Image My Life in Film

by Marianne Ruuth

  1957

  BRINK OF LIFE/SO CLOSE TO LIFE (Nära livet)

  Production/distribution: Nordisk Tonefilm. Director: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Gösta Hammarbäck. Screenplay: Ulla Isaksson, based on her short stories The Friendly and Dignified and The Immovable. Cinematography: Max Wilén. Art direction: Bibi Lindström. Editing: Carl-Olov Skeppstedt. Premiere: March 31, 1958, at Röda Kvarn and Fontänen. Length: 84 minutes. With Ingrid Thulin (Cecilia Ellius), Eva Dahlbeck (Stina Andersson), Bibi Andersson (Hjördis Petterson), Barbro Hiort af Ornäs (nurse Brita), Max von Sydow (Harry Andersson), Erland Josephson (Anders Ellius), Anne-Marie Gyllenspetz (social worker), Gunnar Sjöberg (Dr. Nordlander), Margaretha Krook (Dr. Larsson), Lars Lind (Dr. Thylenius), Sissi Kaiser (nurse Mari), Inga Gill (new mother), Kristina Adolphson (practical nurse), Maud Elfsiö (student nurse), Monica Ekberg (Hjördis's girlfriend), Gun Jönsson (night nurse), Gunnar Nielsen (doctor), Inga Landgré (Greta Ellius).

  1958

  THE MAGICIAN/THE FACE (Ansiktet)

  Production/distribution: Svensk Filmindustri. Director, screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Allan Ekelund. Cinematography: Gunnar Fischer. Music: Erik Nordgren. Art direction: P. A. Lundgren. Editing: Oscar Rosander. Premiere: December 26, 1958, at Röda Kvarn and Fontänen. Length: 100 minutes. With Max von Sydow (Albert Emanuel Vogler), Ingrid Thulin (Manda Vogler/ Aman), Åke Fridell (Tubal), Naima Wifstrand (Vogler's grandmother), Lars Ekborg (Simson), Gunnar Björnstrand (health official Vergérus), Erland Josephson (consul Egerman), Gertrud Fridh (Ottilia Egerman), Toivo Pawlo (police chief Starbeck), Ulla Sjöblom (Henrietta Starbeck), Bengt Ekerot (Johan Spegel), Sif Ruud (Sofia Garp), Bibi Andersson (Sara), Birgitta Pettersson (Sanna), Oscar Ljung (Antonsson), Axel Düberg (Rustan), Tor Borong, Arne Mårtensson, Harry Schein, and Frithiof Bjärne (customs officers).

  In a covered wagon (Doctor Vogler's Magnetic Health Theater) travel Vogler, a magician specializing in magnetism, his wife, Manda, disguised as young Mr. Aman, his grandmother, and his assistant, Tubal. On the coachman's box sits Simson. They are on their way to Stockholm. The year is 1846. In a dark forest they pick up Johan Spegel, an alcoholic and an obviously faded actor.

  The troupe is escorted from one of Stockholm's customs points to consul Egerman's house. The consul and his wife have guests: police chief Starbeck and health official Vergérus. Tubal speaks on behalf of the group. The magician Vogler is speechless; Mr. Aman answers questions for him. Vergérus sees Vogler as a charlatan, who must be unmasked scientifically at the following day's performance. Grandmother, Tubal, and Simson consort with the Egermans' servants in the kitchen. Tubal disappears with the cook Sofia, Simson with the maid Sara. A ghostly apparition is seen by the valet Rustan and the coachman Antonsson; he steals their alcohol. The ghost is Spegel, not yet dead.

  While Vogler and Manda/Aman are preparing for their performance, Mrs. Egerman enters the room. She asks Vogler to come to her bedroom. Now Spegel shows himself to Vogler and dies in the magician's coffin. Vergérus discovers that Mr. Aman is Manda. He offers her his protection. Vogler enters and attacks Vergérus. Then he removes his mask. Unmasked, the married couple (Mr. and Mrs. Vogler) lie in bed and speak of the golden times that once were theirs.

  With Sif Ruud, Åke Fridell, and Bibi Andersson in The Magician.

