Ingmar bergman in Foreign DVDs & Videos

Description:

This multi-pack contains some of the greatest films ever made by one of the world's most influential and important directors, Ingmar Bergman. Contains "special edition" releases of the following masterworks: HOUR OF THE WOLF, THE PASSION OF ANNA, PERSONA, THE SERPENT'S EGG, and SHAME. Also includes a bonus disc with multiple featurettes. A must-have for any serious cinephile.

Description:

Ingmar Bergman's stark, searing dramas put Sweden on the cinematic map. This collection includes three of Bergman's greatest works, THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY (1961), WINTER LIGHT (1962), and THE SILENCE (1963). See individual titles for synopses.

Description:

This multi-pack contains some of the greatest films ever made by one of the world's most influential and important directors, Ingmar Bergman. Contains "special edition" releases of the following masterworks: HOUR OF THE WOLF, THE PASSION OF ANNA, PERSONA, THE SERPENT'S EGG, and SHAME. Also includes a bonus disc with multiple featurettes. A must-have for any serious cinephile.

Description:

In this drama written and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, Eva, the meek, seemingly complacent wife of a parson, invites her mother, Charlotte, a world famous pianist, to come for a visit, hoping for a reconciliation after a long period of estrangement and virtually no interaction. Instead, long-repressed feelings of rage toward her mother for repeatedly abandoning her as a child begin to surface and finally culminate in a cathartic confrontation between the two women. Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Bergman (in her final movie role) give excellent and emotionally charged performances as Eva and Charlotte.

Description:

Derived from a medieval ballad, THE VIRGIN SPRING was director Ingmar Bergman's first film to win an Academy Award. The movie represents a return to simpler themes for Bergman after the philosophical complexity of THE SEVENTH SEAL and WILD STRAWBERRIES. On its most basic level, it's the story of violent crime violently avenged, but it can also be interpreted as a religious allegory on Christian forgiveness. A young girl, Karin (Birgitta Pettersson), is raped and killed by two herdsman on her way to church. Her foster sister, played by Gunnel Lindblom, witnesses the crime and reports back to Karin's parents (Max von Sydow and Birgitta Valberg) shortly after the perpetrators arrive at the couple's home seeking shelter for the night, unaware of their hosts' identity. Karin's grief-stricken father decides to take brutal revenge on his daughter's murderers. THE VIRGIN SPRING represents Bergman's first full collaboration with director of photography Sven Nykvist, who had previously worked as a co-director of photography on SAWDUST AND TINSEL.

Description:

SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE was originally conceived as a six-part TV mini-series. Since the film features only two principal actors, a limited number of indoor locales, and no musical score (nor any other atmosphere-enhancing devices), the success of this intense drama stems largely from the interaction between leads Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, who play Marianne and Josef, an upper-middle-class married couple. At first glance, their lives appear to be devoid of marital conflict, but soon after the opening sequence, it becomes clear that tension is mounting just below the surface. The movie consists almost entirely of dramatic exchanges between Marianne and Josef and eventually evolves into an agonizing account of the deterioration of their marriage. But throughout it all, a deep, underlying love keeps the couple from breaking off all ties--in spite of the mutual aggression, cruelty, and even violence that forms part of their relationship. Ingmar Bergman anticipated that SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE would baffle, if not antagonize, viewers who had come to expect more stylistically groundbreaking and aesthetically polished work from him. In fact, however, as a result of his unflinching, straightforward approach, the film proves to be one of the director's most insightful and accessible works.

Description:

PERSONA is an intense and unsettling study of the symbiotic relationship between Alma, a nurse (Bibi Andersson), and Elisabeth (Liv Ullmann), an actress who has mysteriously lost the power of speech. To bring about her patient's recovery, Elisabeth's doctor asks Alma to accompany her to a private cottage by the sea. In this isolated setting, the two women fall into a strange state of codependency laced with jealousy and resentment--and eventually, their identities begin to merge. PERSONA is considered one of Ingmar Bergman's greatest cinematic accomplishments and should not to be missed by anyone seriously interested in film.

