious) society. Verdone, Mario. ‘Religione e personalita nell’opera di Ingmar Bergman’. Studi cinematografici e televisi 1, no. 2 (October) 1968: 25-44. An article tracing Bergman’s literary and religious influences from Ibsen, Strindberg, Kierkegaard, Kaj Munk and Carl Dreyer, treating Ibsen’s play Brand as a prototypical ‘Kierkegaardian’ work and relating it specifically to Det sjunde inseglet (El settimo sigillo). The article also discusses the role of the artist in Ansiktet (Il Volto), Tystnaden (Il silenzio), and Persona. Together with Antonio Napolitano, Guido Oldrini, and Renzo Renzi, Guido Aristarco represents the so-called Cinema Nuovo group of Bergman interpreters in Italy. Their ideological stand was agnostic and/or Marxist, and they claimed Bergman as their rebellious anti-clerical voice. See also two articles by Aristarco in 1974: ‘La bussola delle psiche nell’ateismo religioso
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman borghese’. Cinema Nuovo, March/April 1974, pp. 116-30; and ‘La bussola delle psiche nell’ateismo moderne’. Cinema Nuovo, May/June 1974, pp. 198-210. An Italian group of counter-critics, called ‘la critica catolica’ soon emerged in the reception of Ingmar Bergman, headed by such names as Gianfranco Bettetino and Ernesto G. Laura, who focussed on Bergman’s Christian heritage but, above all, on his craftsmanship and filmmaking persona. They also paid attention to his theatre work. See the following articles: Bettetini, Gianfranco. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Rivista del cinematografo, no. 1, 1961, pp. 20. Laura, Ernesto G. ‘Il primo Bergman: faticosa nascita di uno stile’. Bianco e nero, no. 8 (September) 1964: 58-72. See also same author’s important review article of Tystnaden (Il silenzio): ‘Ingmar Bergman: un nuovo “kammerspiel”’. La biennale 7, no. 48, 1963: 29-44, which provides a good survey of author’s position on Bergman. For studies on the reception of Ingmar Bergman in Italy, see: Baldelli, Pio. ‘Ambiguita de sacro e profano in Ingmar Bergman’. Giovane critica (University of Catania), no. 4 (April-May) 1964, no pag. Reprinted as ‘Bergman et la critique’, Etudes cinématographiques, no. 46-47 (1966): 3-13. The article distinguishes three basic critical approaches to Bergman’s films, all pertaining to the Italian critics listed above, though Baldelli also makes references to non-Italian critics: (1) existential/religious; (2) secular/ psychoanalytical; and (3) aesthetic. The first two lead to positive assessments; the last to a negative view of Bergman as a wordmaker rather than a filmmaker. Bono, Francesco. ‘Ingmar Bergman in the Eyes of Italian Theatre Critics’. pp.105-113, Nordic Theatre Studies 11, 1998, pp. 105-113. Traces Bergman’s reception by Italian theatre critics. Oldrini, Guido. ‘Lo sfondo cultural della critica su Ingmar Bergman’. Cinema Nuovo 9, no. 144 (March-April) 1960: 117-127 (cf. above). The author gives a resumé of Bergman’s reception in the US, France, and Italy. Spinnazola, V. ‘Ingmar Bergman e il publico italiano’, Cinestudio 8, n.p. (SFI clipping). Trasatti, Sergio. ‘La critica italiana alla scoperta di Bergman’. In Il Giovane Bergman (Ø 1521). Italian interest in Bergman has also included his theatre work. See guest performances in Italy by Dramaten in Theatre Chapter VI. Beyond doubt, the Italian reception of Ingmar Bergman has been among the most extensive world-wide and has included numerous rewards for both his filmmaking and theatre work, as well as personal recognitions and special symposia. See Varia, ‘Awards and Tributes’.
1013. n.a. ‘Max och jättens lykta’ [Max and the giant’s lantern]. Filmnyheter no. 12, 1959: 1-3. Max von Sydow discusses his work on three major Bergman films in the 1950s: The Seventh Seal, The Magician, and The Virgin Spring. For another view of an actor’s response to Bergman, this article might be juxtaposed to one that appeared in Filmnyheter no. 12, 1954 (pp. 4-6, 21), titled ‘Mannen med trädgårdsstaketet eller Ingmar Bergmans lektioner’ [The man with the garden fence or IB’s lessons]. In this article, Eva Dahlbeck talks about Bergman’s protective attitude towards his ensemble. See also group item Ø 970.
1014. Agel, Henri. Les grands cineastes. Paris: Edition universitaires, 1959, pp. 283-97. A general presentation of Ingmar Bergman in a book on major filmmakers. His inclusion in the volume is limited to the years of his international breakthrough, 1955-58.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1015.
Allombert, G. ‘L’adolescent dans le cinéma suedois’. Image et son, no. 122-23 (MayJune) 1959: 19-20. In a special issue on adolescence in the cinema, the author briefly discusses Bergman’s portrayal of youth, with the main focus on Sommaren med Monika.
1016. Alpert, Hollis. ‘The Other Bergman’. Saturday Review 21 March 1959: 34. Reprinted in Lewis Jacobs, ed. Introduction to the Art of Movies. (See Ø 1011, American Reception) 1017.
Boost, C. ‘Ingmar Bergman.’ Film Forum 8, no. 11 (Nov.) 1959: 205-08. A Dutch introduction to Bergman in a special issue on Swedish cinema. For another Dutch presentation of Bergman in the same year, see Enno Patalas in Critisch Film Bulletin 12, no. 4 (April 1959): 28-29. There were a total of eight reviews of Bergman’s films from the Fifties in Critisch Film Bulletin, vols. 12 and 13, 1959.
1018. Cinéma 59, no. 41 (Nov.-Dec.) 1959: 39-50, 87-89, 130-32. A special Bergman issue with reviews of Le visage (Ansiktet) and Au seuil de la vie (Nära livet), plus Bergman’s essay ‘Chaque film est mon dernier’ [Varje film är min sista film].
1019. Cole, Alan. ‘Ingmar Bergman, Movie Magician’. New York Herald Tribune, 24 October, 1 November, and 8 November 1959. A series of articles. (See Ø 1011), American Reception. 1020. Duarte, Fernando, ed. ‘Ingmar Bergmann’ [sic]. Celluloide (Portugal), no. 21 (September) 1959: 1-20. A special Portuguese issue on Bergman, containing editor’s introduction; unsigned presentations of Summer Interlude, Monica, Secrets of Women, The Naked Night, and Smiles of a Summer Night; a filmography to date; translation of Jean Béranger’s interview with Bergman (Ø 713); and Bergman’s essay ‘What Is Filmmaking?’ (Ø 87). See also same author, Celluloide XXV, no. 289 (March) 1980: 11-13, where Duarte presents a bio-filmography of Bergman.
1021. Farina, Corrado. Ingmar Bergman. Torino: no publ., 1959. ca 150 pp. An overview in Italian of Bergman’s career to date, plus a filmography through 1958. See also Ø 1012.
1022. Holland, Norman. ‘A Brace of Bergman’. Hudson Review 12: 4 (Winter 1959/60): 570-577. A discussion of the theme of parenthood in Bergman’s filmmaking with particular focus on Smultronstället/ Wild Strawberries.
1023. Jarvie, Ian. ‘Notes on the Films of Ingmar Bergman’. Film Journal, no. 14 (November) 1959: 9-17. Reprinted in Spanish as ‘Notas sobre los films de Ingmar Bergman’, Film Ideal, no. 68 (1964): 18-25.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman The author claims that Bergman is underrated as a poet in the cinema and overrated as a philosopher. Bergman masters the language of film écriture (Bresson) but his ‘erratic selfcriticism’ often leads him astray.
1024. Moonman, Eric. ‘Summer with Bergman’. Film (London), no. 21 (Sep.-Oct.) 1959: 18-22. In a magazine issued by the Federation of Film Societies, Bergman’s relationship to the Swedish film industry and to other contemporary directors is discussed.
1025. ‘Napoleon of Film.’ Sunday Times (London), 19 April 1959. An announcement of an upcoming Bergman visit to London. Perpetrates myth of Bergman as ‘a character straight out of Strindberg, neurotic, insomniac, and hypochondriac, who hates critics, rarely shaves and is not listed in the phone book (whereas the King of Sweden is)’. Summary in Swedish in ST, 2 May 1959, p. 9. Compare this presentation to Cecil Wilson’s impression of Bergman in ‘Fiery Bergman Comes to Town’, Daily Mail (London), 5 May 1959: ‘It did not amaze me to find him quite unlike the caricature of breakdown we had been led to imagine’. See also Sight and Sound, Summer-Autumn 1959, p. 134: ‘He bore reassuringly little resemblance to the Bergman of the press legend.’
1026. Nordberg, Carl-Eric. ‘Ytligt briljante artisten Ingmar Bergman föraktar publiken och friar till den’ [Coldly brilliant artist Bergman despises the public and woos it]. Expr., 26 May 1959, p. 4; Expr., 18 May 1959, p. 4; and Expr., 20 May 1959, p. 4. A series of articles analyzing Bergman’s ambivalent relationship to his audience, whom he fears, worships, manipulates, and tries to please. This constitutes a major subject in Bergman’s own discussions and becomes an important motif in many of his films.
1027. Oldin, Gunnar. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. American Scandinavian Review 47, no. 3 (September) 1959: 250-57. A general presentation of Bergman’s life and work. More descriptive and anecdotal than analytical.
1028. Rohmer, Eric. ‘Voir ou ne pas voir’. Cahiers du cinéma 16, no. 94 (April) 1959: 48-51. (See Ø 982). 1029. Rying, Mats. ‘Man med magi’ [Man with magic]. Röster i Radio/TV, no. 52 (22 December), 1959: 10-13, 52-53. A reportage based on the shooting of Djävulens öga (The Devil’s Eye), most valuable for its comprehensive comments on Bergman’s ‘magnetism.’
1030. Stanbrook, Alan. ‘An Aspect of Bergman’. Film, no. 20 (March-April) 1959: 10-11. ‘Not since Strindberge (sic) has drama seen work of such rabid misogyny.’ A brief overview of Bergman’s filmmaking from Hets to Wild Strawberries. (Cf. Ø 1011).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1031.
Stolpe, Sven. ‘Fenomenet Ingmar Bergman’. GP, 23 May 1959, p. 2. A full page polemical newspaper article (‘cultural page’) by Swedish columnist and Catholic writer, praising Bergman’s audacity as a filmmaker.
1032. Wiskari, W. ‘Another Bergman Gains Renown’. NYT Magazine, 20 December 1959, pp. 20-21. (See Ø 1011).
1960 1033. Group Item: Swedish Debates/Critique of Bergman’s filmmaking In November 1960, the Swedish film journal Chaplin (II, no. 8, pp. 188-195) published an ‘antiBergman’ issue titled ‘Bergmans ansikte’ [Bergman’s face]. Participating critics were Viveka Heyman, long-time leftist Bergman foe; Hanserik Hjertén, negative reviewer of such films as Sommarnattens leende and Det sjunde inseglet (see Commentaries to respective film entry), and Erland Törngren, likewise a skeptical reviewer of Bergman’s work. Together they accused Bergman of stealing substance from other filmmakers; of mixing ‘sex and Lysistrata’ in palatable portions; and of manipulating his actors and audiences. For more Heyman critique, see Ø 1003. See also Hjertén review of The Seventh Seal, transl. and reprinted in Focus on the Seventh Seal, (Ø 1220). Bergman himself contributed to the Chaplin issue where, under the pseudonym Ernest Riffe, he assumed the identity of a negative critic. ((See Ø 111), 1960, Chapter II). In a German report, Günter Dallmann discussed the Chaplin anti-Bergman issue: ‘Gericht über Ingmar Bergman’. Der Tagesspiegel, 12 February 1961. See also the following items of relevance to Bergman’s reception in Sweden: Gay, J.P. ‘Red Membranes, Red Banners’. Sight and Sound XLI, no. 2 (Spring) 1972: 94-98. A report on Swedish attitudes towards Bergman and the national trend towards a politicized cinema, initiated by Bo Widerberg (see below) and young 1960s filmmakers. Kwakernaak, Erik. ‘Bergman og filmkritikken’ [Bergman and film criticism]. Macguffin 2, no. 8 (September) 1973: 5-17. Similar views also expressed in Skoop 9, no. 4 (September) 1973: 3640. Basically a defense of Bergman as a filmmaker. ‘Urspårad Bergmandebatt’ [Derailed Bergman debate]. KvP, 10 March 1961, p. 10. A report in a Malmö newspaper about the tumultuous anti-Bergman debate that drew a record crowd (900 students) at the Lund University Student Union. The debate was between one Danish and four Swedish critic(s). The participants were Bengt Idestam-Almqvist (Robin Hood), Viveka Heyman, Folke Isaksson, Gunnar Oldin, and Ib Monty. Of these only Heyman and Isaksson can be said to have harbored negative views of Bergman’s filmmaking, but they apparently made the strongest impact on the audience. The debate was reported by Björn Vinberg in Expr., 10 March 1961, p. 24, (‘Vi ska vara rädda om Ingmar Bergman’ [We must take good care of Bergman]). A week later Gunnar Fredriksson objected to the tone of the debate in an editorial in Stockholm paper AB, 18 March 1961, p. 2, and called for a more professional analysis of Bergman’s work. The Lund discussion had taken the form of a tribunal investigating Bergman’s right to call himself a legitimate artist. One of the participants, Folke Isaksson, likened Bergman to Herr Töre in Jungfrukällan, i.e., someone ‘who toils and sweats with a sinuous birch tree and finally falls with it’. See also Robin Hood in ST, 13 March 1961, p. 4, for a reaction. The debate is important in that it added fuel to an anti-Bergman vogue among Swedish intellectuals and critics. It can be seen as a premoni-
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman tion of the criticism of Bergman by a younger generation of Swedish filmmakers, led by Bo Widerberg. Widerberg, Bo. Visionen i svensk film [Vision in Swedish cinema]. Stockholm: Bonniers, 1962. 109 pp. Originally published as a series of articles in Stockholm paper Expr., 8, 10, 13-14 January 1962. An assessment of the current Swedish film situation, in part formulated as a reckoning with Ingmar Bergman, whom Widerberg likens to a souvenir peddler selling Nordic brooding that confirms foreign myths about Scandinavia. Widerberg, influenced by French disenchantment with Bergman in 1960 (see Ø 982), terms Bergman’s cinema a selfabsorbed, introspective form of ‘vertical filmmaking’ and calls for a new ‘horizontal’ cinema dealing with contemporary Sweden. The ideas formulated in Widerberg’s brief study were instrumental in shaping Swedish critique of Bergman in the Sixties and Seventies. For Bergman as a ‘souvenir peddler’, see for instance Maria Ortman in SDS, 2 December 1969, p. 10: ‘It has often seemed to me that [...] he has cultivated a Nordic exoticism, which I have suspected to be the basis of his international fame’. [Det har ofta tyckts mig som [...] han odlat en nordisk exotism som jag misstänker har varit grunden för hans internationella ryktbarhet]. For Bergman as a socially non-engaged bourgeois artist, see Motbilder (Ø 1317) and Harald Langkjær in Chaplin 159 (December) 1978: 261: ‘Sometimes Bergman’s world with its people living economically protected lives with bourgeois professions of high status, cut off from a pressing big city and with time to work on their private problems in such an astonishingly beautiful nature that it drives you crazy, [sometimes that world] can almost look like a sophisticated pulp press magazine, like Femina, hovering far above [the rest of] reality’. [Ibland kan Bergmans värld med dess människor som lever ekonomiskt skyddade liv med borgerliga yrken av hög status, avskilda från storstadens press och med tid att arbeta på sina privata problem i en slående vacker natur som driver en till vanvett, nästan se ut som en sofistikerad veckotidning, typ Femina, svävande högt ovanför]. See also Commentaries to Hour of the Wolf (Ø 238) and Shame (Ø 239). —. ‘Bergman i dag’ [Bergman today]. Expr., 14 April 1962, cultural page. A critique of Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking: i.e., its lack of a social framework, its failure to take a rational approach to human situations and its self-therapeutic, i.e., self-centered quality. Widerberg retained his negative views on Bergman until his death in 1997. See an interview in Libération, July 1986, and Expr. 15 July 1986, as well as an article in Arbetet, 11 July 1986, p. 1, 19. All three references echo his charges in 1962 that Bergman’s films give a simplistic ‘dime store’ view of life and only concern people who don’t have to work. See also Göran Skytte interview with Widerberg on Swedish Television, 12 November 1996, Channel 2, in which Widerberg was still critical of Bergman. For a similar debate in 1973, see Kenne Fant’s memoirs, Nära bilder, 1997 (Ø 1616), plus interview book Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788) and Bergman’s own comments in the opening passages of Bilder/Images, 1990, (Ø 188).
1034. Group Item: Early Spanish Reception of Ingmar Bergman Spanish Latin America – especially Uruguay and Argentina – was ahead of Spain in paying attention to Bergman the filmmaker. The annual religious film festival in the Spanish city of Valladolid was however among the first signs of a Bergman interest in Spain. The following studies from the early Sixties are representative of a Spanish tendency at the time to ‘introduce’ Bergman to Spanish audiences rather than focus on specific film analyses. The following examples are listed in chronological order:
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Cine universitario. University of Salamanca, Spain, no. 12, 1960. 29 pp. Special Bergman issue. General presentation and filmography. Cuenca, Carlos Fernandez. Introducción al estudio de Ingmar Bergman. Madrid: Filmoteca Nacional de Espana, 1961. 77 pp. Spanish overview of Bergman’s life and early work in connection with religious film festival in Valladolid. Strong emphasis on thematic content. Escudero, José Maria Garcia. ‘Bergman e sus criticos’. Film Ideal 6, no. 86 (15 December) 1961: 59; Martinez, J. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Film Ideal 7, no. 108 (November) 1962: 652-59. Survey article and brief discussion of ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Unamuno view of life’. Temas de cine, no. 26 (January-February) 1963. 70-page Bergman issue of Spanish film journal devoted to Bergman’s work, with a survey article by E. Cozarinsky, reviews, script excerpt from Wild Strawberries, filmography from Kris to Winter Light, and a ‘teatrografia.’ Film Ideal 9, no. 68, 1964: 13-27. A special Bergman issue. General presentation of Bergman’s filmmaking, plus filmography and translation of Ian Jarvie’s ‘Notas sobre los films de Ingmar Bergman.’ See Ø 1023. Filmoteca, no. 16 (1972-73), published by Filmoteca nacional de España, is a 32-page special Bergman issue containing excerpt from Jörn Donner’s book Djävulens ansikte (Ø 1071) and Bergman’s two essays ‘El cine segun Bergman’ (Det att göra film/What is Filmmaking?, Ø 87) and ‘La piel de serpiente’ (Ormskinnet/The Snakeskin, Ø 131). In 1993, Juan Miguel Company published an account of Bergman’s reception by Spanish critics in his book Ingmar Bergman (Madrid: Catedia). See Ø 1547.
1035. n.a. ‘Film Is a Mistress’. Life, 15 February 1960, pp. 63-66. Photographed for Life International by Lennart Nilsson. A pictorial presentation of Bergman, introduced as a ‘high-strung, highly gifted artist’ of world fame. Bergman is quoted as saying: ‘In the studio I am God. I say, ‘Let there be light’ and there is light. I can make children do my will, and once I had a good acting fish. But not this cat. He will not look at me and just walks away’. The photos (one of them showing Bergman, Bibi Andersson and the cat) were taken during shooting of Djävulens öga (The Devil’s Eye).
1036. n.a. ‘Ingmar Bergman of Sweden Making a Big Haul American Publicity’. Variety, 16 March 1960, p. 15. A report of a dispute between Swedish and American officials about Oscar-nominating procedures, explaining why none of Bergman’s films prior to 1960 had received the Best Foreign Film nomination or award. For Bergman’s reaction, see Variety, 6 July 1960, p. 26, which also mentions filmmaking offers from London and Paris.
1037.
Alpert, Hollis. ‘Bergman as Writer’. Saturday Review, 27 August 1960, pp. 22- 23, and ‘Style is the Director’, Saturday Review, 23 December 1961, pp. 39-41. Reprinted in Dreams and Dreamers. New York: Macmillan, 1962, pp. 62-77. (See Ø 1011).
1038. Ayfre, Amedée. ‘El universo de Ingmar Bergman’. Documentos cinematograficos 1, no. 7 (December) 1960: 121-30. A discussion in Spanish of thematic and stylistic opposites in Bergman’s work, such as the baroque vs the classical; good vs evil; life vs death; mask vs face; aging vs youth. Cf this to E.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman McGann in Sight and Sound 30, no. 1 (Winter) 1960/61: 44-46, who sees the treatment of such dichotomies as a cliché-ridden rhetorical device.
1039. Baldwin, James. ‘The Precarious Vogue of Ingmar Bergman’. Esquire 53, no. 4 (April) 1960: 128-32. Reprinted in Nobody Knows My Name (New York: Dial Press, 1961), pp. 163-80, and in Ingmar Bergman. An Artist’s Journey, ed. by Roger Oliver. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1995, pp. 79-87, (Ø 1580). For annotation, see Interviews, (Ø 727). 1040. Billqvist, Fritiof. Ingmar Bergman. Teatermannen och filmskaparen. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur, 1960. 279 pp. The first book-length study of Ingmar Bergman in Swedish, written by an actor and author of film biographies (Garbo, Bergman). The book contains a gold-mine of early Bergman information, but the material is not very useful since much of the information is presented in the form of unreferenced anecdotes. Billqvist’s book is the basis of an article by Nils Fredriksson, ‘Han förtrollar människor’ [He spellbinds people]. Hemmets Journal 40, no. 23, 1960, p. 6-7, 52. Review: Upsala Nya Tidning, 27 July 1960, p. 4.
1041. Cowie, Peter. Antonioni, Bergman, Resnais. New York: A.S. Barnes & Co., 1960, pp. 51-121. The first long introduction in English to Bergman’s filmmaking, later issued as a separate monograph, Ingmar Bergman Loughton, Essex: Motion, 1961; new edition 1962, 40 pp. For more information, (See Ø 996) (British Reception, 1959).
1042. Croce, Arlene. ‘The Bergman Legend’. Commonweal, 11 March 1960, pp. 647-49. (See Ø 1011), American reception. 1043. Dessau, Frederik. ‘Om Ingmar Bergman. Filmkronikken’. [About Bergman. Movie chronicle]. A Danish radio program originally broadcast in 1960 but rebroadcast on 7 July 1985, with added excerpts from Bergman’s film The Magic Flute. Analysis of Bergman’s filmmaking up to 1960.
1044. Dymling, Carl Anders. ‘Rebel with a Cause’. Saturday Review, 27 August 1960: 23, 50. Reprinted almost verbatim in Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1960 vii-xii, and in Films and Filming 7, no. 5 (February 1961): 35. Dymling, producer and head of SF, sees Bergman as the link to the silent Swedish cinema. He does not consider him an easy person to work with. For Bergman references to Dymling, see Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788), p. 79. Dymling died in May 1962. Bergman did not attend the funeral. See Höök, Ø 1062.
1045. Filmklub-Cinéclub 5, no. 20 (Switzerland) (November-December) 1960: 236-46. A special Bergman issue. Includes introductory essay by H.P. Manz, who sees Gycklarnas afton (The Naked Night) as the turning point in Bergman’s career; Manz considers the artist a central character in Bergman’s production and the theme of loneliness a central motif. Issue also
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman includes German version of Bergman’s essay ‘Det att göra film’ (Ø 87), and a filmography ending with The Virgin Spring. (1960).
1046. Geisler, Günther. ‘Ewiges Wunderkind’, Berliner Morgenpost, 18 May 1960. A brief assessment of Bergman’s filmmaking after the showing of Jungfrauenquelle (Jungfrukällan/The Virgin Spring) in Cannes. Bergman at 42 is still described as a young genius.
1047. Hamdi, Britt. ‘Ingmar Bergman och Käbi Laretei’. [Bergman and Käbi Laretei]. Damernas värld, 17 November 1960: 27-33, 74. See Interviews, (Ø 731). 1048. Krusche, Dieter. ‘Also gibt es keinen Ausweg’. Filmforum, October 1960, p. 5. A discussion of Bergman’s films to date, noting his visual skill and serious themes.
1049. List, Peter. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Hemmets Journal, 9 October 1960, pp. 9-11, 33. A portrait of Bergman in a women’s magazine: ‘The always talked about, always discusssed, always current filmmaker [...] who makes more PR for Sweden than all the Dalecarlian souvenirs and midnight suns together’. [Den alltid omtalade, alltid diskuterade, alltid aktuelle filmskaparen [...] som gör mer reklam för Sverige än alla dalasouvenier och midnattssolar tillsammans]. Focusses on Bergman’s depiction of women and love, and on his first four marriages (to Else Fisher, Ellen Lundström, Gun Hagberg, and Käbi Laretei).
1050. Oldrini, Guido. ‘La sfondo cultural della critica su Ingmar Bergman’. Cinema nuovo 9, no. 144 (March-Arpil) 1960: 117-27. See Italian reception, 1959, (Ø 1012). 1051.
Ross, Walter. ‘Strange vision of Ingmar Bergman’. Coronet 48, no. 6 (Oct.) 1960: 5771. A reference to Bergman’s magic lantern and his role as conjurer. A description of Bergman’s screen landscape with its mixture of death, love, and problems of parenthood.
1052. Simon, John. ‘Ingmar, the Image-Maker’. The Mid-Century, no. 29 (December 1960), pp. 9-12. A discussion of Bergman’s visual gift in connection with the Mid-Century Book Club selection of Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman.
1053. Der Spiegel, 26 October 1960: 70-84. A cover story titled ‘Magus aus Norden’ with a general presentation of Bergman plus a discussion of The Virgin Spring, which together with The Magician started a Bergman boom in West Germany. Also includes a survey of Swedish cinema from Sjöström to Ingmar Bergman. The cover story refers to Bergman’s views on creativity, his portrayal of women, and childhood impressions. Also discusses German censorship of Jungfrukällan.
1054. Time, 14 March 1960, pp. 60-66 [Atlantic ed., pp. 42-46]. (See Ø 1011).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1055. Zurbuch, Werner. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Dichter unser Jahrhunderts’. Film, Bild, Ton 10, no. 5 (August) 1960: 24-29, 48. A survey of Bergman’s films from Kris to The Virgin Spring. Seems influenced by R. Waldekranz (Ø 1010). See also same author, ‘Ingmar Bergman: Moral vor Gericht’. Die Litteratur Revue, no. 1 (January), 1961: 5-12, which is a presentation of Bergman’s work through The Virgin Spring (1960). Contains some factual errors.
1961 1056. Blackwood, Caroline. ‘The Mystique of Ingmar Bergman’. Encounter 16, no. 91 (April) 1961: 54-57. See 1958, British reception, ((Ø 996). 1057.
Dienstfrey, Harris. ‘The Success of Ingmar Bergman’. Commentary 32, no. 5 (November) 1961: 391-98. With letters to the editor in the April 1962 issue, p. 348. A general assessment of Bergman, seeing his particular talent lie in an ability to articulate and universalize his stern personal vision. Yet, finds Bergman’s vision ‘arbitrary’ and his camera work too ‘beautifying’.
1058. Duprey, R. A. ‘Bergman and Fellini: Explorers of the Modern Spirit’. Catholic World 194, no. 10 (October) 1961: 13-20. The author contrasts depictions of evil in Fellini and Bergman through an examination of La Dolce Vita, The Virgin Spring, and The Seventh Seal.
1059. Films in Review, XII, no. 5 (May 1961, p. 280). An index to Bergman’s works with a brief description of the films.
1060. Fleisher, Frederic. ‘Sweden’s All-Demanding Genius’. Variety, 26 April 1961, p. 151. A full-page portrayal of Bergman with some biographical information, shooting figures, and presentation of his films, especially Through a Glass Darkly. See also same author’s article on Bergman in Contemporary Review, August 1961, pp. 346-48, and September 1961, pp. 489-92.
1061. Guez, G. ‘Le petit monde d’Ingmar Bergman’. Cinémonde, no. 1393, 18 April 1961, pp. 7-9. An article expressing surprise at the modest life style of Ingmar Bergman and his actors.
1062. Höök, Marianne. ‘Carl Anders Dymling’. Chaplin III, no. 6 (Sept.) 1961: 156-57. Dymling, described as SF’s ‘enlightened despot’, surrounded by a selective court. His greatest contribution to Swedish film is said to be his having accepted Bergman as his protegé, believing in him as both an author and filmmaker.
1063. Leirens, Jean. ‘L’univers d’Ingmar Bergman’. Le cinéma et la crise de notre temps. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1961, pp. 99-125. See group item (Ø 970).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1064. Muellem, P. van. Ingmar Bergman, Amsterdam: Tiende Muse, 1961. 59 pp. A short survey of Bergman as a filmmaker up to The Trilogy.
1065. Olsson, Lars-Erik. ‘Så jobbar Ingmar’ [This is how Ingmar works], Se, no. 50 (14 December) 1961, pp. 9-13. A visit to the set of Tystnaden (The Silence). See Group item (Ø 970).
1066. Ross, Walter. ‘Bergman’s Landscape’. New York Times, 26 November 1961, sec. 2, p. 7. An article based on the author’s visit to Bergman in Stockholm, discussing his work habits, early training, and sense of loyalty to Sweden.
1067. Soyer, J. ‘Das Phänomen Ingmar Bergman’. Die kleine Filmkunstreihe Hefte, no. 22, 1961, 13 pp. A general presentation in which Bergman’s Christian parentage is downplayed. Same volume, issued in connection with German release of Bergman’s film Gefängnis (Fängelse), contains a biographical note, Bergman’s essay ‘Each Film Is My Last’, (Ø 108), and a filmography.
1068. Tallmer, Jerry. ‘Cynic with Illusions – the Warring Worlds of Ingmar Bergman’. Show Business Illustrated, 3 October 1961, pp. 73-76. A general presentation of Bergman, seeing him as a ‘cinematic Proteus’. With some comments on his portrayal of women and his understanding of homosexuality.
1962 1069. ‘Photographing the Films of Ingmar Bergman’. American Cinematographer. 43, no. 10 (October) 1962: 613. Cf. Ø 810. About Sven Nykvist. Reprinted in slightly different version in Chaplin 5, no. 35 (February) 1963: 52-55.
1070. Burvenich, Jos. Ingmar Bergman zoekt de sleutel. Tielt (Netherlands): Lannoo, 1962. 143 pp. New edition in 1966. A presentation of Bergman as a filmmaker to date, focussing on his major themes. Includes a filmography and credits.
1071. Donner, Jörn. Djävulens ansikte [The Devil’s face]. Stockholm: Aldus, 1962. 204 pp. Revised edition. Stockholm: Aldus, 1965, 233 pp. Translated into English by H. Lundbergh as The Personal Vision of Ingmar Bergman (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1964). New ed. The Films of Ingmar Bergman (New York: Dover Publications, 1972), 276 pp. French ed., Ingmar Bergman, translated by S. Frostensson and expanded by Guy Breaucourt (Paris: Editions Seghers, 1970, 1973), 188 pp. Italian ed., La faccia del diavolo (Venice: Edition Cineforum, 1964), 192 pp.; reissued in 1966 under the title Il volto del diavolo.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman A study of Bergman’s films up to the early Sixties. This is the first Swedish book on Bergman to reach a foreign public. The author refers to Bergman as ‘B’ to minimize the personal aspect of his art. Though the book seems written in some haste and is somewhat disorganized, it is a good source for Bergman’s films before Persona. Bergman expresses his gratitude for the book in Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788). Donner published his first essay on Bergman in the Finnish film yearbook Studio 57. See also DN, 15 January 1963, p. 4; BLM 32, no. 8, 1963: 158-61; commentary on Fanny and Alexander (Ø 249) and several TV interviews, listed in Interview Chapter (VII).
Reviews Film Comment 2, no. 2 (1964): 58-59. Sight and Sound 33, no. 3 (Summer 1964): 154. Bo Widerberg, Expr., 14 April 1962.
1072. Grenier, Richard. ‘Bergman and Opus 26’. Financial Times (London), 29 August 1962, n.p. (BFI). See Ø 741. 1073. Hedberg, Håkan. ‘Bergman – årets man i Japan’ [Bergman – Man of the year in Japan]. ST, 19 December 1962, p. 8. A full-page report from Tokyo in a Stockholm newspaper about Bergman’s reception in Japan. Bergman is said to have done more than any other living Sweden to spread knowledge of Swedish culture among Japanese intellectuals.
1074. Höök, Marianne. Ingmar Bergman. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand, 1962. 194 pp. A survey of Bergman’s life and production up to Winter Light, with a presentation of his family background and his relationship to his actresses and crew. Includes a filmography and a list of radio and theater productions directed by Bergman, plus some foreign titles of his films to date. Höök’s study complements Donner’s book (Ø 1071), is better written, and deserves to be better known. Bergman, however, was irritated by it, reportedly because of its discussion of his depiction of women. See Ø 975.
Reviews Cinema Nuovo 13, no. 167 (January-February 1965): 57-59. GP, 2 October 1962, p. 2. Höök published subsequent portraits of Bergman in Allers, no. 19 (12 May) 1963, pp. 12, 67, and Film og kino, no. 5 (June-July) 1968: 134-35.
1075. ‘Ingmar Bergman.’ Filmhistorische Sondervorführungen: Mit Filmen von Asta Nielsen, G. W. Pabst, Ingmar Bergman. Berlin: XII Internationale Filmfestspiele 1962, pp. 26-31. Program notes to early Bergman films shown at a retrospective film festival in West Berlin.
1076. Leutrat, Paul. ‘Actualité de l’expressionisme’, Cinéma 62, no. 71 (December) 1963:106-107. A brief segment on Bergman and cinematic expressionism. The author quotes Bergman: ‘To talk about a German influence on me is to commit an error. The Swedish masters of the silent
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman cinema – imitated in their time by the Germans – have alone inspired me, primarily Sjöström, whom I consider one of the greatest filmmakers of all time’.
1077. Morisett, Ann. ‘Zwischen Theater und Film’. Filmkritik 2, 1962: 60-64. A travel report from Stockholm focussing on Bergman’s current work on stage and screen.
1078. Persson, Göran. ‘Film och symbolik’ [Film and Symbolism]. Chaplin IV, no. 4, (April) 1962: 94-96. An essay questioning the assumption that film is a realistic medium. The author, a psychiatrist, tries to demonstrate a filmmaker’s conscious use of symbolic representation on the screen as a way of expressing an abstract idea. Among his examples are references to Bergman’s film Såsom i en spegel (Through a Glass Darkly).
1079. Roemer, Michael. ‘Bergman’s Bag of Tricks’. Reporter, 15 January 1962, pp. 37-40, and 15 March 1962, p. 11. An overview of Bergman’s film work to date. Roemer represents, together with Pauline Kael, a group of American critics who questions Bergman’s subjective vision and his alleged failure to objectify his experiences. (Cf. Ø 1011), 1959.
1080. Sprinchorn, Evert. ‘Bergman by Two’. Columbia University Forum 5, no. 4 (Fall) 1962: 48-50. A dialogue between the Skeptic and the Enthusiast on the originality, meaning, and morality play pattern of Bergman’s films from The Seventh Seal to Through a Glass Darkly.
1081. Stempel, Hans and Martin Ripkens. ‘Porträtt, Ingmar Bergman’. Filmkritik 6, no. 9 (September) 1962: 400-406. An overview of Bergman’s work in the Fifities. The author sees him as a cinematic Faust and discusses his relationship to French New wave.
1082. Wifstrand, Naima. Med och utan paljetter [With or without sequins]. Stockholm: Bonniers, 1962. Memoirs by an actress who worked with Bergman in theatre and film from 1952 at the Malmö City Theatre to 1967 in Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf). Chapters titled ‘Ingen är som Ingmar’ [No one is like Ingmar] and ‘En myckenhet välsignat arbete’ [Plenty of blessed work] discuss briefly her work with Bergman in which she was usually cast as a wise old woman and crone.
1083. Ågren, Gösta. ‘Att stiga – att med värdighet falla’ [To rise – to fall with dignity] Clarté, no. 3, 1962: 18-24. A study of three filmmakers: Ingmar Bergman, Fred Zinneman, and Stanley Kramer. Zinneman and Kramer focus on ascendency; Bergman on falling with dignity; his concern is how we die, not how we live; his heroism is a quest. The second half of the essay deals only with Bergman’s filmmaking and his balancing between realism and stylized self-conscious art.
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1963 1084. Centrofilmo: Quaderna dell’Instituto del cinemao. (University of Turin), 1963. 74 pp. An Italian survey of Bergman’s life and work to date.
1085. Degnan, James P. ‘Through a Dark, Glassily’. Atlantic 212, no. 3 (September) 1963: 102. Mock review of one ‘Unferth Mygboor’s’ new film entitled ‘Virgin Mermaids’. By early 1960s Bergman’s films were such an integral part of the sophisticated American film scene that satires such as this one began to crop up. Cf. the film joke Da Duwe (Ø 221, commentary), a travesty of The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries. In this context, see Birgitta Steene’s article in UNT, 14 July 2003.
1086. Ekström, Margareta, Ludvig Jönsson & Sven Nykvist. ‘Bergmans vision’. Chaplin, no. 35 (February 1963): 52ff. The issue discusses Bergman’s ‘vision’ as a filmmaker, featuring cinematographer Sven Nykvist, author Margareta Ekström, and pastor Ludvid Jönsson. Their common point of reference is Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light). Nykvist’s account of his (and Bergman’s) search for the right light in order to capture the mood of a film is a translation of an interview article that appeared in American Cinematographer, no. 10, 1962. (see Ø 1069). Ekström and Jönsson are at opposite ends in their evaluation of the film as a projected ‘vision’ of life, with Ekström dismissing it as obsolete and seeing the main character, the minister Tomas Ericsson, as Bergman’s sentimentalized self, a creature who is appalling in his ‘pathological egocentricity’. Jönsson, on the other hand, finds Bergman’s filmmaking impressive and sees Nattvardsgästerna as ‘a great preaching of the Christian gospel’s answer to the question of faith’ [stor förkunnelse av det kristna evangeliets svar på trosfrågan].
1087. Entr’acte 4, no. 12 (December-January): 1963: 14-27. A special Bergman issue. It contains an interview with Gunnar Björnstrand; a filmography; and an article by J. Burnevich, ‘Approche de Bergman’, based on the thesis that Bergman remains faithful to his (religious) vision in his films of the Sixties.
1088. Gauteur, Claude. ‘A Propos de Bergman. Les fans et la critique’. Image et son, no. 158 (January) 1963: 4-9. (See Ø 982). 1089. Gyllström, Katy. ‘Bergmans metafysiska frågetecken’ [Bergman’s metaphysical question mark]. Projectio (Helsinki), no. 2, 1963, pp. 6-7. A comparison of Fängelse (Prison) and Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light) as metaphysical probings.
1090. Ingmar Bergman. Svensk Filmindustri. Stockholm 1963, 60 pp. A brochure issued for a retrospective showing of Bergman’s films at cinema ‘Smultronstället’ in Stockholm. Mainly quotations from reviews.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1091. Kelman, Ken. ‘Film as Poetry’. Film Culture, no. 29, (Summer 1963): 22-27. An attempt at defining what constitutes a ‘film-poem’: characters and narrative are transformed into symbols of the filmmaker’s thoughts and feelings. Uses the flashback sequence in Bergman’s The Naked Night (Gycklarnas afton) as an example of a ‘film-poem’ where all the elements exist to further the artist’s vision, so that the audience is captivated by ‘sheer passion’. More descriptive than analytical but interesting in its juxtaposition of different films.
1092. Ladiges, Peter M. ‘Ein Cineastenproblem? Anmerkungen zum Mythos Ingmar Bergman’. Film Zeitschrift für Film und Fernsehen 1, no. 2 (June-July) 1963: 6, 51. A general presentation of Bergman as a bourgeois filmmaker escaping into myth and exoticism.
1093. Laura, Ernesto G. ‘Ingmar Bergman: un nuovo “kammerspiel.”’ La biennale 7, no. 48, 1963: 29-44. A detailed overview of Bergman’s work on stage and in the cinema in connection with the release of The Silence. Cf. Ø 1012, Italian Reception of Bergman.
1094. Oldin, Gunnar and Hugo Wortzelius ‘Ingmar Bergmans stil’ [Bergman’s style]. UNT, 20 February 1963, p. 4. A debate about Bergman’s personal visual style and the need (according to Oldin) for Swedish filmmakers to depart from it. Wortzelius’ response suggests that this is a moot point since no one is imitating Bergman.
1095. Plebe, Armando. ‘La poetica irrazionalistica di Ingmar Bergman’. Filmcritica 14, no. 133 (May) 1963: 255-62. A general discussion of Bergman’s filmmaking as a ‘cinema of ideas’ that depicts the decadence of theology and forms a structural parallel to the ‘decadence of continuity’ found in the roman nouveau.
1096. Renzo, Renzi. ‘Bergman e l’abolizione dell’ Inferno’. Cinema Nuovo, XVI, no. 163 (May/June 1963): 166-168. The author argues that Bergman’s films from the early Sixties present an atheistic point of view, which is of interest both to lay people and the Catholic church. The same subject is discussed in Cineforum, no. 24 (April 1963): 373. See also (Ø 1012), Italian Reception of Bergman.
1097. Santos, Alberto Seixas. Bergman no cerco. Lisboa:Cadernos de Hoje, 1963. A brief Portuguese introduction to Bergman and his film work to date.
1098. Schlappner, Martin. ‘Die Trilogie der Anfechtung’ in author’s Filme und ihre Regisseure. (Bern: H. Huber, 1963, 1967), pp. 63-78. Also issued in 1966 under the title Bilder des Dichterischen Themen und Gestalten des Films. A study of existential angst in Bergman’s Såsom i en spegel (Wie in einem Spiegel), Nattvardsgästerna (Licht im Winter), and Tystnaden (Das Schweigen).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1099. Sima, Jonas. ‘Metoden Ingmar Bergman’ [The Bergman method]. Filmrutan 6, no. 2, 1963: 59-61. The author, dissatisfied with Höök’s biographical method (Ø 1074) and Donner’s New Criticism approach (Ø 1071), calls for a new general approach to Bergman.
1100. Sjöman, Vilgot. L-136: Dagbok. Stockholm: Norstedts, 1963. 250 pp. Translated into English by Alan Blair as L-136: A Diary with Ingmar Bergman (Ann Arbor: Karoma Press, 1979), 243 pp, and into Dutch by J.C. Torringa-Timmer. Excerpts appeared earlier in English in Literary Review 9, no. 2 (Winter) 1965: 257-65, and in Cinema Journal 13, no. 2 (Spring) 1974: 30-40 (trans. by Karen Grimstad). Also excerpted in French in Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 165 (April) 1965: 52-55; no. 166-67 (May-June) 1965: 50-55; and no. 168 (July) 1965: 74-77. Filmmaker Vilgot Sjöman (Jag är nyfiken gul/I am Curious Yellow) knew Bergman since his high school days and had some professional contact with him during his own filmmaking career. He followed the shooting of Bergman’s Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light) and kept a diary, which includes recorded discussions and comments by Bergman, the cast, and the crew. The book is a valuable presentation of Bergman at work on a film from the planning stage to the final editing.
Reviews Sight and Sound 34, no. 1 (Winter) 1964-65: 48-49; Scandinavian Review 67, no. 3 (September) 1980: 88-93; Scandinavian Studies 52, no. 2 (Spring 1980): 230-33. Vilgot Sjöman also conducted a series of TV interviews with Ingmar Bergman titled ‘Ingmar Bergman gör en film’ [Bergman makes a film]. (See Ø 751).
1101.
Stravinsky, Igor & Craft, Robert. Dialogues and a Diary. New York: Doubleday, 1963. Pages 165-171 report on Stravisnky’s encounter with Bergman at the time of Bergman’s production of ‘The Rake’s Progress’ at the Stockholm Opera.
1102. Strömstedt, Bo. ‘En diktare’ [A poet]. Expr., 16 October 1963, p. 4. A full page newspaper article on the occasion of the first Swedish publication of a Bergman screenplay (the Trilogy). The author sees the scripts as a religious triptych, claiming that its serious content was ignored by most Swedish critics. See Commentary to Tystnaden (The Silence) in Filmography.
1964 1103.
Adams, Robert H. ‘How Warm is the Cold, How Light is the Darkness?’ The Christian Century, 81, no. 38, 1964: 1144-45. Reprinted in Kaminsky (Ø 1266), pp. 226-230. The author argues against British and American critical designation of Bergman’s Trilogy as a set of ‘cold’ films and sees them instead as films of transforming insights, comparable to King Lear’s experience on the heath.
929
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1104. Alsina, Thevenet & Emir Rodrigues Monegal. Ingmar Bergman, un dramaturgo cinematografico. Montevideo: Communidad del Sur, 1964. 125 pp. See Group listing (Ø 974). 1105.
L’Avant-Scène du Cinéma, no. 37 (May 1964). A special Bergman issue, including script of Tystnaden (Le silence), excerpts of French reviews of the film and an analysis of Bergman’s films to date by Jean Béranger, pp. 40-49.
1106. Ayfre, Amedée. ‘L’univers d’Ingmar Bergman’ in author’s book Conversion aux images: Les images et l’homme. (Paris: Editions du cerf, 1964), pp. 277-88. A frequent commentator on Bergman’s films in the Fifties and Sixties discusses Bergman’s personal vision.
1107.
Baldelli, Pio. ‘Ambiguita de sacro e profano in Ingmar Bergman’. Giovane critica (University of Catania), no. 4 (April-May) 1964. Reprinted in French as ‘Bergman et la critique’. Etudes cinématographiques, no. 46-47 (1966), pp. 3-13. (See Ø 1012).
1108. Billard, Pierre. ‘Le monde du silence’. Cinéma 64, no. 85 (April) 1964: 83-93. See also same author in L’Express, 5 March 1964 and in Wie sie filmen, ed. Ulrich Gregor (Gutersloh: Sigberth Mohn, 1966), pp. 102-08. See Ø 753. 1109. Chiaretti, Tommaso. Ingmar Bergman, Rome: Canesi, 1964. 201 pp. See Ø 1012. 1110.
Comolli, Jean Louis. ‘Bergman anonyme’. Cahiers du Cinéma XXVI, no. 156 (June 1964):30-34. A critical article of Bergman’s Trilogy, judging it to be too impersonal and abstract, especially when compared to Bergman’s earlier work.
1111.
Comuzio, Ermanno. ‘Musica, suoni e silenzi nei film di Bergman’. Cineforum, no. 32, February 1964, pp. 166-73. On the use of music, dreams, and silence in Bergman’s films.
1112.
Hervé, Alain. ‘Bergman: The Director who Films His Own Soul’. Realités, no. 162 (May) 1964: 28-43, 80. A portrait of Bergman as a workaholic and recluse: ‘A Swede in his blood and his traditions’ and ‘a cruel, capricious, charming child’.
1113.
Langlois, Henri. ‘Ingmar Bergman et le génie de la Suède’. Cinéma française, no. 266, 1964, n.p. An assessment by the famous director of Paris Cinémathèque in connection with a Bergman retrospective. See also SvD, 28 June 1964, p. 12, for a report. The same retrospective in Lyon had to be extended one week because of box-office sell-outs.
930
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1114.
1115.
Laura, Ernesto G. ‘Il primo Bergman: fatiosa mascita di uno stile’. Bianco e Nero 25, no. 8-9, August-September 1964: 58-72. (Cf. Ø 1012). Lawson, John Howard. Film: The Creative Process. New York: Hill & Wang, 1964. Pp. 166-67, 257-58, 321-22 discuss several Bergman films to make the point that Bergman’s filmmaking is too abstract and his films too self-contained to touch reality. George Linden in his study Reflections on the Screen (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishers, 1970) takes issue with Lawson (pp. 113-22).
1116.
Maisetti, Massino. La crisi spirituali dell’ uomo moderno nei film di Ingmar Bergman. Varese: Centro Communitario di Rescaldina, 1964. Diss. One of many Italian studies of the existential crisis in Bergman’s filmmaking. (Cf. Ø 1012).
1117.
Marcabru, Pierre. ‘Bergman: un cinéma du voyeur’. Arts, 1-7 (April) 1964: 7. The author maintains that a viewer of a Bergman film is more observer than participant, and that Bergman’s mise-en-scene, derived from the theatre, produces this effect by building a wall around the actors, inside which they move with the precise steps of a performer on stage.
1118.
Matusevich, V. ‘Zhestokij mir Ingmara Bergmana’. [The cruel world of Ingmar Bergman]. Iskusstvo kino, no. 4, 1964: 101-14. A favorable Russian analysis of Bergman, comparing him to Brecht as a mirror of our times, though Bergman is content with raising questions without providing answers.
1119.
Savio, F. La parola e il silenzio. Venice: Edizioni della Mostra internazionale d’arte cinematografica, 1964, n.p. A volume published in connection with a retrospective film showing of ‘The Scandinavian School’, with an analysis of early Bergman works.
1965 1120. Group Item: Erasmus Prize In 1965, Ingmar Bergman shared the prestigious Dutch Erasmus Prize with Charlie Chaplin, but because of illness he could not travel to Amsterdam to accept it. He wrote the essay ‘The Snakeskin’ (Ormskinnet) (Ø 121) as a speech to be delivered on the occasion. It was later published as a preface to his screenplay Persona. In the following year, Bergman accepted the prize from the hands of Prince Bernhard (10 October 1966) and announced at a press conference that he would set aside one quarter of the prize money for young European filmmakers. Bergman also explained why he could not accept a Hollywood contract: ‘An American film contract consists of 75 pages. One of these states that the producer has the right to the final cut. With that, one has said goodbye to [artistic] freedom’. For reports, see Sight and Sound, xxxiv, no. 4 (Autumn 1965): 176; and Expr., 11 October 1966, p. 29, and SvD, 12 October 1966, p. 15. Cf. Ø 762. There was a great deal of press publicity in connection with Bergman’s visit. For samples, see full-page article in the cultural section of the Dutch paper De Telegraaf, 11 October 1966, and
931
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman ‘Ingmar Bergman in Nederland’, HC, 11 October 1966. Tjitte de Vries authored a 16-page pamphlet on the occasion, titled Ingmar Bergman, Amsterdam: AO-Reeks, 1966. Available at the Amsterdam Film Museum.
1121.
Busco, Maria Teresa. ‘Miti contamporanei: Fellini e Bergman’. Biance e Nero 26, no. 2 (February) 1965: 39-46. An analysis of Kierkegaardian motifs in Fellini and Bergman. (See Ø 1012), Italian Reception.
1122.
Chauvet, Louis. ‘Ingmar Bergman och hans positioner’ [Bergman and his positions]. Biografägaren 40, no. 12, 1965 p. 12. A Swedish translation of the author’s article ‘Bergman ou la poésie de l’incertitude’. Cinéma International, no. 9, 1966: 392. Chauvet, skeptical at first about Bergman’s filmmaking now sees him as an artist of ‘confusion’ and gives him a place in film history. Bergman’s ‘positions’ (in title) refers to the extreme polarity in audience reaction to his films.
1123.
Haller, Robert. ‘Ingmar Bergman: The Silent Laughter of the Gods’. In Three Motion Picture Directors. Notre Dame, Ind.: Notre Dame Student-Faculty Film Society, 1965, pp. 20-28. A presentation of Bergman as a filmmaker whose work depicts a life vs death conflict.
1124. Hayden, L.H. ‘Waiting for Bergman’. Vision 1, no. 2 (Spring 1965): 10. See Group entry (Ø 1211). 1125.
Jeune cinéma, no. 8 (June/July) 1965. A special Bergman issue with a presentation of the Trilogy and an article by Pio Baldelli, ‘A la recherche d’Ingmar Bergman’, pp. 21-29.
1126. Laura, Ernesto G. ‘Trei voci spiritualisti del cinema contemporano: Bresson, Dreyer, Bergman’. Cineforum 5, no. 45 (May) 1965: 356-65. See Ø 1012. 1127.
Rying, Mats and Ulf Stråhle. ‘Ingmar Bergman’ in authors’ Intryck i Sverige [Impressions in Sweden]. Malmö: Bo Cavefors, 1965, pp. 66-71. A portrait of Bergman, focussing on his dynamic temperament.
1128.
Scott, James. ‘The Achievement of Ingmar Bergman’. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 24, no. 2 (December) 1965: 263-72. Reprinted in a slightly different version in Focus on the Seventh Seal, ed. by B. Steene, pp. 25-41, (Ø 1220). This version also appears in Great Film Directors, ed. by L. Braudy and Maurice Dickstein (New York: Oxford University Press), pp. 43-55. An analytical overview of Bergman’s filmmaking career. The article attributes Bergman’s achievement to his Swedish cinematic tradition with its emphasis on an inner world, and to a loyal production team and choice of ensemble actors. The article also discusses Bergman’s technical style and explores a series of recurring images in his films. See also same author on Bergman’s scriptwriting and his use of actors as ironic figures in Film: The Medium and the Maker. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1975, pp. 11-13, 167-68, 179-83, and 211-14.
932
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1129. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Archetypal Patterns in Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman’. Scandinavian Studies 37, no. 1 (February) 1965: 58-76. Slightly revised in Film Comment 3, no. 2 (Spring) 1965: 68-78. The article suggests myth of the Fall and legend of Faust as archetypal motifs in The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Through a Glass Darkly, and Winter Light.
1130. Thomsen, Chr. Braad. ‘Bergmans Guds-kompleks.’ [Bergman’s God complex]. Jyllandsposten, 9 January 1965. The article is mostly about the religious dimension of Bergman’s Trilogy. Cf. Torsten Bergmark’s ‘Ingmar Bergman och den kristna baksmällan’ [Ingmar Bergman and the Christian hangover], (Ø 1149).
1966 1131.
n.a. ‘Der Magier aus Djursholm’. Hör Zu, no. 37, 10 September 1966. A biographical presentation of Bergman.
1132.
‘Ingmar Bergman in anti-US position.’ Variety, 6 April 1966, p. 1. A note about Bergman signing a petition against US involvement in Vietnam.
1133.
‘Ingmar Bergman vädjar till påven’ [Bergman appeals to the Pope]. ST, 6 February 1966, p. 18. Bergman signed a petition, together with 37 intellectuals and artists, asking the Pope to preserve the old Gregorian one-key chant in church, instead of using modern sacred music. Many of the petitioners were non-Catholics.
1134.
Comstock. Richard. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Assessment at Midpoint’. Film Society Review 2, no. 4, 1966: 12-18. A thematic discussion of Bergman’s major films, focusing on the search for love and a meaningful life.
1135.
Delling, Manfred. ‘Ein Bergman-Porträt’. Die Welt, 29 October 1966. A presentation of Bergman, his background and filmmaking in a major German newspaper.
1136.
Farbstein, A. A. ‘Ingmar Bergman kak philosophi moralist’. Skandinavskii-Sbornik (Tallinn, USSR) 13, 1966, pp. 141-55. An Estonian presentation of Bergman as a philosophical filmmaker and moralist.
1137.
Oliva, Ljubomir. Ingmar Bergman. Prague: Orbis, 1966. 201 pp. A survey of Bergman’s films before Persona, plus excerpts from scripts of The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, and Winter Light, with a collection of reviews and presentations of some of Bergman’s actresses.
933
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1138.
Prigione, R. ‘La donna e il sentimento dell’angoscia in Bergman, Antonioni e Dreyer’. Civilta dell’immagine, no. 1, 1966, n.p. A discussion of the role of women and angst in the films of Bergman, Antonioni, and Dreyer. (Cf. Ø 975).
1139.
Schickel, Richard. ‘Scandinavian Screen’. Holiday 40, no. 5 (November) 1966: 15660. See Ø 1011. An overview of Bergman’s career prior to Winter Light, with some information on early Swedish film history.
1140. Tobey, Alan. ‘Ingmar Bergman and his Films: A Study in Irresolution’. B.S. thesis. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1966. 121 leaves.
1967 1141.
Anker, Øyvind. ‘Urpremiere på Ingmar Bergmans teaterdrama ‘Hets’ i Oslo 1948’. Nordisk tidskrift 43 (1967), pp. 227-35. Bergman’s film script to ‘Hets’ [Frenzy/Torment] was adapted to the stage and performed in Oslo (and London) in 1948. See commentary to ‘Hets’ in Filmography.
1142.
Cahiers du Cinéma. no. 188 (March) 1967: 16-20. A French translation of Bergman’s ‘Snakeskin’ essay and article by Jean-Louis Comolli, titled ‘Le phantome de Personne’, which is very critical of Bergman’s filmmaking in the Sixties. (Cf. Ø 982).
1143.
Cineforum. 7, no. 61 (January) 1967: 23-69. A special Bergman issue including presentation of Persona, an article by Jean Paillard (‘Dramatis persona’, pp. 57-60) and an essay on Bergman’s filmmaking from the Trilogy to Persona by Ermanno Comuzio (‘Da ‘Il silenzio’ a ‘Persona’’, pp. 61-65).
1144. Dupas, Jean. ‘Le temps d’un voyage’. L’action (Tunis), 1 February 1967, n.p. The article lists the following reasons for the wide appeal of Bergman’s films: (1) they tell a simple story; (2) they are of intellectual interest as contemplations of death and life; (3) they show a cinema transcending the problems of language and of thoughts imprisoned in words; (4) they present actresses who are not stars but characters; and (5) they explore the inner emotional world of men and women.
1145.
Kinnear, G.C. ‘Ingmar Bergman. Master of Illusion’. In Man and the Movies, ed. by W.R. Robinson, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1967, pp. 161-68. A general introduction, seeing Bergman’s strength as a filmmaker in his ability to draw the spectator into the emotional sphere of films that defy analysis.
934
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1146. Narboni, Jean. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Le festin de l’araignée’. Cahiers du cinéma, no. 193 (September) 1967: 34-41. The author discusses the concept of silence in Bergman’s films from Ansiktet (The Magician) to Persona.
1147.
Pondeliçek, Ivo. ‘Bergman’s Philosophic Film and its Construction Problems’. The English summary is issued by the Czech Film Institute, Prague. The original article is published in Film a doba 13, no. 7, 1967: 342-352. In somewhat faulty English, this article contends that different approaches – such as ontological, Marxist, psychoanalytical, and existential – all have relevance in interpreting Bergman’s films.
1148. Wredlund, Bertil. ‘Ingmar Bergman Index’. Chaplin 10, no. 78, 1967: 24-27. Also in Film och bio, no. 1 (January 1968), pp. 24-28. A listing of all the films to date in which Bergman has participated in some capacity, from Hets to Vargtimmen. The article includes credits and a name index.
1968 1149. Bergmark, Torsten. ‘Ingmar Bergman och den kristna baksmällan’ [Bergman and the Christian hangover]. DN, 6 October 1968, p. 4. Also appeared in Film og Kino, no. 9 (December) 1968: 276-77, 297. Reprinted in Motbilder: svensk socialistisk filmkritik – en antologi, pp. 246-50. See Commentary to Skammen, (Ø 239). The author argues that with Shame Bergman has given himself a choice as a filmmaker: to return to bourgeois filmmaking or to sacrifice bourgeois art and assume loyalty to the proletarization of art.
1150.
Boyers, Robert. ‘Bergman’s Persona: An Essay in Tragedy’, Salmagundi 2, no. 4 (Fall 1968): 3-31, reprinted in Excursions: selected Literary Essays (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat, 1977), pp. 47-70. Boyers compares Alma in Persona to the tragic protagonist in Electra, King Oedipus, King Lear, and Hamlet.
1151.
Chicco, Elisabetta ‘Cinema e teatro nell’opera di Bergman’. Cinema Nuovo 17, no. 192 (March-April) 1968: 96-108. Traces the relationship between Bergman’s films and various theatre traditions.
1152.
Corliss, Richard & Jonathan Hoops. ‘Hour of the Wolf ’. Film Quarterly 21, no. 4 (Summer) 1968: 33-40. A review of Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf) but also a survey of Bergman’s reputation outside of Sweden. The authors criticize the tendency of alloting filmmakers and national film industries a certain period to flower – Bergman’s blossoming allegedly occurred between 1954 and 1957 (1956-1959 would be more accurate).
935
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1153.
Drouzy, Martin. ‘Bergman I og Bergman II: Kunst contra virkelighed’ [Bergman I and Bergman II: Art vs reality]. Die Asta, no. 5 (December) 1968: 12-19. The author traces the theme of dream vs reality in Persona, Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf), and Skammen (Shame).
1154.
Fabricius, Johannes. ‘Ingmar Bergman og “sjælens mørke natt”’ [Bergman and ‘the dark night of the soul’]. Kosmorama 14, no. 6 (June) 1968: 173-182. The article discusses parallels between alchemical processes and Bergman’s use of Jungian symbolism and compares Bergman’s production from Såsom i en spegel (Through a Glass Darkly) to Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf) to the medieval work Opus alchymicum. The same author applies a Jungian analysis to a study of the passionate woman character in Skammen (Shame), En passion (The Passion of Anna) and The Touch in Kosmorama 18, no. 110 (September) 1972: 259-263. The article is titled ‘The Touch eller genfødelsen i jomfruens tegn’ [The Touch or rebirth in the sign of the virgin].
1155.
Film och Bio, no. 1, 1968, pp. 10-30. A special Bergman issue that includes the following items: Löthwall, Lars-Olof. ‘Fyra dygn på Fårö’ [Four days and nights on Fårö], pp. 10-18. A reportage from the shooting of Skammen; —. ‘Hålla spegeln och se vad spegeln speglar’ [Hold the mirror and see what the mirror reflects], pp. 20-24. An interview with Ingmar Bergman. (See Ø 776); Goldstein, Max. ‘Mago och Skammen’ [Mago and Shame]. Film och bio, no. 1, 1968:19. (See Ø 1157 below); Robin Hood (Bengt Idestam-Almqvist). ‘Ingmar Bergman i bikini’ [Bergman in bikini], p. 29. A ‘mosaic’ of recollections of young Bergman by an early supporter and film critic/historian; Wredlund, Bertil. ‘Ingmar Bergman Index, 31/12 1967’, pp. 25-28. A Bergman filmography through 1967.
1156.
Gilliat, Penelope. ‘Poems of Square Pegs’. The New Yorker 44, no. 9 (April) 1968: 163-68. Reprinted in Kaminsky, (Ø 1266), pp. 270-73. A discussion of voyeurism in Hour of the Wolf, comparing the painter Johan Borg in Bergman’s film to Buñuel’s highbred tart in Belle du Jour. Madness and sex energize a world gone stale.
1157.
Goldstein, Max. ‘Mago och Skammen’ [Mago and Shame]. Film och Bio, no. 1, 1968: 19. Sketches by Bergman’s costumier Mago, a German Jew who was rescued and taken to Sweden as a teenager during World War II, thanks to Bergman’s parents. See Karin Bergman’s diary (Ø 1526), 1995, p. 51, about the Bergman family receiving yet another Jewish teenager, Dieter Winter, in their home.
1158.
Grafe, Frieda. ‘Der Spiegel ist zerschlagen’. Filmkritik 12, no. 11 (November) 1968: 760-772. The author challenges an exclusively thematic/literary or a purely visual approach to Bergman’s filmmaking. Image and word/sound interact. Article concludes that Bergman’s filmmaking is neither a form of religion nor art for art’s sake but ‘propaedeutics for life’.
936
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1159.
Gyllström, Katy. ‘Johan Borg och Sarastro’. Nya Argus 61 (1968), pp. 170-72. A comparison between Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf) and Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute. The author singles out two major themes in Vargtimmen: (1) the power and possessiveness of love, to the point where human beings become mirrors of each other (the ‘Persona theme’); (2) the Magic Flute theme, with Johan Borg portrayed as a kin to Tamino in Mozart’s opera: both seek the light. Lindhorst in Vargtimmen plays the role of Papageno, whose captured birds are transformed into frightening ravens. Title of the article refers to the author’s argument that Vargtimmen’s Johan Borg is destroyed because, unlike in Tamino’s case, there is no father/ godlike figure like Sarastro present in Borg’s world.
1160. Hamdi, Britt. ‘Mannen Ingmar Bergman’ [The Man Bergman]. Eva. Bonniers månadstidning, no. 6 (1968), pp. 48, 50-1. Article discusses Bergman’s unique qualities as a listener. Also lists attitudes he apparently hates in people: too much familiarity, lack of personal hygiene, and breaking promises.
1161.
Holba, H. ‘Treibhaus der Neurosen. Der frühe Bergman’. Action (Vienna) 4, no. 7, 1968: 24-8, 37. Author sees Bergman’s early films as expressions of Swedish postwar existential anxiety.
1162.
1163.
Idestam-Almqvist, Bengt (Robin Hood). ‘Ingmar Bergman i bikini’ [Bergman in bikini]. Film och Bio, no. 1, 1968: 29. See Ø 1155. Jackiewicz, Aleksander. ‘Wczesny Bergman’ [Early Bergman]. Film, no. 35, 1968, n. p. Polish interest in Bergman intensified in the 1960s. This background article discusses Bergman’s filmmaking in the Forties and Fifties.
1164. Lindskog, Runo. ‘Ingmar Bergmans förhållande till konsten och religionen’ [Bergman’s relationship to art and religion]. Östersunds-Posten, 13 March 1968, p. 2. A newspaper chronicle on Bergman’s view of art as a form of religious rite.
1165.
Morais, Manuel Antonio. Ingmar Bergman. Lisbon: Associacio de estudiantes da Faculdade de ciencias (A.E.F.C.L.), 1968, 102 pp. A stenciled presentation of Bergman’s films through Nattvardsgästerna.
1166. Mölter, Veit. ‘Pornographie statt Gewalt’. Abendzeitung (Austria), 3 May 1968. A newspaper report from a Bergman press conference in Rome. It discusses pornography of violence, a subject debated at the time of Bergman’s release of films like Vargtimmen/Hour of the Wolf and Skammen. See Interviews (Ø 777).
937
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1167.
Prédal, René. ‘Bergman de l’autre côté du miroir’. Jeune cinéma, no. 32 (September) 1968: 33-35. An analysis of Bergman’s visual ‘language of terror’ with specific references to Såsom i en spegel (Through a Glass Darkly, Comme dans un miroir), Persona, and Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf, L’heure du loup).
1168. Riffe, Ernest. ‘Utför för Bergman – säger Bergman’. Expr., 25 September 1968. See Interview section, (Ø 778). 1169. Rondi, Gian Luigi, ed. Maestri del Cinema: Ingmar Bergman. Rome: RAI/RadioTelevisione italiana, 1968, 48 pp. An introduction and review excerpts to eight Bergman films: Summer Interlude, Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Brink of Life, The Magician, Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, and Not to Speak about All these Women. Includes a biographical sketch and a brief essay on Swedish cinema.
1170. Steene, Birgitta. Ingmar Bergman. Boston: Twayne, 1968, 153 pp. Paperback edition, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1974. A study of Bergman’s filmmaking through Persona, with a chapter on Bergman as a playwright, and a biographical note.
Review Western Humanities Review 22, no. 3 (Summer 1968): 275-76.
1171.
Studi cinematografico e televisivi 1, no. 2 (October) 1968: 25-55. A special Bergman issue with two longer articles: Maria Vitoria Papa, ‘Aspetti figurativa del linguaggio di Ingmar Bergman’, pp. 45-55, and Mario Verdone, ‘Religione e personalita nell’opera di Ingmar Bergman’, pp. 22-44. Papa discusses emotive and figurative language in Bergman’s films, with specific reference to The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries. For Verdone, (See Ø 1012), 1959, Italian Reception of Bergman.
1172.
Sundgren, Nils Petter. ‘Från raseri till frusen förtvivlan’. Röster i Radio/TV, March 10-23, 1968, pp. 10-11, 48. A brief exposé of Bergman’s stylistic development as a filmmaker from Ansiktet to Persona.
1173.
Waldekranz, Rune. ‘Ingmar Bergman 50 år’ [Bergman at fifty]. SvD, 13 July 1968, p. 5. An assessment of Bergman on his 50th birthday (July 14), seeing his insistence on personal integrity as a political act of more lasting value than ‘today’s impulsive manifestos’. [dagens impulsiva manifest]. Waldekranz was at the time head of the new Swedish Film School, where Bergman had been offended by some leftwing students when he had offered his teaching services. Cf. interview in SvD, 14 December 1980 (Fredriksson & Sörenson), (Ø 869).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman
1969 1174.
Group Item: Bergman-Fellini Co-production On 5 January 1969, a press conference was held in Rome about a film project with Bergman and Federico Fellini called ‘Love Duet’, involving Universal Studios with Martin Poll as producer, together with Bergman’s newly founded Swiss production and distribution company Persona Film. Each director was to make a film based on his conception of love. For a report on press conference, see AB, 6 January 1969, p. 12. Bergman was also interviewed on Swedish Public Radio (SR) in connection with the press conference (5 January 1969). On 5 December 1969, Expr. (Björn Vinberg, p., 43) carried an extensive news item about the project, now referred to as ‘The White Wall’ but limited to one film by Bergman alone, in which Katharine Ross was scheduled to play the lead. However, Bergman soon backed out, giving lack of time as his official reason. See Expr., 3 January 1970, p. 22. The thought of a Bergman-Fellini collaboration was revived in 1975 and discussed in early 1976, when Bergman talked about a Warner project involving his unpublished script ‘Den förstenade prinsen’ [The Petrified Prince]. Written on Fårö the preceding summer it had been translated into English by Alan Blair. In an interview, Bergman said: ‘Det är en älsklig tanke att Fellini och jag skall jobba ihop’ [It’s a sweet thought that Fellini and I might work together]. See SvD, 28 January 1976, p. 9. Nothing came of the Fellini-Bergman project. Fellini reportedly never submitted a script. See Ø 783, 850.
1175.
Ariyadasa, Edwin. ‘The Creative Life of Ingmar Bergman’. Ceylon Daily News, 16 June 1969, n.p. A general presentation of Bergman. The author regrets that ‘it is quite difficult to see a Bergman film in Ceylon.’
1176.
Cantor, Jay. ‘Ingmar Bergman at Fifty’. Atlantic 223, no. 3 (March) 1969: 150-52. An assessment of Bergman as a most enduring director in the last 20 years, despite his ‘ponderousness’ and ‘asceticism.’
1177.
Gill, Jerry H. Ingmar Bergman and the Search for Meaning. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmann Publishing Co., 1969, 43 pp. An analysis of ‘the concept of the ideal community’ in The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, and the Trilogy. See Ø 1011.
1178.
Gorodinskaja, N., ed. Ingmar Bergman. Moscow, 1969 (no publisher). 244 pp. A presentation of Bergman in Russian, based on material (articles, reviews, script excerpts) previously published in the West.
1179.
Lefèvre, Raymond, ed. Image et son, no. 226 (March) 1969. 70 pp. A special Bergman issue. Excerpts from Bergman’s essays and comments on all his films to date, including some notes on their showings in France. With a filmography from Kris to Shame, compiled by Claude Ganne.
939
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1180. Molist, Segismundo. ‘Ingmar Bergman o el universo crespuscolar’. Film Ideal (Madrid), nos. 205, 206, 207, 1969. A series of articles on Bergman’s films. Thematic approach.
1181.
Nuevo film (Montevideo), no. 4 (Autumn-Winter) 1969: 16-36. A special Bergman issue, including a longer article by T. H. Alsina, ‘Bergman despues el Silencio’, discussing problems of identity in post-Silence films, quoting extensively from Susan Sontag’s essay on Persona (see Ø 236, Commentary). The issue also includes ‘Dos dialogos con Ingmar Bergman’ which are translations of Nils Petter Sundgren’s interview in Cineforum (Ø 772) and Ernest Riffe’s (Bergman pseudonym) piece in Expr., 25 Sep., 1968 (Ø 778).
1182.
Oldrini, Guido. ‘Reflusso del problematicismo nell’ ultima Bergman’. Cinema Nuovo 18, no. 202 (December) 1969: 440-47. The author compares philosophical motifs in Bergman’s films of the 1950s and 1960s. Bergman’s ‘religious atheism’ has brought him closer to a nihilistic dissolution of the self; his films no longer offer choices but have become self-contained studies of a soul in crisis. (Cf. Ø 1012), 1959.
1183.
The Ubyssey. ‘Grabowski on Bergman by Wiikbro...’, 28 November 1969. An interview by ‘famed Fenno-Scanian star reporter, critic and Grabowski-crony Magnus S. Wiikbro, academically best known for his Terrible Infancy: a Study of Simon Grabowski’s Lack of Works, University of Haparanda Press, 1967’. A dialogue – part self-congratulatory, part parodic – between two student ‘connaisseurs’ of Bergman’s filmmaking. Grabrowski is presented as ‘a Danish oracle from Copenhagen’ currently pursuing an advanced degree in Creative Writing and Comparative Literature. Published in a student paper at UBC (‘the Ubyssey’, University of British Columbia), the article is mostly interesting as an example of a kind of coy dismissal of Bergman among intellectuals in North America and Europe at the time.
1184. Vinberg, Björn. ‘Bergman och SF – ett evigt kärlekshat’ [Bergman and SF – an eternal love-hatred]. Expr., 14 December 1970, Sunday Sec., pp. 16-17. See Ø 786. 1185.
Wood, Robin. Ingmar Bergman. London: Studio Vista and New York: Praeger, 1969. 191 pp. One of the best-written early monographs on Bergman, covering his production through Shame. Emphasis is on psychological and psychoanalytical aspects of Bergman’s filmmaking. Includes a filmography and selective bibliography.
Review Film Quarterly 23, no. 4 (Summer 1970): 61-62.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman
1970 1186. Bjuvstedt, Sussie. ‘Ingmar Bergman – Gotlands gullgosse’ [Bergman – Gotland’s Golden Boy]. Expr., 19 February 1970, p. 7. A report on Bergman’s income compared to other citizens on the island of Fårö/Gotland. Bergman tops the list. The article also quotes local people praising Bergman to the skies for his kindness, work discipline, and punctuality (‘like an officer’).
1187.
Cohn, Bernard. ‘Connaissance de la voie’. Positif, no. 121 (November) 1970: 34-40. Focussing on Skammen (Shame) and En passion (Passion of Anna), the author discusses Bergman as a disciple of Kierkegaard. See listing under Bergman and Literary Parallels (Ø 989).
1188.
Film Comment. ‘Film in Sweden’, 6, no. 2, 1970: 8-21. A special Bergman issue with a biographical note; short bibliography; and Bergman’s essays ‘My Three Most Powerful Commandments’ (Ø 108) and ‘The Snakeskin’ (Ø 131).
1189. Hinnemo, Torgny. ‘Opus 17 & 18’. Filmrutan 13, no. 1 (January) 1970: 37-40. On Bergman’s use of music in Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal) and Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries).
1190. Montan, Alf. ‘Aldrig! Hellre kommunteater på Fårö’. [Never! Rather a local theatre on Fårö]. Expr., 20 March 1970, p. 15. Bergman’s name had been suggested as head of the Stockholm Opera. His response is cited in the headline.
1191.
Rasku, Hilkka. Ingmar Bergman. Kasvoista kasvoihin. [Face to Face]. Tampere: Kirjanystävät, 1970. 124 pp. A Finnish analysis of some Bergman films from the 1950s and 1960s from a psychoanalytical perspective and with focus on Bergman’s view of Christianity. See Ø 997.
1192. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Images and Words in Ingmar Bergman’s Films’. Cinema Journal 10, no. 1 (Fall) 1970: 23-33. An analysis of Bergman’s evolving film style and changing use of language in major films of the Fifties and Sixties. Distinguishes between his ‘Gothic’ type of filmmaking in the Fifties – rhetorical, male-oriented, with a complex narrative structure – and his ‘Ascetic’ chamber film approach in the Sixties – less verbal, with women as central characters, and a ‘pruned’ narrative style.
1193.
Wester, Maud. ‘I 25 år har det stormat kring Ingmar Bergman’. [For 25 years it has been storming around Bergman]. Vecko-Journalen, nos. 15-18 (8, 15, 22, 29 April) 1970, various pages. A series of articles on Bergman focusing on his biography and providing the most comprehensive portrait of Bergman to date. Issue no. 18 is a paraphrase of Bergman’s essays ‘Det att göra film’ (What Is Filmmaking) and ‘Varje film är min sista film’ (Each Film Is My Last).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Bergman is quoted about his fundamental reason for making films: To test the psychological limits where an emotional flow has been dammed up.
1971 1194. D’Arecco, Sergio. ‘Bergman – rito e passione’. Filmcritica 22, no. 212 (January) 1971: 48-54. Discusses Ansiktet (Il Volto), Persona, Riten (Il Rito) and En passion (Passione) with an emphasis on the motif of the artist as a Romantic genius.
1195.
Beauman, Sally. ‘Ingmar Bergman. Sweden’s Wary Genius’. Show 2, no. 4 (June) 1971:38-43. See Interviews, 1971, (Ø 795).
1196. Blake, Richard A., S.J. ‘Sexual Themes in the Films of Ingmar Bergman’. Sexual Behavior I, no. 5 (August )1971: 35-43. Reprinted in Ingmar Bergman. Essays in Criticism., ed. by Stuart Kaminsky (item 1323), pp. 29- 44. Distinguishes two themes in Bergman’s metaphorical use of sexuality: (1) sexual behavior expresses man’s striving for love and communion; and (2) sexual impotence is a sign of an artist’s inability to create.
1197.
Carduner, A. ‘Nobody Has Any Fun in Bergman’s Films’. Film Society Review 7, no. 5 (January) 1971: 27-32. Also printed in Philadelphia Bandbox Theater bimonthly brochure Movies, 1971. A general presentation, both an homage and a critique. Bergman is seen as a classic filmmaker but one who has turned his back on his audience. Carduner assumes that Bergman’s religious background has programmed him to view entertainment as degrading and wicked, which would explain his alleged lack of touch with his public. Bergman is also referred to as an artist who is unwilling or incapable of ‘integrating his symbology.’
1198. Covi, Antonio. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. In Dibatti di film: Fellini, Bergman, Antonioni, Buñuel, Pasolini, Kazan,Visconti, Bresson. Padua: Gregoriana, 1971, pp. 133-88. The chapter on Bergman deals with his filmmaking to date, with focus on social and metaphysical themes.
1199. La Dramma. Teatro, Letteratura, Cinema, Musica, Radio TV 47, no. 11-12 (NovDec) 1971:30-50. Special double issue on Bergman. (See Ø 562), Theatre/Media Bibliography, Chapter VII.
1200. Haas, Richard. ‘Ett rop om hjälp som Sovjet ströp’ [A cry for help strangled by Soviets]. DN, 16 August 1971, p. 1, 6. A report of a telegram sent to Ingmar Bergman and other Western artists by a group of Russian Jews who wished to emigrate to Israel. Bergman denied having seen the telegram but expressed his concern in a telephone interview. The same article also reports that in February 1971,
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Bergman and 54 other Swedes signed a petition, protesting Soviet government’s anti-Semitic views and actions.
1201. Kwakernaak, Erik. ‘Ingmar Bergman komt tot de mensen!’ Skoop 7, no. 4, 1971:3540. An analysis of Bergman’s filmmaking with focus on films of the Sixties, including a comparison between the TV film The Lie (Reservatet) (scripted but not directed by Bergman) and A Passion.
1202. Nørrested, Carl. ‘Et og andet om en passionered svensker – et skilletrykk om Bergman’ [One or two things about a passionate Swede – a broadsheet on Bergman]. Film UV (Denmark) 5, no. 2, 1971: 19-23; no. 4, 1971: 24-26; and no. 6, 1971: 9-13. A series of articles offering an overview of Bergman’s filmmaking and Swedish film tradition.
1203. Pechter, William, S. ‘The Light is Dark Enough’. In Twenty-four Times a Second. New York: Harper & Row, 1971, pp. 133-46. A reprint of three different assessments of Bergman’s filmmaking originally published in Tulane Drama Review, 1960, 1961, and 1963. The films discussed are The Magician (Ansiktet) whose title is given an erroneous ambiguous meaning by Pechter; The Virgin Spring (Jungfrukällan), The Silence (Tystnaden), Persona, and Shame. Pechter denies that Bergman has a personal style and sees his filmmaking as ecclectic borrowings from Dreyer, Buñuel-Dali, Cocteau, Renoir, and German expressionism.
1204. Perucha, Julio Pérez. ‘Bergman a través de sus ultimos films’. Insulas 300-301 (November-December) 1971. An analysis of Bergman and his films of the late Sixties.
1205. Phelan, Sarah F. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Now I see things as they are’. MA thesis. California State Univ., Sacramento, 1971. 54 pp. For more information, contact California State University. 1206. Renaud, Tristan. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Dossiers du Cinéma. Cinéastes II, 1971, pp. 9-13. A good dictionary presentation of Bergman where author deplores early difficulties in assessing his filmmaking in France, since his films were not released in chronological order. Sees Fängelse (Prison) and Gycklarnas afton (La nuit des forains) as constituting a Bergman matrix where the extraordinary power of his personality manifests itself; also discusses Sjunde inseglet (Le septième sceau), Smultronsstället (Les fraises sauvages), Nära livet (Au seuil de la vie), and the Trilogy. Renaud considers Bergman’s portrayal of women more important than his metaphysics. The article is followed (pp. 14-15) by brief excerpts from reviews of Bergman’s filmmaking and from Bergman’s 1954 essay ‘Det att göra film’ (Qu’est que faire des films?).
1207. Schildt, Jurgen. ‘Ingmar Bergman – vad har hänt med honom’ [Bergman – What has happened to him?]. AB, 19 September 1971, Sunday section, pp. 9-13. The author examines the source of Bergman’s success: (1) loyalty to his cultural and national origin; (2) loyalty to his actors; (3) loyalty to his own themes and vision. The article also includes a list of ‘Ingmar och alla hans kvinnor’ [Ingmar and all his women], p. 12.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1208. Seymour, Julien. ‘Bonjour mystère Bergman’. Lui, September 1971, pp. 30-32, 44, 105, 109, 111-12. A somewhat affected and meandering account of Bergman’s films and working style, ranging from François Mauriac’s shocked reaction to The Silence to Bergman’s life with Liv Ullmann and his Hollywood (Elliott Gould) connection in The Touch. The author describes Bergman’s position as that of a home-bound Swede, ‘a timid god.’
1209. Welsh, James. ‘Symposium on Published Scripts: Bergman and Anderson for Sophomores’. Cinema Journal 11, no. 1 (Fall) 1971: 52-57. On using Bergman’s and Lindsay Anderson’s scripts in teaching film to sophomore college students.
1210. Young, Vernon. Cinema borealis: Ingmar Bergman and the Swedish Ethos. New York: David Lewis, 1971. 331 pp. New edition, New York: Avon Books, 1972, 346 pp. Updated in 1975 to include films through Scenes from a Marriage. A highly acerbic and opinionated study of Bergman’s cultural background, with a number of factual errors. Witty subjective style overshadows some perceptive analyses of Bergman’s films.
Review Film Quarterly 26, no. 2 (Winter) 1972/73: 45-47.
1972 1211.
Group Item: Bergman and art cinema public. The cases of India and Ireland India as the world’s leading filmmaking nation with a film industry based on mostly native themes and genres provides a special case in the reception of Bergman’s films. With the exception of The Virgin Spring, Autumn Sonata, and Fanny and Alexander, no Bergman film has been shown commercially in India. But Bergman became part of the Indian Film Society movement, which began in Calcutta in the late Sixties, upon the initiative of Indian filmmaker Satiyat Ray after Ray’s return from a visit to London, where he had discovered the auteur Ingmar Bergman, especially his film Wild Strawberries. The Indian Film Society movement attracted two major groups of (educated) people (almost all men): those looking for pornographic films and those looking for artistic cinema. Bergman satisfied both groups with The Silence. This film was part of a Bergman Film Session arranged in Calcutta in 1972 by the Federation of Film Societies of India and the National Film Archive of India. A 32-page pamphlet was issued with a detailed presentation of The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, The Virgin Spring, and The Silence. For another Bergman retrospective, this time in Nagpur, a 46-page program was issued with a biographical note and filmography: Cine Montage. Nagpur: Cine Montage, 1979. See also Rajat, Roy. Bergman. Calcutta, 1992; a booklet in Hindu on Bergman’s filmmaking. Available at SFI. Since the 1970s, Bergman’s films, especially Wild Strawberries, have been part of the filmmaking curriculum at India’s National Film School in Puno. The exposure of Bergman’s films in the 1960s and 1970s in art cinemas rather than regular commercial theatres was also typical of the situation in Ireland. See L.H Hayden, ‘Waiting for
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Bergman’. Vision 1, no. 2 (Spring 1965): 10. Hayden regrets that out of 26 Bergman films to that date distributed abroad, only 7 had been released commercially in Ireland.
1212.
Berg, R. van der. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Skrien 29-30 (Spring) 1972: 34-35. A brief critical assessment of Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking. A thematic approach.
1213.
‘Filmmaking in Sweden.’ American Cinematographer 53, no. 4 (April) 1972: 374-456. A special Bergman issue. Contains the following material: Title essay by Herb A. Lightman, pp. 374-76; Ingmar Bergman’s essays ‘Film and Creativity’ [Varje film är min sista/Each Film is My Last] (Ø 108) and ‘The Snakeskin’ [Ormskinnet] (Ø 131), pp. 427-31, 434; Stig Björkman 1971 interview, pp. 377-379. (See Ø 796); Sven Nykvist interview ‘A Passion for Light’, pp. 380-81, 456. See Ø 810. Nykvist expresses similar views in A.C. Bobrow’s interview in Filmmakers Monthly Newsletter IX, no. 7 (May) 1976: 28-34.
1214.
Hellbom, Thorleif. ‘Bergman bygger filmstad på Fårö – skildrar äktenskap i Djursholm’ [B builds a film city at Fårö – depicts a marriage in Djursholm]. DN, 30 August 1972, Radio/TV section. A report from Dämba on Fårö where Bergman planned to build a 6-by-12 meter film studio on a 17th-century farm, using a great many locals as co-workers. The office was to be in the former laundry room, the projection room in the former carriage area, and the editing room in the woodshed. Sven Nykvist, Bergman’s cinematographer, describes the situation: ‘like a marriage with a built-in divorce’.
1215.
Jensen, Niels. ‘Den knuste maske – et motiv hos Ingmar Bergman’ [The shattered mask – a motif in Bergman]. Kosmorama, no. 107 (February) 1972: 120-123. A discussion of psychological unveiling and identity crisis as a recurrent theme in Bergman’s films.
1216. Löthwall, Lars-Olof. ‘Väsentligt och oväsentligt. Dagbok från Bergmans ‘Viskningar och rop’’ [Essential and unessential matters. Diary from Bergman’s Cries and Whispers]. Chaplin 114, no.3, 1972: 88-99. Also published in Allers 1972, p.10, under the title ‘Sådan är han, Ingmar Bergman. Dagbok från en filminspelning’ [That’s what he is like, Ingmar Bergman. Diary from the shooting of a film]. Also published in English in Film in Sweden, no. 2, 1972, pp. 3-8. Diary notes kept by the author while he was liaison press person during the shooting of Cries and Whispers including a summary assessment of his impression of Bergman: ‘The most remarkable thing about him is his ability to discover everything, to see everything, to hear everything, to feel everything – to intuit everything. It is a bit eerie’. [Det mest anmärkningsvärda hos honom är hans förmåga att upptäcka allt, att se allt, att höra allt, att känna allt – att intuitivt uppleva allt. Det är lite kusligt] (p. 90). Cf. Ø 808.
1217.
Marcussen, Elsa Brita. ‘Ingmar Bergman om film. Legende eller bevegelse?’ NRK, 25 June – 1 July 1972.
945
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman A series of presentations of Bergman as legend and filmmaker by Norwegian film critic.
1218.
Simon, John. Ingmar Bergman Directs. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1972, 315 pp. See also Ø 814. Bergman apparently convinced Simon to include Winter Light as one of four films discussed in his study. The others are: The Naked Night, Smiles of a Summer Night, and Persona. Perceptive analysis, amply illustrated with sequential stills. The introduction was also published in Film Comment 8, no. 3 (September-October 1972): 37-40.
Reviews New York Times, 26 November 1972, pp. 6, 26. Literature/Film Quarterly 2, no. 2 (Spring 1974): 190.
1219. Solomon, Stanley J. ‘Ingmar Bergman and the New Intellectualism’. In The Film Idea, New York: Harcourt, Brace & Jovanovich, 1972, pp. 228-36. Focusing on The Seventh Seal, The Virgin Spring, and The Touch, the author attributes Bergman’s appeal to intellectual film goers to his willingness to create films around broad philosophical ideas through clearly presented symbolic imagery.
1220. Steene, Birgitta, ed. Focus on The Seventh Seal. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PrenticeHall, 1972. 182 pp. Though most of the material pertains to The Seventh Seal, this volume also includes broader presentations of Bergman by Jean Béranger, Marianne Höök, and James Scott. The volume has an interview by the editor titled ‘Words and Whisperings: An Interview with Ingmar Bergman’. pp. 42-44. (See Ø 814), Chapter VIII.
1221.
Truffaut, François. ‘The Lesson of Ingmar Bergman’. Take One 3, no. 10 (MarchApril) 1972: 40, translated from L’Express (Paris) by P. Levensvold and reprinted in Truffaut’s The Films of My Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1975, pp. 253-60; and in Ingmar Bergman. An Artist’s Journey, ed. Roger Oliver. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1995, pp. 31-6. See also Ø 982. Truffaut sees a three-part lesson to be learnt from Bergman: (1) liberation of dialogue from literary genre; (2) cleansing of the image; his ‘anti-pictorial’ approach; (3) his study of the human face. He also praises his portrayal of women.
1222. Wolden, Anne Raethinge. ‘Kvindene vil beholde sit martyrium’ [Women wish to keep their martyrdom]. Aftenposten (Oslo), 20 July 1972, Eve. ed. p. 5. Also published in Politiken (Copenhagen), 9 July 1972, p. 2. Cross-listed with fuller annotation in Interviews, (Ø 818). 1223. Wood, Robin. ‘Ingmar Bergman et “Le lien”’. Positif 137 (April 1972): 27-34. Though title suggests a review article on The Touch, Wood evaluates briefly (and rather superficially) a number of Bergman films, concluding that Bergman’s forte as a filmmaker is his psychological realism, and that his moral honesty constitutes both the strength and weakness of his films.
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1973 1224. L’Avant-scène du cinéma, no. 142 (December) 1973, 55 pp. A special Bergman issue, with a list of his films and theater work preceded by a script for Cries and Whispers and excerpted reviews.
1225. ‘Bergmanoscopie.’ Ecran 73, no, 15 (May 1973): 2-12. A special Bergman issue with excerpts from Bergman on Bergman; (Ø 788), pp. 3-8; issue includes Bergman’s opening letter to his cast in the manuscript to Cries and Whispers, pp. 11-12; and a review by Jacques Deland of the film, p. 9.
1226. Bini, Luigi. Ingmar Bergman da Como in uno specchio a L’adultera. Milano: Editione Lettura, 1973. 87 pp. An overview of Bergman’s filmmaking from Through a Glass Darkly to The Touch.
1227.
Casty, Alan. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Beyond the Realistic Image’. Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought 14, 1973: 169-81. An exploration of Bergman’s ‘psychic territory’ in The Naked Night, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, The Virgin Spring, The Trilogy, Persona, and A Passion.
1228. DJB. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Film Dope 3, August 1973, pp. 31-32. A brief filmography up to Cries and Whispers, plus a note on Bergman’s filmmaking, which is said to stem from deeply personal events and feelings revealing ‘immense private remorse’. The presentation promotes Bergman’s För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor (All These Women) as a neglected film that the author considers a remarkable homage to Feydeau’s slapstick farces.
1229. Donner, Jörn. ‘Det måste finnas en förtröstan’. [There must be hope]. Femina, no. 38, 1973, pp. 22-25. A psycho-biographical view of Bergman. Bergman has a need to structure his life as a defence against an inner chaos. See also Donner, ‘Ingmar Bergman 1973’ in Swedish Films 1973, pp. 43-47 (in French, pp. 48-53), which is a summation of Donner’s impressions of Bergman during a 10year period, 1963-1973.
1230. Evabell. ‘Fra Sommarnattens leende til Viskningar och rop’ [From Smiles of a Summer Night to Cries and Whispers]. Harstad Tidende, 17 July 1973. A Norwegian survey of Bergman’s film career, with some quotes from Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788). The author sees Bergman’s filmmaking develop as a movement towards greater and greater simplicity and points out the personal foundation of his films.
1231.
Filmcritica xxiv, no. 237, September 1973, pp. 270-77. Part of the issue of this Italian film journal, usually favoring leftist-oriented filmmakers, is devoted to Bergman’s Viskningar och rop/Susurri e grida. It includes review articles by Alessandro Cappabianca (‘La duplice frustrazione’), pp. 270-72, and Rina Mele (‘Fisicita della durata’), pp. 273-77.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1232. Foss, Oddvar. ‘Viskningar og rop. Film og samfunn’ [Cries and Whispers. Film and society]. Fant VII, no. 3 (26), Summer 1973, pp. 46-53. Using Bergman’s Cries and Whispers as point of departure, Foss discusses the social function of art, which Bergman’s film is said to ignore in its creation of a closed universe. See also Commentary to film in filmography, (Ø 245).
1233. Harcourt, Peter. ‘The Troubled Pilgrimage of Ingmar Bergman’, In Six European Film Directors. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1973, pp. 135-82. Appeared in part in Cinema (Beverly Hills) 6, no. 2 (Fall) 1970: 32-39. The author sees Bergman working within a Swedish film tradition, relatively untouched by modern psychological realism and trying to achieve ‘a metaphoric concentration’ within a cinema of the open air. See also pp. 255-67 for comparison of Bergman’s world view and that of five other European directors. Also published in Cinema Journal 12, no. 1 (Fall) 1972: 2-10.
1234. Jeancolas, F. ‘Après Riten, retour sur Bergman’. Jeune cinema, no. 67, 1973:34-36. An evaluation of Bergman’s work from 1966 to 1972, suggesting a comeback for the director in France. See also (Ø 982), Bergman and French Reception.
1235.
Johnson, Wayne. ‘An Analysis of Relational Ethics in Three Films of Bergman: Through a Glass Darkly, The Communicants, and The Silence’. Diss., Temple Univ., 1973. 188 leaves. Univ. Microfilms International, MI, 1973, 1 reel, no. 7330159. Martin Buber’s ‘I and Thou’ concept applied to Bergman’s films.
1236. Kalmar, Sylvi. ‘Cannes 1973’. Fant, no. 26, 3/ 1973, pp. 33-35. See Ø 825. 1237.
Marowitz, C. ‘As Normal as Smörgåsbord’. New York Times Magazine, 1 July 1973, pp. 12-18. The author attempts to rectify the view of Ingmar Bergman as ‘a moody suffering artist who tortures a movie out of his soul and then recuperates in a mental institution’. Quotes Bergman in a statement also found in Cordelia Edvardsson, (Ø 821): ‘The only life that exists for me is this life, here and now, and the only holiness that exists is my relationship to other people’.
1238. McClatchy, J. D. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Film Heritage 8, no. 2, 1973, p. 40. A poem to Ingmar Bergman as a personal response to his films.
1239. Mészöly, M. ‘Az elvont és az érzékletes a film swinvilagaban’. Filmkultura IX, no. 6 (November-December) 1973: 68-69. Using Persona as a primary reference, the author tries to define the impact of color and black and white in the cinema.
1240. Rusan, R. ‘Bergman, regizorul’ Cinema (Bukarest) XI, no. 5 (May) 1973: 43. A Romanian presentation of Bergman as a cinema and stage director, with some reference to his actors.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1241. Strick, Philip, prod. ‘Sven Nykvist’. 26-minute film, directed by Bayley Silleck for Visual Programs Systems, Inc., 1973. A film exploring the work of Bergman’s cinematographer Sven Nykvist.
1242. ‘Svenska filmfotografer’ [Swedish cinematographers]. Chaplin xxx, no. 124, 1973, pp. i-xxiv (suppl.) A response from Swedish cinematographers to questionnaire sent out by Chaplin editors. The material has several references to Bergman. The same issue includes an article by film historian Gösta Werner, ‘Traditionen i svenskt filmfoto’ [Tradition in Swedish cinematography], discussing two Bergman photographers: Göran Strindberg and Sven Nykvist.
1243. Wolf, William. ‘The Towering Genius of Ingmar Bergman’. Cue, 2 July 1973, p. 2. An homage to Bergman at age 55.
1974 1244. Alexander, William. ‘Devils in the Cathedral: Bergman’s Trilogy’. Cinema Journal 13, no. 2 (Spring) 1974: 23-33. Focussing on the ‘compassionate despair’ of Bergman’s Trilogy, the author challenges the view that Bergman’s films are depressing and bleak; rather, they serve as therapy for the viewer. See also Livingston, 1981, (Ø 1384), passim.
1245. Aristarco, Guido. ‘La bussola delle psiche nell’ateismo religioso borghese’. Cinema Nuovo, March-April 1974, pp. 116-30; and ‘La bussola delle psiche nell’ateismo moderne’. Cinema Nuovo, May-June 1974, pp. 198-210. See group (Ø 1012), 1959, for more information on this Italian Bergman critic. 1246. Benedyktowicz, Zbigniew. ‘Obraz i słowo. O scena riuszach Bergmana’. Tygodnik Powszechny, no. 4, 1974. On early Bergman as a scriptwriter.
1247. Braucourt, G., D. Serçeau and J. Domarchi. ‘Trois cinéastes de la femme’. Ecran 28 (August- September 1974): 45-54. See Ø 975. 1248. Cuaderno cinematografico del Uruguay. December 1974, pp. 1-48. A special Bergman issue. Biographical information and unsigned survey of films to date.
1249. Doneux, M. ‘Etude: Bergman’. APEC – Revue Belge du Cinéma XII, no. 4, 1974, pp. 1119, and APEC XII, no. 5, 1974-75, pp. 5-16. Short biographical information and discussion of major Bergman films to date. Includes a filmography.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1250. Györffy, M. ‘A kérdezö ember’. Filmkultura X, no. 6 (November-December) 1974: 4250. A thematic approach to Bergman’s filmmaking with special attention to The Seventh Seal.
1251.
Helman, Alicja. ‘Ingmar Bergman albo parabola pytan odwiecznych’ [Bergman or the parabole of eternal questions]. Kino (Warsaw) IX, no. 8 (August 1974): 60-63. Reprinted in author’s book Film faktow i film fikoji: dialektika postaw i poetyk twórczych. Katowice: US, 1977. On Bergman’s cinematic style and the philosophical content of his films from the 1950s, with special focus on The Seventh Seal.
1252. Holden, D. F. ‘Three Literary Sources for Through a Glass Darkly’. Literature/Film Quarterly II, no. 1 (Winter) 1974: 22-29. The author traces three literary sources in Bergman’s film Såsom i en spegel (Through a Glass Darkly): Charlotte Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper, Anton Chekhov’s play The Seagull and August Strindberg’s play Easter (Påsk). See also Ø 989.
1253.
Kaminsky, Stuart. ‘The Torment of Insight: Youth and Innocence in the Films of Ingmar Bergman’. Cinema Journal 13, no. 2 (Spring) 1974: 11-22. Reprinted in Ingmar Bergman: Essays in Criticism, ed. Kaminsky, 1975), pp. 3-10. (Ø 1266). A study of the child in Bergman’s films, including a discussion of ‘the Johan trilogy’ (The Silence, Persona, Hour of the Wolf).
1254. Kwakernaak, Erik. ‘Frihed og tryghed hos Bergman’ [Freedom and security in B.]. McGuffin 3, no. 13 (November) 1974: 14-26 and no. 14 (February) 1975: 4-20. Auteur approach to Bergman, seeing pervasive theme of his films as the relationship of the individual to society. Finds in Bergman’s films a longing for an ideology rather than indifference to ideologies.
1255.
LeFanu, Mark. ‘Bergman. The Politics of Melodrama. How Bourgeois is Bourgeois Cinema?’. Monogram, no. 5, 1974: 10-13. The author discusses bourgeois theatrical conventions, typified by Ibsen and Chekhov, which survive in Bergman’s filmmaking. Includes a special reference to Cries and Whispers.
1256. Monaco, James. Bergman. New York: The New School, Dept. of Film, 1974. 97 pp. Offset survey of Bergman’s filmmaking through The Touch. Useful as an introduction to Bergman’s films of the Fifties and Sixties.
1257.
Petrie, Graham. ‘Theater, Film, Life’. Film Comment X, no. 3 (May-June) 1974: 3843. A discussion of three films – The Magician (Bergman, 1958), Carosse d’or (Renoir, 1953), and To Be or Not to Be (Lubitsch, 1942) – focussing on their exploration of disguise and deception, and the filmmakers’ awareness of screen artifice.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1258. Rainero, Tino. Ingmar Bergman. Firenze: La nuova Italia, 1974. 121 pp. Survey of Bergman’s work through A Passion. Introductory chapter is made up of excerpts from previously published Bergman interviews.
1259. Steene, Birgitta. ‘About Ingmar Bergman: Some Critical Responses to his Films’. Cinema Journal 13, no. 2 (Spring) 1974: 1-10. Overview of critical approaches to Bergman’s films, suggesting that more attention be paid to stylistic and formal features.
1260. Vierling David L ‘Bergman’s Persona: The Metaphysics of Meta-Cinema’. Diacritics. IV, no. 2 1974: 48-51. One of many discussions on the meta-filmic aspects of Persona. See listings in Commentary section to Persona in Filmography.
1975 1261. Amis du film et de la télévision, no. 225 (February) 1975: 6-13. Also in Apec cinéma 12, no. 4 (January) 1975: 11-19. and no. 5 (February) 1975: 5-16. A general survey of Bergman’s film work prior to 1975, published in conjunction with the International Film Festival in Brussels, featuring a Bergman retrospective.
1262. Andersson, Nils. ‘Så segrade Bergman’ [Thus won B]. AB, 19 January 1975. A background presentation of Bergman from childhood to his move to Fårö including a listing of memorable Bergman quotes.
1263. Björnstrand, Lillie. Inte bara applåder [Not just applause]. Stockholm: Tiden, 1975. A brief and rather negative portrait of Bergman by the wife of actor Gunnar Björnstrand who worked with Bergman for 17 years. Defines Bergman’s personality as ‘smoking like cold ice’ [rykande som kall is], claiming that it makes many of his crew members nervous, even to the point of fawning. Author refers to Bergman and his collaborators as ‘The Demon Gang’ [Demongänget]. See especially chapters titled ‘Bergman – regissören med röntgenblick’ [Bergman – director with an X-ray look]; ‘Från Fåfängans marknad till Sjunde inseglet’ [From Vanity Fair to The Seventh Seal]; and ‘En seger trots allt’ [A victory nevertheless], pp. 142-186.
1264. Champlin, Charles. ‘Bergman on Hollywood Pilgrimage’. Los Angeles Times, 9 November 1975, p. 1, 36. A report on Bergman’s first visit to Hollywood. See also People, 17 November 1975, pp. 17-18. Also reported in Expr., 6 November 1975, p. 7. Cf. Holm, 1976, (Ø 1287).
1265. D’Orazio, Gaetano. ‘I film del primo Bergman’. Diss. University of Siena, 1975, 191 pp. An analysis of Bergman’s early films. Special emphasis on Sommarlek (Un estate d’amore).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1266. Kaminsky, Stuart, ed. Ingmar Bergman. Essays in Criticism. London, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1975, 337 pp. An anthology of reprinted essays. The selections are American and tend to be thematic and psychological in approach. The volume is divided into three sections: Overview of a career; Perspectives on individual films; and a Filmography. Some of the essays are listed individually in this Guide under author and date of original publication. The only new essay in the anthology is Lester J. Keyser’s ‘Bergman and the Popular Audience’, pp. 313-23, an analysis of Scenes from a Marriage as a sophisticated soap opera.
1267.
Kommunalkino Hannover. ‘Filmblätter Ingmar Bergman’. 30 October 1975. Eight pages about Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking, with synopses, actors, and sources.
1268. Ségal, A. and Jacques Robnard. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Films 1960-73’. L'Avant-Scène du Cinéma, no. 163, 7th supplement, 1975. 120 slides (black-&-white and color) selected from films beginning with Through a Glass Darkly to Cries and Whispers.
1269. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Bergman’s Movement towards Nihilism’. In The Hero in Scandinavian Literature, ed. by Robert Rovinsky and John Weinstock. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1975, pp. 87-105, 183-192. A study of Bergman’s growing pessimism from Nära livet (Brink of Life/Close to Life) to Tystnaden (The Silence), and its relation to the modern concept of the anti-hero.
1270. Surkova, Olga. ‘Metamorfozy sjvedskogo kino Widerberg e Bergman’. Iskusstvo Kino, no. 8, 1975, pp. 135-62. About Widerberg and Bergman representing a changing of the guard in Swedish filmmaking.
1271.
Thousand Eyes Magazine, no. 1, 1975, pp. 1-64. A special Bergman issue with brief articles on all of his films to date.