  It is time for the performance. The police chief's wife is hypnotized by Vogler, and she bursts out with insults toward her husband. The coachman Antonsson is draped in invisible chains. Once liberated, he knocks Vogler to the ground. Vergérus establishes that Vogler is dead. He intends to perform an autopsy on the body in the attic. The grandmother finds the coachman Antonsson. He has hanged himself.

  Vergérus performs the autopsy, alone in the attic. In a mirror he sees Vogler without his mask. Terror grips Vergérus. He rushes down the stairs. It turns out that Vergérus has performed the autopsy on the dead actor Spegel. He says that he has experienced a terribly bad performance.

  The group is ready to leave. Tubal stays with the cook Sofia. The grandmother declares that her traveling days are over. But the maid Sara follows Simson. Policemen come over. Vogler and Manda are brought back to Egerman's house, where the police chief declares that His Majesty the King wishes to see their performance. In triumph Vogler and Manda, Simson, and Sara set out for the castle.

  1959

  THE VIRGIN SPRING (Jungfrukällan)

  Production/distribution: Svensk Filmindustri. Director: Ingmar Bergman. Screenplay: Ulla Isaksson, based on the ballad Töre's Daughter in Wänge. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist. Music: Erik Nordgren. Art direction: P. A. Lundgren. Editing: Oscar Rosander. Premiere: February 8, 1960, at Röda Kvarn. Length: 89 minutes. With Max von Sydow (Töre), Birgitta Valberg (Märeta), Gunnel Lindblom (Ingeri), Birgitta Pettersson (Karin), Axel Düberg (the skinny one), Tor Isedal (the one without a tongue), Allan Edwall (beggar), Ove Porath (boy), Axel Slangus (bridge guard), Gudrun Brost (Frida), Oscar Ljung (Simon), Tor Borong and Leif Forstenberg (farmhands).

  1959/60

  THE DEVIL'S EYE (Djävulens öga)

  Production/distribution: Svensk Filmindustri. Director, screenplay: Ingmar Bergman, based on the radio play Don Juan Returns by Oluf Bang. Producer: Allan Ekelund. Cinematography: Gunnar Fischer. Music: Erik Nordgren. Art direction: P. A. Lundgren. Editing: Oscar Rosander. Premiere: October 17, 1960, at Röda Kvarn and Fontänen. Length: 87 minutes. With Jarl Kulle (Don Juan), Bibi Andersson (Britt-Marie), Stig Järrel (Satan), Nils Poppe (vicar), Gertrud Fridh (Mrs. Renata), Sture Lagerwall (Pablo), Gunnar Björnstrand (actor), Georg Funkquist (Count Armand de Rochefoucauld), Gunnar Sjöberg (Marquis Giuseppe Maria de Macopanza), Axel Düberg (Jonas), Torsten Winge (the old one), Kristina Adolphson (veiled woman), Allan Edwall (the demon who whispers in the ear), Ragnar Arvedson (guard demon), Börje Lundh (hairdresser), Lenn Hjörtzberg (enema doctor), John Melin (beauty doctor), Sten Torsten Thuul (tailor), Arne Lindblad (his assistant), Svend Bunch (transformation expert), Tom Olsson (masseur), Inga Gill (parlormaid).

  1960

  THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY (Såsom i en spegel)

  Production/distribution: Svensk Filmindustri. Director, screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Allan Ekelund. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist. Music: Erik Nordgren. Art direction: P. A. Lundgren. Editing: Ulla Ryghe. Premiere: October 16, 1961, at Röda Kvarn and Fontänen. Length: 89 minutes. With Harriet Andersson (Karin), Max von Sydow (Martin), Gunnar Björnstrand (David), Lars Passgård (Fredrik, called Minus).

  Four people come out of the ocean after a swim. David, a widower, is a writer. His daughter, Karin, has been in and out of the hospital for schizophrenia. She is married to Martin, a physician. Minus is Karin's seventeen-year-old brother.

  David and Martin cast fishing nets; the sister and brother go to fetch milk. During dinner David says that he will soon be returning to Switzerland, where he has just been. Brother and sister perform a play that Minus has written. It concerns a writer who can experience love only when he is writing about it.

