The following day Abel is interrogated about Max's suicide by police commissioner Bauer. In the evening Abel goes to the cabaret where Manuela performs and tells her what has happened to Max. He meets Hans Vergérus, a scientist whom he knew when they both were young. Abel takes Manuela home. Manuela insists that she has an office job, but Abel discovers that her workplace is a bordello. Bauer brings Abel to the morgue to identify a woman. Abel becomes extremely upset but is let go when Manuela arrives. Abel and Manuela spend their first night together in an apartment that Vergérus has found for them.
They begin working at a clinic that is run by Vergérus, Abel in the archives, Manuela in the laundry. The files in the archives contain reports of Vergérus's experiments with human beings. Abel finds Manuela dead in their bed. In rage and sorrow he crushes a mirror and discovers a hidden camera behind it. When Bauer arrives with his men, Vergérus takes his life by swallowing poison.
Abel awakens in prison. Bauer offers him safe passage to Switzerland and the circus he worked for earlier. On his way to the railway station, Abel escapes the guards. He is swallowed up by the crowds of people.
1977
AUTUMN SONATA (Höstsonaten; Herbstsonate)
Production: Personafilm (Munich). Distribution: Svensk Filmindustri. Director, screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Katinka Faragó. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist (color). Art direction: Anna Asp. Editing: Sylvia Ingemarsson. Premiere: October 8, 1978, at Spegeln. Length: 93 minutes. With Ingrid Bergman (Charlotte), Liv Ullmann (Eva), Lena Nyman (Helena), Halvar Björk (Viktor), Marianne Aminoff (Charlotte's secretary), Erland Josephson (Josef), Arne Bang-Hansen (Uncle Otto), Gunnar Björnstrand (Paul), Georg Løkeberg (Leonardo), Mimi Pollak (piano teacher), Linn Ullmann (young Eva).
Charlotte is an internationally renowned pianist. She has two daughters: Eva and Helena. Helena has been severely handicapped for many years. Eva, the older of the two daughters, has lost her only child in a drowning accident. She is married to Viktor, the pastor at a small country church.
Charlotte is experiencing great sorrow because her friend Leonardo, also a musician, has died after a long illness. Eva, who has not seen her mother in almost seven years, writes to her when she hears about Leonardo's death and asks her to come for a visit at the parsonage.
Charlotte arrives. She immediately becomes very upset upon discovering that Helena, whom she believed to be in an institution, is in fact being cared for by Viktor and Eva. She overcomes this deep shock only with difficulty. During their polite talk, Charlotte and Eva feel memories and humiliations reawaken. The dam bursts during a late night conversation between mother and daughter. When things calm down, Charlotte hastily leaves her two daughters to return to her music and her solitude. In the parsonage Eva and Viktor continue to nurse their quiet marriage.
1977/79
THE FÅRÖ DOCUMENT 1979
(FÅrödokument 1979)
Production: Cinematograph, Swedish Radio-TV Channel 2 1977/ 79. Director: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Lars-Owe Carlberg. Cinematography: Arne Carlsson (color). Music: Svante Pettersson, Sigvard Huldt, Dag and Lena, Ingmar Nordströms, Strix Q, Rock de Luxe, Ola and the Janglers. Editing: Sylvia Ingemarsson. Premiere: December 24, 1979, on TV. Length: 103 minutes. With the inhabitants of FÅrö Island.
1979/80
FROM THE LIFE OF THE MARIONETTES (Ur
Marionetternas liv; Aus dem Leben der Marionetten)
Production: Personafilm (Munich). Distribution: Sandrews. Director, screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Producers: Horst Wendlandt and Ingmar Bergman. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist (black and white/color). Music: Rolf Wilhelm. Art direction: Rolf Zehetbauer. Editing: Petra von Oelffen. Premiere: January 24, 1981, at Grand. Length: 104 minutes. With Robert Aztorn (Peter Egerman), Christine Buchegger (Katarina Egerman), Martin Benrath (Mogens Jensen), Rita Russek (Ka), Lola Muethel (Cordelia Egerman), Walter Schmidinger (Tim), Heinz Bennent (Arthur Brenner), Ruth Olafs (nurse), Karl Heinz Pelser (interrogator), Gaby Dohm (secretary), Toni Berger (guard).
Peter and Katarina Egerman seem to be a well-adjusted married couple; he is a businessman, she a fashion executive. But on a deeper level they do not communicate. For a couple of years now, Peter has had a recurring dream of killing his wife.
He tells his psychiatrist, Mogens, about this obsession. Mogens, who has a sexual relationship with Katarina, does nothing. Peter makes a halfhearted suicide attempt. He goes to a porno club where a prostitute ignites his desire to kill. In a moment of psychological short-circuiting, Peter chooses a substitute victim.
In brief interviews after the catastrophe, those who knew Peter offer their explanations for what happened. Peter now lives in a clinic where he has imprisoned himself in silence.
