Does anyone know why Ismael, who is described as violent and mentally disturbed, turns out to be a petite, soft spoken woman (or at least a woman plays the role)? Is there any deep symbolism or was Bergman just throwing a curveball at us? I expected someone looking like Jürgen Prochnow when the door opened, not a woman built like Winona Ryder.
I’ve seen this movie several times since buying the 5 hour British DVD a few months ago and several things still puzzle me, but this Ismael thing has really been driving me nuts.
Also, is Ismael in any way responsible for the Bishop’s death? Obviously magic had something to do with the children’s escape from his house and Ismael does seem sort of mystical.
Any theories on any of this?
People rave about Bergman’s films, and I happen to have liked Fanny & Alexander when I saw it many years ago (I enjoyed the production values and the cute kids), but I can’t remember the plot. Based upon my exposure to other Bergman works, I would say it’s Bergman attempting to be deep, but it doesn’t work for most people. If you saw Hour of the Wolf, it was supposed to be so good, but it’s dated badly; indeed, I thought it borrowed so much from the pervasive Timothy Leary, tune-in,turn-on culture of the West of those times, and so, I imagine, it didn’t make much sense to most people who saw it.
So, why waste your time trying to figure out what should have either been crystal clear or clearly ambiguous? Sounds like you were just simply confused, and Bergman lost you.
Alternatively, it could have been a swipe at stereotypical notions about women of the time, that they are hysterical and nonsensical, and any of them who don’t conform to the passive role model are crazy, dangerous and must be locked up. When Bergman show us Ishmael, we are startled, and recognize that it is not Ishmael who is crazy, but that society is not fair to its members.
Looking at the summary on the IMDB, looks like Ishmael is supposed to be a boy. So, who knows, it must be a statement about how religious authorities punished nonconformists during the times when they held more power over society, demanding conformity or punishing deviants. But then, maybe I’m reading into it too much.