  Toward dawn David is sitting in his room, working on his latest novel. Karin is awake. In the attic she has an experience with her split world. Then she falls asleep in her father's room. While David and Minus bring in the nets, Karin awakens and reads in her father's diary that he believes her illness is incurable.

  David and Martin leave the island together to run an errand. Karin has told Martin about the diary, and Martin accuses David of emotional coldness. David confesses that he attempted suicide while in Switzerland. Karin tells Minus about her two worlds. Minus finds her later in an old wreck down by the seashore. When David and Martin return, Minus tells them about Karin's confused condition. Martin orders a helicopter. They pack. Karin disappears into the attic again. There she engages in a conversation with the world that exists only behind the wallpaper. She is given a calming injection and says there is a spider who visits her: “I have seen God.” Karin is taken away in the helicopter. David and Minus are alone on the island. They speak about God's love. Minus whispers, “Daddy spok
e to me.”

  1961

  THE PLEASURE GARDEN (Lustgården)

  Production/distribution: Svensk Filmindustri. Director: Alf Kjellin. Producer: Allan Ekelund. Screenplay: “Buntel Eriksson” (Ingmar Bergman and Erland Josephson). Cinematography: Gunnar Fischer (color). Music: Erik Nordgren. Art direction: P. A. Lundgren. Editing: Ulla Ryghe. Premiere: December 26, 1961, at Rö da Kvarn and Fanfaren. Length: 93 minutes. With Sickan Carlsson (Fanny), Gunnar Bjö rnstrand (David), Bibi Andersson (Anna), Per Myrberg (Emil), Kristina Adolphson (Astrid), Stig Järrel (Lundberg), Hjördis Petterson (Ellen), Gösta Cederlund (Liljedahl), Torsten Winge (Wibom), Lasse Krantz (restaurant manager), Fillie Lyckow (Berta), Jan Tiselius (Ossian), Stefan Hübinette (volunteer), Sven Nilsson (bishop), Rolf Nystedt (mayor), Sten Hedlund (principal), Stina Ståhle (his wife), Lars Westlund (postmaster), Ivar Uhlin (Dr. Brusén), Birger Sahlberg (policeman).

  1961/62

  WINTER LIGHT(Nattvardsgästerna)

  Production/distribution: Svensk Filmindustri. Director, screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Allan Ekelund. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist. Art direction: P. A. Lundgren. Editing: Ulla Ryghe. Premiere: February 11, 1963, at Röda Kvarn and Fontänen. Length: 81 minutes. With Gunnar Björnstrand (Tomas Ericsson), Ingrid Thulin (Märta Lundberg), Max von Sydow (Jonas Persson), Gunnel Lindblom (Karin Persson), Allan Edwall (Algot Frövik), Olof Thunberg (Fredrik Blom), Elsa Ebbesen (widow), Kolbjörn Knudsen (Aronsson), Tor Borong (Johan Åkerblom), Bertha SÅnnell (Hanna Appelblad), Eddie Axberg (Johan Strand), LarsOwe Carlberg (police superintendent), Johan Olafs (man), Ingmari Hjort (Persson's daughter), Stefan Larsson (Persson's son), LarsOlof Andersson and Christer Öhman (boys).

  Pastor Tomas Ericsson performs morning service in Mitsunda Church. Among the communicants are Märta Lundberg, a teacher at the grammar school; Jonas Persson, a fisherman; and his wife, Karin.

  Tomas has a cold. After the service Jonas and Karin visit him in the vestry. Karin tells him about her husband's anxiety. They decide that Tomas should have a private conversation with Jonas later. Märta Lundberg enters and asks Tomas if he has read her letter. She wants to help him, but he rebuffs her. When she has left, he reads the letter. The fisherman Jonas returns. Tomas speaks to him about his own relation to God, trying to console Jonas. A little while later a woman brings word that Jonas has shot himself.

  Tomas goes to the site of the suicide with Märta. Then they continue on to the school where she lives and works. Again Tomas rejects her concern and her love. They go to the fisherman's home. Tomas offers the widow comfort and support but feels that he stands outside the circle of the bereaved family. On the way back Tomas tells Märta that he became a clergyman to please his parents.

