 82% (3) Saraband 107 min R [Drama, Music] [Ingmar Bergman] [01 Dec 2003]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 77%, Rotten Tomatoes: 91%, Metacritic: 80%, External Reviews Awards: 2 wins & 2 nominations. Actors: Börje Ahlstedt, Erland Josephson, Julia Dufvenius, Liv Ullmann Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: Swedish, English, German Country: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Finland, Germany, Austria Plot: Marianne and Johan meet again after thirty years without contact, when Marianne suddenly feels a need to see her ex-husband again. She decides to visit Johan at his old summer house in the western province of Dalarna. And so, one beautiful autumn day, there she is, beside his reclining chair, waking him with a light kiss. Staying at a cottage on the property are Johan's son Henrik and Henrik's daughter Karin. Henrik is giving his daughter cello lessons and already sees her future as staked out. Relations between father and son are very strained, but both are protective of Karin. They are all still mourning Anna, Henrik's much-loved wife, who died two years ago, yet who, in many ways, remains present among them. Marianne soon realizes that things are not all as they should be, and she finds herself unwillingly drawn into a complicated and upsetting power struggle. Rotten Tomatoes: Marianne and Johan meet again after 30 years without contact, when Marianne suddenly feels a need to see her ex-husband again. She decides to visit Johan at his old summerhouse in the western province of Dalarna. And so, one beautiful autumn day, there she is, beside his reclining chair, waking him with a light kiss. Also living at the summerhouse are Johan's son Henrik and Henrik's daughter Karin. Henrik is giving his daughter cello lessons and already sees her future as staked out. Relations between father and son are very strained, but both are protective of Karin. They are all still mourning Anna, Henrik's much-loved wife, who died two years ago, yet who, in many ways, remains present among them. Marianne soon realizes that things are not all as they should be, and she finds herself unwillingly drawn into a complicated and upsetting power struggle. 1 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  71% (1) In the Presence of a Clown 119 min N/A [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [01 Nov 1997]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 71%, External Reviews Awards: 1 nomination. Actors: Börje Ahlstedt, Erland Josephson, Marie Richardson, Pernilla August Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Germany Plot: Inventor Carl Åkerblom is a rosy-cheeked 54 year-old admirer of Franz Schubert - and a patient in the psychiatric ward of Akademiska Hospital in Uppsala, after having attempted to beat to death his fiancée, Pauline Thibault. Together with another patient, Professor Osvald Vogler, they set up a film project: the living talkie. Before long, they set off on a frantic tour with their film, 'The Joy of the Joyous Girl'... 2 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 70% (1) The Last Gasp 60 min R [N/A] [Ingmar Bergman] [06 Jan 1995]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 70%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: Anna von Rosen, Björn Granath, Ingvar Kjellson Writer: Ingmar Bergman (play), Ingmar Bergman (screenplay) External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: A fictional meeting at the Swedish Film Industry office between the former director George af Klercker and CEO Charles Magnusson. A drunk and bitter Klercker ridicule old movies,and shared memories with Magnusson. af Klercker begs for one last shot at a new film production. Rotten Tomatoes: In this supernatural thriller, evil developer Leslie Chase kills a Mexican Indian and finds himself possessed by the dead man's spirit. By day he is himself, but at night his body is possessed by the angry Indian who takes him out for murder and mayhem. 3 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  83% (2) After the Rehearsal 70 min R [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [09 Apr 1984]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 75%, Rotten Tomatoes: 92%, External Reviews Awards: 1 nomination. Actors: Erland Josephson, Ingrid Thulin, Lena Olin, Nadja Palmstjerna-Weiss Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden, West Germany Plot: Rational, exacting, and self-controlled theater director, Henrik Vogler, often stays after rehearsal to think and plan. On this day, Anna comes back, ostensibly looking for a bracelet. She is the lead in his new production of Stindberg's 'A Dream Play.' She talks of her hatred for her mother, now dead, an alcoholic actress, who was Vogler's star and lover. Vogler falls into a reverie, remembering a day Anna's mother, Rakel, late in life, came after rehearsal to beg him to come to her apartment. He awakes and Anna reveals the reason she has returned: she jolts him into an emotional response, rare for him, and the feelings of a young woman and an older man play out. Rotten Tomatoes: Ingmar Bergman's After the Rehearsal stars Erland Josephson as a theater director named Henrik Volger. He is in the midst of mounting a production of a Strindberg play when he is visited by Anna Egerman (Lena Olin), an actress whom he has cast in the play. Volger was involved with Anna's mother, Rakel (Ingrid Thulin), an alcoholic has-been actress who once was Volger's lover. Rakel intrudes upon their conversation, and the two women confront Henrik about how he has lived his life. This 72-minute production originally aired on Swedish television before receiving theatrical distribution. The cinematographer on the film is Bergman's longtime collaborator Sven Nykvist. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi 4 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 93% (3) Fanny and Alexander 188 min R [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [17 Dec 1982]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 81%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, Metacritic: 100%, External Reviews Awards: Won 4 Oscars. Another 19 wins & 10 nominations. Actors: Bertil Guve, Börje Ahlstedt, Kristian Almgren, Kristina Adolphson, Pernilla Allwin Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish, German, Yiddish, English, French Country: Sweden, France, West Germany Plot: It's the early twentieth century Sweden. Adolescent siblings Alexander and Fanny Ekdahl lead a relatively joyous and exuberant life with their well-off extended paternal family, led by the family matriarch, their grandmother, Helena Ekdahl. The openness of the family culture is exemplified by Helena's now deceased husband ending up becoming best friends with one of her lovers, a Jewish puppet maker named Isak Jacobi, and their Uncle Gustav Adolf's open liaison with one of the family maids, Maj, who everyone in the family adores, even Gustav Adolf's wife, Alma. Between the siblings, Alexander in particular has inherited the family's love of storytelling, his parents and his grandmother who are actors and who manage their own theater. Things change for Alexander and Fanny when their father, Oscar, dies shortly after Christmas 1907. Although she truly does believe she loves him, the children's mother, Emilie, decides to marry Bishop Edvard Vergérus, who she first met as the officiate at Oscar's funeral. She also wants a father figure for the children. Going into the marriage, Emilie has inclinations that it will be a much different life than she had with the Ekdahls, but is not prepared for the harsh, austere and strict life Edvard rules with an iron fist. Emilie, Alexander and Fanny end up being prisoners in the bishop's stark and humorless house. As Alexander butts head with his stepfather and tries to learn how to keep to his own principles while obeying Edvard, Emilie tries to figure out a way to regain her and her children's own destiny, as Edvard will not consent to divorce, and her 'desertion' in the eyes of the law means that Alexander and Fanny would become his wards. Rotten Tomatoes: In 1982, Ingmar Bergman emerged with one of his most singularly acclaimed films - a work that dramatically broke away from much of the moody psychodrama that characterized such earlier motion pictures as Cries & Whispers and Hour of the Wolf. Entitled Fanny and Alexander, and originally intended as the director's 'swan song,' this epic plunges into the life of a theatrical family named the Ekdahls, in turn-of-the-century Sweden. Bergman filters life through the eyes of the two titular Ekdahl children (Pernilla Alwin and Bertil Guve), as they come of age, lose their father unexpectedly, and must contend with their mother's remarriage to an uncaring, dictatorial clergyman from whom there seems to be no escape. Instantly hailed as a masterpiece, Fanny won a slew of international awards, including four Oscars. Yet curiously, the three-hour theatrical version seen in the U.S. did not represent the full depth and breadth of Bergman's vision. He also prepared a five-hour version for Swedish television, one that ran locally as a miniseries in 1984, in four separate installments. The extended running time gives the director to further develop and flesh out his characters, substories and themes, and will thus strike many fans of the original film as a remarkable discovery. