"The Magic Lantern", Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) is one of the most remembered and beloved filmmakers. Films like The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild Strawberries (1957), Persona (1966), Cries and Whispers (1973) and Fanny and Alexander (1982) have acquired the classic status and influenced generations of directors, being widely regarded as some of the greatest achievements in cinema. 

Born in Stockholm, Bergman was the son of a Lutheran pastor who provided him a rigid upbringing. One of his greatest passions was the theater, especially the plays written by Strindberg, which influenced his writing style. Eventually, Bergman became director of the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm. His theatrical interest can be seen in his films, through its incisive dialogues that try to understand the human passions and essence. His body of work (with around 60 films, including TV movies and shorts) is complex and show a sensitive and eloquent artist. It reflects a series of existentialist questions and metaphysical preoccupations, but also the conflicts in matrimonial life, the psychological complexity of women, the silence of God, and philosophical reflections on identity and old age. Most of his films were produced in the iconic Svensk Filmindustri and had a glorious collaboration with film cinematographer Sven Nykvist. 

Magic Lantern is his autobiography. Written in an honest way and without self-pity, it is a work that helps to clarify the origin of the concerns and apprehensions of the filmmaker in its several levels: the fear of death, crisis, illness, but also the joy of love, childhood, theater and, of course, cinema.

Excerpts:

“Film work is a powerfully erotic business; the proximity of actors is without reservations, the mutual exposure is total. The intimacy, devotion, dependency, love, confidence and credibility in front of the camera's magical eye become a warm, possibly illusory security. The strain, the easing of tension, the mutual drawing of breath, the moment of triumph, followed by anticlimax: the atmosphere is irresistibly charged with sexuality. It took me many years before I at last learnt that one day the camera would stop and the lights go out.” 

“Face to Face was intended to be a film about dreams and reality. The dreams were to become tangible reality. Reality would dissolve and become dream. I have occasionally managed to move unhindered between dream and reality, in Persona, Sawdust and Tinsel and Cries and Whispers. This time it was more difficult. My intentions required an inspiration which failed me. The dream sequences became synthetic, the reality blurred. There are a few solid scenes here and there, and Liv Ullmann struggled like a lion, but not even she could save the culmination, the primal scream which amounted to enthusiastic but ill-digested fruit of my reading. Artistic license sneered through the thin fabric. 
It was growing dark without my seeing the darkness.”

Link to the complete book in PDF:

Ingmar Bergman

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