Ingmar Bergman: Remembering The Master article

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Rwita Dutta remembers Swedish master Ingmar Bergman on his first death anniversary (July 30)

Bergman was quintessentially a phenomenon by himself. His life, his actions remained unparalleled over the years. Though unbearable at times, the mastermind left a deep impact on human kind, thus, making it practically unimaginable to be ignored. No session of film studies, film criticism, can be completed until he is discussed again and again. Born in July 14^th, 1918 to a priest, he started taking interest in theatre as a student of University of Stockholm. He wrote several screenplays including Frenzy for Director Sjoberg in 1944 followed by the "Devil's Prison" in 1949 and "The Naked Night" in 1953.In 1946, inevitably, he started his elaborate film making voyage with "Crisis" though he achieved international success with the "Summer" series.

"Summer Interlude" (1951) may be remembered as Bergman's minor works but to him, this film was always important as his others. This film provided him for the first time, a sense of uniqueness, a sense of independence. And,probably, from this film, Bergman had developed a style of his own. This was a story of loss love and of search of identity of a ballerina named Marie.

"Summer with Monika" (1953) reflects the growth of a master craftsman, though, not in full form. The naturalistic love story between Harry (Lars Ekberg) and Monika (Played by Harriet Andersson) was a story of dark love. The film was actually shot in a documentary format. It always showed the eternal conflict between fantasy and reality. Gunner Fischer's photography created a poetic atmosphere even in the moments of their despair. This happened to be the first Bergman film to receive an art house distribution worldwide.

"Smiles of Summer Night" (1955) got him international recognition. That film was nominated for Golden Palm at the Cannes. It was based on a play by Marivaux of the classical 18^th century. Inspiration for Woody Allen's "A Midsummer Nights Sex Comedy", the film deals with a team of couples, ex couples, would be couples and put them through a game of love at a country house party during a midsummer weekend in 1900.

Till 1955, probably, the director was in search of his own identity. From "Seventh Seal" (1957), he was transcendental. It was the most complicated yet fascinating film in his whole career. Critics and Commoners loved it because perhaps its claustrophobic tryst with death. Later Bergman also admitted that the film was the consequence of his fear of death and after the film was made, he was done with that fear forever. The chess playing scene between the Knight and the Death had been analyzed repeatedly only to make it a complete passé.

"Wild Strawberries" ( 1957), another significant film in his career was also made in the same year. This had been the story of an old physician, played by Victor Sjostrom. On the day of receiving the highest award of the University, he had a dream of death. On the way to receive the award, he had a conversation with his daughter-in-law. That made him revisit his past through hallucinations, dreams, nostalgias and frequent emotional encounters. The brilliant performance by the central characters, the old physician Victor Sjostrom ( a director himself), his unhappy daughter-in-law (Played by Ingrid Thulin showing enough possibility to make a come back in "The Silence"), Bibi Andersson (in double role) added to this rough edged masterpiece. Death here also comes back but in a very subtle manner.

Though considered to be his minor work, "The Virgin Spring" (1960) was commercially a huge success and thereby started a journey of the most productive duo; Bergman and his cinematographer Sven Nykvist replacing Gunner Fischer.

What was known as the director's "Faith" trilogy was also found harping on multi faceted subversions or sometimes balancing faith and life. "Through a glass darkly" (1961), "Winter Light" (1962) and above all, "The Silence" (1963) dealt with human psyche and the questions the Director was about to search. For example, "The Silence" dealt with the life of two sisters, Ester (Thulin) and Anna (Lindbolm) and her little child. Ester signifies belief that was fast decaying into death. The perfect mingling of spirituality and sensuality (depicted by the two central characters) created the crux of the film.

"Persona" (1966) was the direct offshoot of "The Silence". This film also dig deeper into the psyche of two women whose inner world seemed to have diabolically intermixed. Personal marked his entry into overt human subjectivity which was later repeated in "Cries and Whispers" (1972).

Later in his life, he did too many TV works. So, it had been a huge journey for him intersecting too many mediums of expression. Even in filmmaking, he never wanted to restrict himself from experimenting in different genres of the craft. Perhaps, that is what made him an auteur for centuries to come.