Description:

WILD STRAWBERRIES is among Ingmar Bergman's most rich and contemplative films, a lyrical reflection on guilt and disappointment in the form of a spiritual journey. The movie stars Victor Sjöström as Professor Isak Borg, an elderly academic who takes a trip by car from Stockholm to Lund to receive an honorary university degree, accompanied by his daughter-in-law (Ingrid Thulin). Along the way, they meet various passengers who seem to be weighed down by unresolved ethical dilemmas. Meanwhile, Borg's own existential crisis is triggered by dreams and memories in which he is confronted with past disappointments, missed opportunities, and troubled personal relationships with those close to him--his son (Gunnar Björnstrand), his mother (Naima Wifstrand), and his late wife (Gertrud Fridh). The film features stunning imagery, most notably in the flashback, dream, and nightmare sequences, as well as an outstanding final film performance by Sjöström (who is also a famed Swedish director of the silent era). This film was released soon after THE SEVENTH SEAL, which had earned Bergman accolades from film critics and moviegoers the world over. Though similarly challenging and philosophically complex, WILD STRAWBERRIES is often considered the more accessible of the two movies because of its ultimate warmth and affirmation of life.

Description:

SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT is an enchanting comedy of manners with a satirical edge. Set on a country estate at the turn of the century, it features eight people, including an actress, a sophisticated aristocratic couple, a lawyer and his virginal wife, and a spirited young maid who, during the course of one evening, change partners several times and engage in multiple romantic trysts. Full of subtle eroticism and wit, Ingmar Bergman's romance proposes that falling in love (or lust) beyond the parameters of social convention is not only unavoidable at times but it might even be the key to personal happiness.

Description:

Ingmar Bergman has stated that THE MAGIC FLUTE had long since been an inspiration to him by the time he directed this movie version of an actual staging of Mozart's opera. In Emanuel Schikaneder's libretto--performed here in Swedish instead of German--Prince Tamino (Josef Köstlinger) is sent by the mysterious and powerful Queen of the Night (Birgit Nordin) to rescue her daughter, Pamina (Irma Urrila), from the sorcerer Sarastro (Ulrik Cold), who has kidnapped the girl. Tamino is aided on his mission by the bird catcher Papageno (Håkan Hagegård), an endearing buffoon (and arguably the opera's most popular character) who wants nothing more than to find himself a loving wife. The director presents a shortened version of the story, enhanced with a Freudian plot element (of sorts), while also giving the piece a slight overhaul for a more modern, less politically questionable feel. Bergman shows the goings-on onstage, often zooming in for close-ups of the performers' interaction with one another, interspersed with shots of individual faces in the audience. The actors were mostly chosen for their appearance and stage presence rather than their vocal prowess, though Hagegård has been singled out by critics for his fine performance and went on to enjoy a distinguished music career.

Description:

Ingmar Bergman's acclaimed drama, which deals with the fractured relationships between three sisters, is set in a vast turn-of-the-century manor house where unidentified voices are continually whispering and mingle with a dying woman's cries of pain. Karin and Maria (played by Ingrid Thulin and Liv Ullmann, respectively) have come to stay with their sister Agnes (Harriet Andersson), who is suffering from cancer, during the final stretch of her illness. Attending to Agnes is her faithful maid Anna (Kari Sylwan), who, in spite of her apparent social inferiority, is the only one who remains steadfast and dauntless until the very end--the two other women, plagued by guilt, loneliness, and jealousy of one another, are unable to offer assistance or even sympathy in their sister's hour of need. Lauded often for its innovative stylistic elements (such as flashbacks introduced by a fade to red--a color that dominates the picture as a whole--and extreme, expressive close-ups of the actresses' faces), CRIES AND WHISPERS features sumptuous period costume design and stunning photography by longtime Bergman cinematographer Sven Nykvist.

