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| Carefully arranged on a portrait photograph, the title characters of Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander attract attention for the film on its Swedish poster |
Fanny and Alexander are siblings in Sweden in 1907, born into the large upper middle-class Ekdahl family. After they lose their father, their mother turns to the local bishop for a second, respectable husband. Life has its good and bad times for her and her children.
Fanny and Alexander is a wonderful, warm film about sorrow and death, childhood and religion. - Its thematic range could even be expanded to simply be: Life. It was the first film by Swedish master filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (The Magician/Ansiktet (1958)) that I saw, and this only makes it more special for me. Bergman wrote and directed the film, which is semi-autobiographical.
Fanny and Alexander is a drama in epic length, which narrative charts a different course than most traditional films. - Still, the way the story is told is masterful, and the actors of the large ensemble carry the film admirably.
The storytelling of Fanny and Alexander is thoroughly evocative, making us feel as though we can almost sense the heat of the crackling fire in the hearth we are watching. The production design in the film, - from the flamboyant Christmas party of the Ekdahls in the first part of the film to the bare, grimly cold home of the bishop, - is detail-oriented and outstanding. Fanny and Alexander is an experience one shouldn't rob oneself of.
Related post:
Ingmar Bergman: The Magician/Ansiktet (1958) or, Fool the Townfolk
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 6-7 mil. $ (different sources)
Box office: 6.7 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertain
[Fanny and Alexander premiered 17 December (Sweden) and runs 188 minutes (theatrical version) and 312 minutes (TV miniseries version, - which I regrettably still haven't seen). Bergman wrote the script in the summer of 1979, intending it to be his last film, explaining; "I don't have the strength any more, neither psychologically nor physically." The film was molded around his own childhood in Uppsala, Sweden, which he termed "happy and privileged." The film's 40 mil. SEK budget made it the most expensive Swedish film up to that time. Swedish stars Liv Ullmann and Max Von Sydow ditched the film for different reasons before shooting and were replaced, which they both later regretted. Shooting took place from September 1981 - March 1982 in Uppsala and in Stockholm studios, Sweden. Gunnar Björnstrand (Filip Landahl in the film) acted despite suffering from Alzheimers, and Gunn Wållgren (Helena in the film) suffered from cancer and was secretly in pain but acted anyway. The film has 60 characters with lines, employed 1,200 extras and featured 1,250 costumes. Bergman intended Fanny and Alexander as a miniseries but for commercial reasons was obligated to cut a theatrical version, which he did with many pains, calling it "to cut into the nerves and lifeblood of the film." A year after the release, the 312 minute full version was released in Swedish cinemas, later recognized as one of the longest films in history. Audiences were large in Bergman's native Sweden for both versions, and it became his biggest hit there. It made 6.7 mil. $ in North America, where it played in the summer of 1983 and was later (in 1991) recognized as the 5th biggest Swedish film in North America up to that time. A world gross is not made public, but the film drew the following crowds; 374k (France), 165k (Germany) and 70k (Denmark). - Whether it became financially successful theatrically is hard to decipher based on these numbers alone. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, the 3rd most nominated film of the year: Best Art Direction (won), Cinematography (Sven Nykvist, won), Costume Design (won), Director (lost to James L. Brooks for Terms of Endearment), Foreign Film (won) and Original Screenplay (lost to Horton Foote for Tender Mercies). It was barred from the Best Picture race due to Sweden's nominating it for the Best Foreign Film category. The film also won 1/2 Golden Globes, 1/3 BAFTAs, one César award, 3 David di Donatello awards, 3 Guldbagge awards, 2 National Board of Review awards, the Venice Film Festival's FIPRESCI award and many other honors. Stage adaptations of the film has been played in many countries in the new millennium. While Bergman continued to work on especially TV movies, Fanny and Alexander is his last theatrical feature. Fanny and Alexander is fresh at 100 % with an 8.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
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