Review of Fanny and Alexander (1982) by Peter P — 11 Jun 2011

In the early 20th century, a massive, rich family lives in rural Sweden. They all come together for a grand Christmas celebration at the grandma's house, each and everyone forgetting their problems and living life so happily. Two of them are kids, the title characters, Fanny and Alexander. Though this is a joyous time for them, there days of happiness are sadly going to end. A couple months later, their father unexpectedly dies, leaving them in complete devastation. Then a while later, they discover their mother has been seeing a minister without them knowing for some time and is about to marry him. Alexander has even had two negative run ins with him at that point (one in the film and then one off screen) and could not imagine the minister as the stepfather. The kids and the rest of the extended family do not agree with this up and coming marriage, but sadly, the two wed. Life becomes miserable for Fanny and Alexander, and eventually the mother. In addition, the ghost of their father begins to watch them from beyond the grave.

What is to say about Fanny and Alexander? The camera glides through the various, beautiful set pieces without really moving one bit. The cinematography could also be classified as beautiful, or perhaps, that is understatement. Everything in this film seems so natural, so involving, that you forget, as viewer, that you watching it on television, rather than in person. You also lose track of time as this film goes by very fast. What else is there is say about this film? Well, the best film of 1982; the greatest film of Ingmar Bergman; one of the greatest films of the 1980's; one of the greatest films of foreign language cinema; and one of the greatest films of all time. This is a visually, haunting masterpiece. Note: I watched the 188 minute version; there is a 305 minute version, but I don't if it could improve the viewing of this film considering I thought this version was extraordinary.