Description:

Director Ingmar Bergman had intended FANNY AND ALEXANDER to be his final theatrical film and a summing-up of sorts of his entire cinematic career. (It was followed by 1984's AFTER THE REHEARSAL, which was also made for Swedish television and subsequently released theatrically abroad.) FANNY AND ALEXANDER is the story of two children belonging to a wealthy, extensive theatrical family in provincial Sweden in the early years of the 20th century--10-year-old Alexander (Bertil Guve) and his younger sister, Fanny (Pernilla Alwin). When their father dies unexpectedly during a performance and their mother decides to remarry, the children are forced to relocate to the austere (and possibly haunted) home of their stern and rather coldhearted stepfather, Bishop Vergerus (Jan Malmsjö). A means of escape is eventually provided by Isak Jacobi (Erland Josephson), a longtime friend of the Ekdahl family's who seems to possess magical powers. In this somewhat autobiographical movie--which was filmed in the director's hometown of Uppsala--the gifted, precocious Alexander is a stand-in for Bergman himself, who had a problematic relationship with his own father, a strict clergyman. At once festive, spooky, and bawdy--and uncharacteristically life-affirming--FANNY AND ALEXANDER is one of Bergman's most universally appealing and accessible works.

Description:

This series from Janus Films and the Criterion Collection assembles benchmark works from some of cinema's greatest filmmakers. This first volume presents Jean Renoir's GRAND ILLUSION, Jean Cocteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, Peter Brook's LORD OF THE FLIES, Ingmar Bergman's WILD STRAWBERRIES, Roman Polanski's KNIFE IN THE WATER, and Akira Kurosawa's RASHOMON. Please see individual titles for further information.

Description:

Shot in striking, diffused color by master cinematographer Sven Nykvist, THE PASSION OF ANNA is one of several Ingmar Bergman films of the 1960s dealing with a limited number of characters in an isolated setting--filming took place on the remote island of Fårö, where Bergman was living at the time--whose emotional and psychological imbalances eventually lead to a crisis. Max von Sydow plays Andreas, a loner who (after an initial chance encounter) becomes acquainted with the crippled widow Anna (Liv Ullmann) through their mutual friends Eva and Elis Vergerus (played by Bibi Andersson and Erland Josephson), a troubled married couple. Andreas and Anna embark on a love affair but are soon confronted with disturbing revelations about each other's pasts. Their relationship suffers irreparable damage through mutual deception, insecurities, and violent outbreaks. Meanwhile, the atmosphere of malaise and menace surrounding the characters is heightened by the presence of an unknown perpetrator on the sparsely populated island who has been brutally torturing and killing farm animals. Bergman and Nykvist's technical mastery is evident throughout the film, especially in the closing shot, which has been referred to as one of the most extraordinary and innovative in modern cinema.

Description:

In this heartfelt drama from the inimitable Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, a woman (Bergman's longtime favorite Liv Ullmann) visits her ex-husband after a 30-year separation, only to become involved in the lives of his son and granddaughter from his late second wife.

Description:

WILD STRAWBERRIES is among Ingmar Bergman's most rich and contemplative films, a lyrical reflection on guilt and disappointment in the form of a spiritual journey. The movie stars Victor Sjöström as Professor Isak Borg, an elderly academic who takes a trip by car from Stockholm to Lund to receive an honorary university degree, accompanied by his daughter-in-law (Ingrid Thulin). Along the way, they meet various passengers who seem to be weighed down by unresolved ethical dilemmas. Meanwhile, Borg's own existential crisis is triggered by dreams and memories in which he is confronted with past disappointments, missed opportunities, and troubled personal relationships with those close to him--his son (Gunnar Björnstrand), his mother (Naima Wifstrand), and his late wife (Gertrud Fridh). The film features stunning imagery, most notably in the flashback, dream, and nightmare sequences, as well as an outstanding final film performance by Sjöström (who is also a famed Swedish director of the silent era). This film was released soon after THE SEVENTH SEAL, which had earned Bergman accolades from film critics and moviegoers the world over. Though similarly challenging and philosophically complex, WILD STRAWBERRIES is often considered the more accessible of the two movies because of its ultimate warmth and affirmation of life.