1976 1272. Group Item: Bergman Tax Case and Subsequent Exile On 22 April 1976 Ingmar Bergman published an open letter in the Stockholm paper Expr. (pp. 4-5), in which he declared his immediate intention to leave Sweden and go into voluntary exile. Excerpts of the letter were published in English in the NYT, 23 April 1976, p. 2, and in French in L’Express (Paris), 3-9 May 1976, pp. 56-57. For details of the letter, (See Ø 163), and for reactions to it, see below. Bergman’s departure from Sweden was the consequence of his apprehension, on 30 January 1976, by Swedish police and tax authorities on suspicion of tax fraud. The arrest occurred during a rehearsal of Strindberg’s Dödsdansen (Dance of Death) at Dramaten and Bergman was taken to police headquarters for questioning. Subsequently he had his passport confiscated and was told not to leave the Stockholm area. Bergman later suffered a nervous breakdown and was taken to the psychiatric ward of the Karolinska Hospital.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Both the Swedish and international press carried front page stories of the news on the day following Bergman’s arrest. But a newspaper report several months earlier indicates that Bergman had been approached by the tax authorities long before his arrest. See Expr., 21 November 1975, p. 7 and AB, 22 November 1975, p. 8, where Bergman denies any tax evasion and is quoted as saying: ‘For me they [the tax experts] could just as well be speaking Arabic. I don’t understand any of their language. I am an artist, not a businessman’. [För mig kunde de lika gärna ha talat arabiska. Jag förstår inte deras språk. Jag är konstnär, inte affärsman]. Bergman turned the matter over to his lawyer. The reaction to Bergman’s arrest can be sampled in the following news items: SvD, 18 February 1976, p. 3 (attorney Henning Sjöström); Film-Echo/Filmwoche, no. 20, 7 April 1976, p. 6; New York Times and Los Angeles Times, 5 February 1976, p. 1; New York Times, 25 March 1976, p. 1, and 25 April 1976, p. 1; Screen International, no. 23, 14 February 1976, p. 15; Time, 5 April 1976, p. 39; Die Welt (report by Alphons Schauseil, ‘Ingmar Bergman während der Probe festgenommen’), 2 February 1976; Die Zeit, 13 February 1976 (calling the arrest a witch hunt); Wim Verstappen, ‘Bergman en het Zwitsere bankgeheim’. Skoop XII, no. 3, 1976, p. 2. See also DN, 24 April 1976, p.19 for an analysis of Bergman’s tax obligations. For a good resumé of the Bergman tax affair, see Harry Schein, ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Taxes’, Swedish Films (1976), pp. 5-10; also in French, pp. 10-15. See also actress Bibi Andersson’s memoir Ett ögonblick, 1996, (Ø 1600) for her views on the tax case. Andersson, too, was questioned and her home was searched. Bergman’s troubles with the Swedish tax authorities had its roots in his production and distribution company Persona Film Aktiengesellschaft in Zug, Switzerland, founded in 1968. The company never produced any films and was liquidated in 1974, at which point assets worth 2.6 million Swedish crowns were transferred to funds in Sweden. The money was the income on Bergman’s Swedish films abroad, on which he had paid capital gains tax. The actual tax case in 1976 involved the tax authorities’ interpretation of Bergman’s personal tax obligations as well as those of Persona Film and his Stockholm company Cinematograph AB, founded in 1965. In a Danish radio program, titled ‘Ingmar Bergmans skattesag’, broadcast on 23 April 1976, Swedish tax information officer Jan Björklund tried to explain that to the Swedish tax authorities Bergman was both a private person who should pay personal income taxes and the registered owner of a shareholding company which should pay corporate taxes. If the shareholding company paid a salary to Bergman, the company could deduct the sum, which then became taxable income for Bergman. If the company paid him a profit, then both the company and Bergman must pay taxes on the amount. Tax matters in Sweden are handled by two judicial systems: an administrative court system that deals with taxation from a tax law standpoint and a criminal court system, which decides whether or not a tax crime has been committed. If a tax court has approved a tax return, that same return cannot become the basis for proceedings in a criminal court. Bergman’s tax problems concerned a period of six years (1969-1975) and were identical for each year. A tax court, examining the first year, unanimously decided that Bergman had proceeded correctly. Nevertheless, the tax authorities in charge of his case decided to appeal the verdict. Because of a five-year statute of limitations, the first and possibly the second year of the six-year period would be eliminated from any possible prosecution. Acting in a state of urgency, the authorities decided to bring Bergman in for questioning immediately. Since there
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman was no time to serve him a summons, the authorities – in accordance with legal regulations – confiscated his passport. The prosecutor, Curt Dreifaldt, who ordered Bergman’s arrest at the Royal Dramatic Theatre later received a disciplinary warning from the general attorney’s office, whereupon the prosecutors union protested the disciplinary action. See AB, 3 June 1976, p. 6. Because of Bergman’s fame, the tax authorities put their prestige at stake in the matter. They treated the case according to an unwritten anti-nepotism ‘rule’ which ‘stipulates’ that unique individuals must be treated ‘more equally’ than ordinary citizens to avoid suspicion of favoritism. This kind of thinking was also behind an interview with Prime Minister Olof Palme on April 27, a few days after Bergman’s departure. SvD (April 28, p. 5) reported that Palme regretted the situation, calling Bergman’s reaction that of a sensitive artist before a group of civil servants who had acted in accordance with the law. Bergman, stated Palme, could not be treated as an exception, nor could the prime minister intervene. Palme repeated his statement to Shirley MacLaine when the two met on a Swedish television talk show, 2 May 1977 (rerun on 2 March 1978), and to William Woolf, film critic in Cue Magazine, who sent Palme a letter (see Variety, 28 April 1976, p. 4). After several weeks in the psychiatric ward at the Carolingian Hospital (Karolinska), Bergman’s reaction to his arrest shifted from depression to anger, and a decision to leave Sweden took form. The open farewell letter in Expr. on 22 April 1976, referenced above, and his subsequent departure from Sweden the next day caused a greater shock wave in the press than his arrest. The incident became front page news the world over. For instance, radio stations throughout the US treated the letter as top news. See the following foreign press reactions: Berlin Morgenpost (‘Bergmans Protestschrift kostet Schweden viele Millionen’). 24 April 1976. International Herald Tribune, 23 April 1976, p. 15. Los Angeles Times, 25 April 1976, p. 4 (editorial). Monthly Film Bulletin, VL, no. 534, (July 1978): p. 148 (Background details of tax case, with quotes from the farewell letter in Expr). New York Times, 23 April 1976, p. 1, 2. Screen International, no. 35, 8 May 1976, p. 23 (with quotes from Bergman’s Open Letter to Expr., 22 April 1976). Washington Post, 23 April 1976, p. 1. The Swedish press became polarized over Bergman’s announcement to leave Sweden, whereas the foreign press reaction was uniformly sympathetic to Bergman. For varied Swedish press reactions, cf. Arbetet headline, 24 April 1976 (p. 10): ‘Get out, Bergman, we won’t miss you!’ [Försvinn Bergman, vi kommer inte att sakna dig] and Expr.’s outcry ( 22 April 1976, pp. 6-7): ‘This is Sweden’s loss’, [Detta är Sveriges förlust], and its editorial plea (27 April 1976, p. 4): ‘Bergman, Come Home!’ [Bergman, kom hem]. The Social-Democratic press, in particular AB (23 April 1976 p. 2, editorial) relegated Bergman to the shameful category of tax evaders (skattesmitare). In an editorial dated April 24 (p. 2) and headlined ‘Hycklarnas afton’ [The eve of the hypocrites] – an obvious reference to Bergman’s film ‘Gycklarnas afton’ [The Eve of the Clowns] – AB maintained that Bergman asked for special treatment and was guilty of elitist thinking. Author Kjell Sundberg responded in DN, 26 April 1976, p. 4, and accused AB of ‘Jante Law mentality’, i.e., using mediocrity as a norm and persecuting those who stand out from the crowd. (Jante Law was first formulated by Dano-Norwegian author Axel Sandemose in his novel En flykting krysser sit spor [A refugee crosses his tracks]). Also Expr. took issue with AB, 26 April 1976, p. 2. Views on what must be termed a Social-Democratic press campaign against Bergman surfaced as late as 1988 in a polemic between Harry Schein and Olle Svenning. See Social-Democratic paper Arbetet, 2 and 15 January 1988.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Many European and American papers suggested a connection between the Bergman incident and the policies of a socialist welfare state, while the Soviet paper Izvetzia blamed capitalism rather than socialism: ‘Where capitalism reigns, the tax auditor can interfere in Bergman’s creative life and prevent him from working in peace’. (Quoted in DN, 30 April 1976, p. 5). Italian papers such as La Stampa (Torino), 24 April 1976, felt great sympathy for Bergman, ‘chased and tormented by the tax auditor’, and hoped he would listen to Keats’ words: ‘Oh, Italy, thou Paradise of exiles!’ (For a report on the reaction by the Italian press, see DN, 24 April 1976, p. 15). See also the following Swedish press articles Expr., 23 April 1976, pp. 2, 8; and 29 April 1976, p. 6; DN, 23 April 1976, p. 2 (editorial) and 5 May 1976, p. 26; SvD, 23 April 1976, pp. 2, 8, 33 (article by former Bergman producer at SF, Kenne Fant), and same paper, 29 April 1976, p. 1, 9 (article by Harry Schein, SFI); also SvD, 26 April 1976, p. 2, and 2 May 1976, p. 30 (letters to the editor); Vecko-Journalen, no. 10 (1976), pp. 12-14 (article by Jörn Donner). Ingmar Bergman arrived in Paris on 23 April 1976 and continued on 28 April 1976 to Los Angeles, where he had talks with producer Dino de Laurentis. S. Kaminsky reported in Box Office, 10 May 1976, p. 109, that Bergman planned to produce two films with Dino de Laurentis. See also Dissent, no. 4, 1976, pp. 435-36. Bergman held press conferences in both Paris and Los Angeles. For reports, see Paris Press, 28 April 1976; New York Post, 1 May 1976, p. 22; New York Times, 29 April 1976, p. 5; Variety, 5 May 1976 (p. 26); Die Zeit, 30 April 1976 p. 11. The press conference in Los Angeles was also covered by NBC, CBS, and ABC news on April 29, and was reported on SR/TV, 30 April 1976. Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 29 April 1976, p. 1, reported on an offer made to Bergman by the University of Southern California (USC), consisting of a $50,000 artist stipend for one year or a visiting professorship of $25,000 for one semester. Bergman declined and returned to Europe after one week, abhorred by the lifestyle of Hollywood celebrities. He considered settling in Paris but eventually chose Munich, West Germany, where he was to spend almost eight years as director of its Residenztheater.
Longer articles/interviews on the Bergman ‘case’ include
d’Epenoux, Christian. ‘L’exil de Bergman’, L’Express, 3-9 May 1976, pp. 56-57. Discusses Sweden’s loss of Bergman, comparing it to the loss of a name ‘as famous as the Volvo’, and of an artist who was like a flower in a bureaucratic desert. Müller, Andreas. ‘Ein neues Leben in Deutschland: Gespräch mit dem schwedischen Regisseur Ingmar Bergman’. Kölner Stadtanzeiger, 26 June 1976. An interview in which Bergman touches on such topics as his attitude towards Swedish bureaucracy, his political views, spiritual state of mind, emphasis on artistic freedom, and his future plans (planned to work in the Munich theatre for the next ten years). See Ø 846. Salzer, Michael. ‘Der Fall Bergman’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 20 May 1976, p. 1-2. The article gives a resumé of the Swedish debate about the Bergman tax case, calling it a film scenario out of Swedish reality and a glimpse into Swedish cultural life.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Schwab, Armand. ‘Sweden’s Genius. The Bergman Affair’. Commonweal, 9 April 1976, pp. 22931. Provides a useful expose of the socio-cultural background of the Swedish sensitivity to high taxation and tax evasion or tax fraud. The latter is a crime that carries steep sentences but the matter also involves an ambiguous public attitude, rooted in both resentment of high Swedish tax rates, resulting in a fairly common and rather sophisticated system of tax evasion, and a strong insistence on class equality with a tendency to gloat at the exposure of the not so ordinary citizen. Bergman, who was both famous and well-off, but also maintained a modest lifestyle, was, however, difficult to handle as a symbolic target: he was privileged but not a member of the jet set; he was successful but hardworking. Der Spiegel, no. 20-21, (17 May) 1976, pp. 185-88, published an interview article by S. Schober headlined ‘Ich fühlte mich wie im Tunnel’ in which Bergman gives an account of his arrest and the immediate aftermath. When the interview was given, Bergman had not yet decided where to reside. Another Spiegel article on Bergman in exile, titled ‘Eher eine Szene’, appeared on 4 October 1976, p. 232. It pointed out Bergman’s good mood and predicted that he would soon become a member of German culture. Mentions Bergman’s ‘faux pas’ to let himself be seated at the same table as reactionary politician Franz Joseph Strauss, an incident that circulated in the Swedish press. On this matter, see also Schottenius, below.
Tax Case Aftermath in Sweden On 5 May 1976, a little less than two weeks after Bergman’s departure, tax auditor Kent Karlsson wrote an open letter in DN to Ingmar Bergman and actress Bibi Andersson. According to Karlsson, Bergman’s open letter of April 22 was so full of inaccuracies that he (Karlsson) ‘felt compelled to defend my honor and credibility as a civil servant’. [kände mig tvingad att försvara min heder och trovärdighet som tjänsteman]. The letter then outlined the procedures (termed ‘calm and proper’) that were followed during his questioning of Bergman. Another key figure in the Bergman tax case was Bengt Källén, tax auditor and head of the socalled inter-provincial tax court (Bergman resided in Stockholm but had his domicile on Fårö). Källén responded to Bergman’s open letter in Expr. (April 22) by holding a press conference (27 April 1976), at which he distributed an open letter to Bergman and outlined plans to charge him back taxes from 1971 to 1974 of 1.8 million crowns. (This was one of two charges of tax fraud brought against Bergman, one concerning the Swiss company Personafilm, the other his Swedish company Cinematograph). The next day, tax lawyers pointed out that Källén’s figures would in fact mean that Bergman was to pay 140% income tax on his earnings. See SvD, April 28, pp. 1, 2, 5, 8. See also AB, 3 May 1977 for a chart outlining Källén’s back tax figures for Bergman’s company Cinematograph. In his openly distributed letter accusing Bergman of mudslinging, Källén presented himself as a dutyful civil servant and ended his note with an admonition: ‘Ingmar Bergman! It is to be deeply regretted that you have fled from Sweden. But don’t blame Riksskatteverket [Swedish IRS] or its tax auditors. [...] Blame instead the day in 1967 when you let yourself be fooled by bad advisers to start your Swiss company, Persona Aktiengesellschaft’. [Ingmar Bergman! Det är djupt beklagligt att ni flytt från Sverige. Men skyll inte på Riksskatteverket eller dess skatterevisorer. [...] Skyll i stället på den dag 1967 då ni lät er luras av dåliga rådgivare att starta ert schweiziska bolag, Persona Aktiengesellschaft]. The Bergman affair was used in the Swedish election campaign in the summer of 1976 (election took place in September) by the student organization of the Conservative party (MUF). See leaflet titled ‘Borgerligt alternativ’ [Bourgeois alternative]. Palme’s Socialist government lost the election. Students interested in this aspect of the Bergman case might also check the so-called Pomperipossa case from the same period, involving children’s book author Astrid Lindgren’s open letter to the Swedish Minister of Finance, protesting her 103% tax rate on her
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman annual income. For possible political implications of the Bergman tax case, see Peter Gilman, ‘The Backlash’, Sunday Times (London), 16 May 1976, and ‘Cries and Whispers in Socialism’s Showcase’, Time, 7 June 1976, pp. 6-11. For a German commentary, see Reiner Gatermann, ‘Staat der Schröpfköpfe’, Die Welt, 24 April 1976. On 3 May 1977 the tax case against Bergman was dropped. For comments, see the Swedish press on 4 May 1977. On 10-11 July 1977, the Stockholm press reported a reconciliation between Bergman and the Swedish government (represented by the Swedish Ministry of Culture). Bergman promised to return to Sweden in 1979 when he had fulfilled his contract at the Munich Residenztheater. See ‘Bergman rörd. Kommer hem –79’ [Bergman is moved. Comes home in ’79], DN, 11 July 1977, p. 7. See also NYT, 11 July 1977, p. 10 (‘Sweden reconsiders apology to Bergman’), and Screen International, no. 88, 21 May 1977, p. 5. At the Gold Bug ceremonies (Swedish ‘Oscar’ awards) on 5 September 1977, the bourgeois government’s Minister of Culture (Jan-Erik Wikström) addressed an absentee Bergman in a conciliatory speech. Cf. faked interview on this event, Börjlind, (Ø 853) 1977. On 2 March 1978, some two years after the beginning of the ‘Bergman affair’, Swedish Public Television (SVT), Channel 2, aired an investigative inquiry into Bergman’s production and distribution business in a program titled ‘Rikets affärer’ [Affairs of the realm]. Bergman declined to appear on the program and afterwards threatened to break all contacts with SVT 2 and refused the TV channel future rights to show any of his films. See Expr. editorial, 3 March 1978, p. 2. The ombudsmen of the Swedish parliament (Riksdag) issued an investigative report on ‘the Bergman affair’ in 1978: Riksdagens ombudsmän, Affären Bergman, 1978, 70 pp.
Bergman’s Years in Exile, sample reports and interviews Bergman, Ingmar. ‘Jag trivs nästan varje dag’ [I’m happy almost every day]. (Letter to Expr., 31 March 1979, following a plea by the paper asking Bergman to return to Sweden). Blum, Doris. ‘Was uns fehlt, ist die Erziehung zur Liebe’. Die Welt, 6 February 1980, p. 27. (Interview with Bergman after four years in Germany, in which he declares that he feels fine in his new domicile). See also Ø 868. Borngässer, Rosemarie. ‘Hauptstadt mit Herz – Hauptstadt des Films’. Die Welt, 11 September 1976. (A two-part article/interview on the filmmaking studios in Munich and on Bergman’s decision to live in Munich). Cf. Ø 840. Byron, Stuart. ‘The Industry: Martyr Complexes’. Film Comment XII, no. 4 (July-August 1976): 30. (Raises two questions: Why did the Swedish left press criticize Bergman? And did Bergman really suffer a nervous breakdown or did he suffer from a martyr complex?) Dyckhoff, Peter. ‘Bergman hielt in München Hof ’. Die Rheinpfalz Unterhaardter Rundschau, 23 November 1976. (About Bergman’s life in Munich). Mehr, Stephan. ‘Men när jag blir gammal vill jag bli Fårögubbe’ [But when I get old I want to become an old man on Fårö]. Expr., 29 August 1976, pp. 1, 25-27. (On how Bergman plans to retire). Schottenius, Maria. ‘Bergman är en bra utlänning’ [Bergman is a good foreigner]. AB, 28 November 1976, p. 28-29. (Mostly about Bergman as an unwitting political figure in Munich after being photographed together with conservative Bavarian politician Franz Joseph Strauss). In an interview in AB, 20 November 1980, p. 7, Bergman protested being used in West German politics. See also Schottenius Ø 847. Sellermark, Arne. ‘Jag är rädd för vad som kan hända Ingmar’ [I worry about what might happen to Ingmar], Vecko-Journalen, 5 May 1976, pp. 3-9. Time. ‘A Day on Bergmanstrasse’, 14 February 1977, pp. 78-79.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Variety. ‘Ingmar Bergman Transplants his Special Ways to Munich’. Variety, 10 November 1976, p. 4. Vinocur, John. ‘Scenes from Ingmar Bergman’s Life: Imitation of his Art’. NYT, 17 November 1978, p. A 2. (Resumé of cancelled rehearsals of Strindberg’s Dance of Death at Dramaten in fall of 1978 and of the most recent events in Bergman tax case). Weintraub, B. ‘Bergman in Exile’. NYT, 17 October 1976, section 2, pp. 1, 15. Cf. Ø 851. Zacharias, J. ‘Jag vill hem igen’ [I want to come home again]. AB, 10 July 1977, p. 1, 6. (A followup interview after Swedish government plea to Bergman to return to Sweden. Cf. Ø 856.
Return from Exile Ingmar Bergman frequently visited Fårö during his exile. A plan to resume the aborted 1976 production of Strindberg’s The Dance of Death had to be cancelled because of the terminal illness of leading actor Anders Ek. See Expr. and AB, 22 August 1978. Bergman however still had a contract obligation with the Munich Rezidenztheater. On 29 August 1981, SvD (p.1) reported Bergman’s resignation from the Munich Residenztheater. The reason given was Bergman’s anger at the interference of Bavarian politician Franz Josph Strauss in the appointment of a new adminsitrative head of the theatre, but there were also rumors of a schism between Bergman and administrative head of the Residenztheater, Kurt Meisel. See report ‘Keine Regie unter Meisel’s Intendanz’. Volksblatt-Berlin, 31 July 1981. See Group item, (Ø 591), Theatre/Media Bibliography. Bergman later withdrew his resignation and agreed to fulfill his contract obligations. He finally returned permanently to Sweden in the 19841985 season. For an assessment of his years in Munich, see Andreas Wild, ‘Bayerns Gastarbeiter’. Die Welt, 19 August 1985. For his reception at home, see Commentary to Lear production in 1984, Ø 465.
1273. Group Item: Goethepreis 1976 On 28 August 1976, Ingmar Bergman accepted the Goethe Award in Frankfurt am Main. On the occasion, a booklet titled Ingmar Bergman was published (Frankfurt am Main: Dezernat Kultur und Freiheit, 30 pp.), which includes a filmography and the following presentations, listed in sequential order: Mayor Rudi Arndt: Formal address. Ingmar Bergman. Acceptance speech ‘Jeder Mensch hat Träume, Wünsche, Bedürfnisse’. (See Ø 162) in Chapter II. Ulrich Grefor. ‘Immer waren Ingmar Bergmans Filme auf radikale Weise persönlich.’ Harry Schein. ‘Persönliche Notizen eines Freundes’. (Schein makes three points in his speech about Bergman’s filmmaking: (1) that Bergman’s world reputation has helped him financially in his filmmaking; (2) that Sweden has always given relatively great artistic freedom to its filmmakers; (3) that Bergman’s own commitment and diligence have given him artistic integrity.) News of the event appeared in Hollywood Reporter, 21 September 1976, p. 3, and in German FAZ (‘Ein Autor neuer Art’), 30 August 1976. A transcript of Bergman’s speech was published in Filmkunst, no. 74, 1976, pp. 1-3.
1274. Agel, Henri. Métaphysique du cinéma. Paris: Payot, 1976, 207 pp. The next to last chapter is an analysis of metaphysical aspects in Bergman’s filmmaking, with special focus on Vargtimmen (L’heure du loup).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1275. Anderson, Ernie. Produktionshandbuch zu Ingmar Bergmans ‘Von Angesicht zu Angesicht. Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe Verlag, 1976. See also Filmography, Ansikte mot ansikte, (Ø 248). Though dealing specifically with the production of the TV series Ansikte mot ansikte (Face to Face), this study offers information about Ingmar Bergman’s working style as a director for television.
1276. Armes, Roy. ‘Ingmar Bergman: The Disintegrated Artist’. In The Ambiguous Image. Narrative Style in Modern European Cinema. London: Secker & Warburg, 1976, pp. 95107. A discussion of Bergman as a filmmaker ‘who has stripped himself morally and emotionally naked’.
1277.
Brown, William Clyde. ‘Anti-Theodicy and Human Love in the Films of Ingmar Bergman’. Diss. University of Chicago, 1976, 245 leaves. 1 reel Microfilm, Joseph Regenstein Library, Dept. of Photoduplication, University of Chicago, 1976. One of many humanist approaches to Ingmar Bergman’s films.
1278. Buntzen, Lynda and Carla Craig. ‘Hour of the Wolf: The Case of Ingmar Bergman’. Film Quarterly xxx, no. 2 (Winter 1976/77 1976): 23-34. A clinical psychoanalytical reading of Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf, a film which to the authors demonstrates Bergman’s grudge against his father but also his wish to punish his mother, depicted in the film by the character Alma.
1279. Dirigido poro, no. 29, (January) 1976: 1-18. Special Bergman issue, consisting mostly of a descriptive survey by José Maria Latorre who analyzes Bergman’s films from the Forties to Scenes from a Marriage (1974) but without much attempt to distinguish between major and minor films. With bio-filmography (pp. 14-18).
1280. Eder, Richard. ‘To Bergman, Light, too, is a Character’. NYT, 7 April 1976, p. 28. Also in Los Angeles Herald Examiner, same date under title ‘The Significance of Light in Ingmar Bergman’s Films’. A discussion of the close professional rapport between Bergman and cinematographer Sven Nykvist, who defines Bergman’s conception of light as ‘Calvinistic’, a tragic light conscious of its own mortality.
1281.
Erikson, Erik Homburger. ‘A Life History. Isak Borg in Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries.’Dædalus 105: 2 (Spring 1976): 1-28. Reprinted in Vital Involvement in Old Age by Erik Erikson et al. (New York: Norton), 1986: 239-292. A Harvard psychiatrist uses Bergman’s film Smultronstället to illustrate his thesis of the eight different ages of man.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1282. Film Comment, XII, no. 3, (May-June) 1976. Under the common title Two Faces of Bergman, I and II, articles by Charles Michener and Samson Raphaelson discuss Bergman’s status as a filmmaker, focussing on his TV film Ansikte mot ansikte (Face to Face). Both contributions can be seen as disavowments of Ingmar Bergman by one of America’s leading film journals. Charles Michener’s piece ‘The Man in the Ironic Mask’ (pp. 44-45) sees more artistry and cool distance than compassion in Bergman’s approach to actress Ullmann, ‘a deer trapped in Bergman’s headlights.’ Second article, ‘That Lady in Bergman’ (pp. 46-49, 65) by playwright Samson Raphaelson, is a reckoning with Bergman’s modernist mode of narration and dismisses Face to Face as contrived, hollow, shallow, and banal.
1283. Finetti, Ugo. ‘Dalla sfida alla morte il dialogo tra maschera e Anima’. Cinema Nuovo XXV, no. 241 (May-June) 1976: 173-75. The author sees a change in Bergman’s filmmaking and a new view of life and society emerging, beginning with Scenes from a Marriage. Cf. Commentary on Scenes... in Filmography, (Ø 246).
1284. Florén, Uno. ‘Synd att de inte bär svenska dräkten’ [Too bad they don’t wear the Swedish costume]. Vecko-Journalen, January 1976, pp. 20, 25. A reportage from the solemn annual meeting of the Swedish Academy. The title refers to the costume worn by Gustaf III, founder of the Swedish Academy. On this occasion, Ingmar Bergman was awarded the Academy’s Gold Medal and his reputation was compared to that of Saint Birgitta, Linneus, and Selma Lagerlöf.
1285. Gosioco, Carmelo Nauiat. ‘An Inquiry into Bergman’s Utilization of Belief and Artistry in Portraying Good and Evil in the Film Persona’. M.A. thesis, UCLA, 1976, 60 leaves. 1286. Györffy, Miklos. Ingmar Bergman. Budapest: Gondolat Konyvkiado, 1976. 298 pp. Hungarian book study of Ingmar Bergman as a filmmaker. With a filmography.
1287.
Holm, Eske. ‘Privatskriget’ [The private scream]. Politiken (Copenhagen), 30 July 1976, p. 2. A critique of Ingmar Bergman and Arthur Janov (The Primal Scream) for focusing on private neuroses. Neither Bergman nor Janov can avoid being political figures in the sense that they have become role models or opinion makers. Therefore, they fail their societies when they reduce life to a ‘private scream’. Note: Bergman had been interested in Janov’s work since the making of Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers), 1972, and during a brief visit to Los Angeles in 1975, his one request was to meet with Janov.
1288. Jensen, Niels, et al. ‘Ingmar Bergman og hans tid’ (Bergman and his time). A series of radio programs on DR (Danish Radio) about Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking. Some of this material was later published as a set of booklets. (See Ø 1309). Archival numbers and transmission dates as follows:
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman # 40893, DR 1976-03-21 (on Bergman’s moral and religious vision, plus excerpt from Bergman’s speech at the Goethe Award, 1976; (see Ø 1273); # 40894, DR 1976-03-28 (discussion between Jensen and Eyvind Larsen about Bergman’s concept of original sin; author Kjeld Abell discusses early Bergman); # 41380, DR 1977-04-04 (with Vibeke Rehfeldt on Swedish literature of the Forties); # 41377, DR 1977-04-18 (includes discussion of Bergman’s view of women by Nina Thymark, Vibeke Refeld, Malin Lindgren, and Susan Facricius); # 41376, DR 1977-04-25 (with author Klaus Rifbjerg); # 41375, DR 1977-04-26 (quotes by Bergman on his view of the artist and on his directorial role).
1289. Laurenti, Roberto. En torno a Ingmar Bergman. Madrid: Sedmay, 1976, 298 pp. Extensive illustrated Spanish introduction to Bergman as a filmmaker. With biographical information and a filmography.
1290. Melin, Bengt. ‘Scener ur ett liv’ [Scenes from a life]. AB, 25 April 1976, p. 7; 26 April 1976, pp. 8-9; and 27 April 1976, p.10. A series of articles on Bergman’s career. A good journalistic overview.
1291. Nau, Peter. ‘Frühe Bergmanfilme in Arsenal’. Filmkritik, December 1976: 605-6. A short article about a reptrospective showing of early Bergman films.
1292. Nin, Anaïs. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. In author’s In Favor of the Sensitive Man and Other Essays. New York and London: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1976, pp. 111-16. A lecture given at the UCLA ‘Homage to Bergman’, 12 October 1973. Nin focusses on Bergman’s films as emotional dark journeys, taking us into mostly unexplored realms but also bringing deliverance from secret corrosions. Makes specific reference to Persona and Cries and Whispers.
1293. Pedersen, Jens. Bergmanfilm–en arbejdsbog [B. film–a workbook]. Farum: Filmavi 1976. 136 pp. Also in Film-UV 10, no. 5 (1976): 5-136. A Danish workbook and study guide to Bergman’s films. Pp. 11-24 are dialogue excerpts from Stig Björkman’s film made during the shooting of The Touch (Ø 244), and a discussion of the accompanying interview. The rest of the book is a filmography with extensive Danish review material following each film listing.
1294. Perlez, Jane. ‘Man of the Week: Ingmar Bergman. The Scenario Says Exile’. New York Post, 1 May 1976. A diffuse presentation of Bergman’s life and career with several factual errors.
1295. Rado, P. ‘Cuvintele lui Bergman’. Cinema (Bukarest) XIV, no. 2 (February) 1976: 21. Brief Romanian comments on Bergman’s use of speech in his films.
1296. Rounds, Ronald. ‘The Bergman Touch: Sick and Sexy’. Adam Film World, October 1976, pp. 25-31.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman A sensationalist article perpetrating an image of Bergman as a temperamental and violent person, and presenting him as a philanderer: ‘When he isn’t rushing in and out of marriage, he cavorts with a convoy of curvaceous cuties.’
1297. Stafford, W. ‘Bergman’. Western Humanities Review 30, no. 2 (Spring) 1976: 146. A poem to Bergman.
1298. Teghrarian, Salwa Eva F. ‘The Cracked Lens: The Crisis of the Artist in Bergman’s Films of the Sixties’. Diss. SUNY, Buffalo, 1976. 264 typed pp. A close analysis of theme and character development in Bergman’s so-called existential films, i.e., from Through a Glass Darkly to Shame.
1299. Ullmann, Liv. Forændringen. Oslo: Helge Erichsens forlag, 1976. 236 pp. Published in English as Changing (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1977), 244 pp. Excerpts appeared in Vogue 167 (February) 1977: 172-173, and McCalls 104 (February) 1977: 130-131. Translated into French as Devenir (Paris: Gallimard, 1977). A chapter titled ‘Öbor’ (Islanders) deals with the period when Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman lived together.
Review Scandinavian Review 65, no. 3 (September) 1977: 103-105.
1300. Vissher, Jacques, de. Zielekanker Symboliet in de Filmkunst van Ingmar Bergman. Ghent: Universa Wetteren, 1976. 261 pp. A chronological analysis of eight Bergman films between 1966 (Persona) and 1974 (Scenes from a Marriage). An interpretation of characters who are often seen as symbolic projections of abstracted aspects of the human condition.
Review Skrien, February 1977, p. 37.
1301. Welsh, James M. ‘More Films about Filmmakers’. Literature/Film Quarterly IV, no. 4 (Fall 1976): 360-63. A discussion of films about filmmakers, including Stig Björkman’s film from 1971, Ingmar Bergman, about the making of The Touch. Also a brief analysis of Björkman-Manns-Sima interview book Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788).
1302. Wood, Robin. ‘Images of Childhood’. In Personal Views: Explorations in Film. London: Gordon Fraser Gallery, 1976, pp. 156-160. A brief discussion of Bergman’s films as ‘psychodramas’ comparing his characters to child portraits in Romantic art. A variation on this theme appears in Wood, ‘Call me Ishmael’, Canadian Forum 63 (November) 1983: 41-42.
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1977 1303. Bergom-Larsson, Maria. Ingmar Bergman och den borgerliga ideologin [Bergman and bourgeois ideology]. Stockholm: Norstedt/Pan, 1977. 187 pp. Abridged version trans. by Barrie Selman under title Ingmar Bergman and Society (London: Tantivy Press, 1978), 127 pp. Excerpts published in Film a Doba xxxix, no. 1 (Spring) 1993: 2-7. An ideological critique of Bergman as a filmmaker who unmasks the bourgeois lifestyle but fails to suggest a (Marxist) alternative. The focus is on three themes: (1) the patriarchal structure; (2) the artist and society; (3) inner and outer violence.
Reviews Scandinavian Studies, 52: 3 (Spring) 1980: 230-3. GHT, 1 April 1977, p. 4.
1304. Blake, Richard A. ‘A Tight Close-Up on Ingmar Bergman’. America 136, (5 March) 1977: 202-203. About Bergman’s films and their characters in general in Catholic US publication: ‘Social injustice, his earliest concern, God, the love of man and woman, violence and art, his later concerns, all fit into a pattern. They refuse to submit to his drive for order’.
1305. Borden, Diane M. ‘Bergman’s Style and the Facial Icon’. Quarterly Review of Film Studies 2, no. 1 (February) 1977: 42-55. Reprinted in Kino (Warsaw) XVI, no. 3 (283), March 1981: 38-43. The author argues that Bergman’s facial close-ups combine aesthetic austerity and convoluted psychology. His faces have ironic implications, suggesting a human passion of both erotic and religious dimensions.
1306. Dommelei, Dirk van, ed. Leven: wreedheid of tederheid? Belgium [Roselære]: Andere Film, 1977, 208 pp. A presentation of Bergman’s films from Kris to Ansikte mot ansikte (Face to Face), with biography, filmography, and credits.
1307.
Farago, France. ‘Du moi crucifié au moi ressuscité. La Passion d’Ingmar Bergman’. Et. (April 1977). Bergman’s ‘passion’ seen in psycho-religious terms.
1308. Gualtiero, Pironi. ‘Nell’ ultimo Bergman. La scoperta del sociale rompe l’egemonia della “Persona”’. Cineforum 169, vol. 17, no. 11 (November) 1977: 666-673. The author examines Bergman’s new social awareness in Face to Face and Cries and Whispers.
1309. Jensen, Niels and Vibeke Refeld, eds. Ingmar Bergman og hans tid [Bergman and his time]. 4 vols. Copenhagen: Danmarks radio, 1977. Vol. 1 = 28 pp.; vols. 2-4 = 32 pp. each. See also (Ø 1288).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Very useful study books from a series of radio programs about Bergman’s cultural background, broadcast in spring 1976 and subtitled: (1) Generationsopgør og ungdomsopgør [Generation rebellion and youth rebellion]; (2) Religiositet og existentialisme [Religiosity and existentialism]; (3) Ansigt og maske [Face and mask]; (4) Selvopgør og kunstopgør [Self-reckoning and reckoning with art]. Each volume contains reprints of relevant articles, bibliography, and filmography.
1310. Jones, C. J. ‘Bergman’s Persona and the Artistic Dilemma of the Modern Narrative’. Literature/Film Quarterly, V, no. 1 (Winter) 1977: 75-88. Also listed in group entry (Ø 989) under Beckett. A comparison between Bergman’s filmmaking, with particular reference to Persona and Samuel Beckett’s novels.
1311.
Michalczyk, John J. Ingmar Bergman ou la passion de l’homme d’aujourd’hui. Translated from the English by E. Latteur de Query. Paris: Editions Beauchèsne, 1977. 222 pp. ill. A thematic discussion of Bergman’s films, divided into the following segments: Prevision; Man Battling Society; Man Worried about the Beyond; Man Facing Man; and Post-Vision. The analysis includes references to all Bergman films through Face to Face. Somewhat diffuse.
1312.
Morris, Jan. ‘When an Artist Feels Anxiety’. Horizon, November 1977, pp. 16-22. Though basically a discussion of The Serpent’s Egg during the author’s visit to the set, the article takes up common motifs in Bergman’s filmmaking, such as humiliation and phantasmagoria themes. Morris ends on a note of irritation with Bergman and with the intensity of the encounter. Cf. Samuels (Ø 811) and Murphy (Ø 855).
1313.
Roulet, C. ‘Une épure tragique’. Cinematograph 24 (February) 1977: 16-17. About Bergman’s use of the close-up.
1314.
Svensk Filmografi. Editors: Jörn Donner, Staffan Grönberg, Lars Åhlander. Vols. 19. Stockholm: Svenska Filminstitutet 1977-. A filmography covering Swedish films by decade from 1896 to 1999. Each volume contains a number of essays on selected films or themes. Volume 6, covering 1960-69, appeared in 1977 and has following articles on Ingmar Bergman: Bergom-Larsson, Maria. ‘Persona’, pp. 290-93; Björkman, Stig. ‘En passion’ (A Passion), pp. 494-96; Donner, Jörn. ‘Nattvardsgästerna’ (Winter Light), pp. 138-40; Roth-Lindberg, Örjan. ‘Skammen’ (Shame), pp. 401-6; Vinterhed, Kerstin. ‘Genom sexvallen – och sedan: Essä om erotiken i svensk sextiotalsfilm’ [Through the sex barrier – and afterwards: On eroticism in Swedish films of the Sixties], pp. 479-82. (Bergman’s The Virgin Spring [1960] is seen as the first film to break through the Swedish ‘sex barrier’ on the screen). Volume 4, covering the 1940s, published in 1980, has one essay on Bergman by Hugo Wortzelius, ‘Bergman i backspegeln’ [Bergman in the rear mirror], pp. 716-20. (A retrospective view of Bergman’s production in the Forties).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Volume 5, dealing with the 1950s, was published in 1984 and has the following essays on Bergman: Holmér, Per. ‘Förnedringsmotiv i femtiotalsfilmen: Anteckningar kring Ingmar Bergman, Åke Grönberg och Sven-Eric Gamble’ [Humiliation motifs in the films of the Fifties: Notes on Bergman, A.G. and S.-E. G], pp. 305-8]. (Discussion based on Gycklarnas afton (The Naked Night)). Steene, Birgitta. ‘Det sjunde inseglet: Filmen som ångestens och nådens metafor’ [The Seventh Seal: Film as metaphor of anguish and grace], pp. 592-95. These volumes are available in a CD-ROM edition (Stockholm: Filmhusförlaget, 1996-1997). However, in the CD-ROM edition, the above essays have been excluded. The CD-ROM edition also contains stills, posters to all films and selected film clips (some from Bergman films).
1315.
Vatja, Vilmos. ‘Längtan efter kärleken. En huvudlinje i Ingmar Bergmans konstnärsskap’ [The longing for love: A main theme in Bergman’s art]. Vår lösen 68, no. 7, 1977: 413-25. A rather general discussion of Bergman’s vision of reality as a tension between love and death.
1316.
Yakowar, Maurice. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Second Trilogy’. In I found it at the Movies: Studies in the art of Ingmar Bergman, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Jean Luc Godard, and the genre film. New York: Revisionist Press, 1976, pp. 64-71. Written in 1968, the article treats Persona, Hour of the Wolf, and Shame as a trilogy about the responsibility of the artist.
1978 1317.
Andersson, Gunder, Eva Bjärlind and Ingmari Eriksson, eds. Motbilder: Svensk socialistisk filmkritik. [Counter images: Swedish socialist film criticism]. Stockholm: Tidens förlag, 1978. 337 pp. Section on Bergman, pp. 234-55, contains four articles, all critical of Bergman but only two can be called ‘socialist’ in approach: Gunnarsson, G. ‘Varom talar tystnaden’ [Of what does silence speak?], pp. 239-45; (On censorship in connection with release of The Silence). Eriksson, Ingmari and Sölve Skagen, ‘Bergman och vampyrerna’ [Bergman and the vampires], pp. 251-55. (Review article on Cries and Whispers, calling the film a work about static people caught in an obsolete world; Bergman is viewed as an estheticist who caters to beautiful images for opportunistic reasons). The other two articles are reprints of Torsten Bergmark (Ø 1149) and Sven Lindkvist (Ø 973).
1318.
Björkman, Stig. ‘En värld av befriade känslor’ [A world of liberated feelings]. Chaplin XX, no. 5 (158), 1978: 184-87. Analysis of Herbstsonate (Autumn Sonata) and of Bergman’s recurrent theme of alienation.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1319.
Borngässer, Rose-Marie. ‘Ein Magier, der uns den Atem verschlägt’. Die Welt, 14 July 1978. A presentation of Bergman’s life and work in connection with his 60th birthday.
1320. Braudy, Leo, and Morris Dickstein. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. In Great Film Directors. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978, pp. 43-86. A section on Bergman contains reprints of the following articles: Stanley Kauffmann’s ‘Persona’, originally published in Living Images (see Ø 112); Andrew Sarris’s ‘The Seventh Seal’, originally published in Film Culture, no. 19 (1959), pp. 51-61; James F. Scott’s ‘Ingmar Bergman in the 1950’s’, originally printed in Focus on The Seventh Seal’ (Ø 1220); and Susan Sontag’s ‘Persona’, originally published in Sight and Sound 36, no. 4 (Autumn) 1967: 186-91.
1321.
Donohoe, Joseph. ‘Cultivating Bergman’s Strawberry Patch: The Emergence of a Cinematic Idea’. Wide Angle 2, no. 2, 1978: 26-30. The author discusses Bergman’s use of wild strawberries as iconography and visual metaphor in Summer Interlude, The Seventh Seal, and Wild Strawberries.
1322. Gallerani, M. ‘L’anima e le forme nella scrittura di Bergman’. Cinema nuovo, XXVII, no. 255 (Sept.-Oct. 1978): 17-21. The author analyzes spirituality and its expressive form in Bergman’s filmmaking with special reference to Cries and Whispers.
1323. Garfinkel, Bernie. Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman. New York: Berkeley, 1978. 130 pp. A somewhat mistitled biography of Liv Ullmann, including references to her life with Bergman. Cf. Ullmann’s own biography Changing, (Ø 1299).
1324. Jeremias, Brigitte. ‘Das verfilmte Prinzip Hoffnung’. Frankfurter Allgemeine, 14 July 1978. An article published on Bergman’s 60th birthday. It contains a summary of his artistic production; defines him as ‘the genius of European film art’, and discusses his contribution to psychological film imagery and to making woman the ‘Film Hero’ of our time.
1325.
Kosmorama 24, no. 137 (Spring) 1978: 25-67. A special Bergman issue discussing a variety of Bergman subjects: childhood traumas; Bergman as a scriptwriter; his actors; his use of music; his TV work; and a comparison with the Swedish filmmaker ‘Hampe’ Faustman. Issue also contains reviews and survey articles on most of Bergman’s films through Cries and Whispers. One of the most comprehensive special Bergman issues of any film journal at the time. See the following contributions: Birkvad, S. ‘Bergman og TV’ [Bergman and TV]. (Focus on Scenes from a Marriage), pp. 46-48; Drouzy, M. ‘Barnet i klædeskabet’ [The child in the clothes closet]. (On biographical background of some motifs in Bergman’s films), pp. 30-34; Hirsch, P. ‘Sommerleg og Sommeren med Monika’ [Summer Interlude and Summer with Monica], pp. 48-51;
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Iversen, Ebbe. ‘Persona’, pp. 62-63; Jensen, N. ‘Slangens æg’ [The Serpent’s Egg], pp. 25-30; Kostrup, A. ‘Gøglernes aften og Ansiktet’ [The Naked Night and The Magician Face], pp. 51-54, (On Bergman’s treatment of theme of artist vs audience); Lundgren, H. ‘Bergman og skuespillerne’ [Bergman and the actors], pp. 41-43; Malmkær, P. ‘Det syvende segl’ [The Seventh Seal], pp. 55-57; Monty, Ib. ‘Sommernattens leende’ [Smiles of a Summer Night], pp. 54-55 (Reassessment of a 1955 film, concluding that Bergman cannot make good comedies); Nørrested, Carl. ‘Den tidlige Bergman – og hans baggrund’ [Early Bergman and his background], pp. 34-37; Nørgaard, P. ‘Passion og Hvisken og råb’ [A Passion and Cries and Whispers], pp. 66-67; Schepelern, Peter. ‘Ingmar Bergman og musikken’. p. 44; —. ‘Ved vejs ende’ [At road’s end, Danish title for Wild Strawberries], pp. 58-59 (sees film as compendium of Bergman themes); Schmalensee, O. von. ‘Bergman og Hampe Faustman’ (Comparison between two Swedish filmmakers of the Forties, one a ‘bourgeois individualist’, the other a ‘socialist collectivist.’), p. 45. Schmidt, Kaare. ‘Skammen’, pp. 65-66; Tang, Jesper. ‘Bergman som scriptforfatter’ [Bergman as scriptwriter], p. 39; Troelsen, A. ‘Bergmans trilogi’ [Bergman’s trilogy], pp. 59-61; —. ‘Ulvetimen’ [Hour of the Wolf], pp. 63-65.
1326. Lange-Fuchs, Hauke, ed. Der frühe Bergman. Lübeck: Amt für Kultur, 1978, 257 pp. A good presentation of early Bergman films, from Torment to The Naked Night, plus excerpts from Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788) and from contemporary reviews. A study compiled with assistance from SFI in connection with a Lübeck Nordic Film Days retrospective. Includes several early statements by Bergman on his filmmaking. Titles of films in Swedish, English and German, plus credits.
1327.
Laretei, Käbi. ‘Ingmar Bergman-Käbi Laretei. Close-ups’. Stockholm: Proprius Music AB, 1978. A record, the purpose of which is to document ‘two great artists’ relationship to music’. Pianist Käbi Laretei, who was asked by Bergman to play the music chosen for many of his films, comments on their collaboration and performs the following music from Bergman productions: – Chopin: Fantasie-Impromptu – Scarlatti: Sonata in E-major, – Scarlatti: Sonata in D-major Viskningar och rop [Cries and Whispers], 1973 – Chopin: Mazurka in A-minor, opus 17 Ansikte mot ansikte (Face to Face), 1976 – Mozart: Fantasia Höstsonat [Autumn Sonata], 1978 – Chopin: Prelude in A-minor Strindberg’s Oväder [Storm], 1960 Djävulens öga [The Devil’s Eye], 1960
1328. Olofson, Christina & Göran du Réis. ‘Vem tillhör världen’ [To Whom Belongs the World]. Chaplin 159 (December 1978): 261. The authors are critical of Bergman’s world with its middle-class people who live economically protected lives with high status jobs and with time to work on their private problems in a
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman beautiful landscape. In the 60s and 70s, Bergman was sometimes charged with ‘estheticizing’ the reality he depicted.
1329. Positif 204 (March) 1978: 18-36. Dossier issue on Bergman. Contains the following material: Ciment, Michel. ‘Jouer avec Bergman’, pp. 30-36. Liv Ullmann interviewed on working with Bergman in film and theatre: ‘You become like a child in a land of magic which you dream of bringing to life with your role. [...] We have a profound friendship. It is not a simple friendship but one born out of work – with his joy and his suffering.’ Jacobs, James. ‘Ingmar Bergman au travail’, pp. 23-27. Transcript of Jacobs’ documentary on the filming of The Serpent’s Egg. Sineux, Michel. ‘Un “chef d’oeuvre” pour souffler un peu’. Review of The Serpent’s Egg, pp. 1820. Sundgren, Nils Petter. ‘Rencontre avec Bergman’, pp. 21-22. A translated transcript of an interview with Bergman on Swedish TV, Channel 2, 12 November 1977. (See Ø 828) in Interview chapter VIII; Tournier, Christine. ‘Être et interpreter’, pp. 28-29. A review of Liv Ullmann’s book Devenir (Changing/Forændringen).
1330. Quart, Leonard. ‘Politics of Ingmar Bergman’. Intellect 196 (June) 1978, p. 56. A discussion of political references in some of Bergman’s films prior to The Serpent’s Egg.
1331.
Svensson, Björn. ‘Ingmar Bergman angriper regeringen’ [Bergman attacks the government]. AB, 6 February 1978, p. 1. A news report of ‘exiled demon director’ Ingmar Bergman blasting non-socialist government for changing the contract of Harry Schein, the initiator and director of Swedish Film Institute since its inception in 1963. (Schein discusses the incident in his book Schein, Schein, 1980, pp. 418-50. (See Ø 1366).
1332. Vinocur, John. ‘Scenes from Ingmar Bergman’s Life: Imitation of his Art’. NYT, 17 November 1978, p. A 2. This is a follow-up of Bergman’s life and work after the tax case. See 1976, (Ø 1272).
1979 1333.
Berge, Henk ten. ‘Ingmar Bergman: profeet die in eigen land niet geëerd wordt’. De Telegraaf, 10 February 1974. An article discussing Bergman’s ambiguous standing in Swedish film industry. Includes brief responses by some of his actors.
1334. Carcassonne, Philippe. ‘Tombeaux de Mozart’. Cinématographe, no. 56 (November 1979): 11-15. See Filmography, Trollflöjten/The Magic Flute (Ø 247). 1335.
Cunneen, Sally. ‘Ingmar Bergman Crossed with Charlie Chaplin? What Iris Murdoch Doesn’t Know’. Commonweal, 9 November 1979, pp. 623-26.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Basically a review of a Murdoch book with Bergman’s (and Chaplin’s) names used as a contrasting reference to mood and style of Murdock’s work. Irrelevant in a Bergman context.
1336. D’Elia, G. ‘La crisi del maschio in Bergman e Ferreri’. Cinema Nuovo XXVIII/261 (October) 1979: 2-3. About the crisis of male characters in Bergman and Ferreri films and their relationship to women.
1337.
Emelsen, Margaret A. ‘The Ambivalence of Survival in Ingmar Bergman and Simone de Beauvoir: A Perspective on Dying and Death’. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 1, no. 1 (June) 1979: 58-68. A comparative study of Bergman’s and De Beauvoir’s complex attitudes towards an affirmation of life and a preoccupation with death.
1338. Erickson, Robert L. ‘An Analysis of Fear in Selected Films: Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, and Steven Spielberg’. M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, Dept. of Theatre and Cinematic Arts, 1979, 80 leaves. 1339. Féjja, S. ‘Személyközi kudarcok – alarcban’. Filmkultura XV, no. 6 (November-December) 1979: 43-52. A Hungarian article on Bergman’s films as studies in interpersonal relationships.
1340. Fredericksen, Don. ‘Modes of Reflexive Film’, Quarterly Review of Film Studies 4, no. 3 (Summer 1979): 299-320. A discussion of the growing interest in meta-filmic aspects in cinema studies, with special reference to Bergman’s Persona. Cf. Filmography, Persona entry, (Ø 236).
1341.
Jensen, Niels. ‘Høstsonaten og Rene linier’ [Autumn Sonata and Pure lines]. Kosmorama XXV, no. 141 (Spring l979), pp. 9-11. A comparison (in Danish film journal) of Bergman’s Höstsonaten and Woody Allen’s Interiors as two films about ‘the bourgeois room’.
1342. Marion, Denis. Ingmar Bergman. Paris: Gallimard, 1979. 191 pp. After chapters on Bergman’s career and the relationship between word and image in his films, the author follows a thematic approach to Bergman’s work, dividing it into segments on ‘God and the problem of Evil’; ‘Contemporary Crisis’; ‘Eroticism’; ‘The Tortured Couple’; ‘Art and Artist’; and ‘Pessimism’. Among specific films dealt with are Wild Strawberries, The Silence, Persona, The Ritual, Scenes from a Marriage, Face to Face, and The Serpent’s Egg. Review: La Revue du cinéma, no. 347, 1979, p. 143.
1343. Martinez, Carril Manuel. ‘El canto del cisne del artista Bergman’. Cinemateca Review 16 (June) 1979: 10-15. A critical overview with a filmography.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1344. Perez, Gilberto. ‘Ingmar Bergman Up Close’. New York Art Journal, no. 10, 1979, pp. 10-11. Perez regards Bergman as a ‘latter day expressionist’ who uses close-ups in the same extreme way that distorted sets were used in Dr. Caligari to express a landscape of anxiety from the subject’s point of view.
1345. Scholar, Nancy. ‘Anaïs Nin’s House of Incest and Ingmar Bergman’s Persona:. Two Variations of a Theme’. Literature/Film Quarterly 7, no. 1 (Winter 1979): 47-59. A comparative study of incest motif in the two title works.
1346. Shvarts, Gavri’elah. ‘ha-Hitbat’ut ha-milutit ‘al odot ha-kolno ‘a: nituah darkhe ha-ketivah ‘al ha-kolno’a ‘al pi ‘iyun be-mispar bikorot u-ma’amarim ‘al ha-seret ‘Personah’ shel Ingmar Bergman’. M.A. Thesis, U of Jerusalem, 1979, 35 pp. 1347.
Surkova-Shuskalova, Olga. ‘Ingmar Bergman i krizis indivudualisticheskogo mironimanija’[Bergman and the crisis of individualism]. Iskusstvo Kino, no. 7 1979, pp. 135-162. On Ingmar Bergman’s films mirroring a personal crisis.
1348. Wimberley, Amos D. ‘Bergman and the Existentialists: A Study in Subjectivity’. Diss., University of Texas at Austin, 1979. 259 leaves. Wimberley examines The Seventh Seal and the Trilogy, comparing them to the works of Kierkegaard, Jaspers, and Camus. See also Ø 989, Kiergegaard.
1980 1349. Bergman, Margareta. Karin vid havet. Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren, 1980. 303 pp. A novel by Ingmar Bergman’s sister suggesting their common family background.
1350. Bini, Luigi. Ingmar Bergman da ‘Come in uno specchio’ a ‘Sinfonia d’autunno’. Milano: Edizione Letture, 1980. A study of Bergman’s filmmaking from Through a Glass Darkly to Autumn Sonata.
1351.
Calhoun, Alice Ann. ‘Suspended Projections: Religious Roles and Adaptable Myths in John Hawkes’s Novels, Francis Bacon’s Paintings, and Ingmar Bergman’s Films’. Diss. 1980. DAI, Ann Arbor, MI 40, 4782A-83A. The term ‘Suspended projections’ is used as a metaphor for a magician’s treatment of his subject. Chapter 3 of the dissertation deals with three categories of Bergman films: (1) rite of passage films, such as Torment, To Joy, and A Lesson in Love; (2) symbolic films making ironic use of a fertility paradigm. Included are films such as The Naked Night, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, and The Magician; and (3) films making ironic use of a fertility paradigm. Included are films from The Silence to Cries and Whispers.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1352.
Casebier, Alan and Jane. ‘Bibliography on Dream and Film’. Dreamworks 1, no. 1 (Spring) 1980: 88-93. The article contains several references to Bergman’s filmmaking by two psychoanalytical critics.
1353.
Casebier, A. and Manley J. ‘Reductionism without Discontent: The Case of Wild Strawberries and Persona,’Film/Psychology Review 4, no. 1 (Winter-Spring 1980): 15-25; Advocates psychoanalytical approach to Bergman’s filmmaking, with special focus on title films. To the authors the films are dealt with more as case studies than works of art.
1354. Celuloide XXV, no. 289 (March 1980). A special Bergman issue of a Portuguese film journal with two contributions: Duarte, Fernando. ‘Biofilmografia de Ingmar Bergman’, pp. 11-13; Matos-Cruz, J. ‘Peliculas’, pp. 10-15.
1355.
Cowie, Peter. ‘Ingmar Bergman: the Struggle with the Beyond’. NYT, 26 October 1980, Arts & Leisure sec., pp. 1, 19. An article tracing Bergman’s life and career before leaving Sweden in 1976, plus a presentation of his current plans.
1356. Dawson, Jan. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. In Cinema: A Critical Dictionary. Edited by Richard Roud. Vol 1. New York: Viking Press, 1980: 111-22. A perceptive survey article on Bergman by British film critic.
1357.
Eberwein, R.T. ‘The Filmic Dream and Point of View’. Literature/Film Quarterly VIII, no. 3, 1980, pp. 197-203. Eberwein examines the use of subjective and objective shots and point of view in the dream sequences of Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Holmes, Jr. (1924), Robert Montgomery’s Lady in the Lake (1946), and Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries (1957). Cf. same author’s 1984 book length study, (Ø 1407).
1358. Forslund, Bengt. Victor Sjöström. Stockholm: Bonniers, 1980: 322-33. Translated to English as Victor Sjöström: His Life and Work. New York: Zoetrope, 1988. The chapter titled ‘Tillbaka till ursprunget’ [Back to the source], pp. 250-271, deals with Sjöström’s professional relationship with Bergman, from being an adviser on Kris (1946) to playing the role of Isak Borg in Wild Strawberries (1957).
1359. Gantz, Jeffrey. ‘Mozart, Hoffmann and Ingmar Bergman’s Vargtimmen’. Literature/ Film Quarterly VIII, no. 2, 1980: 104-114. See Group entry Ø 989, (Hoffmann). 1360. Guinness, Os. Ingmar Bergman. Confessional in Celluloid. Michigan City, IN: L’Abri Cassettes, 1980, 1989. Recording on casette tape 1 7/8 ips. Mono. No X724. A recorded interpretation of Bergman’s filmmaking with some emphasis on its religious aspects.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1361.
Houston, Beverly and Kinder, Marsha. ‘Self-Exploration and Survival in Persona and The Ritual: The Way In’, in Self & Cinema: A Transformalist Perspective (Pleasantville: Redgrave, 1980), pp. 1-40. A bio-thematic approach to two of Bergman’s films from the 1960s in a book on transformation of artistic self into film.
1362. Hunter, R. ‘A Mediation on Theatre and Love’. Australian Journal of Screen, no. 7, 1980: 120-37. See Commentary to The Magic Flute in Filmography Chapter (IV). 1363. Librach, Ronald S. ‘Through the Looking-Glass. The Serpent’s Egg’. Literature/Film Quarterly 8, no. 2, 1980: 92-103. The second half of the article is a review of Bergman’s film The Serpent’s Egg. The first half is an attempt to place the film in the context of two earlier films, Scenes from a Marriage and Face to Face, based on the argument that Bergman’s films form their own aesthetic and intellectual context.
1364. Pollock, Dale. ‘Bergman Drops Out of US Tour’. Los Angeles Times, 24 October 1980, sec. 4, p. 2. In late October 1980, a Scandinavian film series opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and later travelled to Chicago and Los Angeles. Bergman was to have attended as part of a Scandinavian delegation but withdrew when an American distribution company planned to open his From the Life of the Marionettes during his visit. For additional reports on this incident, see Expr., 26 October 1980, p. 8; NYT, 28 October 1980, sec. C, p. 11; Hollywood Magazine, November 1980 (n.p.) (American Motion Picture Academy clipping); Variety, October 1, (p. 38), October 29, (pp. 4, 33), November 5, (p. 4) and November 6, (p. 4); the last item signed by Frank Segers and titled ‘Bergman Snubs Chi Film Fest’. See also an interview with Jörn Donner, Variety 7 October 1981, pp. 60, 76, and ‘Ingmar Bergman and the Festival He Embraces’ in NYT, 26 October 1980, p. 1.
1365. Rondi, Gian Luigi. ‘Ingmar Bergman da Hitler a Ibsen’ in Il cinema dei mæstri. Milano: Rusconi, 1980, pp. 166-73. About Bergman’s work in exile. The title refers to The Serpent’s Egg and his theatre production of Hedda Gabler.
1366. Schein, Harry. Schein, Schein. Stockholm: Bonniers, 1980. 529 pp. An autobiography with many references to Bergman by former head of SFI.
1367.
Steene, Birgitta. ‘Bergman, Ernst Ingmar’. Columbia Dictionary of Modern European Literature. 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1980, pp. 78-79. Dictionary entry.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman
1981 1368. Group Item: Bergman at Southern Methodist University Symposium, 7-8 May 1981. The Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, arranged a two-day symposium on Bergman’s work in film and theatre. On the occasion, Bergman became the first recipient of the Alger H. Meadows Award for Excellence in the Arts. Bergman participated in a total of four seminars on the following topics: (1) Relationship of Director to Actor; (2) Bringing a Project to the Screen; (3) Bringing a Project to the Stage; (4) Communicating through Film and Theatre. Proceedings from the symposium were edited by William G. Jones and published under the title Talking with Ingmar Bergman (Dallas: SMU Press, 1983), 103 pp. Ill. On 8 May 1981, the Dallas Times Herald published an extensive reportage of the event (p. 1, 6, 12), quoting Bergman on important aspects of his filmmaking (on role of intuition and dreamlike genesis of his films, and on his own assessment of his place in film history). On May 11, Dallas Morning News, sec. C, pp. 1-2, printed a long interview with Bergman by William Wunch. See Ø 882. Bergman’s visit to SMU was preceded by a guest talk by actor Max von Sydow.
1369. n.a. ‘Doubts Expressed that Bergman is Going to Quit’. Variety, 9 September 1981, p. 50. A reaction to Bergman’s announcement that he would quit filmmaking after Fanny and Alexander. See also the Marker interview ‘Why Ingmar Bergman Will Stop Making Films’. Saturday Review (April) 1981: 36-39.
1370. Borgnie, J. de. ‘Ingmar Bergman en images’. Amis de la film et de la télévision, no. 296, 1981, pp. 33-38. A pictorial presentation of Bergman.
1371.
Gomez Sanchez, Juan Pedro. Estetosemiotica y pragmatica filmicas: un analisis textual en Bergman. Diss. Murcia: Faculdad de Filosofia y Letras. Secretariado de Publicaciones. Universidad de Murcia, 1981. 30 pp. A semiotic study of Bergman film texts. Subject: Existentialism and religion in the movies.
1372. Kawin, Bruce. Mindscreen: Bergman, Godard and First-Person Film. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981, pp. 91-142. The chapter titled ‘Self-Conscious Mindscreens in Bergman and Godard’ provides an introduction to Bergman and a discussion of Persona and Shame. Kawin’s terminology is somewhat labored and he provides no real comparison between Bergman and Godard, but his work is a classic reference in studies of metafilmic aspects of Bergman’s filmmaking.
1373. Kinder, Marsha. ‘From The Life of the Marionettes to The Devil’s Wanton: Bergman’s Creative Transformation of a Recurrent Nightmare’. Film Quarterly 34, no. 3 (Spring) 1981: 26-37. Reprinted in The Anxious Subject: Nightmares and Daymares in Literature and Film, ed. by Moshe Lazar. Malibu: Undena Publications, 1983, pp. 151-68.
973
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Kinder traces a murderer’s nightmare as a motif in Bergman’s films from Fängelse (1949, The Devil’s Wanton/ Prison) to Marionetternas liv (1980), with special emphasis on Vargtimmen (1967, Hour of the Wolf) and two title films. Kinder’s approach is representative of an American focus on psychoanalysis and/or psycho-biography in discussing Bergman. Cf. Casebier, (Ø 13521353) and Petric below, (Ø 1378).
1374. Lundell, Torborg and Mulac, Anthony. ‘Husbands and Wives in Bergman’s Films: A close Analysis Based on Empirical Data’. Journal of the University Film Association 33, no. 1 (Winter) 1981: 23-37. A reception study among film students, using Bergman films as source material.
1375.
Moscato, Alfonso. Ingmar Bergman: La realità e il suo ‘doppio’. Rome: Edizione paoline, 1981. 163 pp. A survey of Bergman’s film production through Autumn Sonata, followed by individual chapters on his vision, his religious viewpoint, major characters and themes as well as his use of expressionistic and realistic features. With useful bibliography of studies of Bergman in Italian, pp. 151-63.
1376. Mosley, Philip. Ingmar Bergman. The Cinema as Mistress. London & Boston: Marion Boyars, 1981, 1982. 192 pp. The title is taken from a famous early statement by Bergman (Cinema is my mistress, Theatre my faithful wife) but is left unexplored by the author. The book is divided into four parts: (1) analysis of Bergman’s Nordic heritage; (2) survey of his early films; (3) presentation of the ‘canonical films’: The Seventh Seal to Cries and Whispers; (4) discussion of Bergman’s work for television and his most recent films, ending with Autumn Sonata. The book is a good introduction to Bergman’s filmmaking, superior to many other introductions in its effort to place Bergman in the mainstream of Swedish and European culture.
1377.
Olin, Stig. Trådrullen [The Bobbin]. Stockholm: Askild & Kärnekull, 1981, pp. 53-64. Memoirs, ghost-written by Helena Kallenbäck, of an actor who served as Ingmar Bergman’s alter ego in his early films. One chapter (pp. 53-64) deals with Ingmar Bergman.
1378. Petric, Vlada, ed. Film and Dreams: An Approach to Ingmar Bergman. South Salem, NY: Redgrave, 1981. 236 pp. Papers given at an international film conference at Harvard, 27-29 January 1978. Much emphasis is on clinical/psychological dream studies, so that Bergman’s own ideas of filmmaking as a dream mode get lost. Book includes the following articles: Björkman, Stig. ‘The Concept of Dreams in Bergman’s Early Films’, pp. 113-26. Cavell, Stanley. ‘An Afterimage – on Makaveyev and Bergman’, pp. 197-220. Cowie, Peter. ‘Bergman’s Passion: Dream and Reality’, pp. 147-56. Hobson, Andrew. ‘Dream Image and Substrate: Bergman’s Films and the Psychology of Sleep’, pp. 75-96. This article was published in a shorter version in Polish translation as ‘Obrazi snu i ich podloze: filmi Bergmana a fizilogia snu’. Kino XXII, no. 6 (June 1988): 26-28. Houston, Beverly. ‘The Manifestation of Self in The Silence’, pp. 139-46. Kinder, Marsha. ‘The Penetrating Dream Style of Ingmar Bergman’, pp. 57-74.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Petric, Vlada. ‘Bergman’s Cinematic Treatment of Psychopathic Phenomena’, pp. 157-66. Simon, John. ‘Ingmar Bergman and Insanity’, pp. 127-38. Zelinger, J. ‘Bergman and Freud on Dreams and Dreaming’, pp. 97-112. The book also includes a chronology of Bergman’s life and work and excerpts from his essays ‘What is Filmmaking?’ (Ø 87), ‘Each Film Is My Last’ (Ø 108) and ‘The Snakeskin’ (Ø 131).
Reviews Film Quarterly, no. 4 (1982). Dreamworks, no. 3 (1983): 212-18. Vlada Petric also published an essay titled ‘Bergman and Dreams’ in Film Comment XVII, no. 2 (March/April 1981): 57-59, in which he argues that oneiric sequences constitute the most cinematic parts of Bergman’s films, with specific reference to From the Life of the Marionettes.
1379. Sonnenschein, Richard. ‘The Problem of Evil in Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal’. West Virginia Philological Papers 27, 1981, pp. 137-143. See Ø 997. 1380. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 16. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1981, pp. 59-60. Dictionary entry.
1982 1381.
Cowie, Peter. Ingmar Bergman: A Critical Biography. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982. 397 pp. Translated into French as Ingmar Bergman, biographie critique (Paris: Seghers, 1986). New English edition in 1992 (London: Andre Deutsch) 401 pp. The first Bergman biography in English. Although the book is more of a chronological presentation of Bergman’s work in the cinema and on stage than an in-depth attempt to place the subject in a cultural and social context, Cowie provides a comprehensive overview of Bergman’s life and work. He includes useful interview material on Bergman’s working methods, though occasionally giving in to tidbit gossip. For a résumé article on same subject, see Cowie’s ‘Bergman’s Swan Song’, World Press Review, June 1983, p. 60.
Reviews Film Quarterly 36 (Summer) 1983: 40. New York Times Book Review, 19 December 1982, p. 7. Chaplin 25, no. 189 (1983): 264-267.
1382. Forslund, Bengt. ‘Bergmans blandning och Hasses special’ [Bergman’s Mix and Hasse’s Special]. Filmrutan 25, no. 3 (Autumn) 1982: 2-7. A comparison of Bergman’s position in Swedish filmmaking in the 1940s with that of his rival, Hasse Ekman. The article is excerpted from Forslund’s book Från Ekman till Ekman [From E. to E.] (Stockholm: Bonniers, 1982), pp. 191-196.
1383. Ingemansson, Birgitta. ‘Bergman’s Endings: Glimmers of Hope’. Lamar Journal of Humanities 8, no. 1 (Spring) 1982: 29-38.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman In discussing the ending of The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Cries and Whispers, and Face to Face author argues that Bergman’s final vision of reality is not as gloomy as many of his critics have claimed.
1384. Livingston, Paisley. Ingmar Bergman and the Rituals of Art. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982). 287 pp. A study of Bergman’s portrayal of art and the artist. Livingston argues that Bergman’s purpose is not to frighten and mystify but to make the viewer aware of the magic of art, though the artistic ritual contructed by Bergman on the screen has both cannibalistic and therapeutic implications.
Reviews American Film 7, no. 7 (May) 1982: 62-65. Sight and Sound 52, no. 2 (Spring) 1983: 143.
1385. Manvell, Roger. Ingmar Bergman. An Appreciation. New York: Arno, 1982. 200 pp. Originally a McMaster University thesis, this study is little more than a simplistic overview of Bergman’s filmmaking.
1386. Nave, Bernard and Welsh, Henry. ‘Retour de Bergman: au cinéclub et au stage de Bouloris’. Jeune cinéma 142 (April-May) 1982: 27-32. See Ø 982. An article discussing Bergman’s return to the Paris scene with a film series and a stage play.
1387.
Sarris, Andrew. ‘The Scandinavian Presence in the Cinema’. Scandinavian Review 70-71, no. 3, 1982: 77-85. Focussing on Dreyer and Bergman, the author suggests that the abstracted universality of their films – ‘their art and soul’ – deprives their cinema of a contempory view of Scandinavian society. Cf. Bo Widerberg, Group item (Ø 1033).
1388. Visscher, J. de. ‘De muziek en het orkest bij Fellini en Bergman’. Mediafilm, no. 134 (Winter) 1982: 24-40. On Fellini’s and Bergman’s use of music; in Bergman’s case from To Joy (1950) and on.
1983 1389. Bertina, B.J. ‘Ingmar Bergman heeft in al die jaren veel begrepen’. De Tijd, 4 March 1983. A brief overview of Bergman’s filmmaking with a focus on Fanny and Alexander.
1390. Björkman, Stig. ‘In the World of Childhood’. Swedish Films 1983. Stockholm: SFI, 1983, pp. 10-20. Also in French ed., pp. 20-29. About Bergman’s open channels to his childhood. An article written in connection with Fanny and Alexander, but long passages are quoted from earlier interviews by Donner (Ø 836).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1391.
Boyd, David. ‘Persona and the Cinema of Interpretation’, Film Quarterly 2 (Winter) 1983-84: 10-19. A discussion of different interpretive approaches in film criticism with specific reference to Persona.
1392. Braudy, Leo. ‘Framing the Innocent Eye: 42nd Street and Persona’. Michigan Quarterly Review 22, no. 1 (Winter) 1983: 9-29. Juxtaposition of Busby Berkeley’s/Lloyd Bacon’s ‘frivolous’ entertainment film 42nd Street and Bergman’s Persona. Braudy views both works as ways of referencing one art (the stage) to frame another (the screen) with the common purpose being to elucidate the uniqueness of film art.
1393. Chaplin XXV, no. 6/189, 1983, pp. 253-67. A section of the magazine is devoted to Bergman. Includes the following items: Aghed, Jan. ‘Konstnären som valp’ [The artist as a puppy], pp. 264-66. A review article of Peter Cowie’s biography Ingmar Bergman. A Critical Biography (Ø 1381) and Paisley Livingston’s Ingmar Bergman and the Rituals of Art (Ø 1384). Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Teatern som metafor. En analys av Fanny och Alexander’ [Theatre as metaphor. An analysis of F & A], pp. 260-63. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Den lilla världen och den stora’ [The little world and the big], pp. 258-59. Koskinen and Törnqvist provide two different readings of Fanny and Alexander, which also represent two different approaches to Bergman’s filmmaking: one focussing on cinematic structure and visual metaphor, the other on psychological thought content and literary/ dramatic allusions.
1394. Clarke, Kathryn Philomena. ‘The Closing of the Circle: The Films of Ingmar Bergman as Metaphors of Quest and Reconciliation’. Diss. Syracuse Univ., 1983. 2 vols, 461 leaves. Univ. Microfilms, Mich, 1984, 1 reel. 1395. Corliss, Richard and Wolf, William. ‘God, Sex, and Ingmar Bergman’. Film Comment 19 (May-June) 1983: 13-19. Relying heavily on the Cowie biography (Ø 1381), Corliss distills four periods in Bergman’s life and work, related to actresses Harriet Andersson, Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, and pianist Käbi Laretei, but omits any mention of Bergman’s present wife, Ingrid. Marianne Höök took the same approach in (Ø 1074). The Wolf contribution is part review of Fanny and Alexander, part assessment of the state of filmmaking in Scandinavia today.
1396. Dervin, Daniel. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Films: The Spider God and the Primal Scene.’ American Imago, vol. 40, no. 3 (Fall) 1983: 207-32. Reprinted in his Through a Freudian Lens Deeply . Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press, 1985, pp. 98-126. Dervin argues that the child of Bergman’s imagination becomes his scenario; the artist becomes the director and the original child replaces the father.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1397.
Estève, Michel, ed. ‘Ingmar Bergman: La mort, le masque et l’être’. Etudes cinématogragiques 131/34 (1983). Issued as book. Paris: Lettres modernes Minard, 1983. 169 pp. Contains the following review articles: Estève, Michel. ‘Notes sur une problematique de la mort’. pp. 5-18. (A review of Fanny and Alexander); Farago, France. ‘La mort comme propédeutique à la vie’. pp. 19-51. (About Face to Face and Autumn Sonata). Zimmer, Christian. ‘Persona. Une fugue à deux voix’. pp. 53-68. Tobin, Yann. ‘Sur La flûte enchantée d’Ingmar Bergman’. pp. 69-82. Serçeau, Michel. ‘Le métaphore éclaté. Notes sur l’utilization de l’estétique et des thèmes expressionistes dans L’Oeuf du serpent’. pp. 83-94. Ramasse, François. ‘De la Vie des Marionettes’. pp. 95-141. Sineux, Michel. ‘Fanny et Alexandre: “Le petit théâtre” d’Ingmar Bergman’. pp. 143-50.
Review Cinéma, no. 293 (May) 1983, p. 8.
1398. Glassco, David. ‘Films out of Books: Bergman, Visconti and Mann’. Mosaic (Winnipeg) 16, no. 1-2 (Winter-Spring) 1983: 165-73. Reference to Bergman serves mostly as a questioning of his statement in his Introduction to Four Screenplays (Ø 110) that film appeals directly to the emotions and that literature is absorbed intellectually, through a conscious act of the will. Having rejected this dichotomy in our mental receptivity to film and literature, the author examines Visconti’s screen version of Tomas Mann’s novella Death in Venice.
1399. Jensen, Niels. ‘Fanny og Alexander og alle de andre i Bergmans univers’ [F & A and all the others in B’s universe]. Kosmorama, no. 163 (March 1983): 4-9. An analysis of Fanny and Alexander from a biographical perspective and as a film influenced by Strindberg’s play Spöksonaten/The Ghost Sonata.
1400. Lefèvre, Raymond. Ingmar Bergman. Paris: Edilig, 1983, 126 pp. Ill. Mostly a Bergman filmography, with two brief chapters on his life (pp. 9-17) and a survey of his films, titled ‘Faces and Masks’ (pp. 19-33).
1401. McClean, Theodore. ‘Knocking on Heaven’s Door’. American Film, June 1983, pp. 55-58, 61. The first half of the article focusses on the shooting of a scene with many extras in Fanny and Alexander and early backing problems for the project. The second half deals with Bergman’s homecoming, his ‘demon director’ reputation vs praise from his actors, and the sensuous aspect of his stage and studio work.
1402. Rossi, Umberto. ‘Quattro film all’ochiello: hanno la firma del maestro’. Segnocinema III, no. 9 (September) 1983: 71-72. A presentation at the 1983 Cannes festival of the latest films by Wajda (‘Danton’), Tarkovski (‘Nostalghia’), Bresson (‘L’argent’), and Bergman (‘Fanny and Alexander’).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1403. Simmons, Kenith L., ‘Pain and Forgiveness: Structural Transformations in Wild Strawberries and Autumn Sonata’. New Orleans Review 10, no. 4 (Winter) 1983/84: 5-15. The author compares the theme of abandonment/separation and reconciliation in the title films, noting that the confrontation between Charlotte and Eva in Autumn Sonata under the influence of wine is analogous to Borg’s painful but therapeutic immersion in his own psyche through dreams and nightmares. These personal crises shape the structure of the two films.
1984 1404. Bertina, B.J and F. van der Linden. ‘Reflections on a cinematic legacy; scenes from Ingmar Bergman’s life and work’. World Press Review 31 (January 1984): 39-41. Originally published in Dutch as ‘Ingmar Bergman’, De Tijd, 30 September 1983, pp. 2-9. An article from the time of Bergman’s retirement from filmmaking, with some Bergman comments on the role of women and on TV soaps (‘Dallas’).
1405. Cinema Novo, no. 37/38, (Sept./Dec. 1984). A Portuguese issue entirely devoted to Bergman and his work.
1406. Cinque, Anne M. ‘Beyond the Day’s Light: A Study of the Emerging Archetypal Feminine and its Personfication in Ingmar Bergman’s Filmic World’. Diss. University of Maryland, 1984, 307 leaves. U of Michigan Microfilms, 1990. Cross-listed in Ø 975. A descriptive analysis of Bergman films depicting on feminine interpersonal relationships, with focus on Bergman’s use of Jungian shadow projection, and on his portrayal of differences in masculine and feminine values, assumptions, and responsibilities.
1407. Eberwein, Robert T. ‘The Surface of Reality: Screen as Mirror in Persona’. Film and the Dream Screen. A Sleep and Forgetting. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984, pp. 120-39. Sees Persona as a film about the interaction and mutual absorption of Jungian ‘shadows’. The analysis is based on a lucid discussion of audience desire and screen fulfilment, exemplified and represented by Bergman’s film. See also Commentary to Persona in filmography.
1408. Film-Echo/Film woche, no. 46/47, 24 August 1984, p. 14. A report that Bergman may make a film based on Astrid Lindgren’s book Lotta på Bråkmakargatan (‘Lotta Aus Der Krachmachergasse’). Bergman had earlier been interested in filming Lindgren’s Bröderna Lejonhjärta (The Brothers Lionheart). Neither project was realized.
1409. Ingemansson, Birgitta. ‘The Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman: Personification and Olefactory Detail’. Literature/Film Quarterly 12, no. 1 (1984): 27-33. The author discusses literary qualities in Bergman’s screenplays that cannot be transferred directly to the screen. She singles out his use of personifications of nature and of domestic objects, and his many references to smells.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1410. Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Det typiskt svenska hos Ingmar Bergman’ [The typically Swedish in Ingmar Bergman]. Chaplin no. 5/6, 1984, pp. 221-26. Special 25th anniversary issue. Also appeared in English edition of same, pp. 5-11. Reprinted in Ingmar Bergman. An Artist’s Journey, 1995 (Ø 1580). Juxtaposes national Swedish myths and Bergman’s own mythos in his use of the summer motif, focus on inner landscapes, use of theatrical features and allegorical/symbolic elements, and in his mix of fantasy and realism with reference to literary models found in Strindberg, Almqvist, and Hjalmar Bergman.
1411.
Maxfield, James. ‘Bergman’s Shame: a Dream of Punishment’. Literature/Film Quarterly, XII, no. 1 January 1984: 34-41. An analysis of Shame as an example of a film that functions on two levels: both as a realistic study of the corrosive effects of war on a small group of individuals and as a dreamlike portrayal of an Oedipal conflict with the character of Jacobi playing the part of father figure and lover. Jan Rosenberg’s shooting of Jacobi is interpreted as a form of patricide.
1412. Révue belge du cinéma, no. 10 (Winter) 1984-85. Special issue on filmic close-up with several references to Bergman’s filmmaking.
1413.
Serçeau, Michel. ‘L’archetype Lola: réalisme et métaphore’. CinémAction no. 28 (April 1984): 114-118. See Ø 975.
1414. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama: An International Reference Work in 5 volumes, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw- Hill, 1984, pp. 328-29. Dictionary entry.
1415.
Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Den lilla världen och den stora’. Chaplin 26, nos. 5-6, 1984: 12-20. Also in English in special 25th anniversary issue of Chaplin as ‘The Little World and the Big. Concerning Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Fanny and Alexander’’. A discussion of Fanny och Alexander‘s many references to Strindberg (A Dreamplay, The Ghost Sonata), Ibsen (The Wild Duck), and Shakespeare (Hamlet).
1416. Vos, Marik. Dräkterna i dramat: Mitt år med Fanny och Alexander [The costumes in the drama: My year with Fanny and Alexander]. Stockholm: Norstedt, 1984. 155 pp. A diary by Bergman’s costumier with black-&-white sketches of costumes used in Fanny and Alexander. Interesting not only in terms of this film but as an account of the intense collaboration between Bergman and Vos.
1417.
Zetterling, Mai. Osminkat (No Make-Up). Stockholm: Norstedt, 1984. Chapter titled ‘Om att anpassa sig’ (About Adjusting Yourself) discusses Zetterling’s impressions of Bergman, based on a personal relationship with him during her first and only film with him as director – Music in Darkness (Musik i mörker, 1947). Zetterling also had a leading role in
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Torment (Hets) from 1944, scripted by Bergman. Zetterling’s portrait confirms Bergman’s ambivalent self-projection: part charming and vulnerable child, part hypnotizing dictator.
1985 1418. Cinéma, no. 327 (October 1985): 3. A compilation of published quotes by Bergman on himself, the cinema, Sweden, and women.
1419. CzywczyŃska, Joanna. ‘Ingmar Bergman w Polsce. Bibliografia 1958-1981’. Gdansk University, Institute of Scandinavian Philology, 1985. M.A. thesis on Polish reception of Bergman.
1420. Gromov, E. ‘Ingmar Bergman: grani protivorecij’ [Bergman: the limits of contrasts]. Iskusstvo Kino, no. 6 (June) 1985: 102-119. Overview of Bergman’s filmmaking and reviews of some of his films.
1421.
Hede, Julia. ‘Skapande ljussättning’ [Creative lighting]. Undergraduate thesis. Department of Cinema Studies, Stockholm University, April 1985. An unpublished study of Bergman cinematographer Sven Nykvist’s approach to lighting.
1422. Holloway, R. ‘Tystnaden som tema’ [Silence as a theme]. Filmrutan 28, no. 1, 1985: 28. An analysis of the use of silence in different religious films, especially those of Dreyer and Bergman.
1423. Kael, Pauline. ‘För släkt och vänner. Om Ingmar Bergman [For relatives and friends. About Bergman]. Ord och Bild, no. 2, 1985, pp. 76-84. An assessment of Ingmar Bergman by an American film critic whose early reaction to his films was very critical but who changed her approach after Shame. (Cf. Ø 1011).
1424. Kavalkade. Danish booklet titled ‘Gensyn med Ingmar Bergman’ [Rendez-vous with Bergman]. With a foreword by Peter Wolsgaard. No publisher listed, Krim print, 1985, 21 pp. A presentation of a retrospective series of 29 Bergman films, from Kris (Moderhjertet) to Efter repetitionen, plus Stig Björkman’s 1971 documentary Ingmar Bergman.
1425. Leclerc, Marie-Françoise. ‘Bergman souverain’. Le Point no. 650, 4 March 1985, pp. 135-38. A discussion of Bergman’s screen and stage work in connection with the guest visit of his production of King Lear in Paris.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1426. Positif 289 (March) 1985: 17-35. A special Bergman issue consisting of book reviews by L. Codelli of works on Bergman by Peter Cowie, Frederick and Lise-Lone Marker, Philip Mosley, and Paisley Livingston, plus following items: Aghed, Jan. ‘Intérieur miniature’, pp. 20-21. A discussion of After the Rehearsal as an essay on the theatre, with a parallel drawn to Strindberg’s situation at his composition of A Dreamplay. In both cases, theatre eclipses life. —. ‘Sourires d’un cinéma d’hîver’, pp. 22-25. A review article of Fanny and Alexander, considered positive as art, negative as social picture. The time of its setting (1907) coincides with social unrest in Sweden and workers strikes. The little world of Gustaf Adolf protects itself from all this. Aghed’s argument typifies an approach to Bergman by critics whose artistic criteria were formed in the Sixties. Alfredius, Jarl. ‘L’Ecole Bergman’, pp. 31-33. A translation of a radio interview, 11 April 1983, in connection with Bergman’s TV version of Molière’s Ecole des femmes (Ø 330). Bergman, Ingmar. ‘Propos’, pp. 17-19. Excerpt from a Bergman press conference at the showing of the long version of Fanny and Alexander in Venice, 9 September 1983. See Commentary, (Ø 253). Sjöman, Vilgot. ‘Linus rencontre Berget’, pp. 26-30. An encounter between Sjöman’s alter ego Linus Thorsson and The Mountain (Bergman/Berget). Sjöman’s complex encounter with Bergman during his school years and first endeavors to write film scripts are discussed in his memoirs Mitt personregister. Urval 98 (Ø 1646).
1427.
Purcell, James Mark. ‘Chesterton’s Magic versus Bergman’s Magician: Variations on a Theme’. The Chesterton Review 11, no. 1 (February) 1985: 34-46. See Group Item (Ø 989), Bergman and Literature.
1986 1428. n.a. ‘Tormented Lion of the North’. The Observer, 10 August 1986, p. 15. Mostly a survey of Bergman’s life and lifestyle, referring to him as both the most public and private of artists.
1429. Björklund, Per Åke and Monica Engebladh. ‘Haley contra Whitaker: familjestudier med hypotesanalys av Fanny och Alexander’ [H versus W: Family studies with a hypothetical analysis of F & A]. Dept of Applied Psychology, Lund University, 1986, 113 pp. See Filmography, Fanny och Alexander. 1430. Ch’en, Saho-ts’ung. Po-ko-man yu ti ch’i feng yin. Taipei: Erh ya ch’u pan she, 1986, 181 pp. Details not available.
1431.
Dannowski, Hans Werner. ‘Das Schweigen der Kirchenglocken. Gedanken zu den Späten Filmen von Ingmar Bergman’. EDP Film III, no. 4 (April) 1986: 14-18. Notes on the later TV films of Ingmar Bergman, especially After the Rehearsal.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1432. Gado, Frank. The Passion of Ingmar Bergman. Durham: Duke University Press, 1986. 547 pp. A psychoanalytically oriented study of Bergman’s films, using some new biographical information obtained from Swedish sources. To Gado, Bergman’s films conceal a rudimentary personal myth, akin to a dream in its symbolic language. Bergman’s creativity stems from an elementary psychic fantasy rooted in the filmmaker’s relationship to his mother. Gado’s approach gives cohesiveness to his study but becomes somewhat predictable in its analysis of individual films. Study pays little attention to previous Bergman scholarship.
Reviews Film Quarterly XLI, no. 3 (Spring) 1988: 51-53. With a reply by Gado in Film Quarterly 42, no. 2 (Winter) 1988/89: 60-62.
1433. Isaksson, Ulla. ‘Lämna romanen i fred’ [Leave the novel alone]. Chaplin 204, 1986: 127-129. Includes comments on Isaksson’s collaboration with Ingmar Bergman on script to Nära livet (Close to Life) and Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring).
1434. Ketcham, Charles. The Influence of Existentialism on Ingmar Bergman. An Analysis of the Theological Ideas Shaping a Filmmaker’s Art. Lewiston: E. Mellen Press, 1986, 381 pp. See Ø 997. 1435. Lawson, Steve. ‘For Valor: The Career of Ingmar Bergman’. In Before his Eyes: Essays in Honor of Stanley Kauffmann. Lanham, MD: UPs of America, 1986, pp. 163-68. Homage to Bergman’s filmmaking and to one of his American critics.
1436. Manciotto, Mauro. ‘Bergman fra cinema, teatro e tv’. Bianco e Nero XLVII, no. 3 (July-September) 1986: 42-48. About Bergman’s recent work for cinema, theatre and television, with some reference to Strindberg’s impact.
1437.
Mango, L. ‘La sospensione del tempo’. Filmcritica, no. 363 (March-April) 1986: 169-74. A discussion of temporal fluidity in Efter repetitionen (Dopo la prova) and Fanny and Alexander.
1438. Sultanik, Aaron. Film: A Modern Art. New York: Cornwall Books, 1986, 381 pp. The chapter titled ‘Three Independents’ discusses Bergman’s filmmaking (with Buñuel and Welles), pp. 433-440. Author calls Bergman an artist grappling with the major traumas of his age; yet displaying difficulty in articulating his arresting themes on film. Very judgmental: The Naked Night is termed ‘a pedantic contrived melodrama’; The Silence is ‘full of perfunctory pessimism’; The Seventh Seal is not mentioned at all, while Scenes from a Marriage is termed ‘one of the major films of the 1970s, adapting itself to the conservative instincts of that decade.’
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1987 1439. Group Item: Bergman and Nazism The subject of this entry has surfaced from time to time, and was brought up by Bergman in his memoir book Laterna magica. Both in Sjögren’s study of Bergman’s theatre work, Lek och raseri (2002, pp. 35-36) and in the interview book Bergman om Bergman (Ø 788), Bergman talks about his political ignorance as a youngster, even after having been exposed to the Nazi mentality during teenage summer visits to a parson’s family in Germany. When Laterna magica was published, author Jan Myrdal questioned Bergman’s unawareness of the political consequences of Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930s. See Jan Myrdal. ‘Om Ingmar Bergman och nazismen’ [About Bergman and nazism]. DN, 5 October 1987, p. 5. This article was a follow-up to the TV program ‘Kulturen’, 1 October 1987. Reply by Birgitta Steene, ‘Bergman som syndabock’ [Bergman as scapegoat], GP, 21 October 1987, p. 4. More than ten years later (1999), the subject raised its ugly head again, when Thomas Delekat published an article about Bergman’s alleged Nazi sympathies, ‘Heil Hitler! Rief Ingmar Bergman’, in Die Welt, 8 September 1999. Swedish journalist Maria-Pia Boethius contributed with a newspaper column titled ‘Es schwindelt einem, wenn man hinabsieht’, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 10 September 1999. Delekat’s article was accompanied by another piece on same subject by Thomas E. Schmidt, ‘Schwedische Gardinen’. Die Welt, 8 September 1999. Cf. Commentaries to some early stage productions by Bergman, Ø 378, 384. See also Ø 1533.
1440. Bergman, Anna. Inte bara pappas flicka. Stockholm: French edition: Au nom du père. Paris: Ed. Sylvie Messinger, 1989. A somewhat embarassing autobiographical account by one of Ingmar Bergman’s children, twin daughter Anna.
1441. Bohman, Gösta. ‘Ingmar Bergman och hans tid’ [Bergman and his times]. Svensk tidskrift, 74, no. 9, 1987: 490-96. The leader of the Swedish Conservative Party, who was about the same age as Bergman and confirmed by Bergman’s father, writes about Bergman’s Laterna magica. He considers Bergman a clear literary talent who might have become a writer of fiction, had he not devoted his life to filmmaking and theatre directing, yet finds his ‘unforgiving hatred’ of family and colleagues difficult to understand.
1442. Buntzen, Linda K. ‘Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander: Family Romance or Artistic Allegory’. Criticism: A Quarterly for Literature and the Arts 29, no. 1 (Winter) 1987: 89117. An article prompted by an ongoing debate in the American reception of Bergman’s filmmaking: Is he a middlebrow artist who knows how to appeal to mass audiences or the creator of great symbolic movies?
1443. Fellini, Frederico. ‘Bergman’. Le messager européen, no. 1 (Paris: Fondation SaintSimon), 1987. pp. 143-45. Appeared in Polish as ‘Moje spotkanie z Bergmanem’, Kino XXVIII, no. 319 (January 1994), pp. 10-11.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman An homage to Cinecitta film studios in Rome taking the form of an anecdote about an Ingmar Bergman visit there, confined to a toilet stop.
1444. Grive, Madeleine. ‘Bergmans knähundar’ [B’s lap dogs]. AB, 4 January 1987, p. 4. Grive accuses Bergman of surrounding himself with a staff of fawning dogs. See so-called Hamlet debate listed under reception of Hamlet production, December 1986, (Ø 468).
1445. Jarvie, Ian. ‘Persona: The Person as a Mask’. In Philosophy of the Film. New York & London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987, pp. 308-329. Chapter 14 of Jarvie’s book is in part an argument with earlier discussions of Bergman’s Persona (by Simon, Livingston, Wood), part analysis of the film according to three precepts employed by Jarvie for each film in the study: (1) film as quest; (2) film as attitude; (3) film as thesis and philosophical framework. See also Commentary to Persona in filmography, Ø 236.
1446. Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Vid Spegeln: Lacan/Bergman’ [At the Mirror: Lacan/Bergman]. Filmhäftet 57, 1987: 13-21. After a brief but comprehensive presentation of Lacan’s theory about the Mirror or Imaginary phase and the Symbolic or language-acquiring phase in child psychology and its relevance to the film viewer’s dualistic perception of a feature film, Koskinen discusses Persona as a structured oscillation between the Imaginary and the Symbolic – a film that attempts to destroy its mimetic function, yet affirms its dependence on it.
1447. Nilsson, Björn. ‘Vådan av att vara för stor’ [The risk of being too great]. MånadsJournalen no. 5, 1987, p. 8-10. In connection with the press debate about Bergman’s production of Hamlet during the spring of 1987, Björn Nilsson offered an explanation of the critical reception of this staging: Bergman upset some critics by not playing his part as an aging artist quietly listening to an autumn sonata; instead, he continued to question and challenge and to renew himself.
1448. Nilsson, Björn. ‘Ingmar Bergman på gränsen mellan förkastelse och förlossning’ [Bergman on the borderline between rejection and redemption]. Månads-Journalen, no. 12 (December) 1987: 13-15. About Bergman and his mad uncle Carl; the author raises the issue of how close Ingmar Bergman might have come to share a similar fate.
1449. Steene, Birgitta. Ingmar Bergman: A Guide to References and Resources. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1987. 287 pp. A reference guide to Bergman’s filmmaking up to 1984.
1450. Weise, Eckhard. Ingmar Bergman. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1987. 158 pp. A comprehensive German survey of Bergman’s filmmaking career, one of few Germanauthored books on Bergman.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1451.
ZieliŃska, Donata, ed. Ingmar Bergman. W opinii krytyki zagranicznej. Warsaw: Filmoteka Polska, 1987. 159 pp. With biographical note (by Grzegorz Balski), bibliography and a filmography Excerpts from previously published works by Béranger, Bergom-Larsson, Donner, Godard, Koskinen, Philips (Gene), Steene, and Young. Also includes Bergman’s 1959 essay ‘Varje film är min sista’ [Each Film is my Last], trans. as ‘Kazdi film jest moim filmem ostatnim’, pp. 130139.
1988 1452. Group Item: Ingmar Bergman at 70 In connection with Bergman’s 70th birthday on 14 July 1988, a number of magazine and newspaper articles were published, among them the following: 1.
Chaplin 30, no. 2-3 (215/216), 1988, ed. by Lars Åhlander.
Chaplin’s special tribute issue was also published in English as ‘Ingmar Bergman at 70. A Tribute.’(1988). It also appeared in a Russian edition titled Ingmar Bergman, ed. by Irina Rubanova, Moskow: SK. SSSR, 1991, 160 pp. Some of the material was included in German in Gaukler im Grenzland, Berlin: Henschel Verlag, 1993, and in Kino Iskusstvo, no. 2 (February) 1989: 32-46, as well as in Ingmar Bergman. The Journey of an Artist, ed. by Roger Oliver. New York: Arcade Publishers, 1995. Pagination in listing below refers first to Swedish, then to the special English issue of Chaplin. The issue contains homages to Bergman by filmmakers Woody Allen, Sir Richard Attenborough, Frederico Fellini, Jean Luc Godard, Akira Kurosawa, Satiyat Ray, Ettore Scola, the Brothers Tavani, Andresz Wajda, and Wim Wenders (Wenders contribution appeared in German, ‘Für (nicht über) Ingmar Bergman’, in Film und Fernsehen, no. 7, July 1990, pp. 22-23); by actors Eva Dahlbeck, Erland Josephson, Gunnel Lindblom, and Max von Sydow; Bergman himself contributes under his old pseudonym of Ernest Riffe with a reprint of the 1960 article, now titled ‘Andlig sömngångare och falskspelare’ [lit. trans. Spiritual Somnambulist and Counterfeiter], changed in English edition to ‘Pathetic Phrasing and Hollow Emptiness’. pp. 76, 157/ 20-21. The Chaplin issue also contains the following articles on Bergman’s filmmaking by: Björkman, Stig. ‘Det oåtkomliga’ [The inaccessible], pp. 81-83/24-27. (On Bergman’s visual dream style). Cowie, Peter. ‘The reluctant performer’, pp. 86-89 (only in the English edition). (A reprint of an event sponsored by The Guardian at the British National Film Theatre (NFT), where Bergman talked about Alf Sjöberg – with some historical flashbacks to his early days as ‘script washer’ at SF and his current views on film/TV). Dickstein, Morris. ‘En titt under illusionernas mask’ [Peering Behind the Mask], pp. 60-63. (On The Silence and Persona). Donner, Jörn. ‘En konstnärlig följeslagare’ [An artistic companion]. Changed in the English edition to ‘The Significance of Ingmar Bergman’, pp. 108-109/64-66. (Part post-war film history, part focus on Bergman’s uniqueness as a ‘child’ and moralist). Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Tvålopera à la Bergman’ [Soap Opera à la Bergman], pp. 84-88/30-34). (On Bergman’s Bris commercials).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Simon, John. ‘Det mänskliga ansiktet’ [The Human Face], pp. 108-09/56-59. (On author’s first reaction to Bergman’s The Naked Night). Steene, Birgitta. ‘Barnet som Bergmans persona’ [The Child as B’s Persona], pp. 122-129/72-81. (On the child as character and metaphor in B’s films). Timm Mikael. ‘Gränslandets filmare – Bergman och den kulturella traditionen’ [A Filmmaker in the Borderland), pp. 90-97/38-45. (Argues that Bergman’s filmography mirrors the cultural journey of the entire 20th-century). Several of the above articles are discussed by Sissel Hamre Dagsland in Danish Berlingske Tidende, 14 July 1988. 2. Filmhäftet. Tidskrift om film och TV, 62 (May) 1988, 65 pp. A Bergman theme issue titled ‘B som i Bergman’ (B as in Bergman). Contains the following articles: Andersson, Lars Gustaf. ‘Smultronstället och Homo viator-motivet’ [Wild Strawberries and the Homo viator theme], pp. 26-39. (Discussion of B’s film as an archetypal journey in the European literary tradition). Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Vid fiktionens gräns. Ingmar Bergman och den höjda taktpinnens estetik’ [At the borderline of fiction. Bergman and the esthetics of the raised baton], pp. 4-10. (On the invisible and visible narrator in Bergman’s films and other narrative devices). Ljungkvist, Anna & Jan-Erik Westman. ‘Under luppen. Bergman och kritiken’ [Under the magnifying glass. Bergman and the critics], pp. 43-53. (On the reception of Bergman’s films based on a sampling of 282 Stockholm newspaper reviews). Qvist, Per Olov. ‘Dömda till frihet. Noteringar kring Bergmans första filmer’ [Doomed to freedom. Notes on B’s first films], pp. 11-25. (Places B’s earliest films in their cultural context and compares them to other Swedish films at the time). Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Laterna magica. Att röra sig mellan magi och havregrynsgröt’ [Bergman’s Magic Lantern. To move between magic and oatmeal porridge], pp. 51-54. (Review article of Bergman’s memoirs). Viklund, Klas. ‘Konstnären, demonerna och publiken’ [The artist, the demons, and the public], pp. 40-42. (A discussion of the meta-filmic motif in Hour of the Wolf). 3. Conference of Katolische Akademie Schwerte, April 1988, titled ‘Wie zu leben – wie zu überleben? – Ingmar Bergman 70 Jahre’. Frankfurt: Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft für Jugendfilmarbeit und Medienziehung, 1990, 65 pp. 4. Among a plethora of press articles published in connection with Bergman’s 70th birthday, see: Berggraf, Rainer. ‘Die Wirklichkeit gibt es vielleicht nur als Sehnsucht’. Die Welt, no. 162, 14 July 1988; Che. ‘Gaukler, Geisterbeschwörer und Bildzauberer’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 14 July 1988; Gammelgaard, Tone. ‘Sannhetselsker og løgner’ [Truth teller and lier]. Verdens Gang, 13 July 1988; Hansen, Jan E. ‘Mangfoldet av mønstre. Et teater å komme hjem til’ [Manifold of patterns. A theater to return home to]. Aftenposten (Oslo), 9 July 1988. (An account of Bergman’s return to Dramaten and the homage paid to him by actors and audience at the opening of his production of King Lear in 1984, when Bergman made a rare post-performance appearance. Hansen sees the theatre as Bergman’s source of inspiration and central metaphor for life and art. Cf. his interview with Bergman, 1986, Ø 908); Ignée, Wolfgang. ‘Auf der Insel der Kunst’. Stuttgarter Zeiting, 14 July 1988; ‘Ingmar Bergman fyller 70’. Morgenbladet, 14 July 1988; Jansen, Peter W. ‘Woodys Nordlicht’. Die Zeit, no. 29, 15 July 1988; Koskinen, Maaret. See Ø 1466;
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Michiels, Dirk. ‘Ingmar Bergman 70’. Film et Télévisie 374-375 (July-August) 1988: 24-25. (A brief assessment of Bergman’s filmmaking role, plus excerpted statements by Bergman, mostly from Laterna magica); Pflaum, H.G. ‘Der Chronist der Angst’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 14 July 1988; Rustad, Hans. ‘Ingmar Bergman er blitt et begrep’ [Bergman has become a concept]. Morgenbladet (Oslo), 14 July 1988. NTB (syndicated) article. Also in for instance Nordtrønderen, Namdalen, and Tönsbergs Blad, same date, and in Lofotsposten and Romerikes Blad, 15 July 1988. (Suggests that Bergman’s greatest achievement lies in his having been able to create an artistic universe of his own); Salvesen, Paul Leer. ‘Bilder til gråt – og trøst’ [Images for crying – and consolation]. Fedrelandsvennen (Kristiansand, Norway). 14 July 1988. (A personal assessment of Bergman’s work, especially his films; Seidel, Hans Dieter. ‘Schürfen bei Bergman’. Frankfurter Allgemeine, 9 July 1988; Strunz, Dieter. ‘Der grosse Grübler aus dem Norden’. Berliner Morgenpost, 14 July 1988; Werkelid, C.O. ‘Barn för evigt’. SvD, 10 July 1988. Sunday Supplement, p. 21, 23. (Essayistic homage to Bergman at 70. Theme is the ‘provincial’ genius as eternal child). 5. Film Theatre Programmes. ‘Ingmar Bergman – 70th Birthday Tribute’. Film Theatre Programmes, July 1988, p. 31. A list of a short season of films at the British National Film Theatre (NFT), in celebration of Bergman’s 70th birthday. See also: Strandgaard, Charlotte. ‘14.7.1988 – 4000 døde sæler – tilegnet Ingmar Bergman’ [14 July 1988 – 4000 dead seals – dedicated to Ingmar Bergman]. The title is a poem read by the author on Danish Radio the day after two news items were announced on television newscast: one about 4000 dead seals and the other about Ingmar Bergman’s 70th birthday.
1453. Group Item: Felix Award and Subsequent Appointment and Resignation of Bergman as Head of Felix Jury A report by Bernd Lubowski, ‘Ingmar Bergman tritt für Europas Filmkünstler ein’, Berliner Morgenpost, 29 December 1988, announced Ingmar Bergman as the recipient of the European Felix Award (European film prize) in Berlin. See Ø 913. Two years later, Scotland on Sunday, 2 December 1990, carried a report by Richard Mowe of Ingmar Bergman as new head of the Felix Jury, distributing the European Film Awards in Glasgow. The report was titled ‘Bergman’s Dream’ but the event became Bergman’s nightmare: He left the ceremonies in haste after determining that jury members played favorites. Mowe’s article precedes Bergman’s cancellation, and is mostly a translation of Cahiers du Cinéma interview with Bergman (Assayas-Björkman). (See Ø 919). Film Français, no. 2317, 28 September 1990, p. 10, carried a note about Bergman’s election as president of the Felix jury.
1454. Allen, Woody. ‘Through a Life Darkly’. NYT, 18 September 1988, sec 7, p. 1, 29, 30-34. Reprinted in Ingmar Bergman. An Artist’s Journey, ed. Roger Oliver. New York: Arcade Publishings, 1995, pp. 25-30. Translated into Swedish as ‘Den fullständige filmkonstnären’ [The complete film artist] in Expr., 24 September 1988, pp. 4-5, and into French under title ‘Une vie à travers le miroir’. Positif 382 (December) 1992: 16-20. Presented as a review of Bergman’s Laterna magica, Allen’s comments read more like memories of his first encounters with Bergman’s filmmaking (Summer with Monica, The Naked Night, The Seventh Seal).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1455.
Armando, Carlos. O planeta Bergman. Belo Horizonte, Brazil: Officina de Livros, 1988, 341 pp. A Brazilian film critic presents a survey of Swedish cinema before and after Bergman, plus a survey of major themes in Bergman’s filmmaking. Also includes a presentation of main Bergman actors and a film by film analysis. The book ends with a selection of articles on Bergman and interview statements by him.
1456. Behrendt, Poul. ‘Tvånget att göra upp’ [The need to settle accounts]. SvD, 17 January 1988, Sunday section, p. 10. Originally published in the Danish Magazine Kritik. A comparison of three Swedish autobiographies – those of Jan Myrdal, Olof Lagercrantz, and Ingmar Bergman – all three deal with a complicated child-parent relationship.
1457.
