With these insanely high expectations
and these impossible demands,
not only here in Sweden,
but around the world, generally,
it amounts to a lot of pressure.
So one just has to try
and forget these demands on one's person.
The year of 1957...
When it comes to Bergman's tremendous productivity,
all I can do is ask: How was it possible?
Bergman's student 1957
The Seventh Seal - 1957
Who are you?
I'm Death.
- Is that your ride back there? - Yes.
A bit antiquated, eh?
Wild Strawberries - 1957
It's impossible to imagine
how he could cope...
Actor
...with such an enormous workload.
Brink of Life - 1958
Directed by Ingmar Bergman.
When I try to date something,
I date it according to films and plays.
I don't remember much of my private life.
I can't remember when my children were born.
I can't tell their ages. Only roughly.
But I can't remember which years they were born.
BERGMAN A YEAR IN A LIFE
Well, shall we get started?
Right, let's start.
Let's ask them to turn off the lights.
Every artist who creates intense depictions of his own problems,
which he believes
not only to be important to him, but also to others,
needs to use himself.
And then, the issue of egocentricity will always pop up.
It's inevitable, actually.
Uncle Isaac is a selfish old man.
Totally ruthless and refusing to listen to other people.
Wild Strawberries - 1957
He got a lot of inspiration from his own life,
and dressed himself up as all those different characters.
Director
That's how I've seen it.
I would like to be warm, tender and alive...
The Passion of Anna - 1969
That's all Ingmar's own shitty life, as he'd describe it.
Actor
He told me: My life is piss-awful. All I have is my work...
But your marriages, and your kids...?
My life's still piss-awful.
Why the angry look? Are your nerves playing up?
Are you feeling tormented?
Hour of the Wolf - 1968
Shut up! Shut up!
I think this is obvious in many of his films.
Bergman's sister-in-law
Take Autumn Sonata,
in which a pianist lives for her art,
but neglects her children.
Help me!
Autumn Sonata - 1978
All these films,
which people think are about someone else are always,
without fail, about Bergman himself.
Talk show host
...the Swedish Film Society Plaque to Ingmar Bergman
and Viktor Sjöström.
INGMAR BERGMAN'S NEW FILM
Do you like wild strawberries?
Summer Interlude - 1951
I know where they grow. Shall we go?
Secrets of Women - 1952
Summer with Monika - 1953
We can do it. We can go where we want!
"THE SEVENTH SEAL BEST SWEDISH FILM THIS YEAR"
No Swedish dramatist has narrated
about medieval Sweden with such passion
since Strindberg's The Folkunga Saga,
and it's all the more amazing we have
the resources to do it on film...
"INGMAR BERGMAN THE SEVENTH SEAL"
I see - the camera's over there.
When I got there, people whispered:
Assistant director to Bergman 1957
Ingmar is over there. Better be quiet.
That kind of thing. Ingmar was there,
like the mast in the middle of the ship.
After that success,
no one has ever meddled with what I wanted to do.
I've been allowed to do what I wanted.
Actor
The Seventh Seal - 1957
Prof. Scandinavian literature Brown University
- The plague! - Stay on that side of the trunk!
I'm afraid of dying!
I don't want to die!
I remember the scene...
where Erik Strandmark
gets so scared of the approaching Death
Actor
in his black robes
so he climbs a tree and settles on a branch.
And Death gets closer and closer...
Damn, is it my tree he is sawing down?
Drat you, you scoundrel! What's with my tree?
No! I haven't got the time.
No time, eh?
Then, the fool says:
Is there no escape?
No exceptions for actors?
Nope. Not in this case.
"No exceptions for actors?"
Such a wonderful line.
He was careful where the camera
went to avoid filming the blocks of flats.
They were there, not far from what we called the forest.
Who are you?
I'm Death.
Have you come for me?
The Seventh Seal - 1957
- I've been by your side a while. - I know that.
Are you ready?
One moment!
You all say that. I give no respite.
But you do play chess?
"Who are you?" And the man in black replies:
"I'm Death."
Then, either you accept that he is Death
or you think: "No way, that's Bengt Ekerot.
His face has been whitened and he's wearing a robe."
But that's the amazing power of suggestion.
That's the amazing excitement when you do things
and make people believe it all.
This film was an attempt
at ridding myself of my fear of death.
And to a certain extent, it worked.
I grew up in a rectory... family.
I'm the son of a priest, and as such,
you live quite close to death.
Alexander, my dear boy...
Fanny and Alexander - 1982
Before these witnesses, you've accused me of murdering
- my wife and children. - What?
There. He walks...
That's it.
Portraying that cold,
cold character was great fun. He was...
Actor
A character made up of so many unsound beliefs.
I don't understand... Do you think a person can go unpunished
Fanny and Alexander - 1982
after dishonouring another person?
It was a horrific scene,
that whipping scene.
And Bergman said: "Goddammit,
you really remind me of my father."
Yes, I resembled his dad.
What form of punishment would you like?
Cane, castor oil or dark cupboard?