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi 5 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  69% (2) From the Life of the Marionettes 104 min R [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [30 Jun 1981]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 75%, Rotten Tomatoes: 64%, External Reviews Awards: 1 win. Actors: Christine Buchegger, Martin Benrath, Rita Russek, Robert Atzorn Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: German Country: West Germany, Sweden Plot: Made during Bergman's tax-related exile in Germany, the film continues the story of Katarina and Peter EGermann, the feuding, childless, professional couple who appear in one episode of 'Scenes From A Marriage.' After Peter perpetrates a horrendous crime in its first scene, the rest of the film consists of a non-linear examination of his motivations, incorporating a police psychological investigation, scenes from the EGermanns' married life, and dream sequences. Rotten Tomatoes: Produced and directed for German television, Ingmar Bergman's From the Life of the Marionettes starts out in color and switches almost immediately to black-and-white. This cinematic self-indulgence is ideally suited to the subject matter: the horrible consequences of a rapidly disintegrating marriage. The husband, Peter Egerman (Robert Atzorn) is unable to articulate his frustration through normal channels. Warped by his repression, Egerman ends up raping and murdering a prostitute. This outrage occurs at the very beginning of the film; the rest of the footage is devoted to a semi-documentary study of the failed marriage, the police investigation, and the husband's twisted psyche. Once again, Bergman's vision is superbly realized by the camerawork of Sven Nykvist. 6 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 87% (2) Autumn Sonata 99 min PG [Drama, Music] [Ingmar Bergman] [18 Oct 1978]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 83%, Rotten Tomatoes: 91%, External Reviews Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 6 nominations. Actors: Halvar Björk, Ingrid Bergman, Lena Nyman, Liv Ullmann Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish, English Country: Sweden, France, West Germany, UK Plot: After having neglected her children for many years, world famous pianist Charlotte visits her daughter Eva in her home. To her surprise she finds her other daughter, Helena, there as well. Helena is mentally disabled, and Eva has taken Helena out of the institution where their mother had placed her. The tension between Charlotte and Eva only builds up slowly, until a nightly conversation releases all the things they have wanted to tell each other. Rotten Tomatoes: Directed by Ingmar Bergman, this intense domestic drama offers insight into the troubled relationships between a mother and her two daughters, one of whom is dying of a terrible disease that has left her paralyzed and only able to communicate via grunts, and the other who has been estranged from her mother for seven years. It is the sudden arrival of the estranged daughter (Liv Ullmann) that gets the story started. She originally left because she felt that her mother, a famous concert pianist (Ingrid Bergman) ignored her while growing up. Now she brings with her the paralyzed sister who has spent the last few years in an institution. As the story progresses, the threesome try to make peace with each other and in their lives. 7 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  46% (2) The Serpent's Egg 119 min R [Drama, Mystery, Thriller] [Ingmar Bergman] [15 Feb 1978]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 67%, Rotten Tomatoes: 25%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: David Carradine, Gert Fröbe, Heinz Bennent, Liv Ullmann Writer: Ingmar Bergman (a film by) External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, German Country: USA, West Germany Plot: Ingmar Bergman's The Serpent's Egg follows a week in the life of Abel Rosenberg, an out-of-work American circus acrobat living in poverty-stricken Berlin following Germany's defeat in World War I. When his brother commits suicide, Abel seeks refuge in the apartment of an old acquaintance Professor Veregus. Desperate to make ends meet in the war-ravaged city, Abel takes a job in Veregus' clinic, where he discovers the horrific truth behind the work of the strangely beneficent professor and unlocks the chilling mystery that drove his brother to kill himself. Rotten Tomatoes: The Serpent's Egg, or Das Schlangenei is director Ingmar Bergman's second English language production (The Touch was his first). It is, however, his first completely non-Swedish production, made after his voluntary self-exile from Sweden over taxation issues. Set in Berlin in the early 1920s, it explores the fear and despair the city evokes in Manuela and Abel Rosenberg (Liv Ullmann and David Carradine), two Jewish trapeze artists. The suicide of Manuela's husband (Abel's brother), has stranded them in Berlin. Berlin is shown to already possess the sinister elements of cruelty and anti-Semitism which laid the groundwork for the later Nazi takeover. A series of misadventures gets them sent to a medical clinic for treatment. However, the clinic is actually a site for Nazi-type 'racial' experiments on humans, which generally either madden or kill the subjects. Das Schlangenei was savaged by the critics for its improbable-seeming story and more particularly, for casting David Carradine (best known for his earlier appearances in the Kung Fu U.S. television series) in a crucial role. 8 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 78% (2) Face to Face 114 min R [Drama, Fantasy] [Ingmar Bergman] [05 Apr 1976]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 77%, Rotten Tomatoes: 80%, External Reviews Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 3 nominations. Actors: Aino Taube, Erland Josephson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Liv Ullmann Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden, USA Plot: A sensitive exploration of the tragic irony of the psychiatrist suffering with mental illness. Dr. Jenny Isaksson is a psychiatrist married to another psychiatrist; both are successful in their jobs but slowly, agonizingly, she succumbs to a breakdown. Jenny is haunted by images and emotions from her past and eventually cannot function, either as a wife, a doctor or as an individual. 9 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  86% (2) The Magic Flute 135 min G [Comedy, Fantasy, Music, Romance] [Ingmar Bergman] [01 Jan 1975]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 78%, Rotten Tomatoes: 95%, External Reviews Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 2 nominations. Actors: Elisabeth Erikson, Håkan Hagegård, Irma Urrila, Josef Köstlinger, Ulrik Cold Writer: Emanuel Schikaneder (libretto), Ingmar Bergman (screenplay), Alf Henrikson (Swedish translation) External Links: External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: The Queen of the Night offers her daughter Pamina to Tamino, but he has to bring her back from her father and priest Sarastro. She gives a magic flute to Tamino and magic bells to the bird hunter Papageno, who follows Tamino and wants to find a wife. The duo travels in a journey of love and knowledge. Rotten Tomatoes: In this film, Mozart's opera The Magic Flute is brought to the screen. Sung in Swedish, the libretto remains as ever: a gentle parody of the initiation ceremonies of the Masons, offered as an other-worldly fantasy involving a kidnapped princess, a vengeful Queen of the Night, and a carefree wanderer. 10 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 86% (1) Scenes from a Marriage 169 min PG [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [15 Sep 1974]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 86%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: Bibi Andersson, Erland Josephson, Gunnel Lindblom, Liv Ullmann Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: Scenes from a Marriage chronicles the many years of love and turmoil that bind Marianne (Liv Ullmann) and Johan (Erland Josephson) through matrimony, infidelity, divorce, and subsequent partners. 