Ingmar Bergman

[Tommaso]

BBC4 only showed the ones about the life and the films, not the theatre work, presumably because they thought there would be little interest.

I actually think the one about the theatre is the most interesting of the three parts, as it doesn't repeat so much contentwise from other films/interviews about Bergman than the other two parts. Lots of wonderful excerpts from stage productions (reaching back to the 60s), and it seems that all these productions still exist in their entirety in watchable recordings. The theatre work is an aspect of Bergman which never gets the attention it deserves, so a nice Eclipse set of at least some of these productions would make me (and I believe others, too) very happy. And it's always a joy to listen to Bergman in an interview, not just in these three films.

[Cinephrenic]

The Ingmar Bergman Archives

Taschen

Duncan, Paul / Wanselius, Bengt (ED)
Hardcover + DVD 16.2 x 11.8 in., 592 pages, $ 200.00

ISBN: 978-3-8365-0023-4
Edition: English
Availability: September

andStanley Kubrick Archives is now $70.

[broadwayrock]

andStanley Kubrick Archivesis now $70.

Its a re-release in a smaller book and without the 2001 film strip. Great price though.

[Andrew_VB]

wait, is the kubrick one missing anything from the original release besides that film strip? and, further, does that mean eventually the bergman one will be cheaper? how long?

[Cinephrenic]

I don't know if anyone will know for sure, but my guts tell me at least a few years.

[broadwayrock]

wait, is the kubrick one missing anything from the original release besides that film strip? and, further, does that mean eventually the bergman one will be cheaper? how long?

Its exactly the same as the previous issue and it includes the same interview cd.

I imagine that the Bergman book will drop in price. I saw the Kubrick book drop to £60 before it went out of print.

[greggster59]

The original edition measures 16.2 x 11.8 in. while the new printing will be smaller at 12.9 x 9.6 in..

[Magic Hate Ball]

I just saw Face To Face today. While I agree with Bergman's suggestion that it's an "enthusiastic but ill-digested fruit of my reading", it's a mark above Autumn Sonata, which Bergman interprets as a "Bergman film" (ie, that it's simply an imitation of his other works). Liv Ullmann really gives a spectacular performance as the unravelling psychiatrist, and the small group of characters that orbit her as she declines are just as good, most notably good ol' Erland Josephson as the fellow doctor. The cinematography here isn't as polished as in Cries And Whispers or Scenes From A Marriage; the camera work is somewhat primal, whipping around to follow the actors. During one of Ullmann's breakdowns she plunges to the floor, out of the frame for a moment, and the camera catches up to her in what nearly amounts to a jump cut, suddenly focused on her crumpled body. It's stunning at times, but occasionally comes off as sloppy (most notably some clunky zooms during the beginning scene with Maria). It's sad that this hasn't been released on DVD yet, because it deserves far more recognition in the Bergman canon.

Edit: I threw together a trailer for the film, which you can see here.

[tavernier]

The Touch is being shown at BAM on August 21 as part of an Elliott Gould retro, believe it or not:

Thursday, August 21 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
The Touch (Beröringen) (1971), 115min, Rare Screening!
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
With Elliott Gould, Bibi Andersson, Max von Sydow
For Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman’s first film in English he cleverly chose Elliott Gould to play a psychologically crippled American anthropologist, bringing together Bergman’s concerns with human weakness in relationships and Gould’s ability to inhabit any role. In this rare cinematic gem, when Bibi Andersson and Gould have an affair, Swedish suffering meets New York neurosis. “An intimate psychological drama about a love affair and an ensuing domestic crisis,” remarks Time magazine.

[souvenir]

The Touch is being shown at BAM on August 21 as part of an Elliott Gould retro, believe it or not:

Any word on whether Gould will be in attendance during the retro?

[Galen Young]

I saw a screening of The Touch last September at PTFF, with Gould doing a Q & A after the film. Here are my notes of what he said --

The film is based on the true story of Ingmar meeting his fifth and last wife, Ingrid von Rosen. (though in real life, she divorced her husband and married Ingmar!) Elliot plays an alter ego of Ingmar in the story. Bibi Andersson was five and half months pregnant at the time of filming, and her breasts "were enormous" as a result. (she has a couple of nude scenes) Bergman mentioned to Gould that his favorite films of his up to that time were Persona and Winter Light. Ingmar told Elliot that "I will never mislead you" in his direction of him. Gould remembers a couple of specific times when Ingmar told him exactly what to do: in the scene where Elliot is holding Bibi's hand outside of the church, Ingmar told him how he wanted him to stroke her hand; during the apology scene, Elliot kept closing his eyes and Ingmar told him "I need your eyes open." Gould thought they did two things wrong in the making of film – one, he thinks it should have been shot in Swedish, with only his scenes in English, and two, he thinks that Bibi Andersson and Max Von Sydow should have received top billing over his name when the film was released.

