Ingmar Bergman

the long version

Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, born in 1918, is recognized as one of the great geniuses of the cinema. He is also one of the most prolific, with more than fifty titles to his credit, including The Seventh Seal (1957), Persona (1966), Cries and Whispers (1972), and Fanny and Alexander (1982). Even now Bergman continues to work, having scripted The Best Intentions, the story of his parents' courtship and marriage, which was voted Best Film at the 1992 Cannes Festival. The late Jean Renoir once observed that every film auteur tells and retells essentially one story: his own. In this pathbreaking study of all Bergman's films, Hubert I. Cohen vividly demonstrates how the great director is the quintessential auteur, driven from his earliest efforts by an "almost pathological narcissism: toward self-revelation. Drawing on the numerous interviews Bergman has granted as well as other biographical and critical sources, including the director's autobiography The Magic Lantern, Cohen shows us how Bergman's preoccupation with his own life is the wellspring of his art. Progressing chronologically through Bergman's oeuvre, he finds the films both the product of and commentary on their creator's childhood and youth, loves and beliefs. Cohen's study also observes Bergman's style and techniques, his signature narrative and visual devices. He shows us how Bergman the deliberate and consummate artist is always in control of Bergman the confessor. Character and plot, structure, motif, and pacing all come into play as Cohen blends his technical analysis with insight into Bergman's motivation, psychology, and artistic development. The result is a deepened understanding both of the films and their extraordinary creator.