Review of Fanny and Alexander (1982) by Tomass P — 23 Feb 2013

I'm sure I'm not the only one who considers Fanny and Alexander to be one of Ingmar Bergman's absolute finest movies. I also happen to consider this one of the greatest movies in swedish movie history. Or let's even say, the world's movie history! Watching it, can be a very powerful experience. It provokes almost every possible feeling, a human can feel, very intensively, during it's 312 minutes (in full time).

The big set, contains the very elite of the greatest actors we had in Sweden, back then, and even a few who managed to make an international career some years later. I particularly have Pernilla August and Lena Olin in mind when speaking on later international careers.

The child actors who play the title roles, Pernilla Allwin and Bertil Guve, did not appear in any famous production after Fanny and Alexander. Ingmar Bergman, known as the true "demon director" perhaps mentally injured the poor kids for life after having worked together. Who knows? Haha...

The movie is about a rather well-off family, the Ekdahl-family, that we follow through a couple of years. The ploy is particularly set through the eyes of Alexander, but we are profoundly introduced to every character of the great family and even their servants. Bergman's masterpiece Fanny and Alexander, is a brilliant study of characters. In a way it's theatrical, for containing long monologues sometimes, but speaking of my personal watching experience, I get so captivated by the film, I never think of it as such. Amazingly, it's Bergman himself who has written the script as well, which you couldn't really guess at first since the script consists of such a great dialog, with so many beautiful and wise quotes that are worth considering.

In the opening scene, it's christmas eve, 1907, and Ekdahl's are assembled at Grandma Ekdahl's mansion, traditionally. Apart from the rich grandmother Miss Ester, the family consists of her three middle-aged sons; Gustaf Adolf (Jarl Kulle), Carl (Börje Ahlstedt) and Oscar (Allan Edwall) with their respective wives and children.

Fanny and Alexander are the children of Oscar and Emily Ekdahl, who run the city theatre.

Fanny and Alexander, being used to a very airy, lovable family with good cohesion, get their lives crushed when their father Oscar, suddenly dies after a rehearsal for Hamlet. Their mother, soon weds the strict and cold bishop, Edvard Vergerus (Jan Malmsjö) who demands that Emily and her children move to the bishop palace, with nothing but the clothes they wear.

The bishop palace, with the biship, his sister, mother and a few servants, is a very bald and austere house with very strict rules about how to eat, how to speak and how to live. Alexander, who just like Hamlet, cannot forgive his mother for remarrying so soon after his father's death, hates the bishop's guts and do anything in his power to spite him. It eventually developes into a great powerplay between the bishop and Alexander, who consequently becomes ritually punished for the smallest misdemeanor.

When Emily realizes her mistake, in marrying the cruel bishop, it's all to late to leave, since the bishop will take the legal right to keep Fanny and Alexander after a divorce. All this, only to practise his power.

This movie won four academy awards, and the NYFCC award for best foreign movie back in the days.

....one last thing before you watch this lovely classic.....If you have the chance, watch the movie uncut. You will probably thank me for this little advise, afterwards!:).