11 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  85% (2) Cries & Whispers 91 min R [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [05 Mar 1973]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 81%, Rotten Tomatoes: 89%, External Reviews Awards: Won 1 Oscar. Another 21 wins & 12 nominations. Actors: Harriet Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Kari Sylwan, Liv Ullmann Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish, German, Danish Country: Sweden Plot: In turn-of-the-century Sweden, cancer-stricken, dying Agnes is visited in her isolated rural mansion by her sisters Karin and Maria. As Agnes' condition deteriorates and pain management becomes increasingly more difficult, fear and revulsion grip the sisters, who seem incapable of empathy, and Agnes' only comfort and solace comes from her maid Anna. As the end draws closer, long repressed feelings of grudging resentment and mistrust cause jealousy, selfishness, and bitterness between the siblings to surface. Rotten Tomatoes: This grim but unforgettable film stars Liv Ullman and Ingrid Thulin as the sisters of dying cancer patient Harriet Andersson. With her two sisters wrapped up in their own problems, Andersson turns to her housekeeper Kari Sylwan for comfort; Sylwan has herself suffered the death of a child. 12 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 67% (2) The Touch 115 min R [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [14 Jul 1971]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 64%, Rotten Tomatoes: 71%, External Reviews Awards: 1 nomination. Actors: Bibi Andersson, Elliott Gould, Max von Sydow, Sheila Reid Writer: N/A External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Swedish, French Country: USA, Sweden Plot: A seemingly happy Swedish housewife and mother begins an adulterous affair with a foreign archaeologist who is working near her home. But he is an emotionally scarred man, a Jewish survivor from a concentration camp who found refuge in the U.S.,and, consequently, their relationship will be painfully difficult. Rotten Tomatoes: This was famed Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's first English-language film, the story of a contented young wife and mother whose marriage is disrupted by an inexplicable attraction. Bergman regular Bibi Andersson plays Karin Vergerus, who is married to a prominent but stodgy surgeon, Andreas (Max Von Sydow, another of Bergman's regular troupe). They live in a small town, and their marriage is peaceful but unexciting. Enter an itinerant American Jewish archaeologist, David Kovac (Elliott Gould, in his first and last Bergman film). David's freedom to travel and live life fully is intoxicating to Karin, who yearns for adventure. But Karin still loves her husband and her family, and she ends up feeling torn between conflicting desires. Compared to earlier Bergman films which were packed with symbolism and psychological imagery, The Touch is a very straightforward and uncomplicated story. The score features music by Jan Johansson, who died in 1968. 13 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  89% (2) The Passion of Anna 101 min R [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [28 May 1970]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 78%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews Awards: 2 wins & 6 nominations. Actors: Bibi Andersson, Erland Josephson, Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: A recently divorced man meets an emotionally devastated widow and they begin a love affair. Rotten Tomatoes: Liv Ullmann plays the widowed, crippled Anna Fromm, who while traveling on a remote island calls upon reclusive ex-convict Andreas (Max von Sydow) in order to use his telephone. After Anna leaves, Andreas discovers she's left her purse behind; he opens it, hoping to find some identification. A letter in the purse details Anna's unhappy marriage and the depths of her loneliness. Eventually, Anna moves in with Andreas, who has become more closely acquainted with her through the intervention of Anna's friends Ellis and Evan Vergerus (Bibi Andersson and Erland Josephson). But tensions and conflicts ensue, and threaten to destroy the burgeoning relationship between Anna and Andreas. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi 14 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 83% (2) Hour of the Wolf 90 min Not Rated [Drama, Horror] [Ingmar Bergman] [09 Apr 1968]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 77%, Rotten Tomatoes: 89%, External Reviews Awards: 2 wins. Actors: Georg Rydeberg, Gertrud Fridh, Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish, Norwegian Country: Sweden Plot: An artist in crisis is haunted by nightmares from the past in Ingmar Bergman's only horror film, which takes place on a windy island. During 'the hour of the wolf' - between midnight and dawn - he tells his wife about his most painful memories. Rotten Tomatoes: The Hour of the Wolf (original Swedish title: Vargtimmen) is Ingmar Bergman's spin on the demons that plague his fellow creative artists. Max von Sydow plays a painter who, while spending a summer in seclusion with his pregnant wife Liv Ullmann, is visited by bizarre and disturbing visions. Before long, Ullmann is also experiencing her husband's hallucinations; one of these, an old, faceless woman, advises Ullmann to read Von Sydow's diary. Doing so, Ullmann discovers that her husband has been cheating on her with Ingrid Thulin. In the subsequent domestic squabble, Von Sydow shoots and wounds his wife. The artist's punishment for this behavior is to have his lover, now dead, spring back to life and humiliate him in full view of Ullmann. Hour of the Wolf has something to say about the dangers of artists becoming too self-centered and self-involved; one hopes that most artists are not as thoroughly punished (or punishable) as Max Von Sydow. 15 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  73% (2) Shame 103 min R [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [23 Dec 1968]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 80%, Rotten Tomatoes: 67%, External Reviews Awards: Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 9 wins & 3 nominations. Actors: Gunnar Björnstrand, Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Sigge Fürst Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: During civil war, two musicians retreat to a rural island to farm. They are apolitical; a neighbor sometimes gives them a fish; wine is a luxury. They love each other, but there are problems: the war upsets Jan, he is weepy, too sensitive; Eva wants children, he does not. The war suddenly arrives: rebels attack, neighbors die. When the other side restores order, Jan and Eva are arrested as collaborators. After frightening and roughing them up, the local colonel releases them; then he begins appearing at their farmhouse: to talk or to pursue Eva? He gives her money. The rebels return; chaos ensues. Jan becomes violent and murderous; they flee. Can they escape? If so, to what? Rotten Tomatoes: This film is set in an undetermined foreign land, torn apart by a bloody civil war. Husband and wife musicians Jan and Eva flee to a remote island to escape the carnage. When the island is invaded and used as a battlefield, the effect on the couple's relationship is disastrous. 16 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 85% (2) Persona 83 min Not Rated [Drama, Thriller] [Ingmar Bergman] [16 Mar 1967]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 81%, Rotten Tomatoes: 90%, External Reviews Awards: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 6 wins & 3 nominations. Actors: Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha Krook Writer: Ingmar Bergman (story and screenplay) External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish, English Country: Sweden Plot: A young nurse, Alma, is put in charge of Elisabeth Vogler: an actress who is seemingly healthy in all respects, but will not talk. As they spend time together, Alma speaks to Elisabeth constantly, never receiving any answer. Alma eventually confesses her secrets to a seemingly sympathetic Elisabeth and finds that her own personality is being submerged into Elisabeth's persona. Rotten Tomatoes: An actress recovering from a mental breakdown develops an intense relationship with her nurse in this modernist, self-reflexive psychodrama. 