Universally regarded as one of the great masters of modern cinema, Bergman often concerned himself with spiritual and psychological conflicts. His work evolved in distinct stages over four decades, while his visual style -- intense, intimate, complex -- explored the vicissitudes of passion with a mesmerizing cinematic rhetoric. His prolific output tended to return to and elaborate on recurrent images, subjects and techniques. Like the Baroque composers, Bergman worked on a small scale, finding invention in theme and variation.
Bergman worked primarily in the chamber cinema genre, although there are exceptions, such as the journey narrative of SMULTRANSTÄLLET / WILD STRAWBERRIES (1957) and the family epic of FANNY OCH ALEXANDER / FANNY AND ALEXANDER (1983). Chamber cinema encloses space and time, permitting the director to focus on mise-en-scéne and to pay careful attention to metaphoric detail and visual rhythm. Perhaps his most expressive technique was his use of the facial close-up. For Bergman, the face, along with the hand, allows the camera to reveal the inner aspects of human emotion. His fascination with the female face can be seen most strikingly in PERSONA (1966) and VISKNINGAR OCH ROP / CRIES AND WHISPERS (1972). In his autobiography, Bergman claimed that he was always trying to generate his mother's face; hence, a psychological and aesthetic need are realized in this cinematic signature.
Of the early period, WILD STRAWBERRIES stands out for its narrative invention in a fluid manipulation of flashbacks, reveries and dream sequences. Its penetrating psychological investigation of the closing of the life cycle established Bergman's preoccupation with the relationship between desire, loss, guilt, compassion, restitution and celebration. GYCKLARNAS AFTON / SAWDUST AND TINSEL (1953, NAKED NIGHT), more allegorical than WILD STRAWBERRIES, is likewise designed around a journey motif of existential crisis. In contrast, the Mozartian SOMMARNATTENS LEENDE / SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT (1955) displays Bergman's romantic, comic sensibility. The early period concludes with two symbolic works, DET SJUNDE INSEGLET / THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957) and JUNGFRUKÄLLAN / THE VIRGIN SPRING (1959), both set in the Middle Ages. The extreme long shot in THE SEVENTH SEAL of Death leading the peasants in silhouette across the horizon now forms part of the iconography of modern cinema.
The second stage of Bergman's cinematic evolution shifts to the chamber style. Intense spiritual and psychological themes are explored in the "Silence" trilogy (SÅSOM I EN SPEGEL / THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY and NATTVARDSGÄSTERNA / WINTER LIGHT, both 1962, and TYSTNADEN / THE SILENCE, 1963), and in SKAMMEN / THE SHAME (1968), VARGTIMMEN / HOUR OF THE WOLF (1968) and EN PASSION / THE PASSION OF ANNA (1969), three films all set on the island of Fårö. With its dialectical editing and expressive compositions, THE SILENCE is considered one of Bergman's most artfully structured films. THE PASSION OF ANNA, with its innovative application of red motifs, marked Bergman's first use of color photography.
Between these two trilogies came PERSONA (1966), a work many critics consider Bergman's masterpiece. PERSONA shares a similar look and ambience with the Fårö trilogy, and has direct links with THE SILENCE in its focus on the antagonistic relationship between two women. Yet, with its distinctly avant-garde style and rhythm, it stands apart from any other of Bergman's films. Ostensibly concerned with identity crisis and the role reversal of a nurse and her mentally ill patient, the subtext of the film explores the nature of the cinematic apparatus itself. The narrative is framed by opening and closing shots of a film strip, projector and light, which lead into and out of the figure of a young boy. With his directorial hand, the boy conjures up a gigantic close-up of the female face. In a now celebrated sequence, the two faces of the female protagonists dissolve into one. (The figure of the precocious, magical child, previously seen in THE SILENCE, would later reappear in the autobiographical FANNY AND ALEXANDER, 1983.)
