Fanny and Alexander () is a 1982 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It was originally conceived as a four part TV movie which spanned 312 minutes. A version lasting only 188 minutes was created later for cinematic release.

Bergman intended the film to be his last feature, although he wrote several screenplays afterward and directed a number of TV specials.

Plot summary

The story is set in 1907-08 Uppsala, Sweden and deals with a young boy named Alexander, his sister Fanny, and their well-to-do family the Ekdahls. The siblings' parents are both involved in theater and are happily married until the father's sudden death. Shortly thereafter, the mother, Emilie, finds a new suitor in the local bishop, a handsome widower, and accepts his proposal of marriage, moving into his ascetic home and putting the children under his stern and unforgiving rule. He is particularly hard on Alexander, trying to break his will by every means. The children and their mother live as virtual prisoners in the bishop's house until finally the Ekdahl family intervenes. With help from an old friend, a Jewish antiques dealer, as well as some magic, the children are smuggled out of the house, but the Ekdahls' attempts to bribe or threaten the bishop into divorce fail. Emilie, by now pregnant, slips her husband a sedative and flees as he sleeps, after which a fire breaks out and the bishop is burnt to death. In the meantime, Alexander has met the Jewish merchant's mysterious nephew, Ismael Retzinsky, and fantasized about his stepfather's death ? it is as if Alexander's fantasy comes true as he dreams it. The story ends on a mainly happy, life-affirming note, with the christening of Emilie's and the late bishop's daughter and the illegitimate daughter of Alexanders uncle, Gustav Ekdahl; but Alexander encounters the bishop's ghost, signalling that he will never be completely free of him.

Cover of the Criterion Collection 5-Disc DVD release of Fanny and Alexander

Themes and background

In addition to its themes of Christianity, repentance, submission to authority, and the questioning of God's existence, the film deals with love, estrangement, ghosts, and the paranormal, as well as the more common Bergman theme of existentialism. Bergman also borrows some of the film's symbolism from his earlier film Through A Glass Darkly. Scenes such as Alexander's late night encounter with Aron Retzinsky echo and even mock the film's climax, only this time drawing attention to God's symbolism as a puppet. When the children's father suffers his fatal heart attack, he is playing the ghost of the dead King in Hamlet; the figure of the Bishop, and what happens to him, are reminiscent of Claudius' usurpation and the young Prince's final revenge.

The sunny and joyous Ekdahl household sequences are said to have been inspired by the works of Swedish painter and interior designer Carl Larsson (1853-1919). The exotic and supernatural elements in the storyline derive from the stories of E.T.A. Hoffmann.

Cast

• Ewa Fröling - Emelie Ekdahl
• Bertil Guve - Alexander Ekdahl
• Pernilla Allwin - Fanny Ekdahl
• Jan Malmsjö - Bishop Edvard Vergerus
• Gunn Wållgren - The grandmother; Helena Ekdahl
• Allan Edwall - Oscar Ekdahl
• Jarl Kulle - Gustav Adolf Ekdahl
• Mona Malm - Alma Ekdahl
• Erland Josephson - Isak Jacobi
• Börje Ahlstedt - Carl Ekdahl
• Christina Schollin - Lydia Ekdahl
• Pernilla August - Maj
• Kerstin Tidelius - Henrietta Vergerus
• Harriet Andersson - Justina
• Marianne Aminoff - Blenda Vergérus
• Stina Ekblad - Ismael Retzinsky
• Mats Bergman - Aron Retzinsky

Awards

The film was released in the United States in 1983 and won four Academy Awards:

• Best Foreign Film (producer Jörn Donner)
• Best Cinematography (Sven Nykvist)
• Best Art Direction (Anna Asp, Susanne Lingheim)
• Costume Design (Marik Vos-Lundh)

Bergman was nominated for both Directing and Writing Original Screenplay but was not awarded, thus ending his last chance of ever receiving a personal Oscar for a film. The film also received the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film.

DVD releases

The uncut TV version of the film is available in DVD editions released by Artificial Eye (in Region 2) and The Criterion Collection (in Region 1). The Criterion Collection edition is anamorphically enhanced and is released as three separate sets: the theatrical version, the television version , and a behind-the-scenes film, The Making of Fanny and Alexander; these discs are also available as a 5-disc box set. The Criterion release marked the first time the television version of Fanny and Alexander had been available in North America.

External links

• Criterion Collection essay by Stig Bjorkman on the television version
• Criterion Collection essay by Rick Moody on the theatrical version
• Review of ''Fanny and Alexander''

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