Ingmar Bergman, Fanny and Alexander #

Act I #

Just finished the first act for the first time. I haven’t watched a Bergman film in a long time but it really is inspiring. The whole thing was smooth and flat: unaffected. It reminded me a lot of Robert Bresson’s au hazard Balthazar a lot of ways—though Bergman claimed to have not liked the Bresson film. If only I could make movies like Bergman too—unaffected and calm. Though I do wonder how calm Bergman actually is. Despite the use of music, I felt that Fanny and Alexander was in no way fake but real through-and-through.

Act II #

How is it May already, that upon my calendar plans once far away (a trip) now draws so near? Today I watched the second act of Fanny and Alexander. The supernatural scene at its end was anything but “smooth and flat.” The human aspect cannot be overstated in this act. Thus the following logic emerges: the acts which most move the human soul （最動人心之事）turns out to be that which is most flat and one dimensional in Bergman’s world. That which is most common, everyday, and within our grasp (death) becomes that which is most human. This fundamental orientation towards being-towards-death (which is shown by shocking us out of everyday life) is therefore a fundamental concern of Bergman’s. Love and romance seemingly has lost its power here.