17 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  61% (1) Stimulantia 105 min N/A [Drama] [Hans Abramson, Hans Alfredson, Arne Arnbom, Ingmar Bergman, Tage Danielsson, Jörn Donner, Lars Görling, Gustaf Molander, Vilgot Sjöman] [28 Mar 1967]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 61%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: Daniel Bergman, Hans Abramson, Hans Alfredson, Harriet Andersson Writer: Hans Abramson (segment), Hans Alfredson (segment), Arne Arnbom (segment), Ingmar Bergman (segment), Tage Danielsson (segment), Jörn Donner (segment), Lars Görling (segment), Erland Josephson (segment), Gustaf Molander (segment), Vilgot Sjöman (segment), Honoré de Balzac (novel), Guy de Maupassant (short story 'La Parure') External Links: External Links: Wikipedia IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: A Swedish film in eight episodes; 'Birgit Nilsson' (Arne Arnbom), 'Daniel' (Ingmar Bergman), 'The Salary of Virtue' (Hans Alfredson, Tage Danielsson), 'He, She' (Jörn Donner), 'Confrontations' (Lars Görling), 'The Black Woman in the Cupboard' (Vilgot Sjöman), 'The Jewelry' (Gustaf Molander) and 'The Discovery' (Hans Abramson). 18 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 86% (2) The Silence 96 min R [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [03 Feb 1964]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 80%, Rotten Tomatoes: 92%, External Reviews Awards: 3 wins & 1 nomination. Actors: Birger Malmsten, Gunnel Lindblom, Håkan Jahnberg, Ingrid Thulin, Jörgen Lindström Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish, English, German, French, Spanish Country: Sweden Plot: 'The Silence' is about the emotional distance between two sisters. The younger one is still attractive enough to pick up a lover in a strange city. The older one -- even though she is very ill -- would like to make a human connection also but cannot leave the hotel room. Traveling with the sisters is a small boy who escapes into the hotel, meets a troupe of dwarfs. Which sister is this little boy's mother? Rotten Tomatoes: The third film in the Ingmar Bergman trilogy beginning with Through a Glass Darkly and Winter Light, this movie follows the sisters Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and Anna (Gunnel Lindblom) as they travel to their Swedish home in the company of Anna's son, Johan (Jorgen Lindstrom). While Ester is a sexually frustrated lesbian, her sister engages in numerous sexual relations with a series of men, and their sexual drives are at the root of the tragedy that befalls them during a hotel stay. 19 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  40% (2) All These Women 80 min Not Rated [Comedy] [Ingmar Bergman] [05 Oct 1964]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 56%, Rotten Tomatoes: 25%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: Bibi Andersson, Eva Dahlbeck, Harriet Andersson, Karin Kavli Writer: Erland Josephson, Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish, English, German, French Country: Sweden Plot: The pretentious critic Cornelius is writing a biography on a famous cellist and to do some research he goes to stay in his house for a few days. He doesn't manage to get an interview with the man, but by talking to all the women who live with him, he comes to learn a lot about the musician's private life none the less. Cornelius then decides to use this information and tries to blackmail the cellist into performing a composition that he, Cornelius, has written. Rotten Tomatoes: What is so rare, and cherishable, as an Ingmar Bergman comedy? All These Women concerns the sexual misadventures of cello-playing Jarl Kulle. Amidst his many romantic pursuits, the egotistical Kulle endeavors to get his life story published, 'bribing' a writer by agreeing to perform the latter's musical compositions. Bergman regulars Eva Dahlbeck, Harriet Andersson and Bibi Andersson costar in All These Women, while the screenplay was cowritten by another stalwart member of the director's stock company, Erland Josephson. Originally titled For Att Inte Talla om alla dessa Kvindor, All These Women is better known in English-speaking countries as Now About All These Women. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi 20 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 78% (2) Winter Light 81 min Not Rated [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [05 Apr 1963]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 81%, Rotten Tomatoes: 75%, External Reviews Awards: 1 win. Actors: Gunnar Björnstrand, Gunnel Lindblom, Ingrid Thulin, Max von Sydow Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: On a cold winter's Sunday, the pastor of a small rural church (Tomas Ericsson) performs service for a tiny congregation; though he is suffering from a cold and a severe crisis of faith. After the service, he attempts to console a fisherman (Jonas Persson) who is tormented by anxiety, but Tomas can only speak about his own troubled relationship with God. A school teacher (Maerta Lundberg) offers Tomas her love as consolation for his loss of faith. But Tomas resists her love as desperately as she offers it to him. This is the second in Bergman's trilogy of films dealing with man's relationship with God. Rotten Tomatoes: The Winter Light is the second in a trilogy of dramas by acclaimed Swedish director Ingmar Bergman that explores religious faith and doubts in a visceral, visual, and provocative manner. The first, Through a Glass Darkly, was an international success and heralded this new phase in the director's career. This compelling drama is set within a three-hour period on a Sunday afternoon in November, and begins when the local pastor, Tomas Ericsson (Gunnar Bjornstrand), is finishing his sermon. As of late, Pastor Ericsson has watched his congregation dwindle to a minimal level. Among the remaining parishioners is Marta (Ingrid Thulin) a plain-looking schoolteacher who has long been in love with the pastor. Meanwhile, fisherman Jonas (Max von Sydow) is anxiety-ridden over the nuclear power of the Communist Chinese, but Pastor Ericsson cannot help him, saddled with some overwhelming spiritual dilemmas of his own. As Ericsson struggles with his demons and faces Marta's unwanted (and to him, repugnant) romantic attentions, some hints of the qualities of God begin to surface. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi 21 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  75% (2) Port of Call 100 min Not Rated [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [01 Aug 1963]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 67%, Rotten Tomatoes: 83%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: Bengt Eklund, Berta Hall, Mimi Nelson, Nine-Christine Jönsson Writer: Ingmar Bergman (screenplay), Olle Länsberg (story) External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish, English, German Country: Sweden Plot: Berit is a young woman with problems. She is suicidal and depressed. Since it has been impossible for her to live with her mother, she has spent many years in institutions. She has now gotten a job in an industry on the condition that she can live together with her mother again. Their relationship is very tense however. One night at a dance she meets stevedore Gösta. Will he be able to give her the support she needs? Rotten Tomatoes: Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman seldom had much to say concerning his early feature Port of Call (Hamnstad), perhaps because of the film's unsatisfying shift of tone from grim to upbeat towards the climax (one gets the feeling that this was dictated by Bergman's financiers). Still, this stark tale of the waterfront contains several elements that would come to full fruition in Bergman's later works, notably the troublesome necessity to break away from tradition. The story involves a romance between dockhand Ivine-Christine Jonsson and ex-prostitute Bengt Eklund, and the problems faced by Jonsson in coming to grips with his own puritanical attitudes concerning his beloved's past. While the ending is technically 'happy,' it is clear that the problems are not completely resolved, and we are invited to speculate on the couple's future. Port of Call would not be released in the US until 1960, after Bergman's reputation had been affirmed by such classics as The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries. 22 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 62% (2) Music in Darkness 87 min N/A [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [01 Jul 1963]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 65%, Rotten Tomatoes: 60%, External Reviews Awards: 1 nomination. Actors: Birger Malmsten, Mai Zetterling, Naima Wifstrand, Olof Winnerstrand Writer: Dagmar Edqvist (novel), Dagmar Edqvist (screenplay) External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: A blind musician falls in love with a kindhearted girl. This love begin to confront with his disease and with his music. Rotten Tomatoes: Originally released in Sweden as Musik I Morker, Night is My Future is a seminal effort from director Ingmar Bergman. Blinded during a wartime training accident, aspiring-musician Birger Malmstein refuses all efforts by well-meaning outsiders to help him. Malmstein hires Mai Zetterling as his companion and 'eyes,' though he still fiercely defends his independence. They become closer as both Malmstein and Zetterling learn about new aspects of life from each other. Disappointed in his efforts to make a living as a pianist, Malmstein enrolls in a school for the blind, assuming that Zetterling will be waiting for him when he graduates. Upon learning that Mai already has a boy friend, Malmstein attempts to kill himself. Only when he gets into a fistfight with Zetterling's beau does Malmstein feel as though he's 'whole' again. Night is My Future is based on a novel by Dagmar Edqvist; while entertaining, it is frankly an 'entertainment,' with few of Bergman's distinctive touches. