Storyline The title characters are children in the exuberant and colorful Ekdahl household in a Swedish town early in the twentieth century. Their parents, Oscar and Emilie, are the director and the leading lady of the local theatre company. Oscar's mother and brother are its chief patrons. After Oscar's early death, his widow marries the bishop and moves with her children to his austere and forbidding chancery. The children are immediately miserable. The film dramatizes and resolves those conflicts. A sub-plot features Isak, a local Jewish merchant who is the grandmother's lover and whose odd household becomes the children's refuge.
Cast: Pernilla Allwin
-
Ekdahlska huset - Fanny Ekdahl
Bertil Guve
-
Ekdahlska huset - Alexander Ekdahl
Börje Ahlstedt
-
Ekdahlska huset - Carl Ekdahl
Allan Edwall
-
Ekdahlska huset - Oscar Ekdahl
Ewa Fröling
-
Ekdahlska huset - Emilie Ekdahl
Gunn Wållgren
-
Ekdahlska huset - Helena Ekdahl
(as Gun Wållgren)
Jarl Kulle
-
Ekdahlska huset - Gustav Adolf Ekdahl
Jan Malmsjö
-
Biskopsgården - Bishop Edvard Vergerus
Christina Schollin
-
Ekdahlska huset - Lydia Ekdahl
Kerstin Tidelius
-
Biskopsgården - Henrietta Vergerus
Emelie Werkö
-
Ekdahlska huset - Jenny Ekdahl
Marianne Aminoff
-
Biskopsgården - Blenda Vergérus
Sonya Hedenbratt
-
Ekdahlska huset - Aunt Emma
Svea Holst
-
Ekdahlska huset - Miss Ester
Kristina Adolphson
-
Ekdahlska huset - Siri
Taglines:
En film av Ingmar Bergman
Release Date: 17 December 1982
Filming Locations: Europa Studios, Bromma, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden
Opening Weekend: $36,365
(USA)
(19 June 1983)
(2 Screens)
Gross: $4,971,340
(USA)
(2 January 1984)
Technical Specs
Runtime:|
Sweden:
(director's cut)
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Shot in chronological order.
Goofs:
Anachronisms:
In one scene, Gun Wållgren refers to the historically famous Belgian town of Waterloo, and uses an English pronunciation, which is an obvious modern trait - probably as a result of the popularity of the eponymous song from the pop group Abba.
Quotes: Biskopsgården - Bishop Edvard Vergerus:
You don't get rid of me that easy!
User Review
A Real masterpiece
Rating: 10/10
Most of the ideas revealed through mystery by Bergman in Fanny och
Alexander
have
already been addressed by others. The first time I saw this film was in
1984, on tv and
with a much shorter version than the one released in England in 2002,
which
is the full
300-plus minute original.
That day I was scared -really scared- watching the scene where Alexander
is
been
helped to let out his most evil thoughts by Ishmael, a completely
mysterious
character
with supernatural insight. And then, a blackout. You can imagine: if I was
truly scared
this left me breathless.
Then, almost twenty years passed until I found this remarkable jewel, in
its
full version,
perfectly digitised and audio-enhanced in dvd. I bought a dlp projector
and
used a
previewing room to show it to my students. I didn't know what was going to
happen. But
that doubt was worth the waiting.
I think it's very difficult to say any other thing than breathtaking to
underline what this
film accomplishes. It's the reflected work of years of understanding and
hard work
between Bergman and Nyvqvist. One of the most powerful, beautiful, fearful
and perfect
films of all times. An exaggeration, like. Yes, but I think that there are
no words to
explain how plainly perfect this work is. The way it was written. The way
it
was directed.
The way it was lighted. The way it was designed. The way each and every
character plays
his or her role. The details -not a Bergman's new- to which they paid the
most
dedicated attention to. The luxurious use of available light. The setting
of
the story. The
amazing locations. Everything in this film was perfectly studied, down to
the colour
shifts that would take place in every shot!, forget about whole
scenes!
The troubling minds of all those characters whose lives are at crossroads.
The powerful
and eventful lives of just one familiy. The small and big affairs that
affect them.
Gratitude and hate. Honour and shame. Guilt and love. Fear and joy.
Selfishness and
generosity. Every long scene exudes with tension, pure fun or pleasure;
with
increasing
uneasiness and abrupt changes of demeanor. With a richness that could only
be found
where a very skillful eye -trained to see what most disregard as common-
finds beauty
and harmony. And a sound that is as exhilarating as the narrative
depiction.
When the maxim of making "every frame a Rembrandt" comes to my mind, this
film
makes me think Bergman pushed the envelope a little further: he gives (or
I'd rather say,
Nyvqyst) the tratment of Van Der Meer or Bosch or Cezanne or Michelangelo
to
some
scenes. (Think the kids playing at the nursery, the housemaidens sewing
socks, the
meadow and the boat, the transfixing scene of Alexander in the attic with
his mother).
And a story told from the eyes of two kids worth a ton of gold.
Alexander's
(Bertil Guve,
when he was twelve-thirteen) enormously powerful and convincing role can
certainly be
compared to any big-theatre-role actor.
Superb. Don't think you've seen the whole thing until you get the 5 hour
full-story.
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