I'd have to agree with Gould's two final points -- Andersson and Von Sydow are quite amazing, even though it seems a bit strange for them to be speaking English in a Bergman film. Regardless of that, the film is quite funny and poignant -- and very underrated. I hope it gets a decent DVD release one day, so I can finally trash my shitty bootleg of it...

[zone_resident]

The Ingmar Bergman Archives

Taschen

Hardcover + DVD 16.2 x 11.8 in., 592 pages, $ 200.00.

This is now available for pre-order at amazon.com for $126.
At bn.com (Barnes & Noble), it is $135 for members -- but can be as low as $108 if you use the 20% off coupon X4H8W9U before August 4th.

[exte]

Not to derail, but would they/will they do one on Akira Kurosawa? I can't imagine spending $126 for any other director.....

[chaddoli]

At BAM:

The Touch (1971) Rare Screening!
Thu, Aug 21 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
Dir. Ingmar Bergman

[Barmy]

From Variety:

Bergman tributes tied up in court
Litigation leaves limited access to director's films
By JANET SHPRINTZ, GUNNAR REHLIN

It may be July, but don't expect "Smiles on a Summer Night" -- at least not in the U.S. "Cries and Whispers" of frustration may be more like it.
With the one-year anni of Ingmar Bergman's death July 30, arthouse auds might have expected a slew of screenings of the great Swedish director's works.

But long-running litigation between the Isis Theater in Aspen, Colo., and Swedish film giant Svensk Filmindustri, which holds the rights to virtually all Bergman-directed films, has thwarted pic access.

In 1997 Svensk began developing the Isis with Resort Theaters of America. Svensk guaranteed the lease but then refused to pay when RTA went bankrupt.

A Colorado court found in favor of Isis -- but Svensk refused to hand over a cent toward the compensation, which now stands at $8.9 million with interest.

This month a Colorado judge gave Svensk until Aug. 22 to pay up or transfer the rights to its 1,200 title film catalog to Isis.

The problem isn't lack of money. Founded in 1919, Svensk is the leading Swedish film production and distribution company and a subsidiary of Bonnier Group, a European media conglom.

The U.S., however, does not have a treaty with Sweden to enforce judgments, and so far Isis has managed to collect just $200,000 by garnishing Svensk contracts with Sony, MGM and Janus Films.

Torsten Larsson, head of Bonnier Broadcasting and Entertainment, Svensk's parent company, says: "A court decision in Colorado means nothing in Sweden. We think that Isis acted in an unprofessional way. We have offered a settlement, but they were not interested. Obviously they feel there is more money to be made in trying to get the rights to the films."

[alfons416]

speaking about The Touch, the original version with only gould speaking english has been found and restored. it was shown earlier this summer at the Ingmar Bergman week on Fårö. hopefully it will get released on DVD soon.

[broadwayrock]

On the Taschen website they've added a link in the top right of the page where you can virtually flick through the entire Bergman archives book.

[Grand Illusion]

Got the Taschen book. The first thing I did was open to a random page. I flipped to the section for Persona, and the page revealed a behind-the-scenes photo. The picture was in color. With the best black-and-white cinematography I've ever seen, it had never even occurred to me that the world of Persona had been filmed on an Earth of color. The ocean was blue. It was beautiful.

My experience with the book has been like this.

[Hai2u]

These 1st print archives books are a great investment. Once out of print, the Kubrick ones were selling for $400+ on eBay if they still had the film strip. I actually happened to stumble upon a certain website that had a ton of them in stock not too long ago, then made a killing.

[Tommaso]

"Face to Face" will be released in June in Germany by arthaus.

Only German subs, as expected. But if that's okay for you, all reason to be happy!

[martin]

"Face to Face" will be released in June in Germany by arthaus.
Only German subs, as expected. But if that's okay for you, all reason to be happy!

Great news even though it seems like it's just the cut-down Theatrical release. I'd like to see the complete 4 part tv-series as well (I wouldn't miss "Scenes from a Marriage" and "Fanny & Alexander" in their tv-versions which I prefer to the theatrical versions). I'm still very excited about the German "Face to Face" release - and I'll definitely pick it up!

[aox]

I did a cursory search that came up empty, but did Bergman ever publicly comment on Woody Allen's work?

[Antoine Doinel]

I'm not sure if Bergman ever commented publicly on Allen's films, but the two met when Bergman was in New York once and they did continue to speak on the phone from time to time.

[aox]

That's really interesting to me that nothing was ever said either way. I am not saying that he would dislike Allen's work, but I know Bergman isn't afraid to deride other directors' work. Didn't he hate Hitchcock and Welles?

[domino harvey]

I think when someone very publicly champions your work and reaches out to befriend you, you tend to be polite and bite your tongue