Using a gift card I received, I bought a Bergman Criterion collection set (Seventh Seal, Virgin Spring, Wild Strawberry, Smiles of a Summer Night). Kind of a random purchase because I had not seen any of Bergman’s films. I saw the Seventh Seal. Then I saw it again. Then I saw it AGAIN. Brilliant, to say the least. Can’t wait to see the others!
I remember the first time I saw The Seventh Seal I wasn’t really impressed, but a week or two later I saw Wild Strawberries and it just destroyed me. Bergman personified all of my fears about growing old. Then I saw The Seventh Seal again, and I realized that not only did Bergman personify all my fears in Wild Strawberries, but in The Seventh Seal he personified all my fears about Christianity, and death. After that I had to see as many Bergman’s as possible. Almost everyone of his films I have a personal connection with. It’s amazing, I can almost expect to have an existential, religious (or maybe spiritual is better), or emotional crisis in the middle of a film. Recently I just saw Scenes from a Marriage, and I almost had a nervous breakdown in the middle of the film, it’s one of the most intense experiences I’ve ever had while watching a film.
COL DAX Said it
I am ashamed to admit that of Bergman’s films, I have only seen The Seventh Seal. But I’m going to watch Through A Glass Darkly and Wild Strawberries soon.
i love all of bergman’s films. i just started on the criterion’s eclipse set of early work.
For me the most devastating is Winter Light, but so many of the others — Wild Strawberries, Persona, Cries and Whispers, The Seventh Seal, The Silence, Fanny and Alexander — are all superb.
I think Through a Glass Darkly is the best looking of his films. Thank you, Sven Nykvist!
The most devastating to me is Cries and Whispers. I now always enjoy a glass of Cognac when watching Bergman.
One film of Bergmans that i love is The Rite, alot of people have not seen it because it is not on region 1. For Bergman fans it is a must see!
The Silence definitely appealed to me, and seemed to make a lot of sense with what I was going through at the time. Great love scene in the theater, I mean a great director can direct anything, and Ingmar is the greatest (maybe tied with Tarkovsky, I dont know). Fanny and Alexander, and Persona are probably his other best.
But to get really personal here, and these are opinions that not many hold. I think his other two masterpieces are The Serpent’s Egg and The Hour of the Wolf. I have many reasons for these two picks, too many to go through. I dont think you should skip them while browsing his filmography.
I have yet to see Autumn Sonata and Magic Flute.
I’ve heard many great things about The Hour of the Wolf, but have yet to see it, I will need to check it out… thanks Elmen
Drew Gregory
There needs to be more discussion here about Bergman. Every film of his that I have seen has effected me so deeply and just blown me away. If we all posted our top 5 Bergman films all our lists would be different. He is just so damn consistent and has no one film that is the clear winner to everyone. This was shown in The Auteurs poll and that Bergman had no film in the top 10 because everyone had different favorites of his. Every time I’m about to watch a Bergman film for the first time I am extremely excited and have high expectations and they are always passed. I am grabbed into to every one of his films and am looking forward to diving deeper into his filmography. What do you guys think about him? Oh and to prove my point you can include your favorite film of his if you want. Today its Persona for me.