Fanny and Alexander (Special Edition Five-Disc Set) - Criterion Collection

Fanny and Alexander (Special Edition Five-Disc Set) - Criterion Collection | Childhood impressions that shape us

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Fanny and Alexande...

	Fanny and Alexander (Special Edition Five-Disc Set) - Criterion Collection Criterion, 2004 average customer review:based on 70 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Through the wide eyes of ten-year-old Alexander (Bertil Guve), we witness the great delights and conflicts of the Ekdahl family?a sprawling, convivial bourgeois clan living in turn-of-the-century Sweden. Intended as Ingmar Bergman?s swan song, Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander) is the legendary filmmaker?s warmest and most autobiographical film, a triumph that combines his trademark melancholy and emotional rigor with immense joyfulness and sensuality. The Criterion Collection is proud to present not only the theatrical version?winner of the 1984 Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film?but also, for the first time on home video in the U.S., the original five-hour television version, together in a single boxed set. Also included is Bergman?s own feature-length documentary The Making of Fanny and Alexander (Dokument Fanny och Alexander), offering a unique glimpse into his creative process and a candid behind-the-scenes look at a monumental film in the making. INCLUDED WITH FANNY AND ALEXANDER, FOR THE FIRST TIME ON DVD: THE MAKING OF FANNY AND ALEXANDER The Making of Fanny and Alexander is a fascinating look at the creation of a masterpiece. Directed by Ingmar Bergman himself, this feature-length documentary chronicles the methods of one of cinema?s true luminaries as he labors to realize his crowning production. Featuring Bergman at work with many of his longtime collaborators?including cinematographer Sven Nykvist and actors Erland Josephson, Gunnar Björnstrand, and Harriet Andersson?The Making of Fanny and Alexander is a witty and revealing portrait of a virtuoso filmmaker.

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Such a rich and fulfilling look at family and tragedy...

`Fanny och Alexander' is not going to appeal to everyone, but if this brand of drama is your cup of tea then it will quickly rise as one of your favorite films ever made. The late (great) Ingmar Bergman has a very strong and loyal following among cinematic lovers like myself, for his brand of filmmaking was unique and all his own. His films are deep and meaningful and have cemented him as one of the greatest directors of all time, placing him alongside the likes of Orson Welles (whom he bitterly despised) as one of the most influential names in the world of film. `Fanny och Alexander' may very well be his finest film, and in its entirety it is one of the fullest and richest films of all time.

Each frame adds so much beauty, understanding and complexity.

Bergman's film tells the story of the Ekdahl's, an upper-class Swedish family, as they deal with tragedy within the family. During rehearsal for `Hamlet', Oscar Ekdahl, one of three sons, suddenly dies, leaving behind his young wife Emilie and their two children, Fanny and Alexander. This tragic event sets the wheels in motion for more family turmoil as Emilie is misguided and deceived by the Bishop Edvard Vergerus, a harsh and cruel man who proceeds to drain the life from the entire Ekdahl family.

The film is presented in two versions; the theatrical version which is considerably shorter, and the extended directors cut which is almost five hours in length. The extended version is definitely the way to go if you have the time to devote to it (I usually watch it in two sittings over the course of a weekend) for it fleshes out the entire situation from each end of the family tree so vividly. The first hour alone contains a mere holiday dinner but that hour is so rich with character development that I am utterly engrossed in every word spoken.

The script is marvelously crafted to absorb the viewer and string them along effortlessly, keeping them baiting their breath for the next revelation.

The acting is also superb. Bergman's direction receives a lot of praise (and he was noticed by Oscar with a directing nomination) and it is his mighty hand that brings forth a slew of dynamic performances.

My favorite performance in the bunch comes from Ewa Froling who plays Emilie, the desperate widow. Her tenderness and genuine caring for her children and family is so beautifully rendered onto the screen; as is her emotional turmoil as her world is turned upside down by her domineering new husband. Pivotal to her emotional unraveling is the portrayal of Edvard, and Jan Malmsjo is flawless in the role. He generates this insincere kindness that crawls beneath the audience's skin, allowing them to notice the character flaws Emilie's desperation blinds her to. Jarl Kulle received much attention for his portrayal of Gustav Adolf, the eldest Ekdahl brother, and his performance becomes more and more refined and necessary as the film draws to a close. Allan Edwall is wonderfully paternal as the doomed Oscar and Borje Ahlstedt does a fine job of portraying the troubled Ekdahl brother Carl.

