Review of Fanny and Alexander (1982) by Jeffrey C — 01 Dec 2010

Bergman at his best. It really captures the beauty of taking time to tell a story. Without the opening of the Ekdahl family the second half with the Bishop would not have been as strong. I did enjoy seeing that Bergman thought that fart jokes were funny.

But the thing that stuck out to me the most was the idea that we are all living life in the same world, and acceptance is the only way to get through it all. The Uncle who is married and having an affair at the same time is happy, even though his actions are disgusting to some.

The other uncle just wants to constantly borrow money and he is awful to the ones he loves. The grandmother had an affair with Uncle Isak, but it all just seems normal. The story of her husband catching them was quite comical and heartwarming.

Renada Jackson talking about Magical Realism was interesting. There was some magic that flowed through the movie in certain moments. When Alexander starts hearing God, I thought I was stepping back into Through a Glass Darkly, but I realized that he is sharing these moments in the real world and not schizophrenia.

The scene with Alexander and his dying father is quite heartbreaking. But one thing Bergman does brilliantly in this film is his refusal to move away from emotionally tough moments. The scenes that come to mind are the wife screaming in the room with her dead husband, then Alexander getting hit with the cane.

He does it quite often in this movie. Again, the genius comes in that everything seems scattered at first, but the way everything comes together really is beautiful. This is definitely one of Bergman's best films.