Blum, Heiko R. ‘Jenseits der Skandale’. Tagesspiegel, 2 July 1988. A presentation of a Bergman retrospective on ARD (Allgemeiner Rundfunk Deutschland) with early biographical information, summary of the Trilogy and focus on causes of Bergman’s success as filmmaker: provocative sex, TV medium, depiction of marriage.
1458. Bolin, Asta. ‘Mellan mörker och ljus’ [Between darkness and light]. Vår lösen 79, no. 6, 1988: 424-28. A frequent commentator on Bergman’s art in a religious magazine suggests that Bergman the image maker has himself become a screen for projections by others while remaining somewhat of a sphinx.
1459. Childkret, David. ‘Film Forum: The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni.’ Eighteenth Century 12, no. 1 (February) 1988: 52-57. See Ø 1463. 1460. Graef, Igor Abrahim. ‘Archetypal Metaphors in the Works of Bergman and Buñuel’. M.A. thesis. University of New Mexico, 1988. 151 leaves. Available at Univ. of New Mexico library. 1461. Haddal, Per. ‘Mangfoldet av mønstre’ [Manifold patterns]. Aftenposten (Oslo), 9 July 1988. Haddal argues that despite their thematic consistency, Bergman’s films are rich in genre experimentation.
1462. Horowitz, Mark. ‘Scenes from a Life’. American Film 14, no. 1 (October) 1988: 55-57. A review of a video release of nine early Bergman films, prompted by publication of The Magic Lantern. The videos were released by Nelson Entertainment and included following titles: Hets (Torment), Hamnstad (Port of Call), Till glädje (To Joy), Sommarlek (Summer Interlude), Kvinnors väntan (Secrets of Women), Gycklarnas afton (Sawdust and Tinsel), En lektion i kärlek (A Lesson in Love), Kvinnodröm (Dreams), and Sommarnattens leende (Smiles of a Summer Night).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1463. Johnson, Jeffrey L.L. ‘Bergman’s Humanist Magic Flute and Losey’s Socialist Don Giovanni’. Eighteenth Century Life 12, no. 1 (February) 1988: 52-57. With David Childkret. Not a comparative study but more like two separate comments on film versions of opera works by Mozart.
1464. Kawin, Bruce. ‘The Reflexive Dream’. Dreamworks (3-4) 1988: 171-78. Making contrasting references to films by Buster Keaton (Sherlock Holmes) and Carl Dreyer (Vampire, Joan of Arc, Ordet), the author discusses the theatrical metaphor of the curtain, in which Bergman has phrased his reflexive and spiritual concerns since The Magician.
1465. Kinder, Marsha. ‘The Dialectics of Dreams and Theater in the Films of Ingmar Bergman’. Dreamworks V, no. 3/4, 1988: 179-82. Arguing that Bergman’s filmmaking is often linked to a germinal text by another artist that helps provide the deep structure of Bergman’s work, the author examines the connection between Strindberg’s Dreamplay and Bergman’s filmmaking. Discusses the following films (using a mix of American and British titles): The Devil’s Wanton, Sawdust and Tinsel, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, The Magician, The Trilogy, Persona, The Ritual, From the Life of the Marionettes, and Fanny and Alexander. Though some chronological mistakes lead Kinder erroneously to juxtapose a particular theatre production and a film, the article is a valuable attempt to explore the dialectic between theatre and dreams in Bergman’s filmmaking.
1466. Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Strövtåg bland Bergmans smultronställen’ [Rambles among Bergman’s favorite spots]. DN, 14 July 1988, p. 16. Cf. Ø 1452. A newspaper overview of major themes and narrative approaches in Bergman’s filmmaking.
1467. Lange-Fuchs, Hauke. Ingmar Bergman. Die Grosse Kinofilme. Eine Dokumentation Lübeck: Amt für Kultur der Hansestadt Lübeck, 1988. 233 pp. A documented filmography of Bergman’s major films by an editor who was one of the first to introduce young Bergman to Germany in connection with annual Nordic Film Days in Lübeck. See also same author in Ingmar Bergman. Seine Filme – sein Leben. Munich: Heyne Verlag 1988, 40 pp. Includes a filmography with brief synopsis of films, and photographs.
1468. Maxfield, James F. ‘Dreaming with Bergman’. Willamette Journal of the Liberal Arts 4, no. 1 (Winter) 1988-1989: 53-74. A discussion of three dream scequences in Bergman’s filmmaking: (1) series of scenes in final third of Persona; (2) the dead Agnes’s summoning of her sisters and her servant Anna toward the end of Cries and Whispers; (3) Alexander’s wandering at night through Isak Jacobi’s puppet shop in Fanny and Alexander. All these ‘dream sequences’ are pivotal in revealing an essential truth about the characters involved, yet their dream structure leaves something indelibly mysterious behind.
1469. Ohlin, Peter. ‘Through a Glass Darkly: Figurative Language in Ingmar Bergman’s Script’. Scandinavian Canadian Studies/Etudes Scandinaves au Canada 3, 1988: 73-88.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman The author discusses image clusters in Bergman’s script to Through a Glass Darkly, singling out such features as light and darkness; decay and rotting; walls and bounderies signifying both vulnerability and protection, disease and sickness; animal references and inanimate objects described as having human qualities. He concludes that the script is much more melodramatic and violent in tone than the finished film.
1470. Oliva, Ljubomir. ‘Rytir, smrt a Dabel’ . Film a Doba, 12 (December) 1988: 682-88. On Bergman’s early work, prior to 1952.
1471. Sjöman, Vilgot. ‘Bortstött, avskuren, utplånad’ [Rejected, cut off, wiped out]. DN, 10 July 1988, pp. 32-33. A discussion of the theme of separation in Bergman’s films: separation from the womb (Gycklarnas afton/The Naked Night); rejection by parent (Tystnaden/The Silence, Såsom i en spegel/ Through a Glass Darkly); ‘self-isolation’, withdrawal as a form of revenge (Persona); religious separation (Nattvardsgästerna/Winter Light); separation from life (Viskningar och rop/Cries and Whispers).
1472. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Laterna magica.’ Finsk tidskrift, no. 2/3, 1988: 78-90. A discussion of Bergman’s memoir The Magic Lantern as a literary work in the context of various definitions of autobiography as a genre.
1473. Teréus, Roger. ‘Ingmar Bergman – den passionerade regissören’ [Bergman – the passionate director]. Filmrutan, no. 2, 1988: 24-26. The author comments on extensive Bergman literature abroad and lack of academic interest in his works in Sweden.
1474. Tobin, Yann. ‘Quand mes yeux verront-ils la lumière’. Positif 334 (December) 1988:29. An assessment of Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking in relation to other arts and media. This text was presented in May 1988 at a seminar in connection with an honorary award to Ingmar Bergman by the city of Fiesole in Italy: ‘Premio Fiesole ai Maestri del cinema.’ Cf. Ø 1478.
1475. Wasserman, Raquel. Filmologia de Bergman: Dios, la vida y la muerte. Buenos Aires: Editorial Fraterna, 1988, 185 pp. See Ø 997. 1476. Working with Ingmar Bergman. A booklet published by British Film Institute and Thames Television. London: BFI, 1988, 57 pp. Recollections by Bergman actors, crew members, and editor (Lasse Bergström), published in connection with British BBC 4 TV documentary about Bergman. Includes an introduction by Peter Cowie. See (Ø 912).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman
1989 1477. Group Item: Sonning Prize On 17 November 1989, Ingmar Bergman received the Danish Sonning Prize of half a million Danish crowns in recognition of his film and theatre work. He immediately donated the sum to set up a foundation that would distribute an annual travel stipend to a Danish filmmaker or theatre person. At the ceremony, which took place at the University of Copenhagen, the Chancellor (Ove Nathan) motivated the choice of Ingmar Bergman as a recipient of the Sonning Prize. The Dean of Social Sciences addressed Bergman’s filmmaking and Professor Thomas Bredsdorff spoke about his theatre work. Bergman responded with a speech titled ‘Mina danska änglar’ (My Danish Angels), in which he talked about three Danish literary figures that had been important to him: Kierkegaard, Georg Brandes, and Kaj Munk. Crosslisted in Chapter II, (Ø 187), 1990. For reports on the award, see Per Dabelsteen, ‘Forærede en halv mill. Væk’ [Gave away half a million. Gone]. Morgenavisen (Danish), 18 November 1989. Bergman’s speech is reprinted on the same page. An abbreviated version of Thomas Bredsdorff ’s speech appeared as a ‘kronikk’ in Politiken, October 12 1989, and in Expr. (‘Hyllningen till Ingmar Bergman’) on 12 October 1989, p. 29. An 8-minute news program about Bergman and the Sonning Prize was broadcast on Danish Radio (DR), on 11 October 1989.
1478. Bernardi, S. ‘Ingmar Bergman: sinfonia del silenzio’. Filmcritica XL, no. 393 (March 1989): 206. A resume of a conference held in May 1988 in Italian fiesole, titled ‘Ingmar Bergman: Sinfonia di scrittore’. Includes untitled contributions by Ermanno Comuzio, Sergio Sablich and Piero Revoltella. The article emphasizes rhythm and musical quality of Bergman’s screenplays.
1479. Błaszczyna, Stanisłav. ‘Bergman a symbole’ [Bergman and symbols]. Kino XXIII, no. 11 (269) (November 1989): 33-38. About Bergman’s use of symbols in the representational form of a dream consciousness. The article refers to Freud’s and Jung’s studies of dreams as wishfulfilment and archetype, with focus on Gycklarnas afton, Smultronstället, Viskningar och rop, Persona. It also treats the mirror motif in Bergman as a search for identity and a form of unmasking.
1480. Chion, Michel. ‘A l’endroit du spectateur: Sur le style cinématographique de Bergman’. Vertigo, no. 1, 1989, pp. 137-38. A critique of Bergman as an eclectic filmmaker with no unity of style or technique but oscillating between cinematographic avant-gardism and total classicism. However this duality comes together in Fanny and Alexander. The title refers to Bergman’s ability to evoke the astonishment of early film spectators when first confronted with the magic of the new medium.
1481. Cowie, Peter. Max von Sydow. From The Seventh Seal to Pelle the Conqueror. Special Chaplin publication, Swedish Film Institute, 1989, 87 pp. Chapters 1 and 2, titled ‘The Youthful Challenge’ and ‘Bergman’s Spiritual Coward’, deal with von Sydow’s stage performances during Bergman’s Malmö period and his roles in The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Close to Life, The Magician (The Face), The Virgin Spring, Through a
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Glass Darkly, Winter Light, Hour of the Wolf, Shame, A Passion, and The Touch. Includes some interview statements on his work by von Sydow. Pp. 15-43.
1482. ‘Drugite za Bergman.’ Kinoizkustvo XLIV, no. 2 (February 1989), pp. 32-46. A Bulgarian dossier with illustrations of Bergman’s filmmaking.
1483. Gianvito, J. ‘Bergman’s Magic Lantern ‘Living in its Own Meaning.’’ Literature/Film Quarterly 17 (April), 1989:138- 40. Basically a discussion of Bergman’s self-portrait in his memoir book Laterna magica.
1484. Helker, Renate & Jochen Meyer-Wendt. ‘Gewalt und Leidenschaft. Ein Porträt der Schauspielerin Ingrid Thulin’. Filmbulletin no. 164, 1989, pp. 52-63. A portrait of actress Ingrid Thulin as one of Bergman’s leading screen performers between 1957 (Wild Strawberries) and 1984 (After the Rehearsal), and before that time as a stage actress at Malmö City Theatre. The authors claim that without Bergman, Thulin would have remained a mediocre actress. This article is followed by an interview with Thulin.
1485. Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Spegelskrift. Nedslag i några tidiga Bergman-filmer’ [reflected writing. Strokes in some early Bergman films]. Chaplin no. 224, 1989: 232-35, 277. About Bergman’s use of the mirror motif as a carrier of meanings not necessarily visible to the naked eye. The mirror implies doubling, revelation, insight into self but also a contrasting of selves and masks.
1486. Lauder, Robert. God, Death, Art and Love. The Philosophical Vision of Ingmar Bergman. Mahwah, NJ: The Paulist Press, 1989. 198 pp. With a foreword by Liv Ullmann. A great admirer of Bergman’s filmmaking, Lauder has been a faithful reviewer of his works, emphasizing its religious or philosophical aspects. ‘Bergman is to film what Shakespeare is to theater and Joyce is to literature’. Cf. Group item (Ø 997), 1958. Review: Commonweal, 14 September 1990.
1487. Madsen, Ole Christian. ‘Bergman, biografen, skyggerne’ (B., the movie house, the shadows). Levende billeder 5, no. 3, 1989: 24-25. Madsen relates Ingmar Bergman’s creativity to his childhood, seeing it as ‘a conglomeration of angst, lies, mythmaking, guilt and love in a hopeless world’. Result: Bergman has no gods, only demons.
1488. Navarro de Andrade, José, ed. Ciclo Ingmar Bergman. Lisbon: Cinemateca Portuguesa, 1989. 185 pp. An attractive collage of interviews and articles, preceded by a poem on Bergman’s film Winter Light by Agostino da Silva. The survey article by João Benard da Costa, ‘Ingmar Bergman: O Cheiro equisito de Cinema’, pp. 41-90, relies somewhat too much on one single source, Frank Gado’s The Passion of Ingmar Bergman. (See Ø 1432).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1489. Ritter, Naomi. ‘The Popular Show in Film: Bergman and Fellini’. Art as Spectacle. Images of the Entertainer since Romanticism. Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press, 1989, pp. 276-312. The title chapter does not compare Bergman and Fellini. Bergman is discussed in particular on pp. 276-294, 311-12. Focus is on the circus in The Naked Night, the actors in The Seventh Seal, the dwarfs in The Silence and Alexander’s toy theater and Aron’s puppets in Fanny and Alexander. The performer/entertainer represents both a diegetic and an aesthetic feature in these films.
1490. Rokem, Freddie. ‘Bergmans dibbuk’. Judisk krönika, no. 1, 1989, pp. 16-17. See Ø 375, 989 (Shakespeare). 1491. Schadwill, Uwe. ‘’Aber was reflektieren die Scherben?’: E.T.A. Hoffmann und Ingmar Bergman’. Mitteilungen der E.T.A. Hoffmann Gesellschaft. Bamberg, Germany: 1989, pp. 35, 62-77. See Ø 989. 1492. Sitney, Adams P. ‘Color and Myth in Cries and Whispers’. Film Criticism 13, no. 3 (Spring) 1989: 37-41. Also published in Swedish under the title ‘Liksom en saga av Bröderna Grimm’ [Like a tale by the Brothers Grimm]. Chaplin XXXI, no. 3 (222), 1989: 124-25. About the use of color and symbolic structure in Bergman’s filmmaking, especially Cries and Whispers.
1493. Sörenson, Elisabeth. Loppcirkus. Max von Sydow berättar. Stockholm: Brombergs, 1989. In a biography, based on interviews, the actor Max von Sydow discusses his collaboration with Ingmar Bergman on stage and screen. See pp. 83-112.
1494. Werkö, Mårten. ‘Kompositören Ingmar Bergman’. Ny Tid (Finland), 6 December 1989, p. 10. A report from a Bergman symposium in Karis, Finland, discussing the difference in Bergman’s Christian frame of reference and today’s secularized audience.
1495. White, Margaret Leslie. ‘The Interplay of Diegetic and Experiential Time in Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata and Bertrand Tavernier’s Round Midnight.’ B.A. honors thesis, University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1989, 47 leaves.
1990 1496. Group Item: Award of Honorary Degree at University of Rome Organizers had hoped for Bergman’s presence on 7 December 1990 to receive an honorary degree, but he cancelled his appearance. Cinema Nuovo, XXXIX, no. 325 (May-June) 1990: 5-11, contains the following items pertaining to this event: Aristarco, Guido. ‘Il volto e l’oltre’ in Bergman narratore moderno’, pp. 5-7. (On the dualism of the face and the ‘other’ in Bergman’s film narratives).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Hedin, Sven F. ‘L’ultimo riconoscimento’, p. 8-9. (Acceptance speech by Swedish ambassador). Peluffo, Nicola. ‘Il regista e il procedimento micropsicoanalytico’, pp. 9-11. (A brief speech on the psychological make-up of Bergman’s characters).
1497. Burdick, Dolores. ‘Persona: Facing the Mirror Together’. In Close Viewings: An Anthology of New Film Criticism, ed. by Peter Lehman. Tallahassee: Florida State University Press, 1990, pp. 23-38. Persona is described as a mirror, not a window; the film is self-revealing rather then offering a glimpse of an outside representational reality. Cf. Commentary on Persona in Filmography, Chapter IV, Ø 236.
1498. Josephson, Erland. Sanningslekar. Stockholm: Brombergs, 1990. In a series of memoirs, the first one titled Rollen (1989) and the second one Sanningslekar [Truth games], Bergman actor and lifelong friend Erland Josephson discusses various aspects of his career. For his contacts with Ingmar Bergman, see Sanningslekar, chapters 13, 14, 23, 26-27, 3032, 81. A fifth volume, titled Svarslös [1996, Speechless], also contains numerous passages (but no complete chapters) on Josephson’s work with Ingmar Bergman at the Hälsingborg City Theatre, Göteborg City Theatre and Dramaten. While Sanningslekar is interspersed with comments on Bergman’s 1987 production of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, in which Josephson played Dr. Rank, Svarslös uses Bergman’s 1996 staging of the Bachae at Dramaten as a frequent point of reference. Josephson’s memoirs also include Föreställningar [Performances], 1991; Vita sanningar [White truths], 1997. A collection of Rollen, Sanningslekar and Föreställningar was published in 1995.
1499. Lange-Fuchs, Hauke and Martin Linz. ... noch einmal zu Bergman. Frankfurt: Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft für Jugendfilmarbeit und Medienziehung, 1990, 65 pp. Three essays originally presented as papers at the Conference of Katolische Akademie Schwerte in April 1988 on the theme of ‘Wie zu leben – wie zu überleben? – Ingmar Bergman 70 Jahre.’ See Ø 1452, p. 977. Lange-Fuchs writes on Ingmar Bergman and the world of childhood in ‘Das Kind im (Berg) Manne’ (also published in Magic Lantern, no. 2, 1991: 1-4), and on Bergman’s commercials, made for the Sunlight Corp. in 1950-51, in ‘Soap Opera à la Bergman. Bergmans Werbefilme.’ Linz writes on the philosophical/religious content of Bergman’s films in ‘Gleichnisse. Philosophische und theologische Spuren im Werk Bergmans.’ Cf. Ø 997.
1500. Murphy, Kathleen. ‘Children of the Paradise’, Film Comment 26, no. 6 (NovemberDecember 1990), pp. 38-39, 42. Murphy compares Persona with Angeloupolos’s film Landscape in the Mist.
1501.
Steene, Birgitta. ‘Bergman, Ernst Ingmar’. Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature, Greenwood Press, 1990. Dictionary entry on Bergman.
1502. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Vita dukens magi: Ingmar Bergman och de nya medierna’ [The magic of the silver screen: Bergman and the new media]. Modernister och arbetardiktare. Den svenska litteraturen, vol. 5, ed. by S. Delblanc and L. Lönnroth. Stockholm:
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Bonniers, 1990, pp. 260-70. Repr. in Från modernism till massmedial marknad: 19201995. Stockholm: Bonniers, 1999, pp. 264-274. A chapter on Ingmar Bergman as an auteur in multi-volume literary history.
1503. Vries, Tjitte de. Filmartikelen en essays 1966-1990: dagbladartikelen, brochureteksten en beschouwingen over film en filmgeschiedenis. Rotterdam: [s.n.], 1990, 190 pp. Pages 1-16 present a survey of Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking by one of the earliest commentators on Bergman in the Netherlands.
1991 1504. Bergström, Lasse. ‘Den gamle och havet. En försonad Ingmar Bergman’ [The old man and the sea. A reconciled Bergman] Månadsjournalen, no. 11, 1991, pp. Also published in English as ‘Bergman’s Best Intentions’. Scanorama, May 1992, pp. 12-13, 17-18; and in Ingmar Bergman: An Artist’s Journey, ed. by Roger Oliver. New York: Arcade Publishings, 1995, pp. 16-22. About Bergman’s reconciliation with his parents and his bourgeois heritage.
1505. Blake, Richard A., S.J. ‘Looking for God. Profane and Sacred in the Films of Woody Allen’. Journal of Popular Film and Television 19, no. 2 (Summer) 1991: 58-66. Blake discusses the ramifications of a theological approach to cinema by comparing Woody Allen’s and Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking. To Blake, Bergman’s quest is private and sacred, Allen’s is social and profane. Bergman’s characters withdraw from daily living, Allen’s characters anguish over coping with everyday life.
1506. Heath, Elizabeth, F. ‘The Theme of Anxiety in Selected Works of Henrik Ibsen, Edward Munch and Ingmar Bergman’. M.A. thesis, University of South Florida, 1991, 60 leaves. 1507.
Marty, Joseph. Ingmar Bergman. Une poétique du désir. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1991. A survey of Bergman’s filmmaking, followed by a chronological analysis of his films through 1984. Considering the number of Bergman surveys already on the market, the volume provides little new information but includes a very compact bibliography of (mostly) French publications on Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking, from 1955-1990, including French interviews and a listing of special magazine issues (fiches) pertaining to a number of Bergman films. Last film listed is Efter repetition (Après la répétition).
Review Images, Spring 1992.
1508. Positif, 360 (February) 1991. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Contains the following articles: Aghed, Jan. ‘Une sacrée promenade: Bilder ou les nouvelles confessions d’Ingmar Bergman’. Pp. 100-103, (Review article on Bilder/Images); Amile, Vincent. ‘La part des femmes’. p. 98 (On Bergman’s portrayal of women);
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Tobin, Yann. ‘Ingmar Bergman avant la conscience: les cinque premiers films’. pp. 95-97. (Makes a brief assessment of Bergman’s first five films: Kris/Crise, Det regnar på vår kärlek/Il pleut sur notre amour, Skepp till Indialand Bateau pour les Indes, Musik i mörker/ Musique dans les ténèbres, Hamnstad/Ville portuaire).
1509. Sandberg, Mark. ‘Rewriting God’s Plot. Ingmar Bergman and Feminine Narrative’. Scandinavian Studies 63, no. 1 (Winter) 1991: 1-29. A study of Bergman’s growing valorization of female discourse, pointing out however his undercutting of the independent female voice by a male point of view that denies the female voice total control. A more subtle analysis than earlier feminist approaches to Bergman. (Cf. Ø 975).
1510.
Sobolewski, Tadeusz. ‘Zły chłopiec – Bergman’. (Bad Boy – Bergman). Kino XXV, no. 4 (286), (April) 1991: 18-25. A discussion of male/female, god/man, hate/love dichotomy in Bergman’s filmmaking, partly based on a reading of Laterna magica. Also includes text to ‘Isak’s story’ from the TV production of Fanny and Alexander (longer version).
1511.
Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ingmar Bergmans Bilder och den självbiografiska genren’ [Bergman’s Images and the autobiographical genre]. Finsk Tidskrift, no. 5, 1991: 274-86. A discussion of Bilder [Images] and the autobiographical genre.
1512.
SzczepaŃski, Tadeusz & Andrzej Werner. ‘Bergman jako pisarz. W şwietkle nocy, w mroku dnia’ [Bergman as a Writer]. Kino XXV, no. 5 (287), (May) 1991: 6-9, 12-17. A discussion of literary works by Bergman and a translation of his debut story, ‘En kort berättelse om ett av Jack Uppskärarens tidigaste barndomsminnen’. (Ø 26), translated as ‘Krotsze opowiadanie o jednym z najwczesniejszych w s pomnien z dziecinstwa Kuby Rozpruwacza’, pp. 9-11.
1513.
Vacondeus, Joaquim. ‘Fotogramas de palco com o peso de Bergman’. Exposocão, 20 April 1991. A photo exhibit in Lisbon, titled ‘Bergman on Stage’. The exhibit ran at the time when Dramaten presented Madame de Sade, at Lisbon’s Teatro Nacional D. Maria II. See Theatre Chapter VI, (Ø 471).
1514.
Winterson, Jeanette. ‘Blooded with Optimism’. Sight and Sound (May) 1991: 33. Novelist Jeanette Winterson writes about her fascination with Ingmar Bergman’s films, especially The Seventh Seal and Fanny and Alexander.
1515.
Zavarzadeh, Mas’ud. Seeing Films Politically. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991, 267 pp. The book includes a chapter on ‘The Political Economy of Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander’, pp. 229-246. It argues that Bergman presents Alexander within the space of the Lacanian Imaginary and depicts Alexander’s refusal to enter into the Symbolic Order (domaine
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman of the father). The book as a whole attempts to reveal the dominant ideology in a number of feature films and pays little attention to artistic qualities.
1992 1516.
Aghed, Jan. ‘Bergman après Bergman’. Positif 382, (December) 1992: 21-30. A review article of Enskilda samtal (Private Confessions) and Söndagsbarn (Sunday’s child).
1517.
Bax, Dominique, ed. Théâtres au cinéma. The program issued at the Magic Cinema festival at Bobigny, France, April 1-20, 1992, 89 pp. The first half of the program focusses on Bergman; the second half on Strindberg. With an introduction by Peter Cowie (pp. 8-11); cited comments by Bergman on rhythm, music, closeup, eroticism, etc. (p. 13); an imaginary interview (‘Gnossjennés scandinaves’) by Said OuldKbelifa, based on excerpts from Laterna magica (pp. 15-16); an article by Fabrice Renault d’Allonnes titled ‘Bergman, le théâtre et le cinéma’ (pp. 18-19), and a filmography with excerpted reviews of each film. Renault d’Allonnes’ article singles out two cinematic features said to be impossible to achieve in the theatre: the close-up and the montage.
1518.
Berger, Christian. ‘Auf der Suche: Leute in Ingmar Bergmans Filmen der fünfziger under sechziger Jahre’. Diss. University of Vienna, 1992. DAIA 1996 (Fall). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1996. 256 ms. pp. A character analysis of main figures in Bergman’s films from the Fifties and Sixties.
1519.
Bergom-Larsson, Maria, Stina Hammar, and Bengt Kristensson-Uggla, eds. Nedstigningar i modern film – hos Bergman,Wenders, Adlon, Tarkovski. [Descents into modern film – in Bergman etc]. Delsbo: Åsak, Sahlin & Dahlström AB, 1992. Chapter II contains the following two articles on Bergman’s filmmaking: Maria Bergom-Larsson & Bengt Kristensson-Uggla. ‘Film som religiöst språk. Hedenius och Bergman i livsåskådningsdebatten’ [Film as religious language. H and B in the public philosophical debate], pp. 9-22. (Focussing on Bergman’s film Fängelse (Prison), the authors relate the film’s imagery to philosophy professor Ingemar Hedenius’ 1948 book ‘Tro och vetande’ but claim that Bergman’s visual focus was overshadowed by a word-oriented Hedenius debate). Maria Bergom-Larsson. ‘Ingmar Bergman och den mörka kommunionen. Tankar kring fadersgudens död i Bergman filmkonst’ [Bergman and the dark communion. Thoughts on the death of the divine father figure in B’s film art], pp. 23-49. The essay centers on the emergence of a god of compassion in the following films: Gycklarnas afton (The Naked Night), ‘The Trilogy’, Skammen (Shame) and Fanny och Alexander.
1520. Bohlin, Torgny. ‘Torsten Bohlin – konturer av en teologs identitetsutveckling II. Tillika en studie i Ingmar Bergmans “Den goda viljan”’ [TB – Contours of a theologian’s identity development II. Plus a study of Bergman’s ‘Best Intentions’]. Kyrkohistorisk årsskrift 1992, pp. 29-54.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman The son of Torsten Bohlin provides a portrait of his father, who in his youth was a close friend and frequent visitor to Karin Åkerblom’s childhood home and one of her lifelong friends. Discusses the real-life background of Bergman’s narrative ‘Best Intentions’, the first part of which depicts the Åkerblom household.
1521.
Bono, Francesco, ed. Il giovane Bergman. Rome: Officina Edizione, 1992. 133 pp. A book on films by young Bergman, presented at a retrospective festival, ‘Il cinema del primo Bergman’, in Rome’s Palazzo delle Esposizioni, October 7-12, 1992. Contains filmography of early films, including episodes in 1951 commercials for Bris soap, an excerpt from Bergman on Bergman (Ø 788) and the following essays: Bono, Francesco. ‘Gli esordi di un regista’, pp. 7-8. Cowie, Peter. ‘Autobiografia e storie di coppie nei primi film di Bergman’, pp. 29-34. Fridén, Ann. ‘Bergman drammaturgo e regista teatrale negli anni Quaranta’, pp. 45-60. Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Al di la della finzione. Alle origini dell’estetica di Bergman’, pp.21-28. Marty, Joseph. ‘Figure e trame nel cinema del giovane Bergman’, pp. 35-44. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Bergman e il cinema svedese del dopoquerra’, pp. 9-20. Trasatti, Sergio. ‘La critica italiana alla scoperta di Bergman’, pp. 61-68.
1522. Cohen, Shalev Amin. ‘The Effect of Aging on Dramatic Realization of Old Age: The Example of Ingmar Bergman’. The Gerontologist. (December) 1992: 739-44. A medical study of two Bergman films on aging, Wild Strawberries and Fanny and Alexander, portraying two approaches to integrity, one (Isak Borg) compulsive, the other (Helena Ekdahl) adaptable to others.
1523.
Harcourt, Peter. ‘Journey into Silence: An Aspect of the Late Films of Ingmar Bergman’. Scandinavian Canadian Studies/Etudes Scandinaves au Canada (SCSESC) 5, 1992: 19-28. The author argues that Bergman’s movement from humanism to modernism explains his fashionable status in the late Fifties and unfashionable status some thirty years later. Harcourt traces a movement (‘an awkward trajectory’) involving Bergman’s sense of mistrust of the magical properties of his own art, coupled with an increasing disbelief in the possibility of meaningful human exchange.
1524. Levine, Joshua. ‘Dr. Pangloss, meet Ingmar Bergman’. Forbes, 30 March 1992, p. 96. A discussion of the advertising trend focussing on human mortality. Hence title of article, which refers to Bergman’s image as a morbid filmmaker.
1525.
Liljekvist, Jan. ‘Ingmar Bergmans opus 18 & 27: Om musiken i filmerna Smultronstället och Persona’ [Bergman’s opus 18 & 27: about music in Wild Strawberries and Persona]. Dept. of Music Studies, Stockholm University, 1992, 39 pp. Undergraduate thesis.
1526. Linton-Malmfors, Birgit, ed. Den dubbla verkligheten. Karin och Erik Bergman i dagböcker och brev 1907-1936 [Double reality. Karin and Erik Bergman in diaries and notes 1907-1936]. Stockholm: Carlssons, 1992.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman The editor, a personal childhood friend of Margareta Bergman, made this selection of Karin Bergman’s diary notes and letters exchanged between Ingmar Bergman’s parents. Two more volumes of Karin Bergman’s diaries have been edited by Linton-Malmfors and published: Detta underliga skådespel som heter livet. Karin Bergmans dagböcker 1937-1951. Stockholm: Carlssons, 1995, and Åldrandets tid. Karin Bergmans dagböcker 1952-1966. Stockholm: Carlssons, 1996. All three volumes contain many references to Ingmar Bergman. Review: SvD, 19 January 1992, Part 2, p. 32. For an account of Karin Bergman, based on her diaries and Ingmar Bergman’s use of this material in Enskilda samtal, see Maaret Koskinen, ‘Rov för borgerligt maktspel’ [Prey of bourgeois power play], DN, 27 December 1996, p B3, and Christina Rosenqvist, ‘Karin Bergman & kärleken’ [KB and love]. Vi, no. 47-48, 1996, pp. 59-62.
1527.
‘Mago – Ett liv i siden och vadmal’ [Mago – A life in silk and homespun wool]. SVT, 6 October 1992. A program about Bergman’s costumier Max Goldstein (Mago).
1528. Mançeau, Jean-Louis. ‘Enfin, La Palme d’Or pour Ingmar Bergman’. Cinéma 72, no. 490 (June 1992), p. 2. The title refers to Den goda viljan (Best Intentions) winning the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival. However, the film was directed by Bille August and the tribute was as much to him as to Bergman as the scriptwriter.
1529. Revista Cinematografo. no. 62 (December) 1992. Bergman issue.
1530. Pasolini, Paolo. ‘Fellini, Bergman, Truffaut’. Iskusstvo Kino no. 3, 1992: 48-52. Reprint of earlier presentation of title filmmakers, of interest because of author.
1531.
Rajat, Roy. Bergman. Calcutta, 1992. A booklet in Hindi on Bergman’s filmmaking. Available at SFI. See Ø 1211.
1532.
Sitney, Adams P. ‘Bergman’s The Silence and the Primal Scene’. Film Culture 76 (June) 1992: 35-38. The article discusses two Bergman films – Prison and The Silence – in terms of their primal scene, i.e., depicting an imagined parental intercourse and participating in it. The author outlines the sexual symbolism of the two title films, with special attention to the film projection sequence in the attic in Fängelse and the dwarf sequence, the variety show sequence and the vignette of the boy observing the Rembrandt painting in Tystnaden (The Silence).
1533.
Stangerup, Henrik. ‘Den unge Mefisto och viljan till makt’. SDS, 26 January 1992, p. A 4. See also Ø 1439. A critical view of Bergman, charging him with failure to acknowledge his youthful Nazi sympathies and sentimentalizing his family history in Den goda viljan (Best Intentions).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1534. Svanberg, Lena. ‘Ty riket är ditt’ [Thy Kingdom Come]. Intrig, June-August 1992, pp. 91-99, 190, 192. An illustrated presentation of the people who are part of ‘The Bergman Firm’, including family, actors, and other collaborators. Mostly informational gossip. Cf. next item.
1535.
Söderberg, Agneta. ‘Klanen Bergmans många ansikten’. Expr. 31 August 1992, pp. 34-35. An illustrated picture cavalcade of Bergman’s parents, uncle and self as a child, juxtaposed with actors portraying them in the films Fanny ocd Alexander, Den goda viljan (Best Intentions), and Söndagsbarn (Sunday’s Child).
1536. Trasatti, Sergio. Ingmar Bergman, il paradoxo di un ‘Ateo cristiano’. Firenze: La nuova Italia. Series: Casturo Cinema, no. 156, 1992: 7-163 (+ filmography). 188 pp. A survey of Bergman’s filmmaking, including his works for television, confirming its lasting value. To the author, Bergman typifies filmmaking of his time but poses timeless questions. He presents Bergman’s cinema as a cinema of ideas and makes extensive use of Italian newspaper reviews of Bergman’s films. See also same item, Interview Chapter, (Ø 925).
1537.
Visscher, Jacques de. ‘De beelden van Ingmar Bergman’. Film en Televisie no. 426 (November 1992):14-15. A discussion of Bergman’s writing and TV production after his withdrawal from large-scale filmmaking, with a certain emphasis on Bilder (Images. My Life in Film).
1538. Wellendorf, Kassandra. ‘Når farven gi’r mening’ [When color gives meaning]. Kosmorama, no. 200 (Summer) 1992: 51-56. The author discusses Bergman’s symbolic use of colors and color constellations to depict emotions, states of mind, and human qualities. She focusses on The Touch, Cries and Whispers, Autumn Sonata, From the Life of the Marionettes, and Fanny and Alexander.
1993 1539. Group Item: Ingmar Bergman at 75 Among the many newspaper and magazine stories on Bergman’s 75th birthday, the following constitute a representative sample: Björkman, Stig. ‘Une découverte d’Ingmar Bergman’. Cahiers du Cinéma nos. 467-468 (May 1993): 90-95. A discussion of Bergman’s interest in Swedish silent filmmaker Georg af Klercker, resulting in his (TV) play ‘Sista skriket’ (The Last Cry). Also includes references to other current Bergman activities, such as Cannes Festival which was about to celebrate Bergman at 75. Dpa. ‘Filme von Seele zu Seele: Ingmar Bergman wird 75’. Die Welt, 12 July 1993. Jansen, Peter W. ‘Der klassische Moderne’. Tagespiegel, 14 July 1993. Nordvik, Martin. ‘Skaperkraft med markant profil’ [Creative power with a marked profile]. Adresseavisen, 10 July 1993. Norman, Barry. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Radio Times CCLXXVIII, no. 3628 (17 July) 1993: 30.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Strunz, Dieter. ‘Kraftquelle des europäischen Kinos’. Berliner Morgenpost, 14 July 1993. (Talks about Bergman’s life and work, his portrayal of men and women, young and old, and his ‘discovery’ of Scandinavian actresses).
1540. Chaplin xxxv, no. 3/246 (Summer) 1993: 1-28. A special supplement to Swedish film journal on lighting in Bergman’s films with cover story titled ‘Ingmar & Sven – 25 år som ändrade filmhistorien’ [Ingmar and Sven – 25 years that changed film history]. The same issue also includes the following articles: Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Den svängande lampan’ [The swinging lamp], pp. 13-15. (About a motif in three Bergman films – Hamnstad, Ansiktet, and Fanny och Alexander, where the lamp vignette signifies a magic room, a pendulum between everyday reality and escape, between unmasking and illusion). Sterner, Roland. ‘Domptörer i ljuskretsen’ [Trainers in the circle of light], pp. 4-12. Also in Filmkultura xxix, no. 6 (July) 1993: 1-11. (A discussion of some Bergman films photographed by Sven Nykvist. The author sees a change from aestheticism (Jungfrukällan/The Virgin Spring) to realistic use of light (Nattvardsgästerna/Winter Light), a process he attributes in part to technical developments, most specifically Kodak’s double X film 200 ASA). Werner, Gösta. ‘Traditionen i svenskt filmfoto’ [Tradition in Swedish cinematography], pp. 1626 (The author discusses two of Bergman cinematographers: Göran Strindberg and Sven Nykvist).
1541.
Balbierz, Jan and BogusŁaw ŻmudziŃski, eds. Ingmar Bergman. Krakow: Jagielloński University, 1993, 154 pp. An anthology of excerpts from works by Ingmar Bergman (Laterna magica), Margareta Bergman, Anna Bergman, Maria Bergom-Larsson, Łeslaw Czapliński, Jörn Donner, Konrad Eberhardt, Marianne Höök, Maaret Koskinen, Tadeusz Sczepański, Vernon Young, and Leif Zern, et al. The only new material in the volume are two articles by Łeslaw Czaplińksi: ‘Motiwy klucze w tworczosci filmowej bergmana’ (Key motifs in Bergman’s filmmaking), pp. 63-72 and ‘Bergman – mistrz scenicznego szczegolu’ (Bergman – den sceniska detaljens mästare] (pp. 109-113). Also included are three pieces by Bergman: ‘Ormskinnet’ (Ø 131), ‘Varje film är min sista film’ (Ø 108), and ‘Andlig sömngångare och falskspelare’ (pseudonym Ernest Riffe, Chaplin 1988, no. 2-3; Ø 1452).
1542. Binh, N.T. Ingmar Bergman: Le magicien du Nord. Paris: Gallimard, 1993. One of the best survey discussions of Bergman’s filmmaking. A personal approach aimed at the general public.
Reviews Positif, 397, 1993, p. 88; Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 473 (November 1993): 7.
1543. Blackwell, Marilyn Johns. ‘Ingmar Bergman and the Humanist Tradition: Reactionary Solipsism or Viable Engagement?’ Studies in German and Scandinavian Literature after 1500. Festschrift for George Schoolfield, ed. by James A. Parente Jr. Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1993, pp. 282-94.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman The author sees Bergman’s filmmaking as a form of committed humanism rather than selfabsorbed introspection.
1544. Bragg, Melvyn. The Seventh Seal. London: British Film Institute, (BFI Film Classics), 1993. 69 pp. Like Philip and Kersti French’s study of Wild Strawberries (entry Ø 1585) in the same BFI series, this brief study provides a fine analysis of the film and good background information on it, with relevance to Bergman’s filmmaking in the Fifties.
1545.
Bresser, Jan Paul. ‘De rumoerige Stilte’. Elsevier, 16 December 1995, pp. 96-98. A brief overview of Bergman’s film and stage career, occasioned by his announcement of his retirement from Dramaten (false alarm).
1546. Cohen, Hubert I. Ingmar Bergman: The Art of Confession. New York: Twayne, 1993, 507 pp. A comprehensive study of Ingmar Bergman’s filmmaking, including all his work on the silver screen. The author’s basic premise is that personal background and cinetextual foreground are inseparable and barely distinguishable. He refers to Bergman’s ‘almost pathological narcissism’. Well-written but the study does not seem to be familiar with Swedish source material and is sometimes too detailed in its film synopses.
Reviews Choice 31, no. 7 (March) 1994, p. 1140; Film Quarterly XLIX, no. 1 (Fall) 1995: 52-53.
1547.
Company, Juan Miguel. Ingmar Bergman. Madrid: Catedra. Signo e Imagen/Cineastas, 1993. 221 pp. Repr. in 1999, 231 pp. The book begins and ends with two chapters based on selective interviews with Bergman over the years. Other chapters focus on ‘Ideology and Historicity’ (The Serpent’s Egg, The Silence); Bergman’s comic and serious spirit (All These Women, The Seventh Seal; Persona); use of flashbacks/juxtaposition of present and past (Summer Interlude, Wild Strawberries, Cries and Whispers, After the Rehearsal); and the reception of Bergman by Spanish critics.
1548. Darnton, Nina. ‘Artist as Lover: Bergman’. Elle, May 1993: 130-133. In connection with a Bergman film festival in London, three of Bergman’s actresses – Harriet Andersson, Bibi Andersson, and Liv Ullmann – talked about Bergman’s role in their lives. This is a take-off for an article that discusses Bergman’s impact and direction of women both on screen and stage. The article was written in connection with guest performances in New York of Bergman’s stage productions Madame de Sade and Peer Gynt.
1549. Hejll, A. ‘Närgången kamera’ [Obtrusive camera]. Filmrutan XXXVI, no. 1, 1993, pp. 33-35. The author compares the use of close-ups in Bergman’s Persona and Cassavetes’ Faces.
1003
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1550. Kinema, no. 1 (Spring 1993): 5-12. A discussion of sexual antagonism in Bergman’s early films, with specific reference to his parental background and religious upbringing.
1551.
Kino (Sofia), no. 3 (July) 1993: 44-80. Special Bergman issue, edited by Todor Andrejkov, Kasimir Krumov, and K. Russinova. The issue contains three brief articles by the editors, a bio-filmography, an interview with Bulgarian theatre director Stavri Karamfilov on his stage production of Höstsonaten, and a Bulgarian translation of the script to Efter repetitionen.
1552.
Koskinen, Maaret. Spel och speglingar. En Studie i Ingmar Bergmans filmiska estetik. Diss. Stockholm University: Department of Theatre and Cinema Studies, 1993. 278 pp. A close study of Bergman’s film esthetics as expressed through recurrent visual motifs. The study is divided into three parts: A survey of Bergman criticism; an analysis of voyeuristic elements in Bergman’s films; and the play-within-the play structure as an emblematic Bergman approach (‘urscen’).
Reviews Chaplin XXXV, no. 2 (245), 1993: 61.
1553.
Lefèvre, R. ‘Ingmar Bergman et Georg af Klercker’. Mensuel cinéma, April 1993: 6-8. About Bergman’s portrait of Georg af Klercker in Sista skriket, Le dernier cri.
1554.
Mayo, Wendell. ‘Modernism and Mimetic Crisis: Four Films of Ingmar Bergman’. West Virginia University Philological Papers (WVUPP) 39, 1993: 144-48. The author sees Bergman’s contribution to modernism as twofold, beginning with his depiction of artists in an identity crisis, which is also a mimetic crisis; and continuing in his later film narratives (Persona and on) with his response to this crisis. The films discussed are Sawdust and Tinsel (The Naked Night), The Magician, Persona and Hour of the Wolf.
1555.
Muller, Kurt. ‘Checkfate!: The Reception of Ingmar Bergman in America, from the late 1950s ‘til the end of the 1960s’. BA thesis: California Polytechnic State Univ., 1993. 63 leaves. MPI Microfilm Service, San Luis Obispo, CA.
1556. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ett subversivt filmspråk. Ingmar Bergman i ett filmfeministiskt perspektiv’ [A Subversive Film Language. Ingmar Bergman in a Film Feministic Perspective]. I Nordisk forskning om kvinnor och medier, ed. by Ulla Carlsson. Göteborg: Nordicom 3, 1993, pp. 141-58. Cross-listed and annotated in (Ø 975). 1557.
SzczepaŃski, Tadeusz, editor. Bergman Obrazy, Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczna i Filmowe, 1993. 439 pp. The book contains introductions to a dozen Bergman films from Hets to After the Rehearsal.
1558.
Trasatti, Sergio. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Castoro Cinema 156 (October 1993): 1-96. A special Bergman issue with a bio-filmography.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1559. Törnqvist, Egil. Filmdiktaren Ingmar Bergman. [Ingmar Bergman. Poet of the Cinema]. Bokförlaget Arena, 1993, 142 pp. Essays structured as close readings of the following Bergman films: Det sjunde inseglet, Smultronstället, Persona, Viskningar och rop, Höstsonaten, and Fanny and Alexander, plus an introduction on Bergman and a summary chapter on Bergman’s visual dialectics. The discussion of Fanny and Alexander first appeared in a special 1988 Bergman issue of Chaplin.
Review Filmrutan, no. 2, 1993: 45-46.
1560. Zern, Leif. Se Bergman [Look Bergman]. Stockholm: Norstedt, 1993. 204 pp. A Stockholm theatre critic conducts his own retrospective viewing of Bergman’s films and records his second response to them, which is more positive than his first encounter with them.
Review Chaplin XXXV, no. 6 (249) 1993: 61.
1561.
Zijlmans, Mieke. ‘Ingmar Bergman. “Omdat ik als mens een mislukking was”’. De Groene Amsterdammer, 21 July 1993. An overview article with several Bergman comments from different interviews/writings.
1562. Åhlander, Lars, ed. Gaukler im Grenzland. Ingmar Bergman. Berlin: Henschel Verlag, 1993, 241 pp. Includes a filmography. This is an expanded version of the special 1988 ‘Tribute to Ingmar Bergman’ issue of the Swedish film magazine Chaplin. The scope of the content is broad, including essays on Bergman’s filmmaking, tributes by other filmmakers, and members of Bergman’s professional entourage, and reprints of earlier assessments of Bergman, including one by Bergman pseudonym Ernest Riffe. Also included are brief contributions by a number of filmmakers and Bergman actors. Contributing writers on Bergman are Morris Dickstein, Jörn Donner, Maaret Koskinen, John Simon, Birgitta Steene, and Egil Törnqvist. Cf. Entry (Ø 1452).
Review Filmdienst, XLVI, no. 26 (21 December 1993): 32.
1994 1563. Andersson, Lars Gustaf. ‘Sista skriket. Ingmar Bergman och Gustaf af Klercker och filmens villkor’ [The Last Gasp. Bergman and GaK and the conditions of the cinema]. Filmrutan xxxvii, no. 1, 1994: 2-5. A brief discussion of Bergman’s play Sista skriket (The Last Gry), its fictional and historical context.
1564. CzapliŃski, Łeslaw. ‘Symbolika tłukaçego sie szkła w filmach Ingmara Bergmana’. Iluzjon, no. 1 (53) (1994), pp. 75-79. About the symbolism and importance of mirrors and broken glass in Bergman’s films.
1005
Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1565.
Elsaesser, Thomas. ‘Putting on a Show’. Sight and Sound 44, no. 4 (April) 1994: 2227. The author sees Bergman as a figurehead of a national cinema and of an auteur cinema pastisching its own cultural self-importance. His role is historically linked to the postwar European auteur cinema. ‘Ingmar Bergman is hardly a name contemporary cinema makes much use of, except as an adjective, usually applied to Woody Allen’s films that the reviewers find embarassing.’ An expanded version of this article appeared in Aura VI, no. 3, 2000, pp. 4-17. Cf. also Perridon entry (Ø 1643).
1566. James, Caryn. ‘Ingmar Bergman Adds to the Mosaic of Autobiography’. New York Times, 22 April 1994, Section C, p. 1. Reprinted as ‘Bergman as Novelist’ in Ingmar Bergman: An Artist’s Journey. Ed. Roger Oliver. (New York: Arcade Publishing, 1995), pp. 112- 15. Mostly a discussion of Sunday’s Child as an autobiographical novel with special emphasis on its time structure.
1567.
Kieslowski, Krzysztof. ‘Kan Kieslowksi lösa Tystnadens gåta?’ [Can K. solve the riddle of The Silence?]. Chaplin XXXVI, no. 5 (1994): 26-30. Reportedly first published in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (date unknown). Reprinted in French under title ‘Peut-on résourdre l’énigma du Silence?’ Positif 457 (March) 1999: 62-64, and in German in Kinoerzählungen, ed. by Verena Lueken. Munich: Hanser, 1995. Polish filmmaker Kieslowski singles out and discusses certain key sequences in Bergman’s film, which give it narrative strength. Considers Tystnaden (The Silence) as Bergman’s most personal film both in form and content. Regards Bergman’s filmmaking of same importance as Dostoevsky’s and Camus’ depictions of human nature. However, in reexamining Tystnaden (The Silence), Kieslowski concludes that not even Bergman has an answer to the questions the film evokes.
1568. Long, Robert. Ingmar Bergman. Film and Stage. New York: Abrahams, 1994. A richly illustrated survey of Bergman’s work on the screen and in the theatre. An elegant coffee table book.
1569. Meyer, Michael. ‘The Magician’. New York Review of Books, 9 June 1994, pp. 17-19. Though billed as a review of Bergman’s Bilder/Images. My Life in Film, this is a broad presentation of Ingmar Bergman by very negative British critic.
1570. Murray-Brown, Jeremy. ‘Wordless Secrets: The Cinema of Ingmar Bergman’. The New Criterion 12, no. 8 (April) 1994: 19-23. Mostly a review article of the American edition of Bergman’s Images. My Life in Film.
1571.
Ohlin, Peter. ‘Four Images in Ingmar Bergman: Representation as Liminality and Transgression’. Scandinavian-Canadian Studies/Etudes Scandinaves au Canada (SCSESC) 7 (1994), pp. 79-91.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Ohlin discusses the implications of four upside-down shots of faces in The Silence, Persona, and Cries and Whispers.
1572. Osborne, John. Damn you England. London: Faber & Faber, 1994. Osborne discusses Bergman on pp. 94-102.
1573. Pradna, Stanislava. ‘Ctyrikat dva Kapitola III: Bergman-Ullmanova’. Film a Doba XL, no. 3 (Autumn) 1994: 141-148. The third part of a study on directors and their actresses, focussing on Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann.
1574.
Shelburne, Steven. ‘The Filmic Tradition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Reinhardt, Bergman, Hall and Allen’. In Screen Shakespeare, ed. by Michael Skovmand. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1994, pp. 13-24. In discussing Woody Allen’s film A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982), the author draws parallels to Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), in turn said to be inspired by Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.
1575.
Svetlitza, Hugo. Psicoanalysis y creacion artistica: Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman, Salvador Dali, James Joyce. Capital: Riccardo Vergasa Ediciones, 1994. 91 pp. A psychoanalytical study of the four title figures as creative artists.
1576. Timm, Mikael. ‘Bergman – gränslandets filmare’ [Bergman – frontier filmmaker] in Ögats glädje [Joy of the Eye], Stockholm: Carlssons, 1994, pp. 40-172. One third of this book on auteur filmmakers is devoted to a survey of Bergman’s cultural background and filmmaking. Includes an interview which is a reprint of two talks with Bergman on the Swedish Radio in 1984, listed in entry (Ø 896).
1577.
Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night: Bergman’s TV Version of Oväder Compared to Smultronstället’. In Kela Kvam, ed., Strindberg’s Post-Inferno Plays. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1994, pp. 186-95. Cross-listed in Group Item (Ø 989). A comparison between Strindberg’s play about an aging, withdrawn gentleman and Bergman’s film about old recluse Isak Borg.
1578. Vinge, Louise. ‘The Director as Writer: Some Observations on Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Den goda viljan’’. In A Century of Swedish Narrative: Essays in Honour of Karin Petherick’. Norwich: Norvik Press, 1994, pp. 281-93. In Den goda viljan [Best Intentions] Bergman sets the stage as if he were directing a play, but also invites the reader to enter into the creative process, a characteristic feature in a post-modern work but also an imagined construct that facilitates the fusion of reality and illusion in Bergman’s role as author.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1579. La Voce di Milano. ‘Il mago del Nord’. 3 May 1994. Contains three brief items: Bergman, Ingmar. ‘Porto Shakespeare con me nel Natale della mia infanzia’. (An address to readers of La Voce about what inspired him to set up The Winter’s Tale). Canova, Gianni. ‘Torna il profeta dei nostri dolori’. (About Bergman as an existential filmmaker). Sablich, Sergio. No title. (Brief review of Bergman’s production of The Winter’s Tale).
1995 1580. Group Item: New York City Ingmar Bergman Festival, 7 May-15 June 1995 The program covered all aspects of Bergman’s work. It included: Guest performances by the Royal Dramatic Theatre with Mishima’s The Marquise de Sade and Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale; a Bergman retrospective titled ‘Landscape of the Soul: The Cinema of Ingmar Bergman’, organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center/Walter Reade Theater; and Bergman television programs at the Museum of Radio and Television. The festival was sponsored by Absolut Vodka. In connection with the festival, two publications were published: Dramat. Royal Dramatic Theatre’s Ingmar Bergman Festival Edition, May 1995. (See Ø 646), Theatre/Media Chapter for annotation. Ingmar Bergman. An Artist’s Journey. On Stage, On Screen, In Print, ed. by Roger W. Oliver. New York: Arcade Publishings, 1995, 160 pp. Also in French: Ingmar Bergman: le cinema, le theatre, les livres. Rome: Gremese, 1999, 192 pp. and in German: Ingmar Bergman: Der Film, das Theater, die Bücher. Same publisher. An Artists Journey is a collection of essays divided into four sections titled: ‘Bergman on Bergman’; ‘Directors on Bergman’; ‘Actors on Bergman’; and ‘Reflections on Bergman’. Most of the content consists of reprints of earlier material, including statements by Bergman, homages by other directors and by actors, and articles by journalists and film scholars. These items are listed as individual entries elsewhere in the Guide. The only new essays written specifically for Ingmar Bergman: An Artist’s Journey are: Steene, Birgitta. ‘Manhattan Surrounded by Ingmar Bergman’: The American Reception of a Swedish Filmmaker’. pp. 137-154. (An analysis of Bergman’s impact in US); Wright, Rochelle. ‘The Imagined Past in Ingmar Bergman’s The Best Intentions’, pp. 116-125. (A discussion of the autobiographical and fictional aspects of Bergman’s novel (script) for Best Intentions). During the festival there were also interviews with Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann, panel discussions at the Lincoln Center Library and numerous other write-ups in the New York press. See in particular Caryn James, ‘Sweden’s Poet of Stage and Stagecraft’. NYT, C1, 1995, p. 20, which is a .presentation of Bergman as both a filmmaker and stage director. See also a German report from the festival by Anja Baron. ‘Vom Erforscher der weiblichen Psyche’. Berlin Morgenpost, 6 July 1995. SVT, channel 1, reported from the festival in its cultural program called Nike on 26 May 1995.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1581.
Aatland, Liv. ‘The Swedish Dreams of Ingmar Bergman. Myth and Archetypes in Wild Strawberries and Hour of the Wolf ’. M.A. thesis, Regent University, 1995 (UMI no. 1378182). An embarassing attempt to create a context for Bergman’s work by juxtaposing Old Norse mythology, Jungian archetypes, and popular myths about modern suicidal Scandinavia.
1582. Amante Cine, no. 37 (March 1995): 32-41. Dossier on Bergman and his films.
1583.
Axelson, Cecilia. ‘Bergman vs Ekman. En uppgörelse mellan saga och helvete’. [B vs E. A contest between legend and hell]. Chaplin xxxvii/4 (259), 1995: 16-21. A discussion of rivalry between filmmakers Ingmar Bergman and Hasse Ekman in the Swedish cinema of the 1940s. The author promotes the view that Bergman took over the role of golden boy and that the film industry sacrificed Ekman, a highly talented and versatile director. Cf. Mattson, 1998 (Ø 1640).
1584. Charity, Tom. ‘Swede Dreams’. Time Out 1305, (23 August 1995), p. 65. Notes on the unfashionable status of Ingmar Bergman and the outdated philosophical concerns of his films, making an exception for Smiles of a Summer Night. Cf. Murphy below.
1585.
French, Philip and Kersti. Wild Strawberries, London: British Film Institute, 1995. 78 pp. A well-written analysis of Bergman’s film, including background information and reception. Useful also in a broader Bergman film context.
1586. Gyllenpalm, Bo. Ingmar Bergman and Creative Leadership. Diss. University of California in Santa Barbara. STABIM; Torö, 1995, 148 p. See Theatre/Media Bibliography (VII), (Ø 647). 1587.
Hamzai, Shahram. ‘Woody Allen. A Bergman Connection’. Film International III, no. 4 (Autumn 1995): pp. 32-38. Using Allen’s statement about his much admired colleague – ‘Brilliance falls off Bergman like perspiration’ – the author examines Bergman’s impact on Allen in such films as Love and Death, Hannah and her Sisters, Another Woman, A Midsummer Night’s Comedy, and Interiors, making specific references to Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Cries and Whispers, Scenes from a Marriage, and Autumn Sonata.
1588. Hedman, Kaj. ‘Århundradets största filmskapare’ [The century’s greatest filmmaker]. Vasabladet, 19 March 1995. An auteur homage to Bergman as a filmmaker with a personal style and vision.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1589. Johansen, Phillip. ‘The Cinematic Fantastic’. Arachne II, no. 2, 1995: 324-36. Using Kristin Thompson’s essay ‘The Concept of Cinematic Excess’ and relating it to Todorov’s theory of the fantastic in cinema, the author focusses on Bergman’s The Magician as an emblematic example.
1590. Kelly, Oliver. ‘The Politics of Interpretation: The Case of Bergman’s Persona’. In Philosophy and Film, ed. by Cynthia A. Freeland and Thomas E. Wartenberg. New York & London: Routledge, 1995, pp. 233-50. Arguing that a film exemplifies a philosophical model or an ideology only after it has been interpreted as such, the author uses ‘Persona’ to subvert the Hegelian-Lacanian philosophical model, which proposes that subjectivity is the result of an antagonistic struggle unto death with the Other. Kelly proposes a feminist reading of ‘Persona’ to expose its violent patriarchal ideology and to show where its philosophical model breaks down. Cross-listed in Filmography, (Ø 236). See also Ø 975. Cf. Ø 1654.
1591.
Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Närbild och narrativ (dis)kontinuitet: nedslag i Bergmans närbilder’ [Close-up and narrative (dis)continuity: browsing among Bergman’s closeups]. Aura: filmvetenskaplig tidskrift I, no. 1, 1995:58-63. The author argues that Bergman’s use of close-ups often breaks up his own explicit ‘poetics’ and the film’s narrative continuity. This is exemplified with references to Nattvardsgästerna, Tystnaden, Persona, Sommaren med Monica, and Det regnar på vår kärlek.
1592. Lee, Gordon A. ‘Perceiving Ingmar Bergman’s The Silence through I Ching’. M.A. thesis, San Jose State University, 1995, 150 leaves. The author uses three major principles of I Ching: the easy, the changing, and the constant in analyzing Bergman’s The Silence. ‘Easy’ implies striving for simplicity; ‘Changing’ implies the dynamic process of reaching insight; ‘constant’ applies to creativity confirming universal laws.
1593. Muller, Kurt. ‘The Reception of Ingmar Bergman in America from late 1950s to end of the 1960s’. B.A. thesis, University of California, 1995. 63 typed pp. 1594. Murphy, Kathleen. ‘A Clean, Well-Lighted Place: Ingmar Bergman’s Dollhouse’. Film Comment 31, no. 3 (May-June) 1995: 13-18. Murphy sees Bergman as ‘a Protestant sensualist who can never rise to whole-hearted Rabelaisian physicality; there is always a worm of guilt or disgust or indignity in the apple’. If his films survive it is because his ‘dollhouse is alive with intensely experienced images and scenes.’
1595. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Besatt viking eller uppskattad konstnär: Strindberg och Ingmar Bergman i USA’ [Possessed Viking or Appreciated Artist: Strindberg and Bergman in the US] In Kungliga Vitterhetsakademins Konferenser 33. Stockholm, 1995, pp. 87-107. Cross-listed in Ø 989. A discussion of Strindberg’s and Ingmar Bergman’s reputation in the US, using a 3-step reception approach: (1) the transmitter phase; (2) the annexation phase; (3) the assimilation phase.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1596. Stevenson, Jack. ‘Somrarna med Monica. Bergman som buskis på bystan’. [Summers with Monica. Bergman as slapstick in the boondocks]. Chaplin 258, no. 3 (Summer) 1995: 18-22. An account of early fate of Summer with Monica (Story of a Bad Girl) as a pirated and soft-core porno film circulating in Midwest American drive-in theaters. An abbreviated version of article was originally published in Dutch in Skrien, no. 202, (June/July 1995). A version in German appeared in a booklet entitled Und Gott erschöfpte Europa (And God Created Europe), issued by the Kinemathek Karlsruhe in connection with a retrospective film showing, 19-26 April 2002.
1597.
Törnqvist, Egil. Between Stage and Screen. Ingmar Bergman Directs. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 1995. 243 pp. A close reading of six Bergman stage productions, one TV production, two radio productions and six films. The final chapter is one of the earliest attempts to juxtapose Bergman’s filmmaking and theatre work and addresses the book title most fully.
Reviews Film Quarterly L, no. 2 (Winter) 1996-97: 47-49. de Volkskrant, 12 February 1995.
1598. Zern, Leif. ‘Ingmar Bergman: Dialog, scena, kamera’. Dialog (Polish) 40, no. 4 (April) 1995: 84-90. Trans. by Tadeusz Szczepański. About Bergman’s use of dialogue on stage and screen.
1996 1599. Alman, David. ‘Les jeux de l’humor’. L’Avant-Scène du cinéma 454 (July) 1996: 1-6. The author recalls critical disapproval of Bergman as a maker of film comedies, especially Smiles of a Summer Night, but now realizes how this film is full of serious Bergman themes.
1600. Andersson, Bibi. Ett ögonblick [A moment]. Stockholm: Norstedt, 1996. 253 pp. Memoirs with two sections dealing with Ingmar Bergman; see chapters titled ‘Och så Bibi om Bergman’ [And now Bibi on Bergman], pp. 71-80, and ‘Beröring och smockor’ [Touch and slaps], pp. 94-105. About Bibi’s relationship to Bergman, which began when she was 19, and about Bergman tax case in which police searched her home and interrogated her for eight hours. Eventually the Swedish government apologized to Bergman but never to Bibi A.
1601. Arkus, L., ed. ‘Pamjat’ o smyste’ [Memories of meaning?]. Seans, no. 13, 1996. 210 pp. A special issue of a St. Petersburg publication about memory with regard to Ingmar Bergman’s films. Apparently issued in connection with a retrospective showing of Bergman’s films.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1602. Bagh, Peter von and Francesco Bono. ‘Tuntematen Bergman’. Filmihullu 2, 1996: 33-38. Three articles on minor works by Bergman: his self-censored film Sånt händer inte här (1950, High Tension), his Bris commercials (1951), and his stage and TV play Sista skriket (1992, The Last Scream).
1603. Blackwell, Marilyn Johns. ‘The Silence: Disruption and Disavowal in the Movement beyond Gender’. Scandinavica 35, no. 2 (November) 1996: 233-68. Cf. author’s book length study Gender and Representation in the Films of Ingmar Bergman. See group entry (Ø 975). Blackwell offers the most extensive study of Bergman’s filmmaking from a gender point of view.
1604. Fortin, Dennis. ‘Les références cinéphiliques chez Woody Allen: construire une oeuvre sur la base de l’intertextualité’. Canadian Journal of Film Studies V, no. 1 (Spring) 1996: 35-48. On comic cinematic references to Bergman’s filmmaking in Woody Allen’s films.
1605. Furhammar, Leif. ‘Filmen 100 år i Sverige’. SVT, Channel 2, 25 December 1996 and 1 January 1997. Part six and seven of a series of TV programs tracing the history of the Swedish cinema over the past hundred years. It includes references to Bergman’s filmmaking and his brief participation in the program.
1606. Kinema, no. 5 (Spring 1996): 13-39. About music in Ingmar Bergman’s films, especially the significance of Bach, Mozart, and Chopin.
1607. Luke, Paul. ‘The Allegorical Device of the Character Double in the Films of Ingmar Bergman’. (Diss. York Univ., Toronto). Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1996. Also listed as completed in 1979. Focusing on the Doppelgänger motif, the author examines five Bergman films from an allegorical perspective.
1608. Mishler, William. ‘The Virgin Spring and The Seventh Seal: A Girardian Reading’. Comparative Drama, Spring 1996, pp. 196-211. Using René Girard’s theories about the function of religion in human society and the mimetic quality of ‘triangular’ desire between a subject and an object linked by a mediator, Mishler examines Bergman’s two medieval films mentioned in the title.
1609. Saunier, Thierry. ‘Bergman le solitaire’. La nouvelle revue française. no. 520, May 1996, pp. 125-142. A philosophical essay defining Bergman’s solitude in both ontological and professional terms. His major themes deal with the isolation and loneliness of man. Professionally, he has come to represent the Swedish cinema, occupying a unique position in the history of the cinema by
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman being associated with a nation’s entire film industry and having no followers. Essay makes several (somewhat belabored) comparative references to French writers like Camus, Aragon, Mauriac, Gide, Bernanos, Foucault, etc.
1610. Smith, Evans Lansing. ‘Framing the Underworld: Threshold Imagery in Murnau, Cocteau, and Bergman’. Literature/Film Quarterly 24, no. 3 (July) 1996: 241-255. The heroic journey into the underworld unites Murnau’s Nosferatu, Cocteau’s Orphée and La Belle et la Bête, and Bergman’s Wild Strawberries. Smith shows how Bergman’s film shares frequent images of doorways and labyrinth with Cocteau’s films.
1611.
Steene, Birgitta. Måndagar med Bergman. En svensk publik möter Ingmar Bergmans filmer [Mondays with Bergman. A Swedish public meets Ingmar Bergman’s films]. Eslöv: Symposion, 1996. 224 pp. A reception study of Bergman’s films among a statistically selected group of Swedish film goers. The first part analyzes Bergman’s concept and depiction of the relationship between artist and public; the second part examines a real-life Swedish audience attitude towards Bergman’s films, reflecting a changing public attitude towards his films and the personal impact they have had on the selected group of viewers.
Review Scandinavian Studies, vol. 69, no. 3, (Summer 1997): 357-375. (Review essay).
1612. Visscher, Jacques de. ‘Gods zwijgen?’ Film en Televisie, no. 462 (May 1996), pp. 2829. Notes on the release of Bergman films on video.
1613.
Wirmark, Margareta, ed. Ingmar Bergman. Film och teater i växelverkan [Bergman. Film and Theatre in Interplay]. Stockholm: Carlsons förlag, 1996. 239 pp. Proceedings from a symposium on Bergman as a filmmaker and theatre director at Lund University, with an introductory discussion by Bergman actors Max von Sydow and Agneta Ekmanner. See Theatre and Media Bibliography, Ø 652. The following articles are included in the volume: Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Teatern som metafor och tilltal i olika verk av Ingmar Bergman’ [Theatre as metaphor and form of address in different works by Bergman], pp. 65-78, and ‘Allting föreställer, ingenting är. Några utgångspunkter för ett jämförande forskningsprojekt om Ingmar Bergman, filmen och teatern.’ [‘Everything represents, nothing is’. Some startingpoints in a comparative scholarly project about Bergman, film and theatre], pp. 223-29. Loman, Richard. ‘Svartsjuka. William Shakespeares och Ingmar Bergmans vintersagor’ [Jealousy. WS’s and Bergman’s winter’s tales], pp. 152-171. Sjögren, Henrik. ‘Bergman i Malmö. En höjdpunkt i vår moderna teaterhistoria’ [Bergman in Malmö. A high point in our modern theatre history], pp. 100-126. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Gossen Ruda eller svensk ikon. Om Ingmar Bergmans mottagande i Sverige och utomlands’ [Enfant terrible or Swedish icon. Bergman’s reception in Sweden and abroad], pp. 187-216, and ‘En forskningsöversikt’ [A survey of scholarship], pp. 217-222. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘I min fantasi! Subjektivt gestaltande hos Ingmar Bergman’ [In my imagination! Subjective portrayal in Bergman], pp. 79-99. Reprinted in an English version titled ‘The
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Subjective Point of View’ in author’s book Bergman’s Muses, 2003, pp. 161-71 (Chapter 11). (Discusses how subjectivism is expressed in Bergman’s filmmaking versus his stagecraft). Wirmark, Margareta. ‘Ingmar Bergman och Dramatentraditionen’ [Bergman and Dramaten tradition], pp. 127-151, and ‘I scenens brännpunkt. Dockhemmet och Vintersagan på Dramaten’ [Stage focus. A Doll’s House and Winter’s Tale at Dramaten], pp. 172-186. Zern, Leif. ‘Från avstånd till närhet’ [From distance to close-up], pp. 53-64. (Discusses fundamental dramatic technique used by Bergman both on stage and screen; i.e., moving the actors from periphery to center.)
1997 1614. Group Item: Cannes Film Festival Honoring Ingmar Bergman The 50th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival in May 1997 included a special homage – Palme des palmes d’or – to Ingmar Bergman as the outstanding filmmaker of the 20th-century. A booklet was published for the occasion, written by Gérard Pangon: Ingmar Bergman. Paris: ARTE editions, 1997. 63 pp. It includes bibliographical references (pp. 55-56) and a filmography (pp. 53-54). 29 former Golden Palm winners attended the ceremonies, but Bergman had declined the invitation. Instead Liv Ullmann handed the festival’s special golden palm to their daughter, Linn Ullmann, who read a note from her father: ‘After occupying myself my entire life with images of life and death, life has caught up with me and made me shy and frail. So pardon an old man for not being here tonight’. [Efter att ha varit sysselsatt hela livet med bilder om liv och död har livet hunnit i kapp mig och gjort mig blyg och skör. Så förlåt en gammal man för att han inte är här i kväll]. (See Expr. 12 May 1997). For reports on the occasion, see: Aghed, Jan. ‘Bergman förnekar löfte om Cannes-resa’ [Bergman denies promise of trip to Cannes], SDS, 16 April 1997, B12, and B7 (B7 headlined ‘Bergman vägrar hämta sin Guldpalm i Cannes’ [Bergman refuses to fetch his gold palm in Cannes]); Buob, Jacques. ‘Toutes les palmes en une seule, Ingmar Bergman’. Le Monde, 13 May 1997, p. 8 b; Schulz-Ojala, Jan. ‘Das geheime Drehbuch’. Tagesspiegel, 12 May 1997.
1615.
Adiri, Nasr Allah. Birgman: zan, ma-zhab nasl- i ayandah [Bergman: Women, Religion, Future Generation]. Teheran: Barg, 1997. 199 pp. Available at SFI.
1616. Fant, Kenne. Nära bilder [Close pictures]. Stockholm: Norstedt 1997, 288 pp. Memoirs by one of Bergman’s producers at SF, whose first film role was as the young actor Arne in the opening sequence of Bergman’s 1949 film Fängelse (Prison). The book is filled with reminiscences of Fant-Bergman encounters, very similar to Vilgot Sjöman’s 1998 memoirs, (Ø 1646), with Bergman hovering as a mentor presence throughout their adult lives. Fant’s memoirs open with an account of a 1971 debate at Gripsholm Castle (close to the spot where Cries and Whispers was being shot) between filmmakers and film critics. According to Fant, a very upset Bergman burst into tears exclaiming to the critics: ‘If you only knew how much you have hurt me!’ [Om ni bara visste hur mycket ni skadat mig]. Other episodes in the book include aborted planning of a film version of the operetta The Merry Widow with Barbara Streisand in 1974 (see Interviews, group Ø 804); an encounter between Bergman and Greta Garbo in Stockholm on 4 January 1962, and between Ingrid Bergman and Ingmar in Cannes in
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1973; and references to Bergman episodes with Fant’s predecessor at SF, producer Carl Anders Dymling, theatre director Olof Molander, and Charlie Chaplin.
1617.
Fraser, Linda Lussy. ‘Sylvia Plath and the Cinema: Sylvia Plath’s Poetics and the Cinematography of Ingmar Bergman, Jean Cocteau, and Carl Dreyer’. Diss. University of California, Riverside, 1997. 166 leaves. Crosslisted in Ø 989. The study includes a chapter on the influence of Bergman’s cinema on Plath’s poetic conception.
1618. Hayes, Jarrod. ‘The Seduction of Alexander. Behind the Postmodern Door: Ingmar Bergman and Baudrillard’s De la seduction’. Film Quarterly 25, no. 1, 1997: 40-47. The author maintains that Fanny and Alexander undoes normative constructs of sexuality and explores a postmodern realm of ‘sexuality’ as described by Jean Baudrillard in the title book. He sees Strindberg’s mysterious door in A Dreamplay as a prelude to Bergman’s use of doors in Fanny and Alexander. ‘Doorness’ is part of a seduction of the mysterious, the mask, the image.
1619. Koskinen, Maaret. ‘’Everything Represents, Nothing Is’: Some Relations between Ingmar Bergman’s Films and Theatre Productions’. In Interart Poetics: Essays on the Interrelations of the Arts and Media. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1997, pp. 99-107. This essay was also published in Canadian Journal of Film Studies VI, no. 1 (Spring 1997): 79-90. A presentation of an inter-arts study of Bergman based on the thesis that his work in theatre and film is a complex cross-fertilization between the two art forms. Cf. book study Allting föreställer..., 2001, (Ø 1681).
1620. Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. Stockholm: Swedish Institute, 1997, 31 pp. A folder presentation of Ingmar Bergman, issued by Svenska Institutet for distribution abroad. Also printed in French and German.
1621.
Nykvist, Sven. Vördnad för ljuset. Om film och människor [Reverence for light. About film and people]. Stockholm: Bonniers, 1997. Memoirs by Bergman’s best known cinematographer. The chapters titled ‘Ingmar Bergman och ljuset’ [Bergman and light], pp. 86-98; ‘Scener ur ett arbetsäktenskap’ [Scenes from a working marriage], pp. 99-115; and ‘Det nordiska ljuset ‘ [Nordic light], p. 196 discuss Nykvist’s working relationship with Bergman from the filming of The Naked Night as a B cinematographer in 1953 to becoming Bergman’s special instrument beginning with Through a Glass Darkly in 1961. Concludes: ‘Coworking with Ingmar gave me the blessed moments’ (p. 204). [Samarbetet med Ingmar gavmig de välsignade ögonblicken].
1622. Vermilye, Jerry. Ingmar Bergman: His Films and Career. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Pub. Group, 1997. Also published as Ingmar Bergman. His Life and Films. Jefferson, NC & London: McFarlane & Co., Inc., 2002. 180 pp. The first 47 pages are a survey of Bergman’s life and filmmaking. The rest is a filmography with short introductory comments on the films and excerpts from selected reviews (all American and British). The bibliography ignores virtually all major studies of Bergman’s filmmaking.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1623. Weise, Eckhard, ed. Ingmar Bergman: mit Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1997. 158 pp. A survey of Bergman’s filmmaking, including an introductory biographical chapter.
1624. With, Anne-Lise. ‘Ved speilet bortenfor speilflaten: Et essay om speilmotivene i Smultronsstället og Speil’ [At the reflection beyond the mirror surface. An essay about the mirror motifs in Wild Strawberries and Mirror). Vinduet 51, no. 2 (1997), pp. 2028. Author suggests different connotations of mirror iconography in Bergman’s and Tarkovski’s films, using references to Lacan, Jung, and Bergson.
1998 1625. Group Item: Ingmar Bergman at 80 Bergman’s eightieth birthday on 14 July 1998 was observed with a symposium; with a special Bergman issue of Dramaten magazine Dramat; and with a number of press articles and interviews: 1.
Ingmar Bergman på biografteatern Fågel Blå. [Bergman at the Movie Theatre Bluebird]. 39 pp.
A program pamphlet published in connection with a year-long Bergman retrospective at an old neighbourhood movie theater that Bergman used to frequent in his youth. Throughout the year there were exhibits, lectures, and discussions in the cinema on a variety of Bergman topics. Members of Bergman’s Malmö Theatre ensemble talked about his productions in the 1950s. The discussion was led by theatre critic Henrik Sjögren when Bergman suddenly joined in as a surprise guest in the audience. See Elisabeth Sörenson, ‘Brutalt men lysande sade Bergman’ [Brutal but brilliant said B]. SvD, 2 April 1998, p. 17. 2. The Artist and Society. A symposium with panel discussions and lectures on Ingmar Bergman, Alf Sjöberg, and August Strindberg. Sponsored by Fågel Blå Cinema, The Royal Dramatic Theatre, the Strindberg Society, and the Stockholm Cultural Capital 1998. Proceedings were published in Strindberg, Sjöberg and Bergman: The Artist and Cultural Identity. Eds. Birgitta Steene and Egil Törnqvist, a special issue of Tijdschrift voor Skandinavistiek 20: 1 (1999). The following item pertains to Ingmar Bergman: Steene, Birgitta. ‘The SjöbergBergman Connection. Hets: Collaboration and Reception.’ 3. Dramat. ‘Bergman. Författaren, regissören, bildmakaren’. [Bergman Author, Director, Image Maker]. A special issue of the Royal Dramatic Theatre’s journal, no. 1, 1998. 55 pp. Annotated in VII, (Ø 662). 4. Journal and Newspaper write-ups: Björkman, Stig. ‘The One Bergman Show’. Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 526 (July-August 1998), pp. 8-9; Film-Dienst, 14 July 1998: 4-11. Several 80th anniversary articles; Göttler, Fritz. ‘Eine lange Zeit für den Irrsinn’. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 14 July 1998; Haufler, Daniel. ‘Die Kunst des kreativen Lügens’. TAZ, 14 July 1998; Jansen, Peter W. ‘Das eigene Leben ist ein Steinbruch’. Frankfurter Rundschau, 14 July 1998;
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Mahieu, José Augustin. ‘Los ochenta años de Ingmar Bergman’. Cuadernos Hispano-americanos (Madrid) 581 (November) 1998: 107-11; Pfeitz, Christiane. ‘Nymphe und Faun’. Die Zeit, 9 July 1998; Quist, P.O. ‘Från Sleeman till livsförsoning’ [From Sleeman to reconciliation to life]. Upsala Nya Tidning, 14 July 1998, p. 10. (see Ø 667). Seesslen, Georg. ‘Gesicht und Maske’. Freitag, 17 July 1998; Steinfeld, Thomas. ‘Schlafwandler an wachen Tagen’. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 11 July 1998; Steene, Birgitta. ‘Ingmar Bergmans första möte med Thalia’ [Bergman’s first meeting with Thalia]. Upsala Nya Tidning, 14 July 1998, p. 11; Toiviainen, Sakari. ‘Ingmar Bergman, juhlallisesti’. Filmihullu, no. 3 (1998), pp. 36-39; Wach, Margarete. ‘Chimären des Daseins’. Filmdienst Kino-Fernsehen-Video, 51, no. 14 (1998): 47. 5. Media programs: Donner, Jörn. ‘Ingmar Bergman om liv och arbete’ [Ingmar Bergman on Life and Work]. TV interview with Bergman, SVT, 14 July 1998. See Interviews, Ø 934. Josephson, Ernst and Lars Ring. ‘Ingmar Bergman 80 år’. Sveriges Radio, 14 July 1998. (A talk between actor and theatre critic). Timm, Mikael. ‘Bergman, Bergman & Bergman’. Sveriges Radio, 14 July 1998. (A portrait of Bergman using old radio archival material, including interviews from the 1940s and 1950s, a talk by Bergman in 1955, and various brief news items from the news program Dagens Eko).
1626. American Cinematographer. LXXIX, no. 11 (November 1998): 74-76. An issue on notable filmmaking partnerships including a segment on the collaboration between Sven Nykvist and Ingmar Bergman.
1627.
Aquilon, David. ‘Den sönderslitande vertikaliteten: Fallrörelsen som motiv i Ingmar Bergmans postreligiösa landskap’. [Verticality tearing apart: The movement of falling as a motif in Bergman’s post-religious landscape]. In Mannen med filmkameran. Studier i modern film och filmisk modernism, ed. by Lars Gustaf Andersson and Erik Hedling. Lund: Absalon, 1998, pp. Reprinted in Filmhäftet 27, no. 108, 1999: 3-9. Referring to Bergman’s play Staden [The City] as a source, the author develops a (somewhat convoluted) theme of verticality in Bergman’s filmmaking, seeing it as the collapse of a masculine power structure. Includes references to Through a Glass Darkly, The Serpent’s Egg, and Bergman’s staging of Yukio Mishima’s Madame de Sade.
1628. Aura: filmvetenskaplig tidskrift IV, no. 4, 1998. 88 pp. A special Bergman issue subtitled ‘Bergman och urkunderna’ [Bergman and his sources], edited and with a foreword by Maaret Koskinen. The issue contains the following items: Bergman Ingmar. ‘Fisken. Fars för film’, pp. 62-88. 1952. With a prefatory note by Bergman, dated 13 November 1998. Cf Ø 67. Florin, Bo. ‘Stumfilmen enligt Bergman’, [The silent cinema according to B], pp. 34-41. (About B’s fascination with silent (Swedish) cinema of Sjöström and af Klercker and his thematic and stylistic way of writing himself into the same tradition).
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Hockenjos, Vreni. ‘Ur en drömmares perspektiv. Strindbergs subjektivism i Bergmans tolkning’ [From a dreamer’s perspective. Strindberg’s subjectivism interpreted by Bergman], pp. 4250. Annotated in Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 664). Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Minnets spelplatser. Ingmar Bergman och det självbiografiska vittnet’ [Scenes of memory. Bergman and the autobiographical witness], pp. 15-33. (About Bergman constructing himself as a witness to his own life, first in terms of ‘epilogskrivning’ – writing of an epilogue – in his stage, screen and literary work after his return from exile in early 1980s, but also by using memory as insight into self and as narrative device via dream and nightmare in a film like Wild Strawberries.) Rodhin, Mats. ‘Väl börjat, hälften vunnet. Tankar kring prologen i Smultronstället’ [Well begun, half gained. Thoughts on the Prologue in Wild Strawberries], pp. 4-14. (After a somewhat thorny discussion of space and temporality in film, the author discusses the film’s absentee father theme and examines Isak Borg’s presentation of himself in the prologue of Wild Strawberries, arguing that Isak/Bergman relies on the rhetorical device of parrhesia, the illusion of speaking the truth. He provides an interesting comparison with Dürer’s engraving of St Hieronymous who fled society to focus on his work in solitude. Söderbergh-Widding, Astrid. ‘Vad skall man tro? Religiösa motiv hos Ingmar Bergman’ [What is one to believe? Religious motifs in Bergman], pp. 51-61. (A polemic essay against literalminded trackers of religious symbolism in B’s films. The author argues for a focus on stylistic traits (close-ups) and dialectic features (e.g., word vs silence) to uncover a religious dimension in Bergman’s films. Also listed in Ø 997.
1629. Bergström, Lasse. Bokmärken. Stockholm: Norstedts, 1998. Memoir essays by Ingmar Bergman’s Swedish editor.
1630. Bonda, Marek. ‘Film a sen’ [Film and dreams]. Film a Doba XLIV, no. 4 (Winter) 1998: 159-162. A Czech dissertation presented at FAMU, Dept. of Film Direction. It includes a discussion of Smultronstället.
1631.
Brashinsky, Michael. ‘The Spring Defiled: Ingmar Bergman’s Virgin Spring and Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left.’ In Play It Again Sam: Retakes on Remakes, ed. by Andrew Horton, Stuart McDougal, and Leo Braudy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998, pp. 162-71. Brashinsky argues that Wes Craven’s film The Last House on the Left (1972) is an overt (acknowledged) remake of Bergman’s 1960 film The Virgin Spring.
1632. Czako, A. ‘Szorongas, feleten az en orokreszem’. Filmkultura XXVI, no. 3,1998; 48-49. About Bergman’s early films, 1945-1955.
1633. Darke, Chris. ‘Ingmar Bergman’. The Oxford Guide to Film Studies. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 488-89. Bergman entry in film dictionary.
1634. Filmdienst. Kino-Fernsehen-Video, 51, no. 14 (1998). Published by Katolisches Institut für Medieninformation, Köln.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman Three articles are devoted to Bergman’s filmmaking, with an emphasis on religious theme and biography: Gerle, Jörg. ‘Diesseits von Gott und Tod’, pp. 10-11. (About the transcendental in Bergman’s films). Cf. Ø 997. Koebner, Thomas. ‘Die Wohnung des Herrn verlassen’, pp. 8-9. (About religion, God, and family tragedy). Cf. Ø 997. Wach, Margarete. ‘Chimären des Daseins’, pp. 4-7. (Life and work. Homage to Bergman on his 80th birthday). Cf. Ø 1625.
1635. Fridén, Ann Carpenter, ed. Ingmar Bergman and the Arts. Nordic Theatre Studies 11, 1998. 127 pp. A special issue with essays on Bergman’s contributions to theatre, opera and TV, and on the importance of older paintings as visual inspirations. The item is more fully annotated in Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 663), 1998.
1636. Holmqvist, Ivo. ‘Ingmar Bergman’s Winter Journey – Intertextuality in Larmar och gör sig till.’ Tijdschrift voor Skandinavistiek 19, no. 2, 1998, pp. 79-94. See Theatre/Media Bibliography, (Ø 665). 1637.
Kennedy, Harlan. ‘Whatever Happened to Ingmar Bergman?’ Film Comment 34, no. 4 (July-August) 1998: 64-69. Once the godchild of this American film journal, Bergman was taken over in the 1980s by more academic-oriented film journals like Literature/Film Quarterly. Like Murphy (Ø1594), the author feels that Bergman is a forgotten sin, a taboo subject today. However, after seeing the Trilogy again, he elevates Bergman to post-modern status. See also Elsaesser (Ø 1565) and (Ø 1643).
1638. Knutsson, Ulrika. ‘Hos mormor i Uppsala fanns ett paradis’ [At grandma in Uppsala was a paradise]. Upsala Nya Tidning, 28 May 1998, pp. 18-19. Author discusses the importance to Bergman of his grandmother’s milieu in Upsala.
1639. Lundström, Henry. ‘Outplånliga intryck’ [Indelible impressions]. Filmrutan 41, no. 2 (Summer) 1998: 4-5. The author reminisces about his first encounter with Bergman’s filmmaking. He focusses on Sjunde inseglet (Seventh Seal) and Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries).
1640. Mattsson, Åsa. ‘Hasse Ekman vs Ingmar Bergman’. Unpublished undergraduate paper. Stockholm: Institutionen för filmvetenskap, 1998. 39 typed pp. The author discusses two rival filmmakers, mentioned in the title, in the Swedish cinema of the Forties. Cf. Axelson (Ø 1583).
1641. Michaels, Lloyd. The Phantom of the Cinema: Character in Modern Film. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1998, pp. 33-46.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman The chapter titled ‘Reflexivity and Character in Persona’ traces motif of absence/presence through a formalist analysis of Persona’s reflexivity. See also section on same subject in Filmography, Persona reception, Ø 236.
1642. Orr, John. ‘The Screen as Split Subject 1: Persona’s Legacy’. In author’s The Contemporary Cinema. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998, pp. 70-90. Orr discusses the impact of Bergman’s Persona on subsequent films, such as Chabrol’s Les Biches (1976), Altman’s 3 Women (1977), and Von Trotta’s The German Sisters (1981). Persona introduces the mimetic dilemma of imitation, a key variation on the motif of the double, which informed expressionism, Hitchcock and the film noir.
1643. Perridon, Harry, ed. Strindberg, Ibsen & Bergman. Essays on Scandinavian Film and Drama. Maastricht: Shaker Publishing, 1998. Essays in honor of Egil Törnqvist. The following items pertain to Ingmar Bergman: Elsaesser, Thomas. ‘Ingmar Bergman – person and persona: the mountain of modern cinema on the road to Morocco’. pp. 35-60. (A twofold discussion of Bergman as (1) a modernist imposing an artistic discipline on himself, rather than a self-indulgent filmmaker; and (2) a now obsolete filmmaker within the changing European art cinema). Sprinchorn, Evert. ‘Fanny and Alexander and Strindberg and Ibsen and...’, pp. 177-188. (Compares Bergman’s Ekdahl/Vergerus dichotomy to Ibsen’s Ekdal/Gregers Werle (the bon vivant vs the stern moralist) in The Wild Duck, and discusses dream vs reality theme of Bergman’s film and Strindberg’s Dreamplay. Both intertextual references mirror Bergman’s development as an artist). Steene, Birgitta. ‘Fire rekindled: Strindberg and Bergman’. pp. 189-204. (Traces Bergman’s life and work in relation to Strindberg’s temperament, cultural background and artistic development. The two artists emerge as members of the same cultural and psychological universe).
1644. Positif 447 (May) 1998: 52-68. Special set of articles. Cover title ‘Ingmar Bergman Entretien’. Includes the following material on Bergman: Aghed, Jan. ‘En presence d’un clown. L’oncle Carl et la Mort’, pp. 52-54. Review of TV film ‘In the Presence of a Clown’ (Larmar och gör sig till). Åhlund, Jannike. ‘Entretien Ingmar Bergman. La confession d’un fou de télé’, pp. 55-59. Interview with Bergman about work on TV. Translation of interview in Dramat, 1998, (Ø 662). Amiel, Vincent. ‘Du monde et de soi-même, l’eternel spectateur’, pp. 60-61. On B’s directing technique, recurrent childhood themes, and importance of spectatorship in his films. Bergman, Ingmar. ‘Vous voulez être comédien’ pp. 62-64. Reprint of faked telephone conversation between Ingmar Bergman and would-be actor. Originally published in Filmjournalen no. 36 (9 September) 1951 under title ‘Ni vill till filmen?’ [So you want to become a movie star?]. Goldstein, Max (Mago). ‘Souvenirs d’un film qui n’est jamais sorti’, pp. 65-68. Memoirs by one’s home of Bergman’s costumiers, a Jew born in Berlin in 1928, who escaped to Sweden. Material originally published in Kino, Movie, Cinéma, (Berlin: Edition Argon, 1995) in connection with German Cinemateque celebrating 100th anniversary of cinema.
1645. Sains, Ariane. ‘The Bergman Legacy’. Europe, no. 379 (September) 1998: 41.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman An article issued by the Commission of the European Communities with superficial and slanted biographical information.
1646. Sjöman, Vilgot. Mitt personregister. Urval 98. [My Name Index. Selection 98]. (Stockholm: Natur och Kultur, 1998). 403 pp. Memoirs revolving around Sjöman’s relations to Ingmar Bergman since high school and through the years of his own filmmaking. The book contains three sections on the SjömanBergman connection, providing a fascinating account of big brotherhood, rivalry, subservience, and respect. See pp. 26-91, 151-201, 353-362.
1647. Steene, Birgitta. ‘The Transposition of a Filmmaker: Ingmar Bergman at Home and Abroad’. Tijdschrift voor Skandinavistiek 19, no. 1, 1998: 103-128. A reception study of Bergman as a filmmaker in Sweden and abroad.
1648. Sundgren, Nils Petter. ‘Ingmar Bergman och tidsandan’ [Bergman and the (reception) climate of the times]. Zoom: filmpedagogisk tidskrift 10, no. 1, 1998: 20-21. Mostly a resumé of Steene’s 1996 study Måndagar med Bergman (Ø 1611).
1649. SzczepaŃski, Tadeusz. ‘Portret artysty z czasów starości’. Kino (Warsaw) xxxii, no. 374-375 (July-August) 1998: 6-11. A study of Bergman’s cinematic style, psychological vision and philosophy. Cf. author’s book on Bergman (Ø 1663).
1650. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Ingmar Bergman Abroad. The Problems of Subtitling’. Vossiuspers AUP (imprint of Amsterdam University Press), 1998, 23 pp. A valedictory lecture delivered on 12 February 1998, discussing the loss of information embedded in the use of subtitles, a loss pertaining to the screen image, the dialogue, and the paralinguistic phenomenon.
1651.
Wickbom, Kaj. ‘Den unge Ingmar Bergman’ [Young Bergman]. Filmrutan XL, no. 2 (Summer), 1998: 2-4. About the early films of Ingmar Bergman.
1652. Wickbom, Kaj. ‘Ingmar Bergman och sommaren’ [Bergman and summer]. Filmrutan XLI, no. 3 (Fall) 1998: 2-3. Only partly on title subject. Defines Swedish (i.e., Bergman’s) summer as ‘brief, melancholy and filled with anguished anticipation of fall season.
1653. Wirkmark, Margareta. Smultronstället och Dödens ekipage (Stockholm: Carlsson, 1998). A monograph on Smultronstället/Wild Strawberries, expanding the dream sequences to comprise the entire film as Isak Borg’s dream vision. A case of method over matter.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1654. Wood, Robin. ‘Women: Oppression and Transgression. Persona Revisited’. In Sexual Politics and Narrative Film. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998, pp. 248-262. Offers an addendum to author’s discussion of Persona in his earlier book on Bergman’s films. See Ø 975 and 1185.
1655.
Wright, Rochelle. ‘Jewish Figures in the Films of Ingmar Bergman. In The Visible Wall. Jews and Other Ethnic Outsiders in the Swedish Film.’ Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois UP and Uppsala: Acta Universitatis upsaliensis 1998, pp. 214- 247. Jewish figures in Bergman’s films serve the filmmaker in a symbolic rather than sociological and ethnic sense, either as foreigners or psychological aliens as in The Touch and The Serpent’s Egg or as representatives of positive values in Bergman’s world, as in Fanny and Alexander in which the Jew Isak stands for artistic creativity and magic.
1999 1656. Fraser, Linda Lussy. ‘Technologies of Reproduction: the Maternity Ward in Sylvia Plath’s ‘Three Women’ and Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Brink of Life’’. Women Studies 28, no. 15, 1999: 547-75. See also author’s Diss., (Ø 1673). The article argues that Bergman’s 1957 film Brink of Life and Sylvia Plath’s 1960 poem ‘Three Women’ expose the controlling nature of maternity wards.
1657.
Gervais, Marc. Ingmar Bergman: Magician and Prophet. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1999. 257 pp. Crosslisted in Ø 997. A personal quest and reading of Bergman’s films by a Jesuit priest who looks at Bergman’s work from the point of view of a contemporary Christian sensiblity. Films are anchored in a specific time and place and shaped by their cultural context. Despite its obvious sincere motivation, study lacks accuracy of detail and relies too much on unverifiable statements, often of a gossipy nature.
Reviews Canadian Journal of Film Studies IX, no. 2 (Fall 2000): 86-89;
1658. Lahr, John. ‘The Demon-Lover’. The New Yorker, 31 May 1999, pp. 66-79. The author spoke with Ingmar Bergman as the latter was preparing for Dramaten’s guest visit to BAM with a production of P.O. Enqvist’s play Bildmakarna (The Image Makers). The article is primarily a (very good) survey of Bergman’s career, with emphasis on his later years.
1659. McGhee, Kimberly-Kay. ‘To Duty Doubly Bound: A Study of Melancholy in Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Persona’, Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’, Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘The Sacrifice’ and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ‘The Idiot’’. Diss. State University of New York at Buffalo, 1998. DAIA (Dissertation Abstracts International Section 9908129, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1999. A study of the melancholic personality who submits itself to merciless self-scrutiny to avoid being victimized by the gaze of the Other but simply repeats the very victimization it wants to
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman avoid. Using Bataille terminology, this is a rather convoluted discussion of the title works, including Bergman’s Persona.
1660. Michaels, Lloyd, ed. Ingmar Bergman’s Persona. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 1999. For details see Persona listing in filmography. The volume contains following essays: Dixon Wheeler Winston. ‘Persona and the 1960s Art Cinema’. pp. 44-61. Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey. ‘Feminist Theory and the Performance of Lesbian Desire in Persona’. pp. 130-146. Also listed in (Ø 975). Michaels, Lloyd. ‘Bergman and the Necessary Illusion’. pp. 1-23. Orr, Christopher. ‘Scenes from the Class Struggle in Sweden. Persona as Brechtian Melodrama’. pp. 86-109. Sontag, Susan. ‘Bergman’s Persona’. pp. 62-85. Steene Birgitta. ‘Bergman’s Persona through a Native Mindscape’. pp. 24-43. Vineberg, Steven. ‘Persona and the Seduction of Performance’. pp. 110-129.
1661. Nordmark, Dag. Finrummet och lekstugan. Kultur- och underhållningsprogram i svensk radio och TV. Stockholm: Prisma, 1999, 198 pp. A study of cultural and entertainment programs in Swedish broadcasting and television from the start of the two media to the early 1990s. Ingmar Bergman’s contribution is discussed briefly on some dozen occasions and clearly shows his pioneer work as a radio and TV director. The study has a valuable bibliography.
1662. Steene, Birgitta. ‘August Strindberg, Modernism and the Swedish Cinema’. In Expressionism and Modernism: New Approaches to August Strindberg. Ed. by Michael Robinson and Sven Hakon Rossel. Vienna: Præsens, 1999: 185-196. A comparative study of Strindberg’s Till Damaskus, Sjöström’s Körkarlen, and Bergman’s Smultronstället.
1663. SzczepaŃski, Tadeusz. Zwierciadło Bergmana. Gdansk: Słowo/Obraz terytoria, 1999, 490 pp. A comprehensive Polish study of Bergman’s filmmaking, using Edvard Munch’s etchings and paintings as a visual point of reference.
1664. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Ingmar Bergmans dolda iaktagare’. Nordica 15, 1999: 139-59. An English version of this article appears under the title ‘The Hidden Observers’ in Chapter 13 of author’s Bergman’s Muses (Ø 1689), pp. 181-96. Focussing on Bergman’s use of eavesdropping, the author discusses various patterns of hidden observation in samples taken both from Bergman’s stage productions and filmmaking. References include such films as Gycklarnas afton (here transl. as Evening of the Jesters), Sommaren med Monica, Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries), Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring), Djävulens öga (The Devil’s Eye), and Ur marionetternas liv (From the Life of the Marionettes).
1665. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Strindberg, Bergman and the Silent Character’. Tijdschrift voor Skandivavistiek 20, no. 1, pp. 61-72. A version of this article appears under the title
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman ‘The Silent Characters’ in Chapter 14 of the author’s book Bergman’s Muses (Ø 1689), pp. 197-203. A comparison between Strindberg’s and Bergman’s use of silent characters to signify an ambivalent shift between authenticity and altruism on one hand and egocentricity and vampirism on the other. References are made to such Bergman works as Persona, The Seventh Seal, and Private Conversations (Enskilda samtal).
1666. Viswanathan, Jacqueline. ‘Ciné-romans: le livre du film’. Cinémas IX, no. 2-3 (Spring 1999): 13-36. A Canadian article on screenplays by Ingmar Bergman (pp. 29-32), Louis Malle, Eric Rohmer, and François Truffaut. Screenwriting in all these cases is related to an exploration of a personal past through a cinematic vision. Bergman’s screenplays combine two narrative modes: an external visualization and an enunciation of an interior subject matter. They are ‘ciné-novels’, i.e., not scripts by a writing cineast but readable texts born of an encounter between cinema and fiction.
2000 1667. Cardullo, Bert. ‘Autumn Interiors, or The Ladies Eve: Woody Allen’s Ingmar Bergman Complex’. Antioch Review 58, no. 14 (Fall) 2000, p. 428-37. Using Autumn Sonata (1978) as his point of departure, the author argues that Bergman’s consistent unawareness or indifference to the dramatic and psychological incongruities he creates has a negative effect on Woody Allen’s attempt to emulate Bergman’s work in the film Interiors, leading him to transpose an American city milieu to the Puritan mood of Bergman’s ‘claustrophobic Baltic’ realm, thereby making the dialogue unintentionally tragi-comic.
1668. Cavell, Stanley. ‘Kärlekens årstider: Ingmar Bergmans ‘Sommarnattens leende’ och ‘En vintersaga’’ [Seasons of love: Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night and The Winter’s Tale]. Filmhäftet, XXVIII/111 (2000): 47-52. Juxtaposes two ‘remarriage comedies’: Bergman’s early film Sommarnattens leende (Smiles of a Summer Night) and his stage production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. Sees Smiles... as a study in theatre, Winter’s Tale as a theatre study in film.
1669. Cortade, Ludoviç. Ingmar Bergman: L’Initiation d’un artiste. (Paris, Montreal: L’Harmattan Inc.), 2000, n.p.. An intellectually expansive study of Fanny and Alexander with comparative references to Charles Laughton’s film The Night of the Hunter and to literary figures like Flaubert, Proust, Sartre, all of them portraying ambivalence of parent figures.
1670. Diamantis, Roger. Télérama, no. 2634, 8 July 2000, pp. 63-64. Diamantis presents a Bergman retrospective in his Parisian cinema.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1671. Gavel-Adams, Ann-Charlotte and Terje L. Leiren, eds. Stage and Screen: Studies in Scandinavian Drama and Film. Essays in honor of Birgitta Steene, Seattle: DreamPlay Press, 2000. Contains following articles on Ingmar Bergman: Blackwell, Marilyn Johns. ‘Cross-Dressing and Subjectivity in the Films of Ingmar Bergman’, pp. 193-207. Koskinen, Maaret. ‘Ingmar Bergman and the Mise-en-Scene of the Confessional’, pp. 209-228. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘This is my hand. Hand Gestures in the Films of Ingmar Bergman’, pp.229-244. Reprinted in author’s book Bergman’s Muses, 2003, pp. 204-13.
1672. Nykvist, Carl-Gustaf. Ljuset håller mig sällskap [Light keeps me company]. Beleuga Films, 2000. A film about Bergman cinematographer Sven Nykvist, made by his son, with comments by Ingmar Bergman, Woody Allen, Liv Ullmann, Jan Troell and other directors and actors with whom Nykvist has worked. The film is an homage to Nykvist, who has suffered from a rare form of aphasia since 1998. The film says relatively little about the technical aspects of his work.
1673. Steene, Birgitta. ‘Från subjektiv vision till tidsdokument och arketyp: Ingmar Bergmans Det sjunde inseglet i mentalitetshistorisk belysning’ [From Subjective Vision to Time Document and Archetype: Bergman’s The Seventh Seal in the Light of Mentality History.] In Nordisk litteratur och mentalitet, ed. by Malan Marnersdottir and Jens Cramer. Annales Societatis Scientiarum Færoensis XXV, Torshavn: 2000, pp. 493-99. Using The Seventh Seal as an example, the article argues that Bergman frequently approaches his material from four different, mutually supportive discourses: the personal, the topical, the existential and one reflecting a current mentality.
1674. Wood, Robin. ‘Ur marionetternas liv: Ingmar Bergman, Sverige och jag’ [From the Life of the Marionettes: Bergman, Sweden and myself]. Filmhäftet XXVIII/111 (2000), pp. 19-20. About Wood’s personal relation to Bergman’s films and his changing attitude towards them as a consequence of his own change from a heterosexual to an open homosexual. The article discusses Vargtimmen, Persona, Höstsonaten and, in particular, Ur marionetteras liv/From the Life of the Marionettes. It concludes with a summary of what Wood considers Bergman’s ‘ideology’, i.e., destructive determinism, disharmony of mind and body, incompatibility between men and women, the impossibility of faithfulness – with humiliation as a central feature.
2001 1675. Koehler, Robert. ‘’Persona’ Stirs Old Passions’. Variety, April 16, 2001: 6. A report on the restoration of the 1966 film in a new English-language version that shows how its original release in US was cut. It was restored by John Kirk at MGM. What was cut in the earlier release was a footage of erect penis in pre-title montage and a detailed translation of Bibi Andersson’s monologue about a sexual encounter. Restored copy has 30% more text.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1676. Koskinen, Maaret. Ingmar Bergman. ‘Allting föreställer, ingenting är’. Filmen och teatern – en interartiell studie. [Bergman. ‘Everything Represents, Nothing Is’. Film and Theatre – A Study in Interartiality]. Stockholm: Nya Doxa, 2001. 248 pp. A comparative study of Bergman’s work in film and theatre in terms of both recurring motifs and stylistic traits. The approach is both a chronological one, dealing with connecting links in Bergman’s stage and film production up to 1982/83, and a theme-oriented one, discussing such topics as theatrical mask vs metaphorical close-up; the role of the actor on stage and screen; and the ‘spill-over’ from Bergman’s films in his later stagecraft. The study is full of fine observations but somewhat difficult to pursue because of its multi-structured design. Review: GP, July 2, 2001, p. 28-29.
1677. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘A Life in the Theater. Intertextuality in Ingmar Bergman’s Efter repetitionen’. Scandinavian Studies, vol. 73, no. 1, (Spring) 2001, pp. 25-42. A study of intertextuality as related to the author and the director Bergman in his teleplay Efter repetitionen. Intertextual features include the author’s use of names and the director’s use of performers, but also verbal echoes from earlier Bergman films and stage productions, as well as intertextual references to Strindberg’s A Dreamplay and Euripides The Bachae.
2002 1678. Bleibtreu, Renate, ed. Ingmar Bergman im Bleistift-Ton. Ein Werkporträtt. Hamburg: Rogner & Bernhard, 2002, 885 pp. An extensive anthology of writings by Ingmar Bergman, including some early material never before translated; the play Trämålning (Tafelbild); the scripts to Sommarnattens leende (Das Lächeln einer Sommernacht), Nattvardsgästerna (Abendmahlsgäste), Persona, Vargtimmen (Wolfsstunde), Riten (Der Ritus), Viskningar och rop (Schreie und Flüstern), Fanny och Alexander, Efter repetitionen (Nach der Probe), Larmar och gör sig till (In Gegenwart eines Clowns), and Trolösa (Treulose). With an introduction and postscript, bibliography, filmography, and production list.
