Review of Fanny and Alexander (1982) by Jonny B — 18 Nov 2011

'Persona' is for me the greatest movie ever made so it's fantastically troubling that 'Fanny and Alexander' is Bergman's best work, his masterpiece, his epic classic that's a culmination of the life's work of the finest cinematic mind.

Ingmar Bergman's last collaboration with Sven Nykvist transcends every work they created prior. Let's be clear here, 'Fanny and Alexander' is a profound work of art that is hard to categorize as a movie as there's a wonderful five-hour-long television version and the splendid theatrical version.

I prefer the theatrical version for its ability to mix childhood innocence with the darkest side of religious psychosis with a blend of more childhood imagination and imagery than seen in the television take.

The third act is a horror movie that outdoes any genre movie - it knocked me out with its intensity that will likely frighten the most hardened viewer. Before the movie enters the delirious reversal of roles of adults acting out like mad children and the children becoming more like the grownups, Bergman let's us into a world of eroticism, moral ambivalence, childhood imagination, and a disturbed family drama.

The writing is - is it even worth mentioning anymore, isn't it a fact? - flawless, although I've come across claims it is convoluted - not a good observation, it's a movie made for television.

And even if one is to sit through eight hours of both the television and theatrical version they're in for eye candy every second. I've seen 'Fanny and Alexander' around half-a-dozen times and there's always - not just something, or a little - an abundance of new delights.

No critic, no filmmaker, no fan boy, no one except for perhaps Bergman (who is no longer with us, it's sad I know) can write a critique of this movie and do it justice because reviewing 'Fanny and Alexander' is tantamount to climbing Manaslu.

Someone write a book on this movie already.