My Top 10:
Through a Glass Darkly
Persona
The Seventh Seal
The Passion of Anna
Wild Strawberries
Winter Light
Scenes from a Marriage
Sawdust and Tinsel
Through a Glass Darkly
Summer of Monika
I do have to say i have yet to see Fanny and Alexander, i have the Artificial Eye 5 hour version, but i am saving that as a reward until i have made a short feature i am conetempt with.
Yes, SUMMER WITH MONIKA (1953) is really an excellent picture, with gorgeous B&W photography, excellent acting, a good story. The message is downbeat… but conveyed with such delicacy and finesse!
A must-see for any Bergman fan or lover of Midcentury world cinema.
hah. well it’s not that easy actually.and oh come on people!how can u choose just one?it’s insane.
here i go:
1.PERSONA
2.CRİES AND WHİSPERS
3.SHAME
4.THE PASSİON OF ANNA
5.THE VİRGİN SPRİNG
6.WİLD STRAWBERİES
7.THE SİLENCE
…….and 8…………….oh god i really can’t decide after these….through a glass darkly for sure or… scenes from a marriage,shit i forgot the seventh seal,ah did i write autumn sonata.
OK.i give up..i can’t. I’m sure that i’ll always be changing my mind about the order but…. PERSONA WILL ALWAYS BE ON TOP.DEFİNATELY.YEAH.
and i’m really ashamed to write this down but i haven’t seen Fanny and Alexander and Winter Light.but i have seen all the others though.so i guess i can’t say something from here cause i’m %100 sure that i will be hynotised by the beauty of Fanny and Alexander, will be moved by the brightness of winter light. but i wanna repeat again cause i’m sure PERSONA will stay at the top.i think it’s really one of the best pictures ever made.c’est sur sans interroger!
and i think shame deserves much more admiration.i think it’s as powerful as cries and whispers….
hey people what u guys think about SHAME???
when shame first came out ,leftist intellectuals in Sweden condemned the absence of a fully evolved political consciousness.they felt bergman had reduced the Vietnam war [which shame alluded to ] to a character study.
TO JOY has been cited as Bergman’s worst movie. No, no— far from it… I found it actually quite cute and charming and funny.
Vying for Bergman’s worst, I’d say would be:
1. THE RITE (totally inscrutable plot)
2. THE SERPENT’S EGG (turgid, too slow story; unsatisfying action, miscast actors)
3. HOUR OF THE WOLF (neither scary nor suspenseful)
4. BILDMAKARNA (frightful acting)
5. AUS DEM LEBEN DER MARIONETTEN (cerebral, unconvincing…. and in German)
Feel free to disagree…
Bergman’s best? Just my opinion, but in order of excellence, tightness, dazzling style and beauty:
1. WILD STRAWBERRIES (Just a perfect story, perfectly told)
2. THE SILENCE (in terms of confidence and glossy style, Bergman is rarely better)
3. THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY
4. AUTUMN SONATA (just to see late-vintage Ingrid Bergman knock one out of the ballpark is a thrill in itself)
5. PERSONA
6.. WINTER LIGHT
7. SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE (in some ways, this may be Bergman’s masterpiece)
8.. SUMMER WITH MONIKA (it’s really a very good, overlooked film! The photography is ravishing.)
9. FANNY & ALEXANDER
10. FACE TO FACE (Liv Ullmann is just on fire in this piece; showing us why she is one of the world’s greatest ever film actresses)
I know that CRIES AND WHISPERS is higher on everybody’s list than mine… usually in people’s top 5 Bergman… truthfully, I didn’t think it was the masterpiece it’s cracked up to be. JMHO. And THE SEVENTH SEAL is vastly overrated, as is VIRGIN SPRING and SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT.
I thought SHAME was very, very interesting.
Would anyone agree with me that early 70’s Bergman quite probably influenced THE EXORCIST (sick and dead women freaking out in a ghastly way in bed) ?
i disagree with your finale assertion ,from the life of the marionettes is probably the closest he came to the rawness of fassbinder.[the bi sexual designer in the film might be a reference]
i meant gay designer ,
I think that AUTUMN SONATA might be thought of as “the thinking man’s MOMMIE DEAREST” (-:
and also a sly reference to the personal history of Ingrid bergman[the Leonardo figure is clearly a reference to rossellini]its also a reflection of his own estrangement from some of his many far flung kids.
1) Wild Strawberries
2) Hour of the Wolf
3) The Silence
4) Persona
5) Winter Light
That’s all i’ve seen so far, I absolutely love every film of his I’ve seen, and am very eager to see more
this is a hard one…
persona
winter light
scenes from a marriage
fanny and alexander
cries and whispers
autumn sonata
virgin spring
wild strawberries
the silence
seventh seal
through a glass darkly
smiles of a summer night
crisis
My favorites:
1. Fanny and Alexander
2. Hour of the Wolf
3. Wild Strawberries
4. The Seventh Seal
5. The Virgin Spring
6. Cries and Whispers
7. Winter Light
8. Through a Glass Darkly
My revised list (in order):
1. Winter Light
2. From the Life of the Marionettes
3. Shame
4. Persona
5. Fanny & Alexander
6. Hour of the Wolf
7. The Magician
Of those i’ve seen:
1. The Silence
2. Persona
3. Winter Light
4. Hour of the Wolf
5. The Magician
6. Wild Strawberries
7. Through a Glass Darkly
8. The Seventh Seal
9. Cries and Whispers
I always considered Persona to be my fave but I recently watched scenes from a marriage (for about the 8th time) and it just gets more and more fascinating with each view. utterly compelling stuff and possibly no. 1
Seen 12, I second those that regard Winter Light as his best, if not the best of any director.
1. Wild Strawberries
2. The Seventh Seal
3. Smiles of a Summer Night
4. The Virgin Spring
These are the only Bergman films I have seen so far, all of them are great. Wild Strawberries is in my top 50 all time.
My ten favorites, in order:
1. Wild Strawberries (1957)
2. Summer Interlude (1951)
3. Persona (1966)
4. Fanny and Alexander (1982)
5. The Seventh Seal (1956)
6. Summer with Monika (1953)
7. The Virgin Spring (1960)
8. Cries and Whispers (1972)
9. Dreams (1955)
10. To Joy (1950)
1. Persona
2. Wild Strawberries
3. Cries and Whispers
4. The Seventh Seal
Sadly, that’s all the Bergman I’ve seen, but it’s the order I’d place them in for now.
Wild Strawberries
Cries and Whispers
The Virgin Spring
Autumn Sonata
Through a Glass Darkly
The Seventh Seal
Hour of the Wolf
Having seen just a few films by Bergman, if I had to draw up a list my favourites would be – in order of preference:
- Smultronstallet
- Det Sjunde Inseglet
- Persona
- Nattvardsgasterna
- Såsom i en Spegel
Then Tystnaden, Viskningar Och Rop and Vargtimmen.
1. Fanny and Alexander
2. Persona
3. Shame
4. Wild Strawberries
5. The Passion of Anna
6. Hour of the Wolf
7. Cries and Whispers
8. The Touch
9. Winter Light
10. Thirst
11. The Seventh Seal
Top 5
1. Scenes From A Marriage
2. Fanny and Alexander
3. Persona
4. Through A Glass Darkly
5. Wild Strawberries
McBean
My Top 3 Bergman would be:
1. Persona
2. Scenes From A Marriage (Full)
3. Fanny & Alexander (Theatrical)