1679. Garzia, Aldo, ed. Fårö. La Cinecitta di Ingmar Bergman/Fårö, Ingmar Bergmans ‘Cinecitta’. Rome: Sandro Teti Editore, 2002. 111 pp. A pictorial presentation of Fårö, with interview articles about Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, and Erland Jospehson, and brief essays about Skammen and a presentation of Bergman films shot on Fårö.
1680. Kindblom. Mikaela. ‘Varför är Ingmar Bergmans filmer så dåliga’. [Why are Ingmar Bergman’s films so bad?]. BLM, no. 1 (February-March 2002): 32-35. The author (a film journalist) questions Bergman’s iconic status in the Swedish cinema in ways reminiscent of Bo Widerberg’s attack on Bergman in the 1960s. Using Såsom i en spegel as an example, Kindblom claims that Bergman’s films are narcissistic and his themes only interesting to himself. What triggered the article seems to have been Bergman’s donation of his private Fårö papers to SFI, which is treated here as if it were an act of self-glorification. A rather silly piece in revamped BLM magazine.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1681. Koskinen, Maaret. I begynnelsen var ordet. Ingmar Bergmans tidiga författarskap 1938-1955. [In the beginning was the word. Ingmar Bergman’s early authorship]. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand, 2002, 352 pp. Also translated into Finnish as Alussa Oli Sana – Nuori Ingmar Bergman, trans. by Tapio Koivukari. Helsinki: Like Kustannus, 2003, 344 pp. Forthcoming in French. Paris: Edition du seuil, 2005. Having gained access to Bergman’s personal archive, Koskinen uses his early writings in drama, prose and essay form, much of it unpublished, to trace major themes in Bergman’s work, with some flashforwards to his later production. Some of this material was published in English as an essay titled ‘From Short Story to Film Autobiography. Intermedial Variations in Ingmar Bergman’s Writings and Films’. Film International (formerly Filmhäftet), no. 1, 2003, pp. 6-11.
Reviews Erik Hedling, ‘Inblick i konstnärsskapets källor’. SvD, October 4, 2002; Birgitta Steene, ‘Ingmar Bergman. The Artist as Legend’. Review article. Scandinavian Studies, vol. 75, no. 1, (Spring 2003).
1682. Matthews, Peter. ‘The hard stuff ’. Sight and Sound, XII, no. 1 (January 2002): 24-26. About Bergman’s fluctuating long-standing reputation as an auteur filmmaker who ‘succeeded in photographing thought’ and in transforming personal traumas into art, thus giving the viewer a privileged glimpse of his creative agony. Views Bergman as ‘a showman of angst’, who is narcissistic but troubling and perhaps still relevant.
1683. Positif no. 497/498, July-August 2002, pp. 4-63. A special Bergman double issue including articles on his early writings; on the technique, style and physical gesture of his filmmaking; on his exploration of the human condition; with analyses of several of his films, including Monika, The Naked Night (La nuit des forains), The Magic Flute, and Scenes from a Marriage.
2003 1684. Bergom-Larsson, Maria. ‘Vart tog livet vägen? Ingmar Bergmans svarta, storslagna farväl’ [Where did life go? IB’s black, grand farewell]. AB, December 1, 2003, p. 4-5. A newspaper essay focusing on Bergman’s TV film Saraband, which is seen as a descent into the dark regions of guilt and failed reconciliation in a world where the transcendental has lost its attraction and power. Calls this state of mind, personified in the character of Johan, ‘pathetic and awful.’ Identifies one important theme in the TV film as Bergman’s reckoning with his own failing father role, though the problem is not only personal but societal.
1685. Björnstrand, Gabriella. ‘Bergman psykade sin favoritskådespelare’ [B psyched his favorite actor]. Expr., 2 December 2003, p. 4. The daughter of Bergman actor Gunnar Björnstrand writes about an irreparable conflict between her father and the director during the shooting of Winter Light when Bergman allegedly arranged for a medical report to be issued to Björnstrand, warning him that his health was at risk. The reason: to put Björnstrand in an anguished state of mind in preparation for the role of the distressed parson Tomas Eriksson.
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Chapter IX Works on Ingmar Bergman 1686. Forslund, Bengt. Gustaf Molander. Stockholm: Carlsons, 2003. Contains some correspondence material between Ingmar Bergman and Molander. See also same author’s article ‘Gustaf Molander och Ingmar Bergman’. Filmrutan, Winter 2002, pp. 2-6.
1687. Kalin, Jesse. The Films of Ingmar Bergman. Cambridge University Press, 2003. A survey of Bergman’s film production, useful as an introductory survey though at times marred by personal biases.
1688. Malmberg, Carl-Johan. ‘Själens blixtsnabba skiftningar’ [The soul’s nuances shifting like lightning]. SvD, 1 December 2003, pp. 4-5. A newspaper essay focussing on the density and impact of singular scenes in Bergman’s filmmaking, with samples taken from Smultronstället, Såsom i en spegel, Tystnaden, Persona etc.
1689. Nyström, Martin. ‘Musiken spelar störst roll i Ingmar Bergmans filmer’ [Music plays the major role in Ingmar Bergman’s films]. DN 30 November 2003, p. 4-5. About Bergman and music, published in connection with transmission of Bergman’s TV film Saraband. Author characterizes Bergman’s use of music as both a ‘crisis catalyst’ and ‘hope itself ’ (krisutlösare och själva hoppet).
1690. Sight and Sound XIII, no. 1 (January 2003): 24-26. The film journal asked directors Terence Davies, Lukas Moodysson, Thomas Vinterberg, and Gillies MacKinnon to select scenes from Ingmar Bergman’s work that have had an impact on them, though not necessarily on their work.
1691. Törnqvist, Egil. Bergman’s Muses. Aesthetic Versatility in Film, Theatre, Television and Radio. (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2003). 265 pp. A study of Bergman’s transpositions of drama texts to stage, media, and screen. Topics deal with multimedia transcendence in Bergman’s productions of The Magic Flute, Don Juan, and The Bachae, and with intermedia aspects in such Bergman works as After the Rehearsal, In the Presence of a Clown, and P.O. Enquist’s The Image Makers. A fourth segment discusses such features as subjective point of view, visualized audiences, hidden observers, silent characters, etc. Several chapters in the book have appeared earlier as articles and are listed elsewhere in the Reference Guide.
1692. Törnqvist, Egil. ‘Från manus till film. – Ingmar Bergmans Nattvardsgästerna’. [From manuscript to film. Ingmar Bergman’s Winter Light]. In Att fånga världen i ord. Litteratur och livsåskådning, ed. by Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm & Torsten Petterson. (Skellefteå: Artos & Norma bokförlag, 2003), pp. 219-42. Focussing on the religious theme of Nattvardsgästerna/Winter Light in manuscript and on the screen. Author points out the semiotic difference between the manuscript and the screen version and shows how the two media set up different conditions for a reader and a viewer.
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2004 1693. De Baercque, Antoine and Gabrielle De Baercque, Antoine and Gabrielle Lucantonio, Eds. La petite anthologie des Cahiers du cinéma, vol. IV, “La politique des auteurs”. Paris: Éditions des Cahiers du Cinéma, 2004, 208 p. Texts by auteurs, including Ingmar Bergman.
1694. Laretei, Käbi. Såsom i en översättning [As in a translation]. Stockholm: Bonniers, 2004. Memoirs by pianist who was married to Ingmar Bergman in the early 1960s. Book was written on Bergman’s Fårö premises and makes many references to their life together in the past and present.
1695. Von Rosen, Maria and Ingmar Bergman. Tre dagböcker [Three diaries]. Stockholm: Norstedt, 2004. A juxtaposition of three diaries kept by Bergman, his wife Ingrid von Rosen-Bergman and their daughter Maria, born in 1959. Diaries are from the time in 1994-95 when Ingrid was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died.
2005 1696. Aumont, Jacques. Ingmar Bergman. Paris: Éditions des Cahiers du Cinéma, 2005. 256 p. ill. Analysis of Bergman’s filmmaking, viewed as the work of an auteur and visionary. Focusing on Bergman’s ‘extraordinary’ childhood as source of inspiration, author looks upon Bergman’s themes as personal and contemporary rather than modernist.
1697. Stern, Michael J. “Kierkegaard and Bergman.” Scandinavian Studies 77, No. 1 (Spring 2005): 31-52. Also listed under title “Persona, Personae! Placing Kierkegaard in Conversation with Bergman”, the essay addresses the issue of masking in relation to Kierkegaard’s text Gjentagelsen and Bergman’s film Persona.
1698. Forthcoming. Proceedings from Ingmar Bergman Conference in Stockholm in May-June 2005. To be published by Wallflower Press, London. See also Varia: Tributes and Symposia.
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Especially in the early phase of his career on stage and screen, Ingmar Bergman would occasionally assume a minor role as mute figure or narrative voice. In this shot from Smiles of a Summer Night, Bergman (far left) plays a clerk in Egerman’s office (Gunnar Björnstrand, middle left). The scene was cut in the final version of the film.
Chapter X Varia Varia consists of four parts: A. Media documentaries on Ingmar Bergman B. Ingmar Bergman: Stage and Screen Performances C. Awards and Tributes to Ingmar Bergman D. Archival Sources
A. Media Documentaries on Ingmar Bergman The following abbreviated references are used: BBC (British Broadcast Corporation) CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) MT&R (Museum of Television and Radio) SALB (Statens arkviv för ljud och bild) SFI (Swedish Film Institute) Listed below are major Media documentaries about Ingmar Bergman that include clips from his films or his theatre/media productions. Included are also ‘behind-the-scenes’ TV documentaries from the shooting of the following works directed by Bergman: The Magic Flute, Fanny and Alexander, Larmar och gör sig till (In the Presence of a Clown), Saraband, and the opera/TV film The Bachae. Note: For eighteen of Bergman’s feature films, documentary footage or ‘bakomfilmer’ is (or will be) available at the Swedish Film Institute. To date, ‘Bakomfilmer’ involve the following film titles: Gycklarnas afton, 1953 En lektion i kärlek, 1954 Kvinnodröm, 1955 Sommarnattens leende, 1955 Det sjunde inseglet, 1956/57 Smultronstället, 1957
Ansiktet, 1958 Nära livet, 1958 Såsom i en spegel, 1961 Nattvardsgästerna, 1962 Persona, 1966 Skammen, 1968
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Chapter X Varia Viskningar och rop, 1972 Scener ur ett äktenskap, 1973 Ansikte mot ansikte, 1976
Ur marionetternas liv, 1980 Höstsonaten, 1981 Efter repetitionen, 1984
For Vargtimmen, 1967, an original, later cut prologue and epilogue, is available at SFI. After Den goda viljan (Best Intentions), scripted by Bergman and directed by Billy August, received the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1992, a documentary titled ‘Världsmästare i film’ (World master in film) was broadcast on Swedish television, channel 1, on 19 May 1992. The program is 80 min. and includes interviews with the cast plus film clips from Best Intentions. Person-to-person radio and TV interviews with Bergman pertaining to a single film, play production, or TV transmission, or to a single subject (such as Music or Strindberg), are referenced in the Commentary under individual items in the Filmography and Theatre/Media Bibliography (Chapters IV and VII) and/or in Interviews Chapter (VIII). Items below are listed in alphabetical order by title.
1699. Begegnung mit Ingmar Bergman [Encounter with B] Westdeutsche Rundfunk/TV, 6 August 1964. Producer/Interviewer: Hans Stempel. Includes excerpts from The Naked Night, The Seventh Seal, Winter Light, and The Silence. A 13 page typescript is available for this German interview. See a report by S. Melchinger in Theater heute, no. 9, 1964, p. 44.
1700. The Bergman File Produced by Jörn Donner, 1977; 57 min. Also referred to as ‘Tre scener med Ingmar Bergman’ [Three Scenes with IB]. SVT, Channel 2, on 28 and 30 December 1975, and 1 January 1976. Film copyright: Jörn Donner Productions & Cinematograph AB. Available for viewing at MT&R, New York. The documentary opens with Bergman’s press conference at the time of the making of The Serpent’s Egg, then uses material from earlier TV documentary by Donner. Cf. (Ø 836).
1701. Bergmans röst/Bergman’s Voice Prod. by Gunnar Bergdahl and Bengt Toll. Gothenburg Film Festival, 1997; Triangelfilm, 1998; 1 hour 27 min. Expanded material from a TV interview with Bergman in 1997, broadcast on 8 February 1997 in SVT. Available in English (‘Bergman’s Voice’); German (‘Bergmans Stimme’); Portuguese (‘Voz de Bergman’). (Cf. Ø 932).
1702. Börtz, Bergman, och Backanterna [Börtz, Bergman and The Bacchae] Prod. by SVT, Måns Reuterswärd, 1993; 72 min. (SVT, SALB, MT&R). In Swedish with English subtitles. An Emmy-nominated documentary providing a behind-the-scenes look at Bergman directing an opera based on Euripides’ classical drama, with music by Daniel Börtz.
1703. Dick Cavett Show: A Conversation with Ingmar Bergman Prod. by ABC/TV, 1 August 1971. Also on National Educational Television (NET), 12 April 1972; 70 min. (MT&R). Cf. Interviews, (Ø 798).
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Media Documentaries on Ingmar Bergman Bergman talks about his childhood. Actress Bibi Andersson reflects on Bergman’s portrayal of women.
1704. Dokument Fanny och Alexander Prod. by SVT. Photo Arne Carlsson. 110 min. First shown on 16 September 1984 at SFI. Televised on 18 August 1986, with limited circulation abroad. From the shooting of Fanny and Alexander. See Variety, 26 February 1986, p. 7. The documentary is available on video from the Swedish Film Institute.
1705. I Bergmans regi [Directed by Bergman] Prod. by Torbjörn Ehnwall. Photo Arne Carlsson. SVT, 24 November 2003. A documentary about the making of the TV film Saraband, with interviews with Bergman, cast and crew, including costumier, set designer, and propman.
1706. I sällskap med en clown [In the Presence of a Clown] Prod. by SVT, 7-8 November 1997; 57 min. A documentary about the shooting of Larmar och gör sig till. Available through SALB.
1707. Ingmar Bergman Prod. by SFI, 1972; 50 min. Interviewer/Research Stig Björkman. This film used to be available through the Swedish Institute/Swedish Information Service. Björkman’s interview is intercut with takes from the making of Bergman’s film The Touch. (Cf. Ø 796).
1708. Ingmar Bergman: The Magic Lantern. Ingmar Bergman: The Director Two-part documentary, prod. by Alan Horrox, Thames ITV, shown on BBC channel 4, May 1988; 52 min. each. Research/Interviewer: Michael Winterbottom. Available at BFI, MT&R. (Cf. Ø 912). The program combines archival material with clips from forty years of interviews.
1709. Ingmar Bergman gör en film [Ingmar Bergman makes a movie] Prod. SVT, 27 January, 3 February, and 10 February 1963; 30 min. each. Interviewer/Research: Vilgot Sjöman. (Cf. Ø 751). The documentary series, in three segments, is based on Sjöman’s coverage of the shooting of Bergman’s film Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light). See Sjöman’s book L-136. Dagbok (Ø 1100).
1710. Ingmar Bergman och hustruskoan [Ingmar Bergman and School for Wives]. Prod. by Swedish Public Radio (SR), 31 December 1983 and 1 January 1984. Two part documentary/discussion with Bergman about his TV production of Molière’s play. See Ø 329, 597.
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Chapter X Varia 1711.
Ingmar Bergman om liv och arbete [IB about life and work] Prod. by Jörn Donner for SVT, 14 July 1998; 50 min. The interview was translated by Joan Tate as ‘Demons and Childhood Secrets: An Interview’. Grand Street 17, no. 2 (Fall) 1998: 180-93. (Cf. Ø 934). A documentary/interview televised on Bergman’s 80th birthday in which Bergman reminisces about his life and work.
1712.
Ingmar Bergman på Island [Ingmar Bergman on Iceland] Prod. SVT, Channel 1, 19 January 1989, 60 min. Interviewer: Hravn Gunnlaugsson. (Cf. Ø 914). The documentary originated when filmmaker Gunnlaugsson covered a guest visit to Reykjavik of Bergman’s Dramaten production of Strindberg’s Miss Julie.
1713.
Ingmar Bergman tar farväl av filmen [Ingmar Bergman Bids Farewell to Cinema] Prod. SVT, Channel 2, 14 May 1983; 60 min. In Swedish with English subtitles (SVT, SALB, MT&R). Interviewer/Research: Nils Petter Sundgren. Cf. Ø 894. The documentary includes vignettes from the set of Fanny and Alexander. Bergman announces his retirement from feature filmmaking. Cf this to separate documentary on the making of Fanny och Alexander.
1714. Man Alive Presents Ingmar Bergman Prod. CBC, Canada, 1970; 58 min. (BFI, MT&T). Research: Marc Gervais. Interviewer: NilsPetter Sundgren. (Cf. Ø 791). Bergman talks about the impact of faith on creative expression.
1715.
The Open Mind: A Profile of Ingmar Bergman Prod. NBC, 1965; 54 min. Interviewer: Edwin Newman. Bergman talks about the Scandinavian character and its influence on his work.(See Ø 761)
1716. Public Broadcasting Laboratory: Ingmar Bergman Prod. by David Brenner, 1968; 80 min. (MT&R). Interviewer/Moderator: Lewis Freedman. (Cf. Ø 775). A documentary filmed by Bergman’s early cinematographer Gunnar Fischer with clips from making of Shame. Includes interviews with Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow.
1717.
Das Schlangenei Prod. by a West German TV team. Transcript in French available in Positif, no. 204 (March) 1978:18-27. A documentary on the shooting of Das Schlangenei (The Serpent’s Egg).
1718. Secrets of a Genius Prod. by Dino de Laurentis. First shown on Argentinian television, 28 December 1977. A documentary about Bergman made in connection with the shooting of The Serpent’s Egg.
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Stage and Screen Performances by Ingmar Bergman 1719. The South Bank Show: Ingmar Bergman at Sixty Prod. London Weekend Production, 1978, 56 min. (BFI, MT&R). Interviewer: Melvin Bragg. (Cf. Ø 857). Bergman’s first interview for British television. He talks about his childhood obsessions and questions of faith as the basis of his work.
1720. Tagning Trollflöjten [Stand by to Shoot The Magic Flute] Prod. by Katinka Farago and Måns Reuterswärd, SVT, 6 January 1973, 60 min. A documentary on the making of Bergman’s TV opera The Magic Flute. Available for viewing at SALB.
1721.
Secrets of a genius Pod. by Dino de Laurentiis, Argentine TV, 28 September 1977.
B. Stage and Screen Performances by Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman once referred to himself as ‘an actor not born’ [en ofödd skådespelare]; (Bildjournalen, no. 38, 1956, pp. 8-9). However, during his early days as a theatre director, he occasionally assumed a role in a stage or screen production. In some of his films and TV productions he has either been present as an off-screen narrative voice or has appeared in brief Hitchcock-like roles, passing by as an extra.
1938 Sutton Vane’s Outward Bound (Till främmande hamn). Mäster Olofsgården. Bergman played the part of Pastor Frank Thomson, also called the Comptroller.
1939 Pär Lagerkvist’s Mannen som fick leva om sitt liv (The Man Who Lived Twice). Mäster Olofsgården. Played the role of blind man Boman. August Strindberg’s Lycko-Pers resa (Lucky Peer’s Travels). Mäster Olofsgården. Played the part of Friend II. Edmond Rostand’s Romanesques (Romantik). Mäster Olofsgården. Played the part of Straforel.
1940 William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Played the part of King Duncan. August Strindberg’s Svanehvit (Swanwhite). Played the part of the Gardener.
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Chapter X Varia 1941 Zacharias Topelius’ Fågel Blå (Bluebird). Sagoteatern. Played the part of Mangipani.
1942 Torun Munthe’s De tre dumheterna (The Three Stupidities). Sagoteatern. Played the part of a Cheater.
1943 Bengt Erik Vos’ Strax innan vi vaknar (Just Before We Awaken). Stockholms Studentteater. Bergman played the part of a Blind Man.
1944 Alf Sjöberg’s film Hets (Torment, Frenzy) based on Ingmar Bergman’s script. Uncredited voice on the radio in Berta’s apartment.
1947 Ingmar Bergman’s film Skepp till India land (Ship to India). Uncredited brief appearance as a man wearing a beret in a Punch and Judy show at a fun fair.
1948 Ingmar Bergman’s film Musik i mörker (Music in Darkness). Uncredited brief appearance as a train passenger in the last scene.
1949 Ingmar Bergman’s film Törst (Thirst). Uncredited brief appearance as a train passenger in a scene where a Danish and a Swedish pastor talk about trivialities while images of bombed-out Germany pass by outside the window.
1950 Ingmar Bergman’s film Till glädje (To Joy). Uncredited brief appearance as an expectant father in a maternity ward.
1952 Ingmar Bergman’s film Kvinnors väntan (Waiting Women). Uncredited brief appearance as a man in the stairway to a gynecologist’s office.
1954 Ingmar Bergman’s film En lektion i kärlek (A Lesson in Love). Uncredited brief appearance as a man on the train, reading a newspaper. Ingmar Bergman’s radio production of his play Trämålning (Wood Painting) Role of Narrator.
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Stage and Screen Performances by Ingmar Bergman 1955 Ingmar Bergman’s film Kvinnodröm (Dreams). Uncredited brief appearance as a man with a poodle in a hotel corridor. Bergman’s film Sommarnattens leende (Smiles of a Summer Night). Ingmar Bergman appears briefly as a bookkeeper at Egerman’s legal office in a scene that was cut from the final version of the film.
1966 Ingmar Bergman’s film Persona. Uncredited voice of Narrator as Alma and Elisabeth move out to the island.
1967 Ingmar Bergman’s film Stimulantia. Narrator. Ingmar Bergman’s film Vargtimmen (The Hour of the Wolf). In a prologue, later cut, Ingmar Bergman talks about the genesis – a fictitious diary he received from the widow on the Frisian islands – of Vargtimmen with Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow.
1969 Ingmar Bergman’s TV film Riten (The Ritual). Appears briefly as a Catholic priest. Ingmar Bergman’s film En passion (A Passion/The Passion of Anna). Uncredited voice as the Narrator. Ingmar Bergman’s TV film Fårödokument, 1969. Reporter/Narrator.
1973 Ingmar Bergman’s TV film Scener ur ett äktenskap (Scenes from a Marriage). Voice of the photographer in opening scene.
1997 Ingmar Bergman’s TV film Larmar och gör sig till (In the Presence of a Clown). Plays a patient in the insane asylum.
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Chapter X Varia
C. Awards and Tributes Items listed here appear in chronological order and focus on honors and tributes to the director Ingmar Bergman for his overall contribution to the arts. This is followed by a listing of awards for specific film productions.
1940 SFP (Mäster Olofsgården). Åke Johansson memorial award to Ingmar Bergman for being the most valuable contributor to Mäster Olofsgården’s youth activities. Source: Annual report for 1940-41, Mäster Olofsgården Archives.
1946-48, 1951, 1953 Svenska Filmsamfundet [Swedish Film Society] plaque (‘Charlie’ Award).
1954 Montevideo Film Festival Award. First international recognition of Ingmar Bergman, with festival top prize to Gycklarnas afton [Noites de Circo/The Naked Night/Sawdust and Tinsel]. São Paulo 500th Anniversary. Special recognition of Ingmar Bergman in an international film program that was part of the city’s cultural celebration in connection with its 500th anniversary. (See Ø 1029).
1956 Kungafonden [Swedish King’s Fund]. 2000 kronor stipend. Svenska Filmsamfundet [Swedish Film Society]. Honorary diploma. Special Jury Prize, Cannes, to Sommarnattens leende [Smiles of a Summer Night] for its ‘poetic humor.’
1957 Svenska Filmsamfundet [Swedish Film Society]. Gold Plaque. Svenska Dagbladet’s Thalia Award (Theatre prize). Swedish Film Society Yearbook. First Prize in 1957 by Swedish film critics for Sjunde inseglet [The Seventh Seal].
1958 Svenska Teaterkritikers [Swedish Theatre Critics] ‘Marklund Statue’. FIB (Folket i Bild) Mauritz Statue. Award for Best Film Artist two years in a row (1958-59). French Motion Picture Academy. Grand Prix International du Film d’Avant-garde for Sjunde inseglet [Le septième sceau]. Grand Prix Golden Bear at Berlin Film Festival, for Smultronstället [Wilde Erdbeeren].
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Awards and Tributes FIPRESCI (Fédération internationale de la presse cinématographique). Award at the Venice Film Festival.
1959 Frankfurt am Main. Film Critics Award. Finnish Film Journalists Award. The Pazinetti Award and Cinema Nuovo Award.
1960 Brussels. Belgian Film Critics Major Award. Århus University, Denmark. Honorary Artist. Student Association Award to Ingmar Bergman as ‘God’s Jester.’
1961 Svenska Teaterförbundet (Swedish Theatre Association) Gold Medal for ‘extraordinary artistic contribution’ [utomordentlig konstnärlig gärning]. David O. Selznick Trophy. Tribute to Ingmar Bergman as filmmaker. American Motion Picture Academy Award. An Oscar for Best Foreign Film to Jungfrukällan [The Virgin Spring]. This was Bergman’s first Oscar. Syrena Warszwawska Award (Polish Film Critics Association).
1962 American Motion Picture Academy Award. An Oscar for Best Foreign Film to Såsom i en spegel [Through a Glass Darkly]. Japanese Jury of 70 Award. For Best Imported Film of the year (Smultronstället). ‘29 Critics’ Award, Japan. To Smultronstället.
1963 Chaplin Award. Tribute by Swedish film magazine.
1964 Venice Film Festival. Tribute to Ingmar Bergman. Bergman presented a short speech on the occasion. See Ingmar Bergman. ‘Pour ne pas parler..’. Cahiers du Cinéma 27, no. 159 (October) 1964: 12-13. Bergman states: ‘All artists except actors ought to be invisible.’
1965 Erasmus Award. Dutch tribute to Ingmar Bergman, shared by Charlie Chaplin. Bergman could not attend the ceremonies because of illness but picked up the prize the following year. His speech on the occasion was later published under the title ‘Ormskinnet/The Snakeskin’. (See Ø 131 and Ø 1120).
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Chapter X Varia 1967 National Film Society. Prizes to Persona for Best Film, Best Script (2nd prize), Best Direction, Best Photo (3rd prize), Best Actress (Bibi Andersson). David di Donatello Award. Tribute to Ingmar Bergman in Taormina, Italy.
1968 Sirena D’oro/Golden Siren. Italian Film Directors Award, Sorrento Festival. National Society of Film Critics. Award to Skammen for Best Film, Best Director, Best Script (2nd prize), Best Photo (2nd prize), Best Actress (Liv Ullmann).
1969 Polish Zota Kaczka (Gold Tooth). Best Foreign Film of the Year award to Persona. Gummiudden (Rubber Point) Award. Stockholm University Humanities Society. Award for ‘non-violence’ against theatre critic Bengt Jahnson since 28 February 1969. (See Ø 551).
1970 National Society of Film Critics Award. American tribute to Ingmar Bergman as a filmmaker.
1971 American Federal Bar Association Award. American Film Critics Society Award as Best Director in 1970. Luigi Pirandello Premio internazional di teatro. Italian Gold Plaque to IB for his theatre work. Irving Thalberg Memorial Award. President Tito of Yugoslavia Award. Venice Film Festival. Honorary Mention.
1973 Poetic Tribute. Poem titled ‘Ingmar Bergman’ by J. D. McClatchy, Film Heritage 8, no. 2, 1973: 40. UCLA (University of California in Los Angeles) Homage to Bergman, 12 October 1973. With a lecture by Anaïs Nin. (See Ø 1292). Belgian Film Association Award for Artistic Excellence.
1974 David di Donatelli Award. Tribute to Bergman for his entire production, Taormina, Italy. Prix Femina (annual Belgian film prize) to Cries and Whispers for ‘depth of psychological analysis’.
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Awards and Tributes 1975 Honorary Doctorate. Stockholm University. International Film Festival, with retrospective focus on Bergman’s filmmaking, Brussels.
1976 Goethe Preis 1976: Ingmar Bergman. Frankfurt an Main: Dezernat Kultur und Freizeit. (See Ø 1273). Liechtenstein Art Association Tribute to Ingmar Bergman as one of the Western world’s most important artists. Poetic Tribute. William Stafford publishes a poem titled ‘Bergman’. Western Humanities Review 30, no. 2 (Spring) 1976: 146.
1977 Swedish Academy of Arts and Science. Gold Medal.
1980 Honorary Professorship. Stockholm University.
1981 Alger H. Meadows Award. Ingmar Bergman became the first recipient of the prize, issued by Southern Methodist University for Excellence in the Arts. See Talking with Ingmar Bergman, group Ø 1368. On 10 October 1981, the Swedish Postal Service issued a block of stamps depicting Swedish film history. Two of the stamps have an Ingmar Bergman reference: one vignette from the classroom scene in Hets (Torment) and one from the pietà scene in Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers). The latter motif was also issued as a postcard with a special imprint.
1982 Venice Film Festival Golden Lion to Bergman for his total contribution to the cinema. (Bergman could not attend the event but appeared and accepted the award at the 1983 Venice festival, where the longer (5 hours) TV version of Fanny and Alexander was shown).
1984 Yearly Guaranteed Income. Bergman asks that his yearly guaranteed income as a practicing artist (which he had never collected) be transferred to actress Kari Sylwan.
1985 American-Scandinavian Foundation institutes ‘The Ingmar Bergman Award’ to a Nordic artist who has had a lasting impact on American culture. French Legion of Honor. Award presented to Ingmar Bergman in Paris by French President François Mitterand.
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Chapter X Varia 1986 Sorbonne (University of Paris). Honorary Doctorate.
1987 Rome University, La Sapienza Faculty. Honorary Doctorate. The ceremonies took place in 1988. A seminar was organized by Guido Aristarco. Bergman was expected to attend but cancelled because of fatigue. Das Grosse Verdienstkreuz. German Medal.
1988 British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Honorary Member. European Felix Award to Ingmar Bergman for his life contribution to the cinema. Award ceremony took place in Berlin. (See Ø 1453). ‘Premio Fiesole ai Maestri del cinema’. Honorary Award to Ingmar Bergman by the city of Fiesole in Italy. Prize Ubu for best foreign theatre performance in Italy (Long Days Journey into Night).
1989 Projecto de soneto a ‘Luz de Inverno’. A sonnet by Agostino da Silva in Ingmar Bergman, ed. by Jose Navarro de Andrade, Tetra PAK, Portugal, 1989. Sonning Prize. Copenhagen University. Award for his contribution to European culture. (See Ø 1477). Dag Hammarskjöld Medal. Swedish Tourist Association (Svenska Turistföreningen), to Ingmar Bergman ‘for having contributed to giving the public image of Sweden a cultural profile.’ Village Voice ‘Off Broadway Award’ for best theatre production (‘Hamlet’).
1991 Winner of Japanese award ‘Præmium Imperiale’, the so-called Nobel Prize of Art, given to people who have made artistic activity their life work. Also referred to as the H.H. Takamatsu International Culture Award. The price sum was 600 000 SEK. Bergman’s daughter Linn Ullmann picked up the award; in a statement she said: ‘Dad could not come to the award ceremony in Japan but says that he has received much inspiration from Akira Kurosawa’s films.’ President of the European Film Academy (in Berlin).
1992 Festival nordico in Rome. Retrospective of Early Bergman. Arranged by Associazione Culturale ‘L’Arte e lo Spettacolo’, Rome. In connection with this event the book Il giovane Bergman, edited by Francesco Bono, was published. (See Ø 1521). Strindberg Prize. Annual prize awarded by the Strindberg Society (Strindbergssällskapet). Prize is a replica of a sculpture of Strindberg’s head by Carl Eldh.
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Awards and Tributes 1993 Sveriges förenade filmstudios (Sweden’s United Film Studios). Glass Statue.
1995 Dorothy and Lilian Gish Prize. Mali Postal Service. Undated block of stamps to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the cinema. One stamp portrays Liv Ullmann with a small inserted vignette of Ingmar Bergman. New York City Ingmar Bergman festival, 7 May - 15 June 1995. See group (Ø 1580). Swedish Postal Services. Block of stamps issued on 7 October 1995 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the cinema. One stamp has an Ingmar Bergman reference: the mirror scene with Bibi Andersson and Victor Sjöström in Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries).
1996 University Charles de Gaulle in Lille. Honorary Doctorate. Ingmar Bergman. 50 años de cinema. Rio de Janeiro Retrospective, November 22-10 December 1996, arranged by Cineclub Estacaõ Botagogo, Espaco Unibanco de Cinema, Cinemateca do MAM. The program included all of Bergman’s films to date, except the Bris commercials and Sånt härder inte här, and included post-Fanny and Alexander films scripted by Bergman. Sponsored by IBM. Lund University Ingmar Bergman Symposium. For details, (See Ø 1613).
1997 Gothenburg Film Festival. Honorary President. Palm of Palms tribute. Cannes Film Festival 50th Anniversary Special Award. Bergman who had never received the Golden Palm for best director was selected as the recipient of this special tribute after a vote among a specially invited group of filmmakers, all of whom were former recipients of the Golden Palm. See group (Ø 1614).
1998 King’s medal, 12th size. Recognition by His Majesty King Carl Gustaf of Sweden of Bergman’s cultural contribution to his country. The medal was the highest such recognition of its kind in 1998. Fågel Blå Cinema Tribute. A year-long tribute to Bergman by art house cinema that used to be his neigbourhood movie theatre when he grew up. Fågel Blå [Bluebird] showed Bergman retrospectives on Monday nights from 1986 to 1999. See group (Ø 1625). The Artist and Cultural Identity. An international Strindberg-Sjöberg-Bergman symposium, Stockholm, 28-31 August 1998 at Fågel Blå Cinema, Strindberg Museum, and Royal Dramatic Theatre. Sponsored by Biografteatern Fågel Blå; Stockholm – Cultural City of Europe ’98; Royal Dramatic Theatre; the Strindberg Society; Swedish Authors Association; and ABF Stockholm. See group (Ø 1625).
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Chapter X Varia 1999 Swedish Postal Service. Block of stamps issued on 11 March 1999 with the theme ‘Sweden in the 20th-century’. One stamp shows Ingmar Bergman together with Eva Dahlbeck and Gunnar Björnstrand in Sommarnattens leende (Smiles of a Summer Night).
2000 St Vincent & Grenadines Postal Service. Undated block of stamps issued at Internationale Filmfestspiele (Berlin) 50th anniversary. One stamp shows Victor Sjöström in Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries), the film that received the (Berlin) Golden Bear in 1958.
2001 Sat Sapiente Award. Skandinaviska Teaterpriset. Bergman became the first recipient of the annual Scandinavian Theatre Prize, instituted by the Norwegian Sat Sapiente Foundation to honor the best stage production of a Scandinavian playwright, put on by one of the three Scandinavian national stages: Dramaten in Stockholm, Det Kongelige in Copenhagen, and Nationalteatret in Oslo. The award was for Bergman’s production of Spöksonaten (The Ghost Sonata) in 2000. See Theatre/Media Bibliography, VII, (Ø 485).
2002 Village Voice Off-Broadway Theatre Award. Special citation to Ingmar Bergman for his guest productions at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), especially for Spöksonaten (The Ghost Sonata) in June 2001.
2003 FIAF Film Preservation Award. Special tribute to Ingmar Bergman by Fédération internationale des archives de film. Presented at FIAF congress at SFI, June 2, 2003. Ingmar Bergman Foundation Exhibit. ‘Before Ingmar Became Bergman’. International presentation of early (1938-1946) Bergman papers from his donated Fårö library. In collaboration with the Swedish Institute. Exhibit toured to Helsinki, Paris, Rome, and Vienna.
2004 Prix Italia for TV film Saraband.
2005 L’Opera multiforme 1982-2003. Symposium in Pordenone (Italy), 4-5 feb, 2005. Stockholm, May-June 2005. Interarts Conference on Ingmar Bergman arranged by the Ingmar BergmanFoundation and Stockholm University Cinema Arts Department, in cooperation with Dramaten, the Royal Swedish Opera, and the Swedish Film Institute.
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Awards for Individual films Awards for Individual films The year after the film title refers to its year of release.
Det regnar på vår kärlek [It Rains on our Love] (1946) 1946 1947
Ingmar Bergman won a Charlie (Swedish Oscar) for the film; Film was ranked best Swedish film for 1946-47 by Swedish Film Journalists Club and the film magazine Biografbladet.
Kvinna utan ansikte [Woman without a Face] (1947) 1948
Stockholm film critics (and Uppsala critic Pir Ramek) voted Kvinna utan ansikte best Swedish film of the year, followed by Bergman’s Musik i mörker and Skepp till India land. See Biografbladet, Summer 1948.
Skepp till India land [Ship to India](1947) 1947
Honorable mention at 1947 Cannes Film festival.
Sommarlek [Illicit Interlude, Summer Interlude] (1951) 1952
Honorable mention for script and direction by Svenska Filmsamfundet (Swedish Film Society).
Gycklarnas afton [The Naked Night, Sawdust and Tinsel] (1953) 1954 1957 1958
1959 1999
First prize in Montevideo Film Festival; L’Etoile du Cristal de L’Académie du Cinéma, Paris; Diploma in Buenos Aires Film Festival; German Film Critics Award for Best Direction and highest quality rating by the West German Classification Board; Second Prize by Polish Film Critics’ Society; Listed in Swedish Filmhäftet survey as one of the ten best Swedish films of the century.
En lektion i kärlek [A Lesson in Love] (1954) 1955 1963
Punta del Este Festival Award; Unspecified award at Film Comedy Festival in Vienna.
Sommarnattens leende [Smiles of a Summer Night] (1955) 1956
FIB’s film trophy for Best Script and Best Direction (FIB = Folket i Bild, Swedish cultural magazine), March 1956; Special Jury Prize at 1956 Cannes Film Festival for ‘its poetic humor.’
Det sjunde inseglet [The Seventh Seal] (1956) 1957 1958 1959
1960 1961:
FIB 1957 silver statue; also best male actor award to Gunnar Björnstrand; First prize by film critics in 1957 Swedish Film Society Yearbook; French Motion Picture Academy’s Grand Prix International du Film d’Avant-garde; Films and Filming‘s choice as ‘Film of the Month’ (April 1958); Joseph Burstyn Award for Best Foreign Film (Second Prize); Award at the film festival in Stratford, Canada (Third Prize); Finnish Film Journalists Award; The Pazinetti Award; Silver Laurel Medal. David O. Selznick award for best foreign film. Trofeo Federación Nacional de Cine Clubs, Valladolid, Spain. Nastro d’Argento [silver ribbon] by Italian Film Critics.
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Chapter X Varia Smultronstället [Wild Strawberries] (1957) 1958
1959
1960 1961
1962
1971
1972
FIB Silver Statue; Grand Prix Golden Bear prize at Berlin Film Festival; FIPRESCI (Fédération internationale de la presse cinématographique) award at Venice film festival; Norwegian Film Producers Silver Nugget (Sölvklumpen); Bodil Statue (Danish Oscar); Southern California Motion Picture Council Award; National Board of Reviews Award for Best Actor and Best Foreign Film; Mar del Plata, Argentina Film Festival. First prize and Best Actor Award; Nastro d’Argento, Italy (Silver Ribbon for Best Foreign Film); Syrena Warszwawska Award (Polish Film Critic’s Association); Evangelische Filmgilde’s Best Film of the Month (July 1961); Third place on Katolischen Film and Fernsehen List of Best Films of the Year; David O. Selznick Silver Laurel; Besonderes Wertvoll status by Filmbewertungsstelle Wiesbaden; Japanese Jury of 70 Award for Best Imported Film; ‘29 Critics Award’, Japan. On 12 January 1971, p. 21, Aftonbladet carried a notice that Smultronstället/Wild Strawberries had been chosen as one of four outstanding films during the last quarter of a century by French film critics. Classified among 12 best films in the world by Sight and Sound.
Nära livet [Brink of Life/Close to Life] (1957) 1958
Cannes Film Festival. Awards for Best Director and Best Actress (collectively).
Ansiktet [The Magician/The Face] 1959
Venice Film Festival. Special Jury Prize and Critics Award to Ansiktet; Pasinetti Award and Cinema Nuovo Award; Acapulco Film Festival of Festivals. Unspecified award to Ansiktet;
Jungfrukällan [The Virgin Spring] (1960) 1960 1961:
Cannes Film Festival. Honorary Mention for Jungfrukällan (La source); Oscar Awards, USA. Best Foreign Film Award for Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring); Labaro de oro (gold medal) at Religious Film Festival, Valladolid, Spain; ‘29 Critics Award’ in Japan.
Såsom i en spegel [Through a Glass Darkly] (1961) 1962
1963
American Motion Picture Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Foreign Film; Bild und Funk Bambi Award; Belgian Film Critics Award; Berlin. Catholic Film Bureau’s Award; Finnish Film Critics Prize.
Nattvardsgästerna [Winter Light, The Communicants] (1962) 1963
1964
Best Foreign Film, Religious Film Week, Vienna; Chaplin Award for Nattvardsgästerna and Tystnaden; OCIC’s (Office Catholique International du Cinéma) Film Award; David O. Selznick Silver Laurel; Jussi Statue (Finland); Lisbon Film Festival Award to Ingrid Thulin for her role as Märta Lundberg.
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Awards for Individual films 1966
Valladolid Film Festival. Grand Prix (shared with Shock Corridor).
Tystnaden [The Silence] (1963) 1964
SFI Gold Bug for Best Direction
Persona (1966) 1967
1969
SFI quality subsidy of Skr 556,390; SFI Gold Bug to Bibi Andersson; National Society of Film Critics prize for Best Film, Best Script (2nd prize), Best Direction, Best Photo (3rd prize), Best Actress (Bibi Andersson). Polish Zota Kaczka [Gold Tooth] for Best Foreign Film of the Year. Persona also placed high on numerous ‘best film of the year’ polls throughout the world.
Vargtimmen [Hour of the Wolf] (1967) 1968
Despite negative Swedish reception, Hour of the Wolf was given SFI (Swedish Film Institute) quality subsidy of SKR 356,641.
Skammen [Shame] (1968) 1968
1969
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film, Best Direction, Best Script (2nd place), Best Photo (2nd place), Best Actress (Liv Ullmann) who also won SFI Gold Bug for 1969; SFI Quality Subsidy of Skr 352,865 Special Prize at 1969 Valladolid Religious Film Festival; Best Film of the Month of February, by Evangelische Filmgilde.
Riten [The Ritual] (1969) 1970
Riten was an entry at the 1970 Mar del Plata Film Festival.
En passion [The Passion of Anna, A Passion] (1969) 1969 1970
1971
SFI Quality Subsidy of Skr 303,255; OCIC (Office catholique internationale du cinéma) Award at Valladolid Film Festival. National Society of Film Critics; Best Director Award. New York Film Critics. Rated 2nd Best Foreign Film.
Beröringen [The Touch] (1970) 1972
Bibi Andersson, Best Actress Award, Belgrade Film Festival.
Viskningar och rop [Cries and Whispers] (1972) 1972
1973
1974
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Script and Best Photography; New York Critics’ Award for Best Film, Best Script, Best Director and Best Actress (Liv Ullmann); American Motion Picture Academy. An Oscar for Best Photography; National Board of Reviews Prize for Best Direction; Films and Filming award for Best Color Photography; Belgian Film Association Award for Artistic Excellence; Syrena Warszawska (Polish film critics’ award) for Best Foreign Film. Yugoslav Film Critics’ Awards; Nastro d’Argento for Best Foreign Film shown in Italy; Centro culturale San Fedele award, Milan (Jesuit Film Center) as Best Film of the Year;
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Chapter X Varia
1975
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film and Best Actress (Liv Ullmann); Prix Femina (annual Belgian film prize) for ‘depth of psychological analysis’. Jussi Statue (Finland).
Scener ur ett äktenskap [Scenes from a Marriage] (1973) 1974 1975: 1976:
Circle Prize for Best Manuscript; Hollywood Foreign Press Association Golden Globe; Film Journlists’ Association Film Festival (Brussels); David di Donatello Award, Taormina, to Liv Ullmann; Bild und Funk Bambi Award for Best Foreign Actress.
Trollflöjten [The Magic Flute] (1975) 1975 1976
French Film Critics’ Association Special Award; Golden Globe Award as Best Film of the Year; Prix femina (Belgium) for Artistic Quality; Best Film of the Month, July 1976, by Evangelische Filmgilde.
Ansikte mot ansikte [Face to Face] (1976) 1976
Golden Globe as Best Film of the Year.
Herbstsonate [Autmn sonata] (1978) 1978
National Board of Review. Award for Best Direction.
Fanny och Alexander (1982) 1983
1984
1985
New York Film Critics: Best Foreign Film 1983; Golden Globe (Hollywood Film Critics) for Best Foreign Film; (awarded in 1984); Swedish Film Critics’ Society. Film of the Year; César (France) for Best Foreign Film, 1983; SFI Circle Prize; Gold Bug for Best Direction; Venice Golden Lion 1983. Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film, Best Cinematography, Best Costumes, and Best Art Direction; David de Donatello Award in Italy for Best Direction, Best Script, Best Film. Jesuit Cultural Centre, San Fedele. Award as Best Film of the Year.
Den goda viljan [Best Intentions] (1991) 1992
Golden Palm (Palme d’or) at Cannes Film Festival; Best Actress Award to Pernilla August; Gold Bug award. Best Script, Ingmar Bergman. Newspaper Expr. television award
Trolösa [Faithless] (2000) 2000
Baltic Prize at Lübeck Film Festival, November 5, 2000.
Saraband (2003) 2004
Prix Italia for TV film Saraband.
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Archival Sources
D. Archival Sources Listed below are those library and archival sources that were consulted for this Reference Guide. The listing is organized according to Bergman’s different artistic activities:
Ingmar Bergman’s Writings The Royal Library in Stockholm (Kungliga Biblioteket/KB) keeps a copy of all texts published in Sweden. Bergman’s works in print, as well as theatre programs pertaining to his productions, are in storage at KB. Much of this material is also available in the SFI Library or in the Swedish Theatre Library. See below under film and theatre archives. Unpublished Bergman material is being catalogued at SFI, The Ingmar Bergman Archives. See below.
Kungliga Biblioteket www.kb.se Tel. 46 8 463 40 00 Fax: 46 8 463 40 04 e-mail:
[email protected] The Ingmar Bergman Foundation In 2002, the Ingmar Bergman Foundation was instituted in Stockholm with representatives from several cultural and academic institutions and including two of Bergman’s children: theatre director Eva Bergman and author Linn Ullmann. The planned Ingmar Bergman Archive at SFI will house the majority of Ingmar Bergman’s unpublished plays and drafts, shooting documentaries of a number of his films, photographs and notes, as well as some director’s copies of stage productions. The material is currently being catalogued. Active plans are under way to establish an Ingmar Bergman database, to be available in 2005. Inquiries might be addressed to the SFI e-mail address or home page, listed below.
Ingmar Bergman’s Films Swedish Sources Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) www. sfi.se Postal address: Box 27126, S-10252 Stockholm, Sweden Tel. 46-8-671 11 00 e-mail:
[email protected] The main source of information concerning scripts, stills, film posters, and analytical material pertaining to Bergman’s filmmaking is the Swedish Film Institute library and archives (SFI) in Stockholm. Recently (2002) Bergman donated his private papers to the SFI. See Ingmar Bergman Foundation, listed above. As for the extensive Bergman material already registered at the SFI Library and Archives, it is open to the public though some restrictions may apply for access to Bergman’s scripts. Note that permission to use stills from Bergman’s films must be obtained from the pertinent film production company or photographer. Cost of reproduction varies.
Svensk Filmindustri (SF) The producer of the majority of Bergman’s films prior to 1968 has purchased films produced by Bergman’s own production company Cinematograph.
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Chapter X Varia Svensk Filmindustri www.sf.se Postal address: SF, 116 86 Stockholm, Sweden Tel. 46-8-680 35 00 Fax: 46-8-710 44 60
Statens arkiv för ljud och bild (SALB) www.ljudochbildarkivet.se Postal address: Karlavägen 100, S-10451 Stockholm Tel: 46 8 662 27 43 (research div.) Fax; 46 8 663 18 11 e-mail:
[email protected] Students are advised to contact Statens arkiv för ljud och bild (SALB), Stockholm for viewing Bergman films on video at a reasonable cost. Note that SALB’s viewing facilities are reserved for research and are not available to the general public.
Non-Swedish Sources Outside of Sweden, all major film libraries have files on Bergman’s filmmaking, including books, magazines, and newspaper clippings. Access to such material may vary and some film libraries charge an entrance fee. Those archives that have links to FIAF can be reached via www. fiafnet.org or through www.cinema.ucla.edu/fiaf/english/dir.html
American Film Institute (AFI) www.AFI.com Postal address: John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Washington DC 20566, USA Tel: 1-202 833 2648 Fax: 1-202 659 1970 e-mail:
[email protected] American Motion Picture Academy (AMPA) www.ampa.com Margaret Herrick Library Postal address: 8949 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90211, USA Tel. 1-213-278-4313 e-mail: via home page
British Film Institute (BFI) www.bfi.org.com Postal address: 21 Stephen Street, London WIT ILN, United Kingdom Tel: 44 20 7255 1444 e-mail:
[email protected] Cinemateca brasiliera Postal address: Largo senador Raul Cardose, 207 Vila Clementino, São Paulo CEP 04021-070, Brazil Tel. 55-11 50 84 2107 e-mail:
[email protected] Cinemateco do museo de arte moderna Postal address: Calxa postal 44 200 01-970 Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
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Archival Sources Tel: 55- 21 210 21 88 Fax: 55- 21 240 63 51
Cinemateca uruguaya www.cinemateca.org.uy Postal address: Calle Lorenzo Camelli 1311, Montevideo, Uruguay Tel. 598-2 408 2460; or 409 5795; Fax: 598-2 409 4572 e-mail:
[email protected] or
[email protected] (centro de documentation)
Cinématèque Française www.cinematequefrancaise.com Postal address: Centre Censier, 13 rue Santeuil, 75005 Paris, France Tel.33-1 53 65 74 76 Fax: 33-1 53 65 74 96 e-mail:
[email protected] Cinecitta (Rome) www.cinecitta.it Postal address: Cinecitta Holding, Via Tuscolana 1055, 00173 Rome, Italy Tel. 39 06 722 861 Fax: 39 06 7221 883 No e-mail address but mail can be sent via its home page
Det danske filmmuseum www.dfi.dk Postal address: Gothersgade 55, 1123 Copenhagen K, Denmark Tel. 45 33 74 35 90 Fax: 45 33 74 35 89 e-mail: dfi@dk or
[email protected] Filmmuseum Amsterdam www.filmmuseum.nl Postal address: 74782, 1070 BT Amsterdam, the Netherlands Tel. 31-20-5891 400 e-mail:
[email protected] Filmmuseum Berlin – Deutsche Kinemathek www.kinemathek.de Postal address: Potsdamer Strasse 2, 10785 Berlin, Germany Tel. 49- 30 300903-0 Fax: 49- 30 300903-13 e-mail:
[email protected] Filmoteca española (Madrid) www.mcu.es/cine Postal address: c/Magdalena, 10, ES-28o12, Madrid, Spain Tel. 34-91 467 26 00 Fax: 34-91 467 26 11 e-mail: via home page
Filmoteka narodwa (Warsaw) www.filmoteka.com.pl
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Chapter X Varia Postal address: ul. Pulawska 61, PL-00795 Warszawa, Poland Tel. 48-22 84 55 074 e-mail via home page
Gosfilmo Fond (Moscow) Postal address: Maijy Gnezdnikovskij Perulok, Dom 7, ROSSIJA, 103877 Moskva, Russia Tel/Fax: 7-95 234 1861 e-mail:
[email protected] Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) www.moma.org 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019, USA Tel. 1-212 708-9600; Celeste Bartos Film Study Center: 1-212 708-9613 Fax: 1-212-333 11 45 e-mail:
[email protected] Norsk Filminstitutt (NFI) www.nfi.no Postal address: Boks 482 Sentrum, 0105 Oslo, Norway Tel. 47-22 47 45 00 e-mail:
[email protected] Suomen elokuvaarkisto www. sea.fi Postal address: PB 177, 00151 Helsinki, Finland Tel. 358-9 615 400 Fax: 358-9 6154 0242 e-mail:
[email protected] Several Video and DVD copies of Bergman's films are available or are still being produced. Check the home page of the following sources for information and availability: Swedish Film Institute, c/o Library shop British Film Institute, Criterion Collection, New York City
Ingmar Bergman’s Radio Play Productions and TV Films The best source for Bergman’s radio productions, televised plays, and TV films is Statens arkiv för ljud och bild (SALB, see above). Same applies for video film showings. SVT (Swedish Television) and SR (Swedish Radio) have libraries and information services about televised and broadcast Bergman programs.
Sveriges Television (SVT) www.svt.se Postal address: SVT, Publicservice Dept., 10510 Stockholm, Sweden Tel. 46-8-784 00 00
Sveriges Radio (SR) www.sr.se Postal address: SR, Publicservice Dept., 10510 Stockholm, Sweden Tel. 46-8-784 50 00
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Archival Sources The Museum of Television and Radio in New York has some donated material pertaining to Bergman’s television work. Material includes documentaries and interviews with Bergman, produced in English.
Museum of Television and Radio (MT&R) www.mtr.org Postal address: 25 West 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019-6101 Phone: (1) 212 621-6800 e-mail: via home page
Ingmar Bergman’s Theatre Productions: The main source of information about material pertaining to Ingmar Bergman’s theatre work is Sveriges Teatermuseum (formerly Drottningholms Teatermusuem) in Stockholm.
Sveriges Teatermuseum www.sverigesteatermuseum.detm.se Postal address: Kvarnholmsvägen 56 P.O. Box 15417, 10465 Stockholm, Sweden Tel. 46-8-556 931 11 Fax: 46-8-556 931 01 e-mail:
[email protected] Sveriges Teatermuseum has relevant theatre literature, reviews, and photographs. For recorded stage productions, consult Statens Arkiv för ljud och bild (SALB).
Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten) www.dramaten.se Tel. 46-8-665 61 00 Fax: 46-8-663 88 Dramaten has extensive press clippings and photographs from Bergman’s productions at the theatre, as well as library material. Most local institutional theatres (city theatres), the Royal Opera and the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten) where Bergman has been a director have libraries and archives with reviews, publicity items, some production copies, stage designs, and photographs. Some material has been transferred from the different city theatres to the city museums in Helsingborg, Göteborg, Malmö, and Linköping. Kungliga Biblioteket (Royal Library) in Stockholm has some program material from Bergman’s entire career. Mäster Olofsgården’s premises at Storkyrkotorget, Stockholm, have stenciled and handwritten material about Bergman’s theatre activities in 1938-1940; see Theatre/Media Bibliography in Chapter VII and listing of early Bergman writing in Chapter II. The Ingmar Bergman Archive at SFI (see above under Ingmar Bergman’s Writings, Ingmar Bergman Foundation) will house the majority of Ingmar Bergman’s unpublished plays and drafts, as well as some director’s copies of stage productions. Consult SFI Library/Archives for availability to researchers.
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Subject Index All index references are based on the Guide’s entry number system. However, Chapters I (Life and Work) and III (The Filmmaker), as well as longer introductions to Chapters II (The Writer) and VI (Theatre) do not contain any entry numbers since they are overview presentations of material. The relatively few index items that appear in such survey material are referenced through page numbers. The letters (å), (ä) and ö at the end of the Swedish alphabet retain that position in all the indeces. The Danish letters (æ) and (ø) are alphabetized as (ä) and (ö). The Subject Index combines two major sets of references, one addressing the life and work record of Ingmar Bergman and the other focusing on the scholarly writings, professional commentaries, critical debates and interviews that Bergman’s biography and oeuvre have elicited. All references are listed through their entry numbers. When an item is to be found in an extensive entry in the Guide (usually a group entry or an entry in the Filmography or Theatre Chapters), its exact location is specified either by the author’s name or by one of the following designations in parenthesis: (syn) = synopsis, (com) = commentary, (rec) = reception, (rev) = reviews, (lit)= literature/longer articles/special studies. Readers are advised to check Commentaries and Reception lists in Chapters IV, V, and VI for additional references to individual items. A number of indexed subjects appear as alphabetized subheadings under major listings referring to Bergman’s different artistic activities, such as Film, Opera, Radio, Television, Theatre, Writing. Such major listings are set in bold type in the appropriate alphabet section, i.e. Film under F, Opera under O etc. Numbers after the title refer to the Guide’s entry numbers. In subject references to items in the Guide that appear in chapters or sections that have no entry numbers, a page number appears instead.
Actor Bergman as – Varia B Bergman on –s 94, 109, 120, 129, 500, 505, 506, 519, 528, 533, 536, 537 (p. 782, 784), 540, 541, 551, 555, 556, 569, 586, 595, 598, 604, 607, 608, 630,
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670, 687, 717, 724, 785, 788 (passim), 817, 825, 840, 880, 900, 918, 941, 943, 970, 1007, 1368, 1644 comments on Bergman 554, 556, 561, 622, 625, 630, 637, 646, 647, 653, 662 (Josephson), 669, 679, 698, 768, 775, 785, 843, 865, 912, 923, 940, 1013, 1061, 1074, 1082, 1087, 1100, 1117, 1128, 1207,
Subject Index 1240, 1263, 1299, 1333, 1358, 1381, 1395, 1401, 1417, 1452 (1, 4), 1455, 1476, 1484, 1493, 1498 (passim), 1548, 1562, 1580, 1600 (passim), 1685 in Bergman film 717, 724, 747, 768, 776, 788 (passim), 1282, 1325 (Lundgren), 1329 (Ciment) in Bergman theatre 554, 564, 570, 630, 656, 779, 969, 982 (p. 886), 996 (Houston), 1061, 1074, 1100 (passim), 1395, 1401, 1455, 1484, 1535, 1616 role of –s 798, 1128, 1144, 1325, 1484, 1676, 1690 (silent characters); see also Portrayal of Women Adaptation See under individual art form Adolescence chapter I, p. 29, 35, chapter II, p. 67, chapter III, p. 148; 221, 224 (com), 412, 427 (rec), 438 (rec), 959, 982 (Siclier), 1015; see also Childhood, and Film, Motifs Aging chapter I, p. 30; 132 (Perlström, rev), 185 (Palmqvist, rev), 195, 226 (syn; Erikson/Malmberg art.), 253, 254/332 (syn), 259 (rec), 316 (com), 343 (rec), 454 (com), 477 (NY rec), 789 (Chekhov), 1038, 1281, 1447, 1522, 1577; see also Old Age Alchemy 1154 Allegory chapter II, p. 63; 225 (Slayton, lit), 253 (Bundtzen, long.stud), 363 (rec), 465 (Harst, rev Amsterdam), 982 (p. 885), 1410, 1442, 1607 Angst/anguish chapter I, p. 41, chapter III (p. 153, 155, 156, 157); 22, 199, 207 (com/rec), 210 (rec), 211 (rec), 225 (Steene, lit), 231 (French, spec. stud), 233 (syn), 236 (rec), 238 (rec), 239, (rec), 249 (rec), 253 (foreign rec), 334 (rec), 341 (rec), 412, 447 (Herlsinki rev), 449 (Josephson rev), 462 (rec), 473 (Sw. rec), 483 (foreign rev), 861, 863, 952, 1012 (Oldrini), 1098, 1138, 1153, 1161, 1401, 1452 (Pflaug), 1487, 1505, 1506, 1652, 1682, 1685; see also Existentialism Aphorism 93 Archetype chapter I, p. 18; 225 (Steene, lit).), 246 (rec), 379, 399, 408, 447 (Obernhaus, rec), 464 (com), 477 (rec), 479 (Krakow), 480 (rec), 483 (Heltberg, rev), 975, 1129, 1406, 1413, 1452 (2), 1460, 1479, 1581, 1673 Arrest see Exile Art cinema 974, 1211, 1267, 1643 (Elsaesser), 1660 (Dixon) Artist-Audience relationship chapter III (p. 152154); 103, 112, 220, 225 (Jof), 228, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 247, 341, 476 (com), 579, 703, 738, 789 1026, 1194, 1298, 1554 Artistic Creativity chapter II (pp.52-53; 56-57) – as commitment to a vision 87, 108, 824, 841, 880, 1207 – as cult act 120, 240 (com), 341 (com), 1007, 1384 – as intuition 717, 841, 866, 883 – as joy and play/rooted in childhood 502, 677 (var. pag), 819, 941 – as need to communicate chapter II (p. 62); 131, 694, 818
– as magic vs deception 87, 120, 1007, 1384 – as self-combustion 718, 1011 (Time)/1054 – as (self)-therapy/self-expression 738, 819 Auteurship chapter I, (p. 40, 51-60), chapter II (p. 54-55), chapter III, (p. 179); 87, 220 (p. 212), 223 (rec), 225 (rec), 227 (rec), 688, 960, 982, 988, 1254, 1565, 1576, 1588, 1681, 1682; see also Critical Approaches Autobiography/Memoirs – by Bergman chapter I (p. 66); 185, 188, 988; see also Bergman, the Writer – by others 538, 553, 561, 659, 668, 1082, 1263, 1299, 1366, 1377, 1417, 1440, 1493, 1498, 1526, 1527, 1548, 1600, 1621, 1629, 1644 (Goldstein), 1646, 1685 studies of B’s – 185 (lit), 188 (lit), 191 (lit), 192 (lit), 199, 1452:2 (Steene), 1456, 1472, 1483, 1511, 1520, 1521 (Cowie), 1566, 1580 (Wright), 1616, 1628 (Koskinen), 1681 Award 733, 739, 895, 913, 1003, 1036, 1120, 1175, 1273, 1284, 1474, 1477, 1528; see also Varia C (Awards and Tributes) and individual film entries in Filmography (Chapter IV) Background chapter I (pp. 25-35); 826, 836, 851, 879, 934, 943, 1504, 1526 , 1576, 1694; see also Childhood, Parents Breakthrough international – chapter I (pp. 39-40); 219 (foreign rec), 220 (rec), 224 (com), 776 – on television 334 Censorship 202 (rec), 208, (com), 209 (com), 211 (rec), 220 (rec), 229 (com/rec), 234 (rec), 238 (com), 728, 749, 752, 755, 802, 823, 1317 Childhood chapter I (intro, pp. 28-35, 49), chapter II (p. 67), chapter III (p. 135, 148, 156); 185, 192, 836, 849, 857, 862, 866, 888, 899. 917, 918, 929, 934, 941, 1053, 1390, 1487, 1535, 1696, 1705, 1713; see also Parents magic lantern, importance of chapter I (pp. 30, 34-35), chapter III (p. 135-137); 55, 185, 228, 1483; see also Magic/Magician maternal grandmother chapter I (p. 30-32); 47, 55, 862, 1638 puppet theatre, importance of chapter I (pp. 3334); see also Sjögren, 677 (p. 101) siblings chapter I (p. 33), 1349, 1526 Children – education 728, 794, 813, 834, 864 his own – 807, 822, 874, 880, 882, 903, 918, 931, 975 image of – 1452 (Steene); see also Childhood, and Film, Motifs – theatre 367, 369-374, 494, 499, 537 (p. 782), 559 Cinematograph See Film, Production companies
1056
Subject Index Cinematographers Bladh, Hilding 204, 220 Bodin, Martin 202 Fischer, Gunnar 965, 788 (p. 35) Nykvist, Sven chapter III, p. 146, 149, 156; 220, 229, 231 (com), 241 (com), 253 (p. 334), 841, 843, 1069, 1086, 1213, 1214, 1241, 1242, 1280, 1421, 1540 (Sterner/Werner), 1621, 1626, 1672 Strindberg, Göran 49, 204, 220, 1242, 1540 (Werner) Circus 6, 38, 82, 86, 220, 819 Close-ups 1549; see Film, Devices Comedy/commedia dell’arte 605, 706, 708; see also Film, Genres Commercials See Film, Genres and Categories Controversy/Crisis See also Exile – about actors’ life style 519, 698 – about actor’s vs director’s theatre 598 – about Hamlet 468, 1447 – about Hedda Gabler, 537 – about The Misanthrope 478, 602 – about head at SR 621 – at Munich Residenztheater 583, 585, 592, 604, 887 Bengt Jahnsson incident 551 disenchantment with Swedish theatre 537 Dramaten, economic crisis 602 Dramaten, resignation 537 Costumiers 1157, 1416, 1472, 1527, 1583, 1701 (Goldstein) Critical Approaches auteur See Auteurship biographical/thematic – 759, 793, 983, 1062, 1311, 1375, 1381, 1395, 1399, 1684 comparative with other dramatists See Theatre comparative with other filmmakers See Film comparative with other writers 989 ideological/moral – 245 (com), 602, 625, 794, 829, 830, 914, 922, 924, 1033, 1232, 1254, 1287, 1303, 1308, 1317, 1328, 1330, 1387 interarts/intermedia – 44, 489 (spec. art, Sundler), 492 (Porter/Törnqvist), 545, 626, 632, 644, 649, 650, 652, 658, 663, 665, 672, 682, 989 (Cavell/Shakespeare), 1151, 1159, 1252, 1392, 1427, 1464, 1474, 1479, 1506, 1574, 1597, 1617, 1619, 1635, 1662, 1668, 1669, 1676, 1677, 1681, 1690, 1691 intertextual – 1604, 1636, 1668, 1677 modernist – chapter II (p. 64), chapter III (p. 142-143), 30, 210 (rec), 220 (synops), 233 (rec: Landgrern), 241 (Am rec), 366 (rec), 388 (com), 470 (rec), 476 (rec), 497, 503, 951, 952, 954, 955, 989 (Strindberg: Steene/ Törnqvist), 1282, 1502, 1523, 1554, 1627, 1643 (Elsaesser), 1662 moral – 1235; see Moral Vision new critical – 1071, 1099 post-modernist – 468 (rec), 660, 1578
psychological – 226 (Denitto, Erikson, Greenberg, Scheynius, Törnqvist, lit), 236 (Casebier, Houston, Koskinen, lit), 335, (com), 477, 1153, 1227, 1281, 1338, 1373, 1378, 1396, 1403, 1409, 1410, 1411, 1432, 1457, 1488, 1628 (Rhodin), 1643 (Sprinchorn), 1665, 1680 psychoanalytical – 1154, 1185, 1191, 1278, 1281, 1352, 1353, 1378, 1396, 1407, 1411, 1432, 1575 Freudian – 1378, 1411, 1432, 1479 Janov and primal scream – 248 (com), 1287 Jungian – 1154, 1406, 1407, 1479, 1624 Lacanian – 1515, 1590, 1624 psycho-biographical/transformalist– 252 (lit/ Troyan), 1229, 1230, 1361, 1373, 1378 religious/philosophical – chapter I (p. 41), chapter III (p. 149), 225 (rec/lit, Steene), 229 (com), 231 (rec), 233 (rec), 234 (rec), 246 (foreign rec), 253 (longer stud./Estève), 396 (com), 485, 791, 925, 952, 989 (Kierkegaard), 997 (group item), 1012, 1086, 1095, 1096, 1098, 1130, 1149, 1182, 1198, 1233, 1245, 1274, 1288, 1298, 1304, 1307, 1309, 1342, 1348, 1351, 1360, 1371, 1375, 1422, 1434, 1486, 1499, 1505, 1519, 1536; 1628 (SöderberghWidding), 1634, 1657, 1691; see also Angst, Metaphysics, and Religion semiotic – 452, 571, 1371, 1691 stylistic/structural – 1357, 1407 stylistic/structural (burlesque) – 341 (com), 424 (rec), 431 (com), 454 (com), 468 (Sw. rec) stylistic/structural (eclecticism of style) – 1480, 1536 stylistic/structural (expressionist) – chapter II (p. 60, 64, 65, 67); 11, 22, 78, 207 (synops/rec)), 210 (synops/rec), 220 (foreign rec), 238 (rec), 249 (rec), 272, 286, 290, 366 (rec), 380 (com), 392 (com), 416 (com), 418 (com), 424 (rec), 447 (rec/rev), 468 (Brit. rec), 487, 988 (p. 894), 1012 (Chiaretti), 1076, 1203, 1255, 1259, 1344, 1642, 1662; see also Expressionism stylistic/structural (meta-filmic /reflexive) – 236 (lit), 1260, 1340, 1372, 1452:2 (Viklund), 1641, 1698 stylistic/structural (mise-en-scene) – 1613, 1671, 1687 Critical reputation 1033, 1152, 1374, 1419, 1438; see also Reception sections in entries in Chapters IV, V, VII, and index entry Reception Studies Cultural policies Bergman on – 126, 537, 602, 687, 697, 711, 742, 749, 750, 792, 816, 829, 830, 867, 869, 914, 922 Death – as theme See Film, Motifs Bergman, comments on – 4, 11, 12, 23, 57, 102, 187, 824, 931, 938, 940, 944, 968 Debates See also Controversy
1057
Subject Index – on film 202, 210 (rec), 220 (rec), 223 (rec), 228 (rec), 229 (rec), 225 (rec), 229 (rec), 233 (rec), 234 (rec), 236 (rec), 239 (rec), 245 (rec), 250 (rec), 335 (rec), 1033, – on media 794 – on theatre 455 (Woyzeck), 477 (Hamlet), 528, 546 (Hedda Gabler), 560, 1033, 1048, 1088 Debut – in film, Sweden chapter I (pp. 35-36), chapter III (pp. ); 154, 194, 202, 203 – in film, internationally chapter I (p. 39-40); 219 (foreign rec), 220 (rec), 224 (com), 776 – in opera 489, 494 – in radio chapter V (intro); 260, 603 – in theatre chapter VI (intro); 344, 496, 607 – in TV chapter V (intro); 152, 313 Diaries 66, 113, 146, 202a, 223 (com), 233 (com), 554, 808, 884, 1100, 1101, 1216 Directing/Instructing 717, 724, 861, 916; see also Directorial Persona – on film chapter III (p. 144-145); 129, 713, 719, 738, 747, 751, 841 – on radio 603 – on stage chapter VI (intro); 81, 90, 502, 506, 508, 512, 524, 525, 526, 527, 529, 532, 533, 535, 544, 548 (‘Dialog’), 550, 554, 556, 564, 566, 567, 569, 570, 572, 584, 586, 587, 590, 593, 597, 598, 600, 601, 607, 608, 779, 840, 841, 861, 887 – on television 184, 547, 850, 906 Directorial persona See also Lifestyle as seen by self 880; see also Pseudonyms ability to realize potential 699 craftsmanship chapter III (p. 143); 87, 734, 782, 901 creating confidence/protective atmosphere 472 (Interviews), 724, 747, 692, 880, 952, 1013, 1288 diligence 699 ‘entertainer’ 703, 708, 709, 714, 719 loyalty to a text 876 lover of images 837 manipulation as danger 882 precision/punctuality 880 unneurotic attitude 831, 880 workaholic 753, 769, 773, 774, 776, 777, 782 , 785, 796, 898, 900, 930, 1112 as seen by others, general 712, 759, 796, 954, 970, 1025, 1029, 1112, 1235, 1288; see also Filmmakers, on Bergman as seen by others, specific ‘angry young man’ 538, 953, 960, 962, 981, 1006, 1017, auteur chapter II (intro); 688, 960, 982, 988, 1011 (Sarris), 1565 brooding Swede 996, 1011, Time, 1594
controlling/manipulative chapter VI (intro); 892, 970, 973, 979, 996 craftsman 984 cultural hooligan’/juvenile 694, 956, 959 (challenge of this view) ‘demon’ director 489 (rec), 617, 706, 732, 953, 970, 979. 1331, 1401 elusive (mask vs face) 1007, Schildt exhibitionist/poseur, ‘showman of Angst’ 968, 984, 1682 good listener 572, 1160 hardworking/disciplined 715, 954, 1643 (Elsaesser) humorless 964 loyal to actors 472 (Interviews, Tullus), 1013 magician chapter III (p. 137-139, 480 (rec), 955, 978, 981, 985, 1003, 1007, 1011 (Schickel), 1019, 1029; see also Magic neurotic 1025 opportunistic image maker 1317, 1328 productive 953, 954 Puritan moralist 517, 795, 955, 1136, 1452 (Donner) temperamental/highstrung 592, 1035, 1237 undisciplined 1011 (Kaufmann) visionary master 759 Dissolve See Film, Devices Divorce chapter I (p. 38, 42); chapter II (p. 62) Documentaries See also Interviews entry “Bakomfilmer” (production films) chapter IV, p. 160 Radio – 339 (School for Wives) TV – Varia, A, 912 Domicile Fårö chapter I (p. 42, 43); 141, 563, 770, 771, 782, 785, 787, 789, 817, 819, 823, 834, 845, 876, 879, 881, 894, 918, 920, 927, 931, 934, 941, 948, 1186, 1190, 1214, 1262, 1272, 1679 Munich chapter I (p. 48), chapter VI: 456-464; see also Exile Stockholm 903 Dramaten See Theatre, Stages Dreams See Film and Dream Entertainment chapter III (p. 136, 138, 143, 152, 157), 86, 203, 253 (rec), 434 (com), 447 (London rec), 454 (rec), 468 (Hamlet debate), 686, 708, 709, 714, 719, 819, 1197, 1392, 1489, 1661 Entertainment Tax chapter I (p. 39), 107, 215, 711, 745 Esthetics chapter III (p. 135, 150), Chapter VI (p. 472, 478, 500), 223 (longer stud/Grabowski), 229 (rec), 245 (rec), 256 (rec), 320 (rec), 325 (rec/ Bodelsen), 336 (com/rec), 433 (rec), 440 (com), 446 (rec), 447 (rec), 450 (rec), 451 (Spec. stud/ Urs), 454 (rec), 460 (com), 471 (rec/Taiwan), 472
1058
Subject Index (rec/NY), 480 (rec), 486 (com), 487 (rec), 492 (com), 524, 973, 1012 (Busco, Baldelli), 1128, 1305, 1317, 1328, 1363, 1452:2 (Koskinen), 1489, 1540 (Sterner), 1552 Evil See Moral Vision – as critical subject 1058 Exile chapter I (p. 47-50); 172, 456-464, 844, 845, 846, 847, 849, 851, 856, 858, 860, 861, 865, 868, 871, 874, 877, 879, 858, 877, 879, 929, 1272. 1294, 1331, 1365. Existentialism chapter I (p. 41), chapter III (p. 149), 396 (com), 485, 952, 989 (Kierkegaard), 997 (Ketcham, Sonnenschein), 1012, 1098, 1161, 1309, 1348, 1371, 1434; see also entry Angst Expressionism chapter II (p. 60, 64, 65, 67), 11, 22, 78, 207 (synops/rec)), 210 (synops/rec), 220 (foreign rec), 238 (rec), 249 (rec), 272, 286, 290, 366 (rec), 380 (com), 392 (com), 416 (com), 418 (com), 424 (rec), 447 (rec/rev), 468 (Brit. rec), 487, 988 (p. 894), 1012 (Chiaretti), 1076, 1203, 1375, 1642, 1662 Faithfulness 797 Family role of – chapter III (p. 146-147; 155, 157), 1, 3, 9, 11, 17, 166, 191, 192, 205 (synops), 206 (rec), 209, 218, 219 (com), 221, 225 (holy family), 226, 231, 237, 250, 251, 256/335, 257, 287 (com), 310, 331, 343, 361, 362, 392, 403, 438 (com), 450, 457 (rec), 464 (rec), 470 (com), 472, 477 (com), 483 (com), 487, 758, 776, 888, 915, 937, 943, 975 (Foelz/Mondry), 988 (Chechov, Ibsen), 997 (Forslund), 1012, 1074, 1157, 1349, 1429, 1439, 1441, 1442, 1533, 1534, 1634 theme of 97, 191, 194, 729, 755, 826, 851, 1022, 1051, 1456, 1471, 1504, 1526, 1532, 1535, 1550, 1669; see also Film, Motifs Fear – as film motif 1338 – as professional insecurity chapter I (p. 36); chapter III (p. 138, 140); chapter VI, intro; 207 (com), 651 – existential See Angst – of afterlife 818 – of critics/public 112, 140, 712, 732, 1026; see also Artist-Audience Relationship – of losing independence 762 – of new places 831, 877, 882 Feminism, as critical perspective chapter III (p. 155), 219 (rec), 236, 245 (rec Mellen), 250 (rec), 325 (Sw. rec), 472 (rec), 975, 1044, 1509, 1557, 1565, 1590, 1613, 1659, 1660 (Foster); see also Critical Approaches, and Gender Studies Festivals Varia chapter, Awards and Tributes Film
1059
– and Dreams chapter II (p. 57); 51, 136, 772, 775, 801, 811, 861, 955, 980, 1111, 1312, 1352, 1357, 1378, 1403, 1465, 1479, 1581, 1630; see also (Film) Devices, below – and Literature 203, 204, 206, 207, 208, 211 (com), 219, 227, 229, 230, 233 (rec), 975 (McManus), 988, 989, 1310, 1398; see also Writings – and Modern narrative 1310 – and Music chapter III (p. 150-151); 722, 748, 861, 931; see also separate entry Music – and Theatre 477 (rec), 527, 545, 575, 601, 611, 625, 641, 642, 649, 650-653, 658, 660, 661, 672, 695, 718, 724, 728, 757, 799, 887, 915, 916, 930, 969 Comparative studies 611, 620, 626, 632, 644, 652, 653, 658, 659, 660, 661, 663 (Sundler), 664, 665, 1121, 1159, 1252, 1257, 1336, 1337, 1338, 1341, 1345, 1351, 1357, 1359, 1382, 1388, 1392, 1403, 1413, 1415, 1427 Devices/stylistic traits abstracted style 988 (Forssell), 1078, 1110, 1115, 1387 close-up/study of human face chapter I, (p. 46); chapter II, ( p. 67); chapter III;( p. 156), 87, 131, 658, 721, 766, 781, 815, 1221, 1305, 1344, 1412, 1549, 1591, 1613 (Zern), 1628 SöderberghWidding), 1676 color chapter III, (p. 156), 231 (com), 232 (com), 235 (com), 245, 1548, 1594 (Adams, longer art.), 1239, 1492, 1538, 1548, 1594 cuts-in-the-camera 210 (com) discontinuity 1095 dissolve 407 dream structure/ oneiric features 38, 238 (rec), 772, 775, 801, 861, 1111, 1165, 1357, 1378 (Petric), 1424, 1432, 1452 (Björkman), 1459, 1464, 1468, 1479, 1509, 1628 (Hockenjos, Koskinen), 1630, 1653; see also Film and Dream flashback chapter III (p. 150); 210 (com), 216 (synops), 238, 955, 982 (p. 886), 1091, 1547 Gothic style 237 (rec), 408, 442, 1192 image clusters 1469, 1571, 1610 long takes 211 (com) meta-filmic aspect/reflexivity 236 (lit), 1260, 1340, 1372, 1452:2 (Viklund), 1641; see also Film Genres, metafilm montage chapter III (p. 144-145, 150); 1517 Foreign titles of –s pp. 360-374 Genesis of –s 87, 108, 131, 761, 788; see also Biography Genres and Categories American cinema chapter III (p. 136); 913, 943, 957, 1120; 1338, 1341, 1565, 1587 cinéma verité 219 (foreign rec)
Subject Index chamber film chapter II (p. 57); chapter III, (p. 146, 150, 151); 231 (com), 234 (Sjögren, longer art), 704, 974, 989 (Blackwell, Törnqvist), 1192 ciné-novels 1666 comedy 54, 112, 221, 223, 230, 232, 235, 708, 710, 1599 commedia dell’arte 1010 commercials (Bris soap) 215, 760, 1452 (Koskinen), 1499, 1521, 1555, 1577, 1602, 1684 costume film 220, 223, 225, 226, 228, 229, 230, 245, dogma film 946 European cinema chapter I (p. 44); 740, 913, 1276 expressionist See Expressionism farce 67, 235 film noir 202, 204 (opening), 210, 1642 horror film 238 (Hitchcock features) melodrama 61, 203, 206, 207, 420, 1255, 1525, 1660 (Orr) metafilm 210 (film studio sequence), 236, 1260, 1372 neo-realism 208 new wave 734 psychological drama 202, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 211, 216, 217, 218, 220, 222, 224, 226, 227, 228, 231, 233, 234, 236, 238, 239, 240, 241, 244, 811 religious/metaphysical film 225, 229, 233, 236 (rec), 244 (Gay, Longer Studies), 997; see also Motifs, religious issues silent cinema chapter III (p. 149-150); 949, 1684 (Florin) soap commercials, comments on p 13, 760, 1555, 1577, 1658 Swedish cinema, chapter III (p. 137); 742, 945, 1024; see also Swedish Cinema, history of “summer film” (native genre) 216 (rec), 219, 1410, 1652 thriller 214 trilogy concept/focus chapter III (p. 149); 231 (com/longer disc), 234 (Sw. rev/Persson; longer art/Buzzonetti, Sjögren), 238 (p. 283), 258 (com), 635, 989 (Strindberg: Blackwell), 1102, 1103, 1110, 1125, 1130, 1206, 1244, 1253, 1316, 1325 (Troelsen), 1348 TV films chapter I, p. 43, 46-47; 240/329, 246/ 334, 1537 Motifs and Themes chapter I (p. 41-42); chapter III (pp. 146-149) absentee father #1628 (Rhodin) adolescence 219 (lit), 221, 224 (com), 253, 412, 427 (rec), 438 (rec), 959, 982 (Béranger/Siclier), 1015; see also Biography alienation/withdrawal 1318; see also Separation
1060
Angst See separate entry, Angst/anguish authority vs individual 202, 204, 208, 225 (God-Seeker), 228, 229, 233, 239, 249 bourgeois room’/confinement 1341 child vs parent chapter III (p. 155); 20, 203, 206, 208, 221, 224, 226, 229, 231, 234, 250, 253, 257 childhood/children (image of) 211, 212, 217, 221, 222, 225-227, 231, 234, 236, 239, 244, 250, 253, 257, 852, 1253, 1302, 1325, 1452, 1499, 1535, 1562; see also Childhood as separate entry confession chapter III (p. 151, 157); 225 (synops), 240 (synops), 258 (com), 485 (com), 486 (rec), 1360, 1546 cross-dressing 1671; see also Gender studies (dance of) death 225 (lit), 226 (Tulloch, , lit), 414, 438, 1023, 1106, 1397, 1543 divorce chapter II (p. 63); chapter III (p. 154); 68, 73, 97, 199, 217, 246, 259 Don Juan figure 230, 989 (Molière) doubling/Doppelgänger 235, Faust, 1485, 1607, 1642 evil 243 (Larson, longer studs), 514, 952, 997 (Schilliachi), 1038, 1058, 1285, 1342, 1379 fear See separate entry Fear forgiveness 1403 humiliation/scapegoating 220 (Holmer, longer art), 225, 228, 238, 240, 789, 1312, 1314, 1674; see also Artist-audience relationship imagination/magic of art chapter I, passim; Chapter III (p. 136-137); 45, 74, 94, 215, 228, 240, 247, 253, 341, 398 (com), 419 (com), 430 (rec), 477 (rev: Lund), 480 (com), 483 (rev: Kollberg), 600, 1384, 1480, 1540, 1589 journey/quest chapter III (pp. 148-150); 225, 226 (Béranger, Koskinen, Anderson, lit), 1292, 1394, 1610, 1666 love 231 (syn), 1315, See Love as separate entry and Sexuality marriage chapter III, group II (p.147-148); group V (pp. 154-155); 56, 134, 138, 150, 185, 186, 191, 201, 214 (rec), 217, 218, 246, 246 (Librach, Steene, lit), 247, 252, 253, (com), 461, 469, 470, 472, 478 (Zern, rev), 482, 487, 975 (Foelz/Mondry), 1438, 1457, 1668; see also Marriage as separate entry marionette preface (p. 18), chapter I (p. 3335), chapter III (p. 154); 22, 171, 402 mask vs face/unmasking 19, 228, 240, 1007, 1215, 1397, 1452 (Dickstein), 1540 (Koskinen), 1676 mirror 776, 1159, 1167, 1407, 1446, 1479, 1485, 1497, 1552, 1564, 1624 mother matrix 333, 820, 822, 826, 866, 1432; see also Biography, parents
Subject Index murder chapter II (p. 66), 3, 19, 23, 38, 39, 75, 166, 177, 252, 1373 muteness 225, 228, 236, 1096, 1146, 1665 nihilism chapter I (p. 41); 225 (rec), 234 (rec), 952, 1182, 1269 Oedipus conflict/patricide 1411; see also Critical Approaches, psychoanalytical ontological solitude/God’s silence chapter I (p. 41-42); chapter III (Group III, p. 148); 225 (rec/lit), 228, 229, 231 (rec), 233 (rec), 234 (rec/Abenius), 236 (rec), 237 (rec/Nystedt), 317, 997 (Awalt, Gibson, Hamilton, Hartman, Robins), 1096, 1422, 1609, 1634; see also Critical Approaches, religious phantasmagoria See Film and Dream relationship, child-parent 234, 253; see also Childhood, Parenthood, Parents relationship, couple chapter III (p. 146 f); See also Marriage, Gender, Women rite of passage 1351 separation 1403, 1471, 1527 sexuality/eroticism 22, 231 (syn), 1196, 1314 (Vinterhed), 1342; see also Gender Studies Suicide See separate entry survival (vs death) 225, 226, 227, 234, 239, 1337 verticality (falling) 1627 vampirism 237 (syn), 468 (com), 485, 1665 voyeurism/spectatorship 475 (com), 1117, 1156, 1644 (Amiel), 1664 Narrative/rhetorical structure chapter II, pp. 5859); 406, 1628, 1393 confinement (island setting) 231, 236, 238, 239, 241 deconstructive narrative 252 (rec/Ramasse) dream segments 207, 210, 211, 226, 236, 238, 241, 245, 248; see also Film and Dream journey pattern 204, 209, 211, 216, 219, 220, 225, 226, 228, 257 play within play 406, 1552 subjective point of view 664, 1669 (Törnqvist), 1728, 1730 use of voice-over chapter III (p. 155), 203 (syn), 210 (voice-over credits), 214 (syn), 236, 241, 246 visible/invisible narrator 1452: 2 (Koskinen) Policies, Bergman on 87, 126, 816, 830; see also Cultural Policies Production/Distribution Companies ABC Pictures 244 Cinematograph 240-242, 244, 246-248, 253255, 780 Dino de Laurentiis chapter III, p. 156; 249 Gaumont 253, 331 Janus Films/Film Classics chapter IV, p. 173, 176, 183 (210 cred), 187, 203, 206, 210, 218, 227, 234, 238, 242, 243, 245, 247, 250, 253, 259, 264, 269, 290
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MGM 741 New World Films chapter IV, p. 302 Nordisk Tonefilm chapter IV (p. 169, 173); 227 Oxford Films 202 Paramount chapter IV, p. 315 Personafilm 250, 252, 253, 254, 331, 332 Sandrews (incl. Studios) chapter III (p. 139, 140); chapter IV (p. 169, 173, 176, 183, 187); 204, 209, 210, 211, 217, 218, 219, 220, 222, 331, 333, 347, 348 Svensk Filmindustri (SF) chapter I (p. 36, 37, 40, 53); chapter III (p. 137, 139, 140); 202, 203, 205, 208, 209, 211-219, 221, 223-226, 228-239, 241, 253, 786, 836, 875, 1044 Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) 245, 253, 331 Sveriges Folkbiografer chapter IV (p. 173), 204, 206 Terrafilm chapter III (139, 140), chapter IV( p. 175, 182, 183); 50, 207, 210 Tobis Film 331 Two Cities (British) 951 United Artists chapter IV (p. 293, 295) Universal Studios/Warners 122, 850, 1228 Producers Bergman, Ingmar/Cinematograph pp. 374376 Donner, Jörn/SFI 253, 254 Dymling, Carl Anders/SF 202, 203, 211-214, 216-217, 221, 223-226, 228, 693, 711, 736, 786, 875, 950, 1044, 1616, 1672 Fant, Kenne/SF 1672 Laurentiis, Dino 722 Marmstedt, Lorens/Terrafilm/Sv. Folkbiografer 50, 204, 206, 207, 210, 780, 956, 958, 962 Selznick, David O. 51, 957 Waldekranz, Rune/Sandrews 220, 222 Projects realized See Filmography unrealized 16, 38, 39, 40, 752, 780, 938 “A Doll’s House” 51 Apocalypse/Bible – de Laurentiis 722 Bergman-Fellini 783, 850, 1174 Brothers Lionheart, Astrid Lindgren 1408 Fisken. Fars för film 67 Hj. Bergman, Head of the Firm – Ingrid Bergman 250 (com) “Kärlek utan älskare” [Love without Lovers] 199 Merry Widow – Barbara Streisand 804, 820, 832 “The Petrified Prince” 166 Studios Bavaria Studios, Munich 249 Filmstaden, Råsunda 202, 203, 205, 209, 211, 212, 214, 216, 217, 218, 219, 221, 223, 225, 226, 228, 229, 230, 231, 233, 234, 235, 236, 238, 240714, 1184
Subject Index Filmteknik, Stockholm 244 “Little Hollywood” (Fårö) 817 Nordisk Tonefilm 227 Norsk Film Studios 250 Novilla, Sandrews 204, 206, 207, 210 Gärdet, Sandrews 220, 222 SFI 245, 247, 248, 253, 255, 259 SVT Studios 256, 327, 343 Tobis Film Studios 251 Technology, Bergman on 87, 716, 719 Filmmakers Bergman on – 726, 749, 825 af Klercker 926 Buñuel, Luis 768, 825 Carné, Marcel 204 (rec) Chaplin, Charlie 1616 Duvivier, Julien 943 Ekman, Hasse 704 Fellini, Frederico 749, 783, 825, 850, 861, 915 Ford, John 825 Godard, Jean-Luc 768 Hitchcock, Alfred 204 (syn), 210 (com) Méliès, George chapter III (p. 136, 157); 45, 215:5 Molander, Gustav 58, 205, 209, 217, 704, 1686 Moodysson, Lukas 943 Parsa, Reza 943 Scorsese, Martin 943 Sjöberg, Alf 185, 202, 224, 704 Sjöström, Victor chapter I (p. 11), chapter II (p. 54); 109, 198, 226, 704, 714, 1076, 1358 Soderbergh, Steven 943 Spielberg, Steven 943 Tarkovski, Andrei 185 (p. 73, 173, Eng ed) Troell, Jan 943 Varda, Agnès 825 Wilder, Billy 943 – compared to Bergman Allen, Woody 1341, 1505, 1574, 1587, 1604, 1667 Antonioni, Michelangelo 1138 Berkeley, Busby 1392 Bresson, André 997 (Holloway), 1012 (Laura), 1126 Buñuel, Luis 1156, 1203, 1460 Cassavetes, John 1549 Cocteau, Jean 1203, 1610, 1617 Craven, Wes 1631 Dali, Salvador 1203, 1575 Dreyer, Carl 960, 989 (Plath), 997 (Holloway), 1012, 1126, 1138, 1203, 1387, 1422, 1464, 1617 Ekman, Hasse 1382, 1583, 1640 Fellini, Frederico 1121, 1489 Godard, Jean-Luc 1372 Hitchcock, Alfred 1338, 1642
Keaton, Buster 1464 Laughton, Charles 1257 Malle, Louis 1666 Murnau, F. W. 1610 Renoir, Jean 1257 Rohmer, Eric 1666 Sjöberg, Alf 1625 (2) Sjöström, Victor 1628 (Florin), 1662 Tarkovski, Andrei 1624 Truffaut, François 1666 Welles, Orson 1438 – on Bergman Allen, Woody 1011, 1452, 1454. Attenborough, sir Richard 1452 Davies, Terence 1689 Fellini, Frederico 1443, 1452 Godard, Jean-Luc 219, 982, 1002, 1452 Kurosawa, Akiro 1452 MacKinnon, Gillies 1689 Moodysson, Lukas 943, 1689 Ray, Satiyat 1452 Rohmer, Eric 225 (rec), 982, 1028 Scola, Ettore 1452 Sjöman, Vilgot 1100, 1426, 1471, 1646, 1706 Tavani, Brothers 1452 Truffaut, François 982, 995, 1221 Wajda, Andresz 1452 Wenders, Wim 1452 Widerberg, Bo 1033 Vinterberg, Thomas 1689 Filmmaking Approach to – chapter III (p. 144-145); 66, 86, 87, 108, 782, 795, 948; see also Directorial persona – as auteurship chapter I, (p. 40, 51-60), Chapter II (p. 54-55), Chapter III, (p. 179); 220 (p. 212), 223 (rec), 225 (rec), 227 (rec), 688, 960, 982, 988, 996, 1011, 1211, 1254, 1565, 1576, 1588, 1681, 1682; see also Critical Approaches – as craftsmanship chapter III (p. 143); 734, 782, 813, 831, 901 – as magic chapter I (p. 34, 67); chapter III (pp. 136-137, 157); 45, 55, 87, 215 – as need/obsession 66, 131 – as teamwork chapter III (p. 143); 49; see also Actors Creed chapter III (pp. 141-145); 76, 86, 87, 103, 108, 131, 703, 811; see also Directorial Persona, own views Farewell to – 885, 894, 898, 901, 935 Function of – to challenge psychological barriers 738, 793, 811 to create useful objects 813, 870 to entertain 703, 708, 709, 714, 719
1062
Subject Index to penetrate beyond surface reality 87 Offers, foreign 51, 699, 722, 741, 752, 762, 804, 850, 895, 951, 957, 1006, 1012 Flashbacks See Film, Devices Folklore 229 (rec) Fyrtiotalism 692, 952, 1288; see also Critical Approaches, modernist and Literary Climate Gender Studies See also Feminism; Film, Motifs collapse of masculine power 1683 cross dressing 1671 homosexuality 1123, 1268, 1674 lesbianism 234, 236 (rec), 696, 1711, 1654, 1660 (Foster) portrait of male 1336 portrait of female 833, 975, 989 (O’Neill/Adler), 1138, 1222, 1288, 1319; 1324. See also Women sexism 222 (rec), 227 (rec), 245 (rec), 250 (rec), 975 sexuality 1156, 1196, 1296, 1314 (Vinterhed), 1395, 1457, 1532, 1550, 1618 God 897, 1634; see also group 997, Critical Approaches, religious and Film Motifs – as authority 866 – as comfort 862, 866 – as Christian hangover 1130, 1149 – as omnipotent 987 (Sonnenschein) – as puppeteer 22, 517 – as silence chapter II (p. 60); 225, 233 – as rapist/spider god 231, 233, 234, 1396 challenge of – 225, 1304 denial/dismissal of – 818, 898 indifference to – 873 Guilt 826, 827, 1684; see also Film, Motifs Historicity 1547, 1603 Hollywood chapter III (p. 137, 139); 51, 214 (com), 220 (com), 229 (awards), 232 (com), 693, 741, 762, 794, 817, 943, 957, 1011, 1120, 1208, 1264, 1272 (p. 955) Homage – at 70, 1988 1508 – at 75, 1993 1595 – at 80, 1998 1625, 1681 – at 85, 2003 947, 948 – by other filmmakers 1002, 1011, 1221, 1443, 1452, 1689; see also Filmmakers, on Bergman Iconography 225 (lit), 226, 229 Ideology/Politics 140, 231 (rec/lit, French), 238 (rec), 249 (com), 355 (com), 365 (com), 379 (com), 443 (com, rec), 778, 781, 794, 803, 834, 844, 846, 859, 860, 883, 892, 924, 1272, 1303, 1331, 1439, 1515, 1533, 1547, 1590, 1674; see also Critical approaches, ideological; Leftist generation Influence
– of other filmmakers 483 (com, Sjöström), 986 (Méliès) – of theatre directors 478 (Mnuouchkin) – of writers 477, 989, 1617 – on other filmmakers 1631, 1648 (Chabrol, Altman, von Trotta), 1667 Ingmar Bergman Plaque/Prize 474 (com) Interarts/intermedia See Critical approaches, interarts Intertextual See Critical approaches, intertextual International recognition 737, 738, 739, 741; see also Homage; Awards and Tributes in Varia Interviews chapter VIII. 576, 788, 836, 919; see also Media image Jews
244, 253, 1157, 1200, 1644, 1655
Leadership 647, 1586; see also Directorial persona Leftist generation of the 60s, impact of chapter I (p. ); 185, 781, 803, 925; see also Ideology Liaisons/marriages chapter I, p. 37-39, 42, 43, 47, 705, 731, 806, 807, 823, 854, 868, 1047, 1049, 1074, 1214, 1296, 1381, 1395; see also Film, Motifs Lifestyle 835 (See also Directorial persona) modesty and simplicity 1061, 1162, 1166, 1186, 1215 need of security 785 recluse 847 regularity in daily living 715, 753 reluctance to travel/attend festivals 130, 552 Light Nordic – 750 passion for – 810 sensitivity to – 797 Lighting 810, 1213, 1596; see credits in Chapters IV, V, VI Literature See Writing, 988, 989 Loneliness chapter III (p. 148, 154); 9, 211 (syn), 218 (syn), 223 (syn), 257, 758, 766, 1045, 1609; see also Film, Motifs: ontological solitude Love chapter I (p. 45); 3, 166, 187, 837, 900, 940; see also Film, Motifs – as conflict/rivalry 206 (syn), 207 (syn) dangerous/destructive – 205, 210, 241, 252, 259 frivolous/farcical – 221, 223, 230, 232, 247 humiliating – 220 illicit – 211 (syn), 222, 224 (syn), 234, 244, 258 incestuous – 231, 343, 1345 innocent/young – chapter III (p. 147); 202 (syn), 206, 216, 223, 247 marital – 218, 221, 238, 246 (syn, rec) painful/unrequited – chapter III (p. 147-148), 222, 223, 233, 234, 238 selfish – 203 (syn) – of theatre/film 253, 254, 341 Lutheranism/Protestantism chapter I, p 26-29; 233 (rec), 997 (Blake, Hartman, Nystedt, Napolitano,
1063
Subject Index Oldrini), 1012; see also Critical Approaches, religious Magic – as magnetism chapter I (p. 35); chapter III (pp. 135-137); 407, 896, 1029, 1051, 1542; see also Directorial persona – as magic lantern See Film, Motifs Marriage 705, 731, 868; see also Film, Motifs and Family, role of Media image discussions/interviews on radio 446 (com), 447 (com), 452 (com), 465 (com), 468 (p. 698), 470 (media programs), 473 (com), 485 (com), 505, 515, 525, 536, (p. 791, 793), 542, 544, 547, 550, 553, 569, 692, 693, 694, 700, 707, 711, 722, 729, 732, 735, 736, 739, 750, 757, 775, 783, 784, 788, 790, 798, 804, 809, 825, 842, 865, 867, 870, 896, 936, 942 press conferences chapter VI (p. 475, 479, ), 231 (com), 235 (com), 236 (com), 238 (com), 239 (com), 245 (longer art.), 249 (com), 250 (com), 256 (com), 259 (com), 432 (p. ), 433 (p. 600), 440 (p. 615), 446 (p. 628), 447 (p. 634, Helsinki; 635, Vienna), 450 (com, p. 646), 465 (com), 466 (Reykjavik), 468 (com), 472 (com), 489 (com), 537, 550, 559 (p. 791, 793), 547, 771, 774, 777, 839, 843, 867, 902, 935, 1693 press debates See Controversies and Commentaries/Reception, chapters IV, V, VI reports from set 253 (Reports), 554, 570, 712, 714, 717, 742, 751, 770, 773, 795, 796, 808, 820, 821, 823, 865, 884, 885, 911, 1065, 1066, 1077, 1100, 1401; see also Press Conferences above and Documentaries in Varia TV appearances 750, 751, 800, 839, 875, 894, 897, 916, 931, 932, 939, 944, 947, 948; see also Commentaries/Reception in chapters IV, V, VI Melodrama chapter II (p. 61, 62); 61, 212 (com), 245 (lit), 253 (rec), 272 (com) 283 (com), 334 (rec), 427 (rec), 464 (rec, Edinburgh), 468 (Moscow rec), 470 (Bergen rec), 487 (com), 982 (Benayoun), 1255, 1438, 1469, 1660 (Orr); see also, Film, Genres Metaphor 1393, 1394, 1449 (Koskinen), 1460 cathedral of Chartres chapter I (p. 42-43); 87 curtain 1464 door/threshold 1610 gestures/hand 226 (art); 1671 snakeskin chapter I (p. 42-43); 131 swinging lamp 1540 theatre 1508 (Hansen), 1693 (Koskinen) wild strawberries 226, 1171, 1321 Metaphysics preface (p. 18), chapter I (p.25, 34, 36, 41 f, 46), chapter II (p. 61-62), chapter III (p. 146); 56, 210 (rec), 216 (rec), 225 (rec/lit/Steene), 236
(rec), 363, 424, 1009; see also Critical Approaches, metaphysical Mise-en-scène 477 (art.), 663 (Cohen-Stratyner), 489 (com), 953, 1117, 1613 (Törnqvist), 1671; see also Credits/Commentaries, chapter VI Modernism See Critical Approaches, modernist, and Fyrtiotalism Moral vision chapter I (p. 27-28, 34, 43, 61-62); 56, 78, 90, 140, 826 studies of – 1038; see Existentialism, Religious views Morality play 56, 76, 90, 193, 489 (com); see also Theatre, as playwright, genres Munich residency 172, 840, 846, 847, 851, 858, 865, 979; see also Domicile and Exile Music importance to Bergman chapter I (p. 52, 56, 57, 59); 71, 121, 157, 201a, 729, 931, 933, 939, 1133; see also Film and Music entry in Bergman’s works 207, 212, 223 (cred/com), 225, 226, 250, 401 (com), 407, 475 (com), 485 (com), 492, 748, 904, 939, 942, 1325, 1327, 1388, See chapter IV, VI credits;1695 in critical studies 253 (Daasnes, lit), 1111, 1159, 1189, 1325, 1327, 1388, 1478, 1517, 1525, 1606, 1688 opera See separate Opera entry Myth, Mythmaking chapter III (p. 152);199, 223 (Baron, lit), 229 (Madden, lit), 1147, 1408, 1543, 1548, 1637 Mäster Olofsgården 2, 663 (Steene), 677, 1715 (1938); see also Theatre, Stages Names, use of 776 Narcissism 1739 Nazism 1439 teenage exposure to – chapter I (p. 36), 185; see also Ideology Nihilism 225 (rec), 1269; see also Film, Motifs & Themes Obscenity/Pornography 240 (synops), 487 (rec, New York), 701, 823, 956, 963, 1166 Old age 845, 911, 917, 918, 921, 931, 940, 944; see also Aging Open Letters See Writing Opera adaptation 247, 326, 337, 480, 490 as director 489-492, 838, 924; see also Reception, 489-492 as commentator (interviews) 540 (as elitist art), 563, 641, 743, 764, 838, 924 libretto (including drafts) 14, 157, 190, 490 tentative opera projects at Hamburg Opera 489 (com) at Bayreuth, Wagner 489 (com)
1064
Subject Index Tales of Hoffmann 895 Works produced The Bachae 337, 480, 490 The Magic Flute See Filmography, 247; chapter V (Media), 326 Rake’s Progress 489 Parenthood 97, 191, 194, 729, 755, 826, 851, 1022, 1051, 1456, 1471, 1504, 1526, 1532, 1535. 1550, 1669; see also Film, Motifs Parents child-parent relations chapter I (p. 26-30, 45); chapter II (p. 65), 192 crisis in marriage chapter I (p. 25-26), 191, 194 (fictional) depiction of – chapter I (p.59); 185, 191 rebellion against – chapter I (p.26-30, 35); 729, 851, 862, 882, 903 reconciliation with – chapter I (p. 49-50); 146, 194, 820, 826, 918, 929. See also Film Motifs, absentee father, mother matrix Parody/Travesty 39, 166, 223 (rec), 225 (com), 254 (foreign rec), 339, 343 (rec), 415 (rec), 467 (com), 473 (rec), 853, 1085, 1183 Past – as haunting nightmare 47, 78, 216, 226, 238, 248, 252 – as inspiration See Film, Motifs, childhood – as memory of family 862; see also Childhood and Film, Motifs – as sensuous recollection 253, 899; see also ‘Childhood’ entry – as setting 61, 75, 78, 90220, 223, 225, 228, 229, 245, 249, 253, 256, 257, 258, 341, 757, 758 Personal Vision preface (p. 18), chapter III (p. 138, 141, 143, 145); 486 (com), 492 (rec), 628, 671, 734, 747, 805, 24, 1051, 1057, 1071, 1079, 1086, 1087, 1091, 1106, 1118, 1158, 1207, 1288, 1375, 1383, 1452 (Rustad), 1486, 1588, 1649, 1666, 1673 See also Moral Vision, Subjectivism Pessimism 818, 982, 983, 989 (Strindberg: Abraham), 996 (Powell), 1011 (Time); see also Angst Politics See Ideology Pseudonyms 111, 128, 140, 155, 477 (com), 646, 756, 778, 928, 1168, 1181, 1452, 1541, 1562 Psychological studies See Critical Approaches, psychological Puppet theatre See Marionettes Radio Adaptations 260, 261, 263, 265-67, 272-73, 294, 296-299, 305, 309, 310, 311, 1690 Interviews 542, 603; see also Media image Own works Dagen slutar tidigt [Early Ends the Day] 278, 397
En själslig angelägenhet [A Matter of the Soul] 308 Kamma noll [Come Up Empty/Draw Zero] 268, 403, 514 Mig till skräck [Unto my Fear] 280 Staden [The City] 271 (SR ), 304 (DR) Trämålning [Painting on Wood] 283 (SR), 297 (DR), 298 (NRK) Production controversy 621 Productions of works by other authors 260-270, 272-277, 278-279, 281, 296, 299-303, 305-311 Studies of Bergman’s radio work chapter V, commentaries/reception; 682 (pp. 21-35), 1661 Writing for the – 542 Reading habits 910 Reception See also Reception sections in entries in chapters IV, V, VI general/worldwide – 1595, 1613 (Steene), 1703, 1707 – in Belgium 245 (award), 1306, 1333 – in Denmark 452, 470 (foreign rev, Bredsdorff/ Kistrup), 471(rev, Bredsdorff/Kistrup) plus guest visit, Århus), 477 (lit, Møllehave, 479 (guest visit Copenhagen), 483 (rev), 485 (guest visit, Copenhagen), 486 (foreign rev), 569, 571, 572, 593, 620, 627, 918, 960, 964, 969, 1043, 1130, 1202, 1215, 1254, 1288, 1293, 1309, 1424, 1477, 1487 – in England 787, 857, 912, 951, 996, 1025, 1041, 1056, 1356, 1544, 1569, 1572, 1585, 1705, 1716 – in France 224 (award), 225 (award), 982, 991, 995, 1001, 1002, 1050, 1088, 1110, 1113, 1117, 1122, 1125, 1179, 1234, 1478, 1599, 1614, 1670 – in Germany 226 (award), 972, 976, 1027, 1053, 1055, 1092, 1158, 1273, 1499 – in Holland 1033 (Kwakernaak), 1064, 1120, 1201, 1212, 1300, 1389, 1404, 1503, 1537, 1561, 1643 (Elsaesser) – in India 1211, 1531 – in Italy 130, 253 (award), 925, 967, 1012, 1021, 1050, 1084, 1093, 1095, 1096, 1116, 1121, 1143, 1171, 1182, 1231, 1245, 1375, 1496, 1521 (Trasatti), 1536 – in Japan 226 (awards), 1073 – in Latin America 974, 1104, 1181 – in Norway 226 (award), 320 (rec), 445, 447 (lit, Helgheim), 450 (Oslo guest visit), 470 (foreign rev, plus guest visit, Bergen), 471 (rev, Hoem, Straume), 472 (guest visit, Bergen, Oslo), 473 (guest visit, Bergen), 483 (rev), 485 (guest visit, Oslo), 486 (foreign rev), 487 (guest visit, Oslo), 606, 613, 703, 767, 818, 825, 859, 908, 1217, 1232, 1539 (Nordvik) – in Poland 236 (award), 454 (guest visit, Warsaw), 479 (guest visit Krakow), 575, 1163, 1251, 1419, 1510, 1512, 1649, 1663 – in Portugal 1488, 1513 – in Russia (Soviet Union) 1118, 1178
1065
Subject Index – in Spain 1034, 1038, 1180, 1547 – in Sweden See all entries in Filmography, Media and Theatre chapters, #1007, 1033, 1447, 1452 (Ljungkvist/Westman), 1611, 1625 (Steene) – in US 219 (foreign rec), 223 (rec), 226 (rec), 228 (rec), 229 (com), 231 (Oscar), 233 (rec), 234 (rec), 235 (rec), 236 (rec), 237 (rec), 238, 241, 245, 246 (Am. rec), 248, 249, 253, 254, (foreign rec), 259 (rec), 466 (guest: 8), 468 (guest: 3), 470 (guest: 6), 471 (guest: 10), 472 (guest:8), 473 (guest: 3), 477 (guest), 483 (guest: 1), 485 (guest:3), 486 (guest), 487 (guest: 3), 578, 957, 971, 975 (p. 881), 997, 1011, 1036, 1039, 1042, 1079, 1085, 1103, 1115, 1128, 1134, 1152, 1176, 1266, 1368 (award), 1373, 1374, 1423, 1442, 1555, 1580 (Steene), 1584, 1593, 1594, 1595, 1596, 1637, 1658, 1667, 1696 Religion – as background chapter I (pp. 26-29); see also Film, Motifs, religious – as crisis chapter I (pp. 40-42); 897, 898 Religious Studies See Critical Approaches, religious/philosophical Ritual (of art) 1164, 1384, 1440; see also Artistic creativity Scenography 560, 573, 648, 662 (Wassberg) Screenplays/Scripts See Writing Seminar participant/speaker 81, 90, 129 (on filmmaking), 179, 189, 593, 917 Sexuality See Film, Motifs and Gender Studies Silence See Film, Motifs (muteness, ontological solitude/God’s silence) Speeches 162, 179, 184, 187 Subjectivism 656, 664, 706, 892, 1613, 1673; see also Film, Approaches and Directorial Persona Subtitling 1650 Suicide 9, 19, 61, 203 (syn), 205 (syn), 206 (syn), 208 (syn), 210 (syn), 211 (syn), 214 (syn), 220 (syn/ rec), 222 (com), 223 (syn), 225 (syn), 231 (syn), 239 (syn), 244 (syn), 247 (syn), 248 (syn), 249 (syn), 254 (syn), 257 (syn), 259 (syn), 343 (syn), 439 (syn), 450 (syn), 459 (syn), 466 (syn), 473 (com), 475 (com), 940 Swedish Cinema history of – chapter III, pp. 137-141; chapter IV (p. 159), 206 (rec), 241 (rec), 697, 704, 721, 945, 950, 963, 966, 974, 982 (Béranger, p. 885), 1010, 1017, 1021, 1033 (Widerberg), 1044, 1053, 1128, 1139, 1169, 1202, 1213, 1242, 1410, 1455, 1540, 1583, 1605, 1609, 1628 (Florin), 1640, 1662, 1680 Swedish roots 750, 752, 762, 824, 1121; see also Fårö entry above Swedish Theatre 528, 533, 537, 557, 581, 625, 657; see also Theatre entry Symposia on film and/or theatre 1211
Artist and Society, Stockholm, 1998 1625: 2 Fårö Bergman Week, 2004, 2005 Varia Lund University, 1993 1613 New York City IB Festival, 1995 665, 1580, 1636 Nobel, 1988 622 Pondelone, 2005 Varia Stockholm, 2005 Varia Talk shows/Media Discussions 818, 844, 866; see Media image: TV Tax Issue, 1976 1327; see Exile Television – adaptations 313-318, 327, 336-338, 342 – own views on – chapter I, (p. 46); 104, 152, 547, 550, 579, 597, 609, 641, 662 (Åhlund), 744, 757, 792, 820, 835, 837, 906, 933, 946 productions directed by Bergman 313-343 productions of Bergman screen/TV plays 320325, 327, 329, 331-332, 335, 338-341, 343 Ansikte mot ansikte [Face to Face] 327 Den goda viljan [Best Intentions] 335 Efter repetitionen [After the Rehearsal] 332 Enskilda samtal [Private Confessions] 340 Fanny och Alexander 331 Fårö dokument I & II 321, 329 Harald och Harald 339 Larmar och gör sig till [In the Presence of a Clown] 341 Reservatet/The Lie/The Sanctuary 322, 323 (British), 324 (US) Riten [The Ritual] 320 Saraband 343, 679 Scener ur ett äktenskap [Scenes from a Marriage] 325 Sista skriket [The Last Cry] 338 studies of his TV work 644, 667, 682 (pp. 101-115; 129-145), Reception in 320-325; 679, 906, 1376, 1431, 1661 Theatre adaptation/transposition of plays See Commentaries to stage production entries in chapter VI, especially 447, 461, 477, 480, 487, plus Koskinen (1676) and Törnqvist (1597, Prologue, Epilogue and 1690 (chapter 1, 6, 7) amateur – 2, 493, 496, 513, 515 as actor Varia B as administrative head at Hälsingborg City Theatre 498 at Dramaten 536, 537, 540, 541, 567, 627, 634, 647, 752, 753 as director at amateur stages chapter I, p. 33, 36; 2, 353 (com) at Boulevard Theatre 381, 406
1066
Subject Index at Dramaten (Royal Dramatic Theatre) chapter I, p. 39, 43-45, Chapter VI (“Dramaten Round 1-3”); 89, 189, 200, 411, 435, 437-444; 446-454; 465-469, 470-480; 483, 485487, 537, 540, 541, 550, 554, 558, 573, 576, 597, 602, 604, 627, 628, 633, 634, 639, 640, 646, 647, 657, 659, 662, 680-682, 752, 764, 766, 908, 914, 916, 938, 943, 1452:4 (Hansen), 1498, 1545 at Dramatikerstudion (Dramatists Studio) chapter I (p. 37), 8, 378-380, 538 at Folkparksteatern 377, 412, 495 at Göteborg City Theatre chapter I (p. 38, 39); 396-402, 404-405, 407, 510, 512, 516, 581, 596, 643, 689, 1498 at Hälsingborg City Theatre chapter I (pp. 3738); 25, 28, 29, 30, 382-391, 393-394, 403, 498, 501, 502, 503, 507, 514, 548 (pp. 596, 607, 688, 689, 690 at Intiman Theatre, Stockholm chapter I (p. 39); 408-410 at Malmö City Theatre chapter I (pp. 39-40, 46); 392, 395, 414-415, 417-424, 426-434, 488, 492 (com), 508, 519, 522, 523, 526-527, 530, 531, 532, 535, 548, 557, 583, 595, 652, 655, 667, 677 (passim), 698, 709, 712, 927 at Medborgarhus (Citizens) Theatre chapter I (p. 37); VI (intro); 368 at Munich Residenztheater chapter VI (intro); 456-464, 580, 583, 585, 586, 587, 592, 593, 599, 604, 605, 629, 633, 989 (Strindberg: Müller), 1272 at Mäster Olofsgården chapter I, p. 36; 344360, 493, 949 at Norrköping-Linköping City Theatre chapter VI (intro); 413 at North Latin School 375-376 at Royal Opera, Stockholm chapter I (p. 42); 488-492 at Sago (Fairy Tale) Theatre chapter VI (p. 37); chapter VI (intro); 367; 369-374, 494 at Student Theatre chapter I, p. 36, 361-366, 496, 513 as playwright, individual plays See also Writing, Plays Dagen slutar tidigt (Early Ends the Day) 397 Efter repetitionen [After the Rehearsal] 481 (Russian prod.) Jack hos skådespelarna [J. among the Actors] 416 Kamma noll [Come up Empty/Draw Zero] 403, 514 Kaspers död [Death of Punch] 363 Kriss-kras-filibom (cabaret) 386 Mig till skräck [Unto my Fear] 399 Mordet i Barjärna [Murder at B.] 414 Rakel och biografvaktmästaren [R. and Cinema Doorman] 395, 406
1067
Scener ur ett äktenskap [Scenes from a Marriage] 461, 482 (Austrian, stage) Also presented as “Divorce Swedish Style” 469 Sista skriket [The Last Cry] 474 Tivolit 366 Trämålning [Painting on Wood] 317, 424, 425; see also 531 assessment of B’s stagecraft chapter VI (pp. 476479); 495, 496, 506, 513, 518, 519, 520, 522, 524, 528, 530, 534, 535, 538, 541, 548, 552, 554, 558, 560, 561, 562, 564, 567, 568. 569, 570, 571, 573, 584, 585, 587, 588, 589, 590, 594, 596, 597 (TV), 599, 600, 604, 605, 610, 618, 620, 622, 623, 625, 627, 628, 629, 631, 632, 633, 635, 636, 637, 638, 640, 643, 645-46, 655, 659, 662 (Enquist, Ek, Holm, Osten), 668, 671, 673, 677, 678, 683, 753, 781 assessment of staged playwrights Anouilh, Jean 999 Beckett, Samuel 989, 1310 Bergman, Hjalmar chapter I, p. 33; 229 (rec), 989, 1410 Camus, Albert 396, 432 (rec, Paris), 989 (Kierkegaard), 1348, 1567, 1609 Chekhov, Anton 435, 457, 475 (rec), 989, 1255 Chesterton, G.K. 989 Hedberg, Olle chapter I (p. 61); 30, 261, 315, 319, 391, 503, 667 Hoffmann, E.T.A. chapter II (p. 49); 199, 238 (comp.stud., Rosen/Gantz), 895, 989, 1359, 1491 Höijer, Björn-Erik chapter I (p.39), 30, 36, 94, 260, 262, 272, 394, 400, 411, 426 (See also), 507, 690 Ibsen, Henrik 537, 566, 569, 594, 599, 620, 626, 629, 632, 633, 637, 638, 649, 677, 682, 712, 887, 909, 989, 996, 1012 (Verdone), 1255, 1365, 1393/1415 (Törnqvist), 1498, 1506, 1643 Lagerkvist, Pär chapter II (p. 60-62); 2, 290, 351, 363 (com), 372, 989 (Donner/Durant), Varia (p. 1033) Molière (Poquélin) 526, 540, 594, 605, 642, 677, 865, 887, 989, 1426, 1704 O’Neill, Eugene 470, 989 Shakespeare, William 575, 596, 611, 618, 631, 649, 660, 661, 665, 668, 677, 989, 1415/1562, 1490, 1574, 1580, 1613 (Loman), 1668 Schiller, Friedrich 486 Strindberg, August 202 (syn), 212 (rec), 225 (rec), 226 (rec/Törnqvist), 229 (rec), 233 Blokker), 250 (rec), 253 (rec/Haverty/ Törnqvist), 254 (syn, rec), 259 (syn), 263, 265, 267, 275, 277, 282, 296, 299, 309 (rec/Törnqvist), 310 (com), 311, 316, 318 (com), 325 (rec/ Lundgren), 331, 332, 347, 352, 354, 357 (com), 360, 361, 362, 363, 368, 378 (com), 392, 394 (com), 401 (com), 414 (syn), 415, 419, 429,
Subject Index 444 (com), 447, 451, 453, 456, 461, 466, 467, 475 (com), 485, 487 (com), 545, 558, 570, 580, 582, 587, 594, 599, 610, 636, 638, 644, 649, 664, 669, 673, 675, 677, 682, 988 (Durand), 989, 1012 (Verdone), 1252, 1399, 1410, 1415, 1426 (Aghed), 1436, 1464, 1517, 1577, 1595, 1618, 1625:1, 1628 (Hockenjos), 1643 (Sprinchorn, Steene), 1662, 1665, 1677, 1691 Bergman’s own views of – Ibsen 23, 51, 127, 200, 440, 448, 450, 459, 461, 464, 472, 473, 487, 586, 599, 601, 944, 957 Molière chapter I (p. 40, 49), 247, 329, 422, 431, 435, 441, 444, (com), 452, 458, 462, 478, 486 (com), 569, 586, 597, 906, 924 Shakespeare 2, 29, 180, 187, 199, 341, 355, 369, 375, 376, 384, 401, 454, 465, 468, 477, 532, 598, 619, 881, 924, 1579 Strindberg chapter II (p. 63-64), chapter III (p. 150), chapter V (pp. 413-416), chapter VI (462-465, 474); 2, 5, 19, 25, 31, 56, 89, 156, 163, 184, 185 (rec), 504, 523, 532, 539, 559, 570, 576, 586, 601, 608, 616, 680, 719, 729, 763, 792, 799, 825, 886, 887, 889, 916, 919, 944, 1327, 1706 Children’s – See Children, theatre Guest performances chapter VI: 473, 478 (cancelled), 479, 483, 486, 487 Open rehearsals 550, 554 Operetta 522 – Projects, unrealized The Bachae, Malmö 423 (com) The Bachae, Dramaten, 1987 492 (com) Faust, Dramaten 433 Hamlet, 1940s 468 (com) A Midsummer Night’s Dream 468 (com) Romeo and Juliet, 1952 454 – Versus Filmmaking See Film, and Theatre View of – as essence of life 724 as ritual/a cathedral 486 (rec), 663 (Iversen), 888 as self-therapy 604 as Underground theatre 533 as workplace 527, 595, 604 Vampirism 1317; see also Film, Motifs, vampirism Vertical filmmaking (defense/critique) 836 Virgin Mary 433 Visits to film sets, rehearsals See Media Image, rehearsals Voyeurism/Eavesdropping 1117, 1156, 1211, 1552, 1608, 1644 (Amiel), 1664, 1690 Women See also Feminism, Gender Studies and equal rights 834 and their self-betrayal 818, 833, 869 appreciation of women writers 910
as friends and work partners 822, 834, 880, 898 as strong mother figures 809 as wives 806, 854 role of 852 Writings (by Bergman) autobiography/memoirs See Autobiography essays, notes, student themes 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 36, 41, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 55, 57, 60, 65, 66, 71, 73, 76, 77, 81, 84, 86, 87, 89, 92, 93, 94, 96, 99, 100, 103, 104, 107, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114, 120, 121, 126, 128, 129, 130, 131, 137, 140, 143, 144, 146, 152, 154, 155, 158, 162, 179, 180, 182, 184, 187, 189, 197, 198, 200, 201a fiction (including drafts) chapter II: pp. 65-68; 3, 11, 26, 35, 42, 59, 73, 83, 134, 191, 195;see also Autobiography/Memoirs open letters 50, 62, 95, 106, 107, 112, 126, 127, 140, 143, 144, 163, 172; see also Commentaries/Reception in Chapter IV, VI opera libretto See Opera, libretto plays (including drafts/adaptations) – for radio chapter I (p. 43); chapter II (p. 6263); 78, 149; see also Radio – for television chapter I (pp. 46-47); chapter II (p. 68); 139, 141, 142, 150, 159, 171, 175, 183, 194, 195, 199, 201; see also Television – for theatre chapter I (p. 31, 33, 36, 38); chapter II (pp. 60-65); 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 39, 43, 51, 54, 56, 61, 72, 75, 81, 83, 90, 149, 156, 190, 193, 200, 373 productions of Bergman’s plays 317, 363, 366, 386, 395, 397, 399, 403, 406, 414, 416, 424, 425, 461, 469, 474, 481, 482, 514, 531; see also Theatre, as playwright reluctance to stage chapter II (p. 64); 525, 919 (p. 17) studies of Bergman’s plays chapter I (pp 6065); chapter II (pp. 60-66); 497, 509, 510, 512, 514, 517, 549, 612, 676, 967, 968, 1681; see also Theatre, as playwright prefaces, program notes 2, 24, 30, 71, 99, 112, 113, 120, 152, 154, 180 scripts (also drafts and translations) chapter I, p. 37, 49; Chapter II: pp. 54-60; 4, 16, 21, 34, 37, 38, 40, 48, 52, 53, 58, 63, 64, 67, 68, 69, 70, 74, 79, 80, 82, 85, 88, 101, 102, 105, 110, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 122, 123, 124, 125, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 138, 141, 142, 145, 147, 148, 150, 151, 153, 157, 159, 160, 161, 164-171, 173, 174, 176-178, 186, 192, 193 (also listed as morality play), 194, 196, 199, 202, 205, 209, 210, 212, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 228, 688 adaptations 203, 204, 206, 207, 208, 211, 214, 219 collaborators
1068
Subject Index Dagmar Edqvist 207 Buntel Ericsson (pseud.) 232 (com) Per Anders Fogelström 213, 219 Herbert Grevenius 204, 211, 216, 217 Ulla Isaksson 227, 229
Alf Sjöberg 224 studies of Bergman’s writings 692, 952, 988, 989, 1288, 1409, 1578, 1681, 14861209, 1246, 1325, 1409, 1666, 1681; see also Reception/Review sections in Filmography, chapter IV
1069
Subject Index Supplement Literature on Bergman Numbers after the title refer to the Guide’s entry numbers.
