Details
Movie 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.
Synopsis
Christmastime, 1907. The Ekdahl family, a wealthy and boisterous clan, has assembled in Grandmother Helena's home for the holidays. Christmas for 8-year-old Fanny and 10-year-old Alexander is filled with magic, enchantment, and mystery. But for Grandma Helena, it's just another occasion to worry. When she's not spending time with her close friend Isak Jacob, she broods over her sons, Oscar, Carl, and Gustav. A theater manager, Oscar's a devoted husband to Emilie and a loving father to Fanny and Alexander. But when he dies, their mother marries a puritanical minister with antiquated views on child-rearing. Now it's up to Helena to assure that Fanny and Alexander aren't shut away in a nursery that's more like a prison than a playground.
Film Notes
DVD Features:
Region (unknown)
Keep Case
Widescreen - 1.66
RSDL
Audio:
Monaural - Swedish
Monaural - English
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary - 1. Peter Cowie - Film Historian
Trailers
Introductions
Text/Photo Gallery:
Additional Text - 1. Essay By Novelist Rick Moody
Theatrical release: June 17, 1983 (U.S.).
Theatrical release: December 17, 1982 (Sweden). An extended version was shown on Swedish television prior to the film's theatrical release.
Filmed on location in Uppsala, Sweden.
Winner of the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1984.
Winner of the N.Y. Film Critics Circle award for Best Foreign Film in 1983.
Industry Reviews
Included in The New York Times "10 BEST FILMS OF 1983"
New York Times - p.II:15 - Vincent Canby (12/25/1983)
"...A sustained triumph..."
Sight and Sound - p.141 - John Pym (03/01/1983)
"Even as you watch [FANNY & ALEXANDER]...,it has that quality of enchantment that usually attaches only to the best movies in retrospect....Big, dark, beautiful, generous..."
New York Times - p.C8 - Vincent Canby (06/17/1983)
"...A sumptuously produced period piece that is also a rich tapestry of childhood memoirs..."
Variety - Kell. (12/22/1982)
"[T]his epic of all that is Bergman crystallizes his dual screen personalities."
New York Times - Mike Clark (07/31/2007)
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