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi 23 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  69% (1) Prison 79 min N/A [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [04 Jul 1962]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 69%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: Birger Malmsten, Doris Svedlund, Eva Henning, Hasse Ekman Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: A movie director is approached by his old math teacher with a great movie idea: the Devil declares that the Earth is hell. The director rejects the idea, but subsequent events in the life of a writer, a friend of the director's, and a young prostitute he loves seem to prove the math teacher's idea. Rotten Tomatoes: The story involves a group of moviemakers who sit around discussing several projects that they have considered for filming, but have shelved due to their morbidity. One of these abandoned storylines concerns two desperately unhappy people (Doris Svedlund, Birger Malmstein). The girl finds romance with the man, whose child has been murdered by his wife's lover. At this point in his career, Bergman already had a strong grasp of the mechanics of moviemaking, but he needed to learn how to integrate his technique into some sort of workable story. The original Swedish title for Devil's Wanton was Fangelse; it was released in most countries as Prison. 24 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 90% (2) Through a Glass Darkly 89 min Not Rated [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [16 Oct 1961]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 81%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews Awards: Won 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations. Actors: Gunnar Björnstrand, Harriet Andersson, Lars Passgård, Max von Sydow Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish, Latin Country: Sweden Plot: A young woman, Karin, has recently returned to the family island after spending some time in a mental hospital. On the island with her is her lonely brother and kind, but increasingly desperate husband ('Max von Sydow'). They are joined by Karin's father ('Gunnar Björnstrand'), who is a world-traveling author that is estranged to his children. The film depicts how Karin's grip on reality slowly slips away and how the bonds between the family members are changing in light of this fact. Rotten Tomatoes: Set on a remote island, a schizophrenic woman is discharged from a mental hospital and recovers during a family holiday with her husband, brother, and father. Her father, who happens to be a prominent psychologist, coldly observes her and takes notes of her behavior without her knowledge. This Oscar-winning intense drama is the first in a trilogy of films by respected writer/director Ingmar Bergman. Following are: Winter Light and The Silence. 25 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  85% (2) Waiting Women 107 min Not Rated [Comedy, Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [11 Jul 1961]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 71%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews Awards: 1 nomination. Actors: Anita Björk, Birger Malmsten, Eva Dahlbeck, Maj-Britt Nilsson Writer: Ingmar Bergman, Gun Grut (story) External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish, French Country: Sweden Plot: Rakel, Marta, Karin and Annette are married to four brothers. While waiting in a summer cottage for their husbands to come home, they tell each other stories about their marriages. Rakel tells about the time she had an affair and confronted her husband with it. Marta's story is about how she at first refused to marry and had her child by herself. Karin tells about what happened when one time she and her husband got stuck in an elevator together. While the women tell their stories, Marta's younger sister Maj is planning to elope. Rotten Tomatoes: In this multi-faceted Ingmar Bergman film, rich in dramatic and comic elements, three wives pass time in a summer house, awaiting the returns of their husbands, by entertaining each other with recollections of past marital traumas. In the first recollection, the sexually unfulfilled Rakel (Anita Bjork) shares a bathhouse, and more, with a former lover, Kaj (Jarl Kulle). When her emotionally withdrawn husband (Karl-Arne Holmsten), an antiques collector, returns and discovers the incident, he retreats to a garden hut and vows to kill himself. But he is dissuaded from self-destruction by his older brother, who blithely reassures him that an unfaithful wife is better than no wife! The narrator of this episode wearily allows that her husband is little more than a child. Marta (Maj-Brit Nilsson), the storytelling wife of the second episode, recalls her love affair and marriage to a Parisian artist (Birger Malmsten) whose family disapproved of the relationship. Included in her tale is a vivid child birthing. The third episode is a comic classic in which Bergman regulars Eva Dahlbeck and Gunnar Bjornstrand play emotionally estranged spouses who rekindle their marriage while trapped in an elevator. Kvinnors Väntan, which closes with the resolution of a framing tale involving the elopement of two younger lovers, shows Bergman in complete mastery of the film medium. Whether manipulating close-ups during an emotional give-and-take seduction or employing symbolic imagery to emphasize the joy of becoming a parent or merely allowing consummate pros to indulge in slapstick, he proves himself unfailingly adept at all facets of filmmaking. This is one of several lesser-known but nonetheless impressive Bergman films from the mid-1950s. ~ Les Stone, Rovi 26 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 85% (2) The Virgin Spring 89 min Not Rated [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [14 Nov 1960]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 81%, Rotten Tomatoes: 90%, External Reviews Awards: Won 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 2 nominations. Actors: Birgitta Pettersson, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom, Max von Sydow Writer: Ulla Isaksson External Links: External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish, German Country: Sweden Plot: Set in beautiful 14th century Sweden, it is the sombre, powerful fable of wealthy land-owning parents whose daughter, a young virgin, is brutally raped and murdered by goat herders after her half sister has invoked a pagan curse. By a bizarre twist of fate, the murderers ask for food and shelter from the dead girl's parents, who, discovering the truth about their erstwhile lodgers, exact a chilling revenge. Rotten Tomatoes: In this film, 15-year-old Birgitta Peterson is raped and murdered by two older men. Birgitta's father murders the bestial killers in cold blood. When the deed is done, the father begins to question the efficacy of a God that would allow his daughter's death, then permit so bloody a retribution. 27 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  85% (2) A Lesson in Love 96 min Not Rated [Comedy, Drama, Romance] [Ingmar Bergman] [14 Mar 1960]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 71%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: Eva Dahlbeck, Gunnar Björnstrand, Harriet Andersson, Yvonne Lombard Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish, Danish Country: Sweden Plot: After 15 years of marriage, David and Marianne have grown apart. David has had an affair with a patient of his and Marianne has got herself involved with her former lover Carl-Adam, who's also David's best friend. When she travels to Copenhagen to meet Carl-Adam, David takes the same train as she does, making it look coincidental. Spending time together remembering their past and talking about their future, they come to understand each other again, which leads to a reconciliation. Rotten Tomatoes: This early Ingmar Bergman film is a comedic effort from the Swedish master. Told in a string of flashbacks, it stars Gunnar Bjornstrand as David, a gynecologist whose affair with his young patient is discovered by his wife Marianne. As a result of David's infidelity, Marianne too begins an affair. 