Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish auteur active from 1945-2003. Bergman
helped define postwar cinema through his deeply personal visions drawing off
the expressionist tradition. It is hard to define Bergman as being a part of any certain film movement due to the fact that his filmography spans over 50+ years. Richard Corliss of Time Magazine even went as far as describing the director as a "one-man film movement"1. Many other prominent film movements happened in European countries such as France and Italy during his most famous years, but Bergman stood apart from them. His films revolve around deep, moral issues such
as religion, sex, suffering, human relationships, and mortality. His work includes
many characteristics which help enforce his strong presence as an auteur. One characteristic
of his work is the close-up of the face, which allows the viewer to “see, think, and feel existential sureties in different states of crisis"2. Bergman's 1966 film Persona most adequately highlights his ability to show psychological reflection through his use of close-ups of the face. The film revolves around Alma (Bibi Andersson), a nurse who is assigned to take care of an actress named Elisabet who has suddenly stopped speaking (Liv Ullmann). Without saying a single word, Bergman is able to give Elisabet lots of emotion through his focus on her facial expressions. Despite her lack of speech, Elisabet engages in a psychological battle with Alma, as their identities fuse together and Alma becomes the voice for Elisabet.
A close-up of Liv Ullmann in Persona (1966).
His work also includes characteristics such as deep-focus, long takes, and
flashbacks. His use of such characteristics can be seen as part of the post-WWII modernist filmmaking drive to portray subjective reality. This drive allowed directors to look "ever further into characters' minds, revealing dreams, hallucinations, and fantasies"3. A perfect example of Bergman's ability to portray subjective reality can be seen in his classic 1957 film Wild Strawberries starring Victor Sjostrom. In the film, a stubborn aging professor named Isak Borg who takes a road trip and encounters a group of young hitchhikers on the way. His encounter with the hitchhikers triggers a series of memories and dreams, causing him to reflect deeply on past relationships with friends and family, and ponder about his inevitable death. Bergman's ability to show Isak's inner demons through the use of dreams and flashbacks provides a moving in-depth look at the character's mind which cannot be achieved merely through the use of realism. Instead, the viewer journeys out of reality and into the character's mind to reveal inner demons, regrets, and fears.
Isak's dream sequence from Wild Strawberries (1957)
Despite Bergman's reluctance to conform to any certain film movement makes him stand out as one of the most unique auteurs of the post-WWII film era. His films are unique journeys into the depths of the mind, willing to go to places which most filmmakers of the time would not dare to venture.
Bibliography
Bordwell, Kristen, Thompson, David. Film History: An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.
Corliss, Richard. "Why Ingmar Bergman Mattered" Time Magazine, July 30 2007, http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1648084,00.html
Ford, Hamish. "Ingmar Bergman" Senses of Cinema, December 2002, http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/bergman/
Notes
1. Richard Corliss "Why Ingmar Bergman Mattered" Time Magazine, July 30 2007, Accessed April 4, 2017 http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1648084,00.html
2. Hamish Ford "Ingmar Bergman" Senses of Cinema, December 2002, Accessed April 2002 http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/bergman/.
3. Kristen Bordwell and David Thompson Film History: An Introduction (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002), 385.
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