Review of Fanny and Alexander (1982) by Steve M — 19 May 2010

Since this film is loved by so many, maybe there was something I missed. For me, Fanny and Alexander was well-shot and well-acted, but really that's about it. You can tell that director Ingmar Bergman is attempting to deliver some kind of message regarding family life back in 1907, but his message loses its edge when it's placed on a dulled story and an overly long running time. To tell you the truth, it seemed like anything that could be potentially interesting in this movie was cut out for some reason. We never see the mother's hatred build for the bishop, and both Fanny and Alexander say very little. In fact, when Alexander speaks, he's mostly just being a brat. But like I said before, perhaps I've missed something here. It's happened before with other films where I don't care for them the first time, but then I love it years later. So maybe that'll happen here...

All I know is that "Fanny and Alexander" was a well-crafted dull movie.