Ingmar Bergman, R.I.P.
Ingmar Bergman, possibly the greatest filmmaker of all time, died on Monday, 30 July 2007, at the age of 89. It would be difficult to exaggerate the contribution he made to cinema. During the 1960s and 1970s, when he was at his peak, his creative fecundity was simply incredible, both in quality and quantity. Consider just these ten films, readers:
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| Såsom i en spegel (Through A Glass Darkly) – 1961 |
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| Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light) – 1962 |
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| Tystnaden (The Silence) – 1963 |
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| Persona – 1966 |
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| Vargtimmen (Hour Of The Wolf) – 1968 |
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| Skammen (Shame) – 1968 |
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| En Passion (The Passion Of Anna) – 1969 |
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| Viskningar och rop (Cries And Whispers) – 1972 |
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| Scener ur ett äktenskap (Scenes From A Marriage) – 1973 |
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| Höstsonaten (Autumn Sonata) – 1978 |
These ten films, which are ten of the best films ever made, are just the highlights — the best of the twenty-four films Bergman made from 1960 to 1979.
The world lost a genius on 30 July.
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July 31st, 2007 @ 18:38
Recently watched VIRGIN SPRING w/commentary by Ang Lee. Amazing tension throughout the entire film–”exhausting” maybe is the right word. Looking forward to the renewed interest that always comes with the death of such an artist.
August 1st, 2007 @ 00:22
I hope there’ll be some renewed interest. Bergman’s reputation has suffered since the 1970s, and it doesn’t seem to me like he’s got a lot of fans today, even among self-described “film buffs.” Thankfully, his major work, including all ten of the movies I mention above, is still in print, some of them via the Criterion Collection and others from MGM. They’re all good DVDs.
(What’s not good is the state of Andrei Tarkovsky DVD releases. Apart from the two titles available from Criterion, there aren’t any Tarkovsky DVD releases that are worth a damn, at least not in Region 1.)