28 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 69% (2) The Devil's Eye 87 min Not Rated [Comedy, Drama, Fantasy] [Ingmar Bergman] [17 Oct 1960]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 72%, Rotten Tomatoes: 67%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: Bibi Andersson, Jarl Kulle, Nils Poppe, Stig Järrel Writer: Ingmar Bergman (screenplay) External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: The devil has a stye in his eye, caused by the purity of a vicar's daughter. To get rid of it, he sends Don Juan up from hell to seduce the 20 year old Britt-Marie and to rob her of her virginity and her belief in love. She however can resist him and things get even turned around when Don Juan falls in love with her. The fact that he feels love for the first time now, makes him even less attractive to her and Don Juan returns to hell. Rotten Tomatoes: In this comedy written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, Satan sends Don Juan and his servant to Earth to seduce a virgin. The servant seduces the wife of a priest while Don Juan is rebuffed by the virgin. Her indifference causes him to fall madly in love with the girl. 29 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  56% (2) Dreams 87 min Not Rated [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [31 May 1960]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 72%, Rotten Tomatoes: 40%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: Eva Dahlbeck, Gunnar Björnstrand, Harriet Andersson, Ulf Palme Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: In Stockholm, the fashion photographer Susanne Frank misses her married lover Henrik Lobelius that lives in Gothenburg with his wife and children, and the naive twenty years old model Doris has a troubled relationship with her boy friend Palle Palt. Susanne schedules a session of photo shoots in Gothenburg with Doris, and once there, she calls Henrik for an encounter. Meanwhile, Doris meets an elegant middle age gentleman on the street, the Consul Otto Sönderby, who buys expensive gifts for her: a dress, a pair of Italian gloves and valuable pearl necklace. They spend the afternoon together in an amusement park and later they go to Otto's mansion, where they are interrupted by his wicked daughter Marianne. Susanne has a love affair with Henrik in her room, but they are interrupted by his cynical wife. The incidents in these encounters affect their perspective of love. Rotten Tomatoes: In this drama, also released under the title Journey into Autumn, a business trip reveals the hopes, dreams, and struggles of modeling agency owner Susanne (Eva Dahlbeck) and promising young model Doris (Harriet Andersson). This film is in Swedish with English subtitles. 30 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 88% (2) The Magician 101 min Not Rated [Comedy, Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [27 Aug 1959]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 77%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews Awards: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination. Actors: Gunnar Björnstrand, Ingrid Thulin, Max von Sydow, Naima Wifstrand Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: When 'Vogler's Magnetic Health Theater' comes to town, there's bound to be a spectacle. Reading reports of a variety of supernatural disturbances at Vogler's prior performances abroad, the leading townspeople (including the police chief and medical examiner) request that their troupe provide them a sample of their act, before allowing them public audiences. The scientific-minded disbelievers try to expose them as charlatans, but Vogler and his crew prove too clever for them. Rotten Tomatoes: A magician of dubious talents, Vogler (Max Von Sydow) and his traveling show are called to entertain at the home of the local police commissioner. Set in Stockholm in the 1840's, Vogler's powers are put on display for the commissioner, a doctor, and a civil servant. Despite the magicians questionable abilities, many strange and mysterious events transpire to illustrate man's fascination with the murky world of the unexplainable answers to love, life and death. 31 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  88% (2) Wild Strawberries 91 min Not Rated [Drama, Romance] [Ingmar Bergman] [22 Jun 1959]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 82%, Rotten Tomatoes: 95%, External Reviews Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 16 wins & 2 nominations. Actors: Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Ingrid Thulin, Victor Sjöström Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish, Latin Country: Sweden Plot: With the exception of his elderly housekeeper Miss Agda who he treats almost like a surrogate platonic wife, widowed seventy-eight year old Dr. Isak Borg, a former medical doctor and professor, has retreated from any human contact, partly his own want but partly the decision of others who do not want to spend time with him because of his cold demeanor. He is traveling from his home in Stockholm to Lund to accept an honorary degree. Instead of flying as was the original plan, he decides to take the day long drive instead. Along for the ride is his daughter-in-law Marianne, who had been staying with him for the month but has now decided to go home. The many stops and encounters along the way make him reminisce about various parts of his life. Those stops which make him reminisce directly are at his childhood summer home, at the home of his equally emotionally cold mother, and at a gas station where the attendants praise him as a man for his work. But the lives of other people they encounter almost mirror his own, including hitchhikers Sara, Viktor and Anders - who remind him of his cousin Sara who he was going to marry, himself and his irresponsible brother Sigfrid who Sara eventually married - a bickering married couple Sten and Berit Alman, and Marianne and her husband and Isak's son Evald, whose marriage is as strained as was his own. Rotten Tomatoes: Possibly Ingmar Bergman's greatest film, this profound character study chronicles an automobile trip taken by an elderly medical professor to accept an honorary degree. Incidents and conversations occurring during the journey are intermixed with dreams and memories as the old man comes to terms with the life he has lived. 32 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 87% (2) The Seventh Seal 96 min Not Rated [Drama, Fantasy] [Ingmar Bergman] [13 Oct 1958]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 82%, Rotten Tomatoes: 93%, External Reviews Awards: 7 wins & 1 nomination. Actors: Bengt Ekerot, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow, Nils Poppe Writer: Ingmar Bergman (play), Ingmar Bergman (screenplay) External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish, Latin Country: Sweden Plot: A Knight and his squire are home from the crusades. Black Death is sweeping their country. As they approach home, Death appears to the knight and tells him it is his time. The knight challenges Death to a chess game for his life. The Knight and Death play as the cultural turmoil envelopes the people around them as they try, in different ways, to deal with the upheaval the plague has caused. Rotten Tomatoes: Disillusioned and exhausted after a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight (Max von Sydow) encounters Death on a desolate beach and challenges him to a fateful game of chess. 