- How many strikes with the cane? - Ten.
The cane.
I dealt with my upbringing by lying
and pretending.
And by assuming an identity which
my parents could view as acceptable.
I lied unreservedly and with ease.
Every now and then,
one was found out and heavily punished.
Stand up, Alexander!
- What would you like to say? - Nothing.
You should apologise to me.
"THE MAGIC LANTERN MANUSCRIPT"
Like so much else in Bergman's life,
he projects some of the things
that his brother experienced on himself.
Author
It's very odd. It could be beatings, for example.
Ingmar wasn't the one who was beaten,
it was Dag.
I remember one summer at our country place.
I was 10 years old and he 5 or 6.
He was coming fishing with me.
I didn't want his company. He babbled and scared the fish.
I said he could come on the condition
he kept the worms in his mouth. He agreed,
Older brother
and I can see him with worms sticking out of his mouth.
Half-crying, he was.
He probably swallowed a few.
- I'll put the coin here. - What do you want me to do?
Sunday's Children - 1992
- You're going to eat this worm. - What?!
Shut your gob and stop looking silly.
Alright, give me the bloody worm.
Let me tell you: Ingmar was the favourite pupil.
We had the same teacher in some cases.
One day in front of the entire class, this teacher said to me:
This morning, I taught your brother,
Master Bergman in whose knowledge there are no gaps.
Looking at you, you're master Bergman
in whose gaps there's no knowledge.
Open your book. The homework for today.
Torment - 1944
Faster! Faster!
The battle lasted for three days.
"TORMENT SCREENPLAY BY INGMAR BERGMAN"
But haven't Swedish critics believed
that Ingmar was referring to himself as a kind of self-portrait?
Well, it can't have been,
as Ingmar was a little angel at school, loved by all.
That was the case until he graduated.
That's cheating, Sir. Cheating!
Well, Ingmar was without doubt
our father's favourite child.
I was dad's whipping boy.
Dad hit me more or less whenever he saw me.
Ingmar didn't really suffer,
and was happy to spend time with father.
He soon realised that if he asked clever questions
on the life of angels and what little Jesus and Heaven were like,
he was often rewarded with hot cocoa and biscuits.
Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God Almighty.
Winter Light - 1963
Heaven and earth are full of His glory.
My brother was in many ways
a human being who...
...was totally
and irreparably damaged
because of the way he was brought up.
And in some way,
I had a similar upbringing.
You could almost say I was brought up
in the same way as my brother.
The damage was long-lasting.
And I have...
...spent most of my life sorting
myself out after that upbringing.
There's no getting rid of me.
Fanny and Alexander - 1982
What are you reading, Alexander?!
Good night, my boy.
In the 1930s, it was very common to send
middle-class and upper-class children
Author
to Germany to learn German. In those days,
Germany was the great cultural nation
we admired and loved.
Even bigger than the US is today.
Ingmar Bergman himself has described
that stay in Germany as life-changing.
He came from a rather Grey and dull life
into a world where people believed in something
and could die for something.
He admired this fantastic speaker called Hitler.
He was on Germany's side throughout the war.
Ingmar Bergman's notebook, 1937 - 1939
I just could not understand that he still, after the war,
when the concentration camps were opened up...
Actor
That still, after the war,
he maintained that he supported Hitler. And...
...that he still,
even then, defended him!
That is horrific.
My father didn't really take this too seriously.
On the contrary,
he was quite angry with Bergman's way of describing that.
I'm pretty sure my dad regarded that side of Bergman
Son of Dieter Winter
as little more than posing.
As if he somehow wanted to show off
with feigned Nazi sympathies in his youth.
Some people are hesitant and find it difficult to believe Bergman
when he says he was a Nazi.
I can somehow understand that.
Ingmar Bergman is a master...
Author
...of mythicism. He weaved stories, including around his own life.
You might think he was trying to make himself
this famous man - look ugly.
There are such syndromes...
But after having spoken to him in depth,
I'm convinced that he really did have such sympathies.
Sometimes,
my reality is completely distorted.
I manage to contrive of a reality
which is completely... ludicrous,
to tell the truth.
In retrospect, I've often thought. I hardly dare voice it, but...
Sound editor/mixer
Today, we talk a lot about diagnoses...
I suppose today, he'd be said to have an untreated diagnosis...
Actor
...of some kind.
I was tall, hunched up and terribly,
terribly thin.
Like a scratch in a photographic negative.
On top of that,
I had terrible acne.
And I was most unhappy with my body.
And besides,
the girls used to think that I...
That I looked incredibly funny.
He didn't socialise much with other youngsters.
He didn't know how to dance,
play tennis or fiddle with motorboats.
Author
Nor could he dive head first off the jetty.
He mainly sat in his room,
performing plays with his puppets.
From very early on, the world of women was a separate country to me.
Unknown territory,
and I eagerly decided to start mapping it out.
Karin Lannby and Ingmar Bergman
met in an Old Town collective.
