Fanny and Alexander Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Fanny and Alexander
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Year: 1982
Country: Sweden
Language: Swedish

The great Swedish Director Ingmar Bergman started his feature length film career with the intriguing Crisis (1946) and ended with the long yet mesmerizing Fanny and Alexander (1982) never missing a beat in-between these films. His large body of work spanned over 50 feature films, many cited in critic's "Best Films" lists. He is often spoofed by comedians or comedic filmmakers such as Peter Hewitt, who made Bill and Ted's Bogus Adventure, as well as imitated by lesser dramatic filmmakers as well. His films usually show the darker side of the human spirit, but as in Wild Strawberries can also be quite optimistic. Fanny and Alexander is a perfect blend of light and dark, of pessimism and optimism, of good and evil.

The title characters, Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) and Alexander (Betil Guve) live in a colorful Ekdahl household in a Swedish town early in the twentieth century. Their parents, Oscar (Allan Edwall) and Emilie (Ewa Froling) , are the director and the leading lady of the local theatre company.Oscar's mother and brother are the leading operators. After Oscar dies, Emilie marries the bishop and moves with her children to his place. He turns out to be a brute of a man, and the children are miserable, however there is always hope.

Often regarded as Ingmar Bergman's swan song (though he did make television features after this) , Fanny and Alexander was a quake of energy to fans who were enticed with his brooding films like The Seventh Seal which was made much earlier in his career. It is an almost Dickensian tale of ghosts and magic. There are also parallels to William Shakespeare's Hamlet, we see the ghost of Alexander's father more than once in the film, both Hamlet and Alexander's mothers marry nasty people and they both have quite a spiritual crisis. It's interesting that we see Oscar's illness creep in during a re-enactment of Hamlet where he plays Hamlet's father and completely forgets his lines, infact completely forgetting where he is at that time.

With this film Bergman moves beyond storytelling and into a strange series of events that could be considered dreams. It's as if you're transported to another reality when watching this film. The cinematography by Sven Nykvist is phenomenal and enchanting, it truly contributes to the overall mood of the film. The bishop (Jan Malmsjo) reminds me of another villainous religious man known as Reverend Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) from Charles Laughton's Night of the Hunter (1955). Though I would argue that the bishop in this film is more vile because he seems more realistic and does more harm to the children than Powell does.

In conclusion, Fanny and Alexander is one of the most spiritual films I have ever seen. It is a real treat to own the 5 Disk DVD Box Set from the Criterion Collection so I be fully in awe whenever I feel like watching it. Well worth a buy and well worth the runtime (312 min). This is definitely in my top ten, as well as Bergman's other incredibly spiritual film known as The Seventh Seal (1957) Praise it! 5/5