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[neutralname]

Hmm, I couldn't find the recent thread about the death of Bergman.  Maybe you are all too depressed to write about it.

Of course, he hadn't made a film for a long time.  These days, his early films come across as so serious and earnest.  The scene in the Seventh Seal with Death playing chess on the beach was ripe for satire.  But he set the standard for the exploration of anguish, and so many of his films were visually stunning. 

So what was your favorite Berman movie?  Mine was Wild Strawberrie.

[contemporary_]

Thank you,
I cannot choose a favorite.  I am verklempt, but far more so over the death of Antonioni(favorites, the trilogy). 

I wrangled with the idea of starting a thread, but couldn't decide how to elicit the inappropriate mix of rended garments and banal banter I desire. 

[neutralname]

Here's an interesting piece of info from the Wikipedia:

Film director Ingmar Bergman once remarked that he admired some of Antonioni's films for their detached and sometimes dreamlike quality. However, while he considered Blowup and La notte masterpieces, he called the other films boring and noted that he had never understood why Antonioni was in such esteem.

I'm certainly much more of a Bergman fan than an Antonioni enthusiast.  But was one of them more influential than the other?  I suspect that Antonioni's style is far more noticeable in current film and more serious television than Bergman's. 

[daniel_von_flanagan]

Smiles of a Summer Night is the Bergman film that holds up best for me; I liked his more serious early films (like Seventh Seal) when I was in college over 30 years ago, but nowadays I mainly respect it as a piece of cultural heritage to be admired from afar.  I've not seen any of his most recent work, but am curious to see Saraband, the recent sequel to Scenes from a Marriage (which I did not appreciate as a college punk).  - Dvf

[contemporary_]

Likewise I'm sure (wikified)

Michelangelo Antonioni (September 29, 1912 - July 30, 2007) was an Italian modernist film director whose films are widely considered as some of the most influential in film aesthetics.

I tend to prefer auteurs in Antonioni's lineage as well.  You are right about  film and television -- the same holds true in the art world.  I like Scenes From a Marriage as well, it shares themes with Antonioni's trilogy.  Ah, alienation.

[englitprof]

I, too, like Seventh Seal an awful lot, but it's a tie with Through a Glass, Darkly.  I think I really dig the whole religious/existential angst thing.   Apparently Bergman directed a TV version of No Exit--has anyone ever heard of/seen this?

Sarabande was pretty good, too.

[verbena]

Personally, I'm still not over Kurosawa's death. Plus, don't these things come in threes? Makes me nervous.

I guess I'd have to say Fanny & Alexander, though. I have a soft spot for the little boy cursing over and over during the funeral procession.

[rowan1]

Personally, I'm still not over Kurosawa's death.

me too, now there was a great director.

Plus, don't these things come in threes? Makes me nervous.

There have been two other famous people deaths, one was the guy who started the whole late night talk show thing, don't remember his name.  And Tammy Faye - so we have the three.  And it is weird but it always seems to work that way.

I guess I'd have to say Fanny & Alexander, though. I have a soft spot for the little boy cursing over and over during the funeral procession.

That scene makes me giggle.  But I don't have a favorite.

[helpful]

  The scene in the Seventh Seal with Death playing chess on the beach was ripe for satire. 

It was satired in the early 70s by someone in Britain. Death played badminton  with a knight. It was in a Swedish accented English. A short movie but had us students fooled as the prof said it was the latest Bergman film. (It was shown the last nite of a Bergman course). Anyone else see it?

My favorite Bergman film was The Silence. Also Through A Glass Darkly. Scenes from a Marriage was intense.

Did you see the biopic of Bergman directed by Bille August. Really explained well his upbringing, even though his character never appeared until the last scene (as a baby in his mother's arms). His father was quite the religious man.

[verbena]

Plus, don't these things come in threes? Makes me nervous.

There have been two other famous people deaths, one was the guy who started the whole late night talk show thing, don't remember his name.  And Tammy Faye - so we have the three.  And it is weird but it always seems to work that way.

Well ... I was thinking more along the lines of Bergman, Antonioni....

[daniel_von_flanagan]

  The scene in the Seventh Seal with Death playing chess on the beach was ripe for satire. 

It was satired in the early 70s by someone in Britain.

De Düva; in my book the 2nd greatest short movie satire ever[1].  It was nominated for an Oscar in '68.  When it starts you think it is in Swedish, but as it progresses you realize that it is English with a faux-Swedish accent. - DvF

[1] Right after Bambi Meets Godzilla

[helpful]

  The scene in the Seventh Seal with Death playing chess on the beach was ripe for satire. 

It was satired in the early 70s by someone in Britain.

De Düva; in my book the 2nd greatest short movie satire ever[1].  It was nominated for an Oscar in '68.  When it starts you think it is in Swedish, but as it progresses you realize that it is English with a faux-Swedish accent. - DvF

[1] Right after Bambi Meets Godzilla

The other, sort of satire, I love was the BBC (I think) documentary on the spaghetti harvest in Italy (using pitchforks to collect the spaghetti off the spaghetti trees).