  They arrive at Frostnäs for the second service of the day. The church caretaker, Algot Frövik, speaks to Tomas about his suffering. The organist, Blom, tells Märta about Tomas's dead wife. When the church bells call the congregation to the church, only four people come. Despite that, Tomas decides to hold the service.

  1962

  THE SILENCE (Tystnaden)

  Production/distribution: Svensk Filmindustri. Director, screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Allan Ekelund. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist. Music: Ivan Renliden. Art direction: P. A. Lundgren. Editing: Ulla Ryghe. Premiere: September 23, 1963, at Röda Kvarn and Fontänen. Length: 95 minutes. With Ingrid Thulin (Ester), Gunnel Lindblom (Anna), Jörgen Lindstrom (Johan), Håkan Jahnberg (room service waiter), Birger Malmsten (bar waiter), “Eduardinis" (performing dwarfs), Eduardo Gutierrez (the dwarfs' impressario), Lissi Alandh (woman in variety theater), Leif Forstenberg (man in variety theater), Nils Waldt (cashier), Birger Lensander (caretaker), Eskil Kalling (bar owner), K. A. Bergman (newspaper vendor), Olof Widgren (the old one).

  Traveling home from their vacation, two sisters, Anna and Ester, and Anna's son, Johan, are forced to stop at a hotel in Timoka, a foreign city in a foreign country, because Ester is gravely ill. The hotel is large, but there are few guests. Among them is a troupe of dwarfs performing at a nearby cabaret. The language of the country is one that not even Ester, who is a translator, understands.

  Johan goes exploring in the twilight-gray hotel corridors — the baroque-style hotel was built at the turn of the century. Anna goes out and walks through the warm streets. She makes eye contact with a waiter in a bar. At a variety show she sees a couple in the audience making love. The sight arouses her, and she returns to the bar and the waiter.

  With Jörgen Lindström and Märklin miniature train for The Silence.

  The bedridden Ester is alone. An old waiter assists her. When Anna returns, Ester senses that something has happened and confronts her sister. Anna leaves to keep her date with the waiter. Johan tells Ester that he has seen his mother enter a room with a stranger. Ester looks for and finds Anna, but her sister turns away from her toward her silent lover.

  Ester breaks down. That same day Anna continues on her journey with Johan, leaving Ester to fend for herself. On a piece of paper, Ester has written a few words to Johan in the foreign language.

  1963

  ALL THESE WOMEN/NOW ABOUT THESE

  WOMEN (För att inte tala om alia dessa kvinnor)

  Production/distribution: Svensk Filmindustri. Director: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Allan Ekelund. Screenplay: Ingmar Bergman and Erland Josephson. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist (color). Music: Erik Nordgren. Art direction: P. A. Lundgren. Editing: Ulla Ryghe. Premiere: June 15, 1964, at Röda Kvarn. Length: 80 minutes. With Jarl Kulle (Cornelius), Bibi Andersson (Humlan), Harriet Andersson (Isolde), Eva Dahlbeck (Adelaide), Karin Kavli (Madame Tussaud), Gertrud Fridh (Traviata), Mona Malm (Cecilia), Barbro Hiort af Ornäs (Beatrice), Allan Edwall (Jillker), Georg Funkquist (Tristan), Carl Billquist (young man), Jan Blomberg (British radio reporter), Göran Graff man (French radio reporter), Gösta Prüzelius (Swedish radio reporter), Jan-Olof Strandberg (German radio reporter), Ulf Johanson, Axel Düberg, and Lars-Eric Liedholm (men dressed in black), Lars-Owe Carlberg (chauffeur), Doris Funcke and Yvonne Igell (waitresses).

  1963/65

  DANIEL

  An episode in the collective film Stimulantia. Production/distribution: Svensk Filmindustri. Director, screenplay, cinematography: Ingmar Bergman. Editing: Ulla Ryghe. Premiere: March 28, 1967, at Spegeln. With Daniel Sebastian Bergman and Käbi Laretei.

