Ingmar Bergman dead at 89.

[auRa]

The website of the local daily newspaper just reported that Swedish director Ingmar Bergman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingmar_Bergman) has died at his home in Fårö at the age of 89. RIP.

[LonesomePolecat]

I guess he should have been honing his chess playing skills.


:D

[LonesomePolecat]

Seriously, though, he was one of my top five all-time favorite directors. His artistic achievement was unique, and his work has made our lives richer.

[Fretful Porpentine]

That's too bad. One of the first classes I took in college was a freshman seminar on Bergman's films, most of which confused the heck out of me, but gosh, The Seventh Seal is fabulous.

[JThunder]

So who's going to take care of Charlie McCarthy now?

[RealityChuck]

A great director. I took a course on his films back in the 70s; saw about 22 of them, watching him develop.

I hope they know ENOUGH to play "Yes, We Have No Bananas" at his funeral. ;)

[FriarTed]

So who's going to take care of Charlie McCarthy now?

Same person who has for years- his sister, Ingrid.

(I originally wrote "Candace" as a semi-accurate joke, then decided "Ingrid" would be amusing in its cluelessness.)


I've only seen THE SEVENTH SIGN, (and of course, numerous parodies by Woody Allen, SCTV and Bill & Ted), and on the basis of that alone, I know a genius has passed.

[LonesomePolecat]

I've only seen THE SEVENTH SIGN, (and of course, numerous parodies by Woody Allen, SCTV and Bill & Ted), and on the basis of that alone, I know a genius has passed.I'm sure you mean The Seventh Seal. The Seventh Sign was another and much inferior movie.

[FriarTed]

I'm sure you mean The Seventh Seal. The Seventh Sign was another and much inferior movie.


Twenty minutes ago, I was telling Mom about his death, and I thought "Crap, I bet I called that movie The Seventh Sign!" (which I loathed).

:smack:

[JThunder]

Same person who has for years- his sister, Ingrid.

(I originally wrote "Candace" as a semi-accurate joke, then decided "Ingrid" would be amusing in its cluelessness.)And I was dying to make a Casablanca reference myself.

[Marley23]

The Seventh Seal is just a stunning movie. It left an afterimage on my mind like staring into a bright light. I've seen few movies that were so remarkable.

[Cuckoorex]

He was a true genius; I've seen only a fifth of his films (working my way through them all) and they never fail to astound me. Perhaps the most consistently great filmmaker of all.

What a crappy year for the arts; Vonnegut AND Bergman dead. Geez, it's almost depressing.

(edited because I can't count)

[LonesomePolecat]

I'm a bit puzzled by the shortness of this thread. I would have thought the SDMB would have a lot of Bergman fans.

[fusoya]

yet another case of "I didn't know he was alive until I found out he was dead". Great director though. I own about 10 of his movies - Criterion has treated his work well.

[MovieMogul]

Seal may be his most iconic, but my absolute favorite is the magnificent Persona, with the luminous Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson, both of whom were part of his stable of acting regulars (along with Max von Sydow, Harriet Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, and especially Gunnar Björnstrand). The brilliant cinematographer Sven Nykvist (who died less than a year ago) won 2 Oscars for Bergman films, and though the canonical ones are great--Seal, Wild Strawberries, Cries & Whispers, Scenes from a Marriage--there are plenty of small treasures in Bergman's remarkable body of work, some very difficult but always rewarding: Sawdust & Tinsel, Shame, The Silence to name just a few.

But anyone who thinks of him merely in the gloom & doom sense needs to see the vibrant Smiles of a Summer Night, overflowing with ripe libidos. Or the whistful romanticism of Summer with Monika. Or the sheer joy of The Magic Flute, still the best opera ever translated to film. Or Fanny & Alexander, which balances a cheerless oppressiveness with a love of life and family and community very rarely ever matched in film.

He was indeed a Master among Masters. RIP.

[descamisado]

I'm a bit puzzled by the shortness of this thread. I would have thought the SDMB would have a lot of Bergman fans.Everyone is afraid to chime in because too much enthusiasm from the masses will cause him to become lowbrow; and nobody wants that.

[capybara]

I just saw something older by him called Wild Strawberries-- late 50s, around the same time as the Seventh Seal-- which judging by the plot (guy (Max von Sydow) in late middle age goes for a road trip and drops by his childhood home) should have been deadly boring but stuck with me for weeks afterward. He made very banal situations seem existentially important.

[TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW]

Yep, one of the all-time greats. Summer with Monika and The Devil's Eye are my two favorites by him.

[MovieMogul]

You may not know this, capybara, but the old man in Strawberries was Victor Sjostrom, who himself was one of the greatest silent film directors in both Sweden (The Phantom Carriage) and the USA (The Wind, He Who Gets Slapped, The Scarlet Letter). There have been very few films that dealt with old age and memory as astutely and unsentimentally as it, and it was the one-two punch of Strawberries and Seal, both in 1957, that really established Bergman internationally.

[MoodIndigo1]

I am sad, but the world has been much enriched by his life and work.

