CINEMA CLASSICS
Fanny and Alexander 15
Sweden | 1982 188 minutes
DIRECTED BY
Ingmar Bergman
STARRINGBertil Guve | Pernilla Allwin | Ewa Fröling
Yes,
this is a long film, but it’s so good you’ll hardly notice. It is perhaps
Ingmar Bergman’s greatest film, and given his long catalogue of classics,
that’s saying quite a lot. Bergman started directing feature films in 1946, and
throughout the following five decades he made 72 films for both cinema and TV,
including Summer with Monika (1952), which we screened at The Eclectic
Cinema last year.
In fact,
Fanny and Alexander was conceived and originally made as a five-episode
TV series, with an overall run-time of more than five hours. The film was then
produced as an edited version of the series, but it was released first, before
the series was televised, although this was not Bergman’s original intention.
The
story is based partially on Bergman’s own childhood, although the period
setting is a little earlier – the first decade of the 20th century.
(Bergman was not born until 1918.) It centres on the theatrical Ekdahl family,
who live in pleasant chaos in their large family home in Uppsala. The focus is
on ten-year-old Alexander (who is based on Bergman himself), the highly
imaginative son of Oscar and Emilie. He is very drawn to the theatre and likes
to explore the ideas of story-telling. But happiness is cut short when his
father dies suddenly from a stroke. His mother’s subsequent remarriage to a
local bishop, and the family’s move into the bishop’s residence, also occupied
by his mother, sister and aunt, spells the end of any freedom enjoyed by the
Ekdahls. The domestic regime is brutally authoritarian, and it is Alexander who
becomes the particular source of irritation for his new stepfather. The bishop
is determined that Alexander’s vivid imagination must be curbed.
The film
was released to universal acclaim in 1982. In 1984, it won four Academy Awards
and numerous other awards around the world for Best Foreign Language Film,
including a César and a Golden Globe. Now,
here is your chance to get comfy and watch the latest restored version of this
film on the big screen.
24 March 2025 MONDAY 19:30
AUDITORIUM
Tickets £8.00|£5.00 (under 26) CONCESSION NOT AVAILABLE ONLINE