33 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  76% (1) Brink of Life 84 min Not Rated [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [31 Mar 1958]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 76%, External Reviews Awards: 3 wins & 1 nomination. Actors: Barbro Hiort af Ornäs, Bibi Andersson, Eva Dahlbeck, Ingrid Thulin Writer: Ulla Isaksson (screenplay) External Links: External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: Three women in a maternity ward reveal their lives and intimate thoughts to each other while in a maternity ward together, where they face the choice of keeping their babies or offering them for adoption. Rotten Tomatoes: Brink of Life (original Swedish title: Nara Livet) can be described as an Ingmar Bergman potboiler--keeping in mind that a potboiler from Bergman is better than a major production from almost anyone else. Eva Dahlbeck, Ingrid Thulin and Bibi Andersson portray three mothers in a maternity ward. In the course of a few days, each woman reveals to the others their life stories and intimate thoughts. And each wrestles with the decision whether or not to keep their babies or give them up for adoption. Brink of Life was adapted by Bergman from an original story by Ulla Isaakson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi 34 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 89% (2) Smiles of a Summer Night 109 min Not Rated [Comedy, Romance] [Ingmar Bergman] [23 Dec 1957]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 79%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews Awards: Nominated for 3 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination. Actors: Eva Dahlbeck, Harriet Andersson, Margit Carlqvist, Ulla Jacobsson Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: It's late nineteenth century Sweden. Middle aged lawyer Fredrik Egerman and his nineteen year old current wife Anne Egerman's two-year marriage has not yet been consummated. Fredrik wants to give Anne as much time as she needs to feel comfortable before losing her virginity. Although she loved Fredrik when they got married, Anne realizes she is attracted to Fredrik's adult son, Henrik Egerman, a brooding seminary student who is home following his most recent exams. Also a virgin, Henrik has been in an awkward flirtation with the Egermans' sexually experienced maid, Petra, in an effort to lose his virginity. When she first sees actress Desirée Armfeldt, Anne, without Fredrik telling her, knows that Desirée and Fredrik used to be lovers, the two who still have feelings for each other. Desirée currently is having an affair with married Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm. While he is jealous of any man who Desirée shows any attention to such as Fredrik, he is not the same with his young wife, the Countess Charlotte Malcolm, who he freely allows to have affairs of her own, or so he says. The Countess and Anne also happen to be friends. Largely orchestrated by Desirée, these interrelationships may play themselves out on one summer overnight social gathering at Desirée's mother's house, but not without the potential of some unforeseen tragic consequences. Rotten Tomatoes: In this drama, directed by Ingmar Bergman, four people indulge in a sexual smorgasbord during a wild weekend at a resort. The story is set in the early 1900s and the characters are a man, his ex-lover, his uncaring wife, and a jealous lover. 35 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  88% (2) Sawdust and Tinsel 93 min Not Rated [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [09 Apr 1956]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 77%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: Anders Ek, Harriet Andersson, Hasse Ekman, Åke Grönberg Writer: N/A External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: While traveling in caravan through the country of Sweden, one member of the decadent Alberti Circus tells the owner and ringmaster Albert Johansson a sad story about the clown Frost: seven years ago, his wife Alma was surprised by him bathing naked in a lake with a regiment. When the circus arrives in the town where Albert's wife Agda and sons live, he decides to pay a visit with his young mistress Anne to a famous local troupe to borrow some capes, hats and vests for their tonight show. They are humiliated by the director Mr. Sjuberg, but he lends the pieces, and the lead actor Frans gives an unsuccessful pass on Anne. When Albert decides to visit Agda, the jealous Anne meets Frans, who seduces her with an apparently valuable necklace, and they have a love affair. Anne finds that the necklace is actually worthless and returns to the circus. Meanwhile, Agda refuses to accept Albert back and he sees Anne leaving the theater and going to the jewelry. During the exhibition, Albert and Anne are submitted to humiliations by Frans. Rotten Tomatoes: This rich, powerful Ingmar Bergman film charts the frustrations and humiliations of several circus performers. The circus's portly owner, Albert (Ake Gronberg), recalls a humiliating incident involving the company's clown, Frost (Anders Ek), who discovered his wife, Alma (Gudrun Brost), swimming nude before a band of cheering soldiers. Having concluded his recollection, Albert visits his estranged wife, Agda (Annika Tretow), who realizes that he has made little money with his circus endeavor. While Albert endures the humiliating encounter with his wife, his jealous mistress, Anne (Harriet Andersson), retaliates by yielding to a seductive local actor, Frans (Hasse Ekman), then realizes that she has been exploited and debased. Later, the drunken Frost informs Albert of Anne's sexual indiscretion, whereupon Albert determines to thrash Anne's cynical lover. In the ensuing altercation, however, Frans manages to thwart Albert's bullish attacks and deliver a series of punishing blows. Beaten and degraded, Albert ponders suicide, then decides to avenge himself on unfaithful women by killing the company's bear, beloved by the provocative Alma, whose betrayal of Frost has so haunted Albert. Following the bear's demise, the company departs to another town. Gycklarnas Afton is full of powerful performances and staggering sequences, including the legendary flashback in which Frost finds his wife cavorting nude before the soldiers. In this scene, played with almost hysterical intensity, Frost, dressed as a clown, tearfully carries his nude wife from the water, past the soldiers, and back to the circus tent. The soundtrack's jarring contrast between sheer silence and a blaring brass band, coupled with the black-and-white cinematography's emphasis on glaring sunlight, generate a mood of considerable tension and unease. This extraordinary scene ranks among Ingmar Bergman's greatest feats and readily establishes Gycklarnas Afton as an unflinching examination of the human condition. 36 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 88% (2) Summer Interlude 96 min Not Rated [Drama, Romance] [Ingmar Bergman] [26 Oct 1954]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 77%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews Awards: 1 nomination. Actors: Alf Kjellin, Annalisa Ericson, Birger Malmsten, Maj-Britt Nilsson Writer: Ingmar Bergman, Herbert Grevenius External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: While waiting for the night rehearsal of the ballet Swan Lake, the lonely twenty-eight year-old ballerina Marie receives a diary through the mail. She travels by ferry to an island nearby Stockholm, where she recalls her first love Henrik. Thirteen years ago, while traveling to spend her summer vacation with her aunt Elisabeth and her uncle Erland, Marie meets Henrik in the ferry and sooner they fall in love for each other. They spend summer vacation together when a tragedy separates them and Marie builds a wall affecting her sentimental life. Rotten Tomatoes: In this melancholy romance, a not-so-young ballerina recalls an earlier, tragic love affair. The heroine, Marie (Maj-Britt Nilsson), spends a summer with her possessive Uncle Erland (Georg Funkquist), who lives with his cancerous wife on an island near Stockholm. While staying with her uncle, who may have intimidated her into a sexual relationship, Marie befriends an innocent youth, Henrik (Birger Malmsten), with whom she soon falls in love. As the glorious summer comes to an end and autumn approaches, harkening Marie's return to the mainland and her dancing career, the lovers express their love to each other. But a fatal swimming mishap brings an end to the affair. Marie continues with her life, but she fails to come to terms with the tragic past. Later, Marie receives the diary that she kept during that memorable summer. She thereupon returns to the island, where she again meets her ghoulish Uncle Erland. Repulsed by his cynicism, Marie determines to recover her joy of living. She returns to Stockholm and shares the diary with her lover, a smarmy journalist (Alf Kjellin). In the concluding scene, she expresses her regained exuberance while dancing. A pivotal film in Ingmar Bergman's oeuvre, Sommarlek marked his maturation as a master filmmaker capable of evocative imagery and poignant expression. Of particular note are the unsettling scenes between Marie and her ominous uncle, framed and lit to emphasize the disturbing nature of their relationship. Maj-Britt Nilsson's performance as Marie is also remarkable, enhanced by Bergman's increasing mastery of the close-up. The splendid achievement of Sommarlek signalled a long succession of masterworks that ensued until Bergman's withdrawal from filmmaking in the 1980s. ~ Les Stone, Rovi 37 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  88% (2) Summer with Monika 96 min R [Drama, Romance] [Ingmar Bergman] [09 Feb 1953]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 76%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: Dagmar Ebbesen, Harriet Andersson, Lars Ekborg, Åke Fridell Writer: Per Anders Fogelström (screenplay) External Links: External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: Harry Lund is a nineteen-year-old man who meets Monika, a romantic, reckless and rebellious seventeen-year-old, and they fall in love. They leave their families and jobs in their small town, Harry gets his father's boat and they spend the summer together in an isolated island. Monika gets pregnant, and Harry decides to marry her. He grows up, gets a job and returns to his studies, trying to improve their lives and raise their daughter June, while Monika just wants to have fun. Rotten Tomatoes: Harry steals a boat to spend the summer alone on an island with his lover, Monika. But when the couple returns home, their clashing personalities drive them apart. 