Description:

Director Ingmar Bergman had intended FANNY AND ALEXANDER to be his final theatrical film and a summing-up of sorts of his entire cinematic career. (It was followed by 1984's AFTER THE REHEARSAL, which was also made for Swedish television and subsequently released theatrically abroad.) FANNY AND ALEXANDER is the story of two children belonging to a wealthy, extensive theatrical family in provincial Sweden in the early years of the 20th century--10-year-old Alexander (Bertil Guve) and his younger sister, Fanny (Pernilla Alwin). When their father dies unexpectedly during a performance and their mother decides to remarry, the children are forced to relocate to the austere (and possibly haunted) home of their stern and rather coldhearted stepfather, Bishop Vergerus (Jan Malmsjö). A means of escape is eventually provided by Isak Jacobi (Erland Josephson), a longtime friend of the Ekdahl family's who seems to possess magical powers. In this somewhat autobiographical movie--which was filmed in the director's hometown of Uppsala--the gifted, precocious Alexander is a stand-in for Bergman himself, who had a problematic relationship with his own father, a strict clergyman. At once festive, spooky, and bawdy--and uncharacteristically life-affirming--FANNY AND ALEXANDER is one of Bergman's most universally appealing and accessible works.

Description:

Ingmar Bergman's SAWDUST AND TINSEL bears a resemblance to his later, better-known features in its harsh treatment of human relationships. Jealousy, lovers taking turns humiliating one other, selfish sexual desire--all these are familiar themes that would be developed further by Bergman later on, but the film's final moments seem to hold a rare promise of reconciliation. Albert Johansson (Åke Grönberg) is a sad, pathetic man who has given up domestic tranquillity for an uncertain life on the road as the director of the traveling Circus Alberti. Since leaving his wife and children, he has taken up with young bareback rider Anne (Harriet Andersson, who often played sexy, earthy characters in Bergman movies of the period). In Albert's old hometown the couple approaches the haughty director of a local theater company (Gunnar Björnstrand) to borrow props and costumes for the night's performance. Anne falls for the dandylike ham actor Frans (Hasse Ekman), who subsequently insults Albert in public, and a physical confrontation between the two men ensues. The film is formally captivating throughout and contains a celebrated, somewhat surreal flashback sequence early on, reminiscent of German Expressionist cinema, in which a white-faced clown (played by Anders Ek) suffers a breakdown after being confronted with his wife's infidelity.

Description:

Antonius Block (Max Von Sydow), a knight, returns from a 10-year crusade with his squire, Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrand), to find his homeland ravaged by the plague. When the black-cloaked figure of Death (Bengt Ekerot) appears to claim them, Block, whose war experiences have left him cynical about the existence of God and the afterlife, challenges Death to a game of chess to stall for time and gain some insight into the meaning of life before passing on. The game is intermittently paused and resumed during the journey home while Block and Jöns meet several traveling companions, including a mute girl (Gunnel Lindblom) whom they save from a bandit, and a family of poor traveling players--Jof, a gentle visionary (Nils Poppe); his wife, Mia (Bibi Andersson); and their infant daughter. Block witnesses much suffering and anguish along the way (an encounter with a woman accused of witchcraft who is about to be burned at the stake is especially jarring) but also finds evidence of human kindness and love, prompting him to realize that even a single gesture of goodwill might make the long struggle of his existence worthwhile. The title of Ingmar Bergman's highly acclaimed allegorical film stems from the Book of Revelation.

Description:

This surreal Gothic drama by Swedish master Ingmar Bergman stars Max von Sydow as Johan, a troubled artist who is literally haunted by demons from his past, and Liv Ullmann as his loving wife Alma, who eventually experiences the same nightmarish delusions. A local aristocrat (Erland Josephson) and his clan, who reside in a forbidding castle and appear to possess supernatural powers, might have a hand in Johan's undoing. The film is told mostly in retrospect after Johan has disappeared, leaving behind only a diary from which his mental and emotional decline (perhaps an allegory on the difficulties of the creative process, one of Bergman's favorite themes) can be reconstructed. Borrowing stylistic elements from classic Hollywood horror movies and occasionally featuring graphic material (one scene prompted a contemporary reviewer to recommend averting one's eyes from the screen), this unusual (black-and-white) film also retains the psychological astuteness and technical finesse that earned Bergman worldwide critical acclaim and his status as Sweden's premier filmmaker.