This was a dramatic period,
when we'd seen Denmark and Norway
being occupied by Nazi Germany.
One of the first things he said to her was supposedly:
Author
"We're just as mad, both of us."
There's every indication that it was a stormy relationship.
Bergman was very jealous.
This was confirmed by many who worked with him.
"WOMAN WITHOUT A FACE"
Are you already jealous?
I can't take you being unfaithful.
Will you come home and kill me then?
Indeed.
Woman Without a Face - 1947
Well - do it!
And Karin did have a secret life.
She was signed up by Swedish intelligence.
She was to spy on people in restaurants.
On foreigners that were suspected of various things.
But Bergman didn't know this.
Why wouldn't it be true?
The first draft he wrote was for his autobiography,
and at the same time, in the same autobiography he wrote
that Karin Lannby meant a great deal to him,
also on a sexual level.
He puts it like this:
"She opened the bars and let out a lunatic."
From the Life of the Marionettes - 1980
One's writings can sometimes
have a therapeutic quality.
Karin Lannby kept saying to him:
"You have to produce something.
You can't just go on dreaming about projects and ideas."
Author
And what happened
was that once their relationship was over,
then he started to produce masses of stuff.
It was a bit like a battery that had been left to charge
throughout their relationship,
and suddenly, the sparks start flying.
It Rains on Our Love - 1946
A Ship Bound for India - 1947
Music in Darkness - 1948
Prison - 1949
The critics were rather nasty.
However,
some recognised his talent but knew he still had to get there.
Production manager
He was accused of being a juvenile joker.
Music in Darkness - 1948
Port of Call - 1948
DIRECTED BY: Ingmar Bergman
My first film,
Crisis, was made at the Swedish Film Studio premises.
I was unmanageable
and generally loathed by everyone.
And I was incredibly insecure.
He was shouting and ranting throughout the shooting of Crisis
Actor
because of his own insecurity and his ambitions, probably.
This was his chance to make films.
I think he wanted to exude:
"I'm Ingmar Bergman, up-and-coming director!"
But I think Ingmar was more nervous than anyone else.
He was worried
and suffered from stomach aches...
And he didn't utter a directive word!
But he kept harassing our very kind cinematographer,
Gösta Rosling.
He obviously wasn't well.
He was forever having stomach pains.
Production manager
He was always tormented he wouldn't be up to scratch.
I'm not a therapist or psychoanalyst.
I have the greatest of understandings for his anxiety.
Theatrical designer
Anxiety is part of that European way of making art.
Cries and Whispers - 1972
I can't. I just can't!
I have so much angst.
"THE BIGGEST DRAMATIC PRODUCTION EVER"
It wasn't a rehearsal, it was worship.
The atmosphere was palpable. The air vibrated...
There was structure, a system and rules.
Bergman's student 1957
He worked and directed according to a rhythm.
The practical work... Everything had a rhythm.
Ingmar was obviously talented as hell and very good,
and he'd decided to get what he wanted, at any cost.
There is something odd about the fact that I constantly produce
and I am always on the verge of starting a new film,
a new play or something...
That means that the now is all that exists.
If I've finished a film, it's gone.
The same goes for a play...
He may not have been world-famous,
but he was the one in the theatre world.
And then, there's the two of you.
You're meant to be over here.
Let's put you over here. Right...
While Bergman worked there,
there was a huge sign over the entrance...
Bergman's student 1957
...into the main theatre.
It read, in several languages:
Håll käften! Halten Sie die Mund! Shut up!
People didn't even dare sneeze!
What's that bloody speaker?
How the hell can you put it there?
Quiet!
Move that bloody microphone.
Can you just shut up in the corner!
In my headphones, I hear a constant hissing.
Silence! Hey!
By all means destroy my play.
His eyes were always half shut.
And sometimes,
he'd do this and turn around...
He'd turn to his side,
look out through the window,
and say something very clever and very profound.
And then, he'd look back at us. We'd sit there with our mouths open.
He was always talking about demons,
but he was quite demonic himself.
Then, when you got to see the dress rehearsal of Peer Gynt...
The play was 5 hours long.
It was so amazing that after those 5 hours,
my only thought was:
"I need to get a ticket to see it again. Now!"
Bergman's student 1957
That's how brilliant it was.
How does he do it? How did he do it?
The dynamics were unparalleled. It was unbelievable.
Bergman's student 1957
It's hard to put one's finger on.
Sometimes, you can't specify it.
You just feel something come over you.
This is all adventure movies rolled into one.
- That's better! - Right.
There... Okay.
Quiet everywhere.
Silence.
Camera!
146-171, first.
As a director, he was exciting.
He was curiously enthusiastic himself.
He'd often look at the settings through the camera.
He'd say: "Stop there. Advance! Yes, bloody good!"
Photographer
He'd build the whole experience in an enthusiastic way.
Like this... Then, see, there's the other one.
And then it's down again.
He's totally convincing.
Look at her.
I think that's because he mostly
has well thought-through ideas
and he proposes things for a reason.