1981/82
FANNY AND ALEXANDER (Fanny och Alexander)
Production: Cinematograph for the Film Institute, Swedish TV Channel 1, Gaumont (Paris),Personafilm (Munich), Tobis Filmkunst (Berlin). Distribution: Sandrews. Director, screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Jörn Donner. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist (color). Art direction: Anna Asp. Editing: Sylvia Ingemarsson. Premieres: December 17,1982, at Astoria, length, 197 minutes; and December 17, 1983, at Grand 2, length, 312 minutes. With Pernilla Allwin (Fanny Ekdahl), Bertil Guve (Alexander), Börje Ahlstedt (Carl Ekdahl), Harriet Andersson (Justina, the kitchen maid), Pernilla Östergren (Maj, the nanny), Mats Bergman (Aron), Gunnar Björnstrand (Filip Landahl), Allan Edwall (Oscar Ekdahl), Stina Ekblad (Ismael), Ewa Froling (Emilie Ekdahl), Erland Josephson (Isak Jacobi), Jarl Kulle (Gustav Adolf Ekdahl), Kabi Laretei (Aunt Anna), Mona Malm (Alma Ekdahl), Jan Malmsjö (Bishop Edvard Vergérus), Christina Schollin (Lydia Ekdahl), Gunn Wållgren (Helena Ekdahl), Kerstin Tidelius (Henrietta Vergérus), Anna Bergman (Hanna Schwartz), Sonya Hedenbratt (Aunt Emma), Svea Hoist-Widén (Ester), Majlis Granlund (Vega), Maria Granlund (Petra), Emilie Werkö(Jenny), Christian Almgren (Putte), Angelica Wallgren (Eva), Siv Ericks (Alida), Inga Alenius (Lisen), Kristina Adolphson (Siri), Eva von Hanno (Berta).
With the children in Fanny and Alexander.
It is Christmas in the home of the Ekdahl family. The year is 1907 in a Swedish city with a cathedral and a university.
The head of the family is Helena Ekdahl. She was once an actress at the theater still run by the family. Her son Oscar is now head of the theater; his brother Gustav Adolf owns a restaurant, and his brother Carl is a professor with debts. Fanny and Alexander are the children of Oscar and Emilie Ekdahl. Oscar takes ill while rehearsing his part as the ghost in Hamlet. He dies surrounded by his family. The city's bishop, Edvard Vergérus, officiates at the funeral and consoles the young widow, Emilie. This association eventually leads to marriage. In the bishop's home, life is ascetic to the extreme.
Alexander hates his stepfather and revolts. The bishop responds with his idea of love and authority: strict discipline and harsh punishment. When the rest of the Ekdahl family becomes aware of the suffering of Emilie and her children, they seek the assistance of the Jewish antique dealer Isak Jacobi in order to rescue the children from Vergérus's clutches. Vergérus's response consists of retaliations against his wife, who is pregnant. In Jacobi's antique store Alexander meets Ismael, who is kept locked up. Together they wish for the death of the bishop. He dies in flames.
Again Christmas is celebrated in the home of the Ekdahl family. Emilie has returned. She has had her baby. Another infant is christened along with hers. The father to that baby is Gustav Adolf; the mother is the young nanny, Maj. In the quiet after the celebration party, Emilie awakens Helena Ekdahl's theater ambitions with a newly published copy of Strindberg's A Dream Play.
1983
AFTER THE REHEARSAL (Efter repetitionen)
Production: Personafilm (Munich). Director, screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Jörn Donner. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist (color). Art direction: Anna Asp. Editing: Sylvia Ingemarsson. Premiere: April 9, 1984, on TV. Length: 70 minutes. With Erland Josephson (Henrik Vogler), Lena Olin (Anna), Ingrid Thulin (Rakel).
1
985
THE BLESSED ONES (De tvåsaliga)
Director: Ingmar Bergman. Screenplay: Ulla Isaksson, based on her novel. Producers: Pia Ehrnvall and Katinka Faragó. Cinematography: Per Norén (color). Art direction: Birgitta Bensén. Premiere: February 19, 1986, on TV. Length: 81 minutes. With Harriet Andersson (Viveka Burman), Per Myrberg (Sune Burman), Christina Schollin (Annika), Lasse Poysti (Dr. Dettow), Irma Christenson (Mrs. Storm), Björn Gustafson (neighbor), Majlis Granlund (cleaning woman at school), Kristina Adolphson (nurse in psychiatric ward), Margreth Weivers, Bertil Norstrom, Johan Rabaeus, Lennart Tollén, and Lars-Owe Carlberg.
1986
DOCUMENTARY OF FANNY AND ALEXANDER
(Dokument Fanny och Alexander)
Production: Cinematograph, the Film Institute. Director, screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Cinematography: Arne Carlsson (color). Editing: Sylvia Ingemarsson. Premiere: August 18, 1986, on TV. Length: 110 minutes.
1986
KARIN'S FACE (Karins ansikte)
Production: Cinematograph. Director, screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Music: Kabi Laretei. Premiere: September 29, 1986, on TV. Length: 14 minutes.