Book-Length Studies and Dissertations on Ingmar Bergman Bergman as Filmmaker Adiri, Nasr Allah. Birgman: zan, ma-zhab nasl- i ayandah (1997) 1615 Alsina & Monegal, Ingmar Bergman, un dramaturgo cinematografico (1964) 1104 Anderson, Produktionshandbuch zu Ingmar Bergmans ‘Von Angesicht zu Angesicht (1976) 1275 Armando, O planeta Bergman (1988) 1455 Assayas & Björkman, Tre dagar med Bergman/Conversation avec Bergman (1992) 919 Balbierz & Zmudzinski (eds.), Ingmar Bergman (1993) 1541 Béranger, Ingmar Bergman et ses films (1959) (Rev. ed. 1960) 982 Béranger-Guyon, Ingmar Bergman (1964) 982 Berger, “Auf der Suche: Leute in Ingmar Bergmans Filmen der fünfziger und der sechziger Jahre”, diss. 1992 1518 Bergman, Bilder/Images. My Life in Film (1990) 187 Bergom-Larsson, Ingmar Bergman och den borgerliga ideologin (1977) 1303 Bergom-Larsson, Hammar & Kristensson-Uggla (eds.), Nedstigningar i modern film – hos Bergman, Wenders, Adlon, Tarkovski (1992) 1519 Billqvist, Ingmar Bergman. Teatermannen och filmskaparen (1960) 1040 Binh, Ingmar Bergman: Le magicien du Nord (1993) 1542 Bini, Ingmar Bergman da Como in uno specchio a L´ adultera (1973) 1226 Björkman, Manns, Sima (eds.), Bergman om Bergman (1971) 773 Blackwell, Gender and Representation in the Films of Ingmar Bergman (1997) 975
—, Persona. The Transcendent Image (1986) 236 (lit) Bleibtreu (ed.), Ingmar Bergman im Bleistift-Ton. Ein Werkporträtt (2002) 1678 Bono (ed.), Il giovane Bergman (1992) 1521 Bragg, The Seventh Seal (1993) 1544 Brown, “Anti-Theodicy and Human Love in the Films of Ingmar Bergman”, diss. 1976 1277 Burnevich, Thèmes d’inspiration d’Ingmar Bergman (1960) 997 –, Ingmar Bergman zoekt de sleutel, 1962 (1966) 1070 Calhoun “Suspended Projections: Religious Roles and Adaptable Myths in John Hawkes’ Novels, Francis Bacon’s Paintings, and Ingmar Bergman’s Films”, diss. 1980 1351 Ch’en, Saho-ts’ung, Po-ko-man yu ti ch’i feng yin (1986) 1430 Chiaretti, Ingmar Bergman (1964) 1109 Cinque, “Beyond the Day’s Light: A Study of the Emerging Archetypal Feminine and its Personification in Ingmar Bergman’s Filmic World”, diss. 1984 1406 Clarke, “The Closing of the Circle: The Films of Ingmar Bergman as Metaphors of Quest and Reconciliation”, diss. (1983) 1394 Cohen, Ingmar Bergman. The Art of Confession (1993) 1546 Company, Ingmar Bergman (Spanish) (1993, 1999) 1547 Cortade, Ingmar Bergman: L’Initiation d’un artiste (2000) 1669 Cowie, Ingmar Bergman (1961, 1962) 1041
1071
Literature on Bergman Index Cowie, Ingmar Bergman: A Critical Biography (1982, 1992). In French as Ingmar Bergman, biographie critique (1986) 1381 Cuenca, Introducción al estudio de Ingmar Bergman (1961) 1034 Dommelei, van (ed.), Leven: wreedheid of tederheid? (1977) 1306 Donner, Djävulens ansikte (1962, 1965); as The Vision of Ingmar Bergman (1964, 1972) 1071 D’Orazio, “I film del primo Bergman”, diss. (1975) 1265 Estève (ed.), Ingmar Bergman: La mort, le masque et l’être (1983) 1397 Farina, Ingmar Bergman (1959) 1021 Fraser, “Sylvia Plath and the Cinema: Sylvia Plath’s Poetics and the Cinematography of Ingmar Bergman, Jean Cocteau, and Carl Dreyer”, diss. (1997) 1673 French, Wild Strawberries (1995) 1585 Gado, The Passion of Ingmar Bergman (1986) 1432 Garfinkel, Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman (1978) 1323 Gavel-Adams & Leiren (eds.), Stage and Screen: Studies in Scandinavian Drama and Film (2000) 1671 Garzia (ed.), Fårö. La Cinecitta di Ingmar Bergman/ Fårö, Ingmar Bergmans Cinecitta (2003) 1679 Gervais, Ingmar Bergman: Magician and Prophet, 1999 1657 Gibson, The Silence of God: Creative Response to the Films of Ingmar Bergman (1969) 997 Gill, Ingmar Bergman and the Search for Meaning (1969) 1177 Gomez, “Esteto semiotica y pragmatica filmicas: un analisis textual en Bergman”, diss. 1981 1371 Gorodinskaja (ed.), Ingmar Bergman (1969) 1178 Guinness, Ingmar Bergman. Confessional in Celluloid (1980) 1360 Gyllenpalm, “Ingmar Bergman and Creative Leadership”, diss. (1992) 1586 Gyorffy, Ingmar Bergman (1976) 1286 Höök, Ingmar Bergman (1962) 1074 Jensen-Refeld (eds), Ingmar Bergman og hans tid (1977) 1309 Johnson, “An Analysis of Relational Ethics in Three Films of Bergman: Through a Glass Darkly, The Communicants, and The Silence”, diss. (1973) 1235 Johns (see also Blackwell), “Strindberg’s Influence on Bergman’s Det sjunde inseglet, Smultronstället and Persona”, diss. (1976) 975 Jones (ed.), Talking with Ingmar Bergman (1983) 878, 1368 Kaminsky (ed.), Ingmar Bergman. Essays in Criticism (1975) 1266
Kawin, Mindscreen: Bergman, Godard and First-Person Film (1981) 1372 Ketcham, “The Influence of Existentialism on Ingmar Bergman. An Analysis of the Theological Ideas Shaping a Filmmaker’s Art,” diss. (1986) 1434 Koskinen, Allting föreställer, ingenting är. Filmen och teatern – en tvärvetenskaplig studie (2001) 1676 —, I begynnelsen var ordet. Ingmar Bergman och hans tidiga författarskap (2003) 1681 —, Spel och speglingar. En studie i Ingmar Bergmans filmiska estetik (1993) 1552 Lange-Fuchs (ed.), Der frühe Bergman (1978) 1326 —, Ingmar Bergman. Die Grosse Kinofilme. Eine Dokumentation (1988) 1467 Lange-Fuchs & Linz, ... noch einmal zu Bergman (1990) 1499 Lauder, God, Death, Art and Love. The Philosophical Vision of Ingmar Bergman (1989) 1486 Laurenti, En torno a Ingmar Bergman (1976) 1289 Lefèvre, Ingmar Bergman (1983) 1400 Livingston, “Ingmar Bergman and the Rituals of Art”, diss. (1982) 1384 Long, Ingmar Bergman. Film and Stage (1994) 1568 Luke, “The Allegorical Device of the Character Double in the Films of Ingmar Bergman”, diss. (1996) 1607 Mahieu, Bergman: Angustia y conocimiento (1965) 974 Maisetti, La crisi spirituali dell’ uomo moderno nei film di Ingmar Bergman, diss. (1964) 1116 Manvell, Roger. Ingmar Bergman. An Appreciation (1982) 1385 Marion, Ingmar Bergman (1979) 1342 Marty, Joseph. Ingmar Bergman. Une poétique du désir (1991) 1507 McGhee, “To Duty Doubly Bound: A Study of Melancholy in Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Persona’, Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’, Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘The Sacrifice’ and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ‘The Idiot’”, diss. (1999) 1659 Michaels (ed.), Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (1999) 1660 Michalczyk, Ingmar Bergman ou la passion de l´ homme d´aujourd´hui (1977) 1311 Monaco, Bergman (1974) 1256 Morais, Ingmar Bergman (1968) 1165 Moscato, Ingmar Bergman: La realita e il suo “doppio” (1981) 1375 Mosley, Ingmar Bergman. The Cinema as Mistress (1981, 1982) 1432 Muellem, van, Ingmar Bergman (1961) 1064 Müller, “Der Theaterregisseur Ingmar Bergman: Dargestellt an seiner Inszenierung von Strindberg’s ‘Traumspiel’”, diss. (1979); published as book in (1980) 587
1072
Literature on Bergman Index Nystedt, Ingmar Bergman och kristen tro (1989) 997 Oldrini, La solitudine di Ingmar Bergman (1965) 1012 Oliva, Ingmar Bergman (1966) 1137 Oliver, (ed.), Ingmar Bergman. An Artist’s Journey (1995) 1580 Pangon, Ingmar Bergman (1997) 1614 Pedersen, Bergmanfilm – en arbejdsbog (1976) 1293 Perridon (ed.), Strindberg, Ibsen & Bergman.Essays on Scandinavian Film and Drama (1998) 1643 Petric (ed.), Film and Dreams: An Approach to Ingmar Bergman (1981) 1378 Rainero, Ingmar Bergman (1974) 1258 Rajat, Roy. Bergman (1992) 1531 Rasku, Ingmar Bergman. Kasvoista kasvoihin (1970) 1191 Reilly, “Ingmar Bergman’s Theatre Direction, 19521974”, diss. (1981) 590 Robins, ”Theological Analysis of Religious Experience in the Films of Ingmar Bergman”, diss. (1975) 997 Rondi (ed.), Maestri del Cinema: Ingmar Bergman (1968) 1169 Santos, Bergman no cerco (1963) 1097 Savio, La parola e il silenzio (1964) 1119 Schneider, Rollen und Räume. Anfragen an das Christentum in den Filmen Ingmar Bergman, diss. (1992) 997 Siclier, Ingmar Bergman, 1958, 1960 (1964) 982 Simon, Ingmar Bergman Directs (1972) 1218 Sjöman, L-136: Dagbok (1963) 1100 —, U 98. Mitt personregister (1998) 1646 Steene, Ingmar Bergman (1968) 1170 — (ed.), Focus on The Seventh Seal (1972) 1220 —, Ingmar Bergman. References and Resources (1987) 1449 —, Måndagar med Bergman (1996) 1611 Svensk Filmindustri, Ingmar Bergman (1963) 1090 Svetlitza, Psicoanalysis y creacion artistica: Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman, Salvador Dali, James Joyce (1994) 1575 Szczepanski (ed.), Bergman Obrazy (1993) 1556 Szczepanski, Zwierciadto Bergmana (1999) 1663
Tabbia, Ingmar Bergman (1958) 1008 Teghrarian, “The Cracked Lens: The Crisis of the Artist in Bergman’s Films of the Sixties” (1976) 1298 Thi Nhu Quynh Ho. “La femme dans l’univers bergmanien”, diss. (1975) 975 Törnqvist, Bergman’s Muses. Bergman’s Muses. Aesthetic Versatility in Film, Theatre, Television and Radio (2003) 1690 —, Between Stage and Screen. Ingmar Bergman Directs (1995) 649, 1597 —, Filmdiktaren Ingmar Bergman (1993) 1559 Trasatti, Ingmar Bergman, il paradoxo di un ”Ateo cristiano” (1992) 1536 Wasserman, Filmologia de Bergman: Dios, la vida y la muerte (1988) 1475 Weise, Ingmar Bergman (1987) 1450 — (ed.), Ingmar Bergman: mit Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten (1997) 1623 Vermilye, Ingmar Bergman: His Films and Career (1997) 1622 Widerberg, Visionen i svensk film (1962) 1033 Wimberley, “Bergman and the Existentialists: A Study in Subjectivity”, diss. (1979) 1348 Wirmark, Smultronstället och dödens ekipage (1998) 1653 — (ed.), Film och teater i växelverkan (1996) 652, 1613 Visscher de, Zielekanker Symboliek in de Filmkunst van Ingmar Bergman (1976) 1300 Wood, Ingmar Bergman (1969) 1185 Woolsgaard (ed.), Kavalkade (1985) 1424 Working with Ingmar Bergman, BFI (1988) 1476 Vos, Dräkterna i dramat: Mitt år med Fanny och Alexander (1984) 1416 Young, Cinema borealis: Ingmar Bergman and the Swedish Ethos (1971) 1210 Zern, Se Bergman (1993) 1560 Zielinska (ed.), Ingmar Bergman. W opinii krytyki zagranicznej (1987) 1451 Åhlander (ed.), Gaukler im Grenzland. Ingmar Bergman (1993) 1562
Bergman in the Theatre (including parallels between his theatre work and film) Bax, (ed.), Théâtres au cinéma (1992) 1517 Billqvist, Ingmar Bergman. Teatermannen och filmskaparen (1960) 1040 Gyllenpalm, Ingmar Bergman and Creative Leadership, diss. (1995) 647, 1586 Koskinen, Allting föreställer, ingenting är. Filmen och teatern – en tvärvetenskaplig studie (2001) 653 Long, Ingmar Bergman. Film and Stage (1994) 1568 Marker, Ingmar Bergman. Four Decades in the Theater (1982) 594
Marker, Ingmar Bergman. A Life in the Theater (1982, 1992) Also in Italian as Ingmar Bergman. Tutto il teatro (1996) 594 Marker, Ingmar Bergman: A Project for the Theater (1983) 599 Oliver (ed.), Ingmar Bergman. An Artist’s Journey (1995) 1580 Sjögren, Ingmar Bergman på teatern (1968) 548 —, Regi: Ingmar Bergman. Dagbok från Dramaten (1969) 554
1073
Literature on Bergman Index —, Lek och raseri. Ingmar Bergman på teatern, 19382002 (2002) 677 Törnqvist, Bergman och Strindberg: Spöksonaten – drama och iscensättning (1973) 570 —, Bergman’s Muses. Bergman’s Muses. Aesthetic Versatility in Film, Theatre, Television and Radio (2003) 682, 1690
—, Between Stage and Screen. Ingmar Bergman Directs (1995) 649, 1597 Wingaard, Teatersemiologi (1967) 571 Wirmark (ed.), Film och teater i växelverkan (1996) 652, 1613
Bergman as Media Director Törnqvist, Bergman’s Muses. Bergman’s Muses. Aesthetic Versatility in Film, Theatre, Television and Radio (2003) 682
Bergman as Writer
as Alussa Oli Sana – Nuori Ingmar Bergman (2003) 1681
Koskinen, I begynnelsen var ordet. Ingmar Bergman och hans tidiga författarskap (2003) Also in Finnish
Bergman and Family Bergman, (Margaretha), Karin vid havet (1980) 1349 Bergman (Anna), Inte bara pappas flicka (1987) French edition: Au nom du père (1989) 1440
Linton-Malmfors, (ed.), Den dubbla verkligheten. Karin och Erik Bergman i dagböcker och brev 19071936 (1992) 1526 Ullmann, Changing/Forændringen (1976) 1299
Special Journal Issues on Ingmar Bergman Bergman and the Cinema Amante Cine, no. 37 (March 1995) 1582 American Cinematographer 53, no. 4 (April 1972) 1269 American Cinematographer 79, no 11 (November 1998) 1626 Amis du film et de la télévision, no. 225 (February 1975) 1628 L’Avant-Scene du Cinéma, no. 37 (May 1964) 1105 L´Avant-Scène du Cinéma, no. 142 (December 1973) 1224 Cahiers du cinéma XIV, no 72 (June 1957) 982 Cahiers du cinema XV, no 85 (July 1958) 982, 1002, 1028 Castoro Cinema 156 (October 1993) 1558 Celluloide, no 21 (September 1959) 1020 Celluloide XXV, no. 289 (March 1980) 1020 Centrofilmo (1963) 1084 Cine universitario, no. 12 (1960) 1034 Cineforum 7, no. 61 (January 1967) 1143 Cinéma 59, no. 41 (November-December 1959) 1018 Cinema Novo, no. 37/38, (Sep/Dec 1984) 1405 Chaplin, no. 35 (February 1963) 1086 Chaplin XXV, no. 6/189 (1983) 1383 Chaplin 30, no 2-3 (215/216) (1988) 1452
Chaplin xxxv, no 3/246 (Summer 1993) 1540 Cuadernas de Cine Club Mercedes (Uruguay), no. 1 (May 1963) 974 Cuaderno cinematografico del Uruguay, December 1974 1248 Dirigido por, no. 29, (January 1976) 1279 Ecran 73, no, 15 (May 1973) 1225 Entr´acte, 4, no. 12 (December-January 1963) 1087 Film Comment 6, no. 2 (1970) 1188 Film Comment, XII, no. 3, (May-June 1976) 1282 Film Ideal 9, no. 68 (1964) 1034 Film och Bio, no. 1 (1968) 1155 Filmdienst. Kino-Fernsehen-Video, 51, no. 14 (1998) 1634 Filmhäftet. Tidskrift om film och TV, 62 (May 1988) 1452 Filmklub-Cinéclub 5, no. 20 (Switzerland) (November-December 1960) 1045 Image et son, no. 226 (March 1969) 1179 Jeune cinéma, no. 8 (June/July 1965) 1125 Kino (Sofia), no 3 (July 1993) 1551 (Die) kleine Filmkunstreihe Hefte, no. 22 (1961) 1067 Kosmorama 24, no. 137 (Spring 1978) 1325 Nordic Theatre Studies 11 (1998) 663, 1635
1074
Literature on Bergman Index Nuevo film (Montevideo), no. 4 (Autumn-Winter 1969) 1181 Positif 204 (March 1978) 1329 Positif 289 (March 1985) 1426 Positif 360 (February 1991) 1508 Positif 447 (May 1998) 1644 Positif no. 497/498, (July-August 2002) 1683 Revista de cinema vol. 4, no. 22 (April-May 1956) 974
Revista Cinematografo, No. 62 (December 1992) 1529 (Der) Spiegel, (26 October 1960) 1053 Studi cinematografico e televisivi 1, no. 2 (October 1968) 1171 Temas de cine, no. 26 (January-February 1963) 1034 Time, 14 March 1960 1054 Thousand Eyes Magazine, no. 1 (1975) 1271 La Voce di Milano, “Il mago del Nord”, 3 May (1994) 1579
Bergman and the Theatre La Dramma (1971) 562, 1255 Dramat (1995) 646 Dramat (1998) 662
Nordic Theatre Studies 11 (1998) Theater 11, no. 1 (1979) 584
Bergman and Media (Radio & TV) Dramat (1998) 662 Nordic Theatre Studies 11 (1998)
663
1075
663
Title index At the beginning of the Title Index is a list of group items found in Chapters VII and IX in the Guide. The remainder of the index is divided, like the Name index, into two Sections: The first includes titles of all works authored, directed or produced by Ingmar Bergman, as well as interviews with him. The second section lists titles of critical books, dissertations, articles, and special journal issues on Bergman and his entire production. Entries are listed in alphabetical order under the original title only, except when an English translation has been published, which appears in brackets. Numbers after the title entry refer to the Guide’s entry numbers. In references to items in the Guide that appear in chapters or sections that have no entry numbers, a page number appears instead, listed in parenthesis.
Group titles A Doll’s House and David Selznick 957 American reception of Ingmar Bergman 1011 Appointment as Royal Dramatic Theatre head 536 Bengt Jahnsson affair 551 Bergman and Actors 519, 970 Bergman and Art Cinema Public 1211 Bergman and Nazism 1439 Bergman at Southern Methodist University symposium 1368 Bergman as literary author – early views 988 Bergman and literature 989 Bergman and early reception in Latin America 974 Bergman-Fellini coproduction 1174 Bergman’s Portrayal of women 975 Bergman’s Return to Dramaten (1969) 550 Bergman Tax Case and subsequent exile 1272 Cannes Film Festival honoring Bergman 1614 (The) Cloth cover notebook 3 Conflict at Munich Residenztheater 583 Disenchantment with theatre situation, 1964-66 537 Early British views on Bergman 996 Early Spanish reception of Ingmar Bergman 1034
Economic Crisis at Dramaten 602 Erasmus Prize 1120 Felix Award 1453 Fyrtiotalism 206 (rec), 952, 1007 Goethepreis 1976 1273 Honorary degree at University of Rome 1496 Ingmar Bergman and French response in mid-Fifties 982 Ingmar Bergman at 70 1452 Ingmar Bergman at 75 1539 Ingmar Bergman at 80 1625 Italian reception of Ingmar Bergman 1012 New York City Ingmar Bergman Festival 1580 Plans to film The Merry Widow 804 Religious Approaches to Bergman’s filmmaking 997 SFP newsletter, Mäster Olofsgården 2 Swedish Debates/Critique of Bergman’s filmmaking 1033 Underground Theatre debate 533 Untitled program notes, Hälsingborg City Theatre 30
1077
Title Index
Section I In cases where a playwright, scriptwriter or director other than Bergman is also involved, that person’s name appears together with Bergman’s in parenthesis. An abbreviated identification of the item appears last, in brackets, according to the following letter designations: [S] Scripts [F] Films [M] Music [P] Plays [T] Theatre productions [O] Opera and operetta productions [R] Radio play productions [TV] Television films and TV play productions [W] Writings [Int.] Interviews with Bergman, followed by name of interviewer A Film Trilogy (Bergman) [S] 135 “A Little Night Music” (Sondheim) [M] (Bergman) [original text] 223 (com) “A Matter of the Soul” (See Föreställningar) “A Passion” (see En passion) “A Profile of Ingmar Bergman “ [Int: Newman, NBC] 761 “Aforistiskt av Ingmar Bergman” (Bergman) [W] 93 “After the Rehearsal” (see Efter repetitionen) “Aldrig! Hellre kommunteater på Fårö” [Int: Montán] 563, 1190 “Alle taler om skandinavisme. Ingen tager initiativet” [Int: Sabroe] 810 “Anders de Wahl och den sista rollen” (Bergman) [W] 94 Ansikte mot ansikte [Face to Face] (Bergman) [TV, F] 159, 248, 327 “Ansikte mot ansikte: Ett samtal med Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Harryson] 577, 842 “Ansiktet” [The Magician/The Face] (Bergman) [S, F] 102, 228 “Antagligen ett geni” (Bergman) [W] 36 “Anteckningar kring Staden” (Bergman) [W] 78 “Aschebergskan på Wittskövle” (von Horn/Bergman) [P, T] 382 “Aspekte” [Int: Szostack] 849 Aus dem Leben des Marionetten (see Ur marionetternas liv) Autumn Sonata (see Höstsonat) “Avskedsintervju” (Bergman) [W] 30 (group item) 507, 690 “Away with Improvisization – This is Creation!” (Bergman) [W] 114
Backanterna [The Bachae] (Euripides/Börtz/Bergman) [P, O, T, TV] 190, 337, 480, 492 “Bara här hör jag hemma” [Int: Rying] 750 “Befängt sätta en gammal stöt som censurchef ” [Int: Sima] 802 “Begegnung mit Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Stempel] 758 “Bergman” [Int: Nygren] 910 “Bergman: A Private Man with a Hit on His Hands” [Int: Champlin] 820 “Bergman and Opus 26” [Int: Grenier] 741, 1072 “Bergman Brings Restive Hamlet to Brooklyn” [Int: Babski] 911 “Bergman efter Venedig-utmärkelsen: Hoffmann lockar mig” [Int: Sörenson] 895 “Bergman i USA: mer fars än tragedi” [Press Conference] 839 “Bergman in Close-up” [Int: Lejefors] 883 “Bergman in Exile” [Int: Weintraub] 851, 1272 (group item, p. 953) “Bergman: Le succès? J´adore ça!” [Int: Heymann/ Lange/Delain] 824 Bergman. Obrazy (Bergman, Polish ed.) [S] 1556 Bergman om Bergman [Bergman on Bergman] [Int: Björkman/Manns/Sima] 214 (com), 215 (com), 223, 225 (com), 788 “Bergman on Opera” [Int: Janzon] 743 “Bergman par lui-même” (Bergman) [Self-interview] 140, 710 “Bergman parle” [Int: Serre] 907 “Bergman parle de lui-même et du silence” (Riffe/ Bergman pseudonym) [Self-interview] 756 “Bergman skäller ut radiochefen” (Bergman/SR) 621 “Bergman spelar Trollflöjten…” [Int: Larsén] 829
1078
Title Index “Bergman svarar på Ibsenkritik” (Bergman ) [W] 127 Bergman. Szcenariusze (Bergman, Polish ed.) [S] 151, 164 “Bergman vid källsprånget” [Int: Åhlund) 926 “Bergmanfarväl med Molière. Riv Operan och Dramaten” [Int: AGE/Anders Ellsberg] 537 (group item, p. 783), 540, 764 “Bergman’s Best Intentions” [Int: Bergström] 924 “Bergman’s Borkman” [Int: Marker & Marker] 909 “Bergman’s Dream” [Int: Mowe] 920 Bergmans 1900-tal. En hyllning till svensk film, från Victor Sjöström till Lukas Moodysson (Bergman) [W] 198 Beröringen [The Touch] (Bergman) [S, F] 145, 244 Best Intentions (see Den goda viljan) “Bilden som retar Bergman” [Int: Elfving] 837 Bilder [Images. My Life in Film] (Bergman) [W] 188, 206 (com), 207 (com), 211 (com), 214 (com), 219 (com), 220 (com), 223 (com), 228 (com), 231 (com), 233, 234 Bildmakarna [The Image Makers] (Enquist) [P], (Bergman) [T, TV] 342, 483 “Biodags” [Int: Jungstedt, SR] 722, 735 “Blad ur en obefintlig dagbok” (Bergman) [W] 66 “Blick in i framtiden” (Bergman; radio talk) 33, 500 Blodsbröllop [Bodas de sangre, Blood Wedding] (Lorca; [P]/Bergman; [R]) 276 “Bo Dahlins anteckningar angående föräldrarnas skilsmässa” (Bergman) [S] 73. See also 97 Bollen [La palla] (Fruttero) [P]/(Bergman) [R] 285 “Brev från Ingmar Bergman” (Bergman) [W] 50 “Brink of Life” (see Nära livet) “Bris” [Soap Commercials], (Bergman) [F] 74, 215 Brott och brott [Crimes and Crimes] (Strindberg) [P]/ (Bergman) [R] 275 Bruden utan hemgift [Bespridannica, The dowerless Bride] (Ostrovskij) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 427 “Byen” [Staden] (Bergman) [P]/Katlev; dir.) [R] 304 Caligula (Camus) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 396 “Cirkusen” (Bergman) [unpubl. pantomime play] [W] 6 “Close to Life” (see Nära livet) “Clownen Beppo” (Fisher/Bergman) [T] 376 “Conversation avec Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Aghed] 794 “Conversation avec Bergman” [Int: Assayas/Björkman] 919 “Conversation with Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Grenier] 823 Cris et chuchotement, suivi de ‘Persona’ et ‘Le Lien’ (Bergman) [W] 169
“Dagen slutar tidigt” (Bergman) [P, T, R] 56, 278, 397 “Daniel”. (See “Stimulantia”) Dans på bryggan (Höijer) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 400 “Das einzige, was ich nicht ertrage, ist Gleichgültigkeit” [Int: Larass] 879 “De ensamma” (Bergman; handwritten play draft ) [P] 9 “De fördömda kvinnornas dans” [Il ballo delle ingrate] (Monteverdi/Bergman/Feuer) [T, TV] 328, 491 “De tre dumheterna. Skämtsaga i 6 bilder” (Munthe) [W]/(Bergman) [T] 374 De två saliga (Isaksson/Bergman) [TV] 183, 334 “(The) Demon Lover” [Int. art: Lahr] 537 “Den bästa novellen” (Bergman) [W] 691 “Den fria, skamlösa, oansvariga konsten – ett ormskinn, fyllt av myror” (See Ormskinnet/The Snakeskin) “Den förstenade prinsen” [The Petrified Prince] (Bergman, unpubl. script) [S] 166 “Den gamle och havet” [Int: Bergström] 921, 1504 “Den gamle och lusten” [Int: Söderberg] 941 Den goda viljan [Best Intentions] (Bergman) [S]/ (August) [F] 191, 196, 256, 335 “Den lille trumpetaren och vår Herre” (Bergman) [W] 59 “Den som intet har” (Anderberg/La Fontaine/H.C. Andersen) [W]/(Bergman) [R] 295 Den tatuerade rosen [The Rose Tattoo] (Williams) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 413 “Det att göra film” [“What is Filmmaking?”] (Bergman) [W] 87 “Det förtrollade marknadsnöjet” (Bergman) [W] 45 Det gamla spelet om Envar [Everyman] (von Hoffmansthal) [P]/(Bergman ) [R] 289 “Det gamla spelet om Envar” [Int: Florin] 681 Det lyser i kåken (Höijer) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 411 “Det personligas kris. Ingmar Bergman talar fritt” [Int: HIM] 695 “Det regnar på vår kärlek” (Braathen, orig. text)/ (Bergman) [F] 37, 46 “Det sjunde inseglet” [The Seventh Seal] (Bergman) [S, F] 98, 225 “Det var bara roligt” [Int: Röster i Radio/TV] 152 “Det är Bergman som gör film på Fårö” [Int: Hamdi] 770 “Det är en älsklig tanke att Fellini och jag skall jobba ihop” [Int: Sörenson] 850 “Dialog” (Bergman) [W] 103 “Dialog med Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Sjögren in Ingmar Bergman på teatern] 779 “Dialogue on Film: Ingmar Bergman” [Int: AFI] 841 Dick Cavett Show [TV interview] 798 “Dimman” (Bergman, draft) [P] 19
1079
Title Index “Djävulens öga” [The Devil’s Eye] (Bergman) [S, F] 105, 230 Don Juan [Dom Juan/Don Juan ou le festin de pierre] (Molière) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 16, 422, 441, 462 “Dramatenchefen Ingmar Bergman intervjuas” [Int: Hoogland] 537 (group item, p. 782) “Dramatikerstudion’s program, no 1, 1943 (Bergman) [W] 8 Drei Schwestern [Three Sisters] (Chechov) [P]/ (Bergman) [T] 457 “Dröm i juli”(Bergman, draft) [P] 20 “Dröm i juli. Filmmanuskript av I. Bergman” (Bergman) [S] 38 “Drømmen om et kunstnerisk teater” (Bergman talk; Dessau report ) 593 Dödsdansen [The Dance of Death] (Strindberg) [P]/ (Bergman) [T] 455 Efter repetitionen [After the Rehearsal] (Bergman) [S, TV, F] 175, 195, 254, 332, 481 [T] “Ein neues Leben in Deutschland: Gespräch mit dem schwedischen Regisseur Ingmar Bergman” (Int: Müller) 846, 1272 (group item) “Ein Report und eine Welt-Gespräch mit Ingmar Bergman in München” (Int: Borngässer) 840 “Ej för att roa blott” (Bergman, SR discussion) 46 “Elddonet” [The Tinder Box] (H.C. Andersen) [W]/ (Bergman), [T ] 7, 369, 385 En filmtrilogi [A Film Trilogy] (Bergman) [S, F] 124 “En Hamlet från Manpower” [Int: Ohrlander] 674 “En hörsägen” (Josephson) [P]/(Bergman) [R] 307 “En kortare berättelse om ett av Jack Uppskärarens tidigaste barndomsminnen” [tr. into French as “Un souvenir d’enfance de Jacques l’Eventreur”] (Bergman, short story) [W] 26 “En kvinnas ansikte” (Bergman) [S] 13 “En lektion i Bergman” [Int: Nilsson] 709 “En lektion i kärlek” (Bergman) [S, F] 85, 221 En lusteld/En nyck [Une passion] (de Musset) [P]/ (Bergman) [R] 281, 300 En midsommarnattsdröm [A Midsummer Night’s Dream] (Shakespeare) [P], (Bergman) [T] 368, 371 “En oavbruten rörelse. Ingmar Bergman ser tillbaka” [Int: Forslund] 746 En passion [The Passion of Anna, A Passion] (Bergman) [S, F] 138, 241 “En rucklares väg” [Rake’s Progress] (Stravinski) [M]/(Audin) [Libretto]/(Bergman) [O] 301, 436, 489 “En saga” (Bergman, about Macbeth) [W] 2 En själslig angelägenhet [A Matter of the Soul] (Bergman) [P, TV] 149, 199, 308 En skugga (Hj. Bergman) [P]/(I.Bergman) [T] 410 “En slags tillägnan” (Bergman, program note) [W] 31
“En sällsam historia” (Bergman, short story draft) [W] 3 “En TV-dåres bekännelser” [Int: Åhlund] 662 En vildfågel [La Sauvage], (Anouilh) [P]/(Bergman) [T, R] 279, 404 “Endast Gud, Dr. Dymling och jag” [Int:: Jolo] 688 Enskilda samtal [Private Confessions/Conversations] (Bergman) [S]/(Ullmann), [F, TV] 194, 196, 258, 340 “Entréintervjun. Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Janzon] 598, 891 “Entretien avec Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Aghed] 838 Erik XIV (Strindberg) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 429 “Erziehung zum Theater. Ein Interview mit Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Braun] 537 (group item, p. 784) “Ett dockhem” (Ibsen) [P]/(Bergman) [S] 51 Ett dockhem [A Doll(‘s) House] (Ibsen) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 461 (Nora), 472 Ett drömspel [A Dreamplay] (Strindberg) [P]/(Bergman), [T, TV] 318, 447, 456 (Ein Traumspiel), 467 “Ett spelår är tilländalupet” (Bergman) [W] 2 “Eva“ (Bergman) [S] 57, 58, 59, 209 “Every Film is my Last” (see “Varje film är min sista film”) Everyman (See “Det gamla spelet om Envar) “Extract in Memory of Victor Sjöström” (Bergman) [W] 109 “The Face” (see “Ansiktet”) Face to Face (see Ansikte mot ansikte) “Face to Face with Ingmar Bergman” (Int: Murphy) 855 “Face to Face with Ingmar Bergman” (Int: Woolf) 874 “Face to Face with a Life of Creation” (Int: Riding) 929 Fadren [The Father] (Strindberg) [P]/(Bergman), [T] 362 Faithless (see Trolösa) Falskspelare [Igroki] (Gogol) [P]/(Bergman) [R] 293 “Falskspelet” (Bergman, narrative film script) [S, W] 134 “Familjeidyll” (Bergman, fragment in notebook) [W] 3 Fan ger ett anbud. (See Vem är jag?) “Fanny and Alexander. God, sex en Ingmar Bergman” (Int: Marker & Marker) 905 Fanny och Alexander [Fanny and Alexander] (Bergman) [S, TV, F) 170, 253, 331 “Fantastic is the Word” (Bergman; on genesis of Shame) [W] 137 Farmor och vår herre [The head of the firm] (Hj. Bergman) [Novel]/Grevenius/Bergman) [R] 287 Faust (Goethe [P]/(Bergman) [T] 14, 16, 433
1080
Title Index Femte akten [The Fifth Act] (Bergman) [S,W] 195 “FIB frågar Bergman: Är svensk film på väg uppåt?” [Int: Rådström] 745 “Film är min passion” [Int: Rådström] 724 “Film är inte litteratur” [Int: Ericsson] 225 (longer stud) Filmberättelser, vols. I-III (Bergman ) [S] 153 “Filmen om Birgitta-Carolina” (Bergman) [W] 60, 210 (com) “Filmkalas” (Bergman about early years at SF) [Int: SVT] 875 “Filmkrönika” [Int: Oldin/Sundgren, SVT] 768, 826, 848 Filmové povídky (Bergman, Czech edition) [S] 178 “Filmskapandets dilemma” (Bergman) [W] (Cf. “Det att göra film) 87 4 Filmmanuskripter (Bergman, Danish ed) [S] 160 “Fisken. Fars för film” (Bergman) [S] 67, 1628 Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman (Bergman, Am. ed) [S] 110, 225 (com) Four Stories of Ingmar Bergman [S] 161 “Foajé” [Int: Florin] 680 “Framgången, gosse, är en kviga med såpad svans” [Int: Moberg] 737 “Frenzy” (see “Hets”) “Frånskild” (Bergman/Grevenius) [S]/(Molander) [F] 68, 217 “Fräcka frågor till Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Hammer] 699 Fröken Julie, [Miss Julie] (Strindberg) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 461, 466 “Fullmånen” (Bergman, handwritten draft of play) [P] 10 “Fyra filmer i en bok” [Int: Jungstedt , SR] 736 Fågel Blå (Topelius [P]/(Bergman) [T] 372 Fången [The Prisoner] (Boland/Müller) [P]/(Bergman) [R] 292 “Fårödokument” (Bergman) [TV, F] 141, 242, 321 “Fårödokument 79” (Bergman) [TV, F] 171, 251, 329 “Fängelse” [F] 204 (com), 210 “Fängelse(t)” (Bergman) [S] 52 “För Alice” [Tiny Alice] (Albee) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 442 “För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor” (Buntel Ericsson, i.e. Josephson/Bergman) [S]/(Bergman) [F] 125, 235 “För att inte tala om alla dessa skådespelare” [Int: Forslund] 747 “För mig är film ansikten” [Int: Annika Holm] 766 “Förbön” (Bergman) [W] 111 Föreställningar. Trolösa, En själslig angelägenhet, Kärlek utan älskare (Bergman) [P, W] 199 ”Förord till en översättning” (Bergman) [W] (About translation of King Lear) 180 Första varningen [The first Warning] (Strindberg) [P]/(Bergman) [R] 296
Galgmannen (Schildt) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 346 “Ganz zu schweigen von all diesen Frauen” [Int: Grafe] 854 “Ge kvinnorna en chans!” [Int: Strömstedt] 834 Gengångare [Ghosts] (Ibsen) [P]/(Bergman) [T, Adaptation] 200, 487 Geografi och kärlek [Geografi og kærlighed] (Bjørnson) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 377 “Gespräch mit dem Meister-Regisseur und FelixGewinner.” [Int: Lubowski] 913 “Gespräch mit Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Glaser] 556 Glada änkan [Die lustige Witwe, The Merry Widow] (Léhar [O]/(Bergman) [T] 420 “Goldbergvariationerna” [The Goldberg Variations] (Tabori) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 476 “Gud och mamma regerade min barndom” [Int: Nilsson) 866 “Gud är inte alldeles död” [Discussion: Axelsson, SVT] 897 Guds ord på landet [Divinas palabras, Divine Words] (del Valle-Inclán) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 407 Guldkarossen (Bentzonich) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 345 “Gycklarnas afton” [The Eve of the Clowns/The Naked Night] (Bergman) [S, F] 82, 209 (com), 220 “Gärna skamlöst men inte pornografiskt” [Int: Montán] 701 Hamlet (Shakespeare ) [P ]/(Bergman) [T] 468 “Hamnstad” (Länsberg) [W]/(Bergman) [S, F] 53 Han som fick leva om sitt liv [The Man Who Lived Twice] (Lagerkvist) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 2, 351 “Har teatern försuttit sina chanser?” [Int: NA] 687 “Harald och Harald” (Bergman) [TV] 339 “Harbour City” (see “Hamnstad”) “Hauptstadt mit Herz – Hauptstadt des Films” [Int: Borngässer] 1272 (group item, p. 952) Hedda Gabler (Ibsen) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 440, 448, 459 Herr Sleeman kommer (Hj. Bergman) [P]/(I. Bergman) [T, TV] 313, 380 “Hets” [Torment, Frenzy] (Bergman) [S]/(Sjöberg) [F] 21, 202 “Hets. Kniv på en varböld” (Bergman) [W] 24 “Himmelrikets nycklar: Sagospel, drömspel, vandringsdrama” (Bergman, undergrad. essay) [W] 5 “Historien om Eiffeltornet” (Bergman) [W] 83 Holländarn Strindberg [P]/(Grevenius/Bergman) [R] 263, 282 “Hos Ingmar Bergman i Bavaria-ateljén” (Press conference) 843 Hotellrummet [La chambre d’hotel] (Rocher) [P]/ (Bergman) [T] 381 “Hur tar vi vara på barnens själar?” [Int: Håstad] 864
1081
Title Index Hustruskolan [L’école des femmes] (Molière) [P]/ (Bergman) [T, TV] 330, 444, 597 “Hålla spegeln och se vad spegeln speglar” [Int: Löthwall] 1155 “Här hör jag hemma” [Int: Frankl] 604, 903 Höstsonat(en)/Herbssonate [Autumn Sonata] (Bergman) [S‚ F] 168, 250 “Höstrapsodi” (Rönnqvist) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 350 “Hösttankar” (Bergman) [W] 28 “I am a Conjurer” (see “Det att göra film) 87 “I am a Voyeur. A Conversation with Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Peyser] 871 “I Bethlehem – Ett julspel” (Bergman) [T] 353 “I live at the Edge of a Strange Country” [Int. art.: Merryman] 831 “I mormors hus” (Bergman, program note) [W] 47 “Incontro con Bergman” [Int: Burvenich] 740 “I Try to Write Sub-Consciously” [Int: Archer] 769 “Ich bin ein Handwerker” [Int: Thieringer] 901 “Ikke lenger eksklusiv, folk ska ha glæde av arbeidet mitt” [Int: Rossing-Jensen] 859 “Il regista svedese a Roma” [Interviewer/press conference: Ceretto] 774 “Il teatro e la mia casa” [Int: Bentivoglio] 915 “Inför ‘Hustruskolan” [Int: Lagerkvist, SVT] 597 “Ingmar Bergman” [Int: anon, Börjlind, Löthwall, Seidenfaden, Samuels] 586, 776, 812, 853, 923 “Ingmar Bergman berättar” [Int: Lindström] 938 “Ingmar Bergman berättar en historia för skådespelarna innan ridån går upp” (Bergman/Grevenius) [SR] 505 “Ingmar Bergman: the Censor’s Problem Genius” [Int: Prouse] 755 “Ingmar Bergman dreht nicht nur Filme” [Int: Dallmann] 714, 998 “Ingmar Bergman: en nästan vit synd” [Int: Jungstedt] 790 “Ingmar Bergman filmar: von Sydow magnesitör” [Int: Perpetua (Barbro Hähnel) 717 “Ingmar Bergman: Frauen sind Wachs in meinen Händern”. [Int: Kupper] 799 “Ingmar Bergman. Hans styrka och hans genialitet är hans barnsliga lust att gestalta” [Int: Lejefors] 883 “Ingmar Bergman – hur kan du förföra så?” [Int: Borger-Bendegard] 797 “Ingmar Bergman: I Confect Dreams and Anguish” [Int: Sorel] 861 “Ingmar Bergman i München” [Int: Lindeborg] 865 “Ingmar Bergman i Uppsala: Barndomslandet ännu en källåder” [Int: Gustavsson) 917 “Ingmar Bergman Intermezzo” [Int: Bergdahl] 944 “Ingmar Bergman: Interview” [Int: Reilly] 801
“Ingmar Bergman intervjuar sig själv inför premiären på Sommaren med Monika” [IB self-interview] 84 “Ingmar Bergman intervjuas i Rom” [Int: Kumlien] 783 “Ingmar Bergman intervjuas med anledning av sin återkomst till radioteatern” [Eko, SR) 603 “Ingmar Bergman och Käbi Laretei”. [Int: Hamdi] 731, 1047 “Ingmar Bergman, the Listener” [Int: Hedlund] 748 “Ingmar Bergman och musiken” [Int: Lundberg] 939 “Ingmar Bergman om film. Legende eller besvergelse” [ Int: Marcussen) 809, 1217 “Ingmar Bergman om konsten och livet. Så har kvinnorna svikit sig själva” [Int: Fredriksson/ Sörenson] 869 “Ingmar Bergman om liv och arbete” [TV Int: Donner] 1625 (group item, p. 1015) “Ingmar Bergman på Island” [Int: Gunnlaugsson] 916 Ingmar Bergman. Sei film (Bergman, Italian ed.) [S] 173 Ingmar Bergman Seminarium. Typed SFI copy 179, 189 “Ingmar Bergman ser på film” [Int: Forslund] 734 Ingmar Bergman scenariusze (Bergman) [S] 164 “Ingmar Bergman: Sinnenas värld var annorlunda förr” [Int: Harryson] 899 “Ingmar Bergman sjunger” [Int: SR] 784 “Ingmar Bergman Summing-up a Life in Film” [Int: Kakutani] 892 “Ingmar Bergman, Super Symbolist” [Int: Friedman, casette recording] 775 “Ingmar Bergman, Sweden’s Wary Genius” [Int: Beauman] 1195 “Ingmar Bergman säger farväl till filmen” [Int: Sundgren, SVT] 894 “Ingmar Bergman talar ut” [Int: Beer] 752 “Ingmar Bergman: The Magic Lantern” [Int: BBC] 912 “Ingmar Bergman varnar för stora braknummer” [Int: Sellermark] 704 “Ingmar Bergman vill vara underhållande” [Int: Thiessen] 719 “Ingmar Bergman vädjar till påven” [IB appeals to the pope] 1133 “Ingmar Bergman’s Schooldays” [Int: Cowie] 890 “Ingmar och Ingrid i glad och öppen intervju” [Int: Hagander] 807 “Ingmars självporträtt” (Bergman) [W] 100 “Intervju med strateg” [Int: anon] 522 “Interview with Bergman on 18 December 1979” [Int: Hembus, ZDF) 863
1082
Title Index “Interview with Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Björkman, Manns, Sima] 773 “Interview with Ingmar Bergman” (Screen International) 860 “Io vivo ogni film que faccio come un sogno” [Int: Sundgren] 772 Jack hos skådespelarna [Jack among he actors] (Bergman) [P, T] 22, 416 (Heed, dir.) “Jack och Joakim Naken: Samtal med Ingmar Bergman” (also in Italian) [Int:Wortzelius] 967 Jacobowsky och översten (Werfel) [P]/(Bergman) [P, T] 390, 502 (program note) “Jag arbetar helst med kvinnor” [Int: von Essen] 822 “Jag får väl kompromettera mig igen” [Int: Kvällsposten] 708 “Jag gjorde reklamfilm för att försörja mig” [Int: Hederberg] 760 “Jag har en kanonbesättning” [Int: Sörenson] 628 “Jag har försökt ta kål på barnet i mig men det lever” [Int: Palmgren] 888 “Jag kastade mig med ett rytande över teater” [Int: Ollén] 607 “Jag ser allt. Ingmar Bergman i samtal med Stig Björkman” [Int: Stig Björkman] 945 “Jag skulle vilja slå ihjäl er” (Mandrup Nielsen/ Bergman) [Fake interview] 155 “Jag tror på det heliga i människan” [Int: Edvardsson] 821 “Jag tvivlar på Filmhögskolan” (Bergman) [W] 126 “Jag trivs nästan varje dag” (Bergman) [W] 172, 1272 (group item, p. 952) “Jag undrar om jag inte börjar bli mogen för Shakespeare nu” [Int: Nilsson] 583 (group item), 881 “Jag vill hem igen” [Int: Zacharias] 856, 1272 (group item, p. 953) “Jag vill inte teaterns död – men TV når miljonpublik” [Int: Isaksson 547 “Jag vill inte vara lycklig” [Int: Beronius] 705 “Jag vill vara med i leken” (Bergman, SR) 104 “Jag ville inte dö i Danmark” [Int: Sima] 813 “Jag är hundraprocentigt trogen min uppgift” [Int: Lidbeck] 880 “Jag är rädd för vad som kan hända Ingmar” [Int: Sellermark, quote from wife Ingrid Bergman] 1272 (group item, p. 952) “Jag är svag för ytlighet” [Int: Andhé] 819 “Je suis un boulimique”. [Int: Béranger] 765 “Jeder Mensch hat Träume, Wünsche, Bedürfnisse” (Bergman; Goethe Award reception speech) 162, 1273 (group item) “Jeg har fått publiken inn på livet” [Int: Wilson] 828 “Joakim Naken eller självmordet” (Bergman) (W) 61
John Gabriel Borkman, (Ibsen) [P]/(Bergman) [T, R] 310, 464 “Judas” (Bergman play draft) [W] 3 “Jul” [Christmas] (Strindberg) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 352 “Jungfrukällan” [The Virgin Spring], (Isaksson) [S]/ (Bergman) [F] 229 “Juninatten” (Bergman) [W] 2 “Kalkmaleri” [Trämålning] (Bergman) [P]/(Marott, dir.) [T] 297 “Kamma noll” [Come up empty/Draw zero] (Bergman) [P, R] 54, 268, 403 (Læstadius, dir.) “Kannibalen” (Bergman, play draft) [P] 39 “Karins ansikte” (Bergman) [F] 181, 255, 333 “Kaspernoveller” (Bergman short stories) [W] 11 Kaspers död (Bergman) [P, T] 12, 363 Katedralen [Le cathédral] (Baillod) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 389 Katt på hett plåttak [Cat on a Hot Tin Roof] (Williams) [P]/Bergman), [T] 428 “Kinematograf ” (Bergman) [W] 55 “Kinematografi” [script to Persona] (Bergman) [S] 132 “Kniv på en varböld” (Bergman) [W] 24, 202 (com) “Komedin om Jenny” (Bergman) [S] 40 “Kommentar till Serie Ö” (Bergman) [W] 154, 203 (com) “Konstnär, slugger, revoltör” [Int: Fogelbäck] 876 “Kris” (Fischer) [P]/(Bergman) [S, F] 34, 203 “Kriss-krass-filibom” (Ericson/Moberg/Bergman) [T] 386 Kronbruden [The Crown Bride] (Strindberg) [P]/ (Bergman), [T] 16, 415 “Kulturella arvet måste räddas” [Int: Skawonius) 922 “Kulturpolitik är ett djävla lappverk” [Int: SDS] 830 Kung Lear [King Lear] (Shakespeare) [P]/(Bergman), [T] 24, 465 “Kvinna utan ansikte” (Bergman) [S] 42, 205 “Kvinnodröm” (Bergman) [S, F] 88, 222 “Kvinnor behagar genom att hålla käften” [ Int: Sellermark) 833 “Kvinnors väntan” (Bergman) [S, F] 79, 218 “Kvindene vil beholde sit martyrium” [Int: Wolden] 818, 1222 “Kväll med Käbi” [Int: Laretei] 904 “Kvällskabaret” (Bergman) [T] 348 “Kvällsöppet” [Late night show] [Int: SVT] 844 “Källarteater är självbefläckelse” (Bergman) [press response] 533, 725 “Kära Allers Familjejournal” (Bergman) [W] 106 “Kära Eva och Harriet. Ingmar Bergman skriver brev till två filmflickor” (Bergman) [W] 95 “Kära skrämmande publik” (Bergman) [W] 112
1083
Title Index Kärlek utan älskare [Love without Lovers] (Bergman) [W] 199 Köpmannen i Venedig [The Merchant of Venice] (Shakespeare) [P]/Bergman) [T] 367 Larmar och gör sig till [In the Presence of a Clown] (Bergman) [P, TV] 195, 228 (com), 341, 602 (group item, p. 798) Laterna magica [The Magic Lantern] (Bergman) [W] 185 Lea och Rakel (Moberg) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 426 “Lek med sprängladdningar” [Int: Sellermark] 718 Lek och raseri. Ingmar Bergmans teater 1938-2002 (Sjögren). Includes dialogue comments by Ingmar Bergman 946 Leka med elden [Playing with Fire] (Strindberg [P]/ (Bergman), [R] 265, 299 “Leka med pärlor” (Bergman) [W] 76 “Lodolezzi sjunger” (Hjalmar Bergman) [P]/(I. Bergman) [R] 266 “Luisteren naar Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Wauters] 902 “Lustgården” (Bergman) [S] 116, 232 Lycko-Pers resa [Lucky Peer’s Journey] (Strindberg) [P]/(Bergman) ]T] 347 Lång dags färd mot natt [Long Day’s Journey into Night] (O’Neill) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 470 Macbeth, (Shakespeare) [P]/Bergman), [T, R] 355, 384, 401 “Magi” [Magic] (Chesterton) [P]/(Bergman), [T] 398 “(The) Making of Fanny and Alexander” [Int: Marker & Marker] 893 “Malou möter…” [Int: von Sievers] 940 “Man måste bli kär i Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Thorwall] 803 “Man måste älska – annars går det inte” [Int: Larsson] 900 “Mannen du gav mig” [The Country Girl] (Odets) [P]/(Bergman), [T] 412 Maria Stuart (Schiller) [P]/(Bergman), [T] 486 “Marie” (Bergman, unpubl. short story) [W] 35 “Markissininnan de Sade” [Sado Koshako fujin] (Mishima) [P]/(Bergman), [TV, T] 471 (The) Marriage Scenarios: Scenes from a Marriage, Face to Face, Autumn Sonata (Bergman) [S] 186 “Matheus Manders fjärde berättelse” (Bergman play draft) [P] 23 Medea (Anouilh) [P]/(Bergman), [R] 270, 409 “Medan staden sover” Fogelström; orig. text/Bergman; [S]/(Kjellgren; [F] 69, 213 Melodin som kom bort [Melodien der blev vekk] (Abell) [P]/Bergman), [T] 359 “Men när jag blir gammal skall jag bli Fårögubbe” [Int: Mehr) 843, 1272 (group item, p. 952)
Mig till skräck (Bergman), [P, T, R] 56, 280, 399 “Min idol: Ingmar Bergman” [Hellqvist, SR] 700 “Min mors dagböcker avslöjar vem hon var” (Bergman) [W] 146 “Min pianist” (Bergman) [W] 121 “Min själ angår ingen” [Int: Liliestierna] 715 “Mina äktenskap har lärt mig förstå kvinnan” [Int: von Essen] 806 “Mine danske engle” (Bergman; Sonning Prize acceptance speech) 187 Misantropen [Le Misanthrope] (Molière) [P]/(Bergman), [T] 16, 24, 431, 478 “Mit utrolige liv [Int: Ninka] 918 Moderskärlek [Mother Love] (Strindberg) [P]/(Bergman), [T] 267 “(Le) monde du silence” [Int: Billard] 753 Monolog. In Femte akten (Bergman) [S] 195 Moraliteter, (Bergman) [P, T] 56 “Mordet i Barjärna. Ett passionsspel av Ingmar Bergman” (Bergman) [P] 414 “Munken går på ängen” [Munken gaar i Enge] (Gandrup) [P]/(Bergman), [R] 286 “Musik i mörker” (Edqvist) [orig. text]/(Bergman) [S, F] 207 “München, diese unwahrscheinlichen Möglichkeiten” [Int: Gauweiler] 858 “My Three Most Effectively Powerful Commandments” See “Varje film är min sista film” “Måla på kyrkjevegg” [Trämålning] (Bergman) [P]/ (Andersen, dir.) [R] 298 Måsen [Tjajka/Cajka, The Seagull] (Chechov) [P]/ (Bergman), [T] 435 “Möte” (Bergman) [W, program note] 32, 508 “Möte med Kasper” (Bergman ) [W, program note] 13 “Möte med Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Ericsson] 729 “Möte med Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Nyreröd] 931 “Naima” (Bergman), [SR] 553 Nattens skuldbörda (Perrini) [P]/(Bergman) [R] 274 Nattvardsgästerna [Winter Light/The Communicants], (Bergman) [S, F] 118, 124, 233 “Ni vill till filmen” (Bergman) [W] 77 Niels Ebbesen (Munk) [P]/(Bergman), [T] 379 “Nora und Julie”; Szenen einer Ehe” [The Bergman Project] (Ibsen/Strindberg/Bergman), [P, T] 461, 484 (Nora) “Nu ger vi tusan i alltihop och gör nå’t roligt” [Int: Hamdi] 742 “Nu lockar mig bara det omöjliga” [Int: Skawonius 608 “Nu lämnar jag Sverige” (Bergman) [W, open letter] 163 “När Bergman går på bio” [Int: Aghed] 943
1084
Title Index “När Bergman tänder kommer brandkåren” [Int: Granqvist) 639 “När lägger du av, Ingmar?” [Int: Salander/Bergman pseudonym] 646, 928 “När värklighetens (sic!) gränser viker undan” [Int: Kalmar) 767 “Nära livet” (Isacsson) [W]/(Bergman) [F] 227 Oeuvres (Bergman) [S] 122 “Of Winners and Losers. A Conversation with Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Marker & Marker] 599, 886 “Om att filmatisera en pjäs” (Bergman) [W] 41 “Om en mördare” [About a murderer] (Bergman play draft; see Matteus Manders fjärde berättelse) 23 “Ontmoeting met Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Burnevich] 720 “Operan” (Bergman) [O, libretto draft] 14 “Ordets frihed er endnu ikke filmens frihed [Int: Buchwald] 728 Ormens ägg [Das Schlangenei, Serpent’s Egg] (Bergman) [S, F] 165, 249 “Ormskinnet” [The Snakeskin] 131 Oväder [Storm/Thunder in the Air], (Strindberg) [P]/ (Bergman) [R, TV] 309, 316 Peer Gynt (Ibsen) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 430, 473 Pelikanen [The Pelican], (Strindberg) [P]/(Bergman) [T, R] 311, 361, 392, 504 (program note) Persona, (Bergman) [F]; for script, see “Kinematografi”) 235 Persona and Shame (Bergman) [S, F] 147 “Perspektiv på 50-talet” (Bergman, SR program series) 595 (The) Petrified Prince (see Den förstenade prinsen) (Bergman) [S] 166 “Pirandello e’ ingen Paddock” [Int: Bergström] 521, 697 “Playboy Interview. A Candid Conversation with Sweden’s One-man New Wave of Cinematic Sorcery” 754 “Port of Call” (see “Hamnstad”) “Porto Shakespeare con me nel Natale de mia infanzia” (La Voce di Milano) 1579 Porträtt av en madonna [Portrait of a Madonna], (Williams) [P]/(Bergman) [R] 291 “Profil, Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Rasmussen] 749 “Propos” (Bergman) [W] 184, 1426 “Puzzlet föreställer Eros” (Bergman) [W, short story for the cinema] 42 “På förekommen anledning” (Bergman) [W, response to reaction to “Fängelse”] 62 “På parkett” (Interview/Talk show) 800 Påsk [Easter] (Strindberg) [P]/Bergman) [R] 277 4 [Quatro] Film di Ingmar Bergman [S) 117 (see 110)
“Rabies” (Hedberg) [W]/(Bergman) [T, R] 261, 315, 319, 391, 503 (program note) “Radioteater i 40 år. Ingmar Bergman intervjuas” [Int: Ollén, SR] 542 “Rakel och biografvaktmästaren. Teaterpjäs av Ingmar Bergman” (Bergman) [P, T, F] 43, 395, 406 (Zacharias dir.) Rannsakningen [Die Ermittlung, The Investigation] (Weiss) [P]/(Bergman) [T, R] 303, 443 ”Recueilli.” (Riffe/Bergman) [W] 128 “Reducera moralen” (Bergström) [P]/Bergman) [T] 388, 501 (program note) “Reflections on a Cinematic Legacy: Scenes from Ingmar Bergman’s Life and Work” [Int: Bertina/ van der Linden), 898, 1404 “Rencontre avec Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Béranger] 713 “Rencontre avec Ingmar Bergman: Si vous êtes un artiste – pas de cathédrales” [Int: Baby] 852 “Requiem” (Höijer [P]/(Bergman) [T, R] 260, 394 “Reservatet” [“The Sanctuary”, “The Lie] (Bergman [P]/Molander/Bridges/Segal, dir.), [TV] 142, 322, 323, 324 “Reskamraten” [The Travel Companion] (Bergman after H.C. Andersen story), [T] 15 “Ringaren i Notre Dame” [ The Hunchback of Notre Dame] (Bergman) [W] 2 Riten [The Ritual], (Bergman) [S, TV] 139, 240, 320 “Romantik” [Romanesque] (Rostand) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 358 “Rummet och tiden” [Die Zeit und das Zimmer] (Strauss) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 475 “Rädd att leva” (Bergman) [W, unpubl. film script] 16 “Rödluvan” [Little Red Riding Hood] (Grimm/ Bürkner) [W]/(Bergman), (T) 375 Sagan [The Legend] (Hj. Bergman) [P]/Hoogland/ Bergman) [R, (T] 294, 387, 432, 438 “Samtal med Bergman” [Int: Aghed] 781 “Samtal med Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Donner, SVT] 836 “Samtal mellan en ekonomichef och en teaterchef” (Bergman, fictitious dialogue) [W] 25 “Samtal om musik” [Int: Friedner] Saraband (Bergman) [S, TV] 201, 343 Scene di vita conjugale: L´immagine allo specchio; il posto delle fragole (Bergman) [S] 174 Scener ur ett äktenskap [Scenes from a Marriage] (Bergman) [S, TV, F] 150, 246, 325, 461, 482 (Giesing) “Schizofrenic interview with nervous film director” [Riffe, Bergman pseudonym) 140 (Sw), 778 (Eng) Seminarium om personinstruktion (Bergman; notes to an acting seminar) 129 (The) Serpent’s Egg see Ormens ägg
1085
Title Index (The) Seventh Seal (see “Det sjunde inseglet”) “Sex frågor till Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Bildjournalen] 96, 710 “Sex pjäser på två månader” [Int: sign. –ll] 494 Sex roller söker en författare [Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore] (Pirandello) [P]/(Bergman), [T] 417, 445 “Show” (Forssell) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 449 “Sista intervjun med Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Åhlund] 651, 930 “Sista paret ut” (Bergman) [S] 97, 224 Sista skriket. En lätt tintad moralitet [The Last Gasp] (Bergman) [S, TV] 193, 195, 338, 474 “Själva händelsen” (Bergman) [W, report of accident] 57 Skammen [Shame], (Beergman) [S, F] 136, 239 “Skepp till India land” (Söderhjelm) [P]/(Bergman) [F] 48, 206 “Skoltiden ett 12-årigt helvete” (Bergman) [W, press response] 27, 202 (com) “Skrapa på samhället och förnedringsritualen lyser igenom” [Int: Björkstén 789 “Skrämd och illamående bevittnar jag TV-jakten” (Bergman) [W, press response] 142 “Skymningslekar” (Kruuse/Bergman) [ballet] 421, 488 (Het) Slangeei, Het uur van de wolf, Een passie, Beroering, Schree uw zonder antwoord (Bergman) [S] 176 Slottet [Das Schloss] (Kafka & Brod) [W]/(Bergman) [T] 418 “Sluta upp med pratet om min demoni” [Int: Rying) 732 “Smultronstället” [Wild Strawberries], (Bergman) [S, F] 101, 226 “Snestorm rundt en syltestrikk” [Int: Hansen] 613, 908 “Sniggel-Snuggel. Sagospel i 9 bilder” (Topelius) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 373 “Sommar” (Höijer) [P]/(Bergman) [R] 262, 272 “Sommar” (Bergman) [music talk, SR, avail. on DVD) 201A “Sommaren med Monika” (Fogelström) [W]/Bergman) [S, F] 80, 219, 982 (group item) “Sommarlek” (Grevenius) [S] (Bergman) [S, F] 70, 216 “Sommarnattens leende” [Smiles of a Summer Night], (Bergman) [S, F] 91, 223 “Soppkitteln” [The Pot of Broth] (Yates) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 356 “(The) South Bank Show” [Int: Bragg, British TV] 857 “Spela pjäs. Tre lektioner av Ingmar Bergman” (Bergman, film lecture) 81 Spelhuset (Hj. Bergman) [P]/(I. Bergman) [T] 380
“Spårvagn till Lustgården” [A Streetcar Named Desire] (Williams) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 414 “Spänningen Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Sjöman] 527, 712 “Spöksonaten” (Bergman program note) 89, 523 Spöksonaten [The Ghost Sonata] (Strindberg) [P]/ (Bergman) [T] 16, 370, 419, 451, 485 Staden (Bergman) [P, R] 78, 271 “Startar eget bolag – och gör TV-film” [Int: Vinberg] 780 “Stationen” (Bergman, unpubl. play) 17 “Stimulantia/Daniel” (Bergman) [F] 237, 405 “(The) Story of a Bad Girl” (see Sommaren med Monika) “Strax innan man vaknar” (Vos) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 365 “Strindberg har alltid följt mig” [Press int: M.K.) 559 “Ström av medkänsla i Ibsens Vildanden” [Int: Ekström] 566 Svanevit [Swanwhite] (Strindberg) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 360 Svarta handsken [The Black Glove] (Strindberg) [P]/ [Bergman) [T] 354 ”Svensk film och teater: Ett samgående eller motsatsförhållande” (Bergman, unpubl. Lecture] 44 “Svenskarna pratar om kärnkraft i stället för om Gud” [Int: Ruth] 873 “Svenstedt och Korridoren” (Bergman) [press note] 144 “Sådan är han...” [Int: (Löthwall] 808 “Sån’t händer inte här” [High tension] (Bergman) [F] 214 Såsom i en spegel [Through a Glass Darkly], (Bergman) [S, F] 119, 231 “Såsom i en spegel” [Through a glass darkly], (program note) 120 Söndagsbarn. Tre akter för bio [Sunday’s Child], (Bergman) [S] 192, 196, 257 A Table of Apple Wood (Melville) [P]/(Bergman) [R] 254 “Talk with the Director” [Int: Fleisher] 721 “Talking about Theater. A Conversation with Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Marker & Marker] 887 “Talking about Tomorrow” [Int: Marker & Marker] 887 “Talking with Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Jones/ Wunch] 878, 882, 1368 Tartuffe (Molière) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 458 “Teaterfoajé” [Int: Hoogland/Ollén] (SR) 525, 707 “Teatern är ingen lyxvara” [Int: Jackson] 499, 686 “Teaterronden” [Björkstén/SR] 537 (group item, p. 784), 544, 576 “Teatraliskt i stan” (Bergman) [W] 2, 493
1086
Title Index Tehuset Augustimånen [Teahouse of the August Moon] (Patrick [P]/(Bergman) [T] 423 “Theater: Bergman Brings a Restive Hamlet to Brooklyn” [Int: Babski] 619 Till Damaskus [To Damascus] (Strindberg) [P]/ (Bergman) [T] 453 Till främmande hamn [Outward Bound] (Vane) [P]/ (Bergman) [T] 2, 344 “Till glädje” (Bergman) [S, F] 63, 212 “Tillbaka” [Return?] (Ges) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 358 Time 207 (rec), 233 (rec), 1054 “Timglaset” [The Hour Glass] (Yates) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 357 “Tivolit” (Bergman) [P, T] 4, 18, 366 Tjuvarnas bal [Le bal des voleurs] (Anouilh) [P]/ (Bergman) [T] 402 Tolvskillingsoperan [Dreigroschenoper, Threepenny Opera] (Brecht) [P]/(Bergman) [R] 269, 408 Torment” (see “Hets”) Tre dagböcker (Bergman/von Rosen) [W] 203, 1693 “Tre frågor” [Int: Henneus] 670 “Tre knivar från Wei” (Martinson) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 439 “Tre nattliga leenden” [Int: Sellermark] 223 (com), 706 3 filmmanuskripter (Bergman) [S] 157 (66) 3 för en. Den goda viljan, Söndagsbarn, Enskilda samtal (Bergman) [S] 197 “Tre tusenfotingfötter” (Bergman) [W] 49 Trettondagsafton [Twelfth Night] (Shakespeare) [P]/ (Bergman) [T] 454 “Trois textes pour Venice” (Bergman) [W] 130 Trollflöjten [The Magic Flute] (Mozart) [O]/(Bergman) [TV, F] 157, 247 “Trollkarlen. Intervju med Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Timm] 601, 896 Trolösa (Faithless) (Bergman) [S] 199, 259, 326 “Trumpetaren och Vår Herre” (Bergman, unpubl. film synopsis) 58 “Tråkigheter” (Bergman) [W] 537 (group item, p. 782) Trämålning [Wood Painting/Painting on Wood] (Bergman) [P, T, R TV] 90, 225 (com), 282, 317, 424, 425 (Ekerot, dir) Tunneln [The Tunnel] (Lagerkvist) [P]/(Bergman) [P, R] 290 Tygodnik Powszechny (Bergman) [S] 1246 Tystnaden [The Silence], (Bergman) [S, F] 123“ “Törst” (Tengroth) [W]/(Grevenius) [S]/(Bergman) [F] 64 “U 39”, (Värnlund) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 12, 378 “Un film pour vous divertir” (Bergman) 158 Untitled Program Notes (Bergman) 30 Untitled program note to The Seventh Seal (Bergman) 99
Ur marionetternas liv [Aus den Leben des Marionetten] (Bergman) [S, F] 177, 252 “Utan en tråd” Cabaret (Moberg/Bergman) 393 “Utför för Ingmar Bergman - säger Bergman” (Riffe) [W] 778, 1168 “Utländska intresset för mig en modesak – tar snart slut” [Foreign interest in me a fad – will soon end] (Int: Montàn) 738 “Utmaningen” [Int./Talk show, SVT] 827 “Vad skall du göra med resten av ditt liv, Ingmar? [Int: Frankl) 862 “Vad skulle mitt liv vara utan Strindberg?” [Int: Widegren] 616 “Vad tyr du dig till, Ingmar Bergman?” [Int: Strömstedt) 785 “Varför just Strindberg – Bergman?” [Int: Skawonius] 792 Vargtimmen [Hour of the Wolf] (Bergman), [S, F] 133, 211 (com), 238 “Varje film är min sista film” [Each Film is My Last] (Bergman) [W] 108 “Vaxdukshäftet” (Bergman) [W] 3 “Vem är du idag, Ingmar Bergman? [Int: Frankl] 877 Vem är jag eller när Fan ger ett anbud (Soya [P]/ Bergman [T] 364, 383 Vem är rädd för Virginia Woolf? [Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf] (Albee) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 437 “Venetianskan” (Anon./Bergman) [P, R] 314 “Vi galna hundar” [ Int: Rying] 757 “Vi lät oss köpas – nu får vi betala” [Int: Nilsson] 602 (group item, p. 798), 914 “Vi måste ge Macbeth” (Bergman, press response) 29 “Vi ser på filmen. Slutkyssen och verkligheten” (Bergman, SR discussion) 65, 693 “Vi är cirkus!” (Bergman) [W] 87 Vildanden [The Wild Duck] (Ibsen) [P]/(Bergman), [T, (R] 306, 450 “Vilgot Sjöman intervjuar Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Sjöman] 751 Vintersagan [The Winter’s Tale] (Shakespeare) [P]/ (Bergman) [T] 24, 477 “Visit with Ingmar Bergman” (Int: Alvarez) 835 Viskningar och rop [Cries and Whispers], (Bergman), [S, F] 245 “Vom Leben der Regenschlangen” (see Från regnormarnas tid) (Enquist) [P]/(Bergman) [T] 463 “Vom ‘Traumspiel’ zum ‘Schweigen’: Ein Gespräch über August Strindberg und Ingmar Bergman” [Int: Schuh] 539, 989 (group item, Strindberg) ”Vous voulez être comédien?” (Bergman) [W] 77, 197 Vox humana, [La voix humaine] (Cocteau) [P]/ (Bergman), [R] 288 Vågorna (Sandgren) [W]/(Bergman), [R] 264
1087
Title Index “Vår generation tänker med ögonen” [Int: Müllern] 716 Vår lilla stad [Our Town] (Bergman), [W] 2 Värmlänningarna (Dahlgren) [P]/(Bergman), [T] 273
“Why Ingmar Bergman will Stop Making Films” (Int: Marker & Marker) 886 Wilde Erdbeeren und andere Filmerzählungen (Bergman) [S] 167 “Words and Whisperings” (Int: Steene) 814 Woyzeck, (Büchner) [P]/(Bergman) [T, R] 305, 446
“Was uns fehlt ist die Erziehung zur Liebe” [Int: Blum] 868, 1272 (group item, p. 952) “What is Filmmaking?” See “Det att göra film” “When Do You Quit, Ingmar?” [Int: Salander (Bergman pseudonym)] 646, 928
Yvonne, Prinzess von Bourgogne [Iwona, ksiezniczka Burgunda] (Gombrowicz) [P]/(Bergman), [T] 460, 479 “Är du ett geni, Ingmar?” [Int: Henttonen] 782
Section II Titles of articles and reviews pertaining solely to a specific Bergman film or theatre production are not listed here but can be located in entries in chapters IV, V, and VI after the Commentary and Reception summaries. “A Brace of Bergman” (Holland) 1022 “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place: Ingmar Bergman’s Dollhouse” (Murphy) 1594 “A Day in Bergmanstrasse” (Time) 1272 (group item, p. 953) “A Decade of Swedish Films” (Wortzelius) 963 “A Doll’s House and David Selznick” 957 (group item) A Dreamplay (Strindberg; tr. Meyer) 156 “A Failure of Transformation: The Feminine Archetype in Bergman’s Cries and Whispers” (McManus) 975 (group item) “A Foothold in the Theater” (Gado) 612 “A Great Man who Humiliates Women” (Davidson) 975 (group item) “A kérdezö ember” (Györffy) 1250 “À l’endroit du spectateur: Sur le style cinématographique de Bergman” (Chion) 1480 “A Life History. Isak Borg in Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries” (Erikson) 1281 “A Life in the Theater. Intertextuality in Ingmar Bergman’s Efter repetitionen” (Törnqvist) 1677 “A Mediation on Theatre and Love” (Hunter) 1362 “À propos de Bergman. Les fans et la critique” (Gauteur) 1088 “À propos de la rétrospèctive scandinave de la cinématèque française” (Kyrou) 982 (group item) “A Successor to Strindberg: Alienation in Ingmar Bergman” (Abraham) 989 (group item, Strindberg) “A Tight Close-up on Ingmar Bergman” (Blake) 1304
“A World of Film” (Kaufmann) 1011 (group item) “Aber was reflektieren die Scherben? E.T.A. Hoffmann and Ingmar Bergman” (Schadwill] 988 (group item, Hoffmann) 1491 “About Ingmar Bergman: Some Critical Responses to his Films” (Steene) 1259 “(The) Achievement of Ingmar Bergman” (Scott) 1128 “(The) Acting Theories of Ingmar Bergman through the TV Medium in a Production of Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit” (Gitlitz), 546 “Actualité de l’expressionisme” (Leutrat) 1076 “(L’) adolescent dans le cinéma suèdois” (Allombert) 1015 “Al di la della finzione. Alle origini dell’estetica di Bergman” (Koskinen) 1521 “(The) Allegorical Device of the Character Double in the Films of Ingmar Bergman” (Luke) 1607 Allers Familjejournal 225 (com), 234 (com) “Also gibt es keinen Ausweg” (Krusche) 1048 Amante cine 1582 “Amatörteaterkrönika” (Ollén) 515 Ambiguita de sacro e profano in Ingmar Bergman (Baldelli) 1012, 1107 “(The) Ambivalence of Survival in Ingmar Bergman and Simone de Beauvoir: A Perspective on Dying and Death” (Emelsen), 1337 American Cinematographer 805, 1069, 1213, 1626 Amis du film et de la télévision/Apec cinéma 1261 “Anais Nin’s House of Incest and Ingmar Bergman’s Persona: Two Variations of a Theme” (Scholar) 1345
1088
Title Index “An Analysis of Fear in Selected Films: Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, and Steven Spielberg” MA thesis, (Erickson) 1338 “An Analysis of Relational Ethics in Three Films of Ingmar Bergman” Diss. (Johnson) 1235 “An Aspect of Bergman” (Stanbrook) 996 (group item), 1030 “An Inquiry into Bergman’s Utilization of Belief and Artistry in Portraying Good and Evil in the Film Persona”, MA thesis (Gosioco) 1285 “Another Bergman Gains Renown” (Wiskari) 1011 (group item), 1032 “Anti-Theodicy and Human Love in the Films of Ingmar Bergman”, Diss. (Brown) 1277 Antonioni, Bergman, Resnais (Cowie) 1041 “Après ‘Riten’, retour sur Bergman” (Jeancolas) 982 (group item), 1234 “Archetypal Metaphors in the Works of Bergman and Buñuel” (Graef) 1460 “Archetypal Patterns in Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman” (Steene) 1129 “(L’)archetype Lola: réalisme et métaphore” (Serceau) 975 (group item), 1413 “Art as Inspiration” (Sundler) 663 (On Bergman’s Bachae and art) “Artist as Lover” (Darnton) 1548 “As Normal as Smörgåsbord” (Marowitz) 1237 “Att komma nära. Om Ingmar Bergmans närbilder” (Zern) 662 “Att stiga – att med värdighet falla” (Ågren) 1083 “Att sätta-i-scen. Teatern som metafor och tilltal i olika verk av Ingmar Bergman” (Koskinen) 653 “Auf der Insel der Kunst” (Ignée) 1452 (group item, p. 984) “Auf der Suche: Leute in Ingmar Bergmans Filmen der fünfziger und der sechziger Jahre”, diss. (Berger) 1518 “August Strindberg, Modernism and the Swedish Cinema” (Steene) 1662 “August StrindBERGman” (Törnqvist) 989 (group item, Strindberg) Aura. Filmvetenskaplig tidskrift 67, 1628 “Aus Norden dreht man gute Filme” (Ulrich) 994 “Aussen ruhig, innern Vulkan” (Thomas) 592 “Autobiografia e storie di coppie nei primi film di Bergman” (Cowie) 1521 “Autumn Interiors, or the Ladies Eve: Woody Allen’s Ingmar Bergman Complex” (Cardullo) 1667 Avant-scène du cinéma 223, 225 (com), 234, 236, 241, 244, 245, 247, 568, 1105, 1224 “Avgående teaterchef får idealistkt arbete” (n.a.) 689 “Avsidesrepliker. Teaterkritik 1961-1965” (Wahlund) 543 “Az elvont ées az érzékletes a film swinvilagaban” (Mészöly) 1239
“Bakom kulisserna. Ett drama i tre akter” (Andersson) 602 (group item, p. 799) “Bakvänd predikan”(Bolin) 997 (group item) “Barn för evigt” (Werkelid) 1452 (group item, p. 985) “Barnet som Bergmans persona [The child as Bergman’s persona] (Steene) 1452 (group item, p. 983) “Bergman” (Fellini) 1443 Bergman (Monaco) 1256 Bergman (Rajat) 1531 “Bergman” (Stafford), poem 1297 “Bergman” (Taylor) 996 (group item) “Bergman, Ernst Ingmar” (Steene) 1367, 1501 “Bergman I og Bergman II: Kunst contra virkelighed” (Drouzy) 1153 “Bergman a symboli” (Blaszczyna) 1479 “Bergman a través de sus ultimos films” (Perucha) 1204 “Bergman and the Actors” (Marker & Marker: int. with Bibi Anderson, Erland Josephson, Max v. Sydow) 630 “Bergman and the Comic Theater of Molière: German Years” (Marker) 988 (group item, Molière) “Bergman and the Existentialists: A Study in Subjectivity?” diss., (Wimberley) 988 (group item, Kierkegaard), 997 (group item, Kierkegaard), 1348 “Bergman and Fellini: Explorers of the Modern Spirit” (Duprey) 1058 “Bergman and the Necessary Illusion” (Michaels) 1660 “Bergman and Strindberg” (Fletcher) 989 (group item, Strindberg) “Bergman and the Comic Theatre of Molière: German Years” (Marker & Marker) 605 “Bergman and the Whigs” (Newman) 996 (group item) “Bergman and Women: Cries and Whispers.” (Mellen) 245 (Studies), 975 (group item) “Bergman anonyme” (Comolli) 1110 “Bergman après Bergman” (Aghed) 1516 “Bergman, as Stage Director, never Stops Digging” (Schwartz) 671 “Bergman as Writer” (Alpert) 726, 988 (group item), 1037 “Bergman – bei uns hat er kein Glück” (SchmidtMühlich) 585 “Bergman, Bergman & Bergman” (Timm, SR) 1625 (group item, p. 1015) “Bergman, biografen, skyggerne” (Madsen) 1487 “Bergman by Two” (Sprinchorn) 1080 “Bergman bygger filmstad på Fårö” (Hellbom) 1214 “Bergman, Börtz och Backanterna” (Reuterswärd, SVT) 641 “Bergman – Cold and Wary” (Beauman) 795 “Bergman de l’autre côté du miroir” (Prédal) 1167
1089
Title Index “Bergman drammaturgo e regista teatrale negli anni Quaranta” (Fridén) 1521 “Bergman Drops out of US Tour” (Pollock) 1364 “Bergman dundrar mot (s)” (SvD) 602 (group item, p. 798) “Bergman e il cinema svedese del dopoguerra” (Steene) 1521 “Bergman e l’abolizione dell’Inferno” (Renzi) 1012 (group item), 1096 “Bergman e sus criticos” (Escudero) 1034 “Bergman et la littérature suèdoise” (Durand) 988 (group item) Bergman & Shakespeare (Ritzu) 661, 989 (group item, Shakespeare) “Bergman fra cinema, teatro e tv” (Manciotti) 1436 “Bergman förnekar löfte om Cannes-resa“ (Aghed) 1614 (group item) “Bergman - gränslandets filmare” (Timm) 1576 “Bergman hielt in München Hof” (Dyckhoff) 1272 (group item, p. 952) “Bergman i Malmö” (Sjögren) 655, 1613 “Bergman: Image and Meaning” (Niemeyer) 997 (group item) “Bergman in Exile” (Weintraub) 1272 (group item, p. 953) “Bergman in the Theater” (Loney) 541 “Bergman, Kurosawa und Lear” (Cueno) 611 “Bergman, le solitaire” (Saunier) 982 (group item), 1609 “(The) Bergman Legend” 1011 (group item, Croce), 1042 Bergman no cerco (Santos) 1097 “Bergman o teatro e as mulheres” (Vasques) 634 “Bergman och Bergman” (Forslund) 989 (group item, Hj. Bergman) “Bergman och SF – ett evigt kärlekshat” (Vinberg) 786, 1184 Bergman och Strindberg: Spöksonaten – drama och iscensättning (Törnqvist) 570 “Bergman og filmkritikken” (Kwakernaak) 1033 “Bergman og skuespillerne” (Lundgren) 970 (group item), 1325 “Bergman on Hollywood Pilgrimage” (Champlin) 1264 “Bergman ou la poésie de l’incertitude” (Chauvet) 1122 “Bergman psykade min far” (Björnstrand) 1685 “Bergman, regizorul” (Rusan) 1240 “Bergman – rito e passione” (d’Arecco) 1194 “Bergman som Guds spegel” (Olsson) 231 (rec) “Bergman souverain” (Leclerc) 1425 “Bergman: The Director who Films his Own Soul” (Hervé) 1112 “Bergman: The Politics of Melodrama. How Bourgeois is Bourgeois Cinema?” (LeFanu) 1255 “Bergman Touch: Sick and Sexy” (Rounds) 1296
“Bergman: un cinéma du voyeur” (Marcabru) 1117 “Bergman vs Ekman. En uppgörelse mellan saga och helvete” (Axelson) 1583 “Bergman – årets man i Japan” (Hedberg) 1073 “Bergman är en bra utlänning” (Schottenius) 847, 1272 (group item, p. 952) “Bergmann (sic!) will keine Revolverschüsse” (Salzer) 977 “Bergmans ansikte” (Chaplin ‘anti-Bergman’ issue) 1033 (group item) “Bergman’s Bag of Tricks” (Roemer) 1079 “Bergmans blandning och Hasses special” (Forslund) 1382 “Bergman’s Baroque Dream” (Trilling) 565 “Bergmans dibbuk” (Rokkem) 989 (group item, Shakespeare), 1490 “Bergman’s Endings: Glimmers of Hope” (Ingemansson) 1383 “Bergmans filmberättelse – en saga lik Berlings” (Linnér) 989 (group item, Lagerlöf) “Bergmans Guds-komplex” (Thomsen) 1130 “Bergman’s Humanist Magic Flute and Losey’s Socialist Don Giovanni” (Childkret/Johnson) 1463 “Bergmans knähundar” (Grive) 1444 “Bergman’s Landscape” (Ross) 1066 “Bergman’s Magic Lantern Living in its own Meaning” (Gianvito) 1483 “Bergmans metafysiska frågetecken (Gyllström) 1089 “Bergman’s Movement towards Nihilism” (Steene) 231 (spec. stud), 1269 Bergman’s Muses. Æsthetic Versatility in Film, Theatre, Television and Radio (Törnqvist) 682, 1690 “Bergmans mödrar” (Boström) 975 (group item) “Bergman’s Persona” (Sontag) 1660 “Bergman’s Persona: An Essay in Tragedy” (Boyers) 1150 “Bergman’s Persona and the Artistic Dilemma of the Modern Narrative” (Jones) 989 (group item, Beckett), 1310 “Bergman’s Persona: The Metaphysics of Meta-Cinema” (Vierling) 1260 “Bergman’s Persona through a Native Mindscape” (Steene) 1660 “Bergman’s Philosophic Film and its Construction Problems” (Pondeliçek) 1147 “Bergman’s Portrayl of Women: Sexism or Suggestive Metaphor” (Steene) 975 (group item) “Bergman’s Shame: a Dream of Punishment” (Maxfield) 1411 “Bergman’s The Silence and the Primal Scene” (Sitney) 1532 “Bergman’s Style and the Facial Icon” (Borden) 1305 “Bergman’s Trilogy: Tradition and Innovation” (Oliver) 635
1090
Title Index “Besatt viking eller uppskattad konstnär: Strindberg och Bergman i USA” (Steene) 989 (group item, Strindberg), 1595 “Bergmans vision” (Ekström/Jönsson/Nykvist) 1086 “Bergmanfallet eller sommarnattens falska leende” (Hjertén) 223 (rec) Bergmanfilm – en arbejdsbog (Pedersen) 1293 “Bergmanorama” (Godard) 982 (group item), 1002 “Bergmanscopie” (Ecran) 1225 Between Stage and Screen. Ingmar Bergman Directs (Törnqvist) 649, 989 (group item, Shakespeare), 1597 “Beyond the Day’s Light: A Study of the Archetypal Feminine and Its Personification In Ingmar Bergman’s Filmic World” (Cinque, diss.) 975 (group item), 1406 “Bibliography on Dream and Film” (Casebier) 1353 “Bilderna i ordet “ (Enquist) 662 Biografbladet 67, 204 (rec), 206 (rec), 209 (com), 210 (rec), 952 (Wortzelius) “Birgit Tengroth svek men plötsligt stod Ingmar Bergman där med sina gycklare” (Waldekranz) 220 (com) Birgman: zan, ma-zhab nasl- i ayandah [Bergman: Women, religion, future generation] (Adiri) 1615 “(The) Birth of Evil: Genesis According to Bergman” (Larson) 249 (longer stud) “Blooded with Optimism” (Winterson) 1514 “Bonjour mystère Bergman” (Seymour) 1208 Bokmärken (Bergström) 1629 “Bortstött, avskuren, utplånad” (Sjöman) 1471 “Brev till Ingmar Bergman” (Schildt) 1007 “Brist i Dramatenkassan trots succén Kung Lear.” (Svanberg) 602 (group item, p. 798) Cahiers du cinéma 206 (rec), 208, 219 (foreign rec), 1142 “Cannes 1957” (Truffaut) 995 “Carl Anders Dymling” (Höök) 1062 Castoro cinema (Trasatti) 1558 “Celluloide Cell of Ingmar Bergman, The” (Hopkins) 1004 “Celtic Spring, Swedish Summer” (Kael) 1011 (group item) Celluloide (1959) 1020, 1354 Centrofilmo: Quaderna dell’Instituto del cinema (Turin) 1084 “(The) Chamber Plays and the Trilogy: A Revaluation of the Case of Strindberg and Bergman”(Johns Blackwell) 989 (group item, Strindberg) Changing [Forændringen] (Ullmann) 1299 Chaplin 922, 1393, 1452, 1540 “Checkfate!: The Reception of Ingmar Bergman in America, from the late 50s til the end of the 1960s” (Muller, BA thesis) 1555
“Chesterton’s Magic and Bergman’s Magician: Variations of a Theme” (Purcell) 988 (group item, Chesterton), 1427 “Children of the Paradise” (Murphy) 1500 “Chimären des Daseins” (Wach) 1625 (group item), 1634 Ciclo Ingmar Bergman (Navarro, ed.) 1488 Cine Montage 1211 Cine Universitario 1034 (group item) Cineforum 216, 236, 239, 1143 Cinéma 182 Cinéma 59 1018 Cinema borealis: Ingmar Bergman and the Swedish Ethos (Young) 1210 Cinéma et la crise de nôtre temps, Le (Leirens) 982 (groups item) “Cinema e teatro nell’opera di Bergman” (Chicco) 545, 1151 Cinema Novo (Portuguese) 1405 Cinema Nuovo 234, 889 “(The) Cinematic Fantastic” (Johansen) 1589 “Ciné-romans: le livre du film” (Viswanathan) 1666 “Color and Myth in Cries and Whispers.” (Adams) 245 (Studies), 1492 “Connaissance de la voie” (Cohn) 988 (group item, Kierkegaard), 1187 “(The) Cracked Lens: The Crisis of the Artist in Bergman’s Films of the Sixties”, Diss. (Teghrarian) 1298 “(The ) Creative Life of Ingmar Bergman” (Ariyadasa) 1175 “Cries and Whispers: The Complete Bergman, “ (Rice) 245 (Studies) “(La) crisi del maschio in Bergman e Ferreri” (d’Elia) 1336 “(La) crisi spirituali dell’ uomo moderno neil film di Ingmar Bergman” (Maisetti) 1116 “(La) critica italiana alla scoperta di Bergman” (Trasatti) 1012 (group item), 1521 “Cross-dressing and Subjectivity in the Films of Ingmar Bergman” (Blackwell) 1671 “Ctyrikat dva Kapitola III: Bergman-Ullmanova” (Pradna) 1573 Cuadernas de Cine Club Mercedes 974 (group item) Cuaderno cinematografico del Uruguay 1248 “Cultivating Bergman’s Strawberry Patch: The Emergence of a Cinematic Idea” (Donohoe) 1321 “Cuvintele lui Bergman” (Rado) 1295 “Cynic with Illusions – the Warring Worlds of Ingmar Bergman” (Tallmer) 1068 Dagen efter (Grevenius) 518 “Dal Settimo sigillo alle Soglie della vita” (Napolitano) 1012 (group item) “Dalla sfida alla morte il dialogo tra maschera e Anima” (Finetti) 1283
1091
Title Index Damn you England (Osborne) 1572 “Das Bild der Frau im modernen Film” (n.a.) 975 (group item) “Das eigene Leben ist ein Steinbruch” (Jansen) 1625 (group item, p. 1015) “Das Geheime Drehbuch” (Schultz-Ojala) 1614 (group item) “Das Phänomen Ingmar Bergman” (Soyer) 1067 “Das Schweigen der Kirchenglocken. Gedanken zu den späten Filmen von Ingmar Bergman” (Dannowski), 1431 Das Schweigen und sein Publikum (Theunissen) 234 “Das verfilmte Prinzip Hoffnung” (Jeremias) 1324 “De beelden van Ingmar Bergman” (de Visscher) 1537 “De muziek en het orkest bij Fellini en Bergman” (de Visscher) 1388 “De rumoerige Stilte” (Bresser) 1545 “De wereld als gekkenhuis: Ingmar Bergman regisseert Konig Lear “ (Törnqvist) 610 “(The) Demon Lover” (Lahr) 1658 “Den abstrakta filmen” (Forssell) 988 (group item) “Den gode arbejdsleder” (Sjögren) 567 “Den gymnasiale Ingmar Bergman” (Björkman) 959 “Den knuste maske – et motiv hos Ingmar Bergman” (Jensen) 1215 Den mörka segergudinnan (Siwertz) 989 (group item) “Den stora sommarteatern” (Beyer) 495 “Den svenska teaterns Kasper” (Wåhlstedt) 506 Den svåra stunden [The Difficult Moment] (Lagerkvist) “Den svängande lampan” (Koskinen) 1540 (group item) “Den sönderslitande vertikaliteten: Fallrörelsen som motiv i Ingmar Bergmans postreligiösa landskap” (Aquilon), 1626 “Den unge Ingmar Bergman” (Wickbom) 1651 “Den unge Mefisto och viljan till makt” (Stangerup) 1533 “(The) Depths of Our Souls: The Films of Ingmar Bergman” (Pomeroy) 997 (group item) “Der Chronist der Angst” (Pflaum) 1452 (group item, p. 984) “Der Fall Bergman” (Salzer) 1272 (group item, p. 951) Der frühe Bergman (Lange-Fuchs, ed.) 206 (See also), 1326 “Der grosse Grübler aus dem Norden” (Strunz) 1452 (group item, p. 985) “Der klassische Moderne” (Jansen) 1539 (group item, p. 999) “Der Magier aus Djursholm” (Hör Zu) 1131 Der Spiegel 492, 551, 1053, 1272 (group item, p. 951)
Der Theaterregisseur Ingmar Bergman: dargestellt an seiner Inszenierung von Strindbergs ‘Traumspiel, diss. (Müller), 587 “(Der) ‘zornige junge Mann’ des schwedischen Films” (Runeby) 1006 “Det förtätade livet. Teaterkritik 1980-1990” (Björkstén) 645 “Det måste finnas en förtröstan” (Donner) 1229 “Det mänskliga ansiktet” [The human face] (Simon) 1452 (group item, p. 983) “Det oåtkomliga” [The inaccessible] (Björkman) 1452 (group item, p. 983) “Det svenska geniet” (Öhngren) 759 “Det typiskt svenska hos Ingmar Bergman” (Koskinen) 1410 “Det är viktigt att beskriva vad skådespelaren gör” (Narti) 970 (group item) “Devils in the Cathedral: Bergman’s Trilogy” (Alexander) 1244 “(The) Dialectics of Dreams and Theater in the Films of Ingmar Bergman” (Kinder) 1464 Dialogues and a Diary (Stravinski/Craft) 1101 Dibatti di film: Fellini, Bergman, Antonioni, Buñuel, Pasolini, Kazan, Visconti, Bresson (Covi) 1198 “Die Fernseharbeit lockt” (Thieringer) 609 “Die Seele im Bauch” (Rivette) 216 “Die späten Filme Ingmar Bergmans” (Dannowski) 997 (group item) “Die Trilogie der Anfechtung” (Schlappner) 1098 “Die Zauberflöte verfilmd door Ingmar Bergman.” (Plus, unpubl. thesis) 247 (longer stud) “Dionysus på Fårö” [Dianysos at Fårö] (Schottenius) 654 “(The) Director as Writer” (Vinge) 1578 Dirigido por 1279 “Discovering the Swedish Theatre” (Wysinska) 575 “Disseits von Gott und Tod” (Gerle) 997 (group item), 1634 Djävulens ansikte [The Devil’s Face/The Personal Vision of Ingmar Bergman] (Donner) 1071 “Docteur Bergman et Monsieur Hyde” (Benayon) 982 (group item) “Domptörer i ljuskretsen” (Sterner) 1540 (group item, p. 999) “(La) donna nell’universo di Bergman” (Burnevich) 975 (group item) “(La) donna e il sentimento dell’ angoscia in Bergman, Antonioni e Dreyer” (Prigione) 1012 (group item), 1138 Dramat 646, 662, 1580, 1625 (group item) (La)Dramma. Teatro, letteratura, cinema, musica, radio TV 562, 1199 “Dream and Reality in Strindberg’s ‘A Dreamplay’ and Bergman’s ‘Smultronstället” (Blackwell) 989 (group item, Strindberg) “Dreaming with Bergman” (Maxfield) 1468