He was unique, because he gave the actors such scope
to use their own ideas
Actor
and also their own intuition.
He watched them with excitement.
He couldn't stand when an actor
would only act on the director's instructions.
He wanted to see the actors' own inspiration.
I always felt that Ingmar was very sensual.
A sensual person in relation to the artistic work itself.
Director/Actor
And he was very physical.
When he worked, he was an anti-intellectual.
Then, he let go of any thoughts of the result.
He was 100 per cent present
and had a beautiful way of touching the actors.
He was totally present.
Seductive.
He was sensitive and incredibly caring.
What do you want done differently?
Maybe it's my own...
He'd put his arm around you and say:
"She walks over, turns, and there he is... and Goddammit!"
Actor
He almost created a kind of...
Instead of wasting too many words,
he'd make some emotional gesture.
If you were attentive,
that would give you a lot.
Great! Bloody good!
Actor
The Touch - 1971
The way he dealt with that was to ask his doctor
and friend
tell Gunnar that the disease he was suffering
from was quite serious.
Photographer
Gunnar was put on medication, and actually became depressed.
Then, he was perfect as a doubting priest
lacking faith in God.
And that, you might feel, is going a bit far.
I'm tired of your concern.
Winter Light - 1963
Your mother-henning.
Your good advice.
Your pretty candleholders and tablecloths...
I'm sick of your short-sightedness...
...your fumbling hands...
...and your anxious way of showing you care.
You force me to concern myself
with your physical condition,
your troublesome stomach, your eczema...
...and your days.
When looking at the footage afterwards,
I notice that the camera has seen
a lot more than I did.
It is such a phenomenal tool
when it comes to registering the human soul.
The way it reflects in a person's face.
The more familiar I become with film
as my chosen medium of expression,
the more I perceive every film I make
as a way of expressing memories,
experiences, tensions,
situations and forces.
Thanks!
Do you feel you lose out
because of the more limited scope of television?
On the contrary.
The fascinating thing with television
is that I can produce close-ups.
Radio Sweden presents The Prisoner by Bridget Boland,
directed by Bergman.
We were working ceaselessly,
either because we were rehearsing,
or there was another opening night.
Or we might have been preparing for some performance.
It was almost a neurosis of his.
Director
I think that was it.
He obsessed about not being able to stop,
to put his pen down or to stop filming.
His time must have been used extremely carefully,
like something very precious.
I can't get the equation to work.
Actor
But he paid a price, of course.
He supposedly tried alcohol in his youth,
but that didn't strike a chord with Bergman.
Apparently, he behaved very strangely and violently.
He only ever ate Swedish yoghurt.
When others had lunch, he had yoghurt.
After three hours,
he took a break and went up to his room
Actor
where he had his Swedish yoghurt.
He had his special diet
and his dry Marie biscuits.
He had a special table where he had his script,
and the Marie biscuits he kept eating...
Sound editor/Mixer
...on account of his irritable stomach.
When he'd gone outside,
Photographer
it was tempting to take a biscuit to see if he noticed.
"DO NOT TOUCH"
He was a control freak and knew what was what.
Not many people dared to take one of his biscuits.
Once, an actor showed off by taking a biscuit
and Bergman never noticed. So, someone from the team
went to take one, too, but he put it back.
"Shit, there may be consequences if I pinch this biscuit."
We all waited until he'd had a biscuit.
He didn't have the top one,
in case someone had touched it.
Actor
Instead, he'd fiddle out one from underneath.
It wasn't Max who took that biscuit.
Stig Järrel, perhaps? No, no names...
To think he wasn't undernourished, and that he had such stamina.
Actor
I don't think he ever ate vegetables.
He spoke very negatively about veg.
Kind of as if vegetables were something of a threat.
Something to watch out for.
It was...
I think he must have had an eating disorder.
Before anyone knew of the concept of eating disorders, he had one.
Time for a coffee break.
- Coffee break! - Okay.
Coffee!
I had stomach
and intestinal ulcers all the time.
I was admitted to hospital,
was patched up and sat there and wrote.
From Ingmar Bergman's journal May 1957
Ingmar could produce a film...
Assistant director to Bergman 1957
He almost wrote one at the end of the shooting of the film
when his stomach problems got him into hospital
and I had to run back and forth with scripts for typing.
At the same time,
he was preparing for a repeat performance of Peer Gynt,
which had been on the previous spring,
and he was also preparing a new play, Faust,
which was opening that autumn.
But as I understand it,
while Ingmar was ill enough to be hospitalised,
he nevertheless managed to write a new film script.
"I'm Professor Isak Borg.
I'm still alive, both spiritually and physically.
It's half past three a.m."
...Isak Borg, and I'm 78 years old.
Wild Strawberries - 1957
Tomorrow, I'll be awarded the title
of Doctor Jubilaris in Lund Cathedral.
Sara?
This is your cousin Isak.
I've grown a bit old, though...
...and sadness came over me,
but I soon surfaced from my dreaming.