38 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 73% (1) To Joy 98 min Not Rated [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [20 Feb 1950]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 73%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: Birger Malmsten, John Ekman, Maj-Britt Nilsson, Stig Olin Writer: Ingmar Bergman External Links: External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: Stig, a visiting soloist to a small Swedish orchestra, marries fellow musician Martha, but the inner torment and sense of failure in Stig leads to an extra-marital affair and a tragic ending. Rotten Tomatoes: Pride, ambition and creative temperament take their toll on a marriage in this drama written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Stig Eriksson (Stig Olin) is a violinist who, after being hired to perform with an orchestra led by demanding conductor Sonderby (Victor Sjostrom), meets another new members of the ensemble, fellow violinist Marta Olsson (Mai-Britt Nilsson). Stig is attracted to Marta, and she has similar feelings for him, though she needs to be assured his interest is not merely sexual before she invites him to move in with him. Stig believes he has the talent to become an orchestral soloist, while Marta plays for the love of music and has no illusions about her potential for stardom. After they marry and Marta gives birth to twins, Stig persuades Sonderby to give him the demanding assignment of lead soloist for a concert featuring Mendelssohn's String Concerto; Stig's performance is all but disastrous, and as his hopes are shattered he questions his talent and his potential, despite Marta and Sonderby's reassurances about his gifts as an ensemble musician. In time, Stig's disappointment and the responsibilities of parenthood lead him into an affair with Nelly (Margit Carlquist), the libertine wife of fellow musician Mikael (John Ekman). Till Gladje (aka To Joy) features a classical score dominated by the works of Beethoven, with Mozart and Smetana also included; Bergman's passion for classical music would also figure into his later films Autumn Sonata and his adaptation of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi 39 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  66% (1) A Ship to India 98 min Not Rated [Drama] [Ingmar Bergman] [26 Aug 1949]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 66%, External Reviews Awards: 1 nomination. Actors: Anna Lindahl, Birger Malmsten, Gertrud Fridh, Holger Löwenadler Writer: Ingmar Bergman (screenplay), Martin Söderhjelm (play) External Links: External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: Sailor Johannes Blom returns to his home port, after seven years at sea, to find that Sally, the girl he has been thinking of while away, is completely despondent. Seven years earlier, obstreperous Alexander Blom, brings his mistress Sally to live with him, his wife Alice, son Johannes, and crew, aboard the salvage boat he captains. Amidst all the tensions on the small boat, Johannes and Sally fall in love with each other. Rotten Tomatoes: Skepp Till India-Land (aka Ship to India and Land of Desire) is generally ignored by devotees of director Ingmar Bergman -- not to mention Bergman himself, who seldom mentioned the film in later interviews. To be sure, this story of four disparate souls whose lives are bound up in the fate of an old salvage boat is hardly in the league of The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries. Even so, the film contains the seeds of the great Bergman films to come, especially when dealing with the inner turmoil experienced by the four protagonists. Singled out for praise by the critics was Holger Lowenalder's performance as the taciturn ship's captain. The script was adapted by Bergman from a play by Martin Soederhjelm. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi 40 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |
 67% (1) It Rains on Our Love 95 min N/A [Drama, Romance] [Ingmar Bergman] [09 Nov 1946]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 67%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: Barbro Kollberg, Birger Malmsten, Gösta Cederlund, Ludde Gentzel Writer: Oskar Braaten (play), Herbert Grevenius (screenplay), Ingmar Bergman (screenplay) External Links: External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: Maggi meets David after having missed her train, and they spend the night together. Penniless, the young lovers break into a summer cottage. The owner, Håkansson, offers to rent it to them, but he has an ulterior motive. By living together, they have to face their pasts and deal with the meddling neighbors and authorities. Rotten Tomatoes: Literally translated, the title of this early Ingmar Bergman effort is It's Raining on Our Love. Though hardly representative of the best that Bergman would have to offer, the film was highly regarded by critics and moviegoers alike when it first appeared in 1947. Put simply, the story theorizes that just because someone commits a criminal act, that someone isn't necessarily a criminal. Barbro Kollberg plays the unfortunate soul whose solitary indiscretion seriously jeopardizes his future happiness. The plot Det Regnar pa Var Karlek is 'explained' throughout by an ersatz stage manager, the sort of theatrical device that Bergman would abandon as he became a more self-confident filmmaker. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi 41 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |  52% (2) Crisis 93 min Not Rated [Drama, Romance] [Ingmar Bergman] [25 Feb 1946]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 65%, Rotten Tomatoes: 40%, External Reviews Awards: N/A Actors: Dagny Lind, Inga Landgré, Marianne Löfgren, Stig Olin Writer: Ingmar Bergman (screenplay), Leck Fischer (play) External Links: External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Swedish Country: Sweden Plot: Ingeborg is a small-town piano teacher who raises her foster daughter, Nelly, into young adulthood. When Nelly is eighteen, she is shocked by the arrival of Jenny, her mother, whom she calls 'Auntie.' Jenny wants to take her to the big city and teach her to be a beautician in her salon. This is devastating news for Ingeborg, who is ill and does not expect to live long. Ulf, the stolid 30ish man in love with Nelly, begs her to stay; but she is not in love with him, considering him much too old. Instead, she is attracted to Jack, a new arrival in town. She doesn't guess that this strange young man with the striped suit and dashing mustache is her mother's lover as well. Rotten Tomatoes: Ingmar Bergman made his directorial debut with this 1946 drama which found a number of his key themes already in place. Ingeborg (Dagny Lind) is a middle-aged woman living in a small Swedish community where she supports herself giving piano lessons and running a boarding house. Ingeborg has devoted much of her life to looking after Nelly (Inga Landgre), a teenage girl who was abandoned by her mother Jenny (Marianne Lofgren) when she was a baby. Ingeborg deeply loves Nelly and think of her as her daughter, and she's distraught when Jenny appears and announces she intends to reclaim Nelly and take her to Stockholm, where she now runs a successful beauty salon. Despite Ingeborg's pleas that her poor health limits the time she can spend with Nelly, Jenny is adamant, and the teenager decides to go, though her decision is largely motivated by her mixed feelings about Ulf (Allan Bohlin), an older veterinarian who wants to marry her, and her sudden infatuation with Jack (Stig Olin), a mysterious charmer who is a friend and distant relative of Jenny. Kris (aka Crisis) was adapted from a popular stage play by Leck Fisher; the production was hampered by Bergman's inexperience, and his mentor Victor Sjostrom was brought in to supervise the last few weeks of shooting. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi 42 / 42 Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Copy URL |