1092
Title Index “Drugite za Bergman” (Kino izkutsvo) 1482 “Du moi crucifié au moi ressuscité. La Passion d’Ingmar Bergman” (Farago) 1307 “Därför skall diktaren inte ha någon grav” (Zern) 675, 989 (group item, Strindberg) “Dömda till frihet. Noteringar kring Bergmans första filmer” (Qvist) 1452 (group item, p. 984) “Dønninger efter en Bergman-bølge” (Dessau) 569 Ecran 1225 “(The) Effect of Aging on Dramatic Realization of Old Age: The Example of Ingmar Bergman” (Cohen), 1522 “Ein Bergmanporträtt” (Delling) 1135 “Ein Cineastenproblem? Anmerkungen zum Mythos Ingmar Bergman” (Ladiges) 1092 “Ein Magier, der uns den Atem verschlägt” (Borngässer) 1319 “Eine lange Zeit für den Irrsinn” (Göttler) 1625 (group item, p. 1015) “El canto del cisne del artista Bergman” (Martinez) 1343 En bok om film (Beyer) 952 (group item) “En diktare” (Strömstedt) 1102 “En konstnärlig följeslagare” [tr. as “The Significance of Ingmar Bergman” ] (Donner) 1452 (group item, p. 983) En torno a Ingmar Bergman (Laurenti) 1289 “En värld av befriade känslor” (Björkman) 1318 “Energisk amatörteater i Gamla stan” (n.a.) 493, 684 “England vill ha filmmanus av Ingmar Bergman” (press report) 951 Entr’acte 1087 “Eros und Mythos” (Waldekranz) 1010 “(L’)Esperanza letteraria ‘nazionale’ in Sjöberg et Bergman” (Oldrini) 989 (group item, Strindberg) “(The ) Essence of Ibsen” (Marker) 988 (group item, Ibsen) Estetosemiotica y pragmatica filmicas: un analisis textual en Bergman (Gomez) 1371 “Et og andet om en passionered svensker – et skilletrykk om Bergman” (Nørrested) 1202 “Ett liv kring naturkraften Strindberg” (Ekman, SR) 669, 989 (group item, Strindberg) “Ett rop om hjälp som Sovjet ströp” (Haas) 1200 “Ett subversivt filmspråk. Ingmar Bergman i ett filmfeministiskt perspektiv” (Steene) 975 (group item), 1557 Ett ögonblick (Andersson) 1600 “Etude: Bergman” (Doneux) 1249 Etudes cinématographiques 253 “Eva – en Ingmar Bergmansk vändpunkt” (Wortzelius) 209 (com)
“Everything and Nothing: The Myth of Personal Identity in Jorge Borges and Ingmar Bergman’s Persona” (Bennett) 989 (group item, Borges) “Everything Represents, Nothing Is: Some Relations between Ingmar Bergman’s Films and Theatre Productions” (Koskinen) 1619 “Ewiges Wunderkind” (Geisler) 1046 “Fanny and Alexander and Strindberg and Ibsen and…” (Sprinchorn) 989 (group item, Strindberg), 1643 “Fanny og Alexander og alle andre i Bergmans univers” (Jensen) 1399 “Faust kan inte lida” (Sjöman) 530 “Fellini, Bergman, Truffaut” (Pasolini) 1530 “Feminist Theory and the Performance of Lesbian Desire in Persona” (Foster) 975 (group item), 1660 “(La) femme dans l’univers bergmanien”, diss. (Thi Nhu Quynh Ho) 975 (group item) “Fenomenet Ingmar Bergman” (Stolpe) 1031 “Fiery Bergman comes to town” (Wilson) 1025 “Figure e trame nel cinema del giovane Bergman” (Marty) 1521 Film. A Modern Art (Sultanik) 1438 “Film a sen” (Bonda) 1630 Film a sogetto 234, 235, 236, 239 Film and Dreams: An Approach to Ingmar Bergman (Petric, ed) 1378 “Film as Poetry” (Kelman) 1091 Film Comment 34, 1188, 1282 Film Dope 1228 “Film Forum: The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni” (Childkret) 1463 Film Ideal (1964) 1034 (group item) Film in Sweden 241 “Film is a Mistress” (Life) 1035 Film och bio 1155 “Film och symbolik” (Persson) 1078 “Film som religiöst språk. Hedenius och Bergman i livsåskådningsdebatten” (Bergom-Larsson) 997 (group item), 1519 Film: The Creative Process (Lawson) 1115 Filmartikelen en essays 1966-1990 (de Vries) 1503 Filmcritica 1231 “Filmdebatt i Lund. Förfall eller förnyelse” (Goland, SR) 993 Filmdienst 1634 Filmdiktaren Ingmar Bergman (Törnqvist) 1559 Filmen 100 år i Sverige (Furhammar) 1605 Filmfacts 241 Filmhäftet 1452 (group item, p. 984) “Filmic Dream and Point of View” (Eberwein) 1357 “(The) Filmic Tradition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Shelburne) 1574 Filmklub-Cinéclub 1045
1093
Title Index “Filmmaking in Sweden” (American Cinematographer) 1213 Filmnyheter 87, 202, 210 (rec), 211 (com), 212 (com), 218 (rec), 219 (com), 223 (com) Filmologia de Bergman: Dios, la vida y la muerte (Wasserman) 997 (group item), 1475 Filmoteca (1972-73) 1034 (group item) “Films out of Books: Bergman, Visconti and Mann” (Glassco) 988 (group item, Mann), 1398 Finrummet och lekstugan. Kultur- och underhållningsprogram i svensk radio och TV (Nordmark) 1660 “Fire rekindled: Strindberg and Bergman” (Steene) 989 (group item, Strindberg), 1643 Flashback 1: Ingmar Bergman (Cozarinsky/Vaccaro) 974 (group item) “Fnask, hyndor, vrak, fasor och ett par sköna stilla bilder” (Tegnér) 956 Focus on the Seventh Seal (Steene, ed.) 1220 “For Valor: The Career of Ingmar Bergman” (Lawson) 1435 Foreign Correspondent (Hitchcock) 204 (synopsis) “Fotogramas de palco com o peso de Bergman” (Vacondeus) 1513 “Four Images in Ingmar Bergman: Representation as Liminality and Transgression” (Ohlin) 1571 “Fra Sommarnattens leende til Viskninger och rop” (Evabell) 1230 “Framing the Underworld: Threshold Imagery in Murnau, Cocteau and Bergman” (Smith) 1610 “Frihed og tryghed hos Bergman” (Kwakernaak) 1254 From Reverence to Rape (Haskell) 975 (group item) “From The Life of the Marionettes to The Devil’s Wanton: Bergman’s Creative Transformation of a Recurrent Nightmare” (Kinder) 1373 “Frühe Bergmanfilme in Arsenal” (Nau) 1291 “Från avstånd till närhet” (Zern) 652, 658 “Från Gösta Ekman till Ingmar Bergman” (Beyer) 528 “Från Körkarl till Kejsare” (n.a.) 950 “Från manus till film. – Ingmar Bergmans Nattvardsgästerna” (Törnqvist) 997 (group item), 1691 “Från raseri till frusen förtvivlan” (Sundgren) 1172 “Från Sleeman till livsförsoning” (Qvist) 667, 1625 (group item, p. 1015) “Från subjektiv vision till tidsdokument och arketyp; Ingmar Bergmans Det sjunde inseglet i mentalitetshistorisk belysning” (Steene) 1673 “Från Woyzeck – Till Damaskus” (Skoogh) 573 “Fyra dygn på Fårö” (Löthwall) 1155 Fårö. La Cinecitta di Ingmar Bergman (Garzia, ed.) 1679
För Alice [Tiny Alice] (Albee) [P]/(Bergman) [T, R] 302 “För släkt och vänner. Om Ingmar Bergman (Kael) 1423 “Förnedringsmotivet i femtiotalsfilmen” (Holmer) 220 (longer art) “Försvar för Ingmar Bergman” (Forssell/Malmberg) 698 Gaukler im Grenzland. Ingmar Bergman (Åhlander, ed) 1562 “Geisterbeschwörer und Bildzauberer” (Che) 1452 (group item, p. 984) Gender and Representation in the Films of Ingmar Bergman (Blackwell) 975 (group item) “Genierna möts på Dramaten” (Malaise) 666 “Gericht über Ingmar Bergman” (Dallmann) 1033 (group item) “Gesicht und Maske” (Seesslen) 1625 (group item, p. 1015) “Gewalt und Leidenschaft. Ein Porträtt der Schauspielerin Ingrid Thulin” (Helker) 1484 “Gleichnisse. Philosophische und theologische Spuren im Werk Bergmans” (Linz) 997 (group item) “Gli esordi di un regista” (Bono) 1521 “Glimpses of the Pictures in his Mind” (Hayman) 617 God, Death, Art and Love. The Philosophical Vision of Ingmar Bergman (Lauder) 997 (group item), 1486 “God forgives, Bergman never” (Der Spiegel) 551 (group item) “Going Roundabout: Similar Images of Pilgrimage in Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and Bergman’s The Seventh Seal” (Liggera) 225 (longer stud), 626, 988 (group item, Ibsen) “Gossen i mörkrummet” (Jolo/Olsson) 980 “Gossen Ruda eller svensk ikon. Om Ingmar Bergmans mottagande i Sverige och utomlands” (Steene) 1613 “(Les) grands cinéastes” (Agel) 1014 “Gränslandets diktare – Bergman och den kulturella traditionen” [tr. as A Filmmaker in the Borderland] (Timm) 1452 (group item, p. 983) “Gravity and Grace” (Lahr) 640 “Guds tystnad: En studie i tre filmer av Ingmar Bergman” (Hartman) 997 (group item) Gustaf Molander (Forslund) 1686 “ha-Hitbat’ut ha-milutit ‘al odot ha-kolno ‘a: nituah darkhe ha-ketivah ‘al ha-koln’a: nituah darkhe ha-ketivah ‘al pi ‘iyun be-mispar bikorot uma’amarim ‘al ha-seret ‘Personah’ shel Ingmar Bergman”, MA thesis (Shvarts), 1346
1094
Title Index “Haley contra Whitaker: familjestudier med hypotesanalys av Fanny och Alexander” (Björklund/ Engebladh) 1429 “Hamlet on the Postmodernist Stage: The Revisionings of Bergman and Wajda” (Lusardi) 660 “Han förtrollar människor” (Fredriksson) 730 “(The) hard stuff ” (Matthews) 1682 “Hasse Ekman vs Ingmar Bergman” (Mattsson) 1640 “’He Shall Live a Man Forbid’: Ingmar Bergman’s Macbeth” (Fridén) 596, 989 (group item, Shakespeare) “Herftsonate van Ingmar Bergman: een moeder dochter relatie verfilmd”, diss. (Boorsma) 250 (longer stud) “Heuresis: The Mother-Daughter Theme in A Jest of God and Autumn Sonata” (Bird) 988 (group item, Laurence) Hornstötar i kulissen (von Horn) 538 “Hos mormor i Uppsala fanns ett paradis” (Knutsson) 1638 “Hour of the Wolf ” (Corliss/Hoops) 1152 “Hour of the Wolf: The Case of Ingmar Bergman” (Buntzen/Craig) 1278 “How Great Our Adventure” (Waldekranz) 1010 “How Warm is the Cold, How Light is the Darkness?” (Adams) 1103 Huit clos [No Exit] (Sartre), (P) 210 “Husbands and Wives in Bergman’s Films: A Close Analysis based on Empirical Data” (Lundell/ Mulac), 1374 “Høstsonaten og Rene linier” (Jensen) 1341 I begynnelsen var ordet. Ingmar Bergman och hans tidiga författarskap (Koskinen) 676, 988 (group item), 1681 “I Bergmans och Suckdorffs tecken” (Heyman) 1003 “I Bergmans regi” (Ehrwall, prod. SVT) 679 “I den lilla världen: Ekdalerne og teatret. Noen aspekter ved Bergmans Fanny og Alexander (Jostad) 606 “I film del primo Bergman” (d’Orazio) 1265 “I Ingmars glada hage” (Josephson) 662 “I min fantasi! Subjektivt gestaltande hos Ingmar Bergman” (Törnqvist) 656, 1613 “I Paris undrar man…” (Odéon theatre invitation to IB) 552 “I 25 år har det stormat kring Ingmar Bergman” (Wester) 793, 1193 “Ibsen, Strindberg and the Intimate Theatre: Studies in TV Presentation” (Törnqvist) 989 (group study, Strindberg) “Ibsenian Uterus, Strindbergian Seed. Ingmar Bergman’s Hedda Gabler” (Durbach) 638 “Iconography in The Seventh Seal” (Holland) 225 (longer stud)
Il giovane Bergman (Bono, ed.) 1521 “Il mago del Nord” (La Voce di Milano) 1579 “Il volto e l’oltro in Bergman, narratore moderno” (Aristarco) 1496 (group item) Image et son 1179 (Lefèvre) “Images and Words in Ingmar Bergman’s Films” (Steene) 1192 “Images of Childhood” (Wood) 1302 “Images of Dying and the Artistic Role” (Tulloch) 988 (group item, Chechov) “Images of Women in three Ingmar Bergman Films” (M:A. thesis, Talbert) 975 (group item) “Immer waren Ingmar Bergmans Filme auf radikale Weise persönlich” (Gregor) 1273 (group item) “Individualism, Communion, and Significance in The Seventh Seal” (Anderson, thesis) 225 (longer stud) “(The) Imagined Past in Ingmar Bergman’s The Best Intentions” (Wright) 1580 (group item) “(The) Industry: Martyr Complexes” (Byron) 1272 (group item, p. 952) “(The) Influence of Existentialism on Ingmar Bergman: An analysis of the Theological Ideas Shaping a Filmmaker”, diss. (Ketcham) 997 (group item), 1434 Ingmar Bergman (Balbierz/Zmudzinski) 1541 Ingmar Bergman (Béranger & Guyon) 982 (group item) “Ingmar Bergman” (Beyer) 953 “Ingmar Bergman” (Boost) 1017 “Ingmar Bergman” (Braudy/Dickstein) 1320 Ingmar Bergman (Chiaretti) 1012 (group item), 1109 Ingmar Bergman (Company) 1034 (group item), 1547 “Ingmar Bergman” (Dawson) 1356 Ingmar Bergman (Farina) 1021 “Ingmar Bergman” (Furhammar) 961 Ingmar Bergman (Gorodinskaja, ed.) 1178 Ingmar Bergman (Györffy) 1286 “Ingmar Bergman” (Göransson) 988 (group item) Ingmar Bergman (Höök) 952 (group item), 1074 “Ingmar Bergman” (Koskinen) 1620 Ingmar Bergman (Lefèvre) 1400 “Ingmar Bergman” (Linder) 524 “Ingmar Bergman” (List) 1049 Ingmar Bergman (Marion) 1342 “Ingmar Bergman” (Martinez) 1034 (group item) “Ingmar Bergman” (McClatchy) 1238 Ingmar Bergman (Muellem) 1064 “Ingmar Bergman” (Nin) 1292 “Ingmar Bergman” (Oldin) 1027 Ingmar Bergman (Oliva) 1137 “Ingmar Bergman” (Pedersen) 960 “Ingmar Bergman” (program notes, Berlin film festival) 1075 Ingmar Bergman (Rainero) 1258
1095
Title Index Ingmar Bergman (Renaud) 1206 “Ingmar Bergman” (Rying/Stråhle in Intryck i Sverige) 762 Ingmar Bergman (SF brochure) 1090 Ingmar Bergman (Siclier) 982 (group item) Ingmar Bergman (Steene) 549, 1170, 1380 Ingmar Bergman (Tabbia) 974 (group item), 1008 “Ingmar Bergman” (Terrafilm) 958 “Ingmar Bergman” (van der Berg) 1212 Ingmar Bergman (Weise) 1450, 1623 Ingmar Bergman (Wood) 1185 “Ingmar Bergmann” (sic!) (Duarte) 1020 Ingmar Bergman. A Critical Biography (Cowie) 1381 Ingmar Bergman. A Guide to References and Resources (Steene) 1449 “Ingmar Bergman Adds to the Mosaic of Autobiography” (James) 1566 “Ingmar Bergman albo parabola pytan odwiecznych” (Helman) 1251 Ingmar Bergman. Allting föreställer, ingenting är (Koskinen) 672, 1676 Ingmar Bergman. An Appreciation (Manvell) 1385 Ingmar Bergman. An Artist’s Journey . On Stage, on Screen, in Print (Oliver, ed) 1580 (group item) Ingmar Bergman and the Arts (Fridén, ed.) 663, 1635 “Ingmar Bergman and Creative Leadership”, diss. (Gyllenpalm) 647, 1586 “Ingmar Bergman and the Devil” (Ulrichsen) 1009 “Ingmar Bergman and Don Juan” (Törnqvist) 230 (longer art.), 642 “Ingmar Bergman and God” (Phillips) 997 (group item) “Ingmar Bergman and his Films” (Tobey) 1140 “Ingmar Bergman and the Humanist Tradition” (Blackwell) 1543 “Ingmar Bergman and the Mise-en-Scène of the Confessional” (Koskinen) 1671 “Ingmar Bergman and the New Intellectuals” (Solomon) 1219 “Ingmar Bergman and the Religious Film” (Silverstein) 997 (group item) Ingmar Bergman and the Rituals of Art (Livingston) 1384 “Ingmar Bergman and the Silence of God” (Hamilton) 997 (group item), 1266 “Ingmar Bergman and the Search for Meaning” (Gill) 1177 “Ingmar Bergman and the Theater” (Cohen-Stratyner) 663 “Ingmar Bergman and the Theater” (Steene) 588 “Ingmar Bergman angriper regeringen” (Svensson) 1331 “Ingmar Bergman – artist och filosof ” (Osten) 986 “Ingmar Bergman as Theater Director” (Marker & Marker) 584
“Ingmar Bergman: Assessment at Mid-point” (Comstock) 1134 “Ingmar Bergman at Fifty” (Cantor) 1176 “Ingmar Bergman 50 år” (Waldekranz) 1173 “Ingmar Bergman – 70th birthday tribute” (Film Theatre Programmes) 1452 (group item, p. 985) “Ingmar Bergman at 70” (Michiels) 1452 (group item, p. 984) “Ingmar Bergman 80 år” (Josephson/Ring) 1625 (group item) “Ingmar Bergman: Beyond the Realistic Image” (Casty) 1227 Ingmar Bergman. Confession in Celluloide, cassette tape, (Guinness) 1360 “Ingmar Bergman Crossed with Charlie Chaplin? What Iris Murdoch Doesn’t Know” (Cunneen) 1335 “Ingmar Bergman da ‘Como in uno specchio’ a ‘l’adultera’” (Bini) 1226, 1350 “Ingmar Bergman da Hitler a Ibsen” (Rondi) 1365 “Ingmar Bergman: den delikata spetälskan” (Lindqvist) 973 “Ingmar Bergman – den passionerade regissören” (Teréus) 1473 “Ingmar Bergman: Dialog, scena, kamera” (Zern) 650, 1598 “Ingmar Bergman: Dichter unser Jahrhunderts” (Zurbuch) 1055 Ingmar Bergman. Die grosse Kinofilme. Eine Dokumentation (Lange-Fuchs) 1467 Ingmar Bergman Directs (Simon) 814, 1218 “Ingmar Bergman e il publico italiano” (Spinnazola) 1012 (group item) “Ingmar Bergman et Georg af Klercker” (Lefèvre) 1553 “Ingmar Bergman et le cinéna suèdois. Ingmar Bergman et quelques autres” (Sadoul) 982 (group item) “Ingmar Bergman et le génie de la Suède” (Langlois) 1113 “Ingmar Bergman et Le lien” (Wood) 1223 “Ingmar Bergman et la littérature suèdoise” (Durant) 989 (group item) Ingmar Bergman et ses films (Béranger) 982 (group item) Ingmar Bergman. Essays in Criticism (Kaminsky, ed.) 1266 Ingmar Bergman. Film and Stage (Long) 1568 Ingmar Bergman. Film och teater i växelverkan (Wirmark, ed.) 652, 1613 “Ingmar Bergman: Films 1960-1973” (Segal/Robnard) 1268 Ingmar Bergman. Four Decades in the Theater (Marker & Marker) 594 “Ingmar Bergman: Från ‘Kris’ till ‘Kvinnodröm’” (n. a.) 978
1096
Title Index “Ingmar Bergman får urpremiär i Göteborg” (Læstadius) 514 “Ingmar Bergman gjorde reklam för tvålen Bris” (Wennström) 215 “Ingmar Bergman – Gotlands gullgosse” (Bjuvstedt) 1186 “Ingmar Bergman har blitt et begrep” (Rustad) 1452 (group item, p. 984) Ingmar Bergman. His Films and Career [Alternate title: Ingmar Bergman. His Life and Films] (Vermilye) 1622 “Ingmar Bergman i bikini” (Robin Hood/Almqvist) 1155 “Ingmar Bergman i krizis individualisticheskogo mironimanija” (Surkova) 1347 “Ingmar Bergman i kvinnoland” (Ekström) 975 (group item) Ingmar Bergman, il paradoxo di un ‘Ateo cristiano’ (Trasatti) 925, 1536 Ingmar Bergman. Im Bleistift – Ton. Ein Werkporträtt (Bleibtreu, ed.) 1678 “Ingmar Bergman in the Eyes of Italian Theatre Critics” (Bono) 663, 1012 (group item) “Ingmar Bergman Index” (Wredlund) 1148, 1155 “Ingmar Bergman introducerad på Paristeater” (Arvidsson) 531 “Ingmar Bergman, juhlallisesti” (Toiviainen) 1625 (group item, p. 1015) Ingmar Bergman: La realità e il suo ‘doppio’ (Moscato) 1375 “Ingmar Bergman: Le festin de l’araignée” (Narboni) 1146 Ingmar Bergman: Le magicien du Nord (Binh) 1542 “Ingmar Bergman Lights Up the Munich Stage” (Popkin) 580 Ingmar Bergman: l’Initiation d’un artiste (Cortade) 1669 “Ingmar Bergman komt tot de mensen!” (Kwakernaak) 1201 “Ingmar Bergman kak philosophi moralist” (Farbstein) 1136 Ingmar Bergman. Kasvoista kasvoihin (Rasku) 1191 “Ingmar Bergman - Käbi Laretei. Close-ups” (Laretei, music record) 1327 Ingmar Bergman: La mort, le masque et l’être (Estève) 1397 Ingmar Bergman: Magician and Prophet (Gervais) 997 (group item), 1657 “Ingmar Bergman. Master of Illusion” (Kinnear) 1145 “Ingmar Bergman, Movie Magician” (Cole) 1011 (group item), 1019 “Ingmar Bergman! Naken dekor är också dekor” (Palmstierna-Weiss) 560 “Ingmar Bergman: Now I see things as they are”, MA thesis (Phelan) 1205
“Ingmar Bergman o el universo crespuscolar” (Molist) 1180 Ingmar Bergman och den borgerliga ideologin (Bergom-Larsson) 1303 “Ingmar Bergman och den kristna baksmällan” (Bergmark) 1149 “Ingmar Bergman och den mörka kommunionen” (Bergom-Larsson) 1519 (group item, p. 996) “Ingmar Bergman och Dramatentraditionen” (Wirmark) 657, 1613 “Ingmar Bergman och döden” (Himmelstrand) 968 “Ingmar Bergman och hans entreprenörer” (Heyman) 1003 “Ingmar Bergman och hans positioner” (Chauvet) 1122 “Ingmar Bergman och hans tid” (Bohman) 1441 Ingmar Bergman och kristen tro (Nystedt) 997 (group item) “Ingmar Bergman och nyanserna” (Christensen) 964 “Ingmar Bergman och sommaren” (Wickbom) 1652 “Ingmar Bergman och världskritiken” (Fröier) 1000 “Ingmar Bergman of Sweden Making Big Haul American Publicity” (Variety) 1036 “Ingmar Bergman oförskämd i TV” (anon) 975 (group item) “Ingmar Bergman og Alf Sjöberg overfor hinanden” (Saxdorph) 987 “Ingmar Bergman og hans tid” (Jensen/Rehfeld) 1288, 1309 “Ingmar Bergman og sjælens mørke natt” (Fabricius) 1154 Ingmar Bergman ou la passion de l’homme d’aujourdhui (Michalczyk) 1311 “Ingmar Bergman – person or persona: the mountain of modern cinema on the road to Morocco” (Elsaesser) 1643 “Ingmar Bergman-premiär” (Andersson) 512 “Ingmar Bergman: profeet die in eigen land niet geëerd wordt” (Berge) 1333 “Ingmar Bergman på gränsen mellan förkastelse och förlossning” (Nilsson) 1448 Ingmar Bergman på teatern (Sjögren) 548 “Ingmar Bergman: sinfonia del silenzio” (Bernardi) 1478 “Ingmar Bergman Still Asking the God Question” (Lauder) 997 (group item) Ingmar Bergman. Teatermannen och filmskaparen (Billqvist) 534, 1040 Ingmar Bergman. The Art of Confession (Cohen) 1546 Ingmar Bergman. The Cinema as Mistress (Mosley) 1376
1097
Title Index “Ingmar Bergman: The Disintegrated Artist” (Armes) 1276 “Ingmar Bergman. The Search for God” (Nelson) 997 (group item) “Ingmar Bergman. The Silent Laughter of the Gods” (Haller) 1123 “Ingmar Bergman: the Struggle with the Beyond” (Cowie) 1355 “Ingmar Bergman Transplants his Special Ways to Munich” (Variety) 1272 (group item, p. 953) “Ingmar Trollkarlen” (Tannefors) 981 Ingmar Bergman, un dramaturgo cinematografico (Alsina/Monegal) 974 (group item), 1104 “Ingmar Bergman: un nuovo ‘kammerspiel’” (Laura) 1093 “Ingmar Bergman Up Close” (Perez) 1344 “Ingmar Bergman – vad har hänt med honom?” (Schildt) 1207 “Ingmar Bergman will ‘auch das Letzte sagen’” (Krusche) 976 Ingmar Bergman. W opinii krytyki zagranicznej (Zielinska, ed.) 1451 Ingmar Bergman y El septimo sello (Cebollado) 225 (longer stud) “Ingmar Bergman y Largo viaje hacia la noche” (Törnqvist) 623 “Ingmar Bergman zoekt de sleutel” (Burvenich) 1070 “Ingmar Bergmans dolda iakttagare” (Törnqvist) 1664 “Ingmar Bergman’s Doll’s Houses” (Törnqvist) 633, 988 (group item, Ibsen) “Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander: Family Romance or Artistic Allegory” (Buntzen) 1442 “Ingmar Bergman’s Films: the Spider God and the Primal Scene” (Dervin) 1396 “Ingmar Bergman’s First Meeting with Thalia” (Steene) 663, 1625 (group item, p. 1015) “Ingmar Bergmans kvinnolinje” (Matteson) 975 (group item) “Ingmar Bergmans kvinnosyn” (Klynne) 975 (group item) “Ingmar Bergmans Laterna magica” (Steene) 1472 “Ingmar Bergmans Laterna magica. Att röra sig mellan magi och havregrynsgröt” (Steene) 1452 (group item, p. 984) “Ingmar Bergmans mottagande i USA” (Steene) 1011 Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (Michaels, ed.) 975 (group item), 1660 “Ingmar Bergman’s Second Trilogy” (Yakovar) 1316 “Ingmar Bergmans stil” (Oldin/Wortzelius) 1094 “Ingmar Bergmans teater – rörelser i rummet” (Sjögren) 564 “Ingmar Bergman’s Theater Direction, 1952-1974”, diss. (Reilly) 590
“Ingmar Bergmans tre perioder, en svart, en strimmig, en rosa” (Höök) 983 “Ingmar Bergmans triumf ” (Tannefors) 999 “Ingmar Bergman’s Winter Journey – Intertextuality in Larmar och gör sig till” (Holmqvist) 663, 1636 “Ingmar, the Image Maker” (Simon) 1052 Inte bara applåder (Björnstrand) 233 (com), 1263 Inte bara pappas flicka (A. Bergman) 1440 “(The) Interplay of Diegetic and Experiential Time in Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata and Bertrand Tavernier’s Round Midnight” (White, BA thesis) 1495 Introduccion al estudio de Ingmar Bergman (Cuenca) 1034 (group item) Intryck i Sverige (Rying/Stråhle) 1127 “Jenseits der Skandale” (Blum, ARD retrospective) 1457 Jeune cinéma 1125 “(Les) Jeux de l’humor” (Alman) 1599 “Jewish Figures in the Films of Ingmar Bergman” (Wright) 1655 “Journey into Autumn: Oväder and Smultronstället” (Johns Blackwell) 989 (group item, Strindberg) “Journey into Silence: An Aspect of the Late Films of Ingmar Bergman” (Harcourt) 1523 “Kammarspel på tre sätt” (Törnqvist) 989 (group item, Strindberg) “Kan Kieslowski lösa Tystnadens gåta?” (Kieslowski) 1567 Karin vid havet (M. Bergman) 1349 Kavalkade (Danish booklet) 1424 “Khestokij mir Ingmara Bergmana” (Maatusevich) 1118 Kinema 1550, 1606 Kino (Sofia; Andrejkov/Krumov/Russinova, eds.) 1551 “Klanen Bergmans många ansikten” (Söderberg) 1535 “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” (McClean) 1401 “Kolportage mit Tiefgang” (Gerbracht) 972 “Kompositören Ingmar Bergman” (Werkö) 1494 “Konsten att förtrolla” (Heyman) 1003 “Konstnären, demonerna och publiken (Viklund) 1452 (group item, p. 984) Kosmorama 1325 “Kraftquelle des europäischen Kinos” (Strunz) 1539 (group item, p. 999) “Kvinnoskildringarna i två svenska 50-talsfilmer” (Söderquist) 975 (group item) “Kärlekens årstider: Ingmar Bergmans ‘Sommarnattens leende’ och ‘En vintersaga’” (Cavell) 989 (group item, Shakespeare), 1668 “Könsroller och relationer i Ingmar Bergmans filmer Det regnar på vår kärlek, Smultronstället,
1098
Title Index Scener ur ett äktenskap” (undergrad. thesis, Ek) 975 (group item) “La bussola della psiche nell’ ateismo religioso borghese” (Aristarco) 1245 “L’anima e le forme nella scrittura di Bergman” (Gallerani) 1322 “Lek med laddningar” (Sellermark) 529 Lek och raseri. Ingmar Bergmans teater 1938-2002 (Sjögren) 677 L-136: Dagbok [L-136. A Diary with Ingmar Bergman] (Sjöman) 1100 “Les 400 coups” (Truffaut) 219 (foreign resp.) “(The) Lesson of Ingmar Bergman” (Truffaut) 982 (group item), 1221 “Leven: wreedheid of tederheid?” (Dommelei) 1306 “(The) Light is Dark Enough” (Pechter) 1203 “L’exile de Bergman” (d’Epenoux) 1272 (group item) “Linus rencontre Berget” (Sjöman) 1426 (Positif) Liv Ullmann & Ingmar Bergman (Garfinkel) 1323 Ljuset håller mig sällskap (Nykvist) 1672 “Long Day’s Journey into Night: Bergman’s TV version of Oväder compared to Smultronstället” (Törnqvist), 644, 989 (group item, Strindberg) 1577 “Looking for God. Profane and Sacred in the Films of Woody Allen” (Blake) 1505 Loppcirkus. Max von Sydow berättar (Sörenson) 225 (com), 228 (com)1493 “Los ochenta años de Ingmar Bergman” (Mahieu) 1625 (group item, p. 1015) “Love and Death” (Allen), (F) 225 (com) “(The) Lutheran Milieu in the Films of Ingmar Bergman, ” diss., (Blake) 997 (group item) “Lämna romanen i fred” (Isaksson) 1433 “Längtan efter kärleken” (Vilmos) 1315 “Macbeth och teatertraditionen” (Fredén) 401 “Madonna med barn” (Kwakernaak) 975 (group item) Maestri del cinema: Ingmar Bergman (Rondi, ed.) 1169 “(The) Magic Triangle: Ingmar Bergman’s Implied Philosophy of Theatrical Communication” (Marker) 600 “(The) Magician” (Meyer) 1569 “Mago och Skammen” (Goldstein) 1155, 1157 “Man Alive Presents Ingmar Bergman” (CBC program) 791 “Man med magi” (Rying) 1029 “Man of the Week: Ingmar Bergman. The Scenario Says Exile” (Perlez) 1294 “Mangfoldet av mønstre Et teater å komme hjem til” (Hansen/Haddal) 1452 (group item, p. 984), 1461
“Manhattan Surrounded by Ingmar Bergman: The American Reception of a Swedish Filmmaker” (Steene) 1011 (group item), 1580 (group item) “Marriage as Metaphor: The Idea of Consciousness in Scener ur ett äktenskap.” (Librach) 246 (longer stud) “Max och jättens lykta” (n.a., Filmnyheter) 1013 Max von sydow. From The Seventh Seal to Pelle the Conqueror (Cowie) 1481 “Med känsla för rummet” (Wassberg) 662 “Med och utan paljetter” (Wifstrand) 1082 “Mellan mörker och ljus” (Bolin) 1458 “Mellan uppriktigt allvar och clowneri” (Klotz) 558 “Metamorfozy sjvedskogo kino Widerberg e Bergman” (Surkova) 1270 “(The) Metamorphosis of The Bachae from Ancient Rite to TV Opera” (Rygg) 663 “Métaphysique du cinéma” (Agel) 1274 “Metoden Ingmar Bergman” (Sima) 1099 Mindscreen: Bergman, Godard and First-Person Film (Kawin) 1372 “Minnets spelplatser. Ingmar Bergman och det självbiografiska vittnet” (Koskinen) 1628 (group item, p. 1016) “Misantropen i Malmö får färgglada färger” (AGE) 526 “Miti contemporanei: Fellini e Bergman” (Busco) 1012 (group item), 1121 Mitt personregister. Urval 98 (Sjöman) 668 “Modernism and Mimetic Crisis: Four Films of Ingmar Bergman” (Mayo) 1554 “Modes of Reflexive Film” (Fredericksen) 1340 “(Le) monde du silence” (Baldelli) 1107 “Monique ou le désir” See “Sommaren med Monika” 219 “More Films about Filmmakers” (Welsh) 1301 Motbilder. Svensk socialistisk filmkritik (Andersson/ Bjärlind/Eriksson) 1317 “(The) Motion Picture Industry in Sweden” (Lawrence) 966 “(The) Movie-Makers” (Houston) 996 (group item) “(The) Murderer Motif in Bergman’s Filmmaking from The Devil’s Wanton to Life of the Marionettes (Kinder) 252 (longer stud) “Mozart, Hoffmann and Ingmar Bergman” (Gantz) 988 (group item, Hoffmann), 1359 “Mr. Bergman Relaxes” (The Times) 532 “Musica, suoni e silenzio neil film di Bergman” (Comuzio) 1111 “Musiken spelar störst roll i Ingmar Bergmans filmer” (Nyström) 1688 “(The) Mystique of Ingmar Bergman” (Blackwood) 996 (group item), 1056 Måndagar med Bergman (Steene) 1611 “Människokrossarteatern” (Hjelm) 625
1099
Title Index “Napoleon of Film” (Sunday Times) 1025 Nedstigningar i modern film – hos Bergman, Wenders, Adlon, Tarkovski (Bergom-Larsson//Hammar/ Kristensson) 1519 “Nell’ ultimo Bergman. La scoperta del sociale rompe l’egemonia della ‘Persona’” (Gualtiero) 1308 “Nobel symposium at Dramaten” 622 “Nobody has any Fun any more in Bergman’s Films” (Carduner) 1197 …noch einmal Bergman (Lange-Fuchs/Linz) 1499 “Notes on the Films of Ingmar Bergman”/”Notas sobre los films de Ingmar Bergman” (Jarvie) 1023 Nuevo film (Montevideo) 1181 “Nu står England på knä för Bergman – men” (Anthal) 555 “Når farven gi’r mening” (Wellendorf) 1538 Nära bilder (Fant) 1033 (group item, Widerberg), 1616 “Närbild och narrativ (dis)kontinuitet: nedslag i Bergmans närbilder” (Koskinen) 1591 “Närgången kamera” (Hejll) 1549 O planeta Bergman (Armando) 1455 “Obraz i stowo. O scenasriuszach Bergmana” (Benedyktowicz) 1246 “Om dygd och kvinnor” (Heyman) 1003 “Om Ingmar Bergman. Filmkronikken” (Dessau, radio program) 1043 “On a Trolley to the Cinema: Ingmar Bergman and the first Swedish production of A Streetcar Named Desire” (Kolin) 643 “Opus 17 & 18” (Hinnemo) 1189 “(The) One Bergman Show” (Björkman) 1625 (group item) “(The) Other Bergman” (Alpert) 1011 (group item), 1016 “Outplånliga intryck” (Lundström) 1639 “Pain and Forgiveness: Structural Transformations in Wild Strawberries and Autumn Sonata (Simmons) 1403 “Pamjat’ o smyste” (Arkus) 1601 “(La) parola e il silenzio” (Savio) 1119 “(La) part des femmes” (Amile) 975 (group item) (The) Passion of Ingmar Bergman (Gado) 1432 “Peer Gregaard porträtterer Ingmar Bergman” (Dam) 572 “Pengar, filmuppslag och konstnärssamvete, skälen Ingmar Bergman lämnar Dramaten” (SvD) 537 (group item, p. 782) “Perceiving Ingmar Bergman’s The Silence through I Ching”, MA thesis (Lee) 1592 “Persona and the Seduction of Performance” (Vineberg) 1660
“Persona and the 1960s Art Cinema” (Dixon) 1660 “Persona: Facing the Mirror Together” (Burdick) 1497 “Persona: The Person and the Mask” (Jarvie) 1445 “Persona Stirs Old Passions” (Koehler) 1675 “Persönlich Notizen eines Freundes” (Schein) 1273 (group item) “(Le) petit monde d’Ingmar Bergman” (Guez) 1061 “(The) Phaedra-Hippolytus Myth in Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night” (Baron) 223 (longer art) (The) Phantom of the Cinema: Character in Modern Film (Michaels) 1641 “Photographing the Films of Ingmar Bergman” (Nykvist) 1069 “(La) poetica irrazionalistica di Ingmar Bergman” (Plebe) 1095 “(Le) plus grand anneau de la spirale” (Hoveyda) 989 (group item, Proust) “Poems of Square Pegs” (Gilliat) 1156 “Politics of Ingmar Bergman” (Quart) 1330 “(The) Politics of Interpretation: The Case of Bergman’s Persona” (Kelly) 1590 “(The) Popular Show in Film: Bergman and Fellini” (Ritter) 1489 “Pornographie statt Gewalt” (Mölter, report of Bergman press conference) 1166 “Porträtt, Ingmar Bergman” (Stempel/Ripkens) 1081 Positif 77, 249, 253, 906, 1329, 1426, 1644, 1683 (The) Precarious Vogue of Ingmar Bergman” (Baldwin) 727, 1039 “Privatskriget” (Holm) 1287 “Przeczycie religijne w kinie” (Sobolewski) 997 (group item) “(Il) primo Bergman: fatiosa nascita di uno stile” (Laura) 1012 (group item), 1114 “(The) Problem of Evil in Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal” (Sonnenschein) 997 (group item), 1379 “Produktionshandbuch zu Ingmar Bergmans ‘von Angesicht zu Angesicht” (Anderson) 1275 “Prästsonen Ingmar Bergman” (Forslund) 992, 997 (group item) Psicoanalysis y creacion artistica (Svetlitza) 1575 “Puritanen och Kasperteatern” (Wåhlstedt) 31, 517 “Putting on a Show” (Elsaesser) 1565 “På glid mot freudska drömmar” (Idestam-Almqvist) 955 “På Fårö har Bergman byggt Sveriges modernaste filmstudio” (Vinberg) 817 “Quand mes yeux verront-ils la lumière?” (Tobin) 1474
1100
Title Index “Quatro film all’ ochiello: hanno la firma del maestro” (Rossi) 1402 “(The) Rack of Life” (Archer) 989 (group item, Proust), 1011 (group item) “Rakel och biografvaktmästaren” (Linde) 509 “Rebel with a Cause” (Dymling) 1044 “Red Membranes, Red Banners” (Gay) 1033 “(Les) références cinéphiliques chez Woody Allen: construire une œuvre sur la base de l’intertextualité” (Fortin), 1604 “(The) Reflexive Dream” (Kawin) 1464 “Reflusso del problematicismo nell’ultima Bergman” (Oldrini) 1182 “Regi: Ingmar Bergman. Dagbok från teatern (Sjögren) 554 “Regissör med djävulskomplex” (Forsberg) 979 “Rejecting Christ: Bergman’s Counter Gospel” (Liggera) 997 (group item) “Religione e personalita nell’ opera di Ingmar Bergman “ (Verdone) 1012 (group item) “Religious Dialectic in Bergman” (Suttor) 997 (group item) “(The ) Religious Dimension in the Cinema: with Particular Reference to the Films of Carl Theodor Dreyer, Ingmar Bergman and Robert Bresson”, diss. (Holloway) 997 (group item) “Religious Dimensions in Four Ingmar Bergman Screenplays: The Seventh Seal, Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light and The Silence”, diss. (Benfrey) 997 (group item) “Rénaissance du cinéma suèdois: Ingmar Bergman” (Béranger/Gauteur) 982 (group item), 1001 “Retour de Bergman: au cinéclub et au stage de Bouloris” (Nave/Welsh) 982 (group item), 1386 “(Le) rêve d’Ingmar” (Béranger) 982 (group item) Revista de cinema 974 (group item) Ridån går alltid ner (Rydeberg, memoirs) 561 Riksdagens ombudsmän. Affären Bergman 1272 (group item, p. 952) “(The) Role of Language in Ingmar Bergman’s Shakespeare Productions” (Martin) 631 “(The) Role of Woman in the Films of Ingmar Bergman”, B.A. thesis (Harrell) 975 (group item) “Rollen und Räume. Anfragen as das Christentum in den Filmen Ingmar Bergman” (Schneider) 997 (group item) “Ruda eller Gamba (Marmstedt) 962 “Rytir, smrt a Dabel” (Oliva) 1470 Röster i Radio-TV 78, 104 “Sacred Cows: Depression over Sweden” (Powell) 996 (group item) “Salvation without God” (Blake) 997 (group item) “Sannhetselsker og løgner” (Gammelgaard) 1452 (group item, p. 984)
Sanningslekar (Josephson, memoirs) 232 (com), 1498 “Scandinavian Presence in the Cinema” (Sarris) 1387 “Scandinavian Screen” (Schickel) 1011 (group item), 1139 “Scener ur ett liv” (Melin) 1290 “Scenes from a Life” (Horowitz) 1462 “Scenes from a Marriage: Divorce Swedish Style” (play prod.) 469 “Scenes from Ingmar Bergman’s Life: Imitation of his Art” (Vinocur) 1332 Scenografi och kostym: Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss, diss. (Olofgörs) 648 Scenväxling. Teaterkritik 1951-1960 (Wahlund) 535 Schein, Schein (Schein) 1366 “Schlafwandler am wachen Tagen” (Steinfeldt) 1625 (group item, p. 1015) “(The ) Screen as Split Subject: Persona’s Legacy” (Orr) 1642 “Screening August Strindberg’s A Dreamplay: Meaning and Style” (Törnqvist) 989 (group item, Strindberg) (The) Screenplay as Literature (Winston) 226 (articles) “(The) Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman: Personification and Olefactory Detail” (Ingemansson) 1409 Se Bergman (Zern) 1560 “(The) Seduction of Alexander. Behind the postmodern Door: Ingmar Bergman and Baudrillard’s De la séduction (Hayes) 1618 “Seeing Films Politically” (Zavarzadeh) 1515 “Self-Exploration and Survival in Persona and The Ritual; the Way In” (Houston/Kinder) 1361 “(Le ) septième sceau: une analyse.” (Douchet) 225 (longer stud) (Le) septieme sceau, Ingmar Bergman (Grandgeorge) 225 (longer stud) (The) Seventh Seal (Bragg) 225 (longer stud) 1544 “Sex pjäser på två månader” (-ll) 685 “Sexual Themes in the Films of Ingmar Bergman” (Blake) 1196 “(Lo) sfondo culturale della critica su Ingmar Bergman” (Oldrini) 1012 (group item), 1050 Sight and Sound 1689 “(The) Silence: An Analysis of the Concepts of God and Man in the Films of Ingmar Bergman”, diss. (Awalt) 997 (group item) “(The) Silence: Disruption and Disavowal in the Movement beyond Gender” (Blackwell) 1603 (The) Silence of God: Creative Response to the Films of Ingmar Bergman (Gibson) 997 (group item) “(The) Sin of the Fathers: Bergman , Ronconi and Ibsen’s The Wild Duck” (Bredsdorff) 620 “Sista skriket. Ingmar Bergman och Gustaf af Klercker och filmens villkor” (Andersson) 1563
1101
Title Index “Själens blixtsnabba skiftningar” (Malmberg) 1687 “(The) Sjöberg-Bergman Connection: Hets” (Steene) 202 (rec; longer art.), 1625 (group item) “Ska vi begrava den svenska filmen?” (Sundgren) 816 “Skandaler passar bara kronprinsen” (Ekström) 519 (group item) Smultronstället och dödens ekipage (Wirmark) 1653 “Smultronstället och homo viator-motivet” (Andersson) 1452 (group item, p. 984) (La) Solitudine di Ingmar Bergman (Oldrini) 1012 “Sommarlek med Ingmar Bergman” (Fischer) 965 “Somrarna med Monika. Bergman som buskis på bystan” (Stevenson) 1011 (group item), 1596 “Sonning Prize” (group item) 1477 “(La) sospensione del tempo” (Mango) 1437 “(La) source: Déclain de Bergman” (Domarchi) 982 (group item) “Sourires d’une nuit d’été (Lefèvre) 223 (longer stud) “Spegelskrift. Nedslag i några tidiga Bergman-filmer” (Koskinen) 1485 “Spektaklet kring Ingmar Bergman” (Fagerström) 551 (group item) Spel och speglingar. En studie i Ingmar Bergmans filmiska estetik, diss. (Koskinen) 1552 “(The) Spring Defiled: Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring and Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left (Brashincky) 1631 “Spårvagn med många namn” (anon) 516 Stage and Screen: Studies in Scandinavian Drama and Film (Gavel Adams/Leiren) 1671 “Strange Vision of Ingmar Bergman” (Ross) 1051 “Strindberg, Bergman and the Silent Character” (Törnqvist) 989 (group item, Strindberg), 1665 Strindberg, Ibsen & Bergman. Essays offered to Egil Törnqvist (Perridon, ed) 989 (group item, Strindberg), 1643 “Strindberg, Ingmar Bergman and the Visual Symbol” (Steene) 989 (group item, Strindberg) Strindberg och Bergman (Törnqvist) 989 (group item, Strindberg), Strindberg, Sjöberg and Bergman: The Artist and Cultural Identity (Steene/Törnqvist, eds.) 1625 (group item) “Strindberg w teatrze Bergmana” (Uggla) 582, 989 (group item, Strindberg) “Strindbergman: The Problem of Filming Autobiography in Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander” (Haverty), 989 (group item, Strindberg) Strindberg’s The Ghost Sonata (Törnqvist) 673 “Strindberg’s Influence on Bergman’s ‘Det sjunde inseglet’, ‘Smultronstället’ and ‘Persona’ (diss.), (Johns Blackwell) 989 (group item, Strindberg) “Strindbergs kött brände sig in i mitt kött” (Steene) 989 (group item, Strindberg)
“Strövtåg bland Bergmans smultronställen” (Koskinen) 1466 “Studentteatern” (Grevenius) 513 Studi cinematigrafico e televisivi 1171 “Stumfilmen enligt Bergman” (Florin) 1628 (group item, p. 1016) “(Le) style baroque de ‘La nuit des forains’” (Siclier) 982 (group item) “Style is the Director” (Alpert) 97 “(The ) Success of Ingmar Bergman” (Dienstfrey) “Suffering into Ideology: Bergman’s Såsom i en spegel (Through a Glass Darkly)” (French) 231 (spec. stud) “Summer with Bergman” (Moonman) 1024 “(The) Surface of Reality: Screen as Mirror in Persona” (Eberwein) 1407 “Suspended Projections: Religious Roles and Adaptable Myths in John Hawkes’ Novels, Francis Bacon’s Paintings, and Ingmar Bergman’s Films” (diss.), (Calhoun) 997 (group item), 1351 “Svartsjuka. William Shakespeares och Ingmar Bergmas vintersagor” (Loman) 989, 1613 (group items, Shakespeare; Wirmark) “Sven Nykvist” (Strick, prod.) 1241 Svensk filmografi 218, 221, 222, 223, 226, 233, 235, 236, 238, 241, 244, 1314 “Svenska filmfotografer” (Chaplin) 1242 “Swede Dreams” (Charity) 1584 “Sweden’s All-Demanding Genius” (Fleisher) 1060 “Sweden’s Genius. The Bergman Affair” (Schwab) 1272 (group item, p. 951) “Sweden’s Poet of Stage and Stagecraft” (James) 1580 (group item) “(The) Swedish Dreams of Ingmar Bergman” (Aatland) 1581 “Swedish Films” (de la Roche) 971 “Swedish Rhapsody” 1011 (group item) “Sylvia Plath’s Poetics and the Cinematography of Ingmar Bergman, Jean Cocteau and Carl Dreyer”, diss. (Fraser) 989 (group item, Plath), 1617 “Symbolika tlukacego sie szekla w filmach Ingmar a Bergmana” (Czapliński) 1564 “Symposium on Published Scripts: Bergman and Anderson” (Welsh) 1209 “Synd att de inte bär svenska dräkten” (Florén) 1284 “Személyközi kudarcok – alarcban” (Féija) 1339 “Szorongas, feleten az en orokreszem” (Czako) 1632 “Så jobbar Ingmar” (Olsson) 1065 “Så segrade Bergman” (Andersson) 1262 “Sånt händer inte här – synpunkter på en film av Ingmar Bergman” (Stiernevall) 214 (rec) Såsom i en översättning (Laretei) 1692
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Title Index Teater i Göteborg 1910-1975 (Umeå Studies in the Humanities, # 20) 581 “Teater och film” (Lundkvist) 497 Teaterchefen. Bakom masker (Löfgren) 659 Teaterkvällar (Beyer) 520 “Teatern som metafor och tilltal i olika verk av Ingmar Bergman” (Koskinen) 1613 (Wirmark) Teatersemiologi (Wingaard) 571 “Technologies of Reproduction” (Fraser) 1656 Télé-Ciné 210 (rec) Temas de cine 1034 (group item) “(Le) temps d’un voyage” (Dupas) 1144 Thalia 25 – ett kvartssekel med Malmö Stadsteater (Gustafson, ed.) 557 “That Lady in Bergman” (Raphaelson) 579 “(The) Terrible Encounter with a God: The Bachae as Rite and Liturgical Drama in Ingmar Bergman’s Staging” (Iversen) 663 “Theater, Film, Life” (Graham) 1257 (Der) Theaterregisseur Ingmar Bergman daargestellt an seiner Inszenierung von Strindbergs Traumspiel, diss. (Müller) 989 (group item, Strindberg) Théâtres au cinéma (Bax) 1517 “(The) Theme of Anxiety in Selected Works of Henrik Ibsen, Edward Munch and Ingmar Bergman”, MA thesis (Heath) 632, 1506 Thèmes d’inspiration d’Ingmar Bergman (Burnevich) 997 (group item) “Theological Analysis of Religious Experience in the Films of Ingmar Bergman”, diss. (Robins) 997 (group item) “’This is my Hand’. Hand Gestures in the Films of Ingmar Bergman” (Törnqvist) 1671 Thousand Eyes Magazine 1271 “Three Literary Sources for Through a Glass Darkly” (Holden) 231 (spec. studies), 988 (group item, Chechov), 1252 “Through a Dark, Glassily” (Degnan) 1085 “Through a Glass Darkly: Figurative Language in Ingmar Bergman’s Script” (Ohlin) 1469 “Through a Life Darkly” (Allen) 1454 “Through the Looking-Glass Darkly: The Serpent’s Egg” (Librach) 249 (longer stud), 1363 Tijdschrift voor Skandinavistiek 202 Time 1011 (group item), 1054 “25-årig regissör märkesman i Stockholm” (Hoogland) 496 “To Bergman, Light, too, is a Character” (Eder) 1280 “To Duty Doubly Bound: A Study of Melancholy in Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Persona’, Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’, Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘The Sacrifice’ and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ‘The Idiot’, diss. (McGhee) 988 (group item, Morrison), 1659 “Tombeaux de Mozart” (Carcassone) 1334 “Torment of Insight: Youth and Innocence in the Films of Ingmar Bergman” (Kaminsky)’ 1253
“Tormented Lion of the North” (Observer) 1428 “Torna il profeta dei nostri dolori” (Canova) 1579 “Torsten Bohlin – konturer av en teologs identitetsutveckling” (Bohlin) 1520 “Toutes les palmes en une seule, Ingmar Bergman” (Buob) 1614 (group item) “Towering Genius of Ingmar Bergman” (Wood) 1243 “Traditionen i svenskt filmfoto” (Werner) 1540 (group item, p. 999) “Transcending Bounderies: Bergman’s Magic Flute” (Törnqvist) 247, 326, 663 Transposing Drama: Studies in Representation (Törnqvist) 636 Tre dagar med Bergman (Assayas/Björkman) 28, 33, 42, 47, 88, 95, 99 Tre dagböcker (Bergman/von Rosen) 1693 “Tre i skuggan av ett monument” (Ek/Holm/Osten) 662 “Trei voci spiritualiste del cinema contemporano: Bresson, Dreyer, Bergman” (Laura) 1012 (group item), 1126 “Trois cinéastes de la femme” (Breaucourt, Serceau, Domarchi) 975 (group item), 1247 “(Les) Trois métamorphoses d’Ingmar Bergman” (Béranger) 982 (group item), 991 “Trollflöjten, Drutten och tjocka släkten” (Entré) 574 “Trollkarl eller fältherre” (Mr. Mix) 985 “Trollkarlens lärling” (n.a.) 927 “Trollmannen i svensk teater” (Arntzen) 637 “ (The) Troubled Pilgrimage of Ingmar Bergman” (Harcourt) 1233 Trådrullen (Olin) 1377 “Tuntematen Bergman” (von Bagh/Bono) 1602 “Tvålopera à la Bergman” (Koskinen) 215, 1452 (group item), 1521 “Tvånget att göra upp” (Behrendt) 1456 “Ty riket är ditt” (Svanberg) 1534 “Tystnaden och Hermesstaven” (Almkvist) 988 (group item, Dante) “Tystnaden som tema” (Holloway) 1422 U 98. Mitt personregister (Sjöman) 15 “Ubessey” (satire) 1183 “Ukuelige Bergman. Ingmar Bergman og nationalscenen” (Strømberg/DR) 627 “Un estate d’ amore.” (Comuzio) 216 (longer art) “(The) Unbelieving Priest: Unamono’s Saint Emmanuel, the Good Martyr and Bergman’s Winter Light” (Lacy), 989 (group item, Unamono) “Under luppen. Bergman och kritiken” (Ljungkvist/ Westman) 1452 (group item, p. 984) “Undermining the Gaze: Voyeurism in Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night” (Brown) 223 (longer stud)
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Title Index “Une découverte d’Ingmar Bergman” (Björkman) 1539 (group item, p. 999) “Une épure tragique” (Roulet) 1313 “Ung man vid teatern” (anon) 510 “(L’) univers d’Ingmar Bergman” (Leirens) 1063 “(L’) univers d’Ingmar Bergman” (Ayfre) 1106 “(El) universo de Ingmar Bergman” (Ayfre) 1038 “Ur en drömmares perspektiv. Strindbergs subjektivism i Bergmans tolkning” (Hockenjos) 663, 989 (group item, Strindberg), 1628 “Ur martionetternas liv: Ingmar Bergman, Sverige och jag” (Wood) 1674 “Urpremiere på Ingmar Bergmans teaterdrama ‘Hets’ i Oslo 1948” (Anker) 1141 “Urspårad Bergmandebatt” (press report) 1033 (group item) “(L’) uscita di Nora dalla casa bergmaniana” (Lenti) 629 “Vad skall man tro? Religiösa motiv hos Ingmar Bergman” (Söderbergh-Widding) 997 (group item), 1628 (group item, p. 1016) “Varför är Ingmar Bergmans filmer så dåliga” (Kindblom) 1680 Variety 206 (rec), 207 (rec) “Vart tog livet vägen? Ingmar Bergmans svarta, storslagna farväl” (Bergom-Larsson) 1684 “Ved speilet bortenfor speilflaten: Et essay om spelmotivene i Smultonstället og Speil” (With) 1624 “Vem tillhör världen” (Olofson/du Reis) 1328 “Versuch einer kritischen Filmanalyse unter besondere Berücksichtigung von Weiblichkeits-ideologie – aufgezeigt an Film-Beispielen von Ingmar Bergman”, Diss. (Foelz & Mondry) 975 (group item) Victor Sjöström (Forslund) 1358 “Victor Sjöström och Ingmar – mötet mellan två stora i svensk film” (Idestam-Almqvist), 1005 “Vid fiktionens gräns. Ingmar Bergman och den höjda taktpinnens estetik” (Koskinen) 1452 (group item, p. 984) “Vid spegeln: Lacan/Bergman” [At the mirror: Lacan/Bergman] (Koskinen) 1446 “(The) Virgin Spring and The Seventh Seal: A Girardian Reading” (Mishler) 1608 “(Les) visages de la Passion dans l’univers de Bergman” (Renaud) 997 (group item) “Vision of Good and Evil” (Schilliachi) 997 (group item)
Visionen i svensk film (Widerberg) 148, 1033 (group item) “Visions of Film and Faith” (NBC TV, Champlin) 997 (group item) “Viskningar og rop. Film og samfunn” (Foss) 1232 “Vita dukens magi: Ingmar Bergman och de nya medierna” (Steene) 1502 “Voir ou ne pas voir” (Rohmer) 982 (group item), 1028 “Vom Erforscher der weiblichen Psyche” (Baron) 1580 (group item) “Vådan av att vara för stor” (Nilsson) 1447 “Vägen till Hamlet” (SR) 618 “Väl börjat, hälften vunnet. Tankar kring prologen i Smultronstället” (Rhodin) 1628 (group item) “Vänporträtt av en ung man” (Grevenius) 954 “Väsentligt och oväsentligt” (Löthwall) 1216 Vördnad för ljuset. Om film och människor (Nykvist) 1621 “Waiting for Bergman” (Hayden) 1124 “Whatever Happened to Ingmar Bergman?” (Kennedy) 1637 “When an Artist Feels Anxiety” (Morris) 1312 Wild Strawberries (French) 1585 “Winter Songs” (Lahr) 989 (group item, Shakespeare) “(Die) Wohnung des Herrn verlassen” (Koebner) 997 (group item), 1634 “Women: Oppression and Transgression. Persona Revisited” (Wood) 975 (group item), 1185, 1654 “Woody Allen. A Bergman Concoction” (Hamzai) 1587 “Wordless Secrets: The Cinema of Ingmar Bergman” (Murray-Brown) 1570 Working with Ingmar Bergman (BFI booklet) 1476 Zielekanker Symboliek in de Filmkunst van Ingmar Bergman (de Visscher) 1300 Zwierciadto Bergmana (Szczepański) 1663 “Zwischen Theater und Film” (Morisett) 1077 “Århundradets största filmskapare” [ (Hedman) 1588 Ögats glädje (Timm) 1576
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Name index The Name Index is divided into the following two sections: Section one comprises the following names: 1. All major contributors to Ingmar Bergman’s film, media and theatre productions, such as producers, actors, scenographers, cinematographers and other crew members, as well as composers, translators, and sponsors. 2. Directors who have filmed or staged Bergman’s scripts or plays. 3. Authors whose work Bergman has brought to the screen and writers whose plays he has directed in the theatre, the opera or the media. 4. Persons who have paid homage to Bergman. 5. Creative artists acknowledged by Bergman in writing or in interviews. 6. Persons who have appeared in connection with important cultural and/or political incidents in Bergman’s life. Section two is reserved for people who have written on Ingmar Bergman and his works. The list includes authors of books, dissertations, articles and newspaper reports, as well as interviewers, reviewers and editors of Bergman anthologies or special journal issues. A relatively small number of names in the index appear in both sections.
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Name Index
I. Names Related to Bergman’s Life and Work The professional or personal identity of a listed name is indicated in parenthesis after the name. The following abbreviations are used in Section I: prod. dir. script adapt. transl. (crew) (cast)
producer film or stage director scriptwriter adaptation of manuscript translator name refers to the first part of the Credits list in filmography, media or theatre entries. name to be found in the Cast list in the filmography, media or theatre entries
To facilitate locating a reference in the longer Guide entries, the following type of information may be listed in a parenthesis after an entry number : (com) (rec) (rev) (longer stud.) (intro) (survey) (city name) (name of person)
name to be found in the entry’s Commentary section following Credits listing. name to be found in the entry’s Reception section. name to be found in the Review listing name to be found under Longer articles/studies headline name to be found in the introductory part of a chapter name to be found in Chapters I (Life and Work) or III (The Filmmaker) info to be found under the name of city visited in a guest performance (Theatre Chapter VI). info to be found under that name in the entry.
Aaloe, A. (transl) 170 Aaröe, Amy (crew) 206 ABC Pictures (prod) 244, 248 Abell, Kjeld (playwright) 2, 359, 361 (com), 1288 Aberlé, Viola (crew) 253 Abrahamsson, Vivian (crew) 330 Abramson, Hans (crew) 222 Achter, Franz (crew) 252 Ackland, Joss (crew) 323 Adelby, Hanna (crew) 203 Adelby, Otto (crew) 203, 207 Adelly, Georg (cast) 215, 221, 223 Adler, Gun (cast) 378 Adolphson, Edvin (cast) 408, 519 (debate)
Adolphson, Inga (film archivist) 474 Adolphson, Kristina (cast) 227, 230, 232, 248, 253, 258, 435, 438, 441 (p 611), 447, 449, 467, 473, 477, 479 Adler, Gun (cast) 366 Afinogenova, A. (transl) 191 Afzelius-Wärnlöf, Birgit (crew) 399 Ahlbom, Martin (crew) 313, 392, 395, 419, 421, 427, 434, 488 Ahlin, Harry (cast) 208, 219, 396, 397, 402, 405 Ahlin, Lars (author) 688 (Jolo) Ahlsell, Herman (cast) 396, 397, 398, 401, 405, 407 Ahlsell, Puck (cast) 256
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Ahlstedt, Börje (cast) 253, 256, 257, 322, 341, 343, 444, 449, 465, 467, 473, 477, 486, 637 Ahlström, Hanne (cast) 472 Ahlström, Sven (cast) 417 Akselson, Ulla (cast) 317 Alandh, Lissie (cast) 220, 234 Albee, Edward (playwright) 110, 437, 442 Albertini, L. (transl) 150, 159, 165, 168, 170, 177, 185, 188, 191 Albiin, Emmy (cast) 216 Aleros, Siv (cast) 225 Alexandersson, Rolf (cast) 364 Alfredson, Hans (cast) 239, 256, 258, 309 Allard, Gunilla (crew) 253
Name Index Alleghieri, Dante 537 (Hedda Gabler debate) Allen, Woody (filmmaker) 185, 225 (com), 466 (sponsor, NY), 1452, 1454, 1505, 1565, 1574, 1575, 1587, 1604, 1667 Allwin, Pernilla (cast) 253 Alm, Carl-Olof (cast) 202 Almgren, Kristian (cast) 253 Almqvist, Carl Jonas Love (author) 477 Altman, Robert (filmmaker) 1642 (Orr) Amble, Lars (cast) 239, 446, 467 Aminoff, Marianne (cast) 248, 250, 253, 431, 439 Anastasia (cast) 369 Andelius, Anders (cast) 203, 219, 273 Andelius, Margit (cast) 278, 380 Anderberg, Bengt (playwright, debate ) 225 (rec), 295, 397 Anderberg, Bertil (cast) 204, 225, 238, 396, 401 Andersen, Bjarne (dir) 298 Andersen, Hans Christian (author) 7, 15, 295, 369, 385, 463 (rec). See also Chapter I, p. 30; Chapter II, p. 60 Andersson, Bibi (cast, book, art, int, report) 215, 223 - 228, 230, 232, 235, 236, 241, 244 (report), 246, 294, 298, 313, 315, 325, 425, 429, 430-434, 437, 438, 444, 454, 465 (see also), 468 (debate), 470, 473, 476, 477, 602, 622, 630, 637, 646, 768, 798, 912, 923, 1395, 1548, 1580, 1679. See also Chapter I, pp. 39-40 Andersson, Börje [aka Anders Börje] (cast) 360 Andersson, Carl (cast) 211 Andersson, Eddy (cast) 214 Andersson, Evald (crew) 225, 231, 233, 235, 236, 238, 239 Andersson, Gerd (cast) 216, 218, 253 Andersson, Gert-Ove (crew) 423, 433 Andersson, Gun (cast) 322 Andersson, Gustaf (cast) 435 Andersson, Harriet (cast) 95, 129, 208, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 231, 235, 245, 253, 284, 334, 417, 418, 419, 422, 426, 449, 450,
451, 1548. See also Chapter I, pp. 39-40, 42 Andersson, Inga-Lill (cast) 475, 480 Andersson, Jan (crew) 253 Andersson, Kerstin (cast) 256 Andersson, Lars (cast) 478, 479, 480 Andersson, Lars-Olof (cast) 233 Andersson, Marianne (cast) 420 Andersson, Mona (cast) 253, 439 Andersson, Morgan (cast) 439 Andersson, Nils (crew) 430 Andersson, Olof (prod) Chapter III, p. 137 Andersson, Peter (cast) 465 Andersson, Therese (cast) 473 Andersson, Wiktor “Kulörten” (cast) 203, 214, 218, 219, 408 Andersson-Palme, Laila (cast) 492 André, Birgitta (cast) 378 Andreassen, Ellen (cast) 492 Andreasson, Rune (cast) 207, 208, 408 Andreasson, Ulla (cast) 207 Angberg, Mait (crew) 467 Angela, Rita (cast) 304 Angeloupolos, Theodoros (filmmaker) 1500 (Murphy) Anneminne, Ingalill (cast) 423 Anouilh, Jean (playwright) 222 (com), 270, 279, 402, 404, 409 Anthof, Gerd (cast) 458, 460, 461, 462 Anttila, Ann-Marie (crew) 256, 330 Antonioni, Michelangelo (filmmaker) 1012 (group #, Prigione), 1138 Appellöf, Olga (cast) 291, 406 Aragon, Louis (poet) 1609 (Saunier) Arbin, Märta (cast) 202, 218, 224, 270, 273, 275, 276, 281, 282, 409 Arbus, Allan (cast) 324 Ardenstam, Sten (cast) 225 Arnia, Sara (cast) 256 Arman, Birgitta (cast) 371, 372 Arndt, Jürgen (cast) 458 Arneberg, Urda (cast) 445 Aronsson, Maj-Britt (crew) 376 Arosenius, Per-Axel (cast) 322 Arpe, Ninni (cast) 222
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Arpe, Verner (cast) 211 Arrhenius, Erik (cast) 211 Aruhn, Britt-Marie (cast) 247 Arvedson, Ragnar (cast) 230, 318, 441 (661), 443, 447, 450 Arvidson, Jerker (cast) 247 Arvidsson, Gun (cast) 279, 322, 415 Askelöf, Jan (crew) 330, 336, 337 Asklund, Harry (cast) 225 Askner, Åke (cast) 289, 420, 429, 430, 433, 434 Aslanowicz, A. (transl) 82, 164 Asp, Anna (crew) 248, 250, 253, 254, 256, 332, 335 Asplund, Eva (cast) 355 Asplund, Folke (cast) 341 Attenborough, Richard (prod) 1452 Atzorn, Robert (cast) 252, 458, 460, 461 Auden, W.H. (author) 489 August, Bille (filmmaker) 191, 256, 335. See also Chapter II, p. 59 August, Pernilla (aka Wallgren/ Östergren) (cast) 253, 256, 258, 335, 340, 341, 467, 468, 472, 477, 486, 487 Aukin, Liane (cast) 323 Aurell, Tage (author/transl) 418 Austin, Paul Britten (transl) 90, 123, 124, 135 Avedon, Richard (fest sponsor) 466 (New York) Axberg, Eddie (cast, crew) 233 Axelson, Maude (cast) 318 Axelson, Sten-Åke (crew) 420 Axelsson, Einar (cast) 318, 441 (611), 447 Axelsson, Marianne (crew) 220 Axelsson, Staffan (cast) 212 Bach, Johann Sebastian (composer) 226, 231, 234, 235, 236, 238, 239, 241, 244, 250, 257, 340, 343, 476, 1606. See also Chapter III; p. 151 Backelin, Gösta (cast) 247 Backlin, Ingrid (cast) 406 Baillod, Jules (playwright) 389 Balzac, Honoré de (author) 719 (Thiessen) Baneiu, B. (transl) 185 Bang, Elisabeth (cast) 298 Bang, Oluf (playwright) 230
Name Index Bang-Hansen, Arne (cast) 250, 445 Barba, Eugenio (dir) 466 (Belgrade) Baron, Stefan (crew) 256 Barringer, Lars (cast) 401, 402, 407 Barrault, Jean Louis (invitation) 552 Barth, Isolde (cast) 249 Barthel, Sven (crew) 428 Barthelson, Monica (TV crew) 318 Bartok, Bela (composer) 485 Basedow, Mathilde (crew) 252 Bassett, William H (cast) 324 Baude, Anna-Lisa (cast) 203, 267, 397, 401, 404 Baudrillard, Jean (sociologist) 1618 (Hayes) Bauer, Falk (crew) 482 Baumann, Herbert (crew) 456 von Baumgarten, Alexander (cast) 214 Bayler, Terence (cast) 323 Beckett, Samuel (playwright) 432 (Paris), 447 (rec), 989 (group #) Beckmark-Pedersen, Torben (crew) 257 van Beethoven, Ludwig (composer) 212, 235, 473 (com), 485 (com), 853 Beil, Peter (crew) 252 Belafonte, Henry (singer, actor) 1011 (Time) Bell, Daniel (music/crew) 253, 441, 446, 453, 454, 465, 467, 470, 472 Bellman, Carl Mikael (music) 244 Bengtson, Josua (cast) 287 Bengtsson, Erling Blöndal (cellist) 231 Bengtsson, Jan (music) 480 Bengtsson, Mikael (cast) 256 Benktsson, Benkt-Åke (cast) 204, 222, 225, 289, 293, 407, 417, 419, 427, 428 Bennech, Gisela (cast) 420 Bennent, Anne (cast) 464 Bennent, Heintz (cast) 249, 252, 462, 464 Benrath, Martin (cast) 252, 459 Bentzen, Dagmar (cast) 279, 415
Bentzonich, Axel (playwright) 2, 345 Berg, Catherine (cast) 225, 322 Berg, Kerstin (crew) 236 Berg, Sigvard (cast) 420 Bergendahl, Pia (cast) 256 Bergenholtz, Marie (cast) 473 Berger, Toni (cast) 249, 252 Bergfelt, Margareta (cast) 317, 403, 414 Berggren, Inga (cast) 218, 420, 421 Berggren, Olof (cast) 368 Berggren, Thommy (cast) 257, 437, 446, 470 Bergius, Ingeborg (cast) 211 Berglid, Magnus (crew) 341 Bergling, Birger (crew) 489 Berglund, Björn (cast) 273, 276 Berglund, Erik ”Bullen” (cast) 316 Berglund-Müllern, Margit (cast) 367 Berglund, Per (cast) 239 Bergman, Anna (cast/crew) 253, 485, 486 Bergman, Dag (diplomat, brother) Chapter I, p. 27, 34 Bergman, Daniel (filmmaker/ cast, son) 192, 247, 257. See also Chapter II, p. 59 Bergman, Ellen (see Lundström, Ellen) Bergman, Erik (pastor, father) Chapter I, pp. 26-27 Bergman, Eva (crew, daughter) 254, 332. See also Chapter I, p. 37 Bergman, Gun Grut (aka Gun Hagberg; script idea, wife) 218 (com), 427. See also Chapter I, pp. 38-39 Bergman, Hjalmar (playwright) 229 (rec), 250 (com), 287, 294, 313, 380, 988 (group #, p. 895), 388 (com), 432, 719, 989. See also Chapter II, p. 54 Bergman, Ingrid (cast) 2, 250, 432, 1616. See also Chapter III, p. 156 Bergman, Ingrid (aka Ingrid von Rosen); (cast, prod, wife) 245, 247, 252 (prod), 807. See also Chapter I, p. 47 Bergman, Jan (crew, son) 470. See also p. 37
1108
Bergman, Karin (mother, née Åkerblom) 146, 181, 194, 361 (see also), 363 (see also), 1520, 1526 (Linton-Malmfors), Chapter I, pp. 26-27, 30 Bergman, Karl-Arne (crew) 226, 228, 230, 231, 233, 234, 235, 236, 239, 240, 241 Bergman, Lena (cast, daughter) 226. See also p. 37 Bergman, Lena T. (cast) 244, 246 Bergman, Margareta (author, sister) 1349 Bergman, Mats (cast, son) 253, 474, 476, 478. See also p. 37 Bergman, Stina (SF manuscript dept) 387 (com), 438 (com). See also Chapter I, p. 36 Bergmark, Suzanne (crew) 337 Bergqvist, Gunwor (cast) 214 Bergqvist, Lennart (military adviser) 239 Bergson, Henri (philosopher) 1624 (With) Bergström, Ann Louise (cast) 253 Bergström, Jonas (cast) 449, 454 Bergström, Lasse (book ed, art, interv, memoir) 188, 223 (recept), 249 (recept), 253 (recept), 470 (see also), 921, 959, 1504, 1629 Bergström, Margareta (cast) 222 Bergström, Olof (cast) 317, 322 Bergström, Rolf (cast) 206, 356, 357 Bergström, Sune (playwright) 30, 388 Berkel, Christian (cast) 249 Bernanos, George (author) 1609 (Saunier) Bernardes, P. (transl) 150, 168, 170 Bernby, Julie (cast) 220, 221, 318, 363, 408, 410 Berndl, Christa (cast) 464 Bernström, Rune (cast) 355, 360, 362, 363, 366, 369, 371 Berthel, Kerstin (cast) 373 Beskow, Elsa (author) 375 (com), p. 30 Bibergan, V. (music) 481 Bibin, Michael (transl) 90
Name Index Billeskov Jensen, Janus (crew) 256 Billgren, Jean (crew) 468, 478 Billquist, Carl (cast) 235, 253, 318, 446, 449, 467, 534 Billsten, Britta (cast) 203, 204, 208, 393 Bjelvenstam, Björn (cast) 218, 223, 224, 226, 278, 418, 426, 427, 429, 430 Bjurström, C.G. (transl) 82, 122, 124, 150, 159, 165, 168, 170, 177, 185, 188, 191, 192, 195 Bjälkeskog, Lars (prod) 256 Bjärne, Frithiof (cast) 228 Björck, Johan (cast) 479 Björk, Anita (cast) 205, 218, 256, 258, 265, 267, 310, 311, 340, 335, 341, 342, 443, 471, 480, 483 Björk, Anna (cast) 341, 473, 477 Björk, Halvar (cast) 250, 257 Björk, Kjell (crew) 337 Björklund, Gertrud (crew) 316 Björkman, Per (cast) 414, 420, 429, 430, 432 Björlin, Mercedes (crew) 468 Björlin, Ulf (crew) 439 Björling, Harald (cast) 214 Björling, John W. (cast) 204, 206, 208, 210, 220 Björling, Renée (cast) 219, 221, 222, 287, 438, 439, 440 Björling, Sven (crew, cast) 209, 210, 222 Björne, Hugo (cast) 202, 224, 278, 411 Bjørnhaug, Ståle (cast) 445 Bjørnson, Bjørnstierne (playwright) 377 Björnstad, Lillemor (cast) 439 Björnstrand, Gunnar (cast) 202, 204, 207, 218, 220, 221, 222, 223, 225, 226, 228, 230, 231, 232, 233, 235, 239, 240, 248, 250, 253, 281, 283, 285, 287, 292, 293, 296, 299, 370, 423, 424, 454 (com), 990, 1087, 1263 Bladh, Hilding (cinematographer) 82, 204, 220, 222 Blair, Alan (transl) 150, 159, 161, 165, 166, 168, 170, 177, 186 Blakiston, Caroline (cast) 323 Blanck, Henning (cast) 221 Blanck, Inger (crew) 318 Blank, Egon (TV crew) 316 Blixt, Gunnel (cast) 315 Blom, Anita (cast) 210
Blomberg, Jan (cast) 235, 477 Blomberg, Peter (cast) 466 Blomdahl, Karl-Birger (composer/crew) 220 Blomgren, Bengt (cast) 208, 226 Blomkvist, Magnus (cast) 247 Blomqvist, Gunnel (crew) 330 Blomqvist, Lennart (crew, cast) 209, 240 Blomstedt, Herbert (conductor) 343 Blum, Carin (crew) 337 Bodén, Bertil (TV adapt) 314 Bodin, Astrid (cast) 212, 219 Bodin, Martin (cinematographer) 202, 213, 221, 224 Bogærts, Jan (transl) 177 Bohlin, Allan (cast) 203 Bohne, Richard (cast) 249 Bojar, Louise (cast) 413 Boland, Bridget (playwright) 292 Bolander, Hugo (crew, cast) 211, 214 Bolme, Tomas (cast) 256 Boman, Birgit (cast) 368 Bondevik, Kjell (politician) 320 (com) von Bonin, Thabita (transl) 98, 119, 150 Bonnevie, Maria (cast) 309, 310, 311, 479 Bonniers Publishers 22, 56, 90. See also Chapter II, p. 53, 62 Borges, Jorge (author) 989 (group #) Borgström, Hilda (cast) 202, 207, 209 Borong, Tor (crew, cast) 212, 214, 219, 221, 225, 228, 229, 233 Borchsenius, Hanne (cast) 452 Borthen, Ingrid (cast) 206, 318, 396, 397, 399, 407 Bosch, Hieronymous (painter) Chapter II, p. 63 Bosse, Harriet (actress/Strindberg’s wife) 360 (com), 485 (com) Boström, Gunnel (cast) 263 Boström, Ingrid (cast) 467, 479 Boström, Kerstin (cast) 371, 377, 413 Botwid, John (cast) 215, 216 Boulevardteatern 381, 406 Bousé, Ivan (cast) 214 Braathen, Oscar (playwright) 37, 204
1109
Bradfield, Keith (transl) 147 Bragazzi, the Brothers (cast) 210 Brahms, Johannes (composer) Chapter III, p. 151 Bramberg, Kicki (cast) 467, 470, 473, 479, 480, 492 Brandes, Georg (critic) 187, 401 (com), 1477 Brandt, Nils (cast) 253 Brattberg, Louise (TV crew) 339 Brecht, Bertolt (playwright) 71, 269, 347, 408, 470 (com), 537. See also Chapter I, p. 39 Bredevik, Gunnar (crew) 322 Brenner, David (prod) 1711 Brensén, Birgitta (TV crew) 334 Bresson, André (filmmaker) 996, 997, 1012 (Laura) Brett, Jeremy (cast) 448 Breuer, Jacques (cast) 456 Bridges, Alan (dir) 142, 323 Briese, Naemi (cast) 206, 219, 220 British Broadcasting Corp (BBC, product) 323 Britten, Benjamin (composer) 253 Brod, Max (playwright) 418 Brodin, Helena (cast) 257, 318, 322, 438, 439, 453, 471, 480 Brofeldt, Helga (cast) 214 Brogren, Lena (cast) 218, 256 Brook, Peter (dir) 446 (rec), 468 (Florence rec), 472 (Madrid) Brosset, Yvonne (cast) 221 Brost, Gudrun (cast) 220, 225, 229, 238, 295, 426, 430 Broström, Gunnel (cast) 226, 280, 316, 439, 442 Brown, Royal S. (transl) 87 Bruce, Lenny (humorist) 449 (com) Brueghel, Pieter (painter) 465 (Amsterdam recept) Bruckner, Anton (composer) 343 Bruggen, Franz (musician) 250 Brundahl, Anita (crew) 449 Brunell, Olle (cast) 351, 355 Brunius, Britta (cast) 207, 210, 211, 241 Brunius, Pauline (head, Dramaten) 369 (com)
Name Index Brunman, Ernst (cast) 212, 216, 219 Brunnander, Thérèse (cast) 259, 477 Brunnell, Erna (cast) 249 Bruno, Blenda (cast) 369 Brunskog, Bengt (cast) 219 Bryer, Paul (cast) 324 Brynolfsson, Reine (cast) 477 Brænd, Paula (cast) 249, 459 Brøgger, Valdemar (author, pseud Peter Valentin) 214 Buchegger, Christine (cast) 252, 456, 457, 459, 461, 463, 464 Bucht, Inga (cast) 392 Buich, K. (transl) 185 Bunch, Svend (cast) 230 Bundgaard, Poul (cast) 304 Buñuel, Luis (filmmaker) 825 (Kalmar), 997, 1460 (Graef) Bunyan, Paul (author) 239 (rec/ Seguin)) Buono, Victor (cast) 324 Burian, Paul (cast) 249 Burke, P.E. (transl) 87, 108 Burnett, Elsa (cast) 382, 390 Burrell, Richard (cast) 323 Busse, Hildegard (cast) 249 Büchner, Georg (playwright) 446, 550 Bürkner, Robert (adapt) 375 Bürks, Paul (cast) 249 Bylsmå, Anne (musician) 250 Byron, Lord (author) Chapter I, p. 44 Byström, Margareta (cast) 244, 322, 441 (611), 446, 465, 471 Bäck, Sven Erik (music) 318 Bäckström, Stefan (crew) 244 Børresen, Geir (cast) 445 Børseth, Aagot (cast) 445 Børseth, Henrik (cast) 298 Böcklin, Arnold (painter) 485 (com) Börtz, Daniel (composer) 337, 480, 486, 492, 641, 942, 1697. See also Chapter I, p. 49 Caesar, Julia (cast) 203, 204, 216 Cagarp, Carl-Henry (crew) 225, 228, 229 Cain, Shirley (cast) 323 Caldwell, Erskine (author) 414 (rec) Callenbo, Bernt (cast) 322, 388 Callenbo, Eva (cast) 466
Calmeyer, Joachim (cast) 298, 445 Camus, Albert (playwright) 396, 432, 989, 1567, 1609 Canetti, Elias (author) 482 Carlberg, Lars-Ove (prod, crew) 220, 222, 230, 231, 233, 234, 235, 236, 238, 239, 240, 241, 244, 245, 246, 247 (cast 248, 253 (cast), 321, 325, 329 Carlberg, Ragnar (crew) 203 Carlin, John (cast) 323 Carlman, Thure (cast) 429, 430 Carlquist, Margit (cast) 212, 223, 411 Carlsson-Arrhed, Lena (cast) 257 Carlsson, Arne (docu filmmaker, crew) 245, 246, 321, 329, 333 Carlsson, Lilian (cast) 239 Carlsson, Sickan (cast) 232 Carlsten, Rolf (crew) 221 Carné Marcel (filmmaker) 204 (rec), 943 (Aghed), 1012 (Chiaretti). See also Chapter III, p. 147 Carnman, Carla (cast) 367 Carradine, David (cast) 249 Carson, John (cast) 323 Carter, Daniel (cast) 476 Castegren, Victor (dir) 485 (com) Cederborgh, Artur (cast) 271 Cederlund, Gösta (cast) 202, 204, 214, 232 Cederström, Carin (cast) 203, 260, 261, 368, 382, 383, 385, 387, 388, 390, 391, 394 Cederström, (Ella) Lena (cast) 414, 419 Cernciu, Z. (transl) 185 Cernçık, Z. (transl) 150, 170, 178, 192 Cerny, Alfred (cast) 460 Chabrol, Claude (filmmaker) 1642 Chaplin, Charlie (actor) 320 (com), 1120, 1335, 1616 Chave, Kotti (cast) 443 Chekhov, Anton (playwright) 435, 457, 586, 865, 989, 1252, 1255 Cherrell, Gwen (cast) 323 Chesterton, Gilbert Keith (playwwright) 398, 989
1110
Chopin, Frédéric (composer) 223, 245, 250, 1606 Christenson, Irma (cast) 210, 217, 256, 257, 322, 334, 439 Cima, C.G. (transl) 191, 192 Cinematograph (prod co) 191, 240, 241, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 253, 254, 321, 325, 326, 329, 332, 333. See also Chapter I, p. 47 Ciulli, Roberto (dir) 456 (Grack/guest perform) Claesson, Signe (cast) 363, 364 Claesson, Åke (cast) 207, 209, 275, 276 Claudel, Paul (playwright) 583 Cloffe (see Johnsson-Cloffe, Carl) Cocteau, Jean (playwright, filmmaker) 288, 989, 1610, 1617 Cohn, Sean Agency (sponsor) 466 (New York) Cold, Ulrik (cast) 247 Coleman, Noel (cast) 323 Coleridge, Samuel (poet) 239 (rec/Seguin) Colliander, Erland (cast) 370, 377 Collin, Gunnar (cast) 435 Corman, Roger (prod, distribut) 245. See also Chapter I, p. 47 Craig, Gordon (stage designer) 486 (com) Cramér, Carl (cast) 372 Craven, Wes (filmmaker) 1631 (Brashinsky) Crona, Görel (cast) 473 Crosbie, Annette (cast) 323 Cruseman, Jan (radio prod) 312 Csencsits, Franz J. (cast) 482 Cukor, George (filmmaker) 975 (Braucourt) Culp, Robert (cast) 324 Curman, Maria (TV prod) 340 Dahl, Arne (cast) 420 Dahl, Solveig (cast) 400, 401 Dahlbeck, Eva (cast) 95, 209, 218, 221, 222, 223, 224, 227, 235, 271, 273, 282, 283, 296, 435, 1013, 1452. See also Chapter I, p. 3839; Chapter III, p. 143 Dahlberg, Ingrid (TV, Dramaten head) 256, 602 Dahlgren, F.A. (author) 273 Dahlgren, Nils (cast) 208
Name Index Dahlin, Hans (cast) 209 Dahlman, Gregor (cast) 214 Dahlman, Lars (crew) 322 Dahlqvist, Åke (cinematographer) 205, 209, 217, 318 Dahlsten, Dennis (cast) 453, 465, 467, 468 Dahlström, Gus (cast) 203, 253 Dali, Salvador (painter) 1575 (Svetlitza) Dalunde, Bengt (cast) 202, 371, 379 Dalunde, Nancy (cast) 373, 374 Dan-Bergman, Mona (cast) 418 Daniel, Jennifer (cast) 323 Daniels, William (cast) 324 Danielson, Gertrud (cast) 413 Danielsson, Edward (cast) 202, 204, 362 Danmarks Radio (DR, prod) 297, 304, 340, 343 Darling, Jane (cast) 247 da Silva, Agostino (poet) 1488 Davies, Terence (filmmaker) 1689 Degen, Michael (cast) 456, 461, 462 Degerberg, Alfhild (cast) 415, 419, 423, 430 Degerberg, John (cast) 430 Dellow, Carl Magnus (cast) 257, 342, 473, 475, 480, 483, 486, 492 Demianova, Margita (crew) 481 Dignam, Mark (cast) 323 Djerf, Gunnar (musician) 253 Djerf, Sture (cast) 344, 347, 349, 351, 355, 356, 357, 360, 363, 364, 371, 377, 378 Dobrowen, Isai (opera dir) 489 (com) Dohm, Gaby (cast) 249, 252, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461 Dolata, Jan (cast) 447 Dolgashev, Vjaheslav (crew) 481 Doll, Birgit (cast) 462 Donner, Jörn (SFI head, exec prod, filmmaker, bk, art, interv) 185, 229 (recept), 233, 249 (com), 253, 254, 332, 836, 907, 989, 1071, 1229, 1314, 1452, 1625, 1695, 1706. See also Chapter I, p. 47 Dorff, Märta (cast) 213, 318 Dorrow, Dorothy (cast) 328 Dorso, Kim (cast) 324
Dostoyevski, Fjodor (author) 211 (rec), 719 (Thiessen), 989, 1567, 1659 Dramaten (Royal Dramatic Theatre) 339, 411, 435, 437444, 446, 447, 449-451, 453, 454 (455), 465-487. See also Chapter I, p. 30, 45, 49, and Intro, Chapter VI Dramatists Studio (Dramatikerstudion) 378-380. See also Intro, Chapter VI Drott, Cecilia, aka Drott-Norlén (crew) 235, 239, 240, 241, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 250, 259, 337, 341, 343 Douglas, Donald (cast) 323 Dreyer, Carl (filmmaker) 320 (com), 960, 989 (Plath), 997, 1012, 1138, 422, 1464, 1617 Dufvenius, Julia (cast) 343 Dupont, Titti (cast) 420, 423 Duvivier, Julien (filmmaker) 943 (Aghed), 1012 (Chiaretti) Düberg, Axel (cast) 222, 228, 229, 230, 235, 253, 314, 316, 429, 430, 431, 433, 434, 441, 443, 446, 447, 451 Dyfverman, Henrik (radio prod/ disc) 225 (rec), 396 (see also) Dymling, Carl Anders (prod, art) 202, 364 (rec), 711, 1044, 1062, 1616 (Fant). See also Chapter I, p. 36; Chapter III, p. 139 Dörfler, Walter (crew) 456, 457 Easton, Robert (cast) 324 Ebbersten, Rebecca (cast) 473 Ebbesen, Dagmar (cast) 219, 221 Ebbesen-Thornblad, Elsa (cast) 233, 244, 318 Eckert-Lundin, Eskil (crew/orchestration) 211, 212, 214, 216, 218, 219, 221, 223, 228 Ede, Rune (music) 347, 349, 350, 363, 369, 372, 374, 379 Edgard, Curt, aka Kurt Östergren (cast) 202, 261, 345, 347, 349, 350, 351, 355, 365, 366, 376, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 386, 388, 390, 393 Edlund, Gunnel (cast) 417 Edqvist, Dagmar (author) 207 Edström, Karl-Henrik (music) 382, 383, 384, 385 (music/cast) 386, 387, 394
1111
(The) Eduardini (cast) 234 Edwall, Allan (cast) 230, 233, 235, 253, 318, 330, 432, 447, 449 Edwall, Malin (cast) 476 Edwall, Måns (cast) 466 Edwards, Gerd (TV prod) 330 Edwardsson, Erland (TV crew) 316 Egede, Henrik (transl) 187 Egge, Lars (cast) 273, 408 Ehrensvärd, Agneta (cast) 473 Ehrling, Monica (cast) 226 Ehrling, Sixten (conductor) 225 Ehrner, Magnus (cast) 309, 479 Ehrnwall, Pia (TV prod/project leader) 334, 341, 342, 343 Ehrnvall, Torbjörn (TV prod crew) 343, 679, 1700 Eichler, Hans (cast) 249 Eilbacher, Bobby (cast) 324 Eisenstein, Sergei (filmmaker) 207 (rec/Robin Hood) Ek, Anders (cast) 46, 220, 225, 240, 245, 262, 270, 272, 275, 276, 277, 379, 380, 392, 396, 397, 398, 401, 405, 408, 409, 442, 443, 449, 450, 451, 692. See also Chapter III, p. 143 Ek, Malin (cast) 241, 257, 446, 447, 453 Ek, Mats (crew) 446, 662 Ek, Olle (cast) 439, 443 Ek, Staffan (cast) 492 Ekberg, Gudrun (cast) 371, 372 Ekberg, Lotti (crew) 244 Ekberg, Monica (cast) 227 Ekblad, Stina (cast) 253, 259, 471 Ekbladh, Olof (cast) 221 Ekborg, Anders (cast) 473 Ekborg, Lars (cast) 219, 228, 271, 277, 280 Ekelund, Allan (crew, cast) 49, 206, 207, 212, 218, 219, 221, 223, 225, 226, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235 Ekelund, Christer (cred) 253 Ekelöf, Gunnar (poet) 233 (rec), 628 (Sörenson interv) Ekerot, Bengt (cast, dir) 225, 228, 278 (dir), 283, 286, 411 (recept), 425 (crew), 442, 470 (com) Eklund, Bengt (cast) 207, 208, 211, 219, 239, 248, 443 Eklund, Ernst (cast) 203 Eklund, Jacob (cast) 473, 477
Name Index Eklund, Nils (cast) 289, 293, 330, 418, 422, 423, 428, 429, 485, 486 Ekman, Elin (cast) 472 Ekman, Fatima (cast) 449 Ekman, Gösta (cast, crew) 226, 228, 248, 431, 432-434 (com), 927 Ekman, Hasse (filmmaker, cast, script) 210, 211, 220, 704, 927, 1583, 1640 Ekman, Härje (crew) 314, 428, 430, 432 Ekman, John/Johan (cast) 212, 396, 397 Ekmanner, Agneta (cast) 341, 471, 478, 652, 1613 Ekström, Gunnar (cast, debate) 519 Ekström, Märta (cast) 288 Ekvall, Per-Olof (cast) 439, 441, 443 Elfsjö, Maud (cast) 227 Elfström, John (cast) 207, 213, 221, 291, 316, 318 Elfving, Carl-Axel (cast) 216, 219 Eljas, Mats (cast) 347 Ellert, Gundi (cast) 461, 462 Ellis, Hans (cast) 219 Ellung, Ingalill (cast) 256 Elmquist, Ulla (crew) 452 (com) Elvegård, Charlie (cast) 322 Elwin, Lars (cast) 368 Emhardt, Robert (cast) 324 Endre, Lena (cast) 199, 256, 257, 259, 473, 475, 478, 486 Eng, Ebbe (musician) 253 Eng, Folke (musician) 253 Engfeldt, Åke (cast) 210, 266, 412, 413 Engholm, Lennart (crew) 239, 240, 241, 244 Engström, Klas (crew) 257 Engström, Lars (medical adviser) 227 Engström, Ulla-Britt (cast) 421 Enqvist, Per Olov (author, art, debate, rev) 238 (rec), 342, 446 (rev), 463, 465 (see also), 483, 602, 662, 671, 1658 Enwall, Signe (cast) 318, 439 Erichsen, Svend (press report) 452 (rec) Ericks, Siv (cast) 222, 253
Erickson, Robert L. (thesis) 1338 Ericksson, Arne (interv, art) 225, 729 Ericksson, Jacob (cast) 311 Ericson, Annalisa (cast) 216 Ericson, Eric (crew/music) 247 Ericson, Maria (cast) 473 Ericson, Rolf (cast) 218 Ericson, Stig Ossian (crew) 208 Ericson, Sture (actor) 203, 204, 208, 209, 260, 261, 266, 268, 289, 376, 379-387, 390, 391, 393 Ericsson, Buntel (scriptwriter, pseud for Erland Josephson/ Ingmar Bergman) 116, 232 Ericsson, Gösta (cast) 210, 219 Ericsson, Ingegerd (crew) 208, 211, 212, 216 Ericsson, Martin (crew) 396, 401 Ericsson, Sture (cast) 364, 365, 371, 376, 382-387, 390, 391, 392, 394, 413 Eriksdotter, Kerstin (crew) 248, 249, 250, 253 Erikson, David (cast) 209, 223 Erikson, Elisabeth (cast) 247 Eriksson, Jesper (cast) 473 Eriksson, Stefan (crew) 343 Eriksson, Yvonne (cast) 209 Erixson, Sven/X-et (painter/ crew) 369 Erskine, Karin (crew) 247 Eskelinen, H. (transl) 188 Esphagen, Claes (cast) 364, 366 Essén, Ingemar (cast) 367 Euripides (dramatist) 190, 337, 492, 537, 1677. See also Chapter I, p. 49 Evrén, Ulf (cast) 473 Ewerstein, Seivie (crew) 203 Faber, Erwin (cast) 460, 462, 469, 471 Fahlén, Sven (crew) 245 Fahlstedt, Sven (crew) 411 Falck, Ragnar (cast) 318, 408, 438, 439, 443 Falck, Åke (dir) 280 Falk, Lauritz (cast) 454 Falk, Per (crew) 415, 417, 420, 423, 429 Falk, Vibeke (cast) 258 Falkemo, Britt (crew) 235, 245, 247, 336
1112