He wasn't even 40 when he had the old Victor Sjöström
in Wild Strawberries,
returning to his childhood, his family and all that.
He more or less revises his whole life,
as if he was standing at death's door.
I dreamt that I on my morning walk had got to
a part of town I didn't know
where the streets were empty and the houses derelict.
Prof. Scandinavian literature Brown University
We were forever arguing.
I had a latent stomach ulcer,
which started to play up then, of course.
I was wondering what would happen
if Victor was to say he was too old and couldn't cope.
But hell, did he cope!
I remember it as a nice summer.
Young actresses were sunbathing off scene.
There were common denominators.
You knew that in this hen house...
Assistant director to Bergman 1957
...that hen hadn't always been over there,
and that cockerel hasn't always had so many feathers...
Sometimes, I even think to myself
a significant reason why I chose the theatre
was to be able to meet girls naturally.
However, that's a somewhat awkward theory
and only a speculation of mine...
I have to say that Ingmar
always went for interesting women.
Theatrical designer
I think these women have also had
a major influence
on the way he looked at film and art.
That involves mutual giving and taking.
Yes, but I thought Harriet came...
Actor
First Harriet, then Bibi.
Yes, but Gun Grut first, and then Harriet, wasn't it?
I can't remember who he was with at that time.
Actor
Maybe it was Bibi? I don't know!
I was in Stockholm
and I'd fallen in love with a girl.
Her name was Gun.
- Here she is. - Yes...
When I saw her the first time with Ingmar,
Producer
I was reminded of his words at the Råsunda Film Studios:
She was Battleship Femininity.
He kind of fell for her hook,
line and sinker.
And I'm making art out of your art,
A Lesson in Love - 1954
your immortality, your boastfulness
and your stupid, intolerable virility.
So there!
My young wife said you were around 50.
Smiles of a Summer Night - 1955
The little witch!
You're creating an opera overture.
- Have you been unfaithful? - Indeed.
Secrets of Women - 1952
David asks funny,
kind of informed questions.
Faithless - 2000
And we laugh...
That night, after our meal...
We had drunk more than normal...
That evening, all hell breaks loose.
What are you doing? Have you gone mad?
Let me go! David!
What the... Stop it, David!
I told you to stop!
You're bloody insane!
Let go of me! Stop!
I knew about the story with Gun and found it horrible.
Actor/Director
So I asked if we couldn't change it so he was forgiven,
or have him ask for forgiveness,
but he refused and said that nothing could be changed - nothing at all.
I had a flat, you know, with some bits of furniture in it.
And I got married quite a lot,
and then, that was meant to be some kind of home.
I was never really that interested in how it was furnished and that...
Spontaneously, I see it as a wonderful world to inhabit.
Out of the real world.
We're now talking Fassbinder's pace.
Director
Fassbinder was on amphetamine. Maybe Bergman was on sexuality?
For large parts of my life,
this unfaithfulness has been a trauma.
I've been notoriously unfaithful,
both in my love life and in friendships.
And also, my best friends were his...
Actor
...wives, mistresses or his women or whatever they were.
Talk about erotomaniac.
He must have lived in a...
Director/Actor
...testosterone-filled hubris bubble.
Mother... I'm having a baby.
Brink of Life - 1958
That's why I've been unwell.
I've wanted to get rid of it, but I can't.
From Images: My Life in Film
These women in their various stages
were probably all current in Bergman's life.
Either losing a foetus,
developing one or on the way to deliver a baby.
That somewhat bloody situation
was probably very close to Ingmar's own balls.
Or to his heart. It all depends on one's angle.
I felt very guilty until...
...I realised that this bad conscience thing
for something so fundamentally serious
as leaving one's children,
that's sheer coquetry.
It's showing the world a scrap of suffering
which can never, ever be compared
with the suffering these people must endure.
I've been lazy around my families.
I haven't made any effort whatsoever around my families.
Mother actually once made a comment...
Older brother
...on Ingmar that she couldn't see why he needed
to marry all the girls he slept with.
A statement from a long-standing pillar of the church.
I was deeply in love with my mother.
She was very beautiful and in many ways unattainable.
She changed between being very cold and very warm,
and she would reject us children on and off.
You never quite knew what she would do.
But I was very certain of one thing: I loved her passionately.
That's one of my earliest childhood memories.
That I had such strong ties to my mother.
I've been planning on taking the children
Sunday's Children - 1992
and leaving you for a while.
You don't like my family. You want to humiliate my mother!
The Best Intentions - 1991
You want to get even in a sophisticated way.
You might as well admit it!
I think that because one's first relationship
with women was one's mother
and other people's mothers and missis this and aunty that...
That gave you a very odd idea of women.
We lived with the Victorian ideal of the woman being the mother
who was unimpeachable and complete.
And there was also this total hostility towards sexuality.
That's how I was raised, anyway.
Go and wait in the room.
The Silence - 1963
We're taking a nap.
That made women into something mysterious
and risky having to be studied
and being regarded with enormous fascination
and massive dread.
