Fanny and Alexander

1982

3h 8m

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

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As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.

Directors

Ingmar Bergman

Writers

Ingmar Bergman(writer by)

Stars

Bertil Guve

Pernilla Allwin

Jan Malmsjö

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Videos4

Photos79

Top cast

Bertil Guve

Alexander Ekdahl

Pernilla Allwin

Fanny Ekdahl

Jan Malmsjö

Bishop Edvard Vergerus

Emilie Ekdahl

Helena Ekdahl

Carl Ekdahl

Hanna Schwartz

Siri

Isak Jacobi

Aron Retzinsky

Gustav Adolf Ekdahl

Oscar Ekdahl

Justina

Filip Landahl

Ismael Retzinsky

Maj

Alma Ekdahl

Lydia Ekdahl

Directors

Ingmar Bergman

Writers

Ingmar Bergman(writer by)

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Review

Featured review

7/10

The eponymous children (Pernilla Allwin and Bertil Guve) live an happy upper-middle class life with their theatre-manager father "Oskar" (Allan Edwall) and mother "Emilie" (Ewa Fröling) and are looking forward to Christmas. Parties ensue and a good time is had by all until the father is suddenly taken ill. His death follows swiftly and their mother is soon being wooed by the rather puritanical bishop "Vergerus" (Jan Malmsjö) who has a rather different, more disciplinarian, attitude to bringing up the children. When they marry, the life of "Alexander", especially, becomes nigh on intolerable. "Emilie" is initially tolerant of her new husband's policies, but gradually she grows to hate him and to start finding a way to get herself and her children back the safety of her own, loving, family. It's slightly episodic, this film. Phase one shows us the happiness, the second the marriage, the third - well that's the escape from the marriage - and it's the second phase that works best for me. A really quite chilling performance from Malmsjö as the cruel man of God also brings out a spirited effort from the young Guve who proves that "Alexander" is definitely not a quitter. The design of this film contrasts well the relative, red-velvet, luxury of their original home with the austerity of the bishop's much more sparse and chilled residence - and of that comparative change in their familial dynamic. Daniel Bell provides us with a score that accompanies the ups and downs of these two children, and increasingly of their mother, well too. Fröling's is another robust contribution - we can sense her character's infuriating frustration as she realises that it's a man's world, and she is largely trapped by her husband's status and subject to his will. It's a bit of a slow starter this, Bergman takes his time introducing us to characters that have varying degrees of tangentiality to the ultimate thread, but it does ultimately create the feeling that this is a family, a community - and some of the pieces starts to fit nicely as we head to the denouement. That conclusion? Well, I rather liked that! It's best on a big screen this film. The aesthetic is more effective and appreciable that way and don't be put off by the three hours - it really does move along quickly once we're underway.

Geronimo196704 Feb, 2024