Sadomasochistic behavior, along with problems of role reversal and denied maternity, form the tortured core of both PERSONA and CRIES AND WHISPERS, the masterwork of the late period. In contrast to the spare decor, sharp black and white photography and disjunctive editing of PERSONA, CRIES AND WHISPERS is a 19th-century Gothic period-piece featuring rich colors, draped, theatrical decor and muted dissolve editing. The film revolves around three sisters, one of whom, Agnes, is dying, and their maid, Anna. Bergman evokes religious iconography, with each of the three sisters representing various theological concepts. The dying Agnes, set in cruciform position, returns as a resurrected savior/prophet. The exquisite Pieta/birth shot of Agnes and the Maid, as well as the revolutionary dissolve red-outs, are highlights in this brutal and beautiful film.
Even the minor films of Bergman's later period, such as ANSIKTE MOT ANSIDTE / FACE TO FACE (1976), HÖSTSONATEN / AUTUMN SONATA (1978) and AUS DEM LEBEN DER MARIONETTEN / FROM THE LIFE OF THE MARIONETTES (1980) continue to explore and refine recurrent themes and techniques. In the underrated THE TOUCH (1971), Bergman examineed the theme of marriage, with an inventive subtext of the Persephone myth, in a visually expansive way that distinguishes it from the more conventional SCENER UR ETT ÄKTENSKAP / SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE (1973). The cycle of Bergman's work appropriately concludes with FANNY AND ALEXANDER, an epic of family romance, touched with elements of fairy tale, horror and ghost story. All the preoccupations of Bergman's extraordinary career flow through the imagery, action and stylization of the film. He wrote the screenplay and directed KARINS ANSIKTE / KARIN'S FACE (1984), a film based on the pictures from his personal photo album, especially the pictures of his mother Karin. Continuing his exploration of family relationships, Bergman drew inspiration from the marriage of his own parents to write the autobiographical screenplay for DEN GODA VILJAN / THE BEST INTENTIONS (1992), which Bergman entrusted to director Bille August after announcing his retirement from filmmaking.
Bergman did come out of retirement to direct a number of productions for television: "De Två saliga" (1986), "Sista skriket" (1995, "The Last Gasp", also play), "Larmar och gör sig till" (1997, "In the Presence of a Clown", also teleplay), "Bildmakarna" (2000), and "Saraband" (2003, also teleplay).
As an artist, Bergman paid homage to music and theater in general, to Bach, Mozart and Strindberg in particular. His work seems a synthesis of the internalized Swedish sensibility and harsh Scandinavian landscape, yet he spoke to a universal vision of human passion. Although apparently not influenced by other filmmakers, with the possible exception of Carl Dreyer, Bergman himself has had a wide-ranging influence on a generation of filmmakers. A unique and powerful presence, his genius has made an extraordinary contribution to the art of the cinema.
Bergman was married five times: Actress/writer/cinematographer Else Fisher (1943-1945); Ellen Lundström (1945-1950); writer Gun Grut (1951-1959); actress/pianist Käbi Laretei (1959-1969); and Ingrid von Rosen (1971-1995). His first four marriages ended in divorce; his last ended when his wife died.
Nominated for Writing (Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen) 1959: WILD STRAWBERRIES
Nominated for Writing (Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen) 1962: THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award 1970.
Nominated for Best Picture 1973: CRIES AND WHISPERS - Producer at Svenska Filminstitutet-Cinimatograph AB Prod.
Nominated for Directing 1973: CRIES AND WHISPERS
Nominated for Writing (Best Story and Screenplay based on factual material or material not previously published or produced) 1973: CRIES AND WHISPERS
Nominated for Directing 1976: FACE TO FACE
Nominated for Writing (Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen) 1978: AUTUMN SONATA
Nominated for Directing 1983: FANNY AND ALEXANDER
Nominated for Writing (Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen) 1983: FANNY AND ALEXANDER
9 nominations, 1 Honorary Award