Both theatre
and film are undeniably activities
with a very erotic charge.
Secrets of Women - 1952
In those circumstances,
it's very easy for sensual sparks to start flying.
He was a researcher into something
Actor
which he was very curious about.
He wanted to understand and allowed it to take up his time.
The Silence - 1963
You can see this in his scripts
as well as in his way of making the most of actresses
and telling their story.
Actor
In my experience, he had a lot of the female in him.
I felt that he really, really understood women.
We had huge spectra and endless colours to play with.
Cries and Whispers - 1972
They are very powerful, but also very full of aggression.
Like in Cries and Whispers,
where she cuts her vagina to shreds.
Still, I'd defend those scenes,
because there's other stuff in there as well.
Director
These women are strong,
intrepid or tender.
He was ambivalent to women, I think,
but what male creator doesn't feel ambivalent to women?
Prof. Scandinavian literature Brown University
I didn't take any roles from my female friends and actresses.
No, I took roles from Max Von Sydow and Erland Josephson.
Because otherwise,
he'd have written a film that was about a man,
Actor/Director
and not about a woman.
He had something to tell about this thing: being human.
I'm still happy about Persona,
but today I might have made it differently.
But if you always knew what you were doing,
you probably wouldn't do it.
"A FILM BY INGMAR BERGMAN"
Persona sprang from a kind of crisis around truth.
I had to decide what the truth was,
and when we speak the truth.
In the end, it got so difficult that I felt
the only truth was being silent.
But then, taking that one step further,
it became clear that was playing a role, too.
It's just another mask,
so I had to find one more level.
The water is cold after the storm.
Too cold to swim.
Let's not part as enemies.
You've used me.
I don't know for what, but now I'm not needed so you throw me away.
I actually had the idea for this film
when I saw a photo of the girls.
They were sitting next to one another, sunbathing.
I thought it was very interesting and would make a good film.
Persona and Cries and Whispers
are the two films I single out.
I can't go any further than that.
When Ingmar was just Ingmar in his everyday life,
he was the most normal,
everyday man you could possibly live with.
Only when he was Ingmar Bergman did he have his rules.
Actor/Director
"Don't come into my office when I'm creating."
"When the door is closed, it's closed."
"I need to have breakfast alone. I'm creating."
He loved things like television...
Bergman's house on Fårö Island
...like The Forsythe Saga and different series,
which he loved.
We went for walks.
We took the ferry to the mainland
and bought the evening papers.
We did simple things.
We talked a lot in our bed,
which looked out onto the sea.
Everything we'd ever dreamed about
and hadn't dared tell anyone else,
that's what we talked about and fantasized about.
Silly, childish things like there'd be pirates
coming over from Russia
to attack us.
And ghost stories!
We told those in bed.
He was a master of ghost stories.
He was the best...
The very best friend
I've ever had.
He's never, ever done...
...anything to me. Ever.
That's one thing I know.
The Virgin Spring - 1960
I have always seen filmmaking as an amazing opportunity
to go beyond the limits.
To stick my hand through
the membrane of reality,
to reach other worlds,
to concentrate events and tensions.
What, in my view, makes film so mysterious and extraordinary
is the fact that it bypasses the intellect
and speaks directly...
Which also makes it dangerous.
It speaks directly to your consciousness
Hour of the Wolf - 1968
and subconsciousness.
- Should we do it now? - No, let's move on.
Exactly there. And forwards...
There! Now reverse.
And forwards...
Yes! That's it!
Film is something totally based on rhythm.
It's all a matter of breathing and rhythm.
Radio Sweden performed Falskspelaren,
directed by Ingmar Bergman.
That was the best time of my life
from a theatrical point of view,
because no one interfered in my work
and I had one of Sweden's best casts.
It was an absolutely amazing time.
...tax raid in Stockholm, possibly the biggest ever made...
...against a director and a few actors.
"FAMOUS DIRECTOR ON THE VERGE OF BANKRUPTCY"
You see, I cannot work,
nor consequently live,
in a country
where the bureaucratic representatives
have publicly and groundlessly insulted me
and called my honour into question.
We miss you here.
Minister of education
Your natural workplace is Sweden:
Fårö and Stockholm.
We would love you to come back.
Things are looking very promising.
There's a wave of well-schooled, capable,
very promising young actors.
I'm really looking forward to working with them.
Can you already single out some
that may become Bergman actors?
They are always around. Definitely.
- You have your favourites? - Yes, I permit myself that.
Ingmar Bergman was the king.
The emperor.
Anyone who wanted to act at the best theatre...
Author
...in the world needed his consent.
He had to like you.
Sit down!
The overall atmosphere was tense
because Bergman was there.
Photographer
When Bergman rehearsed, you didn't make a noise.
You tip-toed.
When you acted in his play...
Actor
...you knew if he was in the audience.
It was like being put on a silver tray. Nothing was allowed
to disturb things. The floor had to be scrubbed.
Actor
Everything had to be perfect
so we could sit in awe about what was about to come.
