Fanny & Alexander

Considered by many to be Ingmar Bergman's crowning achievement, this is an epic tale of a Swedish family set at the beginning of the twentieth century. It begins with festive family Christmas celebrations at the home of the Ekdahl family, a well to do and cultured bunch. Oscar Ekdahl runs the local theatre, where he occasionally plays a small role in one of the shows. He is clearly not well and seems to be aware that he is not long of this world. He makes an impassioned speech at the theatre's Christmas party. He dies soon after and the widow, Emilie Ekdahl, the lovely Ewa Froling, is left alone with her two young children Fanny and Alexander. The film more or less comes from Alexander's point of view. The widow unwisely marries the local Bishop, a pompous villain, excellently portrayed by Jan Malmsjo. He does a very good job and I guarantee that you will despise his character long before the end of the film and take secret delight when he dies in a gruesomely painful way. After a long, dark spell the children and their mother are reunited with the wider family and all is well. Alexander is at least partially biographical of Bergman, who himself had a domineering minister as a father. I watched the abridged 3 hour version. I understand the full version runs to five hours and is best watched as a mini-series in episodes. Its a full, intelligent and delightful film. It makes interesting comments on life and religion, but does so through an examination of the details of the characters' lives.