  1965

  PERSONA

  Production/distribution: Svensk Filmindustri. Director, screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Lars-Owe Carlberg. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist. Music: Lars Johan Werle. Art direction: Bibi Lindström. Editing: Ulla Ryghe. Premiere: October 18, 1966, at Spegeln. Length: 85 minutes. With Bibi Andersson (Alma), Liv Ullmann (Elisabet Vogler), Margaretha Krook (physician), Gunnar Björnstrand (Mr. Vogler), Jörgen Lindstrom (boy).

  After a performance, the actress Elisabet Vogler totally stops communicating with anyone. She is in a hospital. She is not ill but has chosen to enter an existence of complete silence. Together with her nurse, Alma, she goes to stay on an island. The two women confront each other in different situations and grow closer and closer. Their interaction becomes a game of identities. They slide toward — and into — each other.

  1966

  HOUR OF THE WOLF(Vargtimmen)

  Production/distribution: Svensk Filmindustri. Director, screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Lars-Owe Carlberg. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist. Music: Lars Johan Werle. Art direction: Marik Vos-Lundh. Editing: Ulla Ryghe. Premiere: February 19, 1968, at Röda Kvarn. Length: 90 minutes. With Liv Ullmann (Alma), Max von Sydow (Johan), Erland Josephson (Baron von Merkens), Gertrud Fridh (Corinne von Merkens), Gudrun Brost (old Mrs. von Merkens), Bertil Anderberg (Ernst von Merkens), Georg Rydeberg (archivist Lindhorst), Ulf Johanson (curator Heerbrand), Naima Wifstrand (woman with hat), Ingrid Thulin (Veronica Vogler), Lenn Hjortzberg (orchestra conductor Kreisler), Agda Helin (maid), Mikael Rundquist (boy in dream sequence), Mona Seilitz (corpse in morgue), Folke Sundquist (Tamino in The Magic Flute).

  The artist Johan Bor
g and his wife, Alma, live on a rocky island. Johan suffers from nightmares, which he depicts on the pages of his sketch pad.

  A very old woman comes to visit Alma and urges her to read Johan's diary. Alma reads it and discovers that Johan has met a woman from his past, Veronica Vogler, on the island. Alma also finds out that they have been invited to Baron von Merken's castle. At the castle Alma sees people who look just like the demons Johan has drawn in his sketch pad. During the evening the archivist Lindhorst shows one of the guests at the castle a scene from Mozart's The Magic Flute with the marionette theater.

  On the way home, Alma tells Johan that she has read his diary. He answers by confessing that he has killed a boy on a cliff ridge, the boy having enticed and provoked him. Johan gets a message that he may meet with Veronica Vogler. He returns to the castle where the demons have gathered to revile him. Veronica is lying dead in a coffin in one of the rooms. He caresses her body and she comes alive. With the demons as scornful witnesses, she offers him her love. Johan runs off, chased by the demons. Alma, whom Johan has wounded with a pistol shot, is looking for Johan. She finds only the satchel in which he keeps his diary.

  1967

  SHAME/THE SHAME(Skammen)

  Production: Svensk Filmindustri, Cinematograph. Distribution: Svensk Filmindustri. Director, screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Lars-Owe Carlberg. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist. Art direction: P. A. Lundgren. Editing: Ulla Ryghe. Premiere:September 29, 1968, at Spegeln. Length: 103 minutes. With Liv Ullmann (Eva Rosenberg), Max von Sydow (Jan Rosenberg), Gunnar Björnstrand (Colonel Jacobi), Birgitta Valberg (Mrs. Jacobi), Sigge Fürst (Filip), Hans Alfredson (Lobelius), Willy Peters (elderly officer), Per Berglund (soldier), Vilgot Sjöman (interviewer), Ingvar Kjellson (Oswald), Rune Lindström (fat man), Frank Sundstrom (interrogator), Frej Lindqvist (stooping man), Ulf Johanson (physician), Björn Thambert (Johan), Gösta Prüzelius (vicar), Karl-Axel Forssberg (secretary), Bengt Eklund (guard), Åke Jornfalk (man on death row), Jan Bergman (Jacobi's chauffeur), Stig Lind-berg (physician's assistant).