Falkner, Stig (cast) 344, 347 Fant, Carl-Henrik ‘Kenne’ (SF prod, cast, memoirs) 210, 244, 804, 1616 Fant, Kenneth (music) 480 Fant, Mikael (cast) 220 Faragó, Katherina ‘Katinka’ (crew) 222, 223, 225, 226, 228, 233, 234, 235, 239, 241, 244, 245, 247, 248, 250, 253, 257, 334, 1715 Fark, Sixten (cast) 247 Fassbinder, Rainer (filmmaker) 172, 975, 1413 Fastborg, Kjell (cast) 367 Faustman, Hampe (filmmaker) 1325 (Kosmorama) Feilberg, A. (transl) 191, 192, 194 Feist, Emil (cast) 249 Fellini, Frederico (filmmaker) 749, 825 (Kalmar), 850, 1012, 1058, 1174, 1388, 1443, 1452 (homage), 1489, 1530 Ferm, Ulf (cast) 368 Ferrari, F. (transl) 185 Feuer, Donya (crew) 247, 328, 336, 337, 449, 454, 465, 471, 473, 476, 478, 479, 480, 486, 492 Finlay, Frank (cast) 323 Finnbogadottir, Vigdis (president) 466 (Reykjavik) Fischer, Arthur (cast) 219 Fischer, Essie (cast) 355 Fischer, Gunnar (cinematographer) 208, 211, 212, 214, 215, 216, 218, 219, 223, 225, 226, 228, 230, 232, 912, 965, 1711. See also Chapter III, p. 149 Fischer, Jens (cast) 218 Fischer, Leck (playwright) 34, 41, 203 Fischer, Peter (cast) 218 Fisher, Else (co-author, crew, wife) 6, 225, 363, 372, 376, 379. See also Chapter I, p. 37 Fjellström, Madeleine (cast) 446 Flachsmeire, Helma (crew) 252 Flaubert, Gustav (author) 1669 Flaws, Jessie (cast) 219, 222 Fleetwood, Amelie (cast) 492 Flemming, Charlotte (crew) 249, 252, 457, 458 Flens, Karl-Erik (cast) 203, 271, 379 Flinck, Thorsten (cast) 478, 480 (com)
Name Index Flodin, Stig (crew) 230, 231, 233, 234 Flodquist, Barbro (cast) 207, 209 Florea, E. (transl) 185 Flygare, Calle (cast) 211 Fogeby, Nils (cast) 239 Fogelström, Per Anders (author) 69, 80, 213, 219 Folkparksteatern (summer stock) 412 Follin, Bror (cast) 401, 404, 407 Folstad, Astrid (cast) 298 Fonzi, Bruno (transl) 110 Fournier, Vincent (transl) 199 Ford, John (filmmaker) 825 (Kalmar) Formosa, Feliu (transl) 119 Forsberg, Arne (cast) 355 Forsberg, Tony (crew) 253, 257, 341 Forsberg-Lindgren, Åsa (musician) 343 Forsell, Lars-Åke (crew) 368 Forsén, Mona Theresia (crew) 257 Forslund, Erik (cast) 214 Forsmark, Curre (TV crew) 336 Forsmark, Jan-Erik (music) 360 Forsmark, Kerstin (crew) 247 Forssberg, Karl-Axel (cast) 220, 239, 364, 366, 369, 371- 375, 381386, 390, 393, 453 Forssell, Lars (author, rev) 239 (rec), 330 (tr), 449 (crew), 473 (crew), 788, 988 Forstenberg, Leif (cast) 229, 234, 256, 430, 431 Foss, Wenche (cast) 246 Fosse, Bob (filmmaker) 975, 1413 Foucault, Michel (social thinker) 1609 (Saunier) Fournier, Pierre (musician) 245 Frambäck, Christina (cast) 441 Fred, Gunnel (cast) 258, 341, 343, 473, 479, 480 Freedman, Lewis (exec prod, TV interv) 324, 775 Freud, Sigmund (psychologist) 1012 (Chiaretti) Freude, Harry (crew) 252 Freude-Schnaase (crew) 252 Friberg, Helene (cast) 247, 248, 328 Friberg, Mats (crew) 344
Fridell, Åke (cast) 204, 206, 210, 219, 220, 223, 225, 226, 228, 260, 261, 279, 284, 285, 289, 290, 293, 315, 380, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 390, 391, 393, 394, 415, 417, 418, 419, 422, 423, 424, 426, 427, 429, 430, 431, 434. See also Chapter I, p. 40 Fridh, Gertrud (cast) 206, 226, 228, 230, 235, 238, 270, 275, 279, 397, 398, 399, 402, 404, 408, 409, 417, 431, 440, 448 (com), 449, 451, 453 Friedmann, Jane (cast) 283, 307, 308, 310, 439, 440, 444 Friedmann, Sammy (cast) 398, 402, 404 Frier, Helga (cast) 304 Fries, Kerstin (cast) 368 Frisell, Gunnar (TV crew) 336 Frisk, Jon (cast) 347 Frithiof, Anders (cast) 289, 415, 419, 422 Frithiof, Berndt (crew) 240 Frithiof, Judith (cast) 417, 420, 430 Fritz, Nils (cast) 279 Frodon, J.M. (transl) 919 (Assayas-Björkman) Fruttero, Carlo (playwright) 285 Frydman, Basia (cast) 476 Frykholm, Irene (crew) 473, 492 Frykstrand, Ulla (cast) 368 Fröbe, Gert (cast) 249 Fröding, Einar (dialect instr) 273 Fröler, Samuel (cast) 256, 258, 340 Fröling, Ewa (cast) 253, 309, 311, 312, 465 Funcke, Doris (cast) 235 Funkquist, Georg (cast) 205, 216, 230, 235, 280, 322 Furås, Ulla (crew) 229, 230 Fürst, Sigge (cast) 219, 221, 223, 239, 241, 443, 444, 446 Fyhring, Göte (cast) 408, 409, 410 Färber, Conrad Maria (transl) 101 Färingborg, Gustaf (cast) 219, 221, 428, 429, 430, 433 Gamble, Sven-Eric (cast) 211, 213, 411, 415, 446
1113
208,
Gandrup, Carl (playwright) 286 Ganyeva Vera (transl) 159, 168, 185 Garbers, Gerhard (cast) 456 Garbo, Greta (actress) 185, 1616 Garellick, Harriet (cast) 203, 396, 414 Gaston Hakim Productions 216 Gaumont (prod co) 253 Gavle, Hilding (cast) 213 Gay, Git (cast) 222 Geijer-Falkner, Mona (cast) 203, 207, 214, 218, 219, 278 af Geijerstam, Gustaf (author, adapt) p. 30 Gelin, Patricia (cast) 253 Genetay, Claude (musician) 250 Gentzel, Lennart (crew) 256 Gentzel, Ludde/Ludvig (cast) 204, 222, 396, 399, 401 Gerhard, Karl (entertainer) 387 (rec) Gerthel, Olav (cast) 434 Gester, Sten (cast) 202, 223 Gide, André (author) 1609 (Saunier) Gielen, Michael (conductor) 489 Gierow, Karl Ragnar (rev, Dramaten head) 401(rec), 411 (com), 432, 433 (Paris). See also Intro Dramaten, p. 600 Giesecke, Jutta (cast) 421 Giesing, Dieter (dir/crew) 482 Gill, Inga (cast) 222, 225, 227, 230, 245, 278, 364 Gillberg, Bengt (cast) 225 Gilman, Charlotte (author) 1252 (Holden) Gimmler, Heinrich (transl) 165, 168, 191, 464 Girard, René (philosopher) 1608 (Mishler) Gistedt, Elna (cast) 322 Gjersøe, Per (dir) 21 Gjörup, Malin (cast) 245 Glaser, Etienne (cast) 435 Glittenberg, Rolf (crew) 482 Gnaedig, Alain (transl) 194 Gneiser, Aja (cast) 402 Godard, Jean Luc (filmmaker, art) 219 (rec), 239 (rec), 768, 982, 1002, 1372, 1452. See also Chapter I, p. 44; Chapter II, p. 55
Name Index Goethe, Wolfgang von (playwright) 162, 239 (rec), 433. See also Chapter I, p. 39 Gogh, Vincent van (painter) 473 (com) Gogol, Nikolai (author) 293 Goldstein, Max (Mago) (crew) 118, 220, 223, 230, 231, 233, 235, 236, 238, 239, 240, 241, 244, 440, 445, 448, 459, 483, 1155, 1157, 1527 Gombrowicz, Witold (playwright) 460, 479 Goodman, Randolph (transl) 90 Gordeladz, Gita (cast) 408 Gotobed, Dennis (cast) 244 Gothenburg City Theatre (Göteborgs Stadsteater) 396-402, 404-405, 407. See also Chapter I, p. 38-39, and Intro, Chapter VI Gould, Elliott (cast) 244 de Goya y Lucientes (painter) 211 (rec), 407 (com) Graffman, Göran (cast) 235, 322 Granath, Björn (cast) 256, 259, 338, 339, 472-476 Granberg, Lars (cast) 225 Granditsky, Paul, [“Palle”Grannér] (cast, dir) 202, 364, 366, 379, 380 Granlund, Majlis (cast) 253, 257 Grannér, Paul (see Granditsky, Palle) Gréco, Juliette (actress) 432 (Paris) Grede, Kjell (filmmaker) See Bergman as Producer, 1976 Grede, Patrick (crew) 257 Grefberg, Gabriel (pastor) 347 (rec) Grefbo, Göte (cast) 209 Gregaard, Peer (dir) 572 Greid, Herman (cast) 208, 211 Grevenius, Herbert/Grv (script, dramaturg). Also listed in Section II 35, 37, 68, 70, 204, 211, 214, 216, 217, 263, 282, 287, 291, 468, 505. See also Chapter I, p. 38 Grieg, Edvard (composer) 430 (com) Grigolli, Olivia (cast) 462 Grimm Brothers (authors) 375, 1492 (Sitney)
Grosser, Renate (cast) 249 Groth, Erna (cast) 215, 220 Grubner, Johanna (cast) 482 Grundén, Per (cast) 420, 453 Grut, Gun (see Gun Bergman) Grünberger, Manne (cast) 318 Grönberg, Åke (cast) 205, 219, 220, 221 Gröndahl, Eva (cast) 256 Grönwall, Birgitta (cast) 316 Gullberg, Hjalmar (author) 4, 281 Gummesson, Lotta (cred) 330 Gustafsson, Berit (cast) 215, 284, 289, 414, 415, 418, 422, 423, 424, 426 Gustafson, Björn (cast) 256, 291, 330, 334, 425, 438, 441 Gustafson, Eric (cast) 220 Gustafsson, Gittan (cred/film architect) 222, 226 Gustafsson, Gösta (cast) 219, 282, 287 Gustafsson, Pontus (cast) 479 Gustafsson, Richard (cast) 478, 479, 480 Gustavsson, Kjell (crew) 238, 256 Guth, Klaus (cast) 460, 462 Gutierrez, Eduardo (cast) 234 Guve, Bertil (cast) 253, 254 Günther, Ernst (cast) 256 Gyllenhammar, Conrad (cast) 220 Gyllenhammar, Marianne (cast) 207 Gyllenspetz, Anne-Marie (cast) 227 Göranzon, Marie (cast) 256 Haag, Benny (cast) 339, 473, 478, 479 Hagberg, Gun (see Bergman, Gun) Hagberg, Gunilla (crew) 245 Hagberg, Gunlög (cast) 225 Hagegård, Håkan (singer/cast) 247 Hagerman, Helge (prod, cast) 211, 214, 216, 221, 291, 443, 444 Hagman, Emy (cast) 215 Hagman, Gerd (cast) 268, 467, 468, 475, 477, 479, 485 Hahne, Elis (cast) 347, 379 Hailhuber, Heino (crew) 456 Hald, Nils (cast) 298
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Hall, Berta (cast) 208, 400, 405, 407 Hall, Inga (cast) 344 Hallap, Prit (cast) 214 Hallberg, Nils (cast) 208 Hallberg, Yngve (techn dir) 316 Hallerstam, Staffan (cast) 244 Hallhuber, Erich (cast) 460, 461, 462 Hallhuber, Heino (crew/cast) 249, 460 Hallmarker, Evert (musician) 253 Hallqvist, Britt G. (transl) 180, 465, 468 (com), 478 (com), 486, 618 Halvarsson, Arne (video crew) 339 Halvorsen, Britt (transl) 87 Hammar, Fredrik (cast) 476, 478 Hammar, I.E. (transl) 185 Hammarbäck, Gösta (crew) 227 Hammarén, Torsten (dir, theatre head) 390 (rec), 643. See also Chapter I, p. 38 and Intro, Chapter VI (The Gothenburg Years) Hammargren, Gun (cast) 225 Hammarsten, Gustaf (cast) 256 Hamrin, Folke (cast) 408 von Hanno, Eva (cast) 252 Hansegård, Lars (cast, report) 368 Hansen, Benny (cast) 452 Hansen, Holger Juel (cast) 452 Hansen, Sven (crew) 205, 208, 212, 213, 214, 218, 221 Hanser, Carl (transl) 170 Hanson, Lars (actor) 401 (com), 470 (com); see also Chapter I, p. 41 and Intro, Dramaten in Chapter VI Hansson, Carl-Erik (crew) 430 Hansson, Gunnel (cast) 371, 372, 373, 374 Hansson, Lena (crew) 250 Hansson, Lena T (cast) 256 Hansson, Maud (cast) 225, 226, 314, 430, 432 Hansson, Sven (MO-gården dir) 347, 360, 800, 970. See also Chapter I, p. 36 Hanus-Haim, Henri (cast) 476 Hanzon, Thomas (cast) 258, 259, 340, 473, 478
Name Index Happel, Maria (cast) 482 Harald, Carl J (cast) 204 Harryson, John (cast) 209, 219, 413, 447, 449 Harrysson, Erika (cast) 472 Harte, Nina (cast) 247, 328 Hartmann, Carin (illustrator) 465 (Amsterdam) Hartmann, Georg (cast) 249 Hartung, Angelika (cast) 460 Hasselblad, Arne (cast) 433, 434 Hasslo, Hugo (cast) 253 Hasso, Signe (cast) 214 Hauge, Alfred (author) 320 (com) Hausvater, Alexander (fest org) 466 (Québec) Havrevold, Gøril (cast) 445 Hawkes, John (author) 997 (group #, Calhoun) Hawks, Howard (filmmaker) 982 (Benayoun), 1316 (Yakovar) Hay, Lysandre de la (cast) 323 Hedberg, Leif (cast) 429, 430, 433 Hedberg, Olle (author) 30, 261, 315, 391, 952. See also Chapter II, p. 61 Hedberg, Tor (crew) 422 Hedberg, Vanje (cast) 220 Hedeby (-Pawlo), Kerstin (crew, cast) 222, 431, 433, 439, 452, 489, 526 Hedenberg, Brita (cast) 404 Hedenbratt, Sonya (cast) 253 Hedengrahn, Marianne (cast) 317 Hedenius, Ingemar (author) 1519 Hedenmo, Harriet (cast) 289, 426, 427, 428 Hedlund, Roland (cast) 256 Hedlund, Sten (cast) 218, 232, 281 Hedman, Sten Johan (cast) 479 Hedström, Gustaf (cast) 203 Heed, Eric (cred/cast) 416 Heerdegen, Edith (cast) 249 Heiberg, Else-Merete (cast) 211 Heiborg, Dagfinn (cast) 430 Hein, Gerd (cast) 429, 430, 433 Heine, Erland von (cast) 247 Heinikel, Rosemarie (cast) 249 Heinrichs, Maj Lis (crew) 316, 318 Helander, Sture (cast) 244
Helin, Agda (cast) 212, 220, 238, 446 Hell, Krister (cast) 253 Hell, Erik (cast) 206, 208, 240, 241, 322, 446 Hellberg, Fritjof (cast) 214 Hellberg, Ulla (cast) 420 Hellerstedt, Birgitta (cast) 283, 417, 419, 424 Hellman, Lilian (playwright) 957 (group #) Hendriksen, Arne (cast) 247 Henning, Eva (cast) 210, 211 Henning, Uno (cast) 263, 282, 292, 316, 318, 411, 435, 438 Hennix, Peter (crew) 247 Henriksen, Aage (transl) 90, 297 Henrikson, Anders (cast) 210, 222 (com), 271, 278 Henrikson, Mathias (cast) 449, 451, 465, 467 Henriksson, Krister (cast) 259, 477 Henry, Richard (TV crew) 323 Henziger, Berndt (cast) 427, 429, 430 Hermansen, Mogens (cast) 304 Herner, Börje (cast) 371, 372, 378 Herskó, Janós (cast) 247 Hesse, Estrid (cast) 211, 366, 378, 381 Hesse, Margret (cast) 363 Hilding, Olle (cast) 253, 280, 318, 330, 443, 447, 450 Hillberg, Linnea (cast) 205 Hillberg, Torsten (cast) 202, 273 Hindersson, Ingvar (cast) 368 Hines, Connie (cast) 324 Hiort af Ornäs, Barbro (cast) 213, 227, 235, 239, 241, 244, 274, 276, 277, 325, 344, 346, 347, 350, 351, 360, 365, 378, 453 Hiort af Ornäs, Gustaf (cast) 206 Hitchcock, Alfred (filmmaker) 210 (com), 211 (com), 1642 (Orr) Hjalmarsson, Frank (cast) 367 Hjelm, Kaj (cast) 221 Hjelm, Keve (cast, debate art) 225 (rec), 256, 625 Hjern, Per (cast) 414, 420, 423 Hjort, Ingmari (cast) 233 Hjortzberg, Lenn (crew) 105, 228, 231, 233, 234, 235, 236, 238,
1115
420, 423, 428, 429-431, 434, 435, 437, 438 (com 439, 441, 444, 445 Hjulström, Lennart (cast) 256, 335, 342, 483 Hoberstorfe, Gerhard (cast) 480 Hodor, Derek (crew) 257 Hoel, Lena (cast) 492 Hoff-Jørgensen, Asta (transl) 168 Hoffman, Dustin (actor) 244 Hoffman, Paula (cast) 492 Hoffmann, E.T.A. (author) 238, 895, 989, 1491 von Hoffmansthal, Hugo (author) 289, 681 Hoffsten, Ruth (cast) 413 Hofgren, Elsa (cast) 222 Hogarth, William (engraver) 489 (com), 663 Holm, John Alvar (cast) 417 Holm, Staffan Valdemar (dir) 662 Holm, Svea (cast) 212 Holmberg, Britta (cast) 210 Holmberg, Maja-Lena (cast) 473 Holmberg, Tage (crew) 204, 206 Holmgren, Gun (crew) 204 Holmgren-Haugen, Barbro (crew) 253 Holmquist, John Göran (cast) 368 Holmqvist, Lasse (TV talk show) 80 Holmsten, Karl-Arne (cast) 218, 264, 265 Holmström, Berit (cast) 212 Holmström, Gösta (cast) 214, 363 Holmström, Jesper (crew) 343 Holst-Widén, Svea (cast) 203, 205, 206, 207, 212, 223, 241, 253 Hoogland, Claes (radio play adapt, art, int, rev) 59, 268, 294, 366 (com), 389 (com), 401, 434, 496, 525, 537, 707 Hopf, Heinz (cast) 253, 316, 449, 454 Horn, Brita von (book, playwright), Dramatikerstudion 382, 538 Hortlová, J.D. (transl) 150, 178 Horrox, Alex (prod) 912, 1703 Houston, Bill (cast) 208 Huber, Grischa (cast) 249
Name Index Hufnagel, Paulette (crew) 250 Huld, Palle (cast) 297, 304 Huldt, Sigvard (music) 329 Hultberg, Nils (cast) 202, 204 Hultgren, Nils (cast) 203, 219, 261, 271 Hultling, Arthur (cast) 407 Hunt, Ronald Lee (cast) 323 Husberg, Johan (crew) 253 Hübinette, Stefan (cast) 232 Hüttel, Paul (cast) 452 Hval, Ella (cast) 445 Hyland, Lennart (TV talk show) 741 Hylander, Einar (cast) 204 Hyltén-Cavallius, Ragnar (opera dir) 489 (com) Hyttenberg (-Bartolotti ), Maud (cast) 203, 212, 214, 222, 253, 261, 371, 372, 390, 391, 393, 394 Hådell, Mats (cast) 220 Håge, Douglas (cast) 204, 207, 216, 218, 278 Håkansson, Karin (cast) 376 Hård, Maria (crew) 256 Häggström, Carolina (crew) 257 Händel, G.F. (composer) 250 Hälsingborg City Theatre (Helsingborgs Stadsteater) 382391, 393, 394, 403. See also Chapter I, p. 37-38, and Intro, Chapter VI Högberg, Helena (cast) 247 Högel, Axel (cast) 282, 316 Höglund, Holger (cast) 203 Höglund, Paul (cast) 415, 420 Höglund, Sture (crew) 220, 222 Höijer, Björn Erik (playwright) 30, 36, 260, 262, 272, 394, 400, 411, 690. See also Chapter I, p. 39 Ibsen, Henrik (playwright) 23, 51, 127, 195, 200, 250 (rec), 310, 312, 430, 440, 447, 450, 459, 461, 464, 472, 473, 487, 537 (debate), 569, 586, 599, 620, 626, 629, 632, 633, 635, 637, 638, 649, 677, 680, 682, 712, 825 (Kalmar), 887 (Marker), 909, 944, 957, 989, 1012 (Verdone), 1255, 1506. See also Chapter I, p. 40, 49; Chapter II, p. 63 Igell, Yvonne (cast) 235
Ingebretsen, Kjell (conductor/ crew) 337, 492 Ingemarsson, Sylvia (crew) 250, 253, 254, 259, 329, 332, 333, 334, 336, 337, 341, 343 Intima Teatern 408-410. See also Chapter I, p. 39 Ionesco, Eugène (playwright) 432 (Paris) Isaksson, Ulla (script, rev, art) 127, 183, 227, 229, 334, 430 (rev), 432 (rev), 537, 1433 Isedal, Tor (cast) 225, 229, 315, 431, 433, 434 Ivarsson, Eva (crew) 253 Iversen, Gunilla (art) 480 (long stud) Iversen, Ragnveig (cast) 443 Jacobs, James (doc film) 249 (com), 1329 Jacobsen, Kjeld (cast) 297 Jacobsson, Ingemar (cast) 214 Jacobsson, Per H (cast) 203 Jacobsson, Sven Erik (cast) 247, 253 Jacobsson, Ulla (cast) 223, 407 Jakobsson, Olle (crew) 207, 209, 220, 222, 230, 236, 238, 239, 240, 241 Jaenzon, Julius (cinemaphotographer) Chapter III, p. 139 Jagger, Dean (cast) 324 Jahn, Torbjörn ‘Tompa’ (cast) 221 Jahnberg, Håkan (cast) 234, 399, 401, 405, 407 Jahr, Adolf (cast) 213 Janov, Arthur (psychologist) 248 (com), 327 (com), 577 Jansson, Gösta (cast) 373, 374 Jansson, Roland (cast) 480 Jansson, Sven-Erik (TV crew) 339 Janzon, Ulf (crew) 339 Jarnerup, Sven (crew) 343 Jartelius, Ann-Marie (TV crew) 247 Jensen, Doris (cast) 460 Jensen, K.O. (transl) 194 Jensen, Lise Skafte (transl) 199 Jensen, Åke (cast) 215 Jerre, Stina (cast) 420 Jesserer, Gertraud (cast) 482 Joanson, Ove (radio admin) 621 Jobs, Liskulla (cast) 276
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Johanson, Stig (cast) 207 Johanson, Ulf (cast) 203, 204, 207, 215, 223, 225, 226, 235, 238, 239, 247, 248, 260, 261, 270, 273, 274, 275, 371, 376, 382-388, 390, 391, 393, 394, 395, 399, 400, 401, 404, 407, 408, 409, 410, 443, 446, 453, 454, 468 Johansson, Albert (cast) 204 Johansson, Arvid (crew) 322 Johansson, Bo (crew) 336 Johansson, Börje (crew) 343 Johansson, Dan (cast) 256 Johansson, Greta (crew) 228, 245, 428, 429, 430, 432 Johansson, Hans (cast) 247 Johansson, Jan (music arr) 244 Johansson, Johanna (cast) 475 Johansson, Karin (cast) 245 Johansson, Lars-Erik (cast) 466 Johansson, Tina (crew) 236, 238 Johansson, Torbjörn (crew) 337 John, Monika (cast) 461, 463 Johns, M. (see Blackwell) Johns, P. (transl) 165 Johnson, Eyvind (crew) 396 Johnsson-Cloffe, Carl (crew) 318, 413 Jokimo, Laila (cast) 211 Jonasson, Vincent (cast) 221 Jones, Gemma (cast) 323 Jonsson, Folke (cast) 247 Jonsson, Lillemor (cast) 417 Jordahl, Anneli (report) 480 (see also) Josephson, Erland (cast, author, theatre head) 116, 125, 185, 201, 204, 209, 212, 227, 228, 235, 238, 241, 245, 246, 247 (cast), 248, 250, 253, 254, 259, 261, 307 (author), 309, 310, 311, 312, 322, 325, 332, 341, 343, 364-368, 370, 389, 390, 391, 393, 407, 438, 443, 444, 450, 454 (com), 468 (debate), 472, 475, 476, 479, 480, 485, 551, 602, 603, 622, 630, 646, 662, 691, 912, 970, 1452, 1498, 1625, 1679. See also Chapter II, p. 59 Josephson, Fanny (cast) 476 Josephson, Sven (crew) 206 Joyce, James (author) 1575 (Svetlitsa) Juel, Inger (cast) 210 Juhlin, Holger (crew) 446 Juncker, Michael (crew) 252
Name Index Jung, Carl (psychiatrist) 1154, 1624 Jurskij, Sergej (cast) 481 Jurskaja, Daria (cast) 481 Järegård, Ernst Hugo (cast) 256, 415, 441, 447 (rec), 449, 450 Järnfalk, Åke (cast) 430 Järrel, Stig (cast) 202, 230, 232, 266, 274 Jönsson, Gun (cast) 227, 425 Jönsson, Nine-Christine (cast) 208, 279, 284, 401, 402, 404, 413, 417, 418, 424 Jörnfalk, Åke (cast) 239, 315 Kaasik, Haari (cast) 214 Kaetzler, Johannes (crew) 252, 459 Kafka, Franz (author) 418 Kagevska, I. (transl) 185 Kaiser, Sissi/Sigrid (cast) 227, 413, 439 Kalenberg, Harry (cast) 249 Kallifatides, Teodor (transl) 185, 244 (rec) Kalling, Eskil (cast) 234 Kallman, Chester (libretto) 489 Kalmér, Åsa (crew) 475 Kant, Ove (crew) 223 Kanälv (-Lundgren), Siv (crew) 240, 241, 244, 245, 247, 248, 321 Karajan, Herbert von (conductor) 185 Karamfilov, Stavri (stage dir) 250 (com) Karlbeck, Marianne (cast) 241, 253, 439, 451, 467 Karlberg, Kenneth (crew) 256 Karlsson, Anne (cast) 209 Karlsson, Helge (cast) 208 Karlsson, Harry (cast) 210 Karlsson, Kent (tax auditor) 1272 (group item, Aftermath) Karlsson, Rut (cast) 219 Karlsson, Sonja (cast) 247 Karlsson, Tommy (cast) 225 Karte, Kerstin (cast) 253 Karte, Tore (cast) 253, 413 Kasdan, Ruth (cast) 387, 406 Katlev, Harry (dir) 304 Katterfeld, Ina (cast) 421 Katuska, L. (transl) 90 Kavli, Karin (cast) 235, 401, 405, 407, 412, 413, 415, 437, 439, 449 Kawabata, Yasunaki (author) 471 (com)
Kazuo, K. (transl) 150 Keaton, Buster (filmmaker) 1464 (Kawin) Keidser, Willy (cast) 403 Kelpinski, Irmgaard (crew) 252 Kersten, Anne (cast) 456 Kesster, Magnus (cast) 204, 214, 219 Kierkegaard, Søren (author) 187, 482, 989, 1012 (Chiaretti/ Oldrini), 1477 Kieslowski, Krzysztof (filmmaker, art) 234, 1567 Kihlberg, Ulla (crew) 207 Kindahl, Jan (crew) 337 Kindahl, Jullan (cast) 223, 226, 278, 285, 313, 392, 395, 414, 415, 418, 423, 429, 430 King, Martin Luther 323 (com) Kinnaman, Melinda (cast) 257 Kirk, John (film restoration) 1675 Kjellberg, Lucie (crew) 205 Kjellgren, Irma (cast) 369 Kjellgren, Lars-Eric (filmmaker, crew) 69, 203, 208, 213. See also Chapter III, p. 140 Kjellin, Alf (cast, dir) 116, 202, 205, 214, 216, 217, 232, 379 Kjellman, Björn (cast) 256 Kjellqvist, Gunhild (cast) 222 Kjellson, Ingvar (cast) 239, 271, 309, 312, 316, 338, 411, 440, 443, 450, 454, 467, 474, 477, 479, 480, 486 Kjærulff-Schmidth, Palle (filmmaker) 749 Kjölaas, Hans (cast) 429 Klange, Ragnar (cast) 214 Klassén, Sture (cast) 368 Klercker, Georg af (filmmaker) 193, 926, 474. See also Chapter III, p. 139 Klinga, Elin (cast) 475, 480, 483, 485 Klinga, Hans (cast) 476 Klosterborg, Gunilla (cast) 210 Knabl, Rudolf G. (crew) 460 Knight, Shirley (cast) 324 Knorring, Bengt von (cast) 421, 430 Knudsen, Kolbjörn (cast) 233, 399, 400, 401, 407 Koblanck, Willy (cast) 214 Koch, Erland von (composer) 203, 204, 206, 207, 208, 210, 262 Kódaly, Zoltan (music) 257
1117
Koivukari, Tapio (transl) 1681 Kollasch, Franz (cast) 460 Kollberg, Barbro (cast) 204, 256, 395 Kolstad, Henki (cast) 445 Kolthoff, Sonja (cast) 439 Kompus, Hannu (cast) 214 (Det) Kongelige (Royal Danish Theatre) 452 Konidarëe, A. (transl) 191 Koppel, Tet (cast) 214 Koroly, Charles (crew) 471, 478, 486 Korpi, Jukka (cast) 473, 492 Kotanko, Katharina (cast) 482 Kovacs, Angela (cast) 487 Kramm, Ilse (cast) 445 Krantz, Gösta (cast) 443 Krantz, Lasse (cast, rev) 206, 232, 235 Krisch, Winfried (cast) 421 Kronberg, Annika (cast) 241 Krook, Ansgar (cast) 247 Krook, Ebba (cast) 385 Krook, Margaretha (cast) 227, 236, 256, 286, 318, 439, 450 Krópenin, Peter (TV crew) 248 Kruuse, Carl-Gustaf (crew) 415, 420, 421, 488 Krüger, Linda (cast) 253 Kullberg, Eivor (crew) 238, 239 Kulle, Gerthi (cast) 341, 453, 465, 473, 475, 485 Kulle, Jarl (cast) 218, 223, 224, 230, 235, 253, 278, 465, 470, 478. See also Chapter I, p. 49 Kurosawa, Akira (filmmaker) 611, 996, 1452 (homage) Kurt, Hans (cast) 297 Kusbom, Leif-Åke (cast) 218 Kushner, David (transl) 101, 110 Kuster, Anne-Marie (cast) 461 Kutschera, Franz (cast) 457, 458, 462 Kuus, Edmar (cast) 214 Kuus, Helena (cast) 214 Kuylenstjerna, Charlotte (cast) 449 Kyhle, Hans (cast) 247 Kyndel, Nils (musician) 253 Kyrö, K. (transl) 191, 192 Kåse, Daniel (music) 480 Kåse, Daniel (music) 480Källén, Bengt (tax auditor) 1272 (group #, Aftermath) Källman, Olov (cast) 369, 371
Name Index Kärrby, Curt (cast) 222 Köstlinger, Josef (cast) 247 Lacan, Paul (psychologist) 1446, 1590, 1624 Lagergren, Åke (cast) 253, 256, 318, 467 Lagerkvist, Pär (playwright) 2, 229 (rec), 290, 351, 988. See also Chapter II, p. 60-61, 62 Lagerlöf, Selma (author) 1, 483, 930, 989, 1284. See also Chapter II, p. 54 Lagersen, Åke (cast) 441 Lagerwall, Lennart (cast) 363 Lagerwall, Sture (cast) 230, 314 Lagerwall, Ulf (musician) 253 Laks, Hans (cast) 214 Lalin, Lars (crew) 232 Lamm, Ellen (cast) 467 Lamm, Martin (professor) 5, 362 (com). See also p. 36 Lamos, Mark (dir) 468 (London rec) Landahl, Otto (cast) 260, 382, 383, 384, 386, 387, 388, 390, 393, 394 Landberg, Lorang (cast) 402 Landgré, Inga (cast) 203, 209, 213, 222, 225, 227, 256, 341 Landsberg, Rune (cast) 202 Landström, Eivor (cast) 318 Landström, Gunnar (crew) 340 Lange, Tom (crew) 330 Langenskiöld, Peder (crew) 248, 327 Langer, Susan (philosopher) 236 (rec) Lannby, Karin (cast, liaison) 361, 369, 370, 372-375, 378. See also p. 37 Lanowski, Z. (transl) 159, 165, 168, 175, 185 Lantto, P.O. (crew) 343 Laretei, Käbi (pianist, book, interv, wife) 121, 230, 237, 245, 248, 250, 253, 309, 310, 311, 333, 341, 487, 537, 904, 1327, 1395, 1692. See also Chapter I, p. 42-43 Larke, Britta (cast) 420 L’Arronge, Andrea (cast) 249 Larson, Einar (cast) 247 Larson, Sven-Eric (TV crew) 316 Larsson, Aina (cast) 385
Larsson, Bosse (TV crew) 318 Larsson, Barbro (cast) 215, 322, 443 Larsson, Boel (cast) 256 Larsson, Carl-Uno (cast) 219 Larsson, Charlotta (cast) 486 Larsson, Gunborg (cast) 220 Larsson, Gösta (crew, cast) 344 Larsson, Kajsa (crew) 476 Larsson, Oscar (local gov official) 369 (com) Larsson, Pontus (crew) 492 Larsson, Sara (cast) 473 Larsson, Stefan (cast) 233, 486 Larsson, Uno (cast) 206, 225 Lasser, Louise (cast) 324 Lasszlo, K. (transl) 195 Laszli, C.K. (transl) 170, 185 Laughton, Charles (filmmaker) 1669 Laupman, Gustav (cast) 214 Laurence, Margaret (author) 989 (group entry) Laurentis, Dino de (prod) 248, 249, 1713 Lavalli, Jorge (dir) 460 (com) Lawrence, Patricia (cast) 323 Leffler, Hans (cast) 368 Léhar, Franz (composer) 223, 420 Lehto, Elina (cast) 247 Lembourn, Claes (transl) 132, 150 Lenard, Marianne (cast) 363, 370, 371, 372, 377, 378 Lennartsson, Lars (cast) 322 Lensander, Birger (cast) 234 Leon, Viktor (crew) 420 Lessing, Doris (author) 975 (group item, Wilson) Levensvold, P. (transl) 982 (grouyp item, Truffaut, p. 885) Levin, Eddie (cast) 368 Lenya, Lotte (singer) 408 (com) Leonhardt, Gustav (musician) 250 Lepp-Kosik, Agnes (cast) 214 Lerfeldt, Hans Erik (cast) 253 Leszcylowski, Michel (crew) 240 Leveau, Pierre (crew) 485 (com) Lew Grade, Lord (prod) 253 (com) Lewin, Gösta (crew) 219 Ley, Charles (cast) 420
1118
Lichtenstein, Harry (BAM head) 466 (New York) Lidman, Monica (cast) 225 Liebel (John) Erik (cast) 203, 375 Liedholm, (Lars-) Erik (crew, cast) 234, 235, 408, 409, 410 Lilja, Lennart (cast) 225 Liljeholm, Carl/Karl-Fredrik (cast) 417, 429, 430 Liljenroth, Elisabet (cast) 425 Liljeroth, Leif (cast) 322 Liljeqvist, Elisabeth (crew) 256 Lilliecrona, Torsten (cast) 208, 210, 215, 216, 218, 219, 221 Lind, Dagny (cast) 203, 212, 260, 261, 294, 315, 362, 370, 378, 379, 382-384, 386, 387, 388, 390, 391, 393, 394, 403, 432, 434 Lind, Lars (cast) 225, 227, 318 Lindahl, Anna (cast) 206, 271, 434 Lindberg, Gunnar (cast) 220 Lindberg, Ib (transl) 199 Lindberg, Lennart (cast) 215, 322, 344, 347, 349, 350, 351 Lindberg, Marianne (cast) 411 Lindberg, Maud (see Sandwall) Lindberg, Per (dir) 387 (com) Lindberg, Ragnar (prod) 215 Lindberg, Stig (military adviser) 239 Lindberg, Sven (cast) 207, 222, 248, 264, 273, 280, 454, 478, 479 Lindblad, Arne (cast) 203, 207, 221, 223, 230 Lindblad, Gunnar (crew) 360, 363-366, 368-375, 378, 379, 380, 382-391, 393, 394. See also p. 35 Lindblom, Gunnel (cast, dir) 129, 225, 226, 229, 233, 234, 246, 294, 310, 311, 312, 314, 315, 322, 325, 422, 424, 426, 427, 429, 432, 433, 434, 446, 448 (asst dir), 450, 451, 468 (asst dir), 480, 485, 486, 1452 Lindby, Wera (cast) 221 Lindegren, Erik (poet) 233 (rec, Landgren) Lindeklev, Bernt (cast) 322 Lindell, Johan (cast) 341, 465, 467, 468, 476, 479 Lindén, Margot (cast) 204 Lindenstrand, Sylvia (cast) 492 Linder, Allan (cast) 202
Name Index Lindeström, Inga (crew) 207, 210, 322 Lindgren, Bo (crew) 322 Lindgren, Hans (cast) 280 Lindgren, Marianne (cast) 364 Lindgren, Olle (cast) 367 Lindgren, Peter (cast) 206, 370 Lindh, Irene (cast) 447, 467, 477 Lindholm, Berit (cast) 492 Lindholm, Manne (crew) 225, 228, 428, 429, 430, 432 Lindkvist, Eleonora (cast) 267 Lindquist, Lars-Olof (cast) 416, 425 Lindqvist, Birgit ‘Bibi’(cast) 207, 210, 379 Lindqvist, Frej (cast) 239 Lindqvist, Gerhard (cast) 429, 430 Lindqvist, Jan Eric (cast) 248, 278, 283, 318, 435 Lindqvist, Thore (cast) 417 Lindsjö, Berit (cast) 425 Lindstedt, Carl-Gustaf (cast) 215, 222, 223 Lindström, Bibi (crew) 220, 227, 236 Lindström, Bo (cast) 369, 370 Lindström, Christina (cast) 434 Lindström, Jörgen (cast) 234, 236, 318 Lindström, Per (cast) 371 Lindström, Rune (cast) 210 Lindström, Åke (cast) 244, 317 Lindwall, Tore (cast) 396, 398, 402, 404 Lingen, Ursula (cast) 457 Linnros, Henrik (cast) 257 Lipp, Rudolf (cast) 214 Lippe, Morton (movie house manager) 219 (rec) Liszt, Franz (composer) 223 Ljung, Oscar (cast) 228, 229, 279, 289, 294, 295, 317, 330, 414, 415, 418, 422, 424, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 443, 444, 447, 451, 453, 465, 467, 468, 473, 477 Ljungberg, Johnny (crew) 256 Ljunglöf, Kerstin (cast) 449 Ljunggren, Gunnel (cast) 368 Ljunggren, Sten (cast) 256, 479 Ljunggren, Titti (cast) 376 Lobråten, Ann-Christin (cast) 244, 245 Lockwood, F. (prod) 284 Logardt, Bengt (cast) 207
Lombard, Yvonne (cast) 221, 273 Looft, Richard (crew) 336, 467, 468 Lorca, Garcia (playwright) 276 Losey, Joseph (filmmaker) 1463 Lubitsch, Ernst (filmmaker) 221 (rec), 1257. See also Chapter I, p. 40 Ludwig, Erich (cast) 456 Lugn, Kristina (author) 486 (com) Lugosi, Bela [Béla Blascó] (actor) 238 (rec/Prédal) Lundberg, Ingrid (cast) 368 Lundberg, Raymond (crew) 239 Lundberg, Stina (talk show) 465 Lundborg, Kristina (cast) 449 Lundbäck, Singoalla (cast) 203 Lundequist, Gerda (cast) 263, 382 (com) Lundewall, Ingvar (cast) 368 Lundgren Ann (cast) 229 Lundgren, Bengt (crew) 253 Lundgren, Ingrid (cast) 357, 361 Lundgren, P.A. (crew) 204, 206, 207, 210, 219, 221, 223, 225, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 239, 241, 244, 246 Lundgren, Siv (see KanälvLundgren) Lundgren, Titti (cast) 368 Lundh, Arne (crew) 206, 435 Lundh, Birgitta (crew) 330 Lundh, Börje (cred, cast) 215, 229, 230, 233, 235, 236, 238, 239, 240, 241, 245, 316, 318, 322 Lundh, Carl M. (crew) 202, 203, 209, 211, 212, 214, 216, 218, 221, 223, 226, 228, 313 Lundholm, Lisa (cast) 223, 399, 404, 407, 428 Lundin, Bengt (cast) 367 Lundin, Gunnar (crew) 227 Lundin, Roland (doc photo) 796 Lundquist, Göran (cast) 220, 221, 226 Lundqvist, Carin (cast) 435 Lundqvist, Christian (cast) 439 Lundström (Bergman), Ellen (crew, wife) 211, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 393, 396, 402. See also p. 37-38 Lundström, Olof (cast) 465 Lundwall, Adèle (cast) 369
1119
Luterkort, Ingrid (cast) 377, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388 Luther, Martin (theologian) Chapter I, p. 36 Lückow, Fillie (cast) 232, 439 Lycke, Erik (cast) 368 Lysander, Per (dir, rep) 621 Lysell, Millan (cast) 222 Lyssewski, Dörte (cast) 482 Lyxell, Millan (cast) 222 Långström, L. (transl) 165 Læstadius, Lars-Levi (dir, theatre head, art, press report) 54, 268, 403, 514, 525, 532, 583, 707. See also Chapter II, p. 65 Länsberg, Olle (author/script) 53, 208 Löfgren, Lars (TV prod, theatre head, memoirs, art) 320, 468 (com), 470 (com), 471 (disc/ Århus), 472 (Oslo), 478 (cancel perform), 480 (com), 602, 639, 646, 659 Löfgren, Marianne (cast) 203, 205, 210, 217, 267 Löfman, Lars-Erik (cast) 364 Lökkeberg, Georg (cast) 250 Löscher, Peter (dir) 460 (com) Löwenadler, Gordon (cast) 219, 225, 401, 402 Löwenadler, Holger (cast) 206, 217, 447, 450 Löwgren, Curt (cast) 220 Maalbøe, C. (transl) 159, 160 Maass, Hans-Joachim (transl) 170, 185, 482 (com) Machaty, Gustav (filmmaker) 219 (rec) Maciejewski, Roman (music) 396, 401, 407 MacKinnon, Gillies (filmmaker) 1689 Macroff, Kristina (crew) 253 Maes, Tove (cast) 297 Magnusson, Carl/Karl (TV crew) 313, 430, 432 Magnusson, Lakke (cast) 465 Magnuson, Charles (prod) 193. See also Chapter III, p. 139 Mago (See Goldstein, Max) Mairich, Max (cast) 456 Maleikaitele, Z. (transl) 185 Malm, Mona (cast) 223, 225, 235, 253, 256, 296, 316, 335, 425, 439
Name Index Malmberg, Bertil (author) 433 (com) Malmberg, Eric (cast) 392 Malmberg, Urban (cast) 247 Malmsjö, Jan (cast) 246, 253, 325, 450, 485, 487 Malmsjö, Jonas (cast) 310, 311, 312, 485, 487 Malmstedt, Harry (crew) 203 Malmsten, Birger (cast) 129, 202, 204, 206, 207, 209, 210, 211, 212, 216, 218, 234, 248, 260, 261, 268, 270, 274, 277, 318, 365, 366, 376, 379, 380, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 390, 391, 393, 394, 408, 409, 410, 439, 443, 446, 449, 453, 454, 465, 912 Malmström, G. (transl) 170, 191 Malmström, Lars (transl) 101, 110 Malmström, Ulla (cast) 397, 401, 404, 407 Malmö City Theatre (Malmö Stadsteater) 75, 81, 90, 392, 395, 414-434, 488. See also Chapter I, pp. 39-40, and Intro, Chapter VI Malzacher, Günter (cast) 249 Mamo, John (cast) 324 Mandal, Gustaf (crew) 416 Mangold, Lis (cast) 249 Mangs, Sune (cast) 253 Mann, Ellika (cast) 439, 440, 446, 447, 453 Mann, Segol (cast) 207, 210, 214, 322, 453 Mann, Thomas (author) 989 Manstad, Margit (cast) 268 Mansvik, Yngve (TV crew) 316, 318 Marcorelles, Louis (transl) 108 Mariano, Gertrud (cast) 309, 467, 485 Mariano, Rosanna (cast) 245, 246 Marmstedt, Lorens (prod, art) 50, 204, 206, 207, 210, 269, 270, 780, 958, 962. See also Chapter I, p. 39; Chapter III, p. 139 Marott, Johannes (dir) 297 Martins, Marie-Louise (cast) 410 Martinson, Harry (playwright) 439 Martinu, Bohuslav (crew) 473
Martinus, Eivor (transl) 149, 199 Masefield, John (author) 2 Masreliez, Curt (cast) 210, 316, 318, 395 Massenet, Jules (composer) 235 Mattei, Peter (cast) 492 Mattsson, Arne (filmmaker) 218 (com), 711 Mattsson, Per (cast) 253, 465, 472, 473, 475, 477, 492 Mattson, Richard (cast) 222, 396, 401, 404, 407 Mattsson, Sten (cast) 216, 218, 219 Mauriac, François (author) 1609 (Saunier) Maupassant, Guy de (author) 719 (Thiessen) McBride, Joseph (interv) 841 McCarthy, Julia (cast) 448 McClatchy, J.D. (poem) 1238 McDonald, Graeme (TV prod) 323 McHugh, James A (cast) 324 McNeely, Beverly (cast) 249 Medbøe, Wenche (cast) 445 Meisel, Kurt (cast, theatre head) 456, 457, 459, 583 Meisner, Günter (cast) 249 Méliès, George (filmmaker) 45, 204 (rec). See also Chapter III, p. 136, 157 Melillo, Joseph (artistic dir) 487 (NY) Melin, Anna-Lena (crew) 253 Melin, John (cast) 203, 223, 230, 318, 408 Mellvig, Börje (cast) 210, 223, 318, 406 Melville, Herman (author) 284 Mendelssohn, Moses (composer) 212, 371 (com) Mertin, Anne (cast) 456 Meyer, Barbara (transl) 90 Meyer, Johannes (cast) 297 Meyer, Michael (transl) 447 (com) Michaelsson, Ingrid (cast) 371 Miliander, Sven (cast) 262, 272, 397, 398, 411 (rec) Milton, John (author) 476 (com) Mink, Wilfried (dir) 460 (com)
1120
Mishima, Yukio (playwright) 336, 471, 475 (com), 628, 640, 682 Mittendorf, Hubert (cast) 249 Mladeck, Kyra (cast) 249 Mnouchkine, Ariahne (dir) 465 (rec), 478 (com) Moberg, Rune (author, interv) 393 Moberg, Sten (cast) 366 Moberg, Vilhelm (playwright) 273, 426; see also intro, Dramatist Studio, Chapter VI Mobley, Mary Ann (cast) 324 Modén, Mirja (cast) 472 Modin, Ulrika (cast) 413 Moffatt, John (cast) 448 Mohaupt, Marianne (cast) 421 Molander, Anita (crew) 465 Molander, Gustaf (filmmaker) 42, 58, 68, 205, 208 (com), 209, 217, 704, 974. See also Chapter II, p. 54 Molander, Harald (exec prod) 202, 203, 208 Molander, Jan (cast, dir) 142, 202, 206, 322 Molander, Mari (cast) 322 Molander, Olof (dir) 31, 89, 271, 318 (com), 370 (com), 392 (com), 411 (com), 419 (com), 429 (com), 451 (com), 523, 608, 625, 641 (com), 1616. See also Chapter I, p. 43, p. 600 Molière, (Poquélin) (playwright) 247, 329, 422, 431, 435, 441, 444, 446 (com), 452, 458, 462, 478, 486 (com), 526, 537, 586, 605, 677, 865, 887 (Marker), 906, 924, 989, 1704. See also Chapter I, pp. 39-40, 49 Monaci, P. (transl) 150, 174 Montán, Alf (cast) 244 Monteverdi (composer) 328 Montgomery, Robert (filmmaker) 1357 (Eberwein) Montin, Björn (cast) 212 Monty, Ole (cast) 304 Moodyson, Lukas (filmmaker) 198, 943 (Aghed), 1689 Morales, Birgitta (TV crew) 316 Moreau, Jeanne (actress) 432 (Paris) Moretti, Tobias (cast) 464
Name Index Moritzen, Henning (cast) 245, 452 Morrill, Priscilla (cast) 324 Morrison, Toni (author) 989, 1659 (McGhee diss) Moses (prophet) 476 (com) Moskowitz, Otto [‘Kicki’] (cast) 206, 220 Mossberg, Olle (TV crew) 318 Movin, Lisbeth (cast) 297 Mozart, Amadeus (composer) 157, 212, 237, 238, 247, 248, 434 (com), 454 (com), 457, 473 (com), 489, 565, 838, 1606. See also Chapter I, p. 46; Chapter III, p. 151 Muchiano, Pia (cast) 473 Munch, Edvard (painter) 250 (rec), 487 (com), 632, 1506 Munk, Bente (crew) 218, 221 Munk, Kaj (playwright) 8, 187, 379, 1012 (Verdone), 1477 Munthe, Torunn (author) 373, 374 Murnau, F.W. (filmmaker) 1610 Muscarello, P. (transl) 170 Musset, Alfred de (playwright) 281 Mühle, Ann-Marie (cast) 492 Mühle, Helmut (music/crew) 247 Müller, Erik (radio adapt, cast) 292, 304 Müller, Poul (cast) 304 Müthel, Lola (cast) 252, 456 Myhrman, Evert (crew) 412 Myrberg, Per (cast) 232, 322, 334, 435, 438, 443, 465, 467, 468, 480, 486 Månsson, Claes (cast) 478 Mårtenson, Bengt (cast) 368 Mårtensson, Arne (cast) 228 Mårtensson, Sigvard (crew) 424 (com) Mäster Olofsgården 2, 4, 344 360; see also Chapter VI, p. 36 Möller, Mette (TV crew) 336, 337, 340, 475 Mørk, Erik (cast) 304, 452 Mörk, Lennart (crew) 447, 473, 477, 492 Mörk, Titti (crew) 256 Mörner, Stellan (crew) 442 Nathan, Ove (univ chancellor) 1477 (Sonning prize)
(The) National Theatre, London (production) 448 Nationalteatret (The National Theatre, Oslo) 445 Natorp, Gun (cast) 223, 265, 266 Nelson, Mimi (cast) 208, 211 Nelson, Stig (crew) 422, 424 Nerep, Helmi (cast) 214 Nerep, Hilma (cast) 214 Ness, S. (transl) 185 Nettleton, John (cast) 323 Newell, Joan (cast) 323 Nichols, Mike (dir/sponsor) 466 (New York) Nicklasson, Inga (cast) 345, 347 Nielsen, Gunnar (cast) 206, 211, 223, 227, 260, 261, 286, 371, 376, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 387, 390, 391, 393, 394 Nielsen, Marianne (cast) 222, 253, 260, 366, 383, 385, 390, 393, 394, 477 Nielsen, Monica (cast) 479 Niewarowski, E. (transl) 195 Nilheim, Karl (musician) 253 Nilheim, Lis (cast) 257 Nilsson, Alf (cast) 341 Nilsson, Cecilia (cast) 446 Nilsson, Dagny (cast) 376 Nilsson, Eva-Fritz (cast) 212 Nilsson, Karin (cast) 244 Nilsson, Lennart (photographer) 230 (com), 1035 Nilsson, Maj-Britt (cast) 212, 216, 218, 276, 277, 280, 281, 411 Nilsson, Per (cast) 322 Nilsson, Sigge (cast) 256 Nilsson, Stefan (crew) 256 Nilsson, Sven (cast) 232 Niro, Robert de (actor) 470 (rec) Nisborn, Margareta (cast) 275 Nissen, Bernt A. (film censor) 220 (com) Nissen, Annegrethe (cast) 304 Nittel, Nils (crew) 220, 225, 226, 227 Noelte, Rudolph (dir) 459 (rec) Nolgård, Maria (cast) 244 Norborg, Cilla (crew) 478 Nord, Anne (cast) 439 Nordberg, Lars (crew) 204, 206 Nordemar, Olle (crew) 237 Nordensköld, Kjell (cast) 218, 219, 221
1121
Nordgren, Erik (crew, music arr) 205, 209, 211, 213, 214, 216, 217, 218, 223, 225, 226, 228, 230, 231, 232, 235 Nordholm, Ulf (crew) 241 Nordin, Birgit (cast) 247 Nordisk Tonefilm (prod co) 37, 227 Nordlund, Harriet (cast) 341 Nordmar, Per Olof (TV crew) 322 Nordstöm, Ingmar (crew) 329 Nordwall, Yngve (cast) 208, 214, 226, 289, 293, 313, 396, 397, 400, 401, 402, 407, 423, 429, 430 Norée, Eva (cast) 226 Noremark, Henny (crew) 247, 318 Norén, Lars (playwright) 666 Norén, Pelle/Per (TV crew) 334, 336, 337, 341 Norin, Curt (cast) 372 Norin, Inga (cast) 211 Norlander, Sol-Britt (crew) 214, 216 Norlindh, Birgit (crew) 221 Norlund, Johan (cast) 298 Norman, Josef (cast) 223, 225, 226 (cut), 414, 415, 418, 419, 422, 423, 427, 429, 430 Norman, Maidie (cast) 324 Norrie, Anna (actress) 382 (com) Norrköping-Linköping City Theatre 413. See also Chapter I, p. 39 Norrman, John (cast) 318 Norsk rikskringkasting(NRK prod) 298, 340, 343 Norstedt Publishing Co 118, 124, 131, 132, 145, 150, 153, 156, 168, 170, 175, 177, 188, 191, 194, 195, 196, 198, 199 Norström, Bertil (cast) 246, 256, 257 North Latin School/Norra Latin (stage productions) 367, 368 Nyberg, Anna-Greta (cast) 420 Nyberg, Arne (cast) 401, 402, 405 Nyblom, Helena (author) 375 (com) Nygren, Nils (cast) 285, 295, 315, 418, 422, 423, 428, 430, 434 Nygren-Almquist, Gunnel (cast) 415, 420 Nyhlén, Erik (cast) 244
Name Index Nykvist, Sven (cinematographer) 220, 229, 231, 233, 234, 235, 236, 238, 239, 241, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 252-254, 258, 321, 325, 328, 332, 340, 810, 841, 843, 1069, 1086, 1213, 1214, 1241, 1421, 1540, 1621, 1626, 1672. See also Chapter I, p. 48; Chapter III, p. 146, 150 Nyman, Jan (cast) 449, 465, 475, 477 Nyman, Lena (cast) 250, 330, 439, 450 Nyqvist, G. (transl) 159 Nyroos, Gunilla (cast) 256 Nystedt, Rolf (cast) 232 Nystroem, Gösta (composer) 260 Nyström, Anders (cast) 202 Näslund, Björn (cast) 221 Nørager, Ebba (cast) 297 Nørby, Ghita (cast) 256, 335, 452 Odets, Clifford (playwright) 412 von Oelffen, Petra (crew) 249, 252 Offenbach, Jacques (composer) 235 Ogærts, Jan (transl) 168 Ohlsson, Marcus (cast) 256 Ohlsson, Marrit (cast) 212, 253, 376 Ohlsson, Torsten (crew) 355 Oké, Linn (cast) 467 Ola and the Janglers (music) 329 Olafs, Johan (cast) 233 Olafs, Ruth (cast) 252 Olafsdottir, Karin (cast) 430 Olavsson, Kristina (cast) 234 Olin, Kerstin (cast) 413 Olin, Lena (cast) 248, 253, 254, 332, 465, 467 Olin, Stig (cast, memoirs) 202, 203, 205, 208, 209, 210, 212, 214, 216, 217, 405, 1377 Olivier, Lawrence (actor) 185, 555 Olofsson-Leo, Lennart (TV crew) 317 Olram, Gunnar (cast) 445 Olsson, Dagmar (cast) 203 Olsson, Filip (music) 219 Olsson, Gunnar (cast) 216, 225, 226, 273, 277, 292 Olsson, Jöran (cast) 430
Olsson, Lennart (crew) 223, 225, 313, 317, 422, 427 (com), 429 (com) Olsson, Martha (cast) 369 Olsson, Mats (cast) 221 Olszanska, Marie (transl) 150 O’Neill, Eugene (playwright) 470 Opaker, Eva (cast) 445 Oreglia, Giacomo (transl, play text adapt) 110, 173, 314 Orlando, Mariane (cast) 492 Oscarsson, Peter (dir) 478 (com) Ossoinak, Ivan (cast) 468 Osslund, Anna-Stina (cast) 370, 378 Osten, Gerd (crew) 206; see also Section II Osten, Suzanne (dir) 662 Ostermayer, Christine (cast) 456, 457 Ostrovskij, Alexander (playwright) 427 O’Sullivan, Richard (cast) 323 Osvald, J. (transl) 150, 178 Ottekil, Bengt (crew) 244, 247 Ottoson, Lars Henrik (cast) 367 Ottoson, Rune (cast) 203 Paganini, Paolo A. (rev) 465 (rec, Milano) Pahkinen, Virpi (cast/crew) 473, 475, 476, 485 Pallin, Ingemar (cast) 373, 374 Palmblad, Signe (cast) 378 Palme, Olof (prime minister) 466 (com) Palme, Ulf (cast) 210, 213, 214, 222, 265, 282, 286, 299, 435 Palmgren, Helena (cast) 233 Palmquist, Arne (cast) 347, 350, 351 Palmstierna-Weiss, Gunilla (crew) 443, 449, 454, 460, 461, 462, 466, 470, 472, 560, 648. See also Chapter I, p. 48 Pamp, Maj-Britt (cast) 214 Parkas, Marja (cast) 214 Parsa, Reza (filmmaker) 943 (Aghed) Paryla, Nikolaus (cast) 456, 458 Passgård, Lars (cast) 129, 231 Pastor, A. (transl) 185, 188 Pasztor, Gabor (crew) 341, 343 Patrick, John (playwright) 423
1122
Patterson, Neva (cast) 324 Pavese, R (transl) 165, 170, 188 Pawlo, Rebecka (cast) 248 Pawlo, Toivo (cast) 228, 263, 266, 278, 284, 289, 290, 293, 294, 315, 322, 379, 380, 414, 418, 420, 422, 423, 427, 429, 430, 433, 434, 451 Pehrson, Inger (crew) 246, 250, 259, 334, 343 Pelser, Karl Heintz (cast) 252, 457, 458, 459 Perrini, Alberto (playwright) 274 Persbrandt, Mikael (cast) 486 Persson, Jörgen (cinematographer) 256, 259, 335 Persson, Lars (crew) 329 Persson, Sture (cast) 373 Persson, Veine (cast) 355 Persson, Yvonne (crew) 330, 339 Personafilm (prod co) 250, 253, 254, 332 Peters, Hilmer (crew) 211 Peters, Willy (cast) 239, 278, 318 Peterson, Tord (cast) 256, 309, 341, 473, 477 Petré, Gio (cast) 226 Pettersson, Birgitta (cast) 228, 229, 341 Pettersson, Britta (cast) 318 Pettersson, Gösta (props, prod manager, cast) 207, 210, 393 Pettersson, Hjördis (cast) 217, 232, 241, 399, 402, 404, 407, 408, 410, 449, 451, 453 Pettersson, P.O. (crew) 223, 235, 236, 238 Pettersson, Svante (music) 329 Philipsson, Harry (cast) 362 Picha, Heide (actress) 249 Piehl, Alvar (crew) 322, 330, 334 Piehl, Nela (cast) 482 Pio, Edith (cast) 304 Piper, Jan-Erik (crew) 339, 473, 486 Pirandello, Luigi (playwright) 417, 445, 562, 1012 (Chiaretti) Plath, Sylvia (poet) 989 (group entry), 1617 (Fraser), 1656 Plichta, Veronica (cast) 482 Poijes, Chris (crew) 210 Polet, Cora (transl) 150 Pollak, Mimi (cast) 216, 250 Polster, Hans (cast) 416, 430, 432
Name Index Pons, Maurice (transl) 82, 122 Pontén, Mats (cast) 256 Pontén, Tomas (cast) 465 Poppe, Nils (cast) 225, 230 Porath, Ove (cast) 229 Porter, Susan (cast) 323 Pourtales, Guy de (author) 1 Prawitz, Elsa (cast) 278 Prentiss, Ann (cast) 324 Priede, Monika (cast) 245 Prince, Harold (dir/sponsor) 223, 466 (New York) Proust, Marcel (author) 982, 989 (group #), 1669 Prytz, C.F. (transl) 150 Prüzelius, Gösta (cast) 215, 219, 221, 223, 225, 235, 239, 247, 253, 256, 270, 275, 286, 367, 408, 409, 410, 442, 443, 446, 447, 449, 451, 453, 467, 477 Pujal, Joseph (artist) 665 (Holmqvist) Pushkin, Alexander (author) 1011 (Time) Pyk, Antonia (cast/crew) 341, 478 Pärt, Arvo (composer) 487 Pöysti, Lasse (cast) 330, 334, 465 (Tammerfors) Qvarfordt, Carl Henrik (cast) 247 Quarsebo, Ulf (cast) 422 Quest, Hans (cast) 249, 456, 462 Qvist, Gösta (cast) 203 Qviström, Leif (crew) 253, 339 Rabæus, Johan (cast) 259, 339, 468, 473, 476 Rabe, Kerstin (cast) 262, 272, 434 Radiotjänst (see Sveriges Radio/ SR) Ragneborn, Arne (cast) 202, 210 Rahm, Sibylle (transl) 90 RAI (Italian TV) (prod) 343 Rajic, J. (transl) 188 Rakeng, Mette (cast) 445 Ramberg, Örjan (cast) 485, 487 Ramel, Povel (comedian) 223 (rec) Rangström, Ture (composer) 415 Ray, Satyajitt (hom) 1452 Reading, Donna (cast) 323 Redland, Charles (crew/orchestration) 235
Regnier, Charles (cast) 249 Rehberg, Hans Michael (cast) 464 Rehnberg, Hans (crew) 245 Reichel, V. (transl) 192, 194 Reid, Sheila (cast) 244 Reimer, Brigitte (cast) 221, 297 Reinhardt, Max (dir) 447 (Obernhaus recept) Reinik, Riina (cast) 214 Rekola, Per Olof (TV crew) 339 Renliden, Ivar (crew) 234 Renoir, Jean (filmmaker) 943 (Aghed), 1257 Resén, Linda (cast) 473 Residenztheater München (prod) 456-464. See also Chapter I, p. 48 Rettig, Ullastina (cast) 203 Reuterblad, Helena (cast) 314, 430 Reuterswärd, Måns (TV prod) 247, 316, 326, 328, 336-339, 341, 1715 Rialto Film (prod co) 249 Ribbing, Barbro (cast) 381 Ribbing, Maria (cast) 272 Ribero, I. (transl) 192 Richardson, Marie (cast) 256, 257, 341, 467, 468, 471, 472, 475 Riego, Marga (cast) 362 Riégo, Olav (cast) 202, 216, 220 Rifbjerg, Klaus (author) 1288 Riffe, Ernest (pseud Ingmar Bergman) 111, 128, 140, 239 (rec), 756, 778, 1168, 1452 Ringdahl, Ebba (cast) 397, 401, 404 Ringheim, Lise (cast) 452 Ringquist, Elias (cast) 256 Ripoli-Freixes, E. (trasnsl) 101 Ritter, John (cast) 324 Robbe-Grillet, Alain (filmmaker) 238 (rec/Prédal) Roberts, Shirley (cast) 420, 421 Robnard, Jacques (transl, slides) 123, 169, 1268 Rocher, Pierre (playwright) 381 Rock de Luxe (music) 329 Rode, Ebbe (cast) 452 Rodefeldt, Vanja (cast) 208 Roeger, Monique (cast) 216 Roger, Gustav (crew) 79, 101, 119, 213, 218, 221, 223 Rogin, Bernhard (cast) 366 Rohde, Hans (cast) 421 Rohde, Ulla (cast) 428, 430
1123
Rhom, Herbert (cast) 460 Rohmer, Erik (filmmaker, art) 222 (rec), 225 (rec), 227 (rec), 982, 1028. See alsoChapter II, p. 55 Rolffes, Kirsten (cast) 297 Ronconi, Luca (dir) 620 (Bredsdorff) Rooth-Lindberg, Örjan (cast, art) 256, 1314 Rosander, Oscar (crew, cast) 202, 205, 208, 209, 211, 212, 213, 216, 217, 218, 221, 223, 226, 228, 229, 230 Rosen, Anna von [aka Sundelius] (crew/cast) 244, 338, 466, 474 Rosén, Bengt (cast) 430, 432 Rosén, Erik (cast) 204, 273, 274, 412 Rosen, Jan-Carl von (cast) 244 Rosen, Maria von (author, daughter) 1693 Rosenbaum, Marianne (cast) 368 Rosenberg, Hilding (composer) 202, 276 Rosqvist, Inga (cast) 222 Rostand, Edmond (playwright) 2, 349 Rothgardt, Wanda (cast) 209 Rothwell, Alan (cast) 323 Rowe, Alan (cast) 323 Royal Opera, Stockholm (prod) 337, 436, 489; see also intro, Chapter VI Rudbäck, Vendela (cast) 226 Rudestedt, Sven (crew) 226 Rudling, Albert (crew) 318 Rudolph, Niels-Peter (dir) 459 (recept) Rugg, Linda (transl) 195 Rugoff, Donald (US distrib) 246 Rumac, M. (transl) 185 Runa, Per-Olof (TV crew) 330, 334 Rundquist, Mikael (cast) 238 Russek, Rita (cast) 252, 458, 460, 461, 464 Ruud, Sif (cast) 204, 208, 211, 212, 226, 228, 248, 256, 271, 273, 280, 287, 322, 366, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 446 Ruuth, M. (transl) 188 Rybrant, Stig (crew) 408 Ryde, Torsten (cast) 244
Name Index Rydeberg, Georg (cast, memoir) 238, 412, 437, 442, 444, 449, 561 Ryghe, Ulla (crew) 119, 125, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239 Rydström, Hans (TV crew) 330 Rönnqvist, Doris (MO-gården, cast, author) 2, 345, 350 Sachtleben, Horst (cast) 461, 463 Sackemark, Hans (prod) 322 Saedén, Erik (cast) 247 Sagoteatern/Medborgarteatern 369-376; see also Chapter I, p. 37 and Intro, Chapter VI Sahlberg, Birger (cast) 219, 232 Sahlin, Urban (cast) 446 Salonen, Esa Pekka (conductor) 335 Saluläär, T. (transl) 150 Samuelsson, Thomas (crew) 329 Samzelius, Solveig (cast) 460 Sandberg, Anne-Marie (cast) 347, 355 Sandberg, Selma (cast) 202 Sandblom, Sven (crew) 368 Sandborg, Olof (cast) 209, 280 Sandburg, Carl (poet) 449 (com) Sandgren, Gustav (playwright) 264 Sandrews, (Anders) (prod co) 220, 222, 253, 257. See also Chapter III, p. 140 Sandström, Carl Ivar (cast, art) 325 (recept), 361 Sandström, Ingrid (cast) 350 Sandwall, Maud [aka Maud Lindberg] (cast) 344, 350, 355, 369 Santesson, Kåre (cast) 256 Sansom, Robert (cast) 323 Sarmell, Walter (crew) 218 Saroyan, William (playwright) 365 (com) Sarri, Lasse (cast) 209, 210, 266 Sarring, Göran (crew) 446 Sartre, Jean Paul (author) 210, 461 (com), 1012 (Chiaretti), 1669 Savela, Jan-Erik (crew) 337, 341 Sawicki, Karol (transl) 150
Scarlatti, Domenico (composer) 230, 478 Schaar, Claes (transl) 477 (com) von Schantz, Marianne (crew) 349, 350 Schartau, Henrik (theologian) p. 28 Schedin, Hanny (cast) 208, 214, 219, 220 Schein, Harry (SFI head, cast). See also Section II 228, 244 von Schering, Ingrid (transl) 101 Scherzer, J. (transl) 188 Schildt, Henrik (cast) 274, 275, 276, 287, 291, 411, 439, 443, 444, 447 Schildt, Monica (cast) 203, 380, 384, 385, 386, 390 Schildt, Peter (crew) 253 Schildt, Runar (playwright) 2, 346 Schildtknecht, Maria (cast) 262, 397, 407, 451 (com) Schiller, Friedrich (playwright) 486, 670 Schmidinger, Walter (cast) 249, 252, 458 Schmidt, Mille (cast) 223 Schopenhauer (philosopher) 221 (rec) Schreiber Circus 220 (rec) Schollin, Christina (cast) 253, 334, 435 Schubert, Franz (composer) 341, 665 Schuh, Oscar Fritz (dir) 447 (Obernhaus) Schumacher, Joel (crew) 324 Schumann, Robert (composer) 223, 253 Schwandt, Margit (cast) 362 Schweiger, Heinrich (cast) 462 Schück, Herman (cast) 368 Schüler, Marianne (cast) 212 Schött, Bengt (cast) 222, 258, 399, 401, 422, 423 Scola, Ettore (filmmaker) 1452 (homage) Scorsese, Martin (filmmaker) 943 (Aghed) Scott, Jan (crew) 324 Segal, Alex (dir, art, slides) 142, 253, 324, 1268 Segal, George (cast) 324 Segal, Jonathan (cast) 324
1124
Segelcke, Tore (cast) 248, 445 Segerstam, Maj (cast) 360 Segerström, Michael (cast) 256 Seifert, Ally (crew) 316 Seilitz, Mona (cast) 238 Selma, José Vila (transl) 982 (group #, p. 886) Selznick, David O. (prod) 51, 957 Selzor, Milton (cast) 324 Sem, Ingebjørg (cast) 298 Senayo, Li (transl) 185 Serbetas, N. (transl) 191 Serrano, Rosita (singer) 387 (rec) Seynes, C. de (transl) 169 Shafran, D. (transl) 185 Shakespeare, William (playwright) 2, 25, 29, 228, 355, 367, 371, 384, 388 (com), 401, 454, 465, 468, 470 (rec), 476 (com), 477, 486 (com), 583, 596, 598, 611, 619, 631, 660, 661, 665, 668, 881, 911, 924, 989, 1579, 1668. See also Chapter I, p. 40, 49 Shaw, George Bernard (com) 403 Shinji, O.(transl) 191 Shostakovich, Dmitri (composer) 340 Sigvarddotter, Ingar (cast) 478, 479 Simon, Alan (cast) 244 Simon, Claude (author) 466 (com) Sinding, Leif (filmmaker) 204 (com) Siwertz, Sigfrid (author, rev), 406 (rec), 410, 989 Sjöberg, Alf (filmmaker, theatre dir) 51, 97, 202, 224, 330, 436 (intro), 454 (com), 466 (com), 472 (rec), 478 (com), 479 (com), 597, 625, 704, 890 (Cowie), 957, 987, 1625. See also Chapter I, p. 30; Chapter III, p. 139; Intro, 600 Sjöberg, Gunnar (cast) 226, 227, 230, 266, 283 Sjöberg, Katarina (TV prod) 336, 492 Sjöberg, Leif (transl) 90 Sjöberg, Yngve (crew) 318 Sjöblom, Christina (crew) 337, 341
Name Index Sjöblom, Tulli (cast) 380 Sjöblom, Ulla (cast) 228, 283, 330, 444 Sjödin, Bertil (cast) 260, 357, 363, 364, 369, 370, 371, 376, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 390, 391, 393, 394 Sjödin, Rune (cast) 355 Sjögren, Margareta (cast). See also Section II 360-361, 364, 370, 372, 378 Sjögren, Svea (cast) 351 Sjökvist, Helge (cast) 225 Sjölin, Lil (cast) 416 Sjöman, Lickå (cast) 253 Sjöman, Vilgot (cast) 368. See also Chapter I, p. 38 and Section II Sjönell, Sven (crew) 226 Sjöstrand, Arnold (cast) 415, 417, 418, 419 Sjöstrand, Magnus (Carl) (cast) 367, 368 Sjöstrand, Maria (cast) 405, 407 Sjöstrand, Per (cast) 226, 244, 322, 453, 467 Sjöstrand, Östen (transl) 489 (com) Sjöström, Stefan (interv) 253 (com) Sjöström, Victor (filmmaker, crew, cast) 109, 198, 202, 203, 204 (rec), 212, 226, 364 (rec), 474 (com), 483 (com), 704, 926, 1005 (1053) See also Chapter II, p. 54, Chapter III, p. 139 Sjöö, Carina (crew) 330 Skarsgård, Stellan (cast) 330, 467 Skarstedt, Georg (cast) 207, 212, 221, 225, 239, 408 Skawonius, Sven Erik (crew) 438, 441, 444 Skeppstedt, Carl-Olov (crew) 220, 222, 227 Skeppstedt, Nils (crew) 240 Skoglund, Bibi (cast) 264 Skoglund, Rolf (cast) 465 Skogsberg, Per (cast) 226 Skoog, Helge (cast) 439 Skoogberg, Gun (cast) 216 Slangus, Axel (cast) 229 Smetana, Bedrich (composer) 212 Smiding, Birgitta (cast) 247 Smith, Maggie (cast) 448, 555
Soderbergh, Steven (filmmaker) 943 (Aghed) Sohlberg, Bertil (cast) 202 Soldh, Anita (cast) 492 Sommer, Alf (cast) 298 Sommer, Astrid (cast) 298 Sommerfeld, Sara (cast) 256 Sommerfeld, Maja (cast) 256 Sondheim, Steven (musical composer) 91, 223, 576 Soya, Carl Erik (playwright) 364 Spielberg, Steven (filmmaker) 943 (Aghed) Spjuth, Nina (crew) 337 Stangertz, Göran (cast) 248 Starck, John (cast) 220, 221 Starck, Ulla-Greta (cast) 420 Stattin, Ulla (crew) 246 Stave, Greta (cast) 202, 222 Steen, Peter (cast) 452 Stegelmann, J. (transl) 188 Stein, Leo (crew) 420 Stein, Peter (dir) 450 (Zürich), 472 (Madrid) Steinbeiser, Irene (cast) 249 Stenberg, Gaby (cast) 211, 284, 395, 419, 420, 423 Stenberg, Gertrud (cast) 373, 375 Stenhammar, Teery (cast) 408, 410 Stenhammar, Wilhelm (composer) 266 Stephens, Robert (cast) 448 Stergel, Göte (cast) 216 Stevens, Gösta (script) 58 Stiberg, Eva (cast) 209, 289, 314, 418, 428, 430 Stiller, Mauritz (filmmaker) 474 (com). See also Chapter I, p. 40, and Chapter II, p. 54; Chapter III, p.139 Stjernqvist, Marianne (cast) 295, 315 Stoby, Bertil (TV crew) 318 Stoklosa, Janusz (crew/music) 482 Stolpe, Jan (transl) 492 (see also) Storm, Anne (transl) 101, 167 Storm, Emy (cast) 256, 408 Stormare, Peter (cast) 253, 307, 341, 465, 470, 468, 492, 618, 619 Storthors, Inga-Lisa (crew) 206 St Peter, Steve (crew) 257
1125
Strandberg, Jan-Olof (cast) 235, 259, 271, 307, 310, 312, 443, 447 (rec), 453, 465, 473 Strandell, Erik (cast) 275 Strandgaard, Charlotte (poem) 1452 (see also p. 985) Strandmark, Erik (cast) 225 Strassner, Fritz (cast) 249 Strauss, Bobo (playwright) 475, 476 (com) Strauss, Franz Joseph (politician) 583, 844 Stravinski, Igor (composer) 435, 489 (recept), 1101. See also Chapter I, p. 42 Streisand, Barbra (actress) 420, 804, 832, 1616 Stridh, Sofi (crew) 343 Strindberg, August (playwright) 2, 5, 25, 31, 89, 156, 184, 185, 212, 220 (com), 225 (com), 229 (rec), 238 (comp studies), 263, 265, 267, 275, 277, 282, 296, 299, 309, 316, 318, 347, 357 (com), 360-362, 370, 388 (com), 392, 401 (com 415, 419, 429, 444 (com), 447, 451, 453, 456, 461, 464 (com), 466, 467, 472 (rec), 475 (com), 485, 537, 558, 586, 587, 599, 616, 636, 635, 644, 649, 664, 669, 673, 675, 677, 719, 792, 825, 887 (Marker), 889, 944, 988, 1030, 1252, 1436, 1464, 1595, 1618, 1625, 1677. See also Chapter I, p. 40-41, 47, 48, 49, Chapter II, p. 63-64; Chapter III, p. 150 Strindberg, Göran (cinematographer) 49, 204, 206, 207, 210, 1242, 1540 Strindberg, Maggie (crew) 248, 336 Strix Q (music) 329 Strååt, Daphne (cast) 446 Strååt, Gunnar (cast) 403 Strååt, Hans (cast) 208, 223, 253, 435, 441, 443, 447, 449, 465, 467 Strååt, Mikaela (cast) 446 Ström, Ann-Mari (cast) 397, 405, 407 Ström, Carl (cast) 209, 213, 216, 218, 221, 273 Ström, Carl Johan (crew) 396, 397, 398, 400, 401, 402, 404, 405, 407 Ström, Gösta (crew, cast) 202, 208, 211, 216
Name Index Ström, Millie (crew) 226 Strømvad, Gunnar (cast) 304 Studentteatern (Stockholm’s Student Theatre) 18, 361-366; see also intro, Chapter VI Stuhr, Jesusz (dir) 479 (Krakow) Sturk, Per (crew) 343 Stylander, Rune (cast) 212, 363, 365, 366, 370, 371, 380, 381 Ståhlberg, Lars (crew) 343 Ståhle, Stina (cast) 232, 392 Stål, Tord (cast) 222, 443, 446 Stærn, Camilla (cast) 492 Stötzner, Ernst (cast) 482 Sundberg, Gunilla (cast) 425 Sundberg, Hans (cast) 208, 439, 443, 447, 450 Sundberg, Viola (cast) 222 Sundén, Hjalmar (psychologist) 236 (rec) Sundh, Marion (cast) 215 Sundin, Per (crew) 343 Sundqvist, Folke (cast) 226, 238, 294, 314, 315, 396, 397, 399, 401, 402, 407, 417, 418, 419, 423, 424, 427, 432- 434 Sundström, Frank (cast) 239, 431, 450, 451, 453, 465, 467 Sunlight & Gibbs Corp. 215 Surkevitz, Alexander (composer) 229 Svahn, Lennart (transl). See also Section II 108 Svedbäck, Agnes (cast) 370, 375, 378 Svedlund, Doris (cast) 210, 215, 217, 268, 275 Svennilson, Kerstin (crew) 349, 350 Svensk Filmindustri (SF) 24, 76, 84, 93, 99, 112, 113, 120, 202, 203, 205, 208, 209, 211- 217, 219, 221, 223-226, 228-239, 241, 245, 253. See also Chapter I, p. 37; Chapter II, p. 53; Chapter III, p. 140 Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI, prod co, library, Ingmar Bergman Foundation/Fårö papers) 21, 34, 35, 37-40, 48, 51-54, 61, 63, 64, 66, 68-70, 79, 80, 82, 85, 88, 90, 91, 97, 98, 101, 105, 116, 118, 119, 123, 125, 132, 133, 136, 138, 145, 148, 150, 154, 157, 167, 168,
171, 191, 253. See also Chapter I, p. 47, Chapter II, p. 51 Svensson, Arne (cast) 367 Svensson, Edith (cast) 377 Svensson, Lennart (crew, cast) 203, 226, 247 Svensson, Owe (crew) 245, 246, 248, 250, 253, 333, 340 Svensson, Reinhold (cast) 207 Svensson, Siegfried (cast) 247 Svenwall, Nils (crew) 205, 208, 209, 211, 212, 213, 214, 216, 217, 218 Sveriges Folkbiografer (prod) 204, 206 Sveriges Radio (SR; also listed as Radiotjänst, 1946-1954) 22, 33, 43, 46, 65, 78, 90, 260-312. See also Chapter II, p. 53 Sveriges Television (SVT, prod) 139, 247, 253, 254, 313-343 Swan, Lars (video crew) 316 Swensson, Carin (cast) 212 von Sydow, Max (cast) 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 231, 233, 238, 239, 241, 244, 256, 258, 289, 293, 294, 295, 299, 313, 315, 335, 340, 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 450, 473 (com), 622, 630, 652, 912, 1013, 1452, 1481, 1493, 1711. See also Chapter I, p. 40 Sylwan, Kari (cast) 245, 248, 447, 449, 451, 453 Sylwan, Mona (cast) 220 Sånnell, Berta (cast) 233 Säflund, Mikael (cast) 467 Särnö, Birgitta (crew) 240 Sæverud, Harald (composer) 430 (com) Söderbaum, Astrid (cast) 363, 364 Söderberg, Dora (cast) 439, 447, 451, 467 Söderberg, Eric (crew) 403, 406, 408, 409, 410 Söderberg, Gösta (cast) 453 Söderberg, Lars (crew) 337, 341 Söderberg, Lennart (crew) 330 Söderbäck, Einar (cast) 223 Söderhjelm, Martin (playwright) 205 Söderholm, Lena (cast) 223 Söderkvist, Jan (crew) 241 Söderlund, Berth (cast) 407 Söderlund, Gittan (cast) 371, 372, 373, 374, 375
1126
Söderström, Doris (cast) 347 Söderström, Susanna (cast) 446 Sörman, Ragnar (cast) 225 Sööder, Karl (cast) 214 Tabori, George (dir, playwright) 476, 670 Tael, Sylvia (cast) 214 Taheri, Houshang (transl) 119 Tainton, Themma (cast) 476 Tall, Fritjof (cast) 225 Tamm, Gunilla (cast) 402 Tandy, Adam (cast) 323 Tapsell, Alan (transl) 136 Tarkovski, André (filmmaker) 989, 1519, 1624, 1659 Tate, Joan (transl) 185, 191, 192, 194, 195 Taube, Aino (cast) 218, 224, 244, 248, 308, 417, 435, 438, 439, 447, 453 Tauskein, G. (transl) 185 Taviani, Paolo & Vittorio (filmmakers) 1452 (homage) Tavernier, Bertrand (filmmaker) 1495 Taylor, Elizabeth (actress) 223 (com) Teje, Tora (actress) 272, 276, 277, 282, 287 Tellefsen, Ruth (cast) 298 Tengroth, Birgit (author, cast) 211, 220 Teniakova, Natalia (cast) 481 Ternström, Paula (cast) 466 Ternström, Solveig (cast) 439, 449, 473 Terrafilm (prod co) 50, 210. See also Chapter III, p. 140 Terselius, Lil (cast) 449, 480 Terselius-Hagegård, Anne (TV crew) 248, 327 Thambert, Björn (cast) 239 Thate, Hilmar (cast) 462 Thedéen, Thorleif (musician) 343 Thelander, Claes (cast) 322, 397, 398, 401, 404, 407, 467 Thomas, Jack (film distr) 219 (rec) Thomsen, Bjarne (cast) 445 Thoresen, Willy (video crew) 322 Thue, Axel (cast) 445 Thulin, Björn (crew) 246, 325
Name Index Thulin, Ingrid (cast) 129, 226, 227, 228, 233, 234, 238, 240, 254, 294, 318, 332, 429, 430, 432, 1679. See also Chapter I, p. 40 Thulin, Siv (cast) 203, 274, 376, 380, 381, 382, 383, 385-390, 393, 394 Thulstrup, Karl-Magnus (cast) 401 Thunberg, Olof (cast) 233 Thuul, Sten-Thorsten (cast) 230 Thylwe, H. (transl) 191, 192, 194 Thörnhammar, Bengt (cast) 221 Tidblad, Inga (cast) 217, 281, 291, 439, 470 (com) Tidelius, Kerstin (cast) 253 Tiselius, Jan (cast) 232 Tiverios, Michael (crew) 343 Tjernberg, Ove (cast) 322, 402, 407 Tobiasson, Ingrid (cast) 492 Tobis Film (prod co) 253 Tollén, Lennart (cast) 225 Tolstoy, Leo (author) 719 (Thiessen) Tomson, Anna (cast) 492 Topelius, Zacharias (author) 374, 375 (com) Torch, Chris (dir) 468 (debate/ NY) Torén, Torvald (organist) 343 Torestam, Torsten (cast) 355 Torkeli, Majken (cast) 220 Torres, M. (transl) 185, 191, 192 Torsslow, Stig (dir) 279 Tranberg, Hugo (cast) 377 Treffner, Helvi (crew) 336 Tretow, Annika/Anna (cast) 220, 260, 261, 364, 366, 378, 390, 391, 393, 394, 405 Tribukeit, Dorothea (transl) 87 Troell, Jan (filmmaker) 943 (Aghed) Tromm, Ilse-Nore (cast) 378 Trotha, T. von (crew) 252 Trotta, Margarethe von (filmmaker) 1642 (Orr) Truffaut, François (filmmaker, art) 219, 482, 982, 995, 1221, 1530. See also Chapter II, p. 55 Turesson, Rune (cast) 279, 285, 289, 293, 414, 415, 418, 423, 424, 429, 430 Turgenyev, Ivan (author) 719 (Thiessen) Turman, Glynn (cast) 249
Turner, Alice (transl) 87 Tuxén, Erik (crew) 202 (com) Tönsager, Ingrid (crew, cast) 420, 421, 429, 430, 432, 434 Törje, Marianne (cast) 420 Törnkrantz, Bengt (crew) 247 Törnquist, Mimmi (crew) 202 Törnqvist, Kristina (cast) 477, 479, 480 Törnqvist-Verschuur, Rita (transl) 159, 170 Törnqvist, Sigvard (cast) 220 Uhlen, Susanne (cast) 458 Uher, Franci (cast) 380 Uhlin, Ivar (cast) 231 Ulfson, Birgitta (cast) 257 Ulfung, Lotta (crew) 337 Ulfung, Ragnar (cast) 247 Ullberg, Hans (cast) 363, 365, 366 Ullenius, Erika (cast) 256 Ullmann, Linn (cast, daughter) 250 Ullmann, Liv (cast, dir, memoirs) 133, 194, 199, 201, 236, 238, 239, 241, 246, 248, 249, 250, 256 (dir), 259 (dir), 325, 340 (dir 343, 445, 470 (com), 537, 768, 774, 843, 912, 923, 1299, 1395, 1548, 1573, 1580, 1614, 1711. See also Chapter I, p. 43, 47; Chapter II, p. 59 Ullrich, Karsten (crew) 249 Umlauf, Ellen (cast) 249 Unamuno, Miguel de (author) 989 Unnerstad, Lennart (crew) 209, 211 Urbancic, Elizabeth (crew) 461 Uriz Torres, J. (transl) 188 Urrila, Irma (cast) 247 Ussing, Olaf (cast) 452 Ustinov, Peter (com) 21, 202, 402 Vaarman, Els (cast) 214 Valberg, Birgitta (cast) 208, 223, 229, 239, 257, 296, 299, 411, 439, 447, 449 Valentin, Hugo (author) 371 Valiente, A. (transl) 159 Valle-Inclan, Don Ramon del (playwright) 407 Vane, Sutton (playwright) 2, 344, 949. See also Chapter II, p. 61
1127
Varda, Agnès (filmmaker) 825 (Kalmar) Varenius, Claes (crew) 367 Vaupel, Kirsten (cast) 247 Vega, J.P. (transl) 150 Velander, Meta (cast) 273 Verchou, Carl-Gustaf af (cast) 218 Verdi, Giuseppe (composer) 253, 466 (Edinburgh) Vesaas, Halldis Moren (transl) 298 Vetter, Ingegerd (cast) 355 Vibenius, Bo A. (crew) 236, 238 Vifell, Maj-Britt (crew) 341 Villinger, Maximiliam (cast) 460 Vinsa, Michael (cast) 468 Vinterberg, Thomas (filmmaker) 1689 Virke, John (TV crew) 330 Visconti, Luchino (filmmaker) 989 Visén, Sven Åke (video crew) 337, 341 Vos, Bengt Erik (playwright) 365 Vos (Lundh), Marik (crew, book) 229, 234, 238, 245, 253, 435, 446, 450, 451, 453, 463, 467, 1416 Värnlund, Rudolf (author) 378 Väringer, Lars (cast), 467 Wadja, Andrezs (filmmaker) 472 (Madrid), 1452 (homage) Wagner, Rickard (composer) 1, 326, 489 (com) Wahl, Anders de (cast) 94, 259 (com), 411 Wahlgren, Helge (dir) 402 (com) Wahlgren, Ivar (cast) 219, 266 Wahlund, Sten (cast) 492 Waldekranz, Jan (cast) 467, 468, 473 Waldekranz, Rune (prod, art) 220, 222, 1010, 1173. See also Chapter III, p. 139 Walder, Folke (theatre touring co) 362 Waldt, Nils (cast) 234 Walther, Hertha von (cast) 249 Wall, Anita (cast) 246, 449 Wall, Sune (crew) 316, 318 Wallén, Lennart (crew) 207, 214, 225
Name Index Wallengren, Thore (cast) 401 Wallgren, Angelica (cast) 253 Wallgren, Pernilla (see Pernilla August) Wallin, Bengt-Arne (cast) 218 Wallin, Ingrid (crew) 227 Wallman, Bert (crew) 340 Wally, Gustav (theatre dir) 396 (rec) Walton, Anna-Stina (cast) 430, 432, 434 Wanselius, Bengt (crew) 470 Wartel, Kerstin (cast) 439 Wassberg, Göran (crew) 259, 339, 341, 343, 468, 476, 662, 479, 480, 483, 485, 486, 487 Watteau, Antoine (painter) 458 (com), 478 (com) Watts, Jean (cast) 448 Wedin, Aaby (crew) 225, 226, 228, 229 Weilar, Sven-Erik (cast) 425 Weinzierl, Monica (cast) 209 Weiser, Wolfgang (cast) 249 Weiss, Nadja (cast) 254, 309, 332, 479 Weiss, Peter (playwright) 443 Weivers, Margreth (cast) 310, 412, 485 Welander, Ella (cast) 222 Weller, Caroline (cast) 323 Welles, Orson (dir) 472 (rec) Wellton, Öllegård (cast) 211 Wemmenlöw, Raymond (TV crew) 336, 337, 341 Wendblad, Rudolf (cast) 443 Wenders, Wim (filmmaker) 1452 (homage), 1519 Wendtlandt, Horst (exec prod) 249 Wennergren, Lena (cast) 247, 328 Werfel, Franz (playwright) 30, 390 Werkmäster, Brita (crew) 253 Werle, Lars Johan (composer) 236, 238, 449 Wernicke, Annemarie (cast) 459, 461 Wesén, Marianne (cast) 317 Wessberg, Ragnhild (cast) 360, 368 Wessling, Harald (cast) 368 Westerberg, Joakim (cast) 468 Westergren, Håkan (cast) 217, 218, 287, 425
Westerlund, Catrin (cast) 219 Westerstrand, Clary (crew) 257 Westfeldt, Gullan (crew) 234 Westin, Bojan (cast) 371, 373, 374 Westlund, Christer (cast) 232 Westlund, Lars (cast) 232 Weston, Ellen (cast) 324 Weyns, Conrad (crew) 329 White, Charles (cast) 206, 215 White, Pauline (cast) 420, 421 Whiten, Nils (cast) 219, 225 Whitmore, James (cast) 249 Wichman, Sven (crew) 257 Wickström, Caya (cast) 225 Wictorinus, Jan (video crew) 322, 330, 334, 339 Widerberg, Bo (filmmaker, book) 210 (com), 1033. See also Chapter I, p. 44 Widestedt, Gerd (cast) 222 Widgren, Olof (cast) 224, 234, 276, 318, 440 Widh, Karl (cast) 225 Wiehe, Henrik (cast) 297 Wieland, Christoph Martin (poet) 136 Wieslander, Ingvar (composer) 289, 415, 420, 421, 429, 430, 432, 438, 488 Wifstrand, Naima (cast, memoirs) 207, 211, 218, 222, 223, 226, 228, 238, 279, 289, 313, 347 (rec), 414, 415, 419, 424, 427, 430, 432, 553, 1082 Wigert, Knut (cast) 445 Wiklund, Gunnel (cast) 350, 351, 356 Wikström, Brian (crew) 239, 241 Wikström, Jan-Erik (minister of culture) 853 (Börjlind satire), 1272 (tax case aftermath) Wilde, Oscar (author) 239 (rec) Wilder, Billy (filmmaker) 943 (Aghed) Wilder, Thornton (playwright) 2, 398 (recept) Wildner, Andrea-Maria (cast) 460 Wilén, Max (cinematographer) 227 Wilhelm, Rolf (music) 249, 252 Wilkinson, Marc (music) 323 Wilkner, Pierre (cast) 465, 467, 468, 473, 476, 477, 479
1128
Willgren, Olof (cast) 447, 467, 479 Williams, Tennessee (playwright) 110, 291, 405, 413, 428, 437 (com), 643. See also Chapter I, p. 39 Wilson, Dover (Shakespeare scholar) 401 (com) Wilson, Elizabeth (cast) 324 Wiman, Anne-Marie (cast) 226, 408, 410 Windahl, Karin (cast) 204 Winerdal, Max (cast) 256, 480 Winge, Torsten (cast) 230, 232 Wingreen, Jason (cast) 324 Winner, Peter (cast) 211 Winnerstrand, Olof (cast) 202, 205, 207, 265 Winqvist, Erik (cast) 473 Winterbottom, Michael (TV prod) 912, 1703 Winther, Caj (cast) 345 Winther, Ted (cast) 344, 361 Wirén, Dag (composer) 221 Wirff, Signe (cast) 203, 413 Wistedt, Göran (cast) 309 Wivesson, Gudmar (cast) 465 Wranér, Greta (author, text adapt) 385 Wright, Tony (cast) 323 Wulf, Meseke (TV crew) 337 Wulff, Anders (cast) 223 Wulff, Helge (univ chancellor/ cast) 226 Wåhlander, Mimmo (cast) 244, 430 Wållgren, Gunn (cast) 205, 253, 265 Wærn, Inge (cast) 380 Wästersjö, Åke (cast) 453 Wästfeldt, Lillie (cast) 214 Yeats, William Butler (playwright) 356 YLE TV (Finland) 340 Yoda, Ingrid (crew/music) 336, 471 Zacharias, John (crew, cast) 202, 406, 477 Zachrisson, Lisbeth (cast) 247, 328 Zadek, Peter (dir) 459 (recept) Zadig, Fylgia (cast) 216, 244 Zak, Franz (crew) 401
Name Index Zandén, Philip (cast)
259
Zander, Hans (cast) 460 Zehetbauer, Rolf (crew) 249, 252 Zehlén, Ruben (crew, cast) 347, 349, 351, 355 Zetterberg, Ulla (cast) 397, 405 Zetterling, Mai (cast, filmmaker) 202, 207, 744, 1417 Zielinska, Donata (transl) 108 Zimmermann, Klaus (cast) 420 Zollitsch, Johann ( crew) 256 Zonabend, Arthur (crew) 337 Zweigbergk, Jan von (cast) 401, 402 Åberg, Lasse (filmmaker) 873 (Ruth) Åberg, Rustan (pyrotechnics) 239 Åberg, Ulla (dramaturg) 468, 476 (com), 486 (cred)
Åhman, Tor (cast) 221 Åhström, Inga-Lill (cast) 208, 211, 401 Åkerblom, Anna (grandmother) p. 30-32, 34, 55 Åkerlund, Emilie (cast) 473 Åkerlund, Marie-Louise (cast) 417 Åkerlund, Åke (cast) 417, 420, 429, 430 Åkermark, Arne (film crew) 202, 203, 205 Åkesson, Hans (crew) 486 Ålenius, Inga (cast) 253, 256 Årland, Ronnie (crew) 322 Årlin, Georg (cast) 279, 317, 318, 418, 419, 422, 440, 441, 442, 443, 447, 449 Åsander, Birger (cast) 209 Åstrand, Mona (cast) 214, 219 Åström, Curt “Minimalen” (cast) 215 Åström, Folke (cast) 222
Åström, Per-Erik (cast)
222
Öberg, Britta (cast) 239, 318 Öberg, Frans Oscar (cast) 415, 418, 422 Öhman, Christer (cast) 233 Öhman, Kalle (cast) 210 Öhman, Margareta (cast) 221 Öhman, Marianne (cast) 370 Öijerholm, Gun (cast) 344, 356 Östberg, Per Johan (cast) 364, 1963 Österberg, Eva (cast) 492 Östergren, Ingrid (cast) 403 Östergren, Klas (transl) 472 Östergren, Kurt/Curt (see Edgard, Curt) Östergren, Pernilla (see August, Pernilla) Östlund, Alf (cast) 318, 408, 450 Östring, Gun (cast) 219
II. Writers on Ingmar Bergman The professional contribution of a name is listed in parenthesis, using the following abbriviations: art diss ed interv mag rep rev
article dissertation editor interview magazine report review
To facilitate locating a name that appears in a longer entry in the Guide, a reference in parenthesis after the entry number indicates where in the entry the name can be found. The following designations are used: (com) (rec) (rev) (longer stud) (intro)
name to be found in the entry’s Commentary section following credits listing. name to be found in the entry’s Reception section. name to be found in the Review listing name to be found under Longer articles/studies headline name to be found in the introduc tory part of a chapter
1129
Name Index (survey)
name to be found in Chapters I (Life and Work) or III (The Filmmaker)
In cases in Chapter VI (Theatre) where a stage production travelled abroad, a pertinent entry reference (such as reviews from a guest performance) includes the name of the city where the performance took place. Aare, Leif (rev) 337, 492 Aatland, Liv (thesis) 1581 Abenius, Margit (art) 234 Abraham, Henry H.L. (art) 234, 989 Abrahamsson, Bengt (rev) 437 Acerete, Julio (transl, foreword) 98, 119 Adams, Robert H. (art) 1103 Adams, Sidney P. (art) 234, 245 (longer art) Adiri, Nasr Allah (book) 1615 Adjouri, Birgitte (rep) 453 (Berlin) Adler, Thomas P. (art) 989 AGE (see Elsberg, Anders) Agel, Henri (book chapt) 1014, 1274 Aghed, Jan (art, rev, interv) 188, 191, 239 (rec), 247 (com), 253 (rec/longer essay), 254 (press art), 332, 335, 340, 343, 474, 781, 794, 838, 943, 1426, 1516, 1614 Ahlgren, Stig (rev) 223 (rec), 229 (rec), 238 (rec), 326 (Sw rec) Ahlström, Gabriella (interv art) 341 Ahlström, Ove (rev) 396 Ahrenberg, Sixten/Peo (rev) 347 (recept) Albano, L. (art) 226 Alexander, William (art) 1244 Alfredius, Jarl (report, interv) Adolphson, Inga (film archivist) 474 Allombert, Guy (art) 219 (see also), 1015 Allroth, Gun (interv) 325 (com) Almansi, Guido (rev) 470 (Rome) Almkvist, Kurt (art) 234 (rec), 989 Almqvist, Stig (art, rev) 216 (rec) Almström, Ove (rev) 396 Alnæs, Karsten (rev) 472
Alonzo, Francesco Saverio (report) 465 (Milano), 470, 471, 486 (rev foreign) Alpert, Hollis (art, interv, rev) 239 (rec), 726, 988, 1011, 1016, 1037. Also: Chapter II, p. 59 Alsina, T.H. (book, art) 974, 1104 Alvarez, A. (rep, interv) 835 Ambjörnsson, Ronny (art) 229 Amble, Louise (Lolo) (art) 477, 646 Amiel, Vincent (art) 1644 Amlie, A. (trans, art) 26, 168, 177, 188, 192, 975 Anderberg, Adolf/A-g (rev) 395 Andergård, Marita (rev) 465, 471, 473 Anderman, Gunilla (ed) 149 Andersen, Hans (rev) 471, 477 Andersen, Odd-Stein (rev) 450 (Oslo) Andersen, Sejer (rev, ed) 90 Anderson, Ernie (book, rev) 244 (com), 248 (com), 806, 1275 Anderson, John Drew (art) 225 Anderssen, Odd-Stein (rev) 445, 450 Andersson, Camilla (report) 477 (see also) Andersson, Elis [Es.An.] (rev) 396, 398, 399, 400, 402, 404, 407, 512 Andersson, Gunder (rev, ed) 192, 474, 1317 Andersson, Jan (interv) 245 (com) Andersson, Lars Gustaf (art, ed) 226, 338, 1452 (Filmhäftet), 1563, 1627 Andersson, Nils (report) 1262 Andersson, Per (report) 602 Andhé, Stefan (interv) 819 Andréason, Sverker (rev) 191, 192, 195, 334, 466 (Sthlm/NY), 467, 468, 470-473, 475, 478, 479
1130
Andresen, B. (press art) 229 (rec) Andrews, Emma (interv art) 250 (com) Anér, Kerstin (debate) 250 (rec) Anker, Øyvind (art) 202, 1141 Anrell, Lasse (rev) 492 Anthal, Jussi (rep) 555, 787 Aquilon, David (art) 1627 Archer, Eugene (art, interv) 226, 769, 1011 Areceo, Sergio (art) 238 (second trilogy) Arian, Max (rev) 464 (Holland fest), 465 (Amsterdam) Aristarco, Guido (art) 1012, 1245, 1496 Ariyadasa, Edwin (intro) 1175 Armando, Carlos (book) 1455 Armes, Roy (book chapt) 1276 Arnald, Jan (rev) 483, 485, 486 Arnault, Hubert (art) 219 (rec) Arndt, Rudi (speech) 1273 Arntzen, Knut Ove (rep) 637 Arpiainen, Lalla (rev) 440 Arrhenius, Sara (rev) 188, 475 Arroro, Andres (rev) 466 (Madrid) Arvidsson, Gunnar (rep) 531 Assayas, Olivier (book, interv) 252 (com), 919 Asterdahl, Alvar [A.A-l] (rev) 431 Astgeirsson, Gunnlaug (rev) 466 (Reykjavik) Astruc, Alexandre (film scholar) Chapter II, p. 54-55 Atkinson, Brooks (report) 536 Austin, Paul Britten (art) 185 Avellan, Heidi (rev) 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480, 483 Avigal, Shosh (rev) 471 (Israel) Awalt, Mike H. (art) 997 Axelson, Cecilia (art) 1583 Axelsson, Per Arne (interv) 897 Axelson, Sun (rev) 124 Ayfre, Amedée (art) 1038, 1106 Aymé, Marcel (rev) 432 (Paris)
Name Index Azeredo, Ely (art)
974
Babski, Cindy (rep, interv art) 468 (NY), 619, 911 Baby, Yvonne (interv) 852 Bachmann, C.H. (rev) 453 (Berlin) Baignères, Claude (rev, press art) 253 (rec), 254 Balbierz, Jan (book ed) 1541 Baldelli, Pio (art) 1012, 1107, 1125 Baldwin, James (interv) 727, 1039 Balicki, S.W. (rev) 454 (Warsaw) Banks-Smith, Nancy (rev) 323 Barber, John (rev) 447 (London), 450 (London) Barcorelles, L. (rev) 982 Barfoed, Niels (press art) 325 (rec) Barker, Felix (rev) 433 (London), 440 (London) Barnes, Clive (rev) 466 (NY), 468 (NY), 471 (NY), 473 (NY) Baron, Anja (rep) 1580 Baron, James (art) 223 Barr, A.P. (art) 236 (psych motifs) Barthel, Sven [S.B-l]. (rev) 397, 411, 412, 418, 423, 425, 431, 438, 441, 445 Bassett, Kate (rev) 487 (London) Baudry, J-L. (art, rev) 236 (psych motifs) Baur, Arthur (rev) 450 (Zürich) Bax, Dominique (ed) 1517 Baydar, Yavuz (rev) 470 (nonSwed. Rev) Beauman, Sally (art, interv) 795, 1195 Beck, Inga-Maj (rev, art) 454 (foreign rev), 477 (art) von Becker, Peter (rev) 457 Beer, Allan (interv) 752 Beer, Otto F. (rev) 462 Behrendt, Poul (art) 185, 1456 Behring, Bertil (rev) 467 Bellmann, Günther (rev) 258 Belmans, J. (art) 239 (rec) Benach, Joan Anton (rev) 470/ 472 (Barcelona) Benayoun, Robert (rev art) 250, 982 Bendix, Eva (art) 451 (see also)
Benedyktowicz, Zbigniew (art) 1246. Also: Chapter II, p. 59 Benesch, Gerda (rev) 447 (Vienna) Benfrey, Mathias Wilhelm (thesis) 997 Bentivoglio, Leonetta (interv) 624, 915 Béranger, Jean (book, art, interv) 226, 228, 229 (com), 231 (com), 713, 765, 907, 982, 991, 1220 Berg, Curt (rev) 489 van der Berg, R. (intro) 1212 Bergdahl, Gunnar (TV interv, ed) 198, 944, 1696 Berge, Henk Ten (art) 1333 Berger, Christian (diss) 1518 Berggraf, Rainer (press art) 1452 (group #, 4) Berggren, Kerstin (radio progr) 468 (com) van den Bergh, Hans (rev) 447 (Holland fest), 465 (Amsterdam) Bergh, Magnus (rev art) 192 Bergkvist, Lars George (press report) 466 (NY) Bergman, A. Gunnar (rev) 378, 396, 399, 403, 405, 408, 410, 411, 414, 426 Bergmark, Torsten (art) 239 (rec), 1149 Bergom-Larsson, Maria (book, art) 236 (see also), 250 (rec), 343, 997, 1303, 1314, 1519, 1684 Bergrahm, Hans (rev) 403 Bergstén, Gunilla (rev) 466 Bergstrand, Allan [B-nd] (rev) 392, 395, 422, 424, 426, 427, 428, 430, 432, 433, 434 Bergström, Kåge (interv) 521, 697 Bergå, Frank (rep) 475 (com) Bernardi, S. (rep) 1478 Bernatchez, Raymond (rev) 466 (Québec) Bernstein, Richard (interv) 466 (NY) Beronius, Boel Marie (interv) 705 di Bertani, Edoardo (rev) 447 (Venice), 465 (Milano), 470 (Rome) Bertina, B.J. (rep, interv) 898, 1389, 1404 Bettetino, Gianfranco (art) 1012