And then we have Pernilla Allwin and Bertil Guve who take on the title roles of Fanny and Alexander. Truth be told, they don't have a lot to do within the film (although Guve has some fantastic scenes as Alexander) and I found myself upon my first viewing wondering why the film bore their names when as a whole the film seems more interested with the lives of those around them. Upon repeat viewings though it becomes obvious that these two children serve as the moral crux for the entire film, and that without their influence and presence nothing would have much meaning. It is within their childish interpretations and fantasies that `Fanny och Alexander' comes to life, expressing with beauty and pristine serenity the effects of actions on the part of adult parties on the children in their lives.

Performance wise Allwin is almost non-existent, but Guve is wonderful in the scenes he is given.

In the end I must confess a certain love affair I am having with this film at the moment (I've watched it twice this past month and am aching to watch it again already). It is truly an outstanding achievement in filmmaking and serves as one of the strongest testaments to the brilliance that was Ingmar Bergman.

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Childhood impressions that shape us

I saw this film decades ago and it was refreshing to see it again. It is Ingmar Bergman's film that closely reflects parts of his own upbringing. We observe an extended family thru the eyes of two children - Fanny and Alexander who are brother and sister. Their family is large, liberal and well to do. Children are encouraged to read, watch theatre performances and expand their imagination in any way possible. They live leisurely and happy life until their father unexpectedly dies. That event dramatically changes course of events for everyone involved. Children's mother is young, beautiful and vulnerable. She loves her children and in attempt to secure their upbringig and their future, she marries a bishop who after her husband's death served as her confidant. But the marriage is a disaster and all three of them suffer terribly. Alexander is paticularly touched by all events. His sensitivity to the world around him and people living and dead is enhanced. Alexander is also smart, well spoken and determined. For a child his age, he is remarkable and that causes fear, jealousy and want from the people who know him. It is also remarkable to look at the film from the perspective where even the good intentions from people close to us turn out to be ill-fated. And sum of those misfortunes lead to neurosis, depression, unhappines, loneliness and in extreme cases even madness. No matter how much our parents and friends try, we all end up being products of our circumstances and external experiences. I loved the part of the film where one day as Alexandar speaks to the spirit of his deceased father, begs his father to leave them, go to Heaven, speak to God and ask God to stop all the pain and suffering he has been experiencing. The mere spiritual presence of Alexander's father is not enough to make it all go away and have Alexander feel better. The seeming return to "normal" at the end of the movie is almost quietness before the storm starts. We just know that both Alexandar and Fanny are damaged forever. The new generations do bring hope, but all it takes is a little bit of a bad (external) chemistry to make it all disappear too quickly. Film reminds us that we are all so fragile, that life is short and that many things that happen in life are shaping us without mercy even when we are just a bystanders on the path of destiny.

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Magical realism meets Dickens

"Fanny and Alexander" just may be my very favorite Bergman film (but, admittedly, this should be taken with a grain of salt, since nearly every one of his films I rewatch becomes my "favorite" for a while!). It has a gentle, sweet quality about it that makes the viewer come to love the characters involved, to feel a genuine part of the large Ekdahl clan and to celebrate each of them with affection and forebearance: womanizing Gustav Adolf; poor, insecure Carl (not to mention his long-suffering German wife); Helena the vivacious and wise family matriarch; Oscar, the sad-eyed ghost father; and Emilie, his desperately lonely wife who out of desperation marries a stern Lutheran bishop and drags Fanny and Alexander with her. And then there's Uncle Isak, masterfully played by Erland Josephson of "Scenes from a Marriage," Helena's long-time lover and the rescuer of Emilie and the kids, and Bishop Edvard, played by show-stealer Jan Malmsjo (also from "Scenes"), who is blighted by his religion and blights others with it--and yet isn't a one-dimensional villain, either.

