The Silence or Winter Light I would say. His later work is pretty different (Scenes from a Marriage, Autumn Sonata, and so on) so I would get through his older stuff before tackling it, but not too old (his early films aren’t too great).
Try The Magician also. Then tackle The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries. After that, go for stuff like Shame, The Passion of Anna and Hour of the Wolf. Finally, see how you like the above-mentioned later films (with Fanny and Alexander being a must).
It depends.Do you like these two films?For me,these two(although Persona is possibly my favorite),are surely not the ones that I’d recommend to someone as an introduction to Bergman.I would likely suggest something like The Seventh Seal or The Virgin Spring.
If you liked these two films,I would highly recommend The Silence,the last part of his faith trilogy(Through a Glass Darkly and Winter Light-also highly recommended-being the other two parts),which I think could be seen as a link to his next(more complex?)phase of his career,which I think was introduced with Persona.
So,to sum up.your choise should be based on your opinion of the two films that you ’ve already seen.
I’d say either go forward into Hour of the Wolf and then his later films, or try out some of his earlier, more conventional work – for which I’d be quick to recommend the incredibly beautiful Summer Interlude.
Bergman considered Winter Light and The Silence to be part of his “Trilogy of Faith,” along with Through a Glass Darkly, so seeing the the other two-thirds of the trilogy would be one way to proceed. Or you could back up a bit and Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, and Wild Strawberries before moving forward.
A Lesson in Love is one of my favorites and a good watch if you can find it. But going along with that time in his career, I’d say Hour of the Wolf, Passion of Anna or Shame.
I would definitely agree with those who suggested Winter Light and The Silence, two of his best, IMO.
From there you’ll have to decide whether to go backwards, forwards or both, but these two fit beautifully with what you’ve seen.
Agree with all of these recommendations but proceed carefully with Bergman, because if you truly connect with his style, it’s very difficult to stop!!
I’m on 28-29 films now and still feel i haven’t seen enough.
There’s never enough Bergman. LONG before you’ve seen them all you start wanting to re-watch them.
Cyrus Colley
A simple request as to which one of Bergman’s films I should watch next. Any suggestions?