Seventh Seal




DEATH & MAX VON SYDOW PLAY CHESS IN INGMAR BERGMAN'S "THE SEVENTH SEAL"(1957)
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" No other art-medium—neither painting nor poetry—can communicate the specific quality of the dream as well as the film can. When the lights go down in the cinema and this white shining point opens up for us, our gaze stops flitting hither and thither, settles and becomes quite steady. We just sit there, letting the images flow out over us. Our will ceases to function. We lose our ability to sort things out and fix them in their proper places. We're drawn into a course of events—we're participants in a dream. And manufacturing dreams, that's a juicy business." INGMAR BERGMAN

DANCE OF DEATH SCENE FROM INGMAR BERGMAN" THE SEVENTH SEAL" (1957)
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" My basic view of things is—not to have any basic view of things. From having been exceedingly dogmatic, my views on life have gradually dissolved. They don't exist any longer." INGMAR BERGMAN

POSTER FOR INGMAR BERGMAN's FILM "THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY" (1961)

"I'm no bookworm. Never have been, never will be. But of everything to do with pictures and images I'm omnivorous. All that affects me intensely, closely. Whatever is visible or audible—image and sound—that's what affects me most." INGMAR BERGMAN


INGMAR BERGMAN'S "CRIES & WHISPERS" (1972)
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Ingmar Bergman is another director whom always amazes me. His films are not for everyone, so be it. His films which I enjoyed watching a number of times include THE SEVENTH SEAL, PERSONA, CRIES & WHISPERS, FANNY & ALEXANDER, Through A GLASS DARKLY, THE VIRGIN SPRING & his version of Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE. Like Bunuel & David Lynch or Fellini he is always pushing what film can be further than can be expected. He challenges the viewer & sometimes it just doesn't work but to me that's what any great artist no matter what the medium attempts to do.

So here are some bits of info on Bergman:

Ingmar Bergman

Universally regarded as one of the great masters of modern cinema, Bergman has often concerned himself with spiritual and psychological conflicts. His work has evolved in distinct stages over four decades, while his visual style-intense, intimate, complex-has explored the vicissitudes of passion with a mesmerizing cinematic rhetoric. His prolific output tends to return to and elaborate on recurrent images, subjects and techniques. Like the Baroque composers, Bergman works on a small scale, finding invention in theme and variation. Bergman works primarily in the chamber cinema genre, although there are exceptions, such as the journey narrative of WILD STRAWBERRIES (1957) and the family epic of FANNY AND ALEXANDER (1983). Chamber cinema encloses space and time, permitting the director to focus on mise-en-scène and to pay careful attention to metaphoric detail and visual rhythm. Perhaps his most expressive technique is 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 CRIES AND WHISPERS (1972)


FROM INGMAR BERGMAN'S "FANNY & ALEXANDER"
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STILL PHOTO FROM "FANNY & ALEXANDER"
" I hope I never get so old I get religious."
Ingmar Bergman
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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:

" One of the most important figures of the modern cinema, this phenomenally talented artist, through a series of films dating back to the 1940s, practically created and defined his own genre. Noted for pictures that probe the inner reaches of human emotion, Bergman has served as a model for generations of film makers around the world. His primary concerns are spiritual conflict and the fragility of the psyche; within these frameworks, he has crafted a body of work celebrated for its technical and textual innovation. Bergman's interest in life's enduring questions was undoubtedly fueled by a strict Lutheran upbringing (his father was chap lain to the Swedish royal family). As a child, Bergman displayed an active imagination and a love for the theater, which was also manifested during his training as an actor and director at the University of Stockholm."

also see THE INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE
www.imdb.com/

INGMAR BERGMAN
/www.kirjasto.sci.fi/bergman/

And also see website:
TRIBE’S DVDs
/tribex.typepad.com/tribes_dvds/ingmar_bergman

THE MAGIC WORKS OF INGMAR BERGMAN
& www.geocities.com/

& INGMAR BERGMAN : DARKNESS BEFORE THE DAWN
www.hal-pc.org/~questers/bergman.

And at Website :1-World Festival of Foreign Films
"Bringing you a World-Wide selection of foreign films on video and DVD."
/www.1worldfilms.com/Ingmar

Also see HAMISH FORD at:
www.sensesofcinema.com/


For an in-depth analysis of the works of Ingmar Bergman see the essay by Hamish Ford “SENSE OF CINEMA” (www.sensesofcinema.com/). Hamish Ford argues that Bergman’s films are often too easily dismissed by film critics & students alike.

I believe part of the reason for this is that Bergman’s films demand one’s complete attention & is an experience different from the experience one has while watching most films. Bergman’s films may contain little overt action as the action is more psychological & metaphysical. I find this analysis rings quite true for me.

It is also as Mr. Ford mentions that the experience of film watching is changed by VHS & DVDs. Viewing a film on DVD in the comfort of one's home & at one's convenience we are able to become fully engaged & absorbed while watching a film which then becomes more similar to the experience of reading a novel . It is an intimate & personal experience & not a communal act.

Anyway see you next time,
GORD

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