Description:

This surreal Gothic drama by Swedish master Ingmar Bergman stars Max von Sydow as Johan, a troubled artist who is literally haunted by demons from his past, and Liv Ullmann as his loving wife Alma, who eventually experiences the same nightmarish delusions. A local aristocrat (Erland Josephson) and his clan, who reside in a forbidding castle and appear to possess supernatural powers, might have a hand in Johan's undoing. The film is told mostly in retrospect after Johan has disappeared, leaving behind only a diary from which his mental and emotional decline (perhaps an allegory on the difficulties of the creative process, one of Bergman's favorite themes) can be reconstructed. Borrowing stylistic elements from classic Hollywood horror movies and occasionally featuring graphic material (one scene prompted a contemporary reviewer to recommend averting one's eyes from the screen), this unusual (black-and-white) film also retains the psychological astuteness and technical finesse that earned Bergman worldwide critical acclaim and his status as Sweden's premier filmmaker.

Description:

Antonius Block (Max Von Sydow), a knight, returns from a 10-year crusade with his squire, Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrand), to find his homeland ravaged by the plague. When the black-cloaked figure of Death (Bengt Ekerot) appears to claim them, Block, whose war experiences have left him cynical about the existence of God and the afterlife, challenges Death to a game of chess to stall for time and gain some insight into the meaning of life before passing on. The game is intermittently paused and resumed during the journey home while Block and Jöns meet several traveling companions, including a mute girl (Gunnel Lindblom) whom they save from a bandit, and a family of poor traveling players--Jof, a gentle visionary (Nils Poppe); his wife, Mia (Bibi Andersson); and their infant daughter. Block witnesses much suffering and anguish along the way (an encounter with a woman accused of witchcraft who is about to be burned at the stake is especially jarring) but also finds evidence of human kindness and love, prompting him to realize that even a single gesture of goodwill might make the long struggle of his existence worthwhile. The title of Ingmar Bergman's highly acclaimed allegorical film stems from the Book of Revelation.

Description:

In this powerful but excruciating drama, Liv Ullmann and Max Von Sydow play Eva and Jan Rosenberg, a married couple who have withdrawn to a farm on a remote island while their country is ravaged by a violent civil war. After the island is overrun by rebel troops, all hell breaks loose, and an attempt to escape from the war zone fails. Soon the need to survive brings out the worst in Eva and Jan, and their relationship suffers irrevocable damage. Using one couple's descent into moral corruption as an example, Ingmar Bergman shows how civility and society can break down under extreme conditions.

Description:

Antonius Block (Max Von Sydow), a knight, returns from a 10-year crusade with his squire, Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrand), to find his homeland ravaged by the plague. When the black-cloaked figure of Death (Bengt Ekerot) appears to claim them, Block, whose war experiences have left him cynical about the existence of God and the afterlife, challenges Death to a game of chess to stall for time and gain some insight into the meaning of life before passing on. The game is intermittently paused and resumed during the journey home while Block and Jöns meet several traveling companions, including a mute girl (Gunnel Lindblom) whom they save from a bandit, and a family of poor traveling players--Jof, a gentle visionary (Nils Poppe); his wife, Mia (Bibi Andersson); and their infant daughter. Block witnesses much suffering and anguish along the way (an encounter with a woman accused of witchcraft who is about to be burned at the stake is especially jarring) but also finds evidence of human kindness and love, prompting him to realize that even a single gesture of goodwill might make the long struggle of his existence worthwhile. The title of Ingmar Bergman's highly acclaimed allegorical film stems from the Book of Revelation.

