One of the most spiritual and profound directors in all of film is Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. “Fanny and Alexander” was intended to be his last film, and it is his most autobiographical and complex. At 3:08, a theatrically trimmed version from the original 5+ hours, “Fanny and Alexander” is deep, engaging and life encompassing in the many themes it evokes.
Really, it has enough themes for five movies. Yet every character is brilliantly complex and challenged. Even the varying set pieces and ideas Bergman considers never feel thin. They are rich tapestries to this broader story, at times being peaceful and elegiac and at others being cold and ghastly.
“Fanny and Alexander’s” quasi ghost story succeeds so fully because Bergman’s chilling, uncertain tone persists throughout the film. Each scene is directed with such grace and haunting beauty. This is a film that seduces and entrances you. Continue reading “Rapid Response: Fanny and Alexander”