1991
THE BEST INTENTIONS (Den goda viljan)
Production: Swedish TV Channel 1 Drama in association with ZDF, Channel 4, Raidus, La Sept, DR, YLE 2, NRK, RUV. Distribution: Svensk Filmindustri. Director: Bille August. Screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Ingrid Dahlberg. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist (color). Music: Stefan Nilsson. Art direction: Anna Asp. Editing: Janus Billeskov Jansen. Premiere: June 4, 1992, at Riviera. Length: 181 minutes. With Samuel Fröler (Henrik Bergman), Pernilla August (Anna Bergman), Max von Sydow (Johan Åkerblom), Ghita Nørby (Karin Åkerblom), Lennart Hjulström (executive Nordenson), Mona Malm (Alma Bergman), Lena Endre (Frida Strandberg), Keve Hjelm (Fredrik Bergman), Bjorn Kjellman (Ernst ökerblom), Börje Ahlstedt (Carl Åkerblom), Hans Alfredson (pastor Gransjö), Lena T. Hansson (Magda Sail), Anita Björk (Queen Victoria), Elias Ringquist (Petrus Farg), Ernst Günther (Freddy Paulin), Marie Göranzon (Elin Nordenson), Bjorn Granath (Oscar Åkerblom), Gunilla Nyroos (Svea Åkerblom), Michael Segerström (Gustav Åkerblom).
Earlier shown on TV as a miniseries in four chapters: December 25, 1991, December 26, 1991, December 29, 1991, and December 30, 1991. Total length: approximately 340 minutes.
1991/1992
SUNDAY'S CHILDREN (Söndagsbarn)
Production: Sandrew Film&Theater in association with the Film Institute, Sweetland Films, Swedish TV Channel 1 Drama, Metronome Productions, Finland's Filmstiftelse, Iceland's Film Fund, Norsk Film with support of Nordisk Film&TV Fund, Eurimages/ Europåradet. Distribution: Sandrews. Director: Daniel Bergman. Screenplay: Ingmar Bergman. Producer: Katinka Faragå. Cinematography: Tony Fosberg. Music: Johann Sebastian Bach, Rune Gustafsson, Zoltán Kodály. Art direction: Sven Wichmann. Editing: Darek Hodor. Premiere: August 28, 1992, at Olympa and Biopalatset 3. Length: 121 minutes. With Thommy Berggren (father), Henrik Linnros (Pu), Lena Endre (mother), Jakob Leygraf (Dag), Anna Linnros (Lillian), Malin Ek (Märta), Marie Richardson (Marianne), Irma Christenson (Aunt Emma), Birgitta Valberg (Grandma), Börje Ahlstedt (Uncle Carl), Maria Bolme (Maj), Majlis Granlund/Birgitta Ulfsson (Lalla), Carl Magnus Dellow (jeweler), Melinda Kinnaman (woman), Per Myrberg (Ingmar), Helena Brodin (nurse Edit), Halvar Björk (Ericsson), Gunnel Gustafsson (Mrs. Berglund), Kurt Sävström (church elder), Lis Nilheim (pastor's wife), Hans Stromblad (Konrad), Bertil Norstrdm (pastor), Suzanne Ernrup (Helga Smed), Lars Rockström (Smed, the smith), Josefin Andersson (young woman).
*
In 1951 Ingmar Bergman wrote and directed nine commercials for AB Sunlight for the soap Bris (Sweden's first deodorant soap). Bibi Andersson appeared in one of these.
*
Ingmar Bergman directed a number of theatrical productions for television: Hjalmar Bergman's Sleeman's Coming (1957), The Venetian (1958), Olle Hedberg's Rabies (1958), August Strindberg's Storm Weather (1960) and A Dream Play (1963), as well as Moliere's School for Wives (1983).
Images was originally planned in an interview format with Lasse Bergström. The project was conceived in the summer of 1987, during the final editing of Bergman's book, The Magic Lantern. Conversations with Ingmar Bergman commenced on Fårö Island on September 28, 1988, and concluded in Stockholm on February 1, 1990. The basis for the book was the edited transcript, approximately sixty hours of conversation, from which the interviewer had deleted his questions. The text was then revised by Bergman and finally finished on June 11, 1990. Lars Åhlander selected the accompanying photographs. The filmography was compiled by Bertil Wredlund. For those films examined in detail in the book, the data were supplemented with brief descriptions of the plots, provided from material available in Swedish Filmography.
Lasse Bergström and Ingmar Bergman, Fårö, May 1990.
PHOTO CREDITS
Per B. Adolphson, Thomas Bergman, Inga Lill Bergström, John Bryson, Arne Carlsson, Cinematograph, Bo-Erik Gyberg, Harry Kampf, K. G. Kristoffersson, Lars Looschen, Vicke Malmström, Pressens Bild, Sandrew Film&Theater, Anders Svahn, Svensk Filmindustri, Swedish Film Institute, Swedish National Museum, Swedish Photo Service, Swedish Radio, Bo A. Vibenius, Max Wilén, Christian Wirsén.
Image My Life in Film Page 25