1131
Beyer, Nils [-yer/bey] (rev, art) 220 (com), 223 (rec), 239 (rec), 360, 362, 364, 365, 369, 370, 372, 376, 377 (com), 378, 379, 381, 384, 399, 405, 407, 408, 410, 411, 414, 415, 418, 419, 426-431, 433435, 437-440, 520, 528, 952, 953, 970. See also Chapter III, p. 137, p. 600 Beylie, Claude (rev) 982 Bexelius, Björn (rev) 492 Biette, Jean-Claude (art) 254 Billard, Pierre (art, interv) 753, 1108 Billington, Michael (rev) 450 (London), 468 (London/Edinburgh) Billqvist, Fritiof (book) 1040. See also Section I Binh, N.T. (book) 1542 Bini, Luigi (book) 1226, 1350 Bird, Michael (art) 250 (longer stud), 989 Birkvad, S. (art) 1325 Bjuvstedt, Sussie (report) 1186 Bjärlind, Eva (book ed) 1317 Björck, Amelie (rev) 311, 342, 487 Björklund, C.J. (rev, art) 223 (rec) Björklund, Per Åke (thesis) 253 (longer stud), 1429 Björkman, Carl (rev, art) 205 (rec), 207 (rec), 225 (rec), 230 (rec), 401, 404, 414 Björkman, Stig (interv, art) 235 (rec), 244 (com), 250 (longer rev), 256 (longer art), 259 (interv), 338, 773, 788, 796, 805, 919, 945, 1213, 1314, 1318, 1378, 1390, 1452, 1539, 1625, 1702 Björkstén, Ingmar (book, interv, rev) 334, 437, 438, 439, 440, 442, 444, 447, 449, 450, 451, 453, 454, 465, 466, 468, 470, 472, 536, 537, 544, 645, 789 Björnstrand, Gabriella (press art) 233 (com), 309 (com), 370 (com), 1685 Björnstrand, Lillie (book) 370, 1263. See also Chapter III, p. 139 Blackwell, Marilyn Johns (book, art) 234, 236 (mono), 975, 989, 1543, 1603, 1671 Blackwood, Caroline (art) 996, 1056
Name Index Bladh, Curt (rev) 467 Blaha, Paul (rev) 447 (Vienna), 453 (Berlin Blake, Richard A, SJ. (diss, art) 226, 259 (rec), 997, 1196, 1304, 1505 Blandi, Alberto (rev) 447 (Venice), 451 (Florence) Blaszczyna, Stanislav (art) 1479 Bleibtreu, Renate (book ed) 3, 11, 13, 23, 45, 47, 57, 75, 86, 90, 91, 93, 100, 111, 118, 131, 132, 133, 162, 195, 199, 1678 Block, Bruce A. (interv art) 253 (com) Blokker, Jan (press art) 238 (comp studies) Blom, Jörgen (rev) 334 (Sw rev) Blomstrand, Anna-Karin (art) 229 Blum, Doris (interv) 868, 1272 Blum, Heiko R. (art) 1457 Blume, Mary (interv art) 249 (com) Bobker, Lee (book sec) 245 (see also) Bobrow, A.C. (interv) 1213 Bocchi, Lorenzo (interv) 470 (Rome) Bodegård, G. (press report) 245 (rec) Bodelsen, Anders (art) 325 (rec), 450 (Copenhagen Boesten, D.J. (dossier) 245 (fact sheets) Boethius, Maria-Pia (press art) 1439 Bogdanov, Michael (dir) 468 (London rec) Bohlin, Torgny (art) 1520 Bohman, Gösta (art) 988, 1441 Boldemann, Marcus (press art) 492 (com) Bolin, Asta (art) 192 (rec), 226, 238 (rec), 827, 997, 1458 Boldt, Julin (rev) 468, 470 Bolzano, F. (rev) 258 Bonanni, Francesca (rev) 465 (Milano Bonda, Marek (diss) 1630 Bonino, Guido Davico (rev) 468 Bonnesen, Michael (rev) 468, 475, 477, 492 Bono, Francesco (art, ed) 466 (Spoleto), 663, 1012, 1521
Boorsma, Anne-Marie (diss) 250 (longer stud) Boost, C. (art) 1017 Borden, Diane M. (monograph, art) 226, 1305 Borger-Bendegard, Lisbeth (interv) 797 Borglund, Tore (rev) 279, 280, 282, 284, 285, 287, 289, 291, 292, 294, 295, 296 de Borgnie, J. (report) 1370 Borngässer, Rose-Marie (rev, report, interv) 459, 460, 840, 1272, 1319 Boström, Åsa (art, debate) 250 (rec), 975 Boswinkel, W. (rev) 447 (Holland fest) Boyd, David (art) 236 (meta), 1391 Boyers, Robert (art) 236 (comp), 975, 1150 Bozjovits, V. (rev) 466 (Moscow), 468 (Moscow) Bragg, Melvyn (book, TV interv) 225, 857, 1544, 1714 Brandel, Åke (rev) 489 Brandell, Gunnar (art) 453 Branting, Jacob (rev) 446 Brantley, Ben (rev) 483 (NY), 485 (NY), 486 (NY), 487 (NY) Brashinsky, Michael (art) 1631 Braucourt, G. (art) 238 (second trilogy), 975, 1247 Braudy, Leo (book sec, ed) 1320, 1392, 1631 Braun, Robert (interv) 537 Braw, Monica (rep) 466 (Tokyo) Bredsdorff, Lene (media) 472 (com) Bredsdorff, Thomas (rev, art) 442, 450 (spec stud), 466, 468 (debate), 470-473, 620, 1477 Breivik, Thomas (art) 325 Brennan, Mary (rev) 466 (Edinburgh) Breslin, J. (rev) 248 Bresser, Jean Paul (survey, rev) 185, 1545 Bretteville, C. (art) 216 Brightman, Carol (art) 234 Brincker, Jens (rev) 492 Britton, Sven (rep) 449 (See also) Brody, B. (rev) 248 (rec)
1132
Brohult, Magnus (rev) 185, 191, 192 Broman, Sten (rev) 420, 489 Bromander, Lennart (rev) 492 Brotherus, Greta (rev) 454 (foreign rev) Brown, Anita (art) 223 Brown, William Clyde (diss) 1277 Brunius, Clas (interv, rev) 314, 316, 330, 826, 426, 428, 433, 434, 437, 438, 440-443, 454, 826 (Sundgren) Brunius, Teddy (rev) 465, 467, 468, 472, 473 Brunelli, Vittorio (rev) 468 (Florence) Brustein, Robert (rev, art) 450 (London), 466 (NY), 468 (mag rev, NY), 470 (NY), 477 (NY) Bryden, Ronald (rev) 447 (London), 448 Buob, Jacques (press art) 1614 Buchwald, Gunnar (interv) 728 Bummler, Bobby (rev) 447 (Vienna) Buntzen, Linda K. (art) 238 (psych studies), 253 (longer stud), 1278, 1442 Buob, Jacques (report) 1614 Burdick, Dolores (art) 236 (add studies), 1497 Burnevich, Joseph (book, art, interv) 720, 740, 975, 997, 1070 Busco, Maria Teresa (art) 1012, 1121 Buxton, Paul (art) 246 (longer stud) Buzzonetti, R. (art) 231, 234 Bye, Anders (rev) 444 Byrgesen, Heino (interv) 569 Byron, Stuart (art) 1272 Bæckström, Tord (rev) 318, 407, 430, 433, 435, 437, 439, 443, 446, 447, 449 Börjlind, Rolf (fake interv) 853 Calhoun, Alice Ann (diss) 997, 1351 Calmeyer, Bengt (rev) 487 (Oslo) Cameron, Ian (rev) 235 (See also) Cammarano, Tommaso (rev) 258 (foreign rev)
Name Index Campbell, Paul N. (art) 236 (meta) Canby, Vincent (rev) 248 (rec), 249 (rec), 477 (NY) Canova, Gianni (art) 1579 Cantor, Jay (art) 1176 Cappabianca, Alessandro (art) 1231 Carandell, Josep Maria (art) 472 (Barcelona) Carbajal, Isabel (rev) 492 Carcassonne, Philippe (rev art) 247, 1334 Cardullo, Bert (art) 451 (spec stud) Carduner, A. (art) 1197 Caretti, Laura (theatre historian) 468 (rec) Carey, John (rev) 323 Carril, Martinez (art) 974 Carlson, Tore (rep) 492 (see also) Carlsson, Larsolof (rev) 467 Carthew, Anthony (rev) 433 (London) Casas, Joan (rev) 470 (Barcelona) Casas, Quim (rev) 479 (Barcelona) Casebier, Alan (art) 236 (psych motifs), 1352, 1353 Casebier, Jane (art) 1352, 1353 Castro, Manuel (rep) 473 (Seville) Casty, Alan (art) 1227 Cavell, Marcia (rev) 246 (rec) Cavell, Stanley (art) 989, 1378, 1668 Cavendish, Dominique (rev) 487 (London) Cavett, Dick (TV interv) 798, 1698 Cebollado, Pascual (book) 225 Cederblad-Bengtsson, Tone (rev) 318 Cella, Carlo Maria (rev) 492 Centervall, J. (rev) 434 Ceretto, Alberto (rep, interv) 774 Ch’en, Saho-ts’ung (book) 1430 Chambert, Bengt (art) 203, 204 (rec) Champlin, Charles (art, interv, rep) 248 (com), 788, 804, 820, 1264 Chapot, Luc (rev) 258 Charity, Tom (art) 1584
Chauvet, Louis (art) 1122 Chiara, Ghigo de (rev) 470 (Rome) Chiaretti, Tommaso (transl, book, art, rev) 123, 465 (Milano), 466 (Spoleto), 1012, 1109 Chicco, Elisabetta (art) 545, 1151 Childkret, David (art) 1459, 1463 Chion, Michel (art) 1480. See also Chapter III, p. 144 Christensen, Charlotte (rev) 485 (Oslo) Christensen, Theodor (art) 964 Cibotto, G.A. (rev) 447 (Venice), 472 (Venice) Cieslar, J. (afterword) 178 Ciment, Michel (interv, rev) 185, 259, 1329 Cinque, Anne-Marie (art, diss) 975, 1406 Clapp, Susannah (rev) 487 (London) Clarke, Kathryn Philomena (diss) 1394 Classon, Anders (undergrad thesis) 252 (longer stud) Cocks, Jay (rev) 248 (rec) Coe, George (parody) 225 (com) Cohen, Hubert I. (book) 233, 236, 241 (rec), 1011, 1546 Cohen, Shalev Amin (art) 1522 Cohen-Stratyner, Barbara (art) 477, 663 Cohn, Bernard (art, rev) 238 (rec), 989, 1187 Colberg, Klaus (rev) 458 Cole, Alan (art) 1011, 1019 Collin, Lars (interv) 487 (com) Comolli, Jean-Louis (art, rev) 233, 238 (rec), 1110. See also Chapter II, p. 55 Company, Juan Miguel (book) 1034, 1547 Comstock. Richard (art) 1134 Comuzio, Ermano (art, rev) 216, 258, 1111 Conlogue, Ray (rev) 466 (Québec) Connor, John J. (rev) 334 (com) Corbella, Ferran (preview art) 472 (Barcelona) Cordelli, Franco (rev) 466 (Spoleto) Corinne. [sign] (rev) 355
1133
Corliss, Richard (art, rev) 185, 238 (psych studies), 254 (rec), 258, 1152, 1395 Cornelius, Knud (rev) 450 (Copenhagen), 473 Cornell, Jonas (rev art) 124, 236 (rec) Cornell, Peter (press art) 466 Corrivault, Martine R. (rev) 466 (Québec) Cortade, Ludovic (book) 1669 Costaz, Gilles (rev) 465 (Paris) Cournot, Michel (rev) 236 (rec), 464 (Paris), 470 (Paris) Coveney, Michael (rev) 466 (London) Covi, Antonio (book sec) 1198 Cowie, Peter (book, art, interv) 202, 225 (rec), 235, 236, 240 (rec), 241 (rec), 244 (com), 245 (see also), 247 (rec), 890, 996, 1041, 1355, 1378, 1381, 1452, 1481, 1522 Cozarinsky, Eduardo (art) 1034 Craft, Robert (book sec, rev) 247 (rec), 489 (rec), 1101 Craig, Carla (art) 238 (psych studies), 1278 Cramér, Carl (rev) 404 Cramer, Jens (book ed) 1673 Crist, Judith (rev) 233 (rec), 235 (rec) Croce, Arlene (rev, art) 216, 1011 Cucchetti, Gino (rev) 447 (Venice) Cuenca, Carlos Fernandez (book) 1034 Cueno, Anne (art) 465, 611 Cumozio, Emilio (rev art) 249 (longer rev) Cunneen, Sally (art) 1335 Curtiss, Thomas Quinn (rev) 454 (foreign rev) Czako, A. (art) 1632 Czaplinski, Leslaw (art) 1564 Czywczynska, Joanna (thesis, bibl) 1419 d’Allones, Fabrice Renault (art) 1517 d’Amico, Masolini (rev) 470 (Rome), 471 (Parma), 472 (Venice) d’Arecco, Sergio (art) 1194 d’Elia, G. (art) 1336 d’Epenoux, Christian (rep) 1272
Name Index d’Orazio, Gaetano (diss) 216, 1265 da Costa, João Bernard (survey) 1488 Daasnes, Jordan (art) 253 (longer essays) Dabelsteen, Per (rep) 472 (Copenhagen), 1477 Dagerman, Stig (rev) 408 Dagsland, Sissel Hamre (rev) 466, 470, 472, 473, 487 Dallmann, Günter (press report, interv) 433, 446 (see also), 714, 998 Dam, Hanne (art, rep) 572 Dam, Inge (rev) 450 (Copenhagen) Dannecker, Hermann (rev) 447 (Obernhaus) Dannowski, Hans Werner (art) 254, 997, 1431 Darke, Chris (art) 1633 Darlington, W.A. (rev) 433 (London), 447 (London) Darnton, Nina (art) 1548 Davidsson, Katarina (rev) 195 Davis, Brenda (rev) 244 (rec) Davis, Sidney (parody) 225 (com) Dawson, Jan (rev, art) 239, 240 (rec), 244 (rec), 249 (com), 788, 996, 1356 Degnan, James P. (rev) 1085 Delain, M. (interv) 249 (com) Deland, Jacques (rev) 1225 Delekat, Thomas (press art) 1439 Delling, Manfred (art) 982, 1135 Demonsablon, P. (rev) 982 Denitto, Dennis (art) 226 Dent, Alan (rev) 433 (London) Dermutz, Klaus (rev) 482 Dervin, Daniel (art) 1396 Dessau, Frederik (art, press rep) 450 (Copenhagen), 569, 593, 1043 Dickstein, Maurice (book sec, art) 1320, 1452 Dienstfrey, Harris (art) 1057 Disch, Thomas R. (rev art) 468 (NY) Dithmer, Monna (rev) 472 (Copenhagen), 476, 479 (Copenhagen), 485 (Oslo) Dixon Wheeler, Winston (art) 1660
Domarchi, Jean (art, rev) 982, 1247 van Dommelei, Dirk (book) 1306 Donneux, M. (art, rev) 235, 247, 1249 Donnér, Jarl (rev) 414, 418, 424, 429, 430, 445, 450, 451, 453, 454, 470 Donohoe, Joseph (art) 216, 226, 1321 Doorman, Joseph (art) 220 Douchet, Jean (video cass) 225 Dr. Jürg [sign] (rev) 447 (Vienna) Dreifaldt, Curt (tax auditor) 1272 (Aftermath) Drewniak, Lukasz (see also) 479 (Krakow) Drouzy, Martin (art) 1153, 1325 Du Reis, Göran (art) 1328 Duarte, Fernando (art) 1020, 1354 Dubois, Pierre H. (rev) 447 (Holland fest) Dultz, Michael (rev) 461, 463 Dupas, Jean (art) 1144 Duprey, R.A. (art) 1058 Durand, Frédéric (art) 988, 989 Durbach, Errol (art) 638 Dursi, Massimo (rev) 451 (Florence) Duun, Rie (rev) 471 (Århus) Dyer, John (art) 996 Dyckhoff, Peter (report) 1272 Eberhardt, Konrad (art) 1540 (Balbierz) Eberwein, Robert T. (art) 226, 1357, 1407 Edberg, Ulla-Britta (report) 461 (Postscript) Eddegren, Gunnar (rev) 228 (rec) Eder, Richard (art) 1280 Edfeldt, Johannes (rev) 365, 378 Edström, Mauritz (rev) 124, 223 (rec), 233 (rec), 238 (rec), 239 (rec), 314, 325 (rec), 788 Edvardsson, Cordelia (rep, interv) 821 Ehrén, Birgit (rev) 222 (rec) Ehrenborg, Lennart (TV prod) 233 (com) Ehrenkrona, Anne-Marie (interv) 447
1134
Ehrenmark, Torsten (report) 433 Eichholz, Armin (rev) 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464 Eidem, Odd (rev) 445 Ek, Johan (thesis) 975 Ek, Mats (art) 662 Ekbom, Thorsten (rev) 192. See also Chapter II, p. 68 Ekecrantz, Jan (study) 234 (rec Eklann, Torsten (rev, art) 203, 210 (rec), 223 (rec), 444 Eklund, Bernt (press rep) 343 Eklund, Hans (rev) 489 Eklund, Hilkka (rev) 447 (Helsinki) Ekman, Johannes (interv, rev) 309, 589, 669 Ekman, Kerstin (debate) 897 Ekström, Margareta (art, debate) 233 (rec), 975, 1086 Ekström, Olle (int, rev) 566 Elam, Ingrid (rev) 192 Elensky, Torbjörn (rev) 194 Elfving, Ebba (rev) 449 Elfving, Ulf (interv) 318 Elgstam, Helle (report) 318 (see also) Elia, Maurice (rev art) 249 (rec) Ellefsen, Tove (rev) 468 (rev + debate), 471, 472, 473 Ellingsen, Thor (rev) 188 Elliott, David (rev) 325 (Response to TV version) Elmquist, Carl Johan (rev) 297, 447 Elsberg, Anders [AGE] (interv, rep) 431, 489 (com), 526, 537, 540, 764 Elsaesser, Thomas (art) 1565, 1643 Emelsen, Margaret A. (art) 1337 Emil, Jens (rev, interv) 452, 569 Emilio, Paolo (rev) 450 (Florence) Enander, Christer (rev) 194 Engberg, Harald (rev) 431 Engebladh, Monica (thesis) 1429 Erichsen, Sven (rev) 450 (Copenhagen) Erickson, Robert L. (thesis) 1338 Ericksson, Arne (interv, art, rev) 225, 434, 729
Name Index Ericsson, Göran O. (rev, debate) 132, 238 (rec), 442, 443, 468 (rec/Florence), 492 (cred), 537 Erikson, Erik Homburger (art) 226, 1281 Eriksson, Ingalill K. (interv) 470 Eriksson, Ing-Mari (art, ed) 245 (rec), 1317 Ersgård, Stefan (rev) 334 Escudero, José Maria Garcia (art) 1034 von Essen, Ebba (rep, interv) 806, 822 Estève, Michel (ed, art) 233, 249 (rec), 253, 1397 Eteläppää, Heiki (rev) 465 (Tammerfors) Evren, Bonz (rev) 471 (Israel) Faber, K. von (interv) 854 Fabre, Jacqueline (rev) 432 Fabricius, Johannes (art) 244, 1154 Facricius, Susan (art) 1288 Fagerström, Allan (rev) 318, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 437440, 442, 443, 445, 447, 450, 451, 453, 454, 551 (Jahnson affair) Falk, Gunnar (rev) 317, 318, 425 Farago, France (art) 250 (longer stud), 1307, 1397 Farber, S. (rev) 325 (add rev, p. 429) Farbstein, A.A. (art) 1136 Farina, Corrado (book) 1021 Fava, S. (art) 185 (rec) Fehling, Dora (rev) 440 Feingold, Michael 466 (rev, NY), 468 (rev, NY), 472 (rev, NY), 473 (rev, NY), 477 (rev, NY), 485 (NY) Féjja, S. (art) 1339 Filipski, Kevin (rev) 487 (NY) Filmson [see Hanson, Sven Jan] Finch, Hillary (rev) 492 Finetti, Ugo (art, interv) 248 (see also), 1283 Finkelkraut, Alain (rev art) 465 (Paris) Fishbach, Lars (rev) 476 Fischer, Lillie (rev) 465 Fischer, Lucy (book sec) 236 (add studies) Fjermeros, Halvor (rev) 472 (Oslo)
Flamm, Matthew (interv) 466 (NY, rec) Flatow, I. (art) 234 (rec) Fleisher, Frederic (rep, interv) 721, 1060 Fletcher, John (art) 989 Florén, Uno (rev, rep) 435, 1284 Florin, Bo (art) 1628 Florin, Magnus (interv, press art) 275, 466, 680-681 Flyckt, Yngve (rev) 420 Foelz, Sylvia (diss) 975 Fogelbäck, J. (interv) 876 Folke, Ted (rep) 253 (com) Forsberg, Gunnar (art) 979 Forser, Tomas (rev) 480 Forslund, Bengt (art, interv) 228 (rec), 734, 746, 992, 997, 1358, 1382, 1686 Forssell, Jacob (report) 253 (genesis) Forssell, Sven (art) 519, 698 Fortin, Dennis (art) 1604 Foss, Oddvar (art) 245 (rec), 1232 Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey (art) 236 (add studies), 975, 1660 Frankl, Elisabeth (rep, interv) 604, 862, 877, 903 Franzén, Lars-Olof (rev, art) 153, 191, 225 (rec), 236 (rec), 476, 479 Fraser, Linda Lussy (diss) 989, 1616, 1656 Fredén, Gustaf (rev, art) 400, 401 (see also) Fredericksen, Don (art) 236 (meta), 1340 Fredriksson, Karl G (rev) 473, 476, 480, 486, 487 Fredriksson, M. (interv) 869 Fredriksson, Nils (rep, art) 730, 1040 Freeland, Cynthia (book ed) 1590 French, Philip & Kersti (book) 226, 1585 French, Tony (art) 231 (spec studies) Frendel, Yvonne (press art) 444 (com) Freriks, Kester (rev) 464 (Holland fest), 465 (Amsterdam) Fridén, Ann (art, ed) 355, 384 (see also), 401 (rec), 596, 663, 989, 1635
1135
Friedman, R.M. (art) 254 Friedner, Calle (radio interv) 492, 942 Friedrich, Detlev (rev) 482 Friedrich, Regine (rev) 185 Friis, Bente Linnea (interv) 472 (Copenhagen) Frundt, B. (program ed) 249 (com) Fröier, Lennart (art) 1000 Fröman, Margit (rev) 351 Furhammar, Leif (book sec, rev) 339, 474, 1605 Furhammar, Sten (art) 952, 961 Gadd, Pia (debate) 897 Gado, Frank (book) 233, 236, 241 (rec), 612, 1011, 1432. See also Chapter II, p. 65 Gallerani, M. (art) 1322 Gallois, Claire (rev) 253 (rec) Gamerman, Amy (rev) 485 (NY) Gamillscheg, Hannes (press art) 259 (com) Gammelgaard, Tone (press report) 1452 Gantz, Jeffrey (art) 238 (comp studies), 988, 1359 Garbarz, Franck (rev) 259 (foreign rev) Garde, Mogens (report) 468 (non-Swed. rev) Gardner, Lyn (rev) 487 (London) Garfinkel, Bernie (book) 1323 Garrett, Gerard (rev) 323 Garsdal, Lise (rev) 486 Garzia, Aldo (ed) 1679 Gatermann, Reiner (press report) 1272 Gauteur, Claude (rev, art) 982, 1001, 1088 Gauweiler, Peter (interv) 858 Gavel Adams, Lotta & Terje Leiren (eds) 1671 Gay, James (art) 244, 1033 Geduld, Harry M. (ed) 87 Gee, Maggie (rev) 259 (foreign rev) Gehler, Fred (rev art) 249 af Geijerstam, Sten [S. af Gm] (rev) 384, 391, 392, 397, 398, 399, 400, 401 Geisler, Günther (report) 1046 Gellerfeldt, Mats (rev) 465, 468 (debate)
Name Index Gentele, Jeanette (report) 470 (see also) Gerbracht, Wolfgang (art) 972 Gerell, Boel (rev) 340, 341 Gerle, Jörg (art) 997, 1634 Geron, Gastone (rev) 465 (Milano), 470 (Rome) Gertner, R. (rev) 250 Gervais, Marc (book, art, TV) 791, 997, 1011, 1657 Gessner, Robert (art) 225 Gianvito, J. (art) 1483 Gibson, Arthur (book) 997 Giertz, Bo (press interv) 233 (rec) Giles, Gordon (rev) 468 (London/Edinburgh) Gill, Brendan (rev) 229 (rec), 233 (rec) Gill, Jerry H. (art) 1177 Gilles, Werner (rev) 447 (Obernhaus) Gilliat, Penelope (book sec, art) 230, 241, 1156 Gilman, Peter (report) 1272 Gilson, R. (art) 982 (group item, p. 887) Gislén, Ylva (rev) 479 Gitlitz, Marcia (thesis) 546 Gjelsvik, Erling (press art) 473 (Bergen) Gjesdal, Paul (rev) 445 Glaser, M. (interv) 556 Glassco, David (art) 989, 1398 Gliewe, Gert (rev) 457, 458, 460, 463 Goland, Erik (prod, radio, interv) 225 (com), 711, 993 Golden, Leon (book ed) 975 (group #) Gollub, Judith (rev art) 240 (rec) Gomes, Manuel João (report) 471 (Lisbon) Gomez Sanchez, Juan Pedro (diss) 1371 Goodwin, Noel (rev) 489 Gorodinskaja, N. (ed) 1178 Gortzak, Ruud (rev) 464 (Holland fest), 465 (Amsterdam) Gosioco, Carmelo Nauiat (thesis) 1285 Grabowski, Simon (art) 223 Grack, Günther (rev) 453 (Berlin), 456 (Berlin)
Graef, Igor Abrahim (thesis) 1460 Graeter, Michael (rev) 456 Grafe, Frieda (interv, art) 854, 1158 Grafström, Bengt (rev) 283, 290, 299 Graham, Peter (book ed) Chapter II, p. 55 Granath, Sara (rev) 310 Grandgeorge, Edmond (book) 225 Granqvist, Knut (rep, interv) 639 Gravier, Maurice (art) 989 Gray, Leonore (rev) 447 (Vienna) Greenberg, Harvey (art) 226 Gregor, Ulrich (art) 994, 1273 Gregori, Marie Grazia (rev) 465 (Milano) Grelier, Robert (rev art) 254 Grenier, Richard (interv) 741, 823, 1072 Grevenius, Herbert (rev; art, see also Section 1) 264 (rev), 278 (See also), 363, 366, 383, 384, 390-392, 394, 396, 398, 401, 403, 405, 430, 512, 513, 518, 954 Grive, Madeleine (rep) 468 (debate), 478 (debate), 1444 Gromov, E. (survey) 1420 Grundström, Elisabeth (press report) 477 (See also) Grut, Mario (rev) 467, 468 (rev + debate), 470, 473, 479 Grüber, Klaus-Michael (dir) 468 (com) Grünstein, Michael (rev) 474 Grymer, Claus (rev) 471 (Århus) Gråsten, Bent (art) 216 Gräslund, Louise (rev) 291 Grönberg, Staffan (book ed) 1314 Grönstedt, Olle (radio prod) 470 (media progr) Gualtiero, Pironi (art) 1308 Guerin, Marie-Anne (rev) 259 (foreign rev) Guez, G. (art) 1061 Gugg, T. (rev) 462 Guinness, Os (recorded art) 1360 Guldbrand, Sten [S. G-d] (rev) 361
1136
Gummeson, Ola (rep) 468 (London/Edinburgh) Gunnarsson, G. (art) 1317 Gunnlaugsson, Hrafn (interv) 916, 1707 Gussow, Mel (rev) 466 (NY), 468 (NY), 471 (NY), 472 (NY), 473 (NY Gustafson, Ragnar (book) 557 Gustafsson, Annika (interv art) 341 Gustavsson, Björn (rev) 475 Gustavsson, Ulf (interv) 917 Guyon, François D. (book) 982 (group #) Gylder, R. (rep, interv) 731 Gyllenpalm, Bo (diss) 647, 970, 1586 Gyllström, Katy (art) 238 (comp studies), 1089, 1159 Györffy, Miklos (book, art) 1250, 1286 Göpfert, Peter Hans (rev) 453 (Berlin), 482 Göransson, Sverker (art) 124, 988 Göttler, Fritz (press rep) 1625 Haakman, Anton (rev) 185 Haas, Anneliese de (rev) 318 Haas, Richard (news report) 1200 Haber, Joyce (press report) 245 (com) Habernoll, Kurt (rev art) 131, 236 (additional studies) Haddal, Per (press art) 1461 Hafsteinsson, Saemundur (thesis) 253 Hagander, Astrid (interv) 807 Hagen, Cecilia (press report) 253 Hagman, Ingrid (art) 257 (spec stud) haj. [sign] (rev) 450 (Zürich), 456, 459, 460, 461, 463, 464, 473 Hakulinen, Rita (rev) 440 Halldin, Alf (press art) 330 (see also) Hallén, David (rev) 396, 400, 401, 405 Haller, Robert (book sec) 1123 Hallert, Kerstin (press debate) 253 (rec), 342, 343 (See also) Halling, Olle [Allegro] (rev) 360
Name Index Hallingberg, Gunnar (media scholar) Chapter V, p. 374 Hamberg, Per Martin (radio report, interv) 694 Hamdi, Britt (rep, interv, art) 233, 731, 742, 770, 1047, 1160 Hamilton, J.W. (art) 234, 997 Hammar, Stina (book ed) 1519 Hammar, Sven (interv) 519 Hammarén, Carl (rev) 444 Hammer, Sten (report, interv) 699. See also Chapter II, p. 53 Hamzai, Shahram (art) 1587 Hancock, Bill (rev) 293 Handelszalte, Michael (rev) 471 (Israel) Hane, Helge G (rev) 355 (com), 360 (com) Hanneberg, Peter (report) 479 (Krakow) Hansell, Sven (film rev) 192 Hansen, Jan E. (report, interv, art, rev) 470, 472, 473 (Bergen), 613, 908, 1452 Hansen, Poul Einer (rev) 244 (rec) Hanson, Sven Jan [Filmson] (rev) 220 (com) Hansson, Anders (rev) 257 (Sw. rev) Hansson, Hansingvar (rev) 318, 415, 418, 419, 422, 423, 427, 428, 429, 432, 433 Harcourt, Peter (book, art), 241 (rec) 1011, 1233, 1523, 1523 Harrell, Mary Runnels (art) 975 Harrie, Ivar [I.H.] (rev, art) 225 (rec), 318, 390, 391, 394, 395, 396, 399, 400, 401, 403, 408, 411, 419, 424, 427, 429, 430, 431, 432, 435, 439 Harris, M. (rev art) 236 (rec) Harryson, Kajsa (interv, rev) 194, 327 (com), 577, 842, 899 van der Harst, Hanny (rev) 465 (Amsterdam) Hart, Henry (rev) 228 (rec), 233 (rec), 234 (rec), 238 (rec), 1011 Hartman, Olof (book chapt) 234, 236 (rec), 997 Hartmann, Alf (rev) 450 (Oslo) Haskell, Molly (book, art, interv) 244 (rec), 246 (rec), 249 (rec), 259, 975 Hatch, R. (rev) 248, 249 (rec) Haufler, Daniel (press report) 1625
Hauser, Krista (rev) 447 (Vienna) Haverty, Linda Rugg (transl, art) 195, 253 (longer stud), 989. See also Chapter II, p. 68 Hayden, L.H. (report) 1124, 1211 Hayes, Jarrod (art) 253 (longer stud), 1618 Hayman, Ronald (radio report) 617 Hax. [sign](rev) 397 Heath, Elizabeth, F. (art, thesis) 632, 1506 Hedberg, Håkan (report) 1073 Hede, Julia (undergrad thesis) 1421 Hedén, Birger (rev) 472 Hederberg, Hans (interv) 760 Hedin, Sven (speech) 1496 Hedling, Erik (book ed, rev) 1627, 1681 Hedlund, Oscar (rep, interv) 492, 748 Hedlund, Åke (press report) 249 Hedman, Kaj (art) 1588 Hedqvist, Hedvig (press art) 492 Hedström, Karl Olof (report) 433 Heilbrun, Carolyn (rev) 325 (rec) von Heijne, Thomas (report) 466 (Tokyo), 468 (Tokyo) Heine, Matthias (rev) 482 von Heinrichs, Benjamin (press art, rev) 462, 470 (Hamburg) Hejll, A. (art) 1549 Helén, Gunnar (rev) 406 Helgheim, Kjell (report) 447 (see also) Héliot, Armelle (rev) 465 (Paris) Helker, Renate (art) 1484 Hellbom, Thorleif/Tell (report) 246 (com), 366, 451 (com), 1214 Heller, Frank [Gunnar Serner] (art) 202 (rec) Hellqvist, Elof (interv) 700 Helman, Alicja (art) 1251 Hellström, Mats (press art) 473 (See also) Heltberg, Bettina (rev) 472 (Copenhagen), 477, 483 Hembus, J. (interv) 863 Hennecke, Charlotte (rep) 458 (see also)
1137
Hennéus, Mårten (interv) 486, 670 von Henrichs, Benjamin (rev) 457 Henrikson, Thomas (report) 465 (see also) Henry. (sign, rev) 420 Hensel, Georg (rev) 456, 457, 463, 464 Henttonen, Anita (report, interv) 782 Herler, Don (rev) 440 Hervé, Alain (report) 1112 Hessler, Gunnar (rev) 263, 277 Heyman, Danièle (interv) 824 Heyman, Viveca (rev, art) 220 (com), 223 (rec), 435, 1003, 1033 Heymann, Sabine (report) 468 (Florence) Himmelstrand, Ulf (art) 968. See also Chapter II, p. 65 Hinnemo, Torgny (art) 1189 Hiroshi, K. (art) 234 Hirsch, P. (art) 1325 Hjern, Kjell (rev) 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 404, 405 Hjertén, Hanserik (art, rev) 223 (rec), 225 (rec), 244 (rec), 245 (rec), 335, 796, 1033 Hl. [sign] (rev) 420 Hobson, Andrew (art) 1378 Hockenjos, Vreni (art) 318, 664, 989, 1628 Hoem, Edvard (rev) 471 Hofsess, J. (rev art) 236 (rec) Hoht, Helmuth (press art) 537 Holba, H. (art) 1161 Holden, D.F. (art) 231 (spec studies), 989, 1252 Holden, Stephen (rev) 259 (foreign rev) Holland, Norman (art) 225, 226, 228 (rec), 1022 Holloway, Ronald (diss, art) 997, 1422 Holm, Annika (interv, rep) 551, 766 Holm, Eske (art) 1287 Holm, Hans Axel (rev) 449 Holm, Ingvar (rev) 416, 424, 428, 439 Holmarsson, Sverri (rev) 466 (Reykjavik Holmberg, Jan (art) 236 (add studies) Holmér, Per (art) 220, 1314 Holmqvist, Bengt (rev art) 185
Name Index Holmqvist, Ivo (art) 665, 1636 Holmqvist, Malin (debate) 478 Honolka, Kurt (rev) 447 (Obernmhaus) Hoops, Jonathan (art) 238 (psych studies) Hope-Wallace, Philip (rev) 433 (London), 440 (London), 448 Hopkins, Steve (art) 974, 1004 Horowitz, Mark (intro art, rev) 185, 1462 Horton, Andrew (art, ed) 1631 Hosman, Harry (press report) 249 (rec) Houston, Beverly (book sec, art) 236 (psych motifs), 238 (psych motifs), 240 (rec), 1361 Houston, Penelope (book chapt) 241 (rec), 996, 1378 Hoveyda, Feeydoum (art) 226, 989 Hoyle, Martin (rev) 468 (London/Edinburgh) Hr. Bert [sign] (rev) 427 Huang Chien-ye (rev) 471 (Taiwan) Hudson, C. (film rev) 245 (rec) Hunter, R. (art) 247, 1362 Huotari, Markku (rev) 473 von Huppert, Hugo (rev) 447 (Vienna Hurum, Hans Jørgen (rev) 489 Huss, Pia (interv) 485 (com) Huzarska-Szumieç, Magda (rev) 479 (Krakow) Hübner, Paul (rev) 440 Håkansson, Harald (rev) 417 Håstad, Disa (interv) 864 Hägglund, Kent (press art) 466 Häggman, Larserik (report) 466 (Moscow) Häggqvist, Björn (debate) 446 Hähnel, Barbro [Perpetua] (rev, rep, interv) 434, 450 (rep, London), 717 Hähnel, Folke (press art) 489 (rec) Hörmark, Mats (rev) 467, 470, 471 Höök, Marianne [Höken] (book, art, rep, interv) 222 (rec), 225 (rec), 228 (com), 233, 314, 489 (com), 952, 975, 982, 983, 1062, 1074, 1220. See also Chapter I, pp. 27-28, 30; Chapter III, p. 148
Iden, Peter (rev) 456 Idestam-Almqvist, Bengt [Robin Hood] (rev, art, deb) 204, 207 (rec), 208 (rec), 210 (rec), 211 (rec), 220 (com), 225 (rec), 233 (rec), 711, 955, 974, 1005, 1033, 1155, 1162 Ignée, Wolfgang (press, rev) 447 (Obernhaus), 450 (Berlin), 461, 1452 Imdahl, Grete (rev) 487 (Oslo) Ingemansson, Birgitta (art) 1383, 1409. See also Chapter II, p. 59 Inviato, Dal Nostro (rev) 454 (Warsaw) Irving, Sven (rev) 461 (postscript), 589 Isaksson, Anders (report) 547 Isaksson, Folke (debate) 1033 Ivarsson, Nils Ivar (rev, report) 419, 433 Iversen, Gunilla (art) 132, 337 (spec stud), 492, 663 Jackiewicz, Aleksander (art) 1163 Jackson (sign) 499, 686 Jacobs, Barry (longer stud) 466 (see Törnqvist) Jacobs, D. (rev) 248 Jacobs, Lewis (film hist, anthology ed) 87, 113 Jacobsen, Aileen (rev) 483 (NY) Jahnsson, Bengt (rev, debate) 322 (rec), 440, 442, 443, 444, 453, 465, 467, 551 James, Caryn (art) 1566. See also Chapter II, p. 68 Janos, L. (interv, art) 249 (com) Jansen, Peter W. (press report) 1452, 1539, 1625 Jansonas, Egmontas (rev) 471 (Vilnius) Janzon, Bengt (interv) 489, 743 Janzon, Leif (interv) 598, 891 Janzon, Åke (rev) 124, 245 (rec), 322 (rec), 325 (rec), 440, 446, 447, 449, 450, 451, 453, 454, 459 Jarvie, Ian (art) 1023, 1034, 1445 Jeancolas, F (art, rev) 982 Jeancolas, Jean-Paul (art) 1234 Jenkins, Ron (rev) 485 (NY) Jensen, Niels (book ed, art, rev) 250 (longer rev), 253
1138
(art), 1215, 1288, 1309, 1325, 1341, 1399 Jeremias, Brigitte (art) 1324 Johansen, Birthe (rev) 471 (see also) Johansen, Phillip (art) 1589 Johansson, Björn (art, rev) 401, 489 Johansson, Gustav [Hjorvard] (sign rev) 408 Johansson, Stefan (radio play) 308 Johns Blackwell, Marilyn [see also Blackwell] (diss) 236 (comp), 988 Johnsson, Hans-Ingvar (rep) 466 (London) Johnson, Jeffrey L.L. (art) 1463 Johnson, Wayne (diss) 1235 Jolo (see Olsson, Jan-Olof) Joly, G. (rev) 432 Jones, C.J. (art) 236 (meta), 989, 1310 Jones, William G. (interv, book ed) 878, 1368 Jong, Nicholas de (rev) 464 (Edinburgh), 487 (London) Jonsson, Stefan (rev) 194, 293 Jordan, Paul T. (thesis) 236 (meta), 253 (longer stud) Josephson, Lennart (rev) 318, 437, 440, 442, 443, 444, 446, 447, 449 Josephson, Ragnar (rev) 391, 392, 395 Jostad, Morten (art) 253, 606 J. Thn. [sign] (rev) 400, 407 Jungheinrich, Hans-Klaus (rev) 462 Jungstedt, Torsten (report, interv) 228 (com), 233, 722, 735, 736, 790, 843 Justesen, Per (rev) 464 (Holland fest) Juvenalis [sign], rev) 399 Jüngersen Jr, F (film critic) 211 (rec) Järhult, Gunlög (press debate) 253 (rec) Jönsson, J. (study) 233 (rec) Jönsson, Ludvig (debate) 233 (rec), 827, 897, 1086 Jörder, Gerhard (rev) 463 Kael, Pauline (rev, art) 110, 223 (rec), 236 (rec), 239 (rec), 247
Name Index (see also), 249 (rec), 250 (rec), 1011, 1423 Kaiser, Joachim (rev) 440, 456, 457, 458, 460, 461, 462, 464 Kakutani, Michiko (art, interv) 892 Kalin, Jesse (book) 1687 Kalmar, Sylvi (report, interv) 767, 825, 1236 Kaminsky, Stuart (book ed, art) 1253, 1266 Kaplan, Tony (rev) 335, 337, 341 Kappelin, Kristina (interv) 466 (Spoleto), 466 (NY) Karlstedt, K. (report, interv) 731 Karsch, Walter (rev) 440, 450 (Berlin Katz, Anne Rose (rev) 252 (rec) Katz, Madeleine (debate art) 327 (Sw rec) Katz, Mikael (rev, press art) 208 (rec), 211 (rec), 405, 410 Kauffmann, Stanley (rev, art) 218, 222, 229 (rec), 230, 231 (rec), 234 (rec), 235, 236 (rec), 238 (rec), 239, 241, 247 (rec, art), 248 (see also), 249 (rec), 250 (rec), 256 (rec), 259 (rec), 483 (NY), 788, 1011, 1320 Kawin, Bruce (book chapt, art) 236 (meta), 239, 1372, 1464 Kayser, Beate (rev) 456 Kehr, Dave (report) 259 (interv) Keller, Keith [Kell] (rev) 188 Kellerher, Ed (rev) 258 (Foreign rev) Kelly, Oliver (art) 1590 Kelman, Ken (art) 1091 Kemp, Robert (rev) 432 (Paris) Kennedy, Harlan (art) 1637 Ketcham, Charles (diss, book) 997, 1434 Keyser, Lester (art) 246 (longer stud) Khouri, Walter Hugo (dir, art) 974 Kiefer, Jean Egon (rev) 440 Kihlman, Mårten (rev) 440, 447 (Helsinki), 465 (Tammerfors Kindblom, Mikaela (art) 1680 Kinder, Marsha (book sec, art) 210 (rec), 236 (psych motifs), 238 (psych motifs), 240 (rec), 252 (longer stud), 1361, 1373, 1378, 1464 King, Francis (rev) 468 (London/Edinburgh)
Kingston, Jeremy (rev) 468 (London/Edinburgh) Kinnear, G.C. (art) 1145 Kissel, Howard (rev) 466 (NY), 468 (NY), 472 (NY), 473 (NY), 485 (NY), 486 (NY), 487 (NY) Kistrup, Jens (rev) 450 (Copenhagen), 468, 470-473, 475477, 479 (Copenhagen) Kjellin, Gösta (rev) 485 Kjellström, Nils (rev) 417, 418, 424, 426, 427 Klausen, Inger-Lise (rev) 472 Klossowics, Jan (art) 454 (Warsaw) Klotz, Volker (discussion, rev) 440, 447, 558 Klynne, K. (art) 244 (rec), 975 Knight, Arthur (rev, art) 231 (rec) Knutsson, Ulrika (art, media report) 219, 470 (media progr), 1638 Koebner, Thomas (art) 997, 1634 Koehler, Robert (report) 1675 Kohan, John (rev) 468 Kolin, Philip C. (art) 405, 643 Kollberg, Bo-Ingvar (rev) 191, 192, 470, 473, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480, 483, 485 Kolstad, Harald (rev) 470 (Bergen) Kornas, Tadeusz (rev) 479 (Krakow) Kosakov, Michail (rev) 468 (Moscow) Koselka, Fritz (rev) 447 (Vienna) Koskinen, Maaret (diss, book, art, ed) 1, 3, 11, 13, 18, 21, 38, 48, 61, 70, 72, 85, 90, 123, 202, 215, 219, 225, 226, 234, 236 (psych motifs), 238 (com), 252, 253 (rev art), 256 (rec), 399 (see also), 439 (com), 440 (see also), 443 (see also), 445 (see also), 446 (see also), 468, 653, 672, 676, 1410, 1452 (Chaplin, Filmhäftet), 1466, 1485, 1526, 1540, 1542, 1591, 1613, 1619, 1620, 1628, 1671, 1676, 1681. See also Intro, Chapter II, pp. 51, 65, 68 Kosmorama 87, 1325 Kostrup, A. (art) 1325 Kosubek, G (art) 185 Kotulla, Theodor (ed) 108
1139
Kousbroek, Rudy (rev) 185 Kovacs, F. (rev) 235 (rec) Kowalczyk, Janusz (rev) 479 (Krakow) K-R. [sign], rev) 429 Kragh-Jacobsen, Svend (rev) 451, 452 Kracauer, S. (film historian) 236 (rec) Kramer, Mimi (rev) 468 (mag rev, NY) Kretzmer, Herbert (rev) 450 (London) Krieger, Hans (rev) 457, 460 Kristensson-Uggla, Bengt (art) 1519 Krohn, S. (art) 202 Kroll, Jack (interv, rev) 468 (NY) Krook, Kajsa (rev) 433, 450 Kruntorad, Paul (art) 462 Krusche, Dieter (art) 976, 1048 Kruskopt, Erik (rev) 132 Kruuse, Jens (rev) 450, 452 Kullenberg, Anette (press report) 974 Kumlien, Gunnar (report, interv) 783 Kupfer, Peter (interv) 799 Kureishi, Hanif (rev) 253 (see also) Kurzwel, Edith (rev art) 341 Kusoffsky, Hartvig [Koski/-ki] (rev) 361, 365, 370, 376 Kvistad, Yngve (rev) 485, 487 Kwakernaak, Erik Jan (rev, art) 250 (see also), 975, 1033, 1201, 1254 Kyrou, Adou (art) 982 Kyttä, Riita (rev) 440 (Helsinki) Kågström, Per (rep) 474 Labraaten, B. (art) 234 Lacy, Allen (art) 233 (longer disc), 989 Ladiges, Peter M. (art) 1092 Lagercrantz, Agneta (rep, interv) 731 Lagercrantz, Olof (rev, debate) 127, 223 (rec), 229 (rec), 234 (rec), 236 (rec), 326 (rec), 397, 399, 402, 407, 440 (rec), 537 (debate), 551, 1456 Lagergren, Åke (debate) 533 Lagerkvist, Bengt (interv) 597 Lahann, Birgit (rep) 457 (see also)
Name Index Lahr, John (rev, art, interv) 471 (NY), 477 (art), 478, 485 (NY), 640, 937, 989, 1658 Landberg, Bo (art) 245 (rec) Landgren, Bengt (press art) 233 (rec) Landquist, John (rev art) 225 (rec), 384, 390, 391, 392, 395, 988 Lane, Anthony (rev) 185 Lane, John Francis (rev) 454 (Warsaw) Lang, Jack (preview art) 472 (Barcelona) Lange, Daniel (rev) 447 (Holland fest) Lange-Fuchs, Hauke (book, art, ed) 1326, 1467, 1499 Langkjær, Harald (art) 1033 Langlois, Henri (art) 1113 Lapini, Lia (rev) 468 (Florence) Larass, Claus (interv) 879 Larris, R. (rev) 982 (group #, p. 887) Larsén, Carlhåkan (interv, rev, art) 247 (com), 334, 341, 465468, 471- 473, 476, 477, 478, 480, 485, 487, 492 (art) 829 Larsen, Eyvind (radio disc) 1288 Larsen, Ida Lou (rev) 470 (Bergen), 472 (Oslo), 473 (Bergen) Larson, Janet K (art) 249 (longer stud) Larson, Kate (rev) 477 Larson, Lisbeth (rev) 195, 340, 466, 467, 473, 477, 478 Larsson, Mika (interv) 900 Larsson, Stig (rev) 253 (rec) Lauder, Robert E. (book, art, rev) 248 (see also), 250 (see also), 997, 1011, 1486 Lauka, Maria (rev) 440 (Helsinki) Laura, Ernesto G. (art) 1012, 1093, 1114, 1126 Laurenti, Roberto (book) 1289 Lawrence, Eric (art) 966 Lawson, John Howard (book chapt) 1115 Lawson, Steve (art) 1435 Lazzari, Arturo (rev) 447 (Venice Leandoer, Kristoffer (rev) 470, 471, 472 Leche, Mia (rev) 396
Leclerc, Marie-Françoise (report, rev) 465 (Paris), 1425 Lee, Gordon (thesis) 234, 1591 leFanu, Mark (art) 245 (longer art), 1255 Lefèvre, Raymond (ed, book, art, rev) 223, 250 (rec), 338, 1179, 1400, 1553 Lehman, B. (art) 234 Lehmann, H. (rev) 461 Lehmann-Brauns, Elke (rev) 454 (foreign rev) Lehnhardt, Rolf (rev) 459 Leirens, Jean (book, art, rev) 235, 982, 1063 Leiser, Erwin (art, rev, report) 132, 236 (add studies), 239 (rec), 422, 446 (see also), 447, 476 (see also) Lejefors, Ann-Sofi (interv, art) 253 (com), 883 Leirens, Jean (book, art, rev) 235, 982, 1063 Leiser, Erwin (art, rev) 132, 236 (add studies), 239 (rec), 395, 417, 435 Lejefors, Ann-Sofi (interv, art) 253 (com), 883 Lenti, Adriano (art) 472 (Studies), 629 Leonardini, Jean-Pierre (rev) 465 (Paris) Leroux, André (rev art) 250 (longer rev) Letter, L. (book) 226 (monograph) Leutrat, Paul (art) 1076 Levèsque, Robert (rev) 466 (Québec) Levin, Mona (interv) 472 Levine, Joshua (report) 1524 Levy, Emanuel (rev) 341 Lewis, Francis (interv) 466 (NY) Lewis, Peter (rev) 440 (London), 448 Librach, Ronald S. (art) 246 (longer stud), 249 (longer stud), 1363 Lidbeck, Gunilla (interv) 880 Lidman, Sara (debate) 236 (rec), 239 (rec) Lidström, B. (study) 233 (rec) Liefhebbe, Peter (rev) 464 (Holland fest)
1140
Lienza, Carlo (report, rev) 468 (Florence) Lierop, Pieter van (rev art) 254, 332, 334 Liggera, Joseph (art) 225, 626, 989, 997 Liggera, Lanayre (art) 225, 626, 989 Lightman, Herb A. (art) 1213 Liliehök, Ellen (rev) 271 Liljekvist, Jan (thesis) 1525 Lilliestierna, Christina (report, interv) 433, 715, 954 Limbacher, James (video cass) 226 Lind, Ia (rev) 465 Lindberg, Börje (rev) 474 Lindblad, Helena (rev) 343 Lindblom, Sisela (rev) 316, 318, 391, 395-399, 401, 403-408, 410, 413, 415, 417, 419, 422, 426, 427, 429, 430, 432, 433, 435, 437 Linde, Ebbe (rev) 396, 397, 398, 399, 405, 406, 407, 410, 413, 414, 422, 425 (com), 426, 427, 430, 435, 437, 509 Lindeborg, Lisbeth (radio report) 583, 865 Linden, Frank van der (interv) 898, 1404 Lindén, Gunnar (rev) 466, 478 Linder, Erik Hjalmar (rev, art) 408, 410, 413, 426, 430, 524 Linder, Lars (rev) 466, 468 (debate), 470 Lind-g, K. [sign] (press art) 533 (debate) Lindgren, Astrid (open letter, rep) 1272, 1408 Lindgren, Malin (art) 1288 Lindh-Garreau, Maria (rev) 485, 486, 487 Lindholm, Karl-Axel (rev, art) 449, 453 (spec stud), 465 Lindqvist, Sven (art) 973 Lindskog, Runo (report) 1164 Lindström, Hans (press art) 228 (rec) Lindström, Jan (interv) 744, 938 Linnér, Stephan (art) 253, 989 Linton-Malmfors, Birgit (book ed) 1526 Linz, Martin (art) 997, 1499 List, Peter (rep) 1049 Liuga, Audronis (rev) 471 (Vilnius)
Name Index Livingston, Paisley (diss, book, art) 223, 228, 236 (meta), 239 (rec), 240 (rec), 241(rec), 1011, 1384 Ljungkvist, Anna (art) 1452 (Filmhäftet) L-n. [sign], rev) 420 Lohmann, H. (interv) 327 (Sw rec) Lohr, Steve (press report) 256 (com) Lokko, Andres (rev) 343 Loman, Richard (art) 477, 989, 1613 Long, Robert (book) 1568 Loney, Glenn (art) 537, 541 Lopez Sancho, Lorenzo (rev) 466 (Madrid) Lover, Anthony (parody) 225 (com) Lubowski, Bernt (interv, report) 250 (see also), 913, 1453 Luchesini, Paolo (preview, rev) 466 (Spoleto), 468 (Florence), 470 (Rome) Lucie-Smith, Edward (rep) 446 (rec) Ludvigsson, Bo (rev) 335, 341 Luft, Friedrich (rev) 453 (Berlin), 456 (Berlin) Luke, Paul (diss) 1607 Lund, Me (rev) 475, 477, 479 (Copenhagen), 483, 485, 487 Lundberg, Camilla (TV interv, report) 337, 469, 492, 939 Lundberg, Christina (rev) 476, 485, 486 Lundberg, P.O. (debate) 233 (rec) Lundell, Torborg (art) 231 (spec studies), 1374 Lundgren, Henrik (art, rev) 325 (Dan rec), 450 (Copenhagen) 452, 970, 1325 Lundgren, L. (film debate) 245 (rec) Lundin, Bo (rev) 465, 466, 468 Lundkvist, Artur (rev, art) 205 (rec), 250 (rec), 252 (rec), 366 (rec), 497 Lundström, Henry (art) 1639 Lusardi, James P. (art) 468 (longer stud), 660 Lutherson, Peter (rev) 487 Lutz, Volke (rev) 194 Lyding, Henrik (rev) 479 (Copenhagen)
Lyons, Donald (rev) 483 (NY), 485 (NY) Lysell, Roland (rev) 487 Lönnebo, M. (debate) 233 (rec) Lönnroth, L. (study) 233 (rec) Lönnroth, Lars (press report) 537 Löthwall, Lars-Olof (report, interv) 148, 228 (com), 239 (com), 245 (com), 253 (com), 771, 776, 808, 884, 1155, 1216 Löwander, B. (booklet ed) 326 (Sw. rec) Ma, Rolf (rev) 461 Macaulay, Alastair (rev) 487 (London) Macher, Hannes (rev) 463 Macnab, Geoffrey (rev, interv) 259 Madden, David (art) 229 Madsen, Ole Christian (art) 1487 Magny, Joel (art rev) 188 Mahieu, Jose Augustin (art) 974, 1625 Maisetti, Massino (diss) 1116 Malaise, Yvonne (rep, interv) 467, 472 (com), 473 (interv/See also), 475 (com), 477 (see also), 478 (press debate), 483 (com), 666 Malm, Åke (report) 468 (debate) Malmberg, Carl Johan (art) 226, 249 (longer stud), 340, 343 (press art), 1687 Malmberg, Gert (rev) 330, 338 Malmberg, Hans (art) 519, 698 Malmkær, P. (art) 1325 Manceau, Jean-Louis (report) 1528 Manciotti, Mauro (rev, art) 465 (Milano), 466 (Spoleto), 470 (Rome), 1436 Mango, Lorenzo (rev art) 254, 1437 Manley, J. (art) 236 (psych motifs), 1353 Manns, Torsten (rev, interv) 235 (rec/rev), 236 (rec), 773, 788 Manvell, Roger (thesis, book) 1385 Manz, H.P. (art) 1045 Marcabru, Pierre (rev, art) 432, 465 (Paris), 1117
1141
Marcussen, Elsa-Brita (art, int, rev) 202 (rec), 450, 466, 809, 1217 Marion, Denis (book) 1342 Marker, Frederick (book, art, int) 253 (com), 415 (see also), 419, 422, 430, 440, 451, 453, 456 (com), 459 (long stud), 461 (spec stud), 462, 464 (int), 466 (NY), 470 (NY), 584, 594, 599, 605, 614, 622, 630, 885, 886, 887, 893, 905, 909, 970 Marker, Lise Lone (book, art, int) 253 (com), 415 (see also), 419, 422, 430, 440, 451, 453, 456 (com), 459 (long stud), 461 (spec stud), 462, 464 (int), 466 (NY), 470 (NY), 472 (NY), 584, 594, 599, 600, 605, 614, 622, 630, 885, 886, 887, 893, 905, 909, 970 Marko, Susanne (rev) 330, 334 Marnersdottir, Malan (book ed) 1673 Marowitz, C. (art) 1237 Marrone, Titti (preview) 466 (Spoleto) Mars-Jones, Adam (rev) 468 (London/Edinburgh) Marsolais, G. (rev) 257 (foreign rev) Martin, Jacqueline (art) 631 Martin, Marcel (art) 236 (rec) Martinez, Carril Manuel (survey art) 1343 Martinez, J. (art) 1034 (group #) Marty, Joseph (art) 1521 Marzolla, Susanna (interv) 465 (Milano) Maslin, Janet (rev) 256 (rec), 258 Mast, Gerald (book sec) 223 (see also) Mathias, L. (rev) 223 (rec) Matos-Cruz, J. (art) 1354 Matteson, Alf (art) 975 Matthews, Peter (art) 1682 Matthias, L. (debate) 223 (rec) Mattsson, Åsa (thesis) 1640 Matusevich, V. (art) 1118 Maxfield, James F. (art) 239 (rec), 1411, 1468 May, Rolf (rev) 460, 462, 463 Mayer, Michael F. (art) 1011 Mayo, Wendell (art) 1554 M.B. [sign] (rev) 427, 428
Name Index McBride, Joseph (ed) 841 McCann, E. (art) 226 McCarter, Jeremy (rev) 487 (NY) McClean, Theodore (report) 1401 McDougal, Stuart (book ed) 1631 McGhee, Kimberly-Kay (diss) 989, 1659 McManus, Barbara F. (art) 975 Meadows, Alger H. (award) 1368 Mehr, Stephan (interv) 845, 1272 Meier, Peter (rev) 450 (Zürich) Meissel, Gerhard (press report) 236 (com) Mele, Rina (art) 1231 Melchinger, Siegfried (report, rev) 440, 447 (Obernhaus), 1694 Melin, Bengt (art) 1290 Mellen, Joan (art) 245 (rec/ longer art), 975 Menck, Clara (rev) 458 Mérigeau, Pascal (rev) 338 Merino, Imma (preview art) 472 (Barcelona) Merjui, Darius (art) 225 Merkin, Daphne (interv) 259 Merryman, Richard (art, interv) 831 Merz, Richard (rev) 450 (Zürich) Mészaros, Tamas (rev) 471 (Budapest) Mészöly, M. (art) 1239 Meyer, Michael (art, rev) 185, 433 (London), 1569 Meyer-Wendt, Jochen (art) 1484 Michaels, Lloyd (ed, art) 236 (psych motifs, meta, mono), 1641, 1660 Michalczyk, John J. (book) 1311 Michener, Charles (art) 248 (see also), 1282 Michiels, Dirk (art) 1452 Mieke, Kolk (rev) 447 (Holland fest) Mihalicza, Tamas (rev) 471 (Budapest) Milberg-Kaye, Ruth (art) 253 Millar, G. (rev) 250 (see also) Miller, Jack (rev) 293, 294, 295
Milne, Tom (rev) 235 (rec) Milits, Alex (rev) 468 Minetti, Guilia (interv) 470 (Rome) Mishler, William (art) 1608 Misiorni, Michat (rev) 454 (Warsaw) Miyauchi, A. (rev) 471 (Tokyo) M.K. [sign] (rev) 430 M-n. [sign] (rev) 415, 422 Moberg, Rune (report, interv) 700, 737 Moe, Henrik (rev) 450 (Copenhagen) Mohn, Bent (rev) 450 (Copenhagen) Molist, Segismundo (art) 1180 Monaco, James (book) 1256 Mondry, Erika (diss) 975 Monegal, Emir Rodrigues (book) 974 Monté-Nordin, Karin (rev) 451 Moonikhof, Jon Olde (rev) 464 (Holland fest), 465 (Amsterdam) Montán, Alf (report, interv) 563, 701, 738, 1190 Monté-Nordin, Karin (rev) 451 Monticelli, Roberto de (rev) 447 (Venice), 451 (Florence), 465 (Milano Monty, Ib (art, debate) 1033, 1325 Moonman, Eric (art) 1024 Morais, Manuel Antonio (book) 1165 Moring (rev) 465 (Tammerfors) Morisett Davidson, Ann (art) 975, 1077 Morris, Jan (art) 1312 Morrison, Blake (rev) 468 (London/Edinburgh) Moscato, Alfonso (book) 1375 Moscati, Italo (rev) 465 (Milano Mosey, Chris (rev) 253 (rec) Mosley, Philip (book, rev art) 185, 1376. See also Chapter II, p. 52 Mowe, Richard (rev, int, report) 466 (Edinburgh), 472 (Glasgow), 920, 1453 Muellem, P. van (book) 1064 Mulac, Anthony (art) 231 (spec studies), 1374 Muller, Kurt (thesis) 1555
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Munkesjö, A. (film debate) 245 (rec) Munkhammar, Birgit (rev) 195 Murphy, Kathleen (art) 236 (comp), 1500 Murphy, Mary (interv) 812, 855, 1011, 1594 Murray, E. (book sec) 226 Murray-Brown, Jeremy (rev art) 1570 Mühlberger, Siegfried (rev) 447 (Obernhaus) Müller, Andreas (interv) 846, 1272 Müller, Christoph (rev) 447 (Obernhaus) Müller, Wolf Dietrich (diss) 447 (com), 456 (com), 587, 989 Müllern, Gunnar (interv) 716 Myrdal, Jan (art) 1439, 1456 (Behrendt) Mårtensson, Mary (report) 473 (see also Mårtenson, Sigvard (rev) 419 Møllehave, Johannes (art) 477 Mölter, Veit (report, interv) 777, 1166 Nadotti, Maria (rev) 471 (Parma) Nage, Ivan (rev) 447 (Obernhaus) Napolitano, Antonio (art) 1012 Narboni, Jean (art) 1146 Narrowe, Morton H. (rabbi) 476 (See also) Narti, Anna-Maria (art, interv, rev) 245 (rec), 332, 970 Nasta, Dominique (rev art) 187, 188 Nau, Peter (art) 1291 Naur, Robert (rev) 452 Navarro de Andrade, Jose (book ed) 1488 Nave, Bernard (art) 982, 1386 Neander-Nilsson, S (rev) 401, 952 Neilendam, Henrik (rev) 452, 472 (Copenhagen) Nelson, David (art) 997 Nennecke, Charlotte (report) 457 (See also), 463 (See also) Nettelbrandt, Cecilia (debate art) 975 Newman, Edwin (TV interv) 761, 1710
Name Index Newman, Geoffrey (art) 996 Niehoff, Karina (rev) 453 (Berlin) Niemeyer, G. (art) 997 Nightingale, Benedict (rev) 487 (London) Nilsson, Björn (report, interv, art, rev) 172, 253 (rec), 334 (Sw rev), 449, 450, 454, 461, 465, 468 (debate), 473 (rev art), 475, 476, 583, 602, 866, 881, 914 Nilsson, Petra (press art) 466 Nilsson, Ulf (report, interv) 709 Nin, Anais (book chptr) 1292 Nisi, Roberto (rev) 486 Nohrborg, Kaj (rev) 318, 330 Nordahl, Gertrud (press debate) 253 (rec) Nordberg, Carl-Eric (art, rev) 228 (rec), 236 (rec/rev), 239 (rec), 253 (rec), 1026 Nordelius, Karl Olov (rev) 299 Nordin, Vera (rev) 466 Nordmark, Carl-Östen (report) 804, 829, 832 Nordmark, Dag (book sec) 1661 Nordrå, Olav (rev) 450 (Oslo) Nordvik, Martin (report) 472 (non-Swed. Rev), 483, 1539 Norén, Kjerstin (press art) 466, 471 Norman, Barry (art) 1539 Nyberg, Ulf (rev) 291, 292 Nyblom, Teddy (rev) 260, 420 Nygren, Ronny (report, interv) 466 (see also), 470 (rec), 910 Nykvist, Carl-Gustaf (book) 1672 Nyreröd, Marie (TV interv) 236 (com), 341 (see also), 931 Nystedt, Hans (book, art) 233 (rec), 236 (rec), 238 (rec), 241 (rec), 997 Nyström, Martin (art) 1688 Nørgaard, P. (art) 1325 Nørrested, Carl (art) 1202, 1325 O’Connor, Garry (rev) 450 (London) O’Neill, James Jr. (rev) 223 (rec) O’Reilly, Willem Thomas (diss) 590 Obrazova, Anna (rev) 466 (Moscow), 468 (Moscow) Obzyna, G. (rev) 447 (Vienna)
Ohlin, Peter (art) 1469, 1571. See also Chapter II, p. 60 Ohlsson, Joel (rev) 153 Ohrlander, Gunnar (art) 674 Olaguer, Gonzalo Perez de (rev) 470 (Barcelona), 472 (Barcelona) Oldin, Gunnar (art, interv, debate) 223 (rec), 229 (com), 236 (com), 768, 1027, 1033, 1094 Oldrini, Guido (book, art) 233 (rec), 989, 1012, 1050, 1182 Oliv, Josef [Don José] (rev) 372 Oliva, Ljubomir (book, art) 1137, 1470 Oliver, Roger (art, book ed) 461 (spec stud), 635, 1452, 1580 Ollén, Gunnar (rev, interv) 78, 344, 347 (rec), 349 (rec), 350 (rec), 351 (com), 515, 525, 542, 607, 707, 952 Olofgörs, Gunnar (diss) 648 Olofson, Christina (art) 1328 Olsson, Erik William [Eveo] (rev) 360, 361, 362, 365, 366, 371, 384, 396 Olsson, G. (press art) 218 (com) Olsson, Henning [Fale Bure] (rev) 265, 314 Olsson, I. (art) 220 (com) Olsson, Jan-Olof [Jolo] (art, interv) 688, 980 Olsson, Lars (art) 244 (longer stud) Olsson, Lars Erik (report, interv) 970, 1065 Olsson, Olle (TV rev) 316 Olsson, Per Allan (report, interv) 461 (postscript), 589 Olsson, Sven E. (rev art) 188, 231 (rec), 233 (rec), 244 (com) Olsson, Ulf (rev) 199 Om. [sign] (rev) 420, 423, 428 Omberg, Asbjørn (rev) 445 Ones, Sveinung (rev) 473 (Bergen) Opperud, Inger-Marie (report) 447 (see also) Oramaa, T.B. (rev) 440 (Helsinki) Ordoñez, Marcos (rev) 472 (Barcelona) Orr, John (art) 236 (comp/add studies), 1642, 1660 Orre, Ingvar (rev) 286, 291, 314, 316 Ortman, Lisa & Peter (rev) 487
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Ortman, Maria (art, debate) 1033 Osborne, Charles (rev) 468 (London/Edinburgh) Osborne, John (book chapt) 440, 1572 Osten, Gerd (film critic) 203, 209, 210, 952, 986 Osterman, Bernt (art) 225 Otten, Willem Jan (rev art) 233 (rec) Ould-Kbelifa, Said (interv) 1517 Pablé, Elisabeth (rev) 447 (Vienna) Padilla, José Manuel (rev) 473 (Sevilla) Paganini, Paolo (rev) 465 (Milano) Pagliarani, Elio (rev) 447 (Venice), 451 (Florence) Paillard, Jean (rev) 236 (spec journal issues) Palladino, Marco (rev) 470 (Rome) Palme, Sven Ulrik (art) 229 (rec) Palmgren, Christina (interv) 888 Palmqvist, Bertil (rev) 185, 192, 194, 195, 199, 256, 465, 466, 467, 468, 470, 471, 472 Panas, Dan (report) 485 (com) Papa, Maria Vittoria (art) 1171 Parmentier, E. (ed) 245 (fact sheets) Pasolini, Paolo (art) 1530 Passek, J.-L. (rev) 238 Patalas, Enno (art) 1017 Patera, Paul (rev, art) 225 (rec), 236 (comp) Pauli, Calle (press report) 478 Paulsen, Cathrine (rev) 483 Paulsen, Erik O. (rev) 470 (Bergen) Pawlowski, Roman (rev) 479 (Krakow) Pechter, William (art) 229, 1203 Pedersen, Jens (book) 1293 Pedersen, Werner (art) 960 Pehrson, Lennart (rep) 473 (see also) Peltola, Katri (rev) 465 (Tammerfors) Peluffo, Nicola (art) 1496 Penlington, N. (art) 234 Perez, Gilberto ((art) 1344
Name Index Pérez, Michel (rev) 252 (rec) Pergament, Moses (rev) 489 Perlez, Jane (intro) 1294 Perlström, Åke (rev) 132, 316, 318, 451, 453 Perridon, Harry (book/mag ed) 1643 Persson, Ann (rev) 338 Persson, Göran (art) 231, 236 (add studies), 1078 Perucha, Julio Pérez (art) 1204 Peter, John (rev) 468 (London/ Edinburgh) Petersen, Bent (art) 969, 970 Petersén, Gunilla (art) 492 Peterson, Erik (rev) 489 Peterson, Jens (rep) 466 (NY) Petric, Vlada (book ed, art) 1378 Petrie, Graham (art) 1257 Petsch, Ernstotto (rep) 461 (postscript) Pettersson, P.G. [PGP] (rev) 364, 366, 379, 381, 408, 410, 411, 414, 415, 417, 419, 422, 424, 426, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 439 Peyser, Arnold (interv) 871 Pfeitz, Christiane (press rep) 1625 Pflaum, H.G. (press) 1452 Phelan, Sarah F. (thesis) 1205 Philippon, Alain (interv) 254 (see also) Phillips, Gene D., S.J. (art) 997, 1266 Piersdorff, Erik (rev art) 430, 433 Pizzini, Duglore (rev) 447 (Vienna) Planas, Xavier Serrat (preview art) 472 (Barcelona) Platzeck, Wolfgang (rev) 470 (Hamburg) Playboy (interv) 754 Plebe, Armando (art) 210 (See also), 1094 Plus, Eric (thesis) 247 (long stud) Poesio, Paolo (rev, conference) 451 (Florence), 468 (Florence, rec) Pollock, Dale (report) 1364 Pomeroy, David (art) 997 Pondelicek, Ivo (art) 1147 Pons, Pere (rev) 472 (Barcelona)
Popkin, Henry (art, rev) 454 (foreign rev), 456 (rec), 580 Poppius, Set [S. P-s] (rev, art) 411, 519 Porter, Andrew (art) 492 Porto, Carlos (rev) 471 (Lisbon) Post, Alma (rev) 464 (Holland fest), 465 (Amsterdam) Powell, Dilys (art, rev) 996 Pradna, Stanislava (art) 1573 Prédal, René (art, rev) 238 (rec), 1167 Pressler, Anthony (art) 225 Prévost, André (interv) 239 (com) Prigione, R. (art) 1012 (group #), 1138 Prokroff, Ira (art) 775 Prosperi, Giorgio (rev) 470 (Rome) Prouse, Derek (interv) 755 Purcell, James Mark (art) 989, 1427 Pym, John (rev) 252 Pörtl, Gerhard (rev) 456, 459, 460, 463 Quadri, Franco (rev) 470 (Rome), 471 (Parma), 472 (Venice) Quart, Leonard (art, rev) 258, 1330 Quigly, Isabel (rev) 219, 223 (rec), 996 Quinlan, David (report) 857 (Bragg) Qvist, Per Olof (art, ed) 315, 667, 1452 (Filmhäftet), 1625 Raboni, Giovanni (rev) 470 (Rome), 471 (Parma), 472 (Venice) Radice, Raul (rev) 447 (Venice), 451 (Florence) Rado, P. (report) 1295 Rague, Maria José (preview art) 470/472 (Barcelona) Rainero, Tino (book) 1258 Rajat, Roy (booklet) 1211, 1531 Ramasse, François (rev art) 252 (rec), 334 (foreign rev), 1397 Ramseger, Georg (art) 220 (longer stud) Raphaelson, Samuel (art) 248, 579, 1282
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Rask, Elin (rev) 472 (Copenhagen) Rasku, Hilkka (book) 1191 Rasmussen, Björn (interv) 749 Ratcliffe, Michael (rev) 466 (Edinburgh), 468 Raum, Odd (rev) 445 Redvall, Eva (interv, rev) 468 (com), 492 Rehder, Mathes (rev) 470 (Hamburg) Rehfeld, Vibeke (art) 1288, 1309 Rehlin, Gunnar (rev) 341 Reilly, John (diss, interv) 590, 801 Reimann, Viktor (rev) 453 (Berlin) Renaud, Pierre (art) 997 Renaud, Tristan (intro) 1206 Renzo, Renzi (art) 233 (rec), 1012, 1096 Rettig, Claes von (rev, debate) 300, 533 Revoltella, Piero (art) 1478 Rv. [sign] (rev) 404 Reynolds, Stanley (rev) 323 Rhodin, Mats (art) 226 Rice, Julian (art) 245 (longer art) Richards, David (rev) 466 (NY) Richer, J.L. (rev) 982 Riding, Alan (interv) 929 Rifbjerg, Klaus (rev, art) 433, 1288 Ring, Lars (radio interv, art, rev) 195, 299, 309, 311, 342, 466 (Aftermath), 473, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480, 483, 485, 486, 487, 1625. See also Chapter II, p. 65 Ripkens, Martin (art) 234 (rec), 1081 Rismondo, Piero (rev) 447 (Vienna) Ritter, Heinz (rev) 450 (Berlin), 453 (Berlin) Ritter, Naomi (art) 1489 Ritzu, Merete Kjoller (book) 661, 989 Rivette, J. (art) 216 Robins, Charles Edward (diss) 997 Robinson, Michael (book ed) 988 (group #, p. 894) Roche, Catherine de la (art) 971 Roemer, Michael (art) 1079
Name Index Rogoff, Gordon (rev report) 468 (rec) Rohdin, Mats (art) 1628 Rokem, Freddie (art) 989, 1490 Rolf. [sign] (rev) 470 Rondi, Gian Luigi (art, report) 1169, 1365 Ronfani, Ugo (rev) 465 (Milano), 468 (Florence) Rootzén, Kajsa (rev) 489 Ros, Gabriella (report) 466 (Moscow) Rosboch, Walter (rev) 492 Rosen, Robert (art) 238 (comp studies), 988 Rosenqvist, Christina (press art) 194, 477, 1526 Ross, Walter (art) 1051, 1066 Rossel, Sven Haakon (book ed) 988 (group item, p. 894) Rossi, Umberto (report) 1402 Rossiné, Hans (rev) 477, 483, 485, 486 Rossman, Andreas (rev) 473 (Düsseldorf) Roud, Richard (rev) 465 (Paris) Roulet, C. (art) 1313 Rounds, Ronald (art) 1296 Roy, André (rev) 188 Rubanova, Irina (book ed) 1452 (group item) Rudvall, Agneta (book rev) 194 Rugg, Linda (see Linda Haverty) Ruin, Hans (rev) 414, 419, 422, 423, 424, 427, 429, 430 (rev & art), 431, 432, 433 Ruivenkamp, Piet (rev) 464 (Holland fest), 465 (Amsterdam) Rumler, Fritz (report, interv) 446 (see also), 461 (spec stud) Runeby, Margot (press art) 1006 Runnquist, Åke (art, rev) 56, 228 (rec Rusan, R. (intro) 1240 Rustad, Hans (press art) 1452 Ruth, Arne (report) 873 Rutten, André (rev) 447 (Holland fest) Rydelius, Ellen (rev) 267 Rydqvist, Oscar [O. R-t] (rev) 355, 362, 363, 364, 366, 371, 372, 378, 379, 381 Rygg, Elisabeth (rev) 483, 485, 486, 487 (Oslo)
Rygg, Kristin (art/spec stud) 337, 492, 663 Rying, Matts (rep, interv) 230 (com), 296, 320, 732, 750, 757, 762, 1029, 1127 Rühle, Arnd (press report, interv) 447, 885 (Marker) Rühle, Günther (rev) 450, 453 Rådström, Anne-Marie (interv) 724, 745 Rådström, Pär (rev) 239 (com) Rönneberg, A. (press report) 320 (com) Sabaseviciene, Daiva (rev) 471 (Vilnius) Sablich, Sergio (rev, art) 467, 470, 472 (non-Swed. rev), 473, 475, 492, 1579 Sabroe, Morten (interv) 452 (com), 811 Sadoul, Georges (art) 982 Sagarra, Joan de (rev) 465 (Barcelona), 466 (Madrid), 470 (Barcelona), 473 (Seville) Sains, Ariane (report) 259 (interv/bio) Sala, Rita (interv, rev) 470 (Rome), 471 (Parma) Salander, Anna (pseudonym) (interv) 646, 928 Salmony, Georg (rev) 457, 459 Salvesen, Paul Leer (press art) 1452 Salzer, Michael (interv, press report, rev) 234 (rec), 489, 537, 977, 1272 Sammern-Frankenegg, Fritz (art) 234 Samuels, Charles (interv) 812 Sanchez, Silvia (report) 473 (Seville) Sand, Arne (rev) 489 Sandberg, Mark (art) 1509 Sandell, Ove (rev) 437, 440 Sandgren, Gunnar E (press art) 238 (rec) Sandner, Wolfgang (rev) 492 Sandstedt, Birgitta (TV interv) 583, 591 Santoro, Gene (rev) 259 (rec) Santos, Alberto Seixas (art) 1097 Sarris, Andrew (art, ed, rev) 87, 225 (rec), 236 (rec), 238 (rec), 239 (rec), 241 (rec), 247 (see also), 248, 1011, 1320, 1387. See
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also Chapter II, p. 55; Chapter III, p. 141 Sauer, Fritz Joachim (rev, press art) 480, 483, 487 Saugmann, E. (report) 472 (Copenhagen) Saunier, T. (art) 982, 1609 Savio, F. (book sec) 1119 Savioli, Aggeo (rev) 451 (Florence), 466 (Spoleto), 468 (Florence), 470 (Rome), 472 (Venice) Saxdorph, Erik S. (art) 987 Schadwill, Uwe (art) 989, 1491 Schauseil, Alphons (rev) 450 (Berlin Schein, Harry (art, debate, memoir). See also Section I 218 (rec), 225 (rec), 245 (rec), 437 (com), 711, 853, 1273 (speech), 1366 (memoir) Schepelern, Peter (art) 1325 Scherer, Paul (art) 244 (longer stud) Scheuer, Philip (press art) 231 (com) Scheynius, I. (art) 226 Schickel, Richard (art, rev) 241 (rec), 259 (rec), 1011, 1139 Schieldrop, Bjarne (rev) 472 (Bergen) Schildt, Göran (art) 435 (spec stud) Schildt, Jurgen (art, rev) 124, 185, 220, 228 (rec), 239 (rec), 253 (rec), 316, 334, 444, 449, 461 (postscript), 466, 470, 1007, 1207. See also Chapter I, p. 44 Schiller, Harald (rev) 384 Schilliachi, Anthony (art) 997 Schlappner, Martin (book chapt) 231, 1098 Schloemann, Johan (rev) 487 Schmalensee, O. von (art) 1325 Schmidt, Dietmar N. (rev) 456, 457, 458, 459, 460 Schmidt, Kaare (art) 1325 Schmidt-Mühlisch, Lothar (art, rev) 456, 457, 458, 585 Schmitz-Burkhardt, Barabara (rev) 463 Schneider, Hans-Helmuth (diss) 997 Schober, S. (interv) 1272 Scholar, Nancy (art) 236 (comp), 1345 Schollin, Yngve (art) 441 (com)
Name Index Schottenius, Maria (report, rev, interv) 194, 480 (com), 654, 847, 1272 Schoulgin, Eugene (rev) 451 Schr. W. [sign] rev) 461 Schreckenberg, E. (art) 233 (long disc) Schrumpf, Ilona (rev) 453 (Berlin) Schröder, Peter H. (press report) 320 (rec) Schueler, Kaj (report) 465 (see also) Schuh, Oscar Fritz (interv) 539, 763, 989 Schulte, Gerd (rev) 440 Schultz, Karin (rev) 261, 262, 265, 266, 267, 268, 272, 274, 278, 279, 281, 282, 283, 284, 286, 291, 294, 296, 299 Schultz-Ojala, Jan (rev, report) 482, 1614 Schumacher, Ernst (rev) 258 Schupp, Patrick (rev art) 247 (longer stud), 248 Schwab, A. (art) 1272 Schwab-Felisch, Hans (rev) 459, 460, 461 Schwanbom, Per (rev) 443 Schwartz, Margareta (rev) 335 Schwartz, Nils (rev) 311, 341, 479, 486, 487 Schwartz, Stan (art, report) 341, 483, 671 Schyberg, Frederik (rev) 395 Schöd, Helmut (rev) 461 Schöter, Michael (rev) 461 Scorrano, Osvaldo (rev) 466 (Spoleto) Scott, James F. (book sec, art) 1128, 1220. See also Chapter II, p. 60 Scotti, Paolo (interv) 470 (Rome) Sebestyen, Gyögy (rev) 447 (Vienna) Seesslen, Georg (press rep) 1625 Segers, Frank (report) 1364 (Pollock) Seguin, L. (art) 239 (rec) Seguret, Olivier (rev) 465 (Paris Seidel, Hans Dieter (press art) 1452 Seidenfaden, Irene (rev, interv) 456, 461, 586
Selander, Sten [S. S-r.] (rev) 363, 364, 378, 379, 394, 408, 410, 411 Sellermark, Aino (report) 246 (com) Sellermark, Arne (art, interv) 79, 106, 134, 206 (rec), 222 (com), 223 (com), 229 (com), 245 (com), 246 (com), 325 (rec), 529, 704, 706, 718, 833, 1272 Sellgren, Göran (interv) 246 (com) Selvaggi, Catarina (art) 254 Serceau, Michel (art) 249 (rec), 975, 1247, 1397, 1413 Serre, Olivier (interv) 907 Seymour, Julian (rep) 1208 Shed, W. (art) 239 (see also) Shelburne, Steven (art) 1574 Shorter, Eric (rev) 440 (London), 466 (Edinburgh Shulman, Milton (rev) 433 (London), 440 (London), 448, 450 (London) Shvarts, Gavri’elah (thesis) 1346 Siclier, Jacques (book, art) 99, 982 von Sievers, Malou (interv) 940 Silverstein, Norman (art) 997 Sima, Jonas (interv, rev, art) 244 (rec), 478 (p. 739), 773, 788, 802, 813, 836, 1099 Simmons, Keith L. (art) 250 (longer stud), 1403 Simon, John (book, art, int, rev) 220, 223, 233, 236, 238 (rec), 241, 246 (rec), 247 (rec), 254 (rec), 256 (rec), 466 (NY), 470 (NY), 472 (NY), 473 (NY), 477 (NY), 483 (NY), 814, 1011, 1052, 1218, 1378, 1452 Simonson, Robert (rev) 473 (NY) Sineux, Michel (rev, art) 249 (com), 1329, 1397 Sitney, Adams P. (art) 1492, 1532 Siwertz, Siegfried (rev) 411 Sjursen, Annette (rev) 470 (non-Swed. rev) Sjöberg, Hans-Christer (rev) 466 Sjögren, Henrik (book, art, rev) 2, 75, 361 (see also), 362, 377 (com), 379 (com), 384 (see also), 392, 396, 398, 399 (see
1146
also), 415 (see also), 419, 420, 422-424, 426, 427, 430, 431, 433, 440 (com), 443 (com), 444-446 (rec), 450 (see also), 453, 454, 459, 468 (com), 472 (studies), 485, 548, 554, 562, 564, 567, 655, 677, 779, 946, 1439, 1613. See also Chapter I, p. 38 Sjögren, Margareta [Jolanta] (rev) See also Section I 283, 284, 286, 287, 289, 291, 292, 425 Sjögren, Olle (thesis) 234 Sjöman, Vilgot (book, art, interv, cast) 223 (com), 225 (rec), 233 (asst dir, com), 239 (actor), 336 (int/com), 367 (actor), 379 (rev), 382, 405, 430 (art), 433 (com/see also), 527, 530, 668, 712, 751, 1100, 1426, 1471, 1704 Sjöstrand, Carl-Magnus (rep) 367 (com) Sjöstrand, Ingrid (film debate) 245 (rec) Sjöstrand, Östen (art) 489 (com) S.K. [sign] (rev) 420 Skagen, Sölve (art) 245 (rec) Skans, Gunnar (rev) 489 Skasa, Michael (rev, art) 456, 459, 461 Skawonius, Betty (rep, interv) 450 (com), 465 (see also), 473, 551, 608, 792, 796, 922 Skoogh, Catrine (art) 573 Skytte, Göran interv) 1033 (group item, Widerberg, p. 912) Slayton, Ralph E. (art) 225 Sletbakk, Astrid (rev) 483 Smith, Evans Lansing (art) 1610 Sobolewski, Tadeusz (art) 997 Solomon, Stanley J. (book sec) 226, 244, 1219 Sonnenschein, Richard (art) 225, 997, 1379 Sontag, Susan (art) 236 (psych motifs), 1320, 1660 Sorel, Edit (interv) 861 Soyer, J. (art) 1067 Spiel, Hilde (rev) 447 (Vienna), 462 Spinnazola, V. (art) 1012 Sprinchorn, Evert (art) 989, 1080, 1643 Spåre, Catharina (rev) 440
Name Index Stadelmaier, Gerhard (rev) 457 458 Stafford, W. (poem) 1297 Stanbrook, Alan (art) 996, 1030 Stangerup, Henrik (art) 1533 Stanghelle, John (rev) 470/472 (Bergen) Starheimsæter, Herman (rev) 472 (Bergen) Stayton, Richard (rep) 468 (debate) Stearns, David Patrick (rev) 473 (New York) Steene, Birgitta (book, art, ed, interv) 185, 202, 225, 226, 228 (rec), 229 (rec), 231(spec studies), 233, 234, 236 (comp), 245 (com), 246 (rev art), 253 (rec), 443 (see also), 485 (press art), 549, 588, 663, 678, 683, 815, 975, 989, 1011, 1129, 1170, 1192, 1220, 1259, 1269, 1314, 1367, 1380, 1414, 1439, 1452 (Chaplin, Filmhäftet), 1472, 1501, 1502, 1557, 1580, 1595, 1611, 1613, 1625, 1643, 1660, 1671, 1673. See also Chapter II, p. 65, 68 Stefansson, Gunnar (rev) 466 (Reykjavik) Steiner, Irmgard (rev) 447 (Vienna) Steinfeld, Thomas (rev, press rep) 483, 1625 Steinthal, Herbert (rev) 418, 419, 430, 432, 434 Stempel, Hans (interv, art) 758, 1081, 1694 Sten, Hemming (press debate, rev) 253 (rec), 278, 280, 330 Stenberg, Björn G. (rev) 259 (rec) Stenström, Margaret (rev) 299 Stenström, Urban (rev) 261, 265, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 279282, 290, 294, 295, 296, 405, 406, 424, 427, 438, 443, 444 Sterk, Harald (rev) 447 (Vienna) Sterner, Roland (art) 1540 Sterrit, David (rev) 472 (NY), 477 (NY Stevenson, Jack (art) 219 (rec), 1011, 1596 Stiernevall, Robert (undergrad thesis) 214
Stolpe, Sven (art, rev) 229, 234 (rec), 272 (com), 273, 274, 275, 1031 Stone, Michael (rev) 453 (Berlin) Storléer, Lars (rev) 451 Stouby, Hanne (interv) 471 (Århus) Stratton, David (rev) 258 Straume, Eilif (rep, rev) 471, 473, 477, 622 Strick, Philip (doc film, rev) 238 (rec), 245 (rec), 256 (rec), 1241 Stringer, Robin (rev) 468 (London/Edinburgh) Strunz, Dieter (press art) 185, 234 (rec), 1452, 1539 Stråhle, Ulf (interv) 762 Ström, Eva (rev) 192, 199 Strömberg, Martin (rev) 365, 366, 379, 411, 412, 414, 430, 431, 444 Strømberg, Ulla (art) 627 Strömner, Torsten (art) 234 (rec), 1033 Strömstedt, Bo (art, rev, int) 124, 234 (rec), 239 (rec), 444, 445, 447, 537, 785, 834, 975, 1102 Stuart, Jan (rev) 472 (NY Stubbs, J.C. (handbook) 225 (see also) Stuber, Andrea (rev) 471 (Budapest) Ståhle, Anna Greta (rev) 260 Stål, Sven (rev) 360, 361, 372, 381, 410, 411, 435 Stålhammar, Leo (rev) 440 Sullivan, Dan (rev) 466 (Los Angeles) Sultanik, Aaron (book chapt) 1438 Sundberg, Kjell (debate) 1272 (group item, p. 950 Sundell, Thure (rev) 414, 417, 418, 419 Sundgren, Nils Petter (art, TV interv, rev) 227 (rec), 239 (rec), 245 (rec), 249 (com), 253 (com), 772, 816, 826, 848, 894, 1172, 1329, 1708, 1709 Sundin, Anita (interv) 537, 551 Sundler, Eva Malmnäs (art) 225, 489 (spec art), 663 Sundqvist, Harry (rev) 465 (Tammerfors) Surkova (-Shuskalova), Olga (art) 1270, 1347
1147
Sutcliff, James Helme (rev) 492 Suttor, T. (art) 997 Suvalo, Kari (rev) 440 (Helsinki) Svahn, Lennart (interv). See also Section I 233 (com) Svanberg, Lena (report) 465 (see also), 602, 1534 Svantesson, A. (debate art) 225 (rec) Svedberg, Britt-Marie (press art) 327 (Sw rec) Svenning, Olle (report) 472 (Madrid) Svensson, Björn (rep) 1331 Svensson, Georg (rev) 379 Svensson, Lars (rev) 153 Svensson, Thomas (thesis) 185 Svenstedt, Carl-Henrik (film critic) 144, 238 (rec) Svetlitza, Hugo (book) 1575 Swensson, Sven (rev) 418 Syberg, Karen (disc) 471 (Århus) Syvertsen, Emil Otto (rev) 472 (Bergen), 473 (Bergen) Szczepanski, Tadeusz (book, art, transl) 26, 67, 188, 1556 Szostack, J. (interv) 849 Säfve, Torbjörn (radio debate) 326 (Sw rec) Söderberg, Agneta (rep, interv) 253 (com), 338, 465 (see also), 941, 1535 Söderberg, Hjalmar (author) 1004 (Hopkins) Söderbergh-Widding, Astrid (art, rev) 259, 343, 997, 1628 Söderquist, Eva (art) 975 Sørensen, Ernst (rev) 445 Sørensen, Viggo (rev) 468, 473 Sörenson, Elisabeth (book sec, report, rev, interv) 225 (com), 228, 239 (com), 245 (com), 246 (com), 253 (com), 259 (interv), 322 (com), 451 (com), 453 (com), 465 (interv/ see also), 466 (com), 468 (com), 470 (com), 472 (com), 550, 597, 628, 796, 850, 869, 895, 920, 1493 Sörenson, Margareta (rev) 309, 342, 485 Sörenson, Ulf (press art, rev) 253, 476, 477, 480
Name Index Tabbia, Alberto (book) 974, 1008 Tadros, Jean-Pierre (interv) 245 (fact sheets) Takacs, Istvan (rev) 471 (Budapest) Talbert, Linda Lee (thesis) 975 Tallmer, Jerry (interv, art) 468 (int, NY), 1068 Tang, Jesper (art) 1325. See also Chapter II, p. 55, 60 Tannefors, Gunnar (report, interv, art) 239 (rec), 711, 981, 999 Taricco, Maeserano di (rev) 447 (Venice) Tassi, Fabrizio (rev) 258 Taube, Ella [E.T.] (rev) 260, 263, 267, 270, 272, 273, 274, 275, 279, 281, 282, 284, 285, 287, 290, 292, 293, 398 Taubin, Amy (rev) 258 Taylor, John Russell (art) 227, 996 Teghrarian, Salwa Eva F. (diss) 236 (add studies), 1298 Tegnér, Torsten [sign TT] (art) 956 Teréus, Roger (art) 1473 Testaferrata, Luigi (rev) 468 (Florence) Thagaard, Aud (rev) 450 (Oslo), 451 Thau, Carsten (rev) 472 (nonSwed. rev) Thébaud, Marion (rev) 454 (Paris) Theil, Per (rev) 485, 486 Theunissen, Gert (book) 234 (rec) Thevenet, Alsina H. (see Alsina, T.H.) Thi, Nu Quynh Ho (diss) 975 Thiel, Reinhold E. (postscript) 119 Thieringer, Thomas (report, interv) 609, 901 Thies, Heinrich (rev) 470 (Hamburg) Thiessen, Sven (interv) 719 Th-m. [sign] (rev) 403 Thomas, Peter (rev, report) 461, 592 Thompson, John (rev) 433 (London)
Thompson, Kristin (film scolar) 1589 (Johansen) Thomsen, Chr. Braad (art) 245 (see also), 997, 1130 Thomsen, Kari (rev) 470 (Bergen), 473 (Bergen) Thomson, Åke (rev) 382, 387 (rec), 388, 391, 394, 403 Thoor, Alf (rev) 451, 453, 489 Thorburn, Hedvig (report) 466 (London), 468 (London/Edinburgh Thorpe, Ulla (debate art) 239 (rec) Thorvall, Kerstin (interv) 803 Thygesen, Peter (report) 470 (see also), 471 (Århus) Thymark, Nina (book) 325 (bk length stud) Tian, Renzo (rev) 447 (Venice), 465 (Milano), 466 (Spoleto), 468 (Florence), 470 (Rome), 472 (Venice) Timm, Mikael (interv, radio report) 253 (art), 467 (com), 601, 867, 896, 1452, 1576, 1625. See also Chapter III, p. 145 Tiozzo, Enrico (rev) 492 Tiselius, Henric (interv) 486 Tjäder, Per Arne (rev) 199, 492 Tobey, Alan (thesis) 1140 Tobin, Yann (art, rev) 252, 328, 1474 Todorov (film theorist) 1589 (Johansen) Toiviainen, Sakari (art) 1625 Tollet, Håkan (rev) 439, 443, 446, 447 Torell, Kristina (rev) 343 Tornehed, Stig [S. T-d] (rev) 361 de la Torre, Albert (rev) 472 (Barcelona) Tournier, Christine (rev) 1329 Tranströmer, Gösta (rev, rep) 270, 271, 272, 273, 275, 276 Trasatti, Sergio (interv, art) 925, 1012, 1521, 1536, 1558 Trauung, Göran [Jerome] (rev) 367 (com) Trilling, Ossia (rev, interv, art) 433, 445, 448 (see also), 450, 451, 453, 468, 565 Troelsen, Anders (art) 238 (rec), 1325
1148
Troyan, D. (rev art) 252 (longer revs) Tulloch, John (art) 226, 989 Tunbäck-Hanson, Monika (rev, debate) 153, 194, 250 (rec), 259, 335, 340, 341 Tyler, Parker (book sec) 226, 236 (rec) Tynan, Kenneth (rev) 435 Törnblom, Folke (art) 489 (progr), 492 Törmgren, Erland (rev) 1033 Törnqvist, Egil (book, art, rev, ed) 226, 230, 233, 236 (comp/ add studies), 247 (longer stud), 250 (longer stud), 253 (longer stud), 254 (art), 309 (see also), 316 (art), 326 (spec stud), 332 (art), 336 (spec stud), 337 (spec stud), 341, 342 (spec stud), 419, 422, 447 (art/see also), 451 (spec stud), 461 (spec stud), 462/642, 465 (Amsterdam), 466 (longer stud), 470 (art), 471 (book chptr), 472 (studies), 492 (art), 570, 610, 623, 633, 636, 642, 644, 649, 656, 663), 673, 682, 989, 997, 1415, 1559, 1577, 1613, 1625, 1671, 1677, 1690, 1691. See also Chapter II, p. 60, 67, Chapter III, p. 140 Uexküll, Sole (rev) 447 (Helsinki) Uggla, Andrzej (art) 582, 989 Uljens, Anita (rev) 466 (Vasa) Ulrichsen, Erik (art) 1009 Unger, Wilhelm (rev) 447 (Obernhaus) Uppström, T. (press art) 326 (Sw rec) Urbach, Ilse (rev) 440 Uriz, Francisco (transl, art) 185, 188, 465 (Barcelona) Urs, Jenny (press art, rev) 185, 451 Vaccaro, Maria Rosa (book) 974 (group item) Vacondeus, Joaquim (rev, rep) 471 (Lisbon), 1513 Vahabzadeh, Susan (report) 215 Valentin, Guido (rev) 375 (rec) Vannucci, Marcello (rev) 468 (Florence)
Name Index Vasiliauskas, Valdas (rev) 471 (Vilnius) Vasques, Eugénia (art) 634 Vatja, Vilmos (art) 1315 Velasco, Julio Martinez (rev) 473 (Seville) Veltheim, Katri (rev) 440 (Helsinki) Verdone, Mario (art) 233 (rec), 235 (rec), 1012, 1171 van der Verg 244 (see also sec) Vermcrantz, Monica (report) 466 (Madrid) Vermiliye, Jerry (book) 1622 Verstappen, Wim (rev art) 252 (Longer rev) Vierling, David L. (art) 236 (meta), 1260 Vigorra, Jesus (rev) 473 (Seville) Viklund, Klas (art) 238, 1452 (Filmhäftet) Villiger Heilig, Barbara (rev) 483, 487 Vilmos, Vatja (art) 1315 Vinberg, Björn (rep, interv) 245 (rec), 449 (see also), 450 (com), 470 (com), 780, 786, 817, 1033, 1174, 1184 Vindsetmo, Björg (rev) 470, 473 Vineberg, Steven (art) 1660 Vinge, Louise (art) 256 (longer art), 1578. See also Chapter II, p. 68 Vinocur, John (report) 1272, 1332 Vinterhed, Kerstin (art, rev) 309, 1314 Virshup, Amy (report) 468 (NY BAM) Visscher, Jacques de (book, art, report) 1300, 1388, 1537, 1612. See also Chapter II, p. 60 Viswanathan, Jacqueline (art) 1666. See also Chapter II, intro Volli, Ugo (rev) 468 (Florence) Vos, Nico (rev) 464 (Holland fest) Vos, Bengt Olof (rev) 444 Vries, Hillary de (rev) 468 (NY) Vries, Tjitte de (book, art) 1120, 1503 Vuori, Jyrki (rev) 465 (Tammerfors) Waal, Allan de (rev) 483
Waaranperä, Ingegärd (rev) 341, 475, 478 (press report), 487 Wach, Margarete (art, homage) 1625, 1634 Wachtmeister, A.-M. (booklet ed) 326 (Sw. rec) Waeger, Gerhart (rev) 450 (Zürich) Wærn, Carina (debate) 468 Wahlin, Claes (rev) 338, 341, 474, 476, 478, 480, 486 Wahlund, Per-Erik (book, rev) 270, 272, 278, 412, 413, 414, 415, 417, 418, 419, 422, 426, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 437, 439, 440, 442, 446 (transl), 467, 486, 535, 543 Wakar, Jacek (rev) 479 (Krakow) Wallqvist, Örjan (art) 517. See also Chapter II, p. 65 Walters, Byron J. (judge) 219 (foreign rec) Wammen, Chris (rev) 325 (Dan. Rec) Wardle, Irving (rev) 440 (London), 447 (London), 448, 450 (London), 454 (Warsaw), 465 (Paris), 466 (Edinburgh/London) Warga, Wayne (report), 245 (rec) Warnhold, Birgit (rev) 470 (Hamburg) Warnicke, Klare (rev) 470 (Hamburg) Wartenberg, Thomas E. (book ed) 1590 Wasserman, Raquel (book) 997 Wauters, Jean-Pierre (interv) 902 Weales, Gerald (rev art) 468 (NY) Weber, Annemarie (rev) 453 (Berlin) Weigl, Kerstin (interv) 470 Weightman, J.G. (art) 996 Weintraub, B. (interv, report) 851, 1272 Weise, Eckhard (book) 1623 Wejbro, Folke (rev) 132 Wellendorf, Kassandra (art) 1538 Welsh, Henry (art) 982, 1386 Welsh, James M. (art) 1209, 1301. See also Chapter II, p. 60 Wennström, Gertrud (art) 215 Wennö, Nicholas (interv)
1149
Werkö, Mårten (report) 1494 Werner, Andrzej (art) 1512 Werner, Gösta (art) 203, 1242, 1540 Wernersson, Susanna (interv) 472 Westecker, Dieter (rev) 447 (Obernhaus) Wester, Maud (rep, art) 793, 1193 Westerbeck, C. Jr. (rev art) 246, 248 Westling, Barbro (rev) 191, 194, 195, 199, 335, 340, 485, 487 Westman, Jan-Erik (art) 1452 (Filmhäftet) Westman Tullus, Barbro (interv) 472, 473 Wexman, Virginia (art) 244 (long studies) Weyler, Svante (rev) 486 Wheeler, Winston Dixon (art) 236 (comp), 1660 White, Margaret Leslie (thesis) 1495 Wickbom, Kaj (art, rev) 188, 199, 253 (rec), 1651, 1652 Wickenburg, Erik (rev) 462 Widegren, Björn (interv, rev) 244 (rec), 467, 486, 616 Widerberg, Bertil (rev, report) 315, 316, 489 (com) Wiese, Andreas (rev) 487 Wiggen, Carlos (report) 250 (rec) Wiggen, Camilla (rev art) 250 (rec) Wikander, Stig (press art) 228 (rec), 236 (rec) Wild, Andreas (report) 1272 (end of entry item) Wille, Franz (rev) 475 Wilson, Berit (report, interv) 250 (com), 828, 836, 975 Wilson, Cecil (report, rev) 433 (London), 1025 Wimberley, Amos D. (art) 989 (diss), 1348 Windelboth, Horst (rev) 440 Winer, Linda (rev) 466 (NY), 473 (NY), 486 (NY), 487 (NY) Wingaard, Jytte (book) 452 (com), 571 Winston, D. (book sec) 226. See also Chapter II, p. 60 Winterson, Jeanette (art) 1514
Name Index Wirmark, Margareta (book, art, ed) 652, 658, 1613, 1653 Wiseman, T. (rev) 225 (See also) Wiskari, Werner (art, interv) 236 (rec), 489, 1011, 1032 Wistrand, Sten (rev) 458, 472, 479 With, Anne-Lise (art) 1624 Wivel, Henrik (rev) 483 Wivel, Peter (discussion) 471 Århus Wohlin, Margot (pedagogue) 202 (rec) Wolden, Anne Ræthinge (interv) 818, 975, 1222 Wolf, S. (art) 220 (longer stud) Wolf, William (interv, art) 874, 1243, 1395 Wollter, Sven (debate) 468, 533 Wolsgaard, Peter (ed) 1424 Wood, Robin (book, art) 236, 239 (rec), 244 (long studies), 975, 1185, 1223, 1302, 1654, 1674 Wortzelius, Hugo (art, rev) 185, 188, 204, 206, 209 (com), 250 (rec), 253 (art), 1148 Wright, Allen (rev) 466 (Edinburgh) Wright, Rochelle (book sec, art) 256 (longer art), 1580, 1655. See also Chapter II, p. 68 Wunch, William (interv) 882, 1368 Wysinska, Elzbieta (rev, art) 454 (Warsaw), 575
Wåhlstedt, Ingeborg (art)
506
Xartoyvaph, Mikeva (art)
615
Yakowar, Maurice (book chapt) 1316 Yaron, Elyakim (rev) 471 (Israel) Ygeman, I. (debate art) 326 (Sw rec) Young, B.A. (rev) 440 (London) Young, Vernon (book, rev) 228 (rec), 229, 231 (rec), 233, 241 (rec), 1210 Zacharias, J. (interv) 856, 1272 Zachrisson, Olof (rev) 336 (com/rec) Zampa, Giorgio (art) 562 Zand, Nicole (rev) 454 (Warsaw), 465 (Paris) ZantonEricsson, Gun (rev) 486, 487 Zavarzadeh, Mas’ud (book chapt) 1515 Zeleny, W. (rev) 447 (Vienna) Zelinger, J. (art) 1378 Zemuliene, Laima (rep) 471 (Vilnius) Zern, Leif (book, art, rev) 185, 187, 188, 191, 233, 236 (rec), 256 (rec), 326 (Sw rec), 335, 340, 444, 446 (rev), 447, 450, 451, 454, 468 (rev+debate), 470, 471, 472, 478, 480, 483, 485, 486 (+
1150
art), 492, 537, 551, 650, 658, 662, 675, 989, 1560, 1613 Zetterström, Erik [Kardemumma] (columnist) 210 (rec) Zetterström, Marianne [sign Viola] (rev, report) 313, 827 Zijlmans, Mieke (survey) 1561 Zimmer, Dieter (rev) 325 (additional rev) Zinsser, W. (rev) 220 (foreign rec) Zmudzinski, Boguslaw (book ed) 1541 Zurbuch, W. (art, film program) 231, 1055 Zurletti, Michelangelo (rev) 492 Zweigbeck, Eva von (rev), 369 Ågren, Gösta (art) 1083 Åhlander, Lars (book, mag ed) 1314, 1452, 1562 Åhlén, Carl-Gunnar (rev) 337, 492 Åhlund, Jannike (interv) 483 (com), 651, 662, 926, 930 Åkerhielm, Helge (rev) 406 Ångström, Anna (press rep) 478 Ödéen, Mats (rev) 444 Öhngren, Lars (interv) 759. See also p. 600 Öhrn, Berit (rev) Chapter I, p. 45 Östman, Nan (rev) 263