Description:

In this drama written and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, Eva, the meek, seemingly complacent wife of a parson, invites her mother, Charlotte, a world famous pianist, to come for a visit, hoping for a reconciliation after a long period of estrangement and virtually no interaction. Instead, long-repressed feelings of rage toward her mother for repeatedly abandoning her as a child begin to surface and finally culminate in a cathartic confrontation between the two women. Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Bergman (in her final movie role) give excellent and emotionally charged performances as Eva and Charlotte.

Description:

In this heartfelt drama from the inimitable Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, a woman (Bergman's longtime favorite Liv Ullmann) visits her ex-husband after a 30-year separation, only to become involved in the lives of his son and granddaughter from his late second wife.

Description:

In this powerful but excruciating drama, Liv Ullmann and Max Von Sydow play Eva and Jan Rosenberg, a married couple who have withdrawn to a farm on a remote island while their country is ravaged by a violent civil war. After the island is overrun by rebel troops, all hell breaks loose, and an attempt to escape from the war zone fails. Soon the need to survive brings out the worst in Eva and Jan, and their relationship suffers irrevocable damage. Using one couple's descent into moral corruption as an example, Ingmar Bergman shows how civility and society can break down under extreme conditions.

Description:

Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's intense, documentary-like drama BRINK OF LIFE chronicles 24 hours inside a maternity ward, where three women (portrayed by Bergman regulars Bibi Andersson, Eva Dahlbeck, and Ingrid Thulin) are preparing for childbirth. The women share their thoughts on how the birth of their babies might affect their lives and those closest to them, each expressing her doubts and reservations. The movie's subject matter is quite simple and straightforward, but the filmmaker's vision and his gifted cast transform this story into a compelling look at the hopes, fears, and ultimately life-changing experiences of the three main characters. This film represents the first collaboration between Bergman and screenwriter Ulla Isaksson--THE VIRGIN SPRING (1959) would be the second--even though by this point in Bergman's career it had become unusual for him not to write his own material.

Description:

This surreal Gothic drama by Swedish master Ingmar Bergman stars Max von Sydow as Johan, a troubled artist who is literally haunted by demons from his past, and Liv Ullmann as his loving wife Alma, who eventually experiences the same nightmarish delusions. A local aristocrat (Erland Josephson) and his clan, who reside in a forbidding castle and appear to possess supernatural powers, might have a hand in Johan's undoing. The film is told mostly in retrospect after Johan has disappeared, leaving behind only a diary from which his mental and emotional decline (perhaps an allegory on the difficulties of the creative process, one of Bergman's favorite themes) can be reconstructed. Borrowing stylistic elements from classic Hollywood horror movies and occasionally featuring graphic material (one scene prompted a contemporary reviewer to recommend averting one's eyes from the screen), this unusual (black-and-white) film also retains the psychological astuteness and technical finesse that earned Bergman worldwide critical acclaim and his status as Sweden's premier filmmaker.

Description:

The second film of Ingmar Bergman's trilogy on religion and the loss of faith--the other two being THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY and THE SILENCE)--is an unrelentingly austere minimalist drama that takes place in a small village surrounded by a bleak, wintry landscape. Local pastor Tomas Ericsson (Gunnar Björnstrand) has been left cold and hardened by the untimely death of his wife, his religious convictions severely shaken. He is incapable of offering counsel to a suicidal member of the congregation who comes to him for help, fisherman Jonas Persson (Max von Sydow), and cannot return the affection of schoolteacher Märta (Ingrid Thulin) after she confesses her love for him. The characters' anguish, isolation, and despair at the prospect of an absent or uncaring God are mirrored by the film's stark setting, flawlessly captured by cinematographer Sven Nykvist, in one of many collaborations with Bergman. While the figure of the stern, unfeeling clergyman was probably at least partially inspired by memories of the director's own father, a strict Lutheran minister, Bergman based his script on a true story told to him by a small-town parson who suffered from severe guilt after failing to talk one of his parishioners out of committing suicide.