Watching "Fanny and Alexander," one is impressed by how Bergman has managed to combine all the delightful sentimentality of a Dickens novel with wonderful elements that can only be described as magical realism: the strange and haunting encounter between Alexander and Ismael Retzinsky that has some mysterious causal connection with the Bishop's fiery death and Emilie's liberation. I'm not entirely sure why Bergman includes this, since it seems so out of character for a director who normally rejects such things. But it works. (Perhaps it's all an elaborate Bergmanian joke, since in the same scene we're also introduced to God as a grand and blustery puppet.)

At the end of the film, though, Bergmanian wisdom resurfaces. In as good an encapsulation of what the mature Bergman has to say as one's likely to hear, Gustav Adolf delivers a toast to the reunited family. There's a big world out there, he says (echoing a toast delivered at the film's beginning by Oscar), but we live only in our own little one. We recognize that out there is the abyss, and that one day we'll fall into it. There's nothing to be done about that. So in the meantime, let us accept our little world subterfuges. Let us be happy, kind, generous, and take pleasure in one another, in our little world, even as we know that it is in part illusory. Let us enjoy, while we can, good meals, fruit, and waltzes. Let us embrace living while we live.

Good advice.

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Paganism Vs. Puritanism

A qualified masterpiece, Ingmar Bergman's late work `Fanny and Alexander,' makes another strong emotional appeal with nearly every scene he shot. Perhaps spoiled by his greatest works `Through a Glass Darkly,' `The Seventh Seal,' and `Wild Strawberries - Criterion Collection,' it's easy to dock anything less in the Bergman legacy. Nevertheless, clocking in at 3:08, this 1984 Foreign Best Film Oscar winner could have been tightened up and not so tedious in places.

The film is not merely autobiographical, it is a study in contrast. The film begins with the wealthy Eckdahl family celebrating the holiday season. There are stories, readings, feasting, and dancing through the house in a daisy chain. The parents are a part of the theatre, and Christmas brings a holiday show with a cast party brought back to their home. "Generosity, warmth, and kindness," instructs the family patriarch to the servant staff, a consequential force throughout the movie. (Not necessarily like `Gosford Park;' however, for they accentuate the main characters with only a few tales of their own.) Seldom has Christmas been captured so festively on film.

Fanny and Alexander--I'm guessing without much risk that Alexander is Bergman--are the children whose enchanted lives are sorely tested after the death of their father, who appears to have a stroke onstage. (The still scenes leading up before and after his death from the deathbed are laden with Bergman's trademark poignancy.) Once grief has inflicted all the primary family members, Emilie Eckdahl becomes engaged to the (Episcopal? Lutheran?) bishop, and they wed.

As a matter of course, step-parents "often" make the lives of their step-children a trial, even in the best of circumstances and with the best of intentions. Emilie, understandably, wanting to make the vows count, agrees to leave their lush residence and move into the pastor's place, where "purity and austerity," make their mark in every nook and cranny of their new house. From molasses sandwiches and hot chocolate comes a fare with little fanfare, a probable porridge with strict codes of prayer, waking and retiring hours. Corporal punishment rears its ugly head, reminding the viewer of regrettable times past, and looking at the present, a hope for a happy medium. Love is "strong and hard" in the pastor's house. Even his sister, Henrietta, raises her ugly head and tries to force her rearing methods upon the children.

Bergman gives his splendidly shot sojourn a summation of his entire body of work. Themes such as death and life, mortality and reverie, sex and death, and both sides of belief in God, read like Bergman's greatest hits. He also touches upon evil as it been unleashed upon the world contrasted with the resolution, "Let us be happy while we can be happy." Carpe diem once again tries to win overall as it is contrasted with "insomnia, poverty, and humiliation," with some depressing foil characters. His still camera contrasts of steam rising from snowy streams and sorrow as it comes in a spring downpour are wonderfully Bergman's.

As eloquent as his late film is, even qualifiers still point to the consequences of life itself. Never forgetting the pastor step-father, Alexander and Bergman leave us a movie with lingering regrets that some people do God a great PR disservice.

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