Everyone was basically afraid.
Afraid of forgetting the right props,
or if a piece of music came in late.
Director/actor
Then you knew that his wrath would be almost annihilating.
- You just stay here, Ingmar... - Damn right I will!
Yes. Yes!
Fucking hell...
- Ingmar...? - Yes!
Every morning before he entered the rehearsal hall
the floors were washed, windows opened,
and his director's desk had to be in place.
There had to be silence. Ventilation systems were shut down.
Not one noise.
And all that made you think he was immensely serious.
But it was also
a neurotic power game.
The worst thing of all was the call from the Dramatic Theatre:
Critic
Now Ingmar Bergman had taken ill on top of everything else.
That's your fault.
Imagine...
Imagine if he dies!
Then, you would be the cause of it.
Ingmar is like Santa Claus, handing out the presents.
Actor
by opposing some, rejecting some, allowing some.
Because he's always manipulated
and had a finger in every pie.
No one came or went unless he was in charge.
- Or maybe I should stand by... - Yes. Yes, exactly.
- Yes... Ouch! - Oh dear.
What? Something seized up.
Fuck.
Everyone was fussing around him.
This blatant lack of moral courage
Director
built him up as a monument.
The arse-licking that went on was stupendous
- totally unparalleled.
Classic schoolyard bullying.
Unsavoury games...
And everyone knew
that acting in a Bergman film opened doors
Actor
to a career abroad and everything.
I felt that he's a fucking predator.
He's a carnivore, Ingmar.
So I decided to take no shit.
I was dead scared of not knowing my lines.
Actor
I didn't want to give him that.
And when I got to my monologue, he said: "Hey, Dickey-Micky,
Maria Stuart - 2000
I shortened this bloody thing a bit.
There was a hell of a lot of nonsense."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Come forth, do your slur and leave."
"Slur? You mean my monologue?"
"Yes. Do you mind?"
"No, not in the least."
"Did you all hear? Mikael doesn't mind my directing."
You quickly learn that animals are not easy to shoot,
but it looks nice with a few animals.
Photographer
Bergman didn't often include animals, apart from the odd cat.
But cats never do what you want them to,
even if your name's Ingmar Bergman.
We fed them and tired them out,
or drugged them lightly, but they still ran off.
Maybe he was too boisterous for them.
No! Bloody pussycat!
Director
It might have been in Sawdust and Tinsel
they wanted a bear.
They'd managed to get a bear from a zoo or something,
and at some point, Bergman got really annoyed
at the whole thing and said something condescending like:
"Get rid of that bloody bear".
And the owner of the bear took offence,
and he was a really stubborn man, that owner.
He felt his bear had been unfairly treated.
And he said that for them to continue,
Bergman had to apologise to the bear.
Imagine! There's the proud and self-centred Ingmar Bergman
having to apologise to a bear in order to continue.
Sawdust and Tinsel - 1953
"THE MISANTHROPE"
What's this strange world we live in?
The misanthrope - 1995
Where openness and talking is considered misplaced.
Where anyone can call anyone their friend.
Thorsten Flinck was the next major
up-and-coming director genius.
And Ingmar Bergman was at the end of his career.
And Thorsten was...
hot as anything.
There won't be a realistic setting.
We won't be playing in a classroom with a blackboard.
Nope. We'll be playing behind bars. In a cage.
Thorsten Flinck definitely had
an aura of someone who'll make a difference...
Assistant director to Bergman
...and who's exceptionally talented.
Both as an actor and a director.
If someone feels threatened
by someone else's talent, they like to...
To form their own judgement.
It was like Ingmar wanted to sweep the yard clean.
When we rehearsed the Misanthrope,
Ingmar's wife was very ill.
He knew she wouldn't make it.
It was a distinctive phase in his life.
He wasn't quite there.
He was on strong medication and was extremely unhappy.
Actor
He really washed his hands off that performance.
This much later, I can't say how much it had slid off target
but I'm sure Thorsten experimented with the scenery and things.
I actually think that Ingmar had a shock.
It suddenly became obvious to him that he, himself...
Actor
...was guilty of an effort that left
a lot to be desired.
And he was clearly unable to accept that responsibility.
People entered and someone asked Bergman if he was coming too.
"No, not me. Come and sit down.
Are you all here?"
Everyone was sitting around the large oak table,
and it happened to be my birthday.
Virtually every seat was taken by actors and technical assistants.
Actor/director
The only free seat was the one opposite the grand master,
so I sat there.
Everyone thought it would be the usual dry biscuits
and juice with soda water.
And then, in the weird silence
which I remember although it's 25 years ago...
...everything suddenly turns...
Author
...paving the way for something extremely unpleasant.
And then, Ingmar speaks:
"Hey everyone,
let's gather round like one large bloody family.
What I have to say is not much bloody fun.
We're not going to New York!"
Ingmar went into a total rage.
"The scenery is off. There will be no tour.
And that's one person's fault. If you all look... I said look!"
He was disappointed in everyone,
but most of all in Thorsten.
