30 Films That Made Me Who I Am - #23

Fanny & Alexander

     Up until now, I've only listed films that I either grew up with, or that I found in my teenage years.  This film is one I first watched only about two years ago.  For the past several years, I've been building up a collection of blu-rays from the Criterion Collection, which is a company that is "dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions of the highest technical quality, with supplemental features that enhance the appreciation of the art of film."  Those special features you see on your DVDs and blu-rays?  Thank Criterion for that.  They were the first company to include features back in the laserdisc days.  When I was getting my degree in Film Studies at UNCW, most of the films we watched in those classes were from the Criterion Collection.  My world would not be the same without them.  Through them I've discovered Kenji Mizoguchi, Fritz Lang, Louis Malle, Terrence Malick, Yasujiro Ozu, Francois Truffaut, Luis Bunnuel, Akira Kurosawa, Nicholas Roeg, and the director of this film, Ingmar Bergman.

     Now, I saw my first Bergman film when I was in my first year of college at Radford University.  I perused their dvd library as much as I could, and they had a pretty good collection of Criterions.  I had heard of this film called The Seventh Seal and it looked interesting.  It was, in short, amazing.  I had never seen anything like it, and I don't think I have since.  However, it would be another 2 years, and at another college, my alma mater UNCW, before I would see another Bergman film.  The next one I saw was Wild Strawberries, which is usually considered by film professors to be his best film.  Of course, as the title to this suggests, I don't agree.  (Though Wild Strawberries is amazing.)  No, my favorite, and the one that changed the way I look at life and film, is Fanny & Alexander.

     The film is set at the turn of the twentieth century in Sweden.  (Bergman is Swedish, of course.)  It follows the Ekdahl family, in particular 10-year-old Alexander and his younger sister Fanny, as their bourgeois family goes through it's ups and downs.  Now, I know that may not seem particularly exciting, but Bergman can make unexciting plots exciting.  Now, it's at this point that I must mention that there are two cuts of the film.  It was originally conceived as a 4-part TV movie and was filmed as such.  However, it was released first to cinemas in a 3 hour form that cuts out much of the supernatural and fantastic aspects of the film, which is one thing that drew me to the film.  I have yet to see the theatrical version.  The TV version is a little over five hours longs, and it's worth every minute.  I can't see how a shorter version could be done and still have the gravitas and beauty of the five hour version, so one of these days I must get around to it.

     The film has one of those bad guys you just love to hate.  The actor is so good at his portrayal here.  It's a widowed priest whom Fanny and Alexanders' mother weds.  He's a no nonsense man who loves power over others, especially Alexander.  He was based on Bergman's father.  Let me just give you a scene here to show you.

     Now, that's not one of the best scenes with the priest.  That's simply the one I could find on Youtube.  There's a rumor around the house in the film that the priest murdered his wife and daughter and their ghosts are in the attic.  The family's time with the priest are almost excruciating to watch, as he's so old fashioned and stern, punishing Alexander for things he didn't do.  It's especially so because Alexander loved his real father so much, and you spend the first part of the movie with him in such a loving family. Even after the time with the priest, Alexander is still haunted by him, as he's also haunted by his real father.  Don't think that this is a very serious film though, as there's quite a bit of humor in it, mostly dealing with Alexander's extended family.

    This film was supposed to be Ingmar Bergman's last.  He was supposed to retire, as Hayao Miyazaki was after Spirited Away.  Still, like Miyazaki, he ended up not going into full retirement.  He did TV movies, directed operas, and things like that.  I believe he even did another movie or two before he died in the early 2000s.  

     So why did I choose this film as one that made me who I am?  Well, any 5 hour movie that doesn't make me want to get up and move around for a while is doing something very good.  And this is one of the very few that works for me.  I love films about childhood and the loss of it.  Combined with Bergman's eye for period detail and speech, the film is a wonder.  It was this film that made me want to see all of Bergman's films, most of which are fantastic.  This film would go on to win four Academy Awards in 1983 and be nominated for a further two.  It won Best Foreign Film, Cinematography, Costume Design, and Art Direction.  The two it did not win were for Director and Screenplay,  both for Bergman himself.  And that was just for the theatrical version!

    Seriously, you owe it to yourself to check this one out.  It's subtitled, yes, but after years of viewing most films in subtitles (lots of foreign film in college), after a while you won't even notice you're reading.