ingmar bergman r.i.p.

ingmar bergman is dead. was he the greatest film-maker ever? he was certainly the most depressing ever. here's what liv ullmann had to say about him a couple of years ago:

"Saraband is autobiographical in that Bergman had a son who died before they got to make up. That was horrible for him. You would think this film would be everything he would like to say - I love you, I care for you, etc - but in the film it's still as if they can't talk. That is very brave. He is saying this is who I am; this is my music and I am going to play it again and again. I am sure that much of the film has to do with the wife, Ingrid van Rosen, whom he lost 10 years ago, but also it has to do with the idea that for some people, the easiest person to love is someone who has gone. But the picture of the dead wife in the film is not of Ingrid. It's a lady who works in costumes.

When shooting on Saraband was over, Bergman said goodbye and went to his island. That was two years ago. He lives there absolutely completely alone. I was there a month ago for a few days. Some of his children come there in the summer, but he doesn't have visitors. He listens to music and reads books. We made Scenes From a Marriage 30 years ago in a stable he had made into a studio. Now, he has made that into a cinema. He gets all the films sent there. He sits there with this woman who keeps cows and horses showing her films. Every new film. He knows everything that is being made.

When I was directing Faithless, Erland Josephson and I made a little video film for fun about our characters from Scenes From a Marriage. We sent it to him, and I think that's when he had the idea to use the same characters again. But Saraband is not Scenes From a Marriage 30 years on. And I don't think it belongs to Faithless, which was a much more forgiving film. Saraband is a film that does not forgive."

independent online
telegraph obit
bbc
the times
grauniad obit
pages of tribute from the grauniad

and the prize for the best headline: bergman loses chess match
goes to the yahoo entertainment page.


my favourite moment of my favourite film: the aforementioned chess match. the knight is playing death at chess. he becomes pretty sure he is going to lose, and 'accidentally' knocks the board over so all the pieces fall to the floor. death says not to worry, because he remembers where all the pieces were!