That was his view of things -
that this was all Thorsten's fault.
He was criticised as a person. In every way.
This was among the worst I've ever experienced
in terms of psychological torture.
People were totally dumbstruck.
Something happened that no one in that room had been expecting.
Then, we were told to get out.
"But not you. You're staying". He pointed at me.
And I also had to stay, so we sat there.
"You repulsive bastard. You're so..."
No, seriously, don't tell me you're having one more go? But he does.
I remember sitting there feeling nauseous with a churning stomach.
"I had to ask Antonia to go outside and fetch a bucket.
My vomiting reflex kicked in because he's so fucking ugly.
Can't you see? And it's all his fault.
You've ruined my play."
It was like the last scene in a Shakespeare play.
This was the king's power struggle with the prince,
the next director genius.
This was not a case of...
He wasn't trying to make him see he'd spoilt a play.
He wanted to crush him.
It did affect me. Very much.
Wild Strawberries - 1957
I can never tell whether my wife is crying for real or affecting it.
But now, I wonder if it is for real. Yes, I think so.
Yes, that's what seeing death is like.
Just shut up.
There's a limit to how bad you can behave
and how heavily you can tread on others.
But
history shows repeatedly that we forgive the great artists
a lot when the result is so beautiful
and the films and plays so magnificent.
Director/actor
Maybe it's even...
But not at the cost of trauma to others.
But it probably can't be achieved without that dark,
twisted streak.
Bergman - second take.
I'll never be like you. Never. I change all the time.
"INGMAR BERGMAN'S THE SILENCE"
In Cannes, you were awarded five first prizes in the 1950s.
You've had two first prizes in Venice
and the Golden Bear in Berlin. And you've had two Oscars.
All this in the 1950s.
And in the 1960s, awards and medals have kept pouring in.
You are doubtlessly
the most richly awarded man in the entire film history.
Ingmar Bergman has won the coveted Oscar film
award two years running.
- Did you expect that? - No, not this time.
I thought once would be it.
Actor
...that search to find
the journey of a soul
and try to illustrate that.
You were determined you had neglected me,
and you were going to make it up to me.
Autumn sonata - 1978
I defended myself as best I could, but I was helpless.
There!
Look like you cared for one another.
Yes, exactly. Freeze that! Great!
Scenes from a Marriage - 1973
- Thanks, that's me done. - Are you on for some more?
His new assignment is a great honour, even if he jokes about it.
The Passion of Anna - 1969
He's very successful.
Forever. Amen.
What if we keep focusing on him?
Playback and music! And the chatter.
Playback, please! - Ready?
You're on!
Fanny e Alexander - 1982
And then, we'll position the puppet.
That's the greatest magic there is...
One, two, three!
I think this is one of my happier films.
I think I have somehow always put this film
in an up-beat category.
He tried dodging again,
making an extra lap in an anonymous taxi,
but was seen and followed.
He had to get to work,
and this time, no secret doors could help him.
First question: How are you feeling?
I'm feeling good. I have a lot to do.
What's it like to have won 4 Oscars?
I didn't win them. The winners were...
...Sven Nykvist, Anna Asp,
Marik Vos and the film itself.
It's great. I'm very glad.
Do you think...?
Isn't it tricky, walking backwards?
Ingmar Bergman, I bestow on you the 'Legion of Honour'.
- Hello? - Hi, Ingmar. How are you doing?
Phone call, autumn - 2006
I've been down in the Valley of Death.
- Have you? - Yes, I've been very bad.
- Have you? - Yes.
These days, I basically live on my own.
All on my own, which suits me very well.
I could see his naked loneliness.
There was never a lonelier person.
Bergman's housekeeper
It felt as if he was walking around, bleeding.
Can you give me some human warmth?
Then he wanted you to stand behind him, once he'd finished eating,
and massage his shoulders for a few minutes or so.
It was quite touching.
Then, he'd say after a while,
maybe four minutes or so:
That's enough human warmth.
You can go now.
Thanks!
Producer
Yes, I think you're completely right.
He was lonely to the soul.
There's no alternative to being alone
if you're to accomplish as much as Ingmar did.
There's no time for a normal family life.
Nor for a normal circle of friends.
Cannes Film Festival - 1998
He means everything to me, that stupid shit.
But I do love him dearly.
Director
Actor
His time, and all that his world was facing,
created his genius.
His masterpieces affected all humanity.
Director
It had to be that way.
I want Ingmar Bergman to be remembered
as a contributor to film
and theatre of enormous significance.
We'll...
We will never again see an artist as great as that in Sweden.
Bergman has meant more than Strindberg.
But if I get my ears into the hat...
- Doctor Bergman... - Eh...?
Imagine if 1957 was your greatest year.
- Why would it be? - Well... What do you think?
- Two of your greatest films... - No.
No, that's not how I see it.
I don't grade...
That's not how I think about it.
You see...
You see,
I have a film...
Did I just shift your camera setting?
- Don't worry. - My bum started getting numb.