Fanny och Alexander. Many cinephiles consider Ingmar Bergman's Best Movie to be Fanny and Alexander, but do we agree? Others here have provided informative reviews of the film itself. The plot focuses on two siblings and their large family in Uppsala, Sweden during the first decade of the twentieth century. You may think your life to be boring and uneventful, but an experience seeing how a busy one can be overwhelming and may bring some appreciation for the old. It is highly recommended, however, because of the adult nature of the thematic material and some frightening and intense scenes, it's for grownups and very mature teens. Brought back to Isak's vast house, which is stacked to the ceiling with treasures to sell or barter, Alexander awakens in the middle of the night to urinate, loses his way back to his room, is startled by a conversation with God and discovers that God is actually a puppet being manipulated as a joke by Aron. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes a really good film. The movie is astonishingly beautiful. Alexander is an imaginative boy. Ingmar Bergman's "Fanny and Alexander" (1982) was intended to be his last film, and in it, he tends to the business of being young, of being middle-aged, of being old, of being a man, woman, Christian, Jew, sane, crazy, rich, poor, religious, profane. It's beautifully written. A magical movie, Fanny and Alexander is likely to be the achievement for which Bergman will be most remembered. Focusing on impressionable young Alexander and his sister, Fanny, the tragic loss of their father and the drastic change the family undergoes after their mother marries a sadistic disciplinarian bishop. The enormous cast centers on Helena, the grandmother, played by Gunn Wallgren (in a role once intended for Ingrid Bergman). I am a huge fan of Ingmar Bergman's work and this Oscar winning triumph is truly one of my all time favourite films and seems to get better with each viewing. An extravagant, flawless film, superbly crafted, with a great story and acting, exquisitely written and photographed. Oscar is married to Emilie, a grave beauty, and they have two children, Fanny and Alexander. Robert Hatch The Nation. There is also a disc of documentaries and interviews, including a feature length film on the making of the movie. If it is available, buy this set. This version also has an audio commentary. It is one of the best movies of 1983. Online reviewers have written 595 reviews, giving Fanny and Alexander (1982) an average rating of 84%. Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2019. Isak Jacobi, acting for his friend Helena, enters the bishop's house and offers to buy a trunk, and then smuggles her grandchildren out of the house in the trunk -- and yet how can it be, when the bishop runs upstairs to look for them, that the children also apparently in their room? You won't be sorry. Within a day or so, he is dead of a stroke. Personally I resent heavy moral messages from script=writers who probably know less than most about such matters. Bergman has often allowed the supernatural into his films. Fanny and Alexander is merely a ponderous, wearisome vanity project where nothing ever fell into place over the course of its long running time. Perhaps it all has something to do with the magic arts of the Jacobi family. What's certain is that Bergman somehow glides beyond the mere telling of his story into a kind of hypnotic series of events that have the clarity and fascination of dreams. At the end, I was subdued and yet exhilarated; something had happened to me that was outside language, that was spiritual, that incorporated Bergman's mysticism; one of his characters suggests that our lives flow into each other's, that even a pebble is an idea of God, that there is a level just out of view where everything really happens. As many already know, this magnificent Criterion blu-ray contains the film in two forms; the original, Amazing film; this is the best of several competing DVD editions, Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2013. But the version Bergman prefers is longer still, the 312-minute version he made for Swedish television. The theatrical version runs 188 min. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2019. And it's not "dark" or filled with horror. Fanny and Alexander is one of the most acclaimed films of the 20th century and most cinephiles would lose all respect for a person who doesn’t think it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. This is an excellent movie - very richly done, beautiful interiors, great sets, wonderful cinematography. It is 1907, in an unnamed Swedish town. Genres: Period Drama, Family Drama. Isak has two nephews, Aron, who helps in the business, and Ismael, who is "not well" and is kept in a locked room and can be heard singing at night. It is one of the best movies of 1983. A must own. One room spills into another, as we see when the half-drunk guests join hands for a song while parading through the flat. Every frame, movement of the camera, set, actor, costume, line of dialogue is almost faultless. As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) and Alexander (Bertil Guve) enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. Small wonder one of his inspirations was Dickens. Bought as a gift to a fan of the film. Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2013. I won't add to them, other than to say, this film is definitely a classic! Gustav's marriage is eccentric, Carl's is sad, and Oscar's is filled with love -- for his family, and the theater. Set in Sweden in 1907 (earlier in reality to the director’s own childhood) the film covers a year in the life of 10 year old Alexander Ekdahl and his 8 year old sister, Fanny. Can one blame him? NOTE: This Review is Pertaining to the EXTENDED Version of the Film - the television version. Charles Dickens like in scope, with a unique cast of characters, overt references to Hamlet, and plenty of classical music. The Criterion Collection is proud to present both the theatrical release and the original five-hour television … Fanny and Alexander review – Bergman classic staged with superb performances. I saw this movie when it came out. It is probably my favorite Bergman film. Directed by: Ingmar Bergman. I can figure that stuff out for myself, even if the answer is that there is no answer. FANNY AND ALEXANDER Criterion Blu-ray Review. Now Fanny and Alexander are taken to a new world, the bishop's house, which he inhabits with his mother, his sister and his aunt, and which is whitewashed and barren, with only a few necessary pieces of furniture, locks on every door, bars on the windows. You can still see all customer reviews for the product. A Magnificent, Wondrous, and Colossal Movie! To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. This Oscar-winning Bergman masterpiece exists on DVD in various editions, and this is unquestionably the version to get. Rarely have I felt so strongly during a movie that my mind had been shifted into a different kind of reality.