Review: BFI Ingmar Bergman Volume 4 Box Set

This six-disc set is the final instalment of the BFI’s review of Bergman’s career, this time going from 1971’s Cries and Whispers to 1984’s After The Rehearsal. Covering some of Bergman’s most ambitious and accessible work in the twilight of his career, this set shows him at his most assured and versatile.

Whilst films like Cries and Whispers and Autumn Sonata are bleak, intense psychodramas, their short runtimes, striking cinematography, and casts featuring some of the most influential stars in world cinema offer a taste of what Bergman can be. The former, which garnered five Academy Award nominations, involves a dying mother and her three daughters, as one protects her from the ill intent of the others.  Autumn Sonata sees a renowned classical pianist, played by Ingrid Bergman, return to her estranged daughter; the two engage in a psychological confrontation, articulating all the ways they hurt each other and those around them across the years. Both films are deeply disturbing but bitterly insightful examinations of familial relationships, trauma and illness. It’s their unflinching attention to these difficult, universal themes that keeps them relevant and exciting viewing. 

Even the lesser-known works in the collection deserve such attention, such as From The Life of The Marionettes; a bleak, violent and aesthetically-probing psychological analysis of a killer and his failing marriage. Or, After The Rehearsal, a short but worthwhile drama centred on  an old theatre director and his lead actress Anna, where he reminisces on his relationship with her mother. Both these works ultimately stem from Bergman’s totemic statement on romantic relationships, and Scenes From A Marriage is also included on this set. It follows the collapse of Johan and Marianne’s marriage, and hones in on the paradoxical way they clearly need to live separate lives, and yet any future relationships they try to form can’t escape the shadow of their decades-long companionship. The recent HBO remake shows it to be as pertinent and incisive now as it was in 1973. 

These films are all brilliant, but they are also all bleak; in fact Bergman himself said he found his films depressing. However, also included on the set is Fanny and Alexander, by far Bergman’s most upbeat and welcoming film. The set has both the three-hour theatrical and the five-hour television versions, which both follow the lives of the Ekdahl family through the eyes of the child Alexander. Any attempt to reduce its Dickensian plot here would be selling its breadth of scope short, but as his final cinematic statement, you can see the whole vision of his career spilling onto this one fantastic canvas. 

So, this set from the BFI includes a great range for Bergman films for anyone interested in learning more about him. Even included is Bergman’s 1979 Faro Island documentary, which sees Bergman explore the island he infamously secluded himself into from the perspective of the townsfolk. An understated work, it too helps to show Bergman in a different light. Not dominated by the melodramatic flourishes of his dramas, it reveals a man uncertain of the world and the people within it, non-judgemental in terms of who has made the right or wrong decisions. It reveals the doubt that certainly drove his career, and this is worth considering as you swing from the delights of Fanny and Alexander to the anxieties of Autumn Sonata. 

The release is short on special features, only including trailers for Cries and Whispers and Fanny and Alexander. However, there is a 97-page booklet that contains an eclectic and accessible series of essays on all the films included, shedding light on the contextual and formal details of Bergman’s work.