My first exposure to Bergman was on a late-night tv programme here called Cine-Club. The movie was Virgin Spring, and I was mesmerized by it. None of my cinematic experiences to that day had prepared me for this.

Afterwards, I made a point of seeking out his work and saw most of his movies.

[RealityChuck]

It would be hard for me to list my favorite Bergman. The first film of his I saw was The Virgin Spring and I ended up seeing most of his best: The Naked Night, Smiles of a Summer Night, Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal, Persona, Shame (which, technically, is a science fiction film), and Cries and Whispers.

I have a special fondness for Let's Not Talk About All These Women -- Bergman's slapstick comedy, believe it or not. Fairly funny, too.

My college professor actually spent time with Bergman (he was at the world premiere of The Seventh Seal, I believe -- in a nearly empty theater; Bergman was not appreciated in Sweden until years later). He told one great story:

Bergman was looking for some bathroom reading material and picked up a newspaper. As he sat down he spotted a headline saying, "Swedish Director Wins Award at Cannes Film Festival." Bergman thought, "I wonder if it was anyone I know." And that's how he learned Smiles of a Summer Night was a prize winner.

He used the award as a way to gain leverage with Svensk Filmindustri to make the films he wanted to make.

[Antonius Block]

Truly, one of the Greats has left us today. I salute you, Mr. Bergman.

At least he lived to see the 50th anniversary of The Seventh Seal. There's apparently a recently-restored version (http://www.cornerhouse.org/film/info.aspx?ID=1019&page=0) making the rounds, although the existing Criterion DVD (http://www.amazon.com/Seventh-Seal-Criterion-Collection/dp/6305174083) is already of high quality.

One of Bergman's two great cinematographers, Sven Nyquist (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005815/), died last September; if Gunnar Fischer (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005705/) (still alive at age 96) believes in the "Rule of Threes" he must be getting pretty nervous round about now.

I guess he should have been honing his chess playing skills.Death cheats, you know. ;)

[Siam Sam]

Everyone is afraid to chime in because too much enthusiasm from the masses will cause him to become lowbrow; and nobody wants that.
Oh, not much chance of that. A certain someone has already declared all films to be firmly in the lowbrow category.

[rowrrbazzle]

The Seventh Seal was one of the first subtitled movies I ever saw.

You can see De Düva here http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3803584387889303730 or here http://bloggerhosting.com/thedove/thedove.html (sharper copy, but missing first 2 minutes). (via Metafilter)

Of course it's a parody. One of the commenters at IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062906/usercomments) wrote, "Years later when I was working with Sven Nykvist on 'Only You' I mentioned to him that I had seen "The Dove" and asked him if he had. He smiled and told me that he had and that Ingmar Bergman had seen it too and loved it!"

[Bryan Ekers]

I'm a bit puzzled by the shortness of this thread. I would have thought the SDMB would have a lot of Bergman fans.

Their grief makes them sad. They want to be... alone.

[NDP]

In remembrance, here's MST3K's take on Ingmar Bergman. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=53YBN8X_sZU)

[Siam Sam]

And here is Roger Ebert's Bergman obit. (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070730/PEOPLE/70730001)

[Johnny Hildo]

The Seventh Seal never did much for me, even though it's his most famous film. I've seen a few dozen of his movies. My favorite is Wild Strawberries, even though I don't remember it very well. For some reason, Winter Light is the movie I can remember in the most detail. I suppose that says something.

[slortar]

In remembrance, here's MST3K's take on Ingmar Bergman. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=53YBN8X_sZU)

Damn you for beating me to it!


I was actually somewhat surprised to find this out--I'd thought he'd died years ago.

Other than that, add me to the choir of voices on this. Seventh Seal was an amazing film.

[Marley23]

One of Bergman's two great cinematographers, Sven Nyquist (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005815/), died last September; if Gunnar Fischer (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005705/) (still alive at age 96) believes in the "Rule of Threes" he must be getting pretty nervous round about now.

Death cheats, you know. ;)
I don't know about Nykvist, but Michelangelo Antonioni also died Monday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/movies/31cnd-antonio.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[Johnny Hildo]

I don't know about Nykvist, but Michelangelo Antonioni also died Monday.


And nothing of value was lost.

[Marley23]

And nothing of value was lost.
Other than thread-shitting, what do you like? I've never seen any of the guy's movies, myself, but I thought people might be interested.

[Wakinyan]

I just saw Fanny and Alexander once again. One of the best movies ever. Funny nobody mentioned it yet.

[Walloon]

I just saw something older by him called Wild Strawberries-- late 50s, around the same time as the Seventh Seal-- which judging by the plot (guy (Max von Sydow) in late middle age goes for a road trip and drops by his childhood home)Max Von Sydow has a small role in Wild Strawberries, not the lead. You're thinking of director-turned-actor Victor Sjöström, who was fifty years older than Von Sydow.

[Walloon]

I just saw Fanny and Alexander once again. One of the best movies ever. Funny nobody mentioned it yet.See post #15, above.

[Wakinyan]

I mean "mentioned" as "a Bergman movie I like to point out as particularly